Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Edition 1.0/Sylvaneth

From 8th edition to Age of Sigmar, your favourite woodblocks got separated even more from their ear-pointed companions. Lead by the goddess Alarielle, the new treefolk were made from "Soulpods" she created. After Sigmar retreated to his realm, she considered herself a free agent. They even found new enemies (instead of dwarf rangers and random Bretonnians errand knights) opposing Nurgle's army who seeks to claim their new playground, the Realm of Life, as his own.

Sylvaneth Summary

The Sylvaneth are pretty resilient, and at the same time have some of the nicest combos to offer. Composing a Sylvaneth army is deadly simple thanks to their limited unit-range, and with the right scenery use you can become one of the most feared guys in your play-group. Make them fear your wood!

Sylvaneth Warscrolls

Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.

The sylvaneth race is the first of the "old models" to have warscrolls in an actual book. The new army has erased (probably due to end times/old resin models) Durthu and the treekin.

This is by no means a complete guide. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a pinch of salt.

Named characters

Durthu: The only named character now that Drycha is gone for good. He shares a lot in common with the other Treemen varieties, but gets his Sword and a Command Ability on top; the sword gets stronger if used close to a Wyldwood, while his Command Ability spawns new Sylvaneth Wyldwoods. Combined with the Spirit Path special rule he shares with the other Treemen varieties, you don't ever need to move the guy away from a forest.

Heroes

Branchwraith: Your hero. Summon storms of Dryads with this lady and remember to hide her in a wood. Never get engaged in melee combat, but also never move her farther than 18" away from any Treekin. In a pinch, she can either heal your big hitters or throw up a Mystic Shield around your Dryads.

Ancient Treeman: The older you get, the slower you are. With 5" this is the slowest unit of the army. but it compensate for it with his bravery (9, the highest). For whatever reason, this old codger is not a hero, though their 3+ save and Groundshaking Stomp ability is enough to make them as resistant as any other monster/hero. They can travel between two different woods (note that it's within 3" of a big scenery made with 2 woods, it can basically be everywhere on the battlefield) which somewhat offsets their mobility problem. They are also wizards that can damage a unit around a wood D3 mortal wounds. Their sweeping blows are a little less powerful than the younger's version, and their missile weapon is less predictable (1 attack dealing 1d6 damage instead of 5 attacks at 1 damage) but with a higher range to compensate. Treemen are one of the big draws of this army so you know you're going to take at least one anyway.

Treeman: Younger, harder and faster version of the above. Worse in just about every specification, except that they punch once more. They can't cast, their shooting attack has a shorter range and they are basically the same in everything else. The higher Movement should never come into play, since you are doing something wrong if you don't move them via Spirit Paths.

Troops

Dryads: Your all-purpose troop, you know them. They do an average of 0,5 damage that can be easily boosted to 0,66 with their Enrapturing Song ability. Basically, each Dryad is a sword-wielding Liberator on your turn, though with better range. Better to buy a big unit as centerpiece of your army since if you have more than 12 their save goes down to 4+. In a big squad and close to a forest, they are all but indestructible, especially if there's a Branchwraith nearby to babysit them.

Monsters

Ancient Treeman: The older you get, the slower you are. With 5" this is the slowest unit of the army. but it compensate for it with his bravery (9, the highest). For whatever reason, this old codger is not a hero, though their 3+ save and Groundshaking Stomp ability is enough to make them as resistant as any other monster/hero. They can travel between two different woods (note that it's within 3" of a big scenery made with 2 woods, it can basically be everywhere on the battlefield) which somewhat offsets their mobility problem. They are also wizards that can damage a unit around a wood D3 mortal wounds. Their sweeping blows are a little less powerful than the younger's version, and their missile weapon is less predictable (1 attack dealing 1d6 damage instead of 5 attacks at 1 damage) but with a higher range to compensate. Treemen are one of the big draws of this army so you know you're going to take at least one anyway.

Treeman: Younger, harder and faster version of the above. Worse in just about every specification, except that they punch once more. They can't cast, their shooting attack has a shorter range and they are basically the same in everything else. The higher Movement should never come into play, since you are doing something wrong if you don't move them via Spirit Paths.

Scenery

Sylvaneth Wyldwood: This is where the game begin to be really nice: you have a scenery in your army list and you should DEFINITELY use at least 1 (or 2 if you deploy treeman) of those. Basically they damage enemy units near or in them and boost by a tremendous amount your units. It is pretty big since is made by 2 or more citadel woods. Do not deploy more then one every 2"x4" sections of the table if you don't want to be kicked out from your club at the end of the game. Though frankly, until the Sylvaneth get more models, they need all the help they can get.

Formations

Guardians of the deepwood: A formation composed of three Treemen (ancient or plain flavour), 2 Dryad units and 2 Sylvaneth wyldwoods. Stating at 46 wounds, this formation is basically an army with tree-shaped drop pods. Place the two woods, hide in them and wait. No Branchwraith, because there is a limit to OP...the 'Forest Spirit Warhost' army box give you enough tree-people to compose the above formation, but you would have to deploy the Branchwraith alone at the beginning, so either think carefully or bring along some babysitting Treekin.

Army Building

Hide & seek

The basic idea is to boost everything at their max and wait for the enemy to walk towards their death. For 60 wounds and 7 warscolls you can deploy:

- 2 branchwraith

- 3 treekin

- 1 ancient treeman

- 26 dryads

- 2 sylvaneth wyldwoods

Place the two woods at the left center and right center of the table. Put ASAP one of the branchwraith with the treekin in one wood and start evoking the shit out of it. Put the other (your general) and the dryad in the other wood for a nice 3+ save on the girls. Cast mystical shield every turn if you wanna nerf it to 2+ while damaging the incoming guys. Use the treeman as a beatin' stick teleporting it between the two block as needed.

(Optional) Laugh at everyone trying to come anywhere near your beloved sacred grooves.

Also if you want to go with the updated army list, substitute the treekin with 12 dryads.

If you are using the Errata rules for army building, you can't use that many Monsters to start out, so a great starting army of 50 Wounds would be:

- Branchwraith (5 Wounds, Hero allowance)

- Branchwraith (5 Wounds, Hero allowance)

- 22 Dryads (count as 16 Wounds (10+(12/2)))

- 3 Treekin (12 Wounds)

- 1 Treeman OR Treeman Ancient (12 Wounds, Monster allowance)

- 1-2 Sylvaneth Wyldwoods (0 Wounds)

This puts you at exactly 50 counted Wounds. Keep the other 10 Dryads to the side so you can summon them into the battle after deployment. Cheap? Not when you play an army that is so hopelessly dependent on a terrain feature you need to bring yourself.

Considering the bullshit the Stormcast Eternals can cram into a 50 Wound list, you can feel free to abuse literally all shenanigans you can think of, such as...

ERRATA RULES ARE NOT OFFICIAL!!!

Tactics

Know what you're facing. Dryads fold if the enemy is bringing Rend into melee. Treemen don't. Do not send Treemen at stuff that deals bonus damage against Monsters. Use Treekin instead. Treekin benefit the most from having Branchwraiths around, so make sure there's one close by. Also remember that Durthu can trigger the Treekin's Roused To War rule and that a Treeman Ancient can also cast Regrowth on them. Also remember that your Wyldwoods are still terrain features. Don't ever forget to claim your save bonus where applicable. Also, Wyldwoods can be roused by your Wizards, they just don't attack Sylvaneth. If a Wyldwood is swarming with enemies, run a Branchwraith up to it and cast something. With a little luck, they all take damage from this little trick.

In case of sudden death, if you are the one outnumbered always choose seize ground nominating one of the wildwoods; if you are the one with more models and you have to choose, pick your ancient treeman and start moving it around (assassinate) or pick your dryads and stay in the woods (blunt).

Spells

You have a very small selection of spells your casters can use. Let us have a detailed look at them.

Arcane Bolt (5+, usable by: Treeman Ancient, Branchwraith)

The basic Magic Missile every caster gets to use. For a Sylvaneth player, this is pretty much the worst spell in the list, as the Treeman Ancient has a much more damaging version in Awakening the Wood and your Branchwraiths have better things to do with their casting attempts.

Mystic Shield (6+, usable by: Treeman Ancient, Branchwraith)

A flat +1 to save rolls is a very strong boost, but remember that standing within a Wyldwood does the same. Combining both with a 12+ strong Dryad-unit makes an immovable object of 2+ saves to weather all the unstoppable forces this game throws at you. So long as one of your Treekin isn't about to die, you should prioritize casting this on them. 4+ is good, but 3+ is obviously better, especially for something you can't afford to lose.

Regrowth (5+, usable by: Treeman Ancient, Branchwraith)

Can only be used within 18" of Treekin, but that is alright, since it only affects Treekin within 18". Since you can't simply re-summon your Treekin, it is vital that you keep them in good health. They are tough, heavy hitters that move faster than they have any right to, but they are still precious, so Regrow them as much as necessary. Ideally, you will have one Branchwraith whose sole responsibility is to cast Regrowth and Mystic Shield on your Treekin.

Roused to War (7+, usable by: Branchwraith)

Roused to War has the highest casting value of your spells, but rightfully so, as it summons more Dryads. It has a lot of limitations by only being usable near a Sylvaneth Wyldwood and even then it doesn't summon all that many of them. However, despite having your highest casting value, it's still only at 7+, which just so happens to be the average of 2D6. At best, you have a bunch of Dryads in reserve and you only use this spell when you can actually place some. Keep in mind that more often than not, protecting the Dryads you already have can be more profitable than summoning more, especially if you have a unit of more than 12 around, so you can make sure they don't lose their save-bonus.

Awakening the Wood (6+, usable by: Treeman Ancient)

Potentially one of the most devastating damage-spells in the game, barring bullshit like Arkhan the Black's Curse of Years. You pick a Wyldwood within 24" of the Ancient (which is actually a pretty high range) and all enemy units within 3" of that Wyldwood take D3 Mortal Wounds. Keep in mind that it is perfectly possible to cast this within 6" of a Wyldwood to also get a chance to rouse the Wyldwood on its own, dealing another D3 Mortal Wounds to all enemy units within 1" of it. Potentially devastating, but it obviously depends on the Wyldwood-saturation of the table. If you take an Ancient, insist on playing in the Realm of Life for that chance to suddenly spawn Wyldwoods.

External links

List [1]