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Wildeybeast
09-14-2011, 11:55 AM
Ok, so for those who don't know, wood elf characters can buy an 'upgrade' (kindreds) which lets them do funky things like become wardancers, waywatchers etc.

The rules for Alter kindreds are: "the character's movement and iniative are increased to 9 and his attacks are increased by 1. However he must fight on foot. A character from the kindred....may not be the army general, nor may he join a unit."

So I have 2 questions about this.

1) Is this, as it seems to me, a permanant upgrade to characteristics, as opposed to say a bonus from a magic item. (Because it is not a magic item, but an 'upgrade' like improving wizard level). I ask because there is magic bow which lets you fire as many times as you have 'attacks on your profile', so if this is a permanent profile upgrade you would gain a bonus shot using the bow.

2)"May not be army general". Does this mean that, if I have one character with Ld10, that he cannot buy this upgrade as he is automatically the army general? Or does it mean that he can buy it and the generalship defaults to the next highest Ld character?

gcsmith
09-14-2011, 02:04 PM
Anyone who has this cant be army general. So moment u buy this he is no longer possible of being general

addamsfamily36
09-14-2011, 03:41 PM
hey

1 - if they work anything like vampire powers and the old high elf "abilities" such as swordmaster and seer, then they become part of the models rules, so yeh your attack profile would permanently increase by 1 etc etc. So yup with the bow it would work nicely.

2 - the army general is decided by what you have in your army. Taking this ability makes him void much like how a character with a BSB becomes void so you go to the next highest leadership. This also means you must have another character who is general valid.

Hope that helps

Wildeybeast
09-14-2011, 05:02 PM
It indeed does, thanks to both of you. I assumed this to be the case, I just wanted to double check as I'm trying to build a Wood Elf army that's actually stands half ac hance of winning, but without having to buy metal models (which rules out half the army!) Roll on new army book!

addamsfamily36
09-14-2011, 05:14 PM
I'm not a wood elf player myself, but i have played two at my local store and both armies are almost identical.

Stregths currently include:

Treekin - these things are very nice in 8th. you have to take atleast 6.
Arch mage
Hero or lord with that bow you mentioned.
Block units of glade guard
Dryads
Treeman (but expensive)

Most other things are not worth taking from what i have seen. My local GW's gaming night is tomorrow i shall see if i can get any details off them for you.

Wildeybeast
09-14-2011, 05:27 PM
Thanks. I've gathered that forest spirits are the way to go and that bow combined with arrows that ignore armour saves lets you make a mess of elites like knights. If you don't mind asking I'd like to know opinions on Wild Riders, they seem quite effective on paper.

addamsfamily36
09-14-2011, 08:48 PM
in 7th, wild riders were awesome. but they took a knock in 8th. in fact a lot of cavalry did. Not having access to their rules its hard to say, but from memory, they are not heavy cav so have a weaker save. they are elves so toughness 3. movement value is good but due to the new charging mechanics, speed and distance is more random regardless if your on foot or a horse.

small units for flanking moves might be useful, but id worry you'd be wasting points. a flyer would be a proffered hassling unit.

having said that, i'll take a look at the book tomorrow to confirm my worries over wild riders and get any info i can from our local wood elf players.

Legoklods
09-15-2011, 09:18 AM
hey

1 - if they work anything like vampire powers and the old high elf "abilities" such as swordmaster and seer, then they become part of the models rules, so yeh your attack profile would permanently increase by 1 etc etc. So yup with the bow it would work nicely.

2 - the army general is decided by what you have in your army. Taking this ability makes him void much like how a character with a BSB becomes void so you go to the next highest leadership. This also means you must have another character who is general valid.

Hope that helps

This bloke is right. I've played wood elves for years.

addamsfamily36
09-15-2011, 05:22 PM
Hey wildey

So your in luck, i was down the store tonight and so was the wood elf player, playing with his wood elves. He absolutely tabled a demon army.

Tree kin in a block of 6 was his hammer unit. This combined with a couple of mages with the lore of life meant, even though the treekin took casualties, they returned soon enough.

other units were blocks of glade guard for shooting goodness. i honestly can't remember if he had any dryads as i was playing a game and chatting to him when i could.

Eagle or 2 for harassing small units and war machines or mages out of units.

Treeman

and a bsb i think


He may also have taken a unit of glade riders for a flanking unit but im not 100% on that one. Even if he did, id rather use the points on more glade guard or a dryad unit.

Hope that helps. sorry ican't give you more item specific stuff unfortunetly we were playing in the same time slot.

Wildeybeast
09-15-2011, 05:57 PM
That's great thanks for going out of your way to get me some info, I really appreciate it.

addamsfamily36
09-15-2011, 07:01 PM
No worries.

Post some lists up when you get round to it. You been playing fantasy for long?

Wildeybeast
09-16-2011, 11:24 AM
On and off for 14 years, give or take. Just got back into it a few months ago after sabbatical of a few years. I've always played Empire, so I fancied something different.

addamsfamily36
09-16-2011, 07:16 PM
Ah cool. Well a few pointers for 8th edition probably wouldn't go a miss:

- Magic is a lot stronger than it ever used to be, but the risks also increased.
- A level 4 mage seems to be a staple in a lot of lists. Personally i would fit heroes and lords to fit the army. if you are going for big block units that you want to stand and hold, then a combination of a BSB, a level 4 casting spells such as "flesh to stone" combined with the "all boosting spell" (it's name escapes me) with a hero or lord in there would work well.
- cavalry are still good, but not all cavalry. notable good include, dragon princes, chaos kinghts, the new ogre cav, blood knights (but too costly) and empire knights. oops forgot coldone knights. fast cavalry can be nice, but in a wood elf list they are too exspensive
- you gain no bonuses from charging except lance strength, impact hits from things like chariots and ogres and the plus one combat res. Elves are a high initiative army, so taking the charge would probably be best. You take the hit on your big blocks of "magic" boosted elves, then flank with dryads, treekin etc. or you take the hit with the treekin.
-you can now fire half of your 2nd or 3rd rank (can't remember which). so deploying spread out far back and maximising shots would be effective, before reforming the turn before you get charged.
- check the magic items in the rulebook, they are often duplicated items from the army books or very similar but cost less.
- pack some form of flaming or magical attacks somewhere in your army.
- you can pre measure ( i'm sure you know a lot of this already) but its good. use it a lot. Think about distance before you do anything. think of speels in the movement phase and adjust your army according to ranges of spells, shooting, charges etc.
- if you have the points for it, pack a dispell scroll.
- do not bother wasting points on unit champions, other than in units that will bunker the characters. Champions accepting challenges instead of mages is a good thing, but on other units the cost of a unit champ is not worth it.

thats all i got for now.

mirbeau
03-10-2012, 05:41 PM
On and off for 14 years, give or take. Just got back into it a few months ago after sabbatical of a few years. I've always played Empire, so I fancied something different.

Enjoy, Wood Elves are a blast to play, I find it hard to play other armies nowdays. Can be a real surpise for an opponent.

My advice would be not to get carried away with bows - close range shooting with glade guard is VERY potent but with units needing to be destroyed in order to gain victory points - close combat is often the way to go. I largely only use shooting and a tricked-out alter noble to hunt down fast things and monsters.

With the army being fragile and expensive, I find you will only win if you can pick your fights, and mob (and annihlate) one choice target at a time, from as many directions as possible.

Hope the above helps!