NoVA List - First Play Through

I may have nailed down my NoVA Open list. It's got a good balance of torrent-o'-fire and gets that punch delivered effectively. Testing now is absolutely required after my first game with it. The best part: I almost have it all painted! Last night I put some finishing touches on the weather for my Stormraven and began weathering the rhino based transports.

Without further delay, here's the breakdown:

HQ's!
Grand Master Mordrak - 200
Ghost Knights w/Halberds x 4 - 160

Librarian w/one power (Might of Titan) - 155

Troops!
Strike Squad x 5 - 100
-Psycannon - 10
-Halberd - 5
-Psyback - 50
165

Strike Squad x 5 - 100
-Psycannon - 10
-Psyback - 50
160

Strike Squad x 10 - 200
-Psycannon x 2 - 20
-Halberd - 5
-Rhino - 40
270

Elites!
Vindicare Assassin - 145

Fast!
Stormraven w/assault cannon and multimelta - 205

Interceptors x 5 - 130
-Hammer x 1 - 10
140

Heavy!
Psyfleman Dread - 135
Psyfleman Dread - 135
Purgation Dread (twin-linked Heavy Flamer//Heavy Flamer, Psyflame ammo) - 130

Comes in at exactly 2000 points. It took a long time to consider what I was going to run in my HQ slots, because that will dictate the rest of the army build. The Grey Knight HQ's have a lot of great abilities but sinking too many points into them will result you getting stomped flat fast. The Librarian offers fantastic defensive ability and aguments your troops into absolute monsters. Originally, I wanted to run a regular Grand Master but the build I had was almost the same amount of points as Mordrak. Mordrak gets +1 WS, MC Hammer, an extra attack, and an extra wound. The Ghost Knights already have Stealth, so attaching a Librarian with Shrouding is pointless unless you feel like you'll have your units really close together throughout the game. And the Ghost Knights can be adjusted down below 5 man starting squad. With Mordrak taking wounds, he can potentailly bring them back.

The Grand Master's abilities with Grand Strategy fit my play style a lot closer than just the Librarian. The Librarian is included there to really provide a hood and the Might of Titan. Sancturary would have been nice, but with the squad kitted out with Halberds I'll be hitting first at STR 6/I 6, following it up with 4 STR 10 hits. I tried to figure out just how many wounds this unit could effectively take before its lost. If going at best luck (taking one wound at a time, and judging that I could roll a D3 to pull in more Knights) it could potentially take 13 failed saves before being wiped out. 13 wounds on a 6 man squad that could evolve itself into a 9 man squad if your dice like you. To me, it covers the best of defensive and tactical decisions to get you a leg up early and often.

Troops are the basic Strike Squads. Yeah they die like Space Marines, but as my opponent said, you still gotta be able to kill them. Two 5-man and one 10-man feels pretty good. My last list had regular terminators, but the Ghost Knights are filling in for them well. Ghost Knights can't capture but they can tear through enemy troop choices well enough.

My Psyflemen Dreads are sitting pretty again as just really annoying firebases along with the assassin. The Dreads are able to fire every turn and draw fire away from other targets like the Stormraven. Stormraven is stock to save points and carries the HQ's and the Ghost Knights up the gut. Plus it has the Purgation Dread underneath it. The Purgation Dread is quickly becoming my favorite Dread. The Raven can clear that distance it needs to cover in order to be effective and then start wrecking face. Against a horde army like Orcs, its the MVP easy after torching more than 12 orcs in one shooting phase.

The Interceptors are the one element that still gives me a little pause. When they work, they work great. But they also seem to be the first thing to die. Even with a Stormraven in the face of the enemy, Interceptors seem to be a better soft target. That's 140 points that I could invest differently. They may get swapped out later for something else.

My opponent over the weekend was my roommate playing a double Big Mek list with a couple of Dreads, Battlewagons, a lootas unit, a few 20 boy units in transports, and a huge Nob squad. I got him down to pretty much half the Nob squad, one Loota, and a Big Mek with the Nobz left.

Lessons Learned:
Might of Tian is no joke. Getting the boosted damage die lets you grind through walkers. The only thing that was troubling the Ghost Knights was a huge Boy squad that was a thick slog through. I did manage to pull an extra Ghost through during that combat, which made a big difference in the next round of combat.

Nobz are also no joke. I tried assaulting the Nob squad. There's the mistake right there. I activated the force weapons to try to double them out quickly, but I failed the leadership test. We calculated out that his squad got five kill points: the Interceptors, a 5-man squad, a Psyback, a Psyflemen Dread, and the Assassin.

The biggest factor for me was getting Scout on the Stormraven. Getting into the enemy lines by the first turn can screw up whatever plans he had. I went second which was actually better because I got my cover save from the Scout move and then dropped out the next turn.

Sorry for the long post. Now all I need to do is to get a few more games in with this list and I'll feel tactically ready for the Open. Once I get everything full up painted, I'll post the 2011 Class Photo.

If A Tree falls in a forest, does it get a 5+?

So as promised, I'm going to run through a bit of what I've learned about Wood Elves in the new edition. I still cannot understand why there are so few WE players. I think it may have to do with the common image of the WE's being tree-huggers or that they're codex is out of date. Those trees are not for hugging, put them to work.

The adjustments to the army organization has granted the Woodies a nice little push. In a 2500 point list, you can easily fit a Highborn (leadership 10) and a level 4. The other hero choices are also incredi-cheap. Before you had to choose between going for that Altered Kindred running around or a strong hero to sit in a unit. Now you don't. I've been practicing with my support charge Eagle riding Highborn. Since lone, mobile heroes are sitting ducks when it comes to missile fire, I have him kitted out with the Shield of Ptolos (+2 save against shooting, plus light armor, plus mounted should make him a +0 against normal fire) and the Brooch (WE item, +3 ward against non-magical). For that extra punch, the Ogre Blade grants +2 strength, 4 attacks at initiative 8. I have been reconsidering the weapon recently. The Dawn Spear might be a better option (cause a wound, the unit is -1 to hit for the combat) because he never goes in alone and Woodies have decent WS. Spellweaver: level 4 definitely and with the Rhymer's Harp. Plug him into a Glade Guard unit, that unit is going to be crazy annoying the entire game.

A BSB is almost required for every army now and WE are no exception. The issue with all Woodies is their survivability. T3 isn't going to keep them in the fight for long. So the re-roll is great for them. I can't bring myself to get a magic banner on the BSB. Armor of Destiny works well to make him stay in there at least a turn longer than normal. The unexpected hero from this section has to be the Branchwraith. Murder of Sprites and Cluster of Radiants gets you a D6 of poison attacks and an additional Dispel Dice. Don't forget that he's also I8 with 4 attacks. Leading a unit of Dryads, he can bring the hurt as a support charge or against a small unit of normal troops.

Glade Guard are the same but definitely require more of them. The always-stand-and-shoot banner is practically required. I've been fielding a large block of 20+ and they consistently work out well. Dryads are not as strong as before but I wouldn't run without them. Grab yourself about a dozen and they'll treat you well if you pick-and-choose your fights. Eternal Guard are an interesting slot here. The Highborn means you can take them as a Core instead of Special. Same cost as the GG, but no bows; +5 armor with additional hand weapons AND spears (weird I know, but their fighting style is cool like that). My 18 block with the BSB in there makes them Stubborn and dishes out a ton of attacks. The Razor Standard gives them a little extra punch which is sadly missing from the unit. If you're not feeling the models, another GG block is probably the way to go. Glade Riders are almost exactly the same as before only not as good.

Treekin Support Charge. That should cover Special Choices.

Kidding, there's a lot of depth in here now. Eagle Riders are almost viable for hunting missions. Wild Riders got dumped on but don't fear, they are incredible at Warmachine hunting. The vanguard move gets them close and since they're movement 9, they should be on top of things early and often. Try them out with the Banner of Swiftness. Now you got a 20" marching unit that can re-form due to Fast-Cav rules, Immune to Psyche, with a ward save against non-magic. My last game saw a unit of 5 take out 5 warmachines from my Empire opponent. Treekin should be in units of 4 or better. A 2x2 square puts out a lot of hurt without taking up much space.

The double eagles are hard to pass up. Way Watchers are having a bit of trouble but marching and chasing a heavy armored unit the whole games is a lot of fun. The Treeman still keeps it real. He can even go toe-to-toe with a Hellpit for a turn or two. Don't forget that the army has Forest Strider. That means the Treeman can move around nicely and has the Tree Singing ability.

At 2500, you should be seeing a sizable army forming. Wood Elves, much like their cousins, are points heavy. The cheapest thing in the army is 12 points a model. I played against a Dark Elf player this last weekend. Great match, even if I was vastly outnumbered. He fielded three big blocks: 40 Corsairs, 25 Black Guard, and I think close to 30 Witch Elves. A unit of 10 Cold Ones, a hydra, small block of archers and regular spear-elves to wrap up. BSB and two casters (lvl 4 and lvl 2) leading the way. I ended up winning but it was a drag out fight. My points left were in the Eternal Guard unit (~240), the Glade Guard (~240), and all three of my heroes (~700), and I had killed his general, taken two banners, and his BSB (add ~200). The remains units he had were the Black Guard and the Witch Elves (~650-ish). So a win, but hard fought. I'll post my list if people are interested.

In summary, I guess Wood Elves didn't change all that much from the way I was playing them before. The re-direct army of the past is now the super-quick army of now. So long as you're not taking a unit in a straight fight, the Wood Elves can do quite well.