# New Wood elf book?



## hacknslashgamer

Ok I know I shouldn't do it but here I go.
I love the wood elf army ever since I have seen them painted in Autumn colors on a website they suck at combat and are overpriced but I can get them for a steal on eBay right now.
They have to get better with a new book so when does it come out?
Or do you think they will drop them like Chaos Dwarfs and my investment will payoff later in selling them back on eBay for more than I payed?


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## Farseer Darvaleth

I doubt very much that GW will phase them out. They're too common and too well-established.

As for an update, they certainly need one, but the next fantasy release I know of is Vampire Counts (yay!) in January. Wood Elves should really be sometime next year (2012 if you didn't know) but I don't have any concrete evidence.

You seem to be sitting on the fence, so I'd say if you have any unpainted models, paint them first before buying anything new. :laugh:


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## kickboxerdog

yeah wood elves and bretonnians both really need a update, but recently it seems all about monsters so could be a great time to update the wood elves and give them a much needed update.


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## Tim/Steve

I would make a total guess at about April next year... but it wouldn't surprise me much if they didn't get done until much, much later.

I'm actually ok with my WE as they are now. I have a lot of fun with mine and they are pretty competitive if used right, they just don't allow for many mistakes to be made. The only 2 problems I have is that I tend to think of both the treeman ancient and spellweaver are essential (but can't both fit at 2k) and that I don't know what to do about magic. Athel Loren is pretty much useless for my army (love call of the hunt and making a treeman ethereal for shooting purposes for a turn can be great vs empire gunlines but the rest is rubbish, life just plain does not work with MSU (no point buffing units that are toast anyway) and beasts doesn't have that much of an impact (I would like a lv1-2 for wildform, but having to take a lv3-4 spoils it).

... and anyone who thinks WE aren't competitive needs to try to shift a unit of 10 dryads with wildform on them from a forest: high initiative, 2A S5 T5 magical attacks (and cheap at 120pts) means they'll chew through almost anything. Them being in a forest makes them stubborn and robs it from enemies. Its a lethal combo and if its on a flank very dangerous to ignore.


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## experiment 626

Tim/Steve said:


> I would make a total guess at about April next year... but it wouldn't surprise me much if they didn't get done until much, much later.
> 
> I'm actually ok with my WE as they are now. I have a lot of fun with mine and they are pretty competitive if used right, they just don't allow for many mistakes to be made. The only 2 problems I have is that I tend to think of both the treeman ancient and spellweaver are essential (but can't both fit at 2k) and that I don't know what to do about magic. Athel Loren is pretty much useless for my army (love call of the hunt and making a treeman ethereal for shooting purposes for a turn can be great vs empire gunlines but the rest is rubbish, life just plain does not work with MSU (no point buffing units that are toast anyway) and beasts doesn't have that much of an impact (I would like a lv1-2 for wildform, but having to take a lv3-4 spoils it).
> 
> ... and anyone who thinks WE aren't competitive needs to try to shift a unit of 10 dryads with wildform on them from a forest: high initiative, 2A S5 T5 magical attacks (and cheap at 120pts) means they'll chew through almost anything. Them being in a forest makes them stubborn and robs it from enemies. Its a lethal combo and if its on a flank very dangerous to ignore.


+1 this.

Currently the WE book is stale and lacks the choice of most other books since it's now 2 editions old! Alongside the steep learning curve, a few units being pretty pants now, magic being limited in it's viability compared to others and your main ranked unit being all metal has more than anything else lead to people bemoaning WE's as unplayable in 8th. (and getting it through your head that 6 war dancers into a flank aren't an auto-win anymore!:headbutt

Now, the couple of seriously competitive lists that WE's do have are easily capable of playing with the other filth lists if you know what you're doing with them.
WE's are simply unique in that they are in no way a point-and-click army, acting more like the Dark Eldar of fantasy. (but even more glass cannony than DE!)

While the WE's & Bret's could really use the love, they're nowhere near as broken as VC's currently are, or as unbalanced as the likes of Dark Elves & Warriors of Chaos who are about as point-and-click as you can get!


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## Alsojames

I hope they do. My poor elfies are sitting there doing nothing. And when they do, they suck! DX


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## lturismo

I too am begging for a new WE book. My WE are on hold until a new book comes out, and I don't hear a whiff that such a thing is happening soon. I love the Wood Elves, I love the mystical forest spirit angle and when I got back into Warhammer, they were the first army I wanted to play. Sadly I was mistaken. Perhaps this is just because I regularly face Skaven and Dark elves, but I've shelved my Wood Elves for the forseeable future in favor of Lizardmen. While I agree that Dryads kick ass, that's really about it, and even they are skirmishers.

From what I can tell, the most playable list for WE is widely regarded as MSU, which is screwed over totally by the horde rules. Most of the army, even the beloved Dryads, are skirmishers, so unless they are sitting in a forest they get no rank bonus.

Wardancers should be about three times as effective as they are. Look at their talismanic tattoos, which give them the same ward save as a skaven slave with a shield and a hand weapon (admittely with a 1 magic resistance, which has limited effect in 8th IMHO). Compare them to any "flagship" unit, like Black Orcs or Warriors of Chaos or Swordmasters of Hoeth... or any of the three HE elites which cost LESS and are vastly superior.

Why the str4 bows are only in possession of their most basic troops and the leaders cannot get them, I'll never know.

Lore of Athel Loren is dismal.

I'm stating the obvious I think, but in this edition it seems like large non-skirmishing units and hordes obviously got a huge boost, as did war machines like Cannons -and WE don't get any war machines of course! Cavalry got cut down badly, and of course WE have lots of those. Supposedly deadly guys like Riders of Kuornos have low save, low initiative for elves, and a power that arrives when they DON'T charge mind you, so DE Knights shred them of course.

I've tried flying troops and to make a mobile list, and it was hideous. Skaven use their automatic effect banner which grounds all flying troops and my hero on an Eagle creaks along and does nothing all game, as do the Warhawk riders.

I realize that the big thing for Dark elves is the HTH Hatred, and the big thing for High Elves is the absurdity of ASF, but what are Wood Elves defined as? If the "theme" of Wood Elves is archery and forest spirits, they need to be WAY WAY better at the archery. I would at least propose str 4 bows at all ranges, and all characters get them, and possibly another bonus like increased BS or possibly "archery hatred" which gives a reroll on archery shots or somesuch.

Last of all, I have no idea why after 8th Editiion GW didn't immeidately remedy those armies that were royally screwed by the 8th edition rules, which I gather are Brettonians and Wood Elves.

Rant over.


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## Troublehalf

It's prob based on popularity. WE are not super popular, thus are sidelined. They'll get buffed eventually, and there is so much scope of awesomeness they could do for them, they will do well, especially with Storm of Magic.

Giant Beetles? That's a new model. Giant bears? Which would work alongside Orion, King of the Wood.... Could do Ursa Major. Stag Cav? Swarms of forest critters? Which don't block archery but hold up units... Manifestation of Forest Spirit..... Packs of Wolves..... Could do Tigers and other big cats (not lions obviously cause that's HE thing).....

I'm sure GW will do something, but when? Not sure.... Id love a WE book as I'd love to start an archer heavy army.


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## kain1989

I'd like a new army book for my wood elves, but I have to agree with tim/steve. I'm winning the majority of my games with wood elves. I run many small units of glade guard and dryads, plus 6 treekin and 2 treeman, but only in larger games. 

I'd love to be able to use wardancers as an actual cc unit, not a harasser, and would like glade riders to be at least as cheap as high elf reavers. there are also many point reductions and other things that would be great.

The main reason I don't want a new book is because GW will probably cut the spites or kindreds, and I love both. I love running alter kindreds, and have actually made an alter highborn that replaced the nestlings ancient in my lists. But I'm pretty sure the new wood elves will be better, but more bland.


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## blackspine

Wood elves epitomize the army that has no room for error.

I've seen them run a myriad of ways and do well. They have builds that can give the best of us a head-ache. 

To say they're not competitive is a bit off. Do they have bad match ups? Yes. 

However, currently, many people are all about 'hordes' and 'big big blocks of doomy blockness'; this is where I see wood elves kick the pants off smug 'power gamers'.

The book needs some fine tuning, but I'm a bit torn on it.

Many of the new books seem to gut out the magic item and extra's section. Look at O&G, they lost quite a lot. Maybe they gained quite a bit, but some O&G players are not happy. (I know the VCs are really upset about losing the helm trick)

So, for now, careful what you wish for. 

Very big fan of the wood elves. I don't play them, but I admire those who play them well and stand up to insurmountable odds....and come out on top.

* like a boss
*


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## olderplayer

Wood Elves are being played a lot less now both because of the old army book and the poor army-specific lore. They can be competitive, and, if fact, tracking results from the Indy GT tournaments for the last years shows that the few players playing wood elves are holding their own. The problem is that the play-style needed to make them competitive in 8th edition is very different from what worked in 7th edition, such that many traditional wood elf players simply refused to make the transition and switched armies or quit WHFB. 

There are rumors about wood elves getting a new book and early stages of design but they appear to indicate a book quite a bit off, in the fall of 2012 at the earliest and more likely sometime in the spring of 2013. Far too late, but GW seemed to be more focused on rolling out the books with non-standard magic and rules to fit 8th edition. Thus, O&G, Tomb Kings, Ogres, and Vampires all have been the first books because they were most affected by 8th edition. With the bound spells of Sigmar and stuff, Empire looks likely to roll out in May or June 2012 and Warriors likely to be rolled out late in 2012. On the other hand, Dark Elves (rumored to have a new book in early 2013) and Lizardmen have advantages due to specific magic items and probably need some balancing. 

Bretts are surprisingly proving to competitive but have certain limits and too limited of rare selections. There are rumors of work on a new book design but not specific indications as to when the book will be rolled out. 

I think GW is rolling out books based on designer's choices/preferences and the ability to come up with viable new unit designs to add new monstrous infantry (dual kits in some cases), chariot or special units (again dual kits), and monster units in dual kits. The trend in 8th edition, that is refreshing, is to add more flexibliity and competitive options to the various armies and to more carefully points cost each unit for balance, while limiting the magic items available (requiring armies to rely more on the common magic items). 8th edition is turning out, as a result, to be quite balanced with perhaps Lizardmen too advantaged and Beastman too disadvantaged, but, otherwise, I'm finding nearly any army can beat any other army with a reasonable chance in a competitive environment. 

Frankly, nearly every pre-8th edition army book needs to be updated for one reason or another (elapsed time since last book, need to seriously adjust rules and points costs for certain units, need to limit magic items to remove or adjust the cost of certain magic items that are overpowered in 8th edition, need to adjust certain army-specific special rules or special unit rules to conform to 8th edition allow for more fun and competitive games, need to provided new and alternative units too allow armies to have more flexible competitive options), except perhaps Skaven (which was written with 8th edition in mind but has a bit too good of magic lores and too many magic items for an 8th edition book). IF GW wasn't stubborn, it could adjust by simply issuing amendments, errata, and FAQs to adjust the point costs or specific rules for certain units and magic items. For example, the Slann's discipline that gives it the ability to use an additional power dice on each casting attempt could be limited to twice per round (still worth the points), and the Dark Elf sac dagger use could be limited to twice per turn to avoid over-powered magic phases. Those two limits would balance the game considerably.


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## kain1989

I'm happy with how the wood elves play now, the only complaint I really have is their damage capabilities. They are maneuverable, (which keeps it fun for me) but have trouble killing things. treekin, dryads and treeman are pretty much the only thing they have to deal damage. Glade guard can do it, but only really from short range, which is not where you really want them. Wardancers were destroyed by the step up rule, as well as most elf combat lords. As they stand, you play to make your enemy lose, not for you to win. You're not going for the massacre, you hope to cause enough damage to get more points then your opponent, and make all of his kills all small cheap units. It's hard to explain, but that's how it works for me.

Although I've been meaning to try out wild riders. I haven't used them yet, and a friend has been telling me of their uses.

I'm afraid that the quirks and fun parts will be taken from the book, even though I know they'll certainly get better.


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