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Hey everyone,

So I've designed a wood elf list but wanted some feedback. I have about 50pts left over at the moment which I was thinking of using to equip the battle standard but I'm not sure how best to equip him.

The basic idea is i have the BSB & Lord in a unit of wardancers. It makes a small strong anvil which is able to dish out some pain. I had thought of giving the noble the amber pendant however with charging not giving you first strike I think this will be less of an issue for the elves who have higher inititave than most.

Any feedback on that or other parts of the list let me know.


Army List Points Limit: 2250
Army Type: Wood Elf
Army List Total Points: 2199

Qty Lords Items Points
1 Highborn Wardancer Kindred, Crown of Command, Blades of Loec, Annoyance of Netlings 290
1 Spellweaver Lv4 250

Sub Total 540
Qty Heroes Items
1 Noble Battle Standard Bearer 90

Sub Total 90
Core Units Equipment/Upgrades
10 Glade Guard 120
10 Glade Guard 120
10 Glade Guard 120
5 Glade Riders 120
8 Dryads 96
8 Dryads 96

Sub Total 672
Special Units Equipment/Upgrades
7 Wardancers Champion, Musician 147
7 Wardancers Musician, Champion 147
7 Wild Riders Standard, Champion, Musician 218

Sub Total 512
Rare Units Equipment/Upgrades
2 Great Eagles 100
1 Treeman 285

Sub Total 385

75 Models

What if you gave your Highborn Moonstone of The hidden Ways. You could then use it to bring one of your wardancer units up behind the enemy.

That's a sweet idea! Otherwise, you can use the 25 points to give your spellsinger an arcane item (perhaps just a dispel scroll) and the rest to equip your BSB.

I like your wardancer highborn quite a bit! But it would help him a lot to get behind the enemy, so Unreal's idea has a lot of merit.

You have no "anvil" units- which is what used to be a sure-fire win for wood elves, but now leaves them vulnerable to simply being overpowered by the enemy.

I would also combine your wardancers into a single unit- they're going to take losses, and need to be able to continue to dish out attacks, so a second rank is really helpful for them.

I am in agreement with RiTides and think your units are a little on the small size. I am not convinced on using the Moonstone, I think it is a cool trick, but might not be useful in every game.

Also I don't think it is legal to have your BSB in a wardancer unit. I think the character has to be part of that kindred and a BSB can't have a kindred.

You might also want to add in another standard bearer in your list, you only have two.

I really like the idea of a stubborn Wardancer unit but to echo what RiTides and boogeyman said the two units would really combine to get the most out of it, with their choice of dances they can really hurt either a horde or heavy armour units that you may face.

If you combine the two then the points you save on the musician and champion you can get some banners on the GG units, gives you more of a chance in the breaking point scenario.

@boogeyman, I think it is legal for the BSB to go in with the Wardancers, I vaguely remember in the FAQ about non-wardancer characters being able to join Wardancer units, might be my memory or selective reading playing tricks on me again so will have to double check.

Would also like to ask why only 7 Wild Riders? Seems a strange number as if you can squeeze out enough points you may have enough for a rank bonus (if they don’t get shot to high heaven that is!)

Like the list though as I can see a Wardancer unit with the buffs from either Life or Beasts from your spellweaver could be quite nasty.

I am running a Wardancer nobel in a 650 tournemet. So far the unit has done well, 5 S5 and 16 S4 attack on the charge when you hit the rear of an enemy unit is brutal. The unit is only 140 points for the nobel and 111 for the 5 wardancers with command. The 251 point investment is great and has helped me out allot, if anything you can use the unit to save a bunch of points or kill some warmachines.

At a 2250 I would try to ditch the glade riders and take the nobel i recommended. You could then also take another way watcher nobel in the same unit for another 105 points, so for 392 points you are getting:
10 S5 attacks
22 S4 attacks
These will go before most enemies and hit on 3s agianst most, so against your average T3 core you will be causing:
5.56 S5 wounds before armor and
9.76 S4 Wounds before armor.

If you hit the rear of any unit and do that kind of damage you have a good chance of taking them out. Plus if you catch them in trees they will lose their steadfast bonus for outranking you.

That is why i think the moonstone of the hidden ways will work the best in your army. It will provide a good all around unit. It can kill warmachines once your eagles die. It can also disrupt your enemy.

Try to use them once your dyrads are in range, so the enemy has a choice, to get rear charged by dyrads or by wardancers. If you can multicharge like that you should win most of your fights.

The BSB needs some defense, and so does the general.
You're dishing out a lot, but the unit (7 guys) and the characters, can't take it.
You won't be breaking steadfast for a few rounds, and you won't last long enough to break steadfast.
After the 1st round, you're S4 on the general, and S3 on the unit (what's left of them).

I say be sure to try this with proxy before you buy. I think it's not going to work like you think it is.


Units of 12 dryads work great. 18 S4 attacks is pretty good. I like the lore of beast for woodies too; the wizards are almost always on foot for a transformation option, and +1 S/T turns dryads into treekin quality troops (its like a 250 point upgrade in hitting power, for casting a signature spell!).

-Matt

Very good point on combining the two units. Still trying to get out of my 7th ed building mode. I hadn't thought about the second rank also getting to attack. Two ranks of dancers = awesome.

RiTides when you said I have no anvil units you were talking about wood elves in general? The treeman is a pretty good anvil and the wardancer unit is as well. I think a unit of Dryads might go allright as a psudo anvil (get charged, hit them first, hope I don't take many casualties).

The BSB in the wardancers is legal. Basically elves can't join forest spirits and vice versa. To join forest spirits you need to be one which all elvish characters can do if you want to spend the points.

I'll try another Wardancer Noble in the unit as well.

Moonstone sounds like a good idea. I'll give it to the Noble or BSB. Is there anything worth taking for 15pts? I don't have the rulebook (big one not army book) on me as I've lent it to a mate. I still need to equip the other one as well.

7 wild riders was because that's how I've run them previously. No other reason really. If I had some more points I'd up it to 10.

I'll try dropping a unit of Glade Guard rather than the glade riders for the points.

HawaiiMatt no need for me to proxy as I've already got pretty much all the models (from my 7th ed army). Regarding the 12 dryads you'd reccomend combining them to one unit of 12 rather than 2 units of 8? That gives me another 48 points to play with.

So any other thoughts?
I've still got 50pts left over so I can give the BSB some equipment. The heroslayer (sorry can't remember the name - +1s, +1a, I think it is 30pts) acompanied by a potion of strength maybe? Does it count champions as characters or my characters?

Here is the updated version

Army List Points Limit: 2250
Army Type: Wood Elf
Army List Total Points: 2198

Qty Lords Items Points
1 Highborn Wardancer Kindred, Crown of Command, Blades of Loec, Annoyance of Netlings 290
1 Spellweaver Lv4 250

Sub Total 540
Qty Heroes Items
1 Noble Battle Standard Bearer 90
1 Noble Wardancer Kindred, Moonstone of Hidden Ways 140

Sub Total 230
Core Units Equipment/Upgrades
10 Glade Guard 120
10 Glade Guard 120
5 Glade Riders 120
8 Dryads 96
8 Dryads 96

Sub Total 552
Special Units Equipment/Upgrades
14 Wardancers Champion, Musician 273
7 Wild Riders Standard, Champion, Musician 218

Sub Total 491
Rare Units Equipment/Upgrades
2 Great Eagles 100
1 Treeman 285

Sub Total 385

66 Models

leighr3029 wrote:Regarding the 12 dryads you'd reccomend combining them to one unit of 12 rather than 2 units of 8? That gives me another 48 points to play with.

I've used units of 12 dryads a lot (also 14) and find that it is the best number. However, it struggles against anything with static combat resolution, and so has a lot fewer tempting targets in 8th. If you can find a forest to make them stubborn and disrupt ranks, it's much better!

On the BSB equipment, I'd give him survival rather than killy gear. The spellsinger also really wants an arcane item, even just a dispel scroll.

Will comment more later, but overall, you just need larger units! When I said there as a lack of an anvil, I meant such as treekin, eternal guard, or anything that can take a charge and hold. Your Treeman can do it, unless there's a nasty character involved. But from what I'm seeing, you just don't have a lot of power in any one phase. Balance is good, but I would want to maximize what you have.

I'd be tempted to make the eternal guard one unit, and I'd definitely give them the banner of eternal flame regardless. You'll need it to knock regeneration off of things! Flaming attacks are fantastic in 8th, for a measly 10 points.

I would probably make the glade riders into another unit of glade guard, instead. You'll be saving a few points if you combine the dryads into a unit of 12, as well, to get that gear onto your characters.

I'm not sure about the second wardancer kindred nobel, will have a think on what would be a good possibility to put in instead. Also, your back rank wardancers will only get 1 attack each, but they're also providing extra wounds to make sure you keep the front rank and get all those attacks.

If you take eternal guard give them the razor standard, then take a Highborn with The helm of the hunt, Rhymer's harp, light armor and shield. That way your unit will be much more survivable with the 5+ 5+. Your lord would have a 4+ 5+.

The razor standard should help you deal with any heavy armored troops. Remember WS 5 core with 2 base attacks is well worth the 12 points you spend.

They become even better if you can cast the Signature from the lore of beast. Then you are looking at a unit of Chaos warriors with gakky armor.

The gakky armor / toughness is what makes eternal guard such a sad anvil unit... but it's the best we've got going! Still, I think you can get away with not having them in this list if you can get the treeman into combat where you need him, although the other units have got to get larger...

Thanks for more feedback. I'm not going to take eternal guard partly because I don't have the models and I'd have to drop a lot for them.

I'll turn the two dryads into one and combine the archers (giving them the flame banner).

I can't give the weaver anything over 20pts unless if I turn her to Lv3 (over lord point limit) and her purpose is primarily magic defence. From what's been said beasts is the best option so is it worth leaving her as a 4 or dropping her to a lv3 for some magic items?

I'll go defensive on the BSB and give him the armour of silvered steel and a luckstone.

Here's the updated

Army List Points Limit: 2250
Army Type: Wood Elf
Army List Total Points: 2250

Qty Lords Items Points
1 Highborn Wardancer Kindred, Crown of Command, Blades of Loec, Annoyance of Netlings 290
1 Spellweaver Lv4 250

Sub Total 540
Qty Heroes Items
1 Noble Battle Standard Bearer, Armour of Silvered Steel, Luckstone 140
1 Noble Wardancer Kindred, Moonstone of Hidden Ways 140

Sub Total 280
Core Units Equipment/Upgrades
20 Glade Guard Musician, Standard, Banner of the Eternal Flame 268
10 Glade Guard 120
15 Dryads Branch Nymph 192

Sub Total 580
Special Units Equipment/Upgrades
14 Wardancers Champion, Musician 273
6 Wild Riders Standard, Champion, Musician 192

Sub Total 465
Rare Units Equipment/Upgrades
2 Great Eagles 100
1 Treeman 285

Sub Total 385

69 Models