The Vermin Lord: Adepticon

Dreadlord, general, dark steed, heavy armor, repeater crossbow, sea dragon cloak, dragon helm, dawnstone, potion of foolhardiness, ogre blade

Dreadlord, dark steed, heavy armor, repeater crossbow, shield, sea dragon cloak, cloak of twilight, sword of strife, luckstone

Master, BSB, dark steed, heavy armor, repeater crossbow, shield, sea dragon cloak, sword of might, the other trickster’s shard, dragonbane gem

Master, dark steed, heavy armor, repeater crossbow, shield, sea dragon cloak, potion of strength, sword of striking, obsidian trinket

Sorceress, dark steed, Lore of Death, Level 2, dispel scroll

Sorceress, dark steed, Lore of Metal, Level 1, power stone

8 Dark Riders, musician, banner, shields, repeater crossbows

6 Dark Riders, musician, banner, shields, repeater crossbows

Repeater Bolt Thrower

11 Doomfire Warlocks, master of warlocks

8 Doomfire Warlocks

This list is stupid and unimaginative. There, it’s said, out there an no longer needs to be discussed.

What I tried to do was adapt my old dark elf list to the new book while taking advantage of the changes where possible. I believe the new book was very good for my dark elf play style. The biggest change is the upgrade of the dark steeds to provide the fast cavalry ability to characters. I wish the last book had it am thrilled that the new one does.

In designing the list I tried to keep the 3 prong threat. In the last book it was dark riders and shades for low shooting and manbane assassins for high shooting. In combat I had a pair of hydras. For magic I had that level 5 death wizard and a level 2 metal (which I always wanted to drop to level 1 but couldn’t figure out what to do with the last 35 points besides buy the second level).

This list maintains that triple threat. For shooting I still have the dark riders for low shooting. The increase in the characters actually gives me more low shooting. I already miss the magical crossbow and I haven’t even played with the new book. With manbane no longer able to serve the role of high shooting I dropped the shades. I had found they just didn’t do what I needed from them. I had tried repeater bolt throwers in the last book, taking 2 at QCR. I found that when they worked, they worked well, but were expensive. The point drop allows me to effectively take a third for 10 points, so I will give them a try. The loss of the hydra’s regeneration limits their effectiveness in my eyes, so I’ve decided to try out the upgraded characters to give me some combat effectiveness. Their increased mobility should prove effective. The protection from shooting provided by being in a unit, or even just a 4+ look out sir provide the cannon protection that I lost with regeneration. Combined, the 4 characters put out a massive amount of attacks, ranging from high strength to D3 wounds. I would love to shove the unit into a midsized monstrous infantry unit or even a monster.

The last thing missing is the magic. I debated between taking 3 masters and 1 dreadlord to allow for a level 4 caster but have decided that at this time I will go with the double dread lord and 2 lower level casts. It’s a little more points efficient. I maintained with important spells in my lower level casters, spirit leech and searing doom and threw in the power stone to help make up for the loss of wizard level. The characters, now no longer flying solo needed a bunker and as every knows the doomfire warlocks provide a perfect opportunity. They also solve my level 4 wizard issue, as that 11 man unit, combined with 4 characters gives it to me, at least for casting. The double magic missile and double soulblight makes up for the loss in death magic, or at least that’s my theory. I solid death snipe and something else on death magic I know I can use combined with 2 for sure soulblights. Now I just need my old free power of darkness to make sure I have the dice to cast them all… oh well.

So that the list and that’s the theory. I chose to not increase the cloak of twilight dreadlord’s strength, going for the additional attacks. I likely won’t need him against high T unit as I have strength bonus on every other character, and I think against a T4 unit, woundn’t on 4+ and rerolling 1s with the extra attacks will be better (4.5 wounds versus 3.8 wounds).