Dark Elf Foibles ?

[Magpie]

My first game of Fantasy is likely to be against Dark Elves at about the 2k level.

Would anyone be kind enough to give me a basic "Handbook for the Modern Vampire Lord" for facing Dark Elves?

I'm looking for their strengths and weaknesses basically.

 

[Count Darvaleth]

Ok, here's a list of bewares I can think of:

- Hydras. They will eat you; use flaming attacks and hope. Or feed them a gazillion zombies. Just beware of their ability.

- Shadow Magic; specifically Okkam's Mindrazor. Dark Elves have high leadership but mostly low strength; when you use this spell they substitute their Leadership for their Strength. Beware S9 Elves!

- Witch Elves. These are just plain nasty, whittle them down before they hit you! [Edit: Made even nastier by Cauldrons of Blood...!]

- Invincible Lord. They can take a nasty Amulet which needs to roll below the strength of the hit to pass the ward-save. So at S3, a 3,2, or 1 will pass. So basically the equivalent of a 4+, and that's only S3 where their armour will be at max. At S4, they pass on a 4-1, so basically a 3+. As soon as you hit S5, where their armour might be compromised a little, they have a 2+ equivalent, only failing on 6s. BEWARE!

- Magic in general; Dark Elf magic can be nasty. Lots of zappy spells, Sacrificial Dagger giving more power to spells, their Signature Spell creating more Power Dice.

 

[Taijushue]

their weakness is T3, only way to get a T4 elf is on a dark pegasus. also anything that is not mounted will have a 5+ at best armor besides characters.

one thing i have found helps me when i am dark elves playing against vampires is 2 good sized units of repeater xbows. 2 units of 20 will be sending 40 shots of str 3 armor piercing bolts into the undeads faces. that massed fire will more than counter invocation.

i would recommend bringing some fast units because the dark elves will be bringing lots of them. also ethereal can be helpful for holding up units but there are a few units u need to keep them away from.

cold one knights and black guard can both bring magic weapons on their champs and have some good choices for them.

 

[Melle]

the mentioned amulet is vulnerable to attacks without strvalue, (it doesn't work without str value)so bring scream, TG and/or banshees.
all druchii have hatred, and high Initiative, 5+ , also ws4+ so they will land plenty hits on you.
drawback is str.

 

[The Sun King]

The easy answer is: they don't have weaknesses. The reason why I say this is their EXTREMELY low points value. They get more bang for the buck than most other armies. They are not undefeatable and the above posts gives a good picture of what to be aware of.

My tactics against DE includes: Points denial, war of attrition, magic superiority and screaming. Also I, for some reason, have the idea that a Dual Mortis Engine list would fare well against the Druchii.

 

[Narenzade]

Terrorgheists to destroy their 'invincible Lord'.

Also, their low toughness is their only real weakness. Time your charges, so that you can get in on your turn when he doesn't have Mindrazor up... Then pray. Pray that he doesn't do it on his turn.

Crypt Horrors too. The toughness and regen of the Horrors is generally enough to keep a unit at bay or even destroy it unless of course there's too much SHADOE magic.

 

[DivineEdge]

Hydras are a really big threat. Black Guard are super elite and will cut through most of your army.

Repeater crossbowmen can lay down some serious firepower for pretty cheap. Beware them.

Shadow and Death are really dangerous lores, and all the casting gidgets (sac dagger, power of darkness, etc) make them even worse.

Magic superiority is probably not going to happen - if it does, then you probably filled up your hero/lords slots with mages. Their magic is also the only one that scares to points levels, so beware of it when the points limits get higher.

They have hatred on everything - universal rerolls to hit in 1st round. This, coupled with I 5+ on everything, means they hit first and hit hard but usually take damage to the face.

Good luck!

 

[Melle]

dual ME could work, cruisemissile them late game to explode among his ranks.

 

[The Sun King]

Yeah Melle, and if all hell is loose having them do a kamikaze run early is not all bad since one of DE's weak points are their low T, so even a Turn 3 Cruisermissile could do considerable damage.

 

[Seneschal]

Feed a spirit host to a hydra and laugh at it.

Black Guard cap at 20 but they tend to be targets for a mindrazor spell. Because of their low numbers, however, a VL should crush them handily.

The cauldron can give a unit a 5+ ward save, 1+ attack or KB. Other trickster's shard will help against the ward. The cauldron attendants and the hero they accompany have a 4+ ward and many poison attacks with hatred so they might be able to take down 3 vargheists in combat.

 

[Magpie]

Any chance you guys can do a glossary? LOL !

WTF is an ME, cruisemissle and dart formation ?

What do Spirit Hosts do to tie up a hydra? i've looked at them and they look pretty dull, obviously I am missing something.

 

[Taijushue]

mortise engine, has an upgrade to give you +2 to casting lore of vampires spells

cruisemissle is sending it in when near death because when it dies it blows up and hurts things around it.

dart formation is a single column to limit the attacks back and make your unit die from crumple so they cant over run

spirit host is ethereal so cant be hurt by the hydra since it isnt magical and the hydra has no rank or banner so unless the hydra gets the charge the spirit host will either tie or beat the hydra in combat if it causes a wound. basically one host can take the hydra out of the game unless it gets support

 

[Seneschal]

Dart formation is actually a unit of 5 wolves deployed 3 in the front, 2 in the back. In this way, they can assign all of their attacks to an enemy wizard.
The single file formation is known as conga line (La da da da da DA! La da da da da DAH!) which is now much better thanks to the FAQ update. If a unit crumbles due to combat resolution, the enemy cannot overrun, thus, 10 man skellie units with a champion are a nice buy, as are zombie units fielded 5 or less wide.

 

[Xivigg]

Here's the link to the glossary

https://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-Glossary-of-Terms-Beginners-Guide--7513

 

[Taijushue]

oops my bad, well i learned something new tonight

 

[Melle]

ME is Mortis Engine

 

[Magpie]

Great guys, thanks for the tips.

Now to work on a list!

 

[The Sun King]

And the reason why Spirit Hosts tie things up is because they are Ethereal(which means only magic attacks can hurt them)... so a Hydra will never be able to kill a host.