Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

I used to battle my friend quite regularly using a very, very old wood elf army. He used to kick my but when I played Orcs and Gobbos but I don't think he ever beat my Wood Elf army.

So here's the question...

(assuming yuo cannot use an Anvil of Doom)

"How do you beat a Wood Elf army with a bunch of stumbling drunken stunites ?"

+1 Karma for the best answer with some useful tactical ideas.

Saying "you can't" doesn't count !

What kind of build for wood elves?

Ironbreakers to charge in and hit home 2+ AS in front makes them pretty safe against missle fire

Gyrocopters to flank and stop WE archers coming too close

Organ Gun/Flame Cannon to weaken them - flame cannon will cause panic making it even more useful

BSB with MR Grungi - gives you 5+ WS vs. Missles, plus other runic items that do the same thing

Couple of Runesmiths/lords with Spelleater Runes to take care of your better magic items.

I'm agreeing with Kiwi Iron breakers are so awesome.

I'm thinking about a fast moving Wood Elf army with a LOT of bows

I'd sit in a corner and shoot then counter charge when you got close enough,although I by no means am a tactician.

I play both armies.

The Dwarfs are too slow and will never get the charge by turn 6 and they will always be outmanouvered by Woodies. My advice for Dwarf players would be to get a gunline. Quarrellers for the 30" range to got toe to toe with the longbows and with S4 your killing elves on 3+. A flaming boltthrower or 2 or 3 to deal with Treekin and Treemen but then again the woodelf player will need to send the big hitters to deal with the R/F units (Ironbreakers, Hammers, Longbeards) so a well tooned Dwarf lord will dispatch them with ease.

I would put the Rune of slowness in the unit that has ur lord as well. (Rune of slowness the charging unit takes a minus D6 inches to the charge) Might able you to get another round of range weapons off or able you to counter charge. The Rune of Burning for sure though on at least 1 weapon .

Having played against Wood Elves in tournament play since my original post I can only offer the following advice for my fellow Dwarf players

GUNLINES DON'T WORK
Why? Because WE have too many flying units that will simply eat them up, that and their guys can move and shoot (ours can't) so you will get invariably lose turns off shooting as you turn to face whichever threat is nearest. And finally because the normal WE units move to fast for you to get enough damage in to kill them or weaken them b4 they hit you in melee

STANDING BACK
Also doesnt work, for same reasons as above.

So what do you do? What did I do?

PLAY TO YOUR ADVANTAGES
We are tougher, stronger and have better armour than the average WE warrior we also have better leadership. March march march straight up the middle and use your shooting to weaken whatever threatens your flanks.

The faster you get into combat the better, once you are there WE are toast or should be

HOW DO YOU GET THERE FASTER
Nasty combos (kind of cheesy) - Runelord with Anvil of Doom, Strollaz Rune of BSB and big unit of Longbeard Rangers (20-25 strong with Stoicism and RO Battle, and maybe a Thane with RO Brotherhood). Strollaz and Anvil mean you can get your main army 12" forward in Turn 1 thats half way across the board. Rangers (if put 12" away from BSB) could charge in Turn 1.

But personally I prefer having the choppy choppy lord on shieldbearers to the Anvil

OTHER THINGS THAT WORK
Flanking units - stick a Bolt-Thrower and unit of Quarrellers out on one flank, or even an Organ Gun. Means you can blast away at WE army and they are going to have to divert troops to get to you. In most cases this small flanking unit will kill more than it costs in VP

RO Burning & RO Flaming - You have to have fire causing weapons, I give EVERY Hero, and I mean EVERY Hero RO Flaming on their weapons. At 5pts it gives you a cheap magical weapon (for hitting ethereal units) and it destroys WE main protection Regeneration. Thane with a unit of LBeards (with Stoicism always with Stoicism) will cut through a unit of Dryads etc in a single round. RO Flaming on BT or Cannon also means WE has to divert attention to your war machines meaning they will be coming at you giving your infantry more opportunities to hit them.

MY RESULTS
First big game vs. WE at my 2nd tournament I got slaughtered by hanging back and by making some bad mistakes.

2nd game against same opponent ended in a draw after I MARCHED MARCHED MARCHED and just chopped through his entire army. Only his General making 7 Ward Saves in a row saved him in that game.

But you see it was based on the concept that you couldn't use an Anvil of Doom.

Also I am interested as to how many WE players field mulitple flying units. Warhawk riders aren't effective in small numbers and to make a unit that isn't designed to hunt warmachines or lone mages is a big waste of points and special choices. example: 5 warwaks charge 10 quarellers, Qus stand and shoot hitting on 6s (expect 1 hit hope for 2-3) wounding on 3s (chances are you will do 1 wound at least maybe even 2 on a good day) 2 wounds equal 1 dead rider, so 4 make it in, they are hitting on 4s (four hit on average) then wounding on 4s (2 wounds) Qus have 5+(4 -1) save so chances are 1 dies. Repeat odds on counter attack and WEs lose at least 1 hawk, they lose Combat. If they flee then the Qus can refocus on another unit to shoot. If they stay its bad news cause they loose the spear bonus so now they're wounding on 5s.

Either way, without Anvil of Doom a rank and file Dwarf army will get picked apart, units will be flanked and isolated. I wouldn't concerned with flying WE units. Remember T3 with only 5+ saves, WEs have a glass jaw, they hit like a freight train but can't take a punch.

Id disagree actually Iggy Dwarfs dont need an Anvil to be effective you just need to deploy properly and make best use of terrain. But then again thats a matter of constant debate Anvil vs. No Anvil armies


Key problem you will face vs WE is actually the fast cavalry particularly the stronger guys who hit at S5 and have the WS

shouldn't this be in the Dwarf section? lol

Kiwi - you being a dwarf player I think you're looking at it from a dwarf player point of view. I'm looking at it from a Wood Elf player point of view. I know the ins and outs and all the weaknesses of the woodies. I would gladly and confidently take a gun line against a WE army any day of the week. I'm not saying you don't know what you're saying I'm saying let's agree to disagree and that's what makes Warhammer so much fun.

lol it probably should be

And now I know where your coming from mate it makes your opinions clearer, nice to know that WE players dont like gunlines

And of course endlessly debating the ins and outs of the game is always fun

to beat the elves with stunties you have got to use guns.

what you need is a load of gyrocopters to "herd" the wood elves to you gun line and the shoot them

or if they leave your gyro along then panic them.

But then the key question is how to stop him surrounding you with those damn moveable forests once your dispel dice are all gone