Kings of War 3rd Edition First Impression: Elves

Elves! It’s the army everyone loves to hate, the one that’s taken the most dramatic changes to its line up in the core rulebook. Let’s take a dive in to the units and run through what we think is serviceable now that the poor old auto-take archer horde has figuratively bitten the dust.

Small caveat: While I promise minimal whinging in this breakdown, and I’m not the most expert of expert Elven generals, I have played them a fair bit. However, my viewpoint might be different to most Elf generals, as I never took the full gunline (sorry, but I did find it a bit dull to play, and to play against!). I preferred a more balanced Elven list and found it much more fun to play the fast alpha-strike approach with ranged backup.

So having now offended most Elves, in we go!

The Fluff

The V2 rulebook devoted page upon page to Elven fluff, so if anything, the V3 rulebook merely brings the other races up to their level. There’s nothing wildly surprising, but I have to confess I was a little disappointed to find the fluff bringing them more in line with common fantasy tropes — low birth rates, distant and aloof, etc. etc.

That said, the lore is rich and home to (in my opinion) the most dramatic piece of background art in the form of the double page spread of Therennia Adar, or Walldeep. In particular the story of Mhorgoth’s development is a nice addition, as is the origins of Tallenar, Lord of Chill; both well written.

Many have griped over the passages devoted to the Elves’ mastery of archery. Of all the gripes, this is probably the most justified, but I can imagine it’s difficult to erase this from the lore, even with the changes made to Elven archers in the name of balance. But there’s been plenty written about this particular element elsewhere, so we’ll move on.

Rules Changes

Ok, so I won’t move on. But very briefly, yes, ranged is now an issue for Elves. It’s been noted that the changes to ranged combat are somewhat heavy-handed, and as the force that relied (some, i.e. me, would say a little too heavily) on ranged as the backbone of their army, the army is unmistakably changed. That doesn’t mean there’s not other options though, and I think Elves still represent a very significant threat on the battlefield.

The other notable change that affects Elves the most is Irregular units. Jointly with Empire of Dust, they have the most Irregular units (7), with Ogres and Forces of the Abyss only just behind at 6. But EoD have a number of cheap unlock units, whereas Elves do not. This makes list building more challenging than ever for Elves due to their expense. There’s no overwhelming ranged option to fall back on, so your lists need to be balanced carefully to ensure you can punch hard enough to justify your potentially low unit count. No doubt people will be exploring the potential of MSU builds (a la Swordmaster) going forward, but equally viable are fast punchy builds, and yes, massed shooting. You heard me.

Army Special Rule

So we can take Duellist for 5 points less than any other army. That’s kind of cool to be honest (although some will mourn the loss of their throwing cats), but only two units can actually take it, which doesn’t really make it an army special rule. So much for that.

The Units

Let’s take a look at the Elven lists! I promised myself I wasn’t going to go through every unit, but then I did. So get yourself a cup of tea (or Wine of Elvenkind?) and settle in.

Infantry

Do I need to talk about Palace Guard? I probably need to talk about Palace Guard. Palace Guard hordes are a thing. A terrifying, devastating thing. As anyone who ever played with or against Shock Troop hordes knows, 25 elite attacks with Crushing Strength 1 is bad enough. Backed up by items and Bane Chant, it’s amazing. We’re guaranteed to see a lot of them, not least for their unlocks, but they are incredibly expensive.

Palace Guard regiments were always a decent unit, with a surprisingly good nerve; however, now we have Forest Guard, which are basically the same but with Thunderous Charge and Pathfinder, and Shield Watch, which have a higher Defence, so there’s now more to choose from at the regiment level depending on how you’re going to build your lists. I’ve found myself veering toward these units to add unlocks, leaving the poor old Tallspears lying fallow. If the meta proves cavalry/flying heavy, they still might be a viable option.

We’ve got a heavy infantry option in Hunters of the Wild, which are kind of cool being Melee 3 AND Defence 5, but they lack any Crushing Strength or Thunderous Charge, and they’re Irregular, so we’re going to struggle to get them in.

Moving on to ranged, archer hordes are never going to see the light of day. You’d be mad to take them for 210 points. Regiments do make decent chaff though at Nerve 14/16, and they’re still Elite for some pip damage before you get bum rushed. 120 points is a little steep for chaff, but… well… y’know, that’s Elves.

Gladestalkers suffer from being Irregular (and Defence 3), and they are really very expensive for what they are. Seaguard lost their ranged Elite, which makes them an expensive Tallspears horde. I can’t think we’ll see many of them, but that’s just my opinion.

Forest Shamblers. Irregular. I just can’t see it. Maybe with a Tree Herder? … nope, can’t see it.

Cavalry

Stormwind are still a decent unit and can find a home in some fast builds — Speed 9 is fantastic, although their nerve has always been worrying.

Silverbreeze have been heralded as the saviour of Elven gunlines, and I can definitely see it now that they come in regiments. I’ve been playing around with some builds, and they’re effective, even at range 18”, thanks to being both ridiculously fast and a good value, even at 200 points. List after list will take these no doubt, but against targets above Defence 4 they struggle, which means wall to wall Silverbreeze lists will fall hard against rock-paper-scissor matchups like Abyssal Dwarfs. And they’re Irregular (of course).

Also, I hate painting horses.

On which note, chariots. At their biggest, a legion has 20 attacks, 20/22 nerve, and 10 ranged attacks with Steady Aim at a colossal 245 points. At their smallest, the troops are 135 with 8/4 attacks. I was trying to think of a build with a few troops on a cute 100×100 base, but they’re Irregular, expensive, and they don’t punch as hard as Stormwind or shoot as well as Silverbreeze. I can’t see it. I’m taking a look at all the chariots I painted (which I hate painting more than horses, and there’s tons of them, too), and breathing a VERY BIG SIGH.

Drakon Riders are still awesome. Boo hoo we lost Nimble. They’re still awesome.

Swarms

Battlecats were always a thing (if by thing you mean a thing no one really took), but people are taking a new look at them now that melee is more significant. Speed 7 is ok, and at 80 points they’re the cheapest chaff we have. They’re very vulnerable as are all swarms, but there’s a good function for blocking off charges so you can get your Palace Guard where you want them to go.

War Engines

On the war engine front we have the good old Bolt Thrower and Dragon Breath. The Bolt Thrower has been given Elite, and the Dragon Breath has been downgraded to 12 attacks, suffering the same breath nerf as everyone else. I think we’ll see a few more Bolt Throwers, and a few less Dragon Breath, although I probably favour the latter due to their ability to act as chaff in a pinch.

Heroes

Boy, there are a lot of heroes, and it’s here where unlocks become a serious problem, because it’s only one hero per core regiment or horde. There are a few you’d want to save your precious unlocks for.

The Tree Herder is a beast. I mean, a hugely expensive beast, but a 50mm Defence 6 monster with 9 attacks and Scout who heals everyone around him? Stick him in front of an annoying unit and leave him there all game. Amazing.

The King is interesting. I want to love him. On a horse he gets an 18″ charge, and an upgrade to Melee 2 with cheap Duellist makes him a great hero hunter. But he’s freakishly expensive with all those upgrades. The jury is out as the Prince makes a cheaper, if less punchy, option.

The Dragon is still great. He’s lost Elite on his breath, though, which makes a build that relies on that less attractive. Tydarion as a more punchy option is way too expensive when the Brutal item just makes the vanilla Dragon nearly as good.

The mage I like, and I like a lot. Elite on spells is fantastic, and you can build a healing battery with the Shroud of the Saint, or a ridiculous elite Lightning Bolt 8 death machine with the Boomstick. At 60 points they’re cheap as chips, but predictably, to make them useful requires investment. Like I said, it’s Elves.

But the super super superstar, the MVP of the Elves list, is the all-but-forgotten Argus Rodinar. His fluff has been dramatically shortened from when he first arrived in Version 1, and literally no one (sigh, ok, except me) took him in Version 2 because he was too expensive to justify over a normal standard bearer. But in Version 3, he’s not only an individual monster that inspires and moves 6, he also grants Inspiring to one unit per turn. He’s a cute little Swiss army knife with 2-for-1 inspiring for only 70 points, and a decent late game chaff piece at -/13 and Defence 5. Better start saving up those Mantic Points.

Army Builds

So what’s your flavour? You can still construct a decent (as in, decent for Version 3) gunline with Silverbreeze, some melee unlocks, maybe some Dragon Breath or Bolt Throwers if you’re feeling fancy, but as soon as you meet a Nightstalker player who knows what they’re doing, you’re in trouble.

Equally, fast, punchy alpha strike is absolutely a thing, with plenty to choose from.

If you want to know about how to make an MSU list, Swordmaster of Hoeth (https://swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com/) has a whole blog about it, and I’m definitely not suited to that playstyle. Elves are as suited as anyone to these lists, but I worry we can’t field enough to make it viable against more punchy builds.

To me, a mixed arms list of fast units, paired with our new devastating infantry and some spot heroes, will see the most play as people settle into the meta. Low unit numbers will make things difficult to play, and your flavour pieces on top of a strong core will determine your win or loss, depending on who you’re facing. We’ll struggle against walls of Defence 6 and stealthy mobile armies, but there are a lot of great match ups that Elves have got good tools against.

At 2000 points simply getting enough units on the battlefield is a challenge, but at 2250+ the list really opens up.

Here’s a sample list at 2300 that it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to put together. I wanted to take Battlecats over Archers, but (surprise surprise) I needed the unlocks to take four heroes.

Dropping the Tree Herder gives you lots of options, and in a lot of lists I’ve vacillated between either the Drakons or the Dragon, which wasn’t a comfortable choice. The Mage is an expensive nice-to-have and can be swapped easily for the King or more chaff if that’s your flavour. Or even a war engine (but not two).

Of course, you can always just not take two hulking great hordes of Palace Guard, but they do make such a lovely crunchy sound when they hit.