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.

[Alastair MacDirk]

Great analysis amigo. Was messing around with my newly acquired Wave 8 this weekend. I tried your 1st standard Elf wizard army....
Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Chardris
Emiroon
Arkmer
Kyntela Gwyn
Otonashi/Isamu


Against
3x Ashigaru harquebus
3x asigaru Yari (minus 1 to make 24 hex restriction)
and the Daimyo... Kato Katsuro

If you keep the Ashigaru spread to mitigate the explosion attack they mop the floor with Elf Wizards. I sent Harquebus up the sides of the map and had my spearmen march up the middle (which had lots of Ticalla cover). There was nowhere for the elves to go. My opponent ended up with his last 3 elves huddled in the back of his starting zone as the Ashigaru silently closed for the slaughter in their slippered feet.

The best army proposal you made in the above post may have been Q-9 and the elves. He could mow down some Ashigaru. But then any army with Q-9 in it is a "Q-9 army" not an "Elf Wizard army".

[Junge Roman]

Aldin, that's some good analysis you have started. It seems like the key to making any elf army work is going to be order marker placement. If you don't put all your markers on Ulginesh, you better be able to make them count in some other way. Would I want to waste an order marker just moving Raelin into position? I'm not sure. I'd be tempted to go with WOA, Stingers, Deathreavers, or even spiders. Spiders might be new and threatening enough to draw fire away from the elves. With the off chance of removing priceless order markers from my opponent, I would not mind putting the 2 and X on my 3 squads of spiders. In the end, in an effort to keep the order marker advantage for myself, this is what I'll try next.

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Emiroon
3x Fyorlag Spiders

I also like your army using the Hounds. That looks promising.

[Aldin]

Thanks guys, I have really had Elves on the brain lately.

Alastair,

I thought the Q-9 build might appeal to you Makes for some ugly targeting choices for your opponent and easy OM management. You might even consider switching out Jorhdawn for Chardris/Otonashi and have either two strong ranged strikes or Q-9's multiples.

Junge Roman,

I agree about the OM management. One of the Elves best features is that they are always doing something good with every OM. Raelin's aura seems worthwhile to me though, doubling the 2s to 4s and making the 5/6 Life last a lot longer. Spiders are an interesting call. If you suceed in killing OMs that pays for the Spider's activations.

One oddball idea I had was to try to bulk up the old school Elf armies with new figs. Emiroon/Arkmer runs 130. 3xWoA + 3xAA runs 360. Can Emiroon add enough value with his warping ability? How do you use Arkmer here to best effect - boosted in the front line or waiting for the end game as a clean up unit? Just a thought.

~Aldin, mentally meandering

[Junge Roman]

Aldin, your meandering is of the highest quality.

The last game I played showed that Arkmer may be pound for pound the most valuable fighter for the elves. My teammate put him on the front line backed by archers and he held his own. The chance of an engagement kill is hard to beat, and his range attack helps to slow the opponent's advance.
I see Arkmer as a great crossover unit to use in armies that are not just elves. Arkmer + 2xAA = 190, which can be a nice component of any army. The chance to frenzy makes order markers go farther on those AA. In this case, I would hold these guys back and put some big brawler or swarm units out their first.
Arkmer + 3x WOA is a frontline assault force, whether or not you use Emiroon. Again, this is eminently viable for any army combination.
Or try: Arkmer + Emiroon + 1xAA + 2xWOA + 200 points of heavy hitter.

In general, I would use Arkmer as the pointman of your little army subunit. Let him get a ranged strike in, take an engagement strike or two, and then pummel the remaining enemy force with your massed elves that are waiting just behind him. For that role, all you really need is Arkmer + 2X WOA = 150 points,
or
Arkmer + Emiroon + 1xAA for 200 points for something a little more surgical.
I hope that's not too much meandering for you.

[rdhight]

I think your first chunk, the one that leaves 120 points free, is going to make much better use of Jorhdawn. With Emirroon's summon, the elves can stay together better, and replacing Kyntela's 2 defense and 2 life with Emirroon's 3 and 5 will heep her attack higher for longer. If you try the chunk that leaves 180 free, it seems like the chance for her to roll 4 attack dice with her rain of flame is going to be gone in a blink when Kyntela dies. That second chunk seems more like a vehicle for Morsbane, who needs no one to get his full attack, or Chardris, who can't drop below 2.

[Nooblar]

I also played the Elves against the Kato army this weekend. The Ashigaru were a real headache for the elves, but not undefeatable. Great analysis, Aldin.

[jedilou]

Junge Roman,

I like your thoughts re: Arkmer as great crossover unit.

I find it interesting that he seems to be getting great praise now that he's actually getting used. I seem to recall that when everyone was theoryscaping, he did not get much love. There was far greater anticipation for Chardris, Ulginesh and Jorhdawn.

I guess that it just shows that theoryscaping is fun but that actual play is where a unit shows its true value.

[jedilou]

Here's something that just popped into my head re: Aldin's hypothetical:

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Emiroon
+120 points

How about KRUG! (120 pts.) You could either:
A) bring the big guy out early and have him go right at the other army and bring your elves up strategically behind him OR
B) Take out some of your opponents' range with the Elves and send him out as a mid-game beatstick.

You could also C) let the Elves do their thing and use him late game as mop-up but I don't recommend this. It would be very risky, as you're putting all your late game hopes on a figure with weak defense.

Krug also helps answer the old "can this army take out Q9" question, which immediately boosts its competitive standing.

Heck, if he manages to get down and engaged w/o many wounds, you could hit him with Jorhdawn's explosion attack and get him good and mad (and deadly) and try to take out some enemy units in the process.

If per chance, the point limit was 520, I'd prefer to go with:

Ulginesh
Jorhdawn
Arkmer
Chardris
KRUG
and either Otonashi or Isamu

The extra attack power would be nice. Also, I think as long as Krug is on the board and threatening, many opponents will be distracted from taking out Ulginesh so advancing the elves won't be that big of a deal.

(At 530 points - I know, even less likely - you're using Kyntella rather than Otonashi/Isamu).

[Alastair MacDirk]

I hate to rain on the Elves day in the sun here, but I just don't see the Wizards being the core of a competitive army. What you have in there are too many points wasted in support units to get off 2 decent ranged attacks per activation (of Uglinesh). Heck Kaemon Awa or Q-10 can do that by themselves and they are more mobile than 4-5 Elves in a clump. But you know the key to a good tourney army is either having dominant range or being able (either through bonding or using AE, 10th foot, 4th mass, or Marro Warriors) to get 4 attacks per activation. Please, someone tell me how 2 attacks from a fairly immobile cluster of 2 defense Wizards will ever contend with that?????

If you have to include Q-9 in the army to make it work, and then put a little more thought into what would be a more effective army using Q-9.... then the elves become irrelevant in that army too once you realize there are better options available.

I would love for Aldin to try and prove me wrong at the next Norcal event.

From wave 8 I feel that the 10th Foot, and Sujoah will be the best tourney options.

Edit to add: Zelrig and Zetacron are GREAT tourney options. Just played a game where I was getting whupped and activated Zetacron 5 times in a row, he took out a half dead Sujoah, full strength Zelrig, and full strength Gurei-on. Zetacron on height is a very scary situation for your heroes.

[Clarissimus]

Seems to me that Raelin is the best thing you can add to an elf army. It has pretty good firepower but once the elves start to drop it goes down fast.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Aldin

One oddball idea I had was to try to bulk up the old school Elf armies with new figs. Emiroon/Arkmer runs 130. 3xWoA + 3xAA runs 360. Can Emiroon add enough value with his warping ability? How do you use Arkmer here to best effect - boosted in the front line or waiting for the end game as a clean up unit? Just a thought.

Doesn't really answer your questions (in fact, it's a whole new question), but what about this?

110 Acolarh
080 Emirroon
140 Aubrien Archers x2
050 Arkmer
100 Warriors of Ashra x2
020 Kyntela Gwyn

Lowers your numbers, but greatly enhances the team's survivability.

~NecroBlade, wondering how anyone could ever have thought all armies with the new elves would be the same