The Island of Blood Tactics
If you've been following our Tale of Four Gamers article series then you will know that Matt Hutson is building a High Elf army and Andy Hall is building a Skaven Army. Well it hasn't escaped their attention that The Island of Blood is going to be great for helping them to expand their new armies. While walking past the White Dwarf area this morning I heard them discussing Warhammer tactics for some of the models in the boxed game so I asked them to pick three units each and to write a few notes down for me to share with you. Here they are:
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Andy: Skaven magic is unsubtle to say the least and Warlock Engineers in particular can, and should be used as single model artillery pieces - able to blast the enemy from afar with bolts of sickly green energy. Let your Grey Seers worry about casting spells such as Death Frenzy on your hordes, freeing up your Warlock to take Warp Lightning - which he can do automatically - and start blasting from the first turn. It's not just in the magic phase that the Warlock can inflict ranged hurt, a warplock pistol or warpmusket are always useful, but I never leave my nest without giving a Warlock the Doomrocket. For just 30 points you're getting a Strength 5 template weapon, with a relatively small chance of it misfiring (it's less than 1 in 6, which, for Skaven, is as reliable as the sun rising). I've found when firing it, you should always go 1 more dice than your initial guess - you choose between 4-10 dice, roll and that's the distance in inches the rocket will travel.
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Andy: Rat Ogres are the hard hitters in your Skaven Force. If you need to seize a watchtower to take on a difficult unit then these are the brutes for the job. As monstrous infantry they gain all the usual benefits, so having a unit three wide with a rear rank will gain you monstrous support. In a smaller formation as shown here, the Rat Ogres make an ideal flanking force. With a Movement of 6, they have a good potential charge range, enabling them to get around and hit the enemy in the side (ideally while it is being held in place by Clanrats). Let's not forget about the Master Moulder either, they have two attacks and this one has a Shock Prod and so ignores armour saves, making him ideal for taking out heavily armoured troops such as knights.
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Andy: Of all the diabolic Skaven Weapon Teams, the Poisoned Wind Mortar is one of the most manoeuvrable. This is due to the fact that you can move and fire with the weapon. Attaching these to hordes of Clanrats is ideal, as you don't have to slow down the advance of your key units to fire it. What's more, the Mortar has the unique ability to be able to use the parent unit for line of sight - again, this makes even more sense to attach it to your larger units, whose wider frontage will see more of the battlefield. As Mortars fire specialised ammunition, selecting suitable targets is important. As it's a fixed number for wounding (typically a 5+) you'll have nothing to lose aiming it at high Toughness foes. And, as with all template weapons, firing it at crowded parts of the battlefield will increase your chances of it landing on an enemy unit in the first place.
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Matt: In my opinion Sword Masters of Hoeth are the hardest-hitting infantry unit in the High Elf army and possibly in the whole of Warhammer. They have a Weapon Skill of 6, Strength 5, Always Strikes First and the inevitable re-roll from having a higher Initiative combines to make Sword Masters capable of making mince meat of even the hardest enemy units. Their only weakness is that your opponent will probably also know this and will be going out of their way to prevent them from reaching their lines by shooting them with every gun and spell they have and, at the end of the day, they are only squishy Toughness 3 Elves. To prevent your opponent from killing them from afar I would consider protecting them with spells such as the Shield of Saphery to give them a nice 5+ Ward save or magic items such as the Ironcurse Icon to give them a 6+ save against War machine weapons.
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Matt: Out of the three core units available Lothern Sea Guard are definitely the most versatile as they combine the attributes of both Archers and Spearmen. This makes them a great defensive unit as they can both stand and shoot as well as fight in four ranks, or even five if they are a horde unit. By accompanying the unit with my army standard bearer bearing the Razor Standard, the whole unit gets the Armour Piercing special rule giving all those attacks with both bow and spear a helping hand in getting through the enemy's thick armour. A decent sized unit of Lothern Sea Guard can make a real mess of a lightly-armoured enemy unit (and the Razor Standard gives them an advantage against the better armoured foes too). Like Spearmen, the Lothern Sea Guard are also a great place to hide your Mages, all those bristling spears keep your spell caster safe so that he can concentrate on casting deadly High Magic.
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Matt: Elven Fast Cavalry has to rank amongst the best in the game. Not only do they have all the great Fast Cavalry rules that all races benefit from, but they also have impressive Elven stat lines and swift Elven steeds. The Ellyrian Reavers exemplify this. The ability to Always Strike First, combined with having spears makes them pretty handy in combat. A unit of five or so can easily see off enemy war machine crews and even swing a combat with a well-timed flank charge. Being armed with bows also makes them pretty good in the Shooting phase as well, adding to the weight of fire from your core missile troops such as Archers or Lothern Sea Guard. I recommend taking both bows and spears and then focussing on killing enemy Fast Cavalry, weapon teams, war machines and wizards. It's a lot to ask, but the Ellyrian Reavers are usually up to the task.
