Great Eagles are the third and final choice in the Rare section of the Wood Elf army roster. I’m going to cover their usage just as a standalone Monstrous Creature, not as a mount because their role is very different in each circumstance (so I’ll take a look at that in a later article).

This is really an article about chaff. (Back in the 8th ed. Dimensional Cascade podcast days, we did a segment about chaff (starts around 1h: 30m, in case you’re interested – most of the info is still relevant to Old World). I’ll try to summarize the relevant bits here). But it’s also an article about the Great Eagle, who has some jobs that it can do better than other potential chaff units in the Wood Elf list. First off though, let’s look at the stats and special rules.

Profile of a Great Eagle

The key stats for the Great Eagle are having a high WS of 5, which means it hits most things it’s fighting on 3s. It has S4 and T4, the former really helping it to wound in combat, and the latter occasionally keeping it alive a bit longer (sadly, no armour save on a great big bird). It has I4, 3 Wounds and 3 Attacks (plus a Stomp), so it’s a bit more dangerous than it might first appear. This is a a high enough amount of damage output to have a good chance of winning a combat where the enemy has no static combat res (i.e. other chaff, war machines, and so forth).

It’s attacks are subdivided into one attack with the Serrated Maw and 2 Claw attacks (plus the Stomp obviously). The Maw is Armour Bane (2), Multiple Wounds (2), vs the Claws which are straight up AP -2. I wish you could opt to have three claw attacks but it’s not an option, so just bring a different colour dice for the beak attack.

In terms of special rules, it’s a Monstrous Creature, with Close Order (but sadly not enough Unit Strength to get the +1 to combat res) and it causes Fear (which is more useful as a way to avoid having to take Fear tests than it is in terms of actually ever making anyone else afraid). But the two primary special rules that make it such a useful unit are the Fly (10) and Swiftstride rules, making it very mobile.

So, now we know the basics of it, all the stuff you could get from reading the army book entry. But what is it about that these Eagles that really does make them Great?

Chaff – Great Eagle job #1

Chaff is:

1. Under 100 points
2. Ideally under 50 points
3. Very mobile
4. Expected to die

The Great Eagle punches in at 60 points, which is a bit shy of our ideal under #2, but it checks all the other boxes. It is in fact our cheapest unit, aside from having 5 Glade Guard (who are meh at being chaff, in case you’re curious, becuase they aren’t very mobile).

Here is a list of uses for chaff in Warhammer: The Old World in general, not just for the Great Eagle, but I’ll use the Great Eagle as the example in each case.

1. Control opponent’s frenzied troops
2. Delay or redirect other troops
3. Another drop during deployment
4. Meat shield

Controlling frenzied troops

For those of you who haven’t seen #1 in play before, here’s what it looks like. Make sure you’ve read all the rules about arcs and charging before you try to do this (p. 127 TOW). The reason that this works with a Great Eagle is because it is not a skirmisher (it is Close Order). E.g. this tactic would not work the same way with a unit of 5 Dryads. If you play other armies, choose your chaff for this role wisely. Apologies that the screen grabs from the Herald Battle Reporter aren’t all the same size (hmm, maybe I should add that as a feature ….) Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yes, the tactic!

The Great Eagle has flown up 1″ in front of this Minotaur unit (Minotaurs hit really hard, but are Frenzied). It’s flank is facing the unit and the Eagle is turned to look along the front of the enemy. The Eagle is in the front arc by beign placed off-center. As you can see here, 2 of 3 models in the front rank of the Minotaurs are in the front arc of the Eagle (it’s a good idea to tell your opponent what you are trying to do as you do it, so you can agree on positioning to ensure you get the effect you want). So now the Minotaurs must charge the Eagle and that charge will be in the Eagle’s front arc. The Eagle takes the charge, and the Minotaurs are forced to pivot 90° (away from the squishy and expensive Elves!) and, due to Frenzy, they can’t make a restraint test and are forced to overrun 2d6″ in the wrong direction!

Delaying and Redirecting

This is really the generalized case of the frenzy tactic above. Sometimes your enemy has a unit you just don’t want to engage with – with Wood Elves, that’s something with high toughness and wounds (you know, the stuff we want to shoot with Blackbriar Javelins and Habgane Tips) – but that’s too mobile to get a lot of time shooting at it. Or perhaps you’ve realized you’ve deployed wrongly and you need a turn to reposition key units before being able to properly countercharge with your Wild Riders. Sometimes it’s turn 5 and you just need to stop a charge on turn 6 and you need a speed bump. Whatever it is, you need a bit of time, and so you throw your chaff at the problem.

Part of the reason that the Great Eagle excels at this is due to having the Fly (10) rule and a 50mm base. Fly (10) means it can march up to 20″ and remember, you can still wheel while you march. A 90° wheel for 50mm wide unit uses up 3.1″ of movement, so any pivots you make while you’re flying will use up 3.1″ per right angle. Unless you’re really badly placed, that means you should be able to fly 15″ in the right direction and still be able to pivot to present a front flank. Even if you need to fly behind you, a 180 pivot about the corner only costs you 6.2″ so you can still fly 13.8″ – call it 13.5″ which is a pretty useful distance.

Deployment Drops

The only hidden information in most games of Warhammer is how your opponent is going to deploy. One list building strategy is to take plenty of chaff, like half a dozen units or more. By placing your chaff units first, you can force your opponent to start committing to where their forces are going to be deployed before you have to do the same. One reason I think the game is aimed at 2,500 points is to start to allow these kinds of strategies in the meta. Playing at 2,500 points allows up to 6 Great Eagles (my gut says 4 or maybe 5 is the right number), but that’s 4 (or maybe 5) drops where I’ve given pretty much no tactical information away to my opponent. Remember that all war machines drop at the same time, as do all characters. You won’t be able to outchaff every army (our nemeses the Beastmen have very good and much cheaper chaff options for instance).

One of the key advantages for Wood Elves is our mobility. Think of extra chaff units as being our ‘mobility’ in the deployment phase. In fact, one tactic I’ve occasionally used is the Feigned Flank, where the first 4-6 units I deploy are all on one side of the board (let’s use the left side in this example), but all those units are chaff (I include small units of infantry in this category of chaff). I wait to see if my opponent will place something tactically significant to engage on that flank, and they often do. I’ll try to keep them deploying on the left flank by placing the Wild Riders or some other Fast Cavalry unit out on the same flank (but maybe just left of centre). Then I place all the rest of my army on the right flank. All the chaff and fast movers can ‘redeploy’ in turn 1 by using their mobility and the space available to pull back over to the right flank, or they can move forward and act as speed bumps as normal.

Meat Shield

This is not a role that the Great Eagle is good at, but I’m including it for completeness sake. Sometimes your chaff unit exists to prevent your, uh, wheat? unit from being shot at. You literally put the tougher/cheaper/throw-away unit in front of the squishier/more expensive/can-actually-kill-things unit, so that the chaff unit is taking the enemy fire. The Great Eagle isn’t too good at this because it’s one model on a 50mm square base, but Dryads are good at this for shielding infantry, and Glade Riders for cavalry.

#2: War Machine Hunting

Another major role for Great Eagles is to hunt down enemy war machines. Typically, these are high toughness to shoot at, but only T3 in combat (T4 for Dwarfs). With the Great Eagle getting 3 WS5 attacks and a Stomp all at S4, they’ve got excellent chances at being able to take out a war machine in one round of combat. A 20″ march (minus whatever you need to make a the final pivot to put the war machine in charge range) plus a 19″ declarable charge range means you’re usually able to charge a war machine at the start of T2, and potentially survive to then hit the next war machine or perform some other chaff role.

#3: Bunkered Wizard Hunting

This one is a little unusual, but it’s a reasonable third option for your Eagles. Lots of players put their Wizard into a bunker of infantry or cavalry in order to make them harder to target (i.e. not get shot). However, an Eagle can charge the unit and because the Wizard (usually) has to be in the front rank, they can charge into base contact. The point here is that the Eagle will likely die, but you’re hoping to take 1-2 wounds off the Wizard who normally has no Armour Save and a WS of 4 or less, as you’re normally hitting on 3s and wounding on 3s or 4s. If you’re really lucky, the Eagle will survive for a round and prevent the Wizard from casting the following turn, and at the very least you prevent them from dispelling on this turn. Depending on how the enemy unit is configured, you may just want to use the chaff block like in Controlled Frenzied Troops in #1 above and force them to charge you.

Lots of folks like to put the Wizard in the corner of the unit, to minimize contact when charged in the front by another unit, but this can work to our advantage. In this example, there’s a Bray Shaman in the corner of the unit of Bestigor. By parking right in front of the Shaman, you are blocking line of sight for spells. “Ah, but the Bestigor unit can just shuffle sideways rather than charge,” I hear you say. They can, at which point you are most likely able to flank charge the Wizard and accomplish the same thing likely without dying (although the Eagle will need to be more at an angle like in the second picture to pull that off). And you’ve stopped that unit from moving for a turn.

Summary

So, now that I’ve gone through all three Rare options (Treemen, Waywatchers and now Great Eagles), I think it’s possible to justify each of these in the army, but in reality the role played by Waywatchers can also be played by other units, whereas nothing else can really be the Great Eagle or the Treeman. And with such tight points constraints on Rare, it’ll depend a lot on how many points the game is as to whether you bring a Treeman or not. Not all army styles will want a Treeman along as they are slow (compared with cavalry, scouts, etc.)

I think at 2,000 points (with 500 Rare points to play with), I’d want to bring a minimum of 3 Great Eagles, because I feel like I need to protect my squishy elves from uncomfortable charges. That only leaves enough to bring one Treeman. You can squeeze two Treemen in at 2,500 points and still have 3 Great Eagles, but I suspect I might want 4 at that many points. Will have to playtest some more and see.

If you’re gung ho for your Waywatchers, then leave your Treeman at home because the Great Eagle is perhaps one of the best units for supporting the Wood Elf play style–avoiding your enemy until the odds favour you the best, while peppering with plenty of arrows (and javelins!).

Originally written for rankandflank.com.

I remember when Waywatchers first came out for 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I was working for GW at the time, in one of their retail stores. Nothing captured the imagination of a potential Wood Elf player quite like the idea of super stealthy sniper archers, impossible to see, impossible to target, but will kill you from a distance if you just walk close enough to their little patch of forest.

Over the years, that vibe has really stayed with the unit. If you’re reading this, I’m willing to bet that you’re nodding and saying “hell yeah, Waywatchers are what got me into Wood Elves” or if not you, then it’s that other Wood Elf player you know. They are so core to the identity of the Asrai as we know them today that it’s hard to imagine the game without them.

So, how are they in the Old World? Sadly, they have been overburdened by the powers that be with enforced leadership: they can no longer be fielded without taking a Waystalker, an 85 point hero-level character. That means I really have to view them in the context of how they are actually fielded in a list, and including the Waystalker in my overall thoughts on the unit.

My initial impression is: Waywatchers are cool and can do a lot, but the Waystalker makes them a real points sink and you’re probably better off using your models to count as Deepwood Scouts instead. Let’s see if I can convince myself that I’m wrong 🙂

Waywatchers

Let’s start with the troops themselves, and I’ll really base this as a comparison with Deepwood Scouts because these troops play a very similar role in army composition. Both units are likely to be deployed in cover, in the enemy half of the board, with a goal of shooting off chaff, war machines, or possibly heavily armoured units or foolish lone characters.

For 16 points a model, they are BS5 and I5, and otherwise have the same stats as the Deepwood Scouts (who cost 13 points base). They share a bunch of the same special rules–Elven Reflexes, Evasive, Fire & Flee, Move Through Cover, Scouts and Skirmishers–and I go over how those are used in the Deepwood Scouts article. However, you do get two extra special rules which are very thematic and an improvement over their Deepwood brethren: Feigned Flight and Ignores Cover. With Feigned Flight, you automatically rally after you Fire & Flee, which is a huge benefit for a unit that will typically be deployed away from the main body of troops (and thus out of range of either your General’s Inspiring Presence or your BSB’s Hold Your Ground special rules). Ignores Cover does exactly what it says on the tin: no modifiers to shooting at targets behind cover–it’s half of the benefit of Trueflight arrows, although you’ll still suffer penalties for moving & shooting and long range.

So, for an extra 3 points a model, it’s definitely a tempting upgrade to choose Waywatchers, even though they don’t have any rules relating to their lore about being epic at concealing themselves (which is right there in the description in Forces of Fantasy!) I’m guessing the optional ability to give them Ambushers special rule (+1 pt per model) is meant to represent that, but Ambushers is a terrible rule and you should never use it–a 50/50 chance each turn of being able to deploy is really annoying and actually kind of giving an advantage to your opponent: just stick with their Scout ability. Likewise I wouldn’t bother paying the extra 1 pt per model for Vanguard, just deploy them as best you can with Scouts and save the points. The other final optional upgrade is Veteran, which doesn’t seem that useful to me: you don’t want these troops in combat unless it’s late game and they are coming in to help mop up or provide some last gasp combat support (they are expensive troops with T3 and no armour!), and they automatically rally from a Fire & Flee roll (you pretty much always want to Fire & Flee when charged!). However, if you’re facing a lot of Terror causing enemies, or lots of chaff and you need fight out a combat or two, then maybe? Again, doesn’t seem worth the points to me.

An extra 6 points gets you a Sentinel, the champion, who has BS 6 (same as the Glade Captain!) and can take 25 points of magic items. You might think Asyendi’s Bane is worth taking, but I’d say probably not–you’re getting Quick Shot for 10 points and a 50/50 chance to kill yourself if you miss. Likewise, the Wailing Arrow is a waste of points (you have to hit and you have to wound and all it does is cause a Panic Test for 20 points), so I’d only take the champion if I happened to have 6 extra points at the end of list building as I don’t think it significantly improves the unit’s performance.

And so we get to the only really important decision you’re making, which is what arrows the Waywatchers will have. I’m going to ignore Moonfire Shot because getting Magical and Flaming Attacks is very situational, and if your situation calls for it, you’re probably better putting them on Glade Guard. Trueflight Arrows seem a bit wasteful at first glance, because you already have Ignores Cover. It also grants Quick Shot, which means two things: no penalty for moving and shooting, and you can Stand & Shoot (or Fire & Flee) from any distance. However, I don’t think you want to let anything get close enough to you that you can’t Fire & Flee (remember that Fire & Flee has a flee distance of 2d6 drop lowest, not 2d6 like a regular Flee), so I wouldn’t recommend Trueflight, as much as I love them. So this leaves Hagbane Tips (for Poison), Swiftshiver Shards (for Multiple Shots (2)) or Arcane Bodkins for AP -2. I think Hagbane is actually a better choice for Deepwood Scouts, because you’re hoping to roll 6s anyway, and it doesn’t take advantage of the better BS of the Waywatchers. Giving them Shards for +2 points is kind of like giving you the shooting equivalent of two Deepwood Scouts when you think about it: you get two shots at -1. I think this is probably a fine choice if your main job is chaff hunting, as chaff tends to be lightly armoured and lower toughness. Bodkins are also a good choice, as the Waywatchers’ higher BS means they are more likely to hit those armoured targets, meaning you’re hoping for a 4+ or 5+ to wound, and they’re only likely getting a 5+ or 6+ armour save. However, all of these are dependent on the number of Waywatchers you’re taking and what their role is … and that comes back to how many points you’re spending, which brings me back to the Waystalker.

Waystalker

The first time you read the Waystalker’s Hawk-Eyed Archer special rule you think “Cool, this guy can snipe enemy characters in units!” but as the recent FAQ has shown us, the enemy characters are all going to get a Look Out Sir! save (on a 2+ the hit goes on the unit). That being said, there are still plenty of opportunities to shoot Lone Characters who aren’t in units, or late game when units have been whittled down to fewer than 5 rank and file models. It’s currently pretty popular to have a fighty character on a Monstrous Cavalry mount because they get the 360° charge arc (due to being Skirmishers), and then keep them within 3″ of a Cavalry unit in order for them not to be targeted–Bretonnians especially like this build with their Royal Pegasus. A Waystalker can still target those characters without any Look Out Sir! concerns. However, they really won’t do much damage to those characters, who tend to be T4 or T5 and have 3+ or 2+ Armour Saves. Even if you give them the Bow of Loren so that they get two shots, the FAQ states that they’ll only shoot one enchanted arrow with the Bow, and then switch to normal arrows to shoot the second shot (why? no-one knows–the idea that they have two different quivers with different arrows in them seems absurd). So, realistically they might plink a wound off a character if you’re lucky. Other than that, they are a shooting-focused hero character with all the same special rules as Waywatchers, and BS7, for 85 points. Realistically, this means they are going to help Waywatchers in the same battlefield role they are already playing: chaff/warmachine hunting, or targeting armour and occasionally getting some extra hits on a lone character.

The Math of It All

So, is it worth it? I want to look at the actual math of shooting with Waywatchers + Waystalker versus a Deepwood Scout unit costing the same number of points. Obviously the more Waywatchers you’re taking, the lower the ‘Waystalker tax’ is in terms of percentages, but to reiterate what I said in my article about Treemen, the Waywatcher points are coming out of the Rare slot and so have to compete with other units that are very solid. Working backwards, I’m going to assume that in a 2,000 point list, you’d want to take 1 Treeman and 1 Great Eagle, and in a 2,500 point list you’d want 2 Great Eagles. That leaves 225 and 285 points available respectively for Waywatchers, so I’ll test out both values of unit.

225 points of Waywatchers at 18 points a model (16 + 2 for arrows) gives me 12 Waywatchers and an extra few points for a Sentinel. 285 gives me 15 + Sentinel. We’ll keep the arrow choices the same per unit when doing the calculations. For Deepwood Scouts, at 225 points I get 15 Scouts (no champion) and 19 at 285 (again, no champion). However, the Waystalker with special arrows is 88 points, which translates as 5 extra Scouts + a champion, so I’ll be calculating the odds using these totals.

Vs War Machines

For target, let’s choose my perennial “favourite” the Dwarf Cannon. It’s T7 with 3 wounds, and likes to kill Treemen, so it has to die first. I’m going to assume we are at long range or have moved into short range, which is pretty common, and that we’re using Hagbane because our primary mission is eliminating war machines (again, my most common use case). Most war machines have a similar profile, so it’s a good sample.

Not counting the re-roll for the Waystalker/Sentinal, the Waywatchers on average will do 2.89 wounds (and I’ve just realized that the Mathhammer app we wrote needs to have BS re-rolls added to it!), but a quick back of the envelope calculation tells me that the rerolls should inch the result up to that 3 Wound mark. For the Scouts, they are averaging 3.95 wounds, so let’s call it 1 Wound more. For the larger units, the disparity is greater (about 1.1 wounds).

(Maybe the units need to be smaller? Minimum size is 5, which would put the points cost at 178 including Waystalker … if I give them a champion, that’s 184, which allows me to get 12 Scouts. The wounds disparity is still in the Scouts favour, by about 0.88 wounds or so.)

Clearly, just for war machine hunting, Scouts seem better. If the target is behind partial cover, the Waywatchers will ignore that, but the Scouts will drop down to doing 3.34W, and if behind full cover, it drops to 2.81W … so shooting at stuff behind full cover (-2 penalty to hit) is where Waywatchers start to shine here.

Vs Chaff

What if we want to clear out chaff? Let’s give them all Swiftshiver Shards and see how good we are killing stuff with no armour save. For target practice, we’re using Chaos Warhounds–cheap, fast, and T3 chaff that are pretty common in the otherwise elite Warriors of Chaos army. For this calculation, I’m going to assume that the chaff unit is coming at us, to try and engage the unit in combat, and thus has moved within charge range (i.e. short range).

At the 225 point mark, the Waywatchers will get 26 attacks at -1 for multiple shots, so hitting on 3s (with the Waystalker getting 2 rerolls hitting on 5s, and the Sentinel getting 2 rerolls that hit on 6s) – I’m calculating around 9.2W on average, which will delete pretty much any Warhounds unit, or at least reduce it to unusability. The Scouts will get 40 attacks hitting on 4s (3s for the champ) which I’m calculating out around 10.2W. For the higher points value, again the wound spread increases in favour of the scouts.

However, as soon as the chaff is behind cover, the math swings dramatically in favour of the Waywatchers–at the 225pt mark, the Scouts drop to ~6.9W for partial cover, and a measly ~3.5W if behind full cover. I’m starting to see a pattern here …

Vs Armour

As a final check, let’s see if giving them Bodkins will change the odds in the Waywatchers favour. We’ll shoot at a unit of Knights of the Realm, who are T3 with a 3+ armour save–whittling these guys down is a good use of Bodkins, because T3 is going to result in more wounds than trying to shoot the T4 models such as Grail Knights.

Let’s have them be at short range (arrogant knights!), and we’ll vary the cover just as we have done in the previous iterations. The Waywatchers will all be hitting on 2s, I calculate ~3.4W to the Knights for the 225pt unit, and ~4.2 for the bigger unit. Meanwhile, the Scouts are doing ~4.1W and ~4.9W respectively. Again, without cover, the superior number of the Scouts does more for the attack than the superior BS of the Waywatcher cohort. However, as soon as cover is introduced, the Waywatchers shine: the Scouts drop to ~3.1W and ~3.7W respectively for partial cover, or ~2.1W and ~2.5W when the Knights are behind full cover.

Conclusion

You know, it turns out I have actually talked myself around somewhat on Waywatchers. If you don’t give the Waystalker any magic items (probably a good plan) and just run him as if he’s a super-champion in the unit of Waywatchers, then it turns out there is a specific use for the unit above and beyond what Deepwood Scouts can bring, which is either Chaff or Armour Hunting when those units are behind some type of cover (although it doesn’t matter much if you’re hunting high toughness war machines, because you’re rolling for 6s to trigger that Poison). Cover is pretty common, even if it’s just other models, and there are also a number of spells that provide it, so it’s definitely going to be something that comes up in games.

I also think there’s a psychological aspect to the Waywatchers, and Waystalker in particular, that is hard to put into math. When your opponent knows that you can snipe at things, it can make them think and play differently, even if the math is actually not that great. The risk of losing wounds to a sniper, particularly if you managed to get a wound with your Arrow of Kurnous shot, can really rattle an opponent and make them play sub-optimally.

So, Waywatchers, you’ve earned your spot back in the army. Plus you look cool as hell 🙂

What do you think? Do you play with Waywatchers? How have they performed for you in your battles?

Originally written for rankandflank.com.

Yes, despite everyone asking me for articles on Special units, I’m going to start with Rare. Why? For a few reasons:

1. There are only three of them
2. Special has a huge amount of units
3. Rare points are way more restricted
4. What you use from Rare potentially changes your build a lot
5. I love Treemen

First off, I’m gonna include Treeman Ancient (which I may shorten to TMA at times) in this discussion and I’ll often use she/her pronouns in this article when referring to the Ancient, which may seem weird. The reason is that my main Treeman model is the old Ultraforge Treewoman, who is very feminine looking, and I’m just in the habit of referring to her with those pronouns. I’m not excluding any other Treefolk 🙂 Her name, btw, is Ioreth.

In the rare slot you have 3 choices. Waywatchers, Great Eagles and Treemen. Each of these comes with some restrictions: Waywatchers require a Waystalker (an additional 85 points minimum), Great Eagles can be up to 3 per 1,000 points, and Treemen are just expensive points-wise at 215. Given that you can have max 25% of your army in Rare, this means you have to be careful what you spend your points on. You’ve got a limit of 500/625 in 2000/2500 point armies, so you have no way to take three Treemen without also taking an Ancient. At 2000 points, you can only have 1 Great Eagle if you take 2 Treemen, which likely means you are only taking 1. At 2500, it’s easier to fit in both, and still have enough for either a decent Waywatcher unit or 2-3 Eagles, but not both. Figuring out which, if any, of these combinations you will take is something to think about up front, because it’s where you are most restricted. Special and Characters can both take 50% so usually that’s not an issue, however running 2 Treemen plus a TMA is a big points commitment – 695 minimum, and likely more like 800 after customizations – so there’s a lot to think about when building an army with that many Big Trees.

Two Treemen?! I hear you exclaim, or three?!! Well, before you jump to the conclusion that I’m crazy (I probably am), let’s go through the Treeman stats and special abilities and talk about why they are good, their weaknesses, and what unique properties they bring to the army. Then we can talk about the correct number to take (which, as we’ve now determined, is somewhere between 0 and 2, plus somewhere between 0 and 1 TMAs (yes, I hear you heckling that you can take 2 TMAs, but I’m guessing you won’t after reading this article because of other limitations … ))

Special Rules

First I’ll go through what’s common between Treemen and their Ancient friends, and then I’ll talk about the differences (there aren’t many, but it does change their battlefield role a lot).

Treemen are Behemoths on 50x50mm bases (or up to 50x75mm, but all mine are on 50×50, which is definitely the preferred size for fitting into tight spaces and having fewer opponents able to strike back at you, so try to put yours on those if you can). As a Behemoth, they are Lumbering, which means they can’t join any units, but they also get a free 90° pivot after a regular move (i.e. not a charge, march or flee move). This is something to use to your advantage with their Strangleroots attack, among other things … more on that later. It also means that their Stomps (of which they get D3) are Thunderstomps, and so have AP -2.

They have a 4+ armour save, and a 5+ regeneration save (which they lose if your opponent has flaming, because they are counted as Flammable). They are Close Order, which just means they don’t get to count as Skirmishers (it doesn’t grant a +1 combat bonus as some seem to think, see p100 in TOW rulebook for an explanation as to why). Edit: The latest FAQ now means that Treemen do get +1 combat bonus because they are Unit Strength 5 (or 6 for TMA). Yay!

They are a Large Target, making them easier to shoot at, which means you need to keep an eye on your enemy warmachines to help prevent them from taking too much fire before they get into combat. This is particularly important for flaming attacks (mostly from Dwarfs/Chaos Dwarfs) … if you’re consistently facing these opponents, you’ll need to hide your Treemen behind buildings (or your free Woodland Ambush forest) while your fast movers or Deepwood Scouts take out their cannon. Dwarf Rangers with a Runesmith are also problematic, but thankfully slow moving, so just stay away from them if you can.

Like all Tree Spirits, they have Tree Spirit (duh), Magical Attacks, and Move Through Cover. The Tree Spirit rule is mostly just a bit of annoying bookkeeping: you can’t use your General’s Ld if the model is an Elf. Magical Attacks have limited use in the game, but they will cancel out Regen saves for Daemons (and allow you hit Ethereal units like Hexwraiths). Move Through Cover is of less use to Treemen mostly because you can’t actually take cover in a Forest, or rather, you don’t get any benefit from the cover in there. However, it does make it harder for your opponents cavalry to charge you by being in the trees (they’d be Disrupted), while you’ll have no penalty for charging out, so bear that in mind. (Edit: it’s been pointed out to me that you’ll still have to choose the lower of two dice when charging, you just don’t suffer the -1 M penalty … this kinda stinks and I hope they FAQ it, but those are currently the rules!)

They are Stubborn, which is great – you know that the first combat you’ll be in you won’t just Break from static combat resolution, which gives you time to bring in some other units. Number one rule of playing as a Wood Elf: never fight alone! And finally if your Treeman does eventually die, there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll fall on top of the enemy unit due to the Timmm-berrr! rule. A regular Treeman also has Armour Bane (1), something the TMA does not get (they get Lore of Athel Loren and are a L2 Wizard), but more on both these later.

A Treeman can take up to 50 points of Spites, and TMAs up to 100 points. What you do with them will depend on how many Treemen you take. We really only have four to choose from (two of the Spites give Terror and Magical Attacks which Treemen already have, and the other one is for Elves only), and you can only take each once. Annoyance of Netlings can only be taken by a TMA, and I recommend you take it, as it’s only 15 points. I think a Murder of Spites is a Waste of Points (d3 S2 AP -1 hits for 25 points), so that just leaves Befuddlement of Mischiefs (30pts) and Lamentation of Despairs (20pts). Both are worth taking. If you’re only taking one Treeman, give them both Spites. I’ll talk about why further down. If you’re taking more than one Treeman, pick which one will get which, but do take them both.

They do have some other special rules: Treewhack and Terror, plus their attacks of Oaken Roots and Strangleroots. I’ll start with Terror, and talk about the others after, as we get into battlefield role for both Treeman and TMA.

Combat

The Treeman on paper outshines the TMA in Combat, having WS 6 (vs 5) and 5 attacks (vs 3), but losing a point in both BS (4 vs 5) and W (5 vs 6). The BS is only really important when it comes to the Strangleroots attack, the somewhat unexpected ranged attack that your Treemen can use, especially to stand and shoot. It is D6+1 shots, but that’s -1 because of Multiple Shots, and if you’re standing and shooting that bumps up to -2, meaning a regular Treeman hits on 5s, but the TMA hits on 4s. These are at S5 AP -1, so not bad (and Armour Bane (1) on the regular Treeman, don’t forget!).

Treemen, are of course, slow and flammable, which are their two main weaknesses. Initiative 2 means they will likely go last, often even when charging, so you want to be picky about when they charge as best you can be. Keep them away from Dwarf Runesmiths! Shoot those guys with extreme prejudice!!

As my opponent brings units up closer to my Treeman, I like to try to move the Treemen out to the flank of their units if I can, and shield them from a charge with some cover (or some Dryads), rather than charge or accept a charge from them. Remember, you’re playing Wood Elves – our job is to dodge, run around, and make it hard to be hit … play the game on our terms, not our opponents! Being able to jab them with Strangleroots is a great way to do this, and definitely an area where the TMA shines. When you combine this with a Magic Missile or two, the TMA is actually pretty decent at range.

When you do finally get into Combat, first remember to check for a Fear test (this won’t happen too often, as it’s only models with unit strength lower than the Treeman (5, or 6 for the TMA)).

Once you’re hitting, the Treeman’s Oaken Fists hit at S5, AP -2 (and again, Armour Bane (1) for the regular Treeman), so they are no slouch. You’re also getting D3 Thunderstomps at the end. If you’re facing lower initiative models, particularly if they have multiple wounds, then this is the time to use a Tree Whack. Swap one of your Oaken Fists attacks for this special one, and you force one of the models in a unit that you’re in combat with to take an Initiative test. It’s important to remember they don’t need to be in base contact, so I’ve used this on Damosels who are hiding in the back of a Lance formation for instance–it’s especially good on Wizards as they tend to have whatever the base Initiative is for the faction, often 3 or lower, and obviously great vs Dwarfs or Ogres. If they fail the test, they take D3 S5 hits, with no Armour Saves (they get ward/regen still). Not bad, eh? This is also where Befuddlement of Mischiefs comes in handy. In addition to making your opponent fight at WS -1, it makes them Init -1, so they are more likely to get Whacked!

Treeman Ancient

I think the TMA makes an excellent General, because they are Ld 10 and a Large Target, meaning you’ve got an 18″ command range for that high leadership. They’re also very hard to kill, which means you’re likely conserving points for both the model and keeping your general alive. And EVERY model in the army can use their leadership (whereas your Tree Spirits can’t use an Elf’s leadership). I run Ioreth as my General in every game.

Also, the TMA can still shine in close combat, even with only 3 attacks, because they are a Wizard and have access to Battle Magic. Hammerhand is the Signature spell, giving them 2d3 S4 AP -2 hits, which helps make up for fewer attacks. It goes off on a 7+, so it’s pretty likely to be cast even if you don’t take any extra levels of Wizard on the TMA. Battle Magic also gives you access to Fireball to use in the Shooting phase alongside the Strangleroots. The rest of the lore is pretty useful, so it’s been my default for the TMA to date. I’m experimenting with Elementalism, which is more of a supporting lore for the rest of the army, rather than making the TMA useful on their own. I’ll probably do a separate article about Magic Lores later, when I’ve had more results. For now, I’m recommending Battle Magic for the TMA. Oh, and you remembered to take the Annoyance of Netlings on the TMA, right? So all your opponents attacks are at -1 to hit, when you’re in a challenge. It’s not an essential part of the kit out, so if you have another character that you’d rather take that Spite on, that’s probably OK.

The Terror Bit

Treemen cause Terror (and thus also Fear), and are themselves Immune to Psychology. Terror can be a very useful weapon in your arsenal, mostly because it puts extra pressue on many units, forcing more and more dice rolls. Remember, a Battle Standard Bearer’s Hold Your Ground special rule DOES NOT apply to a Terror test, so your opponent typically only gets one roll at this (unless they are Veterans). Even an Ld 10 unit will fail their Terror test 1 in 12 times, which means this will work to your advantage more often than you (or your opponent) might think. For reference, the more common Ld 9 will fail 1 in 6 times, and Ld 8 will fail almost 28% of the time (Ld 7 is ~42%!)

This is why I recommend you always declare charges with your Treemen first: your opponent must immediately take a Ld test, and if they fail they must flee. Then you can use your faster moving units (e.g. the Great Eagle, or cavalry) to charge into that fled unit and just wipe them out.

Earlier I mentioned taking the Lamentation of Despairs, and this is where it comes in handy. You have to be within 6″ (the big downside, 9″ would’ve been so much better!) but it gives an additional -1 to the Ld of every unit within that 6″ bubble for the purposes of Fear, Panic or Terror. As you can see from the numbers in the last paragraph, that -1 is a big deal. There’s another magic item that can be taken by one of your Elf characters (Wraithstone) that does the same thing … any unit touched by both bubbles will be at -2 Ld, so now your Terror becomes a really potent weapon.

If you have multiple units able to cause Terror (like, say, 2 Treemen and a Treeman Ancient) and you’ve got the Lamentation and the Wraithstone, you could be causing several units to just turn tail and flee before they ever even get into combat. (We also have a Spite AND a banner than give Terror, so you could easily have 4-5 Terror Causing units to really lean into this type of build). You’ll need to have Great Eagles, Warhawk Riders, or perhaps even some skirmishing Glade Riders close by to run them down (heck, any cavalry will do, but these ones will probably be the most capable given their greater manoeuvrability). I think there’s probably nothing more Wood Elfy than having the forest suddenly come alive and scare the living crap out of your enemies so that you can kill them while they flee and make sure they never step foot in Athel Loren again!

Summary

Phew! If you’re still with me, well done! I think Treemen are underrated and people don’t take them terribly seriously (everybody’s hot for Dragons right now too). However, at T6 with 5 or 6 Wounds and a 4+/5++, they are very survivable, and the can fit into small spaces to hit flanks or force advantageous charges for you. Give them a try, and try 2-3 on the battlefield at once, if you can. I think you’ll enjoy it!

What’s been your experience with Treemen? Let me know in the comments!

Originally written for rankandflank.com.