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Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Sylvaneth

2019-08-09T16:52:19Z

2600:1008:B120:6537:A5FE:F714:28B6:4575: /* Others */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Sylvaneth|Logo=Most Friendly Being In Sylvaneth.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=WALKING TREES I TELL YOU! WALKING TREES!}}

==Why 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====
*New battletome for 2019 that replaces the four fixed one-drop army lists with a whole host of choices.
*We have a lot of new and glorious models, almost completely in plastic (just one finecast, which 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". Other stuff can teleport. If you like mobility and board control, 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.
*Massive Board Control if you can get those woods out.
*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.
*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).
*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.
*Limited defense against Mortal Wounds, but more than before (which is also the new role of the Gnarlroot Wargrove).
*Those Citadel Woods have been replaced with newer models, but you're still going to be requiring a few sets of them, which is still going to be a significant investment and still be a pain to transport. Just not quite as bad as before.
*A reputation for being no fun to play against due to overly defensive turtling. That should be mitigated now, but opinions die hard.
*I am Groot.

==Rulebooks==
The ''Sylvaneth Battletome'' 2019 version has all the Warscrolls, Battations, Allegiance Abilities and Matched play points
*This should be supplemented with the Sylvaneth ''Errata'' and ''Designers' Commentary'' from the [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].
*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 [https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-Age-of-Sigmar-Rules 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 [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].

==Allegiance Abilities==

===Battle Traits===
Armies with the '''SYLVANETH''' allegiance have the following abilities:

*'''Awakened Wyldwoods''': After territories have been determined but before armies are set up, set up ONE Awakened Wyldwood anywhere on the battlefield more than 1" from any other terrain feature, 1" from enemy territory, and more than 6" from any objectives. Soon in this article you will see why you can't really play Sylvaneth without them. ''2019 Differences: Distance changes.''

*'''Forest Spirits''': You can set up a '''SYLVANETH''' unit aside for every unit deployed on the field. In any of your movement phases, you can deploy it on the battlefield. Units must be set up wholly within 6" of an Awakened 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. [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|Trunks fall, everyone dies]]. ''2019 Differences: Distance changes.''

*'''Navigate Realmroots''': Instead of moving in the movement phase, ONE '''SYLVANETH''' unit wholly within 6" of an Awakened Wyldwood can be moved to wholly within 6" of another, different, wood, and of course more than 9" from any enemy. Treelord varieties have the Spirit Walk Ability and can teleport in addition to this one unit. ''2019 Differences: This used to be usable for multiple units a turn and the rolling after has gone. Definite nerf, but also simpler to use.''

*'''Places of Power''': After territories are chosen but before armies are deployed, select one terrain feature (this could be an Awakened Wyldwood YOU deploy according to order of operations... might need an FAQ). Friendly Sylvaneth units wholly within 6" of said terrain feature do not take battleshock tests. Interesting buff, it lets you sort of pick a focal point of where you want to commit to battle, and then have your, say, 30 block of dryads get to ignore battleshock while holding up the enemy.

===Command Traits===
A general of an army with a '''SYLVANETH''' allegiance can choose one Command Trait from the lists below (be advised that if you choose your army to be one of the Wargroves, you are forced to take a specific command trait instead of one of these):

====Aspects Of War====
#'''Dread Harvester''': If you charged, you can reroll melee hit rolls.
#'''Gnarled Warrior''': Reroll saves of 1. ''This used to be ignore rend unless it's -2 or better.''
#'''Gift of Ghyran''': Your general heals 1 wound at the start of each of your hero phases. ''This used to bump to D3 if near a wood.''
#'''Lord of Spites''': Reroll all wound rolls of 1. ''This used to be reroll first failed hit roll. So, that's better now.''
#'''Warsinger''': +2 to any charge rolls made for friendly SYLVANETH units that are wholly within 12" of your general. Good choice for turning a spirit path walk into a charge on the same turn; essential for any alpha strike lists. ''Used to be +1 and within 10" (but not wholly).''
#'''Wisdom of the Ancients''': All friendly SYLVANETH units wholly within 12" of your general in the battleshock phase add 1 to their Bravery. Best near revenants, your most vulnerable to battleshock. ''Used to be within 10" (but not wholly).''

====Aspects Of Renewal====
Wizards only
#'''Arcane Bounty''': General knows 1 extra Deepwood spell.
#'''Mystic Regrowth''': If General successfully cast a spell, then heal D3 wounds at end of hero phase.
#'''Voice Of Warding''': General can unbind one extra spell per turn.
#'''Glade Lore''': General gets +1 to casting rolls when wholly within 6" of a wood. Sounds great for Alarielle, but very restrictive getting her into position to benefit.
#'''Spellsinger''': General gets +6 range of all spells. ''This used to be the silverwood circlet.''
#'''Radiant Spirit''': If affected by a spell/endless spell, roll a dice, on a 4+ ignore the effect. Note the correct usage of affect and effect.

===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 Artefact from the lists below.

====Weapons Of The Glades====
These effect a single melee weapon belonging to the bearer
#'''Daith's Reaper''': Additional rend of 1. ''Used to be on 6 get -4 rend. Much more useful now.''
#'''Greenwood Gladius''': If the bearer charges, +2 attacks that turn.
#'''Autumns Ire''': Re-roll hits and wounds of 1 as long as the bearer is wounded.
#'''Winnowstaff''': Can re-roll all hits against enemies with Wounds of 1.
#'''Ancient Barkblade''': +1 damage.
#'''The Darkest Bough''': On an unmodified wound roll of 6, deals an additional D3 mortal wounds

====Boons Of The Everqueen====
#'''The Oaken Armour''': Reroll saves of 1. ''Used to be +1 to save rolls.''
#'''Briarsheath''': -1 Hit penalty for anyone attacking the bearer.
#'''Glamourweave''': 5+ save-after-the-save (mortal wounds only). 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. ''Used to be only 6+.''
#'''Lashvines''': For every non-negated wound from a melee weapon, on a 6 from a D6, the attacker takes 1 mortal wound.
#'''Silken Snares''': Ignore rend of -1 from enemies.
#'''Nightbloom Garland''': Unit is invisible to enemy units more than 12" away.

====Verdant Treasures====
#'''Seed of Rebirth''': The first time you lose your last wound roll a D6. On 2+ they come back to life with D3 wounds. Obviously best for a Branchwych/wraith, as a monster with D3 Wounds might as well be dead again. 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. ''Used to not require the dice roll.''
#'''Wraithstone''': Subtract 1 from the Bravery of enemy units within 10" in the Battleshock Phase. Combine with Spite-Revenants for best results.
#'''Everdew Vial''': +2 to run and charge rolls.
#'''Lifewreath''': Roll a dice in hero phase, on 3+ all Sylvaneth units wholly within 10" heal +D3 wounds.
#'''Crown Of Fell Bowers''': Pick an enemy within 6" at the start of the combat phase. All friendly Sylvaneth can re-roll all wound rolls against them for that phase.
#'''Etherblossom''': Bearer can fly. Durthu will love this.

====Relics Of Nature====
Wizards only.
#'''Acorn of the Ages''': Set up a Wyldwood wholly within 12", one-use only. The old favourite artefact of the one drop armies. 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. ''This used to be within 5" (not wholly).''
#'''Spiritsong Stave''': Additional spell cast per turn. Amazing!
#'''The Vesperal Gem''': Once per turn, automatically succeed a Deepwood spell roll, which cannot be unbound. Sounds great.... but, then roll a dice, on a 1 you get D3 mortals. Ouchy. Good thing you have healing out the ass. Amazing relic because while you NEED magic, you don't have a lot of multi spell casters OR casting bonuses. Very solid choice. Note, Verdant Blessing is not part of Deepwood, so no autotree spamming.
#'''Luneth's Lamp''': +2 unbinding/dispelling rolls for endless spells.
#'''Hagbane Spite''': If you successfully unbind a spell, the caster gets 1 mortal.
#'''Wychwood Glaive''': Pick a melee weapon, it gets +2 damage against wizards.

===Spell Lore===
All '''SYLVANETH WIZARD'''s know Verdant Blessing, plus they can take a spell from the Deepwood Spell Lore.

'''Verdant Blessing''' (6+): Casting value 6. Sets up an Awakened Wyldwood wholly within 24". As useful as the Wyldwoods are to you, this spell is pretty good. ''This used to be 18", part of the Deepwood list, and was more or less auto include''.

====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:
#'''Throne of Vines''' (5+): Caster gets +2 to cast/unbind, but only as long as you don't move. <s>Amazing</s> MUST TAKE for Allarielle and her three casts per turn, which allows her to summon woods on a 4+ and buff her Metamorphosis! Also good on a Branchwraith to help her get the Dryads out more consistently. ''This used to be +D3 to cast.''
#'''Regrowth''' (5+): Casting value 5. Heal D6 Wounds to a friendly, visible Sylvaneth unit wholly within 18". 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. ''Used to also heal D3 on non-sylvaneth.''
#'''The Dwellers Below''' (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.
#'''Deadly Harvest''' (6+): Each enemy unit with 3" gets D3 mortals. 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. ''This used to be call The Reaping.''
#'''Verdurous Harmony''' (7+): A unit wholly within 18" regains 1 slain model (or D3 for Dryads, Tree/Spite Revs). ''New spell! Is a variant of an old wargrove spell.''
#'''Treesong''' (7+): For one enemy unit within 16" and 6" of a wood, you get to re-roll melee hit and wound rolls of 1 against them. ''Completely rewritten, used to move a wood 2D6.''

===Endless Spells===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Gladewyrm_ENG.pdf Gladewyrm]''' (30pts): Ancient protectors of the <s>[[Dune|spice]]</s> realmroots. CV 7. Predatory (8") spell that does D3 mortal wounds to non-SYLVANETH units within 1" and heals D6 wounds to SYLVANETH units within 6" of where it ends up. Pretty good for the cost.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Vengeful_Skullroot_ENG.pdf Vengeful Skullroot]''' (40pts): CV 6. Predatory (8") spell, adds D3 to fleeing models that fail battleshock tests within 3" of it as long as they're not SYLVANETH. Also does D3 mortal wounds to units it passes across, boosted to D6 if said units are within 3" of an AWAKENED WYLDWOOD, again only if they aren't SYLVANETH.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spiteswarm_Hive_ENG.pdf Spiteswarm Hive]''' (50pts): CV 7. Lets you choose one of the following effects in your hero phase each turn it's around: Roll a dice for each SYLVANETH unit within 8", on a 2+ add 3" to normal moves and charge moves until the end of turn; or on the same 8" range 2+ roll re-roll saves of 1 for that unit.

==Glades==
Every Sylvaneth army gets to optionally belong to a glade ''for free'', which gives you an extra ability, command ability, fixes your General's command trait (you cannot choose from the Allegiance Abilities lists) and fixes your first artefact.

The Core FAQ clarifies that if you take Alarielle/Drycha as your general and a Glade, you don't get the Glade's Command Trait.

''2019 Differences: These are named after the Wargroves from the old Battletome, but they're very different. Instead of being battalions, which restrict what units you take, they force you into a set of abilities/artefacts.''

===Dreadwood===

*''Ability'': '''Malicious Tormentors''': Spite Revs reroll hits of 1.
*''Command Ability'': '''Sinister Ambush''': Once per turn, take a unit within 18" of a Hero and replace them anywhere on the battlefield, >9" of enemy units.
*''Command Trait'': '''Paragon Of Terror''': Enemy units reroll successful battleshock tests when within 6" of your general.
*''Artefact'': '''Jewel Of Withering''': -1 to melee wound rolls attacking the bearer.

The spooky choice. Gives a reason to use lots of Spite-Revenants. The battleshock reroll jells nicely with the Spite's -1 bravery buff, and hit rerolls on top of their 3+ to hit should make them terrifying. The teleporting is only good for deep striking a single unit, but combine with wyldwood teleporting and you can also throw over a bunch of Treelords and a big unit of Dryads at the same time.

===Gnarlroot===

*''Ability'': '''Shield The Arcane''': Units reroll hits of 1 when within 12" of friendly Gnarlroot Wizards.
*''Command Ability'': '''The Earth Defends''': One unit within 12" of a hero negates wounds or mortal wounds on 6+ for that combat phase.
*''Command Trait'': '''Nurtured By Magic''': Once per turn, if your general successfully casts a spell, a unit wholly within 18" heals D3 wounds.
*''Artefact'': '''Chalice Of Nectar''': Roll 3 dice when casting or unbinding and discard one of your choice.

The magicy life choice. The chalice means the bearer well may never fail a cast (throw onto a Branchwraith for almost guaranteed 10 Dryads per turn). The Ability and Trait are going to really help keeping everyone alive.
Also, the ability gives Kurnoth hunters the same benefit as an Arch-Revenant would (reroll 1s to hit).

===Heartwood===

*''Ability'': '''Courage for Kurnoth''': +1 Bravery wholly within 12" of heroes.
*''Command Ability'': '''Lord of the Hunt''': [[Markerlight|Reroll hit and wound rolls of 1 against 1 enemy unit within 12" of a hero]].
*''Command Trait'': '''Legacy of Valour''': If the general is slain, do D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 1" on a 2+. On a 6, do D6 instead.
*''Artefact'': '''Horn of the Consort''': Reroll hits for Kurnoth Hunters wholly within 12".

The Kurnoth-ish choice. The CA overlaps with the Artefact and the Trait fits a suicide bomber - the best target would be the Arch-Revenant (who already gives rerolls of 1 to Kurnoth Hunters), but you don't want to just throw away 100 points. Strange.

===Harvestboon===

*''Ability'': '''Vibrant Surge''': Reroll hits of 1 after charging that turn.
*''Command Ability'': '''Fertile Ground''': A unit within 12" of the General gets +1 attacks to all melee weapons.
*''Command Trait'': '''Seek New Fruit''': After attacking, your General can move 6", ending more than 3" from enemy units.
*''Artefact'': '''The Silent Sickle''': One melee weapon of the bearer gets +1 attacks.

The Sparta choice. Consider making Durthu your general, boost with both the Ability and Artefact, then get him to retreat after attacking. Damn.

===Ironbark===

*''Ability'': '''Stubborn And Taciturn ''': Reroll battleshock tests when wholly within 12" of any heroes.
*''Command Ability'': '''Stand Firm''': Pick one enemy unit that charges within 1", roll a dice. On 2+ they get D3 mortals.
*''Command Trait'': '''Mere Rainfall''': Your General rerolls saves against missile weapons.
*''Artefact'': '''Ironbark Talisman''': +1 for melee wound rolls.

In addition, you get Dispossed and Fyreslayers as allies.

The dwarven choice. Rainfall will probably just make your opponent target elsewhere (but you are forcing that choice upon them). Stand Firm is going to stop any small heroes from charging you.

===Oakenbrow===

*''Ability'': '''Our Roots Run Deep''': Subtract 2 from wounds taken by Treelords of all varieties when looking at the damage table.
*''Command Ability'': '''Yield To None''': Battleshock immunity wholly within 16" of a selected hero.
*''Command Trait'': '''Regal Old-growth''': +1 wound.
*''Artefact'': '''Dawnflask''': 6+ save against wounds and mortal wounds.

The Treelord choice. With all the point reductions to Treelords this sounds like a good idea, but with how terrible the bonuses are, you should probably just use a better Grove.

===Winterleaf===

*''Ability'': '''Winter's Bite''': For ''all your units'', unmodified melee hit rolls of 6 score 2 hits.
*''Command Ability'': '''Branch Blizzard''': Extra 12" shooting attack. Roll a dice for each model in target unit, each 6+ is one mortal. Only of use against hordes and if you've got plenty of spare CPs.
*''Command Trait'': '''My Heart Is Ice''': Every melee wound inflicted on your general, roll a dice, on a 5+ the attacker gets one mortal.
*''Artefact'': '''Frozen Kernel''': Once per game at the start of the combat phase, 1 friendly WINTERLEAF unit wholly with 18" of the bearer can pile in and attack twice. It does the second pile in and attack right after the first time it attacks, and only if it is still within 3" of an enemy unit.

The kill-y choice

==Warscrolls==
===Leaders===
====Named Leaders====

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Sylvaneth_Alarielle_ENG.pdf Alarielle the Everqueen]:''' (660pts). 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 can heal a Sylvaneth models around her for D3 each turn.
** She also has a strong throwing spear with massive 30" range and the beetle hits harder than anything else in the game. It's so damn strong it damages people standing nearby if it charges and has five damage 5(!) attacks. And her other weapon is basically the Massive Impaling Talon, but supercharged and with 4 attacks and any hit rolls of 6 score D3 mortal wounds.
**Like Nagash, Archaon and Morathi, 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 Kurnoths, 20x Dryads, 10x Tree- or Spite-Revenants or, umm, a single Branchwych. This effectively dropping her cost by ~200 points, and you get to decide which unit to spend those ~200 points on during the game. Remember, you've probably already got your Dryad summoning covered by the Branchwraiths.
**Her spell Metamorphosis (7+), you roll as many dice as the casting roll, and each 4+ deals a mortal to a unit within 16". If that kills the enemy, then you can place a wood there.
**''2019 Differences: Talon no longer auto kills, instead dealing Mortal Wounds, and the spell Metamorphosis is more expensive. However, Battering Ram is now based on the model rather than a terrain piece, but only effects enemy units and Ghyran's Wrath can be used every time (for a CP). Sadly she's gone up from 600 points, still probably worth the points given she was ridiculously cheap before.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Drycha_Hamadreth_ENG.pdf Drycha Hamadreth]:''' (320pts). Drycha is back and more pissed off than ever.
**Now if an unmodified hit roll from Flitterfuries or Squirmlings is a 6, it's a mortal wound instead of going through the attack sequence.
**Flitterfuries are an 18" shooting attack with 10 attacks single damage, rend -1. Meanwhile Squirmlings are 2" melee attack, also with 10 attacks single damage, but not rend. At the start of each battle round, you can choose what mood she's in, and as a result one of these attack doubles to 20!
**In addition, her talons give another 6 attacks at damage 2, rend -2. This lady is a beast!
**She's also excessively fast with a 9" Move that is not weakened by her damage table.
**Her spell (6+) scores D3 damage to every unit within 10" based on a roll against the unit's bravery. This ends up being difficult to score 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.
**''2019 Differences: She's gone up from 280 points. For that you get both Flitterfuries and Squirmlings, which now have normal attack profiles instead of mortals, but the slendervines attack has gone. You get to choose her mood, instead of rolling, but it's effect isn't quite as good. The spell is simplified, both reducing its max damage, but making it more likely do damage.''

====Generic Leaders====

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Branchwraith_ENG.pdf Branchwraith]:''' (80pts) Essential summoning support
**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, but when in a wood, she gets -1 to hits made against her, which helps. Although you shouldn't really ever be getting her into combat, she should ideally spend her life hidden in woods, teleporting between them.
**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 Dryads every turn.
**Consider taking two Branchwraiths. Use the second one for verdant blessing wood summonings. If the Dryad summoning wraith dies, you have a spare one. Now you can afford to be a little riskier and put one in a wood near the front lines to get those new Dyrads into combat quicker. And if that's convinced you, then maybe you want to consider a third Branchwraith. Arm them with an array of Deepwood spells and you should always have something useful to cast, especially given turn 5 (or even 4) it might not be useful to summon more bodies that you won't get into combat.
**''2019 Differences: Just some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Branchwych_ENG.pdf Branchwych]:''' (80pts) Aggressive support wizard.
**Same meh stat wheel as the Branchwraith, but with slightly better melee.
**As long as she's taken at least one wound in damage, she gets 2 extra attacks on her scythe.
**Her spell Unleash Spites (5+) is a damaging pulse effecting all enemy units within 9". It 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 wounds per unit.
**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.
**The oft whispered about ''Branchwych Bomb'' involves sticking her on a Balewind Vortex inside a mid to frontline wood, giving her Deadly Harvest, Spellsinger, and using whatever casting bonuses you can get hold of. Then sit back and cast both spells, spamming mortals out in 21" and 15" bubbles. In practice you're tying up far too much to get this off reliably. Just don't run crying when your 5 wound guy gets wiped out pronto after one round of this. Clearly hilarious if you can get it to work.
***It's possible to invest even more into this strategy by adding an Umbral Spellportal, but even that doesn't make it worthwhile.
**Difficult to recommend her when you can get a spare Dryad summoning Branchwraith for the same cost, and give her Dwellers Below which isn't that much worse than Unleash Spites.
**''2019 Differences: scythe attacks bonus is better as it is now whilst damaged, instead of just that turn. Also some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spirit_of_Durthu_ENG.pdf Spirit of Durthu]:''' (340pts) This is <s> SPARTAAAAA</s> *ahem* supercharged Treelord.
**The Spirit of Durthu is an absolute damage monster, with extremely powerful shooting, terrifying melee and all the standard tricks of the vanilla Treelord.
**Oddly NOT a named character (and therefore not reduced to 0-1 in Matched Play), but very expensive.
**A shooting attack that is basically the vanilla Treelord's Strangleroots on steroids, with higher range, more shots and higher damage per shot.
**His sword is just about as terrifying as it looks, with constant damage 6 so long as he stays in good health and 2 bonus attacks for being near a wood.
**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 2 if near a wyldwood), 2+ to hit, 2+ to wound, 6 damage. Holy good fuck.
**He also adds 1 to the Bravery of friendly Sylvaneth.
**''2019 Differences: Other than the stuff copied across from the Vanilla Treelord, he loses the damaging shooting supercharge and the ability to take wounds from others (not that either were used much). The bonus for being near a wood is a fixed 2 attacks instead of D3. So, no practical changes, but he has gone down from 380 points! Drycha and Durthu are almost level pegging, and make for a scary combo.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Treelord_Ancient_ENG.pdf Treelord Ancient]:''' (300pts). The swiss army knife Treelord
**If Durthu is a supercharged Treelord, then this is the slightly weaker but more useful version. He retains all the abilities and powers of the vanilla.
**Compare to a Vanilla 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 D3 damage to any enemy units on or around your woods. It's either a great deterrent to entering your woods or a great punishment if the opponent was dumb enough to actually do it.
**Once per battle he can unconditionally summon a new wood. This makes him an almost must take if you want to ''guaranteed'' second wood out on your first turn. Note this is once per game, not once per Ancient per game.
**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 possibly works best in 1000point lists where you've got less room other stuff.
**''2019 Differences: Other than the stuff copied across from the Vanilla Treelord, the wood summons is just once unconditionally instead of on a 4+, and some distances changing to wholly within.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads/aos-warscroll-yltharis-guardians-en.pdf 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 (6+) is a supercharged arcane bolt, giving you an average of 2 mortals per cast.
**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.
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Arch_Revenant_ENG.pdf 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 phase would really hurt your opponent. Actually, this is used in the combat phase and only effects melee weapons, so no shooting bonus.
**Sadly currently only available in the instantly sold out Looncurse box. If you've not got one you'll have to wait for a while or get scalped on ebay.
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

===Troops===
====Battleline====

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Dryads_ENG.pdf 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 10+ they gain +1 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 from being near a wood (-1 to hits against them), this is in addition to +1 save for being in cover. They 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 so you can reroll failed saves (which also deals a mortal on 6), so a large unit in a wood now has 3+ with reroll. For chaff, that's pretty damn good. However, those Sisters are going to cost you a fair bit in return.
**Remember to bring at least an additional 20 of these for the Branchwraith to summon. Unless you plan on playing super defensive, you won't need more than 30 spare.
**''2019 Differences: Wholly within measuring means no more daisy chains across the board. However, the large unit bonus is now 10 instead of 12. With all the other changes going on, pure Dryad spamming is probably no longer our strongest build.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Tree_Revenants_ENG.pdf 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.
**Leader either gets two additional attacks or +1 damage.
**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. 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.
**''2019 Differences: Teleporting is now anywhere instead of near a wood or table edge. It's a small change, but a good one.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Spite_Revenants_ENG.pdf Spite-Revenants]:''' (60pts, min 5, max 20. 200pts for 20) Less tricksy, more creepy Tree-Revenants.
**No rend and single damage, but 3 attacks at +3/+3 each!
**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. Plus they force them to reroll passed battleshock tests.
**1" range means it'll be tricky getting a unit of 20 fully into combat.
**Your glass cannon battleline: Hits hard, dies quickly. Use Dryads for staying power.
**200 points for 20 of these is the same as Dryads! Against hordes these guys might be the superior option. Sadly, it'll hurt your wallet a lot more - £90 for 20 vs £31.25 for the same in Dryads (add in your own local currency multiplier).
**The bravery shenanigans are useless against Death, but they will be taking lots of horde chaff, so are probably still worth taking.
**''2019 Differences: 10 points drop, the scenery rule is switched for the rerolling battleshock, and attacks are up from +4/+4 to +3/+3, that's a huge boost! Finally these are a valid battleline option. GW must really want people to start playing these guys.''

====Others====

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Greatswords_ENG.pdf 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 wound rolls of 6.
**When melee attacking, if they don't need to move (other than 1" pile in), they can gain the ability to re-roll saves.
***Since the warscroll only says at the start of the charge phase but doesn't specify whose, they can technically charge and pile in normally in your charge phase and then use Tanglethorn Thicket in your opponent's if you went first.
**At the end of combat you deal mortal wounds on a 4+ for each model in your unit
**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.
**GW has switched the points for these up and down 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.
**''2019 Differences: Other than the warscroll split, failed saves confusion has been fixed, some range changes, improvement to the end of combat damage. Plus swords get an extra mortal. Even stronger than before. With the mortal wounds buff, better than scythes against everything, though with 1" less range.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Scythes_ENG.pdf 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.
**''2019 Differences: Same as the swords variant, except for no new additional weapon damage.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Kurnoth_Hunters_Greatbows_ENG.pdf 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 Quiverlings who do 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. How dare they! The Quiverlings are no longer the source of their melee damage! Somehow, the giant tree people have learned to punch things of their own accord now
**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.
**''2019 Differences: Same as the swords variant, except for no new additional weapon damage.''

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads/aos-warscroll-yltharis-guardians-en.pdf 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. Yeah, that's gone as of the battletome. Now Martial Memories is the same as the ability on the Tree-Revenants.
**''2019 Differences: New for 2019!''

===Behemoths===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Treelord_ENG.pdf Treelord]:''' (200pts) ''The'' Walking Tree.
**[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] with appropriate stats to match.
**At the start of combat he can stomp and on a 4+ cause one enemy unit to fight at the end of combat.
**You get a single attack at rend -2, and on a 6 it goes from 1 damage to D6 mortal wounds.
**Instead of moving, if close to a wood, he can teleport to another wood, more than 9" from enemies, instead of moving. This is in addition to the single unit that can do the same using the allegiance ability. Deep Strike!
**And they can also shoot, which is decent, not much worse than a unit of Bow Kurnoths.
**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.
**Everything this guy can do, Durthu and the Ancient can do, and more. But you're paying appropriately for them.
**Over the year this guy has seen as much battlefield usage as the Spite Revs, but now they are as cheap as a unit of Kurnoths. While the Kurnoths are arguably better in a casual play scenario, you ''might'' get more out of these with the stomp and wood teleporting.
**''2019 Differences: Stomp has improved from just causing -1 to hits, impale has been simplified. And down from 240 points!''
*** Not sure I'd class the stomp change as a straight improvement. It can only affect one unit now, and -1 to hit could be horrible, especially if combined with an artefact that did the same thing.

===Scenery===

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//AoS_Awakened_Wyldwood_ENG.pdf Awakened Wyldwood]:''' Trees everywhere.
**New models!
**An Awakened Wyldwood consists of 3-6 citadel woods arranged to form a circle. Everything inside is treated as woods.
**A Citadel wood is a single tree with a bit of base. They come in packs of three, which when formed into a circle are roughly the same size as the old dinner plate model.
**During the release hype it was "confirmed" that you could still use the old models. We need an FAQ to be sure, but you're ''probably'' safe building an Awakened Wyldwood from 1-2 old models. Whether that creates a disadvantage in wood placement has yet to be seen. Thankfully old Sylvaneth players have already confirmed they don't like money when they went out and bought a dozen of the old woods at ridiculous prices, so there's no real problem in replacing them. Sadly they are a little more toxic than real wood when you burn them.
**Line of sight blockers, so no camping your shooters in woods.
**If a wizard casts a spell near a wood, then all nearby non-Sylvaneth get D3 mortals on a 5+.
**At the end of the charge phase, all nearby non-Sylvaneth get D3 mortals on a 6.
**Remember those damages hurt your allies and your ally in doubles games.
**All Treelords and one other unit per turn can teleport between two of these instead of moving.
**Branchwraiths, Branchwyches, Dryads and Durthu all gain bonuses for being near a wood.
**As per the allegiance ability, you can place one of these at the start of the game. The Acorn artefact and the Treelord Ancient can both unconditionally place one wood per game. The verdant blessing spell (6+) is known by all our wizards and can place a new wood per turn if successfully cast. Alarielle can set up a new wood after killing a unit with her spell (if there is room).
**Your first wood needs to be more than 6" from an objective, but none of the other wood placements have that restriction.
**Your opponent is going to want to place lots of scenery during setup and then spread out during the first turn in order to block our wood placements. A situation made worse by the increase in faction specific scenery. You could quite easily end up only get out the start wood and one more during an entire game. Getting first turn can help mitigate this.
**The new models will mean an end to tree-less bases, and they'll fit in your army storage box. However, it's yet to be seen how many of these you're going to need to bring along per game and whether they are as crucial as they were in previous additions. You could end up bringing along 8 packs of these, which still ends up being a significant upfront cost for the army and it's still a lot of extra plastic you're carting around between games.
**Note that the entire inside of the ring of woods is counted as part of the Awakened Wyldwood, which means you can't use a wildwood to surround another piece of scenery or objective.
**''2019 Differences: New models! No longer auto kills small guys after charge/runs, instead doing damage by just being close. Max footprint of a wood has shrunk by a third.''

==Battalions==

===Forest Folk===
'''''A Branchwraith and three units of Dryads''''' ''140pts (520pts min -> 1,030pts max)''

Units can retreat and then still charge that turn.

''2019 Differences: Sadly this replaces the old ability that lets you take the entire Battalion off the table and then redeploy them close to your Wyldwoods.''

===Free Spirits===

'''''A Spirit of Durthu and three units of Kurnoth Hunters''''' ''140pts (1,080pts min -> 2,880pts max)''

Always rolls a 6 for a run.

''2019 Differences: Much simpler than the old ability where you move twice but has to be closer to some scenery''

===Household===

'''''A vanilla Treelord, a Branchwych and a unit of Tree-Revenants''''' ''100pts (460pts min -> 800pts max)''

Units locked in combat with the Household cannot retreat.

''2019 Differences: The old version also had +1 Bravery, but that's gone now.''

===Lords of the Clan===

'''''Two to four Treelord Ancients and one to three normal Treelords''''' ''60pts (860pts min -> 1,860pts max)''

For every enemy within 6" of 2+ Treelords, roll a dice, on a 2+ they get D3 mortals.

Now only 60 points (down from 100!). Maybe now someone will play this.

''2019 Differences: Old ability was only for one name Treelord, was a wider range, but less reliable.''

===Outcasts===

'''''Three units of Spite-Revenants''''' ''100pts (280pts min -> 700pts max)''

Any enemy unit that fails battleshock within (not wholly within!) 3" loses an additional D3 models. Remember that Spites lower enemy bravery too.

''2019 Differences: This used to be a damage pulse based on enemy bravery.''

===Wargrove===

'''''One Lords of the Clan, three Households, three Forest Folks, one Free Spirits and one Outcasts.''''' ''80pts (5,240pts min -> 11,010pts max)''

Our only remaining super battalion. Allows you to place '''two''' Wyldwoods at the start of the game instead of one. Still, way too big to use unless you're playing 5000 point games.

''2019 Differences: Unchanged from the old battletome.''

==Army Building==

===1000 pts===

Two SC boxes and a box of Revenants get you a solid core. Convert one of the <del>useless</del> Branchwyches into a Branchwraith by stealing her scythe and pet. You will want more Dryads if you do this so the Wraith actually gets to do her job.

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* Branchwych (The Dwellers Below)
* 30 Dryads
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* Treelord

Total: 990 pts

You can also replace the Treelord with a unit of Kurnoth Hunters (give them the Greatswords).

To upgrade from that, get a bag of newly-undercosted Spite Revenants and a guaranteed second Wood:

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Drycha Hamadreth (Deadly Harvest or The Dwellers Below)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Tree-Revenants
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 1000 pts

If you got the Looncurse set (or if you prefer), you can also do this:

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Treelord Ancient (Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Arch-Revenant (General)
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 6 Kurnoth Hunters (Greatswords)

The Arch-Revenant can stay safe and buff the Hunters with her Command Ability thanks to Envoys of the Everqueen.

Alternatively, you can be a dick and bring a god to the table:

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Alarielle (Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (General, Grove artefact, Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants

Total: 1000 pts

Can cut most of the Spite-Revenants for... something? Allied 3 Ishlaen guard? A Knight-Incantor? Open for suggestions, but if you do that, consider going groveless.

===2000 pts===

====Behemoth Spam====
With the cost reductions to Spite-Revenants and Treelords, you can easily fit 5 Behemoths into an army for a Monster Mash. While they're not Keepers of Secrets or Bloodthirsters, there might be something to this.

* Grove: Winterleaf
* Battalion: Outcasts
* Alarielle
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Treelord Ancient (General, Frozen Kernel, Regrowth)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* 5 Spite-Revenants
* Treelord

Total: 1980 pts

====Dryad-based List====
If you played Sylvaneth before the recent changes, chances are you have a <del>forest</del> fair number of Dryads. Their Battalion synergizes pretty well with one of the better Groves, Harvestboon, letting you retreat from combat and charge right back in with the rerolls.

* Grove: Harvestboon or Winterleaf
* Battalion: Forest Folk
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines)
* 30 Dryads
* 30 Dryads
* 10 Dryads
* 6 Kurnoth Hunters (Greatswords)
* Chronomatic Cogs
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 2000 pts

Can also run under Winterleaf, exchanging the 4 decent perks of Harvestboon for the Winterleaf artefact and exploding 6s.

The Kurnoths can be ran as a unit of 6, benefitting more from the Winterleaf artefact (and potentially realm buffs), in exchange for more Battleshock vulnerability, 1 less attack overall and fewer Trample mortal wounds.

====Spite-Revenant Buffs====
A max size unit of Spite-Revenants costs 200 points. As much as 20 Dryads (though still less efficient per wound than blocks of 30). Outcasts is also really cheap. Winterleaf gives the spooky trees exploding 6s now, too, and they have a LOT of attacks. '''The''' Spite Grove, Dreadwood, gives more mobility in exchange for less killing power.

* Grove: Winterleaf or Dreadwood
* Battalion: Outcasts
* Treelord Ancient (General, Grove artefact, Regrowth)
* Drycha Hamadreth
* Branchwraith (Throne of Vines)
* Branchwraith (Acorn of the Ages, The Dwellers Below)
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* 20 Spite-Revenants
* Chronomatic Cogs
* Soulsnare Shackles

Total: 1600 pts, leaving you with a few options for a little extra punch, be it 2 Treelords, 6 Kurnoths (give them the Greatswords) or even 6 Morrsarr Eels.

This will cost you [[Games Workshop|about as much as a real forest]], with the Spite-Revenants coming in boxes of 5 and Looncurse already gone from everywhere but Eastern Europe.

==Tactics==

==Allied Armies==

The problem with allies, is that they do not get the '''SYLVANETH'''-Keyword. Our Forests can and will turn on our allies if they get too close. This massively reduces their mobility, weakens our board control and potentially makes us lose our models without the enemy having to do anything.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast Eternals]]:''' You don't particularly need stormcast. Their play style is too different from traditional Sylvaneth play and overall they don't synergise 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 allies 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 under supported, 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.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Wanderers|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.

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin|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 Kurnoths, 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).

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Dispossessed|Dispossessed]]:''' (Only if general is '''IRONBARK''')

*'''[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Fyreslayers|Fyreslayers]]:''' (Only if general is '''IRONBARK''')

===Mercenary Companies===
*'''Blacksmoke Battery:'''
*'''Greyfyrd:'''
*'''Grugg Brothers:'''
*'''Gutstuffers:'''
*'''Nimyard’s Rough-Riders:'''
*'''Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose:'''
*'''Rampagers:'''
*'''Skroug’s Menagerie:'''
*'''Sons of the Lichemaster:'''
*'''Tenebrous Court:'''

==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. 5 boxes gets you a full usage with 80, which is probably enough unless you go full Dryad spam.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Old/Order/Wanderers

2019-08-04T05:25:34Z

2600:1008:B120:6537:A5FE:F714:28B6:4575: /* Cons */

"''Oh well, they're the type of elves who will never settle down'' 
''Where pretty girls are, well you know that they're around'' 
''They kiss 'em and them love 'em cause to them they're all the same'' 
''they hug 'em and they squeeze 'em; they don't even know their names''"

"''They call them the Wanderers'' 
''Yeah, the Wanderers'' 
''They roam around, around, around''"

These guys are the elf part of the old Wood Elf range, the dryads and treemen becoming their own army as the Sylvaneth. They now also include the Sisters of Averlorn for some reason, now re-branded as Sisters of the Watch. The Wanderers are one of the more tactically interesting armies in Age of Sigmar, especially with the Waystone Pathfinders battalion (highly recommended despite its cost). A variety of ranged options and some flexible heroes combine with the encirclement to make this army a cut above the usual "always be charging" approach that many other AoS armies encourage.

==Why play Wanderers?==
===Pros===
*Shooting is their forte; only a handful of armies can put out more damage than them at a distance.
*They have a decent range of heroes that can fill particular niches.
*Melt-and-Strike tactics will have your opponent chasing you around while you pull him into bad situations.
*The ability to redeploy to keep your troops away from harm, or outflank your opponent.
*They have healers who can restore lost models, very few armies can do that inherently.
*Their battalion battlescroll gives them massive out-of-phase shooting.
*They are one of the legacy WHFB collections that still has a good range of units: cheap/elite/ranged/melee/casting/cavalry units are all covered ''(sometimes in combination)'' so you don't especially need a lot outside of the list in terms of filling gaps

===Cons===
*While you do have a couple choices for Wizards, they aren't all powerful, so you'll never dominate in terms of magic.
*For the most part your units are fragile, expect casualties.
*No behemoths or heavy hitters, you'll have to look elsewhere if you want someone winning duels.
*Very few ways to churn out Mortal Wounds.
*Many of the models are on the chopping block when the Cities of Sigmar battletome releases.

==Rulebooks==
There isn't currently a Battletome for Wanderers.
*The ''Grand Alliance Order'' book has all the Warscrolls and Battalions.
*This should be supplemented with the Grand Alliance Order ''Errata'' and ''Designers' Commentary'' from the [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].
*Allegiance Abilities are in the ''General's Handbook 2018''.
*Matched play points are in the ''General's Handbook 2018''.
*Alternatively up to date Warscrolls can be found in the ''WH AoS'' app.

As with all factions you'll want:
*The core rules are either [https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Warhammer-Age-of-Sigmar-Rules 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 [https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/ FAQs].

==Allegiance Abilities==
===Battle Traits===
Armies with the '''WANDERERS''' allegiance have the following abilities:
*'''Defiant Hunters:''' You may reroll battleshock tests for '''WANDERER''' units. This is literally the '''ORDER''' allegiance ability repackaged in a way that only works on Wanderer units. Your best abilities are the next two:
*'''Realm Wanderers:''' at the start of your movement phase, one of your '''WANDERER''' units that are within 6" of a table edge can be removed from the table and be set up at anywhere wholly within 6" of the same table edge that is more than 9" from the enemy. This counts as their movement. General's Handbook 2018 makes it one unit per turn.
**When used correctly, this ability will have your opponent howling with neckbeard rage at his inability to corner and overwhelm your units. You can comfortably hug the board edges with your ranged units and take him out at your leisure knowing that if he approaches too close you can simply redeploy somewhere else and continue raining arrows on him. If used on the wide board edges ''(or in conjunction with the Stalker of the Hidden Paths trait)'' you can even outflank your enemy and strike him in the vulnerable rear if he leaves himself open.
**As of the 2018 Compendium Realm Wanderers has been Restricted to being used once per turn, nerfing Arrow spams and Keep away tactics. A way around this would be to bring max size units, you will have a harder time giving the hero support
***Waystone Pathfinders Battalion is still valid so you still can do first turn flanking, but latter relocation will be harder
*'''Melt Away:''' Any '''WANDERER''' unit can [[Ultramarines|shoot in same turn it retreats]].
**This ability goes some way in making up for the overall poor melee quality of your ranged units. Don't do well in combat? Just back off and keep shooting, possibly even kiting enemies into better positions for yourself to shoot or countercharge them. Sisters of the Thorn and Glade Guard will thank you for this.

===Command Traits===
A general of an army with a '''WANDERERS''' allegiance and has chosen to take the '''WANDERERS''' allegiance abilities can choose one of the following Command Traits:
*'''1: Stalker of the Hidden Paths:''' If a friendly '''WANDERER''' unit that is wholly within 12" of the general leaves the battlefield using the ''Realm Wanderers'' ability, then it can return wholly within 6" of any table edge.
**If you are uncertain about which trait to take, then take this one, all the other traits make your general better, this one makes your '''army''' better. If you bunch your army together at deployment, you can easily take a first turn redeployment right behind your enemy's line and screw his weaker/ranged units over from the get go. Even throughout the course of the game your army should be hugging the board edges in order to quickly escape, having your hero nearby then allows you move them pretty much anywhere you want.
*'''2: Myst Walker:''' Enemy units can only attack the general ''(ranged and melee)'' if he is the closest target.
*'''3: Masterful Hunter:''' Add 1 to the general's hit rolls for attacks he makes with a missile weapon. If he does not have one then they receive a hunting hawk just like the Nomad Prince gets.
*'''4: Eagle-Eyed:''' Add 10" to the range of any missile weapon the general has. If they do not have one then they receive a hunting hawk just like the Nomad Prince gets.
*'''5: Lord of Blades:''' Your general may re-roll hit rolls of 1 for melee attacks.
*'''6: Singer of Spells:''' If the general is a Wizard, they add 1 to their casting and unbinding rolls. If they are not a wizard, they gain the '''WIZARD''' keyword and can attempt to unbind one spell in each enemy hero phase ''(but cannot cast their own spells)''

===Wanderers Artefacts===
*'''1: Falcon of Holthaven:''' Any time an enemy unit ends its normal movement within 12" of this unit roll a die, on a 4+GHB2018 that unit takes a mortal wound. Opponents who run lots of MSU will suffer the most against this. Though it largely depends on the general you take, since it works best when you are surrounded by lots of units, which means putting your hero somewhere uncomfortable, so be sure to hug that board edge ready to redeploy when things get hot.
*'''2: Starcaster Longbow:''' In your shooting phase, pick a unit within 20" of this model and roll a die. On a 2+ that unit takes a mortal wound, on a 6+ the unit instead takes D3 wounds. Not game breaking, but a perfectly reliable way of ensuring you cause wounds every turn.
*'''3: Splinterbirch Blade:''' an upgrade for one of your melee weapons. As of the General's Handbook 2018, this now simply improves the Rend value of a weapon by 1. This is arguably more useful than its earlier incarnation, in that it is more likely to hurt an opponent, though the other relics are probably better.
*'''4: Wending Wand:''' Once per game, any unit returning to the table using the ''Realm Wanderers'' rule can instead arrive within 18" of this character that is along ''any'' board edge.
**Operates like the inverse of the Stalker of the Hidden Paths command trait, bringing a unit to your character rather than spreading units away from them. Not helped by the fact that it can only be used once per game. Best use of this ability requires your character to get across the board before it really becomes useful where he can bring a unit to them if they get stuck in a jam. For it to really do its job you'll want a powerful unit like Rangers or a massive unit of Glade Guard to hang back ready for redeployment, though if you're keeping units away from battle your opponent may see right through this and screw you first.
*'''5: Viridescent Shawl:''' Adds +1 to the casting rolls of '''WANDERER WIZARDS''' within 9" of this model. In addition, enemies must subtract 1 from hit rolls when targeting this model in the shooting phase. Great to combine with a Waywatcher for a -2 to get hit in the shooting phase, or for creating a support hero if you play lots of casters.
*'''6: Forget-me-Knot:''' Once per battle, in any combat phase, pick an enemy '''HERO''' within 3" of this model. That hero may not pile in, attack or use any abilities this phase. Fantastic for shutting down enemy generals for a turn; this artefact is particularly useful on your melee heroes like the Nomad Prince or the Waystrider because they are the only ones you really want to get that close.

==Warscrolls==
Common keywords in these warscrolls are '''ORDER''', '''AELF''', and '''WANDERER'''.

===Leaders===
*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-nomad-prince-en.pdf '''Nomad Prince:'''] Araloth as a generic character. In his original Legacy Warscroll, Araloth was a pretty meh guy all in all, but after switching Commands with the Glade Lords and getting a few buffs here and there, the Nomad Prince is actually a very powerful leader. Armed with a very powerful melee profile that's arguably better than a Vampire Lord's and an awesome shield on top, the Prince can hold his own in combat perfectly well and his Command is a godsend, as it lets you reroll 1s To Hit for Wanderers around him, not specifying melee or range. Therefore, the Prince feels at home wherever you put him. Advancing along with Glade Guard and Wildwood Rangers? Sure. Castling up with Eternal Guard and Sisters of the Watch? Sure. His hawk is unlikely to wound most models, but if you do wound something with it the model takes a -1 to hit penalty. For best results, use this on a monster with multiple scary attacks as an indirect way to boost your army's mediocre survivability.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-spellweaver-en.pdf '''Spellweaver:'''] At face value a very simple spellcaster. However, this model has a couple of tricks that can prove very useful. Has all the stats you would expect from such a unit ''(meh)'' so keep it out of combat at all costs. This unit does however come in handy to remedy those usually below average saves that the Wanderers all seem to have by throwing a ''Mystic Shield'' on key units. The unique spell, however, has quite a bit of potential allowing you to respawn D3 dead models from a unit as long as they are '''WANDERERS'''. Though if your Glade Guard are in a position to get hurt you are likely to lose more than three models a turn, so don't expect to recover all of your losses this way, however, it can be helpful for trying to keep unit numbers high to gain massed unit buffs. Most interestingly, however, is that the only criteria for this spell is '''WANDERER''' meaning that you can restore D3 models from any Wanderer unit such as Wild Riders. Yes, now we are getting somewhere. restoring a potential D3 Wild Riders or Sisters of the Thorn if you happen to have some can be quite a major inconvenience for your opponent. To cap it all off this Spellweaver also has the ability to automatically unbind one spell ''(within range)'' once per battle. A useful trick in the right circumstances.
**Keep in mind though, that as of Grand Alliance: Order, the Spellweaver can't be mounted anymore, so have fun keeping up with your cavalry to revive them, HOWEVER, this only unless your playing in competitions that forbid it. You are still allowed to use the older warscrolls that allow you to mount your Spellweaver on a horse.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-wayfinder-en.pdf '''Wayfinder:'''] Somewhat overshadowed by the Waywatcher, but still a fun Hero. Basically, he has a bow that's a bit weaker than the Waywatcher's, but with the ability to once per game fire 3D6 instead of 3 shots. This is, of course, best used to alpha strike something you really want down a peg. Remember, using it early is always better than the Wayfinder dying before you used it. Other than that, he's a shooty Hero. Good at range, shit in melee.
**His inherent Command ability is a ranged version of the Warstrider's ability. Wanderer units within 18" of him can use his bravery stat, and in addition, whenever they roll a 1 on battleshock tests they may immediately make a free shooting attack. Which with the Wanderer/Order trait that lets you get a battleshock reroll means about 31% of the time. Which is pretty useful if you have Command points to burn.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-waywatcher-en.pdf '''Waywatcher:'''] Has the same name as the now retired troop choice subordinates. This guy is a great marksman by himself and is quite effective and whittling away at enemy Heroes. with a decent shooting statline, including rend the hit of which is improved if this guy stands still. His save isn't bad for an archer which will be improved while in cover, which consequently will debuff all hits made against him by 1. Now the defining trait of this guy is his ability to choose between which type of shots he fires Fast or Precise. Fast grants him twice the shots with 6+ To Hit generating additional shots (the standing-still bonus stacks on this and lets you generate new shots on 5+) while Precise doubles your shots' damage and 6+ To Wound grant you better Rend. All in all, the Waywatcher has a tool for every job so long as the job is done at range.
**Don't forget about the Waywatcher's pretty cool command ability, '''See, But Do Not Be Seen''', which applies the Waywatcher's '''Invisible Hunter''' ability to ALL '''Wanderers''' within 18 inches of him, giving all affected units a buff that subtracts 1 from any hit rolls that enemies target them with. This is pretty fucking awesome.
** Fast Shots doesn't specify the newly generated shots cannot themselves generate further shots, making Fast a more effective option than Precise in literally every scenario, 6 dice hitting on 2s if he hasn't moved, generating extra attacks on as low as 4s (with a command trait), with those extra attacks able to generate additional extra attacks, he's able to stack up an absurd amount of shots surprisingly fast.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-waystrider-en.pdf '''Waystrider:'''] could be considered a "normal" commander choice as he benefits from a very well rounded stat profile. fast like an Aelf with a regularly standard stat wheel. Upon setup this guy gets to take a pot shot at your enemy's general providing they are within view and deal a mortal wound (On a roll of 5+) before you even hear the starting gun. The Starlight Greatblade makes him decently killy in combat with 3 attacks at 3+/3+/-1/D3 meaning he's almost as good as a Vampire Lord, THE gold standard for killy footsloggers. He also has a bow so he can add his own arrows to the swarm that you are likely to unleash during your shooting phase. If you are playing typical Wanderers which is to say 'Shoot alot' then its a good idea to keep this guy out the way and have him shoot along with the rest of your archers until the enemy come close and he can do his thing. However do not make the mistake of using him as a shooter first and melee Hero second. That's what Waywatcher and Wayfinder are for. THIS guy is your hand-to-hand expert, the bow is just proforma. Have some Wildwood Rangers around him and send them into the thick of it.
**His command ability is fairly interesting. First of all any units within 18" take his bravery instead of theirs. On top of that if you should roll any 1s during your battleshock tests for these units they can immediately pile in and attack like its the combat phase. However this is simply not as good as the Wayfinder's ability. If you use mostly Eternal Guard and Wildwood Rangers then go for it, otherwise most of your army have better shooting attacks than melee and are less likely to benefit since they aren't going to want to be engaged.

===Troops===
*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-glade-guard-en.pdf '''Glade Guard:'''] ''Counts as BATTLELINE.'' At first glance the legendary archers of the Wood Elves don't seem to have quite remembered how to fire a bow properly during their transition to AOS. They are more or less Pink Horrors with better range but worse armor, having only one shot at 4+/4+/-/1 with a bonus To Hit at 20+ models but only if they're not in melee. Considering the basic tenor for aelves has been to get rid of all the mass infantry to make them look more elite, these guys stick out like a sore thumb. Is there value to them, though? Why of course there is, as they make amazing alpha strikers. Once per game, they can shoot special arrows with a Rend of -3. Yikes. It's not uncommon for a big enough unit of these guys to wipe the enemy General off the board turn 1. Of course, this MUST be done as soon as possible obviously because otherwise your opponent will decimate them before they can mow down anything. After that, every volley of shots they get off is just a bonus. Additionally, unlike Sisters of the Watch, Glade Guard gain no bonuses for standing still, so you can comfortably make use of their 6" Move and still shoot at full efficiency-. Couple this with the your ability to phase on and off the table from the edges there is almost no where that you can reach with your bows, and a 20-30 strong unit appearing out of nowhere to gun down an important gunline or frag an enemy general before ghosting away is nothing to scuff at. Also note that while not keeping up with the standard of quality over quantity that defines Aelfs these guys are still better than average archers especially when making full use of their buffs and synergy.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-eternal-guard-en.pdf '''Eternal Guard:'''] ''Count as BATTLELINE if your army has the WANDERERS allegiance.'' The rank and file spearmen of the Wanderers? Close but not quite. These guys are all about the defense. When on the attack they are basic foot troops with a less than encouraging armor save and melee weapon. However on the defense they can reroll saves of 1s (which is upgraded to 1s and 2s when they are in cover). Most importantly however is the Fortress of Boughs ability which states that if used the unit cannot move (At all) they do however gain a +1 to their hit, wound AND save rolls. These guys can be an absolute pain when used as a road block particularly if kept in cover and become easily one of the best anvils of any Aelf faction. And they also have 2" range on their weapons so they can comfortably attack in two rows while your opponent struggles to find ways to kill them. Keep them away from Mortal Wounds though.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-sisters-of-the-watch-en.pdf '''Sisters of the Watch:'''] ''Counts as BATTLELINE if your army has the WANDERER allegiance and your general is a Waywatcher.'' The ladies with the flaming bows are now Wanderers? Well okay. They REPLACE Waywatchers? Not okay. But survivable, as rules-wise, they fit incredibly well into the Wanderers. In fact, Sisters of the Watch are pretty much married to Eternal Guard. Sisters get to shoot twice if they did not move, Eternal Guard get tougher and stronger if they did not move and Age of Sigmar lets you shoot into combat. Do the math these two units were made for eachother.
**Don't forget that the High Sister already fires two shots with her bow, doubling to four if she doesn't move.
**Also of considerable note is that Sisters of the Watch are one of the few units that have access to any kind of overwatch fire when an enemy charges at them. Once per turn if an enemy unit finishes its charge move within 1/2" of the Sisters then they immediately take a free round of shooting without penalty. This is also subject to most aura bonuses which do not state a phase such as the one which comes from the Nomad Prince, though they cannot use their Quicksilver Shot to fire twice, since it does explicitly say in the Shooting Phase only. Either way, charging a full squad of Sisters without somehow neutering them first is a surefire way for your opponent to lose models.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-wildwood-rangers-en.pdf '''Wildwood Rangers:'''] ''Counts as BATTLELINE if your army has the WANDERER allegiance and your general is a Wayfinder.'' Now these guys are amazing. Like lots of Elite infantry (Saurus Guard, Stormvermin, Hammerers) they have two attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 each and with a 2" range they can cheerfully fight in two rows. Unlike most such elite infantry they don't have shields to improve their saves (Wood Elves, go figure) but instead their damage becomes D3 when attacking monsters. Hoo boy. Yes, your opponent will try to kill them as soon as possible before they can tear his favorite monster a dozen new assholes, but if he doesn't succeed, they sure can do that. Do not rely on these guys as they are fragile, but do use them and use them against the stuff they like to kill (basically any and all high-save infantry and big monsters crashing down the board).

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-wild-riders-en.pdf '''Wild Riders:'''] Very fast, smashy cavalry, but not as much oomph as you'd hope. Actually kind of a disappointment to be honest as they have tons of attacks, but tons of meh attacks. Their spears don't even get damage boosts on the charge (though unlike other cavalry, they always swing their spears twice). Their one redeeming quality is their ability to run and charge in the same turn, which is something you want this unit to do as they are actually not bad on the charge and are actually pretty fast in getting in your opponents face, though don't start thinking these guys can wreck anything on the charge (they can't) but can make some effective harassers to tie up enemy shooting to prevent your army from getting decimated from enemy shooting (your guys DO NOT like getting hit). And thanks to your ability to deploy along board edges it will be just that much easier to get stuck in.
**The faq has given them an elven shield to reroll saves of 1, but at the cost of 2” movement. While definitely a trade off, being Wanderers your guys allegiance abilities allow you to compensate for the lack of movement but what is lacking from this army is durability. While only a small re-roll, anything that can help melee cavalry in defense should not be dismissed out of hand.

*[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-sisters-of-the-thorn-en.pdf '''Sisters of the Thorn:'''] These ladies have the works. High Move? Check. Lots of attacks? Check, though they're meh attacks so don't go getting ideas. 9" Javelins with a -1 Rend for even more attacks? Check. This combination of melee + range probably makes them better value than Wild Riders as they can at least make up for their poor combat skills with shooting; but that's not all they do. The unit has the '''WIZARD''' keyword and together they can collectively cast and unbind one spell per turn, adding +1 to the roll if the unit numbers more than 10 models ''(max size 20)'' so it pays dividends to have a lot of these ladies to keep the spell boost up. They have an amazing unique spell which allows a unit to re-rolled failed saves until the next hero phase, and in addition if the protected unit rolls a 6 to save in the combat phase it returns 1 mortal wound to its attacker, which is pretty awesome. There are few to no reasons to ever use Wild Riders instead. Unless of course the reason is cost, as these ladies can get mighty expensive when taken in bulk and Wild Riders are almost half the cost while being better in combat. If all you want is combat cavalry save the points, but a fast-moving spellcaster in your army is never something to underestimate. Especailly with the changes to casting and unbinding (a fast moving wizard squad combined with the new 30' range unbind can be essential to shutting down enemy wizards).

==Battalions==
===Waystone Pathfinders===
You need 1 Nomad Prince, 1 Spellweaver, 3 of any other the other brands of HERO ''(in any combination)'', 4 units of any Glade Guard, Eternal Guard, Sisters of the Watch or Wildwood Rangers ''(also in any combination)'' and finally any two units of Sisters of the Thorn or Wild Riders.

The battalion provides two benefits: the first is '''Realm Wanderers''' which is unlike the Allegiance ability of the same name because it allows you to hold your units back from deployment and set your units up along ''any'' table edge more than 9" from the enemy in the first movement phase, giving you the edge on your opponent already since he won't know where to deploy. The danger is that on the first turn, a lot of enemy troops will be quite densely packed, and 9" is quite a short distance to move and charge when it gets to their turn so you might get overwhelmed immediately if you deploy ''too'' close. Though if your allegiance is still to WANDERERS ''(and not simply ORDER)'' you can always redeploy your units again in later turns when the enemy has to turn around and face you.

The second ''(and probably main)'' benefit is '''Protective Volley''' which allows your Nomad Prince to point at something 12" away in '''each''' Hero phase and allow [[Rape|EVERY unit in the battalion]] to get a free out-of-phase shooting attack at that unit, virtually guaranteeing a kill if you have enough arrows to throw at it, especially since it's still your turn and you will be able to shoot again a few phases later. For this reason, if you happen to have more units in your collection than the battalion requires, then you should probably leave your Eternal Guard and Wildwood Rangers out and stack up on as many Glade Guard and Watch Sisters as you can possibly get, they won't want to deploy as close as 9" in the first turn anyway so are less likely to get mulched when your opponent moves to ROFLSTOMP them.

The use of this battalion therefore requires you to protect your Nomad Prince at all costs, and makes him a great candidate for the Myst-Walker command trait that makes him unselectable as a target unless he's the closest target, so keep him out of the way and have everyone else can do the shooting for him.

==Allied Armies==
In pitched battle games, you can generally take about 20% of your points allowance in certain allies without screwing up your allegiance abilities. WANDERERS can take the following allies with no penalty:
*'''Eldritch Council:''' Makes for an interesting choice that gives you a few options from a mixture of units that go well with any army. A Loremaster can buff your heroes into the stratosphere with Hand of Glory, while an Archmage on Dragon can outright dispel enemy buffs while providing a beatstick model that Wanderers dont have access to. A regular Archmage does provide you some protection, but your own Spellweavers are probably going to keep your numbers up more reliably, so measure up whether you need it. Swordmasters are ranged resistant and are more aggressive than Eternal Guard, but are decent for charging up the middle and creating an anchor point while you outflank with everyone else, but you are probably better off with Phoenix Guard if boots on the ground is all you want; use Eldritch Council for more variety in casters rather than looking for more squads.
*'''Lion Rangers:''' Not a lot here. Lion Rangers themselves are like ''slightly'' inferior Eldritch Swordmasters, so you'll probably want to look there instead. The Chariot is not much to shout out about either unfortunately, as on the charge it only does 12 attacks; while that seems like a lot for one model, you'll probably get more return per point by taking Rangers or the same value of some other form of heavy infantry.

*'''Idoneth Deepkin:'''

*'''Order Draconis:''' Unless you are outflanking, Dragon Blades are better than Wild Riders, plain and simple; they're better protected, do more damage on the charge, can charge more reliably with a Hornblower, ''all for the same cost''. The might not be as brave as Wild Riders, but if you take a Dragon Lord that becomes a non-issue, as well as providing you a big meaty beatstick that Wanderers simply cannot get on their own. Problem is that most likely ate your allies allowance so you're not bringing much else.
*'''Phoenix Temple:''' A very good ally for Wanderers; Phoenix Guard cost twice as much as Eternal Guard, but are twice as killy even when not in cover, giving you a decent melee unit that can actually move. They are also incredibly tanky, which is something that Wanderers can struggle with. Having a Frostheart Phoenix in your army also helps with protection thanks to the Blizzard Aura, coupled with some decent synergy with your spellcasters which will buff the save of the Phoenix as well, it's a win/win.
*'''Stormcast Eternals:''' Realistically, these are probably the best choice to take, mostly due to [[Space Marines|GW favouritism]] since they keep get new releases that allow them to do a huge range of things. It's basically a pick-and-choose free for all where you can get some great units with a lot of punch to fill in a blank that Wanderers cannot otherwise fill. Paladins do fantastically as melee beatsticks whether you need to tie up hordes or knock out high value characters/monsters, just choose the weapon that fills your niche. You can also get tough fast-moving cavalry options for smashing face while not being so fragile as yours, or one of a huge selection of characters, the world is your oyster.
*'''Swifthawk Agents:''' A faction that does most of the things you can do anyway, but does melee slightly better. But unless you need something to go directly up the middle of the board, you're probably not helped or hindered by taking Swifthawk Agents, they generally mesh well enough with Wanderer's playstyle but don't have access to the Allegiance abilities, so you might get caught out if you try to use them the same way.
*'''Sylvaneth:''' It would be one of the fluffiest of combinations, except the lore states the Wanderers are persona non grata by Alarielle due to chickening out and abandoning the Sylvaenth during the Age of Chaos (though you could just say these are elves who stayed in the fight, as elves still live in Ghyran). Unfortunately Sylvaneth tends to do better on its own using their own allegiance abilities, or when they are served by Wanderers rather than the other way around. All of the best units that you really want are going to eat your allies allowance so it becomes impossible to take very much. Good if you only need a massive beaststick like a Treeman or Kurnous Hunters to balance out your army's fragility, but you'll be paying a lot for very little. You'll also never see Alarielle in your Wanderer's army unless you are playing MASSIVE games.

===Mercenary Companies===
*'''Blacksmoke Battery:'''
*'''Greyfyrd:'''
*'''Grugg Brothers:'''
*'''Gutstuffers:'''
*'''Nimyard’s Rough-Riders:'''
*'''Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose:'''
*'''Rampagers:'''
*'''Skroug’s Menagerie:'''
*'''Sons of the Lichemaster:'''
*'''Tenebrous Court:'''

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]] [[Category:Age of Sigmar/Tactics]]