🔹WARHAMMER THE OLD WORLD HIGH ELVES

They have access to cavalry, infantry, monsters, and war machines.
It’s an elite army, so they lack cheap units (no peasants, no goblins, nothing like that), although they do have low-cost options like Giant Eagles.

The dragon is still strong, even if it can’t reach a 2+ armor save anymore. We’ll probably start seeing level 3 mages on dragons.

Sea Guard and other core infantry will start showing up on the table.

It’s a shame that elite infantry (Swordmasters, White Lions, and Phoenix Guard) don’t score since they’re not core — I think they’ll still be left out because of that.

Their war chariots and bolt throwers, once stars in past editions, aren’t often seen in Old World.

The number of available units has grown (older edition units have been brought back and combined with new ones that came out with the High Elves Arcane Journal). For example, White Lions of Chrace—referring to the actual lion, not the elf in a fur costume.

It’s also an army with a large number of flying mounts (Giant Eagles, Hippogriffs, Phoenixes, Star Dragons, Moon Dragons, and Sun Dragons), making it a very visually striking force, though usually outnumbered in most battles.

The High Elves Arcane Journal was released sixth, after The Empire. It has slightly changed the High Elves’ competitive meta, as Infamy army lists are barely seen—due to their limitations—nor is the unit released with the Arcane Journal to expand the Grand Army. That said, the Infamy army is fun and playable, and still fits nicely from a thematic point of view.

The customization options of the High Elves are comparable to other factions—for example: just as Bretonnia has its vows, Chaos its marks, and The Empire its knightly orders, High Elves gain access to powerful magic items and the ability to swap out character honors. The most well-known is the Pure of Heart, but there are other combinations that can work well in specific army builds, such as allowing a hero to ride a Phoenix.

Warhammer Old World elves have some things in common (all 3 races) but High Elves are the most elite ones.

In terms of miniatures, we still have the old 8th edition units, which have made a return. Not many new models have been released—just some heroes and command groups for the Ellyrian Reavers and Swordmasters, who already had miniatures from the Isle of Blood (the 7th edition starter box).

The Spearmen and Archers are still the classic ones from 6th edition. However, High Elf players can choose between these and the Lumineth range, which, while not conceptually identical, are similar enough and are great for kitbashing with High Elf bits.

Like other armies with an Arcane Journal High Elves perform very well on the tabletop. Games Workshop has done solid work with these books, although it’s impossible to perfectly balance every army and unit while maintaining their unique traits and flavor.

With the 1.5 rules update, the Old World High Elves’ performance will probably drop a bit, but nothing too drastic (some units, like the Sea Guard, even get better).

A very popular approach is building around a big block of Sisters of Avelorn, known as a “Death Star”, with characters that grant buffs to the unit, making it very hard to kill and extremely lethal.
They can also play with heavy cavalry, monsters, or a diffuse line of small units with light shooting. This last approach allows them to keep enemy elite units out of combat while picking off support units with a mix of magic, ranged attacks, and carefully chosen melee fights—taking advantage of the High Elves’ exceptional movement and maneuverability.