Wood elves

[deathwing]

I cringe to ask this but what is the concensus on wood elf armies?

[MallSecurity]

They are skirmish a heavy army with lots of shooting (Duh). From what I have seen they tend to play a VP denial game quite a bit. They are one of the stronger armies around these days.

Boldo and John are not what you might call fans of wood elves but I don't have as much of an Issue with them. Jason and Courtney both play them; they may be able to provide more insight in to the details.

Regardless of what people say you should play whatever army leaps out at you.

[johnboo]

Cool fluff, neat magic items, for the most part very nice models, and can do very cool themes.

That said, when they are played as a points-denial army, they make for an extremely frustrating game for opponent. You just want to throw your hands up in the air with a big f-you as any answer you might have to get back in the game is cut off with built-in protections ala Allesio (skirmishers with ward saves, magic resisatance, St4 longbows, the ever present only-hit-me-on-6's spite, etc)

Solid army. Even swiss-army-knife lil bit of everything armies have more than enough to wreck opponents.

With rumoured 7th ed changes, the book might take a hit - still unknown nerfing to skirmishers, fast cav wont remove ranks anymore.

mallsecurity said:

Regardless of what people say you should play whatever army leaps out at you.

Agreed.

[Iron Warrior]

I played against them once with my ogres. Very frustrating game that I lost. Forests moving in the way of my charges, shooting wrecking my troops along with good magic. Seen cortney play his, again It didnt appear like shuan (his opponent at the time) was having a good game against them.

[johnboo]

I found this overview on The Warhammer Forum, part of a sticky thread on continuing (and still incomplete) overviews on all the WHFB armies.




WOOD ELVES

Of all the Elven armies (High, Dark and Wood), Wood Elves would be the army that is the most close-combat oriented. Wood Elven shooting and magic are almost entirely used in support of their close-combat units, which is where they truly shine - charging into combat with the enemy.

General Tactics
There is no one true way to Wood Elves, but most of their tactics involve distracting or isolating parts of an opposing army, while some of the fastest, nastiest close-combat troops in the Warhammer world jump on another part, crushing it.


Theme
With four seasons and access to both Wood Elf units and Forest Spirit units, a player can choose to focus on Elves, Forest Spirits or field an army that has a mix of both unit types.


Pros
1. Nifty models, though the Treekin and Dryads might not be to everyone's taste.
2. Their combat units hit hard. Wardancers (together with High Elf Swordmasters) have the highest WS for any troop type in the game, while Dryads have the highest Initiative.
3. There is a good mix of fast and fragile combat units (Elves, including Wild Riders), and slow and tough combat units (Forest Spirits). Wood Elves might be the most lightly-armoured of all the Elven armies, but they also have access to T4, T5 & T6 troops!
4. They have access to some excellent specialised troops (Waywatchers, Alter Kindreds, Wardancers, Great Eagles etc).
5. They have the highest lateral movement in the game. You can easily deploy directly opposite your opponent's army, only to sweep 10"- 18" to either flank on your first turn, leaving your opponent staring at an empty field while your units get set up for flank charges.


Cons
1. Like all Elven armies, they are very fragile.
2. Like all Elven armies, they are also very expensive.
3. More so than other Elven armies, Wood Elf units tend to be a little on the small side, with 7 or 8 models per unit being the usual. This means that it does'nt take many casualties before they are effectively useless.
4. Wood Elves don't really have access to any units that are really good at removing enemy ranks. The units that they do have are either very fragile (Glade Riders, Wild Riders) or relatively slow and cumbersome (Treekin, Treemen and ranked Eternal Guard). This makes careful combined charges even more important.


Characters

Fighters
At first glance, Wood Elf Highborns and Nobles are perfectly generic Elven fighters. High weapon skill, ballistic skill and initiative, low strength and lower toughness. On the other hand, Wood Elf fighters have access to a variety of special abilities and magical items that can make for truly effective combinations, if a little specialised.

Spellcasters
Wood Elf mages have access to the Lore of Athel Loren, which is a very subtle lore. With only one general-purpose magic missile, most of its spells are useful only in very specific situations, but if used at the right time, can be very much a game winner. Lord-level mages can also use the Lore of Life, which is a very good general-purpose Lore.

Wood Elf magic is very much used to enhance the performance of its combat troops rather than hammering the enemy from afar.

Forest Spirits
At first glance, Dryad heroes are unremarkable, with a stat-line that is virtually identical to a Dryad unit champion. On the other hand, they can also be upgraded to level 1 mages, thereby providing a little added magical power without too much of a loss in combat power.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Treeman Ancient. Big, slow, ponderous, he might not always get into combat, but opponents will also have a difficult time taking him down. Not a game-breaker by himself, he can still hold his own in just about any situation short of charging 4 flaming Dwarven cannon across 24" of flat, open ground.



Troops

Combat troops
Wood Elf combat troops can all dish it out, having high WS, high strength and/or multiple attacks. Wardancers, Wild Riders and Dryads can all take on light units easily, and can also be devastating in a combined charge. On the other hand, they are also relatively fragile, and don't perform anywhere near as well when on the receiving end of a charge.

Treekin and Treemen are slower, but have the wounds and the toughness to receive charges. They also excel at pinning enemy units while your Riders and Dancers hit them in the flanks.

Eternal Guard also work well at pinning enemy units, but are also a lot more fragile.


*** It should also be noted that Forest Spirits are immune to psychology, cause fear and have a 5+ ward save against non-magical attacks. While this can be useful, it also means that choosing to flee when discretion is the better part of valour is not an option.



Support troops
Glade Guard, Glade Riders, Great Eagles and Waywatchers all perform well as support troops, with very specific roles.

Glade Guard are excellent for shooting up lightly-armoured troops, especially at short range where they have S4 shots. In a pinch, can be used as supporting infantry, especially if there is an exposed flank for them to charge into.

Glade Riders are fast cavalry, and one of the few units that are fast enough that they can serve to divert enemy charges efficiently. Eagles can do that too, but considering they are rare choices, you might want to use them sparingly.

Great Eagles do their thing, be it marchblocking, diverting or baiting charges or hunting war machines.

Warhawk Riders are specialist troops that work best as war machine hunters, since they can (almost) always move a full 20", and have a decent number of attacks. On the other hand, they are also very expensive and very fragile, and their jobs can be performed as well if not better by other units.

Waywatchers deserve special mention thanks to their special rules - not so much for their special scouting rules as for their Lethal Shot special ability. While its not something you'd want to count on, it can be a huge advantage psychologically, especially for opponents who like to field characters on monstrous mounts or chariots.



Conclusion
Wood Elf armies are very fragile, and most units are expensive enough that you have to carefully consider their role(s) before including them in your list.

This can't be stressed enough, but more so than any other list, combined charges are very important for Wood Elves.

Glade Guard and other missile troops might be able to take down one or two models by shooting, but ultimately, if you want to take down that enemy unit, you're going to have to get stuck in, and since no one unit can reliably break an enemy on the charge, you'll need to send them in with friends to back them up.

(I am, of course, talking about serious combat units here - the sorts with full command groups, magic banners, combat characters in support and possibly even ranks! No Wood Elf combat unit should ever work up a sweat taking on war machines or enemy fast cavalry!)

On the other hand, with careful planning, some fair cooordination and a little luck, there are very few armies they can't handle.

[johnboo]

Narnian army ideas - Those centaurs are pretty cool

p208.ezboard.com/fbattlegladeforumfrm9.showMessage?topicID=70.topic

[deathwing]

Cool idea and the centaur look good so far. The guys website isn't bad either
www.battleglade.com
Has links to other army themed sites as well and not just woodsy elves