More 8th Ed. Fantasy Musing

Well, despite all the models I still *really* need to paint for upcoming BoLSCON (heh, I heard they renamed it Wargames con now, for some reason?  How dumb.  I'll still call it BoLSCON... cuz that's what it is) I've been playing around with Fantasy lists a lot.  Not just Dark Elves, but *gasp* Warriors of Chaos.  The Warriors of Chaos will be discussed in my next post, I think.

So, taking a look around the interwebs, I think that the potential for lots and lots and lots of warmachines fielded by everyone who can is somewhat likely.  Sad though that makes me, it makes my Hydras a little worse overall, and increases the value of my various troops that can take out warmachines easily (like Dark Riders and Harpies, basically).

I've also noticed somewhat of a flaw in the Dark Elves book that might end up really hurting- our best armor save on a unit is a 5+ (except for crossbowmen w/ sheilds, who somehow have a 5+/6++ in combat? lol).  This creates a lot of problems, since the *old* strategy was to simply get the charge (or have ASF, and be charged) and then kill all the opponent's front rank so they couldn't strike.  That doesn't work anymore, and our elite troops will die much much much easier than they used to.  Hags are also somewhat useless, as they're T3 W2 models with ZERO save.  Talk about easy victory points!

There aren't really any 'grind 'em down' infantry that we have, who are resiliant enough and killy enough to more than break even points-wise against virtually anything in combat.  I think that if we do end up seeing  a lot of horde-blocks everywhere, there isn't really a Dark Elf block that will do more than break even.  We'll need to rely on shooting, or magic, to thin the ranks down considerably, and then have our elites/hydras jump in and take 'em down in one fell swoop.

So, I've devised a different list that last time, involving lots and lots of crossbowmen, and a unit of Corsairs (until I discover that corsairs are terrible like they probably are, they're staying in my lists, dammit!).  Here's the list, I wrote it for 2500 since people seem to think that's the point level it's going to be played at, though I can simply take out either the Corsairs or a squad of Crossbows to get to 2250.  Maybe my Dreadlord? 

2500 Dark Elf Crossbow Spam

Dreadlord w/ Pendant (reverse Ward), Crimson Death (S6), Shield, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak

Master Shield, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Sword of +1S, Ring of Hotek

Cauldron of Blood w/ Death Hag w/ BSB, Rune of Khaine

20 Corsairs w/ Hand Crossbows, Banner, Musician, Sea Serpent Standard (makes them Frenzy)
20 Repeater Crossbowmen w/ Shields, Musician
20 Repeater Crossbowmen w/ Shields, Musician

20 Repeater Crossbowmen w/ Shields, Musician

5 Dark Riders w/ Repeater Crossbows
5 Dark Riders w/ Repeater Crossbows

5 Dark Riders w/ Repeater Crossbows


20 Black Guard w/ Full Command, Banner of Murder (makes them Armor Piercing)
 
War Hydra
War Hydra
 
The premise of the list is to murder everything with my AP Crossbows and hope I can whittle them down fast enough that when it comes time for my Black Guard to perform, I'll be able to do some 'real' damage to the unit.
 
I figure if I put my killy lord and hero both in the unit of Corsairs, they'll actually have some great combat ability as well.  They'll (I think) both also benefit from the Frenzy banner and get an extra attack each.  The hydras will hang around on the flanks, and if I'm playing a gunline, they'll sprint up and hope to God they don't both get shot down before they get into combat.  If they do, I figure it's more other stuff of mine that isn't getting shot.
 
Well, what do you think?  Is it gonna work?  Nobody has played much 8th edition yet, and I've played absolutely zero (and won't for a while), so I just don't know...  Maybe I should put hand crossbows on the lord/hero guys as well, since it doesn't cost much and they have good BS.
 
Let me know what you think!