Tactica-wood elves 8th ed

[Witchblade]

The priority should be truthfully assessing our units so that we can get the most out of the remaining lifespan of the book as well as hopefully indicating to GW what needs to be modified to make the next version successful, fluffy, and fun.

Now, throwing out words like "unplayable" and "worthless" is certainly untruthful and exaggerated. But that's no more untruthful than stubbornly defending every last unit in the army, and projecting an all-is-well image. The doomsayers come off as hyper loudmouths, and the optimistic apologists come off as people who have chosen to bury their heads in the sand.

Don't really know where I'm going with this, other than to say that it's extremely annoying to be lumped into a category with the doom and gloom crowd, when really most people are quite intelligent and fair with their criticisms of the WE army, even if they ultimately take a negative position towards it.

I agree 130%, as I stated in the 'the sky is falling!' thread in General Discussion. There's a distinct difference between criticism and pessimism.

[Wrenia]

Now that they get a stomp, 3 warhawks will do their 6 attacks then 3 stomps, could be interesting against smaller units, skirmishers and warmachines.

Note that stomp (and thunderstomp) only work against infantry, Swarms and Warbeast. They do not work against the WM crew since in the nuti summary they share the Warmacines troop type. :P

[Gormereth, the Fearmonger]

The treeman argument, yeah Warmachines will give you problems, but Warmachines give everyone problems this Edition.

You dispel every single-die incantation he has with a Lv.4 Wizard on a D6 with a roll of 3+. Re-rolling failed ones means not losing concentration and shutting down incantations, I think that's important. Not great, but with Cluster, hopefully you'll have a better chance than other armies.

(damn you Empire for having so good a dispel)

Damn Empire indeed,

The line of sight thing is not unique to treeman and treekin (stegadons, warshrines, giants, etc all suffer), but to use lizardmen as an example they have a slann, and tough ranked troops, and poisoned attacks. What I mean is other armies have options for taking down monsters, really hard hitting units, or for just tanking damage. Wood elves really only have a Treeman and if that gets punked out turn one not only is it a lot of victory points given up we lose what is or only reliable counter to a lot of problems that nothing else can handle. Plus new spells from lore of fire and metal make all of the targeted units attacks magical so put that on a warmachine and your instantly a dwarf.

With TK, yeah I field a wizard with the wand of wych elm and a branchwraith with the cluster of radiants...but he fields a king, two priests, a high priest and the casket. It adds up to 2 on 1D6, 3 on 2D6, and 2 on 3D6 (and doesn't count actual boundspells or the jar of +1 incantations); adding up to 7 total and not all of them can be one diced (and that's assuming he doesn't roll low). Even if I let the king's go all he does is smite the SSC (flaming magical attacks) so I really have to try to stop all of them, and there is a 1 in 9 chance of failing even with the re-roll and we've been playing it that the rolls are given only the wizard with the staff so if it does fail, thats it (possibly not the way it's suppose to play but still). The wand does help against most armies, but it really only hepls to stop those one or two spells we know we have to dispel...and incantations are pretty freaknig broken right now.

[minionboy]

Note that stomp (and thunderstomp) only work against infantry, Swarms and Warbeast. They do not work against the WM crew since in the nuti summary they share the Warmacines troop type. :P

Bah! Good catch...

[Daniel36]

Thanks everyone, for enlightening me.

[Kal Taron]

How much use is Forest Strider for Warhawks anyway? They still can't use in "on the fly".

[minionboy]

How much use is Forest Strider for Warhawks anyway? They still can't use in "on the fly".

For some reason I was under the impression that if you began/ended your move in woods, you would take a dangerous terrain check.

[willowdark]

I'm looking at roughly...

2 x 12 Dryads
3 x 10 Glade Guard w/ muso

6 Tkin
3 x 5 Wardancers

Tman
10 Waywatchers.

That's just under 1800 pts.

I think I can get an Alter noble with 2 hand weapons, the HoDA and the Briarsheath, and a Lvl4 LoLife spellweaver in just under 2250.

1) Does the army look effective? If not, what would you change?

2) Will one caster be enough or should I drop the alter for a singer?

[Nocculum]

Huntsmen/Archers
Detachments smaller than 10 models
Chariots (Maybe Not Chaos ones)
Thunders (in the flank of)
Glade Guard (Easy one )
Ellyrian Reavers
Glade Riders
Dark Riders
Pistoliers
Outriders
Flank of most non-rare slot knights, with even average luck
Harpies
Beastment Harpies
Eagles
Warhawk Riders
Any form of warmachine[/i].
Ungors
Chaos Warhounds
Dire Wolves
Ungor Chariots
I'd Wager a unit of 5 Empire Knights would be a good target flank or when charged too, depending on warbanner or Inner Circle or not.
Waywatchers
Gnoblar Trappers
Arrer Boyz
Crossbowmen
Duellists
Marauder Horsemen

[willowdark]

What??????

Potential targets for both HoDA and the dual handweapon I9 charge?

[Nocculum]

Sorry willo, my last post was for Balerion, lol.

[willowdark]

Anyway...

How about the rough army sketch I posted a few posts up? Do you guys think it has the killing power to keep up in 8th?

[neXus6]

GG are only stubborn in large formation, which isn't very good.

I dunno, they are the cheapest ranks in the army, 20 in 2 ranks of 10 fire at full power then can reform into 4 ranks of 5.

Move them up slowly shooting as you go, with the treemen alongside and the BSB in the unit or behind it depending on what the enemy has. Then plough the trees into anything that gets close.

All backed up by a huge dose of Lore of Life.

Seems like the basic "point and click" Wood Elf tactic that's come out of these changes, rather than the old flexible fun tactical movement combat skirmisher way of playing.

[Witchblade]

Regarding the GG anvil, it could work, but it's rather expensive and fragile. Really hard units or blocks will deny you your steadfast, so it won't hold against the scary stuff. I think in general Treemen, Treekin and dryads in woods are going to have to be our anvils, preferably near a BSB.

I'm looking at roughly...

2 x 12 Dryads
3 x 10 Glade Guard w/ muso

6 Tkin
3 x 5 Wardancers

Wardancers hit harder on the charge than Dryads, yes, but that's practically all they do better. They're also 50% more expensive and T3 with a save that's half as good against mundane weapons. Plus, I think you have enough skirmishers in your list.

Tman
10 Waywatchers.

Way overpriced for what they do, especially after the FAQ nerf. GG shoot better, scouts scout cheaper, GR/hawks/eagles hunt war machines better. This unit is a whole lot of easy VP for little gain IMO.

That's just under 1800 pts.

I think I can get an Alter noble with 2 hand weapons, the HoDA and the Briarsheath, and a Lvl4 LoLife spellweaver in just under 2250.

Ditch the alter completely or replace him with a BSB. Right now, he's a very easy target for anything that doesn't use BS. A single magic missile and he's toast. His combat prowess is also laughable for his cost. HoDA is nice, but it won't net you more points than you're bound to lose with this guy.

Concerning the L4, give him the stone of rebirth and an arcane item, like the wand of wych elm or the heartstone. A second spellcaster with beasts/life would have been nice, but not with our magic lore.

Don't have my book at hand, but I'm thinking...

18 dryads (this unit's footprint is huge, but I want to see if it's a viable anvil in a forest)

4 x 10 GG with mus

Treeman

5 GR with mus or maybe WR

2 Eagles

2 x 6 Treekin

L4 Spellweaver with stone of rebirth and heartstone, maybe something else too?

BSB (unknown build; in GG?; needs to follow the trees)

2500 points?

[tdc500]

Just curious of peoples thoughts on the following lord, (i've been playing with builds this morning trying to find something interesting...)

Alter kindred highborn with
Helm of the hunt
Talismen of Preservation
Light Armour
Shield (does this give a ward save now? can't find anything other than a +1 to armour save...)
Sword of Swiftness
Potion of Foolhardiness

4+/4++ save 7 Attacks on (first) charge rerolling misses unless the opponent is I 10, couple this with the beasts law and he gets truely horrific...

[Witchblade]

He's still S4, T3 though. Highborns are never worth it IMO. Maybe the alter machinegun...

[lelandchaska]

Seems like the best bet from my perspective is running two spellweavers. One can take Lore of Beasts and the Power Scroll and nothing else. The Power Scroll and 6 power dice nearly guarantee that you can cast a spell with irresistible force. Use Transformation of Kadon to turn into a Great Fire Dragon on turn 1. Hopefully nothing of any real consequence would happen on the miscast table.

The other spellweaver can take Lore of Life and ride on an Eagle. Give him some sort of ward protection, and have him fly around casting Life Spells and healing the Dragon with the Lifebloom ability.

That's what I'm going to try next time I dust off my elves.

[Anardakil]

I used the following list yesterday in my second 8th ed game. It worked pretty well I battled against a pretty defensive bow heavy and warmachine heavy orc and goblin army. two spear chuckas, two rock lobbas, two doom divers, arrer boy horde, night gobbo archer horde, night gobbo cc horde with shaman, orc unit with orc lord and great shaman, big unit of wolf riders with goblin lord. Maybe not the scariest army. The archer hordes didn't do much. The warmachines hurt a bit though :P
I rolled abysmally on the power dice generation this time around too. I think I got 2, 3, 8 and 4/5, and the orc and goblin player had the staff of sneaky stealing :P
anyway we played the watchtower scenario and I managed to win
swift reforms on glade guards are pretty nice, and my combined charge of 6 tree kin and a big tree on his orc unit with warboss was pretty devastating ^^

I used the following list.
Sadly I didnt get to use the moonstone because there was no extra forest on the board :/
Tree kin are awesome. I'd like to fit another unit in, but they're very expensive :P

Spellweaver level 4 with Moonstone of the Hidden Ways, Wand of Wych Elm, Lore of Life
Noble Battle Standard Bearer with Armour of Silvered Steel

10 Glade Guards with Standard Bearer, Musician
10 Glade Guards with Standard Bearer, Musician
10 Glade Guards with Musician
10 Glade Guards
5 Glade Riders with musician
10 Dryads

20 Eternal guards with full command
6 Treekin
Treewoman
Great Eagle
2246 pts

[Satan]

Would you describe your setup Anardakil? Where did you put the weaver? Did you find the glade riders useful?

I ran a similiar list last friday that looked like:


Spellweaver, Wand of wych elm, Lore of Life

Highborn, Eternal, Rhymers Harp, Annoyance of Netlings

BSB, That-shield-that-gives-you-+2-magic-res, magic heavy armour

Branchwraith, Cluster of radients

10 GG, Musician, Standard
10 GG, Musician, Standard

10 Dryads

20 EG, Full command

6 Wild Riders, Stanrdard, Musician, War banner

3 Treekin

2 Great Eagles

Treeman

Ended up at 2250 exactly I believe. IIRC there was some cheap trinket of a magic banner with the EG too.

Played a combo game with a Bretonnian army against a HE amy of 4500 pts. It ended in a draw.

[HeroFox]

but he fields a king, two priests, a high priest and the casket.

Last game I faced a TK it was against 2 Kings, 3 Priests and a Casket + Jar. Quite a ridiculous magic phase for him.

Are TK SSC shots magical? I know they're flaming, but I'm unsure if they count as magical attacks that'll go through your Tree ward saves.