Got tips and strategies that work well against the Dark Elves? Share them here with other warlords! Since the release of the new 8th edition, the game has changed a great deal and new tactics must be developed and discussed in order for da greenskins to crump ‘em good!

one of my friends plays dark elves all the time so i have a lot of experience against them. the thing to worry most about against dark elves is magic and hydras, both deffinetly something almost every dark elve army has. hydras can be hard to kill because of regeneration and pretty devestating with 7 s5 attacks. and there only 175pts. the best thing against them is just shoot them with a lobber. if that fails the giant or an orc warboss with a gw can take it out usually. or black orcs with the banner of eternal flame. against the sorcerecess eadbutt or brain bursta is good.

most dark elve infantry arent a match for orc boyz. spearmen arent hard to beat and as long as you have a big unit you can beat executionares and black guard. cold one knights if charged are easy to take out but it can take awhile cause of the +2 armour.

so when fighting against dark elves you can usually can just move your blocks of infantry forward and they can usuall beat whatever is against them. its important to take some flank protectors cause you dont want cold one knights and drak riders flanking you. and above all make sure the hydra is dead before it can get into combat or if it does make sure its with something like a giant.

The thing to keep in mind with Dark Elves are their strengths. Like O&G, they put out lots of attacks, at mid to low strength (S3-S4) with some elite back-up (Cold Ones, Black Guard, and rarely Executioners) Their scariest tools are really, in order.

1. The Unkillable Dreadlord
2. The Cauldron of Blood
3. War Hydras

The Dreadlord can send whole units fleeing if you're not careful (or roll poor Ld rolls) Not much I can offer to deal with him, he's a tough nut to crack. Try to keep any attacks at him under S4, though it won't punch through his armor if you make it through his ward save has a 66% chance, though he'll probably pass the armor. Units with Armor-Piercing help, as they'll reduce his save without increasing his Ward.

The Cauldron of Blood allows Dark Elves to put out obscene damage, with KB and +1 Attack being the main culprits. The best solution is to throw some cheap units to distract it, or even quite possibly ignore it. The distraction unit won't kill the cauldron, but if you can keep it in CC you might scare your opponent. At the same time, I've had the cauldron stand up to a Dwarf Warrior horde (which was like 24 men strong) thanks to the war machine combat rules. If you can simply defeat your opponent's fragile elves before they hurt you, you're off on a good foot.

Finally, the Hydra's a bit of a pain in the rear rather than a serious threat. On it's own, it's breath weapon and 7 S5 attacks are painful, and terror is never and O&G general's friend. Fanatics and Spear Chukkas work here, as you'll force the Hydra to make saves, which is one of the best possible scenarios.

As for general advice: The Dark Elves greatest strengths are speed and maneuverability. Harpies and Shades can be a real pain, and on the charge they're quite a pain in the rear. However, remember that they're still elves, so they have poor saves and toughness, with mid to decent strength. Your best bet to beat them is to dish out as many attacks as possible, and rob them of their offensive advantage. Shooting particularly helps, and even a single Rok Lobba can spell terrible death for your elven adversaries.

One of the best items to take against Dark Elves is Silvejr's (spelling?) Hex Scroll. Yes it is rather expensive at 50pts, however, here's the plan:

Wait 'til your DE opponent uses Power of Darkness, then instead of trying to dispel it, use the Hex scroll. The wizard is now a frog, and cannot cast spells. They -must- however, use the power dice generated by Power of Darkness, which of course as a frog they can't, so they take a number of unsaveable wounds equal to the number of dice they gained, a number between 2 and 4! So if it's a Hero-level wizard, it'll just die, and a Lord-level wizard has a 2/3 chance of dying, too! Not bad for 50pts.

The Sivejir's Hex Scroll transform the caster only if he roll more than his casting level. On a level 4 sorceress, it's not very useful.

And wounds are not automatically applied to the dark lore user... The caster take S4 hits for each unused dice... the sorceress can roll ward save.

I prefer Feedback spell since a dark elf can use as many dice as he want...