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Played a objective matched play game with my Ironjawz against Sylvaneth. I won, but...

I felt there were fishy things going on. Do Druthu and Treelords really ignore any -1 and -2 rends? On top of that the D6+ Multi wound heal spell goes off on a 5+? It seems a little low to be honest. And just how many times can they throw out -1 to hit stuff? He had a damn -3 to hit on his Dryads and -1 and -2 to hit on the Treelord and Druthu. It just doesn't seem right.

I rolled real bad, but still, it all seemed really excessive.

You can always check their warscrolls if you have any doubts. Download the app for convenience. It's mostly free, after all.

**Edit**

It seems those abilities you are asking about are related to the Sylvaneth allegiance abilities. These are indeed quite powerful.

Gnarled warrior is a general's command trait that ignores -1 rend. -2 rend should still punch through.

So unless your opponent brought one or more battalion warscrolls, he can be doubling up on the number of heroes that have the magical artefacts.

I am not sure where his dryads are getting debuffs to hit.

I've gone up against similar Sylvaneth nonsense. Enough hit debuffs to prevent my attack units from being able to hit the big tree man.

Basically, I don't play against Sylvaneth unless I have to.

Each big tree does a stomp at the start of combat, they roll a dice for each unit within 3" and on a 4+ that unit gets -1 for the phase. If multiple trees are in range it will stack. Dryads also have a -1 hit penalty themselves, while heroes can take an artifact which will give -1. But make sure the opponent is rolling for each tree debuff, on each unit. The rend ignore is a command trait and so can only be on his general, and will only ignore rend -1. The healing spell is indeed d6 on a 5+ though remember it can only be cast once in each turn and wizards who pick that won't have another Sylvaneth spell.

It sounds like your opponent is using real abilities but may be using them incorrectly.

Treelords, Treelord Ancients, and Spirit of Durthu all have a stomp ability that is used at the start of each combat round. They roll for each enemy unit within 3", and on a roll of 4+ that unit gets -1 to hit for the rest of the combat round. Your opponent needs to roll for every unit in range and for every Tree. A unit can be hit by multiple stomps.

The Dryads give a -1 to hit penalty ONLY against them and ONLY if they are within 3" of a Wyldwood.

The general can take a command ability which allows them to ignore rend 1 but NOT rend 2. So a Spirit of Durthu or Treelord Ancient that is the general can have this ability, but only one of them will have it and regular Treelords can't have it.

There is also an artefact that gives -1 to hit, and any hero can take it. Remember though that the number of artefacts are limited.

So it's possible that the Treelords would have given a -1 or -2 to hit penalty with their stomp ability (but only for the units on which they roll 4+). The Dryads could have a -3 to hit penalty only if they were close enough to a Wyldwood AND the attacking unit got double stomped.

Well... then I know what I'm not playing against anymore. That's utter donkey poop.

The guy was whining my 2D6 movement in the hero phase was bad (Thank god no terrain tests with that, since it doesn't count as actual movement it seems.). An army spamming Wildwoods and -1s to hit. Plus that way to easy healing spell.

I would say, see it as a challenge. Sylvaneth aren't dominating tournaments at all - so they are very much beatable. Think of some weaknesses and try to exploit them.

Their battleline are usually very weak (Tree Revenants snap like twigs and Dryads break apart like kindling). It's the Kurnoth Hunters and big monsters that are super tough and usually with amazing armour saves to boot. See if you can increase the Mortal Wound output in your army to improve your chances against them.

 The Grumpy Eldar wrote:
Well... then I know what I'm not playing against anymore. That's utter donkey poop.

The guy was whining my 2D6 movement in the hero phase was bad (Thank god no terrain tests with that, since it doesn't count as actual movement it seems.). An army spamming Wildwoods and -1s to hit. Plus that way to easy healing spell.

I really can't help but disagree with your conclusion. Every army has advantages and disadvantages. Sylvaneth monsters can be really, really tanky but their damage output is low for their points cost and they are slow. If you were playing some garbage legacy army where everything is overcosted and underpowered then I'd be more sympathetic, but it sounds like you are playing Ironjawz with Ironfist battalion(s) which is a really powerful build in its own right.

Sylvaneth have a strong learning curve both in playing as them and playing against them. I have seen opinions vary wildly between Sylvaneth being totally OP and totally UP because of this. That said, Kurnoth Hunters (esp w/bows) and Alarielle herself are certainly overpowered, along with the Gnarlroot battalion, but everything else is pretty well balanced.

Is Alarielle that OP? I've only seen people claim she's not really worthwhile. Not bad but not good.

She's a model that if she gets countered, she gets countered hard. Which is to say she's very meh if the opponent happened to be prepared for her, but that doesn't negate her being extremely points-efficient most of the time. The big thing is she heals d3 per round for showing up, then another d3 on her and every Sylvaneth within 30" from her Aomphorae ability. Regrowth can add another d6, meaning she can easily get back ~7 wounds every turn. On a model with a 3+ save (probably 2+ from mystic shield) that can be very tough to deal with.

As someone who has played a few games against sylvaneth vs ironjawz, I've found then outside of attempting to kill treelords, Slyvaneth fall over vs ironjawz. At 1k points, I have a mega boss, warchanter, and then an ironfist of 2 brutes, gore gruntas, and ardboyz.

Also Ironjaws's Gordrakk easily beats Alarielle. Kunnin does d3 mortal wounds on wound rolls of 4+. Destructive bulk will add mroe mortal wounds.

Did they give command traits or artifacts to named characters?
If so thats illegal, otherwise its legit just like 240+shots from 40 savage arrow boys with Bonesplitterz.

Many of the wacky things seem balance out in larger games as well.

SpleenThief wrote:
Did they give command traits or artifacts to named characters?
If so thats illegal, otherwise its legit just like 240+shots from 40 savage arrow boys with Bonesplitterz.

Many of the wacky things seem balance out in larger games as well.

Scion of Durthu isn't a named character. I was rather confused about that at first as well!