Brian's Dark Elf/Warhammer questions

[Garou24]

I figured I would just make one post to put all my new player/dark elf newbie questions in.

1: In a 2250 point list I am allowed 4 Character choices. If I choose a Lord on a Dragon the lord counts as 1 and the mount (dragon) would use up another slot, which would leave me with 2 more characters?

2: Unit upgrade characters. Some Dark Elf units have the option to upgrade the unit leader or commander to a special named character. its states that this character counts as a commander in that unit. Does that mean this character does not count against my heroes score for the army and just counts a unit upgrade? So it would not effect my heroes count for the army.

3: As much as I want to run a dragon for fluff and looks, for the points would it be better to put the lord on foot and take a couple Hydras instead? Would 2 Hydras be too much? Should I stick to just one then?

[skyth]

1) You are correct

2) They do not count towards your hero alotment. They are just better unit champions.

3) Personally, I don't care what someone brings...I have heard internet whining about Hydras though...Take it for what it's worth.

[Garou24]

4: The codex says a reaper bolt thrower is a rare slot item, but I can take 1 or 2 of them as a single rare choice and they are two seperate units.

So Am i able to take 4 of them, making them 4 sperate units that only take 2 rare slots in my list? Am I reading that right?

[skyth]

Yep

[Garou24]

5: Dark elf crossbowman can take shield with their light armor. They have a hand weapon and crossbow. Does that mean that they benefit from the shield armor bonus int he shooting phase? or would they only get the benefit in the close combat phase when they use a hand weapon?

[skyth]

They can use the shield in both hand to hand and against shooting.

[Garou24]

Cool! Thanks for all the responses

[Garou24]

I have a total of 10 cold one knights. I loved the models and thats the big reason for starting dark elves. Should I use all 10? and if so in 1 unit or 2 units of 5?

The way i understand these guys to work would be more like secondary attacks to assist my main elite units?

[skyth]

I would run them in two units of 5 typically. Possibly with a character in one or both.

Also depends on what is going in the rest of the army

[Garou24]

I got some nice models from www.avatars-of-war.com the Dark Elf Lord and Sorceress. So I plan to have them on foot in units. Also maybe a death hag. So any characters in the unit would probably just be a commander.

I will work on painting them and giving them 2 diferent color schemes, so they willl be to seperate units I think.

[skyth]

You generally want your commanders to be able to go between units so you can put them where you want them. Painting them to only go with one regiment might be a bad idea.

[Garou24]

True. i have yet to work out a good color scheme. Right now I am just priming. i will find a good paint scheme that will work for all units. Then the commanders will look at home in any unit.

[Krusty (zack)]

what i do to differentiate units from one another (cuz i like to have all my models in a unit that were painted at the same time to always be together ) is just to paint one thing a slightly different color...
like a certain ribbon, strap, shoulder pad, what ever...
a different shade of the color, like blood red on one unit and red gore on another of the same type

[johnboo]

Grrr - did a huge post here and it didnt fly. anywhoo....

Two ways to run cav:

5-model throwaways good for sweeping weak stuff, opprotunistic flank charges in combo with a ranked unit, or diverting (WHFB tactic to steer an opponent's unit into a bad position) only command bought here might be a musician, since its meant to die.

Big Bus. 10+ models (even more if you're boldo!), full command, a fighty character, magic banner maybe. Hit opponents hard & win combat (duh). Problem here is the massive amount of points spent, and a decent opponent usually has a counter to it's effectiveness.

DE CO cav have 2 things to consider in addition. They cause fear (auto break opponents if they win combat & have hight unit strength unless immune to fear) and Stupidity - you WILL fail a stupidity test at the worst time. Its in the rules, i'm sure of it! ;D

Matt lost a huge unit of COK to 3 of my ogres thanks to a failed stupidity test. Ask him about it - its burned into his memory.

[Garou24]

I keep hearing about their stupidity so i hope they work out well. I will have to wait to play them to find out how I like them, in a small flanking unit or a large hitting force.