Wood Elf Tactics
Here is an analysis of all the Wood Elf units, characters, etc.
--------------------------CHARACTERS-------------------------
The General
The general is the leader of your army. The way I see it you have two
options when choosing your army's general:A)Equip him as a leader. B)Equip
him as a hand to hand character. If you choose A I would suggest giving him
items like The Crown of Command,Horn of Urgok, etc. and then give him a
protective magic item. A hand to hand general would do well with a magic
weapon like a Blade of Leaping Bronze or Deathsword and a Protective magic
item. If you have a defensive army that relies on shooting I would suggest
the Bow of Loren, Hail of Doom Arrow, and a Strength Potion. Always give
your general normal weapons and armor to give him extra protection. A good
place for your general is at the center of your army so his leadership will
effect as many troops as possible. Also, remember that even though your
general is tough he will not stand much of a chance against things like a
Black Orc Warlord, a Chaos Lord, or even a Dwarf Lord with some runes. If
your general is challenged by these hand to hand behemoths decline the challenge. Remember, if your general dies everything in your army has to take
a panic test and with a leadership of eight 1/4 of your units will usually
flee. In general, stick your leader in one of your core units to keep their
morale up and give them an edge in hand to hand.
Heroes
The Hero is a very flexible character in the Wood Elf Army. I always try
to leave room for at least one hero in my army. You can use them as leaders
for your hard-hitting units to give them a leadership bonus or some extra
punch in hand to hand combat. Some places I would suggest putting heroes
are on Great Eagles or Warhawks or in a unit of Glade Riders. One of my
favorite tactics with the hero is to give him the Power and Battle Stones
of Le Marquis and then stick him in a unit of Glade Riders or Wardancers.
Coupled with the Whirling Death dance each Wardancer will get 4 strength
4 attacks, not to shabby. A unit of Glade Riders would have each horse
dealing 2 strength 4 attacks and each rider 2 strength 6 attacks (with a
lance).
Champions
While some of the White Dwarf crew have said that every regiment in
warhammer should be led by a champion with Wood Elves I feel that that's
not the case. At 48 points they don't have any real power and they are
boring to use. The one place I think they serve a purpose is with an
archer regiment. Give that champ the Hail of Doom Arrow and with a BS
of 5 he will be a major one shot weapon. They also are useful if you want
someone to accept challenges for your general, or if you are tight on points
and you need something with a S4 to lead your units.
Battle Standard Bearer
The Battle Standard Bearer is very weak. He has a toughness 3 and only 1
wound so if he is attacked even by RNF he will probably die. If he dies
you give up an extra victory point plus the normal point cost. Be careful
when using him! One place I would suggest getting one is with a regiment of
Glade Riders. You will get 2 standards which is very nice. You can also
put him in a unit that can't normally get standards such as Dryads or
Warhawk Riders.
Wardancer Champion
The wardancer champion is bred for combat. These guys have some serious
hitting power. I would suggest giving them a sword then adds to attacks or
strength. My favorite magic item for these guys is a strength potion. For
10 points they can get 4 S7 attacks which is not bad at all. Use Storm of
Blades and you can get 3 S7 attacks on a character in an enemy regiment.
With a WS of 6 these guys will hit most characters on a 3+ and wound on a
2+ which can kill an enemy hero pretty easily. They are also great at
acceptting challenges. They can hold any character up for a turn with
Shadows Coil while some other units break the regiment the character's with.
Mages
There are 4 different levels of mages. Level 1 mages I only use in a few
instances:As a carrier of the Black Gem(you can mount them on a warhawk and
have them fly into the character you want to subdue)As a mage to keep the
winds of magic roll at 2d6 against dwarfs, or as a carrier of the Heart of
Woe. With the heart of woe they only have a one inch radius so it's not
very good. The only reason I can see for wanting a mage champion is to get
the Heart of Woe a 2" radius. Master Mages are the weakest main mage you
can have. They are perfect for 2000 point battles. Mage Lords I suggest
for above 2000 points. As for magic items I always have at least one dispel
scroll in my army, usually two. The skull staff is great for dispelling
and finding the enemies pesky magic items. Other useful items are the
Rod of Power, Power and Spell Familiars, Potion of Knowledge, Power Scrolls,
and the Wand of Jet. The way I use my mages are as artillery. My favorite
magic deck is Amber. I love the spells like Awakening of the Woods, Flock
of Doom, and Tangeling Thorn. Remember, a lot of those high toughness
creatures in the enemy army you have no war machines to destroy. I use
magic to do that. Some people say you should keep your mages out of h-t-h
while others say you should keep them in the front lines. I like to have
my mages lead one of of my main attack units because a Master Mage has 2 attacks
at S4 which is not that bad.
------------------------REGIMENTS-------------------------
Chariots
Chariots are a fast, hard-hitting unit in the wood elf army. They are
great units that that pack a hard hit. I always get them scythed wheels
because if you charge a unit and you have scythed wheels you are guranteed
at least 3 S7(without them you could only get 1 S7) hit which could mean the
difference between breaking a unit or being broken. I recommend getting the
crew spears to enhance their strength. As for getting the extra crewman if
you are facing armies with very accurate or massed missle fire. If you face
Chaos, Undead, Scaven, or Brettonia there is not much need the extra crewman.
Longbows are useful for letting the crew do some damage when their coming up
the field, but javelins are useless. They have as much strength as a longbow
and a shorter range. Also, in Phoenix Knight's Tactica he brings up the point
that if you are in range of a javelin throw you are in charge range! A few
last reminders are:Chariots can get magic standards which can be useful and
you don't have to pay 2x a RnF troop to get it, and chariots can carry a
character which gives them protection and a high movement.
Glade Riders
The Glade Riders are a very versitle unit. You can arm them as light calvary,
missle calvary, or medium calvary. First, I will explain their light calvary
mode. If you plan to use them as light calvary arm them with lances, but
don't give them any more armor so they are still fast calvary. Don't use
them to charge a unit alone-they are too weak. Their job is to ride around
the enemies flanks and then charge them in the rear or flank when your main
units charge the front. With this coordinated attack you should be able
to break most enemy units. When I started to look at the missle calvary
aspect of the Glade Riders I thought they stunk compared to Dark Riders
(and now Ellyrion Reavers):they can't fire&flee,they suffer -1 to hit when
moving and shooting like normal missle troops, and they can't do a march
move before the game starts. I didn't plan on using them until I figured
out that Glade Riders can fire&flee in a sense and have other good abilities.
If the enemy charges you stand&shoot and then before h-t-h starts do a feigned
flight! Although you have to pass a leadership test this still is a good move.
Also, they are extremely fast since they suffer no penalties for moving
through woods and other terrain when they skirmish which makes them very
mobile. If you plan on fielding Glade Riders as medium calvary get them
lances and all the armor you can. Get them a magic standard-my favorites
are the Banner of Might and the Standard of Shielding. You can try using
them to charge enemy units alone, but I have found they still need the support
of a chariot or treeman. A few tactics that work with Glade Riders are getting
them lances and themn charge a regiment. After a turn of h-t-h feigned flight
and then charge them again! You can do this many times before your opponent
will find a way to counter it. Also you can use the Glade Riders to set a
trap. Charge an enemy unit and then feigned flight. The enemy has to chase
you so you can lead them straight into a position where they can be charged
by your treeman and chariots. This move can also be done to keep a unit away
from the main fight. Charge the unit in the rear, feigned flight and the
unit will end up chasing the Glade Riders back towards their own table edge.
Archers
Archers are the closest thing to a "core unit" in the Wood Elf Army. You can
have as many of them as you like and each regiment can have a magic standard.
Most wood elf players either use scouts, or archers as their main shooting
regiment. I don't have a preference, but almost all my armies have a regiment of
archers. Archers have some advantages over scouts, however. Firstly, they
are 5 points cheaper so you could have 16 archers for about the same price
as 10 scouts. This means you will be rolling more dice to shoot each turn.
I suggest putting your archers on a hill so they can see the entire field.
While on the hill they also get a +1 combat bonus and can deploy in two ranks
and all the archers can shoot. As for magic items magic banners are useful
for archers. Some of my favorites are the Banner of Wrath, Firestorm Icon(Although
it is not very "in theme" for a Wood Elf Army), War Banner, and Valorous
Standard. I would avoid putting characters in archers units because they are
very easy to break so they charcter could flee with the regiment and be cut
down. One exception is a champion with the Hail of Doom Arrow, Sky Arrow, etc.
Glade Guard
These warriors are wimps. They are expensive and mediocre fighters. A Black
Orc is a better fighter and is 5 points less! They have low toughness and strength and a pathetic save.
Their main(and possibly only)advantage is that they're the only unit you have
that can be formed into a block regiment. On the plus side, they have a high
initiative and can fight in two ranks. If you do get them set them up so they
get the maximum rank bonus with a standard and a hero. I suggest getting them
a magic standard such as the Banner of Defiance or the War Banner.
Warhawk Riders
Warhawk Riders are your best calvary. Their main advantage is speed! Use
them to take out war machine crews on turn 2, or to charge an enemy in the rear
when it's engaged in h-t-h with your dryads and treemen. They also can be
used to take out missle troops, light calvary, and skirishers. I also use
them to draw out night goblin fanatics. If the goblin regiment is near a
wood, or near and enemy unit land your warhawks between the night goblins
and a wood or enemy unit. If the fanatics hit the wood they will die,
and if they go through your warhawks they could go into an allied unit(like
Black Orcs). I would advise against making your warhawks your main attack
unit. If you really want to here are some suggestions:Give them the battle
standard bearer w/the banner of might or dread banner, give them a few characters,
and have a hero with the power and battle stones.
Wardancers
Wardancers are one of the best units in your army. They are immune to
psychology so you can use them to tie up big monsters and they have a
dispel which means you don't have to give them the amulet of fire to
protect them form magic. They also have a unmodified save which can be
improved by a shield. I wouldn't suggest the shield since the wardancers
need the attack and are expensive enough already. I usually put them in
regiments of 5-10 and hide them behind a Treeman, Dryads, etc. so they
can't be killed by missle fire. Then I have them jump over their protector and
attack the flank of an enemy regiment. If you are fighting dark elves or
skaven (or any other army with assassins, I don't think there is) use shadows
coil on the first turn to draw out the assassin's first attack. A few last
pointers: get them a champion! He can challenge enemy characters and then
shadows coil em'. He also can wound enemy units better with his S of 4.
Secondly, watch out when you use them to attack units alone. They only
have a S of 3 and will struggle to wound high toughness targets and could very
well lose combat. Try to have a treeman, chariot, or Dryads help the wardancers.
Finally, remember that wardancers can get a standard. This could mean the
difference between fleeing and staying in combat for another turn.
Treemen
Treemen are the hardest hitting unit in the Wood Elf Army. They are
invulnerable to S3 attacks so stick your wardancers behind it and they
can't be mowed down by missle fire. Treemen have many special abilities
which are useful. Rooted to the Spot allows treemen to charge units of
Skaven and not have to take a break test even though they have ranks and
a standard. Tree Whack is great for taking out chariots and other warmachines.
Whenever you play Greenskins remember that your Treemen hate them. I usually
get only one Treeman unless I'm playing 3000+battles.
Scouts
Scouts are some players main choice for shooting regiments. I have seen
some wood elf players use a unit or two of 8-10 wood elf scouts as their
shooters rather than archers. I feel this works as well as 30-40 archers,
so you make the call. They are great at taking out war machines
and can pick on enemy skirmishers and archers. Be careful though when
picking on enemy missle troops. If they have a standard, ranks, or toughness
greater than 3 just shoot at them! They also can be used to draw your
opponents units away from the main combats. This works especially well on
frenzied troops who have to chase you. After they charge, flee and the enemy
will get slowed down by any terrain you are in. Scouts are also great for a
flank charge on enemy units in h-t-h with your dryads, wardancers, etc.
Remember, that if it looks like an enemy unit is about to charge your scouts
and they have ranks and a standard, don't worry. Move the scouts out of the
enemies 90 degree area of sight and they can't charge you. After you move,
shoot because skirmishers can march and shoot.
Waywatchers
Waywatchers get the Scout's abilities plus the abilities to hide
and set traps for an extra two points. This is a great deal. Put
Waywatchers in in the way of enemy unit and they will have to move around
them, thus slowing them down, or charge them setting off the traps. Waywatchers,
like Scouts main jobs are to slow enemy, disrupt his/her plan, and kill
war machines. Use them to do those jobs and they will be very
useful.
Dryads
Dryads are your elite attack troops. They are my favorite troop in the
Wood Elf Army for a few reasons:They are viscious in hand to hand, can survive
to get into hand to hand, and are fun to paint. I got a unit of ten done in
2 weeks without too many hours in and I think they look great. They are best
used in units of 5-10. Try to get them in 8-10 so they'll get a rank bonus.
I am going to try a unit of 12 so they'll get +2 rank and see if it's worth it.
Their shape-shifting apsects are self explaintory so I won't bore you with
an explaination. I will often stick my general in a unit of dryads to give
him protection. This has seemed to work many times. Stick a unit of wardancers
behind them for protection and then jump over the dryads and attack. Try
to team up the Dryads with a treeman.
Email: ppine@worldnet.att.net
