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Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Orcs & Goblins

2020-08-03T15:46:42Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Rare Units */

==Why Play Orcs & Goblins==
The great Green Tide is the army for any player wishing to field an army with an insane number of models and perhaps the widest variety of options per force org slot in the game. The level of army customization for O&G, as a result, is almost unparalleled. Orcs are right killy and excel in their specialized role of cc, but tend to suffer from their terrible leadership and initiative stats. In addition, their latest edition reintroduced the Animosity special rule, which can effectively cripple any given O&G unit and spoil any plans you may have so carefully formed. All in all, this army is often for those who wish to have lots of fun without being particularly competitive. However, like most armies, they have a couple of army builds that are very competitive and can do well in most situations given a competent general. Plus, you can fling hang gliding goblins at people.

==Army Special Rules==

*'''Animosity:''' The signature rule of Orcs, and general annoyance which must be worked around. At the start of each turn, you must roll a d6 for each unit that has 5 or more models, that's not in melee, and such. If said unit rolls a 1, it gets to roll another die to stand still, losing any and all ability to move, shoot, or cast spells, unless it rolls a 6, in which case the unit gets a free pivot, and a free mandatory move towards the closest enemy unit.
**Although you can mitigate the worst effects of animosity with redundant small units, or sticking to units with small model counts, this becomes particularly annoying if you want to run a more magic-heavy Orc army. Such a build is questionable given that Orcs & Goblins have to take Azhag or a Wizarding Hat if they want access to BRB Lores, but it still becomes annoying when a unit of Boarboyz gets a glorious flanking charge off, only for the only nearby Goblin Shaman to be unable to cast Sneaky Stabbin'.

*'''Choppas:''' This ability is what makes Orc units proppa in a fight. Basically, Orcs (and only Orcs) get +1 Strength to their attacks on the first round of an ongoing combat. This is regardless of charges or being charged, and applies to bonuses granted by Magic weapons and armor.

*'''Size Matters:''' Basically, Orcs ignore Goblins for purposes of Panic, and Giants ignore Orcs and Goblins for Panic. The main advantage of this rule is that you can run Wolf Riders without fearing that they'll start a panic chain to any Orcs behind them.

==Unit Analysis==

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====

'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named as wholes from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' The named Boar-Boss for the army and Fantasy equivalent of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], Gorbad has some seriously awesome gear and rules. He carries a huge choppa that Always Strikes First, inflicts d3 multiple wounds, and ignores armor, and his stat-line insures that he won't be going away anytime soon. The real reason you'll be taking Ironclaw is for his strategic bonuses: he can help any unit within 18" with their animosity rolls should they fail and grants Hold Your Ground! and Inspiring Presence to all units in that range as well. He also counts as both your general AND battle standard bearer, which is both a bonus and a curse. On top of all this, your normal limit on the big 'uns upgrade is now available to as many orc boy and boar boy units as you can field with it. His only disadvantage is his high point cost (coming in at almost 400 points!) and complete lack of ward save, and therefore this fellow is often reserved for larger games. Him being both the general and the BSB is sometimes terrible. If he breaks from combat he automatically dies, because the BSB stands his ground defending the banner and is killed. Definitely not worth it at all as a fighter general. However, Gorbad comes into his own as a "Leadership Bunker." Put him in a unit of wolf riders and you can use his huge leadership bubble and animosity table bonus to stabilize your army.

*'''Azhag the Slaughterer:''' At well over 500 points, this is the ultimate point sink for your army. This one model and his wyvern will consume your entire Lord slot in even very large games, and probably will never be a realistic unit (End Times, please! Take him in 2000pts if you like) to field. That said, he is possibly the biggest bad-ass in the army. He basically makes your units within his range immune to Animosity, has a pair of magic weapons that get re-rolls in cc, 4+/5++, and a crown that makes him a level 3 lore of death wizard (and unfortunately gives him stupidity, but the advantages seem to outweigh this little issue). Additionally, he of course rides his mighty wyvern, Skullmuncha, who shares a similarly insane statline with Azhag, has poisoned attacks, and gets a 4+ scaly skin save. Unfortunate you'll probably never actually get to use this sexy green beast. Also, his model is ''obscenely'' expensive even by GW's standards.

*'''Wurrzag, Da Great Green Prophet:''' Another 350 point lord, Wurrzag is the ultimate choice for anyone centering their O&G army around Shamans. This mean, green, son of a bitch puts out an absolutely retarded amount of magical power since he has a magic item that allows him to store any unused power dice for a turn, a bound spell in his mask, a 5++, and a staff that gives him magic resistance 3 and re-rolls on miscasts. Additionally, he has a unique spell that can reduce enemy casters within 12" to squigs. Perhaps the main issues with Wurrzag are his mediocre statline and his inability to take the Lucky Shrunken Head. He's also frenzied, but that's less of an drawback in this edition than it used to be. All in all, there are few things as entertaining as getting a good magic roll and watching someone's Archaon get turned into a squig.

*'''Grom the Paunch of Misty Mountain:''' The first Lord choice to be mentioned under 300 points (barely), Grom is the ultimate gobbo boss and the named character for Goblin war chariots. This model completely changes the way Goblins play, ignoring the normal Fear Elves rule, granting this onto EVERY other goblin unit in the army. He also has a 5+/5++ and has a magic weapon that gives him +2 to strength and killing blow, which goes up to a 5+ killing blow vs Elves. He has regeneration as well, and he has a little night goblin buddy that carries the battle standard for your army. A very good choice if you plan on mulching a ton of sissy Elves or if you field a lot of Goblin units.

*'''Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks:''' Slightly cheaper than Grom, Skarsnik is best in a night goblin themed army. He has an awesome magic staff that fires d3 s6 hits that ignore armor, and this multiplies when he's near other night goblins. His buddy is a fat squig named Gobbla, who gives Skarsnik some real fighting power in cc (not to mention SIX WOUNDS. On a GOBLIN). Skarsnik has some great special rules too, the main one being that he can randomly force enemy units into reserves at the start of the game (perfect for ruining any 'just as planned' strategies), and he also gives night goblin units the ability to move and shoot in the same turn they recover from running from a combat; it is strongly recommended any such screening units take Musicians, and angle themselves to fall back towards your General. The Bad: he has no good armor save to speak of and his huge base size (40x60mm) means he's getting picked out by almost the entire enemy unit in combat unless you place him properly. Namely place him in a corner. That way opponent during charge have to touch and fight with most models at time. Which means if you are wide enough he have to charge mainly on your rank and file gobbos instead of Skarsnik and he will meet with only one opponent if you are lucky. Also it is not a big deal to make opponent's time hard to attack as making double flee with your big bosses never was easier than while using them with Skarsnik. Solid choice but needs a lot of list tailoring and result is certainly not best.

*'''Snagla Grobspit:''' A relatively cheap hero option, his low cost is quickly lost by the fact that you have to take a unit of spider riders with him. This isn't a big deal, however, especially if you love yourself some spider riders, as Grobspit makes them all Ambushers, have Devastating Charge, Hatred (Empire), and cause Fear on the charge. Also, SOOO many poisoned attacks. Great at attacking buildings and to clear-off warmachines. Have options but still somewhat subpar.

*'''Gtilla da Hunter:''' Basically Snagla, but mounted on a Giant Wolf and meant for shooting instead of combat. Only way to provide some BS shooting not based on Spiderbanner and big hordes. Da Howlerz with Gitilla are marching for 18", vanguarding, fast-cav, shooting platform hitting at 3+ (if no cover and short distance) with armour save of 4+. Gitilla adds firepower a bit and provides unit with ability of re-rolling flee and pursue rolls and hero stat-line helping in minor chaff game. Basically very tactical, gobliny unit which, although vulnerable, can be real nuissance for enemy.

*'''Grimgor Ironhide:''' If Gorbad is the Ghazghkull equivalent then Grimgor is the Ork himself reincarnated as a Fantasy character, and very certainly the most angry greenskin in existence. One of the cheapest of the Orc named characters, but quite possibly the best if you have a particular fondness for Black Orcs. Grimgor must take a unit of Black Orcs as his retinue and gives them all +1 WS and hatred (everyone!), sadly he cannot leave that unit and noone can join them. As the army's ultimate close-combat monster, he has 1+/5++, a positively nightmarish stat-line, an essentially s7 weapon (s8 in first turn)... and on top of it all Always Strikes First! Grimgor, quite frankly, will absolutely kill anything if you get him to cc and will take an insane amount of punishment from ranged attacks on the way there. The bad: With both Grimgor and the black orcs having to be joined, it's a huge pile of eggs in a single basket. However you would still put him in bigass horde even if this was not mandatory. Hint for fun: give the unit standard bearer Banner of Eternal Flame so unit will be especially killy against those Regenerating things. When something with Dragonbane Gem or Dragonhelm want to interfere just bash him with Grimgor as his magic attacks are still non-flammable.

:*'''Grimgor: Incarnate of Beasts:''' Now Grimgor is bound to the Wind of Beasts for 105 more points. He has +1 strength, toughness, and attacks and he can now re-roll to-hit and to-wound in a challenge and has an Innate Bound Augment Spell (Casting 6+) that grants all friendly O&G and [[Ogre Kingdoms|OK]] units +1 Strength/Toughness until the next magic phase. Whats more he is no longer bound to join the Immortulz and other character can join them freely which is great advantage in comparison to Ironhide. Unlike other Incarnates, he lacks a mount and lacks any other innate benefits, making the need to upgrade him a debatable matter.

====Generic Characters====

'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''Orc Boss:''' Your quintessential Orky army leader. He comes in both Lord and Hero form and can be mounted on a chariot, boar, or wyvern. He doesn't have the killing power of the savage orc boss or the animosity quelling of the black orc, but he IS cheaper. Call him "warboss on a budget."

*'''Savage Orc Boss:''' Comes with the same options as the orc boss, but has a natural ward save and frenzy. This is a great one to run in a savage orc unit, as his ward save gets better with the Lucky Shrunken Head and his frenzy isn't as much of an issue in an already frenzied unit.

*'''Black Orc Boss:''' The Black Orc boss is a significantly more expensive upgrade over the regular orc boss. However, it gives the black orc boss +1 WS and the ability to switch between two hand weapons, a hand weapons and a shield, or a great weapon at the start of each close combat phase if not equipped with a magic weapon. Most important of all, he has the "Quell Animosity" rule. If he's in the unit and it squabbles, the Black Orc knocks heads, does a few wounds, and makes the unit work as normal. This guy is is a staple of most competitive lists.

*'''Goblin Boss:''' Not much more to be said here. Come standard and in night form, have a wide variety of customization, and can mount chariots, giant spiders, giant wolves, and giant squigs (making them the only units who can roll with your squig-hoppers. Slap one in a squad of those guys and watch their danger level shoot waaay up). Fielding multiple goblin bosses with great weapons is a fantastic way to give an otherwise fairly defenseless unit some real punch.
*'''Orc Shaman:''' All the same customization options as Bosses, but they're wizards of the Big Waaagh! The Orcish lore of magic primarily focuses on damage spells, and boy do they do it well. Roll well and you'll be slapping foot-shaped templates all over the board. Just be sure to give them a ward-save for when they inevitably end up miscasting. Give a savage orc shaman the lucky shrunken head item and pile him in with your savage orc mob and the entire unit will benefit from 5+ ward saves, rather than 6+.

*'''Goblin Shaman:''' The lore of Little Waaagh! focuses on hexes and irritating the ever loving shit out of your opponent. Field multiples of the hero form of these buggers with your night goblin units for extra . On a good round of magic, you'll get much more channeling attempts and you can quite remorselessly attempt some irresistible force casts, since after all, you have like 10 shamans on the field. Night Goblin Shamans also come with Magic Mushrooms, which improve EVERY casting roll - you must roll for the shroom after every casting attempt; free power dice!! The thing to remember about Goblin Shamans vs. Night Goblin Shamans is that if you want a level 4 goblin caster, the regular goblin is superior to the night goblin. But in low level casters, the night goblin is better. This is due to the mushroom dice. A 1 rolled on a mushroom die shuts down the caster for the turn. This is a big risk for a level 4 caster. Better to take level 1 or 2 night goblin shamans so that if one rolls a 1, you can cast other spells with different shamans.

====Mounts====

*'''War Boars''': War Boars are awesome. They give your guy a 2+ bonus to the armour save and have a special rule called "Tuska Charge" that gives you 2+ strength on the charge. These are what make Boar Boy Big 'Uns so dangerous; a unit on the charge that deals Strength 6 attacks? ( This +2 strength only applies to the war boar, the S6 Boar Boy Big 'Uns you speak of are a combination of s4 + spear + 'Choppas' ). A good choice for a boss that is going to join a unit of Boar Boyz, otherwise keep in mind what unit your Lord or Hero is going to join.

*'''Giant Wolf''': For fast cavalry mounts, a Giant Wolf is quick, but altogether has the same stats as a normal Goblin warrior +1 I and WS. A great mount for a Goblin hero that's going to be attached to a Wolf Riders. The Giant Wolf has also given rise to the "goblin cowboy" technique. Instead of running wolf riders, you can run a cheap goblin boss on a wolf for similar points. The benefit to this is you have a unit with higher toughness, a better save, better strength, and an ability to tank against certain units. You can take the Dragonbane Gem on a goblin hero on a wolf and run him right into K'Daii Destroyers, Hexwraiths, and cavalry units with flaming. He'll hold them up forever. Also, you can give him a cheap magic weapon so that he can run into ethereal units and kill them. What is also important - it's Animosity free and against BS shooting can hide inside a unit.

*'''Gigantic Spider''': Haha, oh boy. This is what makes your Goblin Boss so effective. You get all of the benefits of the Spider's rules, including its Wall-Crawler ability, and you give that Goblin an extra wound. Found that you want another 3 wound character and you've used up your Lords point allocation? Give that Goblin Boss a Gigantic Spider and there you go, for only 10 points more than a Goblin Warboss.

*'''Great Cave Squig''': See the rules on the Squig section. Use at your own risk. But what's not to like? Dishes out S5 attacks (three from the profile plus stomp), gives a hero an additional wound and an otherwise hard to get +1 on his Armour Save, makes Squig Hoppers more reliable.

*'''Wyvern''': For a flying creature, it's not that bad. It has thunderstomp and poisoned attacks and it gives your general an 18 inches leadership bubble. However it paints a big cannon target on the General's chest and you want to avoid exposing yourself to any warmachine. The Wyvern is generally considered a bad idea for competitive play but don't let that stop you if you play for fun. If you don't face too many ranged threats then the wyvern can be a great addition to your army. Just remember that it's not a dragon, it can't eat entire units by itself and its primary use is transportation. Try giving your Great Shaman one of these babies and watch as he soars around the table blasting spells all over the battlefield. Very effective as a defense against pesky units and you get to actually use your augment spells in combats where you need them.

===Core Units===

*'''Orc Boyz:''' Your bread and butter unit. Orcs are tough, have decent stats, and at only 6 points a model, they can be fielded en masse (read: tarpits). Make sure to give them a musician and standard bearer of course, so they can win a combat or two. Give them extra hand weapons as well. With Orcs, it's always a great option. You can also upgrade a single unit of Boyz to big 'uns, giving them +1 strength and +1 Weapon Skill. Also remember that this unit is one of the few that can take a magic banner. Regular Orc Big 'Uns with the flaming banner or banner of discipline unit are a solid unit that's a little more dependable than Savage Orc Big 'Uns.

*'''Orc Arrer Boyz:''' Orcs...with bows. It feels so wrong... Again, they make up for their relatively poor stats in solid walls of flesh. Their access to volley fire is useful here, as it allows the whole block to fire their bows, albeit with extremely poor accuracy, but who really cares when you're putting out 35+ shots from a single unit? TWANGA TWANGA TWANGA!

*'''Savage Orc Boyz:''' Batshit insane Orc Boyz with 6+ ward saves and Frenzy (and at 8 points a piece, compared to standard Boyz' 6). These are an insane Close Combat Core choice, should they ever make it to assault(and if your enemy is smart, they may use Frenzy to their advantage, leading the squad around aimlessly with a small unit at the edge of charge range). You can give them Big Stabbaz, which give them D3 impact hits. Like most units in the army, feature a wide variety of upgrades for tailoring them into just the kind of unit you want it to be, though they are best off doing what they are meant to: flail wildly around in Close Combat, inflict as much damage as possible before inevitably dying. Another, less common (but still good) choice is to take Big 'Uns and arm them with bows. "You want to stay away? TWANG." This shooting unit can benefit from both goblin magic and/or a goblin BSB with the Spider Banner. No one wants to charge savage orcs with frenzy and Str 5, but no one wants to eat 30 poison shots a turn, either. Try to keep your general/BSB nearby to help with the frenzy.

*'''Big 'Uns:''' Big 'Uns are a cheap (2 pts.) upgrade that is more than worth it. Nearly every competitive list uses Big Uns, more specifically they use Savage Orc Big 'Uns with extra hand weapons. The resulting three S5 attacks per model for as low as 11 points will shred anything on the charge. This powerhouse is generally supported by a Savage Orc Shaman carrying the Lucky Shrunken Head which provides a 5+ ward save for the whole unit, making it quite durable as well as deadly in combat. The only problem lies in getting that unit in combat where you want it to be due to the double threat of Frenzy and Animosity that are just begging to make you lose control of it. And that crazed shaman won't be helping much either, so keeping a black orc big boss in the unit is very helpful to prevent your wizard from running off and doing something random instead of slinging spells.

*'''Goblins:''' Your army's quintessential tarpit. At 3 points per model base, Goblins can be fielded in insane numbers. Can be upgraded with Nasty Skulkers which are kind of a mixed bag. With three attacks and Killing Blow on the turn they are revealed them, they can be a real pain in the ass to an opponent who expected to run heavily armored knights into the puny goblins and take no casualty. On the other hand, Killing Blow only works for a single turn (a shame) and does nothing to many unit types such as chariots or monstrous infantry. In fact the most interesting use of Nasty Skulkers is to use them to displace rank-and-file models. With three Skulkers and two cheap Goblin Heroes in a 5-wide unit, the opponent will be forced to allocate wounds, most likely causing the opposing force to waste attacks.

*'''Goblin Wolf Riders:''' Your army's fast cavalry. Give them spears and watch them flank charge a heavy infantry unit to death, or at least keep them tied up long enough for your chariots to flatten them. The Vanguard rule and super fast movment makes them fairly effective war machine hunters. At 10 points per model though, you're essentially paying 7 points for a wolf.

*'''Night Goblins:''' Same price as goblins, -1 to Ld and +1 to I. They come standard with shields,and can take all the same upgrades as Goblins as well, with just two differences. The first is netters for 45 points, an infinitely useful upgrade to an otherwise simple tarpit unit, netters inflict a -1 strength modifier on any unit they are locked in combat with on a 2-6. There is always the odd chance that they entangle themselves on a 1, but they are already so low strength that that should only add to the lulz. The other upgrade is Fanatics. Ohhh... Fanatics. Excuse me for a minute, slight crisis moment. Watch as the enemy player tries to blast through the squishy night goblins with heavy infantry, only to suddenly be lambasted by up to 18 s5 Armour Piercing hits as the little bastards swing insanely through them. Then watch as you animosity charge through said fanatics and suffer up to 36 hits (thanks to death throws) and lose 75 points worth of fanatics.

*'''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:''' Goblin special cavalry, spider riders can be quite useful. They pump out a small amount of poisoned attacks (spiders only), but their best trick is their ability to move right up inside of buildings and ignore terrain as they do so. Perfect for flushing well encamped enemies out of cover and the bane of wood elf players. However, their high point cost (13) (at least...higher than wolf riders) makes them sort of situational.

===Special Units===

*'''Black Orcs:''' Infantry. Black orcs have better staying power (the only unit in this book with heavy armor!), and are one of the few units in the army that are immune to Animosity. They also have Immune to Psychology, meaning they won't panic like most of the other units in the army book. The only foreseeable issue with black orcs is that your opponent is sure to try and avoid them, they have no ranged option for when they are avoided, and they cost twice as much as a standard boy. If used correctly, black orcs can be an excellent addition to the army, just make sure you have the spare points. One catch though. Their low I cause them to get brutally slaughtered in cc with tarpits of skaven, swordsmen, elves etc. Be sure to always use shield and close combat weapons in order to survive the combat and thus making them worth their high cost. Additionally, this is one of the few units we can take that has "can opener" abilities. Orcs and Goblins have a huge amount of str 4-5 attacks. But Black Orcs can pull out great weapons and wipe out tough, heavy armored units that would normally give them fits (Steam Tank, anyone?)

*'''Orc Boar Boyz:''' Your heavy cavalry. Though a high point cost (16 without upgrades, 20 with spear and shield), they have a potential to be worth it, as you are putting that awesome cc squad into assault relatively quickly, plus with high strength attacks from the tusker charge special rule. Slap a Warboss on a boar with them so they won't run quite so easy. Boar Boyz are a good unit that suffers from the same problems that plague all cavalry units in 8th edition Warhammer: the boars in a second rank don't get to attack, even though they do most of the unit's damage output (with spears and chopppas, the orcs have the same strength. Big 'Unz will have even more).

*'''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:''' Again, not much more to be said here, simply more expensive, batshit insane Boar Boyz with some special frenzy rules and they get to take two hand weapons while mounted, one of the few who can do so. They sacrifice surviveability for more 'ead crumpin'.

*'''Orc Boar Chariot:''' What's not to love? It's a heavy chariot pulled by boars. Can easily mow enemy infantry units flat. Give it an extra crew for additional lulz and attacks. Suffers from being more expensive (85 points for 1 chariot) than the goblin chariot. both have Str 5 impact hits, so it's hard to justify an extra 30 points for a boar chariot sometimes.

*'''Goblin Wolf Chariot:''' A much faster, more fragile chariot option, better for taking on light infantry/fast cav. Unlike the Orc Chariot you can take these things in units of three (150 pts for the unit of 3). However, it's usually better not to due to leadership checks for losing just one chariot.

*'''Goblin Spear Chukka:''' Handy for killing infantry and monsters at range, but perhaps not quite as versatile as a Rock Lobba. Then again, this thing is a special choice and is much cheaper than the Rock Lobba so you could potentially field both. In fact, spear chukkas are the cheapest bolt thrower in game currently, partly for the reason that they can misfire just like a stone thrower. You can put a bully in the bunch to keep em in line. Spear chukkas are also a 2 for 1 sort of choice for the special slot, so you can take double the duplicates you'd normally be able to take. The main issue is the ballistic skill of goblins. You'll usually be hitting on 5's or even 6's with the Chukkas, so you have to be judicious in where you place them so that you can get clear fields of fire (very hard to do with Orcs & Goblins). Luckily, with them only costing 35 points and able to field a ton of these, some of them should always be able to shoot. Be warned though, they misfire on a to hit roll of 1.

*'''Squig Herds:''' One of the more useful special units for O&G, squig herds are great for taking out large blocks of infantry. They put out a lot of attacks, so at their worst they can at least soften up an enemy unit for your boyz to finish off later. They also EXPLODE if they break or if all herders are killed, so a loss in combat can potentially cause quite a bit of damage to the enemy. Moving the unit forward as fast as possible and counting on them to explode amidst your opponent's units is actually called a ''squig bomb'' and very effective. Good unit sizes include 9 squigs/3 herders (squig bomb or multiple small units), 18 squigs/6 herders (flanking unit) and 30 squigs/10-15 herders (horde combat block).

*'''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:''' Where herds are more about the squigs alone, Hoppers are a special cavalry unit. These are good for harassing enemy units and flank charging, as their relatively high speed and random movement can get them where they need to go better than herds. They only have 6+ armor save, so you have to be very picky with what you fight with squig hoppers. Having random movements actually gives Squig Hoppers several interesting advantages: They can pivot then move, giving them an effective 360* threat, and the opponent cannot declare a charge reaction against them, letting them ignore flee or stand-shoot reactions. Although they charge in the compulsory subphase, preventing them from disabling Stand&Shoot for your mainline troops, they can deny a sufficiently large area versus enemy light cavalry. Note that only a Night Goblin Boss riding a Giant Cave Squiqs can join Squig Hoppers, which lets you re-roll the random movement dice. However, said Boss will not benefit from Look Out Sir and will be cannon-bait. Squig Hoppers are both cavalry and skirmishers, so it is not worth it to have multiple ranks: Skirmishers can never disrupt their opponents when charging the flank or rear, and only the riders of cavalry models can make supporting attacks, not the mounts. And let's be honest, you're not fielding Squig Hoppers for the Night Goblin riders.

*'''Snotlings:''' Swarms of tiny little greenskins with stats that make goblins look mighty. With 5 wounds and 5 attacks a base, and the fact that they will not run, you can plant a huge swarm of these on an objective and probably hold on to it for a looong time. They can also stand and shoot a single S2 shot that ignores armor, which is highly situational at best. Save your points in this slot for something else. The only use I've found for them has been to put them on a flank and let them run towards war machines. They at least won't panic anything when they die.

*'''Trolls:''' Big, strong, and fieldable in large groups (35 points each), trolls are good for keeping between your groups of Gobbos and Boyz in case they fail their Animosity rolls. Trolls are very powerful in cc, and have some great staying power due to their regeneration. Trolls can forego their three regular attacks (they can still stomp!) in lieu of a single vomit attack, which hits automatically with S5 and no Armour Saves allowed. Watch a Chaos Knight die a very inglorious death, guaranteed not to win him any daemonhood soon. Trolls do suffer from Stupidity (and at Ld4, no less), so you'll have to keep a boss with them or warboss near them at all times if you want them to actually get shit done. Think Ogres, but with a few tricks and retardation issues. Remember that Stupidity also gives you Immune to Psychology, so at least they won't panic. Trolls also come in three varieties: standard, stone and river. The cost differences here between common trolls and river/stone trolls are significant, with common ones being much cheaper with the same cc output. Common Trolls also don't come from your rare slot, so they won't take away from your important Manglers/Pumpwagons/War Machines.

===Rare Units===

*'''Stone Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting scaly skin (5+) and magic resistance (2). Scaly skin is always helpfull, but it's the magic resistance which is most useful, since it will grant you a 5+ Ward Save against fireballs and others spells from the Lore of Fire which will usually burn your Trolls to ashes, since you cannot take regeneration saves against them.

*'''River Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting strider (rivers and marshes) and your opponent gets a -1 to hit modifier in CC. While strider can of course be handy in the right situation, it's nothing to write home about. A -1 to hit modifier in CC is quite useful though, as it means that they're never hit on better than 4+ and sometimes only 5+.

*'''Giants:''' The ever-venerable giant. The model looks pretty pimping hot but its purpose is often limited to receiving multiple cannonballs to the face. A good choice for the purpose of having fun but not much else, the giant is generally skipped by competitive OnG lists. If you have a Savage Orc Shaman in your army you can give it a 6+ ward save but that doesn't do much for keeping it alive. There are way better choices in the O&G rare category. A 200 point distraction that your enemy will only choose to ignore once. No one likes watching their general get eaten.

*'''Mangler Squigs:''' Good. Gork. Essentially massive squigs that have been prodded by night goblins till they are insane with RAGE. Manglers behave like enormous fanatics. Point them in the direction you want them to go, pray to Mork they get there (they have no armor, so be careful), and watch as they fling out a positively retarded number of high strength hits. All in all, a very fun (if unreliable) choice for flattening units and wreaking havoc. If you can get off the "Hand of Gork" spell you have a killer combo at your disposition, you can literally win the game in one turn if you can teleport your mangler squig across the map and make it go sideway through the enemy line. Get your tear cup ready.

*'''Rock Lobba:''' A fairly standard catapult. Great for flattening Dragons, Manticores, Hydras, Terrorgheists, Daemon Princes, Skycannons and other huge things that orcs normally have a problem dealing with. Even if these juicy targets are not present, it does relatively good against hordes of cheap models. A Rock Lobba is rarely a bad choice. 85 points and less relaible and less str than Doom Diver. Use when you have maxed your doom diver duplicates.

*'''Goblin Doom Diver:''' Extremely powerful. 80 points (5 cheaper than the Rock Lobba), this war machine is always worth it. The Doom Diver is one of the most accurate warmachine in the world of Warhammer and one of the most hated unit in the game by non-orc player. If people are going to name something "broken" about OnG then they're going to bring up Goblin Doom Divers. They're perfect for assassinating stuff in heavy armor or enemy characters due to their high precision and ignoring armor saves. Skullcrushers? Dead. Demigryph Knights? Dead. Dragon Princes? Dead. The doom diver suits almost any O&G force quite well and any competitive list will auto-include two of these babies. Important note: if you choose to redirect the Doom Diver then it needs to move the full distance that you roll. The implication is that if you miss a lone infantry character by 1 inch and subsequently roll 3 inches of re-direction, you CANNOT hit that character. You can only fly over the model and leave it unharmed. It's odd to think about but that's the rules. You will also note that the Doom Diver can only hit things where it lands, but in the rare instance that two units are touched by the Doom Diver's base then you get to hit both.

*'''Snotling Pump Wagon:''' Pump wagons are hilarious, unreliable and dreadfully scary for your opponent. 45 points with no upgrades makes them a cheap distraction, but only T4 and 6+ armor means it will die fast if you aren't careful. They have random movement and the potential to veer out of control at any given time, but having 2D6 impact hits is nothing to scoff at. Also, never forget that you can tell them to pump harder adding a D6 to movement! Remember that having random movements has its own advantages, namely that you can charge enemy units during the compulsory movement phase without giving them the chance to perform a charge reaction. This is gold when facing a fast cavalry avoidance list that suddenly find itself not allowed to perform their standard feigned flight tactic. As far as upgrades go for the Pump Wagon, Outriggas (10 pts) and Spiky Rollas (15 pts) are pretty much mandatory, with Giant Explodin' Spores being the single most awesome thing you could buy if you face heavily armored cavalry. Also Flappas (5 pts) are very useful, since chariots do very bad with dangerous terrain and your opponent might think his units save from your attack if there is a river, marsh or obstacle between you. Remember that as a suicide unit, the enemy will want to shoot your Pump Wagons at all cost. If you bring Pump Wagons then consider bringing Mangler Squigs as well so that the enemy cannot shoot them all. Mangler Squigs and Pump Wagons serve relatively similar purposes after all.

*'''Arachnarok Spider:''' Big fucking scary spider. The model looks fuckin' ace but it is sadly ignored in serious lists due to being overpriced for what it does on the battlefield. It just doesn't have the impact that a 290 points monster ought to have, certainly not with S5/T6 and leadership 6. Only pick it up if you're not particularly competitive or if you're certain you won't face warmachines, otherwise the thing is likely to die from spells or warmachine fire before doing anything cool. On the other hand the Arachnarok Spider is FAST and gets to ignore terrain, so at least there's that. Remember that the goblin crew is equipped with spears and therefore adds eight S4 attacks on the charge. You can give the spider a web lobber and the feeling of not being nomiated to the "Slowest army of the Game" award is a good one, even though it barely scratches Snotling. Additionally you can make this thing a super expensive Lord choice by mounting a Goblin great shaman on it and if you have done this, take the spidershrine, loremaster is a must for your only caster. Also consider putting some low level shamans nearby to take advantage of the bump in channeling attempts. Extra power/dispel dice is a huge advantage.

==Building Your Army==
The important thing to remember when assembling your Waaagh! is to pick a theme and stick with it. A big downfall of having so many options in the army book is that players can get overwhelmed and try to take one of everything. Mixing too many strategies together is generally a bad idea. For example, it'd probably be a bad move to mix a slow unit like black orcs or trolls in with an all mounted army; by the time these squads get there, chances are your cavalry has already done most of the work (or has been slaughtered and can no longer support your big things). Additionally, both Animosity and Panic tends to be a big problem for O&G, so you should try to build your army in a way that maximizes your bosses' Ld range and minimizes Animosity.

===Buying Your Army===
As with any army, start with your core choices and first lord or hero and build from there. Always determine just what army you are trying to build before you start purchasing. Sit down with an experienced player and discuss what units synergize best with each other if you are having trouble figuring things out.

===Army Composition===
You should be judiciously paying for standards, musicians, and characters to boost leadership. In order to lead your greenskins to victory it is absolutely vital to have inspiring presence on as many units as you can. To achieve this there are many types of army composition available to you:

*'''Orc Warboss and BSB:''' Provides leadership 9 and rerolls, a strong default choice. The Warboss is a powerful combat character and his Waaagh ability is a fun bonus, albeit small and easy to forget. You can put him on a wyvern for a bigger leadership bubble but most competitive advice will discourage you from doing so, as it is just begging to get sniped on turn 1. The Warboss does a better job on the front line, sending challenges to enemy characters and providing combat resolution through sheer butchery.

*'''Goblin Warboss with BSB and Banner of Discipline:''' An alternative to the Orc Warboss, this setup provides leadership 9 and rerolls for those who wish to stick to a goblin-only army. Generally you want to put both the General and BSB in a bunker behind the fighting troops. This makes it harder for the opponent to assassinate either the general or BSB, who are vital in this case since goblins have low leadership by themselves.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' A special character, this guy provides both leadership 10 and rerolls at the same time! Problem 1: he's a special character and they aren't always allowed. Problem 2: he's expensive as all fuck. Problem 3: he is a standard bearer and is therefore bound by the rules that normally affect standard bearers. That means he cannot run, ever. A standard bearer is automatically removed from play when a unit breaks and the same goes for this guy, regardless of whether he is a legendary badass that just happens to have a flag on his back. All things considered, unless you absolutely want to field this character for fluffy reason then you're better off with a separate Warboss and BSB.

*'''Orc Great Shaman and BSB with Banner of Discipline:''' Provides leadership 9, rerolls and magic support all at the same time. This is a pretty interesting setup since unlike most wizards, this bad dude is T5 and can actually survive in combat. Equipped with Fencer's Blade and buffed by Fist of Gork, he can even dish out a lot of hurt. He can also be made to carry the Shrunken Head in a unit of Savage Orcs Big 'Uns, in which case he will also be protected by a 5+ ward save. As usual, the biggest danger of using a Wizard general is miscasting: if the shaman gets sucked into the warp on turn 1 then you can pretty much pack your things and go home.

Regardless of what you choose, remember to stick with your army theme. Whether you want to use huge blocks of infantry, multiple small units, big scary monsters or swarms of cavalry, you don't want to end up with too many strategies on the field. If you're going to try something then you need to commit to it. An OnG army with no direction will fall apart quickly.

===Magic Items===
Anything that gives ward saves is always handy. Bosses should take magic weapons and Shamans should take things that either boost their own powerdice or fuck up the enemy's magic phase. It's also hilarious to put the one that turns enemy wizards into toads on a low level shaman as well. Lastly, if there is a magic banner that can help with Ld issues in your army, take it.
The problem with magic weapons for O&G is not about effect to price ratio actually and more about price at all and kind of effect. In fact Orcs and Goblins are just an army which dont need pricy weapons which dont let them attack faster (via ASF or Initiative). Weapons giving you more attack or more strenght are mostly ommited as they cost their share (fair) and help you kill with characters which you dont want to do for most of times! Firstly our bosses are vital in providing Leadership. Secondly they are weakly kitted for combat (speaking about base stats). They desperately need some better protection above T5. Firtly focus on making your vital characters protected - which means BSB, General, main Shaman and probably secondary shaman (last one dont have to be protected - scroll caddy should be enough). After that one should think about obvious magic protection and then you see that you either dont have points for making your characters killy or simply other units will do that better. You will end up taking cheapish magic weapons to kill damned banshees and kind. Orcs cannot be blender lords like Vampires, Chaos Lords, High or Dark Elves. They dont make good killy cowboys (partially due to bad kind of transportation). Goblins can be instead cheapish cowboys. Ther is no place for pricy magic weapons and better come to terms with it if you want to play competitively.
The following are the O&G specific magic items:

*'''Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh!:''' Not worth it. Getting d6 additional attacks and strength is one can of serious ass-wooping but it's unreliable and risky, on behalf of having to run a lord character completely naked in order to carry it. 50% lord points in endtimes makes this more fieldable, because you have a general with armor and talismans and stuff, and have a supporting black orc warboss take it to destroy whole units at a time.

*'''Basha's Axe of Stunty Smashin':''' Interesting item but not that appealing. Getting +1S and +1A and armor piercing for 50 points is about right but it's nothing to write home about. Skip it unless you happen to be fighting Dwarfs a lot and really hate their guts. This axe actually cost the exact same amount of points as the 3 different magic weapons with the same effects in the main book and work as a 3 in one package with the added benefit against dwarves. Is actually worth it at times, but still little pricy. It's funny to see Night Goblin wielding that weapon into scrap with stunties as he is perfectly suited for that with high enough initiative to strike first and hatred to make those attack hit the target despite inferior weapon skill (at least vs. characters and elites).

*'''Armour of Gork:''' How about no. The +D3 toughness and impact hits are nice but the 100 points price tag is completely ridiculous.

*'''Lucky Shrunken Head:''' Best magic item in the book. The Shrunken Head upgrades the ward save granted by Warpaint from 6+ to 5+ for both the bearer and his unit. It costs 50 points and can only be carried by a Savage Orc Shaman or Great Shaman so you need to be ok with sending your wizard into battle. This is not only the strongest magic item in the whole book but also the most popular, appearing often in competitive lists to support a horde of Savage Orc Big 'Uns. This item also causes the ward save of one character (Wurrzag) to become 4+ if he happens to be in the unit.

*'''Mork's War Banner:''' <strike>Horrible item.</strike> Gives magic resistance (d6) and turns magic items into mundane items when in base contact with the bearer. Woopee doo. Horribly expensive at 100pts but seems to be useful for players from top of the world on Savage BSB. If one can place characters in suitable position then it can turn off some precious magic items letting you unleash some torment of Savage Big'Uns attacks upon unprotected character. Also let you to turn off magic banners (could be funny). A lot of people find it overpriced as MR(3) can be bought for 45 points but still used by some who can use those tricky abilities.

*'''Spider Banner:''' <strike>Somewhat ok.</strike> The Spider Banner grants poisoned attacks to a unit, while attacks that are already poisoned will now take effect on a 5+. This has synergy with the spell Gift of the Spider God from the Lore of the Little Waaargh. Sadly, the 85 points price tag and the specific rules mean that this banner can only be taken by a defenseless goblin BSB. The Spider Banner is typically used to deliver a ridiculous amount of poison shots with a horde of Goblins, Arrer Boyz or Savage Orcs with bows. In the later cases, it means you have a goblin character standing next to a Orc unit which just doesn't look right. It should be noted that a list utilizing 100 night goblin archers and the Spider Banner has been having quite a lot of tournament success. Even snatching up FIRST PLACE. For an Orcs & Goblins list that's extremely impressive.

*'''Bad Moon Banner:''' Crap version of Gnoblar Trappers. Can only be taken by a Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer and makes his unit Stubborn. Dangerous terrain tests are only taken by models that charge into base to base contact with the unit with the BSB, so only the front rank of a charging unit gets hit. Told you it's crap. Stubborn is great but goblins rarely loses steadfast and you have crown of command cheaper and in more flexible way than as magic banner on goblin BSB. Being in soft cover really doesnt change much as you just can add more bodies.

*'''Skull Wand of Kaloth:''' Situational item at best. The Skull Wand grants the bearer Terror and can unleash a curse at the start of every round of close combat, forcing one model in contact with the bearer to pass a Leadership test or automatically die. Can only be taken by a Shaman. Interesting item but made useless due to costing a whooping 75 points. Nobody wants to send an unprotected wizard lord into combat, even if it has a cool magic wand. If only our shamans could be better protected and could buy that protection with Wand it would make tricky, nasty item. Also Ld test are nowadays pretty easy to pass.

===Magic===
As mentioned previously, O&G Shamans get access to two unique lores: the Big Waaagh! (orcs), and the Little Waaagh! (goblins). Where most of your damage spells will be coming from the Big Waaagh!, Little Waaagh! spells focus on debuffs for your opponent and buffs for you. Often times you may want to take one of each type so you can access both lores, and generally this is what you should do. Additionally, sometimes greater numbers of lesser shamans can be more effective than a single great shaman, as with the typical greenskin Ld they will be miscasting at least once a game. It's always nice to have backup casters when your main one's head explodes in a shower of magical gore and brains (and it WILL).

The best magic combo is usually a level 4 Savage Orc Shaman and a level 1 (or 2) night goblin shaman. The Savage Orc usually totes the lucky shrunken head and the night goblin totes a dispel scroll. The night goblin is either a level 1 with the ruby ring of ruin or a level 2.

With this combo, you have plenty of options to choose from.

As far as spells go:

Instead of writing about them, there's an article by a member of Da Warpath (Orc & Goblin website) about our magic. It's written better than anything else I could say. Plus, I'm lazy. Go here to read and be amazed by what our magic can do for you.

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_Warpath/index.php?showtopic=33291

==Tactics==

'''How Does The Army Play?'''

The Orc and Goblin army plays a little differently than you'd expect. The main thing that you'll see across almost all O&G armies is 2-3 pretty big blocks of troops backed up by lots of chaff units and war machines. The army works best by softening up the opponent with shooting and magic while using chaff units to hold up/redirect big units and assassinate war machine hunters. Once the opponent's war machine hunters are dead, the O&G player picks his/her combats by using redirectors (wolf riders, heroes on wolves), board denial units (pumpwagons, manglers), and countercharging the units that were weakened with shooting and magic. This changes depending on the opponent's army, but you'll usually see variations on this strategy.

'''Typical Things You'll Usually See in a Competitive List'''

* Savage Orc Big 'Uns (30+) with Savage Shaman (and Lucky Shrunken Head)
* Big troll blocks, usually 8 or more
* Rock Lobbas and Doom Divers
* Maxed Mangler Squigs
* Big Night Goblin Units (50+) with netters, sometimes with several cheap night goblin heroes toting great weapons
* Goblin bigbosses on wolves as chaff units and war machine hunters
* Multiple magic levels (usually a mix of big and little waaagh! lores)
* Black orc giving quell animosity to the magic user's unit and a BSB giving rerolls
* Pump wagons and wolf chariots

'''Tips for Playing Orcs & Goblins'''

'''1.''' Orcs & Goblins is one of the only armies where their special rule is a ''drawback.'' Elves get always strikes first, daemons get ward saves, and O&G get...animosity. Thanks, Mat Ward. We also fear elves, which is just icing on the cake. It's almost like they want O&G to be a mid-tier army. Oh, wait...they do. (Well to be fair, the orcs do have choppas, which is extremely good against armies with good armor.) Somehow this is also Mat Ward's fault. Anyway, most competitive orcs and goblins lists mitigate animosity and take a combination of units and gear that minimize it. Here are things you can do to mitigate animosity:

* Put a black orc character in a unit,especially in a unit with a level 4 caster. You don't want your unit squabbling and wasting a valuable turn not stomping the opponent into goo with the Foot of Gork.
* Take units that don't suffer from animosity (trolls, black orcs, pumpwagons, manglers, etc.).
* Use cheap goblin heroes on giant wolves instead of wolf riders for your war machine hunters.

'''2.''' Manglers and Pumpwagons are NOT throwaway chaff units. One thing I see time and time again (and used to do) is throwing the pumpwagons and mangler squigs forward. Opponents love moving a fast cavalry into the mangler to kill it. That is not a good use of the mighty mangler squig. Instead, the mangler works best as an area denial unit or a countercharge unit. To do this well, you have to shoot and magic the enemy's chaff units before they get to the mangler and step on it. After you kill the opponent's chaff, you have two great options:

* Area Denial- You move the mangler in front of their expensive unit. They can either stop (giving you more time to Doom Diver/Rock Lobba/Magic/Foot/Curse/Throw Rocks at the unit and soften it up. Alternately, they can walk through it, taking the 3D6 hits and likely decimating the unit.

* Countercharge- Orcs and Goblins aren't a super fast army. Almost every army (unless it's Tomb Kings) is going to be faster than you. Orcs and Goblins excel at taking charges and countercharging in the flank. With mangler squigs, you can hide them behind your lines and throw them against the side of the table (they stay still this way, but you take a dangerous terrain test). When the enemy charges you, you can throw the mangler through the enemy units. Usually by this point they're all lined up for you because they've charged your Savage Orc horde or Night Goblin horde.

Pumpwagons are similar, but have a few slightly different uses. With outriggas, the pumpwagon has a huge threat range. They work great in the early game by protecting your war machines on the edges of the table. You can throw them into the side of the table to stop their movement and then turn and charge when the enemy gets near. After that, they work great as countercharge units (throwing them into the flanks of enemies trying to charge you).

==Themed Armies==

Orcs & Goblins offer Fluffbunnies (like me) great ways for themed armies. They have probably the biggest roster and many units fulfill similar roles. So instead of a large Waaagh! which draws from all greenskins, you can limit yourself and only pick matching units like:

*'''Wild Ones''': Savage Orcs and Forest Goblins, with everything they bring to the table. Savage Boar Boys, Forest Goblin Spider Riders, Arachnarok Spider, Snotlings, nothing mechanical! Thematically superb, you'll get moral victory just for fielding such a great army. You don't have chaff infantery, lack in ranged weapons and generally cannot take lots of punches, but you have lots of frenzied attacks and are pretty fast. So get into close combat and start moshing!
*'''Night Goblins''': The second army with lots of character. Night Goblins, everything with Squigs in it, Trolls, Snotlings. Skarsnik is an obvious choice to lead your army, as he is both powerful in the magic and close combat phase and your only chance for a LD8 character. Your only core choice is Night Goblins, so a horde of them is pretty much mandatory. But it's OK, a hundred of them only cost 300pts! Always get Netters for the units with spears, every fanatic you can, some heroes don't hurt. Squig herds can bring the pain (remember squig bombs as a viable tactic), so do Squig hoppers with Hero on Great Cave Squig. Your most important unit is the Mangler Squig, don't leave your cave without two of them. Trolls fit thematically (also live in caves) and snotlings are everywhere. And where there are Snotlings, they're going to build a Pumpwagon. Forgeworld introduced the Squig Gobba, which you can of course field. If you don't have/like the rules, just count it as a Night Goblin themed Doom Diver, the rules fit pretty well (and the Doom Diver is excellent, so that one doesn't hurt. You.). This army is lots of fun, because it's so unreliable. Your Night Goblins are subject to animosity and they can be easily panicked, trolls have stupidity and virtually no leadership, all the while your hardest hitters have random movement and can have some fatal mishaps. Lots of things to go wrong and ruin your carefully crafted battle plan. But it's also surprisingly resilient, lots of your units don't care about their (exceptionally low) leadership and you can dish out a high number of high strength attacks which are either Armour Piercing or don't allow Armour Saves alltogether! Beware of shooty armies though, as they will easily pick out your Mangler Squigs and other hard-hitting units from afar and leave you with only your Night Goblins. More melee focussed opponents, especially Warriors of Chaos, however will quickly stop laughing once the first fanatic hits his Chaos Warriors and your Mangler Squig eats his Knights for breakfast.
*'''Orc tribe / Goblin tribe''': Just regular Orcs and Black Orcs or just regular Goblins and all their respective units. Snotlings go anywhere, Giant fits both, Trolls are also pretty much fine. Not as much fun as the other fluffarmies but still themed. These armies are still functioning pretty much all-round, but you lack some of the hardest hitters.

Orcs & Goblins already are a challenging army to field (competitively, at least) and by restricting yourself in the army composition you make it even worse. If you want to have a fun game where anything can happen (really, anything!), you might enjoy this. And this is an excellent area for you and your gaming group to have some custom rules as well!

==See Also==
* [[Orcs_&_Goblins|Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}

[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Orcs & Goblins

2020-08-03T15:38:41Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Special Units */

==Why Play Orcs & Goblins==
The great Green Tide is the army for any player wishing to field an army with an insane number of models and perhaps the widest variety of options per force org slot in the game. The level of army customization for O&G, as a result, is almost unparalleled. Orcs are right killy and excel in their specialized role of cc, but tend to suffer from their terrible leadership and initiative stats. In addition, their latest edition reintroduced the Animosity special rule, which can effectively cripple any given O&G unit and spoil any plans you may have so carefully formed. All in all, this army is often for those who wish to have lots of fun without being particularly competitive. However, like most armies, they have a couple of army builds that are very competitive and can do well in most situations given a competent general. Plus, you can fling hang gliding goblins at people.

==Army Special Rules==

*'''Animosity:''' The signature rule of Orcs, and general annoyance which must be worked around. At the start of each turn, you must roll a d6 for each unit that has 5 or more models, that's not in melee, and such. If said unit rolls a 1, it gets to roll another die to stand still, losing any and all ability to move, shoot, or cast spells, unless it rolls a 6, in which case the unit gets a free pivot, and a free mandatory move towards the closest enemy unit.
**Although you can mitigate the worst effects of animosity with redundant small units, or sticking to units with small model counts, this becomes particularly annoying if you want to run a more magic-heavy Orc army. Such a build is questionable given that Orcs & Goblins have to take Azhag or a Wizarding Hat if they want access to BRB Lores, but it still becomes annoying when a unit of Boarboyz gets a glorious flanking charge off, only for the only nearby Goblin Shaman to be unable to cast Sneaky Stabbin'.

*'''Choppas:''' This ability is what makes Orc units proppa in a fight. Basically, Orcs (and only Orcs) get +1 Strength to their attacks on the first round of an ongoing combat. This is regardless of charges or being charged, and applies to bonuses granted by Magic weapons and armor.

*'''Size Matters:''' Basically, Orcs ignore Goblins for purposes of Panic, and Giants ignore Orcs and Goblins for Panic. The main advantage of this rule is that you can run Wolf Riders without fearing that they'll start a panic chain to any Orcs behind them.

==Unit Analysis==

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====

'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named as wholes from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' The named Boar-Boss for the army and Fantasy equivalent of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], Gorbad has some seriously awesome gear and rules. He carries a huge choppa that Always Strikes First, inflicts d3 multiple wounds, and ignores armor, and his stat-line insures that he won't be going away anytime soon. The real reason you'll be taking Ironclaw is for his strategic bonuses: he can help any unit within 18" with their animosity rolls should they fail and grants Hold Your Ground! and Inspiring Presence to all units in that range as well. He also counts as both your general AND battle standard bearer, which is both a bonus and a curse. On top of all this, your normal limit on the big 'uns upgrade is now available to as many orc boy and boar boy units as you can field with it. His only disadvantage is his high point cost (coming in at almost 400 points!) and complete lack of ward save, and therefore this fellow is often reserved for larger games. Him being both the general and the BSB is sometimes terrible. If he breaks from combat he automatically dies, because the BSB stands his ground defending the banner and is killed. Definitely not worth it at all as a fighter general. However, Gorbad comes into his own as a "Leadership Bunker." Put him in a unit of wolf riders and you can use his huge leadership bubble and animosity table bonus to stabilize your army.

*'''Azhag the Slaughterer:''' At well over 500 points, this is the ultimate point sink for your army. This one model and his wyvern will consume your entire Lord slot in even very large games, and probably will never be a realistic unit (End Times, please! Take him in 2000pts if you like) to field. That said, he is possibly the biggest bad-ass in the army. He basically makes your units within his range immune to Animosity, has a pair of magic weapons that get re-rolls in cc, 4+/5++, and a crown that makes him a level 3 lore of death wizard (and unfortunately gives him stupidity, but the advantages seem to outweigh this little issue). Additionally, he of course rides his mighty wyvern, Skullmuncha, who shares a similarly insane statline with Azhag, has poisoned attacks, and gets a 4+ scaly skin save. Unfortunate you'll probably never actually get to use this sexy green beast. Also, his model is ''obscenely'' expensive even by GW's standards.

*'''Wurrzag, Da Great Green Prophet:''' Another 350 point lord, Wurrzag is the ultimate choice for anyone centering their O&G army around Shamans. This mean, green, son of a bitch puts out an absolutely retarded amount of magical power since he has a magic item that allows him to store any unused power dice for a turn, a bound spell in his mask, a 5++, and a staff that gives him magic resistance 3 and re-rolls on miscasts. Additionally, he has a unique spell that can reduce enemy casters within 12" to squigs. Perhaps the main issues with Wurrzag are his mediocre statline and his inability to take the Lucky Shrunken Head. He's also frenzied, but that's less of an drawback in this edition than it used to be. All in all, there are few things as entertaining as getting a good magic roll and watching someone's Archaon get turned into a squig.

*'''Grom the Paunch of Misty Mountain:''' The first Lord choice to be mentioned under 300 points (barely), Grom is the ultimate gobbo boss and the named character for Goblin war chariots. This model completely changes the way Goblins play, ignoring the normal Fear Elves rule, granting this onto EVERY other goblin unit in the army. He also has a 5+/5++ and has a magic weapon that gives him +2 to strength and killing blow, which goes up to a 5+ killing blow vs Elves. He has regeneration as well, and he has a little night goblin buddy that carries the battle standard for your army. A very good choice if you plan on mulching a ton of sissy Elves or if you field a lot of Goblin units.

*'''Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks:''' Slightly cheaper than Grom, Skarsnik is best in a night goblin themed army. He has an awesome magic staff that fires d3 s6 hits that ignore armor, and this multiplies when he's near other night goblins. His buddy is a fat squig named Gobbla, who gives Skarsnik some real fighting power in cc (not to mention SIX WOUNDS. On a GOBLIN). Skarsnik has some great special rules too, the main one being that he can randomly force enemy units into reserves at the start of the game (perfect for ruining any 'just as planned' strategies), and he also gives night goblin units the ability to move and shoot in the same turn they recover from running from a combat; it is strongly recommended any such screening units take Musicians, and angle themselves to fall back towards your General. The Bad: he has no good armor save to speak of and his huge base size (40x60mm) means he's getting picked out by almost the entire enemy unit in combat unless you place him properly. Namely place him in a corner. That way opponent during charge have to touch and fight with most models at time. Which means if you are wide enough he have to charge mainly on your rank and file gobbos instead of Skarsnik and he will meet with only one opponent if you are lucky. Also it is not a big deal to make opponent's time hard to attack as making double flee with your big bosses never was easier than while using them with Skarsnik. Solid choice but needs a lot of list tailoring and result is certainly not best.

*'''Snagla Grobspit:''' A relatively cheap hero option, his low cost is quickly lost by the fact that you have to take a unit of spider riders with him. This isn't a big deal, however, especially if you love yourself some spider riders, as Grobspit makes them all Ambushers, have Devastating Charge, Hatred (Empire), and cause Fear on the charge. Also, SOOO many poisoned attacks. Great at attacking buildings and to clear-off warmachines. Have options but still somewhat subpar.

*'''Gtilla da Hunter:''' Basically Snagla, but mounted on a Giant Wolf and meant for shooting instead of combat. Only way to provide some BS shooting not based on Spiderbanner and big hordes. Da Howlerz with Gitilla are marching for 18", vanguarding, fast-cav, shooting platform hitting at 3+ (if no cover and short distance) with armour save of 4+. Gitilla adds firepower a bit and provides unit with ability of re-rolling flee and pursue rolls and hero stat-line helping in minor chaff game. Basically very tactical, gobliny unit which, although vulnerable, can be real nuissance for enemy.

*'''Grimgor Ironhide:''' If Gorbad is the Ghazghkull equivalent then Grimgor is the Ork himself reincarnated as a Fantasy character, and very certainly the most angry greenskin in existence. One of the cheapest of the Orc named characters, but quite possibly the best if you have a particular fondness for Black Orcs. Grimgor must take a unit of Black Orcs as his retinue and gives them all +1 WS and hatred (everyone!), sadly he cannot leave that unit and noone can join them. As the army's ultimate close-combat monster, he has 1+/5++, a positively nightmarish stat-line, an essentially s7 weapon (s8 in first turn)... and on top of it all Always Strikes First! Grimgor, quite frankly, will absolutely kill anything if you get him to cc and will take an insane amount of punishment from ranged attacks on the way there. The bad: With both Grimgor and the black orcs having to be joined, it's a huge pile of eggs in a single basket. However you would still put him in bigass horde even if this was not mandatory. Hint for fun: give the unit standard bearer Banner of Eternal Flame so unit will be especially killy against those Regenerating things. When something with Dragonbane Gem or Dragonhelm want to interfere just bash him with Grimgor as his magic attacks are still non-flammable.

:*'''Grimgor: Incarnate of Beasts:''' Now Grimgor is bound to the Wind of Beasts for 105 more points. He has +1 strength, toughness, and attacks and he can now re-roll to-hit and to-wound in a challenge and has an Innate Bound Augment Spell (Casting 6+) that grants all friendly O&G and [[Ogre Kingdoms|OK]] units +1 Strength/Toughness until the next magic phase. Whats more he is no longer bound to join the Immortulz and other character can join them freely which is great advantage in comparison to Ironhide. Unlike other Incarnates, he lacks a mount and lacks any other innate benefits, making the need to upgrade him a debatable matter.

====Generic Characters====

'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''Orc Boss:''' Your quintessential Orky army leader. He comes in both Lord and Hero form and can be mounted on a chariot, boar, or wyvern. He doesn't have the killing power of the savage orc boss or the animosity quelling of the black orc, but he IS cheaper. Call him "warboss on a budget."

*'''Savage Orc Boss:''' Comes with the same options as the orc boss, but has a natural ward save and frenzy. This is a great one to run in a savage orc unit, as his ward save gets better with the Lucky Shrunken Head and his frenzy isn't as much of an issue in an already frenzied unit.

*'''Black Orc Boss:''' The Black Orc boss is a significantly more expensive upgrade over the regular orc boss. However, it gives the black orc boss +1 WS and the ability to switch between two hand weapons, a hand weapons and a shield, or a great weapon at the start of each close combat phase if not equipped with a magic weapon. Most important of all, he has the "Quell Animosity" rule. If he's in the unit and it squabbles, the Black Orc knocks heads, does a few wounds, and makes the unit work as normal. This guy is is a staple of most competitive lists.

*'''Goblin Boss:''' Not much more to be said here. Come standard and in night form, have a wide variety of customization, and can mount chariots, giant spiders, giant wolves, and giant squigs (making them the only units who can roll with your squig-hoppers. Slap one in a squad of those guys and watch their danger level shoot waaay up). Fielding multiple goblin bosses with great weapons is a fantastic way to give an otherwise fairly defenseless unit some real punch.
*'''Orc Shaman:''' All the same customization options as Bosses, but they're wizards of the Big Waaagh! The Orcish lore of magic primarily focuses on damage spells, and boy do they do it well. Roll well and you'll be slapping foot-shaped templates all over the board. Just be sure to give them a ward-save for when they inevitably end up miscasting. Give a savage orc shaman the lucky shrunken head item and pile him in with your savage orc mob and the entire unit will benefit from 5+ ward saves, rather than 6+.

*'''Goblin Shaman:''' The lore of Little Waaagh! focuses on hexes and irritating the ever loving shit out of your opponent. Field multiples of the hero form of these buggers with your night goblin units for extra . On a good round of magic, you'll get much more channeling attempts and you can quite remorselessly attempt some irresistible force casts, since after all, you have like 10 shamans on the field. Night Goblin Shamans also come with Magic Mushrooms, which improve EVERY casting roll - you must roll for the shroom after every casting attempt; free power dice!! The thing to remember about Goblin Shamans vs. Night Goblin Shamans is that if you want a level 4 goblin caster, the regular goblin is superior to the night goblin. But in low level casters, the night goblin is better. This is due to the mushroom dice. A 1 rolled on a mushroom die shuts down the caster for the turn. This is a big risk for a level 4 caster. Better to take level 1 or 2 night goblin shamans so that if one rolls a 1, you can cast other spells with different shamans.

====Mounts====

*'''War Boars''': War Boars are awesome. They give your guy a 2+ bonus to the armour save and have a special rule called "Tuska Charge" that gives you 2+ strength on the charge. These are what make Boar Boy Big 'Uns so dangerous; a unit on the charge that deals Strength 6 attacks? ( This +2 strength only applies to the war boar, the S6 Boar Boy Big 'Uns you speak of are a combination of s4 + spear + 'Choppas' ). A good choice for a boss that is going to join a unit of Boar Boyz, otherwise keep in mind what unit your Lord or Hero is going to join.

*'''Giant Wolf''': For fast cavalry mounts, a Giant Wolf is quick, but altogether has the same stats as a normal Goblin warrior +1 I and WS. A great mount for a Goblin hero that's going to be attached to a Wolf Riders. The Giant Wolf has also given rise to the "goblin cowboy" technique. Instead of running wolf riders, you can run a cheap goblin boss on a wolf for similar points. The benefit to this is you have a unit with higher toughness, a better save, better strength, and an ability to tank against certain units. You can take the Dragonbane Gem on a goblin hero on a wolf and run him right into K'Daii Destroyers, Hexwraiths, and cavalry units with flaming. He'll hold them up forever. Also, you can give him a cheap magic weapon so that he can run into ethereal units and kill them. What is also important - it's Animosity free and against BS shooting can hide inside a unit.

*'''Gigantic Spider''': Haha, oh boy. This is what makes your Goblin Boss so effective. You get all of the benefits of the Spider's rules, including its Wall-Crawler ability, and you give that Goblin an extra wound. Found that you want another 3 wound character and you've used up your Lords point allocation? Give that Goblin Boss a Gigantic Spider and there you go, for only 10 points more than a Goblin Warboss.

*'''Great Cave Squig''': See the rules on the Squig section. Use at your own risk. But what's not to like? Dishes out S5 attacks (three from the profile plus stomp), gives a hero an additional wound and an otherwise hard to get +1 on his Armour Save, makes Squig Hoppers more reliable.

*'''Wyvern''': For a flying creature, it's not that bad. It has thunderstomp and poisoned attacks and it gives your general an 18 inches leadership bubble. However it paints a big cannon target on the General's chest and you want to avoid exposing yourself to any warmachine. The Wyvern is generally considered a bad idea for competitive play but don't let that stop you if you play for fun. If you don't face too many ranged threats then the wyvern can be a great addition to your army. Just remember that it's not a dragon, it can't eat entire units by itself and its primary use is transportation. Try giving your Great Shaman one of these babies and watch as he soars around the table blasting spells all over the battlefield. Very effective as a defense against pesky units and you get to actually use your augment spells in combats where you need them.

===Core Units===

*'''Orc Boyz:''' Your bread and butter unit. Orcs are tough, have decent stats, and at only 6 points a model, they can be fielded en masse (read: tarpits). Make sure to give them a musician and standard bearer of course, so they can win a combat or two. Give them extra hand weapons as well. With Orcs, it's always a great option. You can also upgrade a single unit of Boyz to big 'uns, giving them +1 strength and +1 Weapon Skill. Also remember that this unit is one of the few that can take a magic banner. Regular Orc Big 'Uns with the flaming banner or banner of discipline unit are a solid unit that's a little more dependable than Savage Orc Big 'Uns.

*'''Orc Arrer Boyz:''' Orcs...with bows. It feels so wrong... Again, they make up for their relatively poor stats in solid walls of flesh. Their access to volley fire is useful here, as it allows the whole block to fire their bows, albeit with extremely poor accuracy, but who really cares when you're putting out 35+ shots from a single unit? TWANGA TWANGA TWANGA!

*'''Savage Orc Boyz:''' Batshit insane Orc Boyz with 6+ ward saves and Frenzy (and at 8 points a piece, compared to standard Boyz' 6). These are an insane Close Combat Core choice, should they ever make it to assault(and if your enemy is smart, they may use Frenzy to their advantage, leading the squad around aimlessly with a small unit at the edge of charge range). You can give them Big Stabbaz, which give them D3 impact hits. Like most units in the army, feature a wide variety of upgrades for tailoring them into just the kind of unit you want it to be, though they are best off doing what they are meant to: flail wildly around in Close Combat, inflict as much damage as possible before inevitably dying. Another, less common (but still good) choice is to take Big 'Uns and arm them with bows. "You want to stay away? TWANG." This shooting unit can benefit from both goblin magic and/or a goblin BSB with the Spider Banner. No one wants to charge savage orcs with frenzy and Str 5, but no one wants to eat 30 poison shots a turn, either. Try to keep your general/BSB nearby to help with the frenzy.

*'''Big 'Uns:''' Big 'Uns are a cheap (2 pts.) upgrade that is more than worth it. Nearly every competitive list uses Big Uns, more specifically they use Savage Orc Big 'Uns with extra hand weapons. The resulting three S5 attacks per model for as low as 11 points will shred anything on the charge. This powerhouse is generally supported by a Savage Orc Shaman carrying the Lucky Shrunken Head which provides a 5+ ward save for the whole unit, making it quite durable as well as deadly in combat. The only problem lies in getting that unit in combat where you want it to be due to the double threat of Frenzy and Animosity that are just begging to make you lose control of it. And that crazed shaman won't be helping much either, so keeping a black orc big boss in the unit is very helpful to prevent your wizard from running off and doing something random instead of slinging spells.

*'''Goblins:''' Your army's quintessential tarpit. At 3 points per model base, Goblins can be fielded in insane numbers. Can be upgraded with Nasty Skulkers which are kind of a mixed bag. With three attacks and Killing Blow on the turn they are revealed them, they can be a real pain in the ass to an opponent who expected to run heavily armored knights into the puny goblins and take no casualty. On the other hand, Killing Blow only works for a single turn (a shame) and does nothing to many unit types such as chariots or monstrous infantry. In fact the most interesting use of Nasty Skulkers is to use them to displace rank-and-file models. With three Skulkers and two cheap Goblin Heroes in a 5-wide unit, the opponent will be forced to allocate wounds, most likely causing the opposing force to waste attacks.

*'''Goblin Wolf Riders:''' Your army's fast cavalry. Give them spears and watch them flank charge a heavy infantry unit to death, or at least keep them tied up long enough for your chariots to flatten them. The Vanguard rule and super fast movment makes them fairly effective war machine hunters. At 10 points per model though, you're essentially paying 7 points for a wolf.

*'''Night Goblins:''' Same price as goblins, -1 to Ld and +1 to I. They come standard with shields,and can take all the same upgrades as Goblins as well, with just two differences. The first is netters for 45 points, an infinitely useful upgrade to an otherwise simple tarpit unit, netters inflict a -1 strength modifier on any unit they are locked in combat with on a 2-6. There is always the odd chance that they entangle themselves on a 1, but they are already so low strength that that should only add to the lulz. The other upgrade is Fanatics. Ohhh... Fanatics. Excuse me for a minute, slight crisis moment. Watch as the enemy player tries to blast through the squishy night goblins with heavy infantry, only to suddenly be lambasted by up to 18 s5 Armour Piercing hits as the little bastards swing insanely through them. Then watch as you animosity charge through said fanatics and suffer up to 36 hits (thanks to death throws) and lose 75 points worth of fanatics.

*'''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:''' Goblin special cavalry, spider riders can be quite useful. They pump out a small amount of poisoned attacks (spiders only), but their best trick is their ability to move right up inside of buildings and ignore terrain as they do so. Perfect for flushing well encamped enemies out of cover and the bane of wood elf players. However, their high point cost (13) (at least...higher than wolf riders) makes them sort of situational.

===Special Units===

*'''Black Orcs:''' Infantry. Black orcs have better staying power (the only unit in this book with heavy armor!), and are one of the few units in the army that are immune to Animosity. They also have Immune to Psychology, meaning they won't panic like most of the other units in the army book. The only foreseeable issue with black orcs is that your opponent is sure to try and avoid them, they have no ranged option for when they are avoided, and they cost twice as much as a standard boy. If used correctly, black orcs can be an excellent addition to the army, just make sure you have the spare points. One catch though. Their low I cause them to get brutally slaughtered in cc with tarpits of skaven, swordsmen, elves etc. Be sure to always use shield and close combat weapons in order to survive the combat and thus making them worth their high cost. Additionally, this is one of the few units we can take that has "can opener" abilities. Orcs and Goblins have a huge amount of str 4-5 attacks. But Black Orcs can pull out great weapons and wipe out tough, heavy armored units that would normally give them fits (Steam Tank, anyone?)

*'''Orc Boar Boyz:''' Your heavy cavalry. Though a high point cost (16 without upgrades, 20 with spear and shield), they have a potential to be worth it, as you are putting that awesome cc squad into assault relatively quickly, plus with high strength attacks from the tusker charge special rule. Slap a Warboss on a boar with them so they won't run quite so easy. Boar Boyz are a good unit that suffers from the same problems that plague all cavalry units in 8th edition Warhammer: the boars in a second rank don't get to attack, even though they do most of the unit's damage output (with spears and chopppas, the orcs have the same strength. Big 'Unz will have even more).

*'''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:''' Again, not much more to be said here, simply more expensive, batshit insane Boar Boyz with some special frenzy rules and they get to take two hand weapons while mounted, one of the few who can do so. They sacrifice surviveability for more 'ead crumpin'.

*'''Orc Boar Chariot:''' What's not to love? It's a heavy chariot pulled by boars. Can easily mow enemy infantry units flat. Give it an extra crew for additional lulz and attacks. Suffers from being more expensive (85 points for 1 chariot) than the goblin chariot. both have Str 5 impact hits, so it's hard to justify an extra 30 points for a boar chariot sometimes.

*'''Goblin Wolf Chariot:''' A much faster, more fragile chariot option, better for taking on light infantry/fast cav. Unlike the Orc Chariot you can take these things in units of three (150 pts for the unit of 3). However, it's usually better not to due to leadership checks for losing just one chariot.

*'''Goblin Spear Chukka:''' Handy for killing infantry and monsters at range, but perhaps not quite as versatile as a Rock Lobba. Then again, this thing is a special choice and is much cheaper than the Rock Lobba so you could potentially field both. In fact, spear chukkas are the cheapest bolt thrower in game currently, partly for the reason that they can misfire just like a stone thrower. You can put a bully in the bunch to keep em in line. Spear chukkas are also a 2 for 1 sort of choice for the special slot, so you can take double the duplicates you'd normally be able to take. The main issue is the ballistic skill of goblins. You'll usually be hitting on 5's or even 6's with the Chukkas, so you have to be judicious in where you place them so that you can get clear fields of fire (very hard to do with Orcs & Goblins). Luckily, with them only costing 35 points and able to field a ton of these, some of them should always be able to shoot. Be warned though, they misfire on a to hit roll of 1.

*'''Squig Herds:''' One of the more useful special units for O&G, squig herds are great for taking out large blocks of infantry. They put out a lot of attacks, so at their worst they can at least soften up an enemy unit for your boyz to finish off later. They also EXPLODE if they break or if all herders are killed, so a loss in combat can potentially cause quite a bit of damage to the enemy. Moving the unit forward as fast as possible and counting on them to explode amidst your opponent's units is actually called a ''squig bomb'' and very effective. Good unit sizes include 9 squigs/3 herders (squig bomb or multiple small units), 18 squigs/6 herders (flanking unit) and 30 squigs/10-15 herders (horde combat block).

*'''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:''' Where herds are more about the squigs alone, Hoppers are a special cavalry unit. These are good for harassing enemy units and flank charging, as their relatively high speed and random movement can get them where they need to go better than herds. They only have 6+ armor save, so you have to be very picky with what you fight with squig hoppers. Having random movements actually gives Squig Hoppers several interesting advantages: They can pivot then move, giving them an effective 360* threat, and the opponent cannot declare a charge reaction against them, letting them ignore flee or stand-shoot reactions. Although they charge in the compulsory subphase, preventing them from disabling Stand&Shoot for your mainline troops, they can deny a sufficiently large area versus enemy light cavalry. Note that only a Night Goblin Boss riding a Giant Cave Squiqs can join Squig Hoppers, which lets you re-roll the random movement dice. However, said Boss will not benefit from Look Out Sir and will be cannon-bait. Squig Hoppers are both cavalry and skirmishers, so it is not worth it to have multiple ranks: Skirmishers can never disrupt their opponents when charging the flank or rear, and only the riders of cavalry models can make supporting attacks, not the mounts. And let's be honest, you're not fielding Squig Hoppers for the Night Goblin riders.

*'''Snotlings:''' Swarms of tiny little greenskins with stats that make goblins look mighty. With 5 wounds and 5 attacks a base, and the fact that they will not run, you can plant a huge swarm of these on an objective and probably hold on to it for a looong time. They can also stand and shoot a single S2 shot that ignores armor, which is highly situational at best. Save your points in this slot for something else. The only use I've found for them has been to put them on a flank and let them run towards war machines. They at least won't panic anything when they die.

*'''Trolls:''' Big, strong, and fieldable in large groups (35 points each), trolls are good for keeping between your groups of Gobbos and Boyz in case they fail their Animosity rolls. Trolls are very powerful in cc, and have some great staying power due to their regeneration. Trolls can forego their three regular attacks (they can still stomp!) in lieu of a single vomit attack, which hits automatically with S5 and no Armour Saves allowed. Watch a Chaos Knight die a very inglorious death, guaranteed not to win him any daemonhood soon. Trolls do suffer from Stupidity (and at Ld4, no less), so you'll have to keep a boss with them or warboss near them at all times if you want them to actually get shit done. Think Ogres, but with a few tricks and retardation issues. Remember that Stupidity also gives you Immune to Psychology, so at least they won't panic. Trolls also come in three varieties: standard, stone and river. The cost differences here between common trolls and river/stone trolls are significant, with common ones being much cheaper with the same cc output. Common Trolls also don't come from your rare slot, so they won't take away from your important Manglers/Pumpwagons/War Machines.

===Rare Units===

*'''Stone Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting scaly skin (5+) and magic resistance (2). Scaly skin is always helpfull, but it's the magic resistance which is most useful, since it will grant you a 5+ Ward Save against fireballs and others spells from the Lore of Fire which will usually burn your Trolls to ashes, since you cannot take regeneration saves against them.

*'''River Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting strider (rivers and marshes) and your opponent gets a -1 to hit modifier in CC. While strider can of course be handy in the right situation, it's nothing to write home about. A -1 to hit modifier in CC is quite useful though, as it means that they're never hit on better than 4+ and sometimes only 5+.

*'''Giants:''' The ever-venerable giant. The model looks pretty pimping hot but its purpose is often limited to receiving multiple cannonballs to the face. A good choice for the purpose of having fun but not much else, the giant is generally skipped by competitive OnG lists. If you have a Savage Orc Shaman in your army you can give it a 6+ ward save but that doesn't do much for keeping it alive. There are way better choices in the O&G rare category.

*'''Mangler Squigs:''' Good. Gork. Essentially massive squigs that have been prodded by night goblins till they are insane with RAGE. Manglers behave like enormous fanatics. Point them in the direction you want them to go, pray to Mork they get there (they have no armor, so be careful), and watch as they fling out a positively retarded number of high strength hits. All in all, a very fun (if unreliable) choice for flattening units and wreaking havoc. If you can get off the "Hand of Gork" spell you have a killer combo at your disposition, you can literally win the game in one turn if you can teleport your mangler squig across the map and make it go sideway through the enemy line. Get your tear cup ready.

*'''Rock Lobba:''' A fairly standard catapult. Great for flattening Dragons, Manticores, Hydras, Terrorgheists, Daemon Princes, Skycannons and other huge things that orcs normally have a problem dealing with. Even if these juicy targets are not present, it does relatively good against hordes of cheap models. A Rock Lobba is rarely a bad choice.

*'''Goblin Doom Diver:''' Extremely powerful. The Doom Diver is one of the most accurate warmachine in the world of Warhammer and one of the most hated unit in the game by non-orc player. If people are going to name something "broken" about OnG then they're going to bring up Goblin Doom Divers. They're perfect for assassinating stuff in heavy armor or enemy characters due to their high precision and ignoring armor saves. Skullcrushers? Dead. Demigryph Knights? Dead. Dragon Princes? Dead. The doom diver suits almost any O&G force quite well and any competitive list will auto-include two of these babies. Important note: if you choose to redirect the Doom Diver then it needs to move the full distance that you roll. The implication is that if you miss a lone infantry character by 1 inch and subsequently roll 3 inches of re-direction, you CANNOT hit that character. You can only fly over the model and leave it unharmed. It's odd to think about but that's the rules. You will also note that the Doom Diver can only hit things where it lands, but in the rare instance that two units are touched by the Doom Diver's base then you get to hit both.

*'''Snotling Pump Wagon:''' Pump wagons are hilarious, unreliable and dreadfully scary for your opponent. They have random movement and the potential to veer out of control at any given time, but having 2D6 impact hits is nothing to scoff at. Remember that having random movements has its own advantages, namely that you can charge enemy units during the compulsory movement phase without giving them the chance to perform a charge reaction. This is gold when facing a fast cavalry avoidance list that suddenly find itself not allowed to perform their standard feigned flight tactic. As far as upgrades go for the Pump Wagon, Outriggas and Spiky Rollas are pretty much mandatory, with Giant Explodin' Spores being the single most awesome thing you could buy if you face heavily armored cavalry. Also Flappas are very useful, since chariots do very bad with dangerous terrain and your opponent might think his units save from your attack if there is a river, marsh or obstacle between you. Remember that as a suicide unit, the enemy will want to shoot your Pump Wagons at all cost. If you bring Pump Wagons then consider bringing Mangler Squigs as well so that the enemy cannot shoot them all. Mangler Squigs and Pump Wagons serve relatively similar purposes after all.

*'''Arachnarok Spider:''' Big fucking scary spider. The model looks fuckin' ace but it is sadly ignored in serious lists due to being overpriced for what it does on the battlefield. It just doesn't have the impact that a 290 points monster ought to have, certainly not with S5/T6 and leadership 6. Only pick it up if you're not particularly competitive or if you're certain you won't face warmachines, otherwise the thing is likely to die from spells or warmachine fire before doing anything cool. On the other hand the Arachnarok Spider is FAST and gets to ignore terrain, so at least there's that. Remember that the goblin crew is equipped with spears and therefore adds eight S4 attacks on the charge. You can give the spider a web lobber and the feeling of not being nomiated to the "Slowest army of the Game" award is a good one, even though it barely scratches Snotling. Additionally you can make this thing a super expensive Lord choice by mounting a Goblin great shaman on it and if you have done this, take the spidershrine, loremaster is a must for your only caster.

==Building Your Army==
The important thing to remember when assembling your Waaagh! is to pick a theme and stick with it. A big downfall of having so many options in the army book is that players can get overwhelmed and try to take one of everything. Mixing too many strategies together is generally a bad idea. For example, it'd probably be a bad move to mix a slow unit like black orcs or trolls in with an all mounted army; by the time these squads get there, chances are your cavalry has already done most of the work (or has been slaughtered and can no longer support your big things). Additionally, both Animosity and Panic tends to be a big problem for O&G, so you should try to build your army in a way that maximizes your bosses' Ld range and minimizes Animosity.

===Buying Your Army===
As with any army, start with your core choices and first lord or hero and build from there. Always determine just what army you are trying to build before you start purchasing. Sit down with an experienced player and discuss what units synergize best with each other if you are having trouble figuring things out.

===Army Composition===
You should be judiciously paying for standards, musicians, and characters to boost leadership. In order to lead your greenskins to victory it is absolutely vital to have inspiring presence on as many units as you can. To achieve this there are many types of army composition available to you:

*'''Orc Warboss and BSB:''' Provides leadership 9 and rerolls, a strong default choice. The Warboss is a powerful combat character and his Waaagh ability is a fun bonus, albeit small and easy to forget. You can put him on a wyvern for a bigger leadership bubble but most competitive advice will discourage you from doing so, as it is just begging to get sniped on turn 1. The Warboss does a better job on the front line, sending challenges to enemy characters and providing combat resolution through sheer butchery.

*'''Goblin Warboss with BSB and Banner of Discipline:''' An alternative to the Orc Warboss, this setup provides leadership 9 and rerolls for those who wish to stick to a goblin-only army. Generally you want to put both the General and BSB in a bunker behind the fighting troops. This makes it harder for the opponent to assassinate either the general or BSB, who are vital in this case since goblins have low leadership by themselves.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' A special character, this guy provides both leadership 10 and rerolls at the same time! Problem 1: he's a special character and they aren't always allowed. Problem 2: he's expensive as all fuck. Problem 3: he is a standard bearer and is therefore bound by the rules that normally affect standard bearers. That means he cannot run, ever. A standard bearer is automatically removed from play when a unit breaks and the same goes for this guy, regardless of whether he is a legendary badass that just happens to have a flag on his back. All things considered, unless you absolutely want to field this character for fluffy reason then you're better off with a separate Warboss and BSB.

*'''Orc Great Shaman and BSB with Banner of Discipline:''' Provides leadership 9, rerolls and magic support all at the same time. This is a pretty interesting setup since unlike most wizards, this bad dude is T5 and can actually survive in combat. Equipped with Fencer's Blade and buffed by Fist of Gork, he can even dish out a lot of hurt. He can also be made to carry the Shrunken Head in a unit of Savage Orcs Big 'Uns, in which case he will also be protected by a 5+ ward save. As usual, the biggest danger of using a Wizard general is miscasting: if the shaman gets sucked into the warp on turn 1 then you can pretty much pack your things and go home.

Regardless of what you choose, remember to stick with your army theme. Whether you want to use huge blocks of infantry, multiple small units, big scary monsters or swarms of cavalry, you don't want to end up with too many strategies on the field. If you're going to try something then you need to commit to it. An OnG army with no direction will fall apart quickly.

===Magic Items===
Anything that gives ward saves is always handy. Bosses should take magic weapons and Shamans should take things that either boost their own powerdice or fuck up the enemy's magic phase. It's also hilarious to put the one that turns enemy wizards into toads on a low level shaman as well. Lastly, if there is a magic banner that can help with Ld issues in your army, take it.
The problem with magic weapons for O&G is not about effect to price ratio actually and more about price at all and kind of effect. In fact Orcs and Goblins are just an army which dont need pricy weapons which dont let them attack faster (via ASF or Initiative). Weapons giving you more attack or more strenght are mostly ommited as they cost their share (fair) and help you kill with characters which you dont want to do for most of times! Firstly our bosses are vital in providing Leadership. Secondly they are weakly kitted for combat (speaking about base stats). They desperately need some better protection above T5. Firtly focus on making your vital characters protected - which means BSB, General, main Shaman and probably secondary shaman (last one dont have to be protected - scroll caddy should be enough). After that one should think about obvious magic protection and then you see that you either dont have points for making your characters killy or simply other units will do that better. You will end up taking cheapish magic weapons to kill damned banshees and kind. Orcs cannot be blender lords like Vampires, Chaos Lords, High or Dark Elves. They dont make good killy cowboys (partially due to bad kind of transportation). Goblins can be instead cheapish cowboys. Ther is no place for pricy magic weapons and better come to terms with it if you want to play competitively.
The following are the O&G specific magic items:

*'''Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh!:''' Not worth it. Getting d6 additional attacks and strength is one can of serious ass-wooping but it's unreliable and risky, on behalf of having to run a lord character completely naked in order to carry it. 50% lord points in endtimes makes this more fieldable, because you have a general with armor and talismans and stuff, and have a supporting black orc warboss take it to destroy whole units at a time.

*'''Basha's Axe of Stunty Smashin':''' Interesting item but not that appealing. Getting +1S and +1A and armor piercing for 50 points is about right but it's nothing to write home about. Skip it unless you happen to be fighting Dwarfs a lot and really hate their guts. This axe actually cost the exact same amount of points as the 3 different magic weapons with the same effects in the main book and work as a 3 in one package with the added benefit against dwarves. Is actually worth it at times, but still little pricy. It's funny to see Night Goblin wielding that weapon into scrap with stunties as he is perfectly suited for that with high enough initiative to strike first and hatred to make those attack hit the target despite inferior weapon skill (at least vs. characters and elites).

*'''Armour of Gork:''' How about no. The +D3 toughness and impact hits are nice but the 100 points price tag is completely ridiculous.

*'''Lucky Shrunken Head:''' Best magic item in the book. The Shrunken Head upgrades the ward save granted by Warpaint from 6+ to 5+ for both the bearer and his unit. It costs 50 points and can only be carried by a Savage Orc Shaman or Great Shaman so you need to be ok with sending your wizard into battle. This is not only the strongest magic item in the whole book but also the most popular, appearing often in competitive lists to support a horde of Savage Orc Big 'Uns. This item also causes the ward save of one character (Wurrzag) to become 4+ if he happens to be in the unit.

*'''Mork's War Banner:''' <strike>Horrible item.</strike> Gives magic resistance (d6) and turns magic items into mundane items when in base contact with the bearer. Woopee doo. Horribly expensive at 100pts but seems to be useful for players from top of the world on Savage BSB. If one can place characters in suitable position then it can turn off some precious magic items letting you unleash some torment of Savage Big'Uns attacks upon unprotected character. Also let you to turn off magic banners (could be funny). A lot of people find it overpriced as MR(3) can be bought for 45 points but still used by some who can use those tricky abilities.

*'''Spider Banner:''' <strike>Somewhat ok.</strike> The Spider Banner grants poisoned attacks to a unit, while attacks that are already poisoned will now take effect on a 5+. This has synergy with the spell Gift of the Spider God from the Lore of the Little Waaargh. Sadly, the 85 points price tag and the specific rules mean that this banner can only be taken by a defenseless goblin BSB. The Spider Banner is typically used to deliver a ridiculous amount of poison shots with a horde of Goblins, Arrer Boyz or Savage Orcs with bows. In the later cases, it means you have a goblin character standing next to a Orc unit which just doesn't look right. It should be noted that a list utilizing 100 night goblin archers and the Spider Banner has been having quite a lot of tournament success. Even snatching up FIRST PLACE. For an Orcs & Goblins list that's extremely impressive.

*'''Bad Moon Banner:''' Crap version of Gnoblar Trappers. Can only be taken by a Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer and makes his unit Stubborn. Dangerous terrain tests are only taken by models that charge into base to base contact with the unit with the BSB, so only the front rank of a charging unit gets hit. Told you it's crap. Stubborn is great but goblins rarely loses steadfast and you have crown of command cheaper and in more flexible way than as magic banner on goblin BSB. Being in soft cover really doesnt change much as you just can add more bodies.

*'''Skull Wand of Kaloth:''' Situational item at best. The Skull Wand grants the bearer Terror and can unleash a curse at the start of every round of close combat, forcing one model in contact with the bearer to pass a Leadership test or automatically die. Can only be taken by a Shaman. Interesting item but made useless due to costing a whooping 75 points. Nobody wants to send an unprotected wizard lord into combat, even if it has a cool magic wand. If only our shamans could be better protected and could buy that protection with Wand it would make tricky, nasty item. Also Ld test are nowadays pretty easy to pass.

===Magic===
As mentioned previously, O&G Shamans get access to two unique lores: the Big Waaagh! (orcs), and the Little Waaagh! (goblins). Where most of your damage spells will be coming from the Big Waaagh!, Little Waaagh! spells focus on debuffs for your opponent and buffs for you. Often times you may want to take one of each type so you can access both lores, and generally this is what you should do. Additionally, sometimes greater numbers of lesser shamans can be more effective than a single great shaman, as with the typical greenskin Ld they will be miscasting at least once a game. It's always nice to have backup casters when your main one's head explodes in a shower of magical gore and brains (and it WILL).

The best magic combo is usually a level 4 Savage Orc Shaman and a level 1 (or 2) night goblin shaman. The Savage Orc usually totes the lucky shrunken head and the night goblin totes a dispel scroll. The night goblin is either a level 1 with the ruby ring of ruin or a level 2.

With this combo, you have plenty of options to choose from.

As far as spells go:

Instead of writing about them, there's an article by a member of Da Warpath (Orc & Goblin website) about our magic. It's written better than anything else I could say. Plus, I'm lazy. Go here to read and be amazed by what our magic can do for you.

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_Warpath/index.php?showtopic=33291

==Tactics==

'''How Does The Army Play?'''

The Orc and Goblin army plays a little differently than you'd expect. The main thing that you'll see across almost all O&G armies is 2-3 pretty big blocks of troops backed up by lots of chaff units and war machines. The army works best by softening up the opponent with shooting and magic while using chaff units to hold up/redirect big units and assassinate war machine hunters. Once the opponent's war machine hunters are dead, the O&G player picks his/her combats by using redirectors (wolf riders, heroes on wolves), board denial units (pumpwagons, manglers), and countercharging the units that were weakened with shooting and magic. This changes depending on the opponent's army, but you'll usually see variations on this strategy.

'''Typical Things You'll Usually See in a Competitive List'''

* Savage Orc Big 'Uns (30+) with Savage Shaman (and Lucky Shrunken Head)
* Big troll blocks, usually 8 or more
* Rock Lobbas and Doom Divers
* Maxed Mangler Squigs
* Big Night Goblin Units (50+) with netters, sometimes with several cheap night goblin heroes toting great weapons
* Goblin bigbosses on wolves as chaff units and war machine hunters
* Multiple magic levels (usually a mix of big and little waaagh! lores)
* Black orc giving quell animosity to the magic user's unit and a BSB giving rerolls
* Pump wagons and wolf chariots

'''Tips for Playing Orcs & Goblins'''

'''1.''' Orcs & Goblins is one of the only armies where their special rule is a ''drawback.'' Elves get always strikes first, daemons get ward saves, and O&G get...animosity. Thanks, Mat Ward. We also fear elves, which is just icing on the cake. It's almost like they want O&G to be a mid-tier army. Oh, wait...they do. (Well to be fair, the orcs do have choppas, which is extremely good against armies with good armor.) Somehow this is also Mat Ward's fault. Anyway, most competitive orcs and goblins lists mitigate animosity and take a combination of units and gear that minimize it. Here are things you can do to mitigate animosity:

* Put a black orc character in a unit,especially in a unit with a level 4 caster. You don't want your unit squabbling and wasting a valuable turn not stomping the opponent into goo with the Foot of Gork.
* Take units that don't suffer from animosity (trolls, black orcs, pumpwagons, manglers, etc.).
* Use cheap goblin heroes on giant wolves instead of wolf riders for your war machine hunters.

'''2.''' Manglers and Pumpwagons are NOT throwaway chaff units. One thing I see time and time again (and used to do) is throwing the pumpwagons and mangler squigs forward. Opponents love moving a fast cavalry into the mangler to kill it. That is not a good use of the mighty mangler squig. Instead, the mangler works best as an area denial unit or a countercharge unit. To do this well, you have to shoot and magic the enemy's chaff units before they get to the mangler and step on it. After you kill the opponent's chaff, you have two great options:

* Area Denial- You move the mangler in front of their expensive unit. They can either stop (giving you more time to Doom Diver/Rock Lobba/Magic/Foot/Curse/Throw Rocks at the unit and soften it up. Alternately, they can walk through it, taking the 3D6 hits and likely decimating the unit.

* Countercharge- Orcs and Goblins aren't a super fast army. Almost every army (unless it's Tomb Kings) is going to be faster than you. Orcs and Goblins excel at taking charges and countercharging in the flank. With mangler squigs, you can hide them behind your lines and throw them against the side of the table (they stay still this way, but you take a dangerous terrain test). When the enemy charges you, you can throw the mangler through the enemy units. Usually by this point they're all lined up for you because they've charged your Savage Orc horde or Night Goblin horde.

Pumpwagons are similar, but have a few slightly different uses. With outriggas, the pumpwagon has a huge threat range. They work great in the early game by protecting your war machines on the edges of the table. You can throw them into the side of the table to stop their movement and then turn and charge when the enemy gets near. After that, they work great as countercharge units (throwing them into the flanks of enemies trying to charge you).

==Themed Armies==

Orcs & Goblins offer Fluffbunnies (like me) great ways for themed armies. They have probably the biggest roster and many units fulfill similar roles. So instead of a large Waaagh! which draws from all greenskins, you can limit yourself and only pick matching units like:

*'''Wild Ones''': Savage Orcs and Forest Goblins, with everything they bring to the table. Savage Boar Boys, Forest Goblin Spider Riders, Arachnarok Spider, Snotlings, nothing mechanical! Thematically superb, you'll get moral victory just for fielding such a great army. You don't have chaff infantery, lack in ranged weapons and generally cannot take lots of punches, but you have lots of frenzied attacks and are pretty fast. So get into close combat and start moshing!
*'''Night Goblins''': The second army with lots of character. Night Goblins, everything with Squigs in it, Trolls, Snotlings. Skarsnik is an obvious choice to lead your army, as he is both powerful in the magic and close combat phase and your only chance for a LD8 character. Your only core choice is Night Goblins, so a horde of them is pretty much mandatory. But it's OK, a hundred of them only cost 300pts! Always get Netters for the units with spears, every fanatic you can, some heroes don't hurt. Squig herds can bring the pain (remember squig bombs as a viable tactic), so do Squig hoppers with Hero on Great Cave Squig. Your most important unit is the Mangler Squig, don't leave your cave without two of them. Trolls fit thematically (also live in caves) and snotlings are everywhere. And where there are Snotlings, they're going to build a Pumpwagon. Forgeworld introduced the Squig Gobba, which you can of course field. If you don't have/like the rules, just count it as a Night Goblin themed Doom Diver, the rules fit pretty well (and the Doom Diver is excellent, so that one doesn't hurt. You.). This army is lots of fun, because it's so unreliable. Your Night Goblins are subject to animosity and they can be easily panicked, trolls have stupidity and virtually no leadership, all the while your hardest hitters have random movement and can have some fatal mishaps. Lots of things to go wrong and ruin your carefully crafted battle plan. But it's also surprisingly resilient, lots of your units don't care about their (exceptionally low) leadership and you can dish out a high number of high strength attacks which are either Armour Piercing or don't allow Armour Saves alltogether! Beware of shooty armies though, as they will easily pick out your Mangler Squigs and other hard-hitting units from afar and leave you with only your Night Goblins. More melee focussed opponents, especially Warriors of Chaos, however will quickly stop laughing once the first fanatic hits his Chaos Warriors and your Mangler Squig eats his Knights for breakfast.
*'''Orc tribe / Goblin tribe''': Just regular Orcs and Black Orcs or just regular Goblins and all their respective units. Snotlings go anywhere, Giant fits both, Trolls are also pretty much fine. Not as much fun as the other fluffarmies but still themed. These armies are still functioning pretty much all-round, but you lack some of the hardest hitters.

Orcs & Goblins already are a challenging army to field (competitively, at least) and by restricting yourself in the army composition you make it even worse. If you want to have a fun game where anything can happen (really, anything!), you might enjoy this. And this is an excellent area for you and your gaming group to have some custom rules as well!

==See Also==
* [[Orcs_&_Goblins|Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}

[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Orcs & Goblins

2020-08-03T15:31:59Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Core Units */

==Why Play Orcs & Goblins==
The great Green Tide is the army for any player wishing to field an army with an insane number of models and perhaps the widest variety of options per force org slot in the game. The level of army customization for O&G, as a result, is almost unparalleled. Orcs are right killy and excel in their specialized role of cc, but tend to suffer from their terrible leadership and initiative stats. In addition, their latest edition reintroduced the Animosity special rule, which can effectively cripple any given O&G unit and spoil any plans you may have so carefully formed. All in all, this army is often for those who wish to have lots of fun without being particularly competitive. However, like most armies, they have a couple of army builds that are very competitive and can do well in most situations given a competent general. Plus, you can fling hang gliding goblins at people.

==Army Special Rules==

*'''Animosity:''' The signature rule of Orcs, and general annoyance which must be worked around. At the start of each turn, you must roll a d6 for each unit that has 5 or more models, that's not in melee, and such. If said unit rolls a 1, it gets to roll another die to stand still, losing any and all ability to move, shoot, or cast spells, unless it rolls a 6, in which case the unit gets a free pivot, and a free mandatory move towards the closest enemy unit.
**Although you can mitigate the worst effects of animosity with redundant small units, or sticking to units with small model counts, this becomes particularly annoying if you want to run a more magic-heavy Orc army. Such a build is questionable given that Orcs & Goblins have to take Azhag or a Wizarding Hat if they want access to BRB Lores, but it still becomes annoying when a unit of Boarboyz gets a glorious flanking charge off, only for the only nearby Goblin Shaman to be unable to cast Sneaky Stabbin'.

*'''Choppas:''' This ability is what makes Orc units proppa in a fight. Basically, Orcs (and only Orcs) get +1 Strength to their attacks on the first round of an ongoing combat. This is regardless of charges or being charged, and applies to bonuses granted by Magic weapons and armor.

*'''Size Matters:''' Basically, Orcs ignore Goblins for purposes of Panic, and Giants ignore Orcs and Goblins for Panic. The main advantage of this rule is that you can run Wolf Riders without fearing that they'll start a panic chain to any Orcs behind them.

==Unit Analysis==

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====

'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named as wholes from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' The named Boar-Boss for the army and Fantasy equivalent of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], Gorbad has some seriously awesome gear and rules. He carries a huge choppa that Always Strikes First, inflicts d3 multiple wounds, and ignores armor, and his stat-line insures that he won't be going away anytime soon. The real reason you'll be taking Ironclaw is for his strategic bonuses: he can help any unit within 18" with their animosity rolls should they fail and grants Hold Your Ground! and Inspiring Presence to all units in that range as well. He also counts as both your general AND battle standard bearer, which is both a bonus and a curse. On top of all this, your normal limit on the big 'uns upgrade is now available to as many orc boy and boar boy units as you can field with it. His only disadvantage is his high point cost (coming in at almost 400 points!) and complete lack of ward save, and therefore this fellow is often reserved for larger games. Him being both the general and the BSB is sometimes terrible. If he breaks from combat he automatically dies, because the BSB stands his ground defending the banner and is killed. Definitely not worth it at all as a fighter general. However, Gorbad comes into his own as a "Leadership Bunker." Put him in a unit of wolf riders and you can use his huge leadership bubble and animosity table bonus to stabilize your army.

*'''Azhag the Slaughterer:''' At well over 500 points, this is the ultimate point sink for your army. This one model and his wyvern will consume your entire Lord slot in even very large games, and probably will never be a realistic unit (End Times, please! Take him in 2000pts if you like) to field. That said, he is possibly the biggest bad-ass in the army. He basically makes your units within his range immune to Animosity, has a pair of magic weapons that get re-rolls in cc, 4+/5++, and a crown that makes him a level 3 lore of death wizard (and unfortunately gives him stupidity, but the advantages seem to outweigh this little issue). Additionally, he of course rides his mighty wyvern, Skullmuncha, who shares a similarly insane statline with Azhag, has poisoned attacks, and gets a 4+ scaly skin save. Unfortunate you'll probably never actually get to use this sexy green beast. Also, his model is ''obscenely'' expensive even by GW's standards.

*'''Wurrzag, Da Great Green Prophet:''' Another 350 point lord, Wurrzag is the ultimate choice for anyone centering their O&G army around Shamans. This mean, green, son of a bitch puts out an absolutely retarded amount of magical power since he has a magic item that allows him to store any unused power dice for a turn, a bound spell in his mask, a 5++, and a staff that gives him magic resistance 3 and re-rolls on miscasts. Additionally, he has a unique spell that can reduce enemy casters within 12" to squigs. Perhaps the main issues with Wurrzag are his mediocre statline and his inability to take the Lucky Shrunken Head. He's also frenzied, but that's less of an drawback in this edition than it used to be. All in all, there are few things as entertaining as getting a good magic roll and watching someone's Archaon get turned into a squig.

*'''Grom the Paunch of Misty Mountain:''' The first Lord choice to be mentioned under 300 points (barely), Grom is the ultimate gobbo boss and the named character for Goblin war chariots. This model completely changes the way Goblins play, ignoring the normal Fear Elves rule, granting this onto EVERY other goblin unit in the army. He also has a 5+/5++ and has a magic weapon that gives him +2 to strength and killing blow, which goes up to a 5+ killing blow vs Elves. He has regeneration as well, and he has a little night goblin buddy that carries the battle standard for your army. A very good choice if you plan on mulching a ton of sissy Elves or if you field a lot of Goblin units.

*'''Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks:''' Slightly cheaper than Grom, Skarsnik is best in a night goblin themed army. He has an awesome magic staff that fires d3 s6 hits that ignore armor, and this multiplies when he's near other night goblins. His buddy is a fat squig named Gobbla, who gives Skarsnik some real fighting power in cc (not to mention SIX WOUNDS. On a GOBLIN). Skarsnik has some great special rules too, the main one being that he can randomly force enemy units into reserves at the start of the game (perfect for ruining any 'just as planned' strategies), and he also gives night goblin units the ability to move and shoot in the same turn they recover from running from a combat; it is strongly recommended any such screening units take Musicians, and angle themselves to fall back towards your General. The Bad: he has no good armor save to speak of and his huge base size (40x60mm) means he's getting picked out by almost the entire enemy unit in combat unless you place him properly. Namely place him in a corner. That way opponent during charge have to touch and fight with most models at time. Which means if you are wide enough he have to charge mainly on your rank and file gobbos instead of Skarsnik and he will meet with only one opponent if you are lucky. Also it is not a big deal to make opponent's time hard to attack as making double flee with your big bosses never was easier than while using them with Skarsnik. Solid choice but needs a lot of list tailoring and result is certainly not best.

*'''Snagla Grobspit:''' A relatively cheap hero option, his low cost is quickly lost by the fact that you have to take a unit of spider riders with him. This isn't a big deal, however, especially if you love yourself some spider riders, as Grobspit makes them all Ambushers, have Devastating Charge, Hatred (Empire), and cause Fear on the charge. Also, SOOO many poisoned attacks. Great at attacking buildings and to clear-off warmachines. Have options but still somewhat subpar.

*'''Gtilla da Hunter:''' Basically Snagla, but mounted on a Giant Wolf and meant for shooting instead of combat. Only way to provide some BS shooting not based on Spiderbanner and big hordes. Da Howlerz with Gitilla are marching for 18", vanguarding, fast-cav, shooting platform hitting at 3+ (if no cover and short distance) with armour save of 4+. Gitilla adds firepower a bit and provides unit with ability of re-rolling flee and pursue rolls and hero stat-line helping in minor chaff game. Basically very tactical, gobliny unit which, although vulnerable, can be real nuissance for enemy.

*'''Grimgor Ironhide:''' If Gorbad is the Ghazghkull equivalent then Grimgor is the Ork himself reincarnated as a Fantasy character, and very certainly the most angry greenskin in existence. One of the cheapest of the Orc named characters, but quite possibly the best if you have a particular fondness for Black Orcs. Grimgor must take a unit of Black Orcs as his retinue and gives them all +1 WS and hatred (everyone!), sadly he cannot leave that unit and noone can join them. As the army's ultimate close-combat monster, he has 1+/5++, a positively nightmarish stat-line, an essentially s7 weapon (s8 in first turn)... and on top of it all Always Strikes First! Grimgor, quite frankly, will absolutely kill anything if you get him to cc and will take an insane amount of punishment from ranged attacks on the way there. The bad: With both Grimgor and the black orcs having to be joined, it's a huge pile of eggs in a single basket. However you would still put him in bigass horde even if this was not mandatory. Hint for fun: give the unit standard bearer Banner of Eternal Flame so unit will be especially killy against those Regenerating things. When something with Dragonbane Gem or Dragonhelm want to interfere just bash him with Grimgor as his magic attacks are still non-flammable.

:*'''Grimgor: Incarnate of Beasts:''' Now Grimgor is bound to the Wind of Beasts for 105 more points. He has +1 strength, toughness, and attacks and he can now re-roll to-hit and to-wound in a challenge and has an Innate Bound Augment Spell (Casting 6+) that grants all friendly O&G and [[Ogre Kingdoms|OK]] units +1 Strength/Toughness until the next magic phase. Whats more he is no longer bound to join the Immortulz and other character can join them freely which is great advantage in comparison to Ironhide. Unlike other Incarnates, he lacks a mount and lacks any other innate benefits, making the need to upgrade him a debatable matter.

====Generic Characters====

'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''Orc Boss:''' Your quintessential Orky army leader. He comes in both Lord and Hero form and can be mounted on a chariot, boar, or wyvern. He doesn't have the killing power of the savage orc boss or the animosity quelling of the black orc, but he IS cheaper. Call him "warboss on a budget."

*'''Savage Orc Boss:''' Comes with the same options as the orc boss, but has a natural ward save and frenzy. This is a great one to run in a savage orc unit, as his ward save gets better with the Lucky Shrunken Head and his frenzy isn't as much of an issue in an already frenzied unit.

*'''Black Orc Boss:''' The Black Orc boss is a significantly more expensive upgrade over the regular orc boss. However, it gives the black orc boss +1 WS and the ability to switch between two hand weapons, a hand weapons and a shield, or a great weapon at the start of each close combat phase if not equipped with a magic weapon. Most important of all, he has the "Quell Animosity" rule. If he's in the unit and it squabbles, the Black Orc knocks heads, does a few wounds, and makes the unit work as normal. This guy is is a staple of most competitive lists.

*'''Goblin Boss:''' Not much more to be said here. Come standard and in night form, have a wide variety of customization, and can mount chariots, giant spiders, giant wolves, and giant squigs (making them the only units who can roll with your squig-hoppers. Slap one in a squad of those guys and watch their danger level shoot waaay up). Fielding multiple goblin bosses with great weapons is a fantastic way to give an otherwise fairly defenseless unit some real punch.
*'''Orc Shaman:''' All the same customization options as Bosses, but they're wizards of the Big Waaagh! The Orcish lore of magic primarily focuses on damage spells, and boy do they do it well. Roll well and you'll be slapping foot-shaped templates all over the board. Just be sure to give them a ward-save for when they inevitably end up miscasting. Give a savage orc shaman the lucky shrunken head item and pile him in with your savage orc mob and the entire unit will benefit from 5+ ward saves, rather than 6+.

*'''Goblin Shaman:''' The lore of Little Waaagh! focuses on hexes and irritating the ever loving shit out of your opponent. Field multiples of the hero form of these buggers with your night goblin units for extra . On a good round of magic, you'll get much more channeling attempts and you can quite remorselessly attempt some irresistible force casts, since after all, you have like 10 shamans on the field. Night Goblin Shamans also come with Magic Mushrooms, which improve EVERY casting roll - you must roll for the shroom after every casting attempt; free power dice!! The thing to remember about Goblin Shamans vs. Night Goblin Shamans is that if you want a level 4 goblin caster, the regular goblin is superior to the night goblin. But in low level casters, the night goblin is better. This is due to the mushroom dice. A 1 rolled on a mushroom die shuts down the caster for the turn. This is a big risk for a level 4 caster. Better to take level 1 or 2 night goblin shamans so that if one rolls a 1, you can cast other spells with different shamans.

====Mounts====

*'''War Boars''': War Boars are awesome. They give your guy a 2+ bonus to the armour save and have a special rule called "Tuska Charge" that gives you 2+ strength on the charge. These are what make Boar Boy Big 'Uns so dangerous; a unit on the charge that deals Strength 6 attacks? ( This +2 strength only applies to the war boar, the S6 Boar Boy Big 'Uns you speak of are a combination of s4 + spear + 'Choppas' ). A good choice for a boss that is going to join a unit of Boar Boyz, otherwise keep in mind what unit your Lord or Hero is going to join.

*'''Giant Wolf''': For fast cavalry mounts, a Giant Wolf is quick, but altogether has the same stats as a normal Goblin warrior +1 I and WS. A great mount for a Goblin hero that's going to be attached to a Wolf Riders. The Giant Wolf has also given rise to the "goblin cowboy" technique. Instead of running wolf riders, you can run a cheap goblin boss on a wolf for similar points. The benefit to this is you have a unit with higher toughness, a better save, better strength, and an ability to tank against certain units. You can take the Dragonbane Gem on a goblin hero on a wolf and run him right into K'Daii Destroyers, Hexwraiths, and cavalry units with flaming. He'll hold them up forever. Also, you can give him a cheap magic weapon so that he can run into ethereal units and kill them. What is also important - it's Animosity free and against BS shooting can hide inside a unit.

*'''Gigantic Spider''': Haha, oh boy. This is what makes your Goblin Boss so effective. You get all of the benefits of the Spider's rules, including its Wall-Crawler ability, and you give that Goblin an extra wound. Found that you want another 3 wound character and you've used up your Lords point allocation? Give that Goblin Boss a Gigantic Spider and there you go, for only 10 points more than a Goblin Warboss.

*'''Great Cave Squig''': See the rules on the Squig section. Use at your own risk. But what's not to like? Dishes out S5 attacks (three from the profile plus stomp), gives a hero an additional wound and an otherwise hard to get +1 on his Armour Save, makes Squig Hoppers more reliable.

*'''Wyvern''': For a flying creature, it's not that bad. It has thunderstomp and poisoned attacks and it gives your general an 18 inches leadership bubble. However it paints a big cannon target on the General's chest and you want to avoid exposing yourself to any warmachine. The Wyvern is generally considered a bad idea for competitive play but don't let that stop you if you play for fun. If you don't face too many ranged threats then the wyvern can be a great addition to your army. Just remember that it's not a dragon, it can't eat entire units by itself and its primary use is transportation. Try giving your Great Shaman one of these babies and watch as he soars around the table blasting spells all over the battlefield. Very effective as a defense against pesky units and you get to actually use your augment spells in combats where you need them.

===Core Units===

*'''Orc Boyz:''' Your bread and butter unit. Orcs are tough, have decent stats, and at only 6 points a model, they can be fielded en masse (read: tarpits). Make sure to give them a musician and standard bearer of course, so they can win a combat or two. Give them extra hand weapons as well. With Orcs, it's always a great option. You can also upgrade a single unit of Boyz to big 'uns, giving them +1 strength and +1 Weapon Skill. Also remember that this unit is one of the few that can take a magic banner. Regular Orc Big 'Uns with the flaming banner or banner of discipline unit are a solid unit that's a little more dependable than Savage Orc Big 'Uns.

*'''Orc Arrer Boyz:''' Orcs...with bows. It feels so wrong... Again, they make up for their relatively poor stats in solid walls of flesh. Their access to volley fire is useful here, as it allows the whole block to fire their bows, albeit with extremely poor accuracy, but who really cares when you're putting out 35+ shots from a single unit? TWANGA TWANGA TWANGA!

*'''Savage Orc Boyz:''' Batshit insane Orc Boyz with 6+ ward saves and Frenzy (and at 8 points a piece, compared to standard Boyz' 6). These are an insane Close Combat Core choice, should they ever make it to assault(and if your enemy is smart, they may use Frenzy to their advantage, leading the squad around aimlessly with a small unit at the edge of charge range). You can give them Big Stabbaz, which give them D3 impact hits. Like most units in the army, feature a wide variety of upgrades for tailoring them into just the kind of unit you want it to be, though they are best off doing what they are meant to: flail wildly around in Close Combat, inflict as much damage as possible before inevitably dying. Another, less common (but still good) choice is to take Big 'Uns and arm them with bows. "You want to stay away? TWANG." This shooting unit can benefit from both goblin magic and/or a goblin BSB with the Spider Banner. No one wants to charge savage orcs with frenzy and Str 5, but no one wants to eat 30 poison shots a turn, either. Try to keep your general/BSB nearby to help with the frenzy.

*'''Big 'Uns:''' Big 'Uns are a cheap (2 pts.) upgrade that is more than worth it. Nearly every competitive list uses Big Uns, more specifically they use Savage Orc Big 'Uns with extra hand weapons. The resulting three S5 attacks per model for as low as 11 points will shred anything on the charge. This powerhouse is generally supported by a Savage Orc Shaman carrying the Lucky Shrunken Head which provides a 5+ ward save for the whole unit, making it quite durable as well as deadly in combat. The only problem lies in getting that unit in combat where you want it to be due to the double threat of Frenzy and Animosity that are just begging to make you lose control of it. And that crazed shaman won't be helping much either, so keeping a black orc big boss in the unit is very helpful to prevent your wizard from running off and doing something random instead of slinging spells.

*'''Goblins:''' Your army's quintessential tarpit. At 3 points per model base, Goblins can be fielded in insane numbers. Can be upgraded with Nasty Skulkers which are kind of a mixed bag. With three attacks and Killing Blow on the turn they are revealed them, they can be a real pain in the ass to an opponent who expected to run heavily armored knights into the puny goblins and take no casualty. On the other hand, Killing Blow only works for a single turn (a shame) and does nothing to many unit types such as chariots or monstrous infantry. In fact the most interesting use of Nasty Skulkers is to use them to displace rank-and-file models. With three Skulkers and two cheap Goblin Heroes in a 5-wide unit, the opponent will be forced to allocate wounds, most likely causing the opposing force to waste attacks.

*'''Goblin Wolf Riders:''' Your army's fast cavalry. Give them spears and watch them flank charge a heavy infantry unit to death, or at least keep them tied up long enough for your chariots to flatten them. The Vanguard rule and super fast movment makes them fairly effective war machine hunters. At 10 points per model though, you're essentially paying 7 points for a wolf.

*'''Night Goblins:''' Same price as goblins, -1 to Ld and +1 to I. They come standard with shields,and can take all the same upgrades as Goblins as well, with just two differences. The first is netters for 45 points, an infinitely useful upgrade to an otherwise simple tarpit unit, netters inflict a -1 strength modifier on any unit they are locked in combat with on a 2-6. There is always the odd chance that they entangle themselves on a 1, but they are already so low strength that that should only add to the lulz. The other upgrade is Fanatics. Ohhh... Fanatics. Excuse me for a minute, slight crisis moment. Watch as the enemy player tries to blast through the squishy night goblins with heavy infantry, only to suddenly be lambasted by up to 18 s5 Armour Piercing hits as the little bastards swing insanely through them. Then watch as you animosity charge through said fanatics and suffer up to 36 hits (thanks to death throws) and lose 75 points worth of fanatics.

*'''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:''' Goblin special cavalry, spider riders can be quite useful. They pump out a small amount of poisoned attacks (spiders only), but their best trick is their ability to move right up inside of buildings and ignore terrain as they do so. Perfect for flushing well encamped enemies out of cover and the bane of wood elf players. However, their high point cost (13) (at least...higher than wolf riders) makes them sort of situational.

===Special Units===

*'''Black Orcs:''' Infantry. Black orcs have better staying power, and are one of the few units in the army that are immune to Animosity. They also have Immune to Psychology, meaning they won't panic like most of the other units in the army book. The only foreseeable issue with black orcs is that your opponent is sure to try and avoid them, and they cost twice as much as a standard boy. If used correctly, black orcs can be an excellent addition to the army, just make sure you have the spare points. One catch though. Their low I cause them to get brutally slaughtered in cc with tarpits of skaven, swordsmen, elves etc. Be sure to always use shield and close combat weapons in order to survive the combat and thus making them worth their high cost. Additionally, this is one of the few units we can take that has "can opener" abilities. Orcs and Goblins have a huge amount of str 4-5 attacks. But Black Orcs can pull out great weapons and wipe out tough, heavy armored units that would normally give them fits (Steam Tank, anyone?)

*'''Orc Boar Boyz:''' Your heavy cavalry. Though a high point cost, they have a potential to be worth it, as you are putting that awesome cc squad into assault relatively quickly, plus with high strength attacks from the tusker charge special rule. Slap a Warboss on a boar with them so they won't run quite so easy. Boar Boyz are a good unit that suffers from the same problems that plague all cavalry units in 8th edition Warhammer: the boars in a second rank don't get to attack, even though they do most of the unit's damage output.

*'''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:''' Again, not much more to be said here, simply more expensive, batshit insane Boar Boyz with some special frenzy rules and they get to take two hand weapons while mounted, one of the few who can do so. They sacrifice surviveability for more 'ead crumpin'.

*'''Orc Boar Chariot:''' What's not to love? It's a heavy chariot pulled by boars. Can easily mow enemy infantry units flat. Give it an extra crew for additional lulz and attacks. Suffers from being more expensive than the goblin chariot. both have Str 5 impact hits, so it's hard to justify an extra 30 points for a boar chariot sometimes.

*'''Goblin Wolf Chariot:''' A much faster, more fragile chariot option, better for taking on light infantry/fast cav. Unlike the Orc Chariot you can take these things in units of three. However, it's usually better not to due to leadership checks for losing just one chariot.

*'''Goblin Spear Chukka:''' Handy for killing infantry and monsters at range, but perhaps not quite as versatile as a Rock Lobba. Then again, this thing is a special choice and is much cheaper than the Rock Lobba so you could potentially field both. In fact, spear chukkas are the cheapest bolt thrower in game currently, partly for the reason that they can misfire just like a stone thrower. You can put a bully in the bunch to keep em in line. Spear chukkas are also a 2 for 1 sort of choice for the special slot, so you can take double the duplicates you'd normally be able to take. The main issue is the ballistic skill of goblins. You'll usually be hitting on 5's or even 6's with the Chukkas, so you have to be judicious in where you place them so that you can get clear fields of fire (very hard to do with Orcs & Goblins).

*'''Squig Herds:''' One of the more useful special units for O&G, squig herds are great for taking out large blocks of infantry. They put out a lot of attacks, so at their worst they can at least soften up an enemy unit for your boyz to finish off later. They also EXPLODE if they break or if all herders are killed, so a loss in combat can potentially cause quite a bit of damage to the enemy. Moving the unit forward as fast as possible and counting on them to explode amidst your opponent's units is actually called a ''squig bomb'' and very effective. Good unit sizes include 9 squigs/3 herders (squig bomb or multiple small units), 18 squigs/6 herders (flanking unit) and 30 squigs/10-15 herders (horde combat block).

*'''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:''' Where herds are more about the squigs alone, Hoppers are a special cavalry unit. These are good for harassing enemy units and flank charging, as their relatively high speed and random movement can get them where they need to go better than herds. They only have 6+ armor save, so you have to be very picky with what you fight with squig hoppers. Having random movements actually gives Squig Hoppers several interesting advantages: They can pivot then move, giving them an effective 360* threat, and the opponent cannot declare a charge reaction against them, letting them ignore flee or stand-shoot reactions. Although they charge in the compulsory subphase, preventing them from disabling Stand&Shoot for your mainline troops, they can deny a sufficiently large area versus enemy light cavalry. Note that only a Night Goblin Boss riding a Giant Cave Squiqs can join Squig Hoppers, which lets you re-roll the random movement dice. However, said Boss will not benefit from Look Out Sir and will be cannon-bait. Squig Hoppers are both cavalry and skirmishers, so it is not worth it to have multiple ranks: Skirmishers can never disrupt their opponents when charging the flank or rear, and only the riders of cavalry models can make supporting attacks, not the mounts. And let's be honest, you're not fielding Squig Hoppers for the Night Goblin riders.

*'''Snotlings:''' Swarms of tiny little greenskins with stats that make goblins look mighty. With 5 wounds and 5 attacks a base, and the fact that they will not run, you can plant a huge swarm of these on an objective and probably hold on to it for a looong time. They can also stand and shoot a single S2 shot that ignores armor, which is highly situational at best. Save your points in this slot for something else. The only use I've found for them has been to put them on a flank and let them run towards war machines. They at least won't panic anything when they die.

*'''Trolls:''' Big, strong, and fieldable in large groups, trolls are good for keeping between your groups of Gobbos and Boyz in case they fail their Animosity rolls. Trolls are very powerful in cc, and have some great staying power due to their regeneration. Trolls can forego their three regular attacks (they can still stomp!) in lieu of a single vomit attack, which hits automatically with S5 and no Armour Saves allowed. Watch a Chaos Knight die a very inglorious death, guaranteed not to win him any daemonhood soon. Trolls do suffer from Stupidity (and at Ld4, no less), so you'll have to keep a boss with them or warboss near them at all times if you want them to actually get shit done. Think Ogres, but with a few tricks and retardation issues. Remember that Stupidity also gives you Immune to Psychology, so at least they won't panic. Trolls also come in three varieties: standard, stone and river. The cost differences here between common trolls and river/stone trolls are significant, with common ones being much cheaper with the same cc output. Common Trolls also don't come from your rare slot, so they won't take away from your important Manglers/Pumpwagons/War Machines.

===Rare Units===

*'''Stone Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting scaly skin (5+) and magic resistance (2). Scaly skin is always helpfull, but it's the magic resistance which is most useful, since it will grant you a 5+ Ward Save against fireballs and others spells from the Lore of Fire which will usually burn your Trolls to ashes, since you cannot take regeneration saves against them.

*'''River Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting strider (rivers and marshes) and your opponent gets a -1 to hit modifier in CC. While strider can of course be handy in the right situation, it's nothing to write home about. A -1 to hit modifier in CC is quite useful though, as it means that they're never hit on better than 4+ and sometimes only 5+.

*'''Giants:''' The ever-venerable giant. The model looks pretty pimping hot but its purpose is often limited to receiving multiple cannonballs to the face. A good choice for the purpose of having fun but not much else, the giant is generally skipped by competitive OnG lists. If you have a Savage Orc Shaman in your army you can give it a 6+ ward save but that doesn't do much for keeping it alive. There are way better choices in the O&G rare category.

*'''Mangler Squigs:''' Good. Gork. Essentially massive squigs that have been prodded by night goblins till they are insane with RAGE. Manglers behave like enormous fanatics. Point them in the direction you want them to go, pray to Mork they get there (they have no armor, so be careful), and watch as they fling out a positively retarded number of high strength hits. All in all, a very fun (if unreliable) choice for flattening units and wreaking havoc. If you can get off the "Hand of Gork" spell you have a killer combo at your disposition, you can literally win the game in one turn if you can teleport your mangler squig across the map and make it go sideway through the enemy line. Get your tear cup ready.

*'''Rock Lobba:''' A fairly standard catapult. Great for flattening Dragons, Manticores, Hydras, Terrorgheists, Daemon Princes, Skycannons and other huge things that orcs normally have a problem dealing with. Even if these juicy targets are not present, it does relatively good against hordes of cheap models. A Rock Lobba is rarely a bad choice.

*'''Goblin Doom Diver:''' Extremely powerful. The Doom Diver is one of the most accurate warmachine in the world of Warhammer and one of the most hated unit in the game by non-orc player. If people are going to name something "broken" about OnG then they're going to bring up Goblin Doom Divers. They're perfect for assassinating stuff in heavy armor or enemy characters due to their high precision and ignoring armor saves. Skullcrushers? Dead. Demigryph Knights? Dead. Dragon Princes? Dead. The doom diver suits almost any O&G force quite well and any competitive list will auto-include two of these babies. Important note: if you choose to redirect the Doom Diver then it needs to move the full distance that you roll. The implication is that if you miss a lone infantry character by 1 inch and subsequently roll 3 inches of re-direction, you CANNOT hit that character. You can only fly over the model and leave it unharmed. It's odd to think about but that's the rules. You will also note that the Doom Diver can only hit things where it lands, but in the rare instance that two units are touched by the Doom Diver's base then you get to hit both.

*'''Snotling Pump Wagon:''' Pump wagons are hilarious, unreliable and dreadfully scary for your opponent. They have random movement and the potential to veer out of control at any given time, but having 2D6 impact hits is nothing to scoff at. Remember that having random movements has its own advantages, namely that you can charge enemy units during the compulsory movement phase without giving them the chance to perform a charge reaction. This is gold when facing a fast cavalry avoidance list that suddenly find itself not allowed to perform their standard feigned flight tactic. As far as upgrades go for the Pump Wagon, Outriggas and Spiky Rollas are pretty much mandatory, with Giant Explodin' Spores being the single most awesome thing you could buy if you face heavily armored cavalry. Also Flappas are very useful, since chariots do very bad with dangerous terrain and your opponent might think his units save from your attack if there is a river, marsh or obstacle between you. Remember that as a suicide unit, the enemy will want to shoot your Pump Wagons at all cost. If you bring Pump Wagons then consider bringing Mangler Squigs as well so that the enemy cannot shoot them all. Mangler Squigs and Pump Wagons serve relatively similar purposes after all.

*'''Arachnarok Spider:''' Big fucking scary spider. The model looks fuckin' ace but it is sadly ignored in serious lists due to being overpriced for what it does on the battlefield. It just doesn't have the impact that a 290 points monster ought to have, certainly not with S5/T6 and leadership 6. Only pick it up if you're not particularly competitive or if you're certain you won't face warmachines, otherwise the thing is likely to die from spells or warmachine fire before doing anything cool. On the other hand the Arachnarok Spider is FAST and gets to ignore terrain, so at least there's that. Remember that the goblin crew is equipped with spears and therefore adds eight S4 attacks on the charge. You can give the spider a web lobber and the feeling of not being nomiated to the "Slowest army of the Game" award is a good one, even though it barely scratches Snotling. Additionally you can make this thing a super expensive Lord choice by mounting a Goblin great shaman on it and if you have done this, take the spidershrine, loremaster is a must for your only caster.

==Building Your Army==
The important thing to remember when assembling your Waaagh! is to pick a theme and stick with it. A big downfall of having so many options in the army book is that players can get overwhelmed and try to take one of everything. Mixing too many strategies together is generally a bad idea. For example, it'd probably be a bad move to mix a slow unit like black orcs or trolls in with an all mounted army; by the time these squads get there, chances are your cavalry has already done most of the work (or has been slaughtered and can no longer support your big things). Additionally, both Animosity and Panic tends to be a big problem for O&G, so you should try to build your army in a way that maximizes your bosses' Ld range and minimizes Animosity.

===Buying Your Army===
As with any army, start with your core choices and first lord or hero and build from there. Always determine just what army you are trying to build before you start purchasing. Sit down with an experienced player and discuss what units synergize best with each other if you are having trouble figuring things out.

===Army Composition===
You should be judiciously paying for standards, musicians, and characters to boost leadership. In order to lead your greenskins to victory it is absolutely vital to have inspiring presence on as many units as you can. To achieve this there are many types of army composition available to you:

*'''Orc Warboss and BSB:''' Provides leadership 9 and rerolls, a strong default choice. The Warboss is a powerful combat character and his Waaagh ability is a fun bonus, albeit small and easy to forget. You can put him on a wyvern for a bigger leadership bubble but most competitive advice will discourage you from doing so, as it is just begging to get sniped on turn 1. The Warboss does a better job on the front line, sending challenges to enemy characters and providing combat resolution through sheer butchery.

*'''Goblin Warboss with BSB and Banner of Discipline:''' An alternative to the Orc Warboss, this setup provides leadership 9 and rerolls for those who wish to stick to a goblin-only army. Generally you want to put both the General and BSB in a bunker behind the fighting troops. This makes it harder for the opponent to assassinate either the general or BSB, who are vital in this case since goblins have low leadership by themselves.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' A special character, this guy provides both leadership 10 and rerolls at the same time! Problem 1: he's a special character and they aren't always allowed. Problem 2: he's expensive as all fuck. Problem 3: he is a standard bearer and is therefore bound by the rules that normally affect standard bearers. That means he cannot run, ever. A standard bearer is automatically removed from play when a unit breaks and the same goes for this guy, regardless of whether he is a legendary badass that just happens to have a flag on his back. All things considered, unless you absolutely want to field this character for fluffy reason then you're better off with a separate Warboss and BSB.

*'''Orc Great Shaman and BSB with Banner of Discipline:''' Provides leadership 9, rerolls and magic support all at the same time. This is a pretty interesting setup since unlike most wizards, this bad dude is T5 and can actually survive in combat. Equipped with Fencer's Blade and buffed by Fist of Gork, he can even dish out a lot of hurt. He can also be made to carry the Shrunken Head in a unit of Savage Orcs Big 'Uns, in which case he will also be protected by a 5+ ward save. As usual, the biggest danger of using a Wizard general is miscasting: if the shaman gets sucked into the warp on turn 1 then you can pretty much pack your things and go home.

Regardless of what you choose, remember to stick with your army theme. Whether you want to use huge blocks of infantry, multiple small units, big scary monsters or swarms of cavalry, you don't want to end up with too many strategies on the field. If you're going to try something then you need to commit to it. An OnG army with no direction will fall apart quickly.

===Magic Items===
Anything that gives ward saves is always handy. Bosses should take magic weapons and Shamans should take things that either boost their own powerdice or fuck up the enemy's magic phase. It's also hilarious to put the one that turns enemy wizards into toads on a low level shaman as well. Lastly, if there is a magic banner that can help with Ld issues in your army, take it.
The problem with magic weapons for O&G is not about effect to price ratio actually and more about price at all and kind of effect. In fact Orcs and Goblins are just an army which dont need pricy weapons which dont let them attack faster (via ASF or Initiative). Weapons giving you more attack or more strenght are mostly ommited as they cost their share (fair) and help you kill with characters which you dont want to do for most of times! Firstly our bosses are vital in providing Leadership. Secondly they are weakly kitted for combat (speaking about base stats). They desperately need some better protection above T5. Firtly focus on making your vital characters protected - which means BSB, General, main Shaman and probably secondary shaman (last one dont have to be protected - scroll caddy should be enough). After that one should think about obvious magic protection and then you see that you either dont have points for making your characters killy or simply other units will do that better. You will end up taking cheapish magic weapons to kill damned banshees and kind. Orcs cannot be blender lords like Vampires, Chaos Lords, High or Dark Elves. They dont make good killy cowboys (partially due to bad kind of transportation). Goblins can be instead cheapish cowboys. Ther is no place for pricy magic weapons and better come to terms with it if you want to play competitively.
The following are the O&G specific magic items:

*'''Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh!:''' Not worth it. Getting d6 additional attacks and strength is one can of serious ass-wooping but it's unreliable and risky, on behalf of having to run a lord character completely naked in order to carry it. 50% lord points in endtimes makes this more fieldable, because you have a general with armor and talismans and stuff, and have a supporting black orc warboss take it to destroy whole units at a time.

*'''Basha's Axe of Stunty Smashin':''' Interesting item but not that appealing. Getting +1S and +1A and armor piercing for 50 points is about right but it's nothing to write home about. Skip it unless you happen to be fighting Dwarfs a lot and really hate their guts. This axe actually cost the exact same amount of points as the 3 different magic weapons with the same effects in the main book and work as a 3 in one package with the added benefit against dwarves. Is actually worth it at times, but still little pricy. It's funny to see Night Goblin wielding that weapon into scrap with stunties as he is perfectly suited for that with high enough initiative to strike first and hatred to make those attack hit the target despite inferior weapon skill (at least vs. characters and elites).

*'''Armour of Gork:''' How about no. The +D3 toughness and impact hits are nice but the 100 points price tag is completely ridiculous.

*'''Lucky Shrunken Head:''' Best magic item in the book. The Shrunken Head upgrades the ward save granted by Warpaint from 6+ to 5+ for both the bearer and his unit. It costs 50 points and can only be carried by a Savage Orc Shaman or Great Shaman so you need to be ok with sending your wizard into battle. This is not only the strongest magic item in the whole book but also the most popular, appearing often in competitive lists to support a horde of Savage Orc Big 'Uns. This item also causes the ward save of one character (Wurrzag) to become 4+ if he happens to be in the unit.

*'''Mork's War Banner:''' <strike>Horrible item.</strike> Gives magic resistance (d6) and turns magic items into mundane items when in base contact with the bearer. Woopee doo. Horribly expensive at 100pts but seems to be useful for players from top of the world on Savage BSB. If one can place characters in suitable position then it can turn off some precious magic items letting you unleash some torment of Savage Big'Uns attacks upon unprotected character. Also let you to turn off magic banners (could be funny). A lot of people find it overpriced as MR(3) can be bought for 45 points but still used by some who can use those tricky abilities.

*'''Spider Banner:''' <strike>Somewhat ok.</strike> The Spider Banner grants poisoned attacks to a unit, while attacks that are already poisoned will now take effect on a 5+. This has synergy with the spell Gift of the Spider God from the Lore of the Little Waaargh. Sadly, the 85 points price tag and the specific rules mean that this banner can only be taken by a defenseless goblin BSB. The Spider Banner is typically used to deliver a ridiculous amount of poison shots with a horde of Goblins, Arrer Boyz or Savage Orcs with bows. In the later cases, it means you have a goblin character standing next to a Orc unit which just doesn't look right. It should be noted that a list utilizing 100 night goblin archers and the Spider Banner has been having quite a lot of tournament success. Even snatching up FIRST PLACE. For an Orcs & Goblins list that's extremely impressive.

*'''Bad Moon Banner:''' Crap version of Gnoblar Trappers. Can only be taken by a Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer and makes his unit Stubborn. Dangerous terrain tests are only taken by models that charge into base to base contact with the unit with the BSB, so only the front rank of a charging unit gets hit. Told you it's crap. Stubborn is great but goblins rarely loses steadfast and you have crown of command cheaper and in more flexible way than as magic banner on goblin BSB. Being in soft cover really doesnt change much as you just can add more bodies.

*'''Skull Wand of Kaloth:''' Situational item at best. The Skull Wand grants the bearer Terror and can unleash a curse at the start of every round of close combat, forcing one model in contact with the bearer to pass a Leadership test or automatically die. Can only be taken by a Shaman. Interesting item but made useless due to costing a whooping 75 points. Nobody wants to send an unprotected wizard lord into combat, even if it has a cool magic wand. If only our shamans could be better protected and could buy that protection with Wand it would make tricky, nasty item. Also Ld test are nowadays pretty easy to pass.

===Magic===
As mentioned previously, O&G Shamans get access to two unique lores: the Big Waaagh! (orcs), and the Little Waaagh! (goblins). Where most of your damage spells will be coming from the Big Waaagh!, Little Waaagh! spells focus on debuffs for your opponent and buffs for you. Often times you may want to take one of each type so you can access both lores, and generally this is what you should do. Additionally, sometimes greater numbers of lesser shamans can be more effective than a single great shaman, as with the typical greenskin Ld they will be miscasting at least once a game. It's always nice to have backup casters when your main one's head explodes in a shower of magical gore and brains (and it WILL).

The best magic combo is usually a level 4 Savage Orc Shaman and a level 1 (or 2) night goblin shaman. The Savage Orc usually totes the lucky shrunken head and the night goblin totes a dispel scroll. The night goblin is either a level 1 with the ruby ring of ruin or a level 2.

With this combo, you have plenty of options to choose from.

As far as spells go:

Instead of writing about them, there's an article by a member of Da Warpath (Orc & Goblin website) about our magic. It's written better than anything else I could say. Plus, I'm lazy. Go here to read and be amazed by what our magic can do for you.

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_Warpath/index.php?showtopic=33291

==Tactics==

'''How Does The Army Play?'''

The Orc and Goblin army plays a little differently than you'd expect. The main thing that you'll see across almost all O&G armies is 2-3 pretty big blocks of troops backed up by lots of chaff units and war machines. The army works best by softening up the opponent with shooting and magic while using chaff units to hold up/redirect big units and assassinate war machine hunters. Once the opponent's war machine hunters are dead, the O&G player picks his/her combats by using redirectors (wolf riders, heroes on wolves), board denial units (pumpwagons, manglers), and countercharging the units that were weakened with shooting and magic. This changes depending on the opponent's army, but you'll usually see variations on this strategy.

'''Typical Things You'll Usually See in a Competitive List'''

* Savage Orc Big 'Uns (30+) with Savage Shaman (and Lucky Shrunken Head)
* Big troll blocks, usually 8 or more
* Rock Lobbas and Doom Divers
* Maxed Mangler Squigs
* Big Night Goblin Units (50+) with netters, sometimes with several cheap night goblin heroes toting great weapons
* Goblin bigbosses on wolves as chaff units and war machine hunters
* Multiple magic levels (usually a mix of big and little waaagh! lores)
* Black orc giving quell animosity to the magic user's unit and a BSB giving rerolls
* Pump wagons and wolf chariots

'''Tips for Playing Orcs & Goblins'''

'''1.''' Orcs & Goblins is one of the only armies where their special rule is a ''drawback.'' Elves get always strikes first, daemons get ward saves, and O&G get...animosity. Thanks, Mat Ward. We also fear elves, which is just icing on the cake. It's almost like they want O&G to be a mid-tier army. Oh, wait...they do. (Well to be fair, the orcs do have choppas, which is extremely good against armies with good armor.) Somehow this is also Mat Ward's fault. Anyway, most competitive orcs and goblins lists mitigate animosity and take a combination of units and gear that minimize it. Here are things you can do to mitigate animosity:

* Put a black orc character in a unit,especially in a unit with a level 4 caster. You don't want your unit squabbling and wasting a valuable turn not stomping the opponent into goo with the Foot of Gork.
* Take units that don't suffer from animosity (trolls, black orcs, pumpwagons, manglers, etc.).
* Use cheap goblin heroes on giant wolves instead of wolf riders for your war machine hunters.

'''2.''' Manglers and Pumpwagons are NOT throwaway chaff units. One thing I see time and time again (and used to do) is throwing the pumpwagons and mangler squigs forward. Opponents love moving a fast cavalry into the mangler to kill it. That is not a good use of the mighty mangler squig. Instead, the mangler works best as an area denial unit or a countercharge unit. To do this well, you have to shoot and magic the enemy's chaff units before they get to the mangler and step on it. After you kill the opponent's chaff, you have two great options:

* Area Denial- You move the mangler in front of their expensive unit. They can either stop (giving you more time to Doom Diver/Rock Lobba/Magic/Foot/Curse/Throw Rocks at the unit and soften it up. Alternately, they can walk through it, taking the 3D6 hits and likely decimating the unit.

* Countercharge- Orcs and Goblins aren't a super fast army. Almost every army (unless it's Tomb Kings) is going to be faster than you. Orcs and Goblins excel at taking charges and countercharging in the flank. With mangler squigs, you can hide them behind your lines and throw them against the side of the table (they stay still this way, but you take a dangerous terrain test). When the enemy charges you, you can throw the mangler through the enemy units. Usually by this point they're all lined up for you because they've charged your Savage Orc horde or Night Goblin horde.

Pumpwagons are similar, but have a few slightly different uses. With outriggas, the pumpwagon has a huge threat range. They work great in the early game by protecting your war machines on the edges of the table. You can throw them into the side of the table to stop their movement and then turn and charge when the enemy gets near. After that, they work great as countercharge units (throwing them into the flanks of enemies trying to charge you).

==Themed Armies==

Orcs & Goblins offer Fluffbunnies (like me) great ways for themed armies. They have probably the biggest roster and many units fulfill similar roles. So instead of a large Waaagh! which draws from all greenskins, you can limit yourself and only pick matching units like:

*'''Wild Ones''': Savage Orcs and Forest Goblins, with everything they bring to the table. Savage Boar Boys, Forest Goblin Spider Riders, Arachnarok Spider, Snotlings, nothing mechanical! Thematically superb, you'll get moral victory just for fielding such a great army. You don't have chaff infantery, lack in ranged weapons and generally cannot take lots of punches, but you have lots of frenzied attacks and are pretty fast. So get into close combat and start moshing!
*'''Night Goblins''': The second army with lots of character. Night Goblins, everything with Squigs in it, Trolls, Snotlings. Skarsnik is an obvious choice to lead your army, as he is both powerful in the magic and close combat phase and your only chance for a LD8 character. Your only core choice is Night Goblins, so a horde of them is pretty much mandatory. But it's OK, a hundred of them only cost 300pts! Always get Netters for the units with spears, every fanatic you can, some heroes don't hurt. Squig herds can bring the pain (remember squig bombs as a viable tactic), so do Squig hoppers with Hero on Great Cave Squig. Your most important unit is the Mangler Squig, don't leave your cave without two of them. Trolls fit thematically (also live in caves) and snotlings are everywhere. And where there are Snotlings, they're going to build a Pumpwagon. Forgeworld introduced the Squig Gobba, which you can of course field. If you don't have/like the rules, just count it as a Night Goblin themed Doom Diver, the rules fit pretty well (and the Doom Diver is excellent, so that one doesn't hurt. You.). This army is lots of fun, because it's so unreliable. Your Night Goblins are subject to animosity and they can be easily panicked, trolls have stupidity and virtually no leadership, all the while your hardest hitters have random movement and can have some fatal mishaps. Lots of things to go wrong and ruin your carefully crafted battle plan. But it's also surprisingly resilient, lots of your units don't care about their (exceptionally low) leadership and you can dish out a high number of high strength attacks which are either Armour Piercing or don't allow Armour Saves alltogether! Beware of shooty armies though, as they will easily pick out your Mangler Squigs and other hard-hitting units from afar and leave you with only your Night Goblins. More melee focussed opponents, especially Warriors of Chaos, however will quickly stop laughing once the first fanatic hits his Chaos Warriors and your Mangler Squig eats his Knights for breakfast.
*'''Orc tribe / Goblin tribe''': Just regular Orcs and Black Orcs or just regular Goblins and all their respective units. Snotlings go anywhere, Giant fits both, Trolls are also pretty much fine. Not as much fun as the other fluffarmies but still themed. These armies are still functioning pretty much all-round, but you lack some of the hardest hitters.

Orcs & Goblins already are a challenging army to field (competitively, at least) and by restricting yourself in the army composition you make it even worse. If you want to have a fun game where anything can happen (really, anything!), you might enjoy this. And this is an excellent area for you and your gaming group to have some custom rules as well!

==See Also==
* [[Orcs_&_Goblins|Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}

[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Orcs & Goblins

2020-08-03T15:31:39Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Core Units */

==Why Play Orcs & Goblins==
The great Green Tide is the army for any player wishing to field an army with an insane number of models and perhaps the widest variety of options per force org slot in the game. The level of army customization for O&G, as a result, is almost unparalleled. Orcs are right killy and excel in their specialized role of cc, but tend to suffer from their terrible leadership and initiative stats. In addition, their latest edition reintroduced the Animosity special rule, which can effectively cripple any given O&G unit and spoil any plans you may have so carefully formed. All in all, this army is often for those who wish to have lots of fun without being particularly competitive. However, like most armies, they have a couple of army builds that are very competitive and can do well in most situations given a competent general. Plus, you can fling hang gliding goblins at people.

==Army Special Rules==

*'''Animosity:''' The signature rule of Orcs, and general annoyance which must be worked around. At the start of each turn, you must roll a d6 for each unit that has 5 or more models, that's not in melee, and such. If said unit rolls a 1, it gets to roll another die to stand still, losing any and all ability to move, shoot, or cast spells, unless it rolls a 6, in which case the unit gets a free pivot, and a free mandatory move towards the closest enemy unit.
**Although you can mitigate the worst effects of animosity with redundant small units, or sticking to units with small model counts, this becomes particularly annoying if you want to run a more magic-heavy Orc army. Such a build is questionable given that Orcs & Goblins have to take Azhag or a Wizarding Hat if they want access to BRB Lores, but it still becomes annoying when a unit of Boarboyz gets a glorious flanking charge off, only for the only nearby Goblin Shaman to be unable to cast Sneaky Stabbin'.

*'''Choppas:''' This ability is what makes Orc units proppa in a fight. Basically, Orcs (and only Orcs) get +1 Strength to their attacks on the first round of an ongoing combat. This is regardless of charges or being charged, and applies to bonuses granted by Magic weapons and armor.

*'''Size Matters:''' Basically, Orcs ignore Goblins for purposes of Panic, and Giants ignore Orcs and Goblins for Panic. The main advantage of this rule is that you can run Wolf Riders without fearing that they'll start a panic chain to any Orcs behind them.

==Unit Analysis==

===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====

'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named as wholes from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' The named Boar-Boss for the army and Fantasy equivalent of [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]], Gorbad has some seriously awesome gear and rules. He carries a huge choppa that Always Strikes First, inflicts d3 multiple wounds, and ignores armor, and his stat-line insures that he won't be going away anytime soon. The real reason you'll be taking Ironclaw is for his strategic bonuses: he can help any unit within 18" with their animosity rolls should they fail and grants Hold Your Ground! and Inspiring Presence to all units in that range as well. He also counts as both your general AND battle standard bearer, which is both a bonus and a curse. On top of all this, your normal limit on the big 'uns upgrade is now available to as many orc boy and boar boy units as you can field with it. His only disadvantage is his high point cost (coming in at almost 400 points!) and complete lack of ward save, and therefore this fellow is often reserved for larger games. Him being both the general and the BSB is sometimes terrible. If he breaks from combat he automatically dies, because the BSB stands his ground defending the banner and is killed. Definitely not worth it at all as a fighter general. However, Gorbad comes into his own as a "Leadership Bunker." Put him in a unit of wolf riders and you can use his huge leadership bubble and animosity table bonus to stabilize your army.

*'''Azhag the Slaughterer:''' At well over 500 points, this is the ultimate point sink for your army. This one model and his wyvern will consume your entire Lord slot in even very large games, and probably will never be a realistic unit (End Times, please! Take him in 2000pts if you like) to field. That said, he is possibly the biggest bad-ass in the army. He basically makes your units within his range immune to Animosity, has a pair of magic weapons that get re-rolls in cc, 4+/5++, and a crown that makes him a level 3 lore of death wizard (and unfortunately gives him stupidity, but the advantages seem to outweigh this little issue). Additionally, he of course rides his mighty wyvern, Skullmuncha, who shares a similarly insane statline with Azhag, has poisoned attacks, and gets a 4+ scaly skin save. Unfortunate you'll probably never actually get to use this sexy green beast. Also, his model is ''obscenely'' expensive even by GW's standards.

*'''Wurrzag, Da Great Green Prophet:''' Another 350 point lord, Wurrzag is the ultimate choice for anyone centering their O&G army around Shamans. This mean, green, son of a bitch puts out an absolutely retarded amount of magical power since he has a magic item that allows him to store any unused power dice for a turn, a bound spell in his mask, a 5++, and a staff that gives him magic resistance 3 and re-rolls on miscasts. Additionally, he has a unique spell that can reduce enemy casters within 12" to squigs. Perhaps the main issues with Wurrzag are his mediocre statline and his inability to take the Lucky Shrunken Head. He's also frenzied, but that's less of an drawback in this edition than it used to be. All in all, there are few things as entertaining as getting a good magic roll and watching someone's Archaon get turned into a squig.

*'''Grom the Paunch of Misty Mountain:''' The first Lord choice to be mentioned under 300 points (barely), Grom is the ultimate gobbo boss and the named character for Goblin war chariots. This model completely changes the way Goblins play, ignoring the normal Fear Elves rule, granting this onto EVERY other goblin unit in the army. He also has a 5+/5++ and has a magic weapon that gives him +2 to strength and killing blow, which goes up to a 5+ killing blow vs Elves. He has regeneration as well, and he has a little night goblin buddy that carries the battle standard for your army. A very good choice if you plan on mulching a ton of sissy Elves or if you field a lot of Goblin units.

*'''Skarsnik, Warlord of the Eight Peaks:''' Slightly cheaper than Grom, Skarsnik is best in a night goblin themed army. He has an awesome magic staff that fires d3 s6 hits that ignore armor, and this multiplies when he's near other night goblins. His buddy is a fat squig named Gobbla, who gives Skarsnik some real fighting power in cc (not to mention SIX WOUNDS. On a GOBLIN). Skarsnik has some great special rules too, the main one being that he can randomly force enemy units into reserves at the start of the game (perfect for ruining any 'just as planned' strategies), and he also gives night goblin units the ability to move and shoot in the same turn they recover from running from a combat; it is strongly recommended any such screening units take Musicians, and angle themselves to fall back towards your General. The Bad: he has no good armor save to speak of and his huge base size (40x60mm) means he's getting picked out by almost the entire enemy unit in combat unless you place him properly. Namely place him in a corner. That way opponent during charge have to touch and fight with most models at time. Which means if you are wide enough he have to charge mainly on your rank and file gobbos instead of Skarsnik and he will meet with only one opponent if you are lucky. Also it is not a big deal to make opponent's time hard to attack as making double flee with your big bosses never was easier than while using them with Skarsnik. Solid choice but needs a lot of list tailoring and result is certainly not best.

*'''Snagla Grobspit:''' A relatively cheap hero option, his low cost is quickly lost by the fact that you have to take a unit of spider riders with him. This isn't a big deal, however, especially if you love yourself some spider riders, as Grobspit makes them all Ambushers, have Devastating Charge, Hatred (Empire), and cause Fear on the charge. Also, SOOO many poisoned attacks. Great at attacking buildings and to clear-off warmachines. Have options but still somewhat subpar.

*'''Gtilla da Hunter:''' Basically Snagla, but mounted on a Giant Wolf and meant for shooting instead of combat. Only way to provide some BS shooting not based on Spiderbanner and big hordes. Da Howlerz with Gitilla are marching for 18", vanguarding, fast-cav, shooting platform hitting at 3+ (if no cover and short distance) with armour save of 4+. Gitilla adds firepower a bit and provides unit with ability of re-rolling flee and pursue rolls and hero stat-line helping in minor chaff game. Basically very tactical, gobliny unit which, although vulnerable, can be real nuissance for enemy.

*'''Grimgor Ironhide:''' If Gorbad is the Ghazghkull equivalent then Grimgor is the Ork himself reincarnated as a Fantasy character, and very certainly the most angry greenskin in existence. One of the cheapest of the Orc named characters, but quite possibly the best if you have a particular fondness for Black Orcs. Grimgor must take a unit of Black Orcs as his retinue and gives them all +1 WS and hatred (everyone!), sadly he cannot leave that unit and noone can join them. As the army's ultimate close-combat monster, he has 1+/5++, a positively nightmarish stat-line, an essentially s7 weapon (s8 in first turn)... and on top of it all Always Strikes First! Grimgor, quite frankly, will absolutely kill anything if you get him to cc and will take an insane amount of punishment from ranged attacks on the way there. The bad: With both Grimgor and the black orcs having to be joined, it's a huge pile of eggs in a single basket. However you would still put him in bigass horde even if this was not mandatory. Hint for fun: give the unit standard bearer Banner of Eternal Flame so unit will be especially killy against those Regenerating things. When something with Dragonbane Gem or Dragonhelm want to interfere just bash him with Grimgor as his magic attacks are still non-flammable.

:*'''Grimgor: Incarnate of Beasts:''' Now Grimgor is bound to the Wind of Beasts for 105 more points. He has +1 strength, toughness, and attacks and he can now re-roll to-hit and to-wound in a challenge and has an Innate Bound Augment Spell (Casting 6+) that grants all friendly O&G and [[Ogre Kingdoms|OK]] units +1 Strength/Toughness until the next magic phase. Whats more he is no longer bound to join the Immortulz and other character can join them freely which is great advantage in comparison to Ironhide. Unlike other Incarnates, he lacks a mount and lacks any other innate benefits, making the need to upgrade him a debatable matter.

====Generic Characters====

'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''Orc Boss:''' Your quintessential Orky army leader. He comes in both Lord and Hero form and can be mounted on a chariot, boar, or wyvern. He doesn't have the killing power of the savage orc boss or the animosity quelling of the black orc, but he IS cheaper. Call him "warboss on a budget."

*'''Savage Orc Boss:''' Comes with the same options as the orc boss, but has a natural ward save and frenzy. This is a great one to run in a savage orc unit, as his ward save gets better with the Lucky Shrunken Head and his frenzy isn't as much of an issue in an already frenzied unit.

*'''Black Orc Boss:''' The Black Orc boss is a significantly more expensive upgrade over the regular orc boss. However, it gives the black orc boss +1 WS and the ability to switch between two hand weapons, a hand weapons and a shield, or a great weapon at the start of each close combat phase if not equipped with a magic weapon. Most important of all, he has the "Quell Animosity" rule. If he's in the unit and it squabbles, the Black Orc knocks heads, does a few wounds, and makes the unit work as normal. This guy is is a staple of most competitive lists.

*'''Goblin Boss:''' Not much more to be said here. Come standard and in night form, have a wide variety of customization, and can mount chariots, giant spiders, giant wolves, and giant squigs (making them the only units who can roll with your squig-hoppers. Slap one in a squad of those guys and watch their danger level shoot waaay up). Fielding multiple goblin bosses with great weapons is a fantastic way to give an otherwise fairly defenseless unit some real punch.
*'''Orc Shaman:''' All the same customization options as Bosses, but they're wizards of the Big Waaagh! The Orcish lore of magic primarily focuses on damage spells, and boy do they do it well. Roll well and you'll be slapping foot-shaped templates all over the board. Just be sure to give them a ward-save for when they inevitably end up miscasting. Give a savage orc shaman the lucky shrunken head item and pile him in with your savage orc mob and the entire unit will benefit from 5+ ward saves, rather than 6+.

*'''Goblin Shaman:''' The lore of Little Waaagh! focuses on hexes and irritating the ever loving shit out of your opponent. Field multiples of the hero form of these buggers with your night goblin units for extra . On a good round of magic, you'll get much more channeling attempts and you can quite remorselessly attempt some irresistible force casts, since after all, you have like 10 shamans on the field. Night Goblin Shamans also come with Magic Mushrooms, which improve EVERY casting roll - you must roll for the shroom after every casting attempt; free power dice!! The thing to remember about Goblin Shamans vs. Night Goblin Shamans is that if you want a level 4 goblin caster, the regular goblin is superior to the night goblin. But in low level casters, the night goblin is better. This is due to the mushroom dice. A 1 rolled on a mushroom die shuts down the caster for the turn. This is a big risk for a level 4 caster. Better to take level 1 or 2 night goblin shamans so that if one rolls a 1, you can cast other spells with different shamans.

====Mounts====

*'''War Boars''': War Boars are awesome. They give your guy a 2+ bonus to the armour save and have a special rule called "Tuska Charge" that gives you 2+ strength on the charge. These are what make Boar Boy Big 'Uns so dangerous; a unit on the charge that deals Strength 6 attacks? ( This +2 strength only applies to the war boar, the S6 Boar Boy Big 'Uns you speak of are a combination of s4 + spear + 'Choppas' ). A good choice for a boss that is going to join a unit of Boar Boyz, otherwise keep in mind what unit your Lord or Hero is going to join.

*'''Giant Wolf''': For fast cavalry mounts, a Giant Wolf is quick, but altogether has the same stats as a normal Goblin warrior +1 I and WS. A great mount for a Goblin hero that's going to be attached to a Wolf Riders. The Giant Wolf has also given rise to the "goblin cowboy" technique. Instead of running wolf riders, you can run a cheap goblin boss on a wolf for similar points. The benefit to this is you have a unit with higher toughness, a better save, better strength, and an ability to tank against certain units. You can take the Dragonbane Gem on a goblin hero on a wolf and run him right into K'Daii Destroyers, Hexwraiths, and cavalry units with flaming. He'll hold them up forever. Also, you can give him a cheap magic weapon so that he can run into ethereal units and kill them. What is also important - it's Animosity free and against BS shooting can hide inside a unit.

*'''Gigantic Spider''': Haha, oh boy. This is what makes your Goblin Boss so effective. You get all of the benefits of the Spider's rules, including its Wall-Crawler ability, and you give that Goblin an extra wound. Found that you want another 3 wound character and you've used up your Lords point allocation? Give that Goblin Boss a Gigantic Spider and there you go, for only 10 points more than a Goblin Warboss.

*'''Great Cave Squig''': See the rules on the Squig section. Use at your own risk. But what's not to like? Dishes out S5 attacks (three from the profile plus stomp), gives a hero an additional wound and an otherwise hard to get +1 on his Armour Save, makes Squig Hoppers more reliable.

*'''Wyvern''': For a flying creature, it's not that bad. It has thunderstomp and poisoned attacks and it gives your general an 18 inches leadership bubble. However it paints a big cannon target on the General's chest and you want to avoid exposing yourself to any warmachine. The Wyvern is generally considered a bad idea for competitive play but don't let that stop you if you play for fun. If you don't face too many ranged threats then the wyvern can be a great addition to your army. Just remember that it's not a dragon, it can't eat entire units by itself and its primary use is transportation. Try giving your Great Shaman one of these babies and watch as he soars around the table blasting spells all over the battlefield. Very effective as a defense against pesky units and you get to actually use your augment spells in combats where you need them.

===Core Units===

*'''Orc Boyz:''' Your bread and butter unit. Orcs are tough, have decent stats, and at only 6 points a model, they can be fielded en masse (read: tarpits). Make sure to give them a musician and standard bearer of course, so they can win a combat or two. Give them extra hand weapons as well. With Orcs, it's always a great option. You can also upgrade a single unit of Boyz to big 'uns, giving them +1 strength and +1 Weapon Skill. Also remember that this unit is one of the few that can take a magic banner. Regular Orc Big 'Uns with the flaming banner or banner of discipline unit are a solid unit that's a little more dependable than Savage Orc Big 'Uns.

*'''Orc Arrer Boyz:''' Orcs...with bows. It feels so wrong... Again, they make up for their relatively poor stats in solid walls of flesh. Their access to volley fire is useful here, as it allows the whole block to fire their bows, albeit with extremely poor accuracy, but who really cares when you're putting out 35+ shots from a single unit? TWANGA TWANGA TWANGA!

*'''Savage Orc Boyz:''' Batshit insane Orc Boyz with 6+ ward saves and Frenzy (and at 8 points a piece, compared to standard Boyz' 6). These are an insane Close Combat Core choice, should they ever make it to assault(and if your enemy is smart, they may use Frenzy to their advantage, leading the squad around aimlessly with a small unit at the edge of charge range). You can give them Big Stabbaz, which give them D3 impact hits. Like most units in the army, feature a wide variety of upgrades for tailoring them into just the kind of unit you want it to be, though they are best off doing what they are meant to: flail wildly around in Close Combat, inflict as much damage as possible before inevitably dying. Another, less common (but still good) choice is to take Big 'Uns and arm them with bows. "You want to stay away? TWANG." This shooting unit can benefit from both goblin magic and/or a goblin BSB with the Spider Banner. No one wants to charge savage orcs with frenzy and Str 5, but no one wants to eat 30 poison shots a turn, either. Try to keep your general/BSB nearby to help with the frenzy.

*'''Big 'Uns:''' Big 'Uns are a cheap (2 pts.) upgrade that is more than worth it. Nearly every competitive list uses Big Uns, more specifically they use Savage Orc Big 'Uns with extra hand weapons. The resulting three S5 attacks per model for as low as 11 points will shred anything on the charge. This powerhouse is generally supported by a Savage Orc Shaman carrying the Lucky Shrunken Head which provides a 5+ ward save for the whole unit, making it quite durable as well as deadly in combat. The only problem lies in getting that unit in combat where you want it to be due to the double threat of Frenzy and Animosity that are just begging to make you lose control of it. And that crazed shaman won't be helping much either, so keeping a black orc in the unit is very helpful to prevent your wizard from running off and doing something random instead of slinging spells.

*'''Goblins:''' Your army's quintessential tarpit. At 3 points per model base, Goblins can be fielded in insane numbers. Can be upgraded with Nasty Skulkers which are kind of a mixed bag. With three attacks and Killing Blow on the turn they are revealed them, they can be a real pain in the ass to an opponent who expected to run heavily armored knights into the puny goblins and take no casualty. On the other hand, Killing Blow only works for a single turn (a shame) and does nothing to many unit types such as chariots or monstrous infantry. In fact the most interesting use of Nasty Skulkers is to use them to displace rank-and-file models. With three Skulkers and two cheap Goblin Heroes in a 5-wide unit, the opponent will be forced to allocate wounds, most likely causing the opposing force to waste attacks.

*'''Goblin Wolf Riders:''' Your army's fast cavalry. Give them spears and watch them flank charge a heavy infantry unit to death, or at least keep them tied up long enough for your chariots to flatten them. The Vanguard rule and super fast movment makes them fairly effective war machine hunters. At 10 points per model though, you're essentially paying 7 points for a wolf.

*'''Night Goblins:''' Same price as goblins, -1 to Ld and +1 to I. They come standard with shields,and can take all the same upgrades as Goblins as well, with just two differences. The first is netters for 45 points, an infinitely useful upgrade to an otherwise simple tarpit unit, netters inflict a -1 strength modifier on any unit they are locked in combat with on a 2-6. There is always the odd chance that they entangle themselves on a 1, but they are already so low strength that that should only add to the lulz. The other upgrade is Fanatics. Ohhh... Fanatics. Excuse me for a minute, slight crisis moment. Watch as the enemy player tries to blast through the squishy night goblins with heavy infantry, only to suddenly be lambasted by up to 18 s5 Armour Piercing hits as the little bastards swing insanely through them. Then watch as you animosity charge through said fanatics and suffer up to 36 hits (thanks to death throws) and lose 75 points worth of fanatics.

*'''Forest Goblin Spider Riders:''' Goblin special cavalry, spider riders can be quite useful. They pump out a small amount of poisoned attacks (spiders only), but their best trick is their ability to move right up inside of buildings and ignore terrain as they do so. Perfect for flushing well encamped enemies out of cover and the bane of wood elf players. However, their high point cost (13) (at least...higher than wolf riders) makes them sort of situational.

===Special Units===

*'''Black Orcs:''' Infantry. Black orcs have better staying power, and are one of the few units in the army that are immune to Animosity. They also have Immune to Psychology, meaning they won't panic like most of the other units in the army book. The only foreseeable issue with black orcs is that your opponent is sure to try and avoid them, and they cost twice as much as a standard boy. If used correctly, black orcs can be an excellent addition to the army, just make sure you have the spare points. One catch though. Their low I cause them to get brutally slaughtered in cc with tarpits of skaven, swordsmen, elves etc. Be sure to always use shield and close combat weapons in order to survive the combat and thus making them worth their high cost. Additionally, this is one of the few units we can take that has "can opener" abilities. Orcs and Goblins have a huge amount of str 4-5 attacks. But Black Orcs can pull out great weapons and wipe out tough, heavy armored units that would normally give them fits (Steam Tank, anyone?)

*'''Orc Boar Boyz:''' Your heavy cavalry. Though a high point cost, they have a potential to be worth it, as you are putting that awesome cc squad into assault relatively quickly, plus with high strength attacks from the tusker charge special rule. Slap a Warboss on a boar with them so they won't run quite so easy. Boar Boyz are a good unit that suffers from the same problems that plague all cavalry units in 8th edition Warhammer: the boars in a second rank don't get to attack, even though they do most of the unit's damage output.

*'''Savage Orc Boar Boyz:''' Again, not much more to be said here, simply more expensive, batshit insane Boar Boyz with some special frenzy rules and they get to take two hand weapons while mounted, one of the few who can do so. They sacrifice surviveability for more 'ead crumpin'.

*'''Orc Boar Chariot:''' What's not to love? It's a heavy chariot pulled by boars. Can easily mow enemy infantry units flat. Give it an extra crew for additional lulz and attacks. Suffers from being more expensive than the goblin chariot. both have Str 5 impact hits, so it's hard to justify an extra 30 points for a boar chariot sometimes.

*'''Goblin Wolf Chariot:''' A much faster, more fragile chariot option, better for taking on light infantry/fast cav. Unlike the Orc Chariot you can take these things in units of three. However, it's usually better not to due to leadership checks for losing just one chariot.

*'''Goblin Spear Chukka:''' Handy for killing infantry and monsters at range, but perhaps not quite as versatile as a Rock Lobba. Then again, this thing is a special choice and is much cheaper than the Rock Lobba so you could potentially field both. In fact, spear chukkas are the cheapest bolt thrower in game currently, partly for the reason that they can misfire just like a stone thrower. You can put a bully in the bunch to keep em in line. Spear chukkas are also a 2 for 1 sort of choice for the special slot, so you can take double the duplicates you'd normally be able to take. The main issue is the ballistic skill of goblins. You'll usually be hitting on 5's or even 6's with the Chukkas, so you have to be judicious in where you place them so that you can get clear fields of fire (very hard to do with Orcs & Goblins).

*'''Squig Herds:''' One of the more useful special units for O&G, squig herds are great for taking out large blocks of infantry. They put out a lot of attacks, so at their worst they can at least soften up an enemy unit for your boyz to finish off later. They also EXPLODE if they break or if all herders are killed, so a loss in combat can potentially cause quite a bit of damage to the enemy. Moving the unit forward as fast as possible and counting on them to explode amidst your opponent's units is actually called a ''squig bomb'' and very effective. Good unit sizes include 9 squigs/3 herders (squig bomb or multiple small units), 18 squigs/6 herders (flanking unit) and 30 squigs/10-15 herders (horde combat block).

*'''Night Goblin Squig Hoppers:''' Where herds are more about the squigs alone, Hoppers are a special cavalry unit. These are good for harassing enemy units and flank charging, as their relatively high speed and random movement can get them where they need to go better than herds. They only have 6+ armor save, so you have to be very picky with what you fight with squig hoppers. Having random movements actually gives Squig Hoppers several interesting advantages: They can pivot then move, giving them an effective 360* threat, and the opponent cannot declare a charge reaction against them, letting them ignore flee or stand-shoot reactions. Although they charge in the compulsory subphase, preventing them from disabling Stand&Shoot for your mainline troops, they can deny a sufficiently large area versus enemy light cavalry. Note that only a Night Goblin Boss riding a Giant Cave Squiqs can join Squig Hoppers, which lets you re-roll the random movement dice. However, said Boss will not benefit from Look Out Sir and will be cannon-bait. Squig Hoppers are both cavalry and skirmishers, so it is not worth it to have multiple ranks: Skirmishers can never disrupt their opponents when charging the flank or rear, and only the riders of cavalry models can make supporting attacks, not the mounts. And let's be honest, you're not fielding Squig Hoppers for the Night Goblin riders.

*'''Snotlings:''' Swarms of tiny little greenskins with stats that make goblins look mighty. With 5 wounds and 5 attacks a base, and the fact that they will not run, you can plant a huge swarm of these on an objective and probably hold on to it for a looong time. They can also stand and shoot a single S2 shot that ignores armor, which is highly situational at best. Save your points in this slot for something else. The only use I've found for them has been to put them on a flank and let them run towards war machines. They at least won't panic anything when they die.

*'''Trolls:''' Big, strong, and fieldable in large groups, trolls are good for keeping between your groups of Gobbos and Boyz in case they fail their Animosity rolls. Trolls are very powerful in cc, and have some great staying power due to their regeneration. Trolls can forego their three regular attacks (they can still stomp!) in lieu of a single vomit attack, which hits automatically with S5 and no Armour Saves allowed. Watch a Chaos Knight die a very inglorious death, guaranteed not to win him any daemonhood soon. Trolls do suffer from Stupidity (and at Ld4, no less), so you'll have to keep a boss with them or warboss near them at all times if you want them to actually get shit done. Think Ogres, but with a few tricks and retardation issues. Remember that Stupidity also gives you Immune to Psychology, so at least they won't panic. Trolls also come in three varieties: standard, stone and river. The cost differences here between common trolls and river/stone trolls are significant, with common ones being much cheaper with the same cc output. Common Trolls also don't come from your rare slot, so they won't take away from your important Manglers/Pumpwagons/War Machines.

===Rare Units===

*'''Stone Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting scaly skin (5+) and magic resistance (2). Scaly skin is always helpfull, but it's the magic resistance which is most useful, since it will grant you a 5+ Ward Save against fireballs and others spells from the Lore of Fire which will usually burn your Trolls to ashes, since you cannot take regeneration saves against them.

*'''River Trolls''': Same CC output as the other Trolls, but for +10pts you're getting strider (rivers and marshes) and your opponent gets a -1 to hit modifier in CC. While strider can of course be handy in the right situation, it's nothing to write home about. A -1 to hit modifier in CC is quite useful though, as it means that they're never hit on better than 4+ and sometimes only 5+.

*'''Giants:''' The ever-venerable giant. The model looks pretty pimping hot but its purpose is often limited to receiving multiple cannonballs to the face. A good choice for the purpose of having fun but not much else, the giant is generally skipped by competitive OnG lists. If you have a Savage Orc Shaman in your army you can give it a 6+ ward save but that doesn't do much for keeping it alive. There are way better choices in the O&G rare category.

*'''Mangler Squigs:''' Good. Gork. Essentially massive squigs that have been prodded by night goblins till they are insane with RAGE. Manglers behave like enormous fanatics. Point them in the direction you want them to go, pray to Mork they get there (they have no armor, so be careful), and watch as they fling out a positively retarded number of high strength hits. All in all, a very fun (if unreliable) choice for flattening units and wreaking havoc. If you can get off the "Hand of Gork" spell you have a killer combo at your disposition, you can literally win the game in one turn if you can teleport your mangler squig across the map and make it go sideway through the enemy line. Get your tear cup ready.

*'''Rock Lobba:''' A fairly standard catapult. Great for flattening Dragons, Manticores, Hydras, Terrorgheists, Daemon Princes, Skycannons and other huge things that orcs normally have a problem dealing with. Even if these juicy targets are not present, it does relatively good against hordes of cheap models. A Rock Lobba is rarely a bad choice.

*'''Goblin Doom Diver:''' Extremely powerful. The Doom Diver is one of the most accurate warmachine in the world of Warhammer and one of the most hated unit in the game by non-orc player. If people are going to name something "broken" about OnG then they're going to bring up Goblin Doom Divers. They're perfect for assassinating stuff in heavy armor or enemy characters due to their high precision and ignoring armor saves. Skullcrushers? Dead. Demigryph Knights? Dead. Dragon Princes? Dead. The doom diver suits almost any O&G force quite well and any competitive list will auto-include two of these babies. Important note: if you choose to redirect the Doom Diver then it needs to move the full distance that you roll. The implication is that if you miss a lone infantry character by 1 inch and subsequently roll 3 inches of re-direction, you CANNOT hit that character. You can only fly over the model and leave it unharmed. It's odd to think about but that's the rules. You will also note that the Doom Diver can only hit things where it lands, but in the rare instance that two units are touched by the Doom Diver's base then you get to hit both.

*'''Snotling Pump Wagon:''' Pump wagons are hilarious, unreliable and dreadfully scary for your opponent. They have random movement and the potential to veer out of control at any given time, but having 2D6 impact hits is nothing to scoff at. Remember that having random movements has its own advantages, namely that you can charge enemy units during the compulsory movement phase without giving them the chance to perform a charge reaction. This is gold when facing a fast cavalry avoidance list that suddenly find itself not allowed to perform their standard feigned flight tactic. As far as upgrades go for the Pump Wagon, Outriggas and Spiky Rollas are pretty much mandatory, with Giant Explodin' Spores being the single most awesome thing you could buy if you face heavily armored cavalry. Also Flappas are very useful, since chariots do very bad with dangerous terrain and your opponent might think his units save from your attack if there is a river, marsh or obstacle between you. Remember that as a suicide unit, the enemy will want to shoot your Pump Wagons at all cost. If you bring Pump Wagons then consider bringing Mangler Squigs as well so that the enemy cannot shoot them all. Mangler Squigs and Pump Wagons serve relatively similar purposes after all.

*'''Arachnarok Spider:''' Big fucking scary spider. The model looks fuckin' ace but it is sadly ignored in serious lists due to being overpriced for what it does on the battlefield. It just doesn't have the impact that a 290 points monster ought to have, certainly not with S5/T6 and leadership 6. Only pick it up if you're not particularly competitive or if you're certain you won't face warmachines, otherwise the thing is likely to die from spells or warmachine fire before doing anything cool. On the other hand the Arachnarok Spider is FAST and gets to ignore terrain, so at least there's that. Remember that the goblin crew is equipped with spears and therefore adds eight S4 attacks on the charge. You can give the spider a web lobber and the feeling of not being nomiated to the "Slowest army of the Game" award is a good one, even though it barely scratches Snotling. Additionally you can make this thing a super expensive Lord choice by mounting a Goblin great shaman on it and if you have done this, take the spidershrine, loremaster is a must for your only caster.

==Building Your Army==
The important thing to remember when assembling your Waaagh! is to pick a theme and stick with it. A big downfall of having so many options in the army book is that players can get overwhelmed and try to take one of everything. Mixing too many strategies together is generally a bad idea. For example, it'd probably be a bad move to mix a slow unit like black orcs or trolls in with an all mounted army; by the time these squads get there, chances are your cavalry has already done most of the work (or has been slaughtered and can no longer support your big things). Additionally, both Animosity and Panic tends to be a big problem for O&G, so you should try to build your army in a way that maximizes your bosses' Ld range and minimizes Animosity.

===Buying Your Army===
As with any army, start with your core choices and first lord or hero and build from there. Always determine just what army you are trying to build before you start purchasing. Sit down with an experienced player and discuss what units synergize best with each other if you are having trouble figuring things out.

===Army Composition===
You should be judiciously paying for standards, musicians, and characters to boost leadership. In order to lead your greenskins to victory it is absolutely vital to have inspiring presence on as many units as you can. To achieve this there are many types of army composition available to you:

*'''Orc Warboss and BSB:''' Provides leadership 9 and rerolls, a strong default choice. The Warboss is a powerful combat character and his Waaagh ability is a fun bonus, albeit small and easy to forget. You can put him on a wyvern for a bigger leadership bubble but most competitive advice will discourage you from doing so, as it is just begging to get sniped on turn 1. The Warboss does a better job on the front line, sending challenges to enemy characters and providing combat resolution through sheer butchery.

*'''Goblin Warboss with BSB and Banner of Discipline:''' An alternative to the Orc Warboss, this setup provides leadership 9 and rerolls for those who wish to stick to a goblin-only army. Generally you want to put both the General and BSB in a bunker behind the fighting troops. This makes it harder for the opponent to assassinate either the general or BSB, who are vital in this case since goblins have low leadership by themselves.

*'''Gorbad Ironclaw:''' A special character, this guy provides both leadership 10 and rerolls at the same time! Problem 1: he's a special character and they aren't always allowed. Problem 2: he's expensive as all fuck. Problem 3: he is a standard bearer and is therefore bound by the rules that normally affect standard bearers. That means he cannot run, ever. A standard bearer is automatically removed from play when a unit breaks and the same goes for this guy, regardless of whether he is a legendary badass that just happens to have a flag on his back. All things considered, unless you absolutely want to field this character for fluffy reason then you're better off with a separate Warboss and BSB.

*'''Orc Great Shaman and BSB with Banner of Discipline:''' Provides leadership 9, rerolls and magic support all at the same time. This is a pretty interesting setup since unlike most wizards, this bad dude is T5 and can actually survive in combat. Equipped with Fencer's Blade and buffed by Fist of Gork, he can even dish out a lot of hurt. He can also be made to carry the Shrunken Head in a unit of Savage Orcs Big 'Uns, in which case he will also be protected by a 5+ ward save. As usual, the biggest danger of using a Wizard general is miscasting: if the shaman gets sucked into the warp on turn 1 then you can pretty much pack your things and go home.

Regardless of what you choose, remember to stick with your army theme. Whether you want to use huge blocks of infantry, multiple small units, big scary monsters or swarms of cavalry, you don't want to end up with too many strategies on the field. If you're going to try something then you need to commit to it. An OnG army with no direction will fall apart quickly.

===Magic Items===
Anything that gives ward saves is always handy. Bosses should take magic weapons and Shamans should take things that either boost their own powerdice or fuck up the enemy's magic phase. It's also hilarious to put the one that turns enemy wizards into toads on a low level shaman as well. Lastly, if there is a magic banner that can help with Ld issues in your army, take it.
The problem with magic weapons for O&G is not about effect to price ratio actually and more about price at all and kind of effect. In fact Orcs and Goblins are just an army which dont need pricy weapons which dont let them attack faster (via ASF or Initiative). Weapons giving you more attack or more strenght are mostly ommited as they cost their share (fair) and help you kill with characters which you dont want to do for most of times! Firstly our bosses are vital in providing Leadership. Secondly they are weakly kitted for combat (speaking about base stats). They desperately need some better protection above T5. Firtly focus on making your vital characters protected - which means BSB, General, main Shaman and probably secondary shaman (last one dont have to be protected - scroll caddy should be enough). After that one should think about obvious magic protection and then you see that you either dont have points for making your characters killy or simply other units will do that better. You will end up taking cheapish magic weapons to kill damned banshees and kind. Orcs cannot be blender lords like Vampires, Chaos Lords, High or Dark Elves. They dont make good killy cowboys (partially due to bad kind of transportation). Goblins can be instead cheapish cowboys. Ther is no place for pricy magic weapons and better come to terms with it if you want to play competitively.
The following are the O&G specific magic items:

*'''Battleaxe of the Last Waaagh!:''' Not worth it. Getting d6 additional attacks and strength is one can of serious ass-wooping but it's unreliable and risky, on behalf of having to run a lord character completely naked in order to carry it. 50% lord points in endtimes makes this more fieldable, because you have a general with armor and talismans and stuff, and have a supporting black orc warboss take it to destroy whole units at a time.

*'''Basha's Axe of Stunty Smashin':''' Interesting item but not that appealing. Getting +1S and +1A and armor piercing for 50 points is about right but it's nothing to write home about. Skip it unless you happen to be fighting Dwarfs a lot and really hate their guts. This axe actually cost the exact same amount of points as the 3 different magic weapons with the same effects in the main book and work as a 3 in one package with the added benefit against dwarves. Is actually worth it at times, but still little pricy. It's funny to see Night Goblin wielding that weapon into scrap with stunties as he is perfectly suited for that with high enough initiative to strike first and hatred to make those attack hit the target despite inferior weapon skill (at least vs. characters and elites).

*'''Armour of Gork:''' How about no. The +D3 toughness and impact hits are nice but the 100 points price tag is completely ridiculous.

*'''Lucky Shrunken Head:''' Best magic item in the book. The Shrunken Head upgrades the ward save granted by Warpaint from 6+ to 5+ for both the bearer and his unit. It costs 50 points and can only be carried by a Savage Orc Shaman or Great Shaman so you need to be ok with sending your wizard into battle. This is not only the strongest magic item in the whole book but also the most popular, appearing often in competitive lists to support a horde of Savage Orc Big 'Uns. This item also causes the ward save of one character (Wurrzag) to become 4+ if he happens to be in the unit.

*'''Mork's War Banner:''' <strike>Horrible item.</strike> Gives magic resistance (d6) and turns magic items into mundane items when in base contact with the bearer. Woopee doo. Horribly expensive at 100pts but seems to be useful for players from top of the world on Savage BSB. If one can place characters in suitable position then it can turn off some precious magic items letting you unleash some torment of Savage Big'Uns attacks upon unprotected character. Also let you to turn off magic banners (could be funny). A lot of people find it overpriced as MR(3) can be bought for 45 points but still used by some who can use those tricky abilities.

*'''Spider Banner:''' <strike>Somewhat ok.</strike> The Spider Banner grants poisoned attacks to a unit, while attacks that are already poisoned will now take effect on a 5+. This has synergy with the spell Gift of the Spider God from the Lore of the Little Waaargh. Sadly, the 85 points price tag and the specific rules mean that this banner can only be taken by a defenseless goblin BSB. The Spider Banner is typically used to deliver a ridiculous amount of poison shots with a horde of Goblins, Arrer Boyz or Savage Orcs with bows. In the later cases, it means you have a goblin character standing next to a Orc unit which just doesn't look right. It should be noted that a list utilizing 100 night goblin archers and the Spider Banner has been having quite a lot of tournament success. Even snatching up FIRST PLACE. For an Orcs & Goblins list that's extremely impressive.

*'''Bad Moon Banner:''' Crap version of Gnoblar Trappers. Can only be taken by a Night Goblin Battle Standard Bearer and makes his unit Stubborn. Dangerous terrain tests are only taken by models that charge into base to base contact with the unit with the BSB, so only the front rank of a charging unit gets hit. Told you it's crap. Stubborn is great but goblins rarely loses steadfast and you have crown of command cheaper and in more flexible way than as magic banner on goblin BSB. Being in soft cover really doesnt change much as you just can add more bodies.

*'''Skull Wand of Kaloth:''' Situational item at best. The Skull Wand grants the bearer Terror and can unleash a curse at the start of every round of close combat, forcing one model in contact with the bearer to pass a Leadership test or automatically die. Can only be taken by a Shaman. Interesting item but made useless due to costing a whooping 75 points. Nobody wants to send an unprotected wizard lord into combat, even if it has a cool magic wand. If only our shamans could be better protected and could buy that protection with Wand it would make tricky, nasty item. Also Ld test are nowadays pretty easy to pass.

===Magic===
As mentioned previously, O&G Shamans get access to two unique lores: the Big Waaagh! (orcs), and the Little Waaagh! (goblins). Where most of your damage spells will be coming from the Big Waaagh!, Little Waaagh! spells focus on debuffs for your opponent and buffs for you. Often times you may want to take one of each type so you can access both lores, and generally this is what you should do. Additionally, sometimes greater numbers of lesser shamans can be more effective than a single great shaman, as with the typical greenskin Ld they will be miscasting at least once a game. It's always nice to have backup casters when your main one's head explodes in a shower of magical gore and brains (and it WILL).

The best magic combo is usually a level 4 Savage Orc Shaman and a level 1 (or 2) night goblin shaman. The Savage Orc usually totes the lucky shrunken head and the night goblin totes a dispel scroll. The night goblin is either a level 1 with the ruby ring of ruin or a level 2.

With this combo, you have plenty of options to choose from.

As far as spells go:

Instead of writing about them, there's an article by a member of Da Warpath (Orc & Goblin website) about our magic. It's written better than anything else I could say. Plus, I'm lazy. Go here to read and be amazed by what our magic can do for you.

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_Warpath/index.php?showtopic=33291

==Tactics==

'''How Does The Army Play?'''

The Orc and Goblin army plays a little differently than you'd expect. The main thing that you'll see across almost all O&G armies is 2-3 pretty big blocks of troops backed up by lots of chaff units and war machines. The army works best by softening up the opponent with shooting and magic while using chaff units to hold up/redirect big units and assassinate war machine hunters. Once the opponent's war machine hunters are dead, the O&G player picks his/her combats by using redirectors (wolf riders, heroes on wolves), board denial units (pumpwagons, manglers), and countercharging the units that were weakened with shooting and magic. This changes depending on the opponent's army, but you'll usually see variations on this strategy.

'''Typical Things You'll Usually See in a Competitive List'''

* Savage Orc Big 'Uns (30+) with Savage Shaman (and Lucky Shrunken Head)
* Big troll blocks, usually 8 or more
* Rock Lobbas and Doom Divers
* Maxed Mangler Squigs
* Big Night Goblin Units (50+) with netters, sometimes with several cheap night goblin heroes toting great weapons
* Goblin bigbosses on wolves as chaff units and war machine hunters
* Multiple magic levels (usually a mix of big and little waaagh! lores)
* Black orc giving quell animosity to the magic user's unit and a BSB giving rerolls
* Pump wagons and wolf chariots

'''Tips for Playing Orcs & Goblins'''

'''1.''' Orcs & Goblins is one of the only armies where their special rule is a ''drawback.'' Elves get always strikes first, daemons get ward saves, and O&G get...animosity. Thanks, Mat Ward. We also fear elves, which is just icing on the cake. It's almost like they want O&G to be a mid-tier army. Oh, wait...they do. (Well to be fair, the orcs do have choppas, which is extremely good against armies with good armor.) Somehow this is also Mat Ward's fault. Anyway, most competitive orcs and goblins lists mitigate animosity and take a combination of units and gear that minimize it. Here are things you can do to mitigate animosity:

* Put a black orc character in a unit,especially in a unit with a level 4 caster. You don't want your unit squabbling and wasting a valuable turn not stomping the opponent into goo with the Foot of Gork.
* Take units that don't suffer from animosity (trolls, black orcs, pumpwagons, manglers, etc.).
* Use cheap goblin heroes on giant wolves instead of wolf riders for your war machine hunters.

'''2.''' Manglers and Pumpwagons are NOT throwaway chaff units. One thing I see time and time again (and used to do) is throwing the pumpwagons and mangler squigs forward. Opponents love moving a fast cavalry into the mangler to kill it. That is not a good use of the mighty mangler squig. Instead, the mangler works best as an area denial unit or a countercharge unit. To do this well, you have to shoot and magic the enemy's chaff units before they get to the mangler and step on it. After you kill the opponent's chaff, you have two great options:

* Area Denial- You move the mangler in front of their expensive unit. They can either stop (giving you more time to Doom Diver/Rock Lobba/Magic/Foot/Curse/Throw Rocks at the unit and soften it up. Alternately, they can walk through it, taking the 3D6 hits and likely decimating the unit.

* Countercharge- Orcs and Goblins aren't a super fast army. Almost every army (unless it's Tomb Kings) is going to be faster than you. Orcs and Goblins excel at taking charges and countercharging in the flank. With mangler squigs, you can hide them behind your lines and throw them against the side of the table (they stay still this way, but you take a dangerous terrain test). When the enemy charges you, you can throw the mangler through the enemy units. Usually by this point they're all lined up for you because they've charged your Savage Orc horde or Night Goblin horde.

Pumpwagons are similar, but have a few slightly different uses. With outriggas, the pumpwagon has a huge threat range. They work great in the early game by protecting your war machines on the edges of the table. You can throw them into the side of the table to stop their movement and then turn and charge when the enemy gets near. After that, they work great as countercharge units (throwing them into the flanks of enemies trying to charge you).

==Themed Armies==

Orcs & Goblins offer Fluffbunnies (like me) great ways for themed armies. They have probably the biggest roster and many units fulfill similar roles. So instead of a large Waaagh! which draws from all greenskins, you can limit yourself and only pick matching units like:

*'''Wild Ones''': Savage Orcs and Forest Goblins, with everything they bring to the table. Savage Boar Boys, Forest Goblin Spider Riders, Arachnarok Spider, Snotlings, nothing mechanical! Thematically superb, you'll get moral victory just for fielding such a great army. You don't have chaff infantery, lack in ranged weapons and generally cannot take lots of punches, but you have lots of frenzied attacks and are pretty fast. So get into close combat and start moshing!
*'''Night Goblins''': The second army with lots of character. Night Goblins, everything with Squigs in it, Trolls, Snotlings. Skarsnik is an obvious choice to lead your army, as he is both powerful in the magic and close combat phase and your only chance for a LD8 character. Your only core choice is Night Goblins, so a horde of them is pretty much mandatory. But it's OK, a hundred of them only cost 300pts! Always get Netters for the units with spears, every fanatic you can, some heroes don't hurt. Squig herds can bring the pain (remember squig bombs as a viable tactic), so do Squig hoppers with Hero on Great Cave Squig. Your most important unit is the Mangler Squig, don't leave your cave without two of them. Trolls fit thematically (also live in caves) and snotlings are everywhere. And where there are Snotlings, they're going to build a Pumpwagon. Forgeworld introduced the Squig Gobba, which you can of course field. If you don't have/like the rules, just count it as a Night Goblin themed Doom Diver, the rules fit pretty well (and the Doom Diver is excellent, so that one doesn't hurt. You.). This army is lots of fun, because it's so unreliable. Your Night Goblins are subject to animosity and they can be easily panicked, trolls have stupidity and virtually no leadership, all the while your hardest hitters have random movement and can have some fatal mishaps. Lots of things to go wrong and ruin your carefully crafted battle plan. But it's also surprisingly resilient, lots of your units don't care about their (exceptionally low) leadership and you can dish out a high number of high strength attacks which are either Armour Piercing or don't allow Armour Saves alltogether! Beware of shooty armies though, as they will easily pick out your Mangler Squigs and other hard-hitting units from afar and leave you with only your Night Goblins. More melee focussed opponents, especially Warriors of Chaos, however will quickly stop laughing once the first fanatic hits his Chaos Warriors and your Mangler Squig eats his Knights for breakfast.
*'''Orc tribe / Goblin tribe''': Just regular Orcs and Black Orcs or just regular Goblins and all their respective units. Snotlings go anywhere, Giant fits both, Trolls are also pretty much fine. Not as much fun as the other fluffarmies but still themed. These armies are still functioning pretty much all-round, but you lack some of the hardest hitters.

Orcs & Goblins already are a challenging army to field (competitively, at least) and by restricting yourself in the army composition you make it even worse. If you want to have a fun game where anything can happen (really, anything!), you might enjoy this. And this is an excellent area for you and your gaming group to have some custom rules as well!

==See Also==
* [[Orcs_&_Goblins|Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}

[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Wood Elves

2020-08-03T15:21:33Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Rare Units */

==Why Play Wood Elves==
Wood Elves have been redone and almost completely rewritten. Everything has been turned on its head and old Wood Elf players have to adapt to the new changes. However they have recently not only reclaimed the title of being the fastest army but being arguably the best shooting army too. Wood Elves appear to be of equal parts of light and dark outlooks. They are the middle ground for elves. This is shown by them having magic arrows which are keyed to wounding forces of order and destruction respectively and with their best wizards having access to High and Dark magic. Wood Elves still have access to their old free wood.

Wood Elves are an army almost completely made up of trees, bowmen, or fast cavalry. They rely on speed, shooting and picking their fights. Wood elves still lack war machines but have in exchange a megaton of poisoned weaponry.

The name of their game is speed and maneuverability. By the end of turn 2 you can be behind the enemy lines, ready to unleash deadly co-ordinated flank charges, and against slower armies you can quite simply run circles around your enemided as some of the best archers in the game, the wood elves' possible greatest strength is not in their shooting, but in their prowess fighting in forests. They combine the best of both High Elves & Dark Elves when defending areas of wood. They are formidable in combat but lack staying power. You will need to use your maneuverability to ensure that you win the first combat resolution. If the elves get bogged down, they will quickly end up on the losing side.

Lastly, they have the widest variety of spells to chose from amongst the three Elf factions.

The Wood Elves require perhaps the most skill and nuance to play well, but this directly translates into them also being one of the most rewarding armies to play. Plus they're bad ass vengeful guardians of the forest, so that's pretty cool too.

Be warned that they aren't a good starter army.

In short, play Wood Elves if you want to play an army that requires a lot of skill, strategy and tactical thought to do well. You can't rely on Armor nor Warmachines or crazy shenanigans. Only a quick aim, a steady eye and a hungry forest will aid you in Athel Loren.

''(Matt Ward did have a hand in working on this book. However, GW decided to stop putting author's name in the book, most likely to preserve Watt Mard's tender feelings. What is known is that this was his last army book with GW and after having a hand in End Times:Nagash and End Times:Khaine he has now left).''

==Army Rules==

Wood Elves have four new army rules. They are the following:

'''Blessings of The Ancients''': Any model with this special rule (IE your wizards) gets a +1 to all casting attempts if they are inside a forest. ONLY when they're in a forest.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Durthu''', and '''Drycha'''''

'''Ambush of the Worldroots''': You may place a single forest (of any type, you decide) anywhere on your half of the table. It must be placed before any units are deployed. It ''must'' be wholly within your half of the table. If it can't fit, move the other terrain pieces to make room. If it still can't fit, or you're in a scenario where you don't have a deployment zone, you don't get a forest.

''See '''Army Composition & Tactics''' for ideas and recommendations on how to use this rule''

'''Forest Spirit''': Models with this rule has Forest Strider, Magical Attacks and Immune to Psychology special rule and a 6+ ward save. A weaker save, but no longer mundane like in the previous army book. Mounts do not get the ward save.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Unicorns''', '''Great Stags''', '''Dryads''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Tree Kin''', '''Treemen''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Forest Dragons''', '''Durthu''', '''Hounds of Orion''', '''Drycha''' and '''Ceithin-Har'''''

'''Forest Stalker''': Models with this rule have the Forest Strider special rule. If at least half of a unit with this rule is inside a forest, it will be able to do the following:

* They may fire with one more rank. For the purpose of Volley Fire, this means a full three ranks may shoot, before you have to round down the following ranks.

* They may fight in close combat with one extra rank than normal, just like High Elves. This is cumulative with other similar effects.

* They may reroll to wound any rolls of 1 in close combat, just like Dark Elves. Their mounts, however, may not.
**''Basically, in terms of special rules, all your elves are worse than high elves and dark elves in the open, but equal to both of them combined while in forests. (In truth Eternal Guard is more effective than Spearelves/Dreadspears, Glade Guard beats HE Archers and Glade Riders are Ellyrian Reavers on steroids; but they all cost much more. Model for model - WE are better. Point for point - WE are worse.)''

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Glade Lord''', '''Glade Captain''', '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Eternal Guard''', '''Glade Guard''', '''Deepwood Scouts''', '''Glade Riders''', '''Warhawk Riders''', '''Wildwood Rangers''', '''Wardancers''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Sisters of the Thorn''', '''Wild Riders''', '''Waywatchers''', '''Waystalker''', '''Orion''', '''Araloth''' and '''Naestra & Arahan'''''

==Unit Analysis==
===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

* '''Orion, The King of the Woods:''' Orion is what in general is refered to as a Glass Cannon: Incredibly expensive, requires a massive tax on your resources, can be incredibly powerful and yet is very fragile. Orion costs 600 points. He can also beat in almost anyone's face (9,8,8,6,5,5,9,5,10), comes with a Bolt Thrower and machine gun and is Unbreakable and Frenzy, regains a wound on a 6 at the start of each of your turns. Also comes with two War Beasts (for 20 pts) that share his Frenzy and Unbreakable rule. Here's the downside: He's only T5 with a 5+ Ward and MR 2, making him somewhat less durable than a Treeman, but more durable against spells. He's a Monster, so he has Thunderstomp too, however, he doesn't have the Large Target rule. He will drop like a fly to high volume S4 and above attacks. He also has Always Strikes First but will have trouble winning combats against large units (he'll probably tie or grab a minor win on round 1 and then start losing from then on, not that it matters so much anymore). Not great but has potential. He is basically a Greater Daemon with leafy clothing that gives units within 6" of him Devastating Charge (Everyone of your units gets DC. Including mount)) every turn. Charge him along with your Wild Riders or Warhawk Riders into something. Anything. Then watch the mother hurt of ALL the People's Elbow decend upon your foe. Nothing bar the Dice Gods will stop you. That, or Phoenix Guard. Giggle like an Elf if you get to fight in a forest.

* '''Drycha:''' Orion is fighty, the Twins are shooty, Drycha is weird. She's rather expensive for a Hero, at 255 points, but she doesn't come with nearly enough stuff to justify this. For starters, she's a Level 2 caster and only has access to Lore of Shadows. While she's reasonably fighty (she gets +2 attacks per lost wound, no life shenanigans), T4, 3 wounds and only a 6+ Ward means she's easy to drop. She needs units with the Forest Spirit rule to be effective, but while her kinda ganky Deep Strike ability seems fun, you're only guaranteed d3+1 Woods max (IE the one you brought, sitting in your half of the table, and the acorn of eternity if you buy it) it's probably easier to just have them join her from the front. Don't bother.

* '''Araloth, Lord of Talsyn:''' This is Skaw the Falconer reborn. Sadly, Matt Ward clearly hates him and has not only changed his name but made him the only Wood Elf whose sole purpose is to be repurposed for conversions. 260pts for a 4++, stubborn, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour (Seriously. He doesn't even have Light Armour, even though his model is wearing it. Wild Riders, meanwhile, [[Derp|go around bare chested and count as wearing them]]), armed with an amazing-looking spear that is...a regular Asrai Spear, and who comes with a bird. At least 60pts overpriced. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (somehow it makes the model worse in combat but not at shooting... go figure). Cute, I guess? This model's only use is to troll Tomb Kings, but with End Times taking away crumble he can't even do that anymore. Don't buy the model to play Wood Elves.
**''Note: Actually, I have found skaryn to be a pretty effective character hunter. The six to wound comes up much more often than you might think (one in three chance of any sort of wound blinding a T 4 model) and if your opponent skimped on armour for that bsb then they just became a lot less effective. Also, this guy combined with a waystalker or two can make a trolltastic wizard sniping team. Still overpriced, but not entirely useless.

* '''Durthu:''' Once again a recycled character from the far distant past which is bad. At first his stats don't look bad; Ws 7, str 6, t6, w6, 6 attacks, frenzy, hatred. But he only has a 3+ armour with a 6++ ward save and is flammable. The greatest of the Treemen can die from a single flamming bolt thrower if it gets lucky, let alone a flaming cannonball. To add salt into the wound he is only a level 1 Lore of Beasts wizard, has a pretty hand weapon of no significance save fluff, and a 2d6 str 2 killing blow ranged attack (which is awesome since he has BS7). All of this is for 385 pts. If you have already ordered the Treemen kit make a basic Treeman instead and convert a Wraithknight/Wraithlord. If you really want to play with him, get him into combat, any combat, as quickly as you can and either get '''The Savage Beast of Horrors''' to make him eat Greater Daemons/Monsters or go with the default '''Wyssan's Wildform''' to make him do 7 WS7 (rerollable to hit) S7 attacks. 666 is the name of the Beast, but 777 is carved on the Tree.

* '''Naestra and Arahan, The Sisters of Twilight:''' Anyone who makes a 'Twins are hot' joke gets kicked out of Athel Loren. As for the girls, they can be hilarious. You don't only take them to win, you take them to [[troll]]. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle gives them more wounds and t4 thanks to it being monstrous cavalry, while also allowing them to reroll failed to hits. Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since gwindalor is clearly 80pts. They have the Always Strikes First, Forest Stalker, Conjoined Destiny, and Sisters of Twilight special rules. The Conjoined destiny rule means that they must always stay together if their mount dies and that if one of them dies then she is revived at the end of her phase with all of her wounds, while the Sisters of Twilight makes Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction units in combat and Arahan gain a +1 to wound forces of order in combat. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound long bow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow which fires 2d6 str 1 poisoned shots. Between them have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons and stats: M5, WS 6, BS 6, str 4, t 3, w2, 3 attacks, i7 and Ld9. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger and BSB in the Heroes section so chose wisely. Pitty you can't take these guys on foot though...
**''Alright, someone explain this to me. Since N&A are now MC on Big G, isn't the Conjoined Destiny rule quite worthless if you get shot? Since the three birds are counted as one model, have practically no saves AND you have to use the profile with the most wounds (which is 3 for Big G), how does this work? Are they able to survive a cannon ball to the face, or does the entire model die after 3 wounds?
***''To counter that which is below, if you stick near 5 Warhawk riders you can get a 4+ look out sir, you can seriously boost your survivability. So long as one twin survives then your foes cannon ball was for naught.
***''A single cannonball won't kill them - and certainly it won't kill Gwindalor, since, according to MC rules, it can't be targeted (yes, this means that the rule that lets the mount regain wounds is useless for G). When N&A are hit, you have to randomize, according to their rules. Then you wound, then the sister that was hit probably dies; then she pops back to full life if the other hasn't been killed by the end of the shooting phase. In melee, you have to allocate attacks, as you would do with two normal characters. N&A can indeed take risks that would be suicidal for other wood elven characters. Quite worthy of the points you pay to field them.''
''

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

* '''Glade Lord:''' 145 point generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to High Prince or Dark Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which is a plus, he also dishes out a LD10 bubble. He also got an extra point of BS, probably to compensate for the loss of free moving and shooting. One new rule, The Arrow of Kurnous, lets him deal a auto str 3 hit on your opponent's general if they are within 36" of a character with the rule and in line of sight. If your foe has a caster lord as his general then I guess it will force him to deploy further back so not bad. Should not be your first Lord choice, but is by far not the worst. One popular choice is to give him Daith's Reaper and the Armour of Destiny for a stabtastic warboss.

* '''Spellweaver:''' This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now (or 185 at level 3), a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord) and most importantly, access to all rulebook lores and Dark and High Magic. Plus she can buy an Asrai Longbow for 5pts, which means that while she's hanging in the back with your Glade Guard, she can ping off the odd casualty herself, which is hilarious by the by. If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

* '''Treeman Ancient:''' While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 290 points, don't get spites any more, are lvl 2 life wizards only (who can upgrade to level 4) have a 3+ 6++, can buy magic levels, can tree whack and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. Ws4, Str5, A3, I2. I guess old age shows? Also, being an old coot, he gets the 75mm long side of his base pointed forwards for some insane reason. The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless it gets killed in combat. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T and lore of life means that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him.

* '''Glade Captain:''' This is the 75 point generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Also he shares the Arrow of Kurnous with your general so you are not punished for taking a caster lord. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

* '''Shadow Dancer:''' Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) Always Strike Firsts combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 25 points magic weapon/item allowance and for 60pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
** '''Note:''' For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
* NEVER put her into Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
** Good items to give her are Glittering Scales (most core will hit her on 6+, with most elites hitting on 5+), Bow of Loren (making her pretty shooty) or Helm of the Hunt (making her [[RAPE|RAPE]] things on the charge).
*** Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

* '''Waystalker:''' Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. Bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horrors from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7 will you care). You can also use the spell Birona's Timewarp from lore of light to increase attacks by 1 (and double movement) but, this is probably not the best use of that spell. An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 110 points with the bow of loren, 90 without. With sniper on top of that, the Waystalker can pick enemy heroes out of units with up to 5 armor ignoring attacks! (But, he would suffer -1 to hit from multiple hits AND -1 to hit from sniper, plus possibly other -1 from moving or long range etc.) So keep this in mind because even with 7 BS, if you have too much modifier on your hit chance, all the armor ignoring attacks in the world won't mean a thing.

* '''Spellsinger:''' One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent (80 points), +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to all battle rule book lores but not to the Wood Elf specific lores (ie the opposite of its sixth edition form). Shame. Take a dispel scroll and the lore of shadow or fire on this hero since their spells are the most effective at level 1/2. (Or lore of beasts and get the signature spell)

* '''Branchwraith:''' The Branchwraith has 2 advantages: 1, she's fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward). 2, she's cheap. She is 75pts and a level 1 Lore of Life wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

====Mounts====

* ''Elven Steed:'' You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.

* ''Great Stag:'' 65 points. Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]

* ''Great Eagle:'' Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.

* ''Unicorn:'' 60 points. Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant or give the wizard the Obsidian Amulet for half the cost of the unicorn.

* ''Forest Dragon:'' It's a 300 point Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really '''''is''''' a poser; the GL has same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.

===Core Units===
Currently, all Wood Elf Core units are kind of sub-optimal and are no no-brainers. But on the other hand, none of them are precisely duds either, and most can find uses (and you might as well, since you HAVE to take them). Tailor your tactics and choose wisely. Ironically, our Core units now feel more like Specials, role-wise.

* '''Dryads:''' Why Matt Ward! Dryads went from being overpowered to good to one of the weaker units in the game is the initial impression, but in reality Dryads are just trash if you try to use them in their old role. (People tend to judge them based on their old profile, understandably.) They can't take anything other than a champion and cost 330 for 30 of them - then again, they cost as much as Witch Elves and cheaper than Plague Monks, while fulfilling the same role. The Dryads can still be good, and do have a place in combat armies (which are a thing these days and we now have 10 lores of magic to back them up. Seriously, you can make them tough or strong - they work well with either buff). Most armies would kill for toughness 4 core with a ward save and 2 attacks. For 11pts you get WS 4, S3, T4, A2, I5, Ld8, hatred, immune to psychology and a 6++ save (in the forest). Though they have no armour save to mitigate the lower ward save (though they can now take it against magical attacks), and no more skirmisher, they are basically our assassins, crashing into enemy flank and tearing it shreds, while taking not so much damage in return. They are not so useful in a shooty or cavalry army, but if you are running a combat wood elf army, which can actually do well in this book, dryads and eternal guard are what you're gonna take.

* '''Eternal Guard:''' 11 points WS 5 armour piercing, ASF, stubborn, elven spearmen, who can fight better in forests. They can also buy shields too for an extra point and have a 5+ armour save. Considering that the more well protected units in the wood elf army get just a 4+ and 6++, these guys have a pretty good save. Don't get me wrong, their save will be laughed at by every army out there, (apart from beastmen) but for wood elves, it's respectable. At the first glance their cost - 270 points for 20 of them with shields and a full command squad and 390 for a horde - is a high one, but comparing them to other spearelves, for measly 3 points they gain Stubborn, Armor Piercing, +1WS and +1LD, making them an incredible anchor - almost unbreakable when within BSB range. Also, you don't take them in such big units - small units (10-15) can hold off pretty long even against elites. Many people don't like them, since these generally do not fit in with the traditional Wood Elves' Hit and Run or Run and Shoot style of play. Also, they are incredible in the now-viable melee Wood Elf lists and are one of the better places to hide your wizards.Also so durable because of ws5 If you don't kill all of them then you'll have to face them again.

* '''Glade Guard:''' Glade Guard are of debatable worth. For 12 points you get a bs 4 model with no armour, an armour piercing long bow, the option to take full command and a magic standard worth 25 points. In forests they get to reroll ones to wound in close combat and can fire and fight in 1 extra rank. They also can buy any of the magic arrows (discussed in magic arrows section). It is up to you whether you chose to deploy them in multiple small units or in one horde, though generally msu is better since they will have more time to fire. All in all, Deepwood Scouts do same job better for just 1 point more (except of course, they won't fill up your manditory 25% core).

* '''Glade Riders:''' Out of all the core choices, this is perhaps the only unit which has been priced correctly. For 19pts you get m9 fast cavalry with a Asrai Bow and Asrai Spear, who have to ambush (Being forced to ambush can sometimes be an issue, keep this in mind when taking Riders.), that can take the magic arrows. They can also take a magic banner worth up to 25pts which is neat (I would recommend Gleaming Pennant - cheap and nice for fast cavalry). Generally you will want to take these in multiple small units that can come up behind the opponents and cause havoc. In a pinch they also make good warmachine hunters. A downside of this unit is that you cannot depend on them to act early in the game, since they can only move onto the board from turn 2 onward. If you have a treeman that you don't want to get hit by artillery that could kill him in one phase, you may not want to use these guys as warmachine hunters. However, it can be incredibly fun in friendly games and is inevitable in full cavalry lists.
** ''And no, they cannot choose Vanguard deployment over Ambush deployment, because you Vanguard-move ''after'' you have deployed - which you don't with Ambush. Feel free to Vanguard-move in the model case, waiting for your ambush roll.''

===Special Units===

* '''Deep Wood Scouts:''' Don't let their fancy new name fool you. These are the Glade Scouts of the past, simply moved and renamed. For 1 point more than a Glade Guard they gain scout and skirmish and still keep the option to buy magic arrows. They can also buy a full command interestingly and can be taken in units as small as 5. Pity that you can only have so many special unit duplicates. Whenever you feel the urge to buy glade guard that don't contribute to your core allowance, choose Deepwood scouts instead. If anything they are one less unit you have to deploy at the start of a game before the roll off thanks to scout. As a side note; 12 of these armed with '''poisoned arrows''' will kill a warmachine each turn, on average, without a modifier.

* '''Sisters of the Thorn:''' The Wood Elf alternative to Dark Elf Warlocks. While wildriders rock out with their cock out and kill and get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 26 points they get a 4++, T3, BS5 and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricy, have one good spell and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at both enemy spells and any miscasts (Edit: as per the errata, MR doesn’t help with miscasts). They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer, but can be very effective with proper application.
** ''Doomfire Warlocks:'' These guys are often bench-marked a against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units (or more correctly, the sisters are a Wood Elf version of the warlocks since the DE book came out first). These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

* '''Treekin:''' Treekin are the younger brother of Treemen and not the force they once were. With the unit size limit removed, treekin can now be taken in hordes and with a 20 point reduction, they won't eat up as much of your points. Compared to an O&G troll for the same price, treekin suffer from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). Overall treekin are evenly matched with river and stone trolls as they should be for the same point cost. They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 45 points you get S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, Stomp, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, cause fear, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win (unless you have the lore of light unbreakable spell or other buffing spells to improve armor or toughness).
** ''Additional Thought:'' Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin have enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

* '''Wardancer Troupe:''' Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor piercing and killing blow, second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance [[AWESOME|strips your foe of their rank bonuses]]. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they have to start in your deployment zone, and M5 does not let them cross the board very quickly, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into an on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
** Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose well, whom will you use (unless you use both).
*** As a side note, any models in the squad '''(not the whole squad - you can choose)''' can replace two weapons with an Asrai Spear. Which is kinda useless, since if you are taking more than 5 Wardancers in a single squad, you are doing it wrong.
**''It is also highly disappointing that taking a musician does not do more to help the unit of dancers. How did Matt Ward not see the connection between music and dancing?''
***''He must like dubstep. It would explain a lot of things.''

* '''Warhawk Riders:''' You think your Glade Riders are fast? Think again. These guys are one of the best units in the Army Book, acting troubleshooters, since they can bring down War Machines like they're not there, punch out shooting units, ping wounds off lightly armored units and even help out in large combats (this is only for emergencies though). For 45 points you are getting fast flying monstrous cavalry with the Asrai Bows, W3, T4, Asrai Spears, and killing blow on the charge. They deal out 1 str 4 AP with ASF as well as 2 str 4 AP killing blow hits and a stomp. Possibly, the best flying unit in the game with the exception of the frost phoenix and pegasus knights. Take as many units of 3 as you can. Also they make Great Eagles look very sad and useless.

* '''Wild Riders of Kurnous:''' While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Similes aside, they are the only fast cavalry in the game with the potential to get a 4+ 6++ and they eat monsters(or damn near anything) for breakfast. For 26 points you get a WS5, S4, T3, model on stagback with light armour, which can buy a shield for 2 extra points, Full Command for 30, and a magic banner up to 50pts. In combat they dish out 3 str 5 AP, ASF and 2 str 4 attack on the charge, thanks to frenzy (which also applies to the mounts) asrai spears for +1 strength on the charge and devastating charge for an extra attack on the charge. Conveniently they also have fear, <s>which is always nice when facing something else with terror</s> You do know that Frenzy makes you Immune to Psychology, right? A unit of 5 on the charge with a champion will cause an average of 12 wounds with -3 to armour and 4 Wounds with -1 to anything at T3 with less than WS5 - that unit is looking a lot less threatening with 15 less guys now isn't it. Also have a lot more staying power than most other cav, retaining 4 st4 attacks per model until you lose frenzy. That's better than having lances. Also, they keep their spears in following rounds, so their attacks still have AP. Bear in mind, they're reliant on a 4+ 6++ (one of the best saves the wood elves get is still not that good), so don't get them charged, or they will die in troves. ''Ironically enough, they are no longer Forest Spirits, but their new models actually look like forest spirits, unlike their older models of regular elves.'' (Don't let them get charged, they suddenly hurt a lot less. 2 S4 armor piercing attacks per is just "ok"). These units are not very useful in a head-on charge due to the enemy stepping up (unless you wipe out the entire unit!) but, they are excellent at charging from the rear. However, due to frenzy, it might be difficult to get behind the enemy without being forced the charge them head-on in the first place.

* '''Wildwood Rangers''' New to the Wood Elf Army Book, 11 points per model gets you light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and a great weapon. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead and Ogres). On the upside they are better than Great Swordsmen(In forests and against fear causers), but are worse than almost every other race's Great Weapon elites (however also cheaper per model). With the End Times bringing undead-summoning for everyone, these fellers become more useful, easily clearing freshly-summoned shamblers with their special rule. Also, if the WE use the fear causing forest for the free WE forest, placing these guys in it is awesome. Not only do they get fear, but enemies that engage them (and step foot into the forest) gain fear as well, which is not only completely useless against them due to immune to psychology, it also means they get to use that +1 attack! These guys can hit hard, but sadly they are difficult to keep alive. High initiative and ASF cancelling out the great weapons' ASL means your best bet to keep these guys alive is to fight low I enemies and kill before you get killed.

===Rare Units===
*'''Great Eagle:''' They would be reliable, cheap and versatile for 50pts. However, Warhawk costs 5pts less, has KB and a rider (who can shoot), and only loses 1WS. Take Eagles only if you are full on Warhawks, otherwise Hawks will give you much more for less points. Also they can't be upgraded like High Elf eagles. Don't bother. If you insist on using your Great Eagle models, stick a Glade Rider or Glade Guard with spear on it back and have yourself a Warhawk.
** Counterpoint: you would want to take a great eagle instead of a warhawk if you had less than 135pts to spend on flying dudes. Warhawks need to be taken in units of at least 3, and have enough whoopass to draw more attention from the enemy than the eagle. A pair of eagles is great for topping off the last hundred points in your list. Place one of these between your enemy death star and your death star so your death star can get the charge next turn. The eagle is one of the cheapest chaff units in the game. Skaven could probably field a unit of slaves for less than 50pts, but those slaves won't give you the same coverage as an eagle.

* '''Treeman:''' The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly at 225, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin and 6++ ward (in the forest). It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved seperately in case of ward saves). Also, Thunderstomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. ALTERNATE OPINION: Strangleroots are 20pts for an average of 3.5 S5 shots a turn, which against something anything glass cannon, like Witch Elves or Swordmasters, can easily make back its points. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer. If this is the best monster killer you've got, your list may not have enough Hagbane Tips.
**Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

* '''Waywatchers:''' This is potentially the best unit in the Army Book, so place your bets now on how 9th ed will nerf these guys (9th? We wish). For 20pts you get a BS5 skirmishing scouting archer who can chose whether to add the multiple fire 2 rule to his bow or to ignore armour saves with his shooting. They also come with 2 hand weapons for some mild protection against chaff units in combat, but don't expect them to be able to take the enemy head on with T3 and no armour. Everything they do is very wood elfy. They shoot well, avoid the enemy well and die easily if the enemy puts any real firepower on them. Take a unit of 5 and annoy the living hell out of your opponents. For 100pts you can thin out the enemy if they ignore them, or distract what ever the enemy sends to stomp these guys down. It actually isn't a bad idea to fill your rare allocation up with these. Keep in mind, their bows are still S3 only, so pick your targets carefully and use Withering (lore of shadows) or you're going to be sorely disappointed. Calculation of disappointment can be seen on the talk page. These guys are best at picking off heavily armored units with non-exceptional toughness. They are also useful at unleashing a small group of arrows into the foe. If facing a high toughness enemy, Deepwood Scouts with poison arrows will probably do the job better.

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

The battalion set was a good value. You could get a fairly decent army out of it. ''It is still mighty cool if you manage to find it at some backwater hobby shop (I even managed to get one with discount "'cos no one wanted it for long time" from, apparently, completely ignorant shop assistant).
The battalion shared models with regular kits, so following old guidelines still apply.

From the Glade Guard sprues, you can build Waywatchers. If you have some spare High Elf or Dark Elf spearmen/warriors, giving them a Glade Guard head can turn them into Eternal Guard. You get a ton of heads with the Glade Guard, so you're spoilt! Especially now, when they look like High Elves.

The Glade Riders you can build as Wild Riders with the spears. Or even Sisters of the Thorn.

For your Lords/Heroes choices, you can build them out of the sprues provided. You can make a mounted Glade Lord or Captain (even a BSB), as well as a Waystalker and, with a bit of imagination, a Spellweaver.

Otherwise, for the Spellweaver, the Dark Elves' plastic Sorceress is a good alternative if you don't want old/metal models.

You could make a Treeman with the LotR Ent as it's cheaper, but the two have different dimentions, so be warned.
It is taller, but can fit on a 50x50mm base that you can buy seperatly.(and still be cheaper than a treeman.)
Especially now, when Treemen are taller, slimmer and look more like -Men, than Tree-.

Dryad bits are awesome in making Wild Riders, Sisters of the Thorn and characters. Their back-branches make pretty cool saplings to add foresty clutter on elf bases. You can also glue the extra dryad arms together to make treekin looking things. It will take some patience but you can build three or four sleek looking treekin from a box of a dozen dryads. The ghetto treekin don't look as tough or macho as the GW treekin, so it is easier to picture them as just strength 4 instead of the strength 5 they used to have.

If you want Dryads and Treemen (though they've been nerf-sawed) - you should hurry to grab the Guardians of the Deepwood box, which contains three Treemen and 36 Dryads - and is actually cheaper than cost of those models combined. Either GW are trying to be kinder, or their head manager made a typo. Most likely the latter. Hurry, it is limited edition and stuff.

If you are OK with using mediocre models made from shitty resin, D&D Treant and Roc miniatures make pretty good Treeman or Great Eagle/Warhawk. Be advised, D&D resin is crappy and bendy, but they come pre-painted. The Guardians of the Galaxy Heroclix version of Groot could fill the roll of your treeman easily.

==Equipping Your Army==

'''Asrai Bow''': Just like an ordinary Longbow. 30" range, but now comes with AP.

'''Asrai Spear''': Follows the same rules as regular spears, except for having AP.

Basicly, all Wood Elf spears and bows have AP. Because inch-thick armor is of little use when there's an arrow sticking out of your eye and a spear in your throat.

===Magic Items===

No more Spites, no more Kindreds. Matt Ward, after having given High Elves a meta changing item and Dark elves at least some decent ones, he decided to balance out his previous mistakes by not giving Wood Elves any good items. He even made sure to prevent broken combos this time. It's especially surprising as Wood Elves are reputed to be Matt Ward's favourite elf faction.

'''The Spirit Sword:''' 85 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't have enough of this already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a character/champion/monster, you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens(Though it can hurt the wielder if you want to use the more amusing 6th ed rules for the sword). I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

'''Daith's Reaper:''' This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can reroll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to reroll successful armour saves. Considering you can only take this on a hero who is likely to get to hit rerolls from ASF and that 8th favours ward saves rather than armour saves, this weapon is only slightly better than useless. Buying great weapon or sword of +1 str wound be a far better/cheaper alternative.

'''The Bow of Loren:''' For 20 points you get a bow that fires your character's attacks +1 shots. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2, armour ignoring, sniping shots or on the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. This can actually be increased further through augment magic that increases attacks (lore of beasts). Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and don't get any bonus attacks from extra hand weapon). The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced. All other races ranged magic items aren't though...

'''Helm of the Hunt:''' For 20pts you get a dragon helm which instead of giving you a 2++ vs flaming attacks, gives you the devastating charge special rule and +1 ws on the charge. Cute I guess for Wood Elves but is it really worth it? Basically, it allows you to make a Wild Rider Noble from older editions (especially with Wild Riders wearing noticeable horned helms now)

'''Acorns of Ages:''' This is the item that Wood Elves have been waiting for. For 100pts you get d3 forests in addition to the starting one, which all have to be the same type and are deployed like drop pods, since they scatter but can't land on other terrain. Lots of tactics are circulating around this item, Drycha/Moonstone of Hidden Ways for teleporting units or almost deep striking treemen. See Talk page for tactics and stuff. As for the item - if nothing else, it's fluffy. The problem is only a couple lords even have the points to carry the thing, and it then leaves them with no points for anything else. Unless your strategy depends on having many forests (Drycha, Moonstone of Hidden ways), it is probably better to pass on this one.

'''Moonstone of Hidden Ways:''' This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 40pts you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either relies on the luck of the terrain deployment table or the Acorns of Ages. Buy another gimmick.

'''Hail of the Doom Arrow:''' If only this item was 5 points cheaper so Waystalkers could take it (This does prevent the abuse from being able to hail of the doom arrow snipe combo - <strike>almost</strike> guaranteed dead wizard. Seems like it could have been fixed better with a 'cannot be used in conjunction with the sniper special rule' as opposed to just making it too expensive to take). For 30pts, you get a 1 use str 4 armour piercing arrow that causes 3d6 hits. Some people swear by these things since they can instantly mince lightly armoured units though there are dissenting opinions. Still it is the best magic item Wood Elves have. Sadly, Asyndi's Bane was removed as a magic item, so you can no longer use the HoDA to take out an enemy unit and the guy who fired the arrow in the same turn.

'''Calaingor's Stave:''' Such a depressing item. For 20 points you get the privilege of swapping a spell for Tree Singing. Tree Singing is cast on a 8+ now and can move an empty forest d6+1 inches, which is not much more than the forest moves by being accidentally bumped. If the forest is partially occupied, then instead you can deal 2d6 str4 hits on an enemy unit that is at least partially within the forest. You can improve the spell so that, when cast on a 16+ it affects all forests within 12". If the spell could be cast more than once, was given as an additional spell, had a lore attribute, could be cast on all forests on the board instead of those within 12", cast on a 4+, to name a multitude of reasons, then it would be worth taking. Otherwise, unless you wish to move the destination forest of the moonstone of hidden way's unit or Drycha's helpers, it is the worst magic item in the game. If you really want your eternal guard to hit in an extra rank, its usually easier to move yourself to the forest than to move the forest to you.

'''The Banner of the Eternal Queen:''' For twice the cost of the Banner of the World Dragon, this banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. No thanks. The traditional overpriced banner does not fail to disappoint me even if you don't compare it to the Banner of the World Dragon.

'''The Banner of the Hunter King:''' Another banner which gives to it's unit vanguard and, that allows you to reroll the first failed charge of the game for 75pts. Dwarfs get these rules for 35pts and 15pts respectively. Also almost everything that can take this banner has Vanguard already. Competes with Calaingor's Staff for being the worst magic item ever. Well, at least Calaingor's staff only costs 20 points where this costs 75. Worst magic (or even mundane) item ever.

====Enchanted Arrows====

(Note, all arrows have AP and volleyfire, 30 inch range). All of these are available to Glade Guard, Deepwood Scouts, Glade Riders, Glade Lords and Glade Captains.
They replace the profile of regular bows wielded by models and count as magical attacks. <s>Note, that until we get a FAQ, they are ''not'' Asrai Longbows and prevent using Hail of Doom Arrows!</s> The enchanted arrows are Enchanted Items which do not prevent you from holding a second Enchanted item. As such they are NOT weapons, and do not prevent you from using the HODA. The WE book specifically says "Each type of enchanted arrow replaced the profile of the Asrai longbow with the one shown in its entry." In other words, you don't have asrai longbow anymore, you have Arcane Bodkins, Starfire Shafts, Hagbane Tips, Swiftshiver Shards, Moonfire shot, or Trueflight Arrows instead. This would technically disable HoDA even though you are replacing the bow with arrows. Correction: the profile of the bow is replaced, not the bow itself. "if a model has enchanted arrows, he must use them when shooting with an Asrai Longbow." The model still has the bow, which means it can still use HoDA.

'''Arcane Bodkins:''' 5 pts per model, confers ap -3 instead of normal armour piercing. Expensive for what they do. I prefer to do more wounds than reduce armour saves but these arrows kill cavalry like nobody's business. All the same, if your plan is to screw over enemy armour, just use Waywatchers instead. For three more points waywatchers can spite that guy with a 1+ re-rollable armour save while the arcane bodkins have a 50/50 chance of being saved. And they can also fuck up light infantry like nobody's business, if no heavy cavalry presents itself.

'''Hagbane Tips:''' 3 points per model, confers poison attacks. Amazing. This will probably be your go-to magic arrow, since wood elves have troubles vs monsters. It is nice to have Skink-like firepower on the move at 30" (With BS4+ throughout most of the shooting units, your problems will probably lie in wounding. Might as well turn those 6's to hit into wounds, and save yourself the possibility of connecting a hit that won't wound anything).

'''Trueflight Arrows:''' 3 points per model, confers no penalty to shooting whatever you do. This is probably going to be the second most used arrow. Best taken on your Glade Guard as they will suffer the most penalties (move and shoot, long range, volley fire, etc.). These should be your first choice against Skaven and their shenanigans.
*''As of now there are many opinions about the merits of these arrows which should be shared on the talk page.

'''Moonfire Arrows:''' 4 points, confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Order. Great against warmachines, which almost all Forces of Order have. BUT against war machines, poison is still better (and cheaper) unless buffed by magic. Still, in addition to putting a hurt on those war machines, this arrow can also screw with any lore of life wizards (which many Forces of Order armies hace access to) that thought they'd be using that signature spell. Especially if brought in as a surprise on scouts/ambushers (which is where you want them anyway to reach those war machines quickly).

'''Starfire Arrows:''' 4 points per model confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Destruction. Great against monsters and repeater bolt throwers. The better choice of the "...fire Arrows" duo as almost everything with Regen in the game is from a Forces of Destruction army. If you buy a unit of 10-12 of this instead of the flaming banner you can make OK monster hunters out of them. If you want, bring a small number of archers with flaming arrows and a larger poison arrow unit if you want to use that poison without the pesky regeneration saves.

'''Swiftshiver Shards:''' 4 points per model confers multiple shot, making your Glade Guards into Dark Elf repeater crossbowmen. Interesting, but Waywatchers have this basic and do this better than any of the other unit. One recommendation is to fill your core with a big block of swiftshiver shard glade guard (fun to say) and then buff them with hand of glory from the high magic. Your swiftshiver shard glade guard should eviscerate anything that is not protected by the high elf banner of game breaking. Use Arcane Unforging if you can to destroy that banner and drink your High Elf opponent's tears when they realize they might actually have to use strategy to win for once.

==Magic==

Wood elves have gone from being, magically, the least diverse race with the least choice of all when it came to spells, to the most. All Wood Elf wizards now have access to ALL rulebook lores, which is amazing for them, and the Spell Weavers are the only models who now have access to the new Wood Elf specific lores, the Lore of High and Dark Magic. Yes both are directly stolen from the High and Dark elves (this is confirmed by the fluff) but have different lore attributes (this can be seen as good and bad). As such a Spellweaver can now choose 10 lores with a chance to pick 3/4 of 72 different spells.

The following overviews are in my eyes, in the order of importance. However that is up to debate and which most important is dependant on your list and situation.

====Lore of Life====

This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie:Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and has a safety net for you, if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

====Lore of Shadow====

The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and intiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves (unless you run a LOT of poisoned arrows), as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mysitifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational.
Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

====Lore of High Magic====

This Lore is really quite neat. It has a wide variety of cheap to cast spells which give you a better shorter ranged fireball as a signature spell, a buff the complete opposite of the MMM importantly buffing your BS, a spell which dispels all effects (very useful against any foe dependant on magic) as a signature spell, a small blast, the ability to redeploy one of your units 10", to dismantle magic items and to deal a str 4 hit to all your foes in one unit. Matt Ward has also given a good lore attribute which stacks well with it's multiple low level spells. Every time you successfully cast a spell you gain a counter. If you suffer an unsaved wound, then the counter nullifies the wound. Great if you are hiding your General anywhere, but especially with the sisters of the Thorn. I feel it is very much like a proactive version of the lore of life, preventing damage rather than repairing it.

====Lore of Metal====

The Lore of Metal is mostly aimed at helping armies like the wood elves deal with heavily armoured foes. It can debuff your foe's armour, pick off standards, has a 5+ pit of shades which causes stupidity and can give your troops a 5+ scaly skin save and +1 to hit (almost everything has armour piercing already). It isn't bad but the other lores often help more. Especially since nearly all the elves have armor piercing and (one of) their best units can outright ignore armor. The scaly skin is nice though since the wood elves are lacking when it comes to armor.

====Lore of Beasts====

The Lore of Beasts lets you run train on things that you normally would not be able to run train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just death. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. The +1S also gives your army an option at S4 ranged hits if cast on a unit of Sisters of the Thorn. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells which can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

====Lore of Heavens====

The Lore of Heavens is a mixed bag.You get 2 of the spells with the largest areas of affect and potentially the biggest damage output in the game, 1 high strength magic missile, 2 debuffs which synergise well, preventing your foe from ever getting poisoned or killling blow attacks or -1 to hit and a 50/50 chance to put warmachines out of commision for one turn, a buff which makes you reroll all ones (which Wood Elves do in woods anyway) and a very situational knock back spell. Also it's lore attribute turns all of it's spells into lvl 1 fireballs when cast at something with wings. Not bad but it is often outshone. Still, can be used as a monster-hunter lore (since its damage spells inflict low number of very strong hits).

====Lore of Death====

The Lore of Death is good for situations when the enemy has some tough (literally) Lord or Hero, who laughs off your S3 sniping shots and has a chance to wreck your game - like a T4 Grey Seer with the Dreaded 13th ratifying your MSUs. Doom and Darkness also has nice synergy with Fear of your Dryads, Treekin, Treemen, and Wild Riders, and might actually cause an enemy to fail a panic test caused by shooting (giving you a rare opportunity to win with the thing your army is meant to do), while Soulblight does a fine job equalizing some S4 T4 brutes with your fragile elves. The Black Sun of Xereous kills half of everything that isn't elves (great with death's lore attribute). Between those three spells you are bound to get something great on a high level wizard. The character sniping spells are cool but just take waystalkers instead. Just a pity you can't cast Aspect of the Dreadnight on enemies (to exploit Wildwood Rangers' special rule). But, there is always a free mysterious forest which you can make cause fear (making your enemy step into it on the other hand is a bit more difficult...).

====Lore of Fire====

The Lore of Fire is best for level 1s since it comes with the best guaranteed magic missile in the game. If you lose your lvl 4 then go and pump all your dice into a super fireball. Beyond that the only spell of great use for wood elves is the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which you sadly can't guarantee.

====Lore of Dark Magic====

Pity you can't take it on a level 1. On a level 4 it isn't bad but is beaten by almost all the other lores.

*'''Power of Darkness''':
**'''''Augment'''''. While it does give your unit a much needed strength bonus and extra power dice it will eventually wear you down ( you take a wound with no armor saves if you roll a 3 for power dice) unless you protect yourself with a decent ward save. Often, you'd be best served not getting bogged down in combat. For a stupid elf trick, use when your caster is with Sisters of Thorn and watch those javelins get nasty.

*'''Doombolt''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Always take it. It gives you a much needed high strength shooting attack.

*'''Chillwind''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Is an easy spell to cast, is good against low toughness units and will help you against other shooting armies.

*'''Word of Pain''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Good against shooting/high WS armies that seek to match you prowess. The boosted version will save a lot of your elves in combat, ''especially'' since you don't have much, if any, armor.

*'''Bladewind''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Is a good choice for big blocks of infantry, like the always pleasant Slavebus or Zombietrain or even some tougher units.

*'''Shroud of Despair''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Simply fantastic when you get into combat. No Inspiring Presence and no Hold Your Ground! for you enemies. This will make breaking enemies easier, which is good, because you don't wanna hang around for Round 2.

*'''Soul Stealer''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Once again, great against big horde units/busses/trains. If you get this off, place the 3" template anywhere of the wizard within 18". You can go nuts with '''Power of Darkness''' and never worry about it, if it lands right.

*'''Arnzipal's Black Horror''':
**'''''Magical Vortex'''''. Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine. No wonder Ariel got hooked on this Dark Magic stuff... Anyway, should you get this off, pop it down and sing ''"Snitches's gonna die/This bitch is gonna fly/My wizard's rollin' high/Or she's gonna fry"''. It will then travel anywhere between 6"-40" in the form of a 3" template in a straight line (of your choice) depending on your wizards magic lvl and how much you roll on the arty dice. Everything hit must pass a strength check or die (ward save allowed). As with arty rolls, should you misfire, place it on top of your wizard and scatter it D6. It ''Remains in Play''. Every turn, it jollies around randomly, spreading more laughter and happy thoughts with another arty roll. Misfire and it will stop working. Boost it and you get to use the large 5 incher, then pray to Isha that you don't screw up. Not as powerful as the '''Lore of Death''' version, but still good fun.

It's lore attribute is best likend to that of the '''Lore of Fire'''. Everytime you cast it on an enemy unit, it creates a vengeance counter (on the unit) which activates when damage is next applied through a spell to that unit. It causes d3 extra hits when it does so, for each counter on the unit. If you can take 2 lv 3/4 mages then this is a good secondary lore but beyond the Storm of Magic I doubt it will see much use. Try it out and see how useful it is to you.

====Lore of Light====

It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against Elf armies. Against most other armies, it sadly won't be of much use, as many of the other lores gives you better options. High strength flaming attacks, superb WS, exellent skirmisher [[Troll|trolling]] and M10 A4 Unbreakable Tree Kin is nice when playing the mirror match, but again, other lores give you a better selection of choices all-round. Alternative take: -1 to be hit is nice considering your high weapons skill. Double movement can make your waywatchers/glade riders uncatchable. Unfortunately, you cannot guarantee getting either of these spells. On a level 4 wizard it is highly likely you will either get one of these or roll doubles, however. It's definitely not the best option, but it is far from useless with the right spells.

==Army Composition & Tactics==

Build your tactics around your army.
Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemies flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

*A) '''Shooty army.'''
**Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

*B) '''Fast combat army.'''
**You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

*C) '''Infantry army.'''
**Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and is now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However, without serious magical buffing, this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze.

*D) '''Hybrid army.'''
**A mix of any of the above.

'''Ambush of the Worldroots'''

''To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "'''This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it'''"

''With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Type of your choice".''

*The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

*Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

*Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

*The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
**1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
**2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

'''Tips'''

''Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later ''

*With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favour a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

*Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

*Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relative few numbers. It should also be noted that skirmishers gain stubborn in forests.

*Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge), magically buffed units (result being S5 or higher), or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

*[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION FAERIE]]: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "''Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?'', so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
**''Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

*Having trouble filling those pesky core points and don't want to give the enemy a 220 point treeman to knock down with cannons? Glade Guard can deal with warmachines after just a few rounds due to their Ambusher rule. Combine with poison arrows to really specialize in WM hunting. Since they can't charge the turn they enter, shoot at one machine and charge remaining machines the following turn. Not terribly reliable since poor rolls can delay your ambushers, but usually an amazing core unit solution to some of the only things that might challange the Wood Elves' superiority in the shooting phase.

*What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their ''Banner of The World Dragon'' on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

*Seriously consider the ''Recipe for Success''
**You will need the following:
***1) 5 Wild Riders
***2) 1 Forest
***3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and ''voilà'': 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or step up (so Always Strikes First actually helps you kill the enemy before they kill you. Also note that flanking does not remove steadfast, so unless you get your enemy within the forest, they may not run as easily). The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}
[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Wood Elves

2020-08-03T15:18:06Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Core Units */

==Why Play Wood Elves==
Wood Elves have been redone and almost completely rewritten. Everything has been turned on its head and old Wood Elf players have to adapt to the new changes. However they have recently not only reclaimed the title of being the fastest army but being arguably the best shooting army too. Wood Elves appear to be of equal parts of light and dark outlooks. They are the middle ground for elves. This is shown by them having magic arrows which are keyed to wounding forces of order and destruction respectively and with their best wizards having access to High and Dark magic. Wood Elves still have access to their old free wood.

Wood Elves are an army almost completely made up of trees, bowmen, or fast cavalry. They rely on speed, shooting and picking their fights. Wood elves still lack war machines but have in exchange a megaton of poisoned weaponry.

The name of their game is speed and maneuverability. By the end of turn 2 you can be behind the enemy lines, ready to unleash deadly co-ordinated flank charges, and against slower armies you can quite simply run circles around your enemided as some of the best archers in the game, the wood elves' possible greatest strength is not in their shooting, but in their prowess fighting in forests. They combine the best of both High Elves & Dark Elves when defending areas of wood. They are formidable in combat but lack staying power. You will need to use your maneuverability to ensure that you win the first combat resolution. If the elves get bogged down, they will quickly end up on the losing side.

Lastly, they have the widest variety of spells to chose from amongst the three Elf factions.

The Wood Elves require perhaps the most skill and nuance to play well, but this directly translates into them also being one of the most rewarding armies to play. Plus they're bad ass vengeful guardians of the forest, so that's pretty cool too.

Be warned that they aren't a good starter army.

In short, play Wood Elves if you want to play an army that requires a lot of skill, strategy and tactical thought to do well. You can't rely on Armor nor Warmachines or crazy shenanigans. Only a quick aim, a steady eye and a hungry forest will aid you in Athel Loren.

''(Matt Ward did have a hand in working on this book. However, GW decided to stop putting author's name in the book, most likely to preserve Watt Mard's tender feelings. What is known is that this was his last army book with GW and after having a hand in End Times:Nagash and End Times:Khaine he has now left).''

==Army Rules==

Wood Elves have four new army rules. They are the following:

'''Blessings of The Ancients''': Any model with this special rule (IE your wizards) gets a +1 to all casting attempts if they are inside a forest. ONLY when they're in a forest.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Durthu''', and '''Drycha'''''

'''Ambush of the Worldroots''': You may place a single forest (of any type, you decide) anywhere on your half of the table. It must be placed before any units are deployed. It ''must'' be wholly within your half of the table. If it can't fit, move the other terrain pieces to make room. If it still can't fit, or you're in a scenario where you don't have a deployment zone, you don't get a forest.

''See '''Army Composition & Tactics''' for ideas and recommendations on how to use this rule''

'''Forest Spirit''': Models with this rule has Forest Strider, Magical Attacks and Immune to Psychology special rule and a 6+ ward save. A weaker save, but no longer mundane like in the previous army book. Mounts do not get the ward save.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Unicorns''', '''Great Stags''', '''Dryads''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Tree Kin''', '''Treemen''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Forest Dragons''', '''Durthu''', '''Hounds of Orion''', '''Drycha''' and '''Ceithin-Har'''''

'''Forest Stalker''': Models with this rule have the Forest Strider special rule. If at least half of a unit with this rule is inside a forest, it will be able to do the following:

* They may fire with one more rank. For the purpose of Volley Fire, this means a full three ranks may shoot, before you have to round down the following ranks.

* They may fight in close combat with one extra rank than normal, just like High Elves. This is cumulative with other similar effects.

* They may reroll to wound any rolls of 1 in close combat, just like Dark Elves. Their mounts, however, may not.
**''Basically, in terms of special rules, all your elves are worse than high elves and dark elves in the open, but equal to both of them combined while in forests. (In truth Eternal Guard is more effective than Spearelves/Dreadspears, Glade Guard beats HE Archers and Glade Riders are Ellyrian Reavers on steroids; but they all cost much more. Model for model - WE are better. Point for point - WE are worse.)''

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Glade Lord''', '''Glade Captain''', '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Eternal Guard''', '''Glade Guard''', '''Deepwood Scouts''', '''Glade Riders''', '''Warhawk Riders''', '''Wildwood Rangers''', '''Wardancers''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Sisters of the Thorn''', '''Wild Riders''', '''Waywatchers''', '''Waystalker''', '''Orion''', '''Araloth''' and '''Naestra & Arahan'''''

==Unit Analysis==
===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

* '''Orion, The King of the Woods:''' Orion is what in general is refered to as a Glass Cannon: Incredibly expensive, requires a massive tax on your resources, can be incredibly powerful and yet is very fragile. Orion costs 600 points. He can also beat in almost anyone's face (9,8,8,6,5,5,9,5,10), comes with a Bolt Thrower and machine gun and is Unbreakable and Frenzy, regains a wound on a 6 at the start of each of your turns. Also comes with two War Beasts (for 20 pts) that share his Frenzy and Unbreakable rule. Here's the downside: He's only T5 with a 5+ Ward and MR 2, making him somewhat less durable than a Treeman, but more durable against spells. He's a Monster, so he has Thunderstomp too, however, he doesn't have the Large Target rule. He will drop like a fly to high volume S4 and above attacks. He also has Always Strikes First but will have trouble winning combats against large units (he'll probably tie or grab a minor win on round 1 and then start losing from then on, not that it matters so much anymore). Not great but has potential. He is basically a Greater Daemon with leafy clothing that gives units within 6" of him Devastating Charge (Everyone of your units gets DC. Including mount)) every turn. Charge him along with your Wild Riders or Warhawk Riders into something. Anything. Then watch the mother hurt of ALL the People's Elbow decend upon your foe. Nothing bar the Dice Gods will stop you. That, or Phoenix Guard. Giggle like an Elf if you get to fight in a forest.

* '''Drycha:''' Orion is fighty, the Twins are shooty, Drycha is weird. She's rather expensive for a Hero, at 255 points, but she doesn't come with nearly enough stuff to justify this. For starters, she's a Level 2 caster and only has access to Lore of Shadows. While she's reasonably fighty (she gets +2 attacks per lost wound, no life shenanigans), T4, 3 wounds and only a 6+ Ward means she's easy to drop. She needs units with the Forest Spirit rule to be effective, but while her kinda ganky Deep Strike ability seems fun, you're only guaranteed d3+1 Woods max (IE the one you brought, sitting in your half of the table, and the acorn of eternity if you buy it) it's probably easier to just have them join her from the front. Don't bother.

* '''Araloth, Lord of Talsyn:''' This is Skaw the Falconer reborn. Sadly, Matt Ward clearly hates him and has not only changed his name but made him the only Wood Elf whose sole purpose is to be repurposed for conversions. 260pts for a 4++, stubborn, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour (Seriously. He doesn't even have Light Armour, even though his model is wearing it. Wild Riders, meanwhile, [[Derp|go around bare chested and count as wearing them]]), armed with an amazing-looking spear that is...a regular Asrai Spear, and who comes with a bird. At least 60pts overpriced. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (somehow it makes the model worse in combat but not at shooting... go figure). Cute, I guess? This model's only use is to troll Tomb Kings, but with End Times taking away crumble he can't even do that anymore. Don't buy the model to play Wood Elves.
**''Note: Actually, I have found skaryn to be a pretty effective character hunter. The six to wound comes up much more often than you might think (one in three chance of any sort of wound blinding a T 4 model) and if your opponent skimped on armour for that bsb then they just became a lot less effective. Also, this guy combined with a waystalker or two can make a trolltastic wizard sniping team. Still overpriced, but not entirely useless.

* '''Durthu:''' Once again a recycled character from the far distant past which is bad. At first his stats don't look bad; Ws 7, str 6, t6, w6, 6 attacks, frenzy, hatred. But he only has a 3+ armour with a 6++ ward save and is flammable. The greatest of the Treemen can die from a single flamming bolt thrower if it gets lucky, let alone a flaming cannonball. To add salt into the wound he is only a level 1 Lore of Beasts wizard, has a pretty hand weapon of no significance save fluff, and a 2d6 str 2 killing blow ranged attack (which is awesome since he has BS7). All of this is for 385 pts. If you have already ordered the Treemen kit make a basic Treeman instead and convert a Wraithknight/Wraithlord. If you really want to play with him, get him into combat, any combat, as quickly as you can and either get '''The Savage Beast of Horrors''' to make him eat Greater Daemons/Monsters or go with the default '''Wyssan's Wildform''' to make him do 7 WS7 (rerollable to hit) S7 attacks. 666 is the name of the Beast, but 777 is carved on the Tree.

* '''Naestra and Arahan, The Sisters of Twilight:''' Anyone who makes a 'Twins are hot' joke gets kicked out of Athel Loren. As for the girls, they can be hilarious. You don't only take them to win, you take them to [[troll]]. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle gives them more wounds and t4 thanks to it being monstrous cavalry, while also allowing them to reroll failed to hits. Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since gwindalor is clearly 80pts. They have the Always Strikes First, Forest Stalker, Conjoined Destiny, and Sisters of Twilight special rules. The Conjoined destiny rule means that they must always stay together if their mount dies and that if one of them dies then she is revived at the end of her phase with all of her wounds, while the Sisters of Twilight makes Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction units in combat and Arahan gain a +1 to wound forces of order in combat. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound long bow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow which fires 2d6 str 1 poisoned shots. Between them have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons and stats: M5, WS 6, BS 6, str 4, t 3, w2, 3 attacks, i7 and Ld9. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger and BSB in the Heroes section so chose wisely. Pitty you can't take these guys on foot though...
**''Alright, someone explain this to me. Since N&A are now MC on Big G, isn't the Conjoined Destiny rule quite worthless if you get shot? Since the three birds are counted as one model, have practically no saves AND you have to use the profile with the most wounds (which is 3 for Big G), how does this work? Are they able to survive a cannon ball to the face, or does the entire model die after 3 wounds?
***''To counter that which is below, if you stick near 5 Warhawk riders you can get a 4+ look out sir, you can seriously boost your survivability. So long as one twin survives then your foes cannon ball was for naught.
***''A single cannonball won't kill them - and certainly it won't kill Gwindalor, since, according to MC rules, it can't be targeted (yes, this means that the rule that lets the mount regain wounds is useless for G). When N&A are hit, you have to randomize, according to their rules. Then you wound, then the sister that was hit probably dies; then she pops back to full life if the other hasn't been killed by the end of the shooting phase. In melee, you have to allocate attacks, as you would do with two normal characters. N&A can indeed take risks that would be suicidal for other wood elven characters. Quite worthy of the points you pay to field them.''
''

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

* '''Glade Lord:''' 145 point generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to High Prince or Dark Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which is a plus, he also dishes out a LD10 bubble. He also got an extra point of BS, probably to compensate for the loss of free moving and shooting. One new rule, The Arrow of Kurnous, lets him deal a auto str 3 hit on your opponent's general if they are within 36" of a character with the rule and in line of sight. If your foe has a caster lord as his general then I guess it will force him to deploy further back so not bad. Should not be your first Lord choice, but is by far not the worst. One popular choice is to give him Daith's Reaper and the Armour of Destiny for a stabtastic warboss.

* '''Spellweaver:''' This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now (or 185 at level 3), a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord) and most importantly, access to all rulebook lores and Dark and High Magic. Plus she can buy an Asrai Longbow for 5pts, which means that while she's hanging in the back with your Glade Guard, she can ping off the odd casualty herself, which is hilarious by the by. If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

* '''Treeman Ancient:''' While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 290 points, don't get spites any more, are lvl 2 life wizards only (who can upgrade to level 4) have a 3+ 6++, can buy magic levels, can tree whack and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. Ws4, Str5, A3, I2. I guess old age shows? Also, being an old coot, he gets the 75mm long side of his base pointed forwards for some insane reason. The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless it gets killed in combat. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T and lore of life means that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him.

* '''Glade Captain:''' This is the 75 point generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Also he shares the Arrow of Kurnous with your general so you are not punished for taking a caster lord. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

* '''Shadow Dancer:''' Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) Always Strike Firsts combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 25 points magic weapon/item allowance and for 60pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
** '''Note:''' For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
* NEVER put her into Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
** Good items to give her are Glittering Scales (most core will hit her on 6+, with most elites hitting on 5+), Bow of Loren (making her pretty shooty) or Helm of the Hunt (making her [[RAPE|RAPE]] things on the charge).
*** Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

* '''Waystalker:''' Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. Bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horrors from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7 will you care). You can also use the spell Birona's Timewarp from lore of light to increase attacks by 1 (and double movement) but, this is probably not the best use of that spell. An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 110 points with the bow of loren, 90 without. With sniper on top of that, the Waystalker can pick enemy heroes out of units with up to 5 armor ignoring attacks! (But, he would suffer -1 to hit from multiple hits AND -1 to hit from sniper, plus possibly other -1 from moving or long range etc.) So keep this in mind because even with 7 BS, if you have too much modifier on your hit chance, all the armor ignoring attacks in the world won't mean a thing.

* '''Spellsinger:''' One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent (80 points), +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to all battle rule book lores but not to the Wood Elf specific lores (ie the opposite of its sixth edition form). Shame. Take a dispel scroll and the lore of shadow or fire on this hero since their spells are the most effective at level 1/2. (Or lore of beasts and get the signature spell)

* '''Branchwraith:''' The Branchwraith has 2 advantages: 1, she's fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward). 2, she's cheap. She is 75pts and a level 1 Lore of Life wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

====Mounts====

* ''Elven Steed:'' You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.

* ''Great Stag:'' 65 points. Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]

* ''Great Eagle:'' Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.

* ''Unicorn:'' 60 points. Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant or give the wizard the Obsidian Amulet for half the cost of the unicorn.

* ''Forest Dragon:'' It's a 300 point Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really '''''is''''' a poser; the GL has same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.

===Core Units===
Currently, all Wood Elf Core units are kind of sub-optimal and are no no-brainers. But on the other hand, none of them are precisely duds either, and most can find uses (and you might as well, since you HAVE to take them). Tailor your tactics and choose wisely. Ironically, our Core units now feel more like Specials, role-wise.

* '''Dryads:''' Why Matt Ward! Dryads went from being overpowered to good to one of the weaker units in the game is the initial impression, but in reality Dryads are just trash if you try to use them in their old role. (People tend to judge them based on their old profile, understandably.) They can't take anything other than a champion and cost 330 for 30 of them - then again, they cost as much as Witch Elves and cheaper than Plague Monks, while fulfilling the same role. The Dryads can still be good, and do have a place in combat armies (which are a thing these days and we now have 10 lores of magic to back them up. Seriously, you can make them tough or strong - they work well with either buff). Most armies would kill for toughness 4 core with a ward save and 2 attacks. For 11pts you get WS 4, S3, T4, A2, I5, Ld8, hatred, immune to psychology and a 6++ save (in the forest). Though they have no armour save to mitigate the lower ward save (though they can now take it against magical attacks), and no more skirmisher, they are basically our assassins, crashing into enemy flank and tearing it shreds, while taking not so much damage in return. They are not so useful in a shooty or cavalry army, but if you are running a combat wood elf army, which can actually do well in this book, dryads and eternal guard are what you're gonna take.

* '''Eternal Guard:''' 11 points WS 5 armour piercing, ASF, stubborn, elven spearmen, who can fight better in forests. They can also buy shields too for an extra point and have a 5+ armour save. Considering that the more well protected units in the wood elf army get just a 4+ and 6++, these guys have a pretty good save. Don't get me wrong, their save will be laughed at by every army out there, (apart from beastmen) but for wood elves, it's respectable. At the first glance their cost - 270 points for 20 of them with shields and a full command squad and 390 for a horde - is a high one, but comparing them to other spearelves, for measly 3 points they gain Stubborn, Armor Piercing, +1WS and +1LD, making them an incredible anchor - almost unbreakable when within BSB range. Also, you don't take them in such big units - small units (10-15) can hold off pretty long even against elites. Many people don't like them, since these generally do not fit in with the traditional Wood Elves' Hit and Run or Run and Shoot style of play. Also, they are incredible in the now-viable melee Wood Elf lists and are one of the better places to hide your wizards.Also so durable because of ws5 If you don't kill all of them then you'll have to face them again.

* '''Glade Guard:''' Glade Guard are of debatable worth. For 12 points you get a bs 4 model with no armour, an armour piercing long bow, the option to take full command and a magic standard worth 25 points. In forests they get to reroll ones to wound in close combat and can fire and fight in 1 extra rank. They also can buy any of the magic arrows (discussed in magic arrows section). It is up to you whether you chose to deploy them in multiple small units or in one horde, though generally msu is better since they will have more time to fire. All in all, Deepwood Scouts do same job better for just 1 point more (except of course, they won't fill up your manditory 25% core).

* '''Glade Riders:''' Out of all the core choices, this is perhaps the only unit which has been priced correctly. For 19pts you get m9 fast cavalry with a Asrai Bow and Asrai Spear, who have to ambush (Being forced to ambush can sometimes be an issue, keep this in mind when taking Riders.), that can take the magic arrows. They can also take a magic banner worth up to 25pts which is neat (I would recommend Gleaming Pennant - cheap and nice for fast cavalry). Generally you will want to take these in multiple small units that can come up behind the opponents and cause havoc. In a pinch they also make good warmachine hunters. A downside of this unit is that you cannot depend on them to act early in the game, since they can only move onto the board from turn 2 onward. If you have a treeman that you don't want to get hit by artillery that could kill him in one phase, you may not want to use these guys as warmachine hunters. However, it can be incredibly fun in friendly games and is inevitable in full cavalry lists.
** ''And no, they cannot choose Vanguard deployment over Ambush deployment, because you Vanguard-move ''after'' you have deployed - which you don't with Ambush. Feel free to Vanguard-move in the model case, waiting for your ambush roll.''

===Special Units===

* '''Deep Wood Scouts:''' Don't let their fancy new name fool you. These are the Glade Scouts of the past, simply moved and renamed. For 1 point more than a Glade Guard they gain scout and skirmish and still keep the option to buy magic arrows. They can also buy a full command interestingly and can be taken in units as small as 5. Pity that you can only have so many special unit duplicates. Whenever you feel the urge to buy glade guard that don't contribute to your core allowance, choose Deepwood scouts instead. If anything they are one less unit you have to deploy at the start of a game before the roll off thanks to scout. As a side note; 12 of these armed with '''poisoned arrows''' will kill a warmachine each turn, on average, without a modifier.

* '''Sisters of the Thorn:''' The Wood Elf alternative to Dark Elf Warlocks. While wildriders rock out with their cock out and kill and get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 26 points they get a 4++, T3, BS5 and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricy, have one good spell and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at both enemy spells and any miscasts (Edit: as per the errata, MR doesn’t help with miscasts). They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer, but can be very effective with proper application.
** ''Doomfire Warlocks:'' These guys are often bench-marked a against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units (or more correctly, the sisters are a Wood Elf version of the warlocks since the DE book came out first). These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

* '''Treekin:''' Treekin are the younger brother of Treemen and not the force they once were. With the unit size limit removed, treekin can now be taken in hordes and with a 20 point reduction, they won't eat up as much of your points. Compared to an O&G troll for the same price, treekin suffer from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). Overall treekin are evenly matched with river and stone trolls as they should be for the same point cost. They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 45 points you get S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, Stomp, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, cause fear, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win (unless you have the lore of light unbreakable spell or other buffing spells to improve armor or toughness).
** ''Additional Thought:'' Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin have enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

* '''Wardancer Troupe:''' Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor piercing and killing blow, second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance [[AWESOME|strips your foe of their rank bonuses]]. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they have to start in your deployment zone, and M5 does not let them cross the board very quickly, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into an on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
** Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose well, whom will you use (unless you use both).
*** As a side note, any models in the squad '''(not the whole squad - you can choose)''' can replace two weapons with an Asrai Spear. Which is kinda useless, since if you are taking more than 5 Wardancers in a single squad, you are doing it wrong.
**''It is also highly disappointing that taking a musician does not do more to help the unit of dancers. How did Matt Ward not see the connection between music and dancing?''
***''He must like dubstep. It would explain a lot of things.''

* '''Warhawk Riders:''' You think your Glade Riders are fast? Think again. These guys are one of the best units in the Army Book, acting troubleshooters, since they can bring down War Machines like they're not there, punch out shooting units, ping wounds off lightly armored units and even help out in large combats (this is only for emergencies though). For 45 points you are getting fast flying monstrous cavalry with the Asrai Bows, W3, T4, Asrai Spears, and killing blow on the charge. They deal out 1 str 4 AP with ASF as well as 2 str 4 AP killing blow hits and a stomp. Possibly, the best flying unit in the game with the exception of the frost phoenix and pegasus knights. Take as many units of 3 as you can. Also they make Great Eagles look very sad and useless.

* '''Wild Riders of Kurnous:''' While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Similes aside, they are the only fast cavalry in the game with the potential to get a 4+ 6++ and they eat monsters(or damn near anything) for breakfast. For 26 points you get a WS5, S4, T3, model on stagback with light armour, which can buy a shield for 2 extra points, Full Command for 30, and a magic banner up to 50pts. In combat they dish out 3 str 5 AP, ASF and 2 str 4 attack on the charge, thanks to frenzy (which also applies to the mounts) asrai spears for +1 strength on the charge and devastating charge for an extra attack on the charge. Conveniently they also have fear, <s>which is always nice when facing something else with terror</s> You do know that Frenzy makes you Immune to Psychology, right? A unit of 5 on the charge with a champion will cause an average of 12 wounds with -3 to armour and 4 Wounds with -1 to anything at T3 with less than WS5 - that unit is looking a lot less threatening with 15 less guys now isn't it. Also have a lot more staying power than most other cav, retaining 4 st4 attacks per model until you lose frenzy. That's better than having lances. Also, they keep their spears in following rounds, so their attacks still have AP. Bear in mind, they're reliant on a 4+ 6++ (one of the best saves the wood elves get is still not that good), so don't get them charged, or they will die in troves. ''Ironically enough, they are no longer Forest Spirits, but their new models actually look like forest spirits, unlike their older models of regular elves.'' (Don't let them get charged, they suddenly hurt a lot less. 2 S4 armor piercing attacks per is just "ok"). These units are not very useful in a head-on charge due to the enemy stepping up (unless you wipe out the entire unit!) but, they are excellent at charging from the rear. However, due to frenzy, it might be difficult to get behind the enemy without being forced the charge them head-on in the first place.

* '''Wildwood Rangers''' New to the Wood Elf Army Book, 11 points per model gets you light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and a great weapon. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead and Ogres). On the upside they are better than Great Swordsmen(In forests and against fear causers), but are worse than almost every other race's Great Weapon elites (however also cheaper per model). With the End Times bringing undead-summoning for everyone, these fellers become more useful, easily clearing freshly-summoned shamblers with their special rule. Also, if the WE use the fear causing forest for the free WE forest, placing these guys in it is awesome. Not only do they get fear, but enemies that engage them (and step foot into the forest) gain fear as well, which is not only completely useless against them due to immune to psychology, it also means they get to use that +1 attack! These guys can hit hard, but sadly they are difficult to keep alive. High initiative and ASF cancelling out the great weapons' ASL means your best bet to keep these guys alive is to fight low I enemies and kill before you get killed.

===Rare Units===
*'''Great Eagle:''' They would be reliable, cheap and versatile for 50pts. However, Warhawk costs 5pts less, has KB and a rider (who can shoot), and only loses 1WS. Take Eagles only if you are full on Warhawks, otherwise Hawks will give you much more for less points. Also they can't be upgraded like High Elf eagles. Don't bother. If you insist on using your Great Eagle models, stick a Glade Rider or Glade Guard with spear on it back and have yourself a Warhawk.
** Counterpoint: you would want to take a great eagle instead of a warhawk if you had less than 135pts to spend on flying dudes. Warhawks need to be taken in units of at least 3, and have enough whoopass to draw more attention from the enemy than the eagle. A pair of eagles is great for topping off the last hundred points in your list. Place one of these between your enemy death star and your death star so your death star can get the charge next turn. The eagle is one of the cheapest chaff units in the game. Skaven could probably field a unit of slaves for less than 50pts, but those slaves won't give you the same coverage as an eagle.

* '''Treeman:''' The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin and 6++ ward. It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved seperately in case of ward saves). Also, Thunderstomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. ALTERNATE OPINION: Strangleroots are 20pts for an average of 3.5 S5 shots a turn, which against something anything glass cannon, like Witch Elves or Swordmasters, can easily make back its points. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer.
**Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

* '''Waywatchers:''' This is potentially the best unit in the Army Book, so place your bets now on how 9th ed will nerf these guys (9th? We wish). For 20pts you get a BS5 skirmishing scouting archer who can chose whether to add the multiple fire 2 rule to his bow or to ignore armour saves with his shooting. They also come with 2 hand weapons for some mild protection against chaff units in combat, but don't expect them to be able to take the enemy head on with T3 and no armour. Everything they do is very wood elfy. They shoot well, avoid the enemy well and die easily if the enemy puts any real firepower on them. Take a unit of 5 and annoy the living hell out of your opponents. For 100pts you can thin out the enemy if they ignore them, or distract what ever the enemy sends to stomp these guys down. It actually isn't a bad idea to fill your rare allocation up with these. Keep in mind, their bows are still S3 only, so pick your targets carefully and use Withering (lore of shadows) or you're going to be sorely disappointed. Calculation of disappointment can be seen on the talk page. These guys are best at picking off heavily armored units with non-exceptional toughness. They are also useful at unleashing a small group of arrows into the foe. If facing a high toughness enemy, Deepwood Scouts with poison arrows will probably do the job better.

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

The battalion set was a good value. You could get a fairly decent army out of it. ''It is still mighty cool if you manage to find it at some backwater hobby shop (I even managed to get one with discount "'cos no one wanted it for long time" from, apparently, completely ignorant shop assistant).
The battalion shared models with regular kits, so following old guidelines still apply.

From the Glade Guard sprues, you can build Waywatchers. If you have some spare High Elf or Dark Elf spearmen/warriors, giving them a Glade Guard head can turn them into Eternal Guard. You get a ton of heads with the Glade Guard, so you're spoilt! Especially now, when they look like High Elves.

The Glade Riders you can build as Wild Riders with the spears. Or even Sisters of the Thorn.

For your Lords/Heroes choices, you can build them out of the sprues provided. You can make a mounted Glade Lord or Captain (even a BSB), as well as a Waystalker and, with a bit of imagination, a Spellweaver.

Otherwise, for the Spellweaver, the Dark Elves' plastic Sorceress is a good alternative if you don't want old/metal models.

You could make a Treeman with the LotR Ent as it's cheaper, but the two have different dimentions, so be warned.
It is taller, but can fit on a 50x50mm base that you can buy seperatly.(and still be cheaper than a treeman.)
Especially now, when Treemen are taller, slimmer and look more like -Men, than Tree-.

Dryad bits are awesome in making Wild Riders, Sisters of the Thorn and characters. Their back-branches make pretty cool saplings to add foresty clutter on elf bases. You can also glue the extra dryad arms together to make treekin looking things. It will take some patience but you can build three or four sleek looking treekin from a box of a dozen dryads. The ghetto treekin don't look as tough or macho as the GW treekin, so it is easier to picture them as just strength 4 instead of the strength 5 they used to have.

If you want Dryads and Treemen (though they've been nerf-sawed) - you should hurry to grab the Guardians of the Deepwood box, which contains three Treemen and 36 Dryads - and is actually cheaper than cost of those models combined. Either GW are trying to be kinder, or their head manager made a typo. Most likely the latter. Hurry, it is limited edition and stuff.

If you are OK with using mediocre models made from shitty resin, D&D Treant and Roc miniatures make pretty good Treeman or Great Eagle/Warhawk. Be advised, D&D resin is crappy and bendy, but they come pre-painted. The Guardians of the Galaxy Heroclix version of Groot could fill the roll of your treeman easily.

==Equipping Your Army==

'''Asrai Bow''': Just like an ordinary Longbow. 30" range, but now comes with AP.

'''Asrai Spear''': Follows the same rules as regular spears, except for having AP.

Basicly, all Wood Elf spears and bows have AP. Because inch-thick armor is of little use when there's an arrow sticking out of your eye and a spear in your throat.

===Magic Items===

No more Spites, no more Kindreds. Matt Ward, after having given High Elves a meta changing item and Dark elves at least some decent ones, he decided to balance out his previous mistakes by not giving Wood Elves any good items. He even made sure to prevent broken combos this time. It's especially surprising as Wood Elves are reputed to be Matt Ward's favourite elf faction.

'''The Spirit Sword:''' 85 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't have enough of this already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a character/champion/monster, you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens(Though it can hurt the wielder if you want to use the more amusing 6th ed rules for the sword). I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

'''Daith's Reaper:''' This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can reroll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to reroll successful armour saves. Considering you can only take this on a hero who is likely to get to hit rerolls from ASF and that 8th favours ward saves rather than armour saves, this weapon is only slightly better than useless. Buying great weapon or sword of +1 str wound be a far better/cheaper alternative.

'''The Bow of Loren:''' For 20 points you get a bow that fires your character's attacks +1 shots. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2, armour ignoring, sniping shots or on the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. This can actually be increased further through augment magic that increases attacks (lore of beasts). Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and don't get any bonus attacks from extra hand weapon). The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced. All other races ranged magic items aren't though...

'''Helm of the Hunt:''' For 20pts you get a dragon helm which instead of giving you a 2++ vs flaming attacks, gives you the devastating charge special rule and +1 ws on the charge. Cute I guess for Wood Elves but is it really worth it? Basically, it allows you to make a Wild Rider Noble from older editions (especially with Wild Riders wearing noticeable horned helms now)

'''Acorns of Ages:''' This is the item that Wood Elves have been waiting for. For 100pts you get d3 forests in addition to the starting one, which all have to be the same type and are deployed like drop pods, since they scatter but can't land on other terrain. Lots of tactics are circulating around this item, Drycha/Moonstone of Hidden Ways for teleporting units or almost deep striking treemen. See Talk page for tactics and stuff. As for the item - if nothing else, it's fluffy. The problem is only a couple lords even have the points to carry the thing, and it then leaves them with no points for anything else. Unless your strategy depends on having many forests (Drycha, Moonstone of Hidden ways), it is probably better to pass on this one.

'''Moonstone of Hidden Ways:''' This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 40pts you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either relies on the luck of the terrain deployment table or the Acorns of Ages. Buy another gimmick.

'''Hail of the Doom Arrow:''' If only this item was 5 points cheaper so Waystalkers could take it (This does prevent the abuse from being able to hail of the doom arrow snipe combo - <strike>almost</strike> guaranteed dead wizard. Seems like it could have been fixed better with a 'cannot be used in conjunction with the sniper special rule' as opposed to just making it too expensive to take). For 30pts, you get a 1 use str 4 armour piercing arrow that causes 3d6 hits. Some people swear by these things since they can instantly mince lightly armoured units though there are dissenting opinions. Still it is the best magic item Wood Elves have. Sadly, Asyndi's Bane was removed as a magic item, so you can no longer use the HoDA to take out an enemy unit and the guy who fired the arrow in the same turn.

'''Calaingor's Stave:''' Such a depressing item. For 20 points you get the privilege of swapping a spell for Tree Singing. Tree Singing is cast on a 8+ now and can move an empty forest d6+1 inches, which is not much more than the forest moves by being accidentally bumped. If the forest is partially occupied, then instead you can deal 2d6 str4 hits on an enemy unit that is at least partially within the forest. You can improve the spell so that, when cast on a 16+ it affects all forests within 12". If the spell could be cast more than once, was given as an additional spell, had a lore attribute, could be cast on all forests on the board instead of those within 12", cast on a 4+, to name a multitude of reasons, then it would be worth taking. Otherwise, unless you wish to move the destination forest of the moonstone of hidden way's unit or Drycha's helpers, it is the worst magic item in the game. If you really want your eternal guard to hit in an extra rank, its usually easier to move yourself to the forest than to move the forest to you.

'''The Banner of the Eternal Queen:''' For twice the cost of the Banner of the World Dragon, this banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. No thanks. The traditional overpriced banner does not fail to disappoint me even if you don't compare it to the Banner of the World Dragon.

'''The Banner of the Hunter King:''' Another banner which gives to it's unit vanguard and, that allows you to reroll the first failed charge of the game for 75pts. Dwarfs get these rules for 35pts and 15pts respectively. Also almost everything that can take this banner has Vanguard already. Competes with Calaingor's Staff for being the worst magic item ever. Well, at least Calaingor's staff only costs 20 points where this costs 75. Worst magic (or even mundane) item ever.

====Enchanted Arrows====

(Note, all arrows have AP and volleyfire, 30 inch range). All of these are available to Glade Guard, Deepwood Scouts, Glade Riders, Glade Lords and Glade Captains.
They replace the profile of regular bows wielded by models and count as magical attacks. <s>Note, that until we get a FAQ, they are ''not'' Asrai Longbows and prevent using Hail of Doom Arrows!</s> The enchanted arrows are Enchanted Items which do not prevent you from holding a second Enchanted item. As such they are NOT weapons, and do not prevent you from using the HODA. The WE book specifically says "Each type of enchanted arrow replaced the profile of the Asrai longbow with the one shown in its entry." In other words, you don't have asrai longbow anymore, you have Arcane Bodkins, Starfire Shafts, Hagbane Tips, Swiftshiver Shards, Moonfire shot, or Trueflight Arrows instead. This would technically disable HoDA even though you are replacing the bow with arrows. Correction: the profile of the bow is replaced, not the bow itself. "if a model has enchanted arrows, he must use them when shooting with an Asrai Longbow." The model still has the bow, which means it can still use HoDA.

'''Arcane Bodkins:''' 5 pts per model, confers ap -3 instead of normal armour piercing. Expensive for what they do. I prefer to do more wounds than reduce armour saves but these arrows kill cavalry like nobody's business. All the same, if your plan is to screw over enemy armour, just use Waywatchers instead. For three more points waywatchers can spite that guy with a 1+ re-rollable armour save while the arcane bodkins have a 50/50 chance of being saved. And they can also fuck up light infantry like nobody's business, if no heavy cavalry presents itself.

'''Hagbane Tips:''' 3 points per model, confers poison attacks. Amazing. This will probably be your go-to magic arrow, since wood elves have troubles vs monsters. It is nice to have Skink-like firepower on the move at 30" (With BS4+ throughout most of the shooting units, your problems will probably lie in wounding. Might as well turn those 6's to hit into wounds, and save yourself the possibility of connecting a hit that won't wound anything).

'''Trueflight Arrows:''' 3 points per model, confers no penalty to shooting whatever you do. This is probably going to be the second most used arrow. Best taken on your Glade Guard as they will suffer the most penalties (move and shoot, long range, volley fire, etc.). These should be your first choice against Skaven and their shenanigans.
*''As of now there are many opinions about the merits of these arrows which should be shared on the talk page.

'''Moonfire Arrows:''' 4 points, confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Order. Great against warmachines, which almost all Forces of Order have. BUT against war machines, poison is still better (and cheaper) unless buffed by magic. Still, in addition to putting a hurt on those war machines, this arrow can also screw with any lore of life wizards (which many Forces of Order armies hace access to) that thought they'd be using that signature spell. Especially if brought in as a surprise on scouts/ambushers (which is where you want them anyway to reach those war machines quickly).

'''Starfire Arrows:''' 4 points per model confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Destruction. Great against monsters and repeater bolt throwers. The better choice of the "...fire Arrows" duo as almost everything with Regen in the game is from a Forces of Destruction army. If you buy a unit of 10-12 of this instead of the flaming banner you can make OK monster hunters out of them. If you want, bring a small number of archers with flaming arrows and a larger poison arrow unit if you want to use that poison without the pesky regeneration saves.

'''Swiftshiver Shards:''' 4 points per model confers multiple shot, making your Glade Guards into Dark Elf repeater crossbowmen. Interesting, but Waywatchers have this basic and do this better than any of the other unit. One recommendation is to fill your core with a big block of swiftshiver shard glade guard (fun to say) and then buff them with hand of glory from the high magic. Your swiftshiver shard glade guard should eviscerate anything that is not protected by the high elf banner of game breaking. Use Arcane Unforging if you can to destroy that banner and drink your High Elf opponent's tears when they realize they might actually have to use strategy to win for once.

==Magic==

Wood elves have gone from being, magically, the least diverse race with the least choice of all when it came to spells, to the most. All Wood Elf wizards now have access to ALL rulebook lores, which is amazing for them, and the Spell Weavers are the only models who now have access to the new Wood Elf specific lores, the Lore of High and Dark Magic. Yes both are directly stolen from the High and Dark elves (this is confirmed by the fluff) but have different lore attributes (this can be seen as good and bad). As such a Spellweaver can now choose 10 lores with a chance to pick 3/4 of 72 different spells.

The following overviews are in my eyes, in the order of importance. However that is up to debate and which most important is dependant on your list and situation.

====Lore of Life====

This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie:Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and has a safety net for you, if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

====Lore of Shadow====

The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and intiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves (unless you run a LOT of poisoned arrows), as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mysitifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational.
Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

====Lore of High Magic====

This Lore is really quite neat. It has a wide variety of cheap to cast spells which give you a better shorter ranged fireball as a signature spell, a buff the complete opposite of the MMM importantly buffing your BS, a spell which dispels all effects (very useful against any foe dependant on magic) as a signature spell, a small blast, the ability to redeploy one of your units 10", to dismantle magic items and to deal a str 4 hit to all your foes in one unit. Matt Ward has also given a good lore attribute which stacks well with it's multiple low level spells. Every time you successfully cast a spell you gain a counter. If you suffer an unsaved wound, then the counter nullifies the wound. Great if you are hiding your General anywhere, but especially with the sisters of the Thorn. I feel it is very much like a proactive version of the lore of life, preventing damage rather than repairing it.

====Lore of Metal====

The Lore of Metal is mostly aimed at helping armies like the wood elves deal with heavily armoured foes. It can debuff your foe's armour, pick off standards, has a 5+ pit of shades which causes stupidity and can give your troops a 5+ scaly skin save and +1 to hit (almost everything has armour piercing already). It isn't bad but the other lores often help more. Especially since nearly all the elves have armor piercing and (one of) their best units can outright ignore armor. The scaly skin is nice though since the wood elves are lacking when it comes to armor.

====Lore of Beasts====

The Lore of Beasts lets you run train on things that you normally would not be able to run train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just death. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. The +1S also gives your army an option at S4 ranged hits if cast on a unit of Sisters of the Thorn. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells which can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

====Lore of Heavens====

The Lore of Heavens is a mixed bag.You get 2 of the spells with the largest areas of affect and potentially the biggest damage output in the game, 1 high strength magic missile, 2 debuffs which synergise well, preventing your foe from ever getting poisoned or killling blow attacks or -1 to hit and a 50/50 chance to put warmachines out of commision for one turn, a buff which makes you reroll all ones (which Wood Elves do in woods anyway) and a very situational knock back spell. Also it's lore attribute turns all of it's spells into lvl 1 fireballs when cast at something with wings. Not bad but it is often outshone. Still, can be used as a monster-hunter lore (since its damage spells inflict low number of very strong hits).

====Lore of Death====

The Lore of Death is good for situations when the enemy has some tough (literally) Lord or Hero, who laughs off your S3 sniping shots and has a chance to wreck your game - like a T4 Grey Seer with the Dreaded 13th ratifying your MSUs. Doom and Darkness also has nice synergy with Fear of your Dryads, Treekin, Treemen, and Wild Riders, and might actually cause an enemy to fail a panic test caused by shooting (giving you a rare opportunity to win with the thing your army is meant to do), while Soulblight does a fine job equalizing some S4 T4 brutes with your fragile elves. The Black Sun of Xereous kills half of everything that isn't elves (great with death's lore attribute). Between those three spells you are bound to get something great on a high level wizard. The character sniping spells are cool but just take waystalkers instead. Just a pity you can't cast Aspect of the Dreadnight on enemies (to exploit Wildwood Rangers' special rule). But, there is always a free mysterious forest which you can make cause fear (making your enemy step into it on the other hand is a bit more difficult...).

====Lore of Fire====

The Lore of Fire is best for level 1s since it comes with the best guaranteed magic missile in the game. If you lose your lvl 4 then go and pump all your dice into a super fireball. Beyond that the only spell of great use for wood elves is the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which you sadly can't guarantee.

====Lore of Dark Magic====

Pity you can't take it on a level 1. On a level 4 it isn't bad but is beaten by almost all the other lores.

*'''Power of Darkness''':
**'''''Augment'''''. While it does give your unit a much needed strength bonus and extra power dice it will eventually wear you down ( you take a wound with no armor saves if you roll a 3 for power dice) unless you protect yourself with a decent ward save. Often, you'd be best served not getting bogged down in combat. For a stupid elf trick, use when your caster is with Sisters of Thorn and watch those javelins get nasty.

*'''Doombolt''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Always take it. It gives you a much needed high strength shooting attack.

*'''Chillwind''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Is an easy spell to cast, is good against low toughness units and will help you against other shooting armies.

*'''Word of Pain''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Good against shooting/high WS armies that seek to match you prowess. The boosted version will save a lot of your elves in combat, ''especially'' since you don't have much, if any, armor.

*'''Bladewind''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Is a good choice for big blocks of infantry, like the always pleasant Slavebus or Zombietrain or even some tougher units.

*'''Shroud of Despair''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Simply fantastic when you get into combat. No Inspiring Presence and no Hold Your Ground! for you enemies. This will make breaking enemies easier, which is good, because you don't wanna hang around for Round 2.

*'''Soul Stealer''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Once again, great against big horde units/busses/trains. If you get this off, place the 3" template anywhere of the wizard within 18". You can go nuts with '''Power of Darkness''' and never worry about it, if it lands right.

*'''Arnzipal's Black Horror''':
**'''''Magical Vortex'''''. Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine. No wonder Ariel got hooked on this Dark Magic stuff... Anyway, should you get this off, pop it down and sing ''"Snitches's gonna die/This bitch is gonna fly/My wizard's rollin' high/Or she's gonna fry"''. It will then travel anywhere between 6"-40" in the form of a 3" template in a straight line (of your choice) depending on your wizards magic lvl and how much you roll on the arty dice. Everything hit must pass a strength check or die (ward save allowed). As with arty rolls, should you misfire, place it on top of your wizard and scatter it D6. It ''Remains in Play''. Every turn, it jollies around randomly, spreading more laughter and happy thoughts with another arty roll. Misfire and it will stop working. Boost it and you get to use the large 5 incher, then pray to Isha that you don't screw up. Not as powerful as the '''Lore of Death''' version, but still good fun.

It's lore attribute is best likend to that of the '''Lore of Fire'''. Everytime you cast it on an enemy unit, it creates a vengeance counter (on the unit) which activates when damage is next applied through a spell to that unit. It causes d3 extra hits when it does so, for each counter on the unit. If you can take 2 lv 3/4 mages then this is a good secondary lore but beyond the Storm of Magic I doubt it will see much use. Try it out and see how useful it is to you.

====Lore of Light====

It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against Elf armies. Against most other armies, it sadly won't be of much use, as many of the other lores gives you better options. High strength flaming attacks, superb WS, exellent skirmisher [[Troll|trolling]] and M10 A4 Unbreakable Tree Kin is nice when playing the mirror match, but again, other lores give you a better selection of choices all-round. Alternative take: -1 to be hit is nice considering your high weapons skill. Double movement can make your waywatchers/glade riders uncatchable. Unfortunately, you cannot guarantee getting either of these spells. On a level 4 wizard it is highly likely you will either get one of these or roll doubles, however. It's definitely not the best option, but it is far from useless with the right spells.

==Army Composition & Tactics==

Build your tactics around your army.
Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemies flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

*A) '''Shooty army.'''
**Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

*B) '''Fast combat army.'''
**You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

*C) '''Infantry army.'''
**Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and is now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However, without serious magical buffing, this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze.

*D) '''Hybrid army.'''
**A mix of any of the above.

'''Ambush of the Worldroots'''

''To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "'''This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it'''"

''With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Type of your choice".''

*The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

*Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

*Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

*The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
**1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
**2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

'''Tips'''

''Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later ''

*With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favour a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

*Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

*Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relative few numbers. It should also be noted that skirmishers gain stubborn in forests.

*Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge), magically buffed units (result being S5 or higher), or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

*[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION FAERIE]]: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "''Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?'', so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
**''Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

*Having trouble filling those pesky core points and don't want to give the enemy a 220 point treeman to knock down with cannons? Glade Guard can deal with warmachines after just a few rounds due to their Ambusher rule. Combine with poison arrows to really specialize in WM hunting. Since they can't charge the turn they enter, shoot at one machine and charge remaining machines the following turn. Not terribly reliable since poor rolls can delay your ambushers, but usually an amazing core unit solution to some of the only things that might challange the Wood Elves' superiority in the shooting phase.

*What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their ''Banner of The World Dragon'' on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

*Seriously consider the ''Recipe for Success''
**You will need the following:
***1) 5 Wild Riders
***2) 1 Forest
***3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and ''voilà'': 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or step up (so Always Strikes First actually helps you kill the enemy before they kill you. Also note that flanking does not remove steadfast, so unless you get your enemy within the forest, they may not run as easily). The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}
[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Wood Elves

2020-08-03T15:17:00Z

2600:1702:90:50D0:0:0:0:44: /* Mounts */

==Why Play Wood Elves==
Wood Elves have been redone and almost completely rewritten. Everything has been turned on its head and old Wood Elf players have to adapt to the new changes. However they have recently not only reclaimed the title of being the fastest army but being arguably the best shooting army too. Wood Elves appear to be of equal parts of light and dark outlooks. They are the middle ground for elves. This is shown by them having magic arrows which are keyed to wounding forces of order and destruction respectively and with their best wizards having access to High and Dark magic. Wood Elves still have access to their old free wood.

Wood Elves are an army almost completely made up of trees, bowmen, or fast cavalry. They rely on speed, shooting and picking their fights. Wood elves still lack war machines but have in exchange a megaton of poisoned weaponry.

The name of their game is speed and maneuverability. By the end of turn 2 you can be behind the enemy lines, ready to unleash deadly co-ordinated flank charges, and against slower armies you can quite simply run circles around your enemided as some of the best archers in the game, the wood elves' possible greatest strength is not in their shooting, but in their prowess fighting in forests. They combine the best of both High Elves & Dark Elves when defending areas of wood. They are formidable in combat but lack staying power. You will need to use your maneuverability to ensure that you win the first combat resolution. If the elves get bogged down, they will quickly end up on the losing side.

Lastly, they have the widest variety of spells to chose from amongst the three Elf factions.

The Wood Elves require perhaps the most skill and nuance to play well, but this directly translates into them also being one of the most rewarding armies to play. Plus they're bad ass vengeful guardians of the forest, so that's pretty cool too.

Be warned that they aren't a good starter army.

In short, play Wood Elves if you want to play an army that requires a lot of skill, strategy and tactical thought to do well. You can't rely on Armor nor Warmachines or crazy shenanigans. Only a quick aim, a steady eye and a hungry forest will aid you in Athel Loren.

''(Matt Ward did have a hand in working on this book. However, GW decided to stop putting author's name in the book, most likely to preserve Watt Mard's tender feelings. What is known is that this was his last army book with GW and after having a hand in End Times:Nagash and End Times:Khaine he has now left).''

==Army Rules==

Wood Elves have four new army rules. They are the following:

'''Blessings of The Ancients''': Any model with this special rule (IE your wizards) gets a +1 to all casting attempts if they are inside a forest. ONLY when they're in a forest.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Durthu''', and '''Drycha'''''

'''Ambush of the Worldroots''': You may place a single forest (of any type, you decide) anywhere on your half of the table. It must be placed before any units are deployed. It ''must'' be wholly within your half of the table. If it can't fit, move the other terrain pieces to make room. If it still can't fit, or you're in a scenario where you don't have a deployment zone, you don't get a forest.

''See '''Army Composition & Tactics''' for ideas and recommendations on how to use this rule''

'''Forest Spirit''': Models with this rule has Forest Strider, Magical Attacks and Immune to Psychology special rule and a 6+ ward save. A weaker save, but no longer mundane like in the previous army book. Mounts do not get the ward save.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Unicorns''', '''Great Stags''', '''Dryads''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Tree Kin''', '''Treemen''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Forest Dragons''', '''Durthu''', '''Hounds of Orion''', '''Drycha''' and '''Ceithin-Har'''''

'''Forest Stalker''': Models with this rule have the Forest Strider special rule. If at least half of a unit with this rule is inside a forest, it will be able to do the following:

* They may fire with one more rank. For the purpose of Volley Fire, this means a full three ranks may shoot, before you have to round down the following ranks.

* They may fight in close combat with one extra rank than normal, just like High Elves. This is cumulative with other similar effects.

* They may reroll to wound any rolls of 1 in close combat, just like Dark Elves. Their mounts, however, may not.
**''Basically, in terms of special rules, all your elves are worse than high elves and dark elves in the open, but equal to both of them combined while in forests. (In truth Eternal Guard is more effective than Spearelves/Dreadspears, Glade Guard beats HE Archers and Glade Riders are Ellyrian Reavers on steroids; but they all cost much more. Model for model - WE are better. Point for point - WE are worse.)''

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Glade Lord''', '''Glade Captain''', '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Eternal Guard''', '''Glade Guard''', '''Deepwood Scouts''', '''Glade Riders''', '''Warhawk Riders''', '''Wildwood Rangers''', '''Wardancers''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Sisters of the Thorn''', '''Wild Riders''', '''Waywatchers''', '''Waystalker''', '''Orion''', '''Araloth''' and '''Naestra & Arahan'''''

==Unit Analysis==
===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

* '''Orion, The King of the Woods:''' Orion is what in general is refered to as a Glass Cannon: Incredibly expensive, requires a massive tax on your resources, can be incredibly powerful and yet is very fragile. Orion costs 600 points. He can also beat in almost anyone's face (9,8,8,6,5,5,9,5,10), comes with a Bolt Thrower and machine gun and is Unbreakable and Frenzy, regains a wound on a 6 at the start of each of your turns. Also comes with two War Beasts (for 20 pts) that share his Frenzy and Unbreakable rule. Here's the downside: He's only T5 with a 5+ Ward and MR 2, making him somewhat less durable than a Treeman, but more durable against spells. He's a Monster, so he has Thunderstomp too, however, he doesn't have the Large Target rule. He will drop like a fly to high volume S4 and above attacks. He also has Always Strikes First but will have trouble winning combats against large units (he'll probably tie or grab a minor win on round 1 and then start losing from then on, not that it matters so much anymore). Not great but has potential. He is basically a Greater Daemon with leafy clothing that gives units within 6" of him Devastating Charge (Everyone of your units gets DC. Including mount)) every turn. Charge him along with your Wild Riders or Warhawk Riders into something. Anything. Then watch the mother hurt of ALL the People's Elbow decend upon your foe. Nothing bar the Dice Gods will stop you. That, or Phoenix Guard. Giggle like an Elf if you get to fight in a forest.

* '''Drycha:''' Orion is fighty, the Twins are shooty, Drycha is weird. She's rather expensive for a Hero, at 255 points, but she doesn't come with nearly enough stuff to justify this. For starters, she's a Level 2 caster and only has access to Lore of Shadows. While she's reasonably fighty (she gets +2 attacks per lost wound, no life shenanigans), T4, 3 wounds and only a 6+ Ward means she's easy to drop. She needs units with the Forest Spirit rule to be effective, but while her kinda ganky Deep Strike ability seems fun, you're only guaranteed d3+1 Woods max (IE the one you brought, sitting in your half of the table, and the acorn of eternity if you buy it) it's probably easier to just have them join her from the front. Don't bother.

* '''Araloth, Lord of Talsyn:''' This is Skaw the Falconer reborn. Sadly, Matt Ward clearly hates him and has not only changed his name but made him the only Wood Elf whose sole purpose is to be repurposed for conversions. 260pts for a 4++, stubborn, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour (Seriously. He doesn't even have Light Armour, even though his model is wearing it. Wild Riders, meanwhile, [[Derp|go around bare chested and count as wearing them]]), armed with an amazing-looking spear that is...a regular Asrai Spear, and who comes with a bird. At least 60pts overpriced. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (somehow it makes the model worse in combat but not at shooting... go figure). Cute, I guess? This model's only use is to troll Tomb Kings, but with End Times taking away crumble he can't even do that anymore. Don't buy the model to play Wood Elves.
**''Note: Actually, I have found skaryn to be a pretty effective character hunter. The six to wound comes up much more often than you might think (one in three chance of any sort of wound blinding a T 4 model) and if your opponent skimped on armour for that bsb then they just became a lot less effective. Also, this guy combined with a waystalker or two can make a trolltastic wizard sniping team. Still overpriced, but not entirely useless.

* '''Durthu:''' Once again a recycled character from the far distant past which is bad. At first his stats don't look bad; Ws 7, str 6, t6, w6, 6 attacks, frenzy, hatred. But he only has a 3+ armour with a 6++ ward save and is flammable. The greatest of the Treemen can die from a single flamming bolt thrower if it gets lucky, let alone a flaming cannonball. To add salt into the wound he is only a level 1 Lore of Beasts wizard, has a pretty hand weapon of no significance save fluff, and a 2d6 str 2 killing blow ranged attack (which is awesome since he has BS7). All of this is for 385 pts. If you have already ordered the Treemen kit make a basic Treeman instead and convert a Wraithknight/Wraithlord. If you really want to play with him, get him into combat, any combat, as quickly as you can and either get '''The Savage Beast of Horrors''' to make him eat Greater Daemons/Monsters or go with the default '''Wyssan's Wildform''' to make him do 7 WS7 (rerollable to hit) S7 attacks. 666 is the name of the Beast, but 777 is carved on the Tree.

* '''Naestra and Arahan, The Sisters of Twilight:''' Anyone who makes a 'Twins are hot' joke gets kicked out of Athel Loren. As for the girls, they can be hilarious. You don't only take them to win, you take them to [[troll]]. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle gives them more wounds and t4 thanks to it being monstrous cavalry, while also allowing them to reroll failed to hits. Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since gwindalor is clearly 80pts. They have the Always Strikes First, Forest Stalker, Conjoined Destiny, and Sisters of Twilight special rules. The Conjoined destiny rule means that they must always stay together if their mount dies and that if one of them dies then she is revived at the end of her phase with all of her wounds, while the Sisters of Twilight makes Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction units in combat and Arahan gain a +1 to wound forces of order in combat. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound long bow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow which fires 2d6 str 1 poisoned shots. Between them have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons and stats: M5, WS 6, BS 6, str 4, t 3, w2, 3 attacks, i7 and Ld9. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger and BSB in the Heroes section so chose wisely. Pitty you can't take these guys on foot though...
**''Alright, someone explain this to me. Since N&A are now MC on Big G, isn't the Conjoined Destiny rule quite worthless if you get shot? Since the three birds are counted as one model, have practically no saves AND you have to use the profile with the most wounds (which is 3 for Big G), how does this work? Are they able to survive a cannon ball to the face, or does the entire model die after 3 wounds?
***''To counter that which is below, if you stick near 5 Warhawk riders you can get a 4+ look out sir, you can seriously boost your survivability. So long as one twin survives then your foes cannon ball was for naught.
***''A single cannonball won't kill them - and certainly it won't kill Gwindalor, since, according to MC rules, it can't be targeted (yes, this means that the rule that lets the mount regain wounds is useless for G). When N&A are hit, you have to randomize, according to their rules. Then you wound, then the sister that was hit probably dies; then she pops back to full life if the other hasn't been killed by the end of the shooting phase. In melee, you have to allocate attacks, as you would do with two normal characters. N&A can indeed take risks that would be suicidal for other wood elven characters. Quite worthy of the points you pay to field them.''
''

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

* '''Glade Lord:''' 145 point generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to High Prince or Dark Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which is a plus, he also dishes out a LD10 bubble. He also got an extra point of BS, probably to compensate for the loss of free moving and shooting. One new rule, The Arrow of Kurnous, lets him deal a auto str 3 hit on your opponent's general if they are within 36" of a character with the rule and in line of sight. If your foe has a caster lord as his general then I guess it will force him to deploy further back so not bad. Should not be your first Lord choice, but is by far not the worst. One popular choice is to give him Daith's Reaper and the Armour of Destiny for a stabtastic warboss.

* '''Spellweaver:''' This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now (or 185 at level 3), a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord) and most importantly, access to all rulebook lores and Dark and High Magic. Plus she can buy an Asrai Longbow for 5pts, which means that while she's hanging in the back with your Glade Guard, she can ping off the odd casualty herself, which is hilarious by the by. If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

* '''Treeman Ancient:''' While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 290 points, don't get spites any more, are lvl 2 life wizards only (who can upgrade to level 4) have a 3+ 6++, can buy magic levels, can tree whack and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. Ws4, Str5, A3, I2. I guess old age shows? Also, being an old coot, he gets the 75mm long side of his base pointed forwards for some insane reason. The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless it gets killed in combat. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T and lore of life means that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him.

* '''Glade Captain:''' This is the 75 point generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Also he shares the Arrow of Kurnous with your general so you are not punished for taking a caster lord. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

* '''Shadow Dancer:''' Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) Always Strike Firsts combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 25 points magic weapon/item allowance and for 60pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
** '''Note:''' For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
* NEVER put her into Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
** Good items to give her are Glittering Scales (most core will hit her on 6+, with most elites hitting on 5+), Bow of Loren (making her pretty shooty) or Helm of the Hunt (making her [[RAPE|RAPE]] things on the charge).
*** Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

* '''Waystalker:''' Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. Bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horrors from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7 will you care). You can also use the spell Birona's Timewarp from lore of light to increase attacks by 1 (and double movement) but, this is probably not the best use of that spell. An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 110 points with the bow of loren, 90 without. With sniper on top of that, the Waystalker can pick enemy heroes out of units with up to 5 armor ignoring attacks! (But, he would suffer -1 to hit from multiple hits AND -1 to hit from sniper, plus possibly other -1 from moving or long range etc.) So keep this in mind because even with 7 BS, if you have too much modifier on your hit chance, all the armor ignoring attacks in the world won't mean a thing.

* '''Spellsinger:''' One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent (80 points), +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to all battle rule book lores but not to the Wood Elf specific lores (ie the opposite of its sixth edition form). Shame. Take a dispel scroll and the lore of shadow or fire on this hero since their spells are the most effective at level 1/2. (Or lore of beasts and get the signature spell)

* '''Branchwraith:''' The Branchwraith has 2 advantages: 1, she's fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward). 2, she's cheap. She is 75pts and a level 1 Lore of Life wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

====Mounts====

* ''Elven Steed:'' You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.

* ''Great Stag:'' 65 points. Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]

* ''Great Eagle:'' Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.

* ''Unicorn:'' 60 points. Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant or give the wizard the Obsidian Amulet for half the cost of the unicorn.

* ''Forest Dragon:'' It's a 300 point Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really '''''is''''' a poser; the GL has same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.

===Core Units===
Currently, all Wood Elf Core units are kind of sub-optimal and are no no-brainers. But on the other hand, none of them are precisely duds either, and most can find uses (and you might as well, since you HAVE to take them). Tailor your tactics and choose wisely. Ironically, our Core units now feel more like Specials, role-wise.

* '''Dryads:''' Why Matt Ward! Dryads went from being overpowered to good to one of the weaker units in the game is the initial impression, but in reality Dryads are just trash if you try to use them in their old role. (People tend to judge them based on their old profile, understandably.) They can't take anything other than a champion and cost 330 for 30 of them - then again, they cost as much as Witch Elves and cheaper than Plague Monks, while fulfilling the same role. The Dryads can still be good, and do have a place in combat armies (which are a thing these days and we now have 10 lores of magic to back them up. Seriously, you can make them tough or strong - they work well with either buff). Most armies would kill for toughness 4 core with a ward save and 2 attacks. For 11pts you get WS 4, S3, T4, A2, I5, Ld8, hatred, immune to psychology and a 6++ save (in the forest). Though they have no armour save to mitigate the lower ward save (though they can now take it against magical attacks), and no more skirmisher, they are basically our assassins, crashing into enemy flank and tearing it shreds, while taking not so much damage in return. They are not so useful in a shooty or cavalry army, but if you are running a combat wood elf army, which can actually do well in this book, dryads and eternal guard are what you're gonna take.

* '''Eternal Guard:''' 11 points WS 5 armour piercing, ASF, stubborn, elven spearmen, who can fight better in forests. They can also buy shields too and have a 5+ armour save. Considering that the more well protected units in the wood elf army get just a 4+ and 6++, these guys have a pretty good save. Don't get me wrong, their save will be laughed at by every army out there, (apart from beastmen) but for wood elves, it's respectable. At the first glance their cost - 270 points for 20 of them with shields and a full command squad and 390 for a horde - is a high one, but comparing them to other spearelves, for measly 3 points they gain Stubborn, Armor Piercing, +1WS and +1LD, making them an incredible anchor - almost unbreakable when within BSB range. Also, you don't take them in such big units - small units (10-15) can hold off pretty long even against elites. Many people don't like them, since these generally do not fit in with the traditional Wood Elves' Hit and Run or Run and Shoot style of play. Also, they are incredible in the now-viable melee Wood Elf lists and are one of the better places to hide your wizards.Also so durable because of ws5 If you don't kill all of them then you'll have to face them again.

* '''Glade Guard:''' Glade Guard are of debatable worth. For 12 points you get a bs 4 model with no armour, an armour piercing long bow, the option to take full command and a magic standard worth 25 points. In forests they get to reroll ones to wound in close combat and can fire and fight in 1 extra rank. They also can buy any of the magic arrows (discussed in magic arrows section). It is up to you whether you chose to deploy them in multiple small units or in one horde, though generally msu is better since they will have more time to fire. All in all, Deepwood Scouts do same job better for just 1 point more (except of course, they won't fill up your manditory 25% core).

* '''Glade Riders:''' Out of all the core choices, this is perhaps the only unit which has been priced correctly. For 19pts you get m9 fast cavalry with a Asrai Bow and Asrai Spear, who have to ambush (Being forced to ambush can sometimes be an issue, keep this in mind when taking Riders.), that can take the magic arrows. They can also take a magic banner worth up to 25pts which is neat (I would recommend Gleaming Pennant - cheap and nice for fast cavalry). Generally you will want to take these in multiple small units that can come up behind the opponents and cause havoc. In a pinch they also make good warmachine hunters. A downside of this unit is that you cannot depend on them to act early in the game, since they can only move onto the board from turn 2 onward. If you have a treeman that you don't want to get hit by artillery that could kill him in one phase, you may not want to use these guys as warmachine hunters. However, it can be incredibly fun in friendly games and is inevitable in full cavalry lists.
** ''And no, they cannot choose Vanguard deployment over Ambush deployment, because you Vanguard-move ''after'' you have deployed - which you don't with Ambush. Feel free to Vanguard-move in the model case, waiting for your ambush roll.''

===Special Units===

* '''Deep Wood Scouts:''' Don't let their fancy new name fool you. These are the Glade Scouts of the past, simply moved and renamed. For 1 point more than a Glade Guard they gain scout and skirmish and still keep the option to buy magic arrows. They can also buy a full command interestingly and can be taken in units as small as 5. Pity that you can only have so many special unit duplicates. Whenever you feel the urge to buy glade guard that don't contribute to your core allowance, choose Deepwood scouts instead. If anything they are one less unit you have to deploy at the start of a game before the roll off thanks to scout. As a side note; 12 of these armed with '''poisoned arrows''' will kill a warmachine each turn, on average, without a modifier.

* '''Sisters of the Thorn:''' The Wood Elf alternative to Dark Elf Warlocks. While wildriders rock out with their cock out and kill and get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 26 points they get a 4++, T3, BS5 and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricy, have one good spell and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at both enemy spells and any miscasts (Edit: as per the errata, MR doesn’t help with miscasts). They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer, but can be very effective with proper application.
** ''Doomfire Warlocks:'' These guys are often bench-marked a against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units (or more correctly, the sisters are a Wood Elf version of the warlocks since the DE book came out first). These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

* '''Treekin:''' Treekin are the younger brother of Treemen and not the force they once were. With the unit size limit removed, treekin can now be taken in hordes and with a 20 point reduction, they won't eat up as much of your points. Compared to an O&G troll for the same price, treekin suffer from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). Overall treekin are evenly matched with river and stone trolls as they should be for the same point cost. They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 45 points you get S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, Stomp, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, cause fear, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win (unless you have the lore of light unbreakable spell or other buffing spells to improve armor or toughness).
** ''Additional Thought:'' Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin have enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

* '''Wardancer Troupe:''' Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor piercing and killing blow, second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance [[AWESOME|strips your foe of their rank bonuses]]. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they have to start in your deployment zone, and M5 does not let them cross the board very quickly, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into an on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
** Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose well, whom will you use (unless you use both).
*** As a side note, any models in the squad '''(not the whole squad - you can choose)''' can replace two weapons with an Asrai Spear. Which is kinda useless, since if you are taking more than 5 Wardancers in a single squad, you are doing it wrong.
**''It is also highly disappointing that taking a musician does not do more to help the unit of dancers. How did Matt Ward not see the connection between music and dancing?''
***''He must like dubstep. It would explain a lot of things.''

* '''Warhawk Riders:''' You think your Glade Riders are fast? Think again. These guys are one of the best units in the Army Book, acting troubleshooters, since they can bring down War Machines like they're not there, punch out shooting units, ping wounds off lightly armored units and even help out in large combats (this is only for emergencies though). For 45 points you are getting fast flying monstrous cavalry with the Asrai Bows, W3, T4, Asrai Spears, and killing blow on the charge. They deal out 1 str 4 AP with ASF as well as 2 str 4 AP killing blow hits and a stomp. Possibly, the best flying unit in the game with the exception of the frost phoenix and pegasus knights. Take as many units of 3 as you can. Also they make Great Eagles look very sad and useless.

* '''Wild Riders of Kurnous:''' While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Similes aside, they are the only fast cavalry in the game with the potential to get a 4+ 6++ and they eat monsters(or damn near anything) for breakfast. For 26 points you get a WS5, S4, T3, model on stagback with light armour, which can buy a shield for 2 extra points, Full Command for 30, and a magic banner up to 50pts. In combat they dish out 3 str 5 AP, ASF and 2 str 4 attack on the charge, thanks to frenzy (which also applies to the mounts) asrai spears for +1 strength on the charge and devastating charge for an extra attack on the charge. Conveniently they also have fear, <s>which is always nice when facing something else with terror</s> You do know that Frenzy makes you Immune to Psychology, right? A unit of 5 on the charge with a champion will cause an average of 12 wounds with -3 to armour and 4 Wounds with -1 to anything at T3 with less than WS5 - that unit is looking a lot less threatening with 15 less guys now isn't it. Also have a lot more staying power than most other cav, retaining 4 st4 attacks per model until you lose frenzy. That's better than having lances. Also, they keep their spears in following rounds, so their attacks still have AP. Bear in mind, they're reliant on a 4+ 6++ (one of the best saves the wood elves get is still not that good), so don't get them charged, or they will die in troves. ''Ironically enough, they are no longer Forest Spirits, but their new models actually look like forest spirits, unlike their older models of regular elves.'' (Don't let them get charged, they suddenly hurt a lot less. 2 S4 armor piercing attacks per is just "ok"). These units are not very useful in a head-on charge due to the enemy stepping up (unless you wipe out the entire unit!) but, they are excellent at charging from the rear. However, due to frenzy, it might be difficult to get behind the enemy without being forced the charge them head-on in the first place.

* '''Wildwood Rangers''' New to the Wood Elf Army Book, 11 points per model gets you light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and a great weapon. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead and Ogres). On the upside they are better than Great Swordsmen(In forests and against fear causers), but are worse than almost every other race's Great Weapon elites (however also cheaper per model). With the End Times bringing undead-summoning for everyone, these fellers become more useful, easily clearing freshly-summoned shamblers with their special rule. Also, if the WE use the fear causing forest for the free WE forest, placing these guys in it is awesome. Not only do they get fear, but enemies that engage them (and step foot into the forest) gain fear as well, which is not only completely useless against them due to immune to psychology, it also means they get to use that +1 attack! These guys can hit hard, but sadly they are difficult to keep alive. High initiative and ASF cancelling out the great weapons' ASL means your best bet to keep these guys alive is to fight low I enemies and kill before you get killed.

===Rare Units===
*'''Great Eagle:''' They would be reliable, cheap and versatile for 50pts. However, Warhawk costs 5pts less, has KB and a rider (who can shoot), and only loses 1WS. Take Eagles only if you are full on Warhawks, otherwise Hawks will give you much more for less points. Also they can't be upgraded like High Elf eagles. Don't bother. If you insist on using your Great Eagle models, stick a Glade Rider or Glade Guard with spear on it back and have yourself a Warhawk.
** Counterpoint: you would want to take a great eagle instead of a warhawk if you had less than 135pts to spend on flying dudes. Warhawks need to be taken in units of at least 3, and have enough whoopass to draw more attention from the enemy than the eagle. A pair of eagles is great for topping off the last hundred points in your list. Place one of these between your enemy death star and your death star so your death star can get the charge next turn. The eagle is one of the cheapest chaff units in the game. Skaven could probably field a unit of slaves for less than 50pts, but those slaves won't give you the same coverage as an eagle.

* '''Treeman:''' The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin and 6++ ward. It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved seperately in case of ward saves). Also, Thunderstomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. ALTERNATE OPINION: Strangleroots are 20pts for an average of 3.5 S5 shots a turn, which against something anything glass cannon, like Witch Elves or Swordmasters, can easily make back its points. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer.
**Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

* '''Waywatchers:''' This is potentially the best unit in the Army Book, so place your bets now on how 9th ed will nerf these guys (9th? We wish). For 20pts you get a BS5 skirmishing scouting archer who can chose whether to add the multiple fire 2 rule to his bow or to ignore armour saves with his shooting. They also come with 2 hand weapons for some mild protection against chaff units in combat, but don't expect them to be able to take the enemy head on with T3 and no armour. Everything they do is very wood elfy. They shoot well, avoid the enemy well and die easily if the enemy puts any real firepower on them. Take a unit of 5 and annoy the living hell out of your opponents. For 100pts you can thin out the enemy if they ignore them, or distract what ever the enemy sends to stomp these guys down. It actually isn't a bad idea to fill your rare allocation up with these. Keep in mind, their bows are still S3 only, so pick your targets carefully and use Withering (lore of shadows) or you're going to be sorely disappointed. Calculation of disappointment can be seen on the talk page. These guys are best at picking off heavily armored units with non-exceptional toughness. They are also useful at unleashing a small group of arrows into the foe. If facing a high toughness enemy, Deepwood Scouts with poison arrows will probably do the job better.

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

The battalion set was a good value. You could get a fairly decent army out of it. ''It is still mighty cool if you manage to find it at some backwater hobby shop (I even managed to get one with discount "'cos no one wanted it for long time" from, apparently, completely ignorant shop assistant).
The battalion shared models with regular kits, so following old guidelines still apply.

From the Glade Guard sprues, you can build Waywatchers. If you have some spare High Elf or Dark Elf spearmen/warriors, giving them a Glade Guard head can turn them into Eternal Guard. You get a ton of heads with the Glade Guard, so you're spoilt! Especially now, when they look like High Elves.

The Glade Riders you can build as Wild Riders with the spears. Or even Sisters of the Thorn.

For your Lords/Heroes choices, you can build them out of the sprues provided. You can make a mounted Glade Lord or Captain (even a BSB), as well as a Waystalker and, with a bit of imagination, a Spellweaver.

Otherwise, for the Spellweaver, the Dark Elves' plastic Sorceress is a good alternative if you don't want old/metal models.

You could make a Treeman with the LotR Ent as it's cheaper, but the two have different dimentions, so be warned.
It is taller, but can fit on a 50x50mm base that you can buy seperatly.(and still be cheaper than a treeman.)
Especially now, when Treemen are taller, slimmer and look more like -Men, than Tree-.

Dryad bits are awesome in making Wild Riders, Sisters of the Thorn and characters. Their back-branches make pretty cool saplings to add foresty clutter on elf bases. You can also glue the extra dryad arms together to make treekin looking things. It will take some patience but you can build three or four sleek looking treekin from a box of a dozen dryads. The ghetto treekin don't look as tough or macho as the GW treekin, so it is easier to picture them as just strength 4 instead of the strength 5 they used to have.

If you want Dryads and Treemen (though they've been nerf-sawed) - you should hurry to grab the Guardians of the Deepwood box, which contains three Treemen and 36 Dryads - and is actually cheaper than cost of those models combined. Either GW are trying to be kinder, or their head manager made a typo. Most likely the latter. Hurry, it is limited edition and stuff.

If you are OK with using mediocre models made from shitty resin, D&D Treant and Roc miniatures make pretty good Treeman or Great Eagle/Warhawk. Be advised, D&D resin is crappy and bendy, but they come pre-painted. The Guardians of the Galaxy Heroclix version of Groot could fill the roll of your treeman easily.

==Equipping Your Army==

'''Asrai Bow''': Just like an ordinary Longbow. 30" range, but now comes with AP.

'''Asrai Spear''': Follows the same rules as regular spears, except for having AP.

Basicly, all Wood Elf spears and bows have AP. Because inch-thick armor is of little use when there's an arrow sticking out of your eye and a spear in your throat.

===Magic Items===

No more Spites, no more Kindreds. Matt Ward, after having given High Elves a meta changing item and Dark elves at least some decent ones, he decided to balance out his previous mistakes by not giving Wood Elves any good items. He even made sure to prevent broken combos this time. It's especially surprising as Wood Elves are reputed to be Matt Ward's favourite elf faction.

'''The Spirit Sword:''' 85 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't have enough of this already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a character/champion/monster, you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens(Though it can hurt the wielder if you want to use the more amusing 6th ed rules for the sword). I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

'''Daith's Reaper:''' This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can reroll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to reroll successful armour saves. Considering you can only take this on a hero who is likely to get to hit rerolls from ASF and that 8th favours ward saves rather than armour saves, this weapon is only slightly better than useless. Buying great weapon or sword of +1 str wound be a far better/cheaper alternative.

'''The Bow of Loren:''' For 20 points you get a bow that fires your character's attacks +1 shots. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2, armour ignoring, sniping shots or on the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. This can actually be increased further through augment magic that increases attacks (lore of beasts). Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and don't get any bonus attacks from extra hand weapon). The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced. All other races ranged magic items aren't though...

'''Helm of the Hunt:''' For 20pts you get a dragon helm which instead of giving you a 2++ vs flaming attacks, gives you the devastating charge special rule and +1 ws on the charge. Cute I guess for Wood Elves but is it really worth it? Basically, it allows you to make a Wild Rider Noble from older editions (especially with Wild Riders wearing noticeable horned helms now)

'''Acorns of Ages:''' This is the item that Wood Elves have been waiting for. For 100pts you get d3 forests in addition to the starting one, which all have to be the same type and are deployed like drop pods, since they scatter but can't land on other terrain. Lots of tactics are circulating around this item, Drycha/Moonstone of Hidden Ways for teleporting units or almost deep striking treemen. See Talk page for tactics and stuff. As for the item - if nothing else, it's fluffy. The problem is only a couple lords even have the points to carry the thing, and it then leaves them with no points for anything else. Unless your strategy depends on having many forests (Drycha, Moonstone of Hidden ways), it is probably better to pass on this one.

'''Moonstone of Hidden Ways:''' This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 40pts you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either relies on the luck of the terrain deployment table or the Acorns of Ages. Buy another gimmick.

'''Hail of the Doom Arrow:''' If only this item was 5 points cheaper so Waystalkers could take it (This does prevent the abuse from being able to hail of the doom arrow snipe combo - <strike>almost</strike> guaranteed dead wizard. Seems like it could have been fixed better with a 'cannot be used in conjunction with the sniper special rule' as opposed to just making it too expensive to take). For 30pts, you get a 1 use str 4 armour piercing arrow that causes 3d6 hits. Some people swear by these things since they can instantly mince lightly armoured units though there are dissenting opinions. Still it is the best magic item Wood Elves have. Sadly, Asyndi's Bane was removed as a magic item, so you can no longer use the HoDA to take out an enemy unit and the guy who fired the arrow in the same turn.

'''Calaingor's Stave:''' Such a depressing item. For 20 points you get the privilege of swapping a spell for Tree Singing. Tree Singing is cast on a 8+ now and can move an empty forest d6+1 inches, which is not much more than the forest moves by being accidentally bumped. If the forest is partially occupied, then instead you can deal 2d6 str4 hits on an enemy unit that is at least partially within the forest. You can improve the spell so that, when cast on a 16+ it affects all forests within 12". If the spell could be cast more than once, was given as an additional spell, had a lore attribute, could be cast on all forests on the board instead of those within 12", cast on a 4+, to name a multitude of reasons, then it would be worth taking. Otherwise, unless you wish to move the destination forest of the moonstone of hidden way's unit or Drycha's helpers, it is the worst magic item in the game. If you really want your eternal guard to hit in an extra rank, its usually easier to move yourself to the forest than to move the forest to you.

'''The Banner of the Eternal Queen:''' For twice the cost of the Banner of the World Dragon, this banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. No thanks. The traditional overpriced banner does not fail to disappoint me even if you don't compare it to the Banner of the World Dragon.

'''The Banner of the Hunter King:''' Another banner which gives to it's unit vanguard and, that allows you to reroll the first failed charge of the game for 75pts. Dwarfs get these rules for 35pts and 15pts respectively. Also almost everything that can take this banner has Vanguard already. Competes with Calaingor's Staff for being the worst magic item ever. Well, at least Calaingor's staff only costs 20 points where this costs 75. Worst magic (or even mundane) item ever.

====Enchanted Arrows====

(Note, all arrows have AP and volleyfire, 30 inch range). All of these are available to Glade Guard, Deepwood Scouts, Glade Riders, Glade Lords and Glade Captains.
They replace the profile of regular bows wielded by models and count as magical attacks. <s>Note, that until we get a FAQ, they are ''not'' Asrai Longbows and prevent using Hail of Doom Arrows!</s> The enchanted arrows are Enchanted Items which do not prevent you from holding a second Enchanted item. As such they are NOT weapons, and do not prevent you from using the HODA. The WE book specifically says "Each type of enchanted arrow replaced the profile of the Asrai longbow with the one shown in its entry." In other words, you don't have asrai longbow anymore, you have Arcane Bodkins, Starfire Shafts, Hagbane Tips, Swiftshiver Shards, Moonfire shot, or Trueflight Arrows instead. This would technically disable HoDA even though you are replacing the bow with arrows. Correction: the profile of the bow is replaced, not the bow itself. "if a model has enchanted arrows, he must use them when shooting with an Asrai Longbow." The model still has the bow, which means it can still use HoDA.

'''Arcane Bodkins:''' 5 pts per model, confers ap -3 instead of normal armour piercing. Expensive for what they do. I prefer to do more wounds than reduce armour saves but these arrows kill cavalry like nobody's business. All the same, if your plan is to screw over enemy armour, just use Waywatchers instead. For three more points waywatchers can spite that guy with a 1+ re-rollable armour save while the arcane bodkins have a 50/50 chance of being saved. And they can also fuck up light infantry like nobody's business, if no heavy cavalry presents itself.

'''Hagbane Tips:''' 3 points per model, confers poison attacks. Amazing. This will probably be your go-to magic arrow, since wood elves have troubles vs monsters. It is nice to have Skink-like firepower on the move at 30" (With BS4+ throughout most of the shooting units, your problems will probably lie in wounding. Might as well turn those 6's to hit into wounds, and save yourself the possibility of connecting a hit that won't wound anything).

'''Trueflight Arrows:''' 3 points per model, confers no penalty to shooting whatever you do. This is probably going to be the second most used arrow. Best taken on your Glade Guard as they will suffer the most penalties (move and shoot, long range, volley fire, etc.). These should be your first choice against Skaven and their shenanigans.
*''As of now there are many opinions about the merits of these arrows which should be shared on the talk page.

'''Moonfire Arrows:''' 4 points, confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Order. Great against warmachines, which almost all Forces of Order have. BUT against war machines, poison is still better (and cheaper) unless buffed by magic. Still, in addition to putting a hurt on those war machines, this arrow can also screw with any lore of life wizards (which many Forces of Order armies hace access to) that thought they'd be using that signature spell. Especially if brought in as a surprise on scouts/ambushers (which is where you want them anyway to reach those war machines quickly).

'''Starfire Arrows:''' 4 points per model confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Destruction. Great against monsters and repeater bolt throwers. The better choice of the "...fire Arrows" duo as almost everything with Regen in the game is from a Forces of Destruction army. If you buy a unit of 10-12 of this instead of the flaming banner you can make OK monster hunters out of them. If you want, bring a small number of archers with flaming arrows and a larger poison arrow unit if you want to use that poison without the pesky regeneration saves.

'''Swiftshiver Shards:''' 4 points per model confers multiple shot, making your Glade Guards into Dark Elf repeater crossbowmen. Interesting, but Waywatchers have this basic and do this better than any of the other unit. One recommendation is to fill your core with a big block of swiftshiver shard glade guard (fun to say) and then buff them with hand of glory from the high magic. Your swiftshiver shard glade guard should eviscerate anything that is not protected by the high elf banner of game breaking. Use Arcane Unforging if you can to destroy that banner and drink your High Elf opponent's tears when they realize they might actually have to use strategy to win for once.

==Magic==

Wood elves have gone from being, magically, the least diverse race with the least choice of all when it came to spells, to the most. All Wood Elf wizards now have access to ALL rulebook lores, which is amazing for them, and the Spell Weavers are the only models who now have access to the new Wood Elf specific lores, the Lore of High and Dark Magic. Yes both are directly stolen from the High and Dark elves (this is confirmed by the fluff) but have different lore attributes (this can be seen as good and bad). As such a Spellweaver can now choose 10 lores with a chance to pick 3/4 of 72 different spells.

The following overviews are in my eyes, in the order of importance. However that is up to debate and which most important is dependant on your list and situation.

====Lore of Life====

This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie:Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and has a safety net for you, if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

====Lore of Shadow====

The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and intiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves (unless you run a LOT of poisoned arrows), as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mysitifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational.
Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

====Lore of High Magic====

This Lore is really quite neat. It has a wide variety of cheap to cast spells which give you a better shorter ranged fireball as a signature spell, a buff the complete opposite of the MMM importantly buffing your BS, a spell which dispels all effects (very useful against any foe dependant on magic) as a signature spell, a small blast, the ability to redeploy one of your units 10", to dismantle magic items and to deal a str 4 hit to all your foes in one unit. Matt Ward has also given a good lore attribute which stacks well with it's multiple low level spells. Every time you successfully cast a spell you gain a counter. If you suffer an unsaved wound, then the counter nullifies the wound. Great if you are hiding your General anywhere, but especially with the sisters of the Thorn. I feel it is very much like a proactive version of the lore of life, preventing damage rather than repairing it.

====Lore of Metal====

The Lore of Metal is mostly aimed at helping armies like the wood elves deal with heavily armoured foes. It can debuff your foe's armour, pick off standards, has a 5+ pit of shades which causes stupidity and can give your troops a 5+ scaly skin save and +1 to hit (almost everything has armour piercing already). It isn't bad but the other lores often help more. Especially since nearly all the elves have armor piercing and (one of) their best units can outright ignore armor. The scaly skin is nice though since the wood elves are lacking when it comes to armor.

====Lore of Beasts====

The Lore of Beasts lets you run train on things that you normally would not be able to run train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just death. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. The +1S also gives your army an option at S4 ranged hits if cast on a unit of Sisters of the Thorn. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells which can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

====Lore of Heavens====

The Lore of Heavens is a mixed bag.You get 2 of the spells with the largest areas of affect and potentially the biggest damage output in the game, 1 high strength magic missile, 2 debuffs which synergise well, preventing your foe from ever getting poisoned or killling blow attacks or -1 to hit and a 50/50 chance to put warmachines out of commision for one turn, a buff which makes you reroll all ones (which Wood Elves do in woods anyway) and a very situational knock back spell. Also it's lore attribute turns all of it's spells into lvl 1 fireballs when cast at something with wings. Not bad but it is often outshone. Still, can be used as a monster-hunter lore (since its damage spells inflict low number of very strong hits).

====Lore of Death====

The Lore of Death is good for situations when the enemy has some tough (literally) Lord or Hero, who laughs off your S3 sniping shots and has a chance to wreck your game - like a T4 Grey Seer with the Dreaded 13th ratifying your MSUs. Doom and Darkness also has nice synergy with Fear of your Dryads, Treekin, Treemen, and Wild Riders, and might actually cause an enemy to fail a panic test caused by shooting (giving you a rare opportunity to win with the thing your army is meant to do), while Soulblight does a fine job equalizing some S4 T4 brutes with your fragile elves. The Black Sun of Xereous kills half of everything that isn't elves (great with death's lore attribute). Between those three spells you are bound to get something great on a high level wizard. The character sniping spells are cool but just take waystalkers instead. Just a pity you can't cast Aspect of the Dreadnight on enemies (to exploit Wildwood Rangers' special rule). But, there is always a free mysterious forest which you can make cause fear (making your enemy step into it on the other hand is a bit more difficult...).

====Lore of Fire====

The Lore of Fire is best for level 1s since it comes with the best guaranteed magic missile in the game. If you lose your lvl 4 then go and pump all your dice into a super fireball. Beyond that the only spell of great use for wood elves is the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which you sadly can't guarantee.

====Lore of Dark Magic====

Pity you can't take it on a level 1. On a level 4 it isn't bad but is beaten by almost all the other lores.

*'''Power of Darkness''':
**'''''Augment'''''. While it does give your unit a much needed strength bonus and extra power dice it will eventually wear you down ( you take a wound with no armor saves if you roll a 3 for power dice) unless you protect yourself with a decent ward save. Often, you'd be best served not getting bogged down in combat. For a stupid elf trick, use when your caster is with Sisters of Thorn and watch those javelins get nasty.

*'''Doombolt''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Always take it. It gives you a much needed high strength shooting attack.

*'''Chillwind''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Is an easy spell to cast, is good against low toughness units and will help you against other shooting armies.

*'''Word of Pain''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Good against shooting/high WS armies that seek to match you prowess. The boosted version will save a lot of your elves in combat, ''especially'' since you don't have much, if any, armor.

*'''Bladewind''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Is a good choice for big blocks of infantry, like the always pleasant Slavebus or Zombietrain or even some tougher units.

*'''Shroud of Despair''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Simply fantastic when you get into combat. No Inspiring Presence and no Hold Your Ground! for you enemies. This will make breaking enemies easier, which is good, because you don't wanna hang around for Round 2.

*'''Soul Stealer''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Once again, great against big horde units/busses/trains. If you get this off, place the 3" template anywhere of the wizard within 18". You can go nuts with '''Power of Darkness''' and never worry about it, if it lands right.

*'''Arnzipal's Black Horror''':
**'''''Magical Vortex'''''. Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine. No wonder Ariel got hooked on this Dark Magic stuff... Anyway, should you get this off, pop it down and sing ''"Snitches's gonna die/This bitch is gonna fly/My wizard's rollin' high/Or she's gonna fry"''. It will then travel anywhere between 6"-40" in the form of a 3" template in a straight line (of your choice) depending on your wizards magic lvl and how much you roll on the arty dice. Everything hit must pass a strength check or die (ward save allowed). As with arty rolls, should you misfire, place it on top of your wizard and scatter it D6. It ''Remains in Play''. Every turn, it jollies around randomly, spreading more laughter and happy thoughts with another arty roll. Misfire and it will stop working. Boost it and you get to use the large 5 incher, then pray to Isha that you don't screw up. Not as powerful as the '''Lore of Death''' version, but still good fun.

It's lore attribute is best likend to that of the '''Lore of Fire'''. Everytime you cast it on an enemy unit, it creates a vengeance counter (on the unit) which activates when damage is next applied through a spell to that unit. It causes d3 extra hits when it does so, for each counter on the unit. If you can take 2 lv 3/4 mages then this is a good secondary lore but beyond the Storm of Magic I doubt it will see much use. Try it out and see how useful it is to you.

====Lore of Light====

It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against Elf armies. Against most other armies, it sadly won't be of much use, as many of the other lores gives you better options. High strength flaming attacks, superb WS, exellent skirmisher [[Troll|trolling]] and M10 A4 Unbreakable Tree Kin is nice when playing the mirror match, but again, other lores give you a better selection of choices all-round. Alternative take: -1 to be hit is nice considering your high weapons skill. Double movement can make your waywatchers/glade riders uncatchable. Unfortunately, you cannot guarantee getting either of these spells. On a level 4 wizard it is highly likely you will either get one of these or roll doubles, however. It's definitely not the best option, but it is far from useless with the right spells.

==Army Composition & Tactics==

Build your tactics around your army.
Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemies flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

*A) '''Shooty army.'''
**Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

*B) '''Fast combat army.'''
**You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

*C) '''Infantry army.'''
**Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and is now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However, without serious magical buffing, this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze.

*D) '''Hybrid army.'''
**A mix of any of the above.

'''Ambush of the Worldroots'''

''To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "'''This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it'''"

''With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Type of your choice".''

*The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

*Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

*Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

*The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
**1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
**2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

'''Tips'''

''Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later ''

*With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favour a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

*Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

*Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relative few numbers. It should also be noted that skirmishers gain stubborn in forests.

*Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge), magically buffed units (result being S5 or higher), or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

*[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION FAERIE]]: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "''Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?'', so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
**''Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

*Having trouble filling those pesky core points and don't want to give the enemy a 220 point treeman to knock down with cannons? Glade Guard can deal with warmachines after just a few rounds due to their Ambusher rule. Combine with poison arrows to really specialize in WM hunting. Since they can't charge the turn they enter, shoot at one machine and charge remaining machines the following turn. Not terribly reliable since poor rolls can delay your ambushers, but usually an amazing core unit solution to some of the only things that might challange the Wood Elves' superiority in the shooting phase.

*What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their ''Banner of The World Dragon'' on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

*Seriously consider the ''Recipe for Success''
**You will need the following:
***1) 5 Wild Riders
***2) 1 Forest
***3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and ''voilà'': 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or step up (so Always Strikes First actually helps you kill the enemy before they kill you. Also note that flanking does not remove steadfast, so unless you get your enemy within the forest, they may not run as easily). The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

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[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]