Welcome to the Akazzamy. The Instructor General, Kazz, will now address the issue of using the wilted flower of Naggarothi troops to bring victory to you on the battlefield. Listen well, and attend him now.

Warriors: These cost 10 points apiece for a basic foot trooper armed with a sword, light armor and shield. Like almost all elf units they move 5"and have a high initiative, which means you have a good chance of getting off the charge, and will most likely go first in any successive combat rounds. These troops also have the base WS of 4, so they will hit most opponents on a 3+.

Spearmen: These are basic spearmen, not to be confused with high elf spearmen. Unlike the high elf version, dark elf spears only fight in two ranks if standing, and one rank if moving. These should only be used defensively, to anchor flanks or absorb initial charges. Put them behind an obstacle on a flank, then use another unit to flank whatever charges them.

Crossbows: A strong basic unit at 13 points. These guys pack repeater crossbows, and have BS4. They also wear light armor, which will offer a small degree of protection from most other bow fire. The high leadership means they are unlikely to panic if they are forced to take panic tests. Use them in small units with no rank bonus. When using repeater crossbows, volume of fire is everything. Try fielding this regiment in units of 5-7, and have them all in one line. Buy 2-4 units of these, though, to generate enough firepower to inflict real harm on enemy units.

City Guard: Potentially a very good unit, but I rarely play them. They are a combination of crossbows in the front rank and spearmen in the rear rank. Given that casualties are always removed from the rear rank, you will always have a front rank full of crossbows.

Witch Elves: You love them, you hate them, you want to marry them but you know they’d bleed you dry in the end. Witch elves are one of the wildest units available to any general in warhammer. They can dish out terrific amounts of punishment on anything they charge, thanks to the fact that they carry 2 poisoned weapons (giving them strength 4) and are frenzied, giving them a 3^rd attack. Combined with a base WS of 4 and a move of 5", all for 12 points, and you have a great unit. My opponents don’t call them "Bitch Elves" for nothing.

Black Guard: Elves in heavy armor with halberds. They cost 14 points, and have the high WS of 5. The halberds make them strength 4. They also have an extra point of leadership, being the Witch King’s own personal guard.

Executioners: These are much like the black guard, but with two very important differences: Strength 4 elves and two-handed axes that cause d3 wound per hit. They wear heavy armor, so they can take some punishment and at least have some chance of surviving.

Black Ark Corsairs: These are the jack of all trades of the dark elf army, and one of my most standard picks when planning a game. They cost a base 12 points, and have normal dark elf stats. For that extra 2 points, you get a sea dragon cloak that gives this regiment a "scaly skin" save of 5+, that is not modified by the strength of any attack used against them. Unmodified saves are the stuff of opponent curses on the battlefield, and 2 more than a standard warrior points is cheap at the price. The versatility in this unit comes from the fact that you can buy them off-hand weapons at a cost of 1 point per model. I consider this to be like the American Express card. Don’t leave home without it. Double your attacks for 1 measly point? No rocket science required for this decision.

A harder choice is whether to give them repeater crossbows for 3 points per model. Since this is a unit that fights in formation, typically with rank bonus, you will generally have less than half of your repeaters able to come to bear in any given turn, making this a very expensive upgrade, potentially for little gain. Generally, I will not buy the crossbows for this unit unless I am really going for weight of firepower against a low-toughness army, like skaven, humans, or the miserable high elves.

Scouts: 13 points. BS5. Repeater crossbows standard. Skirmish and infiltrate abilities. This unit is designed beautifully to make your opponent miserable. Take 2-3 regiments of 5. Deploy them on both flanks and in the center out of sight if possible. They will be perforating the enemy from the first turn, and the enemy will have the devil’s own time getting rid of them.

Dark Elf War Hydra: I love these things. This beast is one of the truest classifications of "monster" around. It can charge 14", can charge and breath fire, and gets 7 attacks with a WS of 4 and a strength of 7. Did I mention that it causes terror and has a "scaly skin" save of 5+, not modifiable for strength of attack? Or that it costs the same as a regular hydra with lower WS and lower leadership? Or that Games Workshop does not consider it a bound monster?

Cold One Knights: I read once that "all the gyms in Naggaroth appear to be closed." Luckily, the same is not said for the Cold One Caves. Cold one knights cost a small fortune to field—38 points before even adding a lance! The lance will cost 2 points per model, and is very highly recommended (see tactics section). Repeater crossbows will cost you another 6 points per model. Do you really want them badly enough to pay 6 point each?

I say yes, you do. Firepower is firepower, and no matter what you do, there will only be a handful of cold ones in the army. If you only have one rank of cold ones, give them the repeaters. If you have more than one rank, just buy them the lances, and use the extra points saved to add a couple more reptiles to the ranks.

On the plus side, cold one knights have WS 5, and the cold ones get 2 attacks at strength 4. Also, this unit saves on a 2 without the use of barding, so they move 7" normally and 14" on a charge, giving them that crucial speed advantage over normal knights. They have high leadership. Cold ones cause fear.

Still, despite all of the downsides, cold one knights can hit hard and survive the combat. They get 3 attacks, 2 of them at ST4. They also save on a 2 normally. This is a strong unit, just be really, really careful about how they get used, and stay out of the way of war machines that may rob you of armor bonuses.

Dark Riders: The heralds of Naggaroth, dark riders are generally the first sign of what a rotten night of Warhammer your enemy is about to experience. Fully loaded with a spear and repeating crossbow, a dark rider costs 36 points—nearly as much as a rieksguard knight. Still, there is more to them than meets the initial glance. Dark riders are expert horsemen. They can move their normal move and fire their repeater crossbows with no penalty. If charged, they can fire and flee 2D6". Before the first turn begins they have the ability to take a free march move, generally with the result that some enemy unit will not be able to march the first turn because the dark riders are already too close. Since elven steeds move 9", it is usually not too difficult a thing for a unit or two of dark riders to slip behind or even inside the lines of the opposing army, outside the firing and charging arcs of all the enemy regiments. From there they slow the enemy down, fire into his units with accurate short-range repeater fire, and finally charge into the rear of his units once they get tied up with the main unit from the front. Buy these units in block of 5-7 with a champion if you want to use them this way. Alternatively, buy a large regiment with rank bonuses and use them as traditional flankers. I usually prefer the first approach, however, as it increases mobility and firepower available.

Harpies: Weak-willed chaos creatures, these still have a use in the dark elf army. They fly, have 2 wounds and toughness 4, and can even get a rank bonus. Their use is outlined in the tactics section.

Repeater Bolt Thrower. Not to be mistaken for repeater crossbows, repeater bolt throwers are the perfect cavalry-busters. They can fire 4 ST4 bolts with no armor save and causing one wound into a regiment. For cavalry without a screen this means annihilation. For regiments with multiple wounds like beastmen this means the potential to take a lot of wounds in a hurry as the bolts plow through the ranks. I used to just love using these things against chaos centaurs. They were low toughness and multi-wound. Just perfect bait for repeaters. Repeater bolt throwers cost 100 points apiece, which makes them very pricey—as pricey as an Empire Great Cannon, in fact, but they are reliable, and the crews are BS4. I will generally pack between 2-4 of these, formed into 2 groups of 2.

Kazz-isms: A "Hammer" is a unit designed to deliver a powerful attack. An "Anvil" is a unit designed to absorb the brunt of an attack or hold up a unit by keeping it tied up in a futile combat for most of the game. The two types of units work best when played together. A big block of corsairs can tie up a unit of Empire Swordsmen, for instance, while you wheel and charge the witch elves into the enemy flank.

"But Lord Kazz," you say, "Aren’t elves almost always outnumbered by the enemy? How are you going to be able to focus two regiments against one enemy regiment if he outnumbers you?"

Easy. He may outnumber you. He may have harder units than you. Just make sure he doesn’t outnumber you where the fight is happening, and that his hard unit has already been badly punished before the main battle is joined.

Before getting into the uses for different units, let’s talk about the basic principles of dark elf warfare.

The first rule of being a dark elf is to get into character. You are a mean, nasty, pointy-eared pansy with an abundant love of cruelty and no regard whatever for the life of others. You would never lower yourself to interact with anyone from another race, if only it wasn’t so much darn fun to torture and kill them. Much like small boys who pull the wings off of butterflies, you would love to pluck Ariel’s wings, mount Orion’s horns over the mantle, or make fishing flies out of the feathers of Karl Franz’s griffin.

Ok, so now you have successfully removed all redeeming qualities from your personality, and are ready to start fighting with your army. What do you do?

1. Destroy your enemy’s will to fight. No matter what race you fight, there is a human behind the general. Make him feel the futility by pincushioning his units. Dark elf armies are very shooty, and can rack up very impressive kill totals when the repeaters start shooting. Even if you fail to really devastate the opponent, you can still make him feel despair as you roll fist after bulging fist full of "to-hit" dice. Invariably he will have to take a number of panic checks, and these will also weaken his resolve. Further weaken him with psychology. War hydras cause terror. Cold ones cause fear. Other available monsters also cause terror. Force as many leadership checks as possible. They will hurt him and bolster you.
2. Bring superior forces to bear. As Bedford Forrest-Burner, dark elf cavalry general and bane of the wood elves often stated, you want to "Get there first with the most men." This holds true for every army, but every army has to achieve it in a different way. For dark elves, so often outnumbered on the field of battle, superiority has to be achieved through superior battlefield management. Not all armies have the luxury of discipline exhibited by the dark elves. Dark elves, in general, do not suffer from stupidity or animosity. They have very high leadership and a base movement of 5". The only other army with all of these advantages is the high elves, and since their units cost as much as dark elf units, they can only achieve parity of mobility. But more about high elves at a different time.

The other way to accomplish this task is to bring everything you have to bear on one side of the opposing army. Most opponents tend to attack across the entire field, which will leave you with a good opportunity to focus on just one side of his army. Leave behind a unit of spears to anchor your opposite flank then throw everything you have at the other. Use dark riders and scouts to slow down and harass the enemy, then hit one flank with all the missile power you can muster, and charge in any terror-causing monsters. By the time the main armies come together you should have either broken a good portion of that flank or caused enough attrition to pull the teeth out of the enemy anvil regiments. Hit the weakened regiments, and they should break. If he has anything else within 4" of the broken unit, those units have to roll panic tests right away. With an army that has low toughness and average strength, it is vitally importantly that when you hit, you make it count.

 

3. Coordinate attacks. Keep hitting an opponent in the same place until he cracks. Missile fire can be used to strip skirmisher screens and cause panic tests, but it will be the hammer and anvil units that engage them, break them, and then run them down like the sub-elvish slugs that they are. Remember that hammer and anvil units can be exchanged if needed, but that hammer units typically are expensive, and will generally not have the rank bonus of an anvil unit. If you slam an anvil unit into the flank of an enemy unit, he may have another unit nearby that can then hit the anvil in its flank. If he hits a hammer unit with one rank bonus it is not such a big deal, but if you lose the rank bonus off of a 5-rank anvil regiment, it can cost you the whole battle. If at all possible, never hit a fresh unit, ever. Your opponent has gone to great lengths to plan this unit’s performance. If you hit it fresh, it will do just what he designed it to do. This is rarely a good thing for you. Once a unit gets pounded on, however, all of this changes. Most generals never give a thought to how well a unit will perform if it loses 30% of it’s strength, or if the champion is somehow killed. How many units have disintegrated because they lost their rank bonus and the hero with the Crown of Command was killed? More than I can count.
4. If it looks too hard to beat, don’t try to beat it. If your opponent has some kind of uber-unit lurking in the middle of the line, one of those units that could probably dice up your entire army, then do like Nancy Reagan said and just say No. Do not engage that unit. The big unit of white lions with a high elf general in the middle of it, the unit of bestigors with the beastlord in the lead, the regiment of skeletons with the necromancer, standard bearer, champion and wraith hero all in the front rank, these are all things that spell ruin to attackers. Those white lions will never break unless the general dies, and they have special attacks. The bestigors might have the crown of command, and they will almost never break. That regiment of skeletons has lots of staying power, thanks to the characters, and causes fear. If you lose the combat, you automatically break. A battle is won because of victory points. If you get table corners, you get points. If you smash other vulnerable units, you get points. There is no rule that says you have to engage those bloodcrushers or that regiment of trollslayers. Kill everything else, and you still win big. As Sun Tzuloth, dark elf tactician stated, "Strength on strength is folly."

Warriors: Use these as screens to protect other units, like witch elves as they advance towards the enemy. They have high leadership, and 20 can be bought for 200 points. Put them in five ranks or four per rank and march them towards the enemy. They make better anvils than hammers, so treat them accordingly, rank them deeply, and ask yourself if it would be worth it to spend a few more points on corsairs.

Spearmen: Use these defensively to anchor a flank or guard war machines. If at all possible, arrange for them to defend obstacles. They can then fight in two ranks against opponents who require 6s to hit them, and make a good anvil when set to receive a charge. They are best used when you are mounting a massive attack against one flank of the enemy army. Put a regiment behind a wall on your weak flank. They will eventually get crushed, but they can slow up one or more enemy units, and possibly an entire counter-attack for one or two turns.

Corsairs: Get these into combat as quickly as possible. With 2 hand weapons and a 5+ special save, they can inflict a good amount of damage and survive well against counter-attacks, even against very strong opponents like minotaurs or ogres. Despite having 2 hand weapons, corsairs are still more of an anvil unit than a hammer unit, because they are still only strength 3. Give them standards designed to keep them from losing combats, like the banner of defiance. Give them lots of ranks, 2 hand weapons and a champion to bolster leadership, and back them up with witch elves or executioners. If you are fielding a shooting army, field them 10 wide by 2 deep and give them repeater crossbows in addition to the hand weapons. Remember, that second weapon is only 1 point per model, and you never know when the opportunity will appear for an unexpected charge.

Witch elves: These, uh, ladies are one of the trickiest units to manage, but they can be real regiment busters when used correctly. Think of them like hand grenades. They will hurt like hell when they explode, but until you pull the pin and throw them, they are useless. Witch elves are capable of inflicting great harm, not just because of their frenzy and ST4 attacks, but also because of their characters. Witch elf champions and especially heroes are deadly. Bulk them up with a few choice magic items like the amber amulet for the champion or armor of fortune for staying power, and maybe a potion of strength for taking on those really bad monsters and characters. Make sure to give the regiment a standard to add to combat resolution, or give the champion the ruby chalice to make the unit harder to shoot at. Screen the unit with a good anvil, then take the first opportunity to slam them into the enemy. Unlike other dark elf hammers, witch elves are relatively cheap at 12 points each. Because of this it is ok to smash them into the front of an enemy regiment and then throw the supporting anvil against the flank if you absolutely need to. Remember, though, that enemy characters will be in the front rank, so the witch elves will suffer heavily if charged into the front rank. If you have a big unit of witch elves (20+ models), you should consider buying the cauldron of blood. This fiendish little toy gives all your witch elves a special 6+ save to survive anything that kills them, and gives them extra attacks on the first round of combat. Anyone who tries to take out the cauldron will find themselves on the wrong end of 2 witch elves and a witch elf champion, all of whom defend the cauldron.

Executioners: These guys are just made for busting up monstrous units. If you think you will be in a fight involving ogres, trolls, minotaurs, beastmen, mummies or any other high-toughness multi-wound regiments, executioners are for you. Be very careful with them, though. They always hit last, even on a charge, unless they are against other regiments that always strike last, in which case their initiative will win them the first strike. Executioners are solely a hammer unit. Do not waste a lot of points putting four ranks on this unit. 9 plus a champion and a standard bearer will give 11 models. Give them the banner of defiance to give them more staying power, and to help make up for the lack of rank bonus. Use spearmen or corsairs to be the anvil for these guys. Then wheel the executioners into the flank of the opposing regiment and start cleaving. This not only takes away any rank bonus the enemy may have (usually not, if they are big, expensive monsters or cavalry), but also keeps the executioners away from most characters in the opposing regiment for a turn or two. Lap at the first opportunity. Rank bonus is nothing next to the advantage of having as many of those axes as possible in contact with the multi-wound regiment you are fighting. Your executioners are likely to suffer in the process—anyone who strikes last always does—so it is important to get as many into base contact as possible.

Black Guard. Use them as basic hammers, but generally only against regular regiments. They are ST4 with their halberds, though, and WS5, which makes them useful against some tough, but low WS, opponents. Remember that they do not have nearly the hitting power of executioners, and you will be fine. Then wonder why you didn’t buy spare witch elves and save the extra 2 points per model while gaining 2 extra attacks per model.

Dark Riders: One word: Harassment. The heralds of Naggaroth are born to cause trouble, and they do it oh so well. Equip them with spears and repeaters. Form them into units of 5-7, then add in a champion. Keep them in skirmish formation, as they can then ignore most terrain and cause enemies to take a –1 to hit penalty when shooting at them. Use the free march move to deny marching ability to enemy units. Move and shoot, and get behind the enemy as soon as possible. From his flanks and rear continue to shoot him up and slow him down. When you engage a unit from the front, charge the dark riders into the rear to deny the opponent a rank bonus. Remember that you must have at least five wounds to deny rank bonus, so always try to have an initial strength of 6-9 models per dark rider regiment to account for losses during the game. Also, if you have successfully managed to catch an enemy regiment in a hammer and anvil, but the hammer portion of the attack is about to be charged, you can charge the dark riders into the enemy regiment that is about to charge your hammer. This can be costly to you, but it can also give you the extra turn or two that you need to polish off that main combat and then turn your attention to assisting your dark riders.

The champion is not there for his leadership, as skirmished regiments do not benefit from champion leadership. He is there for the extra attack and the WS and BS of 5. It’s a little difference that adds up throughout the course of a battle. Also, remember not to get a standard if you will be skirmishing. They do not work with skirmished units.

If you field dark riders, do not do so piecemeal. Field 2-3 regiments, each with 6-7 models, including champions. Since I generally skirmish them, I rarely purchase standards for them.

Last, and maybe best, is the psychological value of dark riders. Remember that your opponent, like you, has a plan for the battle. You can bet that his plan does not include being slowed up and run ragged by dark elf fast cavalry. It can eat him up trying to figure out ways to deal with the pesky dark riders, maybe to the point of breaking up his lines, about-facing units, or devoting all of his war machine fire against them. If any of these things happen, then he is reacting strongly to what you are doing, and not doing what he wants to do. This is never good for him, but almost always good for you.

Repeater Bolt Throwers-I like to take 2 or 4 of these and place them in 2 groups of 2 each. Both groups are situated to cover the same half of the battlefield (See general tactics: Bring Superior Forces to Bear, above). If possible, use them to hammer heavily armored or otherwise tough regiments, otherwise use them to shoot up targets of opportunity. Be very careful when siting these and other war machines. If you spend two turns moving them, you have lost most of the advantage they could have given you.

Cold One Knights: These are the curdled cream of the dark elf army. Fast, deadly, fearsome, cold one knights are a unit that can make an enemy turn all of his attention to trying to destroy them. Which is good for you, because they are not easily destroyed. Make no mistake about it, you will pay a princely sum to have cold ones in the army, but they can cause a lot of damage when used properly. More importantly than the damage the cause is the attention they draw. If the enemy is busy sinking all of his firepower into trying to kill cold one knights, then the rest of the army can advance relatively unmolested. Having said that, there are two main schools of thought when using cold ones (and really any other sort of expensive heavy cavalry). We’ll call them "wider is better" and "more is more."

Wider is better-This school of thought tells you to buy fewer models and put them in a wide line for more hitting power. A unit of cold ones from 5-7 models will usually fall into this category. Units like this are meant to charge and cause a lot of damage in the first round, with the hope of breaking an opposing unit right off. If they fail in this objective, be prepared to support them, because any good anvil unit that finishes the 1^st turn of combat with it’s rank bonus intact is going to cause trouble for a wider is better regiment. The wider is better regiment is a prime candidate for repeater crossbows. Since the entire regiment is in the front row, no points are wasted giving non-firing repeaters to back-rank troops.

More is More-This theory has the heavy cavalry forming up in the same way as infantry blocks, generally with 4-5 models in the front row and from 1-2 extra ranks behind. This unit has a narrower frontage than the wider is better regiment, but has a little more staying power, thanks to the rank bonus. It is also much less practicable to give a regiment this size repeater crossbows. At 6 points per model for repeaters, if you have 8 cold ones in two ranks, you could add a well-equipped spare model to the regiment instead.

In either of the above it is quite common to find the general in the unit. If you do this make sure the army standard is there with him, and a champion for the regiment never hurt, or a standard bearer, for that matter. Give the unit the Blood Banner to stop the effects of stupidity, and the battle banner to give them better combat resolution. This is all very expensive, but you should have thought about that before buying this monstrously expensive regiment. Now that you have the investment made in miniatures and in points, you need to spend the extra points to make sure they are properly outfitted for maximal sadistic success.

Last, do not forget that cold ones cause fear, and that any opponent defeated in combat by a feared opponent is automatically broken if outnumbered. That little fact alone makes the cold ones appealing.

General: Dark elf generals can be outfitted a lot of different ways. If you are going up against a demon army or an undead army, you may want to buy Van Horstmann’s Speculum. This will toughen up your strength and toughness 4 general and weaken the demon lord/vampire that is trying to kill him. If you are against a more moderate army, I generally go with an ogre blade and either armor of fortune or armor of protection, depending on the opponent. When against Power Players I generally opt for the armor of protection. Against regular folks armor of fortune is all the odds I take. The ogre blade can sometimes just end up being a very expensive lance, but planning for a perfect world has been the death of too many generals. If you fail to get the charge, or if you get stuck in a combat for more than one round, your cold ones will be fighting for their lives with a bunch of WS3 lizards and ST3 knights. Giving the general that +2 ST makes him a 6—good enough for most opponents, when his 4 attacks are factored in. Against tough, multi-wound armies like chaos and the undead, the rending sword or flail of skulls and a strength potion is often the ticket. For his third item, my general tries different things. He may have an amber amulet, or jade pendant, or some other life-preserving trinket. I tend to prefer more balanced armies, and leave the 100+point uber items to the Power crowd.

Unless, that is, I happen to be playing against a power player, then all bets are off. The definition of fair goes out the window when you play an opponent who always has the best, hardest, most tricked-out units in any combination that maximizes the chance of victory, no matter how badly it abuses the spirit of the game or the flavor of the army. For guys like that, stock up on war hydras, the Black Gem of Gnar, maybe a black dragon, a witch elf hero on a chimera with a hydra sword and a potion of strength, etc., etc. Guys like that have the vampiric ability to suck all the fun out of the game, and I prefer to avoid them. For me, the real challenge is not to build the hardest army. It’s to build the best army, and to have it all work together to make a powerful force. It doesn’t always work, but it’s neat to look back and see how well you thought it out, and what you can do better next time. Think how your units will work together, and then make it happen. Plan around armies, not just characters.

Armies will mobilize to contest the superiority of your quick and deadly dark elves. Each race is dangerous in their own way, but they each have their faults, as well. Prepare well for their forces, and know well their weaknesses, for defeat is unacceptable to the cold-hearted denizens of Naggaroth. We will look at these armies, each in their turn, and show the path to their ruination.

The Empire: The Empire has an embarrassment of units at it’s disposal. Everything from basic humans to ogres to the Reiksguard Knights can and often do show up on the battlefield. Planning for this army can be a nightmare, but it helps to remember a few basic points:

1. The Empire is populated by weenies. Ok, maybe this is a little harsh, but let’s consider that the basic Empire soldier has either minimal or no armor, WS and BS of 3, low initiative, LD7 and T3. Given this, these humans become pincushion candidates of the first order. Take lots of repeater crossbows and let ‘em have it.
2. Humans are not especially fast. The basic human move of 4" gives basic elves a 2" charge advantage in combat. This is all the space in the world when it comes to who gets the drop on whom. Cold one knights charge 14", vs. 12" for Empire knights. Dark riders charge 18", which is 2" faster than even his fastest Empire fast cavalry. Fight a war of maneuver. Shoot up his lightly armored units with repeater crossbows, fire the repeater bolt throwers at the knights (no armor saves here!), and use the cold ones to stand just outside his charge range. If he has any sense those knights won’t move within charge range of the cold ones. If this happens and he gets timid, his army will get shot to bits, followed by you charging into him with the corsairs and witch elves. Alternatively, you may want to take a unit of executioners here, as the Empire tends to favor the use of griffon riders and ogre mercenaries. Executioners can also make short work of white wolf knights, so they can be worthy. Use harpies for a good cheap attack against artillery units or skirmishers. A medium-sized unit of harpies can also make him think twice about flying high with any monsters. Last, scouts work very well against the Empire, since they are faster than his troopers and very accurate shots.
3. Break up detachments: Detachments are a special Empire arrangement. With detachments, the Empire player forms one core unit of his "State Troops." He can then associate up to two other regiments with this core regiment. These "detachments" gain all the standard bonuses and leadership bonuses of the core regiment. This means that a small detachment backed by a main regiment with the battle banner and a crown of command can tie you up for an entire game, or at least until the main regiment moves up to flank you. Beware these things, they can tie up a lot of resources and, if there is a crown of command in the main unit, can practically make you kill every man in both the main unit and the detachments in order to beat them. The key to these units is the core regiment. Shoot up the detachments and charge the main unit with a regiment containing at least one character killer. The Black Gem of Gnar on a champion can take out his crown of command, and put you back in a winning position. Just remember, if the main block breaks, the detachments aren’t going to be far behind.

Chaos: The one everybody loves to hate. Lots of really tough, multi-wound troops that can shrug off repeater fire and come crashing down on you like a bad dream. But they are not entirely without their soft spots, either. How well you do against chaos will often not be a matter of how well your troops perform as how poorly you were able to make your opponents troops perform. Focus in with those pointy ears, and I’ll tell you what I mean.

1. Animosity. Daemons have high leadership, but if there are daemons from more than one diety in the opposing army they will have to roll animosity tests each turn. Sooner or later they will blow that roll. Just make sure that you have been maneuvering your troops tightly together, forcing him to do the same. That way, when he finally does botch an animosity check he will still have other damon regiments close enough to matter. Beastmen are even better for this, since their leadership, by and large, is not so high as that of the daemons.
2. No missile weapons. Ok, marauders have horsebowmen. BS3 on moving horses. Forgive my lack of abject terror. You have repeater bolt throwers and repeater crossbows. Your mages can gain access to magical staves that give powerful ranged attacks. T4 beastmen with 2 wounds may shrug off repeater fire, but ungors won’t. Put your fire where it will do the most good. Similarly, marauders will suffer from repeater fire much more readily than chaos warriors, so focus there. Most daemon armies have small regiments, so small casualties are really all you need to inflict. Pick off a couple of daemonettes or plaguebearers and you drastically reduce the combat power of that regiment. Use the heavy stuff-the bolt throwers and war hydras-against his mounted chaos knights, beastmen units daemonette cavalry and dragon ogres. Try to only engage his fast-moving units if possible, and leave the 4" movers alone, unless the regiment has been badly weakened by magical attack or some other calamity. If you are against a beastmen or Chaos warrior army, consider the notion of not closing with them for combat. Put dark riders and maybe harpies behind the chaos line, but within 8" of them. Then let the enemy regiments spend the whole game slogging towards you at 4" per turn. All the while they are doing this, you are darkening the skies with repeater fire and dark magic attack spells. If you get a little lucky, by the time he reaches your line you can charge from front and rear, and maybe the side as well. Having taken at least some casualties by this point, having been outmaneuvered and then charged and denied his rank bonus, even chaos warriors will break. Provided they aren’t some freakish Khorne frenzy-boys who will kick your pale-skinned behind even without a rank bonus. Provided he hasn’t got half his points in some godlike champion on a chaos dragon. But such is life when you fight chaos.

Undead: These guys have a new book out later this year, so I’ll just briefly cover them for now. They have a few things that make them good, and a few things that make them bad, and a few things that make them ugly. We’ll do the good part first.

The Bad:

Ok, so what do you do with all of this information? Funny you should ask…

1. Archery, archery, archery. Unlike dwarves, orcs and beastmen, all of which have the nasty tendency to shrug off repeater crossbow fire, undead tend to be marvelously susceptible to being shot up. This always sort of mystified me. It just seemed to me that most bolts would fly harmlessly through the bone gaps in a skeleton, and what does a zombie, which is already dead, care if an arrow hits it? But luckily for you this is the Warhammer world, and they suffer from repeaters with the best of them. The average undead trooper is T3, with no real armor protection. As he slogs across the field towards you at 3" or 4", darken the sky with crossbow bolts and wear them down. They won’t panic, but if you can wear them down before they reach you, you’ll have a much easier fight when they get there.
2. Wear ‘em down. Remember that the characters in the undead army are the ones that do all the real fighting. Wraiths are too expensive to field in large regiments, mummies are slow, and pretty much everyone else except the wights are WS2. Not exactly ferocious…unless they beat you in combat. Being fear-causing opponents, they will cause you to automatically break and run. So wear them down. Shoot away rank bonuses. Use harpies to kill skull chukkas.
3. Outmaneuver ‘em. Watch out for the chariots, but remember that they are only ST5, and no match for dark riders, which have a better movement and can get the drop on them. Most of his units only march with magical assistance. Keep them at arms length until you are ready for them, then make sure that you are the one doing the charging.

It’s good to be a Rat. Skaven players are hard to beat. Why? They get to add their rank bonus to leadership, have powerful missile troops in the form of Jezzails, powerful cavalry-equivalents in the form of rat-ogres, and deadly war machines, thanks to the Screaming Bell and the Doomwheel. They also have embarrassingly cheap troops for the stats, solid core units like plague monks and stormvermin and a solid backbone unit in the clanrat. For cheap (2 points each!) screens, they can throw wave after wave of slaves at you. If they break, the rest of the army doesn’t care. To be more specific:

1. Jezzails. These fire a ST5 shot that causes D3 wounds. It has long range. Luckily, it only has a WS3 gunner. Put in ranks of 5, though, they can cause a lot of trouble to your precious minotaurs, trolls, or kroxigors. For the dark elves they are something of a minor threat, as they are expensive and have limited worthy targets in your army to shoot at.
2. Plague monks. These guys are frenzied and tough. Avoid them if possible, especially if they have plague censor bearers out front. The censor bearers have a poisonous cloud around them that can cause great damage to your unit. The censor bearers themselves carry flails, which will cause even more damage. Add in that they will be followed shortly by the plague monks, and you are in for pain.
3. Stormvermin. Basically, these guys are just slightly more disciplined versions of clanrats. They can carry halberds, which makes them more dangerous versus tough opponents, but I wouldn’t spend the points if I was fighting dark elves.
4. Clanrats. Good basic troops. They are as fast and have nearly the same initiative of your army, and all for only 4.5 points each. They pay for this with a LD5, and with a WS3. They do, however, get to add rank bonus to leadership, up to 3 ranks. With a character, they can have LD9 with rank bonus, and at that price there can be a lot of them.
5. Doomwheel. This thing can be a pain. Just shoot it up really, really fast and kill the warlock engineer driving it, and hopefully the rats that give it motive power. If it rams you it will hurt, and if it gets close enough to start throwing lightning bolts, it will hurt, since most of your units have armor.
6. Screaming Bell. I hate this machine. It has a grey seer riding it, which all alone is cause for concern (see grey seer, below). On top of that, the bell can make the skaven nearby extremely buff. Instead of trying to kill the bell conventionally (which is hard), focus instead on the regiment pushing it. Shoot up the regiment and the bell slows down. If it can’t keep up with the army, it isn’t as effective. Use magic to kill the striker on the back. If he dies, the bell stops ringing, and it becomes a lodestone.
7. Grey Seers. Your worst nightmare. A dangerous magician that wears armor. Grey seers have excellent combat stats and can wear warpstone armor, which gives excellent protection. Throw in a jade amulet and a good weapon, and he can put a good smacking on anything in your army. He also gets 4 spells from the very destructive skaven magic deck, and brings 2-4 pieces of warpstone to the fight. Each piece he eats bears a slight risk, but it also provides a point of power for spellcasting. Sometimes these guys teleport. If it is well-outfitted for melee fighting and can do this, you will suffer badly for it if he is paying attention.
8. Warp fire throwers. They fire a big template of flaming chemicals that can quickly reduce whole regiments to bubbling goo. Ewww…

Cons.

Orcs, Lizardmen, Bretonnians, Wood Elves, High Elves, Chaos Dwarfs, Dwarfs, tastes great, less filling, etc. will be done another day if the other tactica here are well-received. Thanks, and have a good night!