1,000 points of elves

Once in a while I see these posts on the internet where beginners ask help with building an army. Today, there’s a post on Reddit where @Joneredit asks for advice building a 1,000 point elf list.

This is entirely understandable. When investing in a new army for a new system, one wants to have an army that is at least semi-viable. It sucks to spend ages painting up a new unit or model to learn that it’s no good on the table top.

Kings -fortunately- has very few of those units, but still the army build structure requires us to think before we build. You don’t want to paint up 4 phoenixes before learning that you need to have at least 4 core, 4 specialists and 2 characters before you can field them all and even then 4 phoenixes will probably be never the competetive choice.

So, the question is:”Is someone able to make me a 1,000 point Elf force? I would really appreciate it. I know there are people out there that find list-building to be hugely enjoyable, so that’s who I’m asking. A variety of units that give a broad feel of the army would be good (I know the broadness will only go so far, being 1,000 points), so hopefully I can learn the game a bit and understand how I want to improve up to 2,000 points. If you could also explain why you’re taking the units and items you include, I would greatly appreciate it. It might seem like a big ask, but there’s no harm in asking. “

The answer, broadly, is yes. But with a few caviats:

• While the below army is legal and at least semi-competetive, I am not an elf player. This means I have never actually fielded this army.
• This army is a balanced army. Some people like to build hyper-specialised armies, and they do well occasionally in Kings. For learning the game (and generally having a much better time) I prefer balanced armies.
• This army is built using the Fracture update for Kings of War 4th edition. As Kings of War is a living game, units will change from time to time. After the next update (probably around year-end) points, rules or unlocks may have changed. All the most recent rules can be found in Mantic’s army builder which is free to use and kept up to date.

With these caviats, I present:

Elves are an expensive race, so in order to have enough units you need choose which way to go. The elite units are very powerful, but taking three or four will cost a thousand points by themselves. If you choose that route, you can easily be trapped by cheap units and destroyed piecemail. Instead, I opted for several medium-power units supported by cheap shooting. Moreover, I left most of the characters at home. Elves really want mages, but I chose for an army standard instead in order to take more units.

Unit by unit – Heroes

Elves have expensive heroes and mediocre commands. This means that investing in heroes requires a very strict role for the character. If I have only a thousand points to spend, I will not use a warlord and take the cheapest hero that inspires. (you really want some inspiration to prevent a freak roll from wavering/routing a key unit with only a little damage) This role points to the army standard bearer for this role. I upgrade him with the boomstick, as this is a cheap-ish item that gives them something to do beside waving the flag. That said, if I need the points, this item is the first to go.

Infantry

I select two units of combat infantry: tallspears and palace guard. The tallspears (horde level) are your cheapest choice, but their stats and special rules will let them destroy other cheap units. Phalanx will protect them against cavalry and fliers, so this unit is your main anvil. Put it in the middle of your battle line and they will survive. Just prevent them being double-charged by powerful non-cavalry units such as ogre warriors, orc moreaxes or soulreavers.

The palace guard are real killers. Their limited number of attacks (12) are offset by melee 3+, elite and crushing strength, but they still retain defense 5+ and a lot of nerve. They make a wonderful 2nd line unit. If you upgrade the army to more than 1,000 points, I’d suggest upgrading these to horde level.

The two items are just ways to spend the remaining 10 points. They sorta useful but can be dropped in an instand if you decide alternative units.

Missiles

Two troops of archers have a dual role. First and foremost, the units will do some ranged damage. Look for weak (small units with defense 4+ or less) targets first and foremost. Secondly, these units can be positioned just in front of your main units so your heavy hitters don’t get double-charged. Finally, they are fine hunters for objectives.

The bolt thrower is a direct opposite. It’s piercing rule is great for killing of high-value targets such as cavalry or monsters.

Despite the differences in target priorities, shooting in Kings of War is best used in focus fire. So ideally your army standard’s boomstick, two archer units and bolt thrower fire at the same target. A wound or two will not kill of any unit, while six or seven wounds will reliably waver quite a few.

Cavalry

The elven Stormwind is very powerful, but only if you can get the Thunderous charge. Avoid terrain (or use the boots of striding if you cannot – but it’s single use only) and phalanx units. They do around 11 wounds realiably and are a danger to most units on the battlefield and will threaten even hordes if they already have a few wounds from shooting.

This unit is best kept in reserve until the lines have clashed, avoid rushing in front of your army to kill the enemy. If used well, this is the strongest unit in the list but this unit can be neutralised easily if confonted by spearmen.