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Hi,

I would like to know what is your basic strategy or your general approach with a wood elves army. Currently, I am going with 2 blocks of Glade Guards deployed center to shoot at their center unit and force them to march. 1 block of Dryads supported by a lvl 2 life wizard (branchwraith in unit or solo elf caster with scroll behind) on a side and glade Riders on the other side to harrass and redirect. I finish with Treeman and A lvl4 shadow wizard in a sister of thorn unit on one edge and Wild Riders on the other Side. I tend to put Dryads with Treeman on the same side and the 2 Riders unit on the other. I finish with Waywatchers and usually aim at War machines or solo characters.

Do you think this is viable? What do I miss? What would you change? How would you play it? Should I had a small wardancers unit?

Let me know, what are the possibilities with WE?

i like the list but you lack a central "hold the lline point" i would add a block of eternal guard or the other ones (they come in the same kit and i forget the name) put a bsb in there and thats a hold the line position and it affects the rest of your army.... how many points are you playing

Thanks for the idea! I'm generally playing 2000 or 2500 pts, but I've played up to 4000 points. Eternal Guards seem fine (the others I think are called Wildwood Rangers with Great weapon but I'm not sure if those would hold... I like stubborn on the guards).

Would you recommend 20 eternal guards, more... maybe less? Should I buy magic banner for BSB?

Thanks again, your input is really appreciated.

As many scouts and waywatchers as posible and dance arohnd them firing trueflight and poisen arrows as I go.

cloudsabacc wrote:Thanks for the idea! I'm generally playing 2000 or 2500 pts, but I've played up to 4000 points. Eternal Guards seem fine (the others I think are called Wildwood Rangers with Great weapon but I'm not sure if those would hold... I like stubborn on the guards).

Wildwood Rangers are Immune to Psychology which is nice...and with ASF, they'll be nasty with their Great Weapons.

Add to it their whole "Guardians of the Wildwood" special rule(If a Wildwood Ranger is in B2B with at least one enemy model with either Fear or Terror then the Ranger gains +1 attack).

Would you recommend 20 eternal guards, more... maybe less?

A block of 20 Eternal Guard with full command is a pretty hefty speed bump in itself.

Should I buy magic banner for BSB?

Thanks again, your input is really appreciated.

Depends on what banner you're going for. I'm going to be taking Banner of the Hunter King on my BSB and put him in a Wild Rider block. They get to reroll their first failed charge of the game and the unit gains a Vanguard move(which is useless for the Wild Riders since they have it to start with...but not useless for the BSB. )

Chaos Rising wrote:As many scouts and waywatchers as possible and dance around them firing trueflight and poisen arrows as I go.

That's doable with Deepwood Scouts, but Waywatchers cannot take magic arrows. Even the Waystalker cannot take magic arrows.

While of course Eternal Guard are an option, as you said stubborn is a great rule on a core unit, especially one you plan to horde. But on the other end of the scale, they also have no save worth mentioning and while they can handle some combat units many others will roll straight over them. The main problem i see is that to fight to there full potential they need to be inside a forest (preferably a Venom Thicket) but then the question is who would charge said unit? 20 Ws 5 ASF Poisoned AP which re-roll 1's to wound will scare off all but the ost powerful combat blocks, who in turn would roll over them. So they are an option, but i believe they have to stay in a certain ground to fight well and that is not good enough for an TAC list.

Another example of a great anvil unit for a similar points cost are Treekin. For the same points as 20 Eternal Guard plus command you get 6 Treekin. Eternal Guard have 20 T 3 5+ Stubborn wounds, Treekin have 18 T 5 4+/6++ wounds. Eternal Guard hit easier, Treekin wound easier and have stomp. Eternal Guard get 20 attacks, Treekin 18.

The main reason i am suggesting this is because of the rest of your list, lots of Life Magic to support them and you need something to draw fire from the Treeman. Since it looks like your min core is already filled, you could give Treekin some thought as your anvil unit.


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While of course Eternal Guard are an option, as you said stubborn is a great rule on a core unit, especially one you plan to horde. But on the other end of the scale, they also have no save worth mentioning and while they can handle some combat units many others will roll straight over them. The main problem i see is that to fight to there full potential they need to be inside a forest (preferably a Venom Thicket) but then the question is who would charge said unit? 20 Ws 5 ASF Poisoned AP which re-roll 1's to wound will scare off all but the ost powerful combat blocks, who in turn would roll over them. So they are an option, but i believe they have to stay in a certain ground to fight well and that is not good enough for an TAC list.

Another example of a great anvil unit for a similar points cost are Treekin. For the same points as 20 Eternal Guard plus command you get 6 Treekin. Eternal Guard have 20 T 3 5+ Stubborn wounds, Treekin have 18 T 5 4+/6++ wounds. Eternal Guard hit easier, Treekin wound easier and have stomp. Eternal Guard get 20 attacks, Treekin 18.

The main reason i am suggesting this is because of the rest of your list, lots of Life Magic to support them and you need something to draw fire from the Treeman. Since it looks like your min core is already filled, you could give Treekin some thought as your anvil unit.

Great advice, I wasn't found of the new Treekins but maybe I just misused them. They might be more fit to be anvil now, rather then the light hammer they were.

I'll try all of the suggestions you guys gave me, thank you so much and keep it coming if you have more ideas.

Like, are wardancers any good? Can they hit with a dance and survive with the 3++ dance?

Wardancers are best used to protect the flanks, because they are one of the few units in our army that can take a charge. The things that normally run down the flanks; Chariots, Knights, fast chaff and fast monsters. The beauty of the Wardancers is that they can handle all of these, Chariot comes in use 3+ ward to absorb impact hits then wail on him next turn, Knights can be killing blowed, or use 3++ to absorb lances. Generally a unit of wardancers can be used to tie up enemy elite reliably for 1 turn, as long as the 3++ lasts, and they can reliably murder any chaff that comes there way. A unit of 7 or 8 will suffice for this.

Just a note about the Eternal Guard idea, remember that a Shadow Dancer can join them. She is cheap at 120pts for a very nasty stat-line with an extra nasty surprise. Potion of Strength. Eventually something will come up that those eternal guard can't handle, E.G hordes of 1+ saves. That Shadow Dancer can strip the horde of it's ranks, or use +1 attacks to put out 5 Ws 8 Str 7 attacks, which will decimate an attacking bloodcrusher unit. Just a cool option to consider.

WE tactics pretty much boil down to 'shoot 'n' scoot'.

How about a treeman ancient? Can he be used to hold down the center? or is he just not tough enough.

Would flanking Sisters of the thorn around the two units of glade guards work well?

The army is not designed to hold. It is a shoot and scoot army. You never want to be in a second round of hth.
Wildriders are a great glasscannon and sisters make good mobile mage guards. All tree spirits got the nerf bat huge! I will likely be playing this edition all elf while last edition I played almost exclusively spirits.

Please explain this Forest Spirit nerf, because i am not seeing it. Treekin lost strength 5 but got a *massive* point reduction of 25pts, they lost 5++ against magic but gained 6++ vs all. They gained the ability to be supported much better magically and more importantly they gained an amazing hammer unit (Wild Riders) to complement their anvil'ing role. Treemen lost a point of strength, but gained a point in Leadership and Treewhack. I am not sure what you used your Treeman for but it certainly shouldn't of been for crushing knights, i used him as Tarpit, due to Stubborn. Last edition he HAD to be run with a BSB because Stubborn Ld 8 was meh, but stubborn Ld 9 is much more reliable. Add in the points reduction and the only nerf i am seeing is 5++ mundane only vs 6++ against the massive gain of +1 Ld and Treewhack, a situation but fun counter to certain monsters.. Dryads have been nerfed i grant you, but the other Forest Spirits are doing fine!

You obviously own the FS models, maybe you just are not building your new lists to support them. A block of 6 Treekin is cheap enough to find it's way into many of my lists and the Treeman can keep certain blocks held up for as long as you please. Admittedly i don't know were to put the Treeman Ancient as he is outdone by the spellweaver, but now'a'days who isn't? And for the record, give Durthu a go, he is an absolute rape train! Seriously, he is packing a lot of attacks at high WS and good S and you can fit him with a Spellweaver in your games, which is great.

If you gave me a list of your models i'd gladly help come up with a list that would include those Forest Spirits effectively, no use wasting those lovely models!

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
Please explain this Forest Spirit nerf, because i am not seeing it. Treekin lost strength 5 but got a *massive* point reduction of 25pts, they lost 5++ against magic but gained 6++ vs all. They gained the ability to be supported much better magically and more importantly they gained an amazing hammer unit (Wild Riders) to complement their anvil'ing role. Treemen lost a point of strength, but gained a point in Leadership and Treewhack. I am not sure what you used your Treeman for but it certainly shouldn't of been for crushing knights, i used him as Tarpit, due to Stubborn. Last edition he HAD to be run with a BSB because Stubborn Ld 8 was meh, but stubborn Ld 9 is much more reliable. Add in the points reduction and the only nerf i am seeing is 5++ mundane only vs 6++ against the massive gain of +1 Ld and Treewhack, a situation but fun counter to certain monsters.. Dryads have been nerfed i grant you, but the other Forest Spirits are doing fine!

You obviously own the FS models, maybe you just are not building your new lists to support them. A block of 6 Treekin is cheap enough to find it's way into many of my lists and the Treeman can keep certain blocks held up for as long as you please. Admittedly i don't know were to put the Treeman Ancient as he is outdone by the spellweaver, but now'a'days who isn't? And for the record, give Durthu a go, he is an absolute rape train! Seriously, he is packing a lot of attacks at high WS and good S and you can fit him with a Spellweaver in your games, which is great.

If you gave me a list of your models i'd gladly help come up with a list that would include those Forest Spirits effectively, no use wasting those lovely models!

Yeah I think when people talk about the spirit nerf, they refer to dryads which lost S4 and I6 for a 1 point drop, hatred and loss of skirmish. I initially thought the treekin thing was a nerf, bit playing some games with them, they are merely used for a different role (one the army sorely needed) now I don't leave home without them.

Treemen got the most, since they got another point of WS, a price drop and a point of Ld, making them better than before, the only thing they truly had nerfed was strangleroots, but really only on the ancients.

I really want to try a Treeman Ancient general, T6 W5/6 (can't recall) Large target general that is stubborn 10 and a level 4 wizard hooboy.