Wizards plus _____?

[Aldin]

There are several threads discussing the competitive merits of an Elf Wizard army. The general opinion seems to be that the standard configuration

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Chardris
Emiroon
Arkmer
Kyntela Gwyn
Otonashi/Isamu

is close, on the cusp even, but doesn’t quite seem to have what it takes to win it all in the 500 point competitive scene. I’ve seen a few comments from those who believe this build is competitive and I expect to see a couple of these in the next few gatherings. Still, I tend to agree that, though extremely fun to play, this army isn’t quite going to be able to take the prize.

But that does not mean that I don’t think the Elves have a place in a 500 point competition. I do. It’s just gonna take some tinkering. So what can we afford to drop from this army? Otonashi/Isamu, naturally, and we already have multiple ranged attackers so Chardris can go as well. Ulginesh’s multiple activations and Jorhdawn’s area Special Attack are both crucial. Arkmer is needed for a second strong ranged attack from Ulginesh’s activation. In order to keep Jorhdawn at full power we must keep at least one more Wizard, so we could lose Kyntela Gwyn or Emiroon, but not both. This leaves either:

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Emiroon
+120 points

or

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Kyntela Gwyn
+180 points

Now anyone who has built a lot of armies should be getting pretty excited at this point because 120 and 180 are both excellent price points to use in shopping for units. So what does the discriminating Elf army want for Christmas? They already have excellent ranged attacks, a Special Attack, and good mobility. But there aren’t many of them, they have to stay near each other, their defense is low and they don’t have much redundancy. So they look to three things (keeping our 120/180 price points in mind):

1) A melee screen/Glyph grabbers:
-Deathreavers: Honestly, rats look good in almost any army. Here the benefits of a highly mobile, sturdy and disengaging screen could add Rounds to the Elves existence.
-Ninjas of the Northern Wind: The biggest advantage to using these screeners is that they can hit hard if needed, supplementing the Elves own resources. As a serious threat in their own right they could also draw attention away from the somewhat fragile Elves.
-Marrden Hounds: Few melee units want to get next to them, they can block off significant portions of the map with their double base and they add some Large immunity to the otherwise Medium army.
-Izumi Samurai: Hard to beat for the price. Great defense and mobility.
-Warriors of Ashra: A decent melee screen that also boosts Arkmer and makes Emiroon more useful.

2) Defense:
-Nakita Agents: In addition to adding another solid ranged thread, the Nakitas make it difficult for melee squads to engage and for ranged squads to shoot.
-Raelin: Either version adds sorely needed defense, while the SotM version also provides a back-up squad killer.
-Acolarh: As another Elf Wizard, he’s worth considering as he adds redundancy to Jorhdawn’s attack needs in addition to his potential for heroic rescues.

3) Options:
-Q9: It’s hard to make an army worse by adding the Q-ster’s high defense and Special Attack.
-Deathwalker 9000: Another strong anti-squad Special which forces your opponent to decide whether to try to grind away at the low defense, high life Elves or to take a swing for the Home Run against the Soulborg.
-Airborne Elite: They force the opponent to consider the entire map and not just the bit occupied by the Elves. They’re also a great ranged and glyph threat with a bit of Special Attack just for grins.
-Marro Stingers: Solid, cheap range is always a nice addition.
-Isamu/Otonashi: Tastes great, less filling!

It is my belief that some mixture of the above units with one or the other of the core Elf armies described above is tournament worthy. These are my leading candidates:

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Emiroon
Raelin RotV
1xDeathreavers

This army has all the power and most of the mobility of the standard Elf army while greatly increasing the toughness, screening and glyph grabbing abilities. Though Arkmer can still benefit from adjacency and Emiroon’s summons will at least temporarily create it, this army doesn’t suffer as much from the clustering effect Kyntela Gywn causes either.

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Kyntela Gwyn
2xMarro Stingers
Izumi Samurai

Suddenly the Elves are only a part of the army, with the Izumi screening/holding glyphs and the Stingers as a very real threat. It doesn’t solve the defensive weakness of the Elves, but it creates a much more populated field and forces your foe to split their attention. An engaged Izumi isn’t necessarily a bad target for Jorhdawn either, with their high defense – a surprise which might be just that extra little bit the Elves need to emerge triumphant.

~Aldin, gearing up for the next NORCAL

ps The armies I’m dying to try are:

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Kyntela Gwyn
2xMarrden Hounds

and

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Emiroon
Ninjas of the Northern Wind
Isamu

pps I tried to verify that none of the four armies listed above were previously created, but I would be happy to give proper credit if someone wants to link me to their previous reference to one of these armies.