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Recently decided to get into WHFB after the pure quality of some of the new kits to hit the shelf.
So ive dropped 40k for now (still building my nids, daemons and orks) and ive decided to go into WHFB as much as possible.

Ive brought a few models and the odd book to get some idea about what armies can do, and to get painting. (WHFB models just seem 100x better than 40k for detail and looks)
I have nearly a 3k skaven army, but thats simply for painting and the units (plus convertions)
Game wise i want an army to a different taste.


This is where wood elves come in.
Recently been looking through GW's site for info on them, and stats wise, the models seem pretty decent, but cant get much info from the site as its simply stats only.

So if anyone has some spare time to help a newbie, it would be much appreciated.

questions wise:

I keep seeing tree spirit army mentioned, im guessing this is one of the more competative builds about?
Dryads seem strong as a base for an army, and being skirmishers shooting is less effective, but im guessing points are high?

I want to go with a spirit type army, as the basic elves dont take my interest too much, so dryads, treemen and treekin (will be sculpted from scratch, GW's ones are gak) will be the main part of my army, but it moves me to the next step.

Leading the army;

What to take for lords / hero's?

Im guessing the treeman ancient is just a treeman with +1 LD and ponits for magic items of some sorts?
Branchwraiths seem interesting, if somewhat nasty in combat, these any good? (special one looks pretty good IMO [model wise])
Also, Orion.
dont see him in many lists (well, none so far) im guessing he has a fatal flaw or something?
Stats wise he seems like a nice hammer for counter charges, i am guessing his points are high though.

So, i thinks thats all the spirit orientated lord/hero options.



Troops; Seems pretty straight forward to me.
Dryads all the way, but MSU or large pit units?
They seem pretty tough, but havent read up on skirmishers yet.

Special: going with treekin here, but will have to sculpt my own as GW's ones just look horrible.
Any special way to run these, or is it worth leaving them out? (alot of special monsters seem nerfed in 8th)

Rare: This is the easy one at 1st sight.
points wise im going 3k for the army (what seems like an average size now?)
So thats 750 for rare.
Never played elves of any kind, but im guessing great eagles are/were 1-2 per rare choice (if so, am i right in thinking i could take 4, since thats 2 of the same choice?)
If points permit, i will then take 2 treemen as hammer units.

Dont want to break the theme if i can help it, but are waywatchers any good? seem like a character / warmachine sniper unit to me, but not sure.



Sorry for the wall'o text, but need to grasp as much info on elf playstyle as possible.
So, any and all info is much aprreciated.

thanks.

Haha, I can help here
Don't know too much about the all spirit army, as I play balanced (ish).

However, Dryads are good, they put out a lot of attacks. However, they will die, normally within 2 rounds of combat and when they go down that's a big chunk of points gone. As always, you've got to try and charge enemies with multiple units in one turn. That is the key to success for Wood Elves.

Lords and heroes wise a Treeman-Ancient is really very good for a spirit army, in fact any army. But they cost a ton. Branchwraiths.... meh. Good for cluster of radients and that is all.

Treekin are amazing. Take as many as you can I say. In an all tree army they are going to be the workhorses, charging the front of units whilst dryads take the flanks.

Treemen are very good, heavy on points but hard hitters. They also are pretty tricky to kill. Try not to let them run off alone, although they can take a beating on their own as a tarpit in a large block of low strength troops.

Eagles you'll need to take out warmachines.

Hmm, I'd say that the main problem with an all tree list will be lack of models. Your units will be very tough (excluding dryads) but you've still got to get them all in the right places to win. I'd advocate having some elves because thinning the enemy down with archers or baiting them with fast cav really helps the trees do their job.

For example, a unit of 3 rat ogres is a pain to take down in combat, but a unit of archers can kill them off in a turn without being harmed, because they have no armour saves.

Good luck

IMO,

In 7th a "tree spirit" army was very viable, if limited in selection, army to play. You used Treeman Ancients(TMA) and level 1 or 2 wizards with the Glamourweave kindred, this made them Forest Spirits. You then took Dryads as core, Wild Riders (again, elves but with the Forest Spirit rules) as special and another Treeman.

Treekin were vastly unpopular in 7th.

In 8th I think the army can still work.

A TMA is really just a Tree with +1 LD and an 18" range on his LD. He can also take some spites (basically magic items) and his points come from the Lord allocation.

Branchwraiths are great, IMO. With a TMA they lose some effectiveness, because Cluster of Radiants, a magic defense sprite, usually goes on the TMA instead of the Branchie, but they are fast, decent stats and have a ward save for short points.

I disagree that Dryads are fragile. They own other small units with their high number of STR 4 attacks at high INI. Against big units they can suffer some return hits because they are T4 with a 5+ save. And while Fear may have gotten nerfed, its still helpful. They are stuck with a big base, but overall they are really strong in 8th. I run a unit of 12 of them and they have faced down ranked units of spearmen-esque oppponents and won.

Treekin are just amazing now. Unlike most 40mm Monstrous Infantry (Ogres, Minotaurs, Trolls and the such) they are STR 5, TOU 5, this alone sets them apart. Now toss in that they have a 4+ Scaly skin and a 5+ ward and they are both tough and killy. Most large units suffer from lack of armour, T4 syndrome. That means a few volleys of shooting or a few spells and they're losing models. Not Treekin, they fear nothing but warmachines. This all said, they are really expensive per model. In the end they can do just about everything you ask them. Stop Bull Ogre units, crush massive infantry blocks, bounce support units.

Treemen are a great selection still, but do suffer from an elevated points cost compared to some other monsters. They win most combats they fight in now because of Thunderstomp and if given a few turns they will eventually eat through an infantry block. They bring nice side benefits, too. Terror, Strangleroot shooting, Bound Treesinging and such. But, like all big targets in 8th they can get really slammed by magic and warmachines....

I don't use a Tree Spirit army only, but if I was going to it would be something like:

LifeWeaver
some Branchwraiths
4 or 5 units of 8-10 Dryads
2 units of 3x2 Treekin (almost 1000 points right there)
2 Treemen

I would probably look to get another LifeWeaver in as well. Lore of Life is nice if for only the +1 WND to any model with 12" every time you cast successfully. This will keep your Treekin and Treemen going while you Regrowth your Dryads.

So i was wrong on prety much everything lol, still seems fun to me.

Ranks wise will the treekin get much though?
Running 3x2 is nice, but once 1 is gone, they lose that benefit and have a large unit for nothing.

wouldnt running 3 units of 4 work? (4x0 lol)
That way i have an extra hammer unit, and it should get every kin into combat each turn.

treemen are great then and worth taking i guess.
All beastmen monsters run around the same points, but dont seem as good, so i guess its nice.

So, dryads as moving shield wall with kin and treemen behind them to counter charge as hammer units.


Magic wise i know it wont be good, faced a teclis list (3k) with my skaven, and having a grey seer as my only wizard, i got fethed over more than once.
So ill have to jig about ideas on hero's, see if i can throw something together with it.


Also, is that branchwraith character any good?
Seems solid stats wise, but unsure on rules.

and is Orion worth taking?

again though, thank you both for your help, i need as much as i can get.

Monstrous support attacks. Each treekin will be in combat every turn.

Ranks make them harder to kill is all

Orion, I'd say, is massively overcosted. So much so that it's not worth taking him.

Ah, something else thats new to me
Thought it was only infantry that got a form of it, but nice now too.
Treekin are 65 each right? (found someone elses list earlier)


Also, can you give me a rough cost on orion please? (not sure if you can give exact on here)

Thanks again

He's a tad below 600 points!

Yes, sure, he'll no doubt do a lot of damage to (at most ~6 things) but you're tying up so many points in him that he'll never be able to do everything at once!

So the same as 2 treemen, ill pass then lol.

Would also get more use from 2 treemen i guess.
Shame though since its a decent model.

I take it other special characters are the same points wise?

Seems some of the older books overcost nearly every character.

The thing about wood elves in general is that everything about from dryads is waaay overcosted.

But, we're still really good!