Great Eagle (Wood Elves)

Great Eagle
Overview
Faction	Wood Elves and High Elves
Category	Monstrous Beast
Unit size	1
Recruitment
Tier unit Cost (MP): 800 (800) Turns: 1 Upkeep: 200 Weight: Medium
Statistics
Health: 4655 (4655 per model) Leadership: 60 Speed: 110 Melee Attack: 44 Melee Defence: 30 Charge Bonus: 62
Melee Weapons
Base Damage: 234 Armour-Piercing Damage: 156 Melee Interval: 4 s Melee Reach: 7 Bonus vs. Buildings: +1.25%
Protection
Armor: 30 (22.5% reduction)
Attributes
Can Cause Fear: This unit frightens all enemy units, reducing their leadership when nearby. It is also immune to fear. Fear penalties do not stack.

Great Eagle is a Wood and High Elves melee infantry unit. When the skies are dark and the need is great, these noble avians come to the aid of their Elven friends.

Description

There has always been a great bond of kinship between the Elves and the Great Eagles, stretching back to ancient times. That bond remains strong between the Wood Elves and the noble avians, and so many families of eagles choose to make their homes in the heights of the Grey Mountains, close by the borders of Athel Loren. On rare or desperate occasions, a Great Eagle may offer itself as a mount to a particularly trusted Glade Lord. This is a great honour in the eyes of the Wood Elves, for it is a true partnership of equals. Such a union forms the start of a great and enduring friendship that continues to bind both parties, even after death.

The Great Eagles of Ulthuan have always been firm allies to the High Elves as well. The histories tell that the two races have fought in one another's cause since the time of the Daemon invasion, but legend carries the friendship deeper into the past. Indeed, in some tales, it was Talyn, King of the Eagles, who bore Ereth Khial away to the Underworld at Asuryan's command. Like the High Elves, Great Eagles are haughty creatures who long remember insults, and do not suffer foolish company gladly. When High Elf armies assemble, the noble Eagles too join the battle. They swoop down upon the crew of enemy war machines, tearing them apart with powerful talons before using mighty wings to glide swiftly away.

Abilities

• ▲ Forest Spirit: The spirits of Athel Loren are able to shrug off most mundane attacks, causing magical damage in turn before melting into the forest from whence they came.
• ▲ Very Fast: This unit can run circles around most other units, taunting and harrassing the enemy or evading its missile fire.

Strategy

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For the High Elves, the Great Eagle is another one of those units that do well in the early game but fall behind as the campaign progresses. He is more fragile than either dragons or phoenixes while having neither their magical abilities nor flame breath. However, he gives the High Elves a good and cheap counter to enemy artillery and can support melee fights by performing hit-and-run tactics; charging in, fighting for a few seconds, then when the enemy turns his attention to him retreating and attacking again to make full use of his high charge bonus.