My First Games with Wood Elves

So some of you may know that I've been working on a Wood Elf army.  I didn't start them to make the uber list or to win every game, but instead to accept the challenge and try out an army that takes a lot of effort and thinking to work well with.  I don't quite have the minis for my ideal (which is also terrible) army, but I wanted to give them a shot, so I played with what I had built:

Spellweaver: Level 4, Lore of Life, Elven Steed, Wand of Wych Elm, Stone of the Crystal Mere Highborn: Great weapon, longbow, shield, Alter Kindred, Bow of Loren, Arcane Bodkins, Helm of the Hunt

Noble: BSB, Elven Steed, Hail of Doom Arrow, Aysendi's Bane Noble: Great Eagle, light armor, shield, Pageant of Shrikes, Hunter's Talon Noble: Great Eagle, great weapon, light armor, Dragonhelm, Amaranthine Brooch

8 Glade Riders: standard bearer, musician 6 Glade Riders: standard bearer, musician 6 Glade Riders: standard bearer, musician 20 Glade Guard: standard bearer, musician 16 Dryads

3 Warhawk Riders

2 Great Eagles 6 Waywatchers

Total: 2,499

So it's kind of a scattered list, but I got to try everything out.

Game 1: vs Ray's Orcs

This was my first game with Wood Elves ever.  I knew I was going to do a lot of running away, and trying to kill his chaff for victory points.  I spent most of the game fleeing from charges from chariots and his Arachnarok.  Through the game I managed to kill his big spider, his goblin chariot, BSB, Black Orcs and pump wagon.  My sniper noble accounted for 0 wounds through the game, which greatly disappointed me, but my super ward save noble broke and nearly ran down the Black Orcs single handedly (rear charge, 2+ ward from the BO's flaming banner, he rolled an 8 to flee, I rolled 7).  The Waywatchers didn't do anything terribly impressive, except die after failing to killing blow his BSB who charged out to mop them up (goblin boss on a giant spider).  Ultimately the game ended in a tie, which I was quite happy with, and my opponent jested that I should come back when I want a "propa fight," meaning not with my Wood Elves, haha.

Game 2: vs Damon's 1+ Empire

My friend Damon has written quite the nasty empire death star and used it to get one of the first real victories anyone in my local group has had against my Ogres.  When he saw me playing the orcs, he really wanted to give my elves a shot with his Empire.  Being the sport that he is, I got him to write up a slightly more friendly army, since I'm not that experienced with the Wood Elves.  Sadly though, he had to use the models he brought with him, which still meant a ton of 1+ (or 2+) save cavalry and a Steam Tank.  I made a few minor mistakes which I was punished severely for, and my dice hated me.  I had my Waywatchers hunting down his Captain on Pegasus, just hoping for a 6 to wound, after 4 turns of shooting, and 19 hits, I finally got a single 6... So basically, the world hates Waywatchers.  Just like my game before, my sniper noble did precisely nothing.  Overall the game was pretty much a lesson in getting my butt kicked, while not being able to do much damage in return thanks to his amazing armor saves.  The highlight of the game though was my Highborn shredding his Demigryph Knights.

Oh well, it was a good first lesson!  I'm still wondering if I should repurpose my sniper noble, but I've heard great things about them before, maybe he'll get one more try before I strip his gear and give him a new role.