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How to crush Wood Elfs?

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:52 am
by Assani
Hey

I am pretty new to this game, but my battles so far has been sucsessful :twisted:

Now a friend of mine is going to enter WE army. Its said that the WE is not the best of armies, but still they have few tricks.

Dont know spesific his list, but he will enter

treeman
dryads
waywatchers
eternal guard
spellsinger i think
bowmen

Points are 2400, but i dont know how much of witch kind of units he will use.


Any god WE crunching tacts out there?

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:24 am
by Saintofm
Personal experience tells me to never face a treeman in close combat...the results are never pretty.

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 1:41 pm
by Phierlihy
Wood Elves are a fairly poor army right now. But the tactics to take them out haven't changed a whole lot. You want to be fast in order to get across the table as quickly as possible. Magic is your friend - Dark Elf magic is awesome where Wood Elf magic is average to below average. Wood Elves do NOT like RBTs. And Harpies are great at screening your real units!

Spread yourself across the board and rush at him. He'll have few ranks or standards so the odds are in your favor.

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 4:00 pm
by Bloodsinger
One word.

CHILLWIND!

Speaking as a wood elf player myself, I HATE THAT SPELL! It effectively cripples his archer unit, meaning that you get to shoot him, but he can't shoot you back.

Other than that, your repeaters will chew him up, stay away from the treeman, he is a Dark-Elf killing MACHINE! One way to try to deal with it is to put the flaming banner on a unit of your repeaters and pepper it until it catches fire, another is to put in a level 2 fire wizard with the tome of furion, and finally, give one of your unit champions the ruby ring of ruin. The more fire you can throw at the Tree, the better.

Other than that, take some shades to counter his waywatchers, and get into combat with them ASAP, since they don't like being punched!

Eternal guard are terrible, so if he's taking those, you can bet that ANY of your combat units will chew them to pieces. Even a Dreadlord in the flank or rear will ruin them.

If he's taking a spellsinger, you will have a HUGE advantage in magic, so exploit that for sure.

Really, the only area he would have an edge is if he has a LOT of glade guard, since they have better range, and are S4 in short range, but if you incapacitate them with chillwind, you should be laughing!

Good luck!

(All that aside, as a Wood Elf player, I've only lost ONCE to Dark Elves in about ten matches. :) )

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:28 pm
by Babnik
Bloodsinger is 110% right. Chillwind!

Our rbx are also deadly for our degenerated hippies cousins. Hydra is also awesome to counter their treeman as they breath attack during the close combat phase. Remember, make this flaming attack BEFORE the regular 7 other attacks. He won't be able to regenerate his wounds!

Shades are more effective than their scouts and our pride, a large amount of CoK can walk on anything.

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:33 pm
by Bloodsinger
Yes! As a Wood Elf I remember having LOTS of trouble with Cold Ones... although when I used to take my machine-gun Alter, he would mulch through them with no trouble. (He has a bow that lets him shoot for the number of attacks he has, and his shots will wound the cold ones on 4s and no Armour save) So watch it if a lone elf starts running to get within 30" of your cold ones!

Also, be careful because one unit of Glade Guard will have the flaming banner, and that will ruin your hydra's day! (I always have it somewhere!)

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:38 pm
by Saintofm
Fist time I played wood elves, I had a unit of 5 coldones, with the general, chase a unit of Dryads off the battlefeild. This was back in 7th edition

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:34 pm
by Tethlis
The strongest Wood Elf builds right now consist of a Level 4 with Lore of Beasts or Life, multiple Dryad and archer units, blocks of 6 Treekin, Treemen and Great Eagles.

Despite what the internet says, this list can complete against lots of opponents and do very well. Lore of Life on Treemen and Treekin is a fearsome combination, especially once you start Lifeblooming a Stubborn Treeman to help him tie up most enemy units almost indefinitely. As a long-time Wood Elf player a number of 8th edition games under my belt, I'm very comfortable and confident taking my Wood Elves against anyone.

With that in mind, it's also important to realize that I am maximizing the strengths of my list in virtually any capacity. Any Wood Elf player who is loading up on Elven units (rather than Forest Spirit units) is putting himself at a disadvantage. When fighting the actual Wood ELVES (Glade Guard, Glade Riders, Wardancers, Eternal Guard, Warhawk, Riders, Scouts, Waywatchers, and to some extent Wild Riders) the key is simple direct damage. Repeater crossbows will go a long way towards putting pressure on them, as well as durable, mobile units like Hydras, Cold One Knights and Cold One Chariots. Those types of units are very durable to the S3/S4 Attacks that those Elves use, and are quick enough to hunt them down in most circumstances.

For the Forest Spirits themselves, you'll have to be more Specialized. The real winner tends to be a large (and I mean big) unit of Witch Elves or Cold One Knights with Banner of the Eternal Flame. Their Poison/High Strength Attacks can even drop a Toughness 6 Treeman, and Flaming Attacks makes sure every wound hits hard. Be careful though, because a smart Wood Elf player will focus a lot of arrow fire onto your Forest Spirit-threatening units and follow up with Dryad charges. Dryads are Initiative 6, which means they can often cause some good wounds before dying.

Ultimately, the goal of any Wood Elf player will be to isolate some vulnerable units, swarm them with their own troops to nab easy Victory Points, and then play evasively until another good charge opportunity becomes available. Be sure to keep your army as one cohesive whole, with all of your units able to provide mutual support to one another.

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 1:47 am
by Ace0fskulls
Just to add to this, im also facing wood elves soon, except there is a distinct laco of elves......a tree spirit army, any advice for taking that one? List has 3 treemen one being ancient, 6 treekin and lots of dryads!

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:28 am
by Saintofm
Can you hcast sword of rhuin on on reaper bolt throwers?

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 3:23 am
by Sulla
phierlihy wrote:Wood Elves are a fairly poor army right now. But the tactics to take them out haven't changed a whole lot. You want to be fast in order to get across the table as quickly as possible. Magic is your friend - Dark Elf magic is awesome where Wood Elf magic is average to below average. .
...Other than the lvl4 with life, anyway. Wand of wych elm to reroll all dispels and a 4+ ward is a safe enough combo for her. Not much point adding any lvl1's or 2's.

Or if she's tailoring vs DE, she would take the frog scroll and wait till the sorc uses power of darkness then unleash it.

Other than that, there's not much point taking anything except glade guard and big units of dryads vs DE. Probably a hail of doom BSB too or possibly a flaming banner BSB for hydra. (And hope you roll up a few forests).

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:40 am
by Maldor
When dealing with the treeman, I find my best results come from execs with Banner of the Eternal Flame. Secondarily, you can debuff its toughness with the Lore of Shadow.

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:00 am
by Tethlis
One major threat will come from a lot of focused missile fire happening unexpectedly on one Dark Elf unit and removing it from play. Since Wood Elf units can move and shoot without penalty, it's possibly for them to quickly move 30+ Glade Guard, a number of other bow armed units, a couple Treemen with Strangleroot (does an artillery dice worth of auto-hitting S4 hits) and a Noble with Hail of Doom Arrow (3D6 S4 shots, 30 inch range) to take out one of your elite units without warning. This can open up an entire section of the table for combat, and make you vulnerable in an area where you previously thought you were safe and had a battle line.

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:54 am
by Babnik
True our woodies cousins are the easiest foe to deal with since 7th edition but don't underestimate them!

Most of WE players are veterans from 5-6th rules. They play for over a decade and they know by heart how to play their figurines.

I faced recently a WE in a big tourney and he ended up with 3w/1d/1l. His lost was against me but his 2900pts list was nasty. WE don't like our repeaters xbow but we don't like their long bow either! And their shooting phases are usually better than ours.
I won only because I kept my second objectif thanks to my lord on dragon with crown of command :twisted: !!!

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:44 pm
by Assani
Tnx for all great tips!!

He has an advantage on me, since his played DE before, and knows "what to do" towards me.


Should i use unkillable lord with pendant, or go for sorc lvl4 w/ pendant?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:24 pm
by Norelle
I'm new and have no idea, as I have no patience for tabletop games but one thing comes to mind. Burn the trees down!!! XD

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:27 pm
by Bloodsinger
The unkillable lord will give a wood elf player a LOT of trouble. In this case I would say to go for that, but it's awfully nice to know that when you NEED a spell to go off, you can risk the irresistable because you have the pendant.

It's your call! Do you want to play magic heavy? or have an unkillable tank that will roam the board wiping out anything it touches?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 6:13 pm
by Assani
I love the lord, he is a real gamebreaker, and has never let me down...yet 8)

And I think its nice to have a lvl4 with the dagger aswell, with +4 ward, so i think that will be the plan for thoose

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:38 am
by Datalink7
To beat wood elves? Show up :P

But seriously, Witch Elves with the Flaming Banner is outstanding against Treekin and the Treeman. I'd include this unit for sure.

Massed repeating crossbows are a solid choice.

Bring some dedicated magic defense because Lore of Life is outstanding.

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:27 am
by Kaleth stinson
I crushed our national ETC wood elf player some weeks ago, even if i dident have hydras or unkillable dreadlord, and he had 3 units of 5 treekin! He had a really hard list that i dident think i had the list for, but it turned out i had.

Some things i learned:

Shadow magic is way to good on my lvl4.
And with Dark for my lvl2 i wreaked havoc on his elfs.
Lots of rxb is always good.
I loooove my CoB.
My MVPs:
20 Black guards with AP and Crimson Death. They go throug a unit of treekin like butter... Especially with debuffs from shadow and +1 attack from couldron.
And my 10 CoK unit with Hag Greaf and Whip of agony, coupled again with Shadow and CoB.

And off course harpies and shades are always golden!

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:40 am
by Assani
Sweet!!

Tnx for all hints and tips, really useful!

Suddenly I am LF to meet him, and crush him like we should do :twisted:

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:46 pm
by L1qw1d
Jejejejeee I have a meeting with our local woody on Sunday; I think I have a couple of tricks for it. Oh, you should note the Slaver thing for Corsairs. I think the funny thing is Volley right into Treekin Ancient. Hrm...now to buff it...