On the new High Elf army book (Warhammer)
Like pretty much everyone I know in person, and from what I've seen most people I know online, I wouldn't say that I'm actually a Warhammer player - I have actually played a few games (back around the turn of the millenium... and in case you're thinking it, no, that isn't a joke) but on the whole, while grabbing a couple of miniatures I like the look of and painting them for the fun of it is one thing, spending hundreds of dollars and hours getting an army together is something else entirely. That said, if someone was to give me an allowance that could only be spent on Warhammer stuff, I wouldn't turn it down.
(Okay, maybe I should put some qualifiers on that, as it would depend on what the alternatives are. And what strings are attached. But if it was Warhammer stuff or nothing with no strings attached, I wouldn't turn it down.)
However, just like plenty of other readers-but-not-players I know, I am interested in the world, and with the High Elves being one of the armies that I would collect if I did have the hypothetical Warhammer-only allowance, when the new book came out I picked it up... and I thought I'd write down a few thoughts. Mostly this is purely an exercise for my own amusement, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel free to respond...
The Fluff
Possibly the last thing I'd expect an actual player to care about... but short of the stuff that was pointed out in the Designer's Notes, one of the first things that caught my attention. Out of the four (that I know of) High Elf books that have been printed, I have the last three... and the fluff in the 2007 book looks awfully similar to the 1997 book.
In and of itself, that isn't too bad - out of the sum of Asur history, the handful of years that have passed since 1997 (our time... and I have a suspicion Games Workshop time by comparison is, if not quite as slow as CRFH time, certainly slower than in our own. Probably so the human characters don't age out of their prime) aren't all that much, so it makes sense to reuse a lot of that history... and the 2001 book was written back when the Games Workshop was going through their We Don't Give History Beyond The Bare Essentials phase.
The problem is, however, that readers of the 2001 book will know that there have been some major events since the endpoint of the history in the 1997 book. Malekith launching yet another invasion of Ulthaun. That whole business with Albion. Eltharion getting his eyes put out. None of that is mentioned in the latest book - Eltharion is even still presented as the Warden of Tor Yvress (not a problem in and of itself - he's far from the first 'historical' character to be presented in the world - but it would be nice to have seen some reference to his fate). In fact, as far as I can tell, the only reference to anything that's happened since 1997 is Aislinn raiding Norse settlements - and even that leaves out the context.
General Rules
First, I'd like to say I'm amused at how the "we're too goody-two-shoes to actually hate the Dark Elves, so here's what we get to stay on an equal footing" rule seems to change with each iteration. In 1997, it was 'as long as your General or Battle Standard is still around, reroll all failed Break and Psychology tests'. In 2001, it was a simple immunity to Panic - they still care just as much about what happens to them, but they won't react if their friends start running if the enemy are Dark Elves. Now, again, they seem to have gone back to the 1997 model - except in exchange for not being linked to character models, they no longer get to reroll Break tests. (This does still mean that they're still nearly immune to Panic - with Leaderships of 8 or 9 and rerolling failures, they're not likely to miss an unmodified Leadership test often.)
Second, we have, as was mentioned in the designer notes, the Speed of Asuryan rule. My initial response on reading this was "Wasn't part of the point of the restart around 2000 to get rid of the 'special rules creep'?" That said, there has been a perception lately that Elves (apart from, possibly, Wood Elves) have been a little understrength, so I can see their reasoning.
However, I suspect this is more because of all the special rules creep in other races than anything - after all, since I started... erm... paying attention to the system I've seen plenty of times one race or another got buffed in an update, and very few times one has been nerfed. I'm sure I'm not alone in suspecting this to be part of Games Workshop's business strategy... after all, as long as it doesn't get too silly, if the latest product is just a little bit more powerful than the last that just encourages people to buy new minis, right?
Ahem. Anyway, for the uninitiated, the effect of the rule is that High Elves Always Strike First (unless fighting someone else who Always Strikes First, of course). At first glance this looks gamebreakingly powerful... but at second glance, it's not as significant as it would be if it was on, say, a Kroxigor, since Elves have high enough Intiatives that they were probably going to strike first anyway. Yes, it makes a huge difference for the White Lions and means that anyone forgetting this rule and charging a High Elf unit is in for a nasty surprise, but apart from that it just means that instead of striking first 70% of the time they now do so 90% of the time.
It does make me wonder, however, what the Dark Elves are likely to get in return. I suspect the Shadow Warriors' "Nagarythe Hatred" (they hate everyone, but they ESPECIALLY hate Cousin Malekith's lot) may be a strong hint as to where they may be going there - especially given references in the new book to 'frenzied Dark Elves' and the fact that giving actual frenzy to a whole army may be... unwieldy.
Third, we have the tweaking of the Core/Special/Rare numbers, which in the designer notes has listed as being a less obvious, but possibly more important change than the introduction of Speed of Asuryan. On this, I agree - the High Elves are in the possibly unique position of not having any assault infantry in their Core choices, and with the Silver Helms moved to Special they're now left with spearmen (handicapped when on the offensive), archers (not something you generally want to be charging with anyway...) and Seaguard (wouldn't you rather shoot them up as the charge and then impale them on your spears?). More Special choices means that much more chance to have something you'd actually attack with.
A related change, not documented but possibly even more significant, is the removal (as far as I can determine) of the 0-1 limits - you can now have as many units of Swordmasters (for instance) as you like. Previously, you could only field a finite number of assault infantry units as High Elves no matter how large your army is, while now it's only limited by your Special choices.
Finally, the Intrigue at Court rule is gone. I've never played under the rule, so I'm not really qualified to say how much of a difference this makes. In the designer notes, this is described as a handicap, but I have heard people say it's an advantage (it allowed a Lord on a flying mount to go rampaging around the enemy's backline while a lowly Hero served as the General). I suspect, though, due to its random nature, that it was in fact a hindranc more than a help, and the rampaging Dragons and Griffons were as much the result of the player making the best of a bad situation as a deliberate ploy.
Characters
Okay, the most obvious change here is the increased variation of Dragons - explained as an attempt to make it more affordable for the High Elves, as a dracophilic race, to actually field them without breaking the budget (there's actually a sample 2000pt army with two dragons. Not much else, mind you, but still two dragons in under 2000 points). As a dracophile myself (it's not the ONLY reason I like the High Elves! Honest!), I approve.
I also approve of Archmages being able to ride dragons (albeit not as strong as those available to Princes) - it was, after all, a mage that learned the trick in the first place. Dragon Mages are also cute, especially since Flaming Sword of Rhuin is the spell they swap other spells out for instead of Fireball. After all, if you've just taken the minimum-points-option to field a dragon, you'll want it opening a bottle of ketchup in your enemy's faces, not acting as a battle taxi to a wimpy Level 1 mage... but it would still be good to get some use out of the rider.
I am a little disappointed at the removal of the Honours system. I can see why - it may be a little confusing to some having magic items and things that act like magic items, and on a quick scan they have either replaced them all with magic items or they've been made redundant by other rules that have changed. I do, however, mourn the feeling that a character didn't have to be a special character to be more than the sum of their equipment, however. That, and there's also the fact that unlike magic items, Honours can't be broken, suppressed, or otherwise disabled.
Speaking of magic items, the 'High Elves get cheap magic items' doesn't appear to be explicitly stated like in 2001 - but if you compare the numbers, it's there.
Speaking of special characters: Tyrion and Teclis have both apparently reverted to their 1997 versions... although Teclis still has the "I know all the spells in my lore" thing, and is even more fragile (Strength and Toughness 2). Alith Anar, Eltharion, and Korhil are likewise all back and partying like it's 1997 - except Korhil now has the option to be mounted in the new Lion Chariot. Imrik is gone, but his magic items have gone on the open market so he can be rebuilt, sans a point of WS (7 vs 8... whoop-de-poop) and the 2001 special rules - in fact, the general of the two-dragons-in-2000pts army looks quite familiar. Caradryan has been promoted from a champion with a halberd and a cranial bomb to a hero with a magical halberd, all the Phoenix Guard special rules... and a cranial bomb. Belannaer and Alarielle are both still out in the cold.
Core
Few changes here. The most significant is moving the Silver Helms to Special. The argument is that they feel that the High Elves should be an infantry army and that as the nobles the Silver Helms are obviously Special... but humans (by that I mean the Empire... for Bretonnians it goes without saying) get their Knights as Core, and the Silver Helms don't seem to get anything in return for their new Special status. Ultimately, this means that it's impossible to field a themed cavalry army as all your Core choices will be infantry... unless, of course, it's outside a tournament situation and your opponent lets you. After all, nothing is forbidden in a home game if your opponent allows it.
Special
This is a pretty broad topic, so I'm going to split it into subheadings:
Assault Infantry
As noted earlier, this is probably where the greatest change lies. Not only has the 0-1 restriction been removed, but the Phoenix Guard and White Lions are now both Special choices. Furthermore, since there is now the option to take two of the same unit, it appears they've decided to go to greater lengths in order to distinguish the three units:
With the Speed of Asuryan rule, the traditional Swordmaster 'We strike in normal Initiative order even with great weapons' has become redundant. Instead, then, the Swordmasters have been given 2 attacks. This makes them incredibly nasty on the attack (WS6, S5, 2 Attacks) but defensively, apart from the high Weapon Skill, they have nothing over Spearmen except the greater likely of doing unto others what they would do unto you first.
White Lions have probably had the greatest boost - previously, they seemed to my eye to be practically useless (light armour, T3, and great weapons to always strike last - it may be a powerful attack, but how many are going to survive to make it?). Now, they have their heavy armour back, and the Speed of Asuryan means they can muscle in on the Swordmasters' territory. With only one attack, even at a higher Strength, they are, however, less destructive against most opponents than Swordmasters. However, they're more able to take damage - the cloaks help protect them against shooting, and while they have no more resiliance in melee, being Stubborn means the unit is less likely to run if things go bad...
Finally, the Phoenix Guard sit at the more defensive end with a shiny new 4+ Ward Save courtesy of Asuryan. This, and and an increased Leadership, puts them at the more defensive end, although being Fear-causing, as well as protecting the Phoenix Guard from Fear themselves, can make them dangerous if they do manage to outnumber them. (I still think Immune to Psychology would be more appropriate, though - fighting in silence may be disturbing, but is it really as disturbing then something that's fighting in silence and dead? Besides, since they've all read their futures and know when they're going to die and they're going anyway, you wouldn't think there'd be anything that would shake them.
Cavalry
Like the Swordmasters, although not directly in compensation for losing another rule (except for Ithilmar barding, which marks the first book without special rules for Ithilmar. Eh, the High Elves still have the fastest knights in the game...), the Dragon Princes have been given a second Attack. One thing I've thought for a while, even from my armchair, is that the Elven knights have been a victim of Weapon Skill being overrated: while they're supposedly better than human knights apart from Chaos Knights and the ultra-elite Bretonnian paragons of knighthood, in practise the greater armour penetration of S4 human knights trumps all the advantages of Elven knights by making them twice as likely to get through the knightly 2+ armour save. An extra attack seems a good way to offset this while still emphasising skill over brute strength.
However this, and that Dragon Princes are now restricted only by available Special choices, seems to be threatening to muscle the Silver Helms out. This is compiled by the minimum armour level (and, thus, minimum points value) of the Silver Helms also going up, so the sole advantage remaining to the Silver Helms over Dragon Princes - that they're cheaper - has been eroded. It's probably still be enough to save them - the points difference is still significant - but I can't shake the feeling that they're at least under threat.
The Ellyrion Reavers, from what I've seen, are unchanged.
Chariots
Tiranoc Chariots appear to be completely unchanged, except by the introduction of competition in the form of the White Lion Chariots.
And this is where things get a little confusing. In function, the Tiranoc Chariot is described as 'more versatile' while the White Lion Chariot is all brute strength as much as High Elves ever do brute strength (lions pulling the chariot, White Lions swinging greataxes from teh back of the chariot... weren't the White Lions supposed to be bodyguards? Maybe Finubar's decided he likes chariots more than fighting on foot...). However, the thought strikes me that the 'versatility' of the Tiranoc chariot is somewhat lacking - sure, the crews have a bow each, but two bows on an 85pt chariot isn't really a sound investment for mobile archery compared to, say, Ellyrion Reavers. Instead, both forms of chariot are purely in it for the charge and the impact hits, which the Chracian version is just plain better at...
...and also a heck of a lot more expensive (almost double the price), which, along with a slightly higher Movement (9 instead of 8) seems to be the Tiranoc Chariot's only advantage. 'Versatility', in this case, obviously means the ability to treat one as being relatively expendable and being more able to field them in multiples.
Skirmishers
I'd have to say this is probably where my greatest "what WERE they smoking" moment came...
Shadow Warriors have been rebalanced as melee fighters.
Let's just let that simmer for a while, shall we?
Unless the rules have changed and I've missed it, that's a bad idea for skirmishers. Because they're skirmishers, they don't have a rank bonus, nor do they provide bonuses for hitting the flanks or rear, so you wouldn't want to put them up against a real unit, and any artillery crew they jump is probably doomed anyway. The only benefit I see is throwing them against other archers or, even better, other skirmishers.
Not just are they paying for the upgraded Hatred (which is silly thematically as well... okay, they hate Dark Elves, but just what have they got against Bretonnians? They may be Nagarythi and hence darker than other Asur, but (so far, anyway) even true Dark Elves don't go that far), but now they have a WS higher than their BS and their Champion has the 2 Attacks of a melee Champion instead of the increased BS of a ranged Champion. All this for a unit that's role, from my armchair viewpoint at least, is to sidle up to enemy units, disrupt them from marching, unleash pinprick attacks, but, above all, stay out of entanglements with enemy infantry blocks?
Meh. It's possible that people who do actually play have been using them as melee special forces and actually requested the change. But it still seems a little counter-intuitive.
Rare
Okay, at first glance I'd thought that both the Eagle Claws Bolt Throwers and the Giant Eagles themselves were unchanged... and they are... but then I noticed something interesting:
1) There are no actual units as Rare choices for the High Elves any more.
2) Neither Throwers nor Eagles have the '1-2 count as a single Rare choice' rule any more.
3) There are twice as many Rare choices available.
The result? Essentially, with regular units out of the equation, the effective number of Rare choices hasn't changed. Under the old system, you could use a single Rare choice to get two Bolt Throwers or two Eagles. Under the new system, however, you can still only get two items where another race would get a Rare choice: but instead of having to choose between two of one and one of the other, you can have one of each. Elegant, no?
The catch is what happens when mercenaries get involved, as it makes taking mercenary units in the Rare slot just that much cheaper. On the one hand, I can see the High Elves, having ports around the world as they do, having a greater access to foreign mercenaries and the wealth to hire them... but on the other hand, they're probably almost as bad as the Bretonnians when it comes to admitting that mercenaries could be useful in the first place. I imagine, though, that if mercenaries haven't disappeared altogether (I haven't seen any mention of Dogs of War for... a while, and the 2007 book is missing the mention of the possibility of taking mercenaries in the Rare slot in the 2001 book) there'll be some sort of "High Elves hiring mercenaries as Rare units require two slots to do so" rule to fill that gap.
Well, that's about the end of my musings. Took a bit longer than I expected to get them on paper-equivalent (admittedly, I was also making and eating dinner, browsing forums, and so on as well), but at least they're not banging around in my head any more ;). Congratulations if you've read this far.