In my last article, I wrote in detail on the various options available to a Wood Elf player and how to use them to make an ass kicking army. I’ve probably inspired a few amongst you to pick up Wood Elves since then, after all, it was a really good article. What’s worse is that I might have inspired one of your friends or a member of your European Style Gaming Club (more on that later) to start a Wood Elf army. If that’s the case, you’re probably yelling, “how the fuck do I stop these half naked, pointy eared pedos and their naked wooden girlfriends from kicking my balls in?”
If you’re yelling that or something similar, this is the article for you. If you’re playing your own Wood Elf army, you should still read this but deny its existence to any of your friends (or club members). Unlike my last article which gave you a unit by unit rundown, this one is much more general in its scope. There’s two reasons for that. One, I don’t know every trick up every sleeve in the Old World. There’s definitely going to be some guaranteed Wood Elf-killing combo I overlook. Two, GW’s release schedule means that the power balance between different armies is always changing. What I say about Skaven may change in six months. What I say about Tomb Kings may change in a year.
Instead, I’m going to give you a look at the Wood Elves’ weaknesses and let you devise specific schemes to take advantage of them. I’ll mention specific units here and there for example’s sake, but that’s not necessarily a suggestion. Basically what I’m saying is if your Grail Knights end up being slaughtered by some Dryads, don’t call me a faggot. You’re the one who blew the rolls.
So now that I’ve hemmed and hawed and made my little disclaimer, let’s get down to the business of talking about how to fuck up Wood Elves. Let’s start with an overview of how armies interact on the table.
Warhammer comes down to good manipulation of battle lines. The player who can hold his battle line together while braking up his opponent’s will win. He’ll get the flank combos that break the hardiest of troops. He’ll get the breakthroughs that allow him to destroy weaker second line troops. Quickly, so you understand my terminology, I’m going to go over the “standard” battle lines a Warhammer player may use.
The spearhead is where you put your hardest hitting troops in the middle with good support troops to guard their flanks and charge the whole mess towards your opponent with the intent of punching through his line of troops. Bretonnians are the classic spearhead army.
The castle is where you make a wall of tough asses surrounding your flimsier stuff with some heavy hitters hanging back to counter charge. Dwarfs and Imperial infantry armies will often adopt a castle style line.
The oblique line is like the spearhead, except you put the heavy hitting shit on one side in the hopes of rolling your best stuff into your opponent’s weakest stuff. Oblique lines work best with varied movement rates. Lizardmen can make good use of the oblique line.
The refused flank is similar to the oblique line, but you’re only attacking with the heavy hitting end of your line. The other side, comprised of missle troops and some flank anchors holds back hoping for the other offensive side to turn a flank High Elves will often adopt a refused flank.
Before I go on, it’s time for another disclaimer. These definitions are somewhat nebulous and armies on the battlefield can adopt multiple different lines during the course of battle depending on setup and mobility. Fliers, skirmishers, fast cavalry and magic also can render some of this null.
Which brings me to why I went on about battle lines for five paragraphs in the first place. You’re probably using a battle line. Your Wood Elf enemy is not. This is that whole, “they don’t play by the rules,” thing. This is why they’re the Viet Cong of the Old World.
Wood Elves use their mobility and maneuverability to pick apart your battle line. They disrupt your troops’ ability to support one another, so they can quickly take down stranded units. So the first step in fighting Wood Elves is to maintain your line and your troops’ ability to support one another. Wood Elves lack the static CR and numbers to win battles of attrition, so the more units you can bring to bear at once, the better chance you have of defeating the Woodies.
Numbers and leadership are your best way to prevent Wood Elves from pulling your army apart. You want numbers so you avoid panic tests caused by the volleys of arrows coming your way, and you want leadership so when panic does hit, you can keep your other troops from following suit. Of course, being immune to panic also takes care of this. Leadership will also help you resist the fear and terror effects the Wood Elf army can bring.
Toughness and good armor also help you maintain your line against Wood Elves. While their archers are amongst the best, most of their arrows are just S3, so invest in some armor saves.
Frenzied units and others with compuslory moves are to be avoided against Wood Elves. If your opponent knows what he’s doing, he’s going to pull these guys out of the line and kill them in front of the rest of your troops. There will probably be trees nearby, and aside from the fact that your watching your Chosen of Khorne get slaughtered by naked interpretive dancers, it will create a nice scene.
Artillery and weapons with blasts are of limited efficacy against Wood Elves. Remember, most of their stuff skirmishes, so that boulder isn’t going to hit as many dudes as it would dropped on a regular regiment. Also, cannons suffer because a Wood Elf player quickly learns how to position his skirmishers so the bounce hits one, maybe two, guys.
One the other hand, weapons that fire a wad of shots into a unit are pretty darn great. Hellblasters and Organ guns can rip apart a unit of Dryads with one volley. They’re even better at killing Wardancers.
But you can’t rely on artillery to kill Wood Elves. Chances are a big bird or some ninja snipers are going to silence your batter on turn 2. You need to engage them in melee. Here’s where the Wood Elves’ greatest weakness comes into play. Wood Elves are only T3, and most of them don’t have better than a 5+ save. Even total scrubs like Goblins can do damage to Wood Elves. Additionally, there’s little or no static CR in a Wood Elf army, so even their heavy hitters can be pulled down by sheer numbers.
Now watch out, Wood Elf troops can hit hard. You need to be able to soak up some wounds and still be able to hit back. Also, while you may win the combat, remember that Wood Elves have pretty decent leadership and a couple of Stubborn units available; they may not break.
Here’s where tarpits come in. Units like Tomb Swarms and Slayers can tie up Wood Elf units and keep them locked down. Now you’ve negated their mobility and can bring extra troops to swarm and kill what’s probably a fairly small unit.
So you’ve kept your line together and you’ve tarpitted some of the attacking Wood Elf troops, now you have to hit back. “But what do I hit back with?” you ask, your mouth stuffed with Cheetoes and Mountain Dew. Stop spitting orange dust at me for a second, and I’ll tell you.
Magic weapons negate one of the best defenses the Wood Elves possess, their Forest Spirit ward save. Most of the melee units in the list possess this ability as their primary form of defense, but magic weapons negate it. A T4 5+ save model is a lot less tough when reduced to just T4 with no save. Wights in their various incarnations are a good pick against Wood Elves. If you can’t bring troops with magic attacks, try to sprinkle some characters with magic weapons into your units.
Of course, there are a few Wood Elf units that have a higher toughness and real armor saves. Treekin and Treemen can cause a lot of trouble to an army without the strength to take them down. Here’s where I have to mention how much I hate Grail Knights. Those cocks pack the strength and the magic attacks to be a real threat to my barked bruisers. Treemen and Treekin create a great incentive to bring along a fighty hero. They don’t have the high I of their smaller mates, so even Orc characters can get to go before them in combat. Give your dude a nice magical axe (it’s more appropriate than a sword) that adds to his S characteristic and send him out to cut down some trees. Treemen also create a nice incentive to bring along flaming attacks. Remember, fire wounds are doubled on the big trees.
In the end, your most reliable melee Weapon against Wood Elves is static CR. They simply can’t generate it like most armies can. If you can pile on the ranks and the banners, you can beat down the Wood Elf melee troops.
One last recommendation: no matter what army you play or battle line you use, you want to bring some solid counter charge troops. Chances are the Wood Elves will get the jump on you, and you want to make sure you have something to hit back with. Additionally, this unit will provide your backline with insurance against big birds and the assholes that ride them.
You can beat Wood Elves. You probably can’t beat me playing Wood Elves, but that dickbag at your FLGS is a different story. And once you’re done, you can remind him that fondling his Dryads is the closest he’ll ever come to touching tits.
Tags: tactica, wood elves