Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Sylvaneth

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Grand Alliance Order

Sylvaneth

WALKING TREES I TELL YOU! WALKING TREES!

Lore
Tactics
General Tactics

Welcome to the Everqueen's glorious wooden host! Fleet of foot we spring from our forests, reaping our foes' lives with Mortal Wounds, before vanishing back into the woods, leaving those still alive confused and broken. When it comes to hit and run, keeping multi-wound models alive and literally shaping the battlefield to our needs, none compare. For we live between the Elite Armies of the Slaves to Darkness and the Ironjawz and Nighthaunt, our glades and copses are filled with singing dryads and solemn Kurnoth Hunters, ever watchful of the outsides and our enemies. For the Deepwood stirs...

Why play Sylvaneth?

  • You like trees, nature and tending to a garden.
  • You like being able to teleport around the battlefield.
  • You like playing chess when everyone else is playing the CHARGE EVERYTHING game.
  • Your favorite scenes in the Lord of the Rings is the Ents attack on Isengard or the Huron wiping out an Orc army, that or Treebeard is your favorite character. (not that I blame you)
  • You’re a painter who loves varieties of colors; or just lots of brown.
  • You like armies that straddle the line between elite and horde.

Pros

  • We are about board control. We move around quickly, we teleport, we fight who we want to when we want to, stacking the odds in our favour. On the flip side, in a one on one fight, against a model from another faction at the same points, we rarely come out on top. Plus board control relies you can get your woods out.
  • We have a lot of new and glorious models, almost completely in plastic (just one in finecast, which you will be needing... and even then you can kitbash one up from plastic models).
  • Just look at Alarielle model. Her utility across the board is almost as awesome as she looks.
  • Kurnoth Hunters. Even by heavy infantry standard in AoS, absolute damage monsters. They will do a lot of heavy lifting.
  • Great, often colourful paint schemes. Whether you want your trees to be in full bloom, fiery autumn or paint them as a haunted ghastly forest, you have a lot of choices.
  • Almost everything we have is at least -1 Rend.
  • Lorewise, we boast one of the leaders of an entire realm and two survivors from the World-That-Was (three if you count the Spirits of Durthu).
  • Easily paintable chaff with Dryads. Which is useful as you'll be painting a lot of them.

Cons

  • We are very bad to transport. Seriously it's a pain with all these small bits and twigs. Even foam packaged boxes hurt us. You'll want magnets and a big metal box, as you'll be taking lots of dryads just on the off chance you need them all for the summoning. Plus you'll need an extra box for all those woods you might be able to summon.
  • On top of this, we can be expensive. Lots of woods. Spite and Tree Rev hordes are super expensive in terms of cash.
  • Limited defense against Mortal Wounds - just a single artefact on 5+ and a glade Command Ability on 6+. We counter this with healing, but you can't heal the dead (we're not Death)
  • Placing woods bigger than one model can be tricky, which also means you loose their LOS blocking.

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Sylvaneth (2019)

Additional rules: Broken Realms Kragnos (Alarielle and Warsong warscrolls), FAQ (Endless spells and Wyldwood warscrolls)

Latest Matched play points: General's Handbook 2021

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

Armies with the SYLVANETH allegiance have the following abilities:

  • Awakened Wyldwoods: (This ability has since been replaced with the updated warscroll for Awakened Wyldwoods in the July 2021 FAQ) After territories have been determined but before armies are set up, set up ONE Awakened Wyldwood anywhere on the battlefield more than 1" from any other terrain feature, 1" from enemy territory, and more than 6" from any objectives. Soon in this article you will see why you can't really play Sylvaneth without them.
  • Forest Spirits: You can set up a SYLVANETH unit aside for every unit deployed on the field. In any of your movement phases, you can deploy it on the battlefield. Units must be set up wholly within 6" of an Awakened Wyldwood and more than 9" from any enemy models. This is their move for that movement phase. Sylvaneth deep strike.
  • Places of Power: After territories are chosen but before armies are deployed, select one terrain feature (this could be an Awakened Wyldwood YOU deploy according to order of operations... might need an FAQ). Friendly Sylvaneth units wholly within 6" of said terrain feature do not take battleshock tests. Interesting buff, it lets you sort of pick a focal point of where you want to commit to battle, and then have your, say, 30 block of dryads get to ignore battleshock while holding up the enemy.

Command Traits

A general of an army with a SYLVANETH allegiance can choose one Command Trait from the lists below (be advised that if you choose your army to be one of the Wargroves, you are forced to take a specific command trait instead of one of these):

Aspects Of War

  1. Dread Harvester: If you charged, you can reroll melee hit rolls.
  2. Gnarled Warrior: Reroll saves of 1. This used to be ignore rend unless it's -2 or better.
  3. Gift of Ghyran: Your general heals 1 wound at the start of each of your hero phases.
  4. Lord of Spites: Reroll all wound rolls of 1.
  5. Warsinger: +2 to any charge rolls made for friendly SYLVANETH units that are wholly within 12" of your general. Good choice for turning a spirit path walk into a charge on the same turn; essential for any alpha strike lists.
  6. Wisdom of the Ancients: All friendly SYLVANETH units wholly within 12" of your general in the battleshock phase add 1 to their Bravery. Best near revenants, your most vulnerable to battleshock.

Aspects Of Renewal

Wizards only

  1. Arcane Bounty: General knows 1 extra Deepwood spell.
  2. Mystic Regrowth: If General successfully cast a spell, then heal D3 wounds at end of hero phase.
  3. Voice Of Warding: General can unbind one extra spell per turn.
  4. Glade Lore: General gets +1 to casting rolls when wholly within 6" of a wood.
  5. Spellsinger: General gets +6 range of all spells. Consider using the balewind vortex to double this.
  6. Radiant Spirit: If affected by a spell/endless spell, roll a dice, on a 4+ ignore the effect. Note the correct usage of affect and effect.

Artefacts

One hero in an army with a sylvaneth allegiance and has chosen to take the sylvaneth allegiance abilities, plus one hero for every battalion selected, can choose one Artefact from the lists below.

Weapons Of The Glades

These affect a single melee weapon belonging to the bearer

  1. Daith's Reaper: Additional rend of 1.
  2. Greenwood Gladius: If the bearer charges, +2 attacks that turn.
  3. Autumns Ire: Re-roll hits and wounds of 1 as long as the bearer is wounded.
  4. Winnowstaff: Can re-roll all hits against enemies with Wounds of 1.
  5. Ancient Barkblade: +1 damage.
  6. The Darkest Bough: On an unmodified wound roll of 6, deals an additional D3 mortal wounds

Boons Of The Everqueen

  1. The Oaken Armour: Reroll saves of 1.
  2. Briarsheath: -1 Hit penalty for anyone attacking the bearer.
  3. Glamourweave: 5+ save-after-the-save (mortal wounds only). Great for a Spirit of Durthu tanking Wounds because he can use that to protect himself, and also the only thing in the army that ignores mortal wounds.
  4. Lashvines: For every non-negated wound from a melee weapon, on a 6 from a D6, the attacker takes 1 mortal wound.
  5. Silken Snares: Ignore rend of -1 from enemies.
  6. Nightbloom Garland: Unit is invisible to enemy units more than 12" away.

Verdant Treasures

  1. Seed of Rebirth: The first time you lose your last wound roll a D6. On 2+ they come back to life with D3 wounds. Obviously best for a Branchwych/wraith, as a monster with D3 Wounds might as well be dead again. Especially useful on a Branchwych, as if she dies and comes back, she still counts as having taken wounds for the purposes of her bonus.
  2. Wraithstone: Subtract 1 from the Bravery of enemy units within 10" in the Battleshock Phase. Combine with Spite-Revenants for best results.
  3. Everdew Vial: +2 to run and charge rolls.
  4. Lifewreath: Roll a dice in hero phase, on 3+ all sylvaneth units wholly within 10" heal +D3 wounds.
  5. Crown Of Fell Bowers: Pick an enemy within 6" at the start of the combat phase. All friendly sylvaneth can re-roll all wound rolls against them for that phase.
  6. Etherblossom: Bearer can fly. Durthu will love this.

Relics Of Nature

Wizards only.

  1. Acorn of the Ages: Set up a Wyldwood wholly within 12", one-use only. The old favourite artefact of the one drop armies. You can simply throw a forest-shaped wrench into enemy charge lanes, you can let an isolated Hero summon their own reinforcement spawn point, you can make some cover to make a stand.
  2. Spiritsong Stave: Additional spell cast per turn. Amazing!
  3. The Vesperal Gem: Once per turn, automatically succeed a Deepwood spell roll, which cannot be unbound. Sounds great.... but, then roll a dice, on a 1 you get D3 mortals. Ouchy. Good thing you have healing out the ass. Amazing relic because while you NEED magic, you don't have a lot of multi spell casters OR casting bonuses. Very solid choice. Note, Verdant Blessing is not part of Deepwood, so no autotree spamming.
  4. Luneth's Lamp: +2 unbinding/dispelling rolls for endless spells.
  5. Hagbane Spite: If you successfully unbind a spell, the caster gets 1 mortal.
  6. Wychwood Glaive: Pick a melee weapon, it gets +2 damage against wizards.

Spell Lore

All sylvaneth wizards know Verdant Blessing Verdant Blessing (6+): Casting value 6. Sets up an Awakened Wyldwood wholly within 24". As useful as the Wyldwoods are to you, this spell is pretty good. This used to be 18", part of the Deepwood list, and was more or less auto include.

Deepwood Spell Lore

Alarielle and the Warsong Rev know all of these. All other sylvaneth wizard can pick one for each spell lore enhancement taken.

  1. Throne of Vines (5+): Caster gets +2 to cast, but only as long as you don't move. Amazing for Alarielle and her three casts per turn, which allows her to summon woods on a 4+ and buff her Metamorphosis! Also a must take on a Branchwraith with stave to help her get the Dryads out more consistently. Note that this effect stacks! Take on a non moving multi caster and by mid game you won't be able to fail a cast and there will be no way to unbind you.
  2. Regrowth (5+): Casting value 5. Heal D6 Wounds to a friendly, visible sylvaneth unit wholly within 18". TAKE IT. I don't care about your strategy, take it. Alarielle? Take it. Treelord Ancient? Take it. Drycha? Take it unless you want a suicide bomb.
  3. The Dwellers Below (7+): Pick a unit within 10", roll a D6 for every model in the unit, every 6 deals a Mortal Wound. Basically Vermintide/New Treason of Tzeentch. It's good, with a potentially gigantic damage output, but unless used against units of 20+, Arcane Bolt will probably do more.
  4. Deadly Harvest (6+): Each enemy unit within 3" gets D3 mortals. Nice when you're stuck in melee, but only really good in combination with the Spellsinger command trait. Also, remember that it gets better against multiple small units, but worse against horde armies - essentially the opposite of Dwellers below.
  5. Verdurous Harmony (7+): A unit wholly within 18" regains 1 slain model (or D3 for Dryads, Tree/Spite Revs). Amazing spell, just can be a little tricky to consistently cast without bonuses.
  6. Treesong (7+): For one enemy unit within 16" and 6" of a wood, you get to re-roll melee hit and wound rolls of 1 against them. What? Very situational and high casting value. Avoid.

Endless Spells

Note that unlike the some of the generic endless spells, the Sylvaneth spells can't be used by your opponent against you (other than moving them out of harms way).

  • Gladewyrm (60pts, CV 7, range 6", move 8", fly): Ancient protectors of the spice realmroots.
    • Does D3 mortal wounds to non-SYLVANETH units within 1" and heals D3 wounds to SYLVANETH units wholly within 6" of where it ends up. This only happens on a 3+.
    • Pretty good for the cost. For best effect, lob it in the middle of any combat not involving your battleline.
  • Vengeful Skullroot (95pts, CV 6, range 6", move 8", fly): Spooky tree
    • Adds D3 to fleeing non-SYLVANETH models that fail battleshock tests within 3".
    • On a 2+, does D3 mortal wounds to non-SYLVANETH units it passes across, boosted to D6 if said units are within 3" of an AWAKENED WYLDWOOD.
    • If you can get that D6 off, then this is great. Given the myriad ways of avoiding battleshock, and that enemies avoid woods where possible, you might find better use out of the slightly cheaper Gladewyrm.
  • Spiteswarm Hive (40pts, CV 7, range 7"): More of Drycha's little gribbles.
    • Lets you (and only you) choose one of the following effects in every hero phase (including your opponents) each turn it's around if you have a wizard wizard or hero within 6". Roll a dice for each SYLVANETH unit wholly within 8", on a 2+ either add 3" to normal moves and charge moves or e-roll saves of 1.
    • Great spell, however be careful when using the move bonus that your models don't get out of range too quickly.
    • Best case is to place it halfway between you and an enemy, use the move bonus to get into combat, then use the save bonus during your opponents turn (assuming you survive the first round of combat).
    • The small base size helps to stop it getting in the way of movement, assuming you point the gribbles out of the way.

Glades

Every Sylvaneth army gets to optionally belong to a glade for free, which gives you an extra ability, command ability, fixes your General's command trait (you cannot choose from the Allegiance Abilities lists) and fixes your first artefact. The Core FAQ clarifies that if you take Alarielle/Drycha as your general and a Glade, you don't get the Glade's Command Trait.

Dreadwood

  • Ability: Malicious Tormentors: Spite Revs reroll hits of 1.
  • Command Ability: Sinister Ambush: Once per turn, take a unit within 18" of a Hero and replace them anywhere on the battlefield, >9" of enemy units.
  • Command Trait: Paragon Of Terror: Enemy units reroll successful battleshock tests when within 6" of your general.
  • Artefact: Jewel Of Withering: -1 to melee wound rolls attacking the bearer.

The spooky choice. Gives a reason to use lots of Spite-Revenants. The battleshock reroll jells nicely with the Spite's -1 bravery buff, and hit rerolls on top of their 3+ to hit should make them terrifying. The teleporting is only good for deep striking a single unit, but combine with wyldwood teleporting and you can also throw over a bunch of Treelords and a big unit of Dryads at the same time.

Gnarlroot

  • Ability: Shield The Arcane: Units reroll hits of 1 when wholly within 12" of friendly Gnarlroot Wizards.
  • Command Ability: The Earth Defends: One unit wholly within 12" of a hero negates wounds or mortal wounds on 6+ for that combat phase.
  • Command Trait: Nurtured By Magic: Once per turn, if your general successfully casts a spell, a unit wholly within 18" heals D3 wounds.
  • Artefact: Chalice Of Nectar: Roll 3 dice when casting or unbinding and discard one of your choice.

The magicy life choice.

  • The ability to reroll 1s (for free) overlaps with the Arch-Revenant, so reasonable chance you already have that covered. But might be an excuse to drop Archie, freeing up 100 sweet points, or use both to further extend across your army (remember, Archie isn't a wizard).
  • Command ability is best left for emergency damage limitation on a crucial unit that somehow got into melee, unless you're really good at rolling sixes and have lots of spare CPs.
  • The Chalice, which means the bearer well may never fail a cast, sounds awesome at first glance, but it won't make you into a top-tier spellcaster. Your best wizard, Alarielle can't take artefacts (neither can Drycha). Wraith, Wych and Ancient will like it, but are restricted to one spell (and with the artefact slot taken, no way to boost the number of casts). Best option is the Warsong Rev for his two casts.
    • Vesperal Gem (which guarantees the cast, but with a small chance of mortals) is similar to the Chalice without tying you to a glade. This can then be supplemented with Spellsinger (+6 range, which you can double by using the balewind vortex), or Winterleaf/Harvestboon/Dreadwood if you're taking a battalion.
  • The trait, whilst great at keeping stuff alive, is limited the same way as the Chalice - Warsong, Wych, Wraith or Ancient only. You want this on something in the action (Warsong, Ancient) and not something in your backline (Wraith).

Heartwood

  • Ability: Courage for Kurnoth: +1 Bravery wholly within 12" of heroes.
  • Command Ability: Lord of the Hunt: Reroll melee hit and wound rolls of 1 against 1 enemy unit within 12" of a hero.
  • Command Trait: Legacy of Valour: If the general is slain, do D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 1" on a 2+. On a 6, do D6 instead.
  • Artefact: Horn of the Consort: Reroll hits for Kurnoth Hunters wholly within 12".

The reliability choice. The CA overlaps with the Artefact as is a better version of the free one you get with Arch Revenant (now you get wound rolls too). Trait is an added bonus for any hero you expect to die on in melee somewhere - again, Durthu comes to mind. Those mortals could quite easily finish of that unit he just couldn't quite shift. Bravery boost is nothing to be sniffed at. Put the artefact on the Arch Revenant and have her babysit some Bows (with her +1 attacks and rerolls of 1), then as the battle shifts to meleem, run 18" (that plus two lots of 12" range is 42") to the frontlines to boost your Swords and Scythes. Or throw on a Wych near the bows and put Archie at the front to benefit from both reroll abilities.

Harvestboon

  • Ability: Vibrant Surge: Reroll melee hits of 1 after charging that turn.
  • Command Ability: Fertile Ground: A unit wholly within 12" of a hero gets +1 attacks to all melee weapons.
  • Command Trait: Seek New Fruit: After attacking, your General can move 6", ending more than 3" from enemy units.
  • Artefact: The Silent Sickle: One melee weapon of the bearer gets +1 attacks.

The Sparta General choice.

  • To make decent use of the Command Trait, you're going to be taking Durthu (or maybe an Ancient on 1000pt games). Similarly, the Artefact is best used on Durthu (or Ancient).
  • The Command Ability and Ability are both more-or-less covered with the Arch-Revenant. Either use this as a replacement for the Archie, or load both Command Abilities onto a single unit (assuming you've been holding back the CPs) for +2. Use these on your Kurnoths or your already powered up Durthu. Damn.

Ironbark

  • Ability: Stubborn And Taciturn : Reroll battleshock tests when wholly within 12" of any heroes.
  • Command Ability: Stand Firm: Pick one enemy unit that charges within 1", roll a dice. On 2+ they get D3 mortals.
  • Command Trait: Mere Rainfall: Your General rerolls saves against missile weapons.
  • Artefact: Ironbark Talisman: +1 for melee wound rolls.

In addition, you get Dispossed and Fyreslayers as allies.

The dwarven choice. Rainfall will probably just make your opponent target elsewhere (but you are forcing that choice upon them). Stand Firm is going to stop any small heroes from charging you.

Oakenbrow

  • Ability: Our Roots Run Deep: Subtract 2 from wounds taken by Treelords of all varieties when looking at the damage table.
  • Command Ability: Yield To None: Battleshock immunity wholly within 16" of a selected hero.
  • Command Trait: Regal Old-growth: +1 wound.
  • Artefact: Dawnflask: 6+ save against wounds and mortal wounds.

The Treelord choice. With all the point reductions to Treelords this sounds like a good idea, but with how terrible the bonuses are, you should probably just use a better Grove. The ability is going to keep Durthu's sword at full strength for twice as long (Up to 4 wounds taken, instead of 2) - but sadly the trait doesn't stack here.

Winterleaf

  • Ability: Winter's Bite: For all your units, unmodified melee hit rolls of 6 score 2 hits.
  • Command Ability: Branch Blizzard: Extra 12" shooting attack. Roll a dice for each model in target unit, each 6+ is one mortal.
  • Command Trait: My Heart Is Ice: Every melee wound inflicted on your general, roll a dice, on a 5+ the attacker gets one mortal.
  • Artefact: Frozen Kernel: Once per game at the start of the combat phase, 1 friendly WINTERLEAF unit wholly with 18" of the bearer can pile in and attack twice. It does the second pile in and attack right after the first time it attacks, and only if it is still within 3" of an enemy unit.

The obvious choice.

  • The ability exploding sixes is super deadly. The math works out as more or less the same as +1 to hit. And this is across your whole army!
  • The general's feedback on 5+'s in melee can also be super deadly. Can also help keep your guy alive - on a straight Behemoth vs Behemoth fight, those 5+'s will weaken your opponents attacks as it drops down its damage table.
  • Regardless of how you play it, the Kernel is always super deadly. But it needs a bit of finesse to ensure you pick the best moment to use it - given that you choose at the start of the phase when to use it, it's very easy to super power something that didn't need it. Make sure to use it before your general is killed too.
  • The shooting attack isn't quite so super deadly as everything else, but who cares when you have everything else above. Mostly only of use against hordes and if you've got plenty of spare CPs (which you won't).
  • If you're unsure what to take, unsure of how to play Sylvaneth and just want to throw everything into combat then just take Winterleaf. Simple. Super deadly.
  • On 1000pt games, where you can only really squeeze in a single big guy, and you really want to take Drycha, then Winterleaf is still useful. Simply make Archie/Wraith/Wych your general. Sure, the Command Trait is wasted, but the Ability and Artefact are still really good.

Warscrolls

Named Leaders

  • Alarielle the Everqueen: (740pts). The over-the-top God model for Sylvaneth. She can't hit as hard as Archaon and (arguably) Morathi or outcast Teclis and Nagash, but when used correctly she is a still a beast. With the new Broken Realms warscroll she's gotten a lot better (and has taken a points bump to match).
    • With a 16" Flying Move stat she can get to where you want her to be.
    • She doesn't have to be the general, but is treated as a general along with the character you picked, enabling you to benefit from a wider range of tactical flexibility.
      • If you're flinging her around the board, the only supporting character who can keep up with her is probably Archie.
    • The lady has a pool of 16 Wounds with a 3+ Save and heals herself for 2D6 (in your own turn only). Generally means your opponent is either going to have to focus fire to get her off the board in one turn, otherwise she'll be gaining everything back next turn (and that's even without casting the "heal D6 wounds" Sylvaneth spell Regrowth).
    • She can heal all Sylvaneth models within 30" for D3 each turn, which can be combined with Regrowth to heal a large model for D3+D6 wounds).
    • She has a strong throwing spear with massive 24" range. Damage of 6 and just one shot, so fluffing rolls is an issue, but 2+/2+/-1 should help.
    • Main melee attack is the beetle. 4 attacks at damage 5 which is great, but it's not nearly as high as you'd expect from a model this expensive. Plus, as soon as she gets hurt, that damage drops off quickly.
    • Her other weapon is the Talon of Dwindling, 4 attacks and anyone wounded but not slain by it dies on a roll of 6. All other damage from it is negated. Great for taking out big models, but it's a gamble you might not want to rely upon.
    • She gives D3 mortals on the charge (with a 1 in 6 chance of D6 or nothing) and can retreat and charge in the same turn allowing you to keep giving those mortals out and preventing getting stuck in the wrong combat.
    • Three casts per turn, and she knows all the Sylvaneth spells. If you don't have three worthwhile things to cast, then always start with Throne Of vines. Keep her motionless to cheese that throne.
    • She gets a one shot unblockable summon of either a Treelord (regular), 3x Kurnoths, 20x Dryads, 10x Tree- or Spite-Revenants or, umm, a single Branchwych. This effectively dropping her cost by ~200 points, and you get to decide which unit to spend those ~200 points on during the game. Just make sure you summon before she dies.
      • Note that the Dryad and Rev options give you a reinforced unit without using up one of your reinforcement options. Bubble wrapping her in Dryads can be more effective than more Kurnoths.
    • Her command ability Ghyran's Wrath allows all friendly Sylvaneth wholly within 14" to re-roll failed wound rolls of 1.
    • Her spell Metamorphosis (7+), you roll as many dice as the modified casting roll, and each 3+ deals a mortal to a unit within 16". If that kills the enemy, then you can place a wood there. Given the smaller size of a single wood, the better placement rules, and the better damage output of this spell, using this to place more woods is now finally a plausible strategy. Again, spam this with the throne - with one throne cast, on average you'll be doing 6 mortals.
    • If you think you can keep her alive, then she's now a good pick. This lady has all the bits, but you can't just use her as a hammer and expect her to live. If you just throw her into the enemy she'll die before you get to heal her again. She's good, but not the best in close combat melee. At her cost, she's too expensive for a glass cannon.
      • If you think she can take an opponent's model out in one round of combat, then by all means throw her in it. Ideally you need this to be on isolated enemy unit. But, if you don't kill them, then by the time you get to attack again in your opponents turn, your scaling damage output could be so low she'll do nothing useful.
      • Ideally you want her to survive as long as possible. For the first few turns use her as a supercharged support unit. Put her behind your frontlines, preferably behind screens, LOS blocking woods and out of range of heavy firepower/mortals. Shoot, cast spells, heal and buff your real hammers. Give help where it's needed.
      • Later in the game, as losses ramp up, now is the time to bring her onto the front lines. Again, choose opponents carefully. But now is the time to play the odds and go for the Talon insta kills.
    • Worth all those points? Time will tell, but it's all about how you use her, not the raw stats.
  • Drycha Hamadreth: (330pts). Drycha is back and madder off than ever.
    • Now if an unmodified hit roll from Flitterfuries or Squirmlings is a 6, it's a mortal wound instead of going through the attack sequence.
    • Flitterfuries are an 18" shooting attack with 10 attacks single damage, rend -1. Meanwhile Squirmlings are 2" melee attack, also with 10 attacks single damage, but not rend. At the start of each battle round, you can choose what mood she's in, and as a result one of these attack doubles to 20!
    • In addition, her talons give another 6 attacks at damage 2, rend -2. This lady is a beast!
    • She's also excessively fast with a 9" Move that is not weakened by her damage table.
    • Her spell (6+) scores D3 damage to every unit within 10" based on a roll against the unit's bravery. This ends up being difficult to score damage against high bravery armies such as Death. This spell combos up with her relationship to Spite-Revenants though. The Spites lower enemy Bravery in order to power her damage-off-of-Bravery spell whereas she grants them better To Wound rolls.
  • Ylthari: (150pts, with Guardians) Shadespire Hero takes root in AOS.
    • Requires you to bring Ylthari's Guardians along with.
    • Similar to a Branchwych with a bit more melee power and is labelled a thornwych.
    • Re-rolls wound rolls of 1.
    • Her spell (6+) is a supercharged arcane bolt, giving you an average of 2 mortals per cast.
    • Might be best leaving her for Shadespire. You're paying 20 points more for her and the Guardian's than you would for a Branchwych and 5 Tree Revenants and not really gaining much in return.
    • Labelled Oakenbow, which as per FAQ, means that if you take another glade, these guys do not benefit from glade bonus. Which makes her now even more useless than before.
  • Qulathis the Exile (100pts) Kicked out from Cursed City
    • Standard 5 wound hero with usual meh melee.
    • Surprisingly No magic. Instead you get three 1 damage shots at +3/+3/-1, with additional mortals on 6s. Best thing here is the 24" range.
    • Has her own special glade, so can't be buffed by any of our glade bonuses.
    • Against missiles her save goes from 5+ to 3+. Most the time you still want to keep her in a LOS blocking wood, but this gives you more options. Then again, it's doubtful opponents will be wasting time raining fire down upon her.
    • This lady is purely for use as a sniper. However, you can only take one of her, and she can't take artefacts. Sigh. If you could boost her shooting output or give her a way to boost Kurnoth Bows then maybe she'd find a use. Possible if you really want more firepower and don't have room for more Kurnoth bows.
    • Missing from GHB2021 points. Still valid? Who cares.

Generic Leaders

  • Branchwraith: (95pts) Essential summoning support
    • As a Hero she sports a very meh stat wheel with the exception of her above average movement speed (7"). Her melee will offer only token resistance to opponents, big surprise, she's a Wizard after all, but when in a wood, she gets -1 to hits made against her, which helps. Although you shouldn't really ever be getting her into combat, she should ideally spend her life hidden in woods, teleporting between them.
    • That summoning though allows you to summon 10 Dryads every turn. Game breaking? Well, not quite. Firstly you need to successfully cast and not get unbound; secondly said Dryads need placing in a wyldwood more than 9" from an enemy. You basically have to put a forest in your backfield and just use it to churn out dryads, then teleport them where you need them to go. You could be looking at 2-3 movement phases before they can charge anything. If you have any sense you will keep this crazy looking plant lady in your starting Wyldwood, blocked from LOS and out of unbind range.
    • Consider giving your wraith anything that bumps the spell cast (7+, 58.3% chance) to try and guarantee a unit of Dryads every turn. Take the Stave for an additional cast plus the Throne spell; cast throne (5+, 83.3% chance) then summon at 5+ (again, 83.3% chance). Turn two, another throne cast and you are down to needing 3+. Keep going and you're more or less guaranteed that cast, plus it'll be impossible to unbind. Plus in later turns also gives you the bonus of a cheeky bolt/shield/harmony cast. If you really don't want to use up that artefact slot then another option is taking a battalion and Gnarlroot - the chalice gives her 3 dice, discarding 1, giving you a 74.5% chance.
    • Consider taking two Branchwraiths. Use the second one for verdant blessing wood summonings. If the Dryad summoning wraith dies, you have a spare one. Now you can afford to be a little riskier and put one in a wood near the front lines to get those new Dyrads into combat quicker, or get those woods out further. And if that's convinced you, then maybe you want to consider a third Branchwraith. Arm them with an array of Deepwood spells and you should always have something useful to cast, especially given turn 5 (or even 4) it might not be useful to summon more bodies that you won't get into combat. This is probably overboard, and less useful now wyldwoods block LOS.
  • Branchwych: (90pts) Aggressive support wizard.
    • Same meh stat wheel as the Branchwraith, but with slightly better melee.
    • As long as she's taken at least one wound in damage, she gets 2 extra attacks on her scythe.
    • Her spell Unleash Spites (5+) is a damaging pulse effecting all enemy units within 9". It works best against the more units that are in range - If there are only 1 or 2 target units in range, then arcane bolt will usually do more damage than the pulse, but it gets better against more units, of course. On average, you'll expect 1.11 mortal wounds per unit.
    • In Skirmish, the pulse is extremely broken, as every model is a unit. So, get within range of the front line and suddenly every model is hit with rolling a minimum of 5 dice, giving mortal wounds on sixes. Most of those models are single wound chaff, because skirmish doesn't allow you to take any of the good stuff, and you've got a game winning massacre. Sadly that pulse is the only thing we've got going for ourselves in Skirmish.
    • The oft whispered about Branchwych Bomb involves sticking her on a Balewind Vortex inside a mid to frontline wood, giving her Deadly Harvest, Spellsinger, and using whatever casting bonuses you can get hold of. Then sit back and cast both spells, spamming mortals out in 21" and 15" bubbles. In practice you're tying up far too much to get this off reliably. Just don't run crying when your 5 wound guy gets wiped out pronto after one round of this. Clearly hilarious if you can get it to work.
      • It's possible to invest even more into this strategy by adding an Umbral Spellportal, but even that doesn't make it worthwhile.
    • Difficult to recommend her when you can get a spare Dryad summoning Branchwraith for the same cost, and give her Dwellers Below which isn't that much worse than Unleash Spites.
  • Spirit of Durthu: (340pts) This is SPARTAAAAA *ahem* supercharged Treelord.
    • The Spirit of Durthu is an absolute damage monster, with extremely powerful shooting, terrifying melee and all the standard tricks of the vanilla Treelord.
    • NOT a named character (and therefore not reduced to 0-1 in Matched Play, etc etc), but very expensive.
    • A shooting attack that is basically the vanilla Treelord's Strangleroots on steroids, with higher range, more shots and higher damage per shot.
    • His sword is just about as terrifying as it looks, with constant damage 6 so long as he stays in good health and 2 bonus attacks for being near a wood.
    • You really need those big melee attacks to actually hit. So have consider having your Sylvaneth be from Ghyran, and give your Spirit of Durthu the Ghyrstrike Relic. 3 attacks (plus 2 if near a wyldwood), 2+ to hit, 2+ to wound, 6 damage. Holy good fuck.
    • That damage table is a killer for him. Just two wounds and he goes from 6 to D6 damage. Do the math, and a block of Kurnoth's will output a lower higher end, but similar average output and degrade slower.
    • He also adds 1 to the Bravery of friendly Sylvaneth. But no one cares about that.
  • Treelord Ancient: (295pts). The swiss army knife Treelord
    • If Durthu is a supercharged Treelord, then this is the slightly weaker but more useful version. He retains all the abilities and powers of the vanilla.
    • Compare to a Vanilla Treelord, this guy has 1" less movement and 1 less attack on its Sweeping Blows. This doesn't seem like much, but the drop from 4 to 3 attacks is actually quite drastic. And what does this old fella get in return? An extra 3 to its Bravery, 18" range on its strangle roots, gains a command ability and becoming a freakin' wizard!
    • His unique spell will do D3 damage to any enemy units on or around your woods. It's either a great deterrent to entering your woods or a great punishment if the opponent was dumb enough to actually do it. Even more useful now we are spitting out trees three at a time.
    • Once per battle he can unconditionally summon a new wood. This makes him an almost must take if you want a guaranteed second wood out on your first turn. Note this is once per game, not once per Ancient per game. Wholly within 18" is not that long a range, so if you're dropping turn one (before you've moved anything) you're not going to be using it for backline deep striking. However, If you teleport the Ancient to the wood, then next turn a 24" verdant blessing wood should give you all the range you need.
    • Has a Command Ability that lets all the Sylvaneth within 12" of him get +1 to save. Stack this with the Kurnoth aura extension. Really good use of those CPs when it's not your turn. This is a really easy way to boost most your army in one go.
    • He's got a lot of stuff going on, but he's expensive. If you want damage take Durthu, if you want casting take the Warsong. However, the stuff he does have is great.
  • Arch-Revenant: (105pts) Force multiplier for the Kurnoths
    • Is very fast, with a move of 12" and an ability to fly until she loses her mount (see below).
    • Has the best non-Behemoth Hero melee in Sylvaneth (which doesn't say much): three 2" 3+/3+/-2 Dmg 2 attacks with her glave and a single 4+/3+ Dmg D3 attack with her mount.
    • Slightly more survivable than a Branchwych, with five wounds, a 4+ save and an ability to sacrifice her mount to negate one allocated normal or mortal wound.
    • Has a shield for either defensive or offensive use: at the start of the combat phase you may chose to use it to give +1 to saves or reroll hit rolls of 1.
    • Automatically buffs Kurnoth Hunters within 12" of herself, allowing them to re-roll hit rolls of 1 (both melee and shooting).
    • Has a great command ability, adding 1 attack to each model's weapon in a unit within 9" (12" if the Arch-Revenant is your General). Combine this ability with alpha-striking unit of Tree-Revenants, or buff the hell out of Kurnoth Sword/Scythes - either way, it'll really hurt your opponent. Only works in the melee phase, so no buffing Kurnoth bows.
    • The Arch-Revenant's Call to Battle can be used on the Kurnoth Hunters or units near them as long as she is anywhere the board (due to Envoys of the Everqueen) to boost your damage output. Keep her safe!
  • Warsong Revenant (275pts) Heavy support wizard introduced in Broken Realms
    • A double spellcaster!!! (but only 1 unbind). And +1 to casting within 9" of a wood.
    • Spell is another variety on fishing for wounds spell: For each unit within 9", roll number of dice equal to the cast, and each 5+ is a mortal wound. So that's averaging 2.33 mortal on each unit. Plus he knows all of the deepwood lore.
    • Attacks 5 times with rend at damage 2. Plus there's a 3" range.
    • Slightly less squishy than our usual heroes: 7 wounds, the standard 5+ save is boosted with a 4+ FNP.
    • Fairly maneuverable too with 8" range and flies.
    • Gives -1 bravery to all enemies within 12", not that anyone cares.
    • From only looking at his warscroll you might be wondering what the big deal is about this guy. Well, give him an artefact, command trait and remember he knows the entire deepwood lore. Now he'll show his worth. Easily best choice for Chalice in the faction (you might as well give him Nurtured by magic too), or Spiritsong/Vesperal stacks great too - use that extra spell from spiritsong to cast throne every turn. Given he'll probably be near the action, Frozen Kernel and Horn Of Consort would work too if you're not magic focused.
    • Designed to sit behind your front lines, attacking through your Kurnoths and Treelords, fairly safe from retaliation. Think of him as a support piece and use similar to Alarielle. Given the crossover and combined points of the two, you probably don't want Alarielle and this guy in the same list.
    • Remember the oft talked about Branchwych bomb (see above), well now we have the Warsong bomb. Give Spellsinger, get him near a wood or ideally within a big wood, prime with throne the turn before, then spam his spell at every enemy unit within 15" for an average of 3.333 mortals (assuming a single throne, with .6 for each addition throne). Boost with an addition D3 for everything with 9" from Deadly Harvest. Maybe throw in the umbral spellportal. Deadlier than the Branchwych bomb, but you're still making him a huge target and it's a lot of points/resources wrapped up to make this happen. He will survive a lot longer than the Wych though.
    • Like Alarielle, points are high for this guy ... but lets see what AOS 3 brings first before crying too loud.

Battleline

  • Dryads: (95pts, 10) Your rank and file angry trees. These ladies are thankfully quite versatile and so can be used for a variety of situations.
    • At first glance the ladies don't look like much, having only a 5+ Save and 2 attacks at 4+/4+/-/1. But they quickly become incredible as in units of 10+ they gain +1 Save, they hit on 3+ in your combat phase and they also have 2" range on their attacks, letting them fight in thick, two-row hedges. They also profit from being near a wood (-1 to hits against them), this is in addition to +1 save for being in cover. They are also very fast at 7". Keep them in big units as the Save-bonus and the 2" range heavily reward you for doing so.
    • You can abuse their buffed save rolls by adding a unit of Sisters of the Thorn so you can reroll failed saves (which also deals a mortal on 6), so a large unit in a wood now has 3+ with reroll. For chaff, that's pretty damn good. However, those Sisters are going to cost you a fair bit in return.
    • With Cities of Sigmar, Sisters of the Thorn's spell can only be used on WANDERERS unit, so Dryads cannot make use of it anymore.
    • Remember to bring at least an additional 20 of these for the Branchwraith to summon. Unless you plan on playing super defensive, you won't need more than 30 spare.
  • Tree-Revenants: (80pts, 5) Troops for tricksy players - not your mainline infantry.
    • At first glance look disappointing, with basically the same stat-wheel as Dryads but lower Move. Now here's where it gets good....
    • They have Rend in melee, unlike the Drayds.
    • They have the coolest rerolls in the game, getting to reroll 1 dice per phase. So this seems wonky in melee, doesn't it? Well, it also allows them to reroll the dice to run, one of the charge dice, the Battleshock dice... you get the picture.
    • The standards allow them to pile in 6" which lets them get more attacks in. (A handy counter to having your pile-in reduced, as with Lumineth Spirits of the Wind…)
    • Most importantly, the musician allows them to use a better Spirit Paths rule, letting you take them off the table and then place them anywhere on the table more than 9" from enemy units.
    • Leader either gets two additional attacks or +1 damage.
    • Do not use these guys as as you would Dryads. They aren't particularly killy, they will die quickly if attacked first and their kit is way too expensive to use lots of them. They are for board control:
      • Charge blockers. Save until your opponent gets ready to charge a very killy unit they want to get into combat asap, then teleport a wall of Revenants in front. Revenants will die instantly in the following combat, but it'll free up your more important units.
      • Back line threatening. Your opponent can no longer keep those war machines, Jezzails and Poisoned Wind Mortars unguarded. Minimum-size squads of them also have just high enough of a damage output to cut all the aforementioned units to ribbons. But, you will say, the 9" charge after teleporting is improbable. No. Since they can reroll one of the charge dice, they are more likely to make that charge than to fail it. A good rule of thumb is to use 2 units of minimum size. That way, it's very likely at least one of them will make the charge and then they will more than likely deal enough damage to neuter the war machine you attacked.
      • Objective taking. Without any Revenants, your opponent might decide to leave a captured objective unguarded. With Revenants either you can teleport and grab the objective or they'll be wise to this and need to keep a unit tied up - one big enough to survive a teleport and charge strike.
  • Spite-Revenants: (70pts, 5) Less tricksy, more creepy Tree-Revenants.
    • No rend and single damage, but 3 attacks at +3/+3 each!
    • They also exist to muck around with enemy Bravery. They flat reduce the Bravery of enemies around them, which combos well with Drycha's unique spell. Plus they force them to reroll passed battleshock tests. Even Death armies can end up with some battleshock losses. This does mean keeping them alive until the battleshock phase.
    • Coherency rules are really bad for their 1" range on 32mm bases. Taking 10 or even 15 is not recommended.
    • Your glass cannon battleline: Hits really hard, dies really quickly.
    • In AOS2, these guys had their use. Outcasts battalion with 3 lots of MSU spites were the cheapest way to get a battalion. Alternatively, 20 of these packed a huge punch and had some staying power. With the loss of both of these in AOS3, Spites are in a tricky place. They die too quickly to be of much use. With only 10 points in it, the Tree Revs are a more more versatile option. Meanwhile, Dryads will get you more damage and staying power.

Other Troops

  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatswords: (225pts) The ultimate wooden killing machine.
    • Incredible. Each of these guys is basically a minor Hero at 5 Wounds and a 4+ Save.
    • The sword tosses out 4 attacks at -1 Rend and damage 2. And deals an additional mortal wounds on wound rolls of 6.
    • Only 1" range on a large base. Always take in threes only.
    • When melee attacking, if they don't need to move (other than 1" pile in), they get +1 to saves. This works on both yours are your opponents charge phases.
      • Since the warscroll only says at the start of the charge phase but doesn't specify whose, they can technically charge and pile in normally in your charge phase and then use Tanglethorn Thicket in your opponent's if you went first.
    • At the end of combat you deal mortal wounds on a 4+ for each model in your unit
    • They also channel Command Abilities. When you use a Command ability, any unit wholly within 12" of a Kunroth is also counted as being in range of the casting hero.
    • Consider pretending you're playing 40K and magnetise the arms for different weapon loadouts below. If you fix the weapons on one unit then you'll have enough shoulder pads spare to better magnetise a second unit. The Quiverbugs are trickier to magnetise. Sadly there are no official rules for using plasma cannons.
    • These guys are crazy good now, especially if you take them in Winterleaf. Stick an Arch-Revenant next to a unit, send into something big, and watch it go **POOF**. Pop command ability for 10 attacks hitting on 3+, 5 attacks on 2+, reroll 1's to hit, with 6's causing mortal wounds AND extra attacks?! All wounding on 3's with their -1 rend and flat 2 damage (Bonus points for using the Frozen Kernel so they can do it again. Even Nagash will tremble in terror.)
  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Scythes: (215pts, 3)
    • Same as above, but with longer weapon range of the scythes, which tosses out 3 attacks at Rend -2 and damage D3. The scythes do more damage against 2+ saves, break even against 3+ and the swords win against everything else. But that's before taking into account the mortal wounds on 6 the Swords deal out (which the scythes don't get).
    • However, the scythes have 2" reach. You'll want this for units of 6 or more to get them all into combat or if you want to place a screen in front and attack through them.
  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatbows: (225pts, min 3)
    • Same as above, but now with ranged weapons.
    • A stunning 30" range, two shots per model and D3 damage per shot, these guys are basically artillery.
    • In melee, they do a lot less damage overall than the swords/scythes, and you can only shoot during your turn (unlike melee, effectively halving the potential damage done per game), but that range means you won't be getting attacked back.
    • Use these to hide in woods out of enemy LOS and/or use to camp on objectives.
    • Sadly our big woods block LOS for these guys.
  • Ylthari’s Guardians: (Free with Ylthari) Shadespire Tree Revenants without the good stuff.
    • Can only be taken along with Ylthari.
    • Tree Revenants without a musician or banner, so you loose the pile in and teleport abilities.
    • In return you get three different weapon profiles (sword, glaive, bow), which are upgrades on the Tree Revenants.
    • Plus on a D6 3+ you get to attack first, which is going to make them a lot less fragile than standard Tree Revenants.
    • Same reroll rules as the standard Tree Revenants. Plus you get to reroll wound rolls of 1.
  • Skaeth’s Wild Hunt: (110pts, min/max 5) Straight outa Beastgrave
    • 5 unique models with ok melee (max damage of six wounds with all models) and a little bit of shooting (a single close range and single far range attack)
    • One wound each, but the leader gets one extra. And the one of them is a Wizard.
    • Might be easier to just think of these guys as a 120pt six wound wizard with a behemoth damage table. Remember, each model killed results in fewer attacks/abilities. Just make sure you remove the models you most care about last.
    • Spell (CV 7), as long as the model lives, gives you +1 to wounds rolls on a nearby unit, which is neat. Especially given that's something not covered elsewhere in the faction. Sadly it's a fairly high casting value.
    • They can still charge and shoot after running, not that you'll be charging them much.
    • Unique and not a hero.
    • Really, the +1 wounds spell to work alongside your other buffs is the reason you'll be taking these guys. In an either/or choice, the Arch Revenant is 20pts cheaper and better, and the wych/wraiths are 50% cheaper if you just want a wizard.
    • Like Ylthari, labelled Oakenbow, which as per FAQ, means that if you take another glade, these guys do not benefit from the glade bonus. Which makes them now even more useless than before.

Behemoths

  • Treelord: (190pts) The Walking Tree.
    • At the start of combat he can stomp and on a 4+ cause one enemy unit within 3" to fight at the end of combat.
    • You get a single attack at rend -2, and on a 6 it goes from 1 damage to D6 mortal wounds.
    • Instead of moving or retreating, if 6" from a wood, he can teleport to another wood, more than 9" from enemies. This is in addition to the single unit that can do the same using the Navigate Realmroots ability on the Awakened Wyldwood warscroll. Deep Strike!
    • And they can also shoot, which is decent, not much worse than a unit of Bow Kurnoths.
    • It should be remembered that these guys class as monsters and carry all the baggage that comes with that (You know declining stats, Large model, everyone wants to shoot it. that sort of thing), its still a pretty kickass unit.
    • Everything this guy can do, Durthu and the Ancient can do, and more. But you're paying almost twice for them.
    • Raw stats are not great, but you get all the new AOS3 monster abilities for a cheap price.
    • With the bump to monsters in AOS3, this guy might finally be useful. Take alongside a big hitter, teleporting with them, stomping and attacking through them.

Scenery

  • Awakened Wyldwood: Trees everywhere - hopefully
    • An Awakened Wyldwood consists of either 3 wyldwood models arranged to form a circle. Everything inside is treated as woods. Or it consists of 3 individual woods more then 3" from each other. You choose.
    • Because they are treated as separate pieces, if you fail to place one, you can still place the others.
    • No longer stated that you can use the old citadel wood dinner plates.
    • After deciding territories, place one of these beauties on you own side, 3" from objectives and other sceneries. In most games, this'll serve as you "base" and dryad factory.
    • Instead of moving in the movement phase, ONE SYLVANETH unit wholly within 6" of an Awakened Wyldwood can be moved to wholly within 6" of another, different, wood, and of course more than 9" from any enemy. Treelord varieties have the Spirit Walk Ability and can teleport in addition to this one unit.
    • Line of sight blockers (for a wyldwood made of 3 pieces) if that line covers at least 3 inches inside the wood. This is great for general survivability. Blocking doesn't count for any model with wounds 10 or more - which is reasonable, but doesn't quite make sense for Treelords (you know, the guys that look like trees). Individual woods (not in a group of 3) do not block LOS but should still provide cover like other scenery.
    • At the end of the charge phase, each non SYLVANETH unit within 1" on a 6 gets D3 mortals.
    • Every spell cast wholly within 6" of a wood, each non SYLVANETH unit within 1" on a 5+ gets D3 mortals.
      • Remember those damages hurt your allies and your ally in doubles games.
    • Counts as a standard wyldwood, which means they blocks LOS between models with at least 3" of wyldwood between them. Does not count models those with more than 10 wounds each.
      • Sadly this blocks Kunroth bow LOS too.
      • This is going to be a little fiddly to get right, and probably never come into play on single model woods.
    • With Monsterous Rampage, an enemy monster can destroy a wood at the end of each charge phase. That includes teleporting, mortal damage and LOS. Ouch.
      • However, RAW, you can still use a broken as a destination for a Sylvaneth teleport. Plus anything not on the awakened wyldwood warscroll still works. So that includes Treelord teleporting and all the little wood bonuses everyone gets on their own warscrolls.
      • This all just encourages you to place lots of single model woods.
    • All Treelords and one other unit per turn can teleport between two of these instead of moving (this is in addition to the standard one unit wood teleport)
    • Branchwraiths, Branchwyches, Dryads and Durthu all gain bonuses for being near a wood.
    • The Acorn artefact and the Treelord Ancient can both unconditionally place one wood per game. The verdant blessing spell (6+) is known by all our wizards and can place a new wood per turn if successfully cast. Alarielle can set up a new wood after killing a unit with her spell (if there is room). All of these need to be 3" from objectives and other terrain, plus any additional terrain placement rules in play.
      • Using the rules above, that's either a single 3 wood piece or three individual woods.
    • You could end up bringing along 8 packs of these, which is a significant upfront cost for the army and it's a lot of extra plastic you're carting around between games.
    • Note that the entire inside of the ring of woods is counted as part of the Awakened Wyldwood, which means you can't use a wildwood to surround another piece of scenery or objective.

Battalions

Narrative only now. Battalions are now universal otherwise.

Forest Folk

A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads

Units can retreat and then still charge that turn.

Great for controlling the flow of combat. Essentially the opposite of Household. Stops your tar pits getting locked into combat with something you didn't want to, usually due to them charging first. Alternatively, if done correctly, you can bypass combat screens - charge into the screen one turn, then the following turn, retreat further up the board and charge your real target. Ignore the Branchwraith here, she's just included to reduce the number of drops.

Free Spirits

A Spirit of Durthu and three units of Kurnoth Hunters

Always rolls a 6 for a run.

Nice. Running instead of charging allows you to tanglethorn for save rerolls when the enemy charges in the following turn. You'll be wanting Scythes because you'll need the range on your tiny pile in. Don't use it to try and deepstrike Durthu or the like if board placement has denied you getting out any woods, as you'll now have lone units who can no longer shoot or charge until the next turn vulnerable to counterattack.

If you are taking these units, then you probably are also want the cheapest battleline you can get hold of, which is 3x5 Spites - and if you're doing that, then Outcasts is 40 points cheaper. Anyone wanting three artefacts, then this and Outcasts together would work.

Household

A vanilla Treelord, a Branchwych and a unit of Tree-Revenants

Units locked in combat with the Household cannot retreat.

That's an amazing ability for controlling the board, sadly the unit choices aren't the best. However, consider a blob of 30 freely teleporting Tree Revenants with 6" pile ins (and a 60pt hoard discount) and you're going to lock down whatever threats you want to for multiple turns until they chew through or die. Use the woods to throw your Treelord followed by Branchwych bomb to lock down a different unit elsewhere. Now consider how much six boxes of Revenants is going to cost to do this. Yeah.

Lords of the Clan

Two to four Treelord Ancients and one to three normal Treelords

During your shooting phase, every enemy within 6" of 2+ Treelords, gets D3 mortals on a 2+ roll.

At 60 points, this is a bargain given it's only 10 more than a command point, and If you really want lots of trees then this is a no brainer. Ability requires you teleport deep strike in pairs, but you won't get those mortals until your next turn after charging (assuming the whole pair stays alive). Having to take two Ancients is the tax here - most the Ancient's abilities don't double up, leaving your second Ancient mostly as a Treelord with a much lower damage output (however, you do get the additional spell plus the choice of which Ancient to use for its abilities). Being forced to take in pairs is a good as the stomp becomes much more reliable (from 50% to 75%), with the chance you can stomp a second enemy. For the most use out of this you want two pairs of Ancient+Vanilla, but that uses up almost half your points and all your behemoths slots in a 2000pt game. Two Ancients and one Vanilla is easier to build around, but that magnifies the Ancient tax and neuters the battalion ability. For pure damage output and survivability, Dreadwooding a large block of Kurnoth's is mathematically the better choice. However, two pairs of stomping Trees are much more flexible. In addition, taking LOTC enables you to take a mixed battleline (say, one each of Spites, TreeRevs and Dryads) instead of the usual block of Outcasts or Forest Folk - or take both if you really want the artefacts/CPs.

Outcasts

Three units of Spite-Revenants

Any enemy unit that fails battleshock within (not wholly within!) 3" loses an additional D3 models.

Remember that Spites lower enemy bravery too. If you want the cheapest possible battleline plus battalion, then this is the choice to take, for just 280pts total - just don't expect them to last long.

Wargrove

One Lords of the Clan, three Households, three Forest Folks, one Free Spirits and one Outcasts. 80pts (5,240pts min -> 11,010pts max)

Our only remaining super battalion. Allows you to place two Wyldwoods at the start of the game instead of one. Still, way too big to use unless you're playing 6000 point games.

Drycha's Spitegrove

Drycha, 2 units of Spite Revenants.

Spites can be great, but the biggest thing they lack is rend. This fixes that, but for only 2 units. Encourages you to take bigger units of spites, which may not be what you want. However, if you're taking Drycha, this is a no brainer if you want a cheap battalion.

Army Building

1000 pts

2000 pts

Winterleaf starter List

Dreadwood Teleportation

Dreadwood lets you dodge a lot of mobility concerns that can occur with the new terrain rules - combined with up to +5 to charges and Envoys of the Everqueen, Kurnoth can deliver a punch wherever you want it.

Gnarlroot Core

Gnarlroot provides reliable casting and healing with re-rolling 1's across your entire army if they stay within range (12") of your casters, this provides a flexible core for most match ups.

Allied Armies

The problem with allies, is that they do not get the SYLVANETH-Keyword. Our Forests can and will turn on our allies if they get too close. This massively reduces their mobility, weakens our board control and potentially makes us lose our models without the enemy having to do anything.

  • Stormcast Eternals: You don't particularly need stormcast. Their play style is too different from traditional Sylvaneth play and overall they don't synergise too well. Perhaps with the upcoming Stormcast Sacrosanct chamber, something might be available to use well with Sylvaneth, but as of now don't bother. Stormcasts are just too slow to keep up with us and allies can't make up for this with Deep Strikes. Prosecutors might be a better option than the infantry on foot, but the would-be woefully under supported, due to the lack of Stormcast Heroes. Additionally, they have worse shooting than our (costlier) options and again, do not benefit from Stormcast specific abilities or commands.
  • Idoneth Deepkin: The fish guys have lots of cross-unit synergies, which are of no use here. Consider the Akhelian Guards (Ishlaen and Morrsarr). Compared to the Kurnoths, they are faster at 14' and can fly (but can't use wyldwood teleporting and need to stay way from them too), they pack more punch (but are much more fragile) and they are cheaper too.
    • Alternately, consider running a Deepkin army with the "Alliance of Wood and Sea" Battalion, giving you all the benefits of the Deepkin tides at the cost of having only one forest (for better and worse) via the Treelord Ancient's Silent Communion ability.
  • Bundo Whalebiter: A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls.
  • Fyreslayers: (Only if general is IRONBARK): Surprisingly useful alliance despite not being common in the lore. The Fyreslayers bring a lot of Mortal Wounds to the table, especially if a Runefather or Runeson on Magmadroth is chosen. With Hearthguard Berserkers, bring a Fyerslayer hero along with them and they can eat Mortal Wounds for you, being able to resist them on a 4+.

Buying Guide

Sylvaneth is mixed in terms of unit price values. Some can be cheap, others horrendously expensive, but that's GW. A cliché recommendation would be the start collecting box. Sadly the Branchwych is of less use than she used to be but can be easily turned into a much more useful Branchwraith with some simple conversion work.

Note that due to models coming from WFB, a box of Dryads has 16 models, so to get full use of them, you'll want two boxes giving you 3 dryad units plus 2 spare. Make these up as 3 Dryad Nymphs and 29 normal Dryads to give you full WYSIWYG flexibility of unit sizes. 5 boxes gets you a full usage with 80, which is probably enough unless you go full Dryad spam.


Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics
Order
Chaos
Death
Destruction
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