Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Wood Elves

Your Wood Elves in the Age of Sigmar rules, who you play because you're a resident of /d/

Rules are here [1]

Named Characters

Araloth: As far as special characters go, Araloth is pretty weak. He has the exact same bow and falcon missile weapons as a normal Glade Lord and has the same spear as a Glade Lord albeit with one more swing. His only virtues are that he can reroll his save, a model wounded by the falcon (unlikely, 0.25 damage per turn at no rend) takes a Hit penalty for the rest of the battle and that he has a pretty good Command Ability: Wanderers within 18" can use his Bravery of 9 and if they roll a 1 on Battleshock, they get to pile in and attack even though it's not the combat phase. Not much to say really. Use if you like the model, but don't expect him to be amazing.

Orion, King in the Woods: Oh yes. Remember back in WHFB where Orion was nigh unplayable due to a number of factors? Most of them are gone now. He shoots great, making him the shootiest monster by a wide margin, he swings 4 times with 3" range at 3+/3+/-2/3, which is damn solid, about the same as Archaon Everchosen, though keep in mind Archaon can't shoot, never mind shooting this well. He also heals a wound a turn, which makes his 8 Wounds at 4+ even tougher and he and all Wanderers within 8" can reroll failed charges. And on top of that he gets his Command Ability, which grants rerolls To Wound for all Wanderers within 16" but only in combat. If a Glade Lord on foot is a jack of all trades, then Orion is pretty much the King of all trades, doing everything the Lord does but way better. Oh, and he moves 12" which is excessively fast, almost fast enough to keep up with Wild Riders, whom his presence buffs.

The Sisters of Twilight on Forest Dragon: The Sisters are simply amazing. They shoot well, with one sister getting bonuses against Chaos and the other getting bonuses against Order, they attack better than a Glade Lord on Dragon and they have an amazing regeneration: You roll a D6 in each friendly Hero Phase. On 1, 3 or 5 nothing happens. On 2, 4 or 6 they heal that many Wounds. Combine with a BSB to make these ladies all but unkillable. Unfortunately however, they lack the Glade Lord on Dragon's shield and any sort of Command Ability and it must always charge if possible (not actually awful against most things, since again, they are awesome in melee anyway). In other words, the Sisters should never be your only Heroes. At best, you'll have a Lord on Dragon and a BSB prancing about to mess the enemy line up.

Heroes

Glade Captain Battle Standard Bearer: The BSB grants your Wanderers within 8" a bonus save of 4+ against spells. So, you take a mortal wound from a spell, you get a 4+ save instead of taking the wound automatically. If he doesn't move, he can increase the range to 16". Unfortunately many sources of lots of mortal wounds in AoS come from shooting/special melee abilities, and the banner doesn't help against those. He's situational but can make a huge difference at times.

Glade Lord: The Lord has three load-outs: He can either be armed with Blade and Spear, which is far and away the worst of the choices. Sure, 6 attacks, but it's 6 meh attacks. He can also be armed with Bow and Greatblade, which makes him scary in both melee and at range (though more so in melee), or you give him Bow, Blade, hunting falcon and the ability to once per game fire 3D6 shots instead of 3. Yikes. His Command Ability lets Wanderers reroll 1s to Hit so long as they're within 8" of him when they are activated. Notably, it does not specify melee or shooting, so wherever you put the guy, he helps your army. Grab a Greatblade and have him swing in concert with your Rangers, grab the shooty option and plonk him down between your Glade Guard and your Waywatchers, it's your rodeo.

Glade Lord on Great Eagle: The biggest mount you can take without being considered a monster. Combines the powerful mobility and melee of the Great Eagle with the nice shooting of the Warhawk Riders. His Command Ability grants +2 to charges for Wanderers, or +4 for Warhawk Riders. Also, 7 Wounds make him surprisingly tough. Don't use him as a general, instead use him to blast weak units off objectives, take out backlines, and be a highly mobile threat. Pairs exceptionally well with a Shadowdancer, who can make him fly a whopping 32 inches in a single turn.

Glade Lord on Great Stag: Slower, just as tough and much harder hitting than the Eagle version. His Command Ability is also very similar, only specifying Wild Riders instead of Warhawk Riders. It's a shame Wood Elves don't get any "additional attack with each melee weapon" ability, because on this guy it'd be hilarious. If you somehow manage to get such a buff on him, he's a real powerhouse.

Glade Lord on Forest Dragon: The oddest dragon in the game. His "breath attack" makes it so that enemies within 3" of the dragon can only attack after all other units already have attacked. This sounds useless, but can actually ruin entire strategies, as Age of Sigmar is mainly about choosing the most opportune unit to attack. Also it means your Dragon can tear enemies a new asshole in peace without being knocked down a peg beforehand. Which it really really can, with a bunch of powerful attacks. 12 Wounds with a rerollable 4+ save is also really tough to kill, especially if you have one of those BSBs hiding behing him. His Command Ability is also pretty sweet, letting a friendly Wanderer unit reroll 1s to Hit and Wound (again, not specifying melee or shooting, so it works for both). The only thing he lacks is a bow, but that's really nothing you should complain about.

Mounted Glade Lord: If you're too cool for a Stag, you can instead get this guy. Hits pretty hard on the charge, but since he only has 5 Wounds, he's pretty fragile. His Command Ability is, again, the same as that of the Great Eagle Lord, only specifying Glade Riders. The funny part about this is that the mounted Lord with no bow strengthens the shooty cavalry while the mounted Lord with bow strengthens the pure melee cavalry.

Shadowdancer: The Shadowdancer has a very specific role. She's fragile and not particularly 'killy', so you basically want to use her like a wizard to support other units. The main use for her though comes from allowing other units to snipe objectives. When the Shadowdancer uses her unique spell to double another unit's movement (and grant flying) for the turn, you can really surprise your opponent by throwing a unit somewhere pretty far away. The best units to pair this with are guys like Orion, Glade Lord on a Great Eagle, Wild Riders/Sisters, or Warhawks. For example, a Glade Lord on a Great Eagle can suddenly move 32 inches in a single turn with this spell, allowing him to cross a HUGE difference and hit weak spots or clear off a weak unit holding an objective. The value of this spell obviously goes up with higher base movement units. If you aren't taking fast units, don't bother with a Shadowdancer.

Infantry

Wardancers: Wardancers are basically chaff units now. They CAN do decent damage or be fairly durable depending for a turn on the dance that you use. They move faster than any other infantry in the game at 8" (seriously, Chaos has some mounted stuff that's slower). The low point cost and high movement makes them pretty useful for contesting objectives, especially since the dances allow you to be deadly or durable depending on the need. At worst they are a speedbump against an elite enemy unit, and for the points they cost, that's actually an okay way to use them.

Waywatchers: They are very similar to their Lord, though their attack stats are basically -1 from the Lord all the way across. at 80 points for 3, these are a fantastic way to pay the battleline tax if you don't want to take Glade Guard. In small units of 3 they have 7 (sometimes more) attacks with rapid shots, making them dangerous enough to require attention, but cheap enough to not be much of a loss if they die. Very useful for harassing enemies or finishing off units/characters with a few wounds left.

Cavalry

Glade Riders: Worse saves, worse mounts and worse personal attacks than Wild Riders, but they get a bow and can actually run and shoot with it, so they can be pretty useful. The High Elf Ellyrian Reavers are just straight up better though, since the move after they shoot. Since these guys will be roaming around outside of your General's Command ability range, you may as well proxy them as Reavers.

Warhawk Riders: Oddly tough for wood elves. Warhawk Riders are basically Glade Riders with slightly better melee, better saves, twice the wounds and the ability to fly and fly far. They also get a few fun special rules. First, they always "run" 6 extra inches, no dice roll required, though with their 20" bows this will rarely see use. Then you gain +1 to Wound if they charged, which makes them pretty decent in big units. Finally, they have an oddly specific but potentially devastating special rule. If there are no enemies within 3" of them after they attacked, they can pile in 6" and attack again. Potentially cool, but requires pretty precise positioning and a good bit of luck to see use. These can make the value of the Spellsinger's "Regrowth" spell skyrocket, since it returns models and Warhawks have 4 wounds a piece.

Stuff

Great Eagles: Fragile, strong on the charge and with basically 40k's Hit and Run rule, which helps a lot since the eagles get bonuses for charging. Just don't expect them to survive shooting, as everyone and their dog will be gunning for your eagles.

Hunting Hounds: Hilarious. They are fast, tough chaff with meh attacks that only get good if you get Orion closeby. But there's one awesome thing about them: They can be summoned. Casting value 5, sets up 5 and Orion can cast this spell on every turn even though he's no Wizard, but all Wanderer Wizards know the spell. They aren't the most powerful summoned unit, but being able to create your own chaff is amazing for such a fragile army.