Some Dark Elf Rumours

[Ludaman]

Seems to me that elves increased weapon skill and initiative represents their martial prowess pretty well. Let high elves gain citizen levy on their core (but pay for it) let dark elves get hatred on khainites (and pay for it) let wood elves get move and fire without penalty (and pay for it) and give me a points reduction to make up for losing army wide hatred and asf, seems to me that more troops is pretty much always better in 8th anyway.

[Why]

Wood elves don't suffer the move and shoot penalty and they do pay for it

[sulla]

@Sulla and Others: Thanks for the support of this idea, one can only pray that GW do in fact some times read this board... or that someone (*coughHarrywaskindenoughtocommentcough*) would whisper a word in their ears.

Why don't you send your suggestion to Jervis (doesn't he have his address in his standard bearer articles in WD?)

Most likely it wouldn't be adopted, but at least it might get them thinking in the right direction.

[Druchii Monkey]

As a fellow Dark Elf player (though I do play all 3 elf armies), I think it would be more characterful if only the martial characters got Hatred (and I would make it eternal Hatred), I really feel it's better if the universal special rule for the army was reroll failed to wound rolls, to illustrate and exemplify their viciousness and to make them more unique in the game (as many things have hatred).

I think the martial focus of the high elves points to them making sure to hit, (you can wound what you can't hit) and the dark elves would be more interested in making sure every shot was a murder blow. Then you could have it be a tiered system as well. High Elf soldier is good at fighting, he gets reroll to hit that fail; High Elf hero who's better than that gets full blown ASF. Dark elf soldier wants to kill people and take slaves gets reroll to wound that fail; Dark Elf hero gets Eternal Hatred and reroll failed to wound. It's fitting and equally powerful (in my mind at least).
You could even do a similar thing for woodsie elves reroll failed missle attacks for troops; Heroes get sniper or multishot, and reroll failed missles.
These built in rerolls also provide for more consistant results in combat, making the elven troops feel more elite.

@Petey - I really like the above suggestions.

Why don't you send your suggestion to Jervis (doesn't he have his address in his standard bearer articles in WD?)

Most likely it wouldn't be adopted, but at least it might get them thinking in the right direction.

@Drasanil - worth double-checking White Dwarf but the Jervis postal address i last used was as follows:

Jervis Johnson
c/o White Dwarf
Design Studio
Games Workshop
Willow Road
Nottingham
NG7 2WS
United Kingdom

Worth sending your ideas in, and you ought to get a reply within a few weeks.

[Capt._Jaelinek]

Ditto DruchiiMonkey. I sent Jervis a long letter with suggestions on how to reduce bolt thrower costs, create themed lists (corsair, khainite) by adding key units to the book (specials for corsairs, a corsair lord build and core for khainites), a chimera to the rare list, etc. How to make assassins and death hags worth taking (5+ ward save) ...

He wrote back a reply, hand signed by someone (presumeabley Jervis as it was his name) and that he would pass it along to the Dark Elf writers. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling I got, perhaps something will be implemented in the next book.

Drasanil, there certainly needs to be some refining to the idea, but I think you are on to something. ASF+ for HE is totally annoying and non-sensical in anything but a game mechanic. I really like the DE fluff regarding a society based on hatred (it's why I started the army) and it makes them feel like elite warriors. But as they don't get it every round except against HE I'm kinda ok with eternal hatred, but I am biased of course. Don't know WE good enough to comment, but aren't war dancers supposed to be uber-killers? I'd be ok with ASF on them or any other elite/lord elf choices. It's really not needed though as the WS and Initiative are so high. I think only Chaos has better WS in the game. I'd say give all elves a rule like hatred and reduce points costs to compensate for HE. They need it anyway. Change it from hatred to "Elite Warrior" or some other fighty name. But keep it to only the first round of combat when you have a clear opportunity to use the centuries of training. After that it's really just a hack and slash mess anyway.

As for differentiators between the elf armies the WE have treemen and driads, DE have hydra, manticore (I know it sucks) and khainite units, HE have high magic, sea guard and 3 different dragons. I think that works pretty well, change up the weapon equipment options a bit to allow flexibility and tactical tailoring (come on why can't I take a unit of DE swordsmen!?). Let the HE take heavy plate on some units and you start having 3 distinct armies that operate very differently but are all based on the same elf stat line with an elite warrior rule. Now that would be cool! I might even consider playing HE if they made that change (but they are still panseys )

[Harry]

@Sulla and Others: Thanks for the support of this idea, one can only pray that GW do in fact some times read this board... or that someone (*coughHarrywaskindenoughtocommentcough*) would whisper a word in their ears.

Some folks have a very funny idea about my relationship with GW. I don't know anyone well enough to be whispering in ears and given that I live in Gloucestershire and they live in Nottingham it would have to be a bloomin' loud whisper.

Why don't you send your suggestion to Jervis (doesn't he have his address in his standard bearer articles in WD?)

This is the only way to get your ideas to the developers.
It does get read and passed on to the right people and you will get a reply.
The best thing about it is ... it is available to everyone. (No need to have anyones ear).

[Urgat]

Maybe I should have written to Vetock :/ (well I'm not an optimist like you all, I don't believe for an instant anything we say is taken into account. AFAIK sometimes they do read wishlists from forums, have you ever seen anything from wishlists ever being implemented, besides point adjustments they didn't need anybody to tell them in the first place?).