Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500pts Army Blog
Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 11:40 pm
Welcome to my Army Blog! Here, I will detail my army list, its progression, results, battle reports and related tactical concerns.
:: Thread overview ::
Prince Saerith with Great Weapon, Armour of Caledor, Vambraces of Defense, Talisman of Loec, riding Faeria the Star Dragon - 622
Noble BSB Naenor with Sword of Might, Helm of Fortune, Shield, Dragon Armour, Great Eagle - 208
High Mage Curu Olannon with Level 2, Annulian Crystal - 175
Characters :: 1005
30 Archers, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flames - 365
15 Archers, Musician - 170
10 Spearelves - 90
Core :: 625
26 White Lions, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness, Amulet of Light - 450
14 Swordmasters, Full Command, Skeinsliver, Gleaming Pennant - 270
Special :: 720
3 Great Eagles - 150
Rare :: 150
Army Total :: 2500
:: Background ::
My first army attempt in 8th edition featured a Cavalry Prince as inspired by Seredain. I played this list for nearly a dozen games with minor variations. I eventually decided that the list's weaknesses were too grave to overcome, at least the way I saw it back then. Naturally, a dozen games is no-where near exhaustive enough to know this for sure, so I might go back one day and try it out again.
Anyways, I decided to move on to a new type of list: investing heavily in magic and shooting had proved to be successful for a Polish guy called Furion on these forums. His results were astonishing and closer analysis gave a couple of good ideas as to why: given the current metagame a proper defensive High Elf 'bowline' can work very well. I only played a handful of games with this kind of list before giving it up. Though my results were fairly bad, I do believe the list has tons of potential. Perhaps, in fact, it is the best list we can make. Regardless, I didn't like the way it played. I feel that my strongest part of Warhammer is utilizing the movement phase for what it's worth having superior mobility than my opponent. My success with the cavalry list reflects this, a lot of people have commented on my usage of fast units with Flyers in particular. The magic-shooty synergy High Elf army is way more static in comparison and the playstyle doesn't really appeal to me.
So it was that I tried to equip a Cavalry Prince list again. As I considered different options and builds, I ended up coming back to the same problems over and over again: how do I cope with ultra-mobile and hard-hitting lists? Regardless of what I could come up with it felt like my lists were either giving up on some other area in order to counter this or not having decent enough counters. As I pondered this issue, I began to think about how the other armies out there cope with the same things. A quick look-through on the most pervasive internet-armies showed me that they simply don't have a good answer either! The metagame features quite a few war machines, in particular from Dwarfs, Empire and Orcs and Goblins. This has discouraged people from taking these kinds of lists, and as such most people don't bother too much with counters either.
My resulting question was then: has the metagame evolved further, meaning that fast monsters are so uncommon that even hard-counter armies aren't necessarily impossible to beat? 2 threads in general inspired this train of thought further: a member posted in the tactics section that 'the only way to play competitive High Elves was to bring a Star Dragon'. Another thread, here in the army list section, had a member (thelordcal) win a local tournament with a Star Dragon list. Granted, he disclaimed that his opponents weren't the best nor the list the very hardest. Regardless, my mind was set and I decided to try my best to make such a list work.
The principles behind the list are fairly simple: the key to using these units effectively is to have them clear chaff and support the main combats. To do this effectively, you need 3 things:
- Several fast units, preferably a multitude of flyers
- Redundant combat blocks around which your flyers can work
- A minimal amount of drops to hopefully get first turn. As High Elves we can also factor in Skeinsliver to further help us
As such my first incarnation of the Star Dragon list was born: 1 Star Dragon, 2 Eagle-mounted Nobles, 2 Rare Eagles and a minimal unit of Dragon Princes made up my fast choices. 2 blocks of spears and a mid-sized unit of White Lions provided the combat blocks, numbering nearly 90 infantry!
2012 will surely be interesting, I will keep this thread updated with my progress on how the army works out and evolves.
:: Thread overview ::
- Army List (in this post)
- Background (in this post)
- Army Rationale and trade-offs - link
- Army Pictures - link
- Battle Reports - link
- General Thoughts on High Elf Army List Design - link
Prince Saerith with Great Weapon, Armour of Caledor, Vambraces of Defense, Talisman of Loec, riding Faeria the Star Dragon - 622
Noble BSB Naenor with Sword of Might, Helm of Fortune, Shield, Dragon Armour, Great Eagle - 208
High Mage Curu Olannon with Level 2, Annulian Crystal - 175
Characters :: 1005
30 Archers, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flames - 365
15 Archers, Musician - 170
10 Spearelves - 90
Core :: 625
26 White Lions, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness, Amulet of Light - 450
14 Swordmasters, Full Command, Skeinsliver, Gleaming Pennant - 270
Special :: 720
3 Great Eagles - 150
Rare :: 150
Army Total :: 2500
Code: Select all
My first list:
Life Archmage Curu Olannon with Seerstaff: Throne of Vines, Flesh to Stone, Regrowth, The Dwellers Below [290 points]
Prince Saerith on Barded Elven Steed with Giant Blade, Helm of Fortune, Dragon Armour, Shield, Talisman of Loec [281 points]
Battle Standard Bearer Naenor with Armour of Caledor, Dawnstone, Great Weapon [168 points]
34 Spearelves, Champion, Musician and Standard Bearer with Banner of Swiftness [346 points]
14 Archers, Musician [159 points]
11 Archers [121 points]
16 Swordmasters of Hoeth, Musician and Standard Bearer with Banner of Sorcery [308 points]
10 Dragon Princes of Caledor, Musician, Champion with Potion of Strength Standard Bearer with Banner of Eternal Flame [380 points]
9 Silver Helms with Shields, Champion, Musician and Standard Bearer [247 points]
2 Great Eagles [100 points]
1 Repeater Bolt Thrower [100 points]
My first army attempt in 8th edition featured a Cavalry Prince as inspired by Seredain. I played this list for nearly a dozen games with minor variations. I eventually decided that the list's weaknesses were too grave to overcome, at least the way I saw it back then. Naturally, a dozen games is no-where near exhaustive enough to know this for sure, so I might go back one day and try it out again.
Anyways, I decided to move on to a new type of list: investing heavily in magic and shooting had proved to be successful for a Polish guy called Furion on these forums. His results were astonishing and closer analysis gave a couple of good ideas as to why: given the current metagame a proper defensive High Elf 'bowline' can work very well. I only played a handful of games with this kind of list before giving it up. Though my results were fairly bad, I do believe the list has tons of potential. Perhaps, in fact, it is the best list we can make. Regardless, I didn't like the way it played. I feel that my strongest part of Warhammer is utilizing the movement phase for what it's worth having superior mobility than my opponent. My success with the cavalry list reflects this, a lot of people have commented on my usage of fast units with Flyers in particular. The magic-shooty synergy High Elf army is way more static in comparison and the playstyle doesn't really appeal to me.
So it was that I tried to equip a Cavalry Prince list again. As I considered different options and builds, I ended up coming back to the same problems over and over again: how do I cope with ultra-mobile and hard-hitting lists? Regardless of what I could come up with it felt like my lists were either giving up on some other area in order to counter this or not having decent enough counters. As I pondered this issue, I began to think about how the other armies out there cope with the same things. A quick look-through on the most pervasive internet-armies showed me that they simply don't have a good answer either! The metagame features quite a few war machines, in particular from Dwarfs, Empire and Orcs and Goblins. This has discouraged people from taking these kinds of lists, and as such most people don't bother too much with counters either.
My resulting question was then: has the metagame evolved further, meaning that fast monsters are so uncommon that even hard-counter armies aren't necessarily impossible to beat? 2 threads in general inspired this train of thought further: a member posted in the tactics section that 'the only way to play competitive High Elves was to bring a Star Dragon'. Another thread, here in the army list section, had a member (thelordcal) win a local tournament with a Star Dragon list. Granted, he disclaimed that his opponents weren't the best nor the list the very hardest. Regardless, my mind was set and I decided to try my best to make such a list work.
The principles behind the list are fairly simple: the key to using these units effectively is to have them clear chaff and support the main combats. To do this effectively, you need 3 things:
- Several fast units, preferably a multitude of flyers
- Redundant combat blocks around which your flyers can work
- A minimal amount of drops to hopefully get first turn. As High Elves we can also factor in Skeinsliver to further help us
As such my first incarnation of the Star Dragon list was born: 1 Star Dragon, 2 Eagle-mounted Nobles, 2 Rare Eagles and a minimal unit of Dragon Princes made up my fast choices. 2 blocks of spears and a mid-sized unit of White Lions provided the combat blocks, numbering nearly 90 infantry!
2012 will surely be interesting, I will keep this thread updated with my progress on how the army works out and evolves.