JP1

I can very much see the logic behind this too, although really puts a dampener on the new Sylvaneth book release if all the tree summoning spells and aretfacts are nerfed from 1" placement to 6" placement before the book is even out!

@XReN Mirage's argument is that the GHB19 states that Faction Terrain put on the board via an Allegiance Ability is subject to the 6"-6"-3" restrictions. However, the Sylvaneth Wyldwoods that are placed during the game are not brought on by Allegiance Ability at all, but instead brought on by Spells and Artefacts, so therefore do not need to observe these restrictions. Ripe for a FAQ.

Completely agree with @Trevelyan that the core rules state that you apply modifiers then decide whether the save was passed or failed, HOWEVER they then dropped this FAQ at the start of AOS 2.0 that clarified that the re-roll part happens 'in between'., i.e before you apply the rend or any bonuses. Not the most intuitive system, and i have to admit I had been playing it wrong for years. At tournaments people will not let you re-roll the extra dice on your hunters if rended, and you shouldn't let them either (this actually applies a lot in Sylvaneth if your Dryads are -1 to hit, and your opponent has re-roll failed hits, for example; Reapers that usually hit on a 4+ go down to 5+ for Dryads, therefore they can only reroll the 1's, 2s and 3's, not the 4's!).

& your forgetting the classic new 'can't really tell what number its supposed to be' Sylvaneth dice!

Yes never underestimate this, running Swords in groups of 6 or 9 isn't hugely viable as they can't fight in two ranks. Running Scythes in groups of 6 or 9 is as they can more frequently all get in range. So while the Swords buff is nice, the ability to run Scythes in bigger groups and therefore then getting a larger benefit from the Arch-Revs command ability (+1 attacks) may keep them slightly ahead if points remain at parity. But honestly, you can't go too far wrong with either. Lets not skirt over the other buffs that the new warscrolls have: Envoys of the Everqueen: Previously only worked through your General, now through every Hero. HUGE if your general dies early in the game, as previously this turned off Hunters ability to use inspiring Presence or Re-roll charges through them, but now they can still use as long as there is a hero alive somewhere. Trample Underfoot: Previously you had to pick one unit and do one MW (on a 4+) per Hunter model in 1' range of the target unit Now you pick one unit and do one MW (on a 4+) per Hunter alive in the unit (providing the unit is in 1"). So if you are running 6x scythe hunters, before you were limited to those 3 or 4 in the front line with the 1" reach, now all 6 will get to roll the dice. as long as any are within 1". Tanglethorn Thicket: Was re-roll failed save rolls, now re-roll save rolls. What this means is before if you were facing something with -2 rend, you were only re-rolling the 1, 2 and 3s (fails before modifiers). Now you are re-rolling 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5s. Massive increase in rerolls. Lets hope this one doesn't get FAQ'd. At 200 points, Swords and Scythes are now even greater options. lets just hope they become battleline!

Laurie, just to expand on this further - if you were to allow an opponent to put a flying unit (say Zombie Dragon) on one of the circles in the trees, would you play that he is 4/5 inches away from the units below when he lands (measuring vertical distance base to base, as he is technically on top of the trees and not on the ground when he lands, as flying only ignores terrain during the movement phase as written, not in combat - meaning he can shoot but not attack as he is outside of 3"). Or would you allow a zombie dragon to charge into the woods, land on a circle, and measure as if he was on the ground? (i.e 0.5 inches away, therefore successfully making the charge and able to attack) This has oddly come up for me in my last two tournaments.

Look, i love the woods as much as the next guy (both in terms of fluff and abilities), but what really gets me is that people just see our army as not fun to play against because of them. When i rock up to a tournament i want the other person to have a great time, not have a disappointed face that a guy with a bag full of plastic trees has showed up to spoil his day (which applies doubly for shooting armies and those with large based non-flying monsters). Ruleswise, woods are fine (maybe tweak dryad buff to wholly within 3" or 6" of the woods), but we're all here to have a good time and play some fun games, and i'm not sure the wyldwood mechanic is delivering that for our opponents right now.

I really like the list and have been considering variants of it (more Evocators mainly) - i'm just not sure how well you can play allies with Sylvaneth at the moment with the current variant of Wyldwoods (fingers crossed it changes if we get a new battletome). I'm generally getting 8-9 bases down first turn (Acron/Verdant Blessing), and with 4/5 spells you'll be setting the woods off quite frequently (plus the issue of running or charging through them, limiting your mobility with c.20% of your army). As such, at the moment it feels like Sylvaneth units just have the edge over any types of allies (bar Phoenix) in a Dryad/Woods based list right now , but i'd be interested in hearing other peoples experience with this?

Really enjoyed tournament report @Cblackaus, would be great to see more of these on this forum. Really gives us newer players some great insights into how some of the Sylvaneth Battalions work in a competitive game. Well done on a great result!

I agree, i cant think of a unit that is both a) fighty and tanky, and b) provides defensive buffs to your dryads. A mix of 3x hunters (for the fighty and tanky part) and Geminids and/or Isharann Tidecaster (for the defensive buff part) might get you near, but definitely isn't a patch on the Phoenix.

My understanding is that even if the pendulum moves 0", it still goes off for D6 to anything with 1"? And your opponent doesn't have the option not to activate it at all? Is that how it works? - if so makes it a great spell to cast in second half of a battleround, then you can take the next first turn safe in the knowledge that is definitely doing a second D6 to your target.

@Twh30 Agreed - although i would love to know what you guys would run in the Winterleaf list if the Phoenix gets a (much needed) points increase in GHB19? LHW, i know you are tied to the Phoenix for deeply narrative reasons, but any ideas what you'd switch to as your order unit, if any?

@AaronWIlson love the new list Aaron, and i completely agree about Drycha in the current meta (although i am currently a bit biased due to getting repeatedly schooled by ethereal hordes). I also like Dwellers spell for the same reason (those 30 grimgasts or 40 skeletons love it). Richie's game from the weekend is definitely worth a watch (on the HonestWargamer twitch/youtube) for all things Harvestboon, as i guess you were busy playing! he was very unlucky not to win after such great play, and i think he would have taken the tournament if he had. Eitherway, feels like a good time to be Sylvaneth and couldnt agree more about getting 80-100 dryads on the table. Sadly i think Hunters time to shine is over, and was amusing to see Durthu taking a repeated hammering this weekend.

@Lanoss for the Gnrallroot list, 8 or 9 spell slots is good, but i think you are going to run out of viable things to cast. I would consider finding a way to get a few more (offensive) endless spells in there; Swords, Geminids and Pendulum spring to mind (although not sure what you can cut if you are attached to swarm and sisters to fit these in, maybe 10 dryads?). Also puts you in a better position if you take the first turn, then get double turned, which often happens to me! More of a general question, iv'e never run Treesong before (prefer ToV on my Wych to boost unbinds and sprites) - i assume this is purely for the rouse effect? or do you foresee wood movement shenanigans as well? just curious.

@Frowny As above, you could also run a similar Gnarlroot list base on what you have so far. I personally like Drycha in Gnarlroot, but you definitely dont need her if you dont want her. 3-4 sets of hunters work just as well, as does beefing out the dryad or wizard contingent. Allarile is a beast and works in any list (even gnarllroot in place of hunters/drycha), i wouldn't worry about waiting for a bigger army to get her if you are a confident painter - you'll need some of the units she summons to get the most benefit out of her though, but a box of dryads or hunters can fix that quite quickly.

Kimbo, I think you could quite easily round out your 2k list from here with just a Start Collecting Box (& run a fairly simple Gnarlroot List). Hear me out: Start collecting will give you a Tree Lord Ancient (300 points), Branch Wych (80) and another set of Dryads (10). Then you’ll need to take the Household (100) and Gnarlroot (130) battalions to round out the list (+710 points in total). Then you’ll have c300 points left to include either another wizard, set of hunters, or some endless spells. There are plenty of good examples of Gnarlroot on this thread, but as a base line you’d have: --- TLA – General with Command Trait and Artefact, casting 2 spells for Gnarlroot Branch Wych – Artefact, casting 2 spells for Gnarlroot Branch Wraith- Artefact, casting 2 spells for Gnarlroot Drycha Dryads x30 Dryads x10 Tree Revs x5 Hunters x3 (or x6 if you get another box, with scythes and bows being just as fun and viable) + a couple of Endless spells (you have COGS already, but I also like Geminids, Pendulum, Shackles and Swords for Gnarlroot - just pick your favourite couple) --- You can round out the list with Hunters/Dryads/BranchWraith as you see fit to use up the remaining points, I’d suggest playing around with war scroll builder, but you can’t really go wrong with the above as the core units in the army and flex the rest depending on your own preference. It’s a relatively completive list, magic heavy with good mortal wound output, and probably the easiest to paint and play there is for Sylvaneth (once you remember all of the tree interactions). Would definitely suggest rocking up with at least 6 wyldwoods for 2k, and investing in deepwood spells and artefacts that get you turn 1 trees on the table that can be roused by all the magic you’ll have going on (i.e Verdant Blessing with casting buffs, & Acron of Ages) Other options would be Winterleaf, Harvestbloom, Dreadwood, but I would argue these are harder to play (needs more in depth deployment and movement) and also require some of the bigger heros such as Allarialle and Durthu to be viable.