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Rogue Trader part 1
by Aaron Tosch
Tournament. This is not a new army for me, as they’ve fought many battles including two other Rogue
Traders. I’ve never really won much with them though, as I’m really more of a 40k player. I’ve really
struggled with them, having a 1-2-2 record in the last 5 games (which happened to be another Rogue
Trader). We’d be playing with 2000 points over 3 games. I’ve always been drawn to this beautiful army,
long before I played Fantasy. It’s the only one I’ve played with and they needed to be brought back to their
former glory!
I needed a new approach. The funny thing about my army is I seemed to do much better when they first
started, not including before their codex was released, when my beloved Seaguard ruled the table! I’m not
sure what’s been happening, perhaps I’m playing the army all wrong nowadays, perhaps all the codices that
came after mine have been increasingly nasty (such as skaven, lizardmen, and chaos), or perhaps I’ve been
more concerned with 40k. I’ve mostly blamed the codex, particularly after a bout with Chaos whereby my
perfectly executed strategy (it was brilliant, honest!) literally bounced off their armored hordes and couldn’t
even harm some of their models. I have heard many other High Elf army success stories, and knew victory
against many armies back in the day, so have decided to start anew.
One of the key things I wanted with this army would to bring back my magic phase. I had been played magic
defensively, usually a level one mage with a couple dispel scrolls. I took a couple level 2 mages with various
items, including a bound Fury of Khaine and a seer honor. He would take Curse of Arrow Attraction and
Fury of Khaine. High Elf magic, not to mention much of our wargear, is very defensive. That’s helpful when
they’re swinging at you, but to harm your opponent you need to have teeth. I wanted to throw lots of
magical bolts their way. With the Curse I had nastier plans. I threw in 4 repeater bolt throwers and the
obligatory unit of 10 archers. That’s a lot of shots that should get rerolls to hit a particularly unlucky unit!
This didn’t leave many points for a battle line, but then I started thinking about certain inequities in the High
Elf battle line, and how they fared in games past. Inevitably in most fantasy games there’s a point where the
two battle lines collide and that’s where the battle is decided. This is often where I lose, as I put a lot of faith
and points in troops and characters. But lets face it, our glittering warriors are very pretty, that’s why I
bought them in the first place, but pound for pound they aren’t much of a match for many armies out there
when swords start crossing. Chaos, lizardmen, orcs, skaven, undead, dwarves- all of these can field troops
that are either heavily armed and armored, often with Toughness 4, very cheap, or both! High Elf warriors
on foot are expensive, ranging from 11-15 points apiece, and although they carry nice incentives like spears
in an extra rank or striking in initiative order with great weapons, they’re still all Strength 3/Toughness
3/Armor 5+. They’ll die if you look at them funny. This does not make a very effective close combat unit
when you consider your units run 200+ points each. Sadly our commanders aren’t much better. I can’t
count the number of times I’ve challenged basic champions with them and seen them get butchered. It can
shake your faith. But then an idea struck, I’d stay out of close combat!! I had lots of offensive magic and
shooting to rain upon them like vengeful falling stars! Lesser mortals consider this tactic cowardly, but we
Elves know it’s just plain smart. The lives of orcs, men, beasts, or other primitives simply aren’t worth risking
our own at close quarters. They’re hardly worth the finely woven arrows or the time it takes dress up, put on
our makeup, and go out to shoot them!
The rest of my army was then devised around my basic core choices- 19 spearmen with command, and 8
silver helms with command. They would form a bit of a decoy, deployed out front and center like normal and
then fading back as the enemy approaches, thinking they’ll easily grind us. I had wanted an eagle for their
ability to disrupt enemy lines beautifully but had filled out my rare choices with the repeaters, so opted for the
next best thing. I chose a commander on Great Eagle with the Fusil of Conflagration (flamer template breath
attack, lots of fun on a flying creature). I also chose a standard bearer with the Banner of Sorcery for more
power dice. I also threw in 4 chariots, infamous to those who’ve played me and were considered cheesy
until new armies started fielding them as core choices (!) I did leave out my beloved Battle Banner though,
also considered cheesy. Hey, it isn’t cheesy if you’re still getting creamed! We would cut up the enemy
battle line and melee units could pick on stranded enemy troops. They won’t stand a chance! I predict zero
casualties.
Here’s the glorious army list of the glorious Legio Felix IX in all it’s glory… it’s a Roman theme.
Heroes
Commander- Great Eagle, Fusil of Conflagration, Sword of Might, Shield, Heavy Armor 171
Commander- Standard Bearer, Banner of Sorcery, Heavy Armor, Steed, Barding 166
Mage- Level 2, Seer Honor, Jewel of the Dusk, Pure of Heart Honor 175
Mage- Level 2, Ring of Fury, Dispel Scroll 180
Core
19 Spearmen- Full Command 239
7 Silver Helms- Shields, Heavy Armor, Champion, Standard, War Banner 209
10 Archers 120
Special
2 Tiranoc Chariots 170
2 Tiranoc Chariots 170
Rare
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers 200
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers 200
[2000]
This wouldn’t earn me much in the way of army composition, but that’s a flaw in the High Elf list. Our Core
choices are rather limited and mundane. No matter, we would pierce their flesh with skies full of white-
feathered shafts and burn the rabble with fire!