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Hi, so after having taken an extended hobbying hiatus I am thinking of dipping my toes in the waters of AoS. I have mainly played on and off 40k for years and only dabbled a bit in to dark elves briefly so very new to the "Fantasy" side of the game. Needless to say AoS appears to have taken off around me more so than 40k and has now become an itch I want to scratch.
I'd considered Idoneth because sharks with frickin laser beams (ok not lasers but still love it) but having looked in to the different forces more and watched battle reports i'm now leaning heavily towards Sylvaneth. I'm not massively competitive when it comes to gaming, in a friendly atmosphere i couldnt care less if i win or lose as long as its fun. However its obviously nice to have some competitve options avaivable, which Sylvaneth appear to have.
Over the last week I have been making some lists to try and find something I like the look and feel of based off battle reports i've seen and have come up with one which I think I will be going with but was hoping for some feedback from people who i'm sure will know a lot more about everything AoS than me, so here goes:
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Glade - Harvestboon - 1980pts
Spirit of Durthu - General - The Silent Sickle
Treelord Ancient - Regrowth
Branchwraith - Spiritsong Stave - Throne of Vines + Verduous Harmony

Kurnoth Hunters *3 - Greatswords (Melee options will be magentised so will have the option to use Scythes and make a 6 tree squad if i feel like it)
Kurnoth Hunters *3 - Greatswords
Kurnoth Hunters *3 - Greatbows
Kurnoth Hunters *3 - Greatbows

Dryads *20
Dryads *10
Dryads *10

Battalion - Forrest Folk
Endless Spell - Vengeful Skullroot (Will have Gladewyrm option available)
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Given my still fairly limited knowledge of AoS mechanics and potential lineups, the idea is to have the Dryads screen for the melee Kurnoths and Durthu and have the TLA and BW use spells to keep them at as full a strength as possible. I get that positioning is a big factor for Sylvaneth, I imagine I should be able to get down 3 woods with relative ease for teleporting shennanigans. I think it should work with Heartwood or Winterleaf Glades as well so I have some options to keep mix it up on the fly.

I would appreciate any feedback on viability, I ideally just dont want to be tabled on a double turn 1 as a bare minimum haha, but yeah open to suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Never played or faced them, but I would advise reading the 1d4chan tactics page for them, usually break down clearly the pros and cons of the units and rules.

Yeah thats actually a really useful site thanks. Have now realised that the Branchwraith cant take the 2 spells i picked, which i thought the staff would allow me to do which is annoying but i guess i'd lose Verdurous Harmony as a result...

Do you have the battletome? If not, I'd suggest it if you're going so far as picking sublists like Harvestboon or for relics and how things work. The Spiritsong Stave you picked, for example, would let the Branchwraith actually cast two different spells during your Hero Phase rather than the one she normally would. Wizards in AoS tend to be limited for the spells they carry with them and should effectively be considered for 'that one spell' when possible. The Spiritsong Stave would still be a good pick for her, since she could try to cast Roused to Wrath and something else in the same go.

Also if you're wanting to run a Branchwraith, I'd suggest going for Tree-Revenants instead of Dryads for your 'Battleline Tax' units. Branchwraiths have the spell "Roused to Wrath". It lets her summon up a unit of 10 Dryads if successfully cast.

Speaking of....
This goes up for preorder next Saturday. This will be a hot ticket item in all likelihood. It's going to be discounted even ordering straight from GW.

Tree-Revenants AND Hunters together is aces.

Oooh that box looks tempting. Battletome has been ordered but I have managed to find quite a lot of info online to plan how I want to build my army. I seem to keep making lists that arent legal because I keep finding rules I wasnt aware of, for instance the Battalion i made didnt have enough points in it.

I wanted to take the Dryad battalion because the retreat and charge benefit seems like it would come in very handy in AoS. The issue is balancing things out. I have a revised list here which so far I haven't found to be illegal:

Glade: Harvestboon
LEADERS
Treelord Ancient (260)- Artefact: Lifewreath - Deepwood Spell: Regrowth
Spirit of Durthu (300)- General
Branchwraith (80)- Artefact: Spiritsong Stave - Deepwood Spell: Throne of Vines
UNITS
6 x Kurnoth Hunters (380)- Greatswords
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (190)- Greatbows
30 x Dryads (270)
10 x Dryads (100)
10 x Dryads (100)
BEHEMOTHS
Treelord (180)
BATTALIONS
Forest Folk (140)

So I went with Harvestboon because of the abilities and command abilities, Durthu can bump the Kurnoths up to 5 attacks and can move after attacking. As I said with the Forest Folk Battalion i can do the same with the Dryads, because Sylvaneth are pretty slow the added mobility would be nice. I had to swap out 3 Greatbow Kurnoths for a Treelord, apparently they are nearly as good at Kurnoths at shooting but have decent combat skills so I can live with that. Treelord Ancient is just a heal machine, Roll a dice in hero phase, on 3+ all sylvaneth units wholly within 10" heal +D3 wounds + Regrowth. Yeah I read the staff on the Branchwraith is awesome because you can stack the +2 to cast to pretty much guarantee the "Roused to Wrath" cast, I wanted to have the extra spell on the Branchwraith to ressurect Kurnoths as well but oh well.

I like Tree revenants but the issue comes back to battalions. They just don't seem to have a battalion I could work them in to. All I can think is put Durthu and the Kurnoths in Free Spirits for 6" run, but on units I ideally want to be charging with. And I can't not take a battalion because i need the artifact. I had a play around putting some tree revenants in but feels like a bit of a small/squishy force compared with blobs of Dryads

LEADERS
Treelord Ancient (260)- Artefact: Lifewreath - Deepwood Spell: Regrowth
Spirit of Durthu (300)- General
Branchwraith (80)- Artefact: Spiritsong Stave - Deepwood Spell: Throne of Vines
UNITS
6 x Kurnoth Hunters (380)- Greatswords
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (190)- Greatbows
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (190)- Greatbows
BEHEMOTHS
Treelord (180)
BATTALIONS
Free Spirits (140)

So, couple of things...

If you take Harvestboon? Your first Relic must be the Silent Sickle. All of the various subfactions in the game(as far as I'm aware at least!) have a requirement like this. Some even mandate a specific spell for your Wizards.

All honesty, Sylvaneth can be a hard listbuilder exercise. You really have to decide on your 'theme' in advance of buying/building and go from there.

This is a sampler of what I had been kinda/sorta running before Covid:


I'll tell you right now, a Spirit of Durthu that you can send in and potentially get killed...only for it to come back? People are not fans!

Bear in mind that this is meant to be an example of a 'themed' list. Heartwood there is Kurnoth themed--and an Arch-Revenant feels wildly appropriate. Same with going Tree-Revenant heavy rather than Dryads.

There's only one Warscroll Battalion(Wargrove) which I don't see people as being able to wiggle into general games. It's huge and has similar setups in other books. Not sure where you saw anything about points being required inside of a WSB--there's very few that have requirements that aren't just the number of units inside.

Would be annoying if you do have to take the artefact from the Glade, I was under the impression it just gave you access to it. If that is the case its not the end of the world I guess i would just take the Life Wreath off the Ancient and give Durthu an extra attack if I went Harvestbloom. I do like that Glade thats the thing, I have a theme in my head its just trying to build the most effective list around it. Not to mention I think it would work with Winterleaf too.

What I mean by the points for that Battalion I saw it says "A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads 140pts (520pts min -> 1,030pts max) "> I mean please correct me if i'm wrong but that means I need the required units to be worth between 520 and 1030pts in total in order to be valid right?

At the end of the day this is my first 2000pt plan so will experiment with things after that, Drycha looks interesting, i mean everything does really haha. I will probably go down the Dryad list route just because of how I think it will work in my head. A lot of summonable blobs harrassing and tying everything up in combat while Durthu with a bunch of Kurnoths wander round deleting things while being healed up. Have to paint a lot of Dryads though...

Ressurecting Durthu is just mean haha, i would really want a heal though so he is higher on the damage table. Also if he had the command trait, dies, deals up to D6 damage and then comes back!

 FuzzyLogik wrote:
Would be annoying if you do have to take the artefact from the Glade, I was under the impression it just gave you access to it. If that is the case its not the end of the world I guess i would just take the Life Wreath off the Ancient and give Durthu an extra attack if I went Harvestbloom. I do like that Glade thats the thing, I have a theme in my head its just trying to build the most effective list around it. Not to mention I think it would work with Winterleaf too.

You have to take the artefact as your first artefact. Same with the Command Trait(Seek New Fruit). It feels restrictive at first glance, but given how easy it can be to get additional artefacts for some armies--it makes total sense to do so.

What I mean by the points for that Battalion I saw it says "A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads 140pts (520pts min -> 1,030pts max) "> I mean please correct me if i'm wrong but that means I need the required units to be worth between 520 and 1030pts in total in order to be valid right?

I follow you now. So it's not that "the required units need to be worth" those amounts...that's how much they will be. You're looking at 80 for the Branchwraith, 100 for each unit of the Dryads, and then 140 for the Forest Folk bit.

Ressurecting Durthu is just mean haha, i would really want a heal though so he is higher on the damage table. Also if he had the command trait, dies, deals up to D6 damage and then comes back!

See, I tried that bit...and well, it just didn't work as well as I'd hoped! I've experimented a bit with the Gladewyrm(after it moves, it can restore D3 wounds to Sylvaneth units nearby) and found that to work well too.

You're looking at 80 for the Branchwraith, 100 for each unit of the Dryads, and then 140 for the Forest Folk bit.

Oooooh I see what you mean. Awesome thank you!

Well I have something to start working towards now, will be a tree hugger in no time!

As much grief as people give GW about stuff, the Warscroll Builder is pretty useful.

 FuzzyLogik wrote:
Would be annoying if you do have to take the artefact from the Glade, I was under the impression it just gave you access to it. If that is the case its not the end of the world I guess i would just take the Life Wreath off the Ancient and give Durthu an extra attack if I went Harvestbloom. I do like that Glade thats the thing, I have a theme in my head its just trying to build the most effective list around it. Not to mention I think it would work with Winterleaf too.

What I mean by the points for that Battalion I saw it says "A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads 140pts (520pts min -> 1,030pts max) "> I mean please correct me if i'm wrong but that means I need the required units to be worth between 520 and 1030pts in total in order to be valid right?

Having to take command trait and artifact is about only balancing act as to why NOT take specific glade/grand nation/etc. If you could take whichever relic/trait you wish why would you NOT take some of those for free rules? ATM not many(flesh eater courts only one I don't know) has any incentive besides freedom of command trait and artifcat to not take one of the named subfactions.

And yes battalions obviously need to pay for units Otherwise chaos would have one battalion that he could fit for 2k game that has units worth of 64k ;-) Pay to win would go for whole new level!

Having to take command trait and artifact is about only balancing act as to why NOT take specific glade/grand nation/etc. If you could take whichever relic/trait you wish why would you NOT take some of those for free rules? ATM not many(flesh eater courts only one I don't know) has any incentive besides freedom of command trait and artifcat to not take one of the named subfactions.

Yeah i know what you mean, and I don't have any problem taking the Glade specific relic/traits. But when you have like 20-50pts spare an option to have an extra relic would be nice considering the battalions that are like 100pts. Anyway its not that way so doesnt matter just working round it.

I appreciate everyones input, I have a better idea of what i'm doing now at least =)

Typically, you'll spend those 20-80 spare points in your list on Endless Spells, purchasing an extra Command Point (50pts, can only buy 1), or, having less points than your opponent grants you a single Triumph to use, which is a little boon that can be used once per game. I believe the Triumphs are, Reroll all hit rolls for a unit in combat phase, reroll all failed saves for a unit in one phase, or automatically pass a morale check.

This goes for any army, not just Sylvaneth I should note.

Yeah Endless spells seem pretty cool, there are some that would be helpful and fit the theme. Its just Sylvaneth aren't exactly the best wizards. I am having flash backs to when I played Grey Knight (wish i'd kept them :( ), which are better by comparisson to Sylvaneth casting wise. Point being if someone brought Eldrad then the game was over before it began. I heard some rumors Sylvaneth are getting an update so fingers crossed there is an increase to the base cast/dispel amounts

A command point for 50pts, i'll admit with my little experience in AoS seems expensive, but I need to read the rules on them. Triumphs sounds like a nice perk especially if its just a matter of having fewer points, again I need to read the rules

Rather than starting a game with 6 - 9 - 12 or however many command points like you do in WH40k, and using them up throughout the game, in AoS you start with 0. For every Batallion in your list, you gain an additional command point to start with. At the start of each of your Hero Phases, you gain 1 Command point. There are less things to use them on, and typically* don't have such a massive effect like they do in WH40k.

For example, one of the default command abilities just lets a unit reroll hit rolls of 1 for a phase.

*There are outliers, like Feeding Frenzy, that let's 500+ point models fight twice in the combat phase for Flesh-Eater Courts.

It's funny, because there are a number of identical or equivalent mechanics between AoS & 40k, but with different names:
Run-Advance
Morale-Battleshock
Rend-AP

Command points share identical names... and are completely different.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
It's funny, because there are a number of identical or equivalent mechanics between AoS & 40k, but with different names:
Run-Advance
Morale-Battleshock
Rend-AP

Command points share identical names... and are completely different.

Yes they are, and it is completely funny. I'm also amused when playing and either myself or my opponent use the term from the other game. The pattern seems to be Advance, Bravery test and Rend regardless of which game. Also, it is mission and not battleplan and codex more often than battletome.

Rend just sounds better than ap though.

I havent actually played 40k in years so should get used to AoS pretty quickly. That being said i did get some Drukhari a while ago just to do some modeling and apparently they have a new codex coming!

 FuzzyLogik wrote:
I havent actually played 40k in years so should get used to AoS pretty quickly. That being said i did get some Drukhari a while ago just to do some modeling and apparently they have a new codex coming!

Hmm, my Magic 8 Ball says: "Seems like a sign..."