The Spirit Host of Moran'talhu

Branchwraith w/ A Cluster of Radiants

Branchwraith w/ A Murder of Spites

10 Dryads

9 Dryads

9 Dryads

6 Wild Riders w/ Full Command

Treeman

This list leaves me with 7 points to play with, but there are numerous alterations I am willing to consider. Mainly it would be dropping the Command on the Wild Riders, or a Wild Rider (or both), for the Banner of the Zenith and more Dryads, or get the Banner and also drop more Dryads, and/or the Murder of Spites on the Branchwraith to make one of them a Lvl 1 Wizard.

Any ideas? Mainly looking at Zog and Schmeag here, as they're the only Woodie players I know of, but if anyone else has ideas, I'm open to any suggestions.

From my experience playing against Wood Elves, I'd consider dropping the riders in favour of treekin. If nothing else, use them as the spearhead and draw attention away from the units of dryads scurrying up the flanks.

Looks like a fine list to me. Treemen are beasts in low point games. Dryads are generally great, no matter the size of the game.

I would get both Brainchwraiths to a level 1 though. You [u]will[/i] need Magic defense when almost all your saves are worth nothing against magic.

Yeah, I was hoping the Cluster of Radiants might help a little, but the defenses were the main reason I wanted a Lvl 1 Wizard; the Tree Singing would just become a little bonus. I would go for Treekin, but they are expensive models, and tough to convert, plus I need something to head out quickly and slow down the enemy, so I don't have everything coming at me at once. Hence why I wanted the Banner of the Zenith, for added march restriction.

So, if I drop a Wild Rider and the Wild Hunter and get the Banner of the Zenith, as well as dropping the Murder of Spites and a Dryad from the unit of 10, I can then afford the upgrade of one of my Branchwraiths to a wizard. Would one be enough, if I have the Cluster of Radiants as well? Or would I still be best off having both as wizards?

I think 8 is a perfect number for dryads. Drop units down to 8 and use that for your banner. This seems fine otherwise.

Why are you afraid of the enemy advancing in force? All of your units can both outmanouvre and outfight all but the toughest enemy infantry (Black Guard anyone?) and when you're up against heavy cavalry, let the Wild Riders pin them down or just retreat to the woods. If anything, your Treeman can take most charges, especially when you're lucky enough to get Ariel's Blessing.

I'd skip that banner. Get one Wizard and just keep the list as it is. It's strong enough.

right, tree spirts are nast in low points because there no enough magicy stuff around, or stuff capable of smushing treemen (deamons excluded)

I'd drop one branchwrait for a glamourthingy spellsinnger, jjust because branchwraits pay through the nose for there power single disp[ell dice and you realy don't need the combat potential, so you can get some of those super dispell based WE items (or dispell scrolls, they work too ^_^ )

I second the treekin thing, but your point is valid about the expence (PS: get some twigs and wire, they work as treekin for other people) so yeah, stick with the wild riders, and drop commnad, one extra s4 attack isn't worth the cost rwaly, but keep the standard. I don't know what the standard of zeneth does, so i can't comment.

Keep the big tree, it's uber awesome ^_^ and dryads work best at unit size 8 ^_^

Outmanoever, maybe, but I won't be winning combats with no sort of rank bonus, and despite manoevrability, I'll struggle to get flank and rear charges on a horde or an equally manoevrable army. That narrows it down a fair bit, and slowing down some of that continuous Orc battleline could prove essential if I want to attempt a flank charge (which, lets face it, is the only way I'll win a combat.) Fear will break them up a little, I guess, but not necessarily enough or in the right places, and it can't be relied upon.

I think I'll drop the Murder of Spites, and one of the Wild Riders, upgrade one of the Branchwraiths to a Wizard (which one? The one with the Radiants or the one with nothing?) That'll leave me with 8 points, so I could drop the Wild Hunter and buy the banner... Which I think I will do. :P

So, new list:

Branchwraith w/ Lvl 1 Wizard

Branchwraith w/ Cluster of Radiants

10 Dryads

9 Dryads

9 Dryads

5 Wild Riders w/ Stnd, Mus, Banner of the Zenith

Treeman

Which works out at a lovely 999 points.

EDIT: Sorry, HLY, didn't see your post. The thing with this list is that I'm fielding it more as a Tree Spirit List fluffwise than ruleswise. I'm letting myself get away with Wild Riders (which will be the traditional Dryad-centaurs - take a look at my Dryad and Branchwraith numbers and you'll notice how it all adds up...), but Glamourweave and Wild Rider Spellsingers and Nobles I've declared off limits. If I can't paint it branchy, it aint going in.

Banner of the Zenith extends the march restriction range of the unit. So essentially, it can slow down more units when it gets near.

With the Treekin, I have been looking online and found some nifty solutions, including the new plastic GW trees, using 2 Dryad bodies and an extensive amount of conversion and green stuff, and even using Kroot and Dryad parts. But whatever I do, these will require extensive conversion, so chances are I'll try one of these options out when I add to this army, but not right away. I'd hate to splash out on some funky plastics only to have it all go horribly wrong and have to chuck them out. At least at the moment I can finish this army off with just two more Dryad boxes and a little conversion (Branchwraiths will be a bitch...)

Looks like a solid list to me.

I still think that Dryads are able to stand toe-to-toe with most infantry. And if they can't stand up against them, there are bound to be no more than a few of those (except Orcs or Dwarves really, but both can easily be outmanouvred).

Seriously, the only armies I can think of that can outmanouvre you would be Clan Eshin, Beastherd-heavy Beastmen and Dark Rider-heavy Druchii. Or other Wood Elves. Clan Eshin and Dark Riders are easily overpowered when it comes to raw fighting power, Beastherds suffer from poor leadership (and your army causes fear). I can see a problem when it comes to other Wood Elves, but either he fields an almost identical list, or you've got superior S and T as well as causing fear.

Also, Orc battlelines are nothing to worry about, they tend to mess up completely after a few turns anyway, so all you have to do is wait for the right moment to strike. No Orc player can send anything after you that can both catch you and get rid of you.

Ok, cheers for your help, everyone. I think I'm going to stick with that second list (it means less conversion work, yay!) I probably won't ever get around to using it, but at least I might actually have a fully painted army now.

how could you have forgotten that i collect asrai? i remeber the days i was asked for advice on such things, saplings now can't remember anything... grumble... creak...

anywho, treekin are worth taking as are treeman lords depending who your playing against.

Ah, Hawkeye, I apologise for forgetting you. You can beat me later.

A Treeman Ancient will be practically a given when (if?) I up it to 2000pts, and Treekin will come in in the next expansion. But for a 1000pt list, everything seem alright and worthwhile?

With regards to Animosity being the gauge of when to destroy an Orc army, true.

With regards to nothing being able to catch/kill, may I humbly submit the two-chariot charge in which one chariot is ridden by a Goblin Big Boss packing the Sneaky Skewerer, Tricksy Trinket and Talisman of Protection. (Sure, they have to, y'know, pass Fear and actually survive the first two turns, but if they do it, good night. :ph43r:)

Terrain?

Surely, if you see 2 chariots on the table, you'll want to make sure that neither of those chariots will be able to get a charge on any of your units by using the terrain to your advantage, and with Forest Spirits, you can.

Exactly. It's a double-edge, which is great for greenskin players.

My 60-point chariots (plus dirt-cheap hero) can't charge you? Darn! Gosh, golly and gee! How many points did that unit of dryads cost? And all you're doing is skirting around/through the terrain with them? Darn. How horrible for me.

Let's see... guess I'll just park my chariots over here in my deployment zone and wait for you to pop out of the forest. What's that? You're not going to and moved away yet again? Darn again! My 60-point mobile roadblock sure isn't paying for itself, is it? Nosiree.

[/snark]

All right, I'm making a lot of assumptions on my theoretical opponent's playstyle, but I stand by my point: the threat of being steamrolled by inexpensive chariots is enough to dictate the pace of the dryad advance. With any luck, it's also enough to force the dryads into a specific, undesired combat (thinking two-choppa orcs with command or a large unit of gobbos with command) and let the lads go to work with 4-5 points of combat resolution out of the gate.

That's the trick with Wood Elves. Make sure that you avoid all undesired combats. The lower the points level, the easier. I can see few problems for a Forest Spirits list at this points level.

The only exceptions would be Deamons and Magic Heavy VC, altough VC are easy enough to avoid and weak enough to kill when unsupported. Deamons are just too few in numbers.

Seriously, the weakest link in this list is the Treeman because it isnt as manouvrable as the Dryads and the Wild Riders. This list should be all about outmanouvring, not killing a lot.

Looks pretty good.

If you want my advice, just drop the Dryads to 8/8/8 (works for me fine) and lose one Branchwraith. Then you can give the other Lv1 AND the Cluster of Radiance, which is decent magic defense in 1K.

Hopefully, the points over should net you a second unit of Wild Riders.

That list is definitley workable, though.

Zog