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How to Play Sylvaneth: Ironbark, Oakenbrow, & Winterleaf

age-of-sigmar-sylvaneth-title-2Here is how to play Sylvaneth in AoS, focusing on building Ironbark, Oakenbrow, and Winterleaf 2,000 points armies!

In our final review of the Sylvaneth book, we will examine the Ironbark, Oakenbrow, and Winterleaf glades (or factions). If you’re interested in playing any of the other glades, click on the links below!

Battletome Sylvaneth

Battletome: Sylvaneth Retail Price: $55

Click here to get yours for less from these retailers: | Amazon | Dicehead Games | Frontline Gaming 

Sylvaneth Army-Wide Rules:

Let’s recap what all Sylvaneh gets:

sylvaneth wal hor drycha

Places of Power:

  • After territories are decided, but before faction terrain features are set up you can select 3 terrain features on the battlefield wholly outside the enemy territory to be considered overgrown
  • At the start of the hero phase, heal one wound to each friendly Sylvaneth unit wholly within 9” of awakened wood or overgrown territory

From the Woodland Depths:

  • Walk the Hidden Paths: Once per turn at the end of the movement phase pick 1 friendly Sylvaneth unit wholly within 9” of an overgrown territory or awakened wildwood. That unit can be removed from the battlefield and set up more than 9” from enemy units and wholly within 9” of another awakened wildwood or overgrown territory that is more than 3” from enemy units.
  • Strike and Fade: Once per turn in combat phase immediately after a friendly Sylvaneth unit wholly within 9” of an Awakened Wyldwood or Overgrown Territory fights you can remove it from play and set up more than 9” from enemy units and wholly within 9” of another awakened wildwood or overgrown territory that is more than 3” from enemy units.
  • Unique Spell all Sylvaneth Wizards know Verdant Blessing: Casts on a 6 with range 18” if successful set up 1 Awakened Wyldwood terrain feature wholly within range and more than 3” from all other models, terrain features, and objectives.

Pick a Season of War for your army:

  • The Burgeoning: All friendly Sylvaneth models that did not charge and are wholly within 9” of a friendly Awakened Wyldwood have a ward save of 6+.
  • The Reaping: Add 3” to the range within which you can pick friendly Sylvaneth units with Places of Power and From the Woodland Depths battle traits.
  • The Dwindling: In the hero phase you can re-roll 1 casting roll, 1 unbinding roll, and 1 dispel roll as well as the wizard is Sylvaneth and wholly within 9” of an overgrown territory or Awakened Wyldwood.
  • Everdusk: Subtract 3” from the range of places of power and Woodland Depths abilities but if a melee attack made by a friendly Sylvaneth unit wholly within 6” of the Awakened Wyldwood or Overgrown terrain makes a hit roll of 6, it counts as 2 hits rather than just 1.

Now let’s dive into the sub-factions specific lists starting with the Ironbark.

How to Play Sylvaneth: Ironbark

sylvaneth walIronbark: Command ability at the start of the enemy combat phase, the unit that receives the command must be a friendly Ironbark unit within 3” of an enemy unit that made a charge move.

Pick one enemy within 3” of that unit and roll some dice on a 2+ it suffered D3 mortal wounds. You can use this ability multiple times in a command phase but can only target each enemy unit once per phase.

  • Arch-Revenant: 120 Points, Leader 1 of 6
  • Branchwych: 130 Points, Leader 2 of 6
  • Treelord Ancient: 360 Points, Leader 3 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
  • Spirit of Durthu: 370 Points, Leader 4 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
  • Spiterider Lancers: 210 Points, No Unit Type
  • Spiterider Lancers: 210 Points, No Unit Type
  • Spiterider Lancers: 210 Points, No Unit Type
  • 10 Dryads: 100 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
  • 5 Tree Revenants: 110 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
  • 5 Tree Revenants: 110 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
  • Purple Sun of Shyish: 70 Points, Endless Spell
  • Total 2000 Points

This is kind of a soup mix for me in that the ability of this army is not incredibly useful unless you have a lot of mobility and a lot of command points. So that is what I went with: you have a mix of hold-the-objective types of troops with the Dryads and Tree Revenants and then some offensive mobility in the Lancers.

You will want to take advantage of your sub-faction ability to dish out some extra damage in your opponent’s combat phase, which could work if they have some low-wound heroes who haven’t had a chance to swing in combat yet.

Use the purple sun to roll the dice and potentially delete some models, but more importantly, get that additional -1 to Rend for your troops.

With so many drops, your better off getting the Warlord Battalion to get the additional artifact and command point. For this army, I will make the Tree Lord ancient my general and give him the Gnarled Warrior Battle Trait, the Vesperal Gem, and Throne of Vines as his unique spell.

Making him a regenerating tank of a character that can hold the line. For my extra artifact, I will give the Arc Revenant the Crown of Fell Bowers since he can keep up with your Spiterider Lancers, which will buff them in combat (especially since they strike first on a charge).

Oakenbrow 2,000 Point Army List

Sylvaneth hor walOakenbrow: The damage table on friendly Oakenbrow, Treelord, Treelord Ancient, or Spirit of Durthu is treated as having suffered half the number of wounds that are allocated to it on its damage table (rounding up). Treelords become battleline.

  • Spirit of Durthu: 370 Points, Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
  • Treelord Ancient: 360 Points, Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
  • Treelord Ancient: 360 Points, Leader 3 of 6, Behemoth 3 of 4
  • Treelord: 260 Points, Battleline 1 of 3
  • Treelord: 260 Points, Battleline 2 of 3
  • Treelord: 260 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
  • Gladwrym: 50 Points, Endless Spell
  • Purple Sun of Shyish: 70 Points, Endless Spell
  • Total 1990 Points

This is an army that you take if you love big walking trees and smacking your opponents with them. Your models are few and far between, so you’ll be behind on points from the get-go.

However, they can all dish out some nice damage and take even more of a beating, so you can pick and choose your objectives to overcome your opponent, hopefully. Getting the Awakened Wyldwoods up will also be key, as these guys do not have the greatest mobility, so you’ll want to teleport them around to get them where they need to go.

Concentrated firepower, though, will bring your models down, and you don’t have many to play with. Your endless spells can be powerful

For this army, I will make a Treelord Ancient my general and give them the Gnarled Warrior command trait making them incredibly resilient. After that, the general will nab the Vesperal Gem artifact along with the Throne of Vines’ unique spell.

My other Treelord Ancient will take Regrowth with the idea that they will play a healer to your trees. The purple sun can be powerful with this list for its rend and model removal; just make sure to keep your guys out of its range, as losing one of them will hurt much more than your opponent. For a season of war, I will choose Everdusk to increase the damage output of my trees, and for a Battalion, I will select Battle Regiment to make this a three-drop army, hopefully allowing you to decide who goes first or second.

Winterleaf 2,000 Point Army List

New AoS Sylvaneth Model Lineup REVEALEDWinterleaf: Enemy units within 3” of a friendly Winterleaf unit cannot retreat. If you pick Everdusk from the Seasons of Battle, enemy units within 3” of a friendly Winterleaf unit cannot be removed from the battlefield through an effect that would allow them to be set up again later.

  • Alarielle the Everqueen: 840 Points, Leader 1 of 6, Behemoth 1 of 4
  • The Lady of Vines: 325 Points, Leader 2 of 6, Behemoth 2 of 4
  • Warsong Revenant: 305 Points, Leader 3 of 6
  • 20 Dryads: 200 Points, Battleline 1 of 3, Reinforced 1 of 4
  • 10 Tree Revenants: 220 Points, Battleline 2 of 3, Reinforced 2 of 4
  • 10 Dryads: 100 Points, Battleline 3 of 3
  • Total 1990 Points

This army is all about model count and bringing in even more models to force your opponent to wade through. So, if you don’t like painting, this isn’t the one for you.

You will have large blocks of troops to push around the table; grabbing and holding objectives won’t be an issue, though your lack of firepower will be an issue. Make sure you use Alarielle and The Lady of Vines to your advantage and don’t sell them short, as your other models won’t be doing as much damage.

You could also use Alarielle to summon in a Treelord or Hunters, which could also add to your damage output.

I will take the Battle Regiment Battalion for this army to make this a three-drop army, letting you hopefully decide who goes first. The Warsong Revenant must be your general to get a unique command trait and artifact, so we will go with them and take Radiant Spirit to give them the Acorn of Ages to be able to set up a Wyldwood automatically and then the Verdurous Harmony spell to bring back you Dryads and Revenants if needed.

For the Lady of Vines, I will take The Dwellers Bellow to give you a shot as some mortal wounds against larger units and at range. For the season of war, let’s choose the Everdusk season to get that bonus of not allowing your opponent to move.

There you have it, the final armies for the Sylvaneth book; after creating multiple armies within it I think there are some great ways to play the army, though you need to plan your tree placement carefully and plan your teleports well.

Be sure to check out all the articles in this series below.

More AoS How-To For Beginners & Veteran Players!

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About the Author: Travis Perkins

An avid homebrewer and Detroit sports fan (yes even the Lions). I am new to the world of wargamming and very much enjoying the journey. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to comment on the article or email me at perki116@msu.edu