8th Ed. advice on a list (2500) vs. HE

[brucey42085]

Im playing in a campaign and ive run into high elves. 2500 point total. dont know if it makes a difference but i think theres going to be a river the length of the battlefield down the middle. I expect my opponent to be playing fairly infantry heavy.

My list follows, any tips or advice would be great. (this is my first post here, and im just getting back into the game after about a year so im a little rusty)

Slann (lore of life)
BSB, General, Focused Rumination, Focus of Mystery, standard of discipline, dispel, diadem

Skink Priest
Cube of darkness

Saurus (40) (skink priest will go in here)
command

4 units of skinks in groups of 12, straight up

Temple Guard (20)
command, dagger of sotek, banner of flame

stegadon

ancient stegadon

4 salamanders with 4 extra crew (single unit)

2500 spot on.

 

[Kharn The Betrayer]

If you can, change the lore, life is very useless vs HE

 

[ADustyMan]

Cube of Darkness ends all Remains in play spells, including yours, and Lore of Life uses a few of them, so just keep that in mind.

 

[Rhodium]

Life isn't very good against HE as said previously, they also have a very strong magic phase and can often dispell multiple spells a go, because life leans heavily on throne of vines, they can with reasonable reliability dispell Throne, mitigating the most potent part of life

Light, shadow and death all do well against HE (although initiative based spells aren't that good)


Salamanders can only be in unit of 1-3 not 4 so split them up into 2 units of 2 (salamanders rip elves apart, they will be key)

Dagger of sotek can only be carried by a skink so your TG champ can't take it.
I would be slightly reserved in taking banner of eternal flame, HE characters and some units often will have a 2+ ward against flaming

The slann can't have the dispell scroll and the diadem of power, they are both arcane items and you can only have one

 

[brucey42085]

so apparently i just need to read better... lol. as to the lore, i if i dont use life should i be using the cupped hands? i think life might be ok, i dont expect him to field more than one caster... dont know if that makes a difference.

 

[Rhodium]

so apparently i just need to read better... lol. as to the lore, i if i dont use life should i be using the cupped hands? i think life might be ok, i dont expect him to field more than one caster... dont know if that makes a difference.

If you are worried about miscasts and throw 5-6 dice at a spell then yes cupped hands might be worth it, however I don't ever take cupped hands when I run two slanns (not enough points) and just risk it (don't throw 6 dice at things!) so you don't always need it

Even with one caster, he could: steal one of your power dice to be a dispell dice, get +5 to dispell, increase the casting costs of your spells by 3, use a dispell scroll that destroys your spell for the game and if that caster is teclis, additional d3 dispell dice

So don't underestimate HE casters, then can almost go toe to toe with slanns

 

[Scalenex]

I'd consider swapping the Ancient Stegadon for an EOTG Ancient Stegadon for your Skink priest if you can afford it.

If you can't afford it, it may be worthwhile to swap your Ancient Stegadon for a second regular Stegadon. All High Elves have T3, only cavalry have good Armor saves and you said you aren't expecting much cavalry so the higher strength of the ancient Stegadon is wasted on High Elves. You are basically paying 40 points to have blowpipes instead of a giant bow.

I don't think Life is the greatest lore in the world, but I disagree with the statements that Life if near useless against High Elves. Adding survivability to your troops is a good thing since High Elf units cost a lot, Life can help you win wars of attrition. If you do swap Life out for another lore, I would suggest reducing your Saurus block and boosting your Temple Guard because 20 Temple Guard is too few if you can't count on Regrowth.

Here's a Tactica written on High Elves by Lustria's most handsome member:
http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/high-elf-tactica-detailed.9112/