The Rise of The Asur

Before I get accused of joining the HE bandwagon (and anyone that does can quite frankly fuck off!) I thought I’d give you my first HE’s list!  I first picked up the HE’s in 1992 and until 8^th were along with WE’s the only Warhammer army I had played.  I feel in a fairly good position to comment now being on my 5^th version of the HE’s.  They had become a little stale for me during 8^th and I went back to WE’s before graduating to some filth in Skaven.  I’m currently playing Ogres while I paint my vintage HE’s which were parts of my old army which I paint stripped. 

The new book has given me a great boost to speed up my painting and all going to plan I will be running them at the Masters in December. 

Characters

You really are spoilt for choice here with now 9 unique Lord & Hero selections. While some of these are clearly going to be more themed/fluff options they do all bring something and add a unique flavour to the list.  Not to mention the points came down for Mages, Princes and Nobles.  I looked at combo’s L4/Prince L4/Loremaster single LoreMaster and there were a few good ones (a L4 Shadow with the book of Hoeth is going to be very obvious and pretty good, but dull given the army) but I have gone for a Loremaster.  I can live without the L4 caster and the 8 sig spells give you excellent tactical flexibility.

Core

In core I have gone for a mixed arms approach – two units of reavers with spears and bows at 95 points each to harass and distract 15 archers as chaff clearance and a bunker and 10 Silver Helms as a fast moving combat/support unit.  600 points on the nose. 

Special       

Special is a bus of Dragon Princes in which the BsB and noble sit protected by the banner of the World Dragon – while this unit can hit very hard it won’t love the grind so picking targets carefully will be key.  However monstrous cav units without res are in trouble as the Star lance and bus will go through them. 

The Phoenix Guard will house the LoreMaster and be there for cleanup of weakened units once they reach the HE lines.

Rare

This is an interesting slot now in the HE book and I again went for mixed arms.  3 Bolt throwers – at 70 points and effective way to pick off chariots, monstrous cav, DP’s etc.  I think they are needed to support the list. 

A Frostheart Phoenix – this guy is a great new unit and my aim for him is to “Tag” corners of units where the Dragon Princes or Silver Helms are going in to reduce the enemies’ strength by 1 point can really help keep the unit from taking damage.  Taking a S5 unit down to S4 is epic. 

I’ve thrown in a lone eagle (due to abuse in the early days of 8^th the eagle population has declined..)

   

I don’t think this is in anyway a power build but I think is a solid mixed arms list that I would enjoy playing and would give tactical challenge and flexibility. 

Really interested in your thoughts/comments

1	Loremaster	Lord		Book of Hoeth
1	Noble	Hero	Dragon Armour, Barded Steed, BsB, lance	enchanted shield, dawnstone
1	Noble	Hero	dragon Armour, Barded Steed	starlance, golden crown, charmed shield
1	Mage	Hero	L1 High	dispel scroll
15	Archers	Core	musician
5	Reavers	Core	spear, bow
5	Reavers	Core	spear, bow
10	Silverhelms	Core	shield, standard, musician
15	Phoenix Guard	Special	musician
10	Dragon Princes	Special	Full Command	Banner of the World Dragon
1	bolt thrower	rare
1	bolt thrower	rare
1	bolt thrower	rare
1	Frostheart Phoenix	rare
1	Eagle	rare