Pre-read of new Dark Elf Book at GD

Interesting army book, and I think Dark Elves will be competitive.

There will probably be lots of reports out on the net, but here's some of what I remember:

I suspect that the signature aspect of DE lists will be a whole lot of assassins. If I recall correctly, every DE infantry unit (probably only core DE units) can take an assassin as an upgrade without taking a character slot. The assassins are not amazing on their own, s3, 4 poisoned attacks, high ws, high I... but each one can take up to 75 points of the gifts of Khaine. I didn't read that section, but suspect it'll be lots of advanced poison, killing blow, frenzy, etc. There doesn't seem to be an assassin character anymore, except for a named character (described later)

All DE have eternal hatred as a special rule. Not great, but should be especially nice for elites and assassins to have.

Manticores will get a lot of use. There is no more beastmaster character, and regular heroes (not casters) can take one as a monstrous mount. 4 attacks, s5, t5, 4 wounds, killing blow, flying and terror - not great value for 200 points, but not bad. Since they can cancel ranks, they should be a good compliment to the infantry with assassins in them. One downside is that they have to test leadership every turn in order to not get frenzied.

Lords retain the ability to take a black dragon. It's breath weapon is now s4, and a unit hit with it will need to pass a leadership test at -3 on its next turn if it wishes to move.

The cauldron of blood is now an upgrade for the hag (with elf hero). The downside is that the hag has to be attached to the cauldron. The good news is that the cauldron is a good bit more effective - it makes any "khainate" units within 12 inches stubborn (I know that includes with elves, but didn't see what else had that distinction) and can also give a blessing to a unit (range? probably 12") of either a 5+ ward, an extra attack, or else killing blow.

The rumor of a new monster or riderless manticore turned out to be false, but the hydra changed a bit. It's 175 points now, and has 7 attacks and regen plus a flaming breath weapon. I think the str (5) was reduced, and don't remember the wounds, but it still has two handlers who are needed to keep it in line. The new hydra model look much better than old versions.

Witch elves have 2 attacks standard and are still frenzied, so 3 attacks for them and possibly 4 attacks if cauldron of blood is nearby. No wards, and I didn't see a special unit upgrade.

I didn't pay close attention to executioners, but they do have killing blow and a great weapon and s4. they have a named unit champ upgrade that costs 90 points if I remember correctly. Didn't look to see what he did.

Shadowblade is a nasty named lord character (can't be general). 300 point assassin - I didn't look at his items because there were at least 5 or 6 of them, possibly all of the gifts of Khaine. He can hide in a DE unit, scout, or hide in an enemy unit. In an enemy unit, on each turn the opponent rolls a d6 - on a 1 he is detected and engages in combat. Otherwise, the DE player can unleash him at any moment and he engages in combat (he replaces a rank and filer who has been killed when he took that guy's place - I don't know if this works on multi-wound or larger than man-sized models). If the unit is in combat already this could be a nasty surprise.

Dark Elf magic isn't too horrible, mostly magic missile and similar damage type stuff. Mages can also opt to take metal, death, shadow, and another one, fire perhaps? Mages automatically get the spell similar to the tzeentch one where if it is allowed to go off, the caster gets another d3+1 power dice, with any unused ones causing a s4 hit. The #6 spell is Black Horror of Anzipal - mortar template is placed on an enemy unit, and anyone who fails a str test is killed outright with no armor save.

Basic DE spearmen are dirt cheap at 6 points per, though a shield costs an extra point. Cheap assassin deployment vehicles. I think repeater crossbowmen are 12 each - the repeater gained armor piercing, but is otherwise still the same. Shades are 16 points each and can scout - they have an option for great weapons, and I think they come standard with a variant of the repeater crossbow called the repeater handbow or something. That handbow has a shorter range and is not armor piercing. Unit champs and characters can take a pair of repeater handbows, giving them the potential for 4 shots. I think the handbow has no range or movement penalties, but can't remember for sure. I didn't see the option of poisoning either the handbow or crossbow, but I wouldn't be surprised. The shades get new plastic models that look very cool.

Cold one riders retain stupidity, though they are Ld 9. New plastic models for these look pretty good - based on the dinosaur raptor look of 5th ed, but are about half the size.

There are no 0-1 choices, and no 2 for 1 choices. Harpies are the only core unit that doesn't count for the minimum number. The only rares are the hydra and reaper bolt thrower.

Sad to say this, but it's probably hard to tell exactly how "hard" the list will be without looking at the magic items, and I didn't want to take any more time with other people waiting, but I think the DE will be very playable and not one to roll over for the VC and daemons.

Ovich wrote:Being able to ALWAYS reroll ALL your hits in the first round of CC is nothing to laugh at. Not as good as ASF, but still nasty

Warlord Solskritt wrote:

Ovich wrote:Being able to ALWAYS reroll ALL your hits in the first round of CC is nothing to laugh at. Not as good as ASF, but still nasty

I thought eternal hatred let you reroll hits every round of CC. Anyways, I can't wait till it comes out so I can start my DE

Q: How many monsters can you fit in a new Dark Elf army? I imagine you can squeeze in 2 Hydras, but what about Dragons and Manticores? Can you put in more than one large Flyer?

A1: The Dreadlord can ride a Dragon and the Master (hero) can ride a Manticore.

A2: Mmmmm...2000 pts can get a dragon, a manitcore, a hydra, a hydra......Oh the Humanity...the Horror!....back it up with 3 units of repeater crossbowmen and 4 cold one chariots and I couldn't offend you any more than if I played with my Johnson hanging out.

luis the young wrote:Just go the Mass repeater bolt trower route, you get what ? 2 for 1 ?? 4 bolt trowers shoudl be able to take out a monster or 2 a turn.

...you could squeeze in 6 terror-causing monsters. How about Lord or Level 4 caster on dragon, 3 heroes on manticores, 2 hydras, and then 3 core units with assassins in them? Doesn't that sound like fun?

Ovich wrote:yeah.. I guess the wood elves are starting to look a little "soft" again.

lordfairfax2001 wrote:

Ovich wrote:yeah.. I guess the wood elves are starting to look a little "soft" again.

Except for the Drycha list...especially with 2 Treemen! I think that list could take a DE monster list.

luis the young wrote:pfffft, i totally pwned drycha and her two treemen, ddint even break a sweat !

your poor son had "the" most horrible rolls in a game i have ever seen, he actually faile 6 LD 8 rolls in a row

lordfairfax2001 wrote:So I saw this conversation on another forum...what do you think???

Q: How many monsters can you fit in a new Dark Elf army? I imagine you can squeeze in 2 Hydras, but what about Dragons and Manticores? Can you put in more than one large Flyer?

A1: The Dreadlord can ride a Dragon and the Master (hero) can ride a Manticore.

A2: Mmmmm...2000 pts can get a dragon, a manitcore, a hydra, a hydra......Oh the Humanity...the Horror!....back it up with 3 units of repeater crossbowmen and 4 cold one chariots and I couldn't offend you any more than if I played with my Johnson hanging out.

Something tells me that a list with 3 models at T6 and one at T5, all of which cause terror and two of which fly will not be fun to play against. Even with ASF, the High Elves will get owned as they will never be able to hurt the models in question!

Dragons are a hero slot, Manticores are a hero slot if ridden by a hero, but not if ridden by a lord. It wasn't clear if Hellebron the Hag Queen's Manticore takes a slot, since she is neither technically a hero or a Dreadlord, but I don't expect you'll see her on one very often anyway, since she has no armor of any kind. She'll always be camped out in a unit, or with a BSB, carrying the always strike first banner, which sadly can only be taken by the BSB, Black Guard, or Cold One Knights.