Lets Chat Wanderers / Wood Elves compendium

[awcamawn]

Black Library just released a follow-up story to Guy Haley's audiodrama "The Autumn Prince." In "The Sands of Grief" we again follow Prince Maesa as he continues his quest beyond Shadespire, and based on the arc of the Prince's story so far it appears his is to be an ongoing tale that will not be so quickly resolved. That's right y'all, we went from having zero mentions anywhere in the lore 4 months ago (besides a passing mention in the Sylvaneth section of the GA:Order book, and obviously the Wanderers' own small section in that book) to having our very own Black Library recurring character! 

To me this is super encouraging; even if we never get a single new model or rule at least we have confirmation that Wanderers do very much exist within the mortal realms. It's great for the Wanderers, and for the setting as a whole as the writers behind the Mortal Realms really start to get the chance to flesh things out a bit across the spectrum of the Grand Alliances. Don't get me wrong though, a Nomad Prince/Princess on 'Great Stag' model using all the latest modern casting techniques and inspired by Prince Maesa and his Great Stag Aelphis as seen in this latest story would be amazing! Oh, some plastic wardancers while you're at it.

"The Autumn Prince" tied very obviously into the release of Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire and "The Sands of Grief" similarly has clear ties to Malign Portents; I would love to see Haley continue Maesa's story alongside other such major releases and happenings in the Mortal Realms - perhaps tying into any potential new Warhammer Quest setting or wherever Warhammer Underworlds is headed after Shadespire. It was very cool to see his unique wanderer-aelf perspective on the realms, and given that his quest may take him to the far corners of the realms it doesn't seem too far-fetched that he could end up in all sorts of strange places. 

There's been speculation about WU: Shadespire containing only the first 8 warbands and then potentially moving to a new setting for the game, which is cool because narratively I don't think Shadespire fits the Wanderers too well as a setting. They're too smart to get trapped there, and they already live extensive lives without necromancy and are classically somewhat unmotivated by the 'riches/power/glory' themes that draw the likes of Fyreslayers, Skaven, and Orruks there. And besides, Prince Maesa's first story ends with him still within Shadespire and the next begins with him far away, so if any Wanderers ended up trapped in Shadespire they probably just escaped by teleporting out along their Hidden Paths like Maesa apparently did.

Anyway, I recommend checking out "The Sands of Grief" and show GW we want Wanderer stuff! It's a great little read, I enjoyed "The Autumn Prince" but I think Guy Haley has outdone himself on this one as he really starts to hit his stride with our duo of characters. https://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/sands-of-grief-ebook.html

[Cambot1231]

As far as Wanderer Allies go what do you guys think is better between these power couples?

Heralder + Fulminators

Positives:    Allows for a double charge.   Great damage output with strong saves built in.

Cons:  Knights can outrun Heralder missing out on the double damage ability

 

Frostheart Phoenix with Anointed + Loremaster

Positives: Frostheart synergizes and grants protection benefits to nearby wanderers.  Great damage output  with loremaster, speed and survivability provided spells are being flung around nearby.  Witness of Destiny

Cons: Will probably outrun some of the synergies but sort of his job to fly ahead anyway

[The Wanderer]

So I've been thinking about approaches to list building and maybe trying something a bit more unconventional.

Allegiance: Wanderers

Leaders
Nomad Prince (80)
- General
- Trait: Stalker of the Hidden Paths 
Waywatcher (80)
- Artefact: Starcaster Longbow 
Waywatcher (80

Battleline
30 x Eternal Guard (210)
- Wanderers Battleline
30 x Eternal Guard (210)
- Wanderers Battleline

Units
5 x Wild Riders (140)
5 x Wild Riders (140)

Total: 980 / 1000
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 95

 

My thinking it the Eternal Guard form a battle line with the Prince Between them buffing both. The Wanderers can use our allegiance ability to move around sniping key targets and the Wild Riders can work together using the allegiance ability to get behind enemy lines and take objectives or kill off small units.

[awcamawn]

39 minutes ago, The Wanderer said:

Waywatcher (80)

Waywatchers are 100 points unfortunately. Looks like a fun list but if your opponent has some mortal wounds for your waywatchers you could end up pretty toothless.

[The Wanderer]

Yep you are correct they are 100, that's a type but the overall total (980) is correct!

Yep, banking on good use of cover and a bit of luck. I think the trick is getting the Eternal Guard into a position where the opponent has to come on to them first, they being selective with Waywatcher deployment.

[Frozenbeast]

I am not sure if the Wild riders are worth both the points and the wound count considering they are not impactful on barely anything (I charged in on 10 skellies once with 5 WR and they got deleted in 2 turns). I think you can either try and put them together in one unit (at least they hold the line a bit better, all in all they are 20 W all together) or swap them for 5 SotT to provide the EG with some more protection. This last choice will leave another 60 p.ts (+20 leftover) to add maybe a Spellweaver to bring the EG armor to 4+ base (plus the bonus from their ability will be 3+ and the spell from the SotT will make them dash MW back on 4+). If my math is correct I think the combination is a lot more powerful, don't you think?

But it looks definitely a fun but cheeky list to play (your WW will be free to rain down hell on characters and small units and I love that). Give it a try and let us know how it ends up.

[BillyOcean]

@The Wanderer: Overall, I think thats a solid way to build a list, and some of my lists have had a similar focus. I think that 30 EG for 210 is hands down the best bargain that Wanderers have available to them - so why not exploit it by doubling (or even tripling in a 2k list) down? 

I honestly don't know how useful the Nomad Prince is in a list like this? Primarily I see them used to make a big Glade Guard shooting alpha strike a little more reliable. Given that your list is designed to grind out an attrition battle on objectives, I don't know how important rerolling 1s is? I'd say its more important to squeeze some magical support into the list, and SoT are the obvious candidate given how potent their spell will be on your big defensive blocks. So I would trade the Prince and one unit of Wild Riders for 5 sisters.

[Gwill_of_the_Woods]

@The Wanderer: Nice list. Personally I love Wild riders.

@Cambot1231: I've not used any SCE, but I have had great experiences with my Frost Heart phoenix. I should say my Wanderers themed Resplendent Quetzal Phoenix.

 

[awcamawn]

Very cool @Gwill_of_the_Woods! Awesome use of Wild Riders bits for your rider here, and I love seeing the phoenix in such colors - it really comes together and looks like an actually Wanderer kit as opposed to an ally/conversion. The basing itself is also absolutely fantastic, the running water looks very realistic and the tree bits do a great job distracting from that clear plastic flying stand, which imho can often be an eyesore (but not here!).

[Aelfric]

Idoneth Deepkin can take Wanderers as allies.  I'm hoping that the reverse is true - Aspect of the Storm is 400 points, or some Eel riders or a giant Turtle!

[Gwill_of_the_Woods]

20 hours ago, awcamawn said:

Very cool @Gwill_of_the_Woods! Awesome use of Wild Riders bits for your rider here, and I love seeing the phoenix in such colors - it really comes together and looks like an actually Wanderer kit as opposed to an ally/conversion. The basing itself is also absolutely fantastic, the running water looks very realistic and the tree bits do a great job distracting from that clear plastic flying stand, which imho can often be an eyesore (but not here!).

Thank you very much for your kind feedback.

Yeah the flight stands can be a bit off putting sometimes. I'll have to get creative with the Leviadon.

I am super stoked about the Deepkin alliance with Wanderers. It means I can start a path to glory list and take my time buying/painting models and use Wandrers to supplement! 

Plus, I think Eternal Guard will make very excellent allies!

[Ulfast]

So if someone is wanted to start a wanderers army for AoS (hint; me), what would you recommend as a basic 1000p army to collect and to learn this army but still can fight too? 

[Frozenbeast]

Hey @Ulfast glad to hear we have a new recruit in between our travelling ranks. I'd say Wanderers are not very difficult to learn. At least the baseline and the rules, the difficult bit lays in knowing how to position on the battlefield; they may be one of, if not THE last army to have a very high tactical component like we were used in WH 8th ed. Although they abuse one of the aspects of this game (alfa strike) they still relay massively on one aspect from a previous edition which is, indeed, movement and positioning. A very simple list to learn these aspect could be:

 

Nomad Prince 100

 - general, Stalker of the hidden Paths, Viridescent Shawl (also other artifacts are valid)

Spellweaver  80

 

20xGlade Guard  240

20xGlade Guard  240

20xWildwood Rangers  360

 

1000/1000

 

The idea is to teleport one GG unit at a time in range of something that can be deleted with the -3 rend, shielded by the WWR (on which you want to cast the Mystic Shield on from the Spellweaver to give them a bit more survivability) which are a very solid unit to have in CC considering their stats (2" 2A/3+/3+/-1/1).

Again this is a very basic list I think but you might want to consider listing the Eternal Guard too to have some point left for something else (like a Waywatcher or two seeing they can dash out a massive mount of dmg). Then, as always is a personal choice; you might also wanna do, like most people here, play a themed army (still Wanderers but with underperforming units just because you modified them and they look awesome and of course you wanna play them, or play a Wanderers themed mixed Order army including Phoenixes, Hurricanum, Dragons (of any kind), Executioners, SCE, you name it.... .

And as always let us know your thought of the army once you have tried it and how the game went. We are always very excited to have new Wanderers enthusiasts joining our ranks.

 

Cheers

[Ulfast]

Thanks, that look like  aintersting first 1000p  In future and going up more points I´m leaning to use perhaps some dragon or something as I´m a sucker for them  Any more good advice for me to know?

[The Wanderer]

@Ulfast Waywatchers are your friend, I always try to have at least 2 in my lists. They can take out or cripple most problem enemy units and make excellent lone operators.

The model available from GW is cool but you could easily pick up a blister of the old models on Ebay and that would give you three different models (all really cool) for less than you would but 3 models from GW.

[GM_Monkey]

@Ulfast I actually was running with this for 1000 points. It's probably not as competitive as the previous one but it helps to give you a good feel for how most the of units run. It also means that you're building and painting lots of different models.

Allegiance: Wanderers
Nomad Prince (80)
- General
- Trait: Stalker of the Hidden Paths 
Spellweaver (80)
- Heartwood Staff
Waywatcher (100)
- Artefact: Starcaster Longbow 
10 x Eternal Guard (80)
20 x Glade Guard (240)
5 x Wild Riders (140)
10 x Sisters of the Watch (220)
1 x Great Eagles (60)
- Allies

Total: 1000 / 1000
Allies: 60 / 200
Wounds: 69
 

You can swap out the Great Eagle for an additional 10 Eternal Guards if you want.

[Ulfast]

@The Wanderer Thanks for your help too. Everything is welcome

 

Btw Do anyone know where I can find some info about the background for Wanderers? I know they are not really Wood elves any longer but what new fluff do we know about and where can I find it?

 

 

 

 

[The Wanderer]

@Ulfast no problem, hope you enjoy the army.

There isn't a great deal of background info available unfortunately, there are some things from BL though, check out this post: 

 

[MattT]

Hi everyone. Old school Wood Elf players here becoming interested in AoS after having a hiatus from Fantasy.  Looking at Wanderers I really like the Hit and Run vibe

Some things are confusing though; about the 'old' units from Wood Elves. From a Matched Play Tournament perspective are they legal?

Another thing is about the Battallion. On paper it looks quite good to have the Prince ordering  everyone to shoot an extra volley at a chosen target per turn. Is that a feasible strategy?  I´m thinking 2x20 GG + 2x Waywatchers.  On that note, WWs standing still in the Princes Command  bubble seems to be hitting at 2+, rerolling ones and getting an extra shot per 5+ rolled. Is that correct?

[Hoseman]

Help make a Dragon focused army

Hi all, I'm a fan of Wood Elfs as it was mi first army when I started de hobby 20 years ago when I was 14.  When I met AoS free rules I used them and then started to collect some armys. Now I own more than 2k on stormcast, battleforce kharadron, 1'4k undead vampire nighthaunt and Alarielle, start collecting sylvaneth and tree-revenants. And as I love elfs I ordered Idoneth Eidolon, Volturnos, Soulscryer and both units of namarti.

So the thing is that I enjoy most playing with my Wood Elves/Wanderers with Sylvaneth. The things I have of Wood Elves are: Some old heroes as Wayfinder, Waywatcher, Nomad Prince, Spellweaver, 20 glade guard, Glade riders, Avatar of the Hunt (Orion) and Glade Lord on Forestal Dragon. Yesterday I started to think on an army focused on Dragons and I was thinking of using my dragon and I'm going to buy the Dark Elf dreadlord on black dragon to make as the carmine dragon that not counts as hero or use as other glade lord on forest dragon, btw Im going to make the guy red armor to fit as a Vampire on Dragon to use it with my Vampires army too... That model is cheap and I see it very beautiful.

 Then I thought that why not 3 dragons, and then I thought on sisters of twilight on forestal dragon... I love the model but forestal dragon is very dificult to find so I have to make some proxy with that. And after all this explanation my question is: what do you guys think? Do you know what dragon could I use to make the sisters?? I dont care if it's from other brand, tho I need two women elfs with bows to put them there and the Dragon has to be in a possition to fit them up.

 So if anyone is thinking it will not be a good deal goind a dragon army I can make only one more with de Dark elf dreadlord.

 Thanks!

[The Wanderer]

34 minutes ago, MattT said:

Hi everyone. Old school Wood Elf players here becoming interested in AoS after having a hiatus from Fantasy.  Looking at Wanderers I really like the Hit and Run vibe

Some things are confusing though; about the 'old' units from Wood Elves. From a Matched Play Tournament perspective are they legal?

Another thing is about the Battallion. On paper it looks quite good to have the Prince ordering  everyone to shoot an extra volley at a chosen target per turn. Is that a feasible strategy?  I´m thinking 2x20 GG + 2x Waywatchers.  On that note, WWs standing still in the Princes Command  bubble seems to be hitting at 2+, rerolling ones and getting an extra shot per 5+ rolled. Is that correct?

Hi @MattT welcome to the forum.

The old Wood Elf units can be used for match play but have to be taken as allies if you want to use the Wanderers allegiance. I'm not much of a tournament player but I don't think compendium stuff is usually allowed (happy to be corrected on this)

The battalion is cool but it's hard to fit it into an effective army at £2k and it does restrict your options trying to build your army around it.

2x20 GG is a good starting basis, remember at 20+ models GG get a +1 to hit bonus so at 20 models per unit you will lose that with 1 wound. Personally I would prefer a block of 30 and some Eternal Guard but lots of people do 2x20 GG as their starting force.

On Waywatchers yes, yes and yes if you use Fast Shots. Remember in matched play the Rules of One mean you only get extra shots for the six or higher rolls on the first 6 shots with Fast Shots, not 6 or higher rolls on the extra shots.

[MattT]

27 minutes ago, The Wanderer said:

Hi @MattT welcome to the forum.

The old Wood Elf units can be used for match play but have to be taken as allies if you want to use the Wanderers allegiance. I'm not much of a tournament player but I don't think compendium stuff is usually allowed (happy to be corrected on this)

The battalion is cool but it's hard to fit it into an effective army at £2k and it does restrict your options trying to build your army around it.

2x20 GG is a good starting basis, remember at 20+ models GG get a +1 to hit bonus so at 20 models per unit you will lose that with 1 wound. Personally I would prefer a block of 30 and some Eternal Guard but lots of people do 2x20 GG as their starting force.

On Waywatchers yes, yes and yes if you use Fast Shots. Remember in matched play the Rules of One mean you only get extra shots for the six or higher rolls on the first 6 shots with Fast Shots, not 6 or higher rolls on the extra shots.

Thank you for the welcome and reply @The Wanderer

I´m all at theory level, so will take your advice to heart. Concerning the size of GG I guess there´s a strain between footprint and operating efficiency.  I´ll have to test and find my sweetspot, but there´s a vision forming of the GG acting as bait while the WWs whittle the enemy down and  EGs anchoring the centre to protect the Prince and caster(s). 

Then there´s the rest of the army! E.g. Thornsisters and healing casters seem neat.  There´s much to consider

[The Wanderer]

@MattT not at all, we need more people playing the faction!

GG can be really good as an alpha strike block just moving them close to a target using the allegiance ability or Stalker of the Hidden Paths.  It's weird coming over from Fantasy because 10 man GG blocks aren't the staple they used to be.

Eternal Guard are great for their cost and make good objective holders.

Overall the army plays to a much higher model count than it did in 8th.

[Darksider]

In my club is a small tournament at the weekend and i thought it was a good idea to try it with my old woodelves =).

The tournament is 1000 points and i am limited to some very specific units, as i never had a very big army (3000 points in 6th edition whfb).

Here is what i have

25 Waywatchers (they aren't battleline anymore or are they?)

16 Wardancers

15 Hunting Hounds (if i use my Fenrisian Wolves as proxy)

Great Eagle

10 Glade Riders

Glade Lord on Great Stag

Glade Captain Battle Standard

20 Eternal Guard (metal without shields)

Nomad Prince (the old female Model with stag horns and spear)

3  Spellweavers

Wayfinder

2 Waywatcher Lords

6 Wildriders

10 gladeguards

and some sylvaneth ( 2 old metal treelords on the old 50x50mm base and about 20 Dryads)

 

as i see it, i can't make a really good list with wanderer allegiance. Maybe i go mixed order with a lot of waywatchers and the 2 waywatcher lords, a spellweaver, maybe a treeman 2x10 dryads as battleline and some wardancers.

Allegiance: Order

Leaders
Waywatcher (100)
Waywatcher (100)
Spellweaver (80)
- Blows of Mystic Power

Battleline
10 x Dryads (100)
10 x Dryads (100)

Units
10 x Wardancers (120)
5 x Waywatchers (80)
5 x Waywatchers (80)

Behemoths
Treelord (240)

Total: 1000 / 1000
Allies: 0 / 200
Wounds: 67

 

I also could kick the treelord and get some more waywatchers? I also have no idea which trait for my general i should take or what artefact i should use. Some help would be really nice =).

 

[adreal]

Hey guys, so I recently decided that I am going to get into age of sigmar, and have decided after much uming and areing to go with wanderers.

So right now I have a small force but am building upto a 2k force, pretty much doing a waystrider pathfinder battalion