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We are having a local tournament next month and Im taking the only army that is fully painted, plus it's been a long while since I've used them in a tournament. Im going for strong magic with mostly buffs and some descent magic defense. i didnt put all my eggs in one basket but my tactics are pretty much straight foward. Ill try to break through a flank and push through it. Sometimes this works really well for my WE, as it really depends on what army Im faceing. Luckily we have no empire players, only myself, and our two dwarve players are questionable at best. There will be VC, OK, O & G, Skaven, HE, LM, & Warriors of Choas. The tournament is simple and there are no special charcters allowed. With out further delay here is my list, wish me luck cause Im gonna need it.

Spellweaver, lvl 4, Book of Ashur, Lore of Life 320pts goes in glade guard

Noble, BsB, HoD arrow, Asyendi's Bane, lt. armor, elven steed 148 pts (general) goes in glade riders

Branchwraith, Cluster of Radiants, Annoyance of Netlings 115 pts goes in dyrads

Spellsinger, lvl 2, divination orb, 150 pts goes in glade guard

Core:

14 Dryads, Branchwraith 180 pts

14 Glade Guard, Aech banner (always stand & shoot), musician 211 pts

5 Glade Riders, Musician 129 pts

Special:

4 Treekin 260 pts

10 Wardancers, Bladesinger, musician 201 pts

Rare:

Treeman: 285 pts

Total Points: 1999

I wouldnt even bother with the wardancers if I had more dryads and treekin, but I dont so whatcha gonna do. Plus my money is tied up in building up my Choas Space Marines.

There are Lots of points in characters for 2K (over 700!), two of which seem to be pretty much just for magic defense. I think with the level 4 you've got a lot of magic defense already with the +4 to dispel for a 2K list. You could always give him the orb instead to be even more safe, and still get away with dropping the two other characters... this would free up a lot of points for more units!

I'm suprised you have the noble as the general, and not as a BSB! But my main concern would be the lack of numbers / units... I just don't see how this list can weather any storm. It also seems that it's going to lose every phase but the magic phase, which is going to be fickle depending on the winds of magic roll...

I actually dont have much more to add, i have three treemen which get a lot of use and around 40 glade guard. Dyrads I have like 18 and as far as wardancers go I have 15 of those. I also have 8 waywatchers but they are not as good as they once were. Everyone in our area play really charcter heavy lists, mostly for magic and killy lords and heros. Our OK player loves his death star and I love nothing more then tieing it up for the whole game. I would have run a ancient if there would be no HE player but we will have one. As for the general being the bsb he is not meant to fight, ever. He runs with the glade riders behind the cc units and helps keep them in the fight. Ive run lists very similar to this against OK and O & G and came out the victor, barely too I might add. I could just run my double treeman spam, drop the lvl four and branchwraith and myabe add in some more wardancers. I dunno really as Im torn about doing heavy magic defense or a big stomp fest list. Oh and yes the noble is also the bsb.

Is having your BSB as the general legal?

I am sure it is in the army book that the BSB can not be the general, apologies if I am wrong or if there is a FAQ I missed but I was sure that it can't be done

Don't have my army book to hand but don't want you going to a tournie with an illegal army.

Onto the rest of the list it looks good, don't know if you have the models but I agree with RiTides that the list has a lot of magic protection, can you take out the Lvl2 for more Glade Guard? Having more shots can never hurt!

If you dont have more Glade Guard might be an interesting speed painting challange for you.

General cannot be BSB unless army has specific rule ot allow it. And I do not remember it for WE.

Are you going to be playing scenarios? If you lay blood and glory you have 4 points to your 2 point break level. If you general dies you lose. See if you can fit 1 more banner in somewhere.

Not sure what other advice you want because you seem to be limiting yourself with what you already have painted.

I know you want it to be a friendly list, but I really don't think Wood Elves can field anything that could be labeled unfriendly even in its most competitive form. As others have noted, you have a third of your army wrapped up in characters and half of those points don't really add anything substantial or necessary to the list. I'd drop the Lv.2 and the Branchwraith, keeping the Lv.4 as your general and the noble as your BSB.

The Book of Ashur is a neat item, but it's not particularly worthwhile for its price tag. I'll have to look over the things available to your Spellweaver when I'm not at work, but I'm sure there are better things for the points. The Lore of Life is a good lore overall, but I'm not so sure your army benefits from it very much. Regrowth is certainly nice, but I can see your small units being wiped out before you have a chance to bring them back. Your treekin already have a 5+ save against non-magical/non-flaming attacks so giving them Regen won't really do much. Even if you do the big +Toughness spell, you really don't have the numbers to make this fully worthwhile since nothing is cheap or numerous enough to just sit in combat as an anvil.

I wouldn't put such an expensive character (and BSB) with a group of five Glade Riders. Everyone knows they die to a harsh glare and if a single one dies he doesn't get a Look Out Sir! roll against things that can target individual models. As you have it, anyone that has any kind of small-arms fire will shoot them down early on. I'd put him on foot with a buffed up unit of something else that can help keep him around longer. I'd also try to get a ward save of some sort on him to hopefully keep him on the table longer.

Overall I'd really reccommend getting more bodies on the table, but it's certainly understandable if you don't have the models. Are these the only models you have?

oops my bad with the bsb/general thing, this is what I get for typing this list up when I should have been sleeping. As for more bodies on the table Ive already stated everything that I have, what is most likely going to happen is the droping of the lvl four and branchwraith in favor of a ancient and more wardancers. Either that or field my HE or my Empire with a massive gun line.

I'd try for more Glade Guard, and to bunker your BSB in there. A unit of 25 might be enough, with a unit of 10 or something to offer some supporting fire or, in a pinch, redirect a charge.
More bodies, as said, would really help.

Normally, I'm all for protecting your BSB. But with Wood Elves, that's hard to do (that 3+ Ward that breaks when you fail...Stone of the Crystal Mere? is pretty good). And the utility of the BSB in this list seems less than optimal. I'd just enjoy the benefit while it lasts, and use the Arrow when you can, and then accept his inevitable death.

That, and I'd get s'more Dryads. Enough to put them into two units of 8. I see virtually zero reasons to keep them in a big unit, if they're not going to protect a character.

Other than that...good luck, man. Heavens above know the Asrai need it.

I've had nothing but great experiances with them in large units, all those attacks are shiny and If I lose a few enroute I still have plenty left to get the job done. Their high int really helps them get their licks in first. I always use them in combination with my other trees as Im never disappointed with the results they produce. I intend to rework the list tonight and put more emphasis on big stompy things as all the armies shwoing are infantry heavy and if I can time things just right I can steam roll.

Would love to see the stompy list... treemen hurt infantry something awesome, as you say! As long as there aren't too many warmachines on the board (an eagle or two can really help with hunting those down if you can scrounge them from somewhere).

I also got the best results with larger units of dryads (12 or 14). As long as there's a treeman nearby to help wrack up the kills and get rid of steadfast, they can be really good!

I don't have my rulebook in front of me but does annoyance of netlings still work if the spellweaver uses beasts and transforms? if it does annoyance would be very handy indeed.

I agree on dropping the wraith and spellsinger.

With the points i'd up the wardancers to 14/15 and add a noble with the blades of loec. I just played a 3000pt game against empire with them and they rocked (14 dancers, full command+noble). They were charged by the general on a griphon and killed him before he got to do anything (killing blow) then proceeded to drop a unit of 20 or so infantry to 1/2 in one round of combat followed by chasing some archers out of a building, killing the griphon (in one round again). With the larger unit you can also afford to take some casualties without damaging the unit potential much. I reccomend deploying them 7 wide in most instances.

I'd also probably give the BSB armour of silvered steel and a luckstone rathe than the HODA & Asyndi's Bane and put him on foot. Yes it's a cool combo but you need him alive moreso. By putting him on foot I'd also be putting him in the wardancer unit.

You should still have some points left over so I'd either up the current glade guard unit or ger some more units of them. I'm not a big fan of the Aech banner as always standing and shooting is only 10 extra shots when you can just move back and you'll probably get to stand and shoot anyway. If the unit is larger however then I can see the use in it (as you get volley fire for not moving)

I notice you said that everyone plays character heavy list, take waywatchers, killing blow at short range is worth it, atleast that way you can kill all their stand alone characters quickly. Plus wardancers will help you allot in your games, just don't let them go anywhere near a VC Grave Guard Deathstar. As far as heroes go: get rid of the spellsinger and branchwraith, invest those points in wardancers and waywatchers, make your nobel take the moonstone of the hidden ways and give him the wardancer kindred. That way you will have some fighting chance. Make the Spellweaver your general. The most important thing for you is to not get caught in an enemies front arch, you need to hit flank or rear with all your units except the treeman or you will get tabled quickly

I like leighr's suggestions a lot, and I'm interested in the larger unit of wardancers. I imagine they're similar to dryads and a big unit could do well.

They're expensive, though, as are waywatchers... so I don't think including both is a good idea.

As for always hitting units in the flank or rear- it's a nice idea, but not likely to happen much in reality. It's possible with the moonstone, but unless you're threatening their front arc as well, they can just reform to face you. And if you are threatening the front, it's possible they'll get a long charge in and get away from the teleporting unit...

ive used Wardancers in many of games around 14, with a noble, which have had some amazing results, especially when they get the charge in, as with the dryads. In support of each there isnt much that can really withstand a charge from both dryads & Wardancers, unless of course they are horded then problems will ensue. I really dont like waywatchers in 8th edition because they are really not worth it. I'm working on a revised list right now which will satisfy my beat stick tactics and see the loss of the glade riders.


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list # 2

Lord:

Treeman Ancient, Annoyance of Netlings, Cluster of Radiants 375 pts, army general
Heros:

Noble, BsB, Asyendis bane, Hail of Doom Arrow 130 pts(joins glade guard)

Spellsinger, lvl 2, divination orb 150pts (joins glade guard)

Core:

22 Glade Guard Musician, Aech Banner 307pts

16 Dyrads, Branchnymph 204 pts

Special:

4 treekin, elder 280 pts

14 wardancers, bladesinger 266 pts

Rare:

Treeman 285 pts

Total points: 1997

Ive used lists exactly like this at 2250, plus another charcter with great results. I was able to tie up a Ogre death star for the entire game with my Ancient while my Dryads and Wardancers had a field day. Ive also monkey stomped hordes into oblivion with two treemen in this lower point games, primarily O & G and skaven. My biggest fear remains HE as they always give me a hard time. The norm Ive seen on the table at this point cost is a level four with the book of hoeth and the lore of life and a lvl 2 lackey with dispell scroll & lore of beasts, which is a very nasty combination. i know I can handle Ogres, even though they seem to get harder everytime I play against them. Porbaly because my oppenant has figured out my tactics seeing we've been playing each other for years now, & he is by far my favorite oppenant in our area. Im just glad there is no empire to give me a bad day and blow my big nasties away before they get to do their jobs.

I like it! With no empire to worry about (and you mentioned the dwarves weren't as much of a problem) those treemen could be devastating.

I'd be tempted to split the glade guard in two, so as not to fall victim to a nasty spell and have both characters in danger, and to give one the banner of eternal flame instead of the always stand-and-shoot.

To get the point for the extra banner/musician, you could drop the branch nymph if needed. The other benefit would be having another banner for the break point scenario. Is there a better reason than the above that makes you prefer to use them as a single unit?

Ive found that when glade guard are in blocks of 14+ with the aech banner they can hold a flank for the entire game. I was tempted to break them into two units of 12 and have the aech banner in one and flame in the other to nerf regen but that may my dryads but those are still pretty effective at 12. Im playtesting this next week against skaven so we will see.

Would love to hear how it goes! How would you get the second magical banner in there, if you did split them (on the BSB, perhaps?).

Good luck against the skaven! I can never seem to do better than a draw (or more likely a loss) against them... Be sure to post up how the list performs! Although I imagine having a flaming banner would make fighting a HPA a lot more manageable.

I have one key advantage over my oppenant, he's still new but catching on fast. He had me look over his list for our game & it's something mean. Here's to hopeing I can hold on.

Ok my game against the rat man went really well & I was able to pull out a win. Mind you his storm banner phizzed out on turn which was a true blessing. Glade guard in a huge block like that really hold their own, against clan rats anyways. My banner bearer ended up dying but out of the forty rat block that was heading for me only 17 made it in the charge. My dryads rocked out hard while my wardancers had a off day and got owned by plague monks. My treemen tied up his unit of storm vermin with his grey seer and assassin for the whole game. All in all in a pretty good showing, the treekin didnt do much but die that seems to be the norm for me. I may fine tune this a little bit but it is most certainly a beat stick list

Awesome! Do the treekin die because the opponent focuses on them? And is it to magic, shooting, or combat? They're a little light at 4-strong, so that could be part of it, too.

For the treekin its a little of everythings. This time it was due to magic then Plague monks, who were also responabile for the demise of the wardancers, well the ratlings gun helped a little too.

As long as they're taking attention away from the rest of the force, I think their dying is OK... they're so tough that it's better for the enemy to focus on them than on anything more fragile. That is, with the possible exception of certain magic spells that can make short work of them...