Wood Elves

t=15

They are finally getting some love.  Seeing different armies on the table is always nice.

Nice to see them get the love they deserve, well saying they're getting love is optimistic they could get a s**t book after all we don't know yet. In terms of how this affects me, it only makes the trend towards building lists to counter MSU harassment armies that much more of an imperative. Better make/buy some more leaddies, maneaters, and gnobbies lads

There were some leaked pictures floating around out there. Their new Treeman special character (I think) looks super nasty, and fun. He has a "tree whack" attack that causes D6 wounds without armour saves...on an initiative test

There were some leaked pictures floating around out there. Their new Treeman special character (I think) looks super nasty, and fun. He has a "tree whack" attack that causes D6 wounds without armour saves...on an initiative test

KILL IT WITH CANNONS AND FIRE, OR WITH FIRE-LIT CANNONS lol

KILL IT WITH CANNONS AND FIRE, OR WITH FIRE-LIT CANNONS lol

And that is, unfortunately, why he'll see little play. He's a Ld10 Large Target general with Hatred and insane combat stats but he's utterly, utterly crippled by his war machine weakness. That and his Frenzy - never a good idea on something so expensive.

I really like the Treeman, regardless of what most people are already slating it for. The only thing I'm not a big fan of, is the sword. It just feels a little jarring, and out of place!

JJ

It kind of looks like the Avatar of Khane.  Anybody heard any reliable rumors?  Are they even getting a new book or is this just a White Dwarf update?

Release schedule says army book.  IMO, aside from a few leafy bits here and there, that thing looks just like an Eldar Wraith Knight.  Even the posing is similar, and the sword bears a resemblence too...  How tall is that thing?

I don't think the link to the Avatar is an accidental one, just like how Warriors of Chaos share many design facets with Chaos Space Marines. They're pretty much the same race in different settings. I think it'll look beastly with a colour scheme that actually makes it look like a tree.

I actually like how that model looks in the picture. Yeah, there's a definite link to Eldar, but everyone knows that the designers use the same characteristics in both backgrounds, despite what they may claim

I can't wait to see that in the flesh, as I've been holding off on a Wood Elves army for quite some time now. Never really had the pull to start an army, but that model may change my opinion

- Loran

Hmmm... Will the new Wood elf book contain a 100 point banner that gives a unit.... wait for it.... wait for it.... CAUSES FEAR!!! Muahahaha

Hmmm... Will the new Wood elf book contain a 100 point banner that gives a unit.... wait for it.... wait for it.... CAUSES FEAR!!! Muahahaha

Don't be silly. There's a clear logic as to what ability to give a 100pt Elven banner - if BotW gives you a 2++ save against magical attacks for 50pts, Banner Of The Really Big Tree gives you a 2++ save against all attacks for 100!

If I recall it's meant to be Mr. Ward doing this book, as the final in the elven trinity. So ASF across the board should be fun!


I like that character too - he represents the spiteful aspects of the Tree-spirits, who frequently murder everything that moves just because ^^


He is cannon bait though, unless he has a good ward-based defence. With any luck they've replaced the weird Forest Spirit Ward with a regular one...

If I recall it's meant to be Mr. Ward doing this book, as the final in the elven trinity. So ASF across the board should be fun!

ASF will almost certainly be army-wide yet again, but Ward apparently won't have a hand in it - according to the man himself he's only been writing background material since before the High Elf book.

Totally ignoring this release so I don't end up making certain purchases. 

Bracing for huge impact on the wallet.

Apparently Welf gets access to both High and Dark magic... with their own lore attributes.

Anybody else wondering if Welf will no longer be a 'good alignment' army but rather be neutral together with ogres and Tomb kings?

Apparently Welf gets access to both High and Dark magic... with their own lore attributes.

Anybody else wondering if Welf will no longer be a 'good alignment' army but rather be neutral together with ogres and Tomb kings?

I would hope they don't get too broad access to the other lores as well. It could just be me but I've always had the impression that WElf magic is both more limited and subtle than that of their blasty-blasty cousins.

Apparently Welf gets access to both High and Dark magic... with their own lore attributes.

Anybody else wondering if Welf will no longer be a 'good alignment' army but rather be neutral together with ogres and Tomb kings?

I would hope they don't get too broad access to the other lores as well. It could just be me but I've always had the impression that WElf magic is both more limited and subtle than that of their blasty-blasty cousins.

I really hope this isn't true. It would actually make them more powerful, from a Magical perspective, than the other two Elven armies. I'm with Eg, and am of the understanding that their Magic is less powerful/direct, more limited and more subtle. If they went down this route, it would just feel really out of character.

JJ

Well, then Im sorry to be the bringer of bad news. I recall they'll get access to the 8 brb lores.

It is sad and just from a game perspective I like some magic restrictions to each army like the ogres have it and Delf HAD it.

I'll see if I can find the WD leek for the magic...

Edit:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-crdV0FgJJQM/U1ZlcMGPzMI/AAAAAAAADag/rALkmaqFS3I/s1600/Bl04AzAIEAANdFk.jpg

*Sigh* We'll see what their wizards and bonuses are like.

Ouch... Well, another suspect move from GW. Logic is complete flawed on this one. Just hope that there is some saving grace in the beastiary entries that nerf the Wizards a little, to balance out their access to both Lores!

JJ

Welf might get a boost to make up for the years they didnt get much love. But I recon that any army that has access to all lores also have more (re)playability.
I'm curious for the lore attribute but having high and to some extent dark magic is not that powerful to me... my experience with high magic is that it lacks the game changing spell that the brb lores has.

Well, then Im sorry to be the bringer of bad news. I recall they'll get access to the 8 brb lores.

Finally, I'll be able to play a wood elf wizard how they are meant to be... With the lore of metal!

Do you think they will get gyrocopters as well?

I'm with Eg, and am of the understanding that their Magic is less powerful/direct, more limited and more subtle. If they went down this route, it would just feel really out of character.

Surely no more out of character than Dark Elves accessing the Lores of Life and Light... Really GW?! What the hell were you thinking with that one?!

I can imagine Welfs getting Life, Light, Beasts, Shadows (maybe) and possibly Heavens. Fire, Metal & Death all seem a bit out of character for them

I'm a bit bummed at the choice of lores, mainly Dark and High. BRB lores are okay-ish from a fluff perspective, but I really liked the lore of Athel Loren and the possibility of moving around a bunch of trees From a fluff perspective that is... But then again, I agree with Joakim that it's probably down to the playability of the army. Gotta make it appealing to the veterans. Or try, at least...

- Loran

Well, that's a total shame about the lores. I guess they were tired of making up new lores for every army! Also, I think it fits in with the Storm of Magic spinner, which doesn't have a W-elf lore spot anyways.

The idea of a unique Lore attribute applied to pre-established lores, though? I think that's actually rather creative, in a simpler sort of way. They definitely should have limited the BRB lore choices, though (as with the other elves), but I think they're trying to bring each army to a closer "similarity" without being "identical".

I do have to say, though, that Durthu looks awesome! I hope they make his model easy to convert and reposition, he'd be really cool in certain dynamic poses!

Overall, excited that the old book gets a fresh new coat of paint, even if I have no interest or intentions to collect them.

Eh, though 8 lores seems a bit dumb, I guess it's a racial attribute thing now. Plus, if Dark Elves got let off the hook then at least they didn't turn around and go 'Oh Wood Elves, we now have a different idea - we'll take inspiration from the Tomb Kings and have it so you have to use a particular Lore on your highest level wizard!'

More choice is always better than less. Plus, if you don't like it just stick to Life and Beasts, and at least now you won't have that annoying restrictions on what the Level 2's can use.

They'll get eagles... you can proxy with a 'copter if you'd like ; )

They're going Green!

About to trade in my Night Goblin army for Wood Elves(my gf has expressed an interest to play and likes elves in general) so I'm going from green to green. 

-GL

I like the Treeman.

Once we get a clear view of those stag riders, that might be it for me. My tribe's well established, I suppose it's time for a second army at last...

I really hope the models and/or rules are awful... I can't take up yet another army

JJ

Note it says May's new releases, so there will probably be more.

If the rumour mills are to be believed - and they've been correct so far - there are three more boxes to come. By comparison to past relaunches, the Wood Elves will be quite small...

I am quite tempted by them, but might wait for a while - let the hype die down. I've always wanted to build an army using the Lord of the Rings Mirkwood and Lothlorien Elves as proxies. Glad to see it's still feasible

JJ

I really expect the next wave to be as soon as next week.

I like the Treeman a lot... must resist... at least long enough to see how badly I want the stag riders.

Use a fire belly on them suckas!

I got the book. If nothing else, it's gorgeous.

I like the list, but I don't have much to compare it to. That brings my owned books to three (Ogres, Daemons, Wood Elves) though I still only have models for the Ogres.

And Skaven. I like Skaven models, but I'm not a fan of the army itself, so I've used models of enslaved Skaven scattered throughout my ogre bases. I like having a unified touch throughout my model collection, and while I realize that if I'm starting Wood Elves the army will be completely separate, I was still wondering if I could justify a common theme. But Ogres, Wood Elves, and enslaved Skaven all in the same collection seemed like a stretch, right?

Well, the new Wood Elf book includes a story where a band of ogres is lured into Athel Loren, treated well, fed, and eventually tricked into fighting a bunch of Skaven that were coming up on the forest. I feel so, so validated now, I had to come post about it as soon as I read it.

Surely no more out of character than Dark Elves accessing the Lores of Life and Light... Really GW?! What the hell were you thinking with that one?!

Well maybe they thought it was time for the bad guys to get the fair share of the magic rules. The lores of magic are neutral and I resent the idea there are 'good' lores and 'evil' lores. They are all representative of things which occur in the natural world and it's how they choose to manipulate these elements which determine whether they are evil of not.

I mean life in it's current form is far from a nice guy lore. Between forcing trees to do your bidding, the necromancy and the zombie reach around I'd say there is plenty of room for evil in there.   

Well, the new Wood Elf book includes a story where a band of ogres is lured into Athel Loren, treated well, fed, and eventually tricked into fighting a bunch of Skaven that were coming up on the forest. I feel so, so validated now, I had to come post about it as soon as I read it.

I'm pretty glad too, but for different reasons - I was really worried that they'd mess up the fluff for Wood Elves and turn them into holier-than-thou good guys rather than fay-like mostly neutral jerks (seriously they should really be neutral).

It looks like a solid book, but it'll take a good general to make it work; very asymetrical play-style.  Almost the entire army can ambush or scout, if they want.

I'm pretty sure that after some play testing most players will default to the "no negatives to hit" magic arrows.

Dryads suck wind now, and Treemen are a little nastier, though Ancients got hit pretty hard with a nerf bat.

They have this 4+ armored, fast cav unit that has frenzy, devastating charge, base S4, and spears that could potentially be terrifying if it manages to hit you unmolested.

It's very asymmetrical, yeah. But it's interesting that so many of the units have identical or similar point costs, despite their different roles. Experimenting with different configurations within your list will be easy.

Dryads suck wind now, and Treemen are a little nastier, though Ancients got hit pretty hard with a nerf bat.

Well I saw Dryads used pretty much entirely as redirectors. Surely with a points drop, no matter the nerf, they still serve in this role?

All their shooting attacks are S3, correct?

If so, at least without poison, they will have a hard time against T4 : )

Lead belchers seem essential against the new elves.

The S3 is offset by the fact that they get WAY more hits.  Hitting on a 3+ vs a 5+ roughly doubles the number of wounds a unit would cause against T4; call it 2 wounds for every 10 shots.

Actually, I'm more worried about WE players running 'darts' of Eternal Guard: units of 10 that come at you single-file.  You get minimum frontage to attack (6 attacks for most folks, 12 for us), and then they hold on their stubborn test, leaving your flanks nice and open for those Wild Riders.  A basic unit is fairly cheap too.

Lead belchers seem essential against the new elves.

Do they? I'd say all they do is create a really lightly armoured, poor combat spot for their wildrider/warlock/silver helm bus to punch straight through your lines. I do see that they would have a use and if the elf player is caught out in the open then they will lose alot of models to leadie shooting but 'essential' is the wrong word.

Taking the elves on at range will require fire magic or heavens.

yeah, the new WE are super vulnerable to magic missiles and direct damage spells.

That being said, the Leadies are a solid choice, and spoiled only by one thing: the Acorn of Ages.

This thing lets the WE player add d3 citadel woods to the field, scattering them 2d6.  So, a WE player can clutter a field with 1+d3 big, honking forests.  They can even pick what type!  Just PILES of soft cover that give extra benefits to the elves.

Fortunately, Citadel woods are expensive, so we might not see this too much.

Throw in the Moonstone, and they're going to be outmanoeuvring us, peppering us with Magic and Shooting, then disappearing back into the woods again.

JJ

Don't worry guys, just use more mournfang. They seem to solve all my problems

And if not, just add a little more cowbell

Well, they have -3 to armour save arrows, so don't put too much faith in Mournfang. Plus, a flank charge by something like Wild Riders could do some damage.

Don't forget their bonuses in Woods too - +1 to cast, re-rolls to wound of 1, and extra rank (Martial Prowess). Basically, all the High Elf and Dark Elf stuff, they get in Woods. That's why the Acorn is especially lethal.

And waywatchers ignore armour completely. Mournfang will get shredded. I played against WE at a tournament last weekend and my sniper poison maneaters scared him enough that he decided to focus on them turn one and they lost 4 models in one round of shooting. I don't think mournfang would last much better. And this was a fairly combat heavy WE army with only two big blocks of archers.

Lead belchers seem essential against the new elves.

Do they? I'd say all they do is create a really lightly armoured, poor combat spot for their wildrider/warlock/silver helm bus to punch straight through your lines. I do see that they would have a use and if the elf player is caught out in the open then they will lose alot of models to leadie shooting but 'essential' is the wrong word.

Taking the elves on at range will require fire magic or heavens.

Well nothing besides core is truly essential : ) Maybe the number of lead belcher models is the issue. I would include a smaller units if anything. Welf can dictate part of your movement but a LB unit can counter this with their move and shoot with no penalty. Ogre BS shooting compared to wood elves is clearly worse considering cover penalties etc.

In the bigger picture I see that elves hit better but their low strength has to be their disadvantage.
Are the elves so mobile that ogre buses cannot catch them? Units of bulls (to soak up damage) will often not die fast and can deliver characters to do what killing and with T5 they are a tough one to crack however the army will then be one use against only wood elves : )

I completely agree with the usefulness of the fire/heaven lores. Even a one-dice ruby ring might do something but I reckon that most wood elf armies will bring a lvl4 due to their magic selection potential?

And when was the last time you fielded multiple units of Ogre Bulls?    Heck, I'm one of the biggest proponents on the board in the eternal bulls-vs-ironguts debate, and even I only recommend fielding two units of 9.  We're a lower-model-count army, and for us the concern is that we won't have enough units to have overlapping charge arcs, thus allowing the WEs to dance around us and never be brought to combat except on unfavorable terms.

That was the point of Wood Elves in the old book as well, except now they have the tools to do it more efficiently. This is going to be just like when the new Ogre book was released. Everyone that has been struggling with the army is going to not only have the experience from before the new release, but now have awesome tools to get the job done.

I know when I play my woodies it's a dance to get as much killed with shooting as I can, then by turn 4/5 I run in with Dryads, Wild Riders, etc to clean up anything that survived. Now, I'll be able to do it more quickly.

army book review from a friend:

Overall, the Wood Elves are much more like the other Elves now.  They don't have their old shooting bonuses (no S4 shots, and no ignoring the movement penalty).  And they gained Always Strike First.  Plus five new rules as long as they are in a forest (they're striders, shoot with addition rank, fight with additional rank, re-roll 1s to wound in melee, +1 to cast).  Spears are also armor piercing.  So much more melee focus and power.  And magic will be powerful too, with all eights lores, plus High and Dark Magic.

If you want to have amazing shooting, it can still be done, just at a higher point cost.  The normal Wood Elf archer is the same as before.  The bows are armor piercing, but not S4.  A new addition is magical arrows, where for an additional 3, 4, or 5 points per model you may give a unit a magical arrow type.  These arrows do one of the following:
No To Hit penalties (3pts ea)
Poison (3pts ea)
+1 to wound models of "Order", and flaming (4pts ea)
+1 to wound models of "Destruction", and flaming (4pts ea)
Multiple Shots (2) (4pts ea)
-3 to armor saves (5pts ea)

You can pick only one type per unit.  All are also longbows, with volley fire and armor piercing (except the -3 to armor).  Some could be very powerful.  You could also make them very similar to the old ranged attacks, but now at a higher point cost.  Glade Guard, Glade Riders, Scouts, and characters can use the special arrows.  But not Waywatchers or the Waywatcher Hero for some stupid balance reason.

I also noticed they no longer change points costs for each model type.  All the arrows cost the same.  All the unit commands cost the same.  Doesnt make sense, but does make the math easier.

All trees lost a point of strength (Dryads, Treekin, Treemen).

Overall, looks much better than the old Wood Elves.  The updated melee abilities will make them much more likely to finish enemies off.

Anti Order & Destruction arrows... Ogre's still win!
(and tomb kings, but f those guys; ogres rule)

The close combat elements of the list got cut back, fairly severely in some cases.  The shooting got boosted, at least in the armor punching department, but lost some of its mobility.  The only unit to seriously be concerned about in combat are Wild Riders, who themselves are somewhat frail to shooting.  I think if your local metagame sees an increase in Wood Elves (and Elves in general), you probably are going to need to run a few more gnoblar blocks.  Ogres struggle with most elven books and I don't expect this one to be any different.

well, struggle in a different way.  HE and DE don't particularly mind if we get into close combat with them

What's the consensus, if at all, on the glade riders getting Ambusher? Seems like a blessing and a curse to them. Yes you can come at the opponent from all sides but you don't know when and don't get to use your riders as chaff drops or character delivery systems. I'm interested to see how many of these guys make it into lists

And when was the last time you fielded multiple units of Ogre Bulls?    Heck, I'm one of the biggest proponents on the board in the eternal bulls-vs-ironguts debate, and even I only recommend fielding two units of 9.  We're a lower-model-count army, and for us the concern is that we won't have enough units to have overlapping charge arcs, thus allowing the WEs to dance around us and never be brought to combat except on unfavorable terms.

Agreed : )

'Ambush' is  'ambush' so you get no deployment. That is my take on the interwebz consensus : ) Although is seems a bit weak.

Nothing but panzie green leaf eaters. Like I said before, I payed a game the other day against the new elves. Took a ton of mournfang, a stonehorn and some scouting maneaters. Essential walked over his entire army. Wild riders and all.

Favourable match-ups Connor?  I'd imagine Sabretusks will be good to hold back on the back line until required to divert the Wild Riders.

@jimmy I used what I learned on your redirecting  to stop charges from the wils riders. Also used them to disrupt the skirmishing units. After that the mournfangs got the charge. It's all gravy after that!

What's the consensus, if at all, on the glade riders getting Ambusher? Seems like a blessing and a curse to them. Yes you can come at the opponent from all sides but you don't know when and don't get to use your riders as chaff drops or character delivery systems. I'm interested to see how many of these guys make it into lists

More a blessing. I've been noticing a lot of armies (in my local meta) tend to hunker back and wait to see reactions from opponents, not Ogres of course we just hulk-smash, but lots of other players tend to use large block units, center deployed, and wait a turn or two to see what unfolds. Is this good? No, not really, but now its really not good because of Ambush and Scout. Add in the Waystalker's ability to snipe characters, and the Arrow of Arrow of Kurnous (spelling) shots every turn, on Lords and Glade Captain Heroes and you are plinking down characters fast.

Having an army that can now be skink-like all poison shots, with Elven bows, is pretty cool. Lots of options in the new book. Some new tricks too.

Edit: nevermind, the Moonstone won't allow things to move and then shoot same turn, but sounded nifty.

I think we still play against them the same, run fast, smash hard.

I thought the Arrow of Kurnous was a 'once at the beginning of the game' type of affair...

I definitely read it that way too, I think in this matchup the gnoblars are our better option for redirection, kitties will just die way too easily with 2 wounds and no armour regardless of which arrow they use. A slow steady advance, keeping charge arcs as wide as possible and herding them as best you can into a corner or the back

You're right, once at the start. Glade Captains can take a shot too, so depending on your build you could take down a character before the game even starts, especially level 2 scroll caddies.

Kitties will go down quick, Gnobs too, but it beats taking plink shots at the big boys as they march across the board. I'm curious if WE players start doing mostly Hagbane tips just because they don't have a good alternative/matchup against large monsters. Still unsure how they'll deal with Nurgle stuff with high toughness, but we'll see.

Just keep in mind as well that our SM/Butchers are immune to poison, this came up in my game on the weekend when I was allocating hits to my SM from poison shots - he ate them and spat them out.

Well put jim, well put. Can't forget about those special rules. 

I also think that scouting or can guarding maneaters will cause havoc. Armies that are expecting to have you guessing are often throw back when you do something similar

I posted a game up gents against them. 

Just keep in mind as well that our SM/Butchers are immune to poison, this came up in my game on the weekend when I was allocating hits to my SM from poison shots - he ate them and spat them out.

Yeah, it's an often forgotten rule. Keep it in mind if you fight Lizzies often too. Plus, the lack of warmachines in both those armies means you've got a better chance of survival wandering on your own (but do take a save of some kind if possible).

Particularly nice on the fencers blades/glittering scale SM. You're hitting on 6's ... and they don't poison.

Just remember a lot of the WE units are WS5, and rerollable 5+s hit way more often than most folks are comfortable with (including me).  I find the Trickster's Helm to be particularly nasty against such limp-wristed foes.

Just remember a lot of the WE units are WS5, and rerollable 5+s hit way more often than most folks are comfortable with (including me).  I find the Trickster's Helm to be particularly nasty against such limp-wristed foes.

People have a tendency to panic over Trollguts and end up letting Toothcracker through instead. Good if you like such helmets!

You're right, once at the start. Glade Captains can take a shot too, so depending on your build you could take down a character before the game even starts, especially level 2 scroll caddies.

It's one shot, period. Having multiple models with the rule just gives you different vectors of attack for the single shot.

Only one model can shoot and it only ever targets the general. It can take down the charmed shield before the game starts however.

What woodies can do, if they want to character snipe, is run a bunch of the Waywatcher heroes and snipe out weaker guys that way.  Its more effective than the empire version, but also a lot more expensive to pull off.

Anyhow, I have some more experience under my belt with the new book and this is what I have settled into:

L4 Heavens w scroll
L4 High
BSB on Stag with Armor of Destiny, Shd, Spear, Starfire
20 GG with Trueflight, Ban, Mus
10 GG Ban, Mus
20 Eternal Guard w FC, Gleaming Pendant
2 x 5 Sisters of the Thorn, Ban Mus
2 x 10 Wild Riders, Ban, Mus
2 x 6 Waywatchers

So basically, I have a lot of magic utility and I use the sisters like I would prefer to use glade riders, acting as fast cav and corralling the Wild Rider frenzy.  Its a major departure from what I am used to and I am still not comfortable with it, but I have had good success with it in testing so far. 

I am debating dumping the Eternal Guard and expanding the second archer block to match the first, slapping the extra points on other characters as gear.  I am also contemplating trading one of the wizards for a mobile combat lord.  My concerns are that I use the Eternal Guard as a reliable buffer to keep my main archer unit untouched, so losing them would mean having to use the Sisters to do that job.  I have also found that I make equal use out of both lores (I hardly ever cast with the sisters), so dropping one would hurt me.  More stuff to playtest, I guess.

Wins so far:  Knight heavy Empire, Infantry Heavy Warriors, DoC netbuild*, Infantry + Cav High Elves, Shooty Ogres*, MSU Shooty Wood Elves*
Losses thus far: Semi Shooty HE, Orc and Goblin MMU*, All Saurus Lizards*
* denotes battle played on UB

Some of those games (including two of the losses) were with a slightly different list where I was using Treekin in place of EG and Glade Riders in place of Sisters, as well as lore of shadow in place of High.  So far, massed T4 infantry seems to be the hardest thing to overcome with the list and the Wild Riders seem to universally destroy the first thing they hit and peter out after that initial combat.  Now that I am more comfortable running a more passive shooting army, I am having more fun with the list, but I still have to slap myself to keep from charging things.  This is likely close to what I will be bringing to the Alamo in Texas this year.

Hey Phazael,

Now that you've played some games with the Wood Elves, how would you rate the army? Do you mind giving us a little review? I'm asking because I'm looking to sell my Lizards to purchase some Wood Elves since they've always been a favorite army of mine along with Bretonnians.

Ok, here is my personal view after about a dozen games:

This book is roughly the same power level as Ogres and Orcs, so high middle.  It shares many of the strengths of the other elven books, but is probably the weakest of the three.  Much of what it can and cannot do in a tournament are going to be metagame/matchup dependant.  Before doing a comprehensive review, I want to address a few sections of the army and go unit by unit with it:

Lords/Heroes-
Glade Lord-  The biggest problem for this guy is that he lost access to a lot of the unique protective items that were in the old book, but he lacks any of the protective options that are stock for the other elven characters.  In fact, his armor options are less than any character in the game, outside of goblin heroes.  Really, the only potential uses for this guy are as a damage disher for infantry blocks or as a flying mounted surgical weapon.  The problem is, this exposes what is an extremely frail character to combat.  His usefulness is limited and he is not enough of an improvement on the captain to justify the extra cost.

Spellweaver/Spellsinger- The lack of anything like the Sac Dagger of book of Hoath makes them a little less powerful than other elven equivalents, though there are interesting tricks you can do with them mounted on unicorns, while paired with High or Life magic.  Basically, you get what you pay for with these gals, but I really wish level 2s could take High Magic, because access to one lore is often not enough utility in an army.

Treeman Ancient-  Garbage.  Flammable 5 wound cannon magnet with only a 6+ ward as defense that has to be the general, unless you take the Glade Lord as well.  No sprites mean limited options, aside from how many lores of life to have while cowering behind a building all game.

Way Stalker-  Sniper teams to take out enemy key characters seem like it might be good, but they are too pricey for what they do and have limited magic options.  In soft score environments, these guys will massively irritate your opponent, too.  A pair of them do well enough, but they are not so much a "wow" option as an annoyance one.

Shadow Dancer-  Overpriced garbage with one good trick (cancel ranks) that still does not counter steadfast.  I guess you could load up on these guys and spam miasma all game, but a L2 cost less.

Branch Wraith-  Cheapest access to a wizard in the game, but not especially useful, due to Sprites being removed.

Glade Captain- You will take one for your BSB and when mounted on an eagle or stag, it will be a great utility piece.  But that is all you will take.

Elven Infantry:
Eternal Guard-  A single sacrificial unit to buy time for your archery blocks is a descent deal, if somewhat overpriced for what amounts to WS5 elven spearmen.  These are an adequate unit.

Gladeguard- The unupgraded version is a bit overpriced, especially when compared to the High Elven archers, but with trueflight arrows, they are amazing.  Hagbane is a bit pricey, but if your meta is swimming in armor, it is worth supplementing the Waywatchers with these guys.

Waywatchers- Fairly versatile, but they require moving around constantly to be effective, so larger units can get unwieldy and you can usually expect them to hit on 4s most of the time.  Opponents hate these guys and will go well out of their way to kill them, which is a tendency you can exploit.

Gladeguard Scouts- For one point above a basic Gladeguard, you get skirmish and scout.  Totally awesome for the points, but its hard to cram them into some lists because you are tight on points.  If your core minimum is paid for and you want more archers, always take these guys.

Hunters-  Quite simply, the worst greatweapon troops in the game.  I could do an entire post on the issues with this unit, but it boils down to them just being horribly inefficient to the point where I would not even take them if they were core.

Wardancers-  GW cannot figure out what to do with these guys.  If they were 10ppm, I might consider using one unit how I used to employ dryads, but at their present cost, they are just not effective.

Forest Spirits:
Treeman- Just not any good, unfortunately.  The lost of ward, STR, and wound has put this model into a narrow role of fighting S3/T3 infantry and its sadly not even good enough to do that reliably.  Great model, terrible rules.  It is the Stonehorn of the book.

Dryads- Demonstrably worse than both basic Orc Warriors and Gors, but they cost more and lack commands or skirmish to make maneuvering viable with them.  Probably the hardest nerf from the past book.

Treekin-  Still usable, though the loss of STR limits what they can kill, thanks to a major drop in cost.  I am not sure how well they fit into the new book's playstyle, however.

Mounted Elves:
Glade Riders-  A great unit killed by the mandatory ambush rules.  If Ambush ever becomes optional, this will become a top unit in the book.  Until then, they have the same problems as Gorgers, in that they arrive too late to do anything useful.

Wild Riders-  The one serious combat unit in the book.  They are fragile, but they hit harder than anything out there for the points, especially if they get the charge off.  Frenzy means they need some corralling.  This is probably the most powerful unit in the entire book.

Sisters of the Thorn-  I use mine how I used to use my glade riders, and as movement controllers, they are excellent.  The poison attacks and ward save give them threat options, as well.  The magic is mostly useless, but having the added utility and channel dice is handy.  A very solid unit.

Warhawk Riders-  Arguably the most improved unit in the new book, but most of what they can do can be done by the Sisters of the Thorn for less points, and arguably better.  They are a little better than sisters at chewing up opposing chaff and flight gives them certain options in the game.  Another solid unit.

Eagles-  In my games, eagles have been the victim of the escalation of the magic and shooting phases.  Basic bowfire or a stray fireball kill them too easily.  Against armies that lack these things (mainly WoC), they do amazing, but in the present elf/demon heavy meta, they simply are not alive long enough to matter.

Army Overview:
Basically, the mobile combat style of play I used under the old book is dead.  Wild Riders are amazing, but the ability to build DE style resilient eagle mounted combat characters and power of forest spirits in close combat is gone.  The shooting is much stronger in this book, but you pay for it and it is a lot more static.  This means that most games are about setting up a defensible position and delaying the enemy as long as you can. 

Magic is essential in the new army, as the high cost of even basic elves means you need to make every shot count.   So far, I have been using Heavens to good effect, but I have found that you need another lore paired with it for the endgame.  At first, I gave Shadow a try, but the cast values are too big and its use is very predictable to the enemy.  High has proven the better supplemental lore, especially with spells like Drain Magic and Arcane Unforging letting you knock people's crutch out from under them.  Mainly, though, Hand of Glory, AE Harmonic, and Ice Shard have been the money spells for me.  In a pinch, you can also turn fights in your favor by combining Ice Shard with Curse from the Sisters to completely skunk an enemy unit in a combat.  Basically, when picking your magic, avoid cliché choices and go for the utility.

Overall, this army plays very close to the wire.  Early on, you will be trying to whittle down enemy units and delay their advance on your position, taking charges of opportunity with the Wild Riders.  Late game, you will use magic to help your archers run out the clock when they are inevitably caught in combat.  This army will not produce runaway victories.  In fact, all of my games were decided by 800 points or less so far.

Matchups (based on playtesting and personal opinion):
Good Matchups for Wood Elves-
Ogres-  It is easy to keep the wizards out of hellheart range while they do their work and the arrows can rain down from a mile away.  Many WE builds will not have anything useful to shoot at and once the leadies are dealt with, it is likely all over at that point.  Wild Riders also pose a huge combat problem for the Ogres.
Empire-  Very few of their units can stand up to the Wild Riders in close combat and T3 armor dies like flies to the new book.  The Steam Tank is the hardest thing to contend with, but WE can safely ignore it until late in the game.
Daemons-  Outside of Cacobombing armies, massed archery will fell most of the list.  Beasts of Nurgle are the one unit that cannot be handled by anything in the book, but it is feasible to stall them.
Netbuild WoC-  This army has too few models.  Feed the Prince garbage and gun down everything else.
Fast Cav DE-  The mounted version of the army has a low model count and the shooting version has a hard time matching range.  It is a bloody game, but WE have all the edges in this matchup, aside from the character deathstar which has to be delayed.
Chaos Dwarves-  Tar pit the KAdai and gun down the war machines.  Not much to say about this one, really.
Dwarves-  Like above, but you tar pit the inevitable deathstar instead.
Tomb Kings-  Do I even need to discuss this?
Vampire Counts-  The Knight Bus is useless and focus fire and wizard bunkers means that you can marginalize and contain a foot based blender lord easily.  The scream units are easily obliterated by counter charging wild riders or Sisters of the Thorn.  Etherial units are pointless when nearly all the shooting is magical.

Bad Matchups-
HE- They can out shoot, out fight, and out magic WE.  Plus they have better monsters and heavy cavalry.
Infantry DE-  While WE hold the shooting edge, the DE can edge them in every other way if they have a decent model count.  Also, DE players tend to excel in the movement phase, so trying to sneak around them with fast cavalry is not going to work.
Any T4 infantry heavy army-  Saurus, Savage Orcs, Chaos Warriors, and even Beastmen present a huge issue for wood elves, in that it is difficult to do enough damage to large amounts of cheap T4 infantry before it eats your army, especially if the army in question has an effective magic or shooting phase to supplement it.

I think this army is sort of a weird part of the meta, in that it is going to really punish small model count armies and armor heavy lists, but will have issues with T4 MMU and bow heavy armies.  This is why I think it fits about where the Ogres are, which is the high middle of the spectrum.  I only have two complaints about the book.  First, the Tree Spirits were nerfed WAY too much, especially the Dryads.  Second, this book seems to be setup in a manner that makes a combat emphasis completely unviable (unless you plan on doing 6 dice Mind Razor every turn), requiring instead a static gunline with chaff sacrifices to prevent any real combat from happening.  I can see that frustrating a lot of people who face the army.  I do think that most of the book is viable and that there are no ludicrously broken things in it, which makes it one of the better efforts this edition.

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. I will wait for Brettonians I think, since the new WE playstyle is not what I am looking for. Thanks once again!

Well, be prepared for Waywatchers ruining your day as a Brett player.  If you want to get a leg up, I would start painting peasant archers in the meantime.

Oh I have plenty to do before I buy a new army. I've always wanted a ''good'' army and Bretts and Wood Elves have always appealed to me. But I have to sell a lot of Lizards before I start a new army and I want an army with a playstyle I like.

I guess I'll wait and see what they do with Bretts.

Is it me or the evil factions are so much cooler?

Anyways, regarding Wood Elves, I just wish they had retained some of their old playstyle and that would've just fixed some units and added new ones instead of making Forest Spirits bad .

Thanks for the write up Phazel.

On your list - damn that's a tonne of Wild Riders!!  How are the EG performing?

The quantity of wild riders is there because I want to be able to take casualties and still be combat effective.  Basically, as long as the front rank is intact, the unit tends to destroy whatever it charges.

With the EG, they are mainly there to die and keep the big archery unit from getting engaged too early.  I have been mulling over dropping the unit and expanding the second archery unit to a full 20, but it would mean people could just run at me in the center.  Its one of the things I plan on testing next, actually.  I may be able to get by with using just Sisters to control the center.  Originally, I had a big treekin block in that task, but that unit holding was dicey.  The EG unit reliably fights to the last man and if I am playing a complete douche, I can reform it into a conga line of stubborn if I have to.

Have you tried running the EG in a dart/missile formation?  I'd think that would let you save on points while getting the same durability out of them.

Its also a good way to get your card keyed in the parking lot after the tournament.  I don't pull stuff like that unless the other guy clearly deserves it.

In ongoing playtesting, I can add a win over beastmen (descent player from our group) with the army.  The EG died, but held him off for long enough for me to do what I had to.  I love lore of heavens so much.  And, Wildriders are as good as everyone is saying.  Sent them into fights where I was heavily debuffed twice and still smashed face with them.

I love lore of heavens so much.

Is there a time you don't love that lore?  I agree though, death by a thousand cuts type magic is very satisfying

Are there any ways of helping out those poor Dryads, 10 man speedbumps? (like in the old AB) Bigger Blocks in a venom thicket? Branchwraith support? While updating my army to the new dex and getting the newer models I want to give the Dryads a good chance before being replaced by the now more affordable Eternal Guard.