Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Sylvaneth

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"WALKING TREES I TELL YOU! WALKING TREES!"

New Battletome is due immenantly, but is delayed (apparently stuck in customs - maybe they had a tip off about "plastic crack"). Expect things to suddenly change. In the interim, Looncure has given us a new model (Arch-Revenant) and new warscrolls for the Kurnoths and Tree Revenants.

If you're looking for the lore of the Sylvaneth, click -> Sylvaneth

Why should I play Sylvaneth?

So you like trees, nature, gardening and "Catch me if you can"? Well then, welcome to the Everqueens glorious wooden host! A fleet of Foot we spring from our forests, reaping our foes lives with Mortal Wounds, before vanishing back into the woods, leaving those still alive confused and broken. When it comes to hit and run, keeping multi-wound models alive and literally shaping the battlefield to our needs, none compare. For we live between the Elite Armies of the Everchosen and hordes of Death and Destruction, our glades and copses are filled with singing dryads and solemn Kurnoth Hunters, ever watchful of the outsides and our enemies. For the Deepwood stirs...

Pros

  • We have a lot of new and glorious models, almost completely in plastic (just one finecast, which sadly you will be needing).
  • Easily paintable Chaff with Dryads. Which is useful as you'll be painting a lot of them.
  • Almost everything we have is at least -1 Rend.
  • We get around quickly. One of our Battleline moves 7", the other universally good one Teleports. If you like mobility, we are one of the best choices to date.
  • Just look at Alarielle model. Her buffs and damage output are also as awesome as she looks.
  • We can pump out loads of Mortal Wounds with our monsters, heavy infantry and spells.
  • Massive Board Control with even just one Wyldwood and it only gets worse for those who oppose us.
  • Kurnoth Hunters. Even by heavy infantry standard in AoS, absolute damage monsters. They will do a lot of heavy lifting.
  • Great, often colourful paint schemes. Whether you want your trees to be in full bloom, fiery autumn or paint them as a haunted ghastly forest, you have a lot of choices.
  • We actually have a good Battletome with great magic, Artifacts and the glory of being an angry tree.
  • Good synergies, mostly revolving around the woods.
  • Various ways to bring in allies who help patch weaknesses without breaking the Sylvaneth allegiance.
  • Fair point prices, making for even and fair battles.
  • Fairly competitive. High enough to be in a good chance of winning a tournament, low enough so that we (probably) won't be nerfed next GHB.
  • Lorewise, we boast one of the leaders of an entire realm and two survivors from the World-That-Was (three if you count the Spirits of Durthu). There's also a wide range of characterization in the faction from noble defenders (Oakenwood) aloof (Gnarlroot), stubborn (Ironbark) to even spiteful warmongers (Dreadwood)
  • I am Groot.

Cons

  • We are very bad to transport. Seriously it's a pain with all these small bits and twigs. Even foam packaged boxes hurt us. You'll want magnets and a big metal box.
  • We need first turn to spam those woods everywhere. Meaning you'll be locked into using one of the wargove battalions.
  • Only eleven units, giving us less choices than for example Seraphon.
  • Our woods will quickly become death zones for us if our opponent plays Stormcasts and maybe (depending on the loadout) Fyreslayers and Beasts of Chaos.
  • Virtually no defense against Mortal Wounds. Only a single Feel no Pain in the form of an artefact, the glamourweave. But we do have lots of healing abilities. Some wargroves can also get around this (Gnarlroot Sylvaneth can bring in a Battlemage using the Lore of Life whose signature spell hands out a 6+ save against Mortal Wounds. They also have a spell that lets you bring back dead models).
  • Those Citadel Woods are possibly the worst model in the whole GW catalogue. 2D trees covered in moldlines. And you'll be buying lots and lots of them - they are a big upfront cost for newcomers. Having to cart them around alongside your army is no fun either, especially if your game hoist insists you bring the trees and no just the bases.
  • Since AOS2 we've gone from a small model count elite army to a Dryad spamming army.
  • I am Groot.

Rulebooks

The Sylvaneth Battletome has all the Warscrolls, Battations and Allegiance Abilities.

  • This should be supplemented with the Sylvaneth Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.
  • In addition, the summoning rules for Alarielle and the Branchwraith need replacing with those from the Generals Handbook 2018.
  • Matched play points are in General's handbook 2018.
  • Alternatively up to date warscolls (in the new style) can be found in the WH AoS app. Warscrolls on the GW webstore match those in the Sylvaneth Battletome.


As with all factions you'll want:

  • The core rules are either downloadable or in the Core Book.
  • Games taking place in a Realm need the Realm of Battle rules from the Core Book.
  • In you want to take advantage of realm specific artefacts you'll need the Artefacts Of The Realms section from the Malign Sorcery book.
  • Matched play battleplans are split across the Core Book and General's handbook 2018.
  • All books should be supplemented with any updates from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

Armies with the SYLVANETH allegiance have the following abilities:

  • Wyldwood Groves: Place one Sylvaneth Wyldwood anywhere on the battlefield more than 1" from any other piece of scenery after all the other scenery was placed. Soon in this article you will see why you can't really play Sylvaneth without them.
  • Forest Spirits: You can set up a SYLVANETH unit or battalion aside instead. In any of your movement phases, you can deploy it on the battlefield. All models have to be within 3" of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood and more than 9" from any enemy models. This is their move for that movement phase. Sylvaneth deep strike. Exploit it with Spirits of Durthu, melee Kurnoth Hunters, and their shared battalion, Free Spirits. Trunks fall, everyone dies.
  • Navigate Realmroots: If a SYLVANETH unit is within 3" of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood at the start of your movement phase, you can remove the unit, then set it up within 3" of a different Sylvaneth Wyldwood, more than 9" from any enemy models. Then, roll a dice. On a 1, the unit arrives but can do nothing else for the rest of your turn. This does not affect Treemen of any kind (and funny enough, it does not mention any named character) and instead, it counts as if they rolled a 2-5. On 2-5, the unit arrives, but can't move any further for the rest of the movement phase. On a 6+ (see Command Traits, down), The unit arrives and can move again during this movement phase.

Command Traits

A general of an army with a SYLVANETH allegiance and has chosen to take the SYLVANETH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:

  1. Realm Walker: If your general uses the Navigate Realmroots ability, add 2 to the dice result. Turns a Spirit of Durthu into a crazed 1 man army, getting within 4" of an enemy on a 4+.
  2. Gnarled Warrior: When you make save rolls for your general, ignore the enemy’s Rend unless it is -2 or better. Not bad but better options exist.
  3. Gift of Ghyran: Your general heals 1 wound at the start of each of your hero phases, or D3 wounds if they are within 3" of a Sylvaneth Wyldwood. This one can make a treelord ancient with Regrowth almost as unkillable as Alarielle.
  4. Lord of Spites: You can re-roll the first failed to hit roll made for your general in each phase.
  5. Warsinger: You can add 1 to any charge rolls made for friendly SYLVANETH units that are within 10" of your general. Good choice for turning a spirit path walk into a charge on the same turn.
  6. Wisdom of the Ancients: All friendly SYLVANETH units within 10" of your general in the battleshock phase add 1 to their Bravery. Best near revenants, your most vulnerable to battleshock.

Artefacts

One HERO in an army with a SYLVANETH allegiance and has chosen to take the SYLVANETH allegiance abilities, plus one HERO for every battalion selected, can choose one Magical Artefact. Any of those heroes who are a WIZARD may take an Arcane Treasure instead.

Magical Artefacts

  1. Daith's Reaper: One of your melee weapons gets the bonus of wound roll of 6+ having -4 Rend. This is... eh. Might be best on a Spirit of Durthu because he has the largest volume of attacks.
  2. The Oaken Armour: Add 1 to bearer's Save rolls. Excellent when paired with the Gnarled Warrior Battle Trait on a Treelord (Any variant) giving it a 2+ armor that ignores the rend of most things out there.
  3. Briarsheath: To Hit penalty for anyone attacking the bearer.
  4. Seed of Rebirth: The first time you lose your last wound you gain D3 wounds. Obviously best for a Branchwych/wraith, as a monster with D3 Wounds might as well be dead again, unless we're talking about a Treelord Ancient with Regrowth. Especially useful on a Branchwych, as if she dies and comes back, she still counts as having taken wounds for the purposes of her bonus.
  5. Wraithstone: Subtract 1 from the Bravery of enemy units within 10" in the Battleshock Phase. Combine with Spite-Revenants for best results.
  6. Glamourweave: 6+ save-after-the-save. Great for a Spirit of Durthu tanking Wounds because he can use that to protect himself, and also the only thing in the army that ignores mortal wounds.

Arcane Treasures

  1. Acorn of the Ages: Set up a Wyldwood within 5", one-use only. Sounds incredible, doesn't it? Well. It has its uses. You can simply throw a forest-shaped wrench into enemy charge lanes, you can let an isolated Hero summon their own reinforcement spawn point, you can make some cover to make a stand. But it isn't the end all, be all. Probably best not to give this to an Ancient, as those guys can summon Wyldwoods on their own.
  2. Warsong Stave: Add Treesong to the spells you know. The usefulness of Treesong is debatable though getting yet another spell is nothing to scoff at. Not necessarily the best Treasure, but certainly a useful one.
  3. Moonstone of the Hidden Ways: Can teleport anywhere so long as you stay 4" away from enemies, one-use only. Either useful to rush into a fight or to run the hell away from the one you cannot win. However, since only Wizards can take this, rushing into fights might not necessarily be the best idea, especially since named characters cannot take these.
  4. Ranu's Lamentiri: Add 1 to all casting rolls, if the spell is from the Deepwood Spell Lore, add 2 instead. Casting roll modifiers are always welcome. Might be useful to make sure your Ancient will get his Regrowth off, but might also be nice to buff the Branchwych's spell. Becomes even better in a Gnarlroot Wargrove as the owner can milk it for all it's worth.
  5. Hagbane Spite: Once per game, the bearer can choose to forgo unbinding a spell and deal D3 Mortal Wounds to the caster after the spell has been cast. Could be a nice deterrent, or useful for finishing a Wizard off who's annoying you.
  6. The Silverwood Circlet: +6" to spell range. Of limited use for most spells, but The Reaping will get pretty terrifying pretty quickly with this. Also wonderful for a Wizard with Throne of Vines, as the extra range means they don't have to move to bring their spells to bear.

Deepwood Spell Lore

Every WIZARD in an army with a SYLVANETH allegiance and has chosen to take the SYLVANETH allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Spells:

  1. Throne of Vines: Casting value 5. +D3 to cast/unbind, but only as long as you don't move. This is probably the toughest spell to use well as a lot of your Wizards are squishy and don't want to sit still. You could buff Alarielle's or a Branchwych's unique spells up with this, but mostly there is little reason to taking this. If, however, you play the Gnarlroot Wargrove that lets you cast two spells a turn, this here turns from meh to incredible.
  2. Regrowth: Casting value 5. Heal D3 Wounds to a friend within 18", D6 for Sylvaneth. TAKE IT. I don't care about your strategy, take it. Alarielle? Take it. Treelord Ancient? Take it. Drycha? Take it unless you want a suicide bomb.
  3. Verdant Blessing: Casting value 6. Sets up a Wyldwood within 18". As useful as the Wyldwoods are to you, this spell is pretty good.
  4. The Dwellers Below: Casting value 7. Pick a unit within 10", roll a D6 for every model in the unit, every 6 deals a Mortal Wound. Basically Vermintide/New Treason of Tzeentch. It's good, with a potentially gigantic damage output, but unless used against units of 20+, Arcane Bolt will probably do more.
  5. The Reaping: Casting value 6. Every enemy unit within 3" takes D3 Mortal Wounds. Nice when you're stuck in melee, but only really good in combination with the Silverwood Circlet. Also, remember that it gets better against multiple small units, but worse against horde armies.
  6. Treesong: Casting value 7. Immediately rouses a Wyldwood, then moves it 2D6". This spell is of debatable value. On the one hand, it helps you shove a Wyldwood into a more useful position, damages enemies on it, can pull said enemies with them to where they don't want to be, can pull your units somewhere you do want them and generally acts as a fantastic deterrent to entering your Wyldwood. On the other hand, it's a pretty high casting value, moving the scenery is not always useful and depending on where it is can be flat-out impossible. There are basically endless uses for this spell if you're clever, but you need to think them through beforehand or this spell becomes dead weight. For example, if you goad your opponent into taking the table half with the Wyldwood on it, you can yank the Wyldwood toward you and drop a ton of damage onto the opponent in the process. Or you could place some Spite-Revenants and Kurnoth Hunters into a Wyldwood and then shove the Wyldwood towards the opponent, giving your slowest units slightly higher movement.

Endless Spells

  • Gladewyrm: Ancient protectors of the spite realmroots
  • Vengeful Skullroot:
  • Spiteswarm Hive:

Warscrolls

Leaders

Named Leaders

  • Alarielle the Everqueen: (600pts) This counts as a Behemoth. As expected from the next big over-the-top God model, Alarielle is downright terrifying. Specifics? Sure.
    • The lady has a massive pool of 16 Wounds with a 3+ Save and yet she still rocks a 16" Flying Move stat.
    • She also regenerates and can heal all Sylvaneth models around her, including herself, even more.
    • She also has a massively strong throwing spear with equally massive 30" range and the beetle hits harder than anything else in the game. It's so damn strong it damages people standing in terrain if it charges into said terrain and has five damage 5(!) attacks. And her other weapon is basically the Massive Impaling Talon, but supercharged and with 4 attacks. Like Nagash and Archaon, she is not really something you compare to normal models. She's too powerful for that. She's simply something you try to survive.
    • Three casts per turn. Use them to cast Malign Sorcery endless spells and consider giving her the Throne of Vines spell.
    • She gets a one shot unblockable summon of a Treelord (regular), 3x Kunroths, 20x Dryads, 10x Tree- or Spite-Revenants or, umm, a single Branchwych. This effectively dropping those 600 points by ~200 points, making her roughly the equivalent cost as Durthu. And you get to decide which unit to spend those ~200 points on during the game. Make sure to get that summon it ASAP though before you need to use the healing ability (you can't do both in a single turn).
    • Prior to AOS2 and the shake up of summoning rule she had been quite pricey. Now she is extremely viable for Sylvaneth lists now. Auto-include? Perhaps. It depends on how your army is.
  • Drycha Hamadreth: (280pts) This also counts as a Behemoth. Drycha is back and more pissed off than ever.
    • The tree Dreadknight has an armada of tiny gribbles that can cause a quite massive amount of Mortal Wounds to enemy units at range, having either an aura of angry bees that deals on average 1.66 mortal wounds to every enemy unit, (latest errata August 2017 has specified its enemy only), within 18" (down to a 6" if she's wounded) or a shooting attack with centipedes that targets an enemy unit within 10", rolls a D6 per model in range and on 3+ (up to a 5+ if you're wounded) deals a Mortal Wound, averaging 6.66 mortal wounds for every 10 models at full heath (3.33 if she is badly wounded). Holy cow. This is one the strongest horde killer in the game, especially when taking into account the huge modifier it will apply to the ensuing morale check. However, it does lose effectiveness against multi-wound models and is an absolute waste on single models such as heroes. Sadly you can only choose one of these profiles. Depends if you want a really strong directed attack that will decimate a horde unit or a massive bubble of area denial that you can turn into a killing zone once your opponent steps into it - it's a pretty daunting prospect to just lose a couple soldiers out of all units that step into her surroundings without being able to do much against it.
    • In melee, she's not the overkill to end all overkill, but if she rolls to be enraged, she doubles her attacks and might actually kill something. She's also excessively fast with a 9" Move that is not weakened by her damage table.
    • Her spell scores damage based on bravery and can end up being unable to score any damage against high bravery armies such as Death. This spell combos up with her relationship to Spite-Revenants though. The Spites lower enemy Bravery in order to power her damage-off-of-Bravery spell whereas she grants them better To Wound rolls (if she manages to not kill them with the bees).
    • She also has mood swings. Beginning of each battle round she will become either angry or sad. The angry profile buffs the bees and DOUBLES the attacks made with her stronger melee profile, thus making her absolutely terrifying, whereas the sad profile treats her damage chart as one better than it actually is (meaning if she suffered 5 Wounds you look at the chart as though she'd suffered 3) and makes the centipedes better.
    • Whilst she is sad she's probably best to stay out of melee, dishing out buckets of mortal wounds with her bugs of choice so that she's nice and healthy for when you roll enraged and move 9 inches then charge in with 12 + 2d6 attacks, making her a formidable foe that can go toe-to-toe with a Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur on equal footing, until you send in reinforcements to finish the big Dino off.
    • Well bad news, as per the FAQ Drycha needs to see enemies to hit them with the Furies and our own terrain blocks Line of Sight. GG, Angrytits.

Generic Leaders

  • Branchwraith: (80pts) With her summoning she has gone from mostly useless to essential.
    • As a Hero she sports a very meh stat wheel with the exception of her above average movement speed (7").
    • Her melee will offer only token resistance to opponents, big surprise, she's a Wizard after all.
    • That summoning though allows you to summon 10 Dryads every turn. Game breaking? Well, not quite. Firstly you need to successfully cast (7+) and not get unbound; secondly said Dryads need placing in a wyldwood more than 9" from an enemy. You basically have to put a forest in your backfield and just use it to churn out dryads, then teleport them where you need them to go. You could be looking at 2-3 movement phases before they can charge anything. If you have any sense you will keep this crazy looking plant lady in a backline Wyldwood churning out dryads as it also makes the lady harder to hit in addition to raising her Save like normal cover.
    • Consider giving your wraith anything that bumps the spell cast to try and guarantee a whole 100pts of Drayds every turn. Ranu's Lamentiri (+3), Harvestboon Wargrove (+1), Gnarlroot Wargrove with throne of vines (+D3 and an additional spell too).
    • Consider replacing a Branchwych with a second Branchwraith. Give the second wraith a useful spell and send her off, but keep her sheltered. If the Dryad summoning wraith dies, you have a spare one. Crazy? Well, is the spell of a Branchwych really any good? Are you sure? If you really want a damage spell, then Dwellers Below can be almost as good. Depending on the loadout from atefacts and Endless Spells and Wargroves bonuses, you might never have used that Branchwych spell anyway. And if that's convinced you, then maybe you want to consider a third Branchwraith.
  • Branchwych: (80pts) Where the Branchwraith is defensive minded, the Branchwych is very aggressive-minded. She exchanges the summoning spell for an unreliable but potentially devastating damage pulse, the meh melee for actually decent melee and the defense bonus whilst in a forest for damage bonuses in a forest and after being hurt in melee.
    • Have her attack last, in the hope that she took a little damage, as she doubles her Scythe attack, making it more useful and put out more damage.
    • The pulse works best against the more units that are in range - If there are only 1 or 2 target units in range, then arcane bolt will usually do more damage than the pulse, but it gets better against more units, of course. On average, you'll except 1.11 mortal wound. Consider giving her the Silverwood Circlet, as it supercharges the pulse to 15" making her an effective force at the front. It's also nice to have in a Gnarlroot batallion, or just in an army with lots of wizards, where you've likely already got arcane bolt covered.
    • She is a good general choice, a cheap wizard, and decent fighter, which is all you really want from her and her 80 points, which she invariably will be with three times over if you place her right and give the right spells to cast.
    • In Skirmish, the pulse is extremely broken, as every model is a unit. So, get within range of the front line and suddenly every model is hit with rolling a minimum of 5 dice, giving mortal wounds on sixes. Most of those models are single wound chaff, because skirmish doesn't allow you to take any of the good stuff, and you've got a game winning massacre. Sadly that pulse is the only thing we've got going for ourselves in Skirmish.
  • Treelord Ancient: (300pts) This also counts as a Behemoth. It seems as if GW has attempted to make the Ancient a weaker but more magical version of a garden variety Treelord. This guy has 1" less movement and 1 less attack on its Sweeping Blows. This doesn't seem like much, but the drop from 4 to 3 attacks is actually quite drastic. And what does this old fella get in return? An extra 3 to its Bravery, 18" range on its strangle roots, gains a command ability and becoming a freakin' wizard!
    • His unique spell will do damage to any enemy units on or around your woods. It's either a great deterrent to entering your Wyldwoods or a great punishment if the opponent was dumb enough to actually do it. However, you already get that by summoning anything whilst near a wood.
    • He can also summon entirely new Wyldwoods, however the rolls required mean it's not that reliable (4+ on a D6). Don't rely on this ability to get Wyldwoods out the the front line. Verdant Blessing and Acorn of Ages will give you more milage.
    • Has a Command Ability that lets all the Sylvaneth around him reroll saves of 1s.
    • He's got a lot of stuff going on, but at 300 points he's actually fairly expensive for what you actually get out of him, and works best in 1000point lists where you've got less room other stuff.
  • Spirit of Durthu: (380pts) Again, This is SPARTAAAAA *ahem* a Behemoth. Oddly NOT a named character anymore and therefore not reduced to 0-1 in Matched Play, but very expensive. The Spirit of Durthu is an absolute damage monster, with extremely powerful shooting, terrifying melee and all the standard tricks of the Treelords.
    • A shooting attack that is basically the vanilla Treelord's Stranglevines on steroids, with higher range, more shots and higher damage per shot, which he can also make even stronger by channeling his life-force, meaning he can add shots but takes damage if he does.
    • His sword is just about as terrifying as it looks, with constant damage 6 so long as he stays in good health and bonus attacks for being near a forest.
    • You really need those big melee attacks to actually hit. So have consider having your sylvaneth be from Ghyran, and give your Spirit of Durthu the Ghyrstrike Relic. 3 attacks (plus d3 if near a wyldwood), 2+ to hit, 2+ to wound, 6 damage. Holy good fuck.
    • He also adds to the Bravery of friendly Sylvaneth and can tank Wounds for Sylvaneth Heroes, so take that into account when picking his artefact.
    • If you plan on playing defensively, make sure that you make him set up shop next to a Wyldwood, as it gives him another D3 attacks on his Sword attack. With a little luck from the Dice Gods, nothing will stand against him. Keep him healed to get the very best out of him.
  • Ylthari: (180pts, with Guardians) Shadespire Hero takes root in AOS.
    • Requires you to bring Ylthari's Guardians along with.
    • Similar to a Branchwych with a bit more melee power and is labelled a THORNWYCH.
    • Re-rolls wound rolls of 1.
    • Her spell is called The Reaping but it's a bit different to that of the Deepwood lore Reaping. Casting value D6, pick enemy unit within 12" and roll 6 dice, one mortal for each 5+, giving you an avergae of ?? mortals per cast
      • Does that mean you can't cast both this spell and the Deepwood lore spell in the same turn? Different effects but the same name. What happens if you pick the Deepwood lore Reaping for her? We needs an FAQ pronto.
    • Might be best leaving her for Shadespire. You're paying 20 points more for her and the Guardian's than you would for a Branchwych and 5 Tree Revanants and not really gaining much in return.
  • Arch-Revenant: (100pts) A newbie in the Sylvaneth ranks, added with the Looncurse battlebox.
    • Is very fast, with a move of 12" and an ability to fly until she loses her mount (see below).
    • Has the best non-Behemoth Hero melee in Sylvaneth (which doesn't say much): three 2" 3+/3+/-2 Dmg 2 attacks with her glave and a single 4+/3+ Dmg D3 attack with her mount.
    • Slightly more survivable than a Branchwych, with five wounds, a 4+ save and an ability to sacrifice her mount to negate one allocated normal or mortal wound.
    • Has a shield for either defensive or offensive use: at the start of the combat phase you may chose to use it to re-roll either save rolls or hit rolls of 1.
    • Buffs Kurnoth Hunters within 12" of herself, allowing them to re-roll hit rolls of 1.
    • Has a great command ability, adding 1 attack to each model's weapon in a unit within 9" (12" if the Arch-Revenant is your General). Combine this ability with alpha-striking unit of Tree-Revenants, or buff the hell out of ranged or regular Kurnoth Hunters - either way, the following phased would really hurt your opponent.

Troops

Battleline

  • Sylvaneth Dryads: (100pts, min 10, max 30. 270pts for 30) Your rank and file angry trees. These ladies are thankfully quite versatile and so can be used for a variety of situations.
    • At first glance the ladies don't look like much, having only a 5+ Save and 2 attacks at 4+/4+/-/1. But they quickly become incredible as in units of 12+ they gain a better Save, they hit on 3+ in your combat phase and they also have 2" range on their attacks, letting them fight in thick, two-row hedges. They also profit massively from being in cover, Wyldwoods in particular and are also very fast at 7". Keep them in big units as the Save-bonus and the 2" range heavily reward you for doing so.
    • You can abuse their buffed save rolls by adding a unit of Sisters of the Thorn to your army (in a Gnarlroot or Winterleaf battalion to keep your Sylvaneth allegiance). +1 to your save from having 12 dryads,, and +1 from being in cover means that you've got a 3+ rerolling ones save, which deals mortal wounds to your attacker on a 3+. For chaff, that's pretty damn good. However, those Sisters are going to cost you a fair bit in return.
  • Tree-Revenants: (80pts, min 5, max 30. 420pts for 30) Troops for tricksy players - not your mainline infantry.
    • At first glance look disappointing, with basically the same stat-wheel as Dryads but lower Move. Now here's where it gets good....
    • They have Rend in melee, unlike the Drayds.
    • They have the coolest rerolls in the game, getting to reroll 1 dice per phase. So this seems wonky in melee, doesn't it? Well, it also allows them to reroll the dice to run, one of the charge dice, the Battleshock dice... you get the picture.
    • The standards allow them to pile in 6" which lets them get more attacks in.
    • Most importantly, the musician allows them to use a better Spirit Paths rule, letting you take them off the table and then place them anywhere on the table more than 9" from enemy units. (This used to also require being within 3" of a wyldwood or on the table edge, so that's a huge upgrade).
    • Leader either gets an additional attack or +1 damage. Additional attack has the better math, plus you can combine the dice rolls to speed things up.
    • Do not use these guys as as you would Dryads. They aren't particularly killy, they will die quickly if attacked first and their kit is way too expensive to use lots of them. They are for board control:
      • Charge blockers. Save until you opponent gets ready to charge very killy unit they want to get into combat asap, then teleport a wall of Revenants in front. Revenants will die instantly in the following combat, but it'll free up your more important units.
      • Back line threatening. Your opponent can no longer keep those war machines, Jezzails and Poisoned Wind Mortars unguarded. Minimum-size squads of them also have just high enough of a damage output to cut all the aforementioned units to ribbons. But, you will say, the 9" charge after teleporting is improbable. No. Since they can reroll one of the charge dice, they are more likely to make that charge than to fail it, even more so in a Harvestboon Wargrove that adds 1 to their charge rolls. A good rule of thumb is to use 2 units of minimum size. That way, it's very likely at least one of them will make the charge and then they will more than likely deal enough damage to neuter the war machine you attacked.
      • Objective taking. Without any Revenants, your opponent might decide to leave a captured objective unguarded. With Revenants either you can teleport and grab the objective or they'll be wise to this and need to keep a unit tied up - one big enough to survive a teleport and charge strike.
  • Spite-Revenants: (70pts, min 5, max 30. 360pts for 30) Less tricksy, more creepy Tree-Revenants.
    • These do not have Rend but gain an additional attack over Dryads.
    • They also exist to muck around with enemy Bravery. They flat reduce the Bravery of enemies around them, which combos well with Drycha's unique spell and terrain pieces around them become so creepy that enemies have to roll 2 dice for Battleshock and pick the highest.
    • These will not be your mainline infantry either, but small units interspersed with your Dryads will do wonders to screw with the opponent.
    • Went down 10pts in GHB18, making them the cheapest battleline Sylvaneth currently have, which is useful for filling the battleline tax. But you're better sticking with Dryads, unless you're going Dreadwood.

Others

  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatswords: (200pts, min 3, max 12) The ultimate wooden killing machine.
    • Incredible. Each of these guys is basically a minor Hero at 5 Wounds and a 4+ Save.
    • The sword tosses out 4 attacks at -1 Rend and damage 2. And deals an additional mortal wounds on hit rolls of 6.
    • When melee attacking, if they don't need to move (other than 1" pile in), they can gain the ability to reroll saves. (This used to be labelled failed saves, which was then nerfed with an FAQ which stated it was only for failed rolls before modifiers, and most people ignored it. But this has now been dropped so all is well again with the world).
    • At the end of combat you deal mortal wounds on a 4+ for each model in your unit (This used to be for every enemy within 1", so again it's another improvement).
    • They also channel Command Abilities. When you use a Command ability, any unit wholly within 12" of a Kunroth is also counted as being in range of the casting hero (This used to be only for your general, but is now any hero and had a shorter range).
    • GW has nerfed and then partially unnerfed the points for these over the years. Hopefully they'll be staying at a perfectly respectable and reasonable 200 points from now on.
    • Consider pretending you're playing 40K and magnetise the arms for different weapon loadouts below. If you fix the weapons on one unit then you'll have enough shoulder pads spare to better magnetise a second unit. The Quiverbugs are trickier to magnetise. Sadly there are no official rules for using plasma cannons.
  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Scythes: (200pts, min 3, max 12)
    • Same as above, but with longer weapon range of the scythes, which tosses out 3 attacks at Rend -2 and damage D3. The scythes do more damage against 2+ saves, break even against 3+ and the swords win against everything else. But that's before taking into account the mortal wounds on 6 the Swords deal out (which the scythes don't get).
    • In general the swords are your better option (especially given how rare 2+ and even 3+ saves are in AoS).
    • However, the scythes have 2" reach. You'll want this for units of 6 or more to get them all into combat or if you want to place a screen of Dryads (preferably on the edge of a woods) or Revenants in front and attack through them. Tricksier players will go for the scythes.
  • Kurnoth Hunters With Kurnoth Greatbows: (200pts, min 3, max 12)
    • Same as above, but now with ranged weapons.
    • A stunning 30" range, two shots per model and D3 damage per shot, these guys are basically artillery.
    • You also get the adorable Quiverbug who does the melee fighting for them, being very non-threatening, but remember, these guys are tough as nails and you can shoot into melee. Does a lot less damage overall than melee weapons, and you can only shoot during your turn (unlike melee, effectively halving the potential damage done per game), but that range means you won't be getting attacked back.
    • Take into account our woods block line of sight (so no camping in woods) and Look Out Sir means you should probably avoid sniping guarded heroes.
    • Bows were the best option in original AOS, no longer so essential in AOS2.
  • Ylthari’s Guardians: (Free with Ylthari) Shadespire Tree Revenants without the good stuff.
    • Can only be taken along with Ylthari.
    • Tree Revenants without a musician or banner, so you loose the pile in and teleport abilities.
    • In return you get three different weapon profiles (sword, glaive, bow), which are upgrades on the Tree Revenants.
    • Plus on a D6 3+ you get to attack first, which is going to make them a lot less fragile than standard Tree Revenants.
    • You also loose the Tree Revs reroll any dice per phase, but you can reroll wounds of 1.
    • Labelled TREE REVENANTS, but Ylthari isn't. As written means you can include them in Tree Revenant battalion requirements, even though you still have to bring along Ylthari who wouldn't then be in the battalion. Needs an FAQ to confirm.
    • Rules as Written their Martial Memories ability will cause themselves and ANY other Tree-Revenant unit within 3" of enemy units to fight first, on a 3+, in the combat phase. This needs playtesting to see if it's worth the points, but in theory it sounds almost too good to be true. You'd bring Ylthari's Guardians to turn your decent Tree-Revenants into better than Dryad melee blenders.

Behemoths

  • Sylvaneth Treelord: (240pts) With beautiful models and some equally beautiful stats your Treelords are a force to be reckoned with. These guys have a little bit of everything.
    • Their stat profiles are similar to that of a riderless dragon with a few big knocks with high damage and one special attack that has a chance of auto-killing weaker/damaged opponent.
    • They also have a nice To Hit penalty to dish out in melee
    • They can teleport between Wyldwoods without getting all tangled up.
    • Aaand they can also shoot, which is decent, but nothing you should bet on. You have Kurnoth Hunters for shooty.
    • While it should be remembered that these guys class as monsters and carry all the baggage that comes with that (You know declining stats, Large model, everyone wants to shoot it. that sort of thing), its still a pretty kickass unit.
    • In reality these guys don't get used that often compared to the other Treelords, who all share the same abilities of the common Treelord. Durthu gives greater damage for a huge point spike, whilst for just a few more points than the Treelord, the Treelord Ancient sacrifices damage output for a wider range of tricks as well as being required in the ever popular Gnarlroot.
    • The most expensive unit that Alarielle can summon as such is worth considering doing.

Scenery

  • Sylvaneth Wyldwood: Consists of up to 3 Citadel Woods placed equal distance from each other. Obviously the bigger you make it, the more expensive it gets and harder it is to place, but the bigger you make it, the more useful it becomes.
    • To start off, this forest will attempt to kill all models that aren't Sylvaneth, Heroes, Monsters, or flying. If they run or charge over or into it, you roll a D6 for each model. If the model rolls a 1 then it's goodnight. Watch any Ogors and Bullgors avoid these woods like the plague.
    • In addition, this forest is allergic to magic, and has a chance of dealing d3 damage to all units in or within 1" (again, except for Sylvaneth) if a spell is cast within 6". All of that is without the multitude of abilities that the rest of the army draw from it, ranging from buffs to spawning points and even as warp pads.
    • Beware when taking allies or playing a doubles game. The trees will hurt them too.
    • Since the FAQ update, they also block line of sight, which is mostly great for us and it prevents us getting shot, but also means we can't just place Kurnoth bows in the centre of a wood anymore and have them fire out of it.
  • Awakened Wyldwood: New woods!
    • Three trees on individual bases. Confirmed to be playable alongside the old woods.

Normal Battalions

Forest Spirit Wargrove

A Treelord Ancient, 2 Treelords, 3 units of Dryads and a Branchwraith. (1320pts min)

Outcasts

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Three units of Spite-Revenants (330pts min -> 1350pts max)

Very simple but very effective. In your Hero Phase, any enemy unit within 8" of at least two units of Spite-Revenants takes 2D6 minus Bravery Mortal Wounds. Considering that Spite-Revenants lower Bravery of enemies around them, this quickly becomes very powerful.

Free Spirits

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

A Spirit of Durthu and three units of Kurnoth Hunters (1100pts min -> 2900pts max)

These get a bonus move, but with a twist. In your Hero Phase, you pick one enemy unit or piece of scenery and then all units from the Battalion can move with their full Move value (but cannot run) so that they end their movement closer to the unit/scenery piece than they started. And yes, you may interpret that very liberally.

Forest Folk

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads (490pts min -> 1000pts max)

This grants a potentially useful one-use ability that lets you take the entire Battalion off the table and then redeploy them close to your Wyldwoods.

Household

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

A vanilla Treelord, a Branchwych and a unit of Tree-Revenants (470pts min -> 810pts max)

Units locked in combat with the Household cannot retreat and they gain +1 Bravery. Simple and effective. Usually used for the Gnarlroot Wargrove however, which is discussed below.

Lords of the Clan

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

A Treelord Ancient (the Chief), one to three other Treelord Ancients and one to three normal Treelords (950pts min -> 2030pts max)

Like lots of bunch-a-Hero Battalions, this allows the leader to use a damaging pulse that only becomes reliable if you field all seven potential Treelords.

Wargrove Battalions

Wargroves are very irregular Battalions. Like lots of super-Battalions, they consist of several smaller Battalions. Unlike them, most Wargrove Battalions have very, very low minimum requirements that can become very big. They give you a themed force and powerful bonuses for adhering to them, but pretty much lock you into a specific strategy. We will not describe all the potential choices of these in detail, we will only be looking at minimum requirements and then mention particularly interesting specifics. By taking these on top of the extra abilities you'll be gaining two extra command points, two extra artefacts and a one drop army almost certainly guaranteeing you first turn. Given the large cost of the smaller Battalion and low cost of upgrading to a Wargrove, you almost always want to take a Wargrove over a smaller Battalion.

Dreadwood Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Outcasts Battalion with 4-6 units of Spite Revenants (460pts min)

Scary alpha strike with low starting point cost and gives a reason to use Spite-Revenants. Right off the bat, they gain the same buff they would normally gain from being near Drycha, but without having to be close to Drycha. Then, before the game starts, you get D3 special rules that allow you to close the distance better. The list of these is 1) can replace a unit from the Battalion within 6" of the opponent, 2) enemy range is reduced to 12" for turn 1 and 3) move 3 of your units as if it were the movement phase (but no running). This is incredible at getting your units close to the opponent, but since all but one of these special rules only target a limited number of units, the Battalion loses effectiveness as it gets bigger.

Gnarlroot Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Household Battalion of Treelord Ancient, Branchwych and unit of Tree Revenants (690 min)

This one is... wow. It can include any one Order Wizard. On top, Treelord Ancients, Branchwyches, and Branchwraiths from this Battalion can cast and unbind two spells a turn, which is great with all your unique spells. Even more so as every Wizard in this Battalion gets an additional spell that can resurrect one Kurnoth Hunter/Spite-Revenant/Treekin or D3 Dryads/Tree-Revenants. Great. This Wargrove combos well with Ranu's Lamentiri and even more so Throne of Vines. It will absolutely buff your magic game through the stratosphere for basically no downsides. Consider lots of Kurnoths to take advantage of the healing spell.

Downside of the battalion is that everyone plays it (and so is no longer surprising to opponents) and you'll probably run out of things to cast per turn. Consider some endless spells to boost those spell slots.

As to which wizard? Well, you might like to consider:

  • Celestial Hurricanum (380 points, Leader, and Behemoth)

No longer the obvious choice, due to being shot up to 380 points. The +1 to hit buff within 10" is amazing, and is obviously going to work well with ranged units (Kurnoth Hunters!) but also your front line if you can risk getting it close enough. 18" range on its shooting and spell, so it is going to get targeted quickly by anything with a decent range, and is well within move and charge range for most things if you position poorly if you can't force them to prioritise something else. Also a great source of mortal wounds with the comet spell.

  • Battlemage (100 points, leader):

Low cost of and an amazing flexibility of eight different spells, of which you choose one "when setting up this model" (double check your tournament allows you to fo this!). Sadly all of his spells are good, but not that good, but each has their own benefits, with multiple damages spells each good against different types of armies, three buffing spells and a debuff. Highlights include running Soul Steal when using Spite Revenants -1 bravery buff, using Final Transmutation against lower wound heroes or elite units (they pick the model, but do they pick one you've already wounded or do they pick a model on full wounds and risk losing that instead), using Lifesurge on an already healy Sylvaneth army (and getting a 6+ ward save to boot, one of only two defenses against Mortal Wounds to Sylvaneth - remember an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure), and getting those +1 to wounds or -1 to hits against an already hard to hit Sylvaneth army.

  • Loremaster (140 points, leader):

Being able to put rerolling hits and wounds with the Hand of Glory spell on a big hitting model like a Spirit of Durthu massively increases their effectiveness and but at the points boost to 140 points he's not the obvious auto include anymore. Sitting 18" behind your big hitters, they are going to want to shoot him off, but in cover, he will have an easy 3+ save rerolling just to make that more difficult. Otherwise, leave him more in range and make them choose between attacking the Loremaster, or attacking what he is buffing. In many cases, the flexibility of a Battlemage might be better.

  • Sisters of the Thorn (220 points):

Not cheap, but gives you rerolling saves doing mortal wounds back. Stack with save modifiers to really hurt your attacker. Rerolling saves is nice on a high priority target, but the 6 or more, of course, means that that is affected by save modifiers. Mystic shield makes it 5's doing mortal wounds, in cover goes to 4+, any unique save modifiers (dryads get +1 save when there are more than 12 models, Sylvaneth have a +1 to save item, though monsters don't get cover) can bring that down to a rerolling save (probably saving on a 3 or so depending on your save stat), with 2/3 or half of the saves doing mortal wounds back! Obviously, straight up mortal wounds and high rend are the answer to that, but a lot of armies don't have access to that so this could really be a PITA for some lists. Stick it on a Durthu to get survivability, or put it on 20 Dryads to really punish them for trying to take an objective.

  • Skink Starpriest (80 points, Leader):

Dirt cheap and gives access to the Skink's -1 To Hit debuff which combos well with the -1 To Hit penalty that Dryads already give enemies when nearby a Wyldwood, then combine that with a Treelord's -1 To Hit debuff and your opponent is stuck with a -3 To Hit. Hot damn. However, you'll probably get more mileage out of a Battlemage.

  • Slann Starmaster (260, leader):

Can summon more Seraphon without breaking Allegiance in Gnarlroot, but that's quite a points investment. Probably not worth the points investment, the advantage of summoning cheap skinks is massively offset by the 260 points the slann costs. Check out his abilities if you are running multiple Seraphon units though. Maybe the summoning changes in AOS 2018 will shake this up.

Since there seems to be no restrictions on upper points limit of an allied wizard or named characters, this could opened up new possibilities, such as:

  • Eidolon of Mathlann – Aspect of the Sea (440, Leader):

Quite a point investment, as it's 440 points, but with a lot of benefits. Casts twice a turn and gets two unique spells, so the lack of assess to the Idoneth lores doesn't come into effect. His Tsunami of Terror spell debuffs D6 enemy units with -1 To Hit and to Bravery, which is sweet. Also, he can reroll a casting roll per turn, but if he does not, he heals D3 Wounds, which is an interesting risk/reward mechanic. He also gives friendly units +3(!) to Bravery, so Tree/Spite Revenants in range won't have to worry as much about battleshock. This is pretty damn good, actually. All in all, he is probably better support for your army and neither of them are great damage dealers, so he's better all around.

  • Morathi - Shadow Oracle of Khaine (480, Leader):

Again, a very big points investment. She may not be worth it as a support, since she brings little support to the army, but she brings a lot of offensive capability in her true monstrous form. Rulewise- she also doesn't count against the Behemoth limit for your army. Look at her tactica under Daughters of Khaine

  • Lord Kroak (450, Leader):

Again, a very big points investment. BUT he bring alot to the army in terms of support and offensive capability. Look at his tactica under Seraphon.

Heartwood Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Free Spirits Battalion of Durthu and 4-6 Kurnoth units (1380 min)

Meh. Gets everything but Kurnoth Hunters +1 to Bravery and can recycle Dryads, Tree-Revenants or Spite-Revenants. The recycled units can be teleported into any Wyldwood if you wish (however 1. you can roll only once in your hero phase 2. a unit of revenants or dryads needs to have died already (so likely no rolling in turn 1 and possibly 2) 3. you need to roll a 5+ 4. then they can't move that turn so getting them last turn is probably not that useful either). Toss a couple Wyldwoods all over the field and the opponent killing your infantry might end up being beneficial to you.

Harvestboon Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Forest Folk Battalion, of two Branchwraiths and three units of Dryads (620pts min)

Very Branchwraith-focused. All your Branchwraiths add 1 to cast/unbind and one can pick an exclusive Artifact that lets her pick a second Deepwood Lore spell and adds 3" to her spell range. Give Ranu's Lamentiri to your Dryad spawning Branchwraith to almost guarantee getting reinforcements every turn. Also, everything in the Wargrove adds 1" to run and charge rolls, which is incredible, especially for teleporting Tree-Revenants, but also for just about everything else here.

Ironbark Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Household Battalion of Treelord, Branchwych and two units of Tree-Revenants (660pts min)

Very dwarfish Battalion, as evidenced by the fact that it can include any two Duardin units. You also get to reroll 1s To Wound with Tree-Revenants and Branchwyches and you halve your losses when taking Battleshock tests. On top, one of your Heroes can take a Battalion-specific Artefact that grants their Melee Weapons +1 To Wound. Given the lacklustre unit requirements it's probably only worth it if you can find some worthwhile Duardin units; given the rage over the state of the fyreslayers, steampunk guys and dispossessed, take another look at this when GHB2019 comes out.

Oakenbrow Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs modified Lords of the Clan Battalion of 2-4 Treelord Ancients and 2-6 Treelords (1270pts min)

Hope you like painting Treelords. Gets all your Treelords and Treelord Ancients an additional Wound, though do remember that this doesn't save you from the effects of the damage table, as that looks at Wounds Suffered, not Wounds Remaining. Then, they can recycle a single unit of Dryads/Revenants. They can only do this once per game, not once per turn, but unlike the Heartwood Wargrove, they don't have to roll for it, they just do. Finally, and probably most meh is a Command that grants you higher Bravery in a huge circle. Not really as good as the Command the Ancient already came with.

Winterleaf Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

Needs a modified Forest Folk Battalion of Branchwraith and 4 Dryad units (610pts min)

This one is very nice to your Dryads, granting them a "Hit rolls of 6+ make another attack" rule, which is amazing as Dryads can increase their own Hit rolls. They may also use Ophidian Archways like Wyldwoods when it comes to their teleporting and rerolls Hit rolls of 1s against Chaos. It also allows you to include any one Order unit - scour the non battletomed Order units and find the cheesiest unit of the moment and bare in mind it'll probably take a points nerf in next years handbook (This is currently the Frostheart Phoenix, at least until GHB19).

Sylvaneth Wargrove

Found in the Sylvaneth Battletome.

One Lords of the Clan, three Households, three Forest Folks, one Free Spirits and one Outcasts. (>5000pts min)

The worst of the Wargroves by virtue of having fixed requirements and the meh-est rules. Its special rule is potentially great though, allowing you to place two Wyldwoods at the start of the game instead of one. Still, way too big to use. If you fill the other Wargroves to the maximum amount of Battalions, they gain this ability on top. Still, if you're playing games of over 5000 points then those 80 points you won't even notice, it's still a one drop battalion and send us some match reports/photos, we want to see them.

Army Building

All these buildings are for armies with the SYLVANETH allegiance, using GHB 2018.

1000 pt.

Here the core tax is 1 Leader and 2 Battleline units.

Starting by building on the SC box:

1x Branchwych 80pts with verdant blessing.
1x Branchwraith 80pts any spell
20x Dryads 200pts
5x Tree-Revenants 80pts
3x Kurnoth Hunters 200pts scythes or swords
1x Treelord Ancient 300pts with the Reaping or regrowth. Acorn Of the Ages
=940pts, 62 wounds, 31 models

A solid core of Dryads, a big monster, a caster and powerful melee. Fill the remaining 60points with endless spells. Pick your general based on whichever general trait you want. The reaping is for hurting anyone who gets into melee. Alternatively the Acorn goes to the wych. Branchwraith spell doesn't matter as she should always be spawning Dryads.

You could swap in Drycha instead, giving room for more Dryads:

1x Branchwych 80pts General with verdant blessing and Acorn Of the Ages
1x Branchwraith 80pts any spell
30x Dryads 270pts
5x Tree-Revenants 80pts
3x Kurnoth Hunters 200pts scythes or swords
1x Drycha Hamadreth 280pt
=990pts, 70 wounds, 41 models

Sadly Drycha can't take any artefacts or traits, so they all need to go to the Wych. And no room for endless spells.

If you want 6 lots of Kurnoth Hunters then remove the Branchwych and some battleline. However, you'll be down to two lots of 10 Dryads which isn't great (or 10 Dryads and 10 Tree Revenants which is probably worse) and you'll be wasting artefacts and traits on the Branchwraith.

Finally, here is the "Who needs Friends to play the game anyway?"

20x Dryads 200pts
10x Dryads 100pts
1x Branchwraith 80pts any spell
1x Alarielle the Everqueen 600pt
=980pts, 51 wounds, 32 models

And room for an endless spell (the shackles!) in the mix. Don't play it, unless you really want to get away from the hobby. Make sure Alarielle summons something good on turn one (anything except the Branchwych).

2000 pt.

Here the core tax is 1 Leader and 3 Battleline units.

Take a Wargrove, seriously. Gnarlroot, Harvestboon, Dreadwood or Winterleaf. You really want first turn.

When building your list, the Wargrove locks down your first 600 to 1000 points. Fill out the battleline and then there isn't a great deal of choice left. If you squeeze in Alarielle (which you really should consider as she's effectively 400 points after that free summon) there's even less choice. Sadly, you're now back to the same issue you had at 1000 points where you can't quite take everything you want.

For example, here's a gnarlroot battalion without Alarielle that also brings along Free Spirits. Giving you four artefacts and four command points!

1x Gnarlroot Wargrove 130pts
1x Household Battalion 100pts
1x Treelord Ancient 300pts (Household) With Gift of Ghyran, The Silverwood Circlet, and Regrowth
1x Branchwych 80pts (Household) With Ranu's Lamentiri, and Verdant Blessing
5x Tree-Revenants 80pts (Household)
1x Free Spirits Battalion 120pts
3x Kurnoth Hunters 200pts (Free Spirits) swords or sycthes
3x Kurnoth Hunters 200pts (Free Spirits) swords or sycthes
3x Kurnoth Hunters 200pts (Free Spirits) swords or sycthes or bows
1x Spirit of Durthu 380pts (Free Spirits) with Ghyrstrike
10x Dryads 100pts
10x Dryads 100pts
=1990pts

This list combines both the magical strength of the Gnarlroot Wargrove with the biggest punch available in the Free Spirits Battalion. You get to restore one dead Kurnoth model every turn with the Gnarlroot spell too. Any but the toughest opponents would fill the backsides of their pants at the sight of 9 Kurnoth Hunters accompanying Durthu. That Ghyrstrike will really help those big hits to connect.

However, you have just lost one artefact due to only having three heroes to place them on.

Also, you've got no Branchwraith summon and this list is dangerously low on battlline tarpits. So.... maybe drop the Free Spirits Battalion, add in the wraith with Ranu's Lamentiri (better chance of summoning success, which you desperately need in this list) and now you also have 50 points to spend on endless spells.

Also, for an extra 20 points you could replace Durthu and a unit of Kurnoth with Alarielle who can then summon those lost Kurnoths on turn 1. Any list with both Kurnoths and Durthu is going to be a tough choice to justify.

Alternatively, Dreadwood: take as many Spite Revenants as you can then alpha strike turn one.

Alternatively, Harvestboon or Winterleaf: Dryad spamming lists.

Alternatively, if you really don't want a Wargrove, then you want as few units as possible in order to try and get first turn. Take Alarielle and lots of big guys or large units, bumped up with endless spells. Don't take a non-wargrove battlion as they are usually not worth the points (maybe Free Spirits are).

Tactics

Sylvaneth are an incredibly engaging army, because they play unlike anything else in the game. They are, fittingly, the Elves of AoS (except, you know, they are not Elves): They require more tactics and in-depth knowledge of the army than any other faction in the game, but if you know your way around them, they can beat just about everyone.

Unlike Khorne, Sylvaneth have no buff game to speak of. There are no "+1 attack to every melee weapon" abilities, few defensive buffs and the only offensive buff lies in Alarielle's one-use Command.

Unlike an army like Nurgle or Fyreslayers, they cannot simply advance and outlast all the opponent's firepower.

Unlike Seraphon, Death or Daemons, you cannot cast a dozen spells a turn and replace your losses easily.

What you do have are getting first turn, Wyldwoods, Tree-Revenants and magic shenanigans. Let us look at them in detail.

Wyldwoods

Like the Wood Elves of old, you get to place a single forest. Not just any forest, but a Sylvaneth Wyldwood, which are one to three Citadel Woods, with a hate-on for everything that isn't Sylvaneth. All of these forests must be within 1" of each other and not within an inch of any other scenery (GA: Order FAQ 1.3). Unlike the Wood Elves of old, you do not place this forest as part of your army. You place it before players even choose their table halves. This opens a lot of possibilities right there. The two most basic options are to place the wood on one half of the table, or to place it as close to the middle of the board as the other terrain allows. Placing it in the middle evens out the playing field and, while fair, is not too useful. By placing it on one side of the table, you force the opponent to make a difficult choice right off the bat: Does he give you the Wyldwood-side, thus dooming himself to trying to dig you out of a heavily fortified area that is all but lethal to him? Or does he take it for himself and then fill it with units so you cannot teleport into it? The latter is particularly bad for him because it seems like such a logical choice at first, but then you rouse this Wyldwood again and again, yank it toward you and then, once you reach it, you fight on it with a huge home-field advantage. A particularly great strategy is to connect three woods as close to the center of the board as possible in order to put your danger zone as close to all the objectives as possible. This can be used to, for example, set up a unit of Kurnoth Hunters in said Wyldwood and then Treesong the Wood along with the Hunters towards the opponent, filling more of his table half with the Wyldwood and pushing your Hunters closer.

And that is only with the Wood you get at the start. You could also set up a Wizard at the very edge of your deployment zone, then use Verdant Blessing, or to set up a Wyldwood 18" closer to the opponent. Then, in your movement phase, summon something into this new Wyldwood, disturbingly close to the opponent. Don't forget your Spirit Paths allegiance ability, allowing your Sylvaneth units to teleport between any two Wyldwoods. After setting up a couple Wyldwoods with Verdant Blessing and the Treelord Ancient's Silent Communion, not only will your units grab objectives at blinding speed, but you will put pressure on the opponent's backline units without any units even being there.

If you're playing defensively, you can set up a Wyldwood just in front of your front line, forcing your enemy to charge into the Wyldwood in order to reach you, and as they're running, hit them with that Mortal Wound penalty for charging into a Wyldwood, while also giving you the home field advantage.

This is of course just a small taste of all the fun to be had with Wyldwood shenanigans. Just try it out, experiment and if you find some other worthwhile tactic, come and expand this article with it. Try setting a wyldwood close to enemy wizards as if you are lucky they will get roused and deal a lot of mortal wounds to them.

First Turns

Sylvaneth play best when taking first turn. Period. It you want to play competitively you need that first turn. Even taking into account your opponent might then get a potentially devastating double turn next (yes, I'm looking at you Daughters of Khaine).

To get first turn you'll need to take a wargrove and drop the whole army in one go (remember Wargroves can contain any number of Sylvaneth units alongside the requirements). Of course you can split this up a little if you want to see where your opponent is placing units, just make sure you one drop the remainder before they place their last unit.

First turn you want to get those woods across the board, preferably on top of the objectives and as close to the enemy side as possible. You'll already have one Wyldwood out from setup. Attempt one Wyldwood with verdant blessing, if you have a Treelord Ancient then attempt to place another with Silent Communion. Move your units and place a final Wyldwood from a unit on the front line that is carrying Acorn of the Ages. If everything goes well, you could potentially have 12 Citadel Woods spanning the board before you opponent has done anything. Make sure you keep the rules close at hand for explaining exactly what you just did was legal.

Now you have two options - either move your units into the woods near objectives and camp out. Let the fight come to you. Alternatively you took an alpha strike battalion and you just charge into their side of the board and kill as much as you can in one go.

Keep your Dryad summoning Branchwraith on the backlines in a Wyldwood away from danger, teleporting the summoned Dryads into a more strategic location.

The problem with using Wargroves is they don't allow for much wiggle room on choice of units. Opponents will have seen a list similar to yours before and may know how to react against it (well, maybe not for Ironbark or Oakenbrow....)

Magic

Your Wizards have quite the vast selection of spells now. A little something about them:

The Reaping in conjunction with the Silverwood Circlet is a no-brainer. A lot of people seem to put this trick on a Branchwych, but a Treelord Ancient, who is tougher and is much larger, is actually a much better candidate.

Ranu's Lamentiri and Verdant Blessing is another no-brainer as it allows you to place new Wyldwoods with relative certainty. Since Treelord Ancients can summon new Wyldwoods without casting spells, this might be better to put on a Branchwych, especially since her unique spell profits from the casting bonus a lot.

Regrowth on the two special characters seems obvious but should be mentioned here. On Alarielle, it provides her with a third regeneration ability, enough to make her almost impossible to kill. On Drycha, it takes a frustratingly tough and powerful monster and turns it into an impossibly tough and powerful monster.

On a Treelord Ancient, it might be worthwhile to work with the Warsong Stave, as any Ancient not using Reaping Circlet will want Regrowth. With the Warsong Stave, you can keep Regrowth and still gain another spell, at the cost of a possible Artifact.

One last thing. Avoid using any Throne of Vines or Regrowth against an army with Curseling Lord of Tzeentch. If he successfully unbinds your casting he can use it in the next round via "Vessel of Chaos". Thankfully he can't permanently steal them using "Glean magic" as that only works with spells listed on the warscolls of your wizards.

Allied Armies

With the General's Handbook 2017 we can take two factions as allies: Stomcasts and Wanderers, and now with the introduction of Idoneth Deepkin, those too. However, the usefulness of this is questionable for us. The problem is that allies do not get the SYLVANETH-Keyword. Our Forests can and will turn on our allies if the run, charge, cast spells or simply stand next to it when some other effect goes off. This massively reduces their mobility, weakens our board control and potentially makes us lose our models without the enemy having to do anything.

  • Stormcast Eternals: You don't particularly need stormcast. Their playstyle is too different from traditional Sylvaneth play and overall they don't synergies too well. Perhaps with the upcoming Stormcast Sacrosanct chamber, something might be available to use well with Sylvaneth, but as of now don't bother. Stormcasts are just too slow to keep up with us and can't make up for this with Deep Strikes. Prosecutors might be a better option than the infantry on foot, but the would-be woefully undersupported, due to the lack of Stormcast Heroes. Additionally, they have worse shooting than our (costlier) options and again, do not benefit from Stormcast specific abilities or commands.
  • Wanderers: Okayish, and fluffy which is important, however as previously mentioned above, you only have 200/400pts to spare, which simply isn't enough to gain any meaningful army support from the Wanderers. Also, Wanderers suffer from much the same problems as Stormcast. Everything they can do, we can do better, with everything they need, we can't provide. 200-400 points are not all that much and spending these on a Unit of Glade Guard and a Hero gives us, again, worse shooting and we can only heal and not revive Models. This basically means that the many single-wound models are nearly worthless fodder. Sisters of any variation are simply too expensive to be a viable choice for us and don't benefit us. Wasted points, that we could use better for Hunters.
  • Idoneth Deepkin: The fish guys have lots of cross-unit synergies, which are of no use here. Consider the Akhelian Guards (Ishlaen and Morrsarr). Compared to the Kunoths, they are faster at 14' and can fly (but can't use wyldwood teleporting and need to stay way from them too), they pack more punch (but are much more fragile) and they are cheaper too.
    • Alternately, consider running a Deepkin army with the "Alliance of Wood and Sea" Battalion, giving you all the benefits of the Deepkin tides at the cost of having no forests (for better and worse).

Buying Guide

Sylvaneth is mixed in terms of unit price values. Some can be cheap, others horrendously expensive, but that's GW. A cliché recommendation would be the start collecting box. Sadly the Branchwych is of less use than she used to be.

Note that due to models coming from WFB, a box of Dryads has 16 models, so to get full use of them, you'll want two boxes giving you 3 dryad units plus 2 spare. Make these up as 3 Dryad Nymphs and 29 normal Dryads to give you full WYSIWYG flexibility of unit sizes.

Make sure to buy those horrible Wyldwoods. Thankfully the Vale Of Ghyran boxes has made them a bit cheaper. You'll eventually want three of those boxes, but can get away with just two. Amongst friends you might want to make the bases from cardboard as a stop gap. Although good value, the Vale box means it's harder to spread the cost by buying a single wood every time you visit/order from the local hobbyshop.


Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
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