Tactics against High Elves

Weak points:

A mediocre S and T of 3, too high initiative to be worth it (chews up points), no special rules (well, barely no special rules). Mostly bad h-t-h troops. No heavily armoured infantry. Longbows (I'd rather have x-bows). Their knights have a silly strenght of 3 and can so be beaten by cheaper human knights (as well as by more expensive Chaos Knights-but that's another story). High points cost.

Strong Points

Repeating Bolt Throwers, Swordmasters of Hoeth, chariots coming from regimental points, good move, WS, BS and Ld, Repeating Bolt Throwers, elven steeds (costs the same as warhorse and is better). Usually very good magic.

How to easiest deal with them:

Use a Ruby chalice, Radiance of Ptolos, Multi-wound units, cheap creatures, etc. as protection from Repeater Bolt Throwers. You can probably out-number them or alternatively out-class them (at least in h-t-h) so use the Elves high points cost vs. low T and armour save to your advantage. You'll probably beat them in h-t-h but their RBT's will beat you in shooting. A good idea to beat them is to take a fairly large regiment of fast skirmishers with the Ruby Chalice to kill of the RBT's. Much of the trick of beating High Elf armies is beating the RBT's, which is easier said than done since they are in the top 5 of the best items for their points (together with Beastmen, Harpies and Manticores). Use cheap flyers, expensive flyers, fast cavalry (as if they wouldn't get shot down before coming halfways towards the RBT's), fast moving shields and my favourite: disruptions. Earthshaker cannons and The Tempest (high magic spell) are great against High Elves since they rely on their skill with missiles and fast move to take the fight to the enemy (not to mention that The Tempest will blast their Chariots and RBT's to smithereens). Your own missiles and war machines will suffer from the Tempest though and it's easy to dispel. Actually, taking many High Magic spells is a good deal (to move on to a totally different subject) since they have several great low-power spells (Apotheosis, Coruscation of Finreir, Glamour of Teclis, etc.) and a few 3 power spells (The Tempest, Assault of Stone) which can be totally awesome if used correctly. Now for different races tactics against High Elves:

• Chaos: You can hardly out-shoot the High Elves so that's not an option. What you can do is to minimize the missile/magic casualities. Since Chaos is very reliable on hand-to-hand unlike most other armies, who usually have at least some missile weapons (not counting Centaurs and Flamers), you have to be especially careful about the missile/magic superiority of the High Elves. All the usual comments for dealing with shooting apply. Luckily for Chaos they have some of the most useful weapons against RBT's: Harpies (They are cheap, flyers and have T4 and 2 wounds, making them less vulnerable against return fire from other RBT's) and Beastmen (T4 2 wounds make 'em hard to penetrate). Chaos can also nab off the Tempest without having to worry about their own missile weapons and war machines. In the Magic phase, you have to decide whether you will try to negate it completely (talisman of Obsidian, Collar of Khorne, skull staff, Drain Magic, Chalice of Chaos, etc.) or dominate it (magic items giving extra power cards, Book of Ashur, zappit items, lots of Wizards, etc.). Going halfway will not get you anywhere. Negating is the cheaper option but it is not bullet-proof and is often reliable on a few models. The domination can be hard to achieve since the High Elves are definitely one of the better magic users in the game but with determination it can work, plus, you get to shoot back with this option. Just one thing to remember: concentrate your magic on their shooters and magicians, you'll beat them in h-t-h anyway. Once in h-t-h I don't think any Chaos player needs advice against High Elves. (oh yeah, watch out for those chariots, they are difficult to stop without a bow)
• Chaos Dwarfs: I only say one thing: Earthshaker Cannons!! You must really get some, try to protect them against flyers too. A Death Rocket or Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower can be good for this. The High Elves will be totally crippled by even one good shot. You'll rarely strike first (low M and I vs. the Elves high M and I) so make sure your regiments can stand up to a round of blows in h-t-h (usually not a problem with T4 and heavy armour). The Bull Centaurs are a lovely strike force, they are very resistant to missile fire and can beat almost everything in h-t-h. A nasty idea is to take the Chalice of Darkness, one Sorcerer (lv 1) with the skull staff, and a lot of zappit and magic protection items. The Blunderbusses are usually not worth to bring along against High Elves (though a small regiment of five in front of every other Chaos Dwarf regiment is good: stand and shoot and then the unit behind gets to charge the Elves) because of their short range. Book of Ashur is useful to get Grey or Ice magic and go for either (or both!) of the Bridge spells. Don't forget the Sapphire Arch spell in the Celestial deck either.
• Dark Elves: Dark Elves have several advantages over High Elves; Better h-t-h troops, better archers, hatred, etc. They share several of the High Elves good points: RBT's, RBT's and RBT's. However, they have a rather mediocre magic deck and the obedience rule can be irritating for crossbowmen. They have the Harpies that can take out the High Elves RBT's but they are sadly limited to one unit. The trick is to engage the High Elves in a battle they can not win: Hand-to-hand combat. Though the Dark Elves have better cavalry than the High Elves try to avoid taking Cold One Knights, a 2+ save won't help against an RBT. Shield the Witch Elves and other expensive units with more cheaper units like Warriors. Watch out for the High Elves one good h-t-h regiment: Swordmasters.
• Orcs & Goblins: The orcs have a T of 4 so archers can hardly bother them and the goblins are too numerous to be really crippled. Greenskins are an unreliable army as directly opposed to High Elves. This can be bothering so make sure you have at least some protection against it (animosity and psychology preventing items). Mork's War Banner is a good thing to take out enemy wizards with (as well as "Waaaagh" and "Eadbutz" of course), but it is easily countered. The trick is to keep the enemy guessing where the banner is (or even better, if it's in the army at all). This means you should waste dispels cards on the unit with Mork's War Banner instead of letting the banner dispel, in this way, the enemy will not think it's in there! Crossbows are a better missile weapon than the Longbow but animosity and low BS will counter this. Chariots are generally a waste against High Elves, whose longbows will easily kill crew/draft animals. The notable exception is the Snotling Pump Wagon: at only 40 points it will usually make worth it by the fire it draws. You also have a beefed-up version of Swordmasters: Night Goblins with The Bad Moon Banner and 2-handed weapons (maybe even with some fanatics). Also, the Bad Moon Banner grants the unit a protection against missile fire: -1 to hit. Your shamans are so cheap (1st level goblin) so you can afford a fair number of dispel scrolls (as well as a fair number of 'eadbangz of course). Ogres and Trolls are pretty reliable against missile fire.
• Undead: The Undead are very reliable on magic so they have to look out for the Drain Magic spell (as well as Banishment of course, always have a spare dispel scroll for that one). To further add to the problem Drain Magic can never be dispelled so you can't boost up dispel scrolls for that. The easiest way to deal with it is to kill the mage with the spell (though even that is easier said that done). Flyers are about the only thing that can manage such a feat (at least without Vanhels Danse Macabre and Raise the Dead-both of which are spells!) so make sure you have a fair number of Manticores (at least one....). Later on, they can join the Carrion in the assault on the RBT's). Carrions are a good weapon against RBT's as well as any "Raise" spell. The Undead general can probably munch anything in the Elf army alone (except an Emperor Dragon) and the High Elves don't have any cannons to take him out with. Watch (as always) out for the Black Gem. Undead chariots are amongst the few who can be useful against High Elves (at least if the Drain Magic spell is taken out) since they can be healed. Mummies are good against High Elves.

  [Here David Linacre gives some of his advice for dealing with High Elves playing Undead] I feel that High Elves are the only race who are equal or maybe even superior to the magic might of Undead. Repeater bolt throwers can be a nuisance to an Undead commander as they are able to take out some of your toughest regiments such as mummies and wights they are also capable of dealing death to your characters. To get around this threat I would use the spell Wind of death which has a fair chance of taking them all out in the first turn. Another problem for the Undead commander will be with the High Elf spells Banishment which is very deadly for Undead and Drain magic which will stop you using your own spells. Glamour of Teclis can really stuff up your plans and fiery convocation can wipe out a lot of mummies. To counter these spells I can think of three solutions. Firstly you could take a level four wizard armed with the book of Ashur, this way you can take five of the high magic spells and stop your opponent getting them, Secondly you could take the banner of Arcane Warding a few spell eater shields (bufos hex scroll is good as well) and many a dispel magic scroll, a down side to this is that it will cost you about an extra 500pts. My last and probably best solution to get the biggest monster with a vampire lord, Carstein ring, Frost blade, Black amulet and Potion of strength and go straight in for the kill.

• Skaven: The Chittering Hordes have a wonderful weapons against RBT's: The Screaming Bell. Imagine rolling an X and shattering every RBT on the board!!! Sadly, with all the missile power of the High Elves the Bell won't last long. They can also field Harpies (which, for reasons ovbious, are good against High Elves) and Skaven are so fast (especially helped by Screaming Bells,Death Frenzy spells and Skavenbrews) that they will (hopefully) make it in h-t-h before the "Kebab" effect has begun to take it's toll. A word of advice: I wouldn't take any Jezzails, Warpfire throwers or Poison Wind Globaiders, they'll be shot to pieces by the archers. If you take enough Plague Censer bearers they might make it into combat (-2 to hit+long range half of the time) but it's a gamble. Gutter runners can be nice to destroy RBT's with. Plague Monks are good with their T of 4 (the elves can barely harm them) and any Rat Ogres are great!!!