Verdict on the Wood Elves?

[Mr Mystery]

It's finally here. After a great many years, the Stick Pixies have got a shiny new book, full of spangly new models and rules.

But....is it in fact any good?

For those who are relative new comers, the current batch of 8th edition army books, starting with Orcs and Goblins have done a stand up job of keeping the game nicely balanced. Sure there are usually really nasty units in each book, but overall the outcome is more down to player ability than ever before.

Wood Elves.....well they've kind of been the red headed stepchild of Warhammer for a while now. Long gaps between books, and all too often quickly outdated. The switch to 8th and the drawbacks to skirmishers hit them really hard. Not only did you lose manouvreability with Skirmish, but ranked units got a lot, lot harder. Even combat mechanics walloped Wood Elves. Traditionally, the Wood Elves depended upon a front rank wipe in combat, as more than other Elves they really couldn't absorb retaliation.

Worse, they also depended heavily on terrain to keep them safe, by slowing down the enemy. Before 8th Edition, ranked units wandering around Woods or other difficult terrain halved their movement, and couldn't march... But not anymore, now it's just dangerous terrain tests all round, but no real slowing down.

Now, I've not picked up the book yet, so I'll shut up soon. Instead of me waffling, it's over to you to tell the BoLs world what you think of it. Has it brought the army up to snuff? Has it tinkered too much and changed the overall feel of a guerilla force?

Let's get ready to MUUUUUUUMBLE!

[Chronowraith]

Forests provide other benefits other than difficult/dangerous terrain. For starters, units can't be steadfast when in woods. Leave a tiny 1/2" lip to the front of the forest and suddenly the Wood Elves are amazing and don't have to worry about that giant block of Skaven Slaves trying to tie them up.

Overall, I'd give Wood Elves a solid B. They have some obvious bonuses and they have a decent spread of unit types and advantages. They also have some big drawbacks though. They are weak and squishy (S3 across most units, T3 with little to no armor). Internal balance is mostly there. They have some pretty awesome units that people would be crazy to go without (Wild Riders, Glade Riders, and the Sisters). While other units are "okay" but obviously weaker choices (sadly, Warhawk Riders fall into this category... again).

Magic, they prove very versatile. They aren't quite as versatile as Slann but they have more options available to them than even High Elves and I like that this represents the dual-sided nature of the wild. Of the two lore attributes I'd give the edge to the High Magic side of things as those protection ward tokens are pretty awesome. General die to a lucky cannonball? Well that won't happen if he or his unit had one of these protection counters.

The addition of the Wildwood rangers gives the army some much needed offense in the form of block infantry. I'd rate them higher than Eternal Guard who are still a decent choice (and EG are Core as opposed to Special). The way they treat the magic arrows is fantastic although expensive. This also makes WE the hard counter to the VC spirit armies that frequent tournaments and singlehandedly shuts down the Ethereal frogs as WE would quickly leave the Lizardmen without a general.

Overall I really like the book. They play like a slightly more balanced version of Dark Elves but still retain much of the feel that they had previously (while still working in the game). They somehow managed to lose a little of what little defense they had, but they gained a great deal of punch. I do feel they lack the ability to deal with higher toughness armies (not individual models like monsters) but that's still up for debate. I'm hoping to test that out tomorrow when I play against my buddy's WE with my Skaven... and if more time... my Warriors of Chaos.

Seriously... the ground cavalry in this book is stupid good. Ambushing Fast Cavalry that can take poison arrows? Yes please. Fast Cavalry that are ASF with 3 WS5 S5 attacks with armor piercing (and a WS3 S4 mount attack) on the Charge? Yes Please. Another Fast Cavalry that can cast Shield of Thorns or Curse of Anraheir to support other and also have 4+ Wards and Poison attacks (both melee and ranged)? Heck, yeah! Keeping Fast Cavalry on these units means that the WE player shouldn't feel like they have to take larger units and thus adds to the feelings of roving bands of ambushers.

If anyone has non-points related questions about the book... just let me know. I'm more than willing to fill in the blanks.

[lattd]

Have they expanded the twilight sisters background ? Also in your opinion which units are the big winners and losers?

[Chronowraith]

Big Winners?

Glade Riders - Ambush + Magic Arrows makes for some of the best warmachine hunters (Come in from back table edge and shoot poison arrows)
Wild Riders - I mentioned this in my previous post, but on the charge these guys hit like a ton of bricks.
Glade Guard - Access to Magic Arrows will allow players to tailor units for specific purposes
War Dancers - Nullify rank bonuses means they can face down large blocks of infantry again.
Sisters of the Thorn - Similar to DE Warlocks but more support in nature than pure offense.
Wildwood Rangers - They are similar to White Lions now (not quite as good, but cheaper).

Losers
Warhawk Riders - They better than their previous incarnations but they are still pretty lackluster.
Dryads - That loss of S4 and moving from a 5+ Ward to 6+ Ward hurt... a lot. Still usable but only as a solid anvil block.
Waywatchers - Replacing Killing Blow with the ability to choose between multiple shots or ignoring armor is a bit of a wash but the loss of their uber-scout deployment really hurts.

As for the Twilight Sisters I can't really respond on that. It *looks* expanded from what I remember, but I never really read up on them to begin with. They have about a page of fluff in their entry (I have the digital copy so it's hard to judge) and they are mentioned a few times in the history.

[Houghten]

Well, I still wish we'd got plastic Wardancers, Warhawk Riders, Treekin and Forest Dragons (no need for Waywatchers though; the new Wildwood Ranger heads will make it pretty easy to convert them out of Glade Guard).

Does that count as a loss, or are we dealing purely in rules here?

They have some pretty awesome units that people would be crazy to go without (Wild Riders, Glade Riders, and the Sisters).

Hell, you could make an all-cavalry army and watch Bretonnian players weep into their grails.

[Chronowraith]

I was speaking purely from a rules perspective.

I agree with models. I was really hoping for new war hawk riders as those are a pain to assemble (and keep together). I also wish they had redone tree kin as their current design doesn't fit with the treemen and dryads. Current war dancers are passable and I never had much hope about the forest dragon.

[Theik]

General die to a lucky cannonball? Well that won't happen if he or his unit had one of these protection counters.

Unless you first shoot an arrow at the unit, in which case you no longer have protection counters because spending them is not optional.

[Chronowraith]

My point being that it could happen. There are plenty of armies out there where you only ever see warmachines and ranged BS weapons are few and far between (Skaven, Ogres, Daemons, Warriors of Chaos, etc).

[lattd]

Quick question is the sisters of twilight'a dragon counted as a monster? Or monstrous cavalry?

[Domine Nox]

Dragon is a Monster for Sisters of Twilight, and IMO not as good as their eagle option.

And in regards to the wound token, you aren't going to snipe a general out of a unit with an arrow, but you can with a cannonball. So unless the Wizard is running around by himself, it is not a valid counterpoint to how effective the wound tokens are.