Dear Johnny

[Johnny-Crass]

First off fantastic user name

Secondly I find against pointy ears in general Knights work great. Woodies struggle against things with good armor (such as black knights). I would leave all ethereal at home due to forest spirits and their ilk. I will post more when it comes to me

 

[Xivigg]

For the terrain setup, i would recommend following the basic rule given in the rulebook.

Wood elf shine in forest... almost none of their unit are slowed by them (might have to check on that one), some have rules that allow them to fire without obstruction from forest (i don't know how it translate in the 8th edition) and they get to add a 6" forest at the beginning of the game.

With too much forest, you would be giving an advantage to the wood elf player which might be difficult to counter since you're a new player.

 

[Weibz]

I too have my main adversary as a Wood elf and let me tell you they are very good vs us. usually a good gunline will destroy them, but since we have none of that... there are other tactics to employ.

I have found Hexwaiths to be great vs them. But Johnny is right. Their magic attacks will kill them quick if you dont use them right. I usually send them vs his smaller units like glade guard and such. If you can Pass through some treekin or dryads then do it!!!!. rips up a unit very easily with flaming attacks. That said don't let them near his treeman ever for he will use his stomp to destroy the unit easily.

The only other advise I would give you is your setup. Make sure most of your core is in the center and try and take a flank hard. Mostly, the tactic here is to force his units in the middle of the board to be held up so your core guys can tarpit them or leave their flanks open. Their wizards are really easy to get into combat as well with a vargulf charging a unit. I am using Johnny's words here so cred is to him. Charge a vargulf into a unit that has his Lvl 4 Wizard. Direct all of his attacks vs the Wizard to kill him. Vargulf dies but he makes up his points and then some. (Wood Elves will strike first though so this is a dodgy tactic for this situation)

 

[Weibz]

Also, He can not Stand and shoot you if you charge him within your movement characteristic.

 

[Yorga]

They don't get steadfast in the woods for their massed archers. Woods don't really hurt us. Maybe black coaches and coven thrones.

 

[Weibz]

Ethereal movement means it never effects us. So, a Bk Bus with vamp in it would be a problem, but not much else.

They are steadfast in forests which sucks, but they typically do not get rank bonuses being skirmishers. glade guard they do but not much else. Besides, in combat, they aren't much. The guy I play with mostly avoids avoids all combat unless its on his terms and a combat he thinks he can win in one combat. Once he kills on ok unit he runs the whole game. Thus is how most Wood elf players play.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Varghiests and Varghulfs and Terrorghiest.... Lets see how far he runs


Also I finally won a best general award at a tournament.

 

[Tamodan Varison]

Varghiests and Varghulfs and Terrorghiest.... Lets see how far he runs wink

I don't think fielding the first two against WE is a good idea. Any Wood Elf archer worth his weight will take those out with his archers without any issues. With Flaming banner on the archers, and who doesn't use that, they'll do 1 wound per 3 shots against the Vargheists, and 1 wound per 5 shots against the Varghulf. 40 archers will destroy units per turn. Literally. Terrorgheist might be good against the big trees though

Against any WE army, I'd field a lot of BK. Wood Elves have very very little that can deal with high armor. Or lots of zombies. WE have very few to deal with that either.

 

[Demian]

Remember that Vargheists are skirmishers, as per their Flying Unit rule (even if Wood Elf archers are the best), so -1 to Hit on them.

besides, you can also hide them in the back of a zombie unit (Hard Cover) and wait for the best moment to charge and liquify them.

 

[Tamodan Varison]

I forgot they were skirmishers. They're way to big to hide behind a Zombie screen though

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Not really, they are very stout models.

 

[Demian]

Yep, zombies were just a quick example, however, being behind any model confers them Hard Cover against shooting, and since they can charge with 10'' movement, they can fly above a 20-man unit easily, etc.

 

[Weibz]

Yes the -1 helps but with no saves on these guys at T4 they tend to die off pretty fast. I've had these guys charge an archer unit. lose 2 on the way in (7 wounds), munch the unit, Over run into the middle of the field to then get shot the next turn by 2 other units. 386 points for a 120 pt unit?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

But also keep in mind that means those other two units are not shooting your undamaged units.

 

[Thindol]

Dear Johnny,

You know I loves ya but you need to lose the 'stache.

What do you think is a decent character load out in 1200 points? Do I go master necro and a vampire? What builds do you suggest? I have a doubles tourney coming up and I'm paired with an ogre player. He is running a level 2 slaughtermaster and a bruiser BSB.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

First off I love my 'stache-beard combo and have had it for a few years now.

Secondly I think ogres will have your combat side down so it is really just you providing the magic to back it up. I think a list like this might work well

Master Necro with 5+ ward
Baby Necro with book
1 unit of dogs
rest of core filled with 20 strong zombie units
Varghiests - Hexwraiths - spirit hosts (your choice really)
Terrorghiest

 

[Seneschal]

Dear Johnny,

Grats on winning Best General! You deserve it and it's a wonder that people haven't voted you that before.

What is your opinion on Tomb Guard? I find that the halberd upgrade is too bloody expensive and I'd rather have more bodies/another unit/better saves than the extra point of strength.
I've been playing TK's for quite some time and I regret adding halberds to my stupidly expensive plastic models. There's another tourney coming up at the end of the month and I am contemplating removing the halberds for hand weapons (cries dramatically).

One more question, what do you think about bringing two caskets? The heirotitan is neat but I feel another casket would make people beg for mercy. I know I would only get D3 extra power dice per phase but having two Light of Death spells would cause some serious damage. The LD 8 spirit leech from the heirotitan isn't all that effective and the LoD is a better overall than the bound Shem's.

Thank you Johnny and CN community for reading

 

[Johnny-Crass]

My buddy runs the TG horde with Halberds and honestly S5 is leauges better than S4. You rip open armor easier and wound things like savages and gor easier. I would not leave home without Halberds.

As for double casket I think it is only viable with a Lvl4-5 death caster.

 

[Seneschal]

You don't think it would work with a basic, level 2 caddy? In a list that doesn't care about magic you could just throw all of your dice into the two bound spells.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

My problem with Light Of Death is either you can invest in it to make it a brutal spell or it is jsut good against some match ups.

OnG? It is freaking fantastic.
Dwarves? It is cute

 

[Seneschal]

On average, it does 2 wounds vs. Ld 9 so two of them against Dwarf warmachine crews should be viable. What dost thou thinketh, O badarse Crassman?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I always round down and also since dwarves enjoy their castle it will be on a reroll. So that is 1 wound if that. I think either run enough Lore of Death to get D'n'D or just run one. Also it does not even give you another drop...o_o

 

[Seneschal]

K, thanks, saves me from converting a second one (no way am I paying for a finecast version..). I might actually drop the heirotitan even though I picked it as the sleeper hit when the book came out.

 

[Seneschal]

Dear Johnny,
I know you aren't a fan of ETC but would you field tomb guard in an ETC event? the size cap on units is 40 and the points cap on units is 450 which would allow for 32 halberd tg with cmd or 37 with cmd and sword and shield. What's your take on Banner of Swiftness for this kind of unit?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

At that point I would run Halberd Guard in a 7x4. I find with peoples love of Ogres, Trolls and Horrors banner of flame is far better. Though it does have the drawback of everyone and their mother running Dragon Helm and that ilk.