Using max slots on one unit

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SleepingStar
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Using max slots on one unit

Post by SleepingStar »

Are there any special or rare choices for Wood Elves that you would deem viable for using all your slots on? (outside of themed armies and ignoring price of models) I ask this question because i'm very tempted to start running maybe 3 or even 4 units of 6-man Wild Rider units - mainly cos I really like the models rules-wise and find them hard hitting and effective. Do you think this is workable or is it sinking too many points into the units? Apart from an all forest-spirit army, fielding four units of Treekin seems very tempting also albeit involving a greater risk regarding spread of points. The thought of maxing out on Wardancers is scary, with potential for 21 attacks each for your average unit on charge! Although they would seem too weak to buy more than two units of. Warhawks are a unit I have yet to master though yet again I think they would be too weak to max out on as well as having trouble with space on the battlefield.

With the rare choices it is less of an issue, mainly cos you only get two usually, and we've all seen that dual treeman can be rather effective. Using your slots for Great Eagles is hardly pushing the boat out and can sure be handy if mage/war machine hunting though some would see it as a waste of a slot (if only you could buy 2 for 1 slot....hint hint GW *fingers crossed for 8th Edition). Lastly, that leaves Waywatchers which I guess would be dependent on scenery (well, presuming you knew the setup beforehand, otherwise gonna be a gamble) in the sense that you don't want to waste their scouting ability yet won't want to put them in unnecessary risk. I could see the benefit of having 12 or so killing blow shots - has anyone had success with two units of Waywatchers?

Whilst on the subject, i'm intrigued the most units of Eternal Guard someone has used in a battle and how they faired? (though I guess that would be quite un-Wood Elf-y)
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lune
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by lune »

That's a lot of questions in only one thread :D
SO, step by step:
Yes, filling out all your special slots with only 1 unit can be quite competive - browse older Call of the Hunt pages for some lists with 4 units of Wild Riders (in addition, a player with only fast cavalry units and waywatchers as well as wild rider and waywatcher heroes messed up the german tournament scene a bit with his list a few years back).
For warhawk riders, simply take a deeper look into the sethayla lists.
Wardancers are versatile units - but also very fragile and compared to the other 2 mentioned above slow. Thus, a list with 4 of them won't be as hard-hitting as the other 2.
Compared to that, treekin can take a lot more punch - but again, they are slow and bulky blocks with no static combat result, which results in comparativly easy to break units.
Eternal Guard on the other hand come with the numbers to form an ok block of infantry; unfortunately, these blocks are too expensive to have more than 2 on the battlefield in a standard 2k-2,5k game and compared to other races, our infantry is squishy and pretty costly. The thebian Phalanx is some kind of all-or-nothing-attempt to even things a bit out, making this block extremely large and with the 5+ward also sturdy, giving you an edge over your opponent (which works well against non-fear-causing units) but against other fear-causers you're usually at best on the same level as them.

Apart from that: Eternal Guard is in my armies even more random successful than my wardancers (which do about anything between 21 attack,2hits, 0 wounds and slaughtering 7 knights in a single combat phase with 8 attacks) - I've had games where my EG (20ish + lord + elynett's) fled from the battlefield when a block of zombies dared to attack them and other games where 13 + HB +BSB slayed their way through several blocks of black orcs with heroes and lords.
The only way to get some definite answers about their usefulness is to field them yourself :p
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by Tethlis »

The Thebian Phalanx, more specifically, relied on a main regiment of tremendous size (40+ Eternal Guard) as well as a smaller regiment (20+ for support.) A BSB with the Royal Standard of Ariel allowed the units to cause Fear, thereby giving them Fear-immunity against opponents like Vamp Counts and Daemons. The rest of the list was filled in with supporting combat characters, Wild Riders and Glade Guard for support.

The Sethayla list, to be specific, is the army build that most players initially visualize when they think about fighting Wood Elves. It relies almost entirely on missile fire and combat avoidance, and use only Glade Guard, Warhawk Riders and Waywatchers for unit selection. Across three unit categories (Core, Special, Rare) you see only one choice taken.

Wood Elves lend themselves well to a combined-arms playstyle though, with lots of different units with different capabilities working in tandem to get the best effect. We also have a lot of models with their own unique appeal, both in terms of the model that represents them and the fluff/lore they represent. With those two factors in mind, I think most players like a bit of variety when constructing their lists.
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by SleepingStar »

Thanks for the replies - i've posted an army list for an Eternal Guard Phalanx that I will be testing out this weekend so shall keep you posted how that goes (although fighting Daemons, if I lose it's hardly conclusive considering the hard time they give everyone anyway). I do like the sound of running four units of Wild Riders - may try that out sometime in the near future, and they will also be handy when I do finally getting round to fielding a Wild Hunt led by Orion. I'm aware of the Sethayla lists although I would say it appears one of the hardest WE set ups to master, though I did used to play Chaos back in the day so still overcoming my tendencies to get stuck in...I'd still say Warhawk Riders are probably the toughest unit in our army to use effectively. Fielding four units of Treekin would look damn good! Although as mentioned before, not that manoevreable and highly susceptible to fire and magic. Still i'd stick them second on my list behind Wild Riders to experiment with. Well i'm probably answering my own questions here anyhow but im interested in other peoples views as well before I go splurge a lot of money on units I won't be able to use effectively!
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by ArchMagosAlchemys »

Sethayla more often use Glade Riders for core although I mix GG and GR.

Using all the slots for only one choice greatly 'speacializes' the army, giving some benefits, but usually introducing huge weaknesses too. WR, WD, and Tk are all ItP and WhR cannot go into woods, practically.
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by Tethlis »

ArchMagosAlchemys wrote:Sethayla more often use Glade Riders for core although I mix GG and GR.
Good catch, that's the one I meant. You know, the Elves with the bows!

Glade Guard, Glade Riders, Wild Riders, Warhawk Riders, WR, WD, WW, WHR, drives me crazy sometimes :p . Avoiding abbreviations usually helps me avoid these errors, but not all the time.
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Re: Using max slots on one unit

Post by ArchMagosAlchemys »

Tethlis, I know YOU know and it was just a typo. The trouble with the net is that our mistakes never die and can come back to haunt us, like the undead.
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