Comeptitive 1500 Sylvaneth Army

[DantePQ]

So there is a big tournament coming and I start building Sylvaneth 1500 army (with 2000 pts restrictions so 3 battlelines) What would you recommend ? There is really simple system (5 points for major victory, 3 for minor, 1 for a draw) and we will play all 5 GH scenarios. So this force has to be build with scenarios in mind.

There is first version of my army :

Gnarloot Wargrove + Household

Treelord Ancient - General, Gnarled Warrior,Oaken Armour,Regrowth

Drycha  

Branchwych - Acorn of Ages, Dweller's Below 

Battleline

2x5 Tree Revenants 

10 Dryads 

 

2x3 Kurnoth Hunters with bows 

There are 3 characters for three places of power, some units for other scenarios, a lot of spells, a lot of woods which make fighting for objectives so much easier. 

I guess units are on the low count which I see as a problem but I don't know how to fix it, should I drop Drycha for more dryads/tree revenants and 3rd unit of kurnoth hunter. Or drop Gnarloot for even more troops. I have a problem with that because Sylvaneth troops aren't that great (unless you run even more Kurnoth Hunters but it's hard to fit in more then 9 in 1500 army with 3 battlelines restrictions)

[Shorewood]

I feel your pain as I too play sylvaneth and I am afraid that if you intend to run both Drycha and Gnarlroot at 1500pts with 2k restictions you will suffer from very low model count.  If you really want more bodies I'd drop a squad of hunters and pick up 10 more dryads, sylvaneth's battline is funky with its points dryads who are best in groups of 20+ so min 240 pts and tree revenants which are a specialist unit that cannot hold the front line so you really don't want too many of them at 100pts.  its hard to juggle.  

[DantePQ]

I don't have to run Drycha, but I find her very useful, it comes down to one thing :

- is she better in scenario based tournament then 10 extra dryads and 3 extra kurnoth hunters ? 

In some cases yes in some not I guess. 

But what other options do I have with Sylvaneth considering that tournament rules ? Gnarlroot with 2 branchwyches and extra bodies ?. Get rid of Gnarlroot and go with maybe Durthu, Ancient and 6 Kurnoths with Scythes ? Like 

Battalion : Household 

Spirit of Durthu - Oaken Armour 

Treeman Ancient - General, Gnarled Warrior, Briarseath, Regrowth 

Branchwych - Verdant Blessing 

2x5 Tree Revenants 

10 Dryads 

6 Kurntoh Hunters with scythes 

but I'm not sure it's much better then my first idea, I have 2 huge tough to kill leaders, hunter with scythes as well and decent spellpower with 2 wizards 

 

[Aezeal]

Has anyone tried playing mass dryads? like... 3 x 20 or 2x 20 and a unit of reavers? In a battalion that supports them?

 

[Shorewood]

1 minute ago, Aezeal said:

Has anyone tried playing mass dryads? like... 3 x 20 or 2x 20 and a unit of reavers? In a battalion that supports them?

 

Reavers?

[DantePQ]

I don't think that dryads are that good , without rend and 1 damage, they're cool with in one big block as they are tough to kill. 

[Shorewood]

3 minutes ago, DantePQ said:

I don't think that dryads are that good , without rend and 1 damage, they're cool with in one big block as they are tough to kill. 

if you have them near wyldwoods for that -1 to hit adds up real fast and with a +1 armor from cover and if you really need to tarpit a mystic shield.  so 2+ armor with a -1 to hit is awfully hard to kill, and I think its that possibility which is why they cost a bunch.  They do get 2 attacks so their do some damage, not a lot but some.   

[Shorewood]

29 minutes ago, Aezeal said:

Has anyone tried playing mass dryads? like... 3 x 20 or 2x 20 and a unit of reavers? In a battalion that supports them?

 

I have not tried fielding more than a single unit of 20 dryads mostly because to bring another blob usually means that we can't bring the big monsters that are the centerpiece of our armies.  

[DantePQ]

Yeah I know Dryads good be fantastic, but you can't really run 3x20 dryads as they won't give you enough damage and flexibility. One 20 Dryads unit is well enough, Sylvaneth suffer from few battlelines as you really need one 20 dryads unit to have comfort of taking some objectives and one unit of 5-10 Revenants to harrass some war machines etc but I find 10 Tree Revenants more optimal. 

[Shorewood]

15 minutes ago, DantePQ said:

Yeah I know Dryads good be fantastic, but you can't really run 3x20 dryads as they won't give you enough damage and flexibility. One 20 Dryads unit is well enough, Sylvaneth suffer from few battlelines as you really need one 20 dryads unit to have comfort of taking some objectives and one unit of 5-10 Revenants to harrass some war machines etc but I find 10 Tree Revenants more optimal. 

You prefer one 10 man squad of Tree Revenants over 2x5 man squads?

[DantePQ]

Sure, I usually run 2x5 because of Battline requirement but 10 are much better :

- they can put out some rend damage 

- easier to control objectives

- opponent must make more adjustments against them

[Aezeal]

IF you take 10 total I'd certainly take 2x5. If you want to charge a warmachine you have 2 chances to make the charge. 2x champions better attacks. And basicly all thing you mention are still valid...

[DantePQ]

Maybe but 10 of them are much bigger threat so your opponent has to make more adjustments. Then 5 of them is sometimes not enough to take out warmachines (dwarven ones for example)

But should I go with the list I created without that much troops or drop something ? 

[Shorewood]

2 hours ago, DantePQ said:

Maybe but 10 of them are much bigger threat so your opponent has to make more adjustments. Then 5 of them is sometimes not enough to take out warmachines (dwarven ones for example)

But should I go with the list I created without that much troops or drop something ? 

I mean, why not just take two groups of five instead and just keep them together as if they were one unit.  Less worries about battleshock, heavy shooting can't spill over, you get two chances to make the 9 inch yolo charge, you can teleport one squad away from a combat while the other stays and keeps them pinned.  Gives you double the re-roll dice per phase, can charge two different units at different spots on the board.  Having 2 squads seems to open up a lot more tactical flexibility. 

[Aezeal]

I agree (I actually thought I'd already replied something similar here)

 

[Kindling]

On ‎28‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 7:14 PM, Aezeal said:

IF you take 10 total I'd certainly take 2x5. If you want to charge a warmachine you have 2 chances to make the charge. 2x champions better attacks. And basicly all thing you mention are still valid...

I had a squad of 5 TRs take on a squad of 5 SC of Liberators, the squad was melted except for the Champion. Through some damn lucky dice rolls (unlucky for my opponent). The Champion worked his way through the Liberators, then moved onto a squad of Judicators killing 2 of them before falling, to some stupid falling mortal wounding bearded falling star thing.

[Aezeal]

On 27-2-2017 at 11:26 PM, DantePQ said:

Yeah I know Dryads good be fantastic, but you can't really run 3x20 dryads as they won't give you enough damage and flexibility. One 20 Dryads unit is well enough, Sylvaneth suffer from few battlelines as you really need one 20 dryads unit to have comfort of taking some objectives and one unit of 5-10 Revenants to harrass some war machines etc but I find 10 Tree Revenants more optimal. 

 

Is the damage output from 20 dryads (40 attacks) that much lower than say 4 hunters against 4+ saves?

[DantePQ]

Maybe not but why take 3 units of 20 Dryads ? Unless you're using Winterleaf Wargrove it's much better to have 1 max 2 units of 20 Dryads and add more Hunters then just spam Dryads,as Hunter's are more flexible.

I can see some uses as 3x20 Dryads are good and provide a lot of attacks and defense but they cost 720 points and you usually need some Tree-Revenats I think one unit is very useful. So I would still take 2x20 Dryads and Tree-Revenants for my battleline.  

[Shorewood]

On 3/1/2017 at 3:50 PM, Aezeal said:

 

Is the damage output from 20 dryads (40 attacks) that much lower than say 4 hunters against 4+ saves?

Not really except that you rarely ever get to have all 20 dryads in combat at the same time and the fact that hunters are 60 pts cheaper than 20 dryads helps as well.

[DantePQ]

Ok so I wanted to try if Dreadwood could be played in 1500 points, what's your opinion about this army :

Dreadwood Battalion/Outcasts

Drycha(Regrowth) - General 

3x5 T-Revs 

4x5 Spite-Revs

6 Kurnoth Hunters with Scythes 

 

 

[Aezeal]

That is a lot of points in units that have a high cost per wound and no great saves.  I mean any army with mortal wounds or shooting will just finish them. And really.. most stuff will  kill them in melee too even if they deal decent damage. Spite revenants should REALLY be battleline or Dreadwood isn't really interesting in 1500 points.

[DantePQ]

Maybe they should but that would leave Kurnoth Hunters and Treelord as only non "Battleline" Sylvaneth unit. I just think that there is a general problem with Sylvnaneth that whole army but Hunters is slightly overcosted. I think that T-Revs and Spite-Revs should be 80 pts. Also in my opinion - Spirit of Durthu, Alarielle,Branchwraith,Treelord ann Drycha are slightly overcosted ( shoudl be 360,550,80,240 and 250). 

But I have a bad feeling that with GH2 only Hunters point cost will be tweaked. 

[Aezeal]

I not sure dryads are overcosted. And I'm not sure all those characters are overcosted. Treelord maybe slightly but mainly because their alternatives can get items which significantly improve them. I'm pretty  sure Drycha isn't overcosted,her shooting and melee combined is really strong, yes she is a bit more fragile than treemen..but can't have it all and you just have to be carefull. But her  damage output is so much in the right situations that she's worth the points. I've been playing 1500 points mainly so I've not had any play with Durthu, but I agree 400 pnts might be a bit much since he's not a caster(no self regrowth) and there is so much MW output around so getting him on stage 2 before he hits combat isn't that hard. The one game I played Allariele she wrecked my opponent with her shooting + spell + melee... (2 dragons in 1.5 turn) and then healed the 5 wounds she'd recieved.

I think GH2 might give hunters +20 points and must lower spite revenant points at least if they don't become battleline.

[DantePQ]

Yeah I guess you're right that's why I made other list 

1500

Battalion - Gnarlroot + Household 

Treelord Ancient(General) + Moonstone of Hidden Ways + Gnarled Warrior + Regrowth 

Drycha + The Reaping 

Branchwych + Verdant Blessing + Ranu's Lamentiri 

Batteline :

2x10 Dryads

5 Tree-Revs

6 Kurnoth Hunters with scythes. 

Idea is to build all around force with all scenarios in mind. Treelord with Moonstone is pretty cool as you can drop him whenever you want, Drycha gives me mobility and ability to harrass big units. 

Dryads in 10 aren't that great but are good enough at holding objectives. 

Hunters are great in that configuration with Dreadwood Spell, TLA command ability and regrowth.