New WHFB Player

[ikbuh]

Noble with Hail of Doom arrow is one of the few reasons I take scouts. Scout Noble with Light Armor, Shield, Extra hand weapon, Helm of the Hunt(HotH) and Hail of Doom Arrow (HoDA) in a unit of 5 Scouts makes for a decent surprise and the character can hit WMs fairly hard as well. I've been tempted to try it with 5 Way Watchers for better WM hunting, but that's twice as much and not core. We'll see next time I have the chance.

Dryads with the Lore of Beasts behind them are down right frightening. S/T5 with 2 attacks base! That being said, units of 8 make for great shock troops or mage hunters. If you lose them, that's less than 100 points, so who cares because that means your Trees/Archers aren't getting hit.

[MarvelFan]

I'm yet to pick up a rulebook, so scouts? How do they differ from troops in a formation?

[ikbuh]

Scouts are skirmishers and therefore deploy in what's called a loose formation, which basically means that instead of being in base to base contact, they're a little further apart. This has a few benefits and a few downsides. The biggest benefits are penalties for being shot and shooting while on the march. Penalties are they never get rank bonuses, which means they're never going to win combats or deny opposing ranks even from the side of rear. Scouts have a special deployment rule that lets them deploy after everyone else 12-18 inches away from your opponent depending on line of sight. This lets you put them into a favorable position (usually behind enemy lines) so you can cause some havoc.

Wood Elf scouts are an upgrade to Glade Guard limited to the number of Glade Guard you have, which means they're more expensive. This would be ok if they kept their S4 longbows at half range, but they don't. This means they're taken scarcely if at all. Now, some people take them on a regular basis and have success with them, but most avoid them. I usually only take them as an escort for my Noble with a HoDA. That term has been passed around, and basically the Hail of Doom Arrow is a one use magic item that fires up to 18 S4 shots from one guy, which is really good. I like putting it on a scout hero so I can place it better and then I give him 5 Scouts for a little protection.

[padie15]

i really like that idea of putting your noble with the scouts!!its makes a lot o fsense unleash HoDA early on weaker unit trying to cause panic early in the game couldwork out nicely then kit him out with extra hand weapon as you say and go WM hunting!! i think i will try thisin my next game and see how it goes

Marvel Fan. this is the problem that dryads have they will never get rank bonuses although ikbuh is correct put wildform on them they become s/t5 and they awesome

[MarvelFan]

Thanks for explaining about scouts to me.

I will hopefully write a preliminary army list today and put it in the army list section for constructive criticism. I know that my core is going to be mainly Glade Guard though.

[padie15]

thats a good plan!!i look forward to seeing it!! once you have made a list give it a go and experiment with different types o lists to see what type o list you really enjoy playing

[MarvelFan]

I have posted my army list up in the sub forum