AoS 2 - Sylvaneth Discussion

[Trevelyan]

6 hours ago, Inquisitorsz said:

While I agree treelord stomps are a good counter to all the strike first stuff.... having lots of high wound monsters just feeds them a ton more depravity points. That seem to be the big issue with Slaanesh... not so much their combat power but their summoning being super strong.  

That’s why you bubble wrap your treelords. There are two sources of depravity points, damage done to their heroes, and damage their heroes inflict to your multi-wound models. You can’t prevent the first but can limit the second if you don’t present their heroes with easy access to your bigger models. 

Stomps are useful for the same reason, they give you a chance to hit their heroes before those heroes hit you. That matters because every Slaanesh hero effectively has a Stomp ability of its own.  

It’s not so much a choice between their combat and their summoning; the two parts work together. They want their heroes to attack first but they are all rather pillow fisted for their points. Forcing your tougher units to wait until the end of the combat round allows them to mine for depravity with their heroes then finish you off with something stronger. Stomping their hero breaks that chain - dying to a unit of Fiends isn’t great, but it beats getting slapped for depravity and then dying to the Fiends. 

You still don’t want too many Treelords, but Durthu is viable (Harvestboon Durthu with the Doppleganger Cloak is something they don’t have a ready answer for) and taking a TLA isn’t the worst option as long as you don’t leave them exposed. Kurnoths are necessary for the killing but easy prey for Depravity so scythe hunters fighting over a Dryad shield wall are the best bet. 

[Landohammer]

12 hours ago, Inquisitorsz said:

As someone just starting to build a Sylvaneth army for a tournament next year, I've been doing a fair bit of reading.  
Seems like the book is generally pretty good and there's a few different viable options.... HOWEVER.... they all still seem to be on the lower end of the power curve. One dreadwood list run by Laurie has done well at 2 big recent tournaments. (minimal heroes, 15 hunters, minimal outcasts battalion and some dryads). 

But other than that, Sylvaneth seem to be horribly under represented at large events for some reason.  
Sydney GT just had 94 players and not a single Sylvaneth list. Make of that what you will. Could be a variety of reasons but for such a large event to have more brettonians and tomb kings than a fairly new 2.0 battletome seems a bit weird huh?
Facehammer GT had 2 Sylvaneth lists out of 80 players. They came 5th and 71st.
AOS Grand Tournament had 3. Placed 3rd, 42nd, 46th out of 65 players.
Laurie was the guy who placed 5th and 3rd at those events. So clearly he's a good player and uses mass hunters well.  

I just played an Order army last night who used several Bretonian units. Two 140pt lords killed Alarielle (with mystic shield up) in two rounds of combat  I was very surprised!

 Sylvaneth do seem to be underrepresented, which is fine with me. I think its mostly due to cost.  I shudder to think of what I have spent on spites, hunters and forests.

When the codex first came out, Winterleaf just seemed to be the clear frontrunner for competitive play. But now we are seeing Dreadwood, Harvestboon, Gnarlroot, and even Heartwood popping up. Thats definitely a good thing!

 

[LordPrometheus]

6 hours ago, Trevelyan said:

That’s why you bubble wrap your treelords. There are two sources of depravity points, damage done to their heroes, and damage their heroes inflict to your multi-wound models. You can’t prevent the first but can limit the second if you don’t present their heroes with easy access to your bigger models. 

Stomps are useful for the same reason, they give you a chance to hit their heroes before those heroes hit you. That matters because every Slaanesh hero effectively has a Stomp ability of its own.  

It’s not so much a choice between their combat and their summoning; the two parts work together. They want their heroes to attack first but they are all rather pillow fisted for their points. Forcing your tougher units to wait until the end of the combat round allows them to mine for depravity with their heroes then finish you off with something stronger. Stomping their hero breaks that chain - dying to a unit of Fiends isn’t great, but it beats getting slapped for depravity and then dying to the Fiends. 

You still don’t want too many Treelords, but Durthu is viable (Harvestboon Durthu with the Doppleganger Cloak is something they don’t have a ready answer for) and taking a TLA isn’t the worst option as long as you don’t leave them exposed. Kurnoths are necessary for the killing but easy prey for Depravity so scythe hunters fighting over a Dryad shield wall are the best bet. 

So how do we keep the Chariots from mulching up our battleline? That's my primary concern with Slaanesh.

[Kantchill]

So, how does Feast of Depravities even work if I attack with my Durthu? We don't have any Slaanesh players in my local meta...

Say he does 3 wounds to a Keeper of Secrets and Durthu has full health so that's 6 damage each. Does the Slaanesh player get 2 Depravity points, or 13? 

That would be pretty important when deciding to attack with Kurtnoths or Durthu for example. 
 

[Pennydude]

2 hours ago, Kantchill said:

So, how does Feast of Depravities even work if I attack with my Durthu? We don't have any Slaanesh players in my local meta...

Say he does 3 wounds to a Keeper of Secrets and Durthu has full health so that's 6 damage each. Does the Slaanesh player get 2 Depravity points, or 13? 

That would be pretty important when deciding to attack with Kurtnoths or Durthu for example. 
 

They would get 13 Depravity points.  Each wound is allocated one at a time and since a KoS has 14 wounds, they would get 13 Depravity.  The killing wound doesn't generate Depravity.

[Inquisitorsz]

Now that some new stats are in:
https://thehonestwargamer.com/aos-stats-21st-october-2019/

Seems like I was mistaken about Sylvaneth being under represented. 
Must have just been the last few big events I looked at.  

That being said, we're sitting at a 43.5% win rate which is likely boosted a bit by Laurie's couple of high placements recently. 
Out of about 67 tournament entries, we've only had two 5+ win results which were both his. 

So we're not as under represented as I though, but our win rate is pretty horrible. 

Out of the main armies, we're sitting down the bottom with Seraphon, Nighthaunt, BoC and Nurgle. 

 

[Inquisitorsz]

Side note:

Does any one know of any good alternative heads for Alarielle since she's a fair bit bigger than a normal scale human/elf. 
Does anyone have any cool images? I'd like to try to avoid having to sculpt anything. 

I mostly hate her hat. 

[Trevelyan]

On 10/23/2019 at 2:44 PM, LordPrometheus said:

So how do we keep the Chariots from mulching up our battleline? That's my primary concern with Slaanesh.

Basic Seeker Chariots aren’t that scary. Once you account for the cost per model and the difficulties in getting multiple fat bases into your battleline, they are remarkably ineffective. A couple of mortal wounds on the charge (granted they can charge every turn) and around four saves at 0 or -1 rend for 1 damage each is far from the worst thing a battleline will face.

Exalted Chariots are obviously nastier, But also more expensive and only ride solo. They still don’t really do more to a battleline than you would expect from a 180 point unit and getting more than one into the same unit is difficult on most tables. 

In either case you will lose some battleline troops but the chariots will be punching below their weight and then be exposed to counter attack from whatever the battleline is screening. That seems perfectly acceptable. To paraphrase myself from earlier, the aim of the game isn’t to keep your battleline alive - Dryads should die so Hunters don’t have to. 

To be honest, only one guy locally I've seen with any chariots at all, and he wasn’t stomping the opposition with them. Between terrain blocking them, and them inadvertently blocking their own units they just don’t seem to be taken seriously in my meta. Maybe someone has found a way to make them do horrible things that I can’t anticipate, but it hasn’t reached my neck of the woods. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Trevelyan

[Pigey]

A while ago I posted a couple of lists and to be honest I did not have much success with them.

So I am trying something new. The idea behind the following list is to give up the idea of getting the priority first turn, and to play more defensively than I used to (no battalion and 10 drops).

Could you tell me what you think of it? My question being, do you think a battalion is mandatory for competitive playing?
 

Spoiler

 

Allegiance: Sylvaneth
- Glade: Gnarlroot
 

LEADERS
Drycha Hamadreth (320)
- Deepwood Spell : Regrowth
Spirit of Durthu (340)
Arch-Revenant (100)
Branchwraith (80)
- General
- Command Trait : Nurtured by Magic
- Artefact : Chalice of Nectar
- Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony
Branchwraith (80)
- Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony
 

UNITS
30 x Dryads (270)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
6 x Kurnoth Hunters (400)
- Scythes
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Greatswords
 

ENDLESS SPELLS / TERRAIN / COMMAND POINTS
Spiteswarm Hive (50)

TOTAL: 2000/2000

 

Cheers!

[Kantchill]

4 hours ago, Pigey said:

Could you tell me what you think of it? My question being, do you think a battalion is mandatory for competitive playing?
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Allegiance: Sylvaneth
- Glade: Gnarlroot
 

LEADERS
Drycha Hamadreth (320)
- Deepwood Spell : Regrowth
Spirit of Durthu (340)
Arch-Revenant (100)
Branchwraith (80)
- General
- Command Trait : Nurtured by Magic
- Artefact : Chalice of Nectar
- Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony
Branchwraith (80)
- Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony
 

UNITS
30 x Dryads (270)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
5 x Tree-Revenants (80)
6 x Kurnoth Hunters (400)
- Scythes
3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Greatswords
 

ENDLESS SPELLS / TERRAIN / COMMAND POINTS
Spiteswarm Hive (50)

TOTAL: 2000/2000

 

Cheers!

Your list looks really similar to the list I'm currently playing, and I'm having some really good games with it after getting some solid advice in this thread.

Going second is actually really strong (against most opponents), especially if you get that double turn with your Kurnoths and Durthu/Drycha. Just make sure that your valuable units are tugged away behind/inside a forest if your opponent has a lot of shooting, or that you bubble wrap them with your expandable units like the Dryads against melee armies. 

Regarding that last part, you might want to get two large units of 20 instead of one large unit of 30 so that you have more manoeuvrability. I run 20 Dryads + 20 Spites myself now to cover the flanks and it works like a charm! 

I also previously used two units of 5 Tree-Revenants, but personally I think that's way to many points invested in such a fragile unit. I only play one unit now, because they are really great at grabbing an objective on the other side of the board. But as far as I'm concerned, that's literally the only thing they can do, because mine always die without killing anything when they get into combat...  So two units for a total of 160 points might be a bit to much. 

[Pigey]

Thank you for your advice More Dryads never hurts 😜 

I was actually considering dropping the Spirit of Durthu for 3 more Hunters and maybe another unit of Dryads (I could drop one of the Tree-Revenant units but I love how people get very unsure of how to place their unit because of them ). But the SoD has (even without an artifact) a great impact on the game. I think I would have to play test it.

[Aezeal]

2 hours ago, Kantchill said:

Your list looks really similar to the list I'm currently playing, and I'm having some really good games with it after getting some solid advice in this thread.

Going second is actually really strong (against most opponents), especially if you get that double turn with your Kurnoths and Durthu/Drycha. Just make sure that your valuable units are tugged away behind/inside a forest if your opponent has a lot of shooting, or that you bubble wrap them with your expandable units like the Dryads against melee armies. 

Regarding that last part, you might want to get two large units of 20 instead of one large unit of 30 so that you have more manoeuvrability. I run 20 Dryads + 20 Spites myself now to cover the flanks and it works like a charm! 

I also previously used two units of 5 Tree-Revenants, but personally I think that's way to many points invested in such a fragile unit. I only play one unit now, because they are really great at grabbing an objective on the other side of the board. But as far as I'm concerned, that's literally the only thing they can do, because mine always die without killing anything when they get into combat...  So two units for a total of 160 points might be a bit to much. 

Could you explain why you prefer gnarlroot and what you do with the gnarlroot specific stuff?

[Pigey]

1 hour ago, Aezeal said:

Could you explain why you prefer gnarlroot and what you do with the gnarlroot specific stuff?

Sure! It makes my casting way more reliable (for my Spiteswarm Hive and to make Dryads) and makes Drycha particularly interesting. I am not convinced it is the best Glade, but, I think it has a little something that works quite well if you play defensively (which I intend to do).

The other glades I was considering are Winterleaf and Harvestboon. But the castings are really not that reliable in those glades.

[Pennydude]

Gnarlroot tends to be the glade that I lean towards the most.  The artefact is awesome when trying to cast Verdurous Harmony and the SpiteHive.  The command trait is awesome too because free healing is never a bad thing.   If you take a battalion, give your general The Vesperal Gem and you'll always be able to cast Regrowth/Verdurous Harmony guaranteed AND automatically trigger the command trait for the D3 healing.  Everything the glade provides is useful.

I also like Gnarlroot because I love playing with Drycha.  Since she's a wizard, she always gets the re-roll 1s to hit and that works for shooting and melee.  Run some Spite-Revs with her and they will be re-rolling hits and wounds of 1 in combat.  Command ability grants a 6+ ward (or "bark") save on a unit so that's really helpful.

One of my lists that I'm trying to tweak ran a Treelord Ancient with a 6-pack of Scythe Kurnoths, Drycha with some Spites and 3 Sword Kurnoths, and a Branchwraith flanked by two units of 3 Bow Kurnoths.  It gave pretty much everything in the army re-roll 1s to hit, could spread the 6+ bark save around, and had reliable spellcasting.  I think it's the best well-rounded glade while others are better at a certain thing (Heartwood centered around Kurnoths, Winterleaf loves swarms/melee, Harvestboon with aggressiveness, Dreadwood with board control).  

Just my 2 cents.

[Trevelyan]

2 hours ago, Pennydude said:

One of my lists that I'm trying to tweak ran a Treelord Ancient with a 6-pack of Scythe Kurnoths, Drycha with some Spites and 3 Sword Kurnoths, and a Branchwraith flanked by two units of 3 Bow Kurnoths.  It gave pretty much everything in the army re-roll 1s to hit, could spread the 6+ bark save around, and had reliable spellcasting.

I’ve run that exact list with an arch-revenant added (plus Outcasts and some endless spells, which I assume you also have). It’s is ok, but I’m always in two minds about the bow rangers - do they add a meaningful amount of ranged damage in a list that already has Drycha and a refilling TLA, or are they really there just to mop up targets that the others don’t quite kill?

The other Gnarlroot list I like to run is similar but drops a unit of Hunters (sometimes swords, sometimes bows) and Drycha in favour of a Treelord, a second TLA and Lords of the Clan. That lets me take the Chalice and the Vesperal Gem on the TLAs and still give a Spiritsong Stave to the Branchwraith to double up on Throne of Vines and summoning. It’s a lot less punchy than other Sylvaneth lists, but insanely durable. It holds objectives better than anything. 

[Pennydude]

12 minutes ago, Trevelyan said:

I’ve run that exact list with an arch-revenant added (plus Outcasts and some endless spells, which I assume you also have). It’s is ok, but I’m always in two minds about the bow rangers - do they add a meaningful amount of ranged damage in a list that already has Drycha and a refilling TLA, or are they really there just to mop up targets that the others don’t quite kill?

The other Gnarlroot list I like to run is similar but drops a unit of Hunters (sometimes swords, sometimes bows) and Drycha in favour of a Treelord, a second TLA and Lords of the Clan. That lets me take the Chalice and the Vesperal Gem on the TLAs and still give a Spiritsong Stave to the Branchwraith to double up on Throne of Vines and summoning. It’s a lot less punchy than other Sylvaneth lists, but insanely durable. It holds objectives better than anything. 

I had a TLA, Drycha, Branchwraith, 6 Scythes, 3 Swords, 3 Bows, 3 Bows, 5 Spite, 5 Spite, 5 Spite, and Outcasts for 1980.  I have not tried a Lords of the Clan in Gnarlroot yet, just in Oakenbrow.  

I really like Bow Kurnoths right now because of how hero heavy some lists can be.  I had a fun game where Drycha and the 6 bows killed Shalaxi and a KoS when they ran up on Drycha.  Drycha survived at about half health.  Helps that the bows were re-rolling 1s since they were near the Branchwraith and Drycha does that naturally.  

Send me your list as I would love to try it out!  I made a swarmy Winterleaf list I'm gonna try out soon.  

[Aezeal]

I finding that not having an auto 2nd wood is terribly annoying. I've had woods been dispelled or failed to cast my last games and it really hinders my mobility options.  Are more people in this position and have you sacrificed an item to get the acorn or gone TLA?

2 hours ago, Pennydude said:

Gnarlroot tends to be the glade that I lean towards the most.  The artefact is awesome when trying to cast Verdurous Harmony and the SpiteHive.  The command trait is awesome too because free healing is never a bad thing.   If you take a battalion, give your general The Vesperal Gem and you'll always be able to cast Regrowth/Verdurous Harmony guaranteed AND automatically trigger the command trait for the D3 healing.  Everything the glade provides is useful.

I also like Gnarlroot because I love playing with Drycha.  Since she's a wizard, she always gets the re-roll 1s to hit and that works for shooting and melee.  Run some Spite-Revs with her and they will be re-rolling hits and wounds of 1 in combat.  Command ability grants a 6+ ward (or "bark") save on a unit so that's really helpful.

One of my lists that I'm trying to tweak ran a Treelord Ancient with a 6-pack of Scythe Kurnoths, Drycha with some Spites and 3 Sword Kurnoths, and a Branchwraith flanked by two units of 3 Bow Kurnoths.  It gave pretty much everything in the army re-roll 1s to hit, could spread the 6+ bark save around, and had reliable spellcasting.  I think it's the best well-rounded glade while others are better at a certain thing (Heartwood centered around Kurnoths, Winterleaf loves swarms/melee, Harvestboon with aggressiveness, Dreadwood with board control).  

Just my 2 cents.

I used to be a gnarlroot fan last tome since it made real magic trees with the dual casts and verdurous as a bonus. I've not played them yet but their abilities don't seem as fun now.

On another note : I find Alarielle not the most viable choice. Btw hee foot print, the relatively low number of wounds. Not always 3 good spells to cast, her maximum potential is not easy to deploy (I know that might be me). 

Edited October 25, 2019 by Aezeal

[Pennydude]

1 minute ago, Aezeal said:

I finding that not having an auto 2nd wood is terribly annoying. I've had woods been dispelled or failed to cast my last games and it really hinders my mobility options.  Are more people in this position and have you sacrificed an item to get the acorn or gone TLA?

I used to be a gnarlroot fan last tome since it made real magic trees with the dual casts and verdurous as a bonus. I've not played them yet but their abilities don't seem as fun now.

Yea, Gnarlroot took a definite hit in this book but the big thing I like about the new Gnarlroot is that there doesn't seem to be a "dead" ability.  To me, Dreadwood's command trait, Heartwood's command trait, most things in Ironbark are just there and not utilized.  Everything in Gnarlroot is useful.  Re-roll 1s to hit near wizards, 6+ ward save on a unit, free healing on a successful and not unbound spell cast, and 3d6 spell cast artefact.   I can agree with you that they aren't flashy per se, but I think they are effective.

[Pennydude]

48 minutes ago, Aezeal said:

On another note : I find Alarielle not the most viable choice. Btw hee foot print, the relatively low number of wounds. Not always 3 good spells to cast, her maximum potential is not easy to deploy (I know that might be me). 

I've asked my wife to get me Alarielle as an anniversary present (she loves painting the stuff too!) and I can't wait to try her out.  I'd give her Throne of Vines for a boost to her Metamorphosis spell.  Another good combo is using the Umbral Spellportals.  Have Alarielle cast Tov, cast Spellportal, and then cast either Metamorphosis, Verdant Blessing, realm spell, or other endless spell through it.  I feel like she's more of a big utility piece and not a gung-ho face smasher.  I agree that she may not be the best choice now but I think she can be really good in the right list.  

[Trevelyan]

52 minutes ago, Pennydude said:

Send me your list as I would love to try it out!

It’s largely like this:

 Allegiance: Sylvaneth
- Glade: Gnarlroot

Treelord Ancient (300)
- General
- Command Trait : Nurtured by Magic
- Artefact : The Vesperal Gem
- Deepwood Spell : Verdurous Harmony

Treelord Ancient
- Artefact : Chalice of Nectar - Deepwood Spell : Regrowth

Branchwraith (80)
- Artefact : Spiritsong Stave
- Deepwood Spell : Throne of Vines

Arch-Revenant (100)

5 x Spite-Revenants (60)
5 x Spite-Revenants (60)
5 x Spite-Revenants (60)

6 x Kurnoth Hunters (400)
- Scythes

3 x Kurnoth Hunters (200)
- Greatswords

Treelord (200)

Lords of the Clan (60)
Outcasts (100)

Gladewyrm (30)
Spiteswarm Hive (50)

That comes to an even 2000 points. Variations to consider include swapping the sword hunters for bow hunters and/or swapping the Arch Rev for a second Branchwraith to tinker with the spell selection - an extra 20 points there allows you you swap the Gladewurm for an Emerald Lifeswarm to really layer on the ridiculous healing. 

It’s not really competitive - not enough bodies to contest objectives - but it feels like a real caster list. You dont put out the same volume of spells as the old Gnarlroot, but it’s a lucky opponent that manages to unbind any of them. 

 

[Trevelyan]

1 hour ago, Aezeal said:

On another note : I find Alarielle not the most viable choice. Btw hee foot print, the relatively low number of wounds. Not always 3 good spells to cast, her maximum potential is not easy to deploy (I know that might be me). 

She’s not an auto include, but I find she still has a lot of value in the right lists. 

Rapid movement before summoning a unit (Dryads or hunters as necessary) allows us to open up a new front in a way that isn’t as easy as it used to be given the changes to Wyldwoods (original placement and summoning restrictions). 

Throne of Vines is always a solid pick if you have your basic healing spells covered elsewhere. Regrowth is a good second choice if you are worried about her own health Or Throne is on a Branchwraith. One of those each  turn plus Metamorphosis and either summoning a Wyldwood (in an opportune spot after a long move the previous turn) or an endless spell gives her plenty of casting value.

On top of all that, she benefits from Glades as well as any other unit. Winterleaf double hits or Gnarlroot rerolls both make her hit harder than before. 

[Landohammer]

3 hours ago, Aezeal said:

I finding that not having an auto 2nd wood is terribly annoying. I've had woods been dispelled or failed to cast my last games and it really hinders my mobility options.  Are more people in this position and have you sacrificed an item to get the acorn or gone TLA?

I used to be a gnarlroot fan last tome since it made real magic trees with the dual casts and verdurous as a bonus. I've not played them yet but their abilities don't seem as fun now.

On another note : I find Alarielle not the most viable choice. Btw hee foot print, the relatively low number of wounds. Not always 3 good spells to cast, her maximum potential is not easy to deploy (I know that might be me). 

Yea agreed with Trevelyan. She may not be the most efficient use of 660pts, but her speed can leave opponent's panicking to deal with her while the rest of your army is left untouched.

My casts with Alarielle are as usually as follows:

Throne of Vines, Metamorphosis, Endless Spell

Mystic Shield and Verdant blessing are good substitutes when you are out of Endless Spells or not in range of Meta. I keep Regrowth on Drycha since her warscroll spell is pretty weak and she always has a target if Alarielle is out of range. (herself)

 

 

[Sputnik]

I just picked up a Sylvaneth Start Collecting box and the battletome to take part in an upcoming Path To Glory at the local gaming shop. This is my first foray into AoS, so lots to learn. For the sake of picking a good champion for my PtG warband (and future-proofing) should I build the treelord as Durthu or Ancient? For my initial followers I'll get a unit of 10 dryads from the box, but I need a second unit, so I'm thinking buy some Kurnoth Hunters? I like the idea of having some shooting but from what I've read scythes are the way go long-term?

Thanks in advance, all advice much appreciated!

[Trevelyan]

The Path to Glory options in the Sylvaneth book are bad. There is no way to get an additional model from the Champion table, so you inevitably miss out on a lot of what makes the faction work in real game. 

If you pick Durthu then there is no way to get a spell caster in your army. That means no summoning additional Wyldwoods, no summoning extra Dryads and no casting any of our excellent other spells. Durthu really needs Wyldwoods to perform at his best, and the whole faction relies on them for assorted movement and other buffs. So a Durthu Champion in a PtG game carries a lot of hidden penalties. 

Taking a TLA gives you a single wizard, plus allows you to auto-summon one Wyldwood. That is a huge benefit for the rest of your army. You still won’t get to summon Dryads (requires a Branchwraith) but you’ll get to see more of the faction and won’t lose out on as many Wyldwood-dependant buffs. 

On that basis, the TLA is probably the better choice of the two. But I would really not recommend PtG as an introduction to Sylvaneth as you’ll lose out either way. TLA or Durthu isn’t a question of which is good, but only which is least bad. 

[Thalassic Monstrosity]

On 10/25/2019 at 11:40 AM, Pennydude said:

 To me, Dreadwood's command trait, Heartwood's command trait, most things in Ironbark are just there and not utilized. 

I really like the idea of Ironbark, can you specify what make their sub-faction abilities of minimal value?

4 hours ago, Trevelyan said:

The Path to Glory options in the Sylvaneth book are bad. There is no way to get an additional model from the Champion table, so you inevitably miss out on a lot of what makes the faction work in real game. 

If you pick Durthu then there is no way to get a spell caster in your army. That means no summoning additional Wyldwoods, no summoning extra Dryads and no casting any of our excellent other spells. Durthu really needs Wyldwoods to perform at his best, and the whole faction relies on them for assorted movement and other buffs. So a Durthu Champion in a PtG game carries a lot of hidden penalties. 

Taking a TLA gives you a single wizard, plus allows you to auto-summon one Wyldwood. That is a huge benefit for the rest of your army. You still won’t get to summon Dryads (requires a Branchwraith) but you’ll get to see more of the faction and won’t lose out on as many Wyldwood-dependant buffs. 

On that basis, the TLA is probably the better choice of the two. But I would really not recommend PtG as an introduction to Sylvaneth as you’ll lose out either way. TLA or Durthu isn’t a question of which is good, but only which is least bad. 

Can you no longer take a Branchwych or Branchwraith as your Champion? I was considering starting up Sylvaneth as a PtG counter to my friend's new Ossiarchs and I was going to try and field as many units as I could.

Edited October 26, 2019 by Thalassic Monstrosity