This guide is also geared towards the 2,000 point game.

Is the Archmage for me?

The Archmage comes to those who want to use magic, basically, and being High Elves we can have a damn good offense and pretty good defence. Sometimes taking a couple level 2s just doesnt give the impact that a level 4 would and so thats where this guy comes in, giving you the choice from all the lores in the book in addition to his own lore that is very good in its own right and giving a natural +1 to dispell this guy ranks as one of the top Wizards in the game in my book. The tactical advantage of being able to take ANY lore in the book is staggering, and to be honest, the Empire are lucky we taught them how.

Equipping the Archmage.

Common builds:

Offensive: A personal favourite

This build consists of giving him two scrolls, the Ring of Fury and Silver wand. This build maximises the mages options throughout the game and is a pretty good all comers list. The scrolls are on this guy because he uses his Arcane slot on the silver wand, which isn't a bad thing, the Silver wand makes it that much more likely to get the spell you want and most lores will have at least two spells you're going to want so this is a massively good investment. The Ring of Fury is for that extra punch, it's a bound spell that doesn't run down and has a huge range on it, being a 2D6 MM makes it even better, it clears up pesky skirmishers, popping this every turn will eventually take its toll on your opponents dispell dice. This is my personal favourite because he's a one elf wrecking ball if you use his bound spell wisely and he always gets the spells I need him to. A very good build in my opinion.

Can't touch this: Defensive

This combination of items is a very one trick pony deal but in an all-comers list it catches people by surprise, that's right, I'm talking about the Forliaths Robe and Talismen of Saphery combo! While this combination is very good at keeping your Archmage out of trouble it will also backfire when he needs to put out some throughput for your army to eat a little quickly. With this combination you will probably give him a silver wand again just to give him the spell selection he deserves and so thats not much of a problem, but he doesn't boast any magic defence or addition magic support, but still a good choice if you know you wont be fighting magical attacks that comes from basic troops in the near future. Some tactics to be used with this build are hiding in units and challenging out a nasty lord character if he solo charges the unit he is in. You can use him to bait Warmachines, a very underrated tactic but it still strikes home for that one turn, putting him in front of a cannon that isnt magical or an organ gun (an organ guns shots can never be magical) or even a line of handgunners "accidentally" can save some swordmasters for a turn, because who can pass up the chance to kill a poor level 4, Toughness 3 Archmage that is standing near a forest (not IN it, this will deter people from shooting him) that is looking around for a juicy target?

These are the most common builds you'll find, some variations may exist but they tend to revolve around the main aspect of either offence or defence. Now we look at some of the items we can use individually.

Openning the vault.

Seerstaff:
Seerstaff is a very nice option to get your mage the spell he needs to get for a game, unfortunately if you're using an Archmage you'll probably be wanting to use a level 2 to follow him up (more on that later) and giving the level 2 the silver wand makes him really unreliable when rolling for his spells, so in my book keep the Seerstaff to the level 2 who needs it much much more and spend points elsewhere.

Vortex Shard:
This little bag of tricks can ruin an undead armies game, a one use only STOP sign that if use CORRECTLY can win a game, however it is a very situational tool and is best used when knowledge of the enemy is available, to go up against an opponent that has little to no magic means you've wasted not only the points spent for this item but any others you may have spent on additional scrolls and such. It's a very good item half of the time but thats 50% too much for my taste, I leave this item at home unless I know I'll be fighting in a big game, a magic heavy environment or an undead army, not advised for tournaments. You'll most usually use this item just as the opponent is about to do some really pivotal movement with his/her magic or you really just need a breather from the magic assault to get your army to come together, it's an un expected surprise that most people don't really expect to see coming. For a more in-depth look at this item you can also see a more relative topic than mine! :http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=31209

Silver Wand:
This item is pretty much the headliner for Arcane items for an Archmage if you dont like the idea of a 1 in 3 chance you wont get the spell you want, which is most of us. The Silver wand is an amazing cheap item that gives us the advantage in so many ways, further capitalising on our ability to choose from all the lores. Like I said before sometimes lores have at least 2 spells you absolutely want to get and this handy item makes sure you get at least one of them.

Book of Hoeth
A double edged sword the Book of Hoeth still makes the top list of all time great items because it follows in Teclis' footsteps. The main downsides to this book is that you cant take any other magical items and you're limited to 4 spells, but with the massive bonus it gives I think this is somewhat outweighed. Many people fall into the pitfall of throwing more dice than they normally would when they have this item in the hopes of getting an irresistable, but then getting a miscast and because you arent actually Teclis you wont survive it, dont let this power book go to your head! Keep your cool! The most popular lore to take with this item is Lore of Shadow, however using lore of shadow means getting either 5 or 6, the massively good spells. However I have played many games where I tried to get 5 and 6 and go neither, but dont underestimate the rest of shadow, it's still an ok lore, but more on that later. Id say this book would need to be the center piece of an army and remember, dont expect any mage to support this one, all the dice your opponent has saved up that wont work because you're getting IF all over the place will all fall on the low level mages. You'll also be missing some magic defence if you take this guy, take a level 1 with scrolls if you use him, he'll dispell back his weight in gold.

Annulian crystal
Another defensive item but in my opinion is too heavily pointed for what it actually does, because it does more than what it says in the book, it also makes your Archmage pretty damn useless in his own magic phase because he has no offence and no spell selection, this should be used on a level 2 in larger games than 2k.

Sigil of Asuryan:
This is a nice item, I like it in fact but I would never take it, I would never take it because of the same reason I wouldnt take Annulian crystal, you need your Archmage to be killing, or to be screwing the enemy up more than once, and it's also on a 4+. 50% of the time you would have just flushed 20 points down the drain where a scroll could have been bought. 2 Scrolls is much better than this because it dispells twice as much, costs the same and lets you take a good Arcane item. Again, better used in larger games when you're running out of the better items to use on characters.

Starwood Staff
This item has a steep points cost for what it does, a meager +1 to cast for that mage only can be points spent better elsewhere.

Trickters Pendant
I really love this item, I love it in large games only though, when magic is flying around. This item has the same principle as the Vortex Shard in that it'll screw people but probably only once per game, if you ever find yourself allied with either Warriors of Choas or Dark Elves then I believe this is a must item.

Gem of Sunfire
This is a dragon mage item that a dragon mage rarely takes. If he doesnt need it then you dont need it either, glaze over it.

Ring of Corin
This nifty item has turned the best units into the game to mush in a single magic phase, its worth taking, it's great for its points cost the only problem with this spell is the timing you need to use it with. You will need a good amount of magic in the first place to drain all the dice and scrolls and you will probably need Ring of Fury on another character somewhere (cant have 2 bounds on one guy) just to drain those especially selected "bound dice" that most people keep in their pool for suprises. I say take this if you know you're fighting a big unit that has really good magical items in it BUT doesnt have magic resistance, its one use only so please be careful with it.

Staff of Solidity
Planning for failure is out of the question! But if you are paranoid about miscasting then I guess you could take this, I never gave it a second glance myself because I dont miscast every game, so I wont use this every game, and an item I pay points for I wont get to use every game I dont want to have in the first place.

Jewel of Dusk
Another item for a level 2 to carry this item can sometimes be nice on a level 4, if you want to go powerdice crazy you could use this in conjunction with a couple of powerstones to really overwhlem your opponent, mostly seem on level 2s I would look over this item too much just yet, it could suprise you, the downside is no good magic selection tools.

Golden Crown of Atrazar
A bizarre item in that it keeps you prected against both a cannon shot and an arrow. But with a points cost that burns deep into 100 points of allowence I would say go for a little more offence or if you really want good defence just go with Forliaths robe.

Loremasters Cloak
Usually only used in conjucntion with the Archmage riding on an eagle this combo is excellent protection from magical attacks but leaves you wanting in places of shooting protection, but of course that wizard basically has a 3+ ward against all incoming ranged attacks anyway but the eagle can and will die if enough shots come his way, its very usually unexpected to see and most opponents will try to magic you out of the sky before shooting, so it's a nice choice if you constantly find yourself out of range of your spells, but this combo is also for the daring and not the weak hearted, if you're going to use this with an eagle then be sure you've had a few practice games before putting it into serious practice.

Scrolls and Stones
These items are fantastic for HEs seeing as we get the discount, dont hesitate to put these sorts of items on your Archmage, if you've got all the items you want dont start throwing things like the Amulet of Light on him, give him a scroll if you've got the points because unless youre fighting dwarves a scroll wont go amiss.

Mounts

A very worthy topic to talk about is the Archmages mount. Many people, me included, don't usually take their Archmage on a mount, but that doesnt mean it's not a good idea. Taking an archmage on a mount can reap many benefits.

Horse
The mains loss here is the ability to go through woods unhindered and your new found line of sight restrictions which spread across the board to all the mounts. The Horse forces you to lose that -1 to hit at a US1 model but doesnt split wounds to the horse, meaning you're even more vulnerable than before but you gained a lot of speed, meaning you may be able to dodge from terrain to terrain, but as you're a magic user you might want line of sight a lot more, meaning if you can see them, they usually can see you.

Eagle
The Eagle is a good choice because it gives greater speed than the horse and a randomised 3 wounds to use up, but dont go using those wounds up like they come back, because they dont. The only problem is that you can not enter woods freely anymore (moving a massive 2" while inside) and you cant join units. Use terrain to your advantage and your opponents line of sight vantage points, player perfectly and the eagle will be worth his points.

Dragon
Or more commonly known as the bullseye. You will suddenly draw a hell of a lot more fire from the enemy and bad news is you havent gained any more protection than being on an eagle really. You only difference is that you can now be in combat and handle yourself to a certain extent, except most opponents will put all attacks on the mage anyway and kill him off for a nice 300+ points worth of Elf. I don't recommend it because a mage shouldnt be in combat on a dragon unless it's in his name.

Support

Ok so you've got your mage, his item setup and a plan of what he'll do, but he cant usually do it all on his own, he needs help. And this section is dedicated to all the unnamed faces that pull the weight in the backstages to make your magical puppet dance his way to the top.

Supporting cast (other mages)
Most of the time you'll need another mage to drag your Archmage from doing something stupid and getting his spells all dispelled. The main reason to have another mage around is to draw dice and pick a more supportive lore, with the Seerstaff on a level 2 you can effectively make the level 2 a perfect partner in crime as he'll be using Beast cowers or what have you to keep the enemy worrying. Most of the time the level 2 goes with an offensive Archmage build, mostly because it simply has the most output onto the enemy front line. You don't really want more than one supporting mage due to high points cost but in higher bracket I would definitely go for it. There is a thing as too much magic and thats when you start miscasting, find your niche in how much you usually miscast and try to build how much magic you use around that. It's all well and good learning about percentages but you wont truly know until you feel it through various games with trying to get spell after spell off in the magic phase. You'll get the feel of how much you actually miscast and you'll build around it.

The Bunker
The Bunker is the unit that will house the Archamge if he is on foot or on a horse, there are many preferrances on this subject but I will list my opinions here;

White Lions: I believe White Lions to be the best bunker for the Archmage, I use them with mine so I may be a little biased. White lions get an improved save against shooting, are stubborn (meaning that if you bail out of the white lion and decide to run behind them while they get charged you wont always just get followed onto by the charing unit smashing through your poor unit) and what I think is their best attribute when concerning magic; their ability to walk through woods. Having a unit that is as free as you are to move through woods and get any line of sight they needs is tremendous. The average size for the white lion unit is about 13-18 models, I wouldnt take a unit of 20 because its still just there to bunker in after all, you can run off later and try to kill things but you wont be winning through combat res, white lions kill cavalry so sending them to do that job is a good use of your time. A good banner to use is the Lion standard as its cheap and allows you to flee when needed, panicking isnt a big deal since you only fail on a 9 with the mage and rally on a 10, if you cant make that then you werent meant to win this game, sorry ;p

Phoenix Guard: A unit of Phoenix Guard are great at standing around but they will only do that one job, they wont kill any. If you're taking Phoenix guard as a bunker keep them small, a 10 man unit is effectively 20 wounds for your mage to get hit by, they cause fear so wont run away at the slightest sign of trouble but as said before, they cant kill anything.

Spears: A block of spearmen is good choice because it can be big and cheap and is still doing its job if it sits back and has a nice time, it can kill a few enemies and can also be immune to fear and terror if you want them to be!

Swordmasters: Swordmasters should really be sitting back with the mage and he should ditch as soon as possible to get into a forest of something similar, the more dangerous the unit gets the less you want the mage inside them, you want them to be out making the enemy threatened.

Archers: Yes Archers. Archers are overlooked so much, archers are not really a bunker but they desrve a mention. Archers are the stepping stone to other units, to stop getting shot or magicked as you attempt to move into another forest. Always use them as such and always thank them as you leave, but try not to spend more than 2 turns in one.

The Props (Items)
Only one item comes to mind when assisting the Archmage do his job.

Banner of Sorcery: The Banner of Sorcery is the stable of an offensive Archmage list, you can leave it at home if you're taking a Forliaths Robe + Talismen of Saphery Archmage but you should always want it by your side because it is your key to getting better magic than you appear to have. Protect it with your life in either Phoenix guard or Dragon Princes and nothing else. I keep mine in dragon princes because they have fast movement to get out of trouble and can also hit hard but I can really see the appeal in Phoenix Guard.

Lores

Your main problem when fighting an army you havent faced before is what lore you should take. And in order of reasons to take lores your opponents army should be at the top, followed by what your items compliment, followed by what sounds cool.

When you have an item like Book of Hoeth then shadow is a must simply because the prospect of getting Unseen lurker is too great to pass up, but when you can can get most of the spells in a lore then it will go largely on your opponent, if requested I will post my views on which lores to take against who but for now I think most people can figure out that Lore of Metal burns armour.

I hope that my little guide helped, if there are any requests for further sections to be added then please say so and please do correct me if anything sounds off in the post. Thanks for reading!

by WarpPhoenix