Ulthuan

Hi, first time posting here. I'm currently a Wood Elves player (pls no hate ) and I've currently got what I feel to be a reasonably competitive list so far and was looking to pick up a defensive style list. I was planning on using a L4 Life Mage, Lorthern Sea Guard, Bolt Throwers, a big block of Phoenix Guard and 21 Swordsmasters as a "hammer+anvil" style. I'm posting here to see people's opinion on what units are the best for competitive, what forms of listsare the best to run and whether this defensive style would work?

An example is are Lorthern Sea Guard any good? I preliminarily chose them due to my own preference but I dont know if the others are better as I haven't played a game yet.

Also would like to hear if cavalry is worth it at all.

Thanks in advance, Zhorphorus

I'll do my best to answer your questions:

Phoenix Guard are very good. They are one of the best anvil units in the game, due to their ward save, ASf, Martial Prowess, WS5, LD9, fear and combat ability. S4 attacks aren't wonderful, but with AP from the razor banner, Phoenix Guard usually do enough damage to win or draw combat against most things. They are also cheap enough to field in deep units like 5x5, which can be steadfast for a long time against most models they can't hurt.

Swordmasters aren't good. They are fragile, their profile doesn't synergise with Martial Prowess and they lack the S to deal effectively with monsters and 1+ armour saves. Deflect Shots is fluffy, but rarely useful. Even worse, White Lions, who lose Deflect Shots, an attack and a point weapon skill, in return for Stubborn, +1S and Lion Cloaks, for the same price. White Lions are usually a much better pick because they deal with armour and don't run away if they lost a round of combat by 2-3 wounds.

Sea Guard aren't popular. With shields, they cost 1 point less than a White Lion or Swordmaster, for nowhere near the combat ability. S3 shooting and melee just isn't good without special rules to back it up. Archers have 6" more range and are cheaper. Spearmen have the same melee ability and are 75% of the price of a Sea Guard with a shield.

Bolt Thowers are great. On mass, they can deal with alot of chaff, while having the option to hurt monsters or wear down blocks over a few turns. They do die very quickly the instant something gets arround their war machine T.

High Elf cav is pretty good. ASF makes rubber lance syndrome less of a problem and having M9 with no barding penalty makes even Silver Helms decent redirectors. Silver Helms make very good chaff hunters at 5-6 strong because of their armour and speed. Giving them a standard can help for Blood and Glory or provide extra combat res. They can also make a good vehicle for getting fighty High Elf Characters into combat and providing ranks and can fight 3 deep with Martial Prowess. Reavers are't quite as good. They lake the armour and firepower of Dark Riders and can't ambush or buy magic arrows like Glade Riders. What they are good at though, is providing reasonably cheap redirectors and Warmachine hunters in core.

I can't really say yes or no to Life, having next to no experience with it.

Ok thanks for the reply! So how many strong would people normally field White Lions and what sort of core composition is normally seen? Also for Lords and Heroes will just the level 4 Life and a BSB be enough or would i need like the Anointed or a Level 2 mage to back up with maybe high?

White lions are usually fielded at 21-30 strong, 3 ranks deep (7x3, 8x3, 9x3 or 10x3).

Characters and core, depend on the build. Some people will go for an Archmage and BSB only. Others will go add a scroll caddy to allow Scroll + Book of Hoeth Archmage. Annointed usually turns up with double Archmages (High + Beasts) and a block of Phoenix Guard to form a deathstar with a 3++, MR2, ITP, mages in the back and fighty Noble BSB + Annointed with possible Wildform/Savage Beast for damage. Such lists usually don't have enough points for a block of White Lions and enough shooting. Some other builds such as a Cav Bus (Lv4, Mounted Prince + BSB, additional nobles and or scroll caddy to taste) and ETC Star Dragon (Star Dragon Prince, BSB on foot, Lv4, scroll caddy) do exist, using completely different character settups.

In short, with High Elves, you can spend any amount of points on characters from the basic Lv4 + BSB to 50%+ of your army points.

If you have some time and want to see more army builds, have a look at the Army Blogs section of the forum. Some of the really interesting blogs are the ones by Tethlis, Malossar, Swordmaster, Axiem, Seredain, wamphyri101, John Rainbow and Furion. All of them have army lists, ideas, battle reports showing multiple ways to play high elves. Do note that some of those blogs started under the 7th ed high elf book, so some sections aren't as relavent any more.

Cold Phoenix is spot on with his comments, also the list of interesting army blogs gets
a thumbs up, although it misses out on one of our finest, Mr Curu Olannon. Do your self
a favor and check his section out - I, for one , picked up a lot of good pointers from that guy

Excellent thank you both, I think i've been given the resources and information I was looking for