stirling
New Member
Attempting to slowly build up a Wood Elf army.
Posts: 27 
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Post by stirling on Oct 25, 2017 20:16:21 GMT
Hello,
How important do Wood Elf players feel it is to use Arcane Bodkins?
I played my first game of 8th last week (haven't played since 6th). It was all for fun with my 16-yr-old nephew, and it was his first ever game of Warhammer for all intents and purposes. It was a 2,000 pt game, he played Vampire Counts. I had two units of 20 archers and I didn't take any magic arrows for either of them. I felt like I was shooting feathers, even though his Skeleton Warriors aren't very tough and they have a modest 5+ save. I had a unit of Glade Riders take a volley at his Grave Guard once, but didn't cause a single wound. His general had like 5 Toughness coupled with a 1+ armor save, so even though his general never joined a unit, I felt like shooting at it with everything I had was going to be pointless since he would be able to ignore S3 hits and save wounds at such a high rate.
I've been going over my rulebook and my list since then to see what I would change for the next time we meet up, and I have to say that having Arcane Bodkins seems like a game-changer. But at 17pts per model for archers, my list feels REALLY small since my units are so expensive.
Anyone want to weigh in on this?
Thanks!
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Post by knoffles on Oct 26, 2017 16:06:56 GMT
Are you able to give us a rough idea of your list and what magic Lore you went with? That would help us a bit, or post your list in the army list section and we can offer suggestions.
With regards to arrows (and I'll caveat my answer by saying I've not played WEs much in 8th), I've tended to use hagbane and trueflight and found them both excellent. One ignores toughness the other to hit modifiers. Both have AP so give -1 to armour (as do the non magic arrows you used).
I've not used bodkins due to their price. If you want arrows to take out armour, you would be better off taking 10 waywatchers as they can ignore armour completely (or double tap - though admittedly watchers are expensive). Stick them in your free wood (and take a venom thicket) and they also get poison to help ignore toughness too. (Edit: they don’t get poison)
Lore of Shadow can help debuff enemy troops so is always a winner for shooty lists.
There are some thoughts on arrows in the wood elf tactics doc a few posts down which may also help.
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stirling
New Member
Attempting to slowly build up a Wood Elf army.
Posts: 27
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Post by stirling on Oct 27, 2017 3:13:22 GMT
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Post by strutsagget on Oct 29, 2017 14:50:05 GMT
Venom thicket only gives poison in CC  ”VENOM THICKET Poisonous creatures abound within. Provided you do not succumb to it first, their venom can be used against the foe. Any model in a Venom Thicket has the Poisoned Attacks special rule (applies to close combat attacks only). However, any model moving through a Venom Thicket must take a Dangerous Terrain test, to represent their attempt to fend off the venomous critters within.” WARHAMMER RULEBOOK Games Workshop Ltd Materialet kan vara skyddat av upphovsrättslagar. |
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Post by knoffles on Oct 29, 2017 21:02:08 GMT
Venom thicket only gives poison in CC ”VENOM THICKET Poisonous creatures abound within. Provided you do not succumb to it first, their venom can be used against the foe. Any model in a Venom Thicket has the Poisoned Attacks special rule (applies to close combat attacks only). However, any model moving through a Venom Thicket must take a Dangerous Terrain test, to represent their attempt to fend off the venomous critters within.” WARHAMMER RULEBOOK Games Workshop Ltd Materialet kan vara skyddat av upphovsrättslagar. Cheers strutsagget, I stand corrected. Glad you picked up on that before my next WE game and played it wrong. |
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stirling
New Member
Attempting to slowly build up a Wood Elf army.
Posts: 27
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Post by stirling on Oct 30, 2017 4:29:33 GMT
Ah, thanks for pointing that out. My latest list idea was to use a Venom Thicket and give my Glade Guard the Swiftshiver arrows. May have to rethink now  |
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Post by strutsagget on Oct 30, 2017 6:17:19 GMT
Ah, thanks for pointing that out. My latest list idea was to use a Venom Thicket and give my Glade Guard the Swiftshiver arrows. May have to rethink now Yeah I know... I have read that section like 5 times hoping it would change or that I remembered wrong... |
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Post by mottdon on Oct 30, 2017 19:58:55 GMT
I almost always go for Trueflight arrows or Hagbane Tips. Those points all start to really add up. Trueflight is especially good on Glade Riders, allowing them to move and shoot without penalty. And since you won't have as many of those Riders on the table as Guard, then every hit counts. What you equip on your Glade Guard depends on what you'll be shooting at. If it is something like a horde, then Trueflight might be the better choice since you'll want to be hitting as many as possible. If your target is something like a Mortis Engine, then Hagbane Tips might be better, just trying to get those 6's.
As for Arcane Bodcins, I don't think that those are worth the cost when facing VC. They don't have much armor to begin with and your arrows are armor piercing already (-1 to armor save).
Personally, I'd probably go with Hagbane Tips at first and see how they do for you. (Always Trueflight on Glade Riders.)
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Post by NIGHTBRINGER on Apr 1, 2019 2:35:00 GMT
I've not used bodkins due to their price. If you want arrows to take out armour, you would be better off taking 10 waywatchers as they can ignore armour completely This is how I feel about it as well. It's not that Bodkins are bad, but rather that Waywatchers are so much better. For 3 extra points you get: - to ignore armor completely
- a second mode of fire (which is usually less useful, but may come in handy in rare circumstances)
- +1 BS
- Scouting option
- Skirmishing unit
- additional hand weapon (not that you want them in combat)
The only drawback for Waywatchers in this comparison is that they are a rare choice.
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Post by mrburp on Apr 1, 2019 11:43:41 GMT
Summary of previous post (all of which have excellent advice)
- trueflight is preferred for moving units or backliners (Glade Guard)
- hagbane for war machine hunting (Deepwood Scouts)
- waywatchers to deal with armour saves
And remember all shooting is AP for Wood Elves
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Post by oldmandan on Jun 21, 2020 13:47:11 GMT
Hagbane arrows are good, against high toughness armies poison has no respect for them, I look at it as every time I get a six when rolling to hit that's one less roll I have to make to wound and therefore one less chance of missing, also in the current meta armour piercing is great.
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Post by strutsagget on Jun 21, 2020 15:07:28 GMT
My current setup is full out hagbane even on glade riders.
As most time riders will be in close range hagbane is again superior (33” for close range is pretty good(9”+9”+15”).
My opponents do run a lot of T4 armies though but even the others have war machines and monsters to hunt.
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