2000 Point Elf List (With Lots of Firepower)

[Norse]

Somehow I seem to have almost accidentally managed to find myself with enough models for a 2000 point army. I was buying the stuff I wanted for a 1000 pointer to get started but somewhere along the line it became cheaper to buy more models than I wanted. You wouldn't get that with any other company!

So, this is what I've got. Bear in mind that this list is the way it is more because it's what I can do with what I have than because I think it's a good list. I do like the idea of some solid spear hordes with a cloud of bow troops though...

1 x Mounted Wizard (counting as a Mage Queen) with cat  - 180

2 x Princes with cats - 220

1 x Army Standard Bearer - 30

3 x Bolt Thrower - 225

2 x Scout Troops with Musicians - 200

5 x Bowmen Troop - 450

1 x Seaguard Regiment with Banner and Musician - 225

2 x Spearmen Horde with Banners and Musicians - 470

Equals 2000 points exactly. Which is nice.

Think I'd rather have another Spear Horde than that Seaguard regiment. I already have lots of archers, and the regiment makes a slightly weaker point in the line (and covers less frontage) for very nearly the same price as a spear horde. But I don't quite have the figures for that yet.

Still, that can be sorted. I suppose I should get some cavalry in there at some point. But it'll do for now!



Edit - Oops, of course that army standard bearer counts as a hero, and all those troops have left me with only 3 solid units. Hmm. Some re-jiggering needed.

[Estarriol]

Lots of troops though There's something in me that likes the sight of a true horde of elves. None of this 'dying race' rubbish!

I think I'd probably amalgamate at least two of those bow troops into a single regiment, possibly two. They're still pretty good infantry if anything sneaks around the flanks of your spear hordes. Plus frees up points for other things, maybe a Drakon?

[Norse]

Aye, that's what I've had to do in the end. I only want to have to do it for one regiment though. I don't intend for the bow troops to be doing much melee, they need to be darkening the sky with a flood of arrows until the hordes contact. Putting two troops into a regiment halves their attacks and the nerve bonus doesn't do me much good here. Leaves me 20 spare points though, which I have used to give the bow regiment a banner for now. Later on, those 20 points will give me the wiggle room I need to turn that Sea Guard into a Spear Horde.

Tempted by Drakons later. Or a good solid wedge of stormwind. For now though I've already spent enough money on an army I can't play with just yet

After all this I do have an awful lot of spare **** cats. I'm tempted to cut out a 125 x 50 base, jam on it all my spare cats and a running elf with a horn and use it as a "count as" for a troop of Stormwind. I think it's a cool idea, but I don't know as many people would let me get away with it. I think the Stormwind's defence is a little too high for the concept, but I can't think of anything else.

[mattjgilbert]

Put a couple of bigger cat models on the base amongst the smaller ones. Should be OK.

Elf armies always look troop light until after the first 2 rounds of shooting and then the opponent also has a troop light army...

[Norse]

Fair enough!

Hahaha, the filter picked up the cat word. Nothing rude was intended!

[Nathaniel]

I'm guessing the filter was designed by my fellow colonials.  **** isn't that offensive, just a bit crass.  Now ****, that's an offensive term for the same thing here.

I've been getting the impression you want a minimum of a horde per 1000 points, sometimes more.  But you'd have to drop two bowman regiments for the extra 180 points to increase the seaguard from a regiment to a hoard.

Not sure it's worth it.   I think you've got it figured out already.

I love the idea of the cat whisperer's swarm.

[Norse]

Ah, you misunderstand me. I intend to replace the seaguard with a spear horde, not a seaguard horde. I can imagine that seaguard are useful under certain circumstances (trying to hold an objective with low frontage etc) but otherwise they are just too expensive.

[Nathaniel]

They really do pay a lot for being archers with a phalanx ability, don't they?

How are you building your seaguard?  Just taking equal parts bow and spear miniatures and then making alternating lines of each?  Or are you actually mixing archer and spearmen parts?  So far I've only put my scouts together so I haven't had the opportunity to make any other elf unit so far.

[Norse]

As I don't intend to keep them as seaguard, I'm just mixing bow and spearmen models. I'll probably build a dedicated seaguard diorama base at some point, because they're awesome (even if they are basically achamaenid Persians with more sea and less pavisse). I wouldn't use them as a tactical choice because of the cost, but they're great as a basis for a scenario. I can imagine them holding a spit of sandy land as the rest of the elven troops gradually disembark in an amphibious assault.

[Robert]

You could save some points getting rid of the Princes with cats!  Not sure how much value they really are. 

One thing I would - hordes have a massive frontage and if you have a couple of them, how much manoeuvrability you will have could be an issue.  A couple of regiments may be more useful than another horde.

[Norse]

The cats are using up points I don't yet have figures for. I'd go for a king if it still had Inspiring, as it is I thought a prince with a vampire killing nuke would be better.

As for horde manoeuvreability, you're right. But then I'm hoping to use the horde to provide a solid immobile line to control a large chunk of the field and do all the fiddly bits with scouts and bows. Don't know if it'll actually work but I thought I'd give it a try!

[Nathaniel]

I think a horde per 1000 or fraction thereof is a great way to have a solid battle line.  They actually become even more effective on terrain heavy tables as you can anchor flanks.  I played a proxy 1500 point game and my friend took 3 fully kitted ironguard hordes.  I had no hordes as I had taken a lot of regiments as I wanted to try out as many different things in the list as possible.  It sort of worked, but in the end, I just couldn't break the hordes and they captured more of the objectives out of sheer weight.