Thrall Warhost

[Tullbeard]

I've always been a big fan of the Dark Elves; particularly Dreadspears, Blackguard (arguably my favourite models - both visually and in their old fluff) and Sorceresses.

As such, I'm putting together a Thrall Warhost batallion to field them. 

I wanted to know what people's thoughts are on the make-up of the formation and good unit sizes to take.

For reference, the batallion requires:

1-6 Sorceresses (on foot or dragon)

1 unit of Black Guard

1 unit of Executioners 

3 units of any of Darkshards, Dreadspears and Bleak Swords

 

Im leaning towards taking 10man unit sizes for the battleline units; 2 darkshards and 1 Dreadspears - these can be used for chaff and interrupting charges (and dagger fodder for the sorceress - although it makes me a bit sad that even with sacrificing people the sorceress is distinctly average as a wizard - despite being thousands of years old and mastering the winds of magic...)

For the Blackguard, I was planning to take a unit of 20 to maximise the benefit of their 2inch reach. I find Black Guard to be incredibly efficient and they can tear through so much - looking good whilst doing so (Halberds are just such cool weapons!)

On the other hand, for the executioners, I was going to only take a 10man unit. 10men is still plenty to deal out the pain; and my hope is that they can slip under the radar a little more as a minimum sized unit.

Both the big block of Blackguard and the small unit of Executioners will be a big threat (with slightly different preferences for their target enemy); so hopefully it can cause the opponent some tough choices regarding which to target.

Going up to 2000 points, I would plan on supplementing the army with Order Serpentis units; and perhaps one of the silver tower heroes.

 

What are other people's thoughts on the Thrall Warhost batallion? Are their better unit sizes to take?

The ability of the batallion can be very strong; and either the Blackguard or the executioners would love to use it (with the choice depending on what targets are available).

 

[Sennyo]

just to remind me does the formation say you have to take a sorceress /sorceress on black dragon or does it say Sorceress referring to the keyword?

[Tullbeard]

2 hours ago, Sennyo said:

just to remind me does the formation say you have to take a sorceress /sorceress on black dragon or does it say Sorceress referring to the keyword?

It says sorceress or sorceress on black dragon. I.e. It is not in bold and not referring to the keyword.

Whilst on the topic, I'm a little baffled by the high matched play points cost of the sorceress on black dragon. She is the same points (340) as the dreadlord on black dragon. This high point cost mainly comes from the fact that the dragon is a beat stick and can cause some massive damage. But... the sorceress only has a 5+ save; as opposed to the dreadlords 4+ rerollable save - so you don't really want to be throwing her into combats that require the use of a dragon. Her lacklustre spell (a flat out worse version of the Chaos Lord on Manticores spell) hardly makes up for this.

[High Warden]

I also have run Darkling Covens before just recently picking up swifthawks.  They are pretty solid and may even become better once mystic shield gets cleared up (there's a lot of confusion in my local group given the latest FAQs rule of 1 etc.).  Agree with the 10 man blocks of executioners (though they can attack in 2 ranks so 20 can be good too) they will get focused anyhow if your opponent is smart.  30man blocks of dreadspears are surprisingly good and a deterrent to boot, same with darkshards.  Dark shards are actually my favourite able favourite with a block of 30 pumping out 60 shots on units trying to waithe the through your dreadspears.  As for blackguard they are expensive for what they are and don't have defensive capabilities at all, they do look menacing and may draw a bit of attention however.  Of course this army gets a hell of a lot better once you get a celestial hurricanum in there!

[Payce]

With my old army and first and biggest love in Warhammer being the Dark Elves, I've spent a look of time looking at and trying out the new sub-factions, and I thing Darklings just about pip Daughters as the best one. What I've primarily ran is 3x10 Darkshards, 20 each of Executioners and Black Guard, and two dragons. This clocks in at 1820 points, giving you some room to tinker about, but the sheer amount of bodies you put on the table and the amount of damage you're able to put out with the four-headed threat of dragons, Execs and BG, it can be really intimidating.

Your biggest problem is that Kill Them Now! only allows you a charge move. It's going to be borderline useless turn one, even if you go second, and it makes Reckless an absolute must-have for your general. When you manage to get it off, and the fact that you can target both Executioners and Black Guard with it, it gives you an amazing tool for zoning and offensive pressure without overcommitment, but any opponent aware of it will position themselves accordingly. Don't get blinded by it - it's nowhere near as good as the Bonesplitterz, or even Daughters of Khaine, variants of the same thing.

Thrall Warhost to me is kind of like playing surgery with a chainsaw. You got the destructive potential to just bruteforce your way, but it's precision and tactics that will eventually make the army really stand out.