Let's Chat Sylvaneth

[Aezeal]

13 hours ago, scrubyandwells said:

Yeah here's one I've been looking at. Still hoping to figure out a tournament-viable list w/ her. 

Alarielle
 Regrowth
Drycha
 Verdant Blessing
Branchwych
 Acorn of the Ages
 Throne of Vines
Knight-Azyros
10 Dryads
10 Dryads
5 Tree-Revenants
5 Tree-Revenants
3 Kurnoth Scythes
3 Kurnoth Bows
20 Eternal Guard
2000
 

Do you think that list is much stronger than my monster mash for tournament play? And why? I see seveal strengths and weaknesses for both lists and wonder how you compare them.

PS as possible ally I've not heard this one yet (or at least not often enough to stick): lord relictor for -1 to hit stacking?( I actually mean stacking with Sylvaneth abilities but taking more than one and stacking that way seems possible too unless his ability has been faqed too.)

[scrubyandwells]

I'll follow up on the latest posts shortly but real quickly: Had two games -- Ironjawz and Stormcast -- today playtesting that latest list. While Eternal Guard look awesome on paper, it didn't take long to feel their limitations. Since they only really become tanky when you do their Fortress of Boughs, which happens in the hero phase, if you want to get them into cover in a Wyldwood, you have to first drop a Wyldwood and then move them onto it in your first turn, and then in your second turn you can do their Fortress of Boughs; but that's not ideal at all.... The other major problem, of course, is you can't teleport the darn things! That's a huge plus for Dryads over them. So I'm just not sure about them now. 

[WABBIT]

I don't really understand why anyone would want to take eternal guard over dryads. Dryads synergies more, benefit from more spells and command traits, are faster,  more offensive and can be very defensive in the right situation (in cover with a -1 to hit debug and +1 save in 20+ units) can treeport and only cost 60pts more. Than guard.  Plus they are immune to wyld woods. The nature of sylvath means taking allies is a liability more than a support. 210pts for 30 is almost another hunter unit.

[Aezeal]

12 hours ago, scrubyandwells said:

I'll follow up on the latest posts shortly but real quickly: Had two games -- Ironjawz and Stormcast -- today playtesting that latest list. While Eternal Guard look awesome on paper, it didn't take long to feel their limitations. Since they only really become tanky when you do their Fortress of Boughs, which happens in the hero phase, if you want to get them into cover in a Wyldwood, you have to first drop a Wyldwood and then move them onto it in your first turn, and then in your second turn you can do their Fortress of Boughs; but that's not ideal at all.... The other major problem, of course, is you can't teleport the darn things! That's a huge plus for Dryads over them. So I'm just not sure about them now. 

 

5 hours ago, WABBIT said:

I don't really understand why anyone would want to take eternal guard over dryads. Dryads synergies more, benefit from more spells and command traits, are faster,  more offensive and can be very defensive in the right situation (in cover with a -1 to hit debug and +1 save in 20+ units) can treeport and only cost 60pts more. Than guard.  Plus they are immune to wyld woods. The nature of sylvath means taking allies is a liability more than a support. 210pts for 30 is almost another hunter unit.

Well as I said before EG can be more of a tarpit and since that will be their main role it is not illogical to take them especially since they are cheaper. However for me the broader utility of Dryads will win. The extra damage will help reduce attackers numbers (thus incoming damage), speed and teleport is always good too.

[Uprising]

From my six games with allies(4 wanders, 2 stormcast), I am not impressed.  I think Sylvaneth works better as a pure faction(make sense fluff wise).  A big thing you have to remember casting magic effect everyone near a wylwood.  I have killed so many of my own troops because of that(and my opponents).  Maybe I am missing something, or maybe I just like my trees so much. 

[Zungam]

Hello all,

Im a relative new Sylvaneth player, have only played a few games before GHB2017 came out and Iam now trying to get a new army list together. Personally I think the Gnarlroot Wargrove is worth it's new cost. One drop army, lots of magic, extra artefacts, refilling the Hunters and the Dryads still makes it great in my mind. Here is the list Im thinking about:

 

Treelord Ancient (300) - General - Gnarled Warrior, The Oaken Armour, Regrowth

Drycha Hamadreth (280) - Verdant Blessing

Branchwych (80) - Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines

Loremaster (100)

30 x Dryads (270)

20 x Dryads (200)

5 x Tree-Revenants (80)

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

Battalions Gnarlroot Wargrove (180)

Household (70)

Total: 2000/ 2000 Points

 

The Loremasters spell (re-roll hit and wound) is great for TLA and Drycha but Im not sure if changing the to a Battlemage (very flexible with the choice of spells at setup) or another Branchwych (Silverwood Circlet, Throne of Vines) to use the last available artefact is better.

The Hunters weapons can of course be changed to bows or swords if that is preferable for some.

Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated.

[WABBIT]

1 hour ago, Uprising said:

From my six games with allies(4 wanders, 2 stormcast), I am not impressed.  I think Sylvaneth works better as a pure faction(make sense fluff wise).  A big thing you have to remember casting magic effect everyone near a wylwood.  I have killed so many of my own troops because of that(and my opponents).  Maybe I am missing something, or maybe I just like my trees so much. 

They can fix that easily by giving wanderers freedom to roam wyld woods. Wanderers should be forest friendly it's sill that they don't. I suggest people do that in open play or narrative games. Storm cast deserve to be smacked about. 

[WABBIT]

24 minutes ago, Zungam said:

Hello all,

Im a relative new Sylvaneth player, have only played a few games before GHB2017 came out and Iam now trying to get a new army list together. Personally I think the Gnarlroot Wargrove is worth it's new cost. One drop army, lots of magic, extra artefacts, refilling the Hunters and the Dryads still makes it great in my mind. Here is the list Im thinking about:

 

Treelord Ancient (300) - General - Gnarled Warrior, The Oaken Armour, Regrowth

Drycha Hamadreth (280) - Verdant Blessing

Branchwych (80) - Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines

Loremaster (100)

30 x Dryads (270)

20 x Dryads (200)

5 x Tree-Revenants (80)

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

Battalions Gnarlroot Wargrove (180)

Household (70)

Total: 2000/ 2000 Points

 

The Loremasters spell (re-roll hit and wound) is great for TLA and Drycha but Im not sure if changing the to a Battlemage (very flexible with the choice of spells at setup) or another Branchwych (Silverwood Circlet, Throne of Vines) to use the last available artefact is better.

The Hunters weapons can of course be changed to bows or swords if that is preferable for some.

Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated.

Sylvaneth can't have lore masters as allies. It's stormcast or wanderers only I'm afraid. Too many restrictions in this GHB edition if you ask me. Nice list though it lacks a ranged threat.

[Heksagon]

4 minutes ago, WABBIT said:

Sylvaneth can't have lore masters as allies. It's stormcast or wanderers only I'm afraid. Too many restrictions in this GHB edition if you ask me. Nice list though it lacks a ranged threat.

It's not an ally, it's a "Order Wizard" from Gnarlroot.

[WABBIT]

Oh yeah I forgot haha

[Zungam]

4 minutes ago, WABBIT said:

Sylvaneth can't have lore masters as allies. It's stormcast or wanderers only I'm afraid. Too many restrictions in this GHB edition if you ask me. Nice list though it lacks a ranged threat.

I take the Loremaster as the order wizard you can have in the Gnarlroot wargrove.

And I agree, lack of ranged attacks is a weakness, thinking of taking bows for one unit of Hunters but then it looses some melee punch.

[Nick in York]

54 minutes ago, Zungam said:

Hello all,

Im a relative new Sylvaneth player, have only played a few games before GHB2017 came out and Iam now trying to get a new army list together. Personally I think the Gnarlroot Wargrove is worth it's new cost. One drop army, lots of magic, extra artefacts, refilling the Hunters and the Dryads still makes it great in my mind. Here is the list Im thinking about:

 

Treelord Ancient (300) - General - Gnarled Warrior, The Oaken Armour, Regrowth

Drycha Hamadreth (280) - Verdant Blessing

Branchwych (80) - Acorn of the Ages, Throne of Vines

Loremaster (100)

30 x Dryads (270)

20 x Dryads (200)

5 x Tree-Revenants (80)

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (220) -Scythes

Battalions Gnarlroot Wargrove (180)

Household (70)

Total: 2000/ 2000 Points

I am working towards building variations on this list. I tend to have at least one of the Kurnoth units with bows as my play style is prefers that. As I don't have Drycha yet my current list has a Spirit of Durthu instead (saving the other points by having less dryads - usually one unit of 20 and one of 10).

[Dragon10]

2 hours ago, Uprising said:

From my six games with allies(4 wanders, 2 stormcast), I am not impressed.  I think Sylvaneth works better as a pure faction(make sense fluff wise).  A big thing you have to remember casting magic effect everyone near a wylwood.  I have killed so many of my own troops because of that(and my opponents).  Maybe I am missing something, or maybe I just like my trees so much. 

Yes I didn't think about this, no mystic shield on the eternal guard in wild wood then 

[Mirage8112]

17 hours ago, scrubyandwells said:

I'll follow up on the latest posts shortly but real quickly: Had two games -- Ironjawz and Stormcast -- today playtesting that latest list. While Eternal Guard look awesome on paper, it didn't take long to feel their limitations. Since they only really become tanky when you do their Fortress of Boughs, which happens in the hero phase, if you want to get them into cover in a Wyldwood, you have to first drop a Wyldwood and then move them onto it in your first turn, and then in your second turn you can do their Fortress of Boughs; but that's not ideal at all.... The other major problem, of course, is you can't teleport the darn things! That's a huge plus for Dryads over them. So I'm just not sure about them now. 

This was my exact worry with them. 

I do think that eternal guard are one of the more decent tarpit/anvil units in the game. The only problem is that they don't really bring anything extra to the table when you have the option to bring Dryads. For what they do bring to the table, they bring slightly cheaper; which is a plus, but by no means auto include.

The best reason I can see for bringing EG in a Sylvaneth list is if you really need to find an extra 40-60 points to bring an extra unit of hunters/treelord/durthu/ect. Also, to get the most out of them, they really should be run in a pack of 30 supported by a spellweaver. That way you have 30 models with decent a decent armor save (spellweaver can give them mystic shield that first round to aid in them getting situated in cover) and in subsequent rounds the spellsweaver can bring back D3 slain models, to amp up that staying power just a wee bit. (as a bonus the spell weaver has the once per battle auto-dispel as I unfortunately found out in my game vs them yesterday.)  

Truthfully, I have no idea why we haven't seen more lists with glade guard/sisters of the watch as wanderer allies. That (to me) seems the most optimum use of the Wanderers, since our shooting capability is relatively light (and expensive). 

[Uprising]

Here is my GHB2 list.  Thoughts and C&C welcome

Allegiance: Order
Treelord Ancient (300)
- General
Treelord Ancient (300)
Drycha Hamadreth (280)
Branchwraith (80)
Branchwraith (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
30 x Dryads (270)
30 x Dryads (270)
Gnarlroot Wargrove (180)
Household (70)

Total: 1990/2000

 

So we have three artifacts(still messing around with them) and 3 out of the 5 heros can cast two spells a turn(One ancient, one wraith and one order wizard(which can be drycha, wraith or ancient).  My play-style is wyldwood heavy, defensive, objective focus, and forcing mortal wounds due to magic overload.  The  goal is use the dryads as scarification units to tie up units and objectives.  The rest move around and do hit and run.  The rev go after units that are cut off or solo heros.  The goal is objectives, and I think I have an all comer list for that. 

 

 

Also two things I would like to discuss

1.  Allies:  For Sylvaneth, they are pointless IMHO.  I have found no useful ones. 

2. Kurnoth hunters:  They are my fav models but, I do not like them game play wise even in GHB1.  Maybe I just had terrible luck. 
 

[Dragon10]

Hunters are also my favourite unit and have worked wonders for me, I use 6 bows and 6 shythes. Split into 2 groups of 3. The fire power mixed with Durthu shooting ability is pretty good. I also like to use 2 x waywatchers for good measure too.

I know it's not the most powerful list using Durthu over TLA and using lots of over priced hunters but it's what I like.

only problem I have is raising enough wyldwoods when I want them, all I have is the free one at start and whatever my branchwych can muster up. Have to usually hope that branchwych has somewhere to hide as I have that many drops, I imagine I won't get to go first too oftern.

question can I have many units hidden in the enclaves?

 

do units hidden count as units deployed?

 

could I limit my drops with a MSU by having them hidden to get first turn? 

 

[Dragon10]

How do I have the best chance to raise as many woods as I can without a TLA?

[WABBIT]

I love Hunters too but they often underperform for me. They are quite slow even after treeporting so Free Spirits helped a lot when not treeporting. My opponents would avoid my scythe units like the plague and just try to shoot them to bits. My Hunters with bows often under performed hits wise too. What they did do very well was project threat and make my opponents react to them (Often over react) so my bow hunters kept enemy heroes and wizards pinned down and/or hidden. My scythes forced enemy units out of an area I wanted etc. They allowed my other units to survive better and do their thing, especially my TLA and Durthu if taken which often get into combat unmolested and wreak terrible damage as a result.

3 hours ago, Dragon10 said:

How do I have the best chance to raise as many woods as I can without a TLA?

Take the acorn of ages as one of your items. You may need a battalion to get you an extra free item though. I would recommend it.

[Dragon10]

1 hour ago, WABBIT said:

I love Hunters too but they often underperform for me. They are quite slow even after treeporting so Free Spirits helped a lot when not treeporting. My opponents would avoid my scythe units like the plague and just try to shoot them to bits. My Hunters with bows often under performed hits wise too. What they did do very well was project threat and make my opponents react to them (Often over react) so my bow hunters kept enemy heroes and wizards pinned down and/or hidden. My scythes forced enemy units out of an area I wanted etc. They allowed my other units to survive better and do their thing, especially my TLA and Durthu if taken which often get into combat unmolested and wreak terrible damage as a result.

Take the acorn of ages as one of your items. You may need a battalion to get you can extra free item though. I would recommend it.

Well seeing I'm using Durthu and 4 u it's of hunters maybe free spirits as a battalion ?

 

[WABBIT]

5 minutes ago, Dragon10 said:

Well seeing I'm using Durthu and 4 u it's of hunters maybe free spirits as a battalion ?

 

Ideal yes  and it's not as expensive as the one drop battalions so hopefully it's affordable. Freespirits maximises your Hunters potential to engage on the most advantageous terms and even gives your bow hunters that extra bit of range if Treeporting isn't an option. Tree Porting runs of the risk of rolling 1 and not being able to fire as well. I havent played with GHB2017 yet so its not clear if the Free spirits battalion is worth it, maybe more models are? Only playing  the game will tell you which is best

[Dragon10]

12 minutes ago, WABBIT said:

Ideal yes  and it's not as expensive as the one drop battalions so hopefully it's affordable. Freespirits maximises your Hunters potential to engage on the most advantageous terms and even gives your bow hunters that extra bit of range if Treeporting isn't an option. Tree Porting runs of the risk of rolling 1 and not being able to fire as well. I havent played with GHB2017 yet so its not clear if the Free spirits battalion is worth it, maybe more models are? Only playing  the game will tell you which is best

Looking through battalions and wargroves look pretty expensive, is going first for sylveneth that important?

part of me says yes, to get the extra shooting off and to give more chance for me to create trees.

But I'm also stuck in this frame of mind that I refuse to use models I don't like eg dryads.

just getting torn with which direction I want to go in.

i know the following :

i want Durthu and I want 12 hunters in any formation.

i have EG if I need a bunker unit 

I have Tree Revs and spite Revs 

i like the idea of having 2 or 3 waywatchers for extra range threat.

also think 2 x branchwych are needed if I want forest and regrowrh.

 

heartwood war grove just seems too expensive for what it does and costing 200+ points just seems to much taking to many models away.

 

[WABBIT]

Heart wood also requires reinforcement point about think so it's even more expensive and just not playable really. 

Eternal guard or indeed any allies just don't work well with sylvaneth. The wyld woods make it too dangerous for allies. If you cast mystic shield on the guard in a wood you basically just magic bolted it and any other nearby spells will trigger roused to wrath. It even in effect doubles the magic bolt from the enemy. I'd stick to dryads or revenants or you'll bleed ally points just because you're sylvaneth are hostile to everything. Dryads are really good if supported well with magic and woods. 10 is not getting the best out of them and will perform poorly, 30 too many but has resilience and is saving you points, 20 is perfect and easier to get into cover. Revenants are too weak to screen or support your line but they can hit quite hard against weak enemy units and they shine at movement and deep strikes.  

[Nasnad]

How many wyldwoods should i get when starting sylvaneth? .. And how do the 2 revenants units peform, compared to dryads?

[WABBIT]

9 woods is not uncommon in one turn, 3 woods per wyld wood. If you have acorn of ages, TLA ability and one free to start with that very easy to get 9 on the table. The limitation is range, the amount of terrain already on the table and how spread out the armies are. You may need even more but with 9 woods plus 1.5 terrain per square you won't find much space for more/smaller woods. 

and revenants are not as good as dryads. Their main use is  waypipes to assainste characters, war machines and weak units or objective grabbing. They get wiped in every game I play but they are very useful. They don't really compare well because they do different jobs. It's a shame really as I love the models and would use them more in  greater numbers but 1 wound, low save and 80pts for only 5 isn't resilient enough for bunkering or cost effective for screening. You pay for their niche ability and they threaten you opponents weak spots all the time making them adapt their plan and protect their weak spots or risk losing an I mportant piece. If your opponent buys 2 units of battle line to guard against tree revenants popping up behind their lines then they have paid for them selves before they are even deployed.  

Spite revanants are ok vs low bravery armies but it's quite easy for the enemy to protect vs battleshock. The combo well with drycha and 3 attacks is ok but they die easy. 

[Gilby]

 

What about this list? 2 drop. Luminark gives a save after saves on a 6+ against wounds/mortal wounds to all order in 10" (models not units unfortunately but you can choose which model in a unit takes the damage so it's pretty much the same right? ;P). He has a 30" shooting spell with 3+/3+/-2/6 at full health for sniping similar to a Knight Venator. His spell casts on a 6 (but he has +1 to cast) doing D3 mortal wounds to a unit within 18", double that if it has 10+ models, triple if it has 20+ models, so a good anti-horde component too.

 

Seems like an amazing set of rules. Can do 6 wounds of sniping, 9 mortal wounds to a horde and make your dryads/Durthu even more tanky at the same time. Probably want to put him in cover if you pull that off in one turn...