Due to requests on my Gaming Blog forum, I have decided to throw together an Eagle

Tactica. In my list (see sig), I take a grand total of 4 GEs, and after the success I have
had with them in 8th Ed., I doubt I will take any less at this point. They have almost
been the stars of my team, even though I don't think a single one has lived all the way
through a game of mine. Therefor, I would love to share some wisdom with everyone
here on Ulthuan regarding Great Eagles.

The following are five different tricks I have picked up in my 8th Ed. games. If anyone
else has any eagle tricks, please post them, as I am sure that these are only a few of the
many wonderful different things you can do with eagles.

The most recent additions are added in blue. I will be adding in tricks thought up by
other people, and adding their name to the contribution list, which is listed below. So far
we are up to 9 eagle tricks. Hopefully this will continue to grow with Ulthuan's wisdom!

Collinisimo
wamphyri101
geoguswrek
Ptolemy
Xarhain
tethlis the slayer
krysith
Mithstar
Th3_5had0w_K1ng
Furion

All Battle Chronicler images have been made by Th3_5had0w_K1ng. Thanks!

Trick #1, 'The Classic' War Machine Hunting

I thought that we may as well start off with a classic trick that I am sure everyone is
familiar with. And that is warmachine hunting. Through my experience, most of all of
my opponents warmachine crew have been s3 and ws2. That means that when you
charge that warmachine with your eagle on turn two, which is almost inevitable, your
opponents will be hitting you on 5s, and wounding you on 5s. Therefor, they only have
1/3 chance of doing a single wound to you. You, however, will be hitting on 3s, and
wounding on 3s as well, so you should be getting .89 wounds on your opponent. That
means you will be winning combat mostly every time. 1 from the charge, and 1 for
wounds. From my experience, warmachines have low leadership, and will usually break
even when beaten by 2 points.

A tip I would like to point out to everyone, is that your opponent will like sticking more
than one warmachine together, usually on a hill. This means that if in your first turn,
you move your eagle up on his flank and within charging distance of one warmachine,
you can usually charge the closest one, beat it and run it down, while at the same time
overrunning into his second warmachine, successfully taking out 100-200 points with
your single 50 point eagle. Also, if you get this kind of charge off in your second turn,
then you only are giving your opponents warmachines 1-2 turns to shoot, depending on
who goes first.
Trick #2, 'Wizard Assassination'

Here is another classic that most of you must already know as well. Don't worry old
experienced players, we'll get into some more complex tricks later, but this is for those
of you who are relatively new and still need to learn the old tricks. Anyways, what you
do here usually takes 2 or more eagles, but the pay off is well worth it. What you do is
you charge in an eagle to the front of an opponents unit that is holding their oh-so-
powerful-mage. Then, you direct all of the eagles attacks at your opponents mage.
Because mages are generally fragile and do not have much protection, you should be
getting .89 wounds. You're eagle will then surely be killed afterward. However, in your
next turn you do the same thing, charge in with a second eagle. With two onslaughts of
this, you should be averaging 3 wounds on their mage, and this is usually enough to kill
it. And trust me, 100 points is well worth the points for your opponents mage, and
stopping their magic relatively early in the game.

Trick #3, 'The Run-Down'

Now here is where things get interesting. This is the one trick that my opponents
question/hate the most (other than Trick #5..). Let me set the scene for you:

As you can see in this scenario, your two blocks of PG have just charged your
opponents two enemy units. Your GE flies up to the right. You also notice the size and
threat of the two enemy units that you just charged. You look at the larger enemy unit to
the left. You realize that you have a good chance of tying/holding against that large unit
with your PG, but you do not think you can beat it alone. You also look at your
opponents smaller unit on the right. You think you can definitely beat that unit alone
with your PG unit, but it may take two rounds of combat. Because you were smart and
looked ahead, you moved your eagle to the right of the combats, and the reason why
will become clear soon.
So the battle goes on. You turn out to be right, neither units go anywhere on your
combat phase. Then it goes over to your opponents combat phase. Because you have
numbers on the smaller enemy unit now, you break it and it flees. However, you decide
not to chase after it with your PG unit. You instead reform looking to get a flank charge
against your opponents larger unit, and you let the smaller unit get away, because you
know that you need the help in the other combat.

So it is the beginning of you're turn now, and the scene looks like this:

So what do you do? You declare two charges. The first is your PG unit into the flank of
the large enemy unit. The second, however, is your GE into their fleeing small enemy
unit. You know that if that enemy unit rallies, you will have then gotten no points for it
because of the new rules, so you chase it down with your eagle. You charge with your
eagle and get the average of 19" charge range. Because they were only approximately
7" away from your eagle, there is close to no way they can flee far enough (and they
have to flee, as they were already doing so) from your eagle, so once again that little 50
point model has made up for its points three fold or more, and allowed you to turn the
tables on the other larger enemy unit.
Trick #3.2, 'Chasing Away', special thanks to Ptolemy

Here is another similar thing you can do, that helps you clear those smaller units on the
board and gain you a few extra points in the game. When you charge a unit, and you
know that they are going to flee, then you can charge them once again with an eagle.
That way, they are forced to flee once again, either to be caught by your eagle, or run
off the board. If neither of those things happen, then it is well worth moving that unit
another 2d6" away from the action. Remember, your eagle only has to be within 22" of
that unit to be able to declare the charge.

Trick #4, 'The Speed Bump'

This is a simple trick, but I find that it works rather well in slowing your opponents
down to give you more time to shoot/magic their big combat units to give you a combat
edge when they get to you. Pretty much all you are doing is flying your eagle up to their
bdig units, then angling the eagle so that if the eagle is charged next turn, the big
combat unit will overrun in a direction they do not want to go, or they can not charge
and reform to get out of the way of your eagle, which you will then just move back and
do it again, or they can charge, kill your eagle, and then not overrun, and move a total of
one inch in their turn, instead of their typical 8-10" advancement on your line.

Trick #4.2, 'The Double Block', special thanks to geoguswrek!

This is very similar to 'The Speed Bump', however you would use it when it is not
guaranteed that you're eagle would hold, ie. your opponent causes Terror. In this trick,
you put two eagles blocking your opponents unit, and when he declares a charge against
the first, you flee, but then he can only redirect into your other eagle. You flee a second
time with the other eagle, and because each unit can only redirect one time in each turn
(see page 18), your opponent is then forced to go after the second eagle. If you set it up
right, this can lead your opponent into a bad position, sometimes setting you up for a
flank charge.

Trick #4.2.1, 'The Double Block'

In this variation of the double block, instead of fleeing with both eagles, sometimes it
can be advantagious to hold with the first eagle. Then, when your opponent overruns, he
will hit the second eagle, and be stuck there for he cannot fight in combat that turn.
However, be watch out for your opponent using Trick #5 on your to try and get through
the second eagle as well.

Trick #5, 'The Place Holder'

This may just be my favorite trick of all to use in a game, because it catches your
opponent off guard, and can help you get out of very tricky situations. Some of you may
already know this trick from reading my past BatReps, and if so, kudos to you for
reading my BatReps! Anyways, here is a situation where this trick could be applied:

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---------------------[EEEEEEE]--------------------------[GGG]--------
--------------------[EEEEEEE]--------------------------[GGG]--------
-------------------[EEEEEEE]-----------------------------------------
------------------[EEEEEEE]-------[EEEEEEEEEEE]------------------------
---------------------------------[EEEEEEEEEEE]-----------------------
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As you can see, your opponent has put a weak unit right in front of your PG unit, in
hopes that you will charge it, beat it, and run it down. If you did this, then you would
run into his second smaller unit. However, in doing so, you will have fallen into his
trap, as he will then be able to flank you with his larger, more formidable unit. So what
do you do? You declare two charges. Your eagle is conveniently placed on your right
flank, so you charge the small unit right in front of your PG with your PG, then you
charge the small unit behind that with the eagle. In doing so, you then proceed to beat
that unit and chase it down with your PG, running into the small unit behind it.
However, because you flanked that unit with your Eagle, you can then fight another
round of combat in the same combat! You then can beat and run down that second unit
with your PG, and in doing so get out of harms way from the flank charge.

Trick #6, 'Placement Stalling', special thanks to wamphyri101!

I believe that the placement of units at the beginning of the game is the one largest thing
that will make or break the result of any game. Great Eagles, believe it or not, can give
you quite the edge with this, and here is how. The very first thing you place down at the
beginning of the game is your eagles. The more eagles you have, the more units your
opponent will have to place down for you to see before you start putting down actual
units. This way, you can 'pick your fights', so to speak, and place your units the way you
want them in relation to your opponents units. I typically try to put my GEs on the
flanks to begin with, because with their 20" movement they can get were they are
needed relatively easily.

Trick #7, 'Combat Res Generator', special thanks to Xarhain!

Xarhain wrote:
One more basic tactic is the combat res generator. Often you'll have flown behind
enemy lines to attack a war machine or attempt any number of the tricks listed above,
but for some reason the eagle is no longer required. Maybe the cannon blew itself up or
the unit you were stalling got purple sunned. Either way, you now have a free eagle you
can charge into the back of a stalling combat. With the new lack of unit strength you get
+1CR for charging and +2CR for the rear charge. You'll do a wound against standard
infantry and maybe take one back. Instant +3CR, and a speedy unit involved in the
combat to chase them down once they break!

Trick #7.2, 'Reform Prevention', special thanks to tethlis the slayer!

Not only does charging an eagle into an already existing combat grant you extra combat
resolution, but it can also give you much more in certain situations! Now that in 8th Ed,
you can take a combat reform even if you lost the combat. Luckily for us, there is a
quick and easy way to get around this, and keep your flank bonus. So say you have a
flank an a relatively large unit, and you don't think you are going to win by much this
next turn, so you want to keep that flank. All you need to do, is charge an eagle into a
different flank. That way, because the opponent is engaged in more than one frontage,
they cannot take a combat reform!

Trick #8, 'Helping Avoid Standing and Shooting', special thanks to krysith!

So we all know that Great Eagles can take down a small unit of skirmishing
archers/skinks in combat. Or even holding up a large unit of archers/crossbowmen for a
turn or two so they can't shoot for a bit. The only problem is getting them in combat.
There are a couple of ways to do this. First, there is the simple flank charge, or charging
from within 10", but sometimes this just isn't good enough, because we don't have
enough time to set that up, or you are attempting to charge a skirmishing unit. So how
can we charge in without getting shot to pieces from Stand and Shoot?

As krysith pointed out, one way to do this is charge the unit with the eagle from behind
one of you're own units. Because of the tall nature of the Great Eagle models, they can
typically see over our own infantry units. Therefor, they can charge over units because
they can see over them, due to true line of sight. The benefits that come from this, is it
becomes much more difficult to shoot at something when it gets a cover bonus. So, if
you charge at a unit from behind one of you're own units, they will get a -1 penalty for
standing and shooting, -1 for long range (usually), and -2 from hard cover. That adds up
to a whopping -4 to shoot at them. This is a 7+ for elven archers, and 8+ for everything
bs3, making the likelihood of you're eagle dying much less.

Trick #9, 'Mobile Impassable Terrain', special thanks to Mithstar!

Mithstar wrote:
Mobile “Impassable Terrain”: Because magic and war machine shooting has become so
dangerous, more and more players are using scouts and skirmishers to try and neutralise
the threat. Most scouts and skirmishers operate between the two armies. This creates
quite a unique opportunity. If a group of scouts or skirmishers are in front of an
important enemy close combat unit (basically any unit you can’t yet combat) or a unit
containing the bsb, general, etc, charge it with a GE. Your GE should take no more than
1 wound (using cover) charging in. Combat should be close (±1 point difference, very
important) and both units are stuck in combat. However, now you have a combat that
can continue for ± 2 turns, slowing down the enemy unit behind it considerably. In the
hands of a capable general this tactic (even though it's situational) can be used to
outmanoeuvre the enemy to great effect.

This tactic has a very nice synergy with the Lore of Life.

I would however like to point out that this tactic has one flaw. If your opponent has
anything that can charge into the combat between your GE and his unit, that can shorten
the time where you can cause a road block, so make sure when setting this up your
opponent has no way of charging your eagle so that he can just blow through it and
continue on his merry way. Remember, the point of Eagles is to be as annoying as
possible.

Trick #10, 'Basic Redirection', special thanks to Th3_5had0w_K1ng!

The following is taken from the "Redirecting?" thread.

Th3_5had0w_K1ng wrote:
I made a quick scenario in Battle Chronicler on a basic redirecting. I was an eagle hater
until I learned how to use them. They really are invaluable and allow the Elves to
control the flow of battle. Sorry this post seems long but it's worth reading if you want
to learn how to use the eagles (plus it's mostly pictures!).

9 Irongut Ogre Deathstar VS 7 SM, 30 Spears, Eagle

Ogre Turn- move up cautiously to give the high elves a 10 inch charge on their turn.

High Elf Turn - Freedom to move units closer without the danger of being charged by
the Ironguts. Move eagle at an angle to where the ogres can't overrun into either unit.

Ogre Turn - Lets say he decides to charge the eagle. Excellent.

High Elves - Lets say due to either inexperience or Frenzy he overruns the dead eagle
an average 7 inches. This gives us 2 charges on the flank and allows us to benefit from
ranks of spears and killing power of swordmaster MSU.

There are more aspects to redirecting but this is the basic premise. Hope this helps!

Trick #11, 'Safe Long Charges', special thanks to Furion

Furion wrote:
Guess I can share with you one of the protips

Safe long range charges

Description: your White Lions are 15-17" away from enemy units. While charging at
them would be glorious, your enemy has longer range than you. If you happened to fail,
you would get charged by both of his units and then lose. What to do then? You have to
plan one turn ahead. Position your eagle close to your unit, as per picture. In the
following turn, declare a charge with your White Lions on enemy unit, make your
opponent react and after all charges have been declared, roll for it. Now there are two
options:
a) you rolled high and you are in! With a successful charge you can enter 1" within your
unit and you go through.
b) you rolled not enough and you fail charge. With fail charge your unit can't enter <1"
from other unit / impassable terrain. Therefore, your unit moves only a little bit (marked
with a green line) With careful placement, it is possible that your unit won't even move
at all!

That's it. Tell me if you like this short tactica

cheers
Furion

Overview:

ESTRATEGIA CON SOMBRIOS

Shadow Warriors have proven to be a useful unit for me in the past, so I thought I'd
write out a little tactical write up of sorts. I will point out that I am not a "competative
tournament" player, I build lists based on narrative and feel. I don't care if I lose, as long
as my models die a good death.
The first point I have to make is SW are not going to win on their own, but used with
some support they hold out well. Often I will support my Shadow Warriors with an
Eagle or Reavers, or use my SW to support a noble mounted on an eagle. I'll get into
some detail with those later.
Shadow Warriors are a bit of a confusing unit because they don't show any obvious
strengths. Swordmasters, Dragon Princes, White lions, and Phoenix Guard are pretty
straight forward in their strengths. Shadow Warriors appear to be expensive archers as
some will point out, however WS5, and Hatred indicates a more upfront and aggressive
use may be appropriate. Of course picking the right fight makes all the difference, SW
vs Greatswords has an obvious result, however SW vs Mortar crew is a better choice.
This brings us to the point (or points as it were)

Use #1 War Machines

Shadow Warriors excel at killing enemy emplacements, I know it's obvious but it bears
mentioning. As scouts SW are well equipped to get to War Machines faster then many
other units in our arsenal. Eagles and Reavers being other good options. Shooting at war
machines is not the most effective way of dealing with them, but in close combat SW
will tear apart most any crew, SoA means you'll likely kill off the crew before any
retaliation, but getting to them can prove to be a challenge. Not being able to charge if
you have the first turn means deployment is very important. I find often that my
opponents will overlooks a small unit of 6 SW, not wanting to waste a good shot with
his/her war machine on a small unit. Generally they will use a small unit of flankers to
try to deal with them, or better yet ignore them completely, (often if the SW are in
woods). Many small units can be dispatched easily but generally costs time and
comrades. Deployment is key, get in quick and kill WM crews as quick as possible. I do
find that an eagle, or Reavers (if you have the points) coupled with a unit of SW act
well as insurance policies, one of the two will make it and it tends to add pressure on
your opponent, always a good thing.

Use #2 Skirmisher Hunting

Deploying Shadow Warriors to hold a flank works well on the enemies weak flank, and
hunting down small units of Skirmishers, lone characters (particularly wizards),war
beasts, even fast cavalry (if you can get the jump on them, I don't recommend it if they
have missile weapons) and some monstrous beasts. Taking on a Varghulf with a small
unit of SW is likely suicide (although once I did kill one with an insane amount of luck
I should add) some creatures are manageable, pick your battles well. I often run a
character in SW units to toughen them up a bit, it allows them to take on tougher units,
and with a Shadow Walker in the unit you don't need to accept challenges with the
character so he is free to mess up the enemy unit.

Use #3 Supporting Fire

One of my favorites, this simple use has turned some games for me. Small unit fire
won't panic units, however concentrated fire on enemy units that are weak to missile fire
will be effective. Once you've unleashed hell in the shooting phase, use your SW to tip
any units that are close to the panic threshold. It does not always work, but it is a
something that you can use while maneuvering them into another tactic. A missile
weapon character adds to the effectiveness, obviously.

Use #4 Supporting Charge

Shadow Warriors excel at flank and rear charges, they are made for the ambush. Even
though they cannot disrupt the ranks, charging a flank or rear eliminates a lot of the
advantages ranked units have on them, supporting attacks, ward saves from shields,
combat reforms, all of these don't matter once your on the flank or rear. So once you've
got an enemy engaged with another unit, bring in the Shadow Warriors for that +1 or +2
combat resolution not to mention the casualties they will cause. For this purpose I like
to have a character and a Shadow Walker for added punch. The Shadow Walker as
before is for defense against any unwanted challenges.

Use #5 Autumn Falls

Deploy in front of some difficult terrain, preferably woods, being a tempting target for a
charge, (use #3 is a great way to spend your time until someone charges you).
Once a unit declares a charge against you, it's risk assessment time. If you have the
option of Stand an Shoot is it worth it? If you think you'll survive the combat go for it.
Do as much damage as you can, if you break and flee you should be positioned to flee
through or into the terrain, hopefully luring your opponent in as well. If all goes well
you rally, and charge the following turn. The alternative to the Stand an Shoot reaction
is of course to flee if the unit is to tough, luring them into the terrain. Of course if your
lucky and your opponent lacks any sense at all they will charge you with Cavalry or a
Chariot.
This is the basic set up the more complex and effective version involves two units of
Shadow Warriors, one(A) is set up as explained above, the other(B) is waiting in the
terrain feature. When unit A flees into the terrain the enemy may redirect into unit B.
Now the enemy is engaged with a Stubborn WS5 re-rolling unit possibly with a combat
character. Ideally you have things positioned so that instead of redirecting into unit B
they just fail the charge, and you get a flank charge with unit B.

Use #6 Mage Bunker

This is a tactic mentioned in another thread by two respected members of the forum
Foxbat, and Giladis. I've never tried this myself but if they use this tactic it must work.
Hopefully one of them will read this thread and explain the finer points.

Use #7 Fortify or Die

This one is also from the other thread, and is the wisdom of the great swordsman
Milliardo. Shadow Warriors as scouts are excellent for grabbing buildings and holding
them until Swordmasters, or someone else gets there. I would point out that due to the
limited number of models who can assault a building a good sized SW unit could do
quite well at holding it on their own.

Use #8 March Block

Sure not as well as last edition, but low leadership units are bound to crop up. And some
people just have bad rolls. This is more of a passive roll to be used in conjunction with
other tactics.

Use #9 Fast Cavalry Blocker by ekalb

Thanks ekalb Deploying your Shadow Warriors in the path of a Fast Cavalry unit in
order to limit the freedom of the Vanguard move. This will help you maintain control of
a flank, and disrupt your opponents battle plan before turn one even starts.

Use #10 The Battle Eternal

Sometimes an opponent will set up a unit to slow the attack of one of your strong close
combat units (Swordmaster, White Lions, Dragon Princes etc...) Often you can destroy
the speed bump unit, and and continue into the unit behind, but have to wait for the next
close combat phase to continue the fight. Charge a unit of Shadow Warriors into the
second unit at the same time as the heavy unit hits the speed bump. Resolve the speed
bump combat first, then carry on into the Shadow Warriors fight. If all goes well the
second combat you should have at least a flank bonus from your Shadow warriors. If all
does not go well you've held the second unit in place with the SW so they cannot
counter charge your heavy unit.

That's all for now. Hopefully this helps some folks out, I know these uses for Shadow
Warriors have made them a staple of my army lists. If anybody has anything to add
please do.

1. MSU Altos elfos: introducción

I really like the concept of the MSU (Multiple Small Units) army and I enjoy playing with it a lot.
In fact, I have never enjoyed Warhammer as I am enjoying it now! What you are going to find
below is an ever growing summary of my experience earned while playing with High Elves
MSU.

Bear in mind I am simply sharing my observations. I do not aim to prove that this is the best
way to play with High Elves. I do believe it can be very successful and rewarding style of play
even if it is risky and with low margin of error. What is more, even with more than 100 games
there are still armies out there I haven't played against. Which is good as I can always add
something new! I am sure I will learn a lot with more battles and with more different
opponents and armies I am going to meet.

You are more than welcome to add your thoughts and share your own experiences. I am
writing this with particular army and style of play in mind but there are elements which can be
used elsewhere.  

2. General principles
MSU idea appeared for the first time on Druchii.net in 7th (or maybe even 6th) edition. Back
then it relied on the principle that if you kill enough enemies then there will be no one to hit
you back. Thanks to that a small regiment of elite warriors charging from the flank could break
much larger unit of less skilled soldiers simply by the virtue of more attacks it could deliver at
the same frontage.

With 8th edition a lot of new rules appeared. In particular steadfast and step up seemed to
favour big hordes and nothing else. No matter how many foe small regiment can kill there
always will be some more to fight, especially that it is hard to break them on the charge and
after that they can reform to bring more warriors to fight. This would mean war of attrition in
which small elite regiments are often doomed. It looked like MSU armies have no right to be
efficient anymore.

However, MSU can still be as good approach to the game as any and what is more it can also
use new rules 8th edition provides to its advantage. SmithF reintroduced the concept and I
recommend his excellent topic on MSU in general as well as battle log (which he started to
update with new reports again):

SmithF on MSU 
SmithF - battle log 
Here, I am going to to talk about MSU from the point of view of High Elves but bear in mind
that some principles are quite general. The difference will lie in the means to achieve the same
goals and tools you are going to employ to do so.

The main principle of MSU approach is that with more units you are able to use movement
phase more efficiently to create much more favorable combats than just when you clash two
big regiments head to head.

Example

3 units of 10 Swordmasters can set up a trap for 30 Warriors of Chaos. By fleeing with one the
other two can attack the flanks of the bigger regiment. 

It is of course an ideal situation but illustrates the principle very well. Big unit of Chaos
Warriors uses horde rule to maximize the number of its attacks but only to the front. Instead
of engaging it head to head in bloody combat Swordmasters surround its flanks and while
hitting with their full number of attacks, they robe bigger unit of its advantage. Only 3 warriors
at each flank can fight, they cannot use horde and step up attacks rules and are also engaged
from both flanks which means they will not be able to reform if they are not going to break
first. In such situation small units would also sustain smaller amount of damage than a single
unit fighting from the front. Even if big unit of warriors is going to hold after an initial attack
they will melt quicker in subsequent rounds of combat.

Basically with the advantage of having more regiments it is possible to control movement
phase better so that one can have an opportunity to create situations where even big and
dangerous units can be defeated.

3. MSU army components

I am going to describe components which, in my opinion, the HE MSU army requires to have to
operate properly.

3.1. Multiple Small Units

It is important to understand that “small” is a relative term. Some other armies, with access to
cheaper soldiers may still have successful army lists which at the same time contain regiments
with 20-30 warriors. “Small” is more connected to the point cost of a unit. Even in High Elf
force one can use regiments of 20+ Spearelves in a similar fashion as with more regular forces
and it will not be against the principles of MSU army.

My personal approach is to have regiments with cost 150-200 points and only with some
exceptions if I feel it is justified to do so. With many, relatively not expensive regiments you do
not present juicy target, you confuse the enemy as to what to attack and even if you lose some
unit that loss is significantly smaller and not as crippling as it might have been in the case of
bigger unit.

3.2. Characters
The same goes with characters, if I include expensive ones and/or many of them I might find
out I do not have enough points left to have significantly more regiments than my opponent
thus denying myself the advantage to out-deploy him. A fully equipped hero in HE army  is
worth 150-200 points. It is the cost of a regiment in an MSU army.

This is not to say that you should avoid including characters. If you have a good idea for a hero
then go for it! Just remember that with MSU army such an expensive target will be even more
tempting for the enemy to focus on. And this is something you want avoid too.

It is also important to try and assign multiple roles for your expensive heroes. With so many
small regiments some of the typical builds for characters might not be as efficient or as
necessary. For example, BSB with Armor of Caledor and Dawnstone does not add that much to
MSU army as he does to the unit of 35 Spearelves in a more traditional force.

My own approach is to take the minimum of characters and for me it meant the Archmage as a
magical defense and BSB for his re-rolls and ranged attacks (e.g. Reaver Bow). At the moment I
am also experimenting with a Loremaster and BSB. More on them later on when I discuss the
army list. They are still expensive and fragile so it is crucial to keep them safe.

3.3. High Strength/Numerous Attacks

MSU army relies on inflicting multitudes of wounds while minimizing attacks hitting it back so it
is important to include units which provide high strength and numerous attacks.
Swordmasters, White Lions, Dragon Princes but also Spearelves and Lothern Sea Guard can be
very useful here. If you choose to pick only one type of unit it can be as good as variety of
them as long as you know how you want to use them.

Personally I go for variety so I can better use the tools I have. Sometimes it is better to send
Swordmasters in, sometimes White Lions have the edge and sometimes a lot of S3 attacks LSG
and/or Spearelves provide can be much more useful.

3.4. Stubborn Troops

It is quite important to have some stubborn regiments in the MSU army (since we don’t really
have Immune to Psychology units I am not going to talk about it here). It is because sometimes
you can force a charge from the enemy, hold it in one place and thanks to that you will be able
to attack its flanks. There are many foes who can inflict 10+ wounds to our fragile elves so be
careful how you use small units of White Lions. However, it is one of the very useful options
when Lions get close to the enemy, block their movement or at least limit the options and
force a difficult decision. To charge and suffer from 10+ I5, S6 attacks and be flanked later or
not to charge but receive the charge following turn. Both options may seem to be bad and the
decision is more about choosing lesser evil for many opponents.

3.5. Shooting
MSU army is a combat orientated one but it does benefit from some bow fire and some
players like to include war machines too. It is mainly to get rid of support units of the enemy so
that the control of the movement phase is better, even if MSU force usually can deal with such
regiments in close combat too.

Concentrated fire on a big horde unit might seem to be a waste of arrows but it can be useful
to break steadfast during incoming fights and because of that every arrow counts!

There are also targets, such as fanatics or lone models which can be troublesome (or deny
victory points if not destroyed) but which can be easily finished off with 10 archers.

3.6. Support troops

As much as it is tempting to use only heavy hitters in your army with a minimum of Archers
there is a great need for support regiments in MSU army. The most often use of such units is to
divert powerful foe so that other units can swarm on other targets or to position it in a less
favorable way.

Other duties such as war machine hunting, wizards assassination or fighting against enemy
support troops can be performed by such units. Great eagles, Ellyrian Reavers, chariots or
shadow warriors can all be used to great effect.

Units of Archers, Sea Guard and Spearelves (especially when suffered casualties in the game)
can be used for that duty too. In general it is worth remembering that each unit can always
have (or should have) a secondary role to play so that you are never out of tactical options and
there is always a way to come up with another plan.

3.7. Magic
Magic phase is a beautifully complex one where you aim at the best use of the power/dispel
dice you have at your disposal. Winds of magic can be fickle but spells are what makes that
game so colorful (literally if you look at colors associated with each lore :)). There are many
aspects of magic that are present in the game:

Active magic defense

Main role of Magic I chose for the army is defensive rather. It is there to provide better chance
to dispel enemy spells. From that point of view a single Archmage, who also acts as a general
and inspires nearby troops (Ld9 is always better than Ld8 after all), is usually enough to provide
very reasonable protection. His +4 to dispel roll is very good indeed.

Having a single Loremaster might seem as a very weak protection against enemy spells if one
can call it protection at all. However, I have found out that it simply changes the approach to
spells dispelling. With Loremaster it is better to choose one or two spells as the ones that have
to be dispelled at all cost. It can be quite difficult sometimes to make that decision but against
some armies even the Archmage is not enough to dispel it all. Hence, it might be a good idea
to make that decision no matter who is your spell caster.

Passive magic defense*

Dispelling enemy spells is not the only way to prevent the enemy from getting the best of their
magic phase. There are many deadly spells out there which have limited range. For example,
Death Lore has some powerful spells which target your characters but are short ranged (or
require more dice to cast in order to have more powerful version of the spell). It is beneficial
then to position your characters accordingly so that they are not even a viable target. In order
to be able to hurt your characters the enemy has to close in but by doing so he risks getting
into charge range of your elites which might not be a great idea for many wizards (even if
accompanied by their bodyguards). Even if you force them to cast more powerful version of a
spell it is already a success as they need more power dice to do so and will attempt to case
fewer spells while at the same time risking some miscasts.

Some players go even further and do not take level 4 wizard at all. They either take 2 level 2
for more diversity or a single level 2 for absolute minimum of magical protection. What this
approach can ensure is that usually powerful and devastating spells which can kill entire units
with characters in them seem to be much less spectacular when used to destroy 10 warriors
with a single level 2 mage. They often require considerable amount of power dice and again
the enemy risks a fatal miscast. It might be a good exchange even if your opponent loses his
Grey Seer in order to cast Dreaded 13th spell to remove such a small regiment.

* paragraph added thanks to feedback from SmithF

Magic offense
It is not to say, however, that a single Archmage is not able to cast spells successfully. Hence it
is also important to consider Magic Lore to support your MSU army. Yes, to support. Magic can
be the main weapon of the army but it is not so in MSU force. You need to be prepared for
phases when magic is not strong enough to get your spells through and still be able to win. If
you, however, can cast spells then it will be a nice bonus.

I think that any magic lore can be used for MSU army. It is really a matter of taste and personal
approach. Of course, Life spells for example seem to benefit horde formations more but as
always it is up to the player to make his tools workable. There is nothing to say you cannot
have support mage or more arcane items in MSU army either. Just remember it is costly
investment and one more mage is one less regiment.

No matter which way you choose it is important to consider how easy spells from particular
Lore are cast. With single Archmage you might find it quite difficult to cast powerful spells so
maybe it is a better path to go for spells of a less spectacular effect but which can be cast
easier. You also need to know exactly in what way you want your magic to support your
troops.

I used to play with High Magic before new book was released because it has cheap spells to
cast and any choice of spells you end up with will help. They are not as spectacular as some
spells from the rulebook but I managed to use them to great effect in my games and there
were a few times when they did have a huge impact.

I then switched to Metal Magic as I needed some means to fight high armor troops while at
the same time the lore has some handy protective or augment spells. Now, with the new army
book, I play with Loremaster. I like his flexibility and the fact he always knows 8 spells. They are
relatively easy to cast so that you can force the enemy to make hard decisions as to what to
dispel.

No matter which magic lore or which spell caster you are going to choose it is important to
plan your magic phase accordingly. You should not cast your spells at random just because you
can. The order of spell casting and amount of dice used is very important. In order to better
understand how magic phase can be executed to the full effect I highly recommend following
article by Brewmaster_D. Although Brewmaster is using completely different approach and
heavily relies on magic to win his games, his thoughts and ideas are very good to follow for
anyone: 

Magic Phase Strategy 

http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=39115

3.8. Command groups

Some regiments have them some don’t but wherever it was possible I included musicians.
They are essential for swift reforms and add greatly to the maneuverability of the army. They
are the first members of the command groups I take.

Some regiments have champions. I have found out it is handy to have them here and there to
stop powerful character. Champion can challenge thus ensuring the unit will remain steadfast
for a turn. This can help to organize the defense better and even make a counter charge in the
following turn if required or buy that extra turn for the rest of the army.

Some other units have banners. One reason is to increase fortitude points for Blood and Glory
scenarios but can be useful in combat too. On the other hand I wanted to avoid too many of
them as first they decrease the number of warriors and second give free victory points which
are far easier earned from small regiments.

3.9. Sacrificial Units/Baits**

Great Eagles are probably the extinct species by now considering how often they are sacrificed
for greater good. With the new book a lot of young riders are called to do so as well. No
wonder HE are dying race when the bravest and youngest are sacrificing their lives.

However, simply placing them in front of the enemy regiment is not going to spring the trap
you set every time you do so. Your opponent knows that by such placement you want to
achieve some kind of advantage. It may be time advantage (delaying him for a turn), space
advantage (slowing him down) or both.

But it is also a very obvious situation and your opponent might not fall for it and might try his
shooting and/or magic to get rid of the eagle but to maintain his formation and deny any
further advantage. What is more he is not going to separate his units so that you can charge
him from all sides. Basically, you need to find out a way to make it attractive for him to
abandon his positions or to force him to make hard decisions.

The harsh truth of the game is that some of your units will die. But you can decide when and
how they do so (and maybe thanks to that they will also survive the game too!) not your
opponent. In general I am reluctant to sacrifice units (elven life is very precious) but in dire
situations it might be the only way to win the battle.

Hence you can combine both and make the sacrificial regiment attractive enough to be
attacked and use that for setting up favorable situations.

Example
In this game I faced a tough challenge in the form of WoC army with big frenzied troops. I could
not handle Chosen regiment in the frontal assault and in addition I wanted to separate two
enemy units to deal with them separately. I had to use quite desperate solution because we
played Meeting Engagement and my enemy started much closer to my lines than usually and I
had less time to obtain good positions.

In this situation I sacrificed Archers so that frenzied Warriors would overrun in the direction I
wanted (away from the Archmage) and at the same time I exposed Swordmasters for
Marauder attack. Both enemies charged and decimated my small regiments. However,
Warriors were out of position and could not catch valuable foe until the end of the game while
Marauders first lost many of their numbers from first Swordmaster unit attacks and then were
finished by the flanking charge of the other Swordmaster regiment.

Example
This time I faced dreaded Skaven in Watchtower scenario. My goal was to first, separate two
main regiments of the enemy, i.e. Clanrats with Screaming Bell and Plaguemonks with Plague
Furnace. I wanted to focus on Screaming Bell unit and try to destroy it while at the same time
keep the Monks busy and away from the tower. To do so I kept moving Great Eagle and Archers
units in front of it and angled it in such a way that they had to pursue/overrun away from the
tower. I sacrificed 300 points to do so but plague monks and the furnace have never reached
the tower and any meaningful combat.

** paragraph added thanks to feedback from SmithF and inspiration from joey_boy and his
Wood Elves MSU article:

WE MSU 
4. Army List Examples
The army list is for me a constant work in progress. I don't like to make dramatic changes and
prefer to play with particular list for some time but eventually some new units find their way
into my army list. With the new book there are even more choices to pick from. Let me discuss
the the units I had in the army I took to ConVic 2013 tournament as an example. I have also
left the description of units for the old army book and old army list for comparison.

Please, note that this army was created just after new HE army book for 8th edition was
released. After that I played with some different options trying to test new possibilities. You
will see these in various battle reports. Here, the army lists are mainly for the reference point
and to show what I look for when picking particular characters and/or units.

4.1. 8th edition army list

Outcasts - Army List

Loremaster, level 2, Armor of Caledor, Sword of Might -  300 
(or Loremaster, level 2, Shield of Merwyrm , Sword of Might, Earthing Rod, Golden Crown - 
300)

Loremaster is an interesting character and I switched to him simply out of curiosity. My metal
Archmage was still very good (I switched to Metal Lore after CanCon 2013) but I wanted to try
options for new characters from the new army book.

I like his reliability and flexibility thanks to 8 signature spells he knows every game. I have
found out I can cast quite a few spells each game and even against level 4 enemy wizards he
has a chance to get something through. At the same time I like his combat abilities and I think
he can handle rank and file enemies quite well. Very often I was in a situation with my
Archmage when his unit was in a good position to attack but I didn't do it as I didn't want to
risk losing him in combat. Loremaster should be much more versatile here.

I added the new set up in brackets. I missed Earthing Rod during the tournament when my
Loremaster cascaded 4 times, in 3 cases jumping down the hole too. I wanted to keep SoM to
be able to use ASF and having magical attacks helps too.

His level 2 can be sometimes problematic but I have learned already I need to pick a spell or
two I want to dispel and brace myself against others. Against some armies level 4 is not
enough anyway so it is not that I am in far worse situation here.

Battle Standard Bearer, Dragon Armor, Halberd, Charmed Shield, Potion of Strength, Reaver
Bow - 157

Whatever I have written about BSB is still true. It is probably the most important character and
model in my army. His shooting efficiency is not as good as it used to be but having Potion of
Strength can be a nice bonus once in a while.

15 Archers, Full Command - 180

I used to have 2 units of these but smaller and with no banners. This unit is there for long
range fire but also doubles as a ranked unit due to lack of second LSG regiment. It is still
archers unit and I prefer to use them defensively but once in a while they proved to be useful
in ranked formation.

15 Sea Guard, Full Command - 210

LSG seems to suffer from the changes in new book even more than previously. With heavy
cavalry and light horse as core many players do not see any reason to take them. I still like
them and they were useful in their usual role of a versatile unit.

2 x 5 Ellyrian Reavers, Musician, Spear, Bow - 2 x 105

I was very happy to find out they are in core but I was taking them anyway. As they are
cheaper I could afford full equipment and two units at 2400. Again, as with all the units I kept
after the release of new army book all the reasons I had to take them remain. And they still are
here to perform similar roles.

Just to highlight one of the things I have observed. People take them as throw away unit. They
might be called to perform that duty but it is not the main and only thing they can do. I think
there is much more to fast cavalry and I will try to use them in a more sophisticated way if
possible.

5 Dragon Princes, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame - 175

5 Dragon Princes, Musician - 155

Dragon Princes are still very reliable and even better now with 6++ ward save. I have added the
musicians they lacked and transferred BoEF from Lions to them. The reason is that they are
faster and that they kept their re-rolls to hit, very important in monster hunting.

2 x 11 Swordmasters, Bladelord, Musician - 2 x 163

With no option to give Bladelords magic items other than weapons I kept them cheap.
Swordmasters are still good in combat even without the re-rolls. One needs to simply be more
careful with how to use them. But they didn't fail me in the games I used them at all.

10 White Lions, Muscian, Standard - 150

10 White Lions, Muscian, Gleaming Pennant - 155

Lions, in the same manner as Swordmasters, were changed in new army book. Not striking first
and losing the re-rolls was a very significant change but nevertheless they are still a force to be
reckoned with. Together with SM and DP they are my assault teams. One thing I haven't used
with them yet but which seems very good idea is to form them in cubes. That allows for better
attacks concentration at a small frontage that may have a lot of benefits. Such as receiving less
attacks from the enemy, being able to direct more attacks against characters or to be able to
squeeze where wider formation cannot, to name the few.

5 Shadow Warriors - 70
Shadow Warriors are a new addition to the army list that came with new army book. I always
wanted to use scouts but have never had enough points to do so. I would love to have more of
them but at the moment I use just 5. I need to learn a lot about them and how to use them
efficiently and not as yet another sacrificial regiment. They are not the unit that will perform
tasks that will bring a lot of glory. They will do some seemingly minor jobs but I believe these
will be as important to the overall victory as any other.

Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower - 70

I added bolt thrower some time ago and I really like it. As a single war machine it is sometimes
overlooked. If I lose it then it is not that many points. While long range shooting is very handy.
Its crew managed to shoot down some tough opponents too, such as disk riding chaos
champions or be very useful in thinning down monstrous cavalry.

2 x Great Eagle - 2 x 50

Stalwart eagles are here to perform their typical duties. Nothing changed here.

2 x 5 Sisters of Avelorn - 2 x 70

Sisters are another new addition that came with the new army book. These ladies add a lot of
flexibility to the shooting phase and they shine against forces of evil in particular. I might have
lost some range in my shooting but in general it became more dangerous and more versatile
than before. A very reliable part of the toolbox that army brings to battle.

4.2. 7th edition book army list

Many things I have written below might not apply anymore. However, I have decided to keep it
in an original version as it can illustrate better how the same units fit into the army concept
before and how they fit now.

Archmage, Annulian Crystal, High Magic – 300

Army general and its only spell caster. His main duty is to provide +5 dispel bonus. To further
augment his defensive skills he has Annulian Crystal which helps enormously. He is also very
vulnerable so I need to be very careful with his placement.

As I have mentioned before he uses High Magic, a very versatile although less spectacular
magic lore. Its strength also lies in low casting values so even with very weak winds of magic he
is capable of casting some spells.
In the meantime I have also tried some additional equipment such as Dragonbane Gem (2+
ward against flaming attacks), Bow of Seafarer (bolt thrower) or Folariath’s Robes (immune to
non-magical attacks). The Robes are quite useful and I might yet find out myself returning to
that item. The bow was an interesting experience but his BS4 is a little too low for such a
potent weapon to be used to the fullest.

There are plenty of other useful items for this character and I am sure I might try some new
equipment but his main role is the same regardless. Provide magical defense, inspire nearby
troops and support them with cheap but useful spells whenever possible.

Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armor, Shield, Great Weapon, Reaver Bow, Dragon Helm – 174
Battle Standard Bearer seems to be a must in every army and MSU force is no exception,
although in this case his usefulness comes mainly for all other Ld tests and slightly less for
break tests. High Elves have good Ld but they are still not immune to psychology. You might be
surprised how many tests your army is forced to take in one game, especially against undead
and daemons. This re-roll is very handy and you should make sure your BSB is close enough to
lend it to units which need it the most. He cannot be everywhere and it is even more so in the
case of MSU army, often widely spread across the battle field. That is why his initial placement
and moves later in the game should be considered carefully.

Since our characters are expensive and there are few of them in MSU army there is even a
greater need to use them in multiple roles. That is why BSB is equipped with a Reaver Bow.
With his BS6 these 3 S5 shots per turn can be very helpful. He can wound tougher targets, he
can hit obscured ones with better chance and can be the bane of lone characters too. You can
treat his bow as an equivalent of a magic missile with that difference that he always has 3
shots but does not suffer from miscasts and does not take away power dice.

Great Weapon is a very useful addition but he is not to take part in combat unless absolutely
necessary. Even then it can be very risky as his armour is not that great and he can be relatively
easily wounded and killed. However, GW and ASF make sure that some of the enemies will
think twice before they attack him or unit he joined.

2 x 10 Archers, Light Armour, Musician – 2 x 125

Very good support troops, add a little long range firepower, useful mainly in weakening lightly
armoured targets so good at killing enemy support regiments from afar.

Sometimes can also be used as a flanking regiment and since they also benefit from ASF rule it
can be as good option as any. They are not shock troops so do not expect them to do much
against close combat specialist and it might even be a suicide. But timely charge at a flank of
an enemy in narrow formation in addition to the charge to the front can give you that extra +1
from flank charge and might disrupt enemy ranks too.

In dire situation they can also be used as diverters and be sacrificed to enable other regiments
to destroy the enemy unit but that is not their primary role.

Light armor might look as a waste of points but I include it due to the fact the miniatures I use
do have armor and once in a while I am glad I have that 6+ armor save as there are some
enemies who do strike at S3. 1 wound less might be that 1 wound difference between the
victory and defeat.

2 x 15 Sea Guard, Full Command – 2 x 220

They are included for their versatility. Additional 30 bows can help in quicker elimination of
support troops and is always annoying for the enemy, no matter of they really inflict any
damage. However, they are not archers with better armor. They can and often should be used
in combat. Or at least make a threat they can.

I really like the fact I can keep them moving and still be able to shoot. They are not going to
fight on their own but their additional rank, especially when charging from the flank, can be
very helpful. They are not that big unit either and are not as strong magnets to template
weapons as Spearelves in deep formation can be. Although I noticed that my enemies still try
to target them with such attacks.

They are not easy to use as their role is not well specified and depends a lot on the enemy they
face. They even can start the game as archers to join the fight where required to turn into
archers again if some stragglers need to be finished in the last turns.
Their strength lies in flexibility and I really like them in my army as there is always something
for them to do. Either in shooting or movement and combat phases.

10 White Lions, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame - 178

10 White Lions, Musician, Gleaming Pennant - 173

First two regiments out of six heavy hitters I included in the army. Probably the most versatile
units too as they are as good in attack as in defense. Due to stubborn they often are used as
baits which are difficult to ignore because they can attack following turn but when charged can
deal significant damage too. Banner of Eternal Flame makes them perfect monsters hunters
and with many deployment drops there is always a way to position them in the right spot to do
so. Gleaming Pennant is excellent if the unit needs to operate outside of the BSB range but has
to perform anvil duty and stop some powerful enemy long enough for other regiments to be
able to counter charge. They often occupy the center of the line (or close to it) as it is the best
position to intercept enemy units and are close to help other regiments.

10 Swordmasters, Musician, Bladelord, Amulet of Light - 183

10 Swordmasters, Musician, Bladelord, Talisman of Loec - 178

The most killy units of the army and kind of its special forces. It is amazing how much fear they
cause in opponents even at such a small number. I have run units without Bladelords so far but
I included them to have magical attacks and Talisman of Loec is an experiment. They used to
operate closely with Spearelves when I used them so that they did the killing while Spearelves
added static combat resolution and together they were very good teams even for frontal
attacks against some units. Now they are a junction between sea guard and lions and often
these 3 units operate as a task force, supporting each other.

They are of course very fragile. Any protection they can get is good. For example I sometimes
placed them behind single line of White Lions to provide additional -2 to hit penalty if the
enemy wanted to shoot them while Lions benefit from their Lion Pelts protection.

As dangerous as they are they might have problems with 1+ armor save and are definitely
better against anything that is not that well protected. That is why they often can operate with
Lions so that sheer number of attacks prevails one way or another. Having said that small units
of knights are usually equally quickly defeated by Swordmasters as by Lions. Even chaos
knights and knights of Empire might be very reluctant to charge them in the frontal attack.
Only Mournfangs and Demigryphs are dangerous enough to win against them in one-on-one
combats (and usually on the charge) so it is important to choose fights wisely.

2 x 5 Dragon Princes – 2 x 150

Many players think cavalry has no use in 8th edition anymore. It seems some got used to the
fact that knights used to break any foe in a single glorious charge. It is not that easy when
infantry can be steadfast.
Some player like to field big units of heavy cavalry with powerful characters. A typical hammer
unit which can indeed deal a lot of damage.

But what about small heavy cavalry regiments operating without powerful but expensive
characters? I think they still have uses and can be great too. Hence 2 units of 5 Dragon Princes
each instead of more Swordmasters or Lions.

Dragon Princes are still shock troops in this army but although they are not able to pack as
many attacks on narrow frontage as Swordmasters and they hit with S5 instead of S6 like Lions
they have the advantage of armor and charge distance. There are enemies out there which are
quite dangerous to small infantry units. Chariots are very good example. Their impact hits
mean ASF is less of an asset. Often the enemy can have 2 or more of them heading towards a
single unit and small regiment might not even survive to hit back. Dragon Princes are good at
intercepting such threats.

Since they have a longer charge range and benefit from swifstride rule their charge is more
likely to hit home even at longer distance. They can perform a swift outflanking move and be
ready for a coordinated charge when infantry might need another turn to get to the position.

They can be very good at destroying enemy shooters as they can withstand the fire infantry is
much more vulnerable to. They can double as war machines hunters and monsters hunters,
especially that the enemy beasts cannot stomp/thunderstomp them.
If I could find some points I would give them musicians too as they are even more efficient
with their swift reform ability.

2 x 5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Spears, Musicians – 2 x 112

Light cavalry also seems to be less popular choice. They don’t hit as hard as heavy cavalry, are
more expensive than eagles and take away points which could be spent on other special
regiments. What is more with so many units do one really needs another fast regiment?

While it is all true I really like them in my army and I think the difficulty in their use is similar as
with Sea Guard. On the first glance they seem like a unit which is not good at anything in
particular and on top of that other regiments can do specific things better. But the more I use
them (and Sea Guard too) the more I am glad to have multi-purpose regiments as they greatly
add to the flexibility of my army.

First thing Reavers add is redundancy. While I have eagles to divert and hunt war machines
they are often first targets for shooting and magic missiles. Reavers can do that to and it is
more difficult to get rid of all of them quickly. They also hit harder than eagles thanks to re-
rolls and more attacks so can be used as shock troops too. My reavers hunted down a little
more resilient troops such as chariots or Razorgors thanks to their speed, spears and ASF. They
are also much more efficient at destroying war machines, especially from Dwarven armies.

Flexibility is also the reason why I equip them with bows. Sometimes having only 5 shots is not
great. But sometimes you only need to inflict 1 more wound and your archers might be in bad
spot or simply you don’t want to waste so many arrows. Reavers are usually close enough to
have that 4+ to hit after they moved and it is more difficult for the enemy to hide from them.
There is also kind of psychological effect to that as people tend to make mistakes when
annoyed by light cavalry shooting at them all the time. And they always can aim at the same
target as other units so I can focus the fire for greater effect.
Last but not least their ability to flee and then reform and keep moving is a great asset. It can
help you to bait the enemy so that they break formation and then return to the position where
they cannot be attacked but which enables them to go to the rear. Their speed and
maneuverability is a huge asset and a weapon in itself although not as straightforward in use
as in the case of other regiments.

2 x Great Eagle – 2 x 50

The eagles are so useful for any type of HE army that there is a separate topic about tips and
tricks how to use them. They are as much needed in MSU army despite its greater
maneuverability. They are very handy when there is a need to trap that big, fat enemy unit so
that your regiments can position themselves for a proper charge next turn. They add to the
number of units which are annoying to the foe and which are much faster than any other in
the army.

The only thing I would add to any way you want to use your Eagles is that I always try to
position them so that they are not easy target to aim at (if possible of course). If there are no
cannons having them behind heavy cavalry helps. I also try to keep them until it is absolutely
necessary to use them so I do not fly them to the front of the enemy turn 1 just because I can.
Reavers are much better at that as they can flee and return to the fight next turn. Eagles are
too precious to sacrifice them just because they are worth “only” 50 points each. It might be
that they are indeed sacrificed very often but make sure it is really for greater good. The longer
the eagle is around the more dangerous it is and the better your situation can be.

This army list is not final version. I don’t think I would ever be able to have one. Things
constantly change, the fact new books are released is one reason for that. Another is my
growing experience with different armies. There are a lot of them which I haven’t played
against yet so it might happen that I will recognize the need to include something I haven’t yet
to be prepared for yet another threat. I will probably not be able to have a perfect solution for
everything but at least I will find out with which tools I am most comfortable with. For
comparison, have a look at the army which was suggested to me long time ago and which was
the force I based my first list on.

4.2. Another example of HE MSU army

Archmage, level 4, Jewel of the Dusk – High Magic
BSB, GW, Dragon Armor, Radiant Gem of Hoeth, Pidgeon Plucker Pendant – High Magic

2 x 10 Archers, Musicians
2 x 20 Spears, Musicians, Standards (one with Banner of Eternal Flame)
3 x 10 Swordmasters, Musicians
3 x 10 White Lions, Musicians
2 x 5 Dragon Princes, Musicians
3 x Great Eagle

Harder hitting force and more combat orientated. Other than that I leave it to you to compare
two armies and find out which one you like better and what might be differences in some
crucial details about their way of fighting.
5. Deployment
Assembling army list is only the beginning. Deployment of your army on the battle field is a
very crucial thing and for me it is separate phase of the game. It is not rare occasion when a
game is won or lost at this stage.

Deployment is very important for MSU army because it aims to out-deploy the enemy. It may
seem to be easy with more regiments than typical enemy armies have but it does not mean
MSU force can deploy in random order and fashion. Since it supposed to give an advantage
one has to think how to do so properly. Besides with many regiment it is also easy to end up
with crowded formation when units do not support each other and even stay in the way
preventing charges and adding to the general confusion.

Deployment depends on many factors. Apart from the enemy army list, which is kind of
obvious, there are following things I try to take into account:

5.1. Terrain
Sounds obvious but it is important so it is also worth reminding. I try to quickly discuss each
piece of terrain and its effect it can have on units or line of sight. It also makes it clear for the
situations later in the game and there are no nasty surprises.

In particular I look for forests and rivers/lakes as if I can draw the enemy into combat while his
unit remains in such terrain then they cannot be steadfast and cannot claim rank bonus. Very
good situation for my army as it can deal a lot of wounds and win against otherwise difficult to
break enemy such as horde regiment or a unit with deep ranks.

Another important terrain is the one which forces dangerous terrain test. It is good to enter
such area with your infantry as it makes a good defensive position against chariots and cavalry.
Sometimes you can combine effects and have also protection against shooting if you are in the
forest on some kind of ruins.

I am also learning how to use buildings to my advantage, it seems obvious to put some
shooters in there as they can target units around the building and have good defensive
position (although sometimes it can be a trap so be warned and do not enter the building
which is in the range of an organ gun!).

5.2. Scenario
I am aware that many players do not use scenarios in their games but for those who do (and I
recommend doing so, as it spices up the game and you can always modify some victory
conditions to make them more “fair” :)) a few reminders.

If your are playing Blood and Glory it is obvious you don’t want to risk your banners in the
same way as during Battleline so take that into account and even change the deployment
order to make sure you can place most vulnerable regiments in the safe(r) place.

In the Meeting Engagement in particular and in some other scenarios it is worth remembering
you are much closer to the enemy. Even if you have first turn there is a chance your opponent
can steal it from you (on a roll of 6) so be prepared for that too and do not deploy in a way
they you can be charged instead charging yourself.

Example

In the game against TK I won roll-off and had a great chance to move first. I wanted to use that
to my advantage and positioned Dragon Princes forward. They could attempt charges turn 1. If
I failed charge rolls nothing bad happens as I can flee with them to safety and use them later
on. But if I succeeded then I could potentially break through and have opened path to
vulnerable artillery behind. If my opponent stole the initiative it is still ok as majority of my
army is further back and cannot be engaged early.

5.3. Going second

I am used to the fact I am going second. That is why I deploy in such a way that I can take that
into account. It usually means I deploy my regiments a little further than the edge of
deployment zone so that the enemy shooters need to move to get into range. If possible, and
with 24” range of some troops it is the most common situation, I deploy 6” away from the
edge so that even if they move they are out of range anyway.

On the other hand some of my regiments could have some good targets to attack (cavalry in
particular) so it pays off to consider such placement that enables first turn charges. Even if they
are long ones it is worth risking as I have enough units to follow and protect the regiment that
failed their charge roll while if it works it can be a surprise for the enemy. What is more, if the
target of the attack is broken then cavalry can be behind enemy lines in no time too. (see
example from Meeting Engagement section)

Going second affects the light cavalry too. I need to take into account the fact that if I move
towards the enemy they might be in shooting range so I try to prevent that (although there
were games when I did the contrary and suffered the consequences). I might vanguard them
to try and draw some attention and early charges which is good as they can flee, rally and
move again. Vanguard move can also position them on a good spot to charge in my turn 1 with
even greater chances of success so if there is a good target for them I try to do so.

5.4. Order of deployment

I often start with deployment of Archers, LSG and Reavers because these regiments usually
occupy the center of my formation (in the case of infantry) and Reavers are going to vanguard
anyway (although I do not use it to redeploy or change direction as it is quite risky and adds to
the confusion). If the enemy does not have war machines such as cannons I can then deploy
my eagles. If he does, I wait until he deploys them and try to position the birds where he
cannot aim at them or at least where it is safer (relatively of course). I then try to make sure
they are more than 6” away from other units to prevent panic tests unless the regiments are
close enough to BSB to get re-rolls. But even then, if possible, I try to avoid that. Then I
proceed to position my heavy hitters.

Example
Here I made a crucial mistake. I knew I am facing doom divers which are very dangerous for my
heavy cavalry but I still deployed them outside of the influence of the BSB. I lost one unit of DP
who then panicked another heavy cavalry and nearby Swordmasters out of the board. It was
heavy blow and I had to fight an uphill battle with 2000 point army against 2500 one. I didn’t
manage to recover from that.

But it is not the rule and sometimes it even pays off to keep Archers and LSG as last to deploy
as otherwise they might have no good targets to shoot at or their priority targets can be
obscured, out of range etc.

5.5. Formation
With so many regiments the battle line MSU army is going to form can be wide. It helps to
envelope the enemy with smaller number of units. Because of that the center is occupied by
infantry while the flanks are controlled by cavalry. Since I have 2 unit of each regiment it can
even be symmetric. The advantage of that formation is that the enemy cannot say if there is
any part of the formation that is more important. Placement of characters can sometimes tip
the balance slightly to one side or the other but even then not so much.
Example

Symmetric formation with strong flanks and fire base at the center gave me the opportunity to
envelope the enemy quickly, set up some traps and shoot at him without other regiments
blocking line of sight. At the same time he had difficult choice to make as whether to split up his
force or to keep it tight but go against one half of the army leaving the other half unchecked.

It is of course not the only way of deploying troops and often it is not even the most common
one. Sometimes formation is forced by scenario such as Dawn Attack. Sometimes a form of
refused or weighted flank can also be beneficial.

Example
(Reproduced from the army list topic of Elithmar of Lothern - Elithamar of Lothern - Battle
Report)
Suspecting that big archer unit is carrying Banner of Eternal Flame I positioned Dragon Princes
in the center so that they can cover the distance to the enemy fire base quicker and with
smaller chance of being intercepted. Shooting regiments took good defensive positions in the
forest but are close to respond to the threat from the Eastern flank and to support other troops.

Combat infantry supports each other and 2 regiments can move swiftly to either reinforce
cavalry or turn to the center to engage the enemy. At the same time other 2 units protect fire
base and threaten the flank of the opposing army if it decided to attack my cavalry. Last but
not least light horse can either harass enemy advance or use the forest to attack from another
flank if heavy cavalry had difficulties in destroying support elements of the enemy army.

There were just 2 examples of how formation can look like, one is symmetric the other one is
asymmetric. But by no means they are not standard deployments and I doubt there is even
such a thing. There are a few points, however, that I have found quite important in assembling
your regiments for battle. In no particular order:

- Support each other – this is true at any stage of a game (if possible of course). Try not to
leave any regiments in a position that when it is charged you cannot counter attack in your
following turn. A little twist here and there means that your angles are right and there is no
situation when the enemy attacks and you cannot attack back because you cannot really see it
although it is 2 inches away.

- Use terrain – there are usually more benefits from being in some kind of cover with unit
unless we are talking about cavalry. In that case it might be better to position them relatively
in the open to avoid dangerous terrain test. In all other cases you can always use that -1 to hit
penalty for the enemy when your troops are in the woods or that they have to make a
dangerous terrain test while attacking your unit in the ruins.

- Avoid crowd – as I have shown in one of the examples being too crowded may result in
unlucky chain effect of failed panic tests or in a situation when rallied unit blocks friends from
moving or charging the enemy. If possible use check board formation so that units have gaps
through which to withdraw or to move forward.

- “Living Shield” – having said that you should not be too crowded there might be some
exceptions when it is better to position units close together. In particular some kind of “Living
Shield” can be used but fortunately without entirely sacrificing troops, merely using the ones
with better protection to give some of it to their friends. For example, single rank of White
Lions can nicely protect Swordmasters staying behind them from enemy shooters as they have
more difficult choice. To shoot at Lions without penalties but knowing they have 3+ armor save
against shooting or at Swordmasters with additional -2 to hit penalty. The same can be done
with Dragon Princes and Eagles and even when you position one Reaver unit behind another it
can be good as you would probably be able to save one of them. Even more so with Shield of
Saphery on the front line regiment.

- Task forces – form units into task forces. They might be as small as 2 regiments or as big as
half of the army. They will operate on their own then but with particular goal in mind. You can
change task forces during the game depending on the situation and how quickly you achieve
with them what you wanted to gain.

5.6. Characters Placement *

Characters are very important for the MSU army as for any other. However, due to the usually
spread formation the influence they have over some regiments is limited. For example, forces
with small number of units can create a protective area of 12" radius where majority of the
army can benefit from re-rolls to Ld tests due to proximity of their BSB as well as higher Ld
value thanks to the Inspiring Presence of their general.

MSU army can and should use this advantage as well but due to its nature it is less likely that
all the unit will benefit from that. It is very important then to consider where to place precious
few characters to help the regiments the most. In the case of the Archmage it also should be a
relatively safe place but close enough to the enemy so that he can cast his spells (24" as
maximum range for spells from High Magic). BSB is also taken to inspire troops and with his
Reaver Bow he should be in 30" from the chosen target too.

High Elves are disciplined troops but even with Ld8 the odds to fail some tests are high
enough. There are many situations where such tests simply have to be passed or otherwise
carefully prepared plans might fail. One way to address that problem is to assign each
character to separate flanks of the army formation.
Example

When fighting against fear-causing enemy you are going to take a lot of Ld tests. Here I
deployed the Archmage on the center-West (red circle indicates his area of influence) and BSB
on the center-East (blue circle for his area of influence). Thanks to that units on the West have
Ld9 and those on the East can re-roll their tests. I find re-rolls more important so I decided to
position BSB where I was about to roll some terror tests as well.

If you are not fighting against fear-causing enemy but need to strengthen the resolve of units
in particular area you can deploy your characters closer to each other so that their influence
overlaps.

Example
In the game against Bretonnia I wanted to surround main unit of the enemy with as many
regiments as possible. In order to do so I needed to destroy support units first. However, I had
to take into account the fact that knights are faster than my infantry and I might need to
receive the charge to do so. Hence I placed my Archmage (who had Folariath's Robes in this
game) in  a unit of LSG to act as an anvil. Thanks to that they had Ld9 while nearby BSB
ensured I could re-roll any break tests (hopefully on steadfast). My opponent took the bait with
his six knights and charged in. I managed to hold and then counter-attacked to destroy the
enemy and then reform to face the main unit of my opponent (not shown here).

My characters are very fragile so positioning them is also important from the point of view of
their safety. As long as they live they do not give away a significant amount of victory points to
the enemy but also support troops longer. Usually placing them with Swordmasters, Lions or
LSG is more than enough to prevent any early charges by fast enemy troops who would die
easily if they attempted the charge. Of course you might want to consider changing the unit
who at particular time protects the characters as Swordmasters and Lions in particular need to
be in combat while at the same time it is something the characters should avoid at all costs.
What can happen if it the character is killed in such situation is illustrated by the following
example:

Example
In the game against Warriors of Chaos at CanCon 2012 I recklessly moved White Lions with BSB
forward. My opponent charged in with his chariot. Despite quite significant amount of S6
attacks I failed to destroy it and my enemy killed BSB. I lost combat and failed a break test.
What is more, in the following turn my units which were prepared to counter attack Chaos
Knights panicked due to killed eagle and fled from their perfect positions. All this could have
been avoided if BSB were alive. That mistake decided the outcome of the game. If I deployed
BSB in a safer place the battle would have been much closer

In general there is no single way of deploying your characters as it depends on the enemy and
other circumstances present during particular game with its scenario etc. But you need to
know exactly what you want to accomplish with them and how to protect them so they can do
their job.

*This paragraph was added thanks to feedback from GuessRange from wargamerau.com

6. Movement
Some armies are designed to out-shoot the enemy. Some to out-magic it. MSU armies aim at
gaining superiority in the movement phase. Before I start writing about my own observations
in that matter I would like to draw your attention to some old articles by Machiara and Papa Elf
(who basically adopted a lot of Machiara’s ideas and tried to implement them for High Elves
armies in particular):

Machiara's Battle Glade

Papa Elf - Tactics - Part 1

Papa Elf - Tactics - Part 2

In one of them it is said that Movement Phase has really two purposes:

1. To create a situation when you can have uneven fights in your favor.
2. To prevent the enemy to do likewise.

Some of the ideas in the above mentioned articles are outdated due to the fact they were
written for previous editions. For example, skirmishers no longer have ability to see in every
direction that limits their area of influence to the front rank as every other unit.

However, there are new rules which I try to use with MSU army to my advantage:

- Random charge distance – new rules for determining charge distances mean that in theory
the area of influence of your units are bigger since an infantry regiment can potentially have a
charge distance of 17 inches while cavalry can attack targets at 20 inches away (with greater
probability too, thanks to swift stride). It is not likely to accomplish such a fit but the enemy
often has to take that into account and by threatening him with an attack you can prevent him
from reaching better positions.

- Swift reform/other reforms – with musicians and high leadership you can be much faster.
Instead of performing wide and cumbersome wheels you simply swift reform and move in the
desired direction. Very good when you want to catch the opponent off guard and pretend you
are attacking towards one part of the battlefield and then go elsewhere. Of course you have to
be careful how you reform and that you do not create chaos among your own ranks but
keeping the enemy guessing can be a good idea. And might force him to make mistakes too.

Another use of swift reform is to use it in order to threaten enemy units trying to maneuver
around you or between your regiments.  It can be tricky as you don’t want to chase faster units
(or fliers) this way and simply turn your unit on the spot. But this is the option you have so you
can try to use it.

Swift reform also helps regiments who defeated their enemies to quickly reinforce their
companions.  Reforming in general is very useful thing to do so look for opportunities and try
to anticipate movements of units to choose the best option. At the same time limiting the
options for the enemy to do so is very helpful. Attacking from two directions gives that
advantage and if it is done from any other than front it can also mean a significant reduction in
the attacks the foe can direct back at you.

Example
Here you can see that I managed to charge with Swordmasters and Lions against Stormvermin
and defeat them in 1 turn. I used combat reform after that to be in a position to counter charge
next turn when Spearelves held big clanrat unit in place.

Last but not least swift reform helps your shooters to change facing and keep shooting. Deadly
against light troops trying to sneak around. Also useful when you try to position sea guard to
create better multi charges but annoys the enemy as you are not only threaten them with
unfavorable combats but can kill that one warrior too many that might be the difference
between having and not having steadfast or kill that lonely character who thought he is safe.

Example
  

Vampire BSB on Hellsteed has just defeated light cavalry. He was in a relatively safe position
but keen eyed elven archers spotted him. They swift-reformed to be sure they are in range and
managed to get that lucky shot that finished cursed creature of the night.
- Fast cavalry – less straightforward to use but I really like it. Now and again you might find a
narrow gap in enemy lines which is too narrow for other units but thanks to free reform you
can get through and threaten vulnerable war machines. It is also very helpful to threaten the
foe with flank/rear charges too. They might fail their Ld test due to close proximity of your unit
and might not march, does not happen often but it is always good to force such a test.

Their feigned flight rule is also very handy, especially against frenzied regiments and can help
you to draw them into a trap without sacrificing your own units to do so. In other cases the
enemy might have to declare the charge against them first in order to redirect against another
unit. First, they might fail to do so and then have to chase light horse. If not they might be still
in a bad spot for a successful charge against another unit (i.e. too far to have good chance to
make it) and still fail the charge. You can of course withdraw with second regiment too thus
slowing down your enemy further. In any case there are a lot of opportunities to perform
feigned flight and then come back to the fight, especially that you can do so by moving around
enemy regiments and immediately position your light cavalry in a threatening place without
losing a turn as it would be for other unit.

Example
  
One of the light cavalry units performed a feigned flight move forcing a failed charge and thus
the gap was created between the Dwarven units. Reavers reformed and immediately moved
into it to reform again behind enemy lines ready to attack their war machines. Another unit
also exploited the gap between Dwarven unit and the tower.

- Always Strike First/Initiative order – it is not exactly the rule that helps you directly in the
movement phase but thanks to that you can be more aggressive with your units and be more
efficient in positioning them for the best charge option. The enemy often fears even 10 Lions
or Swordmasters because they will strike before them and with their high output damage it is
very risky to do so if you are not attacking with big regiment or well armored warriors or both.
Thanks to that you can march with one of your regiments boldly towards the enemy, stop and
inch or two, thus preventing any sophisticated movement and force a difficult decision –
charge first but still suffer greatly and risk counter attack or try to move back but with possible
combined charge going his way next turn regardless.

Obviously, with new army book, the units with great weapons do not have re-rolls anymore so
exposing them to charge of the enemy can be risky. Hence, it is important to take all odds into
account. It may work against lower initiative troops but then if they are also quite numerous,
you might still be at disadvantage. Units that kept ASF might not be strong enough to inflict
significant damage either.

However, it is just another option you should consider while fighting for domination during
movement phase.

Example
I moved my hard hitters towards the enemy but I positioned Spearelves and Swordmasters in
such way that Daemonettes would struggle not to engage both units at the same time (and I
always could flee from that charge). Since my enemy hesitated and didn’t charge first I could
attack with 4 units against one. This example also shows how the advantage in the number of
units available works to your advantage. You can outflank the enemy easier even with ranked
infantry and since the opponent knows you can flee and still have units to charge he has a
tough decision to make.

Apart from 8th edition rules that you can use in the movement phase to gain advantage and
prevent the enemy in doing likewise there are things that are good for you:

- Multiple Small Units - This is also foundation of the whole concept. Multiple Units. Even
though they are infantry in majority you can use them efficiently to overwhelm the enemy so
that there is nowhere for it to hide and no matter how it turns or reforms, it will always be
attacked from many directions. What is more, by setting up multiple charges you diminish the
impact of the random charge range and even if some units do not get into the contact with the
enemy there are enough of them to create favorable fight for you anyway.

Example
  
In the course of battle I managed to position several units close enough to attempt a multiple
charge on an isolated regiment of enemy ranked infantry. I sacrificed an eagle to hold gors in
place and then declared the charge with 6 units. Only one failed the charge roll and combined
effort was enough to destroy 25 strong gor unit with 2 characters in a single turn.

- Space - MSU army needs space to be able to be as efficient as possible. It means that in the
first turn of the game you might need to clear the field from enemy support units as they can
divert your regiments, block movement and be generally annoying. This is where your shooting
and cavalry can shine. Shooting can wound tougher targets such as chariots or some war
beasts while light cavalry or skirmishers can be destroyed by it. Cavalry can intercept faster
regiments which can harm your infantry (and you do want them to be at full strength before
the combat starts). Heavy cavalry is also good at attacking enemy shooters and aid light horse
in war machines hunting so that your infantry does not have to worry about presenting a flank
to cannon crew of your enemy. Because you have many units at your disposal you can perform
all these tasks at the same time. Another great advantage of the MSU army.

- Great Eagles - Great Eagles are well known for their usefulness and they deserve a separate
entry. Fortunately there is a whole tread for you to read about tricks available to any HE player
so I am not going to steal the topic from the rightful owner and instead give full credit to
Collinisimo and other contributors by linking this topic: Link

- Threat Zones* - I believe it was in Machiara's article I read about it for the first time in the
context of warhammer game and I learned about the concept from chess (surprise, surprise!).
All your regiments have that front arc area zone where they can either shoot or charge and
any enemy entering it risks being attacked. This is a very useful thing as you can create zones
during movement phase where the enemy will be reluctant to go into. They might fear your
powerful charge and will slow down their advance. Or maybe their units are vulnerable to
shooting and can be thinned down or even panicked  and because of that his formation will
not spread as much as he would like to thus preventing him from using movement to his full
advantage. It might force him to make difficult decisions as he would like to shoot/cast a spell
at your regiment but it might require entering the threat zone from your elites ready to attack
next turn. So he has to choose between risking his shooters/spell casters and not using them in
the role they are the best.

Example
In this game of two MSU armies we tried to out-deploy and outmaneuver each other. I find
Flamers quite dangerous for my small units but I have a good counter for that threat in the
form of Dragon Princes. My opponent knew that and tried to lure my cavalry to the flank and
take them away from the center of the battlefield. I achieved my goal which was preventing
Flamers from shooting without any penalties (their efficiency was reduced and their target
choice limited) and I also used a small mistake my opponent made by placing his Fiend a little
too close when I could risk long charge. I made it but then could not break through in order to
overrun into flamers but in the end I managed to destroy the Fiend and the Crusher so it was
not lost opportunity either.

It is also worth remembering that a perceived threat is as dangerous as a real one. It is another
concept borrowed from chess. Once the unit is committed it cannot be elsewhere. Of course
ultimate goal is to commit the regiment but at the same time when you maneuver to gain the
best advantage possible you can keep the enemy guessing. Also, if you try to position your
units in the way that they threat many enemy regiments at the same time you can confuse the
opponent as to where your attack is rally aiming. The best for that are flying units so you might
consider adding a flying heroes to your army for the very purpose of that option.

* paragraph added thanks to feedback from SmithF

7. Additional Examples
There are a few more examples of interesting situations which occurred in my games I would
like to share with you. I hope I will be able to update that part with more games coming.
7.1. Abomination Hunt
Skaven Abomination is powerful monster and with its special attacks it can easily eat one small
regiment per turn. It was crucial for me then to come up with an idea of how to hunt it down.
It is very fast with its 3d6 random movement and you cannot flee from it. It has "regeneration"
special rule so it was very important to attack it with White Lions who have Banner of Eternal
Flame. If I could do so from the flank then even better. Here is what I managed to achieve:
Due to its Random Movement Abomination moved ahead of main Skaven battle line. I
positioned an Eagle exactly 1 inch in front of it so that it has no other option but to charge. I
moved White Lions to be 6.1 right behind the eagle so that when Abomination overruns it does
not go too far for another Lion regiment to charge it from the flank. As you can see my
opponent sees the danger and tries to shoot at Lions but 5 of them remains and they charge in.
They do not kill the Abomination in that turn yet (I managed to finish it in subsequent round of
combat) but I stopped it already.

7.2. Dealing with Frenzied Ranked units

Ranked units with frenzy can be very dangerous because they produce a lot of attacks and
even if they lose combat they may still be steadfast and difficult to defeat quickly. This is one
way of dealing with them:
I positioned an Eagle in front of the Khorne Warriors regiment. I also moved 3 other units (task
force) to positions and my opponent had to choose. Either to attack or be attacked. He chose to
kill the eagle and had to overrun. As he entered the river he immediately lost steadfast rule and
his ranks did not count to the combat resolution. Then I charged with my 3 heavy hitters from 3
sides and managed to inflict enough wounds to kill the entire regiment. However, the same
would work against horde of khorne marauders for example, who would lose badly and unless
they were lucky to get insane courage they would be broken easily

7.3. Multiple Charge

There are many examples of multiple charges but I chose this one because ... it didn't happen. I
missed that opportunity and if I were not lucky to hold with Spearelves against Clanrats with
Screaming Bell I would have lost that game badly.

In the middle of the game sometimes it is hard to spot great opportunities. In this situation I
saw that I am in a good position to charge Stromvermin with Swordmasters from the front and
Lions from the flank. I also sacrificed Archers to slow down Clanrats with Screaming Bell. To our
surprise Archers survived the charge and even managed to hold on Insane Courage! But then I
was so overwhelmed with joy that I didn't spot another opportunity.

I should have charged with Swordmasters and Spearelves to the flank of that big regiment. It
would pin it down again and although it is unbreakable I would be able to start killing clanrats
earlier. Also, my two other regiments who defeated Stormvermin would be able to help my
following turn and it would be possible to get the bell as well while in the game I didn't have
enough time to finish it. What is more important, however, I would not risk Spearelves with the
Archmage as I did in the game.

7.4. Defending characters against powerful fliers

Even with so many regiments it might happen that the characters have no safe place to hide. It
is in particular difficult against powerful fliers such as Bloodthirster or Lord on Dragon. Such
beasts don't even have to attack your character, they will simply destroy the unit so that they
can catch the survivors in hot pursuit.

Another problem is that you cannot really block such powerful enemy with your units as they
can simply fly over. If you place the character behind the regiment the foe will simply overrun
into your mage or bsb. Another unit might be handy but then we are talking about the
situation when you might run out of the units to sacrifice. Besides 2 regiments equal the cost
of BSB with a bonus VP for battle standard and their cost is close to what enemy would get for
an archmage too. So it is not really that great exchange.

However, I think I managed to design the formation in which you can save the life of your
characters at the cost of one unit, at least for a turn or two. Which means that it might be long
enough for them to live until the end of the game.

In the game against Daemons of Chaos I faced a big challenge (literally!) in the form of
Bloodthirster. I managed to elude his attention for some time and it happened that I needed
just one more turn to survive with my characters. As you can see on the diagram I positioned
my 2 units at an angle with only a small gap in front. My characters were between the units,
one inch away from each regiment and presenting their front to the Bloodthirster. In that
situation Bloodthirster could not land between them to attack my characters. He could only
charge a unit. As he had to maximize the number of models in contact it also meant he would
not be able to pursue or overrun into my archmage either. Another important factor here is
that I didn't have any champions in these units so I could not challenge and by sacrificing one
be able to remain steadfast one turn longer. It did help, however, to be able to cast Courage of
Aenarion to make the regiments stubborn as the one attacked suffered too many casualties to
remain steadfast. Thanks to this formation my characters survived the game and when we
calculated the points it was a draw!

8. Summary
As I said at the beginning I wrote this rather long post to collect my observations on High Elves
MSU. It is possible that with growing experience I will update it, especially with some more
interesting examples. I would also appreciate any feedback on any part. Do you think I should
elaborate on some particular subject? Maybe I missed something?

I also trust it was interesting reading despite the length. I simply decided to write everything I
consider worth mentioning even if it seems obvious.

Acknowledgements
If these observations are any good (and I believe some of them may be useful :)) then it is
thanks to:

Wardancer aka Eastern Barbarian - who convinced me that it is a very good idea to try out
MSU approach when I was failing badly with my cavalry prince and started to doubt if I can
play Warhammer at all. He patiently played game after game with variety of armies to help me
to prepare to the first tournament at which I played with this army. Thanks bro!

SmithF - for showing the MSU armies can be fun to play with in 8th edition too!

Milliardo - for support and understanding the need to talk about tactics more than army list
building :)

Brewmaster_D - for being stubborn and forcing me to eat my keyboard in order to defend my
own way but having a great time discussing magic lores and core selections.

And all the members from Ulthuan and Warhammer.org who: disagreed with me on many
matters thus helping me to try and explain my point of view better (I know I failed often in that
regard); popped by and said they like the reports and the army style - that really kept me
going!; all the readers - I will do my best to provide more and better quality reports so that HE
MSU saga continues.

Thanks for reading!

Fast Cavalry Tactics

Some time ago I read an excellent article on Druchii.net about Dark Riders written by
KillerK. Fast cavalry is one of my favorite units so I really liked the subject. I decided
to link it in my blog so that I will always have access to it! But in the meantime I
contacted the author, KillerK, and asked him if he allowed me to re-edit his article as a
separate entry on the blog. I was very happy to find out he agreed and I finally had time
to do so. It is a great piece of advice for any fast cavalry users, so don't worry if you are
not playing Dark Elves. Enjoy!

I've been hearing "there is nothing that Dr can do that, harpies and shades cant do for
less point's".

For along time I agreed. until a few month's ago, I seen some fast cav flee, rally, then
move and shoot. Hmmmmmm Well this is something nether harpies nor shades can do.
In result I added an DR unit to my ETC list. After a few games I decided to add another.

I was left with 2 unit's of harpies, 2 unit's of DR, and a single unit of shades.

I have also noticed that shades and DR work up a few synergies.

1. I can use shades to secure a good Vanguard move for my DR.
2. A Vanguard move can help to protect my shades form being charged by enemy chaff.
Why are DR better?
They are not Skirmishers, so you don't change unit length when being charged.

This is important for a few reasons,

1. the amount of unit's you can tie down, Hold the line tactic,
2. a lot of times, if your opponent charges your skirmishers, you have to stack them up,
it can mean that your opponent will have enough room to move past the skirmishers.

Looking at the diagram, the DR have a length of 10", harpies 6", for blocking
movement purposes the DR have 10" length, while harpies and shades have 4" do to
formation change.
Also if we incorporate the 1" rule in to this, it means that the DR, prolong flee moves by
12" and harpies only 8". This has an immense meaning for the trick's in this post.

The thing that DR can do and nothing else in the army can, block, Flee, rally, move to
block, and over, and over :). In practice you can use the double flee, rally and set it up
again, as long as you have enough table to flee.

A few Tactic's the DR are better then competition, as shown below;

to understand some of these trick's it nice to remember the probability of rolling 2d6
2 - 2.78%
3 - 8,34 %
4 - 16,67%
5 - 27,78%
6 - 41,67%
7 - 58,34%
8 - 41,67%
9 - 27,78%
10 - 16,67%
11 - 8,34%
12 - 2.78%

1. Dubble flee
I've found it's most useful if opponent plays a refused flank, deathstar, or has deployed a
big unit with little or no support.

the set up
You opponent can stand there, or charge. If he Charges (red), you flee. Since your
enemy cannot reach the fleeing DR he automatically fails his charge. Now you
opponent has a possibility to riderect his charge, if he passes his LD. If he passes he can
only charge the second unit of DR (green), as soon as he does you flee again.

And the end game looks like this.

Since your opponent's unit no longer counts as charging the first unit of DR he cannot
come in to contact with them. Further more your opponent's unti cannot reach the
second DR, so your opponent unit fails it's charge. 

The nice part is, when you rally your dark rides (LD 9 if you have a music), you can do
it over again!

2. Hold the Line

This is one of the most useful way's to delay your opponent, If he charges, you hold, he
charges with rest, you continue to hold. It will mess up your opponent's battle line if he
overruns, or stop his advance if he doesn't, ether way you win.

This is extremely annoying, because it means you opponent moves 1" with charge, to
keep his battle line intact, or risk's overruns and destroy his formation.

Why it is annoying you can see in an more expanded version.

3. Hold the Line - counter charge

This is why it's so dangerous, you can move you heavy hitters close to the enemy
position, with out risk of a lucky long charge, ruing your day.

This exact set up is used to it's maximal potential if the hydras and dragon charge blue
unit, since the dragon is in the flank.
Another expansion of hold the line is:

4. Box cars
All 3 enemy unit's are on the flank of your DR. The last DR unit, while staying out of
enemy line of sight, it uses the 1" rule to box in the enemy unit(white on the right). In
result the enemy's entire line cannot move past your DR, without breaking formation.

4. Box cars 2
You can also mess up enemy unit's facing.By getting one Dr unit on the enemy flank,
using the 1" rule to keep it locked in place. While the other DR unit keeps the left
mentioned unit on it's flank, and the last Right unit in the front arc. Making a coherent
overrun impossible. In result enemy advance is stopped.
5. Flee to safety using LOS  
You use the enemy blind spot to catapult you unit to safety. It is done by placing one
unit of DR, out of the enemy's line of sight. The other unit should be directly between,
your DR (out of LOS) and your enemy unit. Remember you flee center to center, so
your unit's must be placed in a manner to allow a flee path to catapult your unit away to
safety. While the enemy unit is left with no unit's to redirect to, it will fail it's charge.

Enemy charges your DR, and they flee (pivot center to center).

Move flee distance, once your over your unit you catapult behind them.

Notice your fleeing DR are over 17" from the charging unit, so not even elven infantry
can catch you.
If for some reason you cant stay out of enemy LOS, say do to other unit's, you can
always get a more risky tactic.

6. Risky flee to safety

It is best, to minimise risk, there for you measurement's have to be correct, you should
set up a unit of DR over 13" from infantry of M4, and further for enemy with a higher
move.

Then the other unit of DR (best it be in 2 rank's) to limit the space between unit's, and
decreeing the chance of not rolling enough to reach safety.

Instead of DR you can catapult any unit/hero out of harms way using this tactic. It is
extremely useful to get characters especially sorceress to safety.

To ensure success you need to:

1. To minimalies the distance the enemy can move (so he doesn't just move around)
2. To maximalise the flee distance you move. To avoid your enemy catching you.
3. To minimalise the risk of not fleeing enough, and being caught by you enemy.

in this set up, the initial DR flee, if I roll over 3 on 3d6 your safe. Your opponent
opponent has to redirect (Ld 9 test, 16,67 to fail), if he passes, he then must roll 10+ on
2d6 (16,67%), to reach the second unit. So the odds are greatly in you favor.

Let's say are facing the enfeeble empire, you would best set up, your fleeing DR unit
just above 3" from the enemy. and your catapulting long unit, over 13" from the empire
unit. and that places you 3" from your "fleeing" DR.

Your opponent charges, you declare a flee, pivot your unit center to center, next you
need to roll more then 3 on 3d6 to get to safety. 

If your opponent redirects he needs a roll of 10+ to reach your lines (16,67% to
succeed)

Now my favorite, to force a unit to flee off the table :twisted:. If pulled off gives
extreme reward, and the aw in the face of you opponent when he looks at you,
priceless :D.
7. Extreme flee off of the table
Work's best with lore of Death and the Doom and Darkness spell.

It can be engineered by making some preparations:

1. Tracing the flee path of an enemy unit,

2. Move your DR in any gap to ensure you catapult enemy unit off the edge. Usually it
will be between the table edge and enemy battle line.
3. Move another unit of DR, in such a fashion to ensure a proper flee path of target
enemy unit.
4. Use the rule for failed panic check's, there are 2, so each situation may vary a little,
a. for causing 25% casualties, a unit flees away from the source.
b. for any other purposes panicked unit's, flee directly away from the closest enemy
unit.

So the execution of this plan can be done in a matter of way's.

1. By far the best way is to brake a unit in CC with in 6" of target or use magic and
shooting to annihilate a unit with in 6" of target, both of these will cause a panic test,
and a failed result will mean the unit flees from the nearest enemy being your
DR :twisted:, directly through his entire army and off of the table edge. This is harder to
do, but it secures the desired flee path.

2. The other option is to use magic and shooting, to cause panic in target unit. But be
careful, for the flee path in this case will be form the unit that dealt the casualty. You
must make sure it's at a correct angle. If your unit's are placed correctly you can cause a
panic test in the Magic phase, and another in the shooting phase, if you have Rxb's on
you DR then you can use them to cause a panic test.

Chaff

The death of chaff? Say it ain't so....

I thought I would move away from the relentless pace of tourney reports (I only have one more
before I am caught up) and share some thoughts on chaff tactics in the evolving meta.

These musings started when I read a thread on the Da Warpath that Goblin Wolf Rider units
were now useless.  This statement was made with the introduction of Wood Elves and the
increase in BS based shooting.  With HE, DE, and now WE, BS based shooting has come
roaring back into the meta.  The comments I read is that wolf riders are now just free points.
 So I had a great Sarah Palin meme set up but could not resist the Internet cat. 
Plus mine is an all black cat named Shadow, so there you go.  Hinge's rambling's #`1

I believe strongly that wolf riders and fast cav in general are an important element of the game.
Much of what I talk about with fast cav can be used with other forms of chaff but I decided to
focus on fast cav in particular since it was thinking about Wolf Riders that started this whole
post!

I came across a Battle Report recently that I thought I would use as a case study (HE MSU v
Cav Prince).  This is one of Sword Masters reports on Ulthuan Forum.  If you do not read Sword
Master’s Bat reps, you should.  He is a master at MSU, which is a style of play I love (Hinge’s
Ramblings #2).

This game interested me in that both sides had Fast cav, used them a bit differently and will
work well in illustrating my thoughts.  Look over the deployment and vanguards.  My
understanding were that the Reavers were some of the earliest drops. 

MSU v Cav Prince link

I think starting with a review of the most common roles of Fast Cav would be useful (Hinge's
Ramblins #3).. 

 Control movement.  This is by far the most important role in my mind.  Unless you have
other units that can also fulfill this role, conserving your fast cav here is paramount. 
 Anti Chaff.  Often times the best or most efficient way to clear enemy chaff is to send
your chaff after it.  Even the lowly wolf riders can take a Dark Rider unit if they charge it in the
flank!
 Warmachine hunters.  This is often sited as a chief job of Fast Cav.  However I feel that
unless your opponent spends little effort in protecting his warmachines, this can be fairly hard to
accomplish. Cannons and stone throwers will often be deployed behind enemy units, with either
no way or a difficult and long trek around one flank to get to them.  RBTs are more then capable
of shooting off the approaching fast cav.  
 Warmachine guards.  A role I rarely see them used in but if enemy chaff is hunting your
warmachines, it goes that Fast Cav would be excellent would make excellent guards.  They will
need to be dealt with, allowing your warmachines more time to shoot and earn points.
 "Decoy Drop".  I see this all the time.  Heck, I even do it...sometimes.  It makes sense
since Fast Cav get a vanguard and are fast (says so in the title!), hence can re-position easily.
However, this is where I see people making the biggest mistake in today's meta!
 "Escort".  A great use, your big gnarly hammer unit just charged something and your
opponent was smart enough to flee.  However, with the long charge ranges of Fast cav (20"-
21"), they are often in range to declare there own charge, which that fleeing enemy must
declare a flee reaction to (Hinge's Ramblings #4).  The fast cav push the fleeing unit back
towards big nasty, off the board, through other units for panic tests, or simply further out of
position.  
 Bait.  Whether trying to get a frenzy unit to charge or pull enemy fanatics, your
deliberately sacrificing them.  
 Extreme flee off the table.  You charge their big point sink and feel you can win the
combat.  However, if they break but get away, all can be for naught.  Lining up a fast cav unit
behind the combat can bounce that unit off the table!

Before I go any further, I have to acknowledge and recommend KillerK's thread on the Druchii
forum regarding some great fast cav tactics.  In fact, if you have not read, read it now, I can
wait.  

KillerK's Fast Cav primer

All I can say is the post is brilliant, I have used all those tactics at least once, and they work.  

So lets look over the deployment up above.  

Violet/fucia/northern forces

ER 1-  I suspect an early drop to draw out Sword Master.  However, the unit used its vanguard
to move forward.  This is the single biggest mistake I see opposing players make.  I give you
Hinge's Fast Cav rule #1.
 I am hoping  sexy Picard will help you remember this!

ER 1 was vangaurded (?) forward into the combined fire power of Sisters, Reavers, and
Seaguard. Needless to say it was shot off to no gain.  It would have been better to vanguard
behind the hill, where it then could either be used to protect RBTs or spend a couple turns
moving to the other flank.  

Another problem I see is the idea that the unit could be used as a Decoy Drop.  The drop count
was 9 to 14, giving the MSU army an advantage in deployment.  I do think it is a good unit to
lead with, but rather it should have been deployed in the middle.  This way it could vanguard to
either flank once Darth determined which he would push.  (Hinge's Ramblings #5)

ER2-This unit was likely deployed in a similar manner as ER1.  However it had a great target to
go after, Sword Master's RBT.  The problem here is it used its vanguard to move right into the
combined fire power of that RBT, another Reaver unit and an Archer unit.  Its chance of actually
reaching that RBT was very slim. See rule #1.  

Instead, he should have moved the unit behind the White Lions to gain hardcover.  This would
have given him a unit to counter Sword Master's ER1.  I also ask you, what Darth could have
done if he had a Reaver unit alive on turn 2 or 3 near the White Lions (Hinge's Ramblings #6).
This also leads to Hinge's Fast Cav rule #2.
 Crazy idea!

Often times it is better to sit on Fast cav.  You may want to wait until they drop their
warmachines so you can be in the best position.  Or perhaps you are so out deployed, you
might as well deploy your main units then deploy the Fast cav in the best place to interfere with
your opponents reactions.  

In this case, Darth could have waited until he decided where his Schwerpunkt was going to be,
then deployed the second fast cav unit.  

I also ask, if ER 1 had deployed center then joined that flank with vanguard, would not the
combined efforts of both Reaver units going after the RBT increase the odds of success?

Lets look at Sword Master's use of Fast Cav.  

ER1- Sword Master opted not to vanguard.  This gave him the option to charge the opposing
Reavers. Personally I feel he should have forgone that option and moved the fast cav behind
the archers.  However, I feel Sword Master did an excellent job of moving this unit after.  He
used it to march block, limit the wheel of the Cav bus, and got it into a tough place for opposing
shooting to find it, all while advancing to the enemy rear, where he would get a flank charge
onto some archers. He was even in a position to race back if Darth had pushed harder on turn
2.  

ER 2 - Sword Master also did not vanguard this unit.  This was an interesting choice but it
seems he decided to use the Reavers as a shield to protect the more valuable Dragon Princes.
A role I had not listed above, mobile hard cover!  However, the tactic comes with risk, as the
destruction of the Reavers would cause panic tests.  Sword Master certainly is aware of this and
had his BSB close by.  If you follow the report, the Reaver unit would dance around with the
opposing Reaver to no real effect.  The opposing Reaver unit was not in a threatening position, I
feel Sword Master should have advanced ER 2 with the Dragon Princes on the RBTs or moved
back center to help distract the bus.  The opposing Reaver unit could easily be dealt with by
shooting.  
The lesson to draw from this Bat Rep when faced with a strong BS shooting phase are:

 A forward vanguard move is not always the best solution.

 Use units and terrain to create cover.
 The number one role for Fast Cav remains controlling movement, they need to be alive
to do so. Protect them!
 Consider deploying Fast Cav later.  

Trueflight does not invalidate any of the comments I have made.  Woodies will bring more high
quality ST 3 shots then any other army, but the basic tactics in keeping your fast cav alive
remain.  Yes, hiding the fast cav becomes more difficult.  This actually may mean that the last
point above is more important, deploy them last so they can keep the range open from the
shooting.  LOS blocking terrain can be used. Also realize it takes 22 Trueflight shots to kill a 5
man wolf rider unit!  That is the effort of 330 points (more likely 450) to kill a single 60 point unit.
In the mean time what is the rest of your army doing?  What else is he not killing, like
warmachines! Also, it only takes 1 wolf rider to redirect a Wild Rider unit, therefore he must kill it
to a man before it stops being useful.  In this match, keeping the wolfs close to home is
important.  More capable Fast cav means they are worth shooting at, however, pressure can be
put on those woodies as often time they can take on those small Glade Guard units.  Finally,
sending one unit very wide and behind cover to get behind the Woodies is worth the effort so
you can punish double flees.  

I do not view the rise of BS based armies as the death of Fast cav, but rather a challenge to
evolve tactics to deal with them.  Fast cav are far to useful to leave home.  

I will be doing a little Bragging next post.  

Hinge's Ramblings #1
Don't worry right wingers, I had a Nancy Pelosi meme lined up.  In the end I decided to keep
politics out of a Warhammer blog.  

Hinge's Ramblings #2
MSU stands for Multiple Small Units.  It is a concept that gives up fewer larger but more
powerful and durable units for more but smaller and fragile units.  The style is fairly unforgiving
in play but puts a premium on generalship and the movement phase.  

Hinge's Ramblings #3
There are several roles I am leaving out that are becoming common.  These are combat units in
there own right, combat character delivery, and a wizard bunker.  Dark Riders, Warlocks,
Sisters of the Thorn, and Wild Riders are all commonly used in these roles. Why I did not
include them in the above, though they can all perform in those roles as well, is their cost starts
to increase as unit sizes get bigger and characters are included.  They move out of the realm of
chaff at that point.  

Hinge's Ramblings #4
Ok, that sentence just looks odd!  

Hinge's Ramblings #5
I beat up Darth a bit on the Fast cav but his overloading a flank deployment was fundamentally
sound and gave him a real good shot of winning the game.  

Hinge's Ramblings #6

I suggest Darth could have used his Fast cav to set this situation if he had protected the unit
from first turn shooting by turn 2, turn 3 latest.  This would have forced Sword Master to expend
resources to protect his elite units.  Also note the Frost Heart was also nearby as well, not to
mention an eagle.  If the ER 1 unit had set up center, Darth could have repeated and Sword
Master would not have had an answer.