I've still been thinking of my slug-out with the high elves. They can match my vc in magic, always strike first, and dish out the hits at range as well. The choices are either protect the flanks and hope I can grind his units down or get flanking charges but open myself up to being surrounded my their MUCH faster units. Any tips would be helpful.

This thread really should be in the tactics section. Other than that....

The only way to really up your magic is Vampires with Dark Acolyte. That costs some close combat powers so it really is a trade off one has to balance. VC are stuck with it and if your opponent has heavy defense you either have to go heavy or bring just enough to stop the game changing spells.

Magic in WFB is just odd. Sometimes it is vital sometimes just a distraction between charges and CC. The last game I played only had one spell go through without dispel and that raised a single grave guard with great weapon. Had other games where a unit over forty zombies was raised. Very Rarely has it practically won or lost a game by itself.

If you want to let the hit your flanks that's okay if you have lurking counter chargers like Cairn Wraiths, Black Knights, or vampire on a monster.

Grinding ahead is perfectly valid too. In the last book VC were pretty much forced into tight unit formations except for Ghouls and Fell Bats. Odds are overruns against you won't happen. Undead don't panic like mortals, they break with enough pressure but it isn't a simple task. If most of your army is rank and file then a few ellite units of CC Elves shouldn't be a threat if your units can cover each other.

The Archers don't like Fell Bats getting behind them. Might be a time those direwolves wouldn't be so bad. Presuming they didn't soak up all the fire first. Anything ethereal like spirit hosts moving up will get you a reaction. The Vangulf(sp) doesn't like massed arrow/gun fire so don't make that mistake, trust me. Black Knights can tank the fire and force them back or charge for an overrun.

Thanks. I'll think about that.I'l try using my wraiths and spirit hosts for counter-charging and strike out with my black knights.

What is in this HE force anyways?
There shouldn't be too much there to give you fits. I've toiled with the HE list since buying off CJs Elves and I seem to go back and forth quite a bit.

Dragon princes, the three rank fighting spearmen, and the big sword swinging guys (forget the name). But is' mostly just the dragon princes and ability to counter my magic.

I see..

..two units of Dragon Princes should always find their way into a 2k+ HE army. I suppose thats why they come in at $15 a pop.

The big sword guys are Swordmasters. I am not too keen on those. Sure they have 2 S5 attacks a pop, but just heavy armour. Pheonix Guard have a 4+ Ward and White Lion have a 3+ against shooting.

Going magic heavy versus star dragon is my inner struggle. They need to paint a HUGE model would most likely point me towards the Archmage.

I disagree there. I had a lot of success with my High Elves before they went out to be painted and I only brought Dragon Pirnces once. I do agree about the Swordmasters. I almost never bring them. I love the Pheonix guard though.
I almost always bring a star dragon. They put the fear in my enemies and the model is just so awesome. I usually bring 2 level 2 mages as well.

Back to the original post. VC are tough. You have to decide up front how you want to play them. You either go heavy hitting or magic. They will always have some magic, but you do not have to focus on it. You have counters for anything the High Elves can throw at you. He brings Dragon princes? Counter with Black knights or Blood knights. Spearmen? Skelies are cheap and will not break until destroyed. Make sure to let him do the charging though so he can hit you with few ranks first turn. He will be going first anyway. Ethereals are always nice. Not many units have magical attacks, including the High Elf army. You have fear and terror causers, use them.

Just a few things to consider.

I miss my High Elves .

Handling the VC magic phase is key. Hell, handling any magic phase now is key. I remember the dawn of 7th and all my lists were just a L1 and scrolls. Players were a bit shy due to the miscast table. Not anymore with these latest books..

Crobar wrote:

I disagree there. I had a lot of success with my High Elves before they went out to be painted and I only brought Dragon Pirnces once. I do agree about the Swordmasters. I almost never bring them. I love the Pheonix guard though. I almost always bring a star dragon. They put the fear in my enemies and the model is just so awesome. I usually bring 2 level 2 mages as well.

Agreed. The Star Dragon is brutal. That would leave the HE army light on magic defense meaning the rest of the army needs to be fast a killy. Reavers, Eagles, Dragon Princes, Tiranoc Chariots, etc.

Being able to go minimum of 2 units of 10 Archers (..or Seaguard) to round out core helps the HE big time. Making full use of all those Special slots is huge imo

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2nd place is the 1st loser

Well I guess my tacitc were sound, my blackknights chard the dragon princes, but were beaten, I gave up a flank charge on the spearmen to hit the princes with cairn wraiths only to find out they had the amulet of light >-<. the skeletons held up pretty good for 3 full turns of combat, but one bad magic phase and it all falls apart. I'm thinking a corspe cart with a necro with the danse speel will help. It's a must have spell.