My opinions on the new High Elves' rules have changed a couple of
times as the rumours have become more clear; at first I thought it
could be nowhere near as bad as the biggest doomsayers were
predicting... but as more and more rumours came out, sadly it seemed
that they were correct. However I've since mellowed a little on the
rules, and I'll be happy to fight against them.
The main changes...
Core Infantry
Our core infantry has never existed to kill anything, and indeed
Zombies always struck last anyway. However, the key is to avoid
Swordmasters like the plague, and unless you have overriding magical
superiority, then don't even try and engage them to the front. 15
Swordmasters arranged 7-wide will wipe out a unit of 20 Zombies in one
turn, most the time. If you can raise a new unit and hit them in the
flank, but it's only worth doing if they have a single rank or perhaps
two- any more and your flanking unit will fall pathetically, unless
you've bumped it up to full ranks.
Mage/ warmachine hunters
Dire Wolves and Fell Bats have taken a huge hit this time. They now
stand no chance against Archers (5 Dire Wolves, assuming they reach
combat intact, will face 8 attacks from a line of Archers, killing 3
on average and crumbling the rest), and even Bolt Thrower crews will
give us a hard time- Fell Bats should still win (and autobreak them if
they survive) but Dire Wolves may take a casualty before they can hit
back, giving them huge bounce-potential.
Ethereals and Rare choices
Obviously Banshees will be a very good idea against High Elves, as
will Spirit Hosts- but beware of a new magic item that makes a unit's
attacks magical; yes, the writer has thought of everything. The Black Coach
will probably see a lot more action as well, thanks to the impact hits going
before ASF. Plus terror, to make units run...
Elites
My main concern with ASF with regard to our troops was because our
elites have WS3, meaning that the lowliest High Elf will be hitting
them on 3+. However this is not such a big deal really, as Archers and
Spearmen will rarely penetrate the toughness and armour of our Wights,
whilst the elites would have been hitting on 3+ anyways even if they
had WS4. Grave Guard can expect to lose their entire front rank to
Swordmasters and Black Knights could lose half the unit.
Mitigating ASF
It's clear therefore, that head on combat with High Elves will be a
disaster. However, we still have the biggest mitigating factor in the
game: Fear. Lion Chariots, Dragons, Griffons and Phoenix Guard are
immune to fear, but if you can charge them, it's probably a good idea,
as they aren't strong enough to rip entire units to shreds most the
time anyway, and they can then be pinned down nicely.
The rest of the time, the enemy will be testing on high Leadership, so
won't fail much- but they will be really affected when it does happen.
However, this is exactly how it is in the currect edition, so nothing
changes here. Combined charges may work out in the end- a unit of
Swordmasters at Ld8 has a 30% chance of failing theie fear test and
running away from one unit of 20 Skellies- but throw in 20 Zombies at
the same time, and they now have to take 2 Fear tests, and two chances
to fail and run. And as more often we'll be facing a General on a
Dragon running all over the battlefield, this means that they won't
benefit from the General's leadership as often. Our real hopes lie
within slowing down the most powerful enemies (Raise units or send
bats/ wolves in to march-block) and focussing on the weaker elements
if possible. Items like the Cursed Book are a great help as ever,
reducing the killing power of the Elves.
Magic
It might even be a good idea to take Dark Magic more often now,
especially if you haven't rolled up Gaze of Nagash (Or Curse of Years
to a lesser extent). Hellish Vigour and the Staff of Damnation become
nigh-useless, only speeding up our Vampires, and can hel a slight
amount if you think you'll have front-rank survivors. Be careful on
the new High Elf Drain Magic, which adds 3 to casting values, but you
need to pump a lot of dice into the more powerful castings to get them
off anyway. At least it won't affect the Book of Arkhan. There's also
a new 75 point one-use item that ends the magic phase right away-
however don't worry about thsi too much (Unless you're a Zombie Horde
gimp, in which case I have no pity!) though, I've been on the
receiving end of the Lizardmen's Cube of Power a couple of times which
costs 40 points and wasn't the end of the world.
Characters
Unfortunately this is where we lose out a LOT. All of our Thralls will
be vulnerable to the initial strikes of the High Elves, even Archers
could wound a Thrall- Spearmen could kill a thrall and Swordmasters
will only fail if their owner doesn't allocate attacks (Of if you
delcare a challenge and face only 3 attacks, but still they might
die). The same applies to Wight Lords, and doubly so to Battle
Standards, unless you have the Flayed Hauberk on them. Lahmians will
continue rising in popularity, as their Initiative 8 Thralls (Usually
with ASF) will strike before the Elves, but one bad round of dice will
end the Thralls' existence. Even a Vampire Count (Non-Lahmian and
unarmoured) will have to worry about Swordmasters however, Rank and
File being able to kill a Count really exposes the flaws of the ASF's
design.
Anyway, that's a nice long rant for now...