My first and most important lesson for you is redirecting with Fast Cavalry. The first question that should have entered your tiny brains is: why use Fast Cavalry for redirecting?

Answer:

• Fast Cavalry are (you guessed it) fast. This includes their ability to Reform as often as they want during their normal movement. These ‘free’ Reforms can be used to create disadvantageous angles for your opponent’s units.
• They have Feigned Flight. This means that they can rally after voluntarily choosing to Flee from an enemy charge and move as normal in their following turn.
• They’re usually cheap. If something goes wrong, you can afford to lose them.

Just look at this:

The yellow unit of Fast Cavalry have placed themselves in front of a problematic enemy unit. They do this because they want to both slow down the blue unit AND change their facing. Also note that if the blue unit wanted to charge something they now cannot, and are left with the option of charging the Fast Cavalry (diverting them) or sitting still.

Our blue unit has chosen to charge their harassers. Of course, the yellow (bellied) unit chooses to flee, so they are moved first. They must be moved in a line relative to the center of both units.

The charging unit must move towards their target. They don’t reach them with their short movement, so shuffle forward at half their charge distance.

As with most brilliant tactical maneuvers, there are risks involved:

The unit of Fast Cavalry may be caught by their chargers. In reality, this only happens if the Fast Cavalry roll abysmally low for their flight move. Due to the fact that in the glorious 7th Edition of Warhammer Fantasy fleeing units are pivoted on the spot and then moved, the distance between units can be exaggerated when the pursuing unit is forced to wheel towards the fleeing unit.

Panic! The fleeing Fast Cavalry unit could cause Panic in friendly units given its Unit Strength of > 5. This is easy to circumvent most of the time, just plan for the flight path of the redirecting unit.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, this is how you redirect an enemy unit to turn a bad situation into a good one!

In this highly hypothetical situation, I’ve added another nice yellow unit. They are men holding pointy sticks that don’t like to get charged.

Our brave unit of Fast Cavalry has jumped in the way of the menacing blue unit before it crashes into its target. Wheeling around the unit of Fast Cavalry will take up too much of their movement during a charge, forcing them to take another line of action.

The blue unit charges the yellow Fast Cav, wheeling towards them as before. The extended shadowy zone shows where the unit would continue had they moved their full charge distance. This is important to know, because if the unit of yellow infantry were in this area, the blue unit could have declared Enemy in the Way on them and charged them as well.

Thanks to careful planning, the blue unit cannot reach either of their targets, and so is stuck in the open. They have also left their flank open to the yellow infantry. Success!

Obviously, this situation isn’t entirely realistic, but it does show how you can actually use your brain and the longwinded movement rules for Fantasy (as opposed to the ‘move wherever within 6″ rule’) to outplay your opponent. It’s a great answer to your enemy’s hammer units that rely on getting into combat earn their keep. Although this stuff may seem simple, only the better players actually manage to pull these kinds of moves off successfully with any consistency.

If the two of you that read this out there (hi mom!) want more of this kind of stuff, let me know. I can show off other nifty tactics like the ‘Skirmish Skedaddle’ and the ‘Hated Hold’ as well as ways to defeat them in future posts.

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.

The first Fantasy Battles mini I ever bought was a Wood Elf Wardancer. That was back in ‘91, and I’ve been playing them ever since. I’ve had my dalliances with other armies: Orcs & Goblins, Dwarfs, Bretonnians, and I’ll admit I’ve always wanted to put together a nasty Clan Pestilens horde. But I always go back to my Woodies, and Games Workshop helps me along by making them one of the best armies in the game.

It’s appropriate that The Patriot is playing as I sit down to type this. Not because of any joke conflating the Crown’s taxation offenses with GW’s ever climbing prices, but because the film’s battle scenes focus skirmishing irregulars making a joke of rigidly organized battle lines.

Like the “Indian” fighting revolutionaries depicted in that movie, the Wood Elves don’t play by the rules. They don’t maneuver around in large static blocks. They don’t win a fight by piling ranks on banners for combat resolution. There’s not a warmachine or suit of heavy armor to be found in their list. Their basic melee infantry are skirmishers. Their shock cavalry are fast cavalry. Their missile troops work better when you move them. Beyond a statblock shared with the other Elf armies, the Wood Elves have nothing in common with any other army.

Wood Elves win battles by exploiting the tremendous difference between their playstyle and that of more staid Warhammer armies. That line of battle you work out with your Empire or High Elf army means nothing to a Wood Elf general, except as something to pull apart and destroy in pieces.

Whereas most armies work best when you run them like one giant machine, the Wood Elves function best when you think of them as flexible strike forces focused on destroying key parts of that machine. A Wood Elf army is flexible and mobile in ways that Empire and Greenskin players can only dream of. Dwarf and Undead players will gasp at how fast your army can move about the board. Even their cousins, the High and Dark Elves will have a tough time keeping up with a Wood Elf army.

When you look at the Wood Elf army list, you’ll see entry after entry that can move fast and strike hard. You’ll also notice an almost complete lack of armor saves, but that’s mitigated by the fact that you’ll be the one deciding when and where the fight happens.

But enough blathering; let’s take a look at the list, and see what it can do.

Characters

Not counting the special characters, you have six options to choose from, and they all can lead your army. They break down into basically three categories: heroes, wizards, and forest monsters; and each of those has a lord and hero choice.

Highborns and Nobles are your heroes– ass kicking, forest dwelling, quasi-pedos who can be tricked out in a ton of different ways thanks to kindreds, spites and magic items. You can also plop them on some sweet monsters: forest dragons, great eagles, and my personal favorite (because it looks so fucking cool), the great stag.

Of course, to ride that stag, you’re going to have to get the Wild Rider kindred upgrade, but it’s worth it for the ward save and immunity to psychology. Give him the Dawnspear or the Spear of Twilight (either is a good choice) and some magic armor, and you’ll have a nice and killy general. You can cheap out and put him on a horse, but then you’re not riding that sweet fucking stag, and thus missing the entire point.

Wild Rider isn’t the only kindred you can take, though, and there are some even killier options available.

Alter Kindred nobles make great trouble shooters. Their M9 means they can get where they need to be, and it will fuck your opponent’s mind the first time he sees this lone elf charge from 18 inches. There’s two schools of thought concerning the Alter Noble. The first says he’s best used as a mobile sniper with either the Bow of Loren or a Hail of Doom arrow. This is pretty cool, but there’s an even nastier combo available. Give him the Amber Pendant and a greatsword and maybe some magic armor if you have the points, and now you have 4 WS6 S6 attacks that always go first. Setting him up like this makes for an aces monster hunter. Also, he will make High Elves cry. Remember, though, Alter heroes can’t be your general, so it’s generally a waste to use up a lord slot bringing an Alter Highborn.

“But I want my general to be an awesome Elf tree ninja,” you say. That’s cool; there are other options. Waywatcher kindred turns your general (or a hero) into a ninja sniper, but there is a problem. You’re going to want to give this guy the Bow of Loren to take advantage of his BS7 and A4, but when you shoot that, you lose killing blow. The other option is the Hail of Doom arrow. You could cheap out and make him Scout kindred instead, and then you don’t have to worry about the killing blow conundrum, but you’ll also miss out on the Forest Stalker ability. Of course, you can then give him a suit of armor, but you don’t need armor. You’re playing Wood Elves, dammit.

Or if you want him to go shithouse up close, you can give him Wardancer kindred. Yeah, it eats up the points, but that’s mitigated by the Blades of Loec being fairly cheap and Wardancers being death machines.

The nice thing about Kindreds is that their points are offset by requiring less than the usual number of magic doodads to make your guy effective. You can either save a few points, or you can use the difference to buy Spites. A Murder of Spites ups any melee character’s killing power, and the Annoyance of Netlings is fucking great if you face a lot of challenges. A Blight of Terrors is worth every one of those fifty points as long as your opponent isn’t immune, so it’s a pretty situational choice. Don’t bother giving your shooty heroes the ranged attack spites, though. They should be using their magic bows and arrows.

Now, you don’t have to give your heroes a kindred, but you’re kind of an idiot not to. There are two exceptions to this. The classic Highborn on an Eagle is still a viable option, but he’s going to need some good magic gear to be really effective. Also, your BSB can’t be a member of a Kindred. You want to bring one of these guys. You’re not playing Empire. You don’t have hordes of barefoot, codpieced jackoffs to throw at your enemy, so the rerolls on breat tests are a must. He’s also good for that extra CR.

In the wizard department, you have two choices: Spellsingers and Spellweavers. The latter are just Lord level versions of the first, so the same comments can apply to both.

Your wizards either have Glamorweave kindred or they don’t. It’s a good choice, especially because it opens up the Unicorn mount. Yes, in the real world, unicorns are for housewives and little girls; but in the Warhammer world, they’re magic murder horses. And yes, you can just put the lady on a regular old horse, you cheap bastard, but you’re missing out on all the cool unicorn abilities. You don’t have to take Glamorweave to ride a horse, and not taking it gives you the option of riding an Eagle. And you can always just have your wizards walk around, but put them in a unit of Glade Guard if you do that.

Unless you just want a scroll caddy, it’s worth buying the level upgrade on your Spellsingers. You can skip out on it with a Spellweaver if you need the points elsewhere. You should always bring a dispel scroll anyways because it will save your ass. Otherwise when it comes to magic gear, give the poor elf some sort of ward save. Also, don’t forget that your vanilla wizards are BS4 and carry longbows. You can give them the Hail of Doom arrow. Your opponent will not expect your wizard suddenly unloading an entire volley.

Spellweavers and Spellsingers can also take spites. Here’s where I like to take the ranged ones, especially on Singers. They don’t get much in the way of magic attacks, so giving them A Pageant of Shrikes gives them some nice offensive power.

One last thing concerning Spellweavers: give them the Lore of Beasts. Bear’s Anger alone makes this a worthwhile choice, and the other spells really complement your troops.

And that brings us to the tree beasts: Treeman Ancients and Branchwraiths. Ancients are mean fucks, but they eat up a rare slot, and don’t do much more than a vanilla Treeman. Unless you’re going for an all forest spirit army, use the lord slot on something else. Branchwraiths, on the other hand, are excellent all around heroes. They’re tougher and killier than Nobles, and you can make them wizards, which I always do. It’s also worth giving them A Cluster of Radiants so they can generate that extra dispel die. A Branchwraith set up this way makes a great general for small games.

TL;DR: There are a shitload of different options in the character section, and you should go back and read about them.

Core Units

You have four or five options in this section depending on what kind of general you bring. Eternal Guard count as a special choice unless your army is led by a Highborn, but since they’re included in the core section in the book, I’ll cover them here.

Glade Guard are your backbone, your bread and butter, your other metaphor for fundamental choice. Unless you’re doing the all forest spirit schtick, you want to bring at least one regiment of them. The optimal build is a regiment of ten with a musician. Unlike other armies’ missile troops, these guys are better used on the move. They don’t suffer the -1, and they become S4 within 15″. They also rank up normally, so as long as there are 5 of them left, you can charge them into a flank to negate ranks. This is nasty, and something generally not expected of unarmored missile troops.

Now, common wisdom says that full command is a waste of points and a liability on missile troops, but you can run Glade Guard with full command and pull of some dick moves. Remember what I said about flank charging them to negate ranks, well full command makes that trick even better. And since your army is devoid of banners, the 100 extra VPs they make your Glade Guard worth can be the bait in a trap. Still, it’s better to save the points for something else.

Glade Guard can be upgraded to Scouts. Scouts are okay, but most people don’t like them because Waywatchers are so much better. That’s true, but 5 scouts is an 85 point speedbump that can tie up a lot more points than they’re worth. That’s really the only way to use them.

Glade guard riding horses are called Glade Riders, and they are excellent, albeit expensive, fast cavalry. A unit of 5 is good harassing and flanking unit, but don’t expect them to do much damage on their own.

Finally, there are the Dryads. They’re your basic melee unit, and they’re good at what they do. Dryads are tough, killy, and mobile– the essence of Wood Elf tactics all rolled into a 12 point package. These leafy ladies are your main asskickers, and they can tangle with most troops, infantry and cavalry, in the game. They’re best in units of 10, and I like to bring Branchnymphs to spring challenges with. Dryads are going to end up doing most of your fighting, so watch out for magic attacks than can drastically reduce their durability. Wights, Tombguard, and Grail Knights can cut them down quickly.

Eternal Guard are the core unit I use least, but that doesn’t mean they suck or anything. In fact, they’re your best and practically only source of static CR. They’re best used as a bodyguard for your BSB, since he will make them Stubborn. The amount you want to bring depends on how many points you’re bringing. 14 is a good number for most games around 2000 points, and you can scale that up to 24 for really big battles.

Special Units

The special section is where some of my favorite Wood Elf units reside. They’re mostly geared towards melee, with one unit filling a harasser/warmachine hunter role.

That unit is Warhawk Riders, and they’re the worst choice on the list. Don’t fret if you’ve already bought some of these sweet looking sumbitches, though; they have their uses. Those uses number exactly two. The first is to use hit and run to add some extra CR to a fight. The second is to swoop in and kill warmachine crews. They suck and die at everything else.

Wardancers are one of the iconic Wood Elf units, so it’s good that they’re good. They don’t have the resilience of your Dryads, but they pack even more killing power. Their dances allow them to adapt to their enemies’ abilities, and they’re always good at dumping out a ton of WS6 S4 attacks on the charge. Wardancers are best used as trouble shooters. Keep them near your Glade Guard where they can fend off things like fliers or Tomb Scorpions or run forward and join the main battle group. It’s worth bringing the command upgrades with Wardancers. Run them in regiments of 8 or 10.

Treekin are the poor man’s Treemen. Individually, they’re not as good as their big brothers, but you have to bring at least 3 of them, which is the perfect amount. Treekin aren’t as mobile as some of your other melee units, but they are tough as nails, and they can negate ranks by hitting a flank. Be careful, though, they have trouble dealing with a lot of static CR on their own, and they’re not stubborn, so use them in tandem with your Dryads or other melee units to provide some beefy backup.

Wild Riders are an interesting unit. And by “interesting,” I mean fucking awesome. They’re fast cavalry that hit like knights, and they cause fear. Of course, they’re pricy, but they usually earn their points. Wild Riders have the added benefit of still being good at killing on turns after the charge thanks to their bonus attack and ward save. They’re immune to psychology as well, which makes them great monster slayers. 6 to 8 is a good number of Wild Riders.

Rare Units

Wood Elves get three great rare choices to choose from. All have their roles, and all are good at those roles.

Great Eagles are cheap warmachine killers. You get a lot for 50 points with these guys, but the problem is they take up a rare slot that you’d rather use on the other two options.

Treemen are expensive but worth every point. The only thing they really have to fear is fire, but otherwise, they can be relied upon to stomp just about anything else they face. Their strangleroot attack can mash nearby units, and their woody fists can smash whatever gets into melee with them. Be careful, though, they’re stubborn, but they’re only LD8. So keep your BSB nearby.

Finally, Way Watchers are the Tom Behringers of Warhammer. They cost a lot, but they can deploy right on top of a prime target and wipe it out with their ranged killing blow. Bring Waywatchers to your battles and watch your opponents give up on taking independent characters. Arch Lectors riding their popemobiles, Runelords with their Anvils, Hierophants with the Arc of the Covenant, I mean Cask of Souls– all will seem like mammoth wastes of points after your regiment of 5 waywatchers do their assassination trick.

Conclusion

Wood Elves are fucking awesome. That’s the conclusion you should draw. Even their suck choices are pretty good, and their good choices are really good. You can play a gimmick, theme, or just take whatever you think looks cool, and you’ll still end up with a competitive list for friendly games; or you can min-max the shit out of them and bring a top tier tournament ready list. And their model range is amongst Games Workshop’s best, so whatever you end up taking, it’s going to look rad.