A list in flux.

In my usual advanced preparation for something several months away, I've been debating on two lists for the Redstone rumble in october, (yes shameless plug for those that haven't heard about it yet)

This is also going to be my 2500 point take all comers list that I'll be playing in variations in our "Road to the Rumble" campaign that will be happening soon. I'll go over the two lists and then the pro's and cons of each of them in bullet formation, because bullet formations are cool.

List 1: Dreadlord R Us

Dreadlord-Crimson death, Armor of darkness,Pendant, TOS
SS -lvl 4 shadow-stabby dagger, 4+ ward
sorc-2- dark/fire(leaning more towards fire) Scroll
Master bsb- Regen armor, biting blade, dragonbane gem.

15 repeaters, shields standard musician
30 spearmen, shields full command
5 dark riders, musician repeater
5 dark riders, musician repeater
5 Harpies

18 black guard, full command, banner of murder, ironcurse icon
5 knights with banner of eternal flame

hydra
2 repeater bolt throwers.

 Pros'

1. Has the speedbump dreadlord inside the unit of black guard to be stubborn 10 to kill to a man
2. lots of shooting
3. very fast moving elements

Cons

1. Very character heavy
2. only 3 real combat blocks with the spearmen being a hybrid bunker/combat block. Hydra is a combat block.
3. If the shooting doesn't take down the big monsterous creatures then no real answer

Another question with this list is how to equip the dreadlord. I've read on the interwebs that people like their on foot dreadlord to have the executioners axe inside a unit with the banner of hag graif (ASF) but in that list, the only unit that can take it would be the black guard and they would not be able to benefit from the bonuses of ASF as they already reroll to hit in every combat.
Also, The list is very fragile, but as is the custom of the elven race (barring new high elves and their insane ward stacking).

List 2:

Supreme sorceress- lvl 4 shadow, pendant/dagger
sorceress-2 fire/dark - scroll
Master bsb- Regen armor, biting blade, dragonbane gem.
Cauldron of blood

15 repeaters, standard musician
30 spearmen, shields full command Leadership banner
5 dark riders, musician repeater
5 dark riders, musician repeater
5 Harpies

18 black guard, full command, banner of murder, ironcurse icon
6 knights, Flaming banner, champion

Hydra
Bolt thrower
Bolt thrower

Pro's

1. Cauldron buffs!!!  It's ability to pump out what I need on a unit at any given point can be amazing.
2. Shooting
3. Very fast.

Con's

1. No real punch like in list one. It's very reliant on the buffs from the cauldron and shadow's debuffs to really punch the teeth out of things. It's very random.
2. Ethereals will be a problem with my lack of magic weapons/ magic missiles. They don't run rampant in my area, but in tournaments your bound to see more and more units popping up thanks to high elves and their banner of the world dragon being the (current as time of this writing) new hotness.
3. Like list number 1, it has very few combat oriented blocks so it relies on the shooting aspect of it to whittle down an opponent and heavily relies on getting the right buffs/debuffs off at the right time. 

So, Which one of the two would be better? I'm sure that only playtesting and time will tell, but as I am still trying to get one more bolt thrower and (if I decide on the second list) a better model than my cauldron that I'm using now (it's very tiny) It's good to plan out one even tho it's in october.. That and I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to painting.


Speaking of painting, I've started on my cold one knights that have been sitting on top of my computer tower gathering dust.. I'm not that good of a painter but I'm hoping to at least make them look good from across the table. I don't expect to win any golden demons anytime soon.