500 points Escalation League: New player

[hd300xy]

Alright, new Wood Elf player. I'm joining an escalation league and there are some nutty lists already - 3 massive blocks of slave + warp lightning cannon, tricked out Chaos lord on a daemon mount (2+/3++) 10 warriors and 10 dogs (I think?), etc.

Here are the three lists I've put together, trying to make the best I can. I can buy anything, I just have to paint it quickly if I don't have it.


5x Wild Riders
5x Wild Riders
11x Glade Guard
Level 1 Spellsinger
-Shadow
-Dispel Scroll


10 x Glade Guard
-Hagbane?
1x Great Eagle
9x Waywatchers
Level 2 Spellsinger
-Shadow


Level 2 spell singer
Great eagle
10 glade guard with hagbane
7 wild riders. Can drop the enchanted arrows for shields, banner and the reroll leadership banner
Or ditch shields, take banner of eternal flame and spend 10 points somewhere...



I am leaning on the first and last one. If I can get my core to exactly 125 I can squeeze in a level 2 in the first list, which would be ideal - Seems like a tall order, though. Rules are 3 units+heroes. 50% lord/hero.

Long time reader, first time poster. I'm excited to be here.

[NonnoSte]

Hi and welcome.

It looks like your friends are not going to start with soft armies, right?

Some quick suggestions that come to mind:
Vanilla Blade Guards usually perform worse than the same points spent on Hagbanes or Trueflights.
Speaking of which, if you're running Shadow, I'd think TFA work best, considering you have the chance to get the Withering (and at this point rate you're unlikely to face many T6+, where HBT outperform TFA).

Wild Riders are always worthy their points and Eagle are our best units with no exceptions.

Thus I like the most the last list you proposed but with little changes:
Shadowsinger L2
12 Trueflight Glade Guards, musician
5 Wild Riders, standard, Gleaming Pennant
Great Eagle

This should clock at 500 pts and is a good start for competitive lists.
You could also consider to swap the magic lore on your singer. Heavens is good on Spell singers, but Fire and Light could be really useful at this low point rate, since they both have a decent Magic Missile as signature spell.

Beware that it won't be as easy or forgiving as your opponent's armies (slaves are easily sacrificable and warriors can take a lot of punishing).
You'll have to play carefully every match.

[Billthesurly]

I have not played any low total games since the arrival of our new army book and 8th ed. In the before time though, 500 pt games used to be dominated by Wood Elves. Our speed and ability to stand off and pour on the damage was legendary. It was usually considered unnecessary for Woodies to bring a wizard at such low point totals at all. Consider this:

Glade Captain with Longbow, Hail of Doom Arrow, Swiftshiver Shafts, and any generic 5 pt magic thing you want. (Ironcurse Icon?)
1 unit of 11 Glade Guards with Trueflights/Hagbanes.
6 Deepwood Scouts with Hagbanes/Trueflights.
6 Waywatchers.

I think this is exactly 500pts. The idea here is obviously to not engage anything in hand to hand combat. Shoot like crazy and run from anything that gets too close. Your Captain will save his HoDA for the right moment, in the meantime he will be taking two shots a turn and usually hitting on 3's assuming long range and double shots. Waywatchers concentrate on the armored buggers. You can add on heavier troops and wizards as the points begin to creep up. Just FYI I prefer Trueflights over Hagbanes. I like sloshing my targets with LOTS of sharp, pointy things and it freaks out opponents when you take no shooting modifiers.
Bonne Chance.

[hd300xy]

Thanks guys for the responses.

I posted something similar, Bill and was told that someone WILL get into combat with me and I'm just going to fold. Chaos Lord on a steed is move 7, I'm not sure if I will be able to stay out of combat for that long.

Is a level 2 wizard really not good enough at this point level? I figured I could sling out two spells a turn, get one off and debuff anything that may be a problem.

[Billthesurly]

How much can Mr. Chaos Lord cost? 125 pts is about max for lords/heroes at 500 points. Mr. Chaos rides out solo in front of that many arrows and he's going to become a chaotic pin cushion. Unless he has a truly absurd ward save he can't last. In order for him to be that big a bad-ass he has to cost a lot. If he costs that much he has no back up worth talking about. If he has no back up he's dead meat.

All of your arrows are armor piercing. He takes a -1 to his AS for every wound. The Waywatchers don't even allow him an armor save. The HoDA is S4 and AP! That's -2 on his AS for every wound. You say he's hiding behind his cheap chaff troops until he gets close enough? Trueflights don't care what he's hiding behind as long as he can be seen. Your Captain and Waywatchers are high enough BS not to care. Bring him on.

You spread your units about a foot apart, play keep away from the big bads and concentrate your shooting and you will be amazed at what happens.

[hd300xy]

How much can Mr. Chaos Lord cost? 125 pts is about max for lords/heroes at 500 points. Mr. Chaos rides out solo in front of that many arrows and he's going to become a chaotic pin cushion. Unless he has a truly absurd ward save he can't last. In order for him to be that big a bad-ass he has to cost a lot. If he costs that much he has no back up worth talking about. If he has no back up he's dead meat.

All of your arrows are armor piercing. He takes a -1 to his AS for every wound. The Waywatchers don't even allow him an armor save. The HoDA is S4 and AP! That's -2 on his AS for every wound. You say he's hiding behind his cheap chaff troops until he gets close enough? Trueflights don't care what he's hiding behind as long as he can be seen. Your Captain and Waywatchers are high enough BS not to care. Bring him on.

You spread your units about a foot apart, play keep away from the big bads and concentrate your shooting and you will be amazed at what happens.

We have 50% lords/heroes, his guy is 2+/3++ reroll 2s or whatever it is on a daemonic steed. I think he costs around 220-230. I don't know what toughness he is, but I have a feeling he's toughness 5.

[Git]

Ignore/redirect the Lord. If you can use Scouts and/or fast cav to get to the rest of the army you easily sacrifice a unit of archers or an eagle to the lord. There are no ways to make it easier to kill, so it's better to not waste attacks on it.

Against the Skaven... Go for the WLC with all the shooting you can muster. Keep units you don't want hit out of sight, but don't worry if you lose one. After that target the immediate threat, or target the general's bunker. Don't charge the slaves unless it's necessary to win.

[hd300xy]

I think I need to go with a Wild Rider list, I hummed and hawwed too much on how I'd convert Waywatchers. I think I'll go with Sisters of Avelorn spliced with Eternal Guard box, but I think it will take me too long to model and paint that unit. So if I go with

5x Wild Riders
5x Wild Riders
11x Glade Guard
Captain
Hail of Doom
Hagbane

Level 2 spell singer
Shadow? - Maybe this should be something with a magic missile so I can get some more punch in my list.
Great eagle
10 glade guard with Trueflight
7 wild riders

Thanks so much for the Arrow advice, and that Waywatcher list looks insane, Bill.

Nonno, do you think the extra two archers and a couple command pieces beats out two Riders? I figure this lets a couple die, or if they don't I get max width in combat.

You guys are great.


Pretty much have to do something like this. Thoughts?

[NonnoSte]

I think the choice between 2 archers and a rider is pretty much according to taste (although a lote with magic missiles or a Glade Captain with the HoDA make other arrows less important).

Command models are a different thing tough.
If an enemy fast cav vanguards and then marches on your flank turn 1, a musician in GG allows you to swift reform them and shoot at the incoming threat in the same turn. This could save your 150+ pts unit with an investment of just 10 pts.
Similarly, if you fail an early frenzy test with your WR, you end up charging them in the open where they'll be easy target for enemy's fire/countercharges. Again, 15 pts for the Pennant keep a 140+ pta unit safe, who incidentally is also capable to kill two times its points with ease.

[Mokoshkana]

Remember that the army composition breakdown works as such:

Lords - up to 50% of max points
Heroes - up to 50% of max points
Core - MINIMUM of 25% of max points
Special - up to 50% of max points
Rare - up to 25% of max points

Some of your builds are not legal. Make sure they are in line with the above.

For instance, you cannot have two units of Wild Riders in a 500pt game as they would cost 260pts which is over the 50% threshold of 250pts.