Wood Elves 1500pts

[Merlot]

Hi folks, my first time posting here. A friend and I are reliving our hobby days, which was around the 5th to 6th transition. I pretty much always played the Ravening Hordes pdf wood elves and later Chronicles edition. I would normally go full command groups, spearmen, etc, but going a little on the competitive side of a build as we enjoy a game that challenges one another.

Intending on the noble and wild riders to work in conjunction with the Treeman and Wardancers for hammer/anvil roles.

Ive not used a branchwraith before, but it seemed like a buffed choice over the level 1 mage that I could afford, which likely would just be tree-singing anyway.

Scouts are on march blocking duty, and similar with the eagle mounted noble. I think given a banner makes the scouts a tempting trap. These two units are also on mage and war machine duty.

What I'm most unsure about is whether the consensus is that the blight of terrors is better off on the eagle noble, and just running with fear causing wild riders. Hail of Doom Arrow and the helm of the hunt feel a bit overdone, wondering if any players have more interesting combos?

Keen to hear feedback on this army book list, which I'm not all that familiar with playing.

Noble: Longbow, A Blight of Terrors, Wild Rider Kindred (spear, light armour), Elven Steed. 172

Noble: Longbow, G Eagle, Hail of Doom Arrow, Helm of the Hunt, Light armour, shield, spear. 181

Branchwraith: Level 1 Wizard. 115

10 Glade Guard: Musician 126

10 Glade Guard: Musician 126

6 Glade Guard: Scouts, standard bearer with Saemrath - the Banner of the Zenith, musician. 145

7 Wardancers: Musician 133

5 Wild Riders of Kurnous: FC, Faoghir, the Banner of Dwindling 50 216

Treeman 285

Total: 1499

Cheers for looking,
Merlot

[Alarantalara]

Welcome.

While I don't play wood elves, I do have a couple comments.
1) Assuming the Wild rider noble is with the kindred, the combination of the blight of terrors and Faoghir, the Banner of Dwindling seem a bit at cross purposes. If your goal is to make the opponent run before the fight with terror and it works, then you'll never use the banner. Conversely if you plan on having units be wiped out reliably by inability to flee effectively, you don't want them to run and get away before you beat them in close combat.
This isn't to say that the blight should be on the eagle noble, just that if you keep it where it is, you probably don't also want the banner.

2) The branchwraith looks fun, but I have to wonder what you plan on doing with the buff. As a forest spirit, it can't join any unit other than the wild riders and the treeman in your list, neither of which want a branchwraith along to slow them down, which means this is moving around on its own. I suppose it discourages skirmishers from going after it, but all that does is encourage even more targeting of your other units and I'm not certain you want to be encouraging your opponent to focus on fewer targets. Being by itself, it's also not something you can use to intercept larger units to keep them away from the glade guard, though I suppose you could countercharge if the glade guard held.

[Merlot]

Hey Alarantalara, thanks for those points - much appreciated.

1. I agree, the blight may get in the way of the dwindling, that could either free up points on the banner or maybe move the blight.

2. I was paying the points for a level one mage and looking how to make it more worthwhile, then realised I could remain a level one but toughen up against some of those potential wizard hunters.

Thanks for your response - exactly the kind of discussion I was looking for!

[Just Tony]

I see but one fault in your list that stands out to me: A Hero on a Great Eagle tends to be a bit of a spell/missile magnet, and you can't really join him with anything. The only hope you have of keeping him from strolling across on foot from Turn 2 on is to screen him with some other unit. At that point, what's the use? I'd go horsey if anything.

[Merlot]

Thanks @Just Tony, maybe steed an BSB would be a useful addition.

[Kakapo42]

What I'm most unsure about is whether the consensus is that the blight of terrors is better off on the eagle noble, and just running with fear causing wild riders. Hail of Doom Arrow and the helm of the hunt feel a bit overdone, wondering if any players have more interesting combos?

Honestly either noble is an excellent host for a Blight of Terrors, and each has advantages. Giving them to the Eagle rider will mean a fast moving Terror unit that can expose as many units as possible to Terror tests over the course of a battle, while on the other hand keeping them on the Wild Rider noble will give you a deadly sledgehammer unit that gives adversaries the option of either dying running or dying... running slightly less. Terror and the reduced fleeing distance means two chances to defeat a given unit, and allows the Wild Riders to get an edge over other Fear causing units that can otherwise be difficult for them to shift.

As for the magic items, my main two combat Nobles are Gaerielle, who fights with light armour, a Helm of The Hunt and a Spear of Twilight and is a solid well-rounded fighter who can be expected to deal with most foes, and Mirqarielle who fights with light armour, a Hunter's Talon and a Murder of Spites and is adept at harassment and picking off key unit champions and heroes.

Really though you can't go wrong with the Wood Elf magic items, the only lackluster ones are the Common Magic items and that's the same across most Warhammer armies.

As for the list, it is a fine start. The Scouts will give you unsurpassed reconnaissance and warn you of both the opposing army's route of march and the local terrain well in advance, while the Eagle mount will give you a perfect vantage point to survey the battle and coordinate your warriors.

The main points of concern I have are the lack of full command groups in the units, which will make them difficult to direct and control in battle. It will also mean the troops will be poorly disciplined, which will lead them to indulging in looting and brigandry that will earn you the enmity of local villiagers you encounter.

[mattyfenby]

I will start off by saying that if these units are fun for you to field, then have at it and make sure fun is your priority.

Having said that, I would advise against bringing a Treeman on a 1500pt list. While the cool factor is extremely high, I find in my non expert experience that from a “powergaming” perspective for the points it is not worth it to bring the Treeman. As a Large Target, he is extremely susceptible to bolt throwers & cannons, which many armies can field for cheap. He is also vulnerable to flaming magic missiles which many armies have access to. My club has found (this is anecdotal but seems logical to us) that at the 1500 point level, gun lines thrive. Gun Lines also happen to counter the Treeman. If your strategy is to shoot the enemy and force them to come into charge range for your Wild Riders, the points could be better spent (in my non expert opinion) on another unit of Glade Guard, who we find to be extremely effective in points killed vs points cost. Their BS4, ability to move and shoot w no penalty, S4 at close range, and high LD make them in our opinion some of the best shooters in the game for the points.

In my opinion, Wood Elves are great because they can line up on the 12 inch line and then “kite” backwards towards their own end zone for a few turns, continuously shooting. An enemy that finally manages to charge them on Turn 3 or later will usually face a S4 Stand & Shoot. Even if they manage to clear the unit, it doesn’t cost you more than 120 points or so. With continuous shooting from the Glade Guard and counter charges from Wild Riders, your opponent will infuriatingly find that you are impossible to engage on their terms and that you hit hard with an 18” charge from Wild Riders.

Unsolicited Rambling Advice: deploy your War Dancers in the free Fay Wood that you get guaranteed as Wood Elves. They can “surf” forward inside the terrain feature as you use your Spellsingers/Branch Wraiths to Tree Sing it into a good position to flank charge the enemy as it advances towards your Glade Guard and Wild Riders. It’s gravy if you have multiple Woods/Forest/Scrub/Jungle on the board so your Wild Riders can operate out of them/charge through them as long as they have LOS.

Thank you a ton for posting your list here. Take all my advice with a ton of salt but I do wish you the best of luck as you look to lead the Asrai and the Forest to glory.

[Jonathan E]

The single Branchwraith with no Dryads is unusual (not a bad thing!) but slightly inefficient as a spellcaster (she can only use two of the three Power dice your army will generate). I think there's value in her as a mainly defensive caster, with the Spite that gives her an extra Dispel die (I can't remember what it's called, my copy of the army book has long since moved on), but I think you'd be even better off merging a couple of your ideas for heroes. A level 2 mage (again, I can never remember if she's a Singer or a Weaver) with the Glamourweave Kindred and Blight of Terrors, on a Unicorn, gives you a defensive spellcaster who makes efficient use of your casting dice, has a decent saving throw for a wizard, and has the Terror radius on a fast-moving platform that can hide behind your Wild Riders if you're worried about incoming firepower. I'd consider one of those plus and a footslogging Hero with the Hail of Doom and Helm of the Great Hunt (I forget if the Waywatcher Kindred stops them being the general or makes them harder to hit, but if it doesn't and does, might be worth a go). Unless you're going for an absurdly magic heavy approach, you don't really need to fill all your character slots, as long as the characters you're bringing are doing things they need to do.