Sylvaneth are a little trickier to play now than when they first dropped in 2016. Don’t miss the latest tactics breakdown 2000 points!
During my time off while moving heavy boxes from one house to another in what seemed like a futile effort, GW got around to finally releasing the new Sylvaneth battletome. As it has been a couple of weeks since then they even released the FAQ for it, so I figured I was overdue for my take on building a 2000-point army from it. So, here is my take on the murder trees and friends. (note the trees might not be your friends as they are expensive, and you need a lot of them)
Editor’s note: He’s not lying with the NERF to what the old Wyldwoods count as (only one terrain feature) they really pigeon-holed existing players into buying the new trees at $50 a pop for basically 1/2 a terrain feature. Not to mention the fact that Arch Revenants are around $70 a model on eBay right now cause they synergize so well with the Kurnoth Hunters, and can only be found in the Looncurse box.
The Sylvaneth reboot is a hot mess that quite frankly GW should be ashamed of in 2019.
They have a whole slew of new Allegiance abilities that go hand in hand with the new Awakened Wyldwood kit so you’re going to want to get one of those kits for sure. (Plan on buying another 2 or 3 after this one)
Awakened Wyldwood: Models are not visible to each other if their line of sight is through this model. When a spell is cast wholly by a model within 6” of the Awakened Wyldwood and not unbound roll a dice for each non-Sylvaneth unit within 1” of this model. On a 5+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. At the end of the charge phase roll a dice for each non-Sylvaneth unit within 1” of this model, on a 6+ that unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
Allegiance Abilities:
- Instead of setting up a unit you can set one up in reserve for every unit that you have placed on the battlefield. At the end of your movement phase, you can set them up anywhere on the battlefield wholly within 6” of an Awakened Wyldwood and more than 9” from enemy units.
- Instead of making a move, a unit wholly within 6” of an Awakened Wyldwood can teleport to any other Awakened Wyldwood as long as it is still wholly within 6” of it and more than 9” from an enemy.
- Pick on Terrain feature on the battlefield that was not set up by your opponent, your Sylvaneth units do not need to take battleshock tests while wholly within 6” of that terrain feature.
- Unit glades, artifacts, spells, command traits, etc.
As usual for a new collector I always like to recommend starting with the start collecting box and that usually provides a solid centerpiece model and a battleline. In this case, you get all that and more so you should buy 2!
- Treelord Ancient: 300 Points: Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Treelord Ancient: 300 Points: Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
- Branchwych: 80 Points: Leader 3 of 6
- Branchwych: 80 Points: Leader 4 of 6
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 3 of 3
Total: 1060 Points
Battlelines & Leaders
Treelord Ancient: Move 5”, 3+ Save, 9 Bravery, 12 Wounds.
Has a missile weapon the tendril staff: Range 18”, 1 Attack, Damage Table Hit (2+ up to 6+), Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D6 Damage. Then two melee weapons the first is talons: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting on a 3+, Wounding (Damage Table 2+ up to 4+), with -2 Rend, for 1 Damage. (If this attack is a hit roll of 6 the target suffers D6 mortal wounds) Then Sweeping Blows: Range 3”, Damage Table Attacks (3 down to 1), Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D6 Damage. At the start of the combat phase, pick a unit within 3” and roll a dice, on a 4+ that unit fights at the end of the combat phase.
This model can move to any other Awakened Wyldwood if it is wholly within 6” of one at the start of the movement phase instead of its normal move. Once per battle this unit can set up 1 Awakened Wyldwood terrain feature wholly within 18” of it and more than 1” from other terrain and objectives. It can cast/unbind 1 spell a turn with its unique spell being Awakening the Wood: Range 30”, Target is Awakened Wyldwood wholly within, Casting Value 6, if successful enemy units within 3” of that suffer D3 mortal wounds. Then he has a Command Ability Heed the Spirit Song: Used in hero phase, 1 friend unit wholly within 12”, lets you re-roll save rolls of 1.
Branchwych: Move 7”, 5+ Save, 7 Bravery, 5 Wounds
He has two different melee attacks the first is a Scythe: Range 2”, 2 Attacks (4 when wounded), Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, for 2 Damage. Then a Snapping attack: Range 1”, 1 Attack, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, with -1 Rend, for 1 Damage. Add 1 to hit rolls if this model is wholly within 6” of Awakened Wyldwood. It is a wizard and can cast/unbind 1 spell a turn with its unique spell being Unleash Spites: Range 9”, Target each enemy unit within, Casting Value 5, if success roll the number of dice equal to the casting roll for each unit targeted, on a 6 it suffers a mortal wound.
Dryads: Move 7”, 5+ Save, 6 Bravery, 1 Wounds
They have a single melee attack: Wracking Talons: Range 2”, 2 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 4+, for 1 Damage. The leader of this unit adds 1 to its attack characteristic. If they are wholly within 6” of an Awakened Wyldwood you subtract 1 from hit rolls that target them. At the start of combat phase, pick 1 enemy unit within 3” of this unit and add 1 to hit rolls that target it. Finally, add 1 to save rolls if this unit has 10 or more models.
You have 4 spell casters, all your battle line units, and a bunch of dryads to throw at objectives but what you need are some heavy-hitting melee units. Enter Drycha and Kurnoth Hunters.
- Treelord Ancient: 300 Points: Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
- Treelord Ancient: 300 Points: Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
- Branchwych: 80 Points: Leader 3 of 6
- Branchwych: 80 Points: Leader 4 of 6
- Spirit of Durthu: 340 Points, Leader 5 of 6, Behemoth 3 of 4
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 1 of 3
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 2 of 3
- 10 Dryads: 100 Points: Battleline 3 of 3
- 3 Kurnoth Hunters: 200 Points
- 3 Kurnoth Hunters: 200 Points
- 3 Kurnoth Hunters: 200 Points
Total 2000
Sylvaneth Hard Hitters
Spirit of Durthu: Move 5”, 3+ Save, 9 Bravery, 12 Wounds.
He has a missile weapon Verdant Blast: Range 15”, Damage Table Attacks (6 down to 2), Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D3 Damage. Then two melee attacks the first is Sword: Range 3”, 3 Attacks (5 if wholly within 8” of Awakened Wyldwood), Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for Damage (Damage Table 6 down to D3). Then Talons: Range 1”, 1 Attacks, Hitting on a 3+ (a 6 deals D6 mortal wounds), Wounding Damage Table (2+ up to 4+), with -2 Rend, for 1 Damage. He adds 1 to the Bravery of friendly Sylvaneth units wholly within 12”. At the start of combat phase pick a unit within 3” and roll a dice, on a 4+ that unit fights at the end of the combat phase. This model can move to any other Awakened Wyldwood if it is wholly within 6” of one at the start of the movement phase instead of its normal move.
Kurnoth Hunters: Move 5”, 4+ Save, 7 Bravery, 5 Wounds.
They can be armed with one of the following: Greatsword: Range 1”, 4 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+ (Wound rolls of 6 deal additional mortal wound), with -1 Rend, for 2 Damage. Or Greatbows: Range 30”, 2 Attacks, Hitting on a 4+, Wounding on a 3+, with -1 Rend, for D3 damage and Vicious Claws: Range 1”, 3 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, for 1 Damage. Or Scythes: Range 2”, 3 Attacks, Hitting and Wounding on a 3+, with -2 Rend, for D3 damage. The leader of this unit adds 1 to hit rolls. When a Syvaneth hero uses a command ability, units wholly within 12” of this unit are treated as in range. At the start of charge phase, this unit can choose to only pile in 1” but can then re-roll save rolls. At end of combat phase pick 1 enemy unit within 1” and roll a dice for each model in this unit, on a 4+ the enemy suffers a mortal wound.
Loadouts: For my hunters, I would go with a unit with great bows to pick off any single or damaged characters, and then the other two I would go with Swords for the mortal wounds. For magic all your casters get Verdants Embrace but I would also give one of the Branchwyches Regrowth and the other Verdurous Harmony for healing. The treelords I would give Treesong and Deadly Harvest because they are more melee oriented and will be in the thick of things. For a grove, I would go with the Winterleaf as the artifact is solid and the winters bite ability is amazing for extra hits.
Tactics: You need to fill any square inch of the board that doesn’t have terrain on it with trees if you can. These models fight so much better when they are wholly within 6” of the Wyldwoods that they almost need to be in order to stay effective. Your weakness is a low model count, so use your dryads to claim objectives but they should generally stay out of combat. Your Treelords and hunters will be doing all the dirty work for this army so don’t be afraid to get them in the thick of things. Mortal wounds will also take them down pretty quickly but they will be able to shrug off most normal attacks with a 3+ save (re-rolling 1s with mystic shield) so don’t be too shy with them.
There you have it, I think the new book goes a long way to help this army though I do wish they sold the Arch Revenant by itself. (He is a fantastic hero) I still think most of the units are overpriced in terms of point cost, but you do get to play with giant walking trees so that is always fun. The not so fun part is the amount of money you’re going to need to sink into Awakened Wyldwoods.
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