Warhammer combat analysis
Introduction :
NOTE: This was written at the time of 5th edition, however it is still very relevant. I will probably not update this much for 6th or future editions. Comparisons and uses of troops will be updated in the relevant sections.
Like most wargames, Warhammer Fantasy Battles has the usual needs - to pick the right army, deploy well, and manoeuvre your forces. In addition there are specific issues in the games system to consider. Making sure you charge is very important. In fact this might be the biggest decider for combat, as no matter your initiative, the one who charges gets to attack first. Magic, both items and spells, can vastly influence things. An innocuous figure could either be a lowly champion, through to a slaughtering death-master, the figure may look the same, its what items it is carrying changes its power by orders of magnitude.
I can't really help much here, a lot of this is experience. Experience in judging distances for your movement, charge and shooting ranges. Learning your own and your enemies army lists, what they can do, and which units of yours will beat theirs. Guessing what their army will consist of, and getting the right combination to beat it.
High Elves - comparative analysis :
I feel that elves are far too expensive for their effectiveness (cost vs. combat ability), but I like the idea of the elves, and its the only army I have... My recommendation for a death-dealing army? If you want magic romping rampages, go for Undead. Hand-to-hand fun has to be Skaven. I guess the main reason I think this is that although elves have higher than normal (normal being a human) move, weapon skill, ballistic skill, initiative and leadership, many of the newer army lists kept giving units or characters increases in more useful stats and special abilities that have a nominal cost, and yet make them much more effective (e.g. frenzy, vampires, Vermin lords etc).
Out of these stats the increased move and leadership are the most useful. The move lets you charge more often, assuming you guess distances right, against similar enemy unit types. Leadership allows your units outside of your generals sphere of influence to pass tests better. In practice it only helps to pass psychology tests, you still need a character or magic to pass break tests. Weapon and ballistic skill are less useful, as these only affect hitting your targets, and since elves are a "strength 3" army wounding is a much bigger deciding factor. Initiative is the least useful, as the first turn of combat is judged by who charged, and elves are so fragile that if you don't win in the first turn, then it probably means your enemy is too tough, and you are toast. I think I have rarely had a combat go beyond 3 turns of combat, normally when one side has the Crown of Command, and either I am not wounding them (e.g. mummies), or I am killing their entire first rank, but they have so many troops they don't care (e.g. goblins).
As an example lets look at a unit which has WS=6 against a basic human unit (most stats 3), with both sides having a 5+ save, and a unit which has WS=3 S=5 T=4. Also actual units Swordmasters of Hoeth (17 points) vs Plague Monks (6.5 points) with average number of wounds that should be caused.
%chance to hit and %chance to wound and %chance not-save = %chance for average number of wounds caused
WS=6 unit : 67x50x67 = 22.45% vs Human unit : 50x50x67 = 16.75%
S=5 T=4 unit : 50x83x100 = 20.75% vs Human unit : 50x33x67 = 11.06%
WS=6 unit : 67x33x67 = 14.81% vs S=5 T=4 unit : 50x83x100 = 20.75%
This shows the general increase in usefulness of low increases of strength and toughness. Although the high WS unit did better against the humans, the S & T unit did better when facing the WS unit. Toughness is good because it affects every incoming blow, WS and Strength only affect blows that go out (and if your dead it don't help right?!).
Sword masters : 67x67x100 = 44.89% vs Monks : 50x50x67 = 16.75
for frontage of 5 figures = 2.24 wounds vs 2.51 wounds
Considering the cost of the units involved, your elves which are 2.6 times more expensive, and are less effective.
High Elves - Unit analysis :
So just how much is it to buying those fast moving cavalry? In the table below I am trying to ascertain just how effective your unit is for the points you pay. It turns out that Dragon Princes are just as effective as Reavers! I did expect the infantry to appear proportionately better, and they do. You can offset somewhat your spearmens low strength by adding ranks, and they come out causing almost as many wounds as Swordmasters, with the bonus that each casualty reduces your attacks back by that much less, however you pay more. Chariots are very cost effective.
| Unit | 3/3 | 4/4 | 5/5 | 6/6 | cost for frontage 5 | average # of wounds | cost/wound caused (incl. horse) |
| Dragon Prince(5) | 56 | 45 | 25 | 17 | 215 | 1.79 | 85 points |
| Reaver (5) | 45 | 25 | 17 | 9 | 165 | 1.2 | 85 points |
| Horse (5) | 25 | 17 | 9 | 9 | - | 0.75 | - |
| White Lion (5) | 56 | 56 | 33 | 25 | 85 | 2.13 | 40 points |
| Sword Master (5) | 56 | 45 | 25 | 17 | 85 | 1.79 | 47 points |
| Phoenix Guard (5) | 45 | 33 | 17 | 9 | 75 | 1.3 | 58 points |
| Sea Guard (10) | 33 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 160 | 1.7 | 94 points |
| Chariot (av. 5 auto-hits) | - | - | - | - | 118 | 5.36 | 22 points |
All of this will hopefully help indicate what damage you can do in combat, it does not reflect other bonuses or saving throws.
This reinforces the tactics I developed intuitively. namely, if charged, take the charge with your spearmen, then charge Cavalry and elite's into their flanks. If you can keep your chariots alive they will do the damage. Keep your spear armed units big, and try to minimise your elite's for point considerations. Optimum of course being only 1 rank deep.
I have also done a comparison for the monsters High elves can use. In summary Dragons have their bonus of breath weapons, and are probably best vs other monsters or characters, however Griffons and eagles came out tops for cost effectiveness vs troops.
Gripe session :
I still think the 5th edition of the Elf Army book had a lot of room for improvement still. The biggest problems are lack of flyers (most everyone has a flying unit now) and lack of higher strength or toughness troops (look at dyrads for Wood Elves). I was hoping we would get the mini-dragons, like the Dragon-Riders from 3rd edition, and get our War-dancers back. Yes, High Elves had War-dancers before the Wood elves, but lost them in 4th edition (boo hoo). Other ideas that may have been nice are Treemen again (those Ulthan woods are meant to be chock-full of the bastards), some other war-machines - maybe a Greek-fire thrower (keeping it with the nautical theme of the bolt-thrower) which would work a little like Fiery-Convocation. Other things I didn't like are the reduction on spare weapon options for characters, and mages get to use nothing now! not even a bow! So why have they trained up their ballistic skill?! I suppose it was too much to hope that point costs would get reduced, but they could have thrown in some (often random seeming) racial bonuses. Like all Wood elf bows being 6" longer range, and -1 off the armour save, or Slann mages being able to trade spells.
I guess it just seems Games Workshop either don't put much thought in, or think "what seems too tough", and then they change it. For 4th to 5th edition - Like Manticores having an additional restriction, even if ridden. Sure I like the new flying rules, it makes them a little less useful, but Dragons are even tougher now, and when people (especially in tournaments, or low point games) have restrictions on magic items it is amazingly tough to kill them now (well for elves). I still think Initiative needs an overhaul, something like take you I, double it if charging, half it if using two-handed weapons, and maybe some other modifications for spears etc. Maybe that is expecting too much from their 13 year-old target audience, but I believe it would make things more interesting, and give initiative some more meaning.
Shall I mention Vermin Lords now? WOW, 600 points for a monster which is a level 4 spell caster, should (on average) beat a greater demon of Khorne, or an emperor dragon (remember it does D3 wounds per wound scored) and doesn't come from character points. These things are amazing, I just wish High Elves could have an Avatar, like those from 40K, to fight with.
My last gripe is the fact the army book states that high elves "are the greatest practitioners of magic in the world" and yet I challenge anyone try a magic duel with an undead army (yes you can have banishment, but no Forbidden-Rod) and win. They have the smallest pick of magic items out of any race, count them and see (well Empire might have less?). The high spell deck is good, but often too expensive, and too specific. Getting to throw one card is good, but if you get dealt the hand I did once : Assault of Stone, Banishment, Apotheosis, Deadlock and Tempest, when playing on a flat plain, against Skaven (no doomwheels) with only my Mage Lord leading my archer army. Hmmm, what spell do I use my discard on?
Bring on the next edition lads!
Additional: Well 6th edition is now out, and although they have tightened up the rules, we must wait and see how much they will break the Ravening Hordes suppliment with each new Army List. It is ok now, but still some of their decisions seem a little unconsidered.
