8th Ed. 2500pt list vs Dark Elves

[Saurus2301]

hey guys, so me and my group have started our summer tournament and this time I lucked out and I have to play against 2 Dark Elves and 1 Wood Elf. The way the tourney is played is that army lists are locked for the 1st round and can be changed going into round 2. Also with this list every battle I am allowed to change lores and magic items, provided that the magic item is of the same point value as the previous one. Anyway.. This list is not typical of me as I have to change my tactics. So with out further ado, here is the list.

Lords:

Slann: BSB, Unfathomable Presence, Soul of Stone, Eldritch Energy

Heroes:

Scar Vet: Light Armor, Shield, Gold Sigil Sword
Skink Chief: Light Armor, Shield, Sword of Battle

Core Units:

Skink Skirmishers: x13, x14, x14 (all javelins)
Saurus Warriors: x30, Full command

Special Units:

Temple Guards: x31, Full Command
Jungle Swarms: x2
Stegadon: x1, Devastating charge upgrade
Ripperdactyls: x3

Rare Units:

A. Stegadon: x1, Devastating charge upgrade
Salamanders: x2

Total: 2, 495


My plan is to push forth without taking to much damage. My skinks are for re-direct and to annoy players. Stegadons are there for the high toughness and i think it will be hard for elves to kill 1 let alone 2. the swarms are poison obviously, rippers i plan to flank archers like crazy and drop blot toads on them. salamanders im thinking of using high magic to make them ethereal and just have them open fire.

I am open to any and all suggestions, also I am willing to change things and please be critical of this list. I am an average player at Warhammer at best and I really wanna do well this tourney and prove that not only do I know the rules of the game but im also a threat to play against.

 

[D43m0nSp4wn]

Firstly let me say I love salamanders they are awesome. However they are best against enemies that are going to bring big blocks of troops for you to burn in high numbers, it helps if those troops are low armour low leadership as you will kill high numbers and they will run away. I would question they're utility against any elves but particularly DE as you will probably (if it's like the meta at my club) see lots of small fast cav units like doomfire warlocks which are going to be hard to get hold of with the salamanders.

Also I'd be tempted to swap Eldritch for harmonic covergence and add the channelling staff ( i know this is quite a bit more expensive) that way you can happily use all your dispel dice and should (statistically at least) channel an extra dice in both your magic phase and your opponents.

Also if you swap the Unfathomable Presence for the Obsidian Amulet, you will always have MR2 which stacks with the ward save for a permanent 2++ against spells for the same points, instead of a 2/3 chance of getting it.

I personally don't have good experiences with Skink Chiefs but that is just me. I'd probably take a Skink Priest instead (with a dispel scroll), and possibly try and squeeze in a second priest with the cube of darkness. Really lock up the magic phase.

The rest of it seems cool to me, but I guess it's largely horses for courses as to what fits your play style.

 

[Saurus2301]

amazing. thank you for the pointers. i am definitely taking all that advice as it was very useful. i found my sallies constantly trying to find a target and were blown to bits by archers. so ill be replacing them. i took the swarms out for extra points and i swapped the chief for a priest and a dispel scroll. im going to try ur slann advice because ill be honest i did not control the magic phase at all and found myself literally not meeting the casting value of any spell thus ending the phase. by taking the amulet does that mean the whole unit gets a 2+ ward? or does the slann get 2+ and the unit get 5+?

i did not end up winning the battle but it was very close. phoenix guards are in a class of their own and im not a sore loser but god damn are they ever cheap with ASF, re-rolls, ward saves. give me a break.. one point more then temple guards and they are totally unbeatable.

 

[Sunchax]

Salamanders is usually amazing vs dark elves the times i play agains them. I often meet twin tower or which elves hords with cauldron thought.

 

[D43m0nSp4wn]

Salamanders is usually amazing vs dark elves the times i play agains them. I often meet twin tower or which elves hords with cauldron thought.

Yeah mate, I'm a massive fan of salamanders generally. However against the meta I see for DE they're no use at all, I'm in complete agreement with you if facing hordes of Witch Elves.

Saurus2301 - The Magic resistance is not conferred to the unit, only to the slann himself.

I think everyone would agree that Phoenix Guard are OP for their points (along with much of the HE book to be fair) however they are definitely not unbeatable. Also you do have the option of ignoring/avoiding them and getting points from everything else.

The Slann build I suggested is just one of many many different decent builds and happens to be one I like a lot, I would have a look at the tactica on this site for other items/builds/lores that work well.

 

[hdctambien]

Saurus2301 - The Magic resistance is not conferred to the unit, only to the slann himself.

If any model has MR the whole unit gets MR.

by taking the amulet does that mean the whole unit gets a 2+ ward? or does the slann get 2+ and the unit get 5+?

The Slann gets 2+ and the unit gets 5+ from MR. If there was an Engine of the Gods nearby giving the unit a 6+ ward, then the MR would push that to a 4+!

 

[D43m0nSp4wn]

My bad, I didn't realise that (although to be fair I normally run a solo ethereal slann), but having just reread the MR rules I'm really not sure how I didn't know that.

 

[Stonecutter]

As both a wood elf and druchii player, here is what I think you can expect from these armies:

Woodelves - lots of shooting as they are very weak in CC with the exception of wild riders, of which there are likely to be 2-3 units of 5-10. Even the mighty treeman is only S5 so the steggies will live to fight. Note that core archer upgrades include poison shooting or hitting on 3+ while waywatchers can ignore armour saves.

Druchii - while the fast cav variant is possible (doom warlocks & dark riders for core), druchii have excellent CC options and monsters that can absolutely shred lizards (e.g. executioners, witch elves, Kharibyss, etc.). The RBTs are also a more common option for shooting now since they are much cheaper and can field 4 of them to provide overlapping 24 x S4 AP shooting across almost the entire board.

With all of the above in mind, here are some changes in the list that would frighten me if I were on the other side of the table:

Slaan - as already mentioned, go with channelling staff and harm convergence. I would also consider loremaster high as almost every spell is useful vs elves and the ability to swap out for other lores helps with in-game adjustments.

SVs - cowboy on cold one with dawnstone, dragonhelm, OTS & GW. This guy can single-handedly run through an entire woodelf army and hold up anything short of a kharibis (sp?) or executioners in a druchii list.

Skink chief - dump him and go with a scroll caddy who can also be a launching point for slaan direct damage and magic missile spells. Skink chief will die to rank and file elves with ease.

Skirmishers - 4 x 10 is better since they are re-directors and screening against shooting. Having an extra drop never hurts and if they have to take one for the team, better to lose a minimum size unit. Also provides a unit to park the skink priest in

Saurus - will be entirely outclassed by druchii infantry of all types but we can't do much about that apart from magic buffs/hexes.

Rippers - wasted against ASF elves with higher WS & I and will die before they can do anything. Drop them to free up points.

Swarms - as for rippers, will die before seeing combat as the elves have lots of chaff that can kill these in CC as well as shooting. Drop them to free up points.

Stegs - fine as is.

Sallies - absolutely essential IMHO vs elves. S4 Flame templates will kill a lot of elves, even fast cav, and every wound is a panic with the chance to make them run. Combined with walk between worlds, a sallie pack can be flaming an entire elf line on turn 1. If anything, I would consider adding a 3rd. The template is also useful for encouraging players to exit the building Two added bonuses are: 1) they are monstrous beasts and hence stomp @S5 and can kill S3/T3 elves with ease in CC. 2) they are stubborn in the woods. Kept within range of the slaan, they will hold down to the last wound.

What to do with the free points from dropping rippers & swarms in:

1) more stuff for the slaan

2) chameleons - these guys are worth their weight in gold vs dark elves. A couple units of ~8 can kill a couple RBTs each turn, drop or severely wound big monsters/chariots or go after other high value targets. Another important advantage they bring is denying or reducing vanguard. Since vanguard cannot approach within 12" of enemy troops, chameleon placement can prevent enemy fast cav from getting too close. Against woodelves where there is likely to be a unit of never miss shooters, they won't be as useful but are still a threat that must be dealt with. As a last option, deploy them normally and park the priest in the unit.

3) more sallies - there is a good chance of facing an executioner and/or witch elf horde. A couple templates should help cut these units down to size so that the saurus/skinks can finish them off.

4) more core skirmishers - hard to go wrong with these guys!

Good luck!