This is a 1000p HE list for casual play. I will be facing WoC, Lizardmen and Dwarf armies on 1v1, modifying your army between battles is not allowed. I found this forum when searching help for army lists and thought you guys might be interested to take a look and comment!
Well hey, welcome to the forum! And the game too, I guess.
Those opponents are rough - that's a lot of heavy armor and high toughness to contend with. Chaos Warriors and Saurus are just about the only things in the game that will stand toe-to-toe with White Lions.
I'm not a huge fan of tailoring lists for specific opponents either, so a normal "all rounder" might be best. Oddly, not a lot will change if you're only looking at these three opponents compared to
everything in the game, because High Elves do combat, and every army should boast lots of high-Strength hits.
Mage lvl 2 160p
-Lore of High Magic
-Dispell Scroll
-Shield of Merwyrm
Mage lvl 1 85p
-Lore of Shadow or Metal
That first Wizard can't have the Shield. Unless your Caster wears armor as part of their profile (like the Dragon Mage and Loremaster) or has an option to upgrade to some kind of mundane armor in their entry, they cannot wear armor of any kind - including magic armor.
Also, you'll get more "bang for your buck" out of a L4. Your Dwarf and Chaos friends will
hate Metal, and Lizards and Dwarfs cannot stand Lore of Death either. In fact, I have a friend and regular opponent who plays Lizards, and we have a gentlemanly agreement that I don't use Lore of Death against him, unless we're practicing for an event. It can just ruin games - even if they have a solid defense against it, a lucky/unlucky roll can still see it wipe half their army off the table.
For a "primary caster" like your L2, I don't suggest High Magic. It's not a terrible lore, but it's very "scattered" and that makes it hard to plan around. You're never sure if you're going to get damage spells, buffs, or what
kind of buffs you'll get. The two best lores for High Elves are (in my opinion) Shadow or Light. Shadow is great for the debuffs - drop a Chaos Warrior to T2 and even your Spears will wound him on a 3+. Dropping their Strength has similar effects to giving yourself a Wardsave - they can't wound you, so you don't need to roll those saves.
Light is good if you have multiple casters. If you get
really specialized at higher-points levels, you can build a "Light Coven" that does crazy stuff like give everyone within 12" double movement and double attacks, with a +8 to your Casting Attempt.
You'll really need that L4 though. Chaos magic isn't
terrible (they're as good at casting/stopping spells as High Elves are, usually), and Dwarfs don't have magic at all - but you'll need to stop Slann casters from the Lizardmen, and they are
naaaaaaasty. Try to get a feel for what your opponents are bringing to the table - Fantasy gets "wonky" at 1k and below, so your Lizardmen friend might not bring a Slann at all, and focus on something different instead. If that's the case, then a L2 would be fine for defense, but you'd lose out on all of the offensive capabilities too. By 2k, most armies will boast a L4 Wizard.
OR
Loremaster of Hoeth 240p
-Battle Magic
-Dragonhelm
Loremasters are really good as a secondary caster - either supporting a L4, or with a handful of L1s and L2s standing around. They're a bit of an "ace in the sleeve" for a Light Coven build, but again - not happening until you hit 2k+, probably.
Don't settle for just a Dragonhelm though. This guy is a huge bullseye and there's nothing that Warriors of Chaos love more than pasting a Lord with one of their Heroes (plan for this, by the way - 3A, S6, T5, 3W, Sv1+ with a 3+ Ward is
not unusual). You really want any Lords to have a 4+ Ward, ideally one of the Talismans rather than just the Shield (shield can be canceled). If you give him a MagicSword, it will replace his Greatweapon and he could use the Shield of the Merwyrm, if you weren't aware.
OR
Archmage lvl 4 245p
-Lore of High Magic or Lore of Life
-Dispell Scroll
I'd go this route, but I'd pick up the Talisman of Preservation for a 4+ Ward, and maybe even consider ditching the Dispel Scroll. You can work out which Lore to take on your own - it doesn't change what models you buy/paint, so it's among the easiest things to change in an army.
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Core – 270p
25x Spearmen
-Full command
-Lichebone Pennant
You never
need a Champion unless you're escorting a character and need a round or two to sidestep a Challenge. Also, ditch the Lichebone Pennant. Mr1 is a whole lot of "whatever". A lot of the best spells
don't cause damage or grant a save, and a 6+ (or 5+ if you get luck with High Magic) isn't about to help that very much.
Also remember that if you
are escorting characters, you should adjust your unit-size to account for the extra bodies. Right now, you're going 5x5 and you'll have 1-2 extra guys hanging off the back. You could just drop 1-2 models and save yourself some points, or add in 3 models and get an extra rank.
Core Spears aren't
bad, but they're going to get their game
wrecked against the kinds of foes you're up against. Wounding a Chaos Warrior on a 5+ and then watching him roll a 3+ Save is hard. Lizards are the same way, and Dwarf Warriors are only marginally easier to chop up. Nobody enjoys rolling 30 Attacks and getting 1 kill.
Unless your Chaos Warrior friend is
crazy and runs a bunch of worthless Marauders, or your Lizard friend decides to go "full Southlands" and run a ton of Skinks in his list - your Spear Elves are going to have a tough fight. They
do love the Shadow debuffs though, as mentioned above, if you're willing to spend most of your Magic Phase trying to keep Spear Elves on their feet.
My suggestion would be to grab some Silver Helms, and put your characters in the Elites. I'll talk a little more about that when we get there.
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Special – 250p/242p
7x Sword Masters 121p
-Bladelord
-Sword of Might
7x Sword Masters 121p
-Bladelord
-Sword of Might
You can't "double-tap" on items like that. If someone in your army already has the Sword of Might, nobody else in your army can use one. Also, while I get that you're trying to keep your Rerolls, you're getting a reroll on 2 S4 attacks. Also, the points that you're spending on the Champion and Sword combined could probably get you almost 2 more Swordmasters, so +4 S5 Attacks on the unit.
Again, Champs are no-bueno in small units like this. I'd rather see someone take a Standard Bearer for the +1Cr, but if you go small units, a Musician is
mandatory - the +1 to Rally when you Panic after just 2 Casualties is a big deal.
OR
15x White Lions 250p
-Razor Banner
Wrong flag on these kids. S6 is an automatic -3 to Armor, so even a Chaos Warrior with a Shield is stuck on 6+'s.
Nope, what you
want here, is the Banner of the World Dragon, for an extra 5pts. The 2+ Ward against magic works on the damage inflicted by Miscasts too, so standing your Wizards in here is a great option.
Also, White Lions don't just hold up better against Shooting, they also out-kill Swordmasters against practically everything in the game,
especially the kinds of stuff that you'll be fighting. The +1S is a lot better than +1A, because every model after that first rank will still benefit from the extra strength. On a lucky roll, yes, Swordmasters can rip down a whole unit, but on
average (ie: when you aren't rolling 5's on every dice) your White Lions are going to inflict a lot more pain. Plus, they're just
worth it. For the same cost you trade 1A for 1S, gain Stubborn, gain Forest Strider, and gain Lion Cloaks. Why would
anyone take Swordmasters?! GW really shot themselves in the foot with that one.
I've turned loose the Phoenix before, and when you're building for 1k pts, that's a
lot to spend on what is [in practice] a big, over-glorified Great Eagle. You can use Lore of Shadows on the Wizard that you're already planning to include, and get the same debuffs, because the Phoenix is
not quite an "aura" - it only works against the target that the bird is in contact with.
Also, Dwarfs
love to see big, lonely, expensive monsters on the table. They have cannons, and they'll shoot you down in a
hurry.
If you want something that can get across the table and kill warmachines or tie up Dwarf shooting: Eagles. And lots of them, if you're trying to take out armored dwarfs.
Those points could be better spent on getting more targets onto the table, and more "dummy drops" or chaff/antichaff units. The Phoenix is
way too expensive to be used as chaff, or even to spend all game hunting down 30pt units of Chaos Hounds. You could pick up 3 Tirannoc Chariots for your list, and still have points to spare. You could grab several Ellyrian Reaver units to add to your Core, or make your White Lions bigger (or add a second unit of them). You could snap up some Bolt Throwers and just
shoot their chaff - you have a lot of options here.
The last real suggestion that I've got, is to grab yourself a Nobe, and upgrade him to a BSB. Elves are
way too expensive to have them run off the table just because they felt like rolling "box-cars" on their Leadership for the first random Panic test of the game. A BSB almost always makes his points back, and Elf nobles are actually a half decent combat character (just, not against Chaos Warriors - best combat characters in the game).
I don't mean to run here rough-shod, all over your list, and then steal your thunder, but have you considered something like this at 1k?
Lords:
L4 Archmage
Talisman of Endurance*
-249
Heroes:
Noble Battle Standard Bearer
Sword of Might, Shield of the Merwyrm, Ironcurse Icon, Heavy Armor
-139
Core:
10 Silver Helms
Shields, Standard Bearer
or Musician
-250
Special:
13 White Lions
Full Command, Banner of the World Dragon
-249
Great Eagle
Shredding Talons
-55
Great Eagle
Shredding Talons
-55
Total: 997/1000
*recent FAQs increased the 25% limit on Lords/Heroes to a 50% limit. This means that you could spend up to 500pts on your Lord, and another 500pts on your Hero (except that you need minimum Core and at least 3 units). In that case, you would want to drop the Shredding Talons on the Eagles, and the IronCurse Icon on your Noble, and grab the Talisman of Preservation for a 4+ Ward instead.
The two characters join the White Lions to make the regiment 5x3, with a 6+ Wardsave against Shooting (plus Lion Cloaks) and a 2+ Ward against any magical attacks. They're the Anvil, and the Silver Helms work off of that. The two Eagles handle your Chaff.