Warhammer Army Project/Wood Elves

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Wood Elves: Warhammer Army Project, 9th Edition Tactica

Created by Mathias Eliasson, this project was a homebrew attempt at giving many of the units, nations, and factions that never got Armybooks of their own (and those left behind and never got one in 8th Edition) such a thing.

It should also be noted that Eliasson is constantly updating his work, so don't expect this page to stay current forever. If anyone wishes to actually update this page and the items that need it, later on, go ahead.

Why Play WAP Wood Elves

Pros

• Archery is your bread and butter
• You are freakishly fast
• you can reenact the "The Last March of the Ents" every game.

Cons

• You are fragile, and unlike the other elves you lack plating to protect your men

Notable Changes from 8e

Pros

• Spites are back! Allowing you to pimp-out certain characters.
• Your combat characters are much cheaper.
• Universal buffs to BS based shooting is not missed by Wood Elves.
• No penalty for moving and shooting returns.
• Lore of Aethel Loren returns and is worth considering.
• More Treepeaple and other units to make infantry grind Wood Elves viable.

Cons

• You glass cannon units Close-Combat units lost their cannon properties, and are even more glass like. This army is now the stereotypical shooty pansy elves.
• Characters have to pay for bows and Wizards lost the option to even buy them.
• Eternal Guard lost a point of leadership and Armor piercing but are no cheaper. Didn't even get the invite to the medium armor club like the other spear elves.
• Magic Armour changes makes it impossible for your characters to have an armour save better than 4+. You don't even have access to Lore of Metal to get glitter robes.
• Your magical lore selection got slashed in half. Losing Dark, High, Fire, Metal, and Death.
• Lost armour pierce on spears.
• Your elves no longer gain Murderess and Martial Prowess in forest. In fact, most don't gain a damn thing in forest.
• Almost all of you melee units got worse in Melee. Wild Rider's mounts dont have frenzy, Eternal Guard lost armour pierce and Dryads lost Toughness.
• Warhawks went from being the best unit in the book (and probably top 5 in the edition) to unit you should leave on the shelf.

Special rules

• Elven Grace: With universal Elven ASF gone, there needed to be a bonus for your elves' freaky high Initiative. This makes your elves get a 6++ Dodge save when facing units with lower Initiative.

• Blessings of the Ancients: +1 to casting when 6" of a forest.

• Forest Spirit: Your tree-folk has Fear, Forest Strider, Magical Attacks, Immune (Psychology), and a 5++ ward save (6++ against magic attacks). You can't have elves join your treefolk and your trees can't join elves.

• Ambush from the Wordroots: place a forest in your deployment zone. You have tree synergy so you should have trees.

• Asrai Archery: Your elves don't suffer -1 for moving and shooting.

  The Game Won't penalize your for using the fast movement on your elves but now you have multishot on bows if your archers stay still.

• Forest Strider: In case you haven't noticed, your entire army does this. This is how you can walk through forests without issue.

Equipment

• Asrai Longbow: Armour Piercing (1) longbows. Some models with these bows can also grab enchanted arrows.

Enchanted Arrows

Being that your army focuses a lot on archery, it's only fair that you have units able to buy special magical arrows.

• Arcane Bodkins: Your arrows are now Armour Piercing (1), just to mock heavy armour even harder. Considering Asrai Longbows already have AP(1) this can be deadly against the plated fools.
• Hagbane Tips: Poisoned Attacks, which might give you a bit of an edge against armies of equal Toughness.
• Starfire Shafts: Enemies that test for panic because of these arrows are forced to re-roll a successful check. Works best if your targets don't have much armor or toughness like Goblins or small skirmish units.
• Swiftshiver Shards: These are for massed fire units. They'll allow you to fire multiple shots when on the move, then Asrai Archery turns this into only a -1 to hit. You won't mind shooting 2 arrows each that hit on a 4+.
• Trueflight Arrows: Your arrows ignore cover. Your walls are meaningless now.

Spites of Athel Loren

Yep, they've returned. These let tree-people tack on special rules in place of a magic item allowance. Elve characters can also buy one with their allowance.

• A Blight of Terrors: 25pts. Terror for your trees and elves since they usually lack it.
• A Cluster of Radiants: 25pts. Branchwraiths and Treeman Ancients Only. Adds a bonus dispel die to the dispel pool.
• An Annoyance of Netlings: 20pts. -1 to hit the bearer for only 20 points? That's a deal.
• A Muster of Malevolents: 15pts. Gives d6 poisoned magical S2 Shooting attacks with Quick to Fire. Pretty much gives the Treepeaple their form of quick shooting.
• A Pageant of Shrikes: 15pts. Gives an S4 magical shooting attack with sniper and slow to fire. What you'll be using to kill mages.
• A Befuddlement of Mischiefs: 15pts. A bound PL3 Magic Missile that lets you force a unit to act as if they failed stupidity. Can be ok, less so if it's on a unit with high leadership. Definitely not fun for many wizards.
• A Lamentation of Despairs: 15pts. A bound PL3 Direct Damage that forces monsters or characters to test Ld or eat d3 save-ignoring hits. The former tends to have poor Leadership, so save it for them.
• A Resplendence of Luminescents: 10 points for Magical Attacks? Really? Mathias dropped the ball when updating the Forest Spirit rule. Currently a pointless point sink.
• A Murder of Spites: 10pts. Adds d6 poisoned magical melee S2 attacks, which might be handy for whittling away wounds.

Heirlooms of Athel Loren

• The Spirit Sword: 60 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't punch through it enough already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a living single model unit (ie. character/champion/monster), you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens. I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

• Daith's Reaper: This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can re-roll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to re-roll successful armour saves. With the loss of ASF everywhere, this sword goes from useless on your heroes to just being overpriced since Wards still nerf it.

• The Bow of Loren: For 25 points you get a S4 Asrai Longbow that fires a number of shots equal to your character's attacks +1. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2 armour ignoring, sniping shots, slap The Savage Beast of Horros on him to get 5 of them, or give it to the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and won't get any bonus from extra hand weapon). The one drawback of this weapon is that it won't use any of the special arrows, which is a letdown. The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced.

• Helm of the Hunt: For 40 points you can grab a 6+ save, Devastating Charge, Frenzy, and Forest Spirit. This might allow you to join the wearer with legit Wild Riders or with treepeople, but that's all you get.
  • Alternate Opinion: For 40pts you get an awful lot with plenty of Magical Items allowance left over when given to a Glade Lord. The +2 attacks on the charge stack with magical weapons so combine with Daith's Reaper for maximum lulz as you scythe through infantry.

• The Rhymer's Harp: Grants a 5++ Ward and Strider to the bearer, the mount, and any unit they join. That sounds neat, but...60 points? Fucking really?

• Calaingor's Stave: 15pts. With Tree Singing now in its own lore, what does this thing do? Well, it lets you re-roll the distance your forest moves or the damage it inflicts when using Tree Singing. All right, that might make the spell useful, especially now at 15 points.

• Moonstone of the Hidden Ways: This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 35 points you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting, this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either rely on the luck of the terrain deployment table or how quickly you can get Madrigal of Meeting to cast. Leave it to the Tree Revenants.

• Hail of Doom Arrow: 35pts. Glade Lord or Glade Captain with Asrai longbow only. One uses S4 Multiple Shots (3D6). Waystalkers can now take it but can't with his snipe. It still sends a fucking frenzy of arrows, but now without armour piercing. Say goodbye to hordes.

• The Banner of the Eternal Queen: 55pts. This banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. At almost half the cost it was in 8th Ed it has become a lot more viable due to the survivability it can bring against Magic heavy armies. Its good to see this item being done justice while the Banner of the World Dragon got hit by the nerf bat into next week.

• The Banner of the Hunter King: Another banner which gives to its unit vanguard and allows you to re-roll the unit's first failed charge of the game for 30 pts. At less than half its old cost it no longer needs to be put on the Army BSB sadly/happily most of the units that would benefit from this already have access to Vanguard. Worth a look on some Wildwood Rangers as it'll help you get them where you need them.

Expansion Magic Items

Weapons

• The Dawn Spear:35pts. This particular spear is a good defensive tool. If it successfully wounds an enemy model, that unit suffers a -1 to hit for the rest of the turn.
• The Callach's Claw: 25pts. This weapon deals a -2 to Ld if it successfully wounds, making for a good pick for Breaking.
• The Hunter's talon: 25pts. This is an Elven Longbow with Sniper, making it a great pick because of our preference in shooting.
• Blades of Loec: 20pts. Shadowdancer only. These paired hand weapons allow a re-roll to wound, a great pick for these loons.
• The Spear of Twilight: 20pts. This spear packs KB.
• The Sword of a Thousand Winters: 20pts. Oh lawdy, is this cruel. For every wound an enemy character or monster suffers, they have to make a Toughness test or suffer -1 to S/I/A.
• Rageth's Wildfire Blades: 10pts. Two Flaming hand weapons. Could be worse for the price.

Armour

• Armour of the Fey: 35pts. This is light armor with a 4++ ward against magical attacks. Shame it's no good against spells.
• The Oaken Amour: 35pts. This is light armor with a 4+ Regen.
• Railarian's Mantle: 35pts. When this model's within 6" of a forest, they gain a 4++ Ward. While you do have the means to shove your forests around, you shouldn't be relying on this unless you're running an archery bunker.
• Briarsheath: 15pts. Model on foot only. A more defensive buff than the one above, this inflicts a -1 to hit the wearer with missiles, upped to -2 when in a forest.

Talismans

• Amaranthine Brooch: 45pts. Deals a 4++ Ward against non-Magical Attacks.
• Glmourweave: 30pts. This sinister piece deals a 4++ Ward against missiles, but in melee the enemies must make a Leadership Test or else need a 6+ to hit the bearer.
• Stone of the Crystal Mere: 30pts. This is a risky gamble. While a 3++ Ward is nice, it only lasts as long as you can make your saves. The moment you lose, it goes poof.
• Amber Pendant: 25pts. Enemies in base contact suffer ASL. AWESOME.
• The Fimbul Winter Shard: 25pts. This particular piece makes enemies in melee suffer -1 to melee, but it grants Tree Spirits within 6" Stupidity.
• Stone of Rebirth: 15pts. You got an extra life. So long as the bearer didn't die from being pursued, you can roll a d6 and be rezzed with a single wound on a 2+.
• Merciw's Locus: 15pts. A premier challenge tool, this robs the strength bonus from the bearer's weapons and those wielded by any enemy in melee. Pretty much what you want to laugh at super-slow great weapon dwarfs or roid-raging Khornates.

Arcane Items

• Ranu's Hearthione: 40pts. A grand assurance policy, this lets you re-roll a single casting or dispel die each magic phase. This is especially handy for avoiding miscasts or triggering Ultimate Power.
• Divination Orb: 25pts. Whenever the enemy casts using 3+ magic die, the bearer gets a free die to dispel with. While you're not the master mages your high cousins are, this does give you some influence.
• The Deepwood Sphere: 20pts. Enemies who move into a forest within 18"of the bearer suffer d6 S4 hits on this turn and on any turn where they stay in the area. Long live area denial.

Enchanted Items

• The Horn of the Asrai: 25pts. During one enemy movement phase per game, you can use this item. All enemies within charging range must then make a Psychology check or be forced to charge them. Great if you know how to influence your enemy movements, not if you suddenly bring a badass in front of your sad treeman ancient.
• Wraithstone: 25pts. Deals -1 to Leadership on enemies within 6" of the bearer, but it's useless when the enemy's Immune to Psychology.
• Elynett's Brooch: 20pts. Grants re-rolls to Psychology tests.
• Gwytherc's Horn: 15pts. Friendly units within 12" of the bearer gain a +1 to rally.
• Dragontooth Arrows: 5pts. These special arrows inflict Stupidity on those it wounds. Nasty and for dirt cheap.

Magic Standards

• Gaemrath, The Banner of Midwinter: 25pts. Once per game, you can trigger this. The bearer's unit may be unable to move, but they gain Unbreakable for this turn.
• Faoghir, The Banner of Dwindling: 25pts. This robs a die from the enemy if they decide to roll for fleeing distance against a unit carrying this banner. This also means you're going to overrun them that much easier.
• Saemrath, The Banner of Zenith: 25pts. Enemies within 12" of this banner cannot march.
• Aech, The Banner of Springtide: 25pts. The unit gains Quick to Fire. Know what that means? ARROW SPAM ON ALL THE CHARGERS!

The Lore of Athel Loren

Lore Attribute: Verdurous Harmony: Whenever you cast an augment spell on a friendly unit, they can recover one wound/model. This will be absolutely necessary since you have fragile units all around.

• Signature: Tree Singing: (6/12) You're pretty familiar with this as something else: Calaingor's Stave. You know, that useless item that shuffled forests around? While it's still the same as before and can't benefit from the Lore Attribute, the only benefit this spell has is its casting value being reduced to a 6+ (12+ for augment). It's still highly situational and unless you also got Drycha's trickery or Tree Revenants, its use is very suspect. Thankfully, you're not sacrificing any spell slots for this.

1. Fury of the Forest: (5/8) Fires d6 S4 hits on an enemy, doubled to 2d6 when the enemy's within 6" of a forest.
2. The Twilight Host: (6/9) Makes an allied unit cause Fear/Terror and counts as double the unit strength for outnumbering and steadfast. Combined with the Lore Attribute, this can turn around a losing fight or make you dominate a deadlock.
3. The Hidden Path: (7/10) Grants a unit Ethereal until your next turn or they end up in a fight. A handful of elfs and trees are more move expensive than legions of farmers with bows, so it prepared if at least one unit is immune to arrows and cannons.
4. Madrigal of Greening: (9) Summons one forest within 12". Acorn of Ages, meet your match. With signatures given to all wizards, you can then have a second Athel Loren wizard shove your new tree into a more convenient spot.
5. Ariel's Blessing: (10/13) Grants a unit a 4+ Regen, which when combined with the rezzed unit lets you laugh off attacks...until some dickhole decides to set their swords on fire.
6. Call of the Hunt: (11/14) Either grants a unit a bonus attack (mounts excluded) or throws a unit 2d6" forward with random movement. Combine the former with Twilight Host to truly terrify enemies.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes

Special Characters

• Orion, the King in the Wood: 425pts. Anyone who remembers him remembers how friggin' powerful he is, but also how costly he is. Fortunately, he's made it through fairly intact with the only changes being turned into Monstrous Infantry with -1S compared to before and his Horn of the Wild Hunt being single-use while granting a massive 18" aura of fear and Devastating Charge. In addition, he renders all Wild Riders core when taken as General, which is fitting in a thematic sort of way. He is also the incredible hulk of elves with his S5 6A, throwing a spear-like bolt thrower and can fire 6 arrows on the move.

• Ariel, the Mage Queen of Loren: 540pts. For someone who's a half of a god, she's quite the package. She's the requisite Loremaster of Athel Loren who's essentially a Spellweaver+1 before adding the other things. And a single pitiful S4 armour-ignoring hit...spread around everyone in b2b. Anyone charging her goes through difficult terrain and anyone pursuing rolls 3d6" dropping the best. She has the Acorn of Ages for a surprising forest. Then you get to the magic stuff, which is where her oomph is. On top of being an L4 Loremaster, she has Magic Resistance (3), the ability to re-roll dispels, and the chance to rob an enemy of a wizard level and the spell they tried if you dispelled it (though subject to an Ld check). In all, make sure she's always casting, but don't feel too guilty to have her hold around before running.

• Araloth, Lord of Talsyn: Remains the troubled soul he was before. 195pts for a 4++, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour, armed with...a regular Spear, and who comes with a bird. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (robbing the enemy of Weapon Skill, Ballistics Skill, AND Initiative, which is a big step up from 8E).

• Thalandor Doomstar, Lord of Argwylon: 240pts. A Glade Lord riding a hawk. He has a -1 to hit him with missiles and his spear provides a 4++ parry at all times, which makes him incredible when facing weaker armies.

• Durthu Oakheart: 335pts. Everyone's favorite racist tree is back with some serious reworks. While maintaining his Ancient statline and casting, his weapons are all changed. For starters, he has d6 additional S2 attacks that can give a slight penalty to hit him in melee while also weakening their armour enough for him to mock anything that crosses him. His sword, while still a hand weapon, lets him re-roll to hit every turn with perpetual hatred while making his frenzy endless. As always, Wyssan's Wildform or Savage Beast of Horrors is all you need from him.

• Drycha: 200pts. She became way more fragile this time around. Since she's now docked to only TWO WOUNDS with Fanatical Resolve only granting her +1 attack for losing a wound, she's going to be way less likely to fight without a pack of dryads or treekin by her side, Dryad Aspects or not. Fortunately, her lores have changed to be able to use Life or Athel Loren, letting her at least recover if need be. Her Selling point now is her ability to have Forest Spirit units ambush out of forests with the addition of the Newer tree-people and the ability to move forest terrain.
  • Drycha Hamadreth: 340pts. Jumping from Hero to Lord, Drycha in her Dreadknight TREEMONSTER form, returns and surpass the melee monster she used to be now with a base of 6 Attacks and 5 wounds. In addition, her body is also swarming with spites that can be used in both melee and shooting. Both are poisoned with 2d6 S1 attacks (and the shooting spites suffer no penalty for moving and shooting), but at the start of each turn you can elect to upgrade one mode of them to dealing 3d6 bites.

• Naestra & Arahan, Sisters of Twilight: 275/495pts. You don't take them to win, you take them to troll. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle allows them to re-roll failed to hits and the dragon can only charge if they pass Leadership (Not a big issue, but inconvenient when it triggers). Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since Gwindalor is clearly 80pts. The Conjoined Destiny rule means they will stay around full health as long as the enemy doesn't finish the job. In melee, the sisters are identical Glade Captains with Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction while Arahan has it against forces of order. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound longbow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow that fires 2d6 str 2 Ap(1) poisoned shots. Between them have, they have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger, and BSB in the Heroes section though so chose wisely. Pity you can't take these gals on foot though...

• Naieth the Prophetess: 170pts. High Seer of Athel Loren. She's a Spellsinger with a free power dies each magic phase. Her other trick is an owl that sits upon any standard bearer (but can't stay on them for longer than a turn) and lets the unit re-roll 1s to hit with missiles. While Ariel is just jam-packed with things to do, Naieth is purely a support hero, so do keep her out of combat.

• Lothlann the Brave: 160/174pts. His defining tool is the Battle Standard of Athel Loren, letting him be the BSB and allowing any unit within 12" of him to dispel on a 5+.

• Scarloc: 110pts. A legendary Deepwood Scout. His sword gives him Piercing 1 and ASF, making him an asset while his longbow lets him re-roll to hit with a chance of hitting him if he fails again.

• Skaw the Falconer: 85pts. He's back and crazier than ever. Unlike Araloth's single bird, he possesses a flock of them that always hit on a 2+ and deliver three S3 hits each at the range and provide three S3 hits at WS4 in cc. While not very well armoured in combat with a cloak with 6++ ward (though it's fucking heavy armour against missiles), his weapon gives him ASF and adds +1 strength for the first turn of combat - if he hits, he robs the enemy of an attack.

• Gruarth the Beastmaster: 75pts. In case you needed more support for alters, you get a named hero for them. He's joined by a pair of wolves who can move away from him if you want (though they're always within 12" of Gruarth). Gruarth himself has light armour that becomes medium armour when shot by missiles and has a pair of bolas with Piercing 1, Multishot (2), and Sniper that he can use to trap an enemy from escaping from the puppers or to rip the wizard from a meddlesome bodyguard unit.

• Sceolan, Lord of the Hooked Blade: 185pts. Glade Lord that can hang out with Deepwood Scouts, gives a core unit ambush, has The Bow of Loren, and buckler that let him counter-attack.

• Wychwethyl The Wild: 125pts. An extra aggressive Shadowdancer, able to attack models not in base contact (which will infuriate Skaven to no end) and can slash up one big front rank instead of his normal number of attacks once per game. His most useful function is his Drum which gives his unit swiftride on the charge.

• Aethis The Wanderer: 165pts. Is a Shadowdancer with +2 to his WS and S thanks to his magical swords. He can drop it down the bonus to +1 instead to lower an enemy model's attack by 1 for the turn.

Generic Characters

• Glade Lord: Generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to Asur Prince or Druchii Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which are a plus, he also dishes out an LD10 bubble. Should not be your first Lord choice, with the 9(e) magic armour changes, you can only take Glittering Scales, Helms, and Shields. Making it near impossible for him to get a decent Armour save.

• Spellweaver: This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now, a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord). If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

• Spellsinger: One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent, +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to Beasts, Life, Light, Heavens, Shadow, or Athel Loren.

• Treeman Ancient: While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 250 points, are lvl 1 life/athel Loren wizards only (who can only upgrade to level 3) have a flammable 3+/6++, can tree whack, and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. WS5, S5, A4, I2. I guess old age shows? The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless they exploit fire. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T, and lore of life mean that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him. Fortunately

• Glade Captain: This is the generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt, or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

• Shadow Dancer: Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 50 points magic item/spite allowance and for 50pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with the lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
  • Note: For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
  • NEVER put her into a Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
  • Good items to give her are the BLADES OF LOEC or the Helm of the Hunt (making her RAPE things on the charge).
    • Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with Starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

• WayStalker: Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. The bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horos from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7, will you care?). An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 115 points with the bow of Loren, 90 without.

• Branchwraith: The Branchwraith is fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward), but got a price raise and now has to pay to be a level 1 Life/Athel Loren wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit and can give one such unit a means to shoot with spites. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

• Arch-Revenant: a the Newest melee leader for your tree people. A Forest Spirit born as a great martial leader and uses a Dragonfly as a jumpack. Agressingvly Leading the tree people by having a 6" Frenzy aura for Forest Spirit. She has Fly, in case they are needed elsewhere, and line up their spite attacks/spells.

Mounts

• Elven Steed: You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.
• Forest Dragon: It's a Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second-hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really is a poser; the GL has the same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is a tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.
• Great Eagle: Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.
• Great Stag: Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's the closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]
• Unicorn: Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant.
• Great Eagle: In the event that you wanted a flying cavalry HQ, you can take a bird. While a poor choice for the High Elves due to their predilection towards melee, your heroes are archers, and thus you can hide with your Warhawks and pepper things to death.

Core Units

• Glade Guard: Your basic cut-rate Wood Elves. 4s in WS/BS and 5 initiative. 12pts each. With the generally increased effectiveness missile combined with multiple shots, this unit is even better than before.

• Deepwood Scouts: Glade Guard with Scout and Skirmish for 2pts. They are more maneuverable and harder to shoot away. They can also be taken in units of 5. For every unit of Glade Guard, you should have one of these.

• Eternal Guard: Elves that hold the spear line for your archers. Man, this unit got castrated. Losing Armour Piercing and a point in leadership. In exchange, they can use their Saearaths as a staff (a two-handed spears that give +1 attack) or as normal spears & board if you bought a shield. Lastly, like the rest of the army, they are no longer High Dark Elves when in forest so no re-rolling. Definitely questionable why this unit got dragged in the mud while most of the other core got better. They are still WS5 and your cheapest option to hold the lines.

• Dryad: While retaining their statline and now dropping to T3. In exchange, Dryads share a property with the Alters in that they can shapeshift each turn for a new non-consecutive benefit (+1 Attack, +1 Toughness, or -1 to hit them), allowing them to at least attempt to grasp the vestiges of greatness they were. They are still a frightful melee core in chaff grind with Hatred, elf states, and a base 2 attacks.

• Glade Rider Glade Guard mix with a fast cavalry that harasses enemy flanks. starts at 17pts with spear and bow with Armour sold separately, but still viable and a unit of 10 should make its way into almost all list.

Special Units

• Wildwood Ranger: 13 points per model gets your light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and S4 with greatweapons. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead, and Ogres). On the upside, they are better than Empire Greatswords (In forests and against fear causers) but still easy to lose your investment (slow but costly elfs in Light armour are not survivable). You do have Treemen that will live longer, but their DPS worth it if you can keep them alive for long enough like by a wizard.

• War Dancer: Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor-piercing and killing blow, the second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance now provides ASF. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they do move out of deployment zone with vanguard, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
  • Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose whom will you use with care (unless you use both).
  • As a side note, the whole squad can replace two weapons with a Saearath. an expensive 225+pts if trying to get 3 ranks (it's maybe better to go wider for that extra attack than supporting attacks), your trading that Default 4++ save in melee for 5++ and warding away charging this glass cannon in the front with that 4 in strength (won't ward the haiver calv but will cut down the lighter skirmishers that trie to tie them down).

• Wild Riders: While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Jesus Christ. Another Wood Elf unit that got shafted for little reason. If this unit is upgraded to have its default light armour and the Steed of Kournous is 1pts cheaper than 8th edition. Along with the loss of both AP on spears and the Frenzy buff benefiting their mounts. This unit is squishier and less damaging than every for almost no benefit. Even with the hits, they are still your heavy-hitting calvary. At min size with Steed of Kurnous, 5 S4 + 15 S5 attacks on the charge are no laughing matter. They are probably not as good solo, but things will break when they ram into someone's flanks.

• Meadow Chariot: Just like the rest of your army, it's super flimsy but hella fast and adept at 360 peppering the enemy with arrows. If you pincer an Enemy it will also deal D6 S5 impact hits.

• Tree Kin: Treekin have not been returned to their 7th edition glory, but are still more useful than 8th edition, with the adition of stubborn and the neutering of Warhawks. Compared to an O&G troll for the 11pts less, treekin suffers from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 48 points you get Stubborn, S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire, and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win.
  • Additional Thought: Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin has enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

• Alters: A new band of wood elves from old lore who become were-beasts with Fear. Each turn lets them shapeshift into a new form (Bear for more deadly when ready in combat, Wolf for super-fast with 3 attacks on Charge, Stag for super-fast with S4 and S4 Impact Hits, Boar is T5 and get S5 attacks on the charge) so long as it's non-consecutive for two rounds while in combat. They are basically Fast-Calvery that turns into shock infinity. They don't last long, likely only two rounds, so pick a form appropriate for the thing your charging then turn into a Bear. They are a decent inclusion in a Melee Wood Elf army.

• Warhawk Rider: The best Monstrous Cavalry and Flying unit in the game is brought low in this edition. 18pts cheaper but lost 1T, 1W, Armour Piercing(on the Rider and Hawk), and killing-blow on the charge. Another unique unit that got absolutely dragged in the mud. Can still find some use as it can move 20". which changes to shield and high speed they are best shooting people in the back and destroying Warmachines, though your other Calvary can do the same job for cheaper but not so quick into the game.

• Tree Revenants: The first of the AoS lineup, The souls of dead elves that refuse to pass to defend the forest, these guys are essentially an Eternal Guard/Dryad Hybrid. Forest Spirit Eternal Guard with 2 attacks each and reroll 1s to hit and wound. Like all Wood Elves, they have the DPS but their fragility and Fear rule makes them better as flankers. In addition, they can teleport to any forest during the Remaining Moves sub-phase gives them a worthwhile recommendation as emergency kamikaze units. Need to take polearms to justify them over Spite Revenant.

• Spite Revenants: A dark reflection of the Tree Revenants that are somehow more spiteful than Dryads. Fill the roll of Infantry munchers better than Tree Revenant, being Skirmisher with 2 attacks, permanent Hatred, fear, and that causes enemies without Immunity (Psychology) to reroll successful Leadership test when in combat. They can't course a flanking penalty, but double-teaming them with calvary will break most enemies' revolve.

Rare Units

• Waywatcher: Jesus, one of the strong units in the 8e book just got buffed to the point that they're game-breaking. Still 20pts but lost the choice between ignoring armour saves or multiple shots (still have multiple shots, as do all the archers in the army). In exchange, they have KILLING BLOW on ranged attacks. Furthermore, they can take magical arrows. ALWAYS TAKE SWIFTSHIVER SHARDS. Additionally, enemy missile attacks suffer -1 to hit if the unit is in a forest. Additionally, anytime they enter a forest they trap it: [if an enemy unit charges through a forest roll a D6, 1-2 suffer D6 S3 hits, 3 Deducts D3 from charge distance, 4 str test or cant attack, 5 dangerous terrain test (1-2 fail if already dangerous), 6 UNIT IS HIT BY A BOLT THROWER.] 20 of these with Swift Shiver Shards comes in at 460pts. They will shoot 40 shots every turn, hitting on 2's (3's if they moved) and killing anything they touch on 6's. On average, they will hit 33 of 40 shots, and 5 or 6 of those will roll a 6 to wound. This unit will kill a Moon Dragon in one turn. Wipe Chaos Knights off the board and tear down Wizard Bunkers.

• Sisters of the Thorn: The Wood Elf counterparts to Dark Elf Warlocks. While Wild Riders rock out with their cocks out and kill or get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 24 points they get a 4++ ward, T3, BS5, and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricey, have one good spell, and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at enemy spells. They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer but can be very effective with proper application.
  • Doomfire Warlocks: These guys are often benchmarked against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units. These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

• Sylvan Hunters: These guys are like treekin, but trade out 1 toughness and natural armour for the ability to use weapons, of note being their S5 Magic longbows. If you wanted more of a screen, you can bunker them down during any movement phase, robbing them of movement but making them hide in hardcover. They have two uses, first as classic Monstrous Infantry that Bisects humans with their 3 WS5 S4 + polearm or greatweapon attack (choice if you want to fight first or last). Their second more tempting role is as Wood Elve artillery, rarely are Bowes high strength, and firing 6 S5 arrows while being -2 to hit in return for only 138pts is good.

• Giant Eagle: With the nerf to Warhawks they have a place in the army. Although with the reduction in rare duplicates you'll only be able to take a single unit in a <3000pt game, which hurts. Take them in single units to avoid the panic test when they go cannon hunting.

• Treeman: The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin, and 6++ ward. It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved separately in case of ward saves). Also, Stomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better-ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer.
  • Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

• Forest Dragon: The same unit from the mounts option but now not cutting into your lord funds but instead your Waywatcher/Sisters of the Thorn/Sylvan Hunters/Treeman funds. Still, the most viable way to run this unit when not playing <3000pts games.

Building Your Army

Magic

Taking a page out of earlier editions, half of the Lores of Battle Magic are removed as well as High and Dark. In exchange for the throwback lore of Athel Loren. The loss of Metal makes it even harder to deal with +1 Knights and Steamtanks, and impossible to give any of your units a decent armour save. It can still take Shadow to make your shooting even better. Overall, another nerf to the Woodies.

Lore of Life: This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie: Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and have a safety net for you if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get the throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

Lore of Shadow: The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and initiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves, as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally, it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational. Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

Lore of Beasts: The Lore of Beasts lets you run a train on things that you normally would not be able to run a train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and Warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just Morderus. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells that can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

Lore of Light: It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against other armies. With the loss of universal ASF, it's much better than previously during elf vs elf.

Lore of Athel Loren: combines lore of Life healing and Reg Save with other needed Wood-elves Flare: Gives Fear/Terror + double unit Strength so you win CC, let an expensive units cant be damaged in the shooting phase, Create forests, or put a unit into a murder frenzy.

Army Composition & Tactics

Build your tactics around your army. Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemy's flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

• A) Shooty army.
  • Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

• B) Fast combat army.
  • You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

• C) Infantry army.
  • Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill, and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and are now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However, this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze. You do need Dryads and armour slayers to put down that stiff breeze.
  • new stuff and improvements have made the wood people more melee, Better Trees: Dryad(Core unit DPS and attack resistant), Tree Revenant (teleporting Dryad Spearelfs), Spite Revenant (Scary Tree Revenant skirmishers), Sylvan Hunter(When not shooting, they are Offensive Tree Kin), and the Arch-Revenant Grants them extra attacks from her Frenzy aura.

• D) Hybrid army.
  • A mix of any of the above.

Ambush of the Worldroots

To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it"

With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Random type", no?

• The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

• Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

• Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

• The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
  • 1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
  • 2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as a barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

Tactics

Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later

• With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favor a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot-based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

• Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

• Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relatively few numbers.

• Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge) or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

• DISTRACTION FAERIE: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there, mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?, so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
  • Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

• What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their Banner of The World Dragon on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

• Seriously consider the Recipe for Success
  • You will need the following:
    • 1) 5 Wild Riders
    • 2) 1 Forest
    • 3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and voilà: 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or steadfast. The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

External Links

The Project's website

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