# Wood Elf Dryads



## Phenatix (Feb 15, 2009)

My friend has been trying to get me in to WHFB for a while now, and so I decided to look around at the armis from the main GW site. It looks like Wood Elves would be fun to play, Archery is cool, and the Tree units all look awesome. I was planning on trying out a few groups of Dryads. 

But before I commit to the few hundred dollar purchase (Rules, Army Book, Battalion/Units) I want to know if they're acually any good. It seems like S4 T4 I6 with 2 Attacks is a good profile on a cool looking model, but do they have some horribly crippling weakness that isn't alluded to on the GW site? 

I think they have the "weak to fire," or whateve it is called, but is there some other hidden thing? For instance, can I only field them in games of 1,500 points or more, are they expenive (20-30 points each)?

Thanks,
~Phenatix


----------



## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

1. No they are the same price (from what I recall) as standard glade guard whilst I can't put full costs up a squad of 8 dryads is 96pts so they are fine point wise.

2.They are the only tree unit that doesn't have weakness to fire either so flame weapons/magic does not get a bonus against them.

3.The main weakness is they have a 5+ ward save that can be negated by magic weapons but when you play against someone just make s.ure you know their army book so you have an idea of which units these may be - mostly this will be special units or Lords and Nobles


----------



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Dryads are great units, for their points cost they are very effective and can worry quite well armoured troops due to their good stat line. The ward save may seem not that good, but you should remember that most troops for the same cost only have a 4+ or 5+ armour save which is modified by strength, so it is actually quite a good save. They are also skirmishers, so for their points they are quite resilient to missile fire and non-magical CC.


----------



## major soma (Jun 5, 2008)

Dryads are very good just dont use them vs chaos chosen and youll do fine


----------



## Phenatix (Feb 15, 2009)

Ok, that seems cool. Thanks for the info guys...

Now I have a general question about the actual game of WHFB... Do you not need a "lord/hero?" I ask because the battalion comes with 3 core unit choices (they split it into 4 units on the front) and it would seem weird to make the starter set unable to play a game.

I come from 40k where you need an HQ and two Troops minimum to play a normal game, so that's why I'm wondering...


----------



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

With Fantasy you need to have a certain number of Core choices depending on the size of your army. It tells you in the armybook but from 0-1999 points you have to have at least 2 Core choices for most armies, you can't take any Lords, you can have up to 3 heroes, 3 special and 1 rare choice. The number of each bracket you can take goes up every 1000 points, but rather than post all of that here it is best if you take a look at the armybook you want to use when you get chance.


----------



## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

Phenatix said:


> ...Do you not need a "lord/hero?"...


Yes you do. You need someone who's in charge in WHFB too and yea, thats generally not included in WHFB battalions. So basically either you get a sorcerer or a noble(fighter hero) or you could build a Dryad Hero from some of the Dryads or get the Dryad SC:wink:

My advice would be a sorcerer, you will generally always have 1 mage in the army anyways


----------



## Phenatix (Feb 15, 2009)

Oh ok, so the Fantasy "force organization chart" varies from army to army and and generally increases ever 1,000 points instead of 40k's way... Thanks. 

And Maiden Maniac, I probably would go for a sorcerer of some kind. Magic seems like a cool and powerful strategy element of WHFB...


----------



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Phenatix said:


> Oh ok, so the Fantasy "force organization chart" varies from army to army and and generally increases ever 1,000 points instead of 40k's way... Thanks.


Yes, but most armies have a standard set of requirements and limits for choices. There are exceptions, but for the most part they all have to have a certain number of core per points and can only take a certain number of the others per points. In theory this means there is no limit to the size of battles, though obviously the game gets clunky over a certain size.

Nice catch Maiden, I should have re-read the question!


----------



## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Be careful though, reliance on Magic on a not too powerful magic army (i.e. Wood Elves) can find themselves shut down by High Elves with their Cheap mages and Dispel Scrolls, or just out casted by other high profile Magic Armies (Chaos Daemons and Vampire Counts, and Tzeentchian Chaos Warriors/Beasts of Chaos to some extent).

Dryads tend to be one of the better builds, for Wood Elves though. Having played against a Chaos Warrior all Tzeentchian army with my High Elves, I've just realised how nasty they are, in the right hands.

One of their mosst overlooked things, though, is Skirmish. Chaos Warriors might look about equal, despite their 4+ Armour Save, while the 14-15 Dryad Attacks can take out most of the front row, unless you Break them, you will lose. Try to combine charges with other Dryad units - Flanking will remove the Rank bonus which Chaos Warriors need to ensure a won combat when taking a charge. Same applies for Dwarves (to an Even Greater extent, due to their Cheapness, and relative lack of combat ability), and large blocks of Saurus/High Elven spears.


----------



## Darktheos (May 9, 2008)

Dryads are Rock solid for me every time I use them. They are fair for points and good in the profile derpartment for a core. Like Vas said hit with atleast two or more units if you can. Also it takes some getting used to, when you come from 40k to fantasy. Just keep playing you will get used to it and I play both and perfern fantasy even though I started in 40k land.


----------



## newsun (Oct 6, 2008)

Vaz said:


> Try to combine charges with other Dryad units - Flanking will remove the Rank bonus which Chaos Warriors need to ensure a won combat when taking a charge. Same applies for Dwarves (to an Even Greater extent, due to their Cheapness, and relative lack of combat ability), and large blocks of Saurus/High Elven spears.


Dryads are skirmishers so they cannot break ranks, though they can get a flank and rear bonus. Pg67


----------



## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

Tactically WEs are an army where the sum of units is greater when added together then the original parts alone. You'll learn that in due time.

About WE magic Wood Elves have one of the best arcane items in the game, which allows you to reroll dispeldice. This is an extremly effective way of shutting down magicphases unless the opponent has really vast ammounts of powerdice:wink:


----------

