Forces of Fantasy: High Elven Realms Faction Review

The History of the Old World is entangled with that of the High Elves of Ulthan. One of the first races brought into the world by the will of the Old Ones, they’re the race who stopped the Chaos Invasion, though at great cost to their race. In the aftermath of a terrible Civil War we now find the High Elves trying to guide the humans of the Old World on their path so they can hold their own in the oncoming war against Chaos.

Why Play High Elven Realms

High Elves are one of the most rounded factions in the Old World. They’re able to compete in every phase with elite units for every situation, decent ranged firepower and some of the Old Worlds most powerful mages. This doesn’t even mention what it one of the most fearsome Dragons and glorious Phoenix’s who fly through the air bringing fiery destruction to all who oppose the warriors of Ulthan.

Five Things You Need to Know to Play High Elves

• Silver Helms are an outstanding Core choice for the army
• If there’s a job you want a unit to do High Elves have a specialist unit for that role. Phoenix Guard for an incredible Anvil, Swordmasters to deal damage, White Lions for Bodyguard or navigating terrain, Sisters of Avalorn for ranged damage or Dragon Princes for some of the best shock Cavalry in the game.
• High Elves can’t, outside of a couple of units really take a punch. Toughness Elf (3) and mainly light or heavy armour at best, just means that they’ll take damage when your opponent looks funny at them.
• Having almost exclusive access to High Magic is outstanding and High Elves are arguably the force which makes the most out of it. Add in your own spell Lore with 2 outstanding spells and a reroll once per turn for each caster and you’ve got dominance over your opponents wizards.
• You have a large selection of playstyles open to you. Between ranged firepower and magic or hard hitting cavalry you can choose a style to fit and really play into it if you so wish.

Rules & Weapons of Ulthan

Arrow of Isha – Granting Armour Bane (1) and Armour Piercing -1 to any longbow, shortbow, warbow or Bow of Avelorn carried by the bearer. A straight book to pure armour piercing is great and with the chance of even better armour through the armour bane (1) rule is great.

Blessings of Asuryan – 5+ ward against wounds caused by a flaming attacks. Won’t come up loads but there’s always a chance right? When it does you’ve got more chance of surviving.

Dragon Armour – A Standard 6+ ward is always useful, you’ll never not want an additional save for whatever reason. In addition a Wizard wearing this can still cast spells without penalty. Always useful.

Elven Reflexes – Finally an army defining special rule. Granting anyone with it +1 Initiative characteristic (to a max of 10) in the first round of combat this will turn all your elves up just a little notch and with the different weapon types available to the army you’ll have some scenarios where you’ll be striking first with weapons you have no normal right to be able to do that.

Ithilmar Armour/Ithilmar Barding – Similar to Dragon armour this allows a wizard to wear it and still cast spells but also allows for rerolls of 1 when making Dangerous Terrain tests, which sounds like a really small benefit until you no longer lose 80pts of Dragon Princes in a single bad roll.

Ithilmar Weapons – Grants the bearer’s Hand Weapon (and only Hand Weapon) re-rolls of natural 1s in combat. As nice as this sounds on paper very few models ever make use of it; Shadow Warriors, Sisters of Avalon and a melee character without a magic or special weapon (such as a Dragon Mounted Prince with a Lance who might have to use his Hand Weapon in the second round of combat) really make the most of this.

Lileath’s Blessing – Once per turn this allows a model to re-roll a single failed casting roll. With the FAQ confirming this can’t be saved as protection off a miscast, then get offensive with it, make sure you get that spell off and enjoy what costs most other mages their arcane item slot and a bunch of points to get access too.

Lion Cloak – One of the very oddly-specific special rules attached to a very specific piece of equipment for two units and an upgraded character. This grants +1 save to armour values against none-magic shooting attacks.

Martial Prowess – Old name, new rule. This grants the ability to make supporting attacks to the flank or rear. Realistically you don’t want to be getting flanked or charged in the rear but when you do this can bail out Phoenix Guard a little, it won’t do much to save Spearmen though.

Valour of Ages – Allows the unit to re-roll panic tests for heavy casualties or being fled through, this is great. The amount of times I’ve had units near the board edge and this has prevent them going off the table is so many I’ve lost count. Especially useful as your Ld10 Prince or Ld9 Noble might have taken off (for some reason, we’ll never know) and left the Ld8 army behind.

Bow of Avelorn – An upgrade on the standard Longbow with Magic Attacks being added to the weapon alongside it having a Strength of the User (like a Warbow) instead of S3, this improves it if a melee character is the one using it.

Ceremonial Halberd – Elves love their slightly different special weapons and the Halberd of the Phoenix Guard is no different with a host of special rules; it’s an outstanding weapon for a melee infantry block.

Chracian Great Blade – In effect a -3AP Great Weapon; what’s good enough for cutting down a tree’s good enough for cutting down your foes, right? One of the few ways for High Elves to hit -3AP. this weapon only really comes in the different flavour of White Lions.

Sword of Hoeth – Maybe the standout of the three; in effect a magical attacks Great Weapon which doesn’t have the Strikes Last rule. So not too shabby!

Units and Composition

I think every previous Warhammer Fantasy High Elf unit makes a return in The Old World, so if you have an army of them you can get right in and use your old collection. For those who are wanting to pick up High Elves we have a few options but it looks like we’re going to be waiting a little while for Games Workshop to be prepared to sell you the Warriors of Ulthran.

Heroes

You’ve got a few choices here ranging from powerful melee powerhouses, talented or impetuous mages or support characters. You’ll want to try and work out what way you’d like to play and take the characters to support that playstyle; for example, there isn’t any sense in deciding you want to play with a melee cavalry force and then only taking Handmaidens of the Everqueen as your heroes.

We’ll start with our High Elf Lords, the Prince and Noble. These are the two best melee elves in your force with the Prince being Ws7, I6 and A4 along with Ld10 while the Noble comes in at 1 lower along all those important stats. They do remember at S4 and T3 though and only pack 3 and 2 wounds respectfully. However the High Elves do have a host of items to kit these out in along with a host of mount options and upgrades. They most importantly have access to Full Plate for that base 4+ save meaning they can hit 2+ with different options. They also have Strike First as a rule allowing for I10 in combat or allows them to equip a Great Weapon and still retain I6 in combat.

In terms of upgrades, you can equip your Lords to ride a bunch of different mounts from Steeds, Barded Steeds, Tiranoc Chariots, Griffons, Moon Dragons, Star Dragons or a Great Eagle. In addition you can mount them on a Lion Chariot, Skycutter Chariot, Sun Dragon or one of the Flamespyre or Frostheart Phoenix’s if you’re given them the correct honour. Needless to say … that’s a lot of mounts. One of my favourites is currently a Noble with the Blood of Caledor Honour who’s on a Sun Dragon. The weakest of the Dragons (with stats similar to a Wyvern) allow you to put a really powerful model into your force for ~300 point mark meaning you can get more elves within your force while still having one heck of a powerful monster flying around.

These also make the best location for a host of different items and combinations from the Reaver Bow which grants shots equal to the models Attacks or the powerful White Sword which is a S+3, Ap-2, Monster Slayer, Two-Handed Strikes Last beast of a weapon. In addition you’ve got the option for two different ways to access a 5+ Ward Save and 2 different ways to access +1 Armour Value and a repeatable (common) Enchanted Item called the Seed of Rebirth which grants a 5+ Regen saving throw. All this combined, along with the mount options (especially the flying, fire breathing kind) means your Lord can be the most powerful single model on the table by some distance. But I do feel that that feels right; after all, it’s a powerful Elven Prince who’s fought many battles and has been honing his skills longer than any humans lived.

Mages come in Lv1/3 varieties and can be upgraded to Lv2/4 as with a lot of armies. They have access to Battle Magic, Elementalism, High Magic and Illusion, arguably the best four Lores in the Main Rulebook. With their special rules such as Lileath’s Blessing you can flex that magic muscle and show the lesser races of the Old World who’s in charge. These also have a host of mount options similar to the Lords allowing you to flex that magical muscle in the best way suited to your playstyle. I’m also going to cover the Dragon Mages here, these are a separate entry which in effect comes as a Lv1/2 Mage riding a Sun Dragon. They have access to Battle and Elementalism as Lores; they’re still a mage on a dragon at the end of the day but can have a habit of just picking fights you might not always want with their Impetuous Rule.

Both types of mages can buy items and benefit from one of the same protections as the Lords with (once again) the Seed of Rebirth being a great, cheap, protective item. The elven Arcane items have a standout in the Silvery Wand providing an additional spell for 15pts while the Annulian Crystal allows you to change a spell on the fly. Which if done correctly can grant an additional cast in the same turn (forgetting a Conveyance Spell for a Magic Missile for example) while the a Sigil of Asuryan brings back an automatic dispel without the need for a roll, but at a rather costly 40pts.

The support character I mentioned is the Handmaiden of the Everqueen which is a Bs7 hero with access to the Horn of Isha upgrade. This grants the character and the unit they are in a +1 modifier to their To Hit and To Wound rolls for a full round of the game. The Handmaiden however can’t be mounted and the trick here is trying to make the most of it in both players’ turns, either through shooting and combat, or combat and combat. I imagine the perfect scenario is getting an overrun with the unit in the first combat they fight trying to double dip in the same player turn; if anyone ever manages to pull that off please let us know below. This is all reliant on them passing a Leadership Test on their base Ld of 8, so it’s a little dicey, but once it goes off it can be devastating and swing a game.

Core

We have all the traditional bases covered here. Spearmen, Archers, Light Cav and Medium/Heavy Cav, we even have a combination of the first two with the Seaguard as an option. In addition if your general is a Handmaiden of the Everqueen you’re allowed to take 0-1 Sisters of Avelorn as a Core Choice, but it’s pretty rare you’ll ever really be doing this outside of building a themed list.

Elven Spearmen and Elven Archers are very just the better version of the equivalent human troops. With Ws/Bs4 you’ve got a solid offensive start but with only Light Armour and a Shield combined with the ever present T3 of Elves you can’t take much of a hit. However with Elven Reflexes and your Thrusting Spears you’re I6 in the first round of combat and long with the Fight in Extra Rank rule a five-elf wide unit with a champion can pick up 11Ws4 Attacks before a lot of charging enemies, the idea here being that you take a few out and reduce their attacks before the get to hit you. You can upgrade the unit to have the Shieldwall rule keeping them in the fight longer and allowing you to blunt powerful enemy charges providing you pass your Break Test on your base Leadership turning a Fall Back in Good Order into that brilliant Give Ground result instead.

 Archers aren’t anything to write home about in melee and will struggle to give anything tougher than a Goblin a rough time in melee but with longbows they can put out 1 S3 Range 30” Armour Bane (1) shot a turn and that’ll add up over a few rounds. Enemy skirmishing Cav are one of the best targets for them to pick up their points and force panics on. One other special thing to mention is these two units are the only two Regiment Unit and Detachment Unit in the army which allows the Archers to be attached to the Spearmen to give supporting actions such as Stand & Shooting at the enemy who’s fighting your Spearmen block.

Lothern Seaguard are the combination unit. You get an Elven Spearmen (without upgrade options) and gain a Warbow and the Naval Discipline rule. This allows you to Stand & Shoot then make a free redress the stands manoeuvre when charged. The main use for this is allowing you more shooting attacks with a wide unit then condense the unit into a deeper, but narrower block for combat. This manoeuvre can also open up counter chargers or if your opponent is charging towards the end of your unit allow you to pull models out of charge range. A nice little rule but you do have to play well and know how to use it to make the most of it on the tabletop.

Ellyrian Reavers are the Light Cavalry option for High Elves with M9 from their steeds you’ve got one of the fastest units in the game but they’re also one of the most fragile with only a 6+ save to protect them they’re the definition of a glass cannon. They can have a combination of shortbows or cavalry spears and can be decent in a pinch with Ws4 in combat and a high Int, especially on the charge when combined with Elven Reflexes really allowing them to take out enemy troops before the get hit. The other option is of course do that from range with the shortbow, but that’s not nearly as fun.

Silver Helms are the last of the Core choices available to the High Elven Realm and they’re the standout unit for me. With a 3+ save (when equipped with shields) you have a unit which can mitigate some of the T3 issues and with I5 (and Elven Reflexes) they’re striking first on the charge against anything without Strikes First as a rule in the game. With Ws4 you’re going to be hitting OK (4’s at worst, before modifiers) but only S3 base meaning S5 on the charge you do sometimes suffer from rubber lance syndrome due to A1 so pick your targets carefully. Luckily they also have the horses’ attack to help bail them out as we know the horse always does more than the rider. You’re able to take a Magic Banner worth up to 25pts with the Warbanner being an excellent choice giving the unit a static combat res of +3 (Standard, Warbanner, Close Order) before combat begins and allows them to most force the opponent to either flat out Break or Fall Back in Good Order at worst. I’ve recently built myself a second unit of these and think it won’t be that long before I start on the third.

Special Choices

We’ve now got the big section of options. You’ve got unlimited White Lions of Chrace, Swordmasters of Hoeth, Phoenix Guard, Shadow Warriors and Tiranoc Chariots. Then you’ve got restricted 0-1 Dragon Princes per 1000, 0-1 Lion Chariot of Chrace if your General has the Chracian Hunter Elven Honour and 0-1 Lothern Skycutter if your General has the Sea Guard Elven Honour.

White Lions are the first of the three elite infantry ranked units High Elves have access to. With Ws5 (Yay), S4 (yay) and a fantastic weapon they’re a really terror in melee. Hitting all but the opponent most elite troops on 3’s, followed by wounding even T5 models on 3’s and -3AP to saves you’re going to kill things. Just need to make sure that you’re charging so you get to strike at Int5 with those weapons otherwise T3 and a 5+ save won’t keep you alive for that long. They have Stubborn which can help in keeping them in place as a semi-decent anvil. Chracian Warriors controls who can join the unit through the elven honours system and is a theme through the army while King’s Guard is a brilliant rule allowing them to all accept challenges while the General is in the unit, representing them defending their General with lives when needed (and it will be needed).

Swordmasters of Hoeth are the second of the elite options and have a few similarities to the White Lions. Warriors of the White Tower controls who can join the unit and who they won’t associate with in a similar way to Chracian Warriors. With Ws6 you’ve got infantry with a Ws better than a lot of enemies Generals and I6 along with Elven Reflexes means you’re striking at I7 even when charged, take that everything else in the game. They do suffer from T3 and 5+ saves like most elves but do have the Deflect Shots rule which grants them a 6+ ward save against none-magical shooting, it’s not great but it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Their main selling point is their Sword of Hoeth however which is a +2Str, -2AP Magical Weapon. The key part here is it isn’t Strikes Last so makes them able to kill most of the enemies front rank before they strike, offence is clearly the best form of defence with the Swordmasters. They can also take Drilled as an upgrade, would highly recommend this, without a doubt one of the better Universal Special Rules in the game, take it nearly everywhere you can.

The third unit of renown with the High Elves in terms of ranked infantry are the Phoenix Guard. These are the most defensive of the three with Full Plate for a 4+ save and an inbuilt 6+ ward against none-magical enemy attacks (both shooting and melee). Their Ceremonial Halberds are a fantastic weapon combining the best aspects of both a Spear and a Halberd. They cause Fear and come with Veteran as standard which is great for making sure they do their job, also access to Drilled (see above) so you’ll want that. They have access to any of the banners with a 100pt allowance allowing for some powerful combat resolution with things such as the Battle Banner being an option. I really like the unit, but they aren’t point and click but they’re good at what they do, staying in place and grinding out enemy units.

Shadow Warriors are the Elves who guard the coast of Nagarythe and keep an eye on their evil cousins. Armed with a Longbow and that Ithilmar Hand Weapon you’ve got a unit which can put out some decent small arms fire with their Longbows. Access to a bunch of special rules mean you can tailor them to suit your force, but Feigned Flight along with their Fire & Flee special rule is maybe the best combination of the two.

Tiranoc Chariots are the last of the unrestricted Special Choices and are a light chariot with a decent 75pt price tag. For that you’re getting one of the fastest chariots in the game at M9, along with 2 steeds and 2 elves who have both longbows and cavalry spears for weapons. D6 impact hits (despite being AP -) are always great and swiftstride means it’ll get into the combats the elven general needs it to. They can also be taken in units of up to 4 or just singles if your heart desires. Their main weakness is only a 5+ Armour Value but with T4 and W4 they won’t go down to small arms fire that easily.

Dragon Princes are the last of the choices we aren’t going to cover in the Rare section and come with a 0-1 limit per 1000pts. These are your elite shock cavalry, but it comes at a price. 37pts per model is steep for a single wound T3 model but they have both a 2+ save and a 6+ ward granted by their armour. Ws5, A2 and Lances are excellent at dealing out damage and adding in a character can really tip them into ridiculous damage output. They have Impetuous which is a downside unless you really play into it. 50% chance of having to declare chargers is only a negative if you weren’t going to declare a charge anyway right? Use your army to force the enemy to fight on your terms where the Dragon Princes can really shine and you’ll be onto a winner. Just to note they have Drilled as well so you’ll can use that to get the best chargers available to you if you have a few in additional Dragon Princes in a 2^nd rank behind the first.

Rare Options

High Elves have a host of different rare options, we have unlimited (within the 25%) Sister of Avelorn, Lion Chariots of Chrace and Lothern Skycutters. 0-1 of either Phoenix’s per 1000, 0-2 Great Eagles per 1000 and 0-2 Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers with the same restriction.

Sisters of Avelorn are back and this is a premium infantry shooting unit. Bs5 with Bows of Avelorn (better longbows) with Skirmish for protection and an option for the stubborn rule if you really want to play around them. Arrows of Isha and the bow mean they’ll be able to deal a ridiculous amount of damage at range, they also have Evasive to keep themselves alive and Ignore Cover on their shooting. They also have Strike First and Ithilmar Weapons so with a decent sized unit you can get ~7-10 models in combat and deal some damage before the enemy strikes you, even better! There isn’t anything to dislike here bar the fact that they only have light armour, but just don’t get shot and what does it matter?

Lion Chariots are the heavier, slower brother of the Tiranoc Chariots. They lose a pip of Move down to M8 and also lose Swiftstrider. However they gain Fear, First Charge, Lion Cloak (for a 3+ ranged save) and Stubborn. The D6 impact hits remain but are boosted to S5. The Lion Charioteers (White Lions) are in the back dealing out S6 -3AP Attacks and the War Lions themselves pulling the chariot have 2S4 attacks each. Not bad output from a single chariot at all really. They can also be taken as a mount for certain characters with the right Elven Honour, having seen this in action it’s really different and something I’d like to try moving forward.

Lothern Skycutters are the third type of chariot available to the High Elves and this one is unique in that it flies! With a Swiftfeather Roc pulling it along it floats over the heads of friendly troops before piling into the enemy ranks. This packs D3+1 impact hits (-2 AP for Heavy Chariot) and with Fly (10) on the Roc and Swiftstride it’s going to be able to deliver them where needed. You can also pick up an Eagle-Eye Bolt Thrower to go on top of the chariot which adds a Range 24”, S5, -3AP, Clumbersome, Multiwound (D3) shot to the table. I think they’re a really interesting unit on the table and if you want the best of a ranged unit with a little bit of a melee punch they’re a decent idea.

The Flamespyre Phoenix is the young, vibrant and colourful version. It’s a light monster with S5 and A3 along with Stomp (2). What this monster can do though is be killed and burn bright coming back to life. In battle once defeated you roll a dice and it can do nothing, explode hurting enemy units or just come back to life. In addition it’s got another cool feature where you can move over enemy models with it’s Wake of Fire attack and deal D6 S4 hits with -1AP. A little random but you deal damage without any worry of comeback.

The Frostheart Phoenix is the older more mature Phoenix and is a combat monster. With Ws6, S6, T6 and A4 along with his Stomp (2) Attacks it will really hurt the enemy. Enemy models in base to base with the Phoenix also suffer the Strike Last rule so you’re nearly always getting to apply those high value attacks to the enemy first. Swiftstride and Fly (9) are also going to mean you can pick your fights. One of these as a bodyguard for a Dragon is amazing on the table and really lefts you flex into anything.

Great Eagles are the smallest monster that High Elves can invite to the field and are certainly a light creature with Ws5, S/T4 and W3 they’re not going to be sticking around for long, especially without an armour save. But with 3 Attacks and a single Stomp (which is very easy to forget) means however it will win a bunch of fights against lightly armoured missile troops of warmachines. The Serrated Maw weapons profile (which is makes one attack with) has Armour Bane (2) and Multiple Wounds (2) so can actually deal 5 wounds in a combat round, amazing for 60pts with fly. I’m a big fan of taking a few of these where possible to enable the magic missiles the Elves sometimes want, being able to engage the enemy wizard to deny dispelling is just outstanding.

The last real unit entry for the High Elves are the Eagle-Claw Bolt Throwers. At 80pts for a 2W Machine you’re paying a premium but they bring something to the Elf Army, and that’s a big shot, which they don’t get in many other places at all. In terms of pure maths under most circumstances the Sisters of Avelorn are better, but a single Bolt Thrower isn’t nearly as vulnerable to the enemy returning fire (unless it’s an enemy Cannon!) so there is always that. I’ve found that 1, maybe 2 at a push is actually really good within the list, being able to take a few wounds off some of the enemy larger targets before you charge in with Cav or a Dragon to finish them off can really tip a combat in your favour.

I’d just like to take a few moments to run through a the mount options I’ve not really spoken about bar in passing. The Griffon is 130pts and brings Ws5, S5 A4 (-2AP) attacks along with D3 Stomps and +2T and +3W to the elf on top. It really is a budget monster but it’s a good budget monster. The next one up is the Sun Dragon, which is my new favourite small mount for a Noble. Similar damage output to the Griffon but you get D6 Stomps and an additional wound for another 50pts, a decent upgrade in my view. The middle dragon is the Moon Dragon and this is the level of a lot of other big mounts in other armies. You’re getting yet another wound (+5) to the rider along with A5 at S6 (and Ws6) along with D6 Stomps, it’s a beast. The final one we have is the big one, the Star Dragon. At Ws7, S7, A6 and +3T/+6W you’re looking at a ridiculous beast. Also coming in with D6+1 Stomps it’s just terrifying to fight in combat, chances are outside of a nice Monster Slayer Attack chances are you aren’t taking it out.

Elven Honours

These are the character upgrades available to the High Elven Realms and they cover just about every thematic stance you could take with your Elven Characters. Some of these have restrictions on what type of character they can be taken on and some come with in game downsides in addition to bonuses so just look at what you want and why. They also allow you to put characters in certain units which you can’t do without so you need to plan about where you want to put your characters when they’re on the table at the army list construction stage.

Loremaster allows you to turn a Lord into a Lv1 wizard and gain a Sword of Hoeth. Shadow Stalker allows you to be a sneaky Shadow Warrior type elven lord, really want to try this on a mage at some point as a way to help keep them safer. Annoited of Asuryan allows your character to ride a Phoenix and gain a host of Phoenix Guard special rules. Blood of Caledor is cool in that you gain a stat bonus in +1WS and allows you to ride certain mounts (only way to access the Sun Dragon), you also gain the Impetuous rule as you’re young (for an elf) and ready for the fight.

Chracian Hunter grants the ability to ride a Lion Chariot and is a great way to get a powerful weapon onto an Illusion Mage, Stubborn is also always a great rule to hold up enemy units. Warden of Saphery is another way to get a great weapon into the hands of an Illusion Mage and gaining the Killing Blow rule lets the wielder of that Sword of Hoeth to threaten all types of Infantry and Cavalry with a few lucky rolls. Pure of Heart is great for allowing instant passing of panic tests, but outside of being on a Noble you aren’t going to get much benefits of the rest of it. Finally we have the Sea Guard Honour. This is free and you should really look to take if you aren’t just taking the Pure of Heart. Rallying Cry allows for some really cool out of sequence rallies, also a free Warbow is free right?

Lore of Saphery

Hand of Khaine – Cast on an 8+, this Assailment spell causes a single S4, No Armour Save hit on the enemy. Nothing really to write home about but if you wanted to make a Combat focused wizard you could take this option.

Courage of Aenarion – An Enchantment Spell which makes a unit within 15” unbreakable on a 10+. Unbreakable is a fantastic rule but is let down a little by being a Remains in Play Spell. The enemy will need to roll an 11 to dispel, so with a Lv4 that’s only around a 55% chance. It’s a great spell but don’t plan a whole game around it.

Vaul’s Unmaking – Something you can plan certain game plans around. A little difficult to sometimes get off with it only being 12” and a Hex means it’s got to be powerful and boy, is it. Cast on an 11+ you pick an enemy character within range and an item they are carrying (casting players choice) is “unmade” and removed from the game. Coupled with High Magic’s Walk Between Worlds you can have a bunch of fun. Removing an Ogres Magic Weapon before charging him with an Etheral unit of Spearmen to challenge him out and win via Static CR and remove his FBIGO option due to 2:1 outnumbering is great, you’ll feel you’ve really had to work to get it off and when you do, amazing.

Magic Items

I’m not going to go through everything here but I’m going to pick my favourite from each section here for you.

The White Sword – 70pts is a lot of points. But it’s massive weapon. S+3, Ap-2, Required Two Hands, Strikes Last and Monster Slayer. You only get 4 attacks with this (Or Lore of Illusion with this on your Lv4 if you’re crazy) but they’ll count!

The Dragon Helm – Really hard picking between these two as you’ve got another 5+ ward as an option here. However being able to increase your armour value by +1 for 10 points is just amazing. This lets you get a 2+ save on your Dragon and that’s never a bad thing (as the Elf Player).

The Loremaster’s Cloak – For 25pts you can pick up a 4+ ward against Magic Missiles for the unit this is in. With all the elite units champion upgrade being able to take magic items you can take this on them and protect those T3 elves a little better, especially the Swordmasters and White Lions. I think if I was taking a unit of either and had the points I’d want to take this with me to battle.

Battle Banner – I referred to this earlier. A Battle Standard Bearer on a defensive character where you can take a Magic Banner without it impacting other purchases is just great. +D3 combat resolution on command is great and with bigger elf units (like 10 Princes with characters for a massive unit strength) can really force your opponent into Giving Ground or Breaking, removing the Fall Back in Good Order option.

Enchanted Items – Seed of Rebirth, it’s outstanding. A 5+ regen save on models for 20points is brilliant, not sure why this is so cheap but it’s great, take advantage of it.

 Arcane Items – Silvery Wand, an additional spell for 15pts is brilliant. It allows you to get 5 on your Lv4 which is most of any Lore. It allows you to gamble on not taking the Lore Familiar with just about any lore bar Illusion (where I think it’s mandatory) and get a 5^th brilliant spell for options. I don’t leave home without this in nearly any list.

What’s Next?

So, that’s the “quick” breakdown of the High Elves, lets have a look at some lists shall we? I’m attending an event in a few weeks and I’m fairly locked into the below;

Click here to expand list

I’m still playing with the magic items – the Warbanner on the Silver Helms are the current flexible points and the Swordmasters might pick up a Loremaster’s cloak instead. You’ve got the Prince on a Star Dragon who’s pretty much indestructible with a 2+, 5+, 5+ save (against shooting, 3+ in melee) along with 2 units of Silver Helms and Eagles to take the fight to the enemy. We than have a decent sized block of Spearmen with 2 detachments of Archers for a little ranged supply. Rounding out the list with have the Lv4 with his Silvery Wand/Ruby Ring Combo for ranged firepower or buffing along with two elite melee units and a single Bolt Thrower to keep certain enemy units honest.

The above is a very rounded High Elf list, with a little bit of everything and plays into a couple of their strengths, but what about if you wanted to play more of a themed list? Maybe the mountains of Caledor are more your thing?

Click here to expand list

Here we have three Dragons and a unit of Dragon Princes, along with enough Core to make it a legal themed army list. You don’t get to take the Star Dragon in the list and you’re also left without a Ward Save (though I think you can have a play if you’re prepared to lose the regen on either of the other dragons – so you’d need to pick what works for you) though the Moon Dragon does have both a good save (2+) and a regen. The other option is to pick up the Blood of Caledor Honour for the General and in doing so pick up that free 6+ ward but also pick up Impetuous in the process, so it’s once again a personal decision on the route to take. But that’s part of the joy in list writing in The Old World.

Final Thoughts

That’s it when it comes to the High Elven Realms Army for now. I can’t wait to get my hands on an Arcane Tome at some point in the future as I’m sure that’ll come with some new characters, items and armies of legacy. Until then please let us know below what you’ve been trying with the High Elven Realms and how you’ve been getting on with them.