Woodland Ambush
Contributors:
Cyric the Mad *GW posted a helpful article on making a portable 6” forest. You can find it here. You can leave the magnets out if you wish, but I made mine using this guide and it has been very helpful.
Free Terrain Means Extra Terrain
One of the most often-debated benefits of the Wood Elf army is its ability to place an extra piece of forest terrain after all other terrain has been set up. It is important to remember that this free forest is above and beyond what you and your opponent would normally have on the table.
I’ve seen some unscrupulous opponents decide that, if a table should normally have 4 pieces of terrain, then 3 should be placed with the free forest making up the 4th. Remember that this free forest terrain is a benefit of your army. Extra terrain helps you more than any other army in the game. Factoring your free woods into to the normal terrain makes this benefit meaningless.
Six Inches of Wood
The Woodland Ambush special rule states that Wood Elves may (in an average game) place a free forest terrain piece up to 6” in diameter anywhere on the Wood Elf player’s side of the table before deployment begins. Since this rule allows a piece of terrain "up to six inches", it is clearly a good idea to have a full 6" diameter terrain piece.
With this in mind, it is highly recommended that you plan ahead and prepare a 6” woods terrain piece to accompany your army wherever you take it. This way you’re always guaranteed to get your due, and you don’t have to worry about your opponent debating the size of the terrain. Think of the 6” woods as just another figure in your army, and things will be much easier for you.
Placement
It is important to note the difference between “on your half of the table” and “in your deployment zone”. This may seem obvious to most people, but I have personally witnessed Wood Elf players making this error, and it can have significant impact on the rest of your game.
“Your half of the table” means just that. If the table is 48” wide, it means you’ve got up to the 24” center point to place your woods. Where to place this free terrain is up to a few factors:
My Forest My Surfboard
One favorite trick is to place the free forest eight or nine inches away from the edge of your deployment zone. The intent here is to immediately run a unit (Wardancers or Treemen are the usual suspects) into the forest terrain, and begin surfing said terrain forward via the Treesinging spell.
But Sir, There’s a Clear Path Right Over There
The free forest can help you trap or direct enemy units. If your terrain has been set in such a way that there are two obvious routes for your enemy to take, simply block one of them off. If you can manage to cast a few treesinging spells, this forest can even be re-deployed to block enemy retreat.
By the Power of Moonstone
You’ve paid the points for your teleportation item, but there’s only a single forest terrain on the board? Fear not, for your free forest can easily be placed within or close to your deployment zone to allow use of this favored item. Now whether or not the moonstone can still be useful is up to you to decide.
Sniper’s Perch
The free forest can be a good way of making sure your Waywatchers have somewhere to deploy if all else fails. Combine this with their improved cover modifier, and these gents can keep you free forest warm all game.
Summary
The true beauty of this benefit is that, even if the terrain doesn’t favor you, you can still make sure that the trees are on your side. This free terrain can help you plug holes in your defensive strategy, block enemy units, and help the sons and daughters of Athel Loren arrive safely to combat.