it really depends on how well equipped and manned the druchii raiding party is.i dont know much about the drow at this moment so some basics on them would be nice.

the druchii is simply the collective name of the dark elves race in warhammer fantasy.
they are utterly cruel to the bone taking joy in the extreme suffering of others.each druchii lives in the harsh druchii society which goes by the basic rule of purge the weak.

druchii in warhammer fantasy are masters of dark magic they simply force the winds of magic to do their will and because of this the druchii have some of the most powerfull magic users in WH fantasy.

however the druchii are also 1 of the weaker factions in WH fantasy.they lack numbers to create a real army capeble of taking lands hence why they only do raiding partys though there have been events that the dark elves try to take over ulthuan (high elf lands) they always lost the ar against the high elves and its possible for the druchii to wage war against the high elves simply because the high elves are lacking in numbers too.

they are masters of magic but also know how to deal with enemy magic.druchii blackgaurds are the elite of the elite and are personal bodyguards of malekith (will discuss him later) and their speciality is dealing with magical foes.if my memory serves me correct blackguards had a utterly harsh training from the day they are born to the age of 2000 i believe not too sure…
blackguards are full of hate and i mean really FULL of hate.they can channel their hate into attacks that even make the worshippers of khorne poop their pants.

then theirs malekith.i believe (though my opinion) he is atm the most powerfull thing alive in WH fantasy.the only 1 above him is a everchosen at full power.malekith is the ultimate sorceror and has the nighthaunter armor that can deflect even very heavy blows (only mythical blades and very ancient magic can harm him).he sits attop his black tower in the city of naggarond where he sees almost everything.if his eye falls on you and he doesnt like you you are most likely to die instantly and loose your soul. i mean i cannot even be bothered to list all his powers and achievements.

but it seems admin means a standard raiding party.in my eyes that means its leaded by a druchii noble(also a master of magic and swordplay).the noble has atleast 1 sorceror with him 1 regiment of blackgaurds 2 regiments of knights on cold ones(druchii use cold ones which are small dinosaur like reptillians instead of horses though horses are still used by the lower class) the noble also has atleast 2 siege engines and a 1000 other druchii either equipped with melee weaponry or crossbows.

how do the drow deal with freights?

I think the Drow have the advantage here. An underground city really isn’t working to the dark eldar strengths (Ocean raids, Black Dragons, highly volatile and likely to cause cavee-ins magic) whereeas the Drow themselves have a huge city that they presumabley know well and, according to the wiki, hundreds of thousands of slaves ranging from goblin to giant to draw on. It would have to be one hell of a raiding party. Manticores, Dragons, Hydras, Reaper Bolt Throwers, Black Cauldrons.

Even then, the drow undoubtably have their own reserves of high grade weaponry to call on. I’m leaning towards the race with the home field advantage, at least until we decide whether or not Named heroes are allowed.

So both are Dark Elves with a different name? Well…thats certainly different.

@Jwlynas

Their are few underground rivers in the UnderDark and their are none around the Drows main city.
I can’t remember the name of it right now. It is heavily fortified and the slaves would be too
scared to fight back against the Drow.

The drow have no kings and queens just the Matron Mothers.
They’re very similar to Queens but the Drow are horribly divided. “Noble Houses” attack each other
daily to become stronger. Drow society is basically a giant pit of Chaos due to their service of
Lloth the Spider Queen.

Each House of drow trains its own soldiers and they are all very well trained. Many have mages or other creatures to aid them in magical battles. The matron mothers of the higher lvl houses are very adept at magic and can defeat many attacking enemies alone.
Another aspect of the Drow is that they have a bit of magical resistence.

Then sadly the Druchii are at a huge disadvantage. Both fictions have similar levels of tech, so we can’t really say which side has better or worse armour. The lives of Drow and Druchii are very similar (Houses of nobles vying for power in generally sadistic ways. The main and only difference I can see is Khaine takes the place of Lloth), both races specilaise in Poisonwielding assassins and powerful but dangerous magic. Theres very little between the two races so the entire match really comes down to outside influences. In this sort of scenario, the attacker has the most disadvantages.

Match – Drow, by the skin of their teeth.

Now thats thats out of the way, lets get down to the basics :p magic styles, assassin training, specialist troops… the fun stuff :p

Are Drow building made out of anything flammable, because if so, a few dragon’s breath orbs would be devastating.

Well I just thought I’d bring dragon’s breath up because it is easily one of the druchii’s best weapons, and the average raiding fleet carries a few dozen orbs.

@Jwlynas
I wasn’t referring to the noxious gas breathed out by black dragons. “Dragon’s Breath” is an incredibly powerful sorcerous green fire contained within glass orbs, and are often attached to the ends of ballista bolts. The fire is impossible to stop and only goes out when it runs out of fuel. In the Malus Darkblade novels one dragon’s breath bolt would burn even the biggest of ships entirely down to the waterline.

Honestly, I can say I don’t know anything about either side. This being the case, I shall research and later, make an informed decision.

Well from what I can gather from the novels the Drow regularly summon greater demons from the abyss so that can be used to bolster their numbers with earth shattering, steel melting demons that are immune to non-magical weaponery. Also take into account that the Drow have the backing of Lolth the spider goddess who lends her power to her priests which give them a great deal of power including the ability to raise the dead and other base clerical spells and spells that are Lolth eccentric like Zin-Carla.

“Also take into account that the Drow have the backing of Lolth the spider goddess who lends her power to her priests which give them a great deal of power including the ability to raise the dead and other base clerical spells and spells that are Lolth eccentric like Zin-Carla”

And the Dark elves have the backing of Khaine (God of murder, either Khorne in a different form or just an elf exclusive god of no less power, though far more accepting of mages)) and Slannesh through Morathi, the corrputed, ageless beauty that she is.

A raiding party would be demolished, but a raiding party would also be incredibly confused (they raid coastal villages, not underground citadels. Thats what Skaven do best. And don’t suggest that match, Skaven would dominate)

Full scale invasion would make more sense. And would be awesome to behold. If it came to that, I’ve no idea who’d win, but it would lead to interesting implications.

@Jwlynas-I’m not saying that Lolth is the decidng factor I’m simply saying tha due to the nature of clerics in Forgotten Realms have an extensive catalog of spells and since they are alied with Lolth they have access to Clerical powers not avalaible to others in the same class. However I know nothing about the Druchii. But I’d still give it to the Drow due to homefield advantage and due to the scarcity of resources in the Underdark if they keep the Druchii out long enough they win anyway.

Magically speaking it could get interesting. Bearing in mind the magic of each ‘verse works differently, lets take a sample of magics the Dark elves can bring to bear

Word of Pain –
upon uttering the true name of the Serpent Lord, an unnatural and unbearable
agony suffuses the body of the casters hated foes.

Doom Bolt –
As the invocation is spoken, the otherworldly beast known as Kharaidon
unleashes a bolt of pure darkness upon the Dark Elves adversaries

Black Horror –
The Sorceress conjures a Whirling Vortex of devastating magical energy that drags
her victims into one of the infernal regions.

They can also cast spells related to the lores of fire, shadow, Metal and death.

They control Fire, shadow, darkness, metal, the powers of death, and every the combined winds of magics forced into service (their own “dark” magic)
A dangerous race to take on in magical assault indeed.

Plus, Malekith himself tend to break any and all magical items used against him. Without fail. He could snap Archaons “Slayer of Kings!, or even the Sword of Khaine (Two weapons capable of killing damn near anything, Gods included) like twigs.

Magic, i believe, brings this match into far closer competition.

“The Sword of Khaine? You gotta be kidding me, can the guy simply break the friggin GODSLAYER!? Shit, that is so definetly not right.”

Well he can rip the magic from weapon brought against him, up to and including Sigmars hammer (name escpaes me) and the Slayer of Kings, as well as dwarven weaponry and the Fell blade (the sword that first killed Nagash… you know, that Walking God?) so I assume he could break the Sword of Khaine if required. Of course, he wouldn’t, it was his fathers sword, and he did so love daddy

He also rips the magical essence from any mages he touches, so… yeah. The guys a beast, and if this raiding party includes him the match swings wide open.

“Well he can rip the magic from weapon brought against him, up to and including Sigmars hammer (name escpaes me) and the Slayer of Kings, as well as dwarven weaponry and the Fell blade (the sword that first killed Nagash… you know, that Walking God?) so I assume he could break the Sword of Khaine if required. Of course, he wouldn’t, it was his fathers sword, and he did so love daddy”

Ghal Maraz? The Slayer of Kings? The FELLBLADE? Has he done that, or are you talking game wise? I love Warhammer, but know little of Malekiths finer details. Anyway, none of these weapons come close to the Sword of Khaine (although they are all cooler. Ghal Maraz is also a very badass name). While Ghal Maraz is extreme, the Slayer of Kings does just that and other shit, and the Fellblade is one of my favorite swords of any series, they are merely good. The blade closest to the Sword of Khaine would be the Fellblade(i guess), but even if it took out Nagash, it doesn’t come close.

Nagash had just used one of the most massive spells ever(only early Slann could possibly eclipse it), and so was pretty weak. Despite this, the blade had to be used be Alcadizzar, that combat monster, while the entire Council of Thirteen kept Nagash in check with their full power, some of them dying in the process. The were not even targeted! Anyway, it was still a narrow victory.

The Sword of Khain effortlessly kills Gods. It’s on a completely different level.

“He also rips the magical essence from any mages he touches, so… yeah. The guys a beast, and if this raiding party includes him the match swings wide open.”

I know. He’s the last thing you want robbing you.

Don’t take game rules as fact. You know that. While I know he’s proficent at breaking magic items, I don’t think the legendaries will be all that simple. It should at least severly drain him, their powers are often greater than the power of the wielders. And I don’t think the Sword of Khaine is possible. For example, if he actually could break Godslayer, wouldn’t some random god have taken it out by now? In fear of getting blasted later? If a minor (VERY minor) god cannot do, I fail to see how Melkith can. This is of course assuming that at least one god fears the blade enough. Very easy to do, when you consider that it is some possibility of Khorne adding it to his collection. Or looking at it for a bit before making a copy.

He could probably take Ghal Maraz, but it would cost him some. Runes by their nature are very powerful, hence lots of power will be needed to take it out.

I don’t think he could take the Fellblade. Warpstone is pure magic in solid form after all. Then you mix it with gromril, a material so great that even the dwarves believed nothing short of a god could have made it. It OWNED any material from before. Then the blade was infused by all manner of scary things, before being “blessed” by the Council and possibly the Horned Rat. The result is lots of power, more than I think Malekith can summon on his own, despite his awesome magic ability.

“He’s older than some of them after all. The Man (Elf…) is around 6000 years old.”

This is one thing I like about Warhammer. Age doesn’t equal better than anything from the current age (unlike LOTR and such stuff). While age often means you’re good, and some of the toughest things existed back in the day, you may be born today and be among the best of the best in 17 years
(Valten). Or MADE today and be more powerful than lots of things already in existence. So, being old won’t give any particular advantage.

BTW, the Fellblade is written in one word, not two.

the druchii didnt start the war.the dwarves where unaware of the civil war of the elves and saw the raidings against their caravans done by elves.the dwarves in return freightend the high elves and demended compensation.the high elf king shaved of the dwarfkings-messengers beard i believe and that started it if my memory serves me correct.
for a dwarf a elf is just a elf.

While that was how it was started, the Elven envoy to the dwarves at the time, and the one who could have calmed even the great Dwarven king Snorri Whitebeard down, was a young elven prince by the name of… Malekith. Who was looking to expand his empire and who disliked the elven phoenix king of the time immensely.

“Yeah. And if my memory serves me right, it had quite the effect. High King Snorri Whitebeard killed the Phoenix King Caledor II (that was the king at the time right?) the dwarves won the war and Malekith was happy.”

And the Dwarves kept the Phoenix Crown. They still have the damn thing in fact.

And it was all caused by “high” elf (Or druchii wearing High Elf uniforms) soldiers attacking dwarven caravans

The high elf did what High Elves do. He acted predictably, arrogantly ignoring the dwarfs request of an apology for an act he knew his men hadn’t committed. When the dwarf messenger got forceful he acted as any would and taught him a lesson. He’d have been better off killing the dwarf, rather than shaving him.

The High Elf Phoenix king told the dwarves it was not his faction of elves that had attacked, but the Dwarves refused to believe that Malekith, who had always been a great ally and a friend to thir people, would stoop to such a tactic. Thus was the war born. Dark elves fault, High elves and dwarves paid for it.

I’ll agree to that. It was the Druchii’s intention for the high elves to fire the gun, but the high elves fell for it.

And the dwarves were… I don’t know, the pillar the bullet ricocheted off?

EIther way, Malekith is very good at using his enemies weaknesses against them.

*EIther way, Malekith is very good at using his enemies weaknesses against them.*

and i think this plays a good role in a full scale invasion.inviding ones mind or manipulating a mind is childsplay for malekith or morathi.if the drow houses truely are in such conflict with eachother that is a weakness.

the druchii have the same weakness but all the druchii houses in the end answer to malekith and work together if malekith demends it.

“Morathi Worships Slannesh, Malekith banned such worshippings”

Yeah, about that. That is still illegal in Naggaroth? I seems to remember an invasion of Ulthuan when the Druchii attacked alongside Chaos forces who joined in due to Morathis worship? Or have I misunderstood? (or have GW triple retconned the story? They sure do mess up the fluff a lot.)

Now, Hellebron has more reasons to hate her than that. Still, could Morathi have assembled such a massive force and led it to battle in a help to the Druchii without Malekith ever knowing? Wow, mommy still got the power.

And yeah, I think you’re right. It was during the Storm of Chaos. How is the state of affairs after the retcon? How is Valten, what happened to Crom, Mannfred, The Slayer army, what the hell is Archaon doing? Or Grimgor?

“Did you miss the big conclusion?

Valten was mortally wounded by Archaon and laid to rest in the Temple of Shallya. Then the Skaven snuck in and finished the Job, taking the body with them. Crom went into Sylvania and never came out again, so its presumed he’s dead. there is hope he’ll come back as a vampire though. Mannfred is back to hiding in his castle and killing anyone who comes near Sylvania. Possibly plotting, possibly rotting. The slayer army all died heroically, and the Slayer King took the oath gain to honour his son who died against a bloodthirster (I think..)

Archaon is licking his wounds in some castle somewhere, hoping the Chaos Gods don’t Spawnify him for his failure. Grimgors wandered off to find more challenges. Last I hear of him he was hunting for the Nemesis crown (Ultimate crown of mind control, the dwarves made it) but the Highelf/dwarf alliance got it back. And then the dwarves took it and refused to give the elves back their Phoenix Crown anyway.

No idea what happened to the brettonians or the Cult of Slannesh. But neither were wiped out, so potentially the CUlt could join this battle.”

I know that, but the entire Storm was retconned. I can’t believe that the conclusion stands when the event never happened.

SOOOO…we have the effects of a world war thrown on a world that is merely waiting to get to war? Heck, bad sign. If it did that much without even happening, I wonder what the next Everchosen attack will do.

Yeah, it’ll be Archaon, he is the only one to survive and easily most successful. Still, each incursion gets bigger, so if this war messed up everything thirce over before it even started, the next one will be bad.

However i don’t think Malekith would be on a raiding cruse. Which is why we need to specify the size of the druchii invasion. Also, any info on how well fortified the drow city is would be greatly appreciated.

“At best they have around 500 men, a few reaver crossbows and maybe a sorceress or two. A few dark riders, no cold ones, no black guard, no executions. Mostly Corsairs…”

Again using the darkblade novels as my source, malus’s brother commanded a fleet of nine ships and if i recall correctly around 2000 soldiers. While this fleet is defiantly on the larger end of the spectrum, it’s not the biggest. While the bulk is corsairs and dark rides, with a nearly guaranteed sorceress or two per vessel, it is rare but not unheard of for there to be cold one knights, shades, harpies, and even the occasional priest of khaine on board. Also, corsairs are pretty badass in their own right. Not to mention the dragon’s fire I described in post 17.

While Malaketh is quite unlikely, and since I keep bringing him up, it is quite feasible for Malus Darkblade to be on this raiding fleet.

“Priest of Khaine? As in Witch elf or Druchii Assassin?”
Think something more along the lines of the disciple from WAR.

Also, while the raiding fleet would probably loose, since they are on the offensive they would probably be able to retreat, return to naggaroth, and attempt to inspire a full-scale invasion. If that happens, and the full druchii war machine is turned on them, the drow are doomed.

Ah, getting my Lords of the end times confused. I may never live it down.

Grom the pauch didn’t focus on Ulthuan, he got killed there. before that he ravaged the empire and stole the roof of the Temple of Ulric (You know, the one Archaon failed to get near) and turned it into his chariot. Grom was awesome.

Kul’s influence is still felt. praag is still a hell on earth, with chaotic undead aplenty and warped buildings that have people melted into the foundations.

“Also, while the raiding fleet would probably loose, since they are on the offensive they would probably be able to retreat, return to naggaroth, and attempt to inspire a full-scale invasion. If that happens, and the full druchii war machine is turned on them, the drow are doomed.”

This is true, but I’m guessing its hard to escape the underground kingdom of the Drow/

However, seeing as the nearest sea (unless the underground sea that the druchii use has somehow eroded space and dimensions and burst into the underdark… and I love that idea. Would explain how these two races met) is miles away, and above ground, its hard to imagine how a raiding party would get to the Drow capital… Pity it didn’t go the other way round, with drow attacking the druchii, or maybe wood elves.

I was more thinking of them attacking one of the black arks and attempting to capture it. Busy reading the Druchii army book and so much fun could be had with this match.

Of course, eventually both races would be integrated and the upper echelons of leadership would battle it out for dominion. That there, thats a match I want to see. The best drow verse the best druchii. Malus verse Drizzt…

I meant Malus as more of a equal standing to Drizzt as opposed to “they two are the best their race have to offer”

My money for “best druchii” in a combat style would be shadowblade or possibly Hellbron. (Assassin supreme and his master, the witch elf ruler), not Malus or Malekith.

“Malus? Is he the best Druchii, the one that would be at the forefront of getting power? WUT? That would of course be Malekith the Witch King. Malus is nothing more than Malekiths bitch.”

While the Witch King may be great at asserting domination ruling and tactics, Malus specializes in subtlety and vicious cunning. He went from the youngest (of 6) and despised son of the second most powerful man in the most militaristic druchii city, to the city’s ruler and champion of the Witch King without ever openly making a move to seize power.