WaaaghPaca 2013 Army List

WaaaghPaca! 2013 is upon us all. My army list for this 2000 point tournament is a different Wood Elf list from the type of fast moving, all cavalry army I usually play. This list is more of a high shooting, but still mobile, MSU (multiple small units) style build. The army relies on a solid combination of defensive magic, massed shooting, redirection, and decent small combat blocks to mop up small enemy units. Here is the list I am taking to the tournament:

CHARACTERS: (499 points in Lords, 130 points in Heroes)
Highborn (219 points)

• General, The Bow of Loren, Charmed Shield, Arcane Bodkins, Great Weapon, Light Armor (this is a similar Highborn build to that which I normally play, but within the 500 point Lord restrictions for this tournament. Although he will only have 4 shooting attacks with no armor saves instead of 5, he can go into a unit and thereby reduce his chance of being hit with a cannon ball or being targeted by magical attacks significantly)

Spellweaver (280 points)

• Level 4, Lore of Beasts, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon (I am sticking with the Lore of Beasts as I find it a better combination of both offensive magical attacks and defensive tricks than the Lore of Light, especially in an MSU style list with no Treekin or Treeman. I can use Flock of Doom against high toughness, low armor save monsters; Amber Spear is always useful against high armor targets like knights, demigryphs, steam tanks, etc; Curse of Anraheir prevents large troop formations from making it into combat with my units without suffering significant casualties; Savage Beast of Horrors still makes the Highborn a fierce opponent; and Wyssan's Wildform is always useful - especially on Dryads. I also took a Dispel Scroll as I find stopping one spell at a key time is much more important than having an overall bonus to cast or dispel. Finally, the Ironcurse Icon is a great 5 point item and should save a Glade Guard or two from any war machines in my opponent's army)

Noble (130 points)

• Battle Standard Bearer, Asyendi's Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow (It's odd to play with a BSB that doesn't have the Banner of Eternal Flame, but I found in my few practice games that I really needed the Hail of Doom arrow more than I needed flaming attacks. As he is the only way to include this item in the list, while still limiting my Hero choices to one, I had to build him in this manner. I really hope that he pays for himself each game.)

CORE: (1270 points in Core)
Glade Guard (220 points) (16 models, standard bearer and musician, Banner of Eternal Flame)
Glade Guard (138 points) (10 models, standard bearer and musician)
Glade Guard (138 points) (10 models, standard bearer and musician)
Glade Guard (126 points) (10 models, musician)
Glade Guard (126 points) (10 models, musician)
Dryads (96 points) (8 models)
Dryads (96 points) (8 models)
Dryads (96 points) (8 models)
Dryads (96 points) (8 models)

This is an area where the army really shines. Instead of taking only the bare minimum of 500 points in core, I spent nearly all of my remaining available points here. I really focused on the MSU style in building this list. As such, only one unit is above minimum size and that is the Glade Guard unit with the Banner of Eternal Flame (and even this unit is not that expensive in comparison to other units). The thoughts behind this build is that each Glade Guard unit is constantly moving so that I can close within the short range gap as quickly as possible and increase the number of Strength 4 shooting attacks I am putting out. Then the units flee away from danger disrupting my opponent's battle lines and allowing even more of my units to get without close range (and hopefully out of line of sight). I also have 3 additional banners for all of the fortitude based scenarios that are at WaaaghPaca! this year.

The Dryads are there to operate as decent close combat units that can either mop up damaged units, kill enemy wizards or characters in units, put additional wounds onto horde units, or act as roadblocks to hold or disrupt the enemy lines. At only 96 points a unit I can trade these units with almost all other chaff units and come out ahead on victory points.

RARE: (100 points in Rare)
Eagle (50 points)
Eagle (50 points)

I have espoused the benefits of Eagles before, and this tournament I am including two of them in my list. They will act as re-directors, 50 point roadblocks, and war machine hunters. I rarely play a game where the eagles don't pay for themselves in some manner and I expect them to perform as admirably this weekend (or I hope they do).

TOTAL: 1999 points broken down as follows: 24.9% Lords, 6.5% Heroes, 63.5% Core (Yeah! That should help with my comp scores big time), and 5% Rare.

Wish me luck, and let's see how the army does.