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Here's the list before I realized that no special characters were allowed

Orion- 575
Noble, Wildrider, Great Stag, Dawn Spear- 195
Spellsinger, Glamourweave, Lvl 2, Unicorn, Calaignor's Stave, Scroll- 260

5 x 8 Dryads- 96 each, 480 total
6 Wildriders, Mus, Std, Warbanner- 199
6 Wildriders, Mus, Std, Saemrath Banner- 199

4 Treekin- 260
4 Treekin- 260
Treeman- 285
Treeman- 285

Total- 2998

Are the banners worth their points, more than having a champion in each wildrider unit? If I drop the banners for champions, I'll have the points to give the noble the Oaken Armor instead of the Dawn Spear... making him more survivable against something big and nasty, but losing the -1 to hit the unit that the spear gives if he causes a wound.

I recently found out that no special characters are allowed for this tournament- so Orion's 575 points are out! Here's a list without him:

Highborn, Wildrider, Great Stag, Oaken Armor, Annoyance of Nettlings, Starfire Arrows- 345
Spellsinger, Glamourweave, Lvl 2, Unicorn, Calaignor's Stave, Scroll- 260
Branchwraith, Lvl 1, Murder, Muster- 165
Branchwraith, Lvl 1, Cluster, Pageant- 165

5 x 8 Dryads, Branchwraith- 108 each, 540 total
6 Wildriders, Full Command, Warbanner- 217
6 Wildriders, Full Command, Saemrath Banner- 217

4 Treekin- 260
4 Treekin- 260
Treeman- 285
Treeman- 285

Total- 2999

It was really hard for me to decide what to put on the Highborn. He needs the Oaken Armor, leaving him 50 points to use on other items. I could have given him the stone of the crystal mere to protect the stag, too, but from my games so far the noble has always died first, and I wonder if it might be the same with the highborn. So he has the annoyance of nettlings instead. The arrows are there just in case he can panic a unit off the board

Can a wild rider kindred have arrows? I thought they were just armed with a spear and light armor.

Well, in the FAQ it says that they don't lose their longbow, and that their shots count as magical. It says they cannot take magical weapons or armor other than a spear and light armor- but the magical arrows are an enchanted item, so there's nothing keeping him from taking them.

What do you think of the equipment on the heroes? I know that's really the only thing I've been changing in my lists, since it's pretty much the only thing I can change . This is milking them for all they're worth... but I think most of it would come in handy. I wracked my brain all day thinking of how to equip the highborn, since I've never taken one before- and I think this would be pretty cool and maybe let him survive a bit longer... taking him as a noble, he dies super-fast...

I've been staring at it for a half hour now (and the TV) and the only other build I can think of is the stone of crystal mere, dawnspear, and the hail of doom arrow, but the one you have isn't bad. I like the oaken armor. My only other suggestion is to drop some of the extras to pick up another unit of dryads if you have them. Sorry, I'm not much help.

Hmm, that's an interesting idea... although I think I would make it Annoyance of Nettlings instead of the HoDA.

The only thing that makes me hesitate from doing this is that it seems like the dawn spear is somewhat wasted, since the rider can only be hit on 6's anyway (if I'm taking nettlings)... however, it would definitely help protect the stag and the rest of the unit.

Something for me to think about!

My thoughts on the two builds;

oaken armor lasts the whole game as long as he is still alive
stone of crystal mere could be lost on first save, but it does offer protection to the stag

nettlings only works in challenges, but you should be able to get into a challenge in most combats
dawnspear only works in close combat if you wound, but could offer protection to your whole unit

starfire arrows are only str3 so would have to choose a weak enemy to try and make panic, at least you can shoot them all game long, granted wild riders should be in close combat most of the time
Hail of doom arrow is a one shot wonder and your wild riders should only really get one shot before getting into combat.

I like the oaken armor, nettlings (a little more), and the hail of doom arrow. The problem is it costs too much. Maybe you could substitute your starfire arrows for the murder of spites and give the branchwraith the befuddlements.

Your thoughts mirror mine

Unfortunately, experimenting with these builds made me discover that elves can only take one spite each... only branchwraiths and treeman ancients can take multiple spites.

Since I don't normally take bows, I was thinking all wood elf bows were str 4 at short range... I see now that that's not the case!

I was also tempted by the fimbulwinter shard... combined with the dawnspear (if it wounds) it'd be -2 to hit the highborn or the stag. However, it uses up the same slot as all of the decent ward saves, and costs too much to let the highborn take the oaken armor. It also makes the wildriders with him stupid all in all not a very good thing...

Oh yea. I forgot about the single spite for an elf. I thought about the shard too, for a second. Not too good with a forest spirit army though.

I think if your highborn is going to be looking to take on other generals the oaken armor is probably more useful, but if you plan on hammering big units then the other build might be better. The hail of doom arrow to soften them up and the dawnspear to help protect the whole unit a little. The stone will still offer some pretty good protection for both the highborn and stag, granted they already have ward saves.

Is that pretty much all your models? My other thought is to downgrade the highborn to a noble again (I know squishy, maybe oaken armor still) for a treeman ancient.

Yes, that list is every model I own except Orion . I actually just got the unicorn model in today... and I'm really pleased with it! It's flirting with being too large, but I think it will work great. I'm still waiting for the rider and base to come in (I bought each separately) and then I'll be shipping it out to be painted

I am selling off my 10 wardancers (they will probably go to ebay soon) and a spellsinger on foot to help fund the painting of the unicorn model.