A Mini-Tactica:

Against the Weeds II: For Sixth Edition Warhammer

A Forest Sprit army on the attack!

Secrets to success:

· Kill the characters
· Understand their magic phase particularly Treesing
· Realize that a lot of their units cannot flee
· Use massed CR
· Prioritize shooting
· Keep an intact battle line
· Use your cavalry wisely

Philosophy:

I’m a big fan of balanced Empire lists. Though the Empire has many disadvantages against Wood Elves, good playing can overcome some of these. Most of my writing perspective will be from using a balanced list.

Kill the Characters:

Their characters consume a great deal of a Wood Elf army’s points. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a Wood Elf player get a draw because at the end of the game his main characters are hiding in a woods somewhere on the table.

· Cannon snipe his characters at every opportunity!
· Take magic lores that don’t require line-of-sight such as heavens and life magic.
· Going magic heavy isn’t a bad idea against Wood Elves. Failed psychology tests may however punish you!
· Don’t be afraid to sacrifice a unit to flush characters out of their protective cover.
· Often the units near an enemy character are immune to panic, but if you can destroy the unit in one go, the character will have to take a panic test.
· Understand Altar Kindreds and their usage. Their most common roles are to take out artillery and assassinate characters. What is potentially their most lethal role is to add valuable CR in the form of wounds when combined with other units on the charge. With their high speed they can then run down the fleeing unit.
· Beware of characters hiding in Wardancers! Wardancers are lethal!

Understand the Magic Phase:

First of all, take my advice-NEVER let a Wood Elf player setup terrain! NEVER, let them bring the terrain; all they own are woods!

· Wood Elf Spellweavers (Lord-level) may take spells from the Lore of Life or Beasts. Be aware of this fact, as Life is a particularly threatening Lore to the Empire.
· Be strategic in your thinking when it comes to the Treesing spell. It probably worth it to sacrifice a unit of Vanilla Knights than to allow the Wood Elf player to continually move their trees. Move a unit of Vanilla Knights into the woods. Their 1+ armor save will keep them from the worst of the spell effects. Better that than to let them move trees say in front of your Hellblaster or troop blocks.
· Understand if they really want to move woods and have Calaingor’s staff, they will probably move it. Don’t waste your dispel efforts on the inevitable.
· Move expendable units near woods so that it cannot be moved in an undesirable direction.
· Don’t place artillery near or in woods!

Brief overview of the Lore of Athel Loren

· Treesinging: This spell has two uses. Its first use is to move forests around on the table. This not only can be dispelled but can be prevented by moving troops close to the forest because the moving forest cannot approach closer than 1”. The other effect is a power missile attack at units that are physically in the forest.

Game Effect: Place units near woods to keep them from moving into the way or your advance. Keep your units out of the woods unless they are heavily armored and it is mission essential that particular forest does not move.

· Fury of the Forest: A basic missile spell but seemingly without targeting restrictions. It is fairly short-ranged compared to the Heavens equivalents.

Game Effect: Keep your lone characters inside of units when you get within 18” of the Wood Elf lines.

· The Hidden Path: This spell basically allows the Wood Elf unit to ignore terrain and non-magical missiles. You can still charge these units and engage them in melee. Spells also still work against them.

Game Effect: Beware of using impassible terrain as an anchor point to your lines with this spell in the game! Normal movement rules such as the 1” rule still applies.

· The Twilight Host: Makes any Wood Elf unit cause fear. If it already causes fear it now causes terror.

Game Effect: The Empire is vulnerable to any type of leadership tests. With the large table area taken up by skirmishing units, the effects of this spell are projected even wider than for a normal terror causing model.

· Ariel’s Blessing: Gives the targeted unit Regeneration.

Game Effect: Giving Regeneration to certain units makes them almost invulnerable. A Regenerating Treeman or a unit of Treekin would be incredibly hard to wound.

· The Call of the Hunt: This is another dual effect spell. The first effect is it adds +1 attacks to units in melee (not mounts). The other effect is allowing the Wood Elf unit to move 2d6” towards the “nearest” unit it can see. A unit attacked in this fashion can only hold. The Wood Elf player cannot shoot if it is affected by the spell.

Game Effect: The first effect is potentially lethal when combined with the multiple attacks of most Wood Elf models. Allowing a unit of charging Wardancers an extra attack is basically writing off the unit they charged.

The second effect is also lethal. Simply allowing the unit to move is not that big of a deal, but to allow them to say get a flank charge or add an extra unit into the melee is worthy of a dispel scroll.

Used at the correct moment this spell can be a game winner. It is vitally important that if you know the Wood Elf player has this spell that you are keenly aware of your magic defense.

Realize that a lot of their units cannot flee

Units such as these Dryads cannot flee, making them prime targets for this unit of Vanilla Knights (5 Knightly Orders with Musician Only)

Certain of the core units of the Wood Elf army cannot flee as a charge reaction. This is a consequence of being immune to psychology.

· With most things there is a downside. Units such as Treekin, Dryads, and Treemen all cause fear or terror. Sure you can charge them, but you will need to make a critical fear test.
· Wild Riders only cause fear on the charge. Because of their charge range and excellent speed, you will rarely if ever get a charge on them. If you do you can be assured at least they won’t run away.
· An upside to being immune to psychology is that it insures the your target unit will still be there once you tie it up in combat. For example the Wood Elf player has a unit of Dryads stuck in combat with your Empire units. In other armies the resulting panic test from being charged in the flank or rear when in melee might allow them to get away. In the case of many of the Wood Elf units, because of their immunity to psychology, they will stand. This is especially nice if your infantry hold them up and the cavalry come to the rescue to “scrape” the Wood Elf Unit off of your troop block. You can then pursue them and likely overtake them with your cavalry’s excellent speed.

Use Massed CR:

Empire Swordsmen supported by a detachment of Free Company and a unit of Vanilla Knights attack a unit of Dryads.

Wood Elves mostly rely on overcoming CR with combined charges or sheer combat power. Their high leadership allows them to grind down Empire units despite losing melee. Though the Wood Elves are fast, with good tactics you can push them into fighting you on your terms.

· First of all, massed CR isn’t a guarantee that you will win combat. Units such as Wardancers and Dryads can often cause enough casualties to overcome your massed CR. It is vital to use the shooting and sometimes the magic phase to simply reduce these units by a few models. Most Wood Elf units are small so every hit counts in reducing their combat effects.
· One of the ways that “old skool” Wood Elves used to beat folks are what are called “stick” traps. They “stick” you with a stubborn or unbreakable unit and then flank charge you to finish you off. The new Weeds have a couple stick traps they can pull.

DANGER, DANGER, DANGER! A Treeman supported by a BSB and a unit of Wardancers! The goal is to hold up your unit with the stubborn Treeman, and then countercharge in their turn with the lethal Wardancers. DO NOT fall for this trap!

o Treemen-Treemen are perfect for pulling off the “stick trap”. They hold one of your ranked units while a unit of Dryads, Wardancers, (fill in the blank) add valuable CR and take you out. This trap can be avoided either by flank security or taking out the Treeman with shooting from Great Cannons. A ranked unit has a decent chance of defeating a Treeman through massed CR. There are some things you NEED to do. First, often times the Wood Elf player employs a BSB to keep his Treeman in combat, try and seek him out by sweeping around the melee with detachments or cavalry to get him away from the Treeman. Shooting of course can do him in as well. The second thing you need to do is to try and isolate the melee by moving units past it a bit so that nothing can come to the aid of the Treeman. Lastly, try and move a unit of cavalry into the melee. That way if the Treeman breaks and runs you should catch him and eliminate the threat.
o Eternal Guard-Though rarely seen, the Eternal Guard is another perfect unit for traps. They are stubborn and on top of that have ranks, high WS, usually lead by a hero, and have multiple attacks. This unit can in fact beat Empire units at their own game of massed CR. Add in a flank charge from a unit of Dryads and it will be a bad day for the Empire.

· Deployment is very important to realizing your battle plan. You have to look carefully at the terrain and decide where your main thrust will occur. Deploying your main blocks where there are several stands of trees to move into their way just isn’t smart. Try and find the most open area of the battlefield and use your movement and magic defense to keep it that way.
· You have to think of the Wood Elf army as a bunch of minnows and you are the “net”. In other words you need to move forward as a group. You CANNOT allow a unit to be isolated and destroyed. Sometimes this will mean that you have to sacrifice your detachments instead of using them for counter-charges. It is vitally important that you don’t leave weak points in your line. I can’t think of a single Wood Elf unit that can’t beat a detachment.
· Use standard TVI/Battalion Concept tactics with your army. Understand that your job is to protect your combat blocks. Everything else in your army is expendable to that end. Instead of shooting that Hellblaster at an approaching eagle, you shoot it at the unit of Wild Riders threatening your troops blocks. All of your shooting, magic etc, should be used on things that can threaten your main thrust.
· Understand the idea that YOU want to be charged. The best thing you can do is to allow the Wood Elf player to charge you and then slam a unit of knights, Pistoliers or a detachment into him on the following turn. Just because you are being charged doesn’t mean that it is a good idea to counter with a detachment. Most of the time they are just easy CR for the Wood Elf player! An Empire Swordsmen is fairly hard to kill, but a Free Company is easy.

Prioritize Shooting:

"Say hello to my little friend", a Hellblaster deployed in the narrow 3" gap between the Parent unit of Swordsmen and the Free Company detachment.

I’ve always felt that one of the most important decisions that an Empire general can make is the placement of his artillery and shooting. If you blow your artillery placement you are in trouble. Your shooting MUST work to some extent in order for you to carry the day.

· Hills, while valuable are not the only place to put your artillery. Many times the Wood Elf player will have Life Magic. If he has the Master of Stone, you will be spending most of your magic defense trying to defend your artillery instead of trying to keep trees from moving and removing threats to your troop blocks.
· Deploy a cannon on the likely line of advance for the Treeman. You can deploy artillery two ways, first or early in the deployment phase, to force the Wood Elf player to hide his Treeman, or late in the deployment phase to see if you can place a gun for a lethal first turn shot.
· Place your Hellblaster where it can help defend your army against skirmishers. Most of the time skirmishers will advance through terrain. Keep this in mind when placing the Hellblaster. I always deploy the Hellblaster with my troop blocks. It is there to defend troops not to defend artillery and ancillary units.
· Learn to prioritize you shooting! Too many times I’ve seen Empire players just shoot almost randomly! You have to KNOW the other guys army and see the threats.

o Great Cannons need to shoot at multiple wound targets as a priority.
o Lone characters are ALWAYS the priority targets. Most of the points in a Wood Elf army are in their characters. Altar Kindreds are one of the high priority targets because of their speed. Often they will charge into a melee to tip the scales in favor of units that by themselves cannot win their fight.
o Next in priority for Great Cannons are Treemen and Treekin. These guys are tough, have ward saves and multiple wounds. Sometimes the goal isn’t to try and kill them outright but to simply restrict their movement.
o Great Cannons should also fire at flanks of any cavalry that presents that opportunity. You need to use your detachments and cavalry to help the Great Cannons get lined up for these shots.
o Last resort for a Great Cannon is to fire at skirmishers. You should try hard to pick and choose your shots so that perhaps multiple units of skirmishers or multiple models in the same unit can be hit by the line of bounce.

o The job of the Hellblaster is to protect your army from skirmishers. Your troop blocks for the most part can handle a unit of Treekin or a Treeman. Only fire at them if there are no better targets.
o If you get the first turn, push the Hellblaster forward. That way you can force the Wood Elf player to respect its now shortened range. I guarantee they will respect its power.
o Your first priority target for a Hellblaster, are the Wardancers and Wild Riders. These two units are LETHAL. The reason being is that they have so many powerful attacks they can overcome your static CR. I suggest taking any shot you can get at these units, reducing these units by three or four models with a long range shot will make them ineffective for a frontal charge.
o Your next priority will be units of Dryads. They are a combat threat especially in conjunction with a combined charge. Sometimes it is better to fire at the unit that could possibly be the flanking unit if two equal value targets are in your arc of fire. For the most part almost any Empire unit can take a frontal charge from Dryads, but a combined charge is devastating.
o Try not to shoot your Hellblaster at units like Glade Guards. Of course it is up to you, but they are the least threat to your army. Your heavy cavalry units can take these out.
o It is better to hold fire than to take a shot at a low priority target. An intact Treeman is a low priority target to a Hellblaster, but a wounded one might be worth shooting if it is at close range. Long range shooting with a Hellblaster at a Treeman or Treekin is next to useless.
o Normal shooting! Who takes it anymore? Normal shooting has become a near useless thing in the Warhammer world. You need to realize that the only unit that has a decent chance of out shooting Wood Elves is units of crossbowmen. For fewer points these guys can take it and give it to the Wood Elves. You have the choice, since most of the time the Empire goes first you can deploy these in likely avenues of approach. Just like the Hellblaster their role is to help reduce threats to your infantry blocks. The same targeting priority exists for your “normal” shooting as for your Hellblaster.
o Don’t be afraid to sacrifice these units. My favorite thing to exploit in other Empire players is this driving need to shoot every round. It is sometimes better to deploy your normal shooting ranked up as a fighting unit than to take some ineffective shots as crossbowmen. Diverting and flank charging are for the most part as effective as shooting depending on the target of course.

Keep an Intact Battle Line:

Whether against Skaven or against Wood Elves, an intact battle line for a balanced or infantry based Empire army is vitally important.

You must keep your battle lines formed and intact. You can’t allow them to disjoint your lines and take gang attacks on an isolated unit.
· Be careful of your pursuit and overrun moves. Though Wood Elf players have a lack of units than can flee, they can however sacrifice units so that you overrun or pursue into a bad situation.
· It is sometimes tempting to march when the part of your line is marchblocked. Only do this if you can avoid leaving a unit isolated. Wood Elves are like lions. They first attack the stuff that is wounded, isolated and therefore easy to kill. Keep your little herd together!
· Remember that a skirmishing unit that can move 10” has a long charge range. This makes it a lot easier for the Wood Elves to gain flanks and rear charges. Also remember to watch the Wood Elf player move each model. If it cannot reach, it must be placed behind the other models.

Use your cavalry wisely

Cavalry are the one thing that the Wood Elves fear from the Empire. Even small units of knights can compete against units of Dryads and Wardancers.
· Most of the good Wood Elf units cannot flee. Your cavalry can devastate these units on the charge and even if they don’t they can usually flee to safety.
· Understand and use “Vanilla Knights” (aka Nilla Knights aka Knillas). This means a minimum-sized unit of Knights with no upgrades. A musician is strongly urged since most of the core units of the Wood Elf army usually do not have them. In a tie situation you will win melee by one, which can often turn the tide in your favor.
· One of the primary roles of Knillas is to “scrape” skirmishers off the flanks of ranked units. This is particularly true of units such as Greatswords and Flagellants. Once the Wood Elf unit is stuck, the cavalry ride to the rescue and see them off more often than not.
· A suicide charge into the midst of a Wood Elf archer line is another good use of the Knillas. Concentrated Wood Elf archery fire is dangerous to your troop blocks. If you are following the other suggestions listed in this article, they are a high priority for your knights. Empire Knights are all but immune to the effects of archery and will usually break units of Glade Guards in one go. Once you are in the Wood Elf backfield with the knights, you can continue to cause havoc.
· The relatively high US of the Knights will often outnumber the small units of Dryads and Wardancers. The 1+ armor save makes Empire knights resilient to their attacks.
· Pistoliers are only reserve units when playing against Wood Elves. Their lack of armor and low leadership make them next to useless when confronting Wood Elves. Place these troops on or near your back line and within leadership range of your General. Use them to counter any potential breaches in the Empire lines. Their speed and fast cavalry ability make them perfect in the reserve role.

Putting it all together:

YOU WANT TO ENGAGE THE WOOD ELF PLAYER ON YOUR OWN TERMS!
(Get the point?)

With any tactica I can’t tell you exactly how to play the game. With the usually small number of Empire deployments it is a high likelihood that the Empire will move first. What do you do?
· If you are a combat oriented Empire army, move the 1+Cavalry 11.5” forward (the Pistoliers should be hiding early in the game). That puts them out of the charge range of most Wood Elf units and threatens their army. In support the infantry moves forward maximum distance as well. Remember the goal is to engage the enemy on YOUR terms not theirs. By moving forward at such a fast pace it constricts what the enemy can do. If you have a Hellblaster push it forward with the troops, the same applies to a Great Cannon if it is positioned poorly. PROTECT your flanks with terrain or tough combat units such as Flagellants, a Steamtank, or Greatswords. Use Knights staggered behind the lines as “scrapers” to come to the aid of your infantry combat units.
· If you have a great deal of shooting-shoot! So many games I’ve seen a dominant Empire shooting phase wasted when for some reason the Empire player moves forward. Sure it surrenders the initiative a good bit, but if you are a shooting dominant Empire army you are foolish to surrender that part of your plan. Castle up, defend your flanks and guns, and shoot for gosh sakes!
· If you get to move second try and seize the initiative again. If he moves forward at maximum speed, try and move your infantry up where he has no choice but to charge them or move away. Once he is reacting to your moves, you have the initiative. Don’t be slavish in following this advice. You need to have some common sense. You simply must defend your flanks and rear from attack. Wild Riders (Wood Elves in general actually) are wicked fast and will be behind your army if you let them on turn two.
· Understand that it takes combo charges for the average Wood Elf unit to break one of your units. A tight Empire battle line with, for example a BSB and an Elector Count, will hold against almost any unit a Wood Elf army can throw against it. It is when they can combine charges is when you are in danger. Be aware that detachments often cause weak points in your lines. Better to leave them behind or put them in front of your army than to make a place where your line will crack. If you use them, have a plan for them such as allowing them to break through and be in the short range of a Hellblaster for instance or massed normal shooting.
· Sometimes the best place for shooting is behind your army. It is almost inevitable that the Wood Elves will sneak through your lines. When they do, a shooting unit is ideal for depleting these units further. Archers, Duelists, Pistoliers and Kislev (or DoW) Horse archers are good units to use in this role. Placing delicate units such as these in the line-of-sight of the lethal Wood Elf shooting phase is useless.

SUMMARY:

Wood Elves are a tough draw for an Empire army. If you follow these tactics you will be able to hold your own against their army. Your worst enemy will be your own troops. Failed terror, panic, and fear tests are just part of playing the Empire. Keep your battle line tight. Keep your key infantry units near the Elector Count or Grandmaster. The idea is to try and minimize the threat of a failed test. Plan your moves well, and plan them two moves ahead. Your confident quick moves may cause them to make mistakes, especially if you gain the initiative and force them into fighting your battle instead of theirs.

Atchman