Alright, time for another Dark Elf army list. My last list was very close combat geared, depending on the power of the Black Guard to deliver my damage. This time, I'm going to focus more on the shooting part of the army.
The list:
Dreadlord w/ Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Cold One, Sword of Might, Dragonhelm, Pendant of Khaeleth, and Crown of Command
Supreme Sorceress (lvl 4) w/ Lifetaker, Darkstar Cloak, Lore of Shadows
Master (BSB) w/ Repeater Crossbow, Armour of Darkness, Pearl of Infinite Bleakness
5 Dark Riders w/ Musician, Repeater Crossbows
5 Dark Riders w/ Musician, Repeater Crossbows
10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician, Standard, Shields - 125
10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician, Standard, Shields - 125
21 Crossbowmen w/ Full Command, Shields - 256
5 Shades
- Assassin w/ Manbane, Rending Stars
5 Shades
- Assassin w/ Manbane, Rending Stars
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
Hydra
Hydra
That's a fairly respectable amount of shooting, and the role of the shooting aspects of the list are fairly obvious. The other things may not be, however.
The Dreadlord's sole goal is to tie up a unit, or something scary. This army has a lot of shooting, but you're not going to be killing an opponent's army in a single turn. Units in the game overall seem to have gotten a bit faster in this edition, which means that your opponent could be on top of your army very early in the game. You need to worry about armies getting into close combat with you before you may have had a chance to wear them down with shooting. The Dreadlord will buy you some time.
The Hydras serve a similar role, but they are primarily there to break units after they have taken some shooting casualties. If a unit is down a few guys, a Hydra may be able to break it on its own. At the least, the shooting should (hopefully) mean there are fewer attacks coming back at you, which allows the Hydra can hold up a unit as well.
The Sorceress is taking Lore of Shadows. Every spell in the Lore, save Steed of Shadows, helps you out here. The signature spell will keep your opponent out of combat for longer (slowing them down). Enfeebling Foe will keep your crossbowmen alive longer should your opponent get into combat. The Withering will add to the effectiveness of your shooting. Penumbral Pendulum and Pit of Shades will add some extra damage. Okkam's Mindrazor will make even your lowly crossbowmen scary in close combat. Of course, you don't have a lot of magic defense in this list (which I may have to find a way to add), but I'll play a game or two beforehand. Hopefully I can put enough shooting out to buy me a win.
So there you have it. I'll revisit this list after trying it a game or two, and see if it really is at all effective. Anyone try anything similar?
Do you plan to run the assassins with extra hand weapon, or something else?
ReplyDeleteYou know, I thought about dropping one of my crossbowmen to do just that, give both assassins an extra hand weapon, just in case, but really I just wanted them to operate as a shooting unit.
ReplyDeleteMost units they are likely to face in close combat (given the choice) he should be able to handle as-is. If it's a big block of something, the goal would be to stay out of it's way while shooting something of priority.
I don't know, I didn't give them to them, but I could see it being useful.