[Jack96]

I was playing 2k wood elves for the first time today against warriors of chaos I had 2 units of 10 dryads a branchwraith lvl 1 4 units of ten glade guard one with scout 10 way watchers 5 wild riders a spellsinger lvl2 a noble with the 3d6 shot bow and a lord with twilight spear 2+ ward on his last wound and only being able to be hit on 6's in a challenge
He had 2 lords 1 on foot the other was mounted, 5 chaos knights 2 units of 15 chaos warriors a wizard level 2 or 3 can't remember who knows an extra spell an exalted hero and a hellcannon
At the end I had my lord on 1 wound my noble, 3 waywatchers 15 glade guard and my spellsinger.
He had 23 chaos warriors a wizard and an exhaulted hero does anyone have any good tactics against chaos warriors on how to not die and how to kill warriors shooting doesn't work
my lord rear charged the knights won and caught them so I only really need advice against warriors and how to use dryads

 

[Tim/Steve]

Well in the new rules dryads will really only work as units of 20- I dont really know if Im giong to keep mine in or not. I used to use units of 8 but since you cant stop them being hit back nor hide them in woods while the enemy flows past (or you treesing) then they'll really need those rank bonuses and increased numbers. I've only put this to the test once and that was on saturday when my unit of 20 utterly failed me in my turn (charge- failed, call of the hunt-failed) got flank charged by a monk+furnace unit... broke and ran to within 1" of the table edge but then rallied, got a call of the hunt in order to charge into the monks (avoided the furnace all game) and then won every round of combat until the monks were all gone- they certainly did me proud.

I've fought a 30 man unit of warriors quite often in the run-up to 8th... and while we were using 8th edition in theory its only gradually been by the proper rules. I still havent killed the unit itself, but I have dealt with it reasomably well. In smaller units I havent had quite so much issue with warriors (although Ive had to leave some units alive).
if the enemy runs lots of units then try to use glade riders to bait them into charging- feigned flight still works and a faied charge means they move very slowly (much better then trying to march block). Meanwhile concentrate all your firepower on individual blocks of warriors until they are gone. For single big units my favorate one is to send in ancient treemen with the hit on 6s sprite and laugh when they are forced to challenge me (even if I can't pass a stubborn Ld9 test- I actually don think I've passed 1 yet... keep managing to rally though). That wont work so well for other characters as you need the stubborn to stay in the fight.
-mostly I would say just try to block the warriors if you cant lock them in combat and stop them doing anything too useful. Meanwhile go and kill everything else.

While I love call of the hunt I would say that athel loren just isnt worth taking in 8th... as such all my new lists have no magic levels on branchwraiths and no spellsingers at all. Means I dont have any scrolls but the wand of wych elm on the life spellweaver should help a bit.
Anotehr random though I've had is that I might throw all my archers into 1 single unit and give them the banner that allways lets you stand & shoot- it would be a good lure to enemy forces (to keep them coming forward as the rest of your army encircles them) and 30 S4 shots is sure to hurt most enemy units, especially after all the shots you can pump out in your shooting phase. The downside is that you lose half your shots from everyone beond the front 2 ranks (and if you do lose in combat you can potentially lose a lot- although a quick reform with the musician to get 5 wide with lots of ranks would help it survive, lose 5 more shots but thats not much to lose)... I'll have to keep thinking and playtest this... its sounding pretty cool so far though.

 

[Blue Liger]

Yeah I agree with Tim/Steve here as a WE player Dryads now need to be taken in large blocks of 15-20 preferably with a branchwraith, wild riders got a bit more protection against magic with the new magic resistance rules and ward saves but blocks of 10 are best, eternal guard however with a highborn have now really come into thier own.
On the note of The Athel Loren spell lore - yes it's almost not worth taking now tree singing has been culled and if you are going to use it take a lvl 1 wizard with callingor's stave and bring a treeman as most players will probably let you move forests around as they can still hit you inside of it and that setup will let you use it 3 times.

 

[Jack96]

Should I still take way watchers and are highborns on a dragon any good
one unit of my dryads did take out a hellcannon

 

[Blue Liger]

Highborns on dragons are actually alot more useful now as they can take good magic armour from the new common magic items and still keep the wood elf magic items for CC or other added extras without much of the points cost. I would experiment a few times and see how they work for you, as for me I founf alot of the time a Noble on great stag does wonders.

 

[Tim/Steve]

Im not much of a fan of highborn dragons... now naestra and arahan, thats another matter entirely. Those girls rock. Excellent shooting attacks (especially if, like me, you play a lot of lizardmen- S2 test on that ancient steg please ), lots of S5 attacks plus the dragon when you charge into combat and while they are easy to wound they are very very hard to kill completely...