By: Todd Thacker
Welcome to what will hopefully be a series of discourses on the philosophy and tactics of the different Warhammer races. "Wait," I hear you say, "this is just a redo of Longsword's Tactica." Perhaps. I'm hoping to go beyond Longsword's work with my "Philosophy" introduction to the tactics section that will hopefully give readers a taste of that particular army's tactical "flavor." Of course, I am not the god of tactics and I am sure many of you (Lone Wolf? :-)) have differing opinions on what the philosophy of a particular army should be and how to use the troops available to that army in the most appropriate manner. I am starting with the Wood Elves because they are my favorite army and the army I play most; hopefully I have something worthwhile to say about how to use them. :-) Anyhow, on with the Tactica . . .
Wood Elf Philosophy/Introduction
Perhaps the greatest asset available to the Wood Elf general is the speed and flexibility of his army. Wood Elves are masters of infiltration, maneuver, and fighting battles on their own terms. In fact, if the enemy dictates the battle to the Wood Elves, the Elves will almost certainly lose. Wood Elves have very few "hard" units that can win a combat all by themselves and those troops who do well in combat (Dryads, Treemen) have no rank bonus and, in the case of the Treeman, not enough attacks. The Wood Elves must use their speed to concentrate their forces at the decisive part of the battlefield, overwhelming outmatched enemy units. There is some difference of opinion among Wood Elf generals about whether your army should be an "assault" army, prepared to defeat the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, or an "archery" army, designed to stay away from the enemy, avoid the enemy's most powerful units, and punish less powerful units with a high volume of missile fire. The Assault Army
There should be no debate about the following point, however: if your units are engaged in a protracted combat, you will probably lose. Certainly there are exceptions to this rule, but normally Wood Elf units stuck in a protracted combat are no longer dictating the course of the game, and will therefore be forced to fight the battle on the enemy's terms. This is a certain path to defeat.
Wood Elf armies, therefore, must maneuver so that at least two units hit the target enemy unit when a charge is declared. Removing the rank bonus of large enemy formations is a combat imperative . . . if this does not happen you will have a difficult time breaking the unit quickly and will lose the strategic initiative. The Strategic Initiative, or "Dictating the Battle"
A brief digression: when I speak of "strategic" matters, I am referring to the grand sweep of the battle; when I refer to "tactical" matters, I am speaking of actions concerning specific units on the battlefield.
What does it mean to "dictate the battle" to an opponent with your Wood Elf Army? It means that you select your army, deploy, and maneuver with one thought in mind: obtaining tactical superiority, preferably overwhelming tactical superiority, at a critical point in the battlefield.
How is this accomplished? With the infiltration and movement abilities of the Wood Elves, an able general should be able to prevent march moves of key enemy units, to maneuver his designated main combat units to advantageous positions (normally so that at least one unit can flank or rear charge), and to eliminate or immobilize the enemy's fast response and flank defense forces.
To accomplish this goal, the Wood Elf general must carefully choose the units he wishes to bring to the battlefield. There are four different categories of troops you can bring: Assault troops, fast troops, missile troops, and infiltrators.
Assault Troops and How to Use Them
Assault troops consist of chariots, some heavily armored Glade Riders, Treemen, and Dryads. Wardancers can also be placed in this category, although they are sort of a category unto themselves (more on this later). Since you are creating an assault army, you should take at least two different types of assault units; one unit of these should normally be Dryads.
Why Dryads? Some Wood Elf generals on the list have sworn off Dryads, claiming that the tree spirits have never been effective when used in battle. To some extent, this is true; Dryads will probably not be able to win a protracted combat with elite, ranked and armored enemy cav or elite, ranked and armored enemy infantry. The 35 pt. cost of a Dryad prohibits a wood elf general from fielding large units with ranks. The Dryads' inability to take a magical standard is also a disadvantage (if the enemy has the Banner of Defiance you will almost certainly break), as is their inability to have a champion to keep hefty enemy characters from wiping out the whole unit.
However, the Dryads are one of your two "stick" units (along with Wardancers), and they hit harder than their graceful but weak combat brethren. A "stick" unit, as I use the term, means a unit which can "stick" an enemy unit in place by successfully receiving a charge while you maneuver for a flank or rear charge. Here's how to do it: you maneuver your Dryads to a position where your enemy must either charge them or avoid them (and an enemy unit that takes the avoidance tack is already out of the game, plus it exposes a flank to charge by your Dryads). Your flank unit positions itself for a countercharge on your turn. On your enemy's turn, the Dryads are charged, use willow aspect, and probably draw or win the combat. In your turn, you flank or rear charge with your fast unit (often Glade Riders) and use Oak or Birch aspect with your Dryads. You eliminate the enemy rank bonus, gain the +1/+2 bonus for the flank or rear attack, and probably deal out enough damage to break the enemy unit. Wardancers work better in the "stick" role when facing powerful enemy with more than one attack (Witch Elves, Dragon Ogres, you know the type) because "Shadows Coil" guarantees a drawn combat, instead of merely taking away an enemy attack.
Treeman are great models, and they strike fear into the heart of the enemy general, but at 280 points you are well advised to think about exactly what you're expecting to get out of these wooden warriors. On the positive side, a Treeman is impervious to Str 3 missile fire, causes fear, and has an incredible strength and toughness (rare in any elven army). However, your Treeman will be eaten alive by most enemy generals. Your Treeman also suffers from an often overlooked problem . . . he doesn't have enough attacks. Four attacks, even with a Treeman's ridiculously high weapon skill, are not going to break a unit of any respectable size; it is easy for your Treeman to spend the whole game killing 2 or 3 two-and-a-half point goblin warriors while your opponent's good units proceed to engage the rest of your army. The point is: never use your Treeman as a lone warrior. He _must_ be a part of an assault team; preferably including a fast moving Glade Rider unit who can take away rank bonus. Whether you use Glade Riders or not, having a support unit available who can take away rank bonus from your Treeman's opponents is a combat imperative.
Chariots are fast becoming my favorite Wood Elf assault unit, with the emphasis on "fast." An 18" charge range that hits for d6+2 Str 7 hits is something _any_ enemy unit will have to respect, even heavily armored troops that your army normally struggles to even damage. By including a chariot you can funnel your enemy's advance away from the machine's charge arc and force him to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to immobilize the chariot so that he can move within charge range of your slower and more vulnerable units. If you can charge an enemy with the chariot in combination with a flank charge by, most likely, Glade Riders, that enemy unit _will_ break, especially if your general is riding in the machine. One plus to putting your general into the chariot is that you can toss defensive items in there to protect your investment . . . Talisman of Ravensdark for flyers, Spellshield or Banner of Arcane Warding for magic, Armor of Protection or Black Amulet in case you're challenged by a Vampire Lord . . . you get the picture. With a chariot-riding general as the "hammer" of your assault force, you will normally be able to get the charge every time, and break the enemy most of the time. Just remember to screen it from missile fire, right? :-) When you're equipping your chariot, always take all the extras you can . . . why be miserly if you're springing for such a powerful engine of destruction?
Fast Troops and How to Use Them
The Wood Elf general has two basic units of "fast troops": Warhawk Riders and Glade Riders. "Fast Troops" are troops that either a) attack enemy missile screens and flank defense forces to clear the way for your assault team (normally Warhawks) b) attack enemy war machines (normally Warhawks, but Glade Riders have been known to get back there as well), or c) join an assault team as the fast-moving flanking component (exclusively Glade Riders).
Enemy flank screens are, by definition, not their best units. Your Warhawks, with the flying charge, weapon skill five, and spear bonus for strength four, should be able to wipe out enemy flank screens in short order, especially if you put a character in there for extra combat resolution. Of course, some flank screens are more difficult to remove than others (Empire flagellants, Dwarf Slayers) because they don't break. These are units that you're going to have to eliminate completely or avoid (easier in these cases because the Empire can only have one unit of flagellants, and Dwarves are so expensive that they normally only have one unit of Slayers). Many times your opponents will put these "elite screens" out front of their main battle line, the better to protect their core units. All the better for you . . . you'll roll their flanks. If one of these units does wander out on the flanks, take heart: they don't wear armor so concentrated missile fire should soften them up nicely. Once your Warhawks have cleared the way for your assault team, they can move on to enemy missile troops or war machines (sometimes your opponent will use his war machines as his only flank screen . . . Dwarves and Empire [again] are the normal culprits, so you can skip directly to this part).
When using Warhawks in this role, I normally fully armor my riders and give them a spear to clock in at a fairly hefty 38 pts. But we're elves . . . expensive basic troops are the name of our game, right? :-) Now you're ready to move your in your assault team.
Your Glade Riders are incredibly expensive, but incredibly useful as flank/rear chargers. I normally give them at least a lance and light armor, and deploy them in skirmish formation . . . this makes them less susceptible to missile fire with a -1 to hit, 4+ armor save but still allows them full freedom of movement because they're skirmished. Some like to give them longbows, and if I'm feeling generous I'll do this as well . . . but it is not totally necessary (6 pts a model is pretty steep, and you'll top out at (ouch!) 43 pts a model). Your models will still have the 18" march (and still march even with enemy within 8"), so you will be able to avoid any combat you don't want to fight, except with flyers. As outlined before, your Glade Riders should support your main assault unit by conducting a coordinated charge on your turn or a countercharge against an enemy unit engaged against one of your "stick" units. A brief note: if your Glade Riders are engaged in a combat they can't handle, remember feigned flight! Often it can be the difference between destruction and setting an enemy unit up for a murderous countercharge.
Infiltrators and How to Use Them
As a Wood Elf general you have, without doubt, the best scouts in the game in the form of Waywatchers. These crafty elves should _always_ be deployed in the forest to take advantage of their many special abilities. If you have Waywatchers in a wood, they should effectively deny access to the enemy because of your traps. If your enemy decides to charge your Waywatchers, let them (assuming they can even see them). I fondly remember the time a frenzied Khorne general hit the Impaler when forced to charge the Waywatchers . . . may he rest in peace :-)). Always flee, though . . . your Waywatchers (and Scouts) aren't up to fighting enemy in hand-to-hand combat. For all their effectiveness, my opponents always seem to devote a disproportionate amount of time and effort to taking out the few of these 18 pt warriors that I field . . . All the better for you (as an added bonus, talk up your Waywatchers before the battle . . . you have my permission to use the Khorne Warlord story later in this chapter :-). If you're lucky, your opponent will spend all sorts of missile and magical fire trying to get rid of these guys.)
Scouts, on the other hand, should be deployed to inhibit enemy movement. They are as expendable as elves can be (even at 16 pts) so don't worry about losing them if they slow down key enemy units for a turn (two would be fantastic, but is difficult to accomplish). Once I deployed a group of Scouts behind a hill in front of the main Skaven battleline . . . the poor rats hardly even made it over to my side of the table before being destroyed by arrow fire and a huge flank sweep by my assault team. The Scouts died, but they were about the only elves who did and they managed to stop the Skaven from advancing for two complete turns and part of a third . . . they are certainly in the Scout Hall of Fame back at whatever glade the Scouts receive their training. :-)
A not-so-troublesome side note is the problem of enemy scout teams. This should not be a terrible burden because your scouts (WS 5, BS 5) should be able to beat any other scouts in missile or hand-to-hand combat. The only really problematic group of enemy scouts are the Dark Elves with their repeating crossbows. You'll just have to charge them and win hand-to-hand combat (they get to fire but they are -1 stand and shoot -1 cover (probably) -1 skirmish -1 repeaters) so they will hit on 5s if they take one shot or 6s if they take two. So the Dark Elves will probably kill one of your scouts. If I'm going up against enemy scouts or going to a tourney I always take a scout champion with a cheap sword (usually leaping copper) for these sorts of situations, so that I can insure a victory in the h-t-h combat phase.
A brief note on unit size for infiltrators: I like units of six because they are small enough to use effectively but large enough to threaten a flank charge to take away rank bonus even if the enemy by some miracle has killed one.
Archers and How to Use Them
One reason I prefer an assault army for my Wood Elves is the inherent unpredictability of my missile troops. However, even in assault armies I try to take at least thirty bow-wielding elves simply because I feel that it is in flavor for a Wood Elf army. Archers are very cheap at 11 pts (stop laughing goblin players) and you can take a good bunch of them for around 300 points. I personally like to field three units of nine (with six scouts and six Waywatchers that makes for 39 bow-armed elves). . . that way the enemy has to kill three archers to cause a panic test. Also, a unit of nine is just unattractive enough to make your enemy think twice before charging one . . . is it really worth it to put a turn of two of the game into wiping out a 99 point unit? Unless he's threatening you with wolf riders, probably not.
The key to archery is concentration of fire. Don't shoot one unit at Unit A, one at Unit B, and one at Unit C. Shoot them all at one unit and cause a panic test! I remember one time when I routed 10 Brettonian Knights of the Realm off the table on turn one because of panic (hehe), even with the accursed Lady of the Lake interfering as she normally does, the watery tart. Lesson to Brettonian players: Take Questing Knights.
With 39 bow armed elves (and more if there are bowmen in your chariot or you bow-armed your glade riders . . . hey, wasn't this supposed to be the _assault_ section?) you should have a decent chance at causing 25% casualties on enemy units every turn. Just choose your targets judiciously . . . you're not going to panic that unit of 60 Skavenslaves so why even try?
Wardancers and How to Use Them
I have seen many generals on the list with units of Wardancers 10-12 strong. In my opinion, there is no reason for this. If you're going to take 12 Wardancers take two units of six . . . they're much more effective that way. My normal unit size for Wardancers is seven . . . six and a champion. If there are any more you waste Wardancers who won't be able to take part in the combat due to lack of frontage . . . 20 pts+ down the drain. I like to give the champion the potion of strength so that my Wardancers can be the "ultimate stick unit," like so: Enemy charges Wardancers, who use Shadow's Coil. Draw. Wardancers attack back in my turn using Whirling Death (+1 attack) and Champion drinks PoS for 4 WS 6 Str 7 attacks. Hopefully the Wardancers win or draw this combat. Then shadow's coil again during the enemy's turn. You've stuck them for one-and-a-half turns! Chances are when the enemy untangles itself it will find that it is in a _very_ unpleasant tactical situation, :-), or at least this unit is immobilized while your assault team cleans up the rest of his army.
The "stick" strategy is only necessary for heavily armored or tough units. Wardancers are more than able to handle T3 lightly armored troops by themselves (witch elves excepted) with minimum or no casualties. However, their relatively slow movement prevents them from getting out front of the assault team to clear out flank screens, etc. so don't try to use them this way or you'll just slow yourself down.
Don't forget that your Wardancers can move at no cost through difficult/very difficult terrain and that they can jump over intervening units. This can surprise your opponent because they are so used to thinking of units as "blocked" from charging if they are behind friendly units. Most effective against enemy units on hills because you can see them even if you're completely behind the friendly unit. I normally use this to charge out from behind scouts or Waywatchers into vulnerable enemy units.
So, to sum up. Wardancers can be used as either the "stick" unit
in the assault team or to deny your "weak side" to enemy units in
conjunction with Waywatchers or scouts. It should take the enemy almost
the whole game to engage anyone of consequence if he attacks through the
weak side, because there's no one there besides Wardancers and
Waywatchers (hehe, this is very frustrating for your opponent) and they
are very hard to engage decisively, if at all. One game I spent two
turns moving my Wardancers around so that my opponent's main block of
Clanrats couldn't march. It completely screwed up the entire Skaven
advance . . . needless to say my assault team took the army apart
piecemeal, and the only units left on the board were a band of fleeing
gutter runners. :-)
