Trees, glorious trees!

[Decurion]

I know this isn't original, but I want to create a forest spirit army. In poking through this forum and the WE book I came up with the list below:

Drycha

Branchwraith (Causes Fear, A Murder of Spites)

Branchwraith (Causes Fear, A Pageant of Shrikes)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

8x Dryads (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

3x Tree Kin (Causes Fear; Flammable; Scaly Skin)

3x Tree Kin (Causes Fear; Flammable; Scaly Skin)

Treeman (Causes Terror; Flammable; Large Target; Scaly Skin; Stubborn)

Treeman (Causes Terror; Flammable; Large Target; Scaly Skin; Stubborn)


I would very much appreciate and comments, criticism, etc.

Tim

[DotR]

The biggest weakness of forest spirits is magic and you have no magic defense.

I think forest spirit armies should include at least 1 glamourweave spellsinger w/2 dispel scrolls.

If you don't want to do that at least make your dryads level 1 and have a cluster of radients in there.

The treeman ancient is our best CC character (and one of the best in the game). Give him the Annoyance of Netlings and he will take on and destroy almost any other character.

Personally I don't think a pure tree list can be as good as other lists however it can still be fun to play. I would think about adding another unit of treekin since you will need to negate ranks to win any combats.

The treemen are much weaker w/o a BSB so good luck with your stubborn rolls!

[Skarsgard]

The biggest problem with the above list is boredom. Its the kind of list you play once, maybe twice and get bored of it.

Think about including Glamourweave spellsingers with some magic upgrades. Wildriders will also break up the list a bit. Wildriders characters can add another dimension as well.

I wish there were more forest spirit units but there aren't. But if you include the above two units at least you will have something vaguely interesting. There is not much you can do about your core choices except change up the unit sizes. Have a couple at 12 to act as body guards for the Branchwraiths.

I don't mean to be critical but the above list would be very boring to play against. I have played against a fair few Forest Spirit armies in my time and the inclusion of Glamourweave casters and wildriders has made the experience much more enjoyable and given the WE player a bit of flexibility.

[Cyric the Mad]

Originally Posted by Skarsgard

The biggest problem with the above list is boredom. Its the kind of list you play once, maybe twice and get bored of it.

This basically sums up my thoughts on the list. It's a theme-type list that might be fun to consider, but wouldn't be too fun for repeated game play (not to mention the time it would take to assemble 48 dryads).

Like the other have said, glamourweave spellcasters and wild riders will go a long way toward making this a more interesting list. As it stands now, anybody with access to fire spells will have a field day against this army.

I've only ever seen one game with a purely-tree forest spirit army, and neither of the players looked like they were having a good time. I felt sorry for both of them.

[The real Iaphyr]

I've only ever seen one game with a purely-tree forest spirit army, and neither of the players looked like they were having a good time. I felt sorry for both of them.

oh contrare, i think this is rather interesting and different (that and it's me you got your list from, so i'm biased). it certainly plays differntly to almost any other fantasy army including vanilla wood elves, although the lack of choice means that it will get repetitve in a small gaming group where you play each other quite a few times. I assume this is a 2250 pt list (doing the maths). you have to ask yourself what is the purpouse - tourneys or sociual groups. and this will decide for you.

to the technical aspects of the list -
Drycha is quite cool, don't let anyone try and convince you away from it (although an ancient is too) her special rules definitly add a lot of tatcical depth to the army. Don't forget that her tree teleportation happens During the movement phase, not the start or end, so you can move into a forest (and join a unit there) and then teleport, really good for setiing up a false flank.

I'm not a big fan fan of Branchwraiths. they're no where near as choppy as they need to be (Dryads Nymphs with an extra wound) and taking spites or Lvl 1 Magic (ouch pricey) are all very random abilities, as opposed to things like special Armour, weapons or talismans. 1 + dispel dice is fairly useful, but for a bit more she could add +1 power dice too. the only other use for them was if they could be a BSB. sigh.

after a test game with riders, i have to say they are way cool in Drychas Army, they add some much needed straight line speed, and if your worried about elves being in the army, convert up dryad "centigors" as counts as models from horses or Skeletn horses. and give them a wanner banner, it's your only chance to get some combat res.

Tree kin are always good, although think about uping them to 4 man units. they will stall all get to attack against a normal ranked up unit, and can often begin to outnumber the enemy on the first turn of combat once they have done some killing. consider pairing them with drcha and teleporting them around to speed up their movement.

not to mention the time it would take to assemble 48 dryads

YES !!! very true. and don't be tempted to keep all the bitz, there just too many and you will never use 12 owls

[maraschino]

firstly are you sure you want to take a Branchwraith with A Pageant of Shrikes, i would assume that you would be march moving, and in combat most of the game, so it seems a waste.

also having 5 dispel dice and no dispel scrolls will mean that the opponent will definately get spells off at you, i would have a branchwraith lvl 1 mage, with cluster or radients (+1 dispel dice) so then you have 7 dispel dice :w00t: this may seem extreme, but the weakness in your army is magic and stuff with magical attacks, so effectively countered one of your weaknesses
(as dotr suggested this would also keep in the theme)

as for teleporting, i wouldnt rely on it as a tactic as you cant garuntee 2 woods on the table and their positions, even with treesinging (18"range)

[Decurion]

Originally Posted by The real Iaphyr

oh contrare, i think this is rather interesting and different (that and it's me you got your list from, so i'm biased).

Actually the list came from something I saw at a convention in Los Angeles in February. Though that list had a unit of archers cause the player hadn't finished his last unit of Dryads.

I assume this is a 2250 pt list (doing the maths). you have to ask yourself what is the purpouse - tourneys or sociual groups. and this will decide for you.

Mostly tourneys...

to the technical aspects of the list -
Drycha is quite cool, don't let anyone try and convince you away from it (although an ancient is too) her special rules definitly add a lot of tatcical depth to the army. Don't forget that her tree teleportation happens During the movement phase, not the start or end, so you can move into a forest (and join a unit there) and then teleport, really good for setiing up a false flank.

Yeah I was hoping to set the list up so I could substitute an Ancient for Drycha and something else, but leave the base list intact.

I'm not a big fan fan of Branchwraiths. they're no where near as choppy as they need to be (Dryads Nymphs with an extra wound) and taking spites or Lvl 1 Magic (ouch pricey) are all very random abilities, as opposed to things like special Armour, weapons or talismans. 1 + dispel dice is fairly useful, but for a bit more she could add +1 power dice too. the only other use for them was if they could be a BSB. sigh.

Thanks I will look at that...

after a test game with riders, i have to say they are way cool in Drychas Army, they add some much needed straight line speed, and if your worried about elves being in the army, convert up dryad "centigors" as counts as models from horses or Skeletn horses. and give them a wanner banner, it's your only chance to get some combat res.

Yeah...a number of people have mentioned riders. I am inclined to include them. For now, I am going with a theme of an ancient forest repelling invaders...so I will combine skeletal cavalry with the dryad box set and see what I can come up with. What size and how many units did you experiment with? Right now I am planning on 2x 6 riders.

Tree kin are always good, although think about uping them to 4 man units. they will stall all get to attack against a normal ranked up unit, and can often begin to outnumber the enemy on the first turn of combat once they have done some killing. consider pairing them with drcha and teleporting them around to speed up their movement.

I was concerned that four might be harder to maneuver...I hadn' t thought of paring them with Drycha...another good idea.

How do you generally deploy your army?

Thanks all of you...please keep the comments coming...

Tim





YES !!! very true. and don't be tempted to keep all the bitz, there just too many and you will never use 12 owls[/QUOTE]

[The real Iaphyr]

Actually the list came from something I saw at a convention in Los Angeles in February.

yeah, actually pretty much al lists will look like this.

hmm, well it does take a bit of experimentation ( ie i haven't played that many games with her ) theres a couple of options really, as far as using the teleport. part of it is disguising which unit will be joyriding with her, by not having drycha deploiyed with them (even better is having her with a different, eligible, unit then leaving that unit and joining the real unit. and secondly, marrying this ability to a deployment and battle strategy. if it looks like refused flank is the way to go, put her (& co) out away from the rest of the army to draw the enemy and switch back. and so.

don't be afraid to 'spend' your free trees to setup tactics like this, espeacially on sparsely forested tables.