which lore for my 2k points lothern strike force

[cptcosmic]

archmage with book & 4+ ward
noble bsb with magic stuff on griffon

25 LSG full command
2x5 reavers with bows

2x15 SM with full command
2xskycutter with bolt throwers

2xRBT

At first I was thinking good old classic high magic. +5 to cast is great, I can buff my LSG, which helps them hitting at range and in combat plus gives them some defense. it also gives me a chance to regain wounds of my paper griffon. on the other hand, it does not synergise well with the rest of my army, all the SM and bolt throwers would be left unsupported.

then I was thinking heavens could be the way to go... bubbled Harmonic Convergence would benefit all of my shooting and slightly boost my SM in combat.
additionally Curse of the Midnight Wind is devasting when combined with Iceshard Blizzard with the WS6 SM. defensively 5+ to get hit with reroll 6 is nothing to scoff at.
comet is still great and those magic missiles can be handy against some monsters.

I cant really decide, I would also like to avoid shadow at all cost

[Gondarion]

Umm, Shadow is the clear choice here. I empathize with the desire to avoid the obvious lore, but the way to make High Elf core shooting really work is through WIthering, and one need not preach the virtues of Mindrazor and Pit of Shades. Furthermore, I would say that Shadow would seem a fluffy choice (at least in theory) for a Lothern force which would use deceptive tricks to defeat the foe. Heavens could be okay, I guess, but no more than okay.

[Tullarion]

Beasts could be interesting...

[Sackree]

I think Gondorian has really hit the nail on the head with his points.

Shadows withering will allow all your shooting to delete a unita turn.

Okhams is also the lsg's best friend.Your list will struggle to handle Armored targets when they get into Combat and your bolt throwers can't shoot at them. So s9 attacks will help to make short work of these targets.

[Tullarion]

Yeah, but he doesn't want to use shadow. I imagine he (like me) is a little tired of seeing it in every list. Shadow synergizes really well with High Elf units, in fact (even though it's a disgustingly good lore for anyone who uses it) High Elves probably get more bang out of their buck with Shadow than any other army. It really doesn't matter what your build is, shadow is good, because it directly counters High Elf weaknesses while also utilizing their strengths. Honestly, I always think it's a cop out when the question " what lore should I use" is answered with Shadow... because duh. But what OTHER lore could be good?

I like the idea of beasts with this lists. You have lots of cavalry and chariots, plus a monster. You could make that noble really scary in combat. You can amber spear units when bolt throwers aren't enough. You can slow their movement and get another round of shooting in with your LSG.

I also like heavens. And actually fire might not be bad. Flaming sword your sea guard, flame cloak your sword masters, flame cage your enemy's hordes and fireball everything else. That could be interesting. Nobody takes Fire.

[Ratvan]

How about Metal? Has a nice mix of buffs, hexes and direct damage for high as troops to fall back on?

[Tullarion]

Ooh yeah. I like metal for this list. Searing doom shores up your weaknesses against heavy armor, while the option to give your sword masters +1 to hit and armour piercing (or 5+ scaly skin) will make them stupid effective in combat. Even the sea guard would like that.

[Domine Nox]

Fluffwise Heavens, High or Light. Looking at your List I'd say High most out of those. You have lots of anti-armor stuff (Bolt Throwers, SMs, Griffon), so I feel Soul Quench would let you mash up units to better favor your SM's fights. Fiery Convocation is scary to Hordes that your army would rather not like to face. And Hand of Glory helps everything you have equally (BS7 bolt thrower, sky cutter or LSG? WS9 SMs so enemies are hitting on 5s?). And I'm sure your BSB would love for you to have Apotheosis so that he can be a little tougher.

[Eirik]

Heavens, for the fluff.

Sea and sky and storm. It may not synergize as well as shadow, but that's mostly just an issue of shadow being really damn good. Noe one gets to complain about OP magic or high elves when you beat them with a Lothern heavens list.

[Archmage_Mariona]

Shadow is easily the best as its been said but for none shadow i'd say heavens due to the high strength on the spells which can deal with armour issues, the comet is great to.slow ab advance as no one wants to be near it, iceshard blizzard is just useful, harmonic convergeance is allround helpful in this list as it supports ranged attacks and tje swordmasters, curse of the midnight wind helps this fragile army and then.there is tge ever overlooked wind blast, in this list it can be very helpful, really easy to cast evem.on one dice and because its so underestimated your opponent probably won't dispel it, making key opposing units stay away from you a lil longer (not brilliant but still helpful, especially if thereavers force any failed charges with their feigned flight as thos would slow (or even reverse an opponent's advance.

I'm not experienced in a competitive environment though, this is just my thoughts