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I learned of how WHFB works today, and now I've succumbed to the influence of the 5th Chaos God: WHFB. My buddies are thinking of joining in too, so I thought "Why not? It'll be fun!"

I've had my eye on WE for a while, simply because I like to be able to use monsters. I just think they're really cool. In this case, a pure Forest Spirit army really appeals to me. Treemen especially; I really like the idea of having a big dude who's a tree, stompin' through enemy ranks. And the list looks real easy to assemble, my choices are few, but they can form into a list and they're all tree monsters!

I've been told that pure Forest Spirit armies are quite viable, due to the 'ardness of each model. This only entices me further.

Now the questions I'm asking here are;
Which units are must-haves in a Forest Spirit army?
Are there some non-Forest Spirit unit that should be in my army?
What kinds of difficulties can I expect to face?


As I said before, my buddies are getting in too. One of them wants to start as Dark Elves, while the other is undecided, but seems to be leaning toward Empire or pure Goblins. What kinds of problems should I expect from these armies?

Are there some non-Forest Spirit unit that should be in my army?

Well atleast a noble BSB to keep your treeman and treeman ancient from breaking.

I really can't see why you'd want a pure forest spirit army, since even the WE armies that use elves have massive amounts of forest spirits. You're only gimping yourself by not using archers, wild riders, nobles and mages, and to an extent wardancers too. A friend of mine has converted all his wild riders to look centaur(ish) to keep a strong forest spirit theme going on. They have the upper bodies of dryads and the lower bodies of wood elf horses.

but seems to be leaning toward Empire or pure Goblins. What kinds of problems should I expect from these armies?

Well since you're all new he probably won't know how to build a succesful empire army, and goblins just all around suck, so you shouldn't expect any problems whatsoever from them. The dark elves have a stronger army book these days than wood elves, but you two should be pretty evenly matched. Hydras are better than treemen and dark elf offensive and defensive magic is by far stronger than that of the wood elves, but the netlinged treeman ancient is a tough nut to crack especially with BSB support and the wild riders and dryads can do a lot of damage all around unless they get shot to pieces first. Still, if your friend decides to play 3-4 sorceresses, tons of archers, two hydras, a few chariots and maybe a small black guard you will be the underdog every game. That's just the way GW games work though (there's tons of matchup imbalances) so don't stress about it.

Wild Riders are Forest Spirits.

malfred wrote:Wild Riders are Forest Spirits.

Rules wise sure but unless converted they look nothing like forest spirits and do not match what he said he was going to use.

my choices are few, but they can form into a list and they're all tree monsters!

If indeed he's willing to use wild riders because they have the forest spirit special rule I can't see why he shouldn't also use archers and other elves, which coincidentally was my point all along.

Therion wrote:

malfred wrote:Wild Riders are Forest Spirits.

Rules wise sure but unless converted they look nothing like forest spirits and do not match what he said he was going to use.

my choices are few, but they can form into a list and they're all tree monsters!

If indeed he's willing to use wild riders because they have the forest spirit special rule I can't see why he shouldn't also use archers and other elves, which coincidentally was my point all along.

Easy enough. Chop up some Dryads and stick them on a horse.

But the Wild Riders in my army book resemble Orion paint-wise, that's close enough to tree monster for me

My DE friend might not spam Sorcs like you said earlier. Malus Darkblade is like, his hero. Literally. In most armies that allow him I can see him bouncing around with some Cold One Riders. I can't see him running assloads of archers, he might want to support Malus with melee dudes.

Here's a bit of an update with my buddies:
The DE guy is still thinking about starting an army. Who knows, I may be safe from the DE for a bit.

The other guy is going to play pure Goblins. It's kinda sad, most of the Forest Spirit units are a bit of a slap in the face to Goblins. From my assumption, they're better than Goblins in CC (which both armies will try getting into), Goblins will have a rough time hitting and wounding, and I don't think they can even scratch a Treeman. If I could get some Goblins into a wood, they'll be hurting badly when I start Treesinging. I don't think S4-5 hits are too funny for Goblins.

Now, is there anything that I should look out for when fighting Goblins? He plans to use fanatics and I've heard of the dirty tricks they can pull.

malfred wrote:Easy enough. Chop up some Dryads and stick them on a horse.

That's exactely what i've done

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/6613-wild%20riders%20with%20owl%20as%20musician.html

The hooting owl is the musician, he causes fear when they charge

calmacil wrote:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/6613-wild%20riders%20with%20owl%20as%20musician.html

Those are awesome.. I had thought of something similar once, but it was more like a dryad with it's lower half as a tangle of vines that's surging forward.

Those are really cool.

But I'm afraid my point's being overlooked...
I asked if I could expect some kinds of trouble from pure Goblins or DE. Not how I should convert for Wild Riders. There are other forums in which you could talk about that.

Plus, I'm new to WHFB if it makes any difference.

Sorry for the tangent.

Don't be quite so quick to write off gobbos. They've got a number of high strength units and surprises they can spring on you, squigs of any variety, fanatics, pump wagons, and all sorts of artillery. They'll be a leg up on you with static CR. With all tree spirits you'll be lacking in magic resistance, any gobbo magic beyond their first magic missile will be a pain.

Goblins could bring a giant along to play! That could do some damage.

Treeman + Stuff down pants = bad scene.

LA LA LA I'M NOT IMAGINING THAT RIGHT NOW.

I think when my friend said pure Gobbos, he meant pure Gobbos. Gobbos Gobbos Gobbos.

Da_Viking wrote:Goblins could bring a giant along to play! That could do some damage.

Treeman + Stuff down pants = bad scene.

I think the giant only does that to small models.. that's still a funny mental picture

Also, it's not difficult for goblins to establish a very effective magic phase, both in defense and offense so don't count on your treesinging. If your opponent is intelligent he's not going to into the woods if he can help it, but sometimes things happen. Fanatics will eat your low model count units when they pop out, so be careful of that.. They also have cheap cheap cheap spear chukkas that will hammer your treeman into oblivion if taken in multiples and he rolls decently. There's not much else I can add as I've only played against 2-3 people rocking the gobbos.

Gobbos can be a decent army.

Need skarsnik or a common gobbo as warlord for Ld 8.
Need a BSB
2 level 2 shamans allow a spell each at 3d6 casting roll, you will struggle to stop both spells, and the gobbo spell list is excellent.
Night Goblins (my favorite)- Fanatics will hammer your smallish units (I take 9 fanatics in 2250 points), and as large units they will have combat res.
Common gobbos, haven't tried and never see them.
Squig herds if run right into the middle of your army will cause all sorts of headaches, do you kill them and take the St5 hits from the 'squig bomb' or avoid them, altering your battleline.
Squig hoppers, insane on the charge, these guys will hammer you, and remember they don't need LOS to charge.
Spider riders are currently my favorite unit as they are fast(ish), ignore most terrain for mvt, fast cav, plust poison attacks on spiders, and spears on riders.
Wolf riders, probably not too much problem thanks to your lack of warmachines.
Spear chukkas.... 2 are good, 8 are fantastic, always with an orc bully.
Gobbo chariots are too many points for my liking, and need combo charges.
Doom diver will hammer you from afar.