High Elves in battle - first experiences - and lessons!

Today I uploaded some photos of my recently completed Great Eagles and Archmage to my High Elves page and hope to add the finishing touches to 20 White Lions of Chrace. 

While uploading those, I was reminded of my recent first try out with the High Elves at a friendly game of Triumph and Treachery for Warhammer Fantasy last week, so I thought I would share some initial impressions of pointy-eared do gooders, and Triumph and Treachery itself.

Those of you familiar with this WFB supplement will know that you usually use an allied mercenary unit. In the game we played, we went with a 1,200 point core army, and a 300 point allied force.

I went with Elves and an allied force of Skaven

High Elves in action:

My army list looked like this:

+++ High Elves 1200 (1197pts) +++

+ Lords (270pts) +
Archmage [High Magic, Wizard Level 4]
····Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Preservation

+ Heroes (134pts) +
Noble, Heavy armour, BSB
····Shield of the Merwyrm,Sword of Might

+ Core (300pts) +
30x Spearman, Full command

+ Special (303pts) +
21 White Lions of Chrace with full command.

+ Rare (190pts) +
x2 Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
x1 Great Eagle

Allied mercenary force: Skaven (299 points)

Plague priest (level 1 wizard), flail

20 Plague Monks (full command + Plague Banner)

Yes, I could have gone with 2 Warplightning cannons and a Plague Claw catapult, but I wanted a choppy unit and a bit of Plague magic. Also, I was a bit worried that because you have to completely destroy a unit to get points, anything that I partially destroyed with cannons would then be easy pickings for my enemy.

In short, Triumph and Treachery rules are a big break from regular Fantasy, and make for a lot of fun. Plenty of backstabbing, treachery and bribery ensue as you try to destroy your enemies, rack up kills for money, and draw cards that you can play at key moments, potentially altering the course of the game. For more information about Triumph and Treachery, visit Games Workshop

And what about the High Elves? 

Challenges:

The entire army was new to me, and what a difference from using Skaven...

...so FEW models in a unit, 

...so few UNITS on the table, you almost feel...naked (ugh!)、

...a feeling that warmachines are weak. Yeah, Eagle Claw bolt throwers sound strong, but they didn't do anything for me in this game that's for sure!

...yes, it sucks to refuse a challenge, have your character at the back and NOT be able to use his leadership! (Unlike Skaven of course)

Positives:

Shield of Saphery:

Cast any High Magic spell and buff the unit the Archmage is in? Sweet!.

Probably not great performers usually, my spearmen managed to stay in combat with a unit of 4-5 Beasts of Nurgle (?) for the whole game without running thanks to a ward save of 3+/ 4+ every turn. 

With a level 4 wizard, and most of the High Magic spells not being too difficult to cast, you can effectively buff the Wizard's unit each turn. Useful with Spearmen for sure!

High Leadership:

What can I say, High Elf units have Leadership that Skaven can only dream of! 8? 9? that means that even without a character in the unit you can stay in battle (most of the time). Awesome!

+1 on your magic rolls

Every time my Archmage cast a spell from High Magic he got a +1 to his roll. Not to be sniffed at - at least once it helped me make a dispel I wouldn't have gotten otherwise! 

Choppyness

(That must be a word right?) White Lions of Chrace - great weapons? Strength 6? Initiative 5? 

'nuff said. 

(Of course, I didn't get to use mine as they ran away from a fight. Guess what idiot forgot that White Lions are stubborn!!)

Looking forward to using the High Elves some more in the future, especially as in this game I didn't bring any HElf toys (Book of Hoeth!)

*Squeek*