New to ToW. High Elves tournament!

[Retsor IV]

Hi,

It's been a very long time since I played WHFB and I have never played a game of Warhammer, The Old World but I have paid to enter The Forgotten North 2000 point tournament in November so need to get some games in or I'm going to embarrass myself and all my opponents.

I wanted to ask, what in your opinion, I should start out playing with. (I used to 0lay High elves in WHFB 6th Ed if that's any help?)

I realise that it is very much a matter of choose what you fancy and run with it, but I don't want to make a fool of myself on the day so I'm looking for ideas for a list (I don't mind coming last- I just want to enjoy the day and give my opponents a decent game).

so, what do I start with? A Prince on Dragon seems to be very popular!

[Pash]

Hi,

It's been a very long time since I played WHFB and I have never played a game of Warhammer, The Old World but I have paid to enter The Forgotten North 2000 point tournament in November so need to get some games in or I'm going to embarrass myself and all my opponents.

I wanted to ask, what in your opinion, I should start out playing with. (I used to 0lay High elves in WHFB 6th Ed if that's any help?)

I realise that it is very much a matter of choose what you fancy and run with it, but I don't want to make a fool of myself on the day so I'm looking for ideas for a list (I don't mind coming last- I just want to enjoy the day and give my opponents a decent game).

so, what do I start with? A Prince on Dragon seems to be very popular!

Hey chief and welcome to the Asur!

You have joined at a very exciting time. The High Elves have recently got their Arcane Journal and models are becoming more and more available, so you'll have plenty of options. Also, there is due to be a large update the rules in the next month or so (likely by end of July), so things as they are now will be very much different when that drops! Hard to tell you what will be current in Nov at this rate, so best I can suggest is wait another month or so and see how things pan out but in the meantime go with the rule of cool - pick minis you like, start putting some together and i'm sure we can make a viable army list with them going forward. Enjoy!

[Jedra]

Welcome to the party.

As things stand right now there is one auto include in every list: a level 4 archmage. You have options for how to build it, which lore to use etc... but you need (at least) one.

The Prince on Dragon is indeed very strong. As a fighty, highly survivable and very maneuverable killing machine, it's an easy thing to drop on the table and create carnage. There are a couple issues with it. One is that because characters on monsters are so strong, most lists have planned how they will deal with them. Illusion Magic, Monster Slayer, cannons, other big bad monsters, poison shots, ethereal units... you'll see these in a lot of lists and they can tie you up or deal you damage. The other issue is the price and what else it stops you taking. Combined with the archmage you'll have 800pts ish in two units - nearly half your army. Both are great units but reduces what else you can do.

I would absolutely play with a dragon Prince a few times - you need to learn how they work if you want to counter them- but it's not quite a shoe in like the AM.

As for the rest... some things definitely come up less than others, but I've had good results from most units when used well (ok, not reavers...) The obvious question is: what do you have already?

[Retsor IV]

Thanks for the prompt answer Jedra- food for thought.

The obvious question is: what do you have already?

The answer to that is a big fat nothing! (It's infuriating in many ways as I used to have everything).

What I don't want to do is pend unnecessarily so was looking for a good basis for a list.

[Axiem]

Welcome!

Any advice we could give you is likely to change over this summer with the announcement of the new rules for Matched Play just coming out, accompanied by a balanced patch, point adjustment, and new FAQs. With that in mind, I'm going to reiterate what Pash has shared. In general, things that are "good" (at least right now) are:

- Prince or Archmage on Star Dragon;

- Sisters of Avelorn, usually in Core;

- Dragon Princes (the horse unit);

- Silver Helms and/or Ellyrian Reavers (if not taking Sisters in Core);

- Chariot and Griffon Characters (Nobles, Princes, etc.);


Kind regards,

Axiem

[Prince of Spires]

I'm not as confident as the others that the meta will shift a lot with the upcoming Matched Play rules / balance changes. It's been fairly constant (for HE especially), that mobile, hard-hitting, precision lists tend to do best, despite the fact that we're an infantry focussed army... We'll see.

A few questions, that change the answer.
- Are there any specific rules attached to the tournament? Some tournaments limit what you can bring or punish certain things. If so, that might change our suggestions. Also, do you already know if they will use the current rules, or go with the (still rumoured) 1.5 version of the rules that is supposed to be released somewhere the coming months?
- Do you want to go with the toughest army we can come up with, sticking to the meta, or do you just want to bring a bunch of fun units that work decently together?
- What do / did you enjoy playing?

In uncomped environments, we tend to see two versions of HE lists perform well. The first is the Star Dragon list. Especially in this edition, you can't really go wrong with a big flying lizard. It's WS7, T6, 9W and dishes out 10 attacks + stomps. It can have a 2+ or 3+ armour save, a 5+ ward, and a 5+ regen. It would take something like 130 White Lion attacks on average to kill it. The main thing about a dragon list is that the whole list will be about the dragon. It will end up well over 500pts, and as such, it needs to make an impact.

The other version has a Handmaiden general, an archmage (or 2), and a BSB with Pure of Heart. It has a big unit of Sisters of Averlorn in core and sometimes a smaller one in rare. Its main aim is to shoot everything dead before it can get to you.

Those are your main two options for highly competitive lists. You can fill those out with what you like. Check some of the lists in the army list subforum or check the High Elf tournament results topic. The above is usually supplemented with a few archer darts: units of 5 archers that are meant as redirectors, Silverhelms / reavers, and dragon princes.

That doesn't mean that other stuff can't work or that you shouldn't take it. It very much depends on your goals and local meta. Find something you enjoy. And with the rumored new edition coming next year, there's no saying what will be good in a year or two. Though dragons have always done decently, so there's that.