I want to use this page as a forum to talk about current tournament Warhammer tactics. In general, the ideas presented here will be germane to the US Grand Tournaments. Since we're about to start the 1999 GT season here, I want to talk a bit about how the various races might shake out at the events.
There will be three GTs in the US this year. One in March in Baltimore, one in April in Seattle and one in May in Chicago. All are currently full at 60 entrants per event.
Since tactics pages have been done to death, I want to try a different approach. I will talk about how each race (Skaven and WE) can perform in each phase of the game: Movement, Shooting, Close Combat, and Magic. I will also discuss the overall psychological fitness of the army, since psychology is of paramount importance in Warhammer. The theory is that if the army can dominate in most of the phases of the game, and pass most of the psychology tests it is presented with, you can win. Before I get into the races, I want to talk a little about general tournament tactics.
Tournament Warhammer is very different from the regular game. You will go to a strange place, to play against people you may not know. You never know which armies you will face, so army design is most challenging. Your tactical skill will be pushed to the limit, and so will your patience. It is very, very broadening to go to a tournament, and I think most serious Warhammer players ought to try it at least once.
You will have to design a versatile army, one that can handle any threat. It will have to be balanced if the tournament takes army composition into account. It will not depend on magic items if the tournament includes the veto rule. It will have to be painted to a decent standard, more than likely. A new rule has closed the overall trophy competition to anyone who does not paint their own force for the event. How this is to be enforced, I don't know but I admire the spirit of the rule.
Try to find out as much as possible about the details of deployment and terrain at the tournament. Find out more than just how many points you need to bring. If you field Wood Elves, bring a forest for yourself (this is not necessary or allowed at the Grand Tournament). Find out how the refs think, if you can. I might be important to try and anticipate rules disputes which will come up ,and either design your army so that they won't be an issue, or ask the referees in advance. Always be willing to listen to your opponent; perhaps he's thought of an angle you missed on a given rule. Be generous, and don't get horsey with the refs. They don't need the trouble. Show your opponent a good game, so that he would want to play you again.
This year, for the first time at the GTs, army lists will be completely open, and the opponents will have five minutes to look over each other's lists. No secrets.
Overview
Wood Elves are the exception as far as general Elven tactics go. The other two Elven races
(Dark and High) use somewhat more conventional deployment and tactics. Wood Elves are very
different; they are the Guerillas of the Warhammer world. Wood Elves will always have a
forest on the table if they want. Most of their troop types move through forests without
movement penalties. They have access to many types of special troops, and quite a few of
their units can skirmish. Their bow fire is some of the best in the Old World; they shoot
further (36") and hit harder (-1 save to all longbow fire) than any other bow using
race. They do have some of the traditional Elven problems: Their troops and characters are
expensive. They are a toughness 3 race. Their morale is good, but only 1 better than
human.
Movement
Wood Elf armies tend to be fast. They have two sorts of cav (Warhawks and Glade Riders)
and access to great eagles as well. They also have chariots, and their regular troops
march 10". Even the Treeman moves 12" on the march. There are two things
critical to WE movement: One is that all of them, save Warhawks and Chariots move through
woods freely. The second is that due to having unlimited access to infiltrators, they can
limit the enemy's movement if they are able to deploy forward. Furthermore, since they
tend to deploy in small units, the Wood Elves can go around the terrain they can't go
through. Their cavalry is capable of skirmishing.
Shooting
It almost goes without saying that Wood Elves excel in the shooting phase. Some 2,000
point tournament armies I know of have 50 longbow shots per turn, many at BS 5 or more.
Wood Elves also have access to the Hail of Doom arrow and the Bow of Loren, two of the
only magical missile weapons in the game. At the same time, I have seen many Wood Elf
armies go overboard on archers, roll just a little below average on the first two turns of
fire, and get killed. Archer units are fast, like all elves, but have to stand still to
shoot well. So to be successful with Wood Elves in a tournament environment, you have to
strike a balance between weight of fire and maneuver. The Wood Elves are too expensive to
cover the table with troops like the Goblins or Skaven; they have to pick their fights.
The big range of the Elven longbow and the extra -1 save modifier the WE have helps them
to soften up the enemy for the turn three or four charge. Another shooting benefit is that
the Elves with the highest BS start closest to the enemy. The Waywatchers and Scouts can
infiltrate, and thus start out hitting on 2+ for the first turn. A special type of Wood
Elf shooter is the assassin. If you mount a hero or the general on a flyer and give him
the Hail of Doom arrow, you can land very close to lone characters (like 1" away) and
let fly. Just make sure you are clear of their charge arcs. 3D6 S4 hits (if your BS allows
you to hit on a 1+, you don't have to roll the hits, just the wounds) at -2 save (yes, the
WE bonus applies to this weapon) is pretty dangerous to anything under T6. Finally, the
General Rule of Shooting: Any given round of fire will produce on average 1/4 thw number
of shots fired in wounds scored, before saves are made. So that army with 50 shots per
turn should score about 12 wounds per turn, or 48 wounds from shooting in a 4 turn game.
Not enough to break an army, but enough to take a dent out of one. Where WE excel the most
is in shooting at their own kind. They outrange all other elves, and have that -1 save.
Their archers almost always operate from cover, which makes them harder to hit, and the
best ones skirmish.
Close Combat
Wood Elves are weak overall in close combat. The problem is that this phase is where you
have to win the game. They have only one unit type which can develop a rank bonus easily:
The Glade Guard. Glade Guard are fine troops, but 20 of them with a standard (enough to
keep a rank bonus after a round of HtH) is expensive. Wood Elves win HtH phases by using
their maneuverability to take the other guy's rank bonus away and cause panic tests. Thus,
they tend to operate in "teams" of units. Wardancers and Dryads are a good
combination, as are Chariots and Cavalry, or a treeman and anything else! Much like the
Skaven, the WE player must make the decision about which enemy unit he'll go after and
which ones he'll hold up and delay. While WE struggle to have strong HtH troops, they have
plenty of delaying tactics and troops at their disposal. Dryads, Wardancers, treemen are
all great for this. Even archers and normal troops can delay if they are close to a woods.
All the elves have to do is flee back through the woods to confound the enemy pursuit. A
word about delaying troops: Wardancers are great but never, never, never let them get
charged. Reason: If they are charged, they will have to Shadows' Coil to survive. Next HtH
phase, you will have charged the enemy with something to relieve the Dancers. Now they
have to pick another dance. No matter what it is, barring bad dice rolls, the enemy will
turn your wardancers into combat result since they are just T3 troops with no armor. The
best way to use them is to charge in conjunction with warhawks or cavalry or even a
chariot or some dryads. The WD shadow's coil while the other unit applies the beating.
Dryads suffer from similar problems. They are great delaying troops (better than War
Dancers, but also more expensive) but if you let them get charged by something with
multiple high strength attacks (like Chaos Marauders, for example), they'll break.
Everybody has more ranks than Dryads, so they are operating at a deficit to begin with.
Consider: Bretonnians charge dryads. Dryads use Willow aspect to stop the lance attacks.
Horses attack five times, for a wound. Dryads attack back for 3 wounds, one of which is
not saved. Knights have +3 from ranks and a standard (it's a short lance), win by three,
Dryads must make panic test on 5- or run. Wood Elves should try for the late game charge,
because they need the time to maneuver and allow the archers to shoot up the enemy. Glade
Riders are one of the stars of the WE HtH phase, mostly because they are flexible and hard
to catch. Consider: They are skirmishing cavalry with a 3+ save (at most; 4+ is more
likely). They can feign flight (great for holding up enemy units, esp. if done by GR units
operating in teams) and can move through woods at no penalty. Consider the following
scenario: Glade Riders charge an enemy unit, doing lance strikes and manage to kill most
everything in contact. The enemy makes their break test, but the GRs are in trouble next
turn, since they are going to be S3, T3 with only a 4+ save. Before the HtH phase of next
turn is conducted, the GRs feign flight. They run through a wood close by, which
effectively stops all pursuit (unless the enemy can move through woods). Next turn, if
they are free to do so, they can charge another enemy unit, or just get more position. The
ability to move on the enemy turn is a great thing. The other star of the HtH phase is the
WE chariot. For 130 points, you get a chariot with four horses, three crew (with 5+
saves), three longbow shots and S4 when they charge, plus the D6+2 impact hits it will do.
The only danger to such a machine is from flyers. The scarecrow banner is of great utility
in that instance. The ideal attack is a chariot charge frontally, in conjunction with a
Glade Rider charge from a flank. That should generate enough combat score to break
anything or crumble an Undead regiment.
Magic
The Wood Elves have a slightly weird magical setup: Their Mage Lords can choose to use
High or Battle Magic, but their low level mages can only use Battle. This is not that much
of a problem, since the strong single mage lord is a great high magic user. Hard to
dispel, has many items, is tough to kill (4 wounds), etc. Battle Magic also has some of
the coolest spells, from the WE point of view. Net and Hold Fast are terrific. Shield and
Protection are also nifty, and Fireball is nice for picking on small characters. Fear is
great, since if you can get this off against a unit in HtH with a fast WE unit, they will
likely be run down and killed. Given their odd magic, Wood Elves are ideally suited for a
defensive magical strategy. Either they will have a mage lord, for whom every card is a
dispel (no Total Power in tournament) or they will have many little mages with Dispel
Scrolls, Skull Staff and Rod of Power. Defense is good, since the small Wood Elf units are
quite vulnerable to enemy magic. Five Glade Riders die fast from a spell which does 2D6 S4
hits, and there are several spells like that out there. Often, the Wood Elves will not win
in the magic phase, but if they can keep the enemy from doing so, they will win the
battle.
Psychology
Wood Elves are stable troops for the most part, having Ld 8, on the average. That's good,
since they operate away from the general much of the time and have many skirmishing
troops. It's bad too, since 8 or less on 2D6 is much harder than 10 or less. Also, if the
general dies, roughly half the army will heel it back to Athel Loren. The key to their
psychology is to make the general mobile and run him alone. He can go where he's needed to
bolster units who are about to be charged by a terror causing critter, who need help with
a break test, or who are close to fleeing friends. If there is a mage lord around, and he
gets Hand of Glory, many of your Ld worries will vanish. Mount the General on a horse (or
a warhawk) and keep him where he needs to be to help the morale of the troops.