A Dreadlords thoughts on HE

[Dreadlord Blooay]

Yes, I am new on here, but I am sure you will learn me to know quickly enough! As I usually do, I do a, my thoughts post on the armies I play with, and when I found this site I thought it should be no different. So here we go, my thoughts on each of the HE units! (Note this is just a personal thing, but is free to be discussed.)

Archmage- Yes, this is the standard lv 3 caster lord. Of course he is upgrade able to level 4. Now while other pitiful mages, he is one I like, personally never been the big fan of magic. He can easily adjust to ANY enemy army with hes great lore range and just with another level 2 mage, can create a very decent magic phase, along with good magical defense. Finally a lord caster I would consider taking for a 2250 points game!

Prince- My favorite lord. The prince. The highest ld available, a decent fighting ability, but being an elf, t 3. (Will never truly get used to that.) Coupled with very nice magic items (except for magic weapons, not fond of them) he can be kitted out very nicely for almost, any task. Be it ld bunker, rank and file stealer, or the popular combat one. But he is the only one who can also mount the almighty star dragon! Now this is an expensive buy and would deny a decent magic phase. (Unless you invest too much in characters.) I have yet to try the star dragon, will update this post when I finally do.

I won't be doing characters right now, so skipping right back to core units

Archers- A cheap unit! I favor these dudes, in 10 strong they can build a nice shooting phase coupled with RBT. Of course they won't achieve the strength of black powder, but seriously, you won't hit heavy armour with these dudes in either way. Good to get rid of those fast units so you can control the movement phase. Always find two of these guts in my army!

Spearmen- I am one of those dudes who uses three core units. This is my third core unit. Here I put my mages, and then simply keep this unit put somewhere safe, but still out so the mages can get some good hits. Its a very defensive unit, and even though fighting with three ranks sounds very fancy, do never overestimate it. Its only s 3 attacks, you won't be killing tons. Keep them supported.

Lothern sea guard- Now I never really tried this unit. I just wonder, why I should. If I wanted spears, I would get a cheaper spearmen unit. If I wanted to shoot my enemy, I would get some archers, which actually have longer reach. Maybe someday I will try them.

Swordsmasters Many people fear these men by guts, with 2 s 5 ASF attacks each, and the daunting blademaster which can hold a talisman of loec, surely they can be very frightening. And that's their biggest advantage. Their not nearly as strong as your enemy will expect them to be, and you can use this greatly to your advantage. On the other hand, they ARE strong, and can easily chop down a, non elite, not too ranked unit.

White lions- Now here things get a little bit more interesting. We got ourselves a tarpit unit it looks like? Or do we? Yes, this unit packs a punch at ASF s 6 (edited the s value, thanks to rdghuizing) hit each, yes they can move through woods to engage enemies at good spots and they don't care by how much they lose by, so one would think, lets just put them up against something real nasty, let them use their stubborn to hold and support them next round. But no. We're elves. They have a pitiful armour save of 5+ in cc and only being t 3, they will be VERY easily chopped to pieces. Being expensive as well, well well well... Maybe they won't be the tarpit unit against every elite unit

Phoenix guard- My favorite unit of the three! Why? They cost the same as every the white lions and swordmasters. They of course, only a s 4 and have the same number of attacks as white lions. Yes, they only have heavy armour. Why take them? They cause fear. And have a ward save of 4+! Yes that's right, every second wound will be saved. This makes this unit a more capable unit of surviving than any other infantry unit of ours, something we elves seriously need with such a low t!

Silver helms- Why are their names such a fluffy color? Their the soft heavy cavalry. Never used them, for one simple reason. Dragon princess are simply better, and I would gladly spend the extra points to get some princess instead of silver helms. Heavy cavalry need to break stuff on the charge, and I would gladly pay some extra to increase that chance.

Dragon princess- Yes! I love these guys! 2+ armour save, 2 attacks, 16" charge range, s 5, ws 5, ld 9. These guys usually don't fail ld tests, these guys usually kill enough to do their job. Yes, I always include at least one of these as well. Minimum 6 wide, max 7. Ram them into the enemy and watch em go. Just don't do it against units that are, too elite and too ranked, not without a bsb noble at least. Remember, you have to finish the job on the charge.

Reavers- Personally, its my game winning unit. Yes, our only fast cavalry unit, with a movement value of 9. I purchase them with bows, to increase their annoyance even more. If I charge with them, its against real lowly skirmish units, small missile units or war machine crew. That in its own makes them deadly, but also pulling the enemy units out, march blocking, aka a lovable unit. Also one of these unit yes please!

Shadow warriors- Our only scout unit. Now these have worked wonders for me, or done nothing. They come equipped with longbows which certainly makes them much more useful, as even though they do have hatred, they won't kill a lot with s 3. To me, their there to make other peoples scouts feel endangered, but they really can't do that much to my enemy battle line, except for some weak wizard hunting and machine hunting. Not favorable unit, but still good enough to find a place in my army sometimes.

Tiranoc chariot- A standard, but very fast, chariot. With a movement value 9, it can keep up with even our infantry when their marching! This chariot are exceptional good to combo charge with princes and swordmasters, as its devastating impact hits really can cause havok. But you probably already knows the normal stuff with chariots and this chariot only makes its difference in the fact, that it won't lack behind.

Lion chariot of chrace- Many says its way to much to pay for this chariot, in front of the tiranoc chariot. But what we forgot how great fear can affect the enemy. Not only will they think over, that hey, that unit causes fear, but also will this chariot look much more dangerous, in which it also is. Perhaps not much more, but more. There is a more psychological effect on your enemy with this unit, even though it might lack a little behind. For thus this chariot might also find its expensive way into my army, because it really looks like a dangerous chariot.

Reaper bolt thrower We all know to this war machine, and if you don't, get to know it. Its very basic, shoot, kill, never misfire. Against greater demons, fast cavalry, thinning out large units, this bastard can do it. I ALWAYS get at least two of these in my army.

Eagles A less rare unit used, but still with very very very great uses, and I always include one of these as well. With a great movement value of 20 in its flight move, it can fly over the heads of your enemy, and if he is so foolish to place hes war machines on a hill, they will be a great target for this flyer there will always be capable of seeing it. Overall, it can kill war machines, perhaps a wizard, but its just another, and we're annoying you unit. (Do not use giant eagles to pick on your little brother though. That's over annoying.)

Magic weapons time!

Blade of Leaping Gold- Now here we have another fluffy thing. Yes, you can be very over dramatic and give this weapon to your beloved prince and shout, "NOW MY PRINCE GOT AS MANY ATTACKS AS A BLOODTHIRSTER." Yes, he has. But he now only has 40 points left to leftover items. And he ain't s 6. And he can't fly. And we could go on here. You won't get far with 3 extra s 4 attacks, you might as well purchase a noble for that and now, you can divide those 7 attacks! Now finally, a way to prevail a bloodthirster, he can't be two places at one time. The blade Of Leaping golds sounds nice, but it just doesn't cut it with the costs of it.

Bow of the Seafarer- What is this? Is this? I think it is. Yes, you now have a reason to not let your army taste any of that sweet ld 10, just to let your prince fly around on an eagle, shooting BOLT THROWER SHOTS at your enemy from all possible angles. Now, it is only 60 points while a bolt thrower is 100 points. Why, its cheaper isn't it? Why don't you then take it Dreadlord? Because I think the Prince simply have another place to be. Seriously, if we wanted that shot, we would purchase a bolt thrower, we wouldn't waste our prince on that. He can do so much more can he not? I think we agree he can. But I won't stop you from trying...

Sword of Hoeth- This sounds like the ultimate fluffy hoeth prince there should kick but. But no. He doesn't. Okay, its a one handed weapon there wounds auto when it hits. Yay. Its 60 points also. Nay... It doesn't modify your opponents armour save, so its a very daunting -1 armour save right there. Well... I think we can get more bang for the buck right there. Your opponents will probably be heavily armoured and then those "free" wounds will get wasted very quickly.

Star Lance- A lance! We can put it on our mounted prince and it will look like, awesome!... Right? Okay, it is actually an alright weapon. It allows no armour save, which is actually REALLY GOOD, and if you now find yourself attacking something with a t of 5, you will still be wounding on 2+ (as long as your in the charge of course, but, you should be.) Now on the other hand, it is only 1+ s from the normal lance, and now what if we suddenly see our opponents roll some insane courage on that very charge? Now either our mount has to do the shit or our prince will be badly... bad. The star lance does nothing in any turn it doesn't charge. So, better break stuff on the charge.

Reaver bow- What is this, yes it is! We're at the Reaver bow! We can now put our noble on top of an eagle and fly around, shooting three times a shooting phace with a s of 5, which isn't anything to sneeze at all. And its still a noble, so he can still do some wounds in cc, though that isn't very favorable. Its very simple, we got ourselves a very mobile shooting platform and should be treated likewise. Fly around, annoy, shoot, make units charge it and get flanked next turn, you know the deal right.

The White Sword- Another 40 points weapon. Now what do we get from this weapon? It uses up both of our hands, oh well. Grants the s bonus of a great weapon, so, so far as good as a great weapon, thanks ASF elves. This weapon gives us, killing blow. Yay. Now we can get lucky and cut the head of the enemy lord on a lucky roll with this weapon, but I wouldn't put my bets on it. While it is an okay weapon, really, killing blow isn't anything to sneeze at, at all, but I will just say personal opinion, we got better things to spend our points on.

Blade of Sea Gold- The old, no armour save weapon. Really, we all know this weapon, good in some occasions (Chaos Warriors) bad in others (wood elves). No need for further mention around this one.

Foe Bane- Now this is a more or less, interesting weapon. For 25 points, we will wound anything with 2 or more wounds on 2+. This would be awesome on the great demon of nurgle, as hes t will count for nothing there, but against a human character, your better of with a great weapon. Its a very situational weapon, but against some opponents it has its uses, especially since it is cheap enough to just smash in.

For now all I will say is, greetings to you all, free cookies and hopefully, you'll get a good Christmas.

*Magic weapons section added

[SpellArcher]

Not bad, I agree with most of that.

Only...don't Dreadlords bat for the other side?

[Prince of Spires]

Nice sumary. I think it gives a nice overview of our troops.

One point: White Lions are strength 6, not 5.

Rod

[orka]

Very good overview, I totally agree about the magic weapons.
I think you underestimate the Swordmasters though,
7 SM will kill 8 T3, AS5+ models,
lets say they are against a 20+model, ranked unit:
-they: standard, outnumber, 3 ranks
-you: 8 wounds
= you win by 3 and would probably have a good chance of breaking them.
Units of SM can go against almost every unit in the game, they will even break a Blood Knight charge, only thing they have to fear is shooting/magic.

[Flame of the Asuryan]

This is pretty much captain obvious in person! Quick overview is not that bad at all..