Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Discuss the art of war for the Dark Elves and the inferior races that dare to oppose them here.

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Bobba Looba
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Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Post by Bobba Looba »

Hi all,
I've been playing a couple of friendly and small games of 8th edition with a friend who plays wood elves.
He keeps on losing though and blames it on his elves being difficult to play. I don't want him to lose interest in the game and I don't want to lose on purpose either. So to even it out, I thought we could switch to another ruleset.

The question is, in which ruleset (1st to 8th, but could also include AoS, WH Armies Project, 9th Age and other) do Wood Elves have the best chance? (or alternatively, which set is worst for Dark Elves?)

thanks

edit: I just found a Wood Elves forum Asrai (hosted by druchii) which would have been the best place to ask this question, but that hasn't been active for a couple of years..(?)
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Calisson
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Re: Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Post by Calisson »

1st to 8th never have been balanced, it has always been a power creep to help the sales of the latest faction, and in that faction, the newest units were usually must-haves while many units, especially the oldest ones, were a trap to play.
I don't know for SE but DE were certainly much harder to play before 6th edition.
AoS goes in the same direction.

I can advocate for The 9th Age to be a game where all factions are reasonably balanced by constant effort, and where in a faction, all units are costed appropriately to their role.
Of course, there remains a need for skill in building lists and even more in deploying it and playing the game, but at least all games between players of correct skills are uncertain until they are well engaged.

So if you're looking for a balanced game, no hesitation, The 9th Age.
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Bobba Looba
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Re: Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Post by Bobba Looba »

Thanks for your answer and makes sense.
I'll try it out!
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The_Peacemaker
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Re: Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Post by The_Peacemaker »

Ya 9th age would be the best ruleset for balanced play. Even when you lose it can still be fun because you realize it's usually because of the in game decisions you made.

I remember back playing 8th edition and my friend had wood elves when the new book dropped. He kept losing to me and was getting frustrated. I analyzed the book and quickly realized the strongest build was Shadow magic for the toughness debuff combined with waywatchers and other archers. But he didn't want to play them that way. ...but the rules aren't balanced o play any way you want.

One think I had to do was not taking the best lists for my armies. Which might sound odd but if the goal is to win and you are much better than your opponent then whats the point of taking the net list for an automatic win? So I started playing around with taking 5% or 10% points handicaps, I'd take less optimal units and try to see if I could get them to work. The fun was me being the general and I've been given what troops were available. Every commander wants max resources and the best selection of troops, but you don't always get that. Here's your army, win with it or the enemies sack the city and kill us. :)
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Red...
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Re: Most beneficial ruleset for Wood Elves

Post by Red... »

Wood Elves are a tough army to play, even after the release of the 2014 army book.

But typically the problem with any army coming across as weak lies not with the rules, but rather with the player understanding HOW that army plays best. If your friend is feeling willing, he might benefit from reading through some of the strategy and tactic guides for wood elves, because it is definitely not the kind of army that allows for a kind of "point and click" play to it. One such guide is here: https://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/1577 ... ew-tactica

If your friend is really struggling, then there may be a couple of other ways he can go about improving his play:

1) Flip armies for a day. Let him play your dark elves and you play his wood elves. It happens quite often that we don't see the strengths of our army until it is being used against us, so this can be a great way for him to gain some new insights as to how to maximize his army.

2) Encourage him to add allies to his army. This can be a nice way of fleshing out some of the weaknesses that affect wood elves, as well as letting him see whether he really does enjoy the wood elf playing style or whether he might prefer switching to another play style.

3) If neither of those work, consider adding in some handicaps to you or advantages to him. These can be done directly and overtly (e.g. he takes 2,500 points and you take 2,000 to remedy the imbalances in power between the two sides), indirectly and overtly (e.g. limit the number of certain types of character or unit you can take, while letting him be more flexible), or indirectly and covertly (e.g. setting up specific scenarios in which the advantages of the wood elves are emphasized by their placement or objectives or the geography on the table). This latter one can be good fun because it lets you explore different battles beyond just the standard "rush across the table to attack one another").

Finally, if all else fails, you can always emphasize to him that Wood Elves have one unique quality that gives them an unquestionable advantage over most other races in today's world: they are great at social distancing already...
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