2000 point all comers

[Westway]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum, and thought I'd come here first. I'm back into Fantasy after an extended break, and my army has always been Wood Elves since the first army book was released.

Anyway, I'm putting together a rough 2k list to ease myself back in and get back with the rules, and would appreciate someone looking over the below.

Lords

Spellweaver
Level 4, Elven Steed, Talisman of Preservation

Heroes

Spellsinger
Level 2, Dispell Scroll, Opal Amulet

Glade Captain
Battle Standard, Armour of Preservation, Great Weapon, Shield

Core

10 Glade Guard
Hagbane Tips, Musician

10 Glade Guard
Hagbane Tips, Musician

11 Glade Guard
Hagbane Tips, Musician

19 Eternal Guard
Shields, Champion, Musician, Standard

Special

9 Sisters of the Thorn
Champion, Musician, Standard

6 Wid Riders
Musician

5 Deepwood Scouts
Arcane Bodkins

Rare

6 Waywatchers


The Level 4 wizard goes with the Sisters, the Level 2 goes with the bigger glade guard, and the Battle Standard is in the Eternal Guard.

[Phil Rossiter]

Welcome!

It looks pretty sensible to me. Having paid for Sisters I'd be tempted to stick all the characters in there, though what you've got looks workable. Might be worth taking more stuff on the lvl4. Opal Amulet is good on the lvl2 because it might save him from a Miscast or cannon snipe.

Might be best to go for Trueflight on the Core (general utility and will be moving) and Hagbane on Scouts (closer to war machines). The list is over Core minimum, the additional points are usually better spent on Scouts as they're only 1pt more and are more than 1pt better.

I'd stick Gleaming Pennant on the Sisters as your General won't enjoy a failed Panic test. If you can I'd get a second unit of Wild Riders in to keep the enemy back with charge threat. Musicians don't help them a lot because they don't need Swift Reforms and they rarely need to Rally. Eternal Flame is an idea.

Which Lores?

[Westway]

Thanks!

All good points that make a lot of sense - I did wonder about Trueflight, I'm tempted to go with a mix of Trueflight and Hagbane on my glade guard units in that case - although this is intended to be all comers, Ogres are the most common army at my local club, so I was thinking the poison would help there.

Gleaming penant is a good thought, I tried to stay away from spending too much on Magic Items, but honestly I'd rather spend the extra than have a unit woth 500+ points run away after a lucky shooting round.

I'm not sure about lores to be honest, to some extent I suppose they're determined by the opponent. The level 4 I would like to use either High or Dark magic - I like the theming, and the spells are cool.

The level 2 I'm really not sure - Life can be good for a toughness boost here and there I suppose?

[Phil Rossiter]

Ogres are not a bad match-up for us generally and your list already has the shooting and flexibility needed to cope with them IMHO. I feel the priority is to take a lore that arms you against fast, hard threats because these are an issue for Wood Elves generally. I'm thinking stuff like Dragons, WoC characters, peg riders, phoenixes. Hagbane and Waywatchers are necessary here but they need magic to help out. Shadow gives you Withering and Pit. Beasts gives you Amber Spear. Light Coven gives you Banishment.

High is an excellent utility lore and Unforging is great against MC Heroes for example. But vs monsters you need help from a second Lore and a lvl2 greatly reduces your chances of rolling up the spell(s) you want. The question is, can you afford 2xlvl4 at 2000pts? If not, I'd be tempted to go with Shadow lvl4 and maybe Fire or Metal on the lvl2. Life is better for aggressive lists IMHO. Death level 4 will maul Ogres (Purple Sun is unaffected by the Gutstar's Runemaw because Vortices don't have a target) so that might be worth a look.

[Westway]

Great, thanks for the advice - I'll have a play around with the list and see what I can fit in.

I see your point about the 2 level 4 wizards - I could probably squeeze the second one in, I'm just not sure what to cut - Maybe take out one of the units of 10 Glade Guard, and add in a level 4 and some more Deepwood Scouts.

[Slobber]

Two level fours are strong, but at 2k probably not necessary. I'd look at High (4) Heavens (2) personally. The combat kit on the BSB always worries me, I haven't had good success with combat characters. If you're planning on much mêlée I'd think about beasts, +1s&t will add a great deal of survivability to the unit.

[Westway]

Yeah I didn't really aim to make my BSB a combat character - I figured the armour was an all-round sensible choice to avoid stray cannonballs/spells, I stuck the great weapon on just because... it was an afterthought really.

[Slobber]

If he's in a unit he will get a 2+ look out sir, you might get more milage out of the Hail of Doom and keep him with the lvl 2 with the archers. Give him and the unit trueflight arrows, and you can hide that block of glade guard behind the EG without hindering your shooting.

[Phil Rossiter]

I agree.

Because this is a shooty/avoidance list at heart, you can quite happily keep the BSB back. If you had big trees it might be different. I think the BSB's kit is the best you can do for fighting in EG but they are too soft for 3S6 attacks to make much difference. In Sisters it would be a different story.

[NonnoSte]

Some interesting tweakings with characters could be made just by switching their placements.
Consider this setup:

Darkweaver L4 with Fencer's Blade, Talisman of Preservation, Power Stone

BSB on Steed with HoDA, Charmed Shield, Opal Amulet
Spellsinger L2 on Steed with Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin

The Darkweaver leading Eternal Guards can boost their Strength with Power of Darkness and with AC10 and 4++ she is also quite protected once in combat (add in a possible Curse of Anraheir from Sisters and she'll be hit just on 6s by regular troops). The optimal situation is when you roll Soul Stealer and you manage to hit combat with her on 6/7 wounds.

BSB and Singer on the other hand can run around with Sisters, unleashing damage from range and jumping where rerolls are most needed.
For this purpose I think the Singer should pick a lore with a Magic Missile as signature (ie Fire, Light, Metal or Death, according to your meta each one of them has some advantages).

[Westway]

OK, thanks all for the input - that's interesting. I do have an old converted BSB on steed model, so I could add him to the unit of Sisters, making the unit Spellweaver, BSB and 8 Sisters, which would free up space for a 7th Wild Rider.

My worry then though, are all the eggs in one basket? I appreciate a 4+ ward, don't get me wrong, but I feel a Dwarf or Empire gunline would make mincemeat of the whole unit?

[Phil Rossiter]

Empire are cannon-heavy but they don't have effective shooting to trouble a unit like Sisters. Dwarfs have Crossbows and Organ Guns but these are Move or Fire, take to hit penalties and the Sisters are Fast Cav, so shouldn't be in the line of fire. Magic Missiles could be an issue but Magic Resistance can help with those. Selectively move shooting units just into 30" and take stuff out piecemeal.

[Westway]

Great, thanks all! I've got my first game on Friday, I'll give your advice a try