The penultimate unit in Wood Elf Core is Glade Riders. They are the only non-Infantry core choice, and have the same stat line as a Glade Guard but, being mounted, are M9 and have an extra attack at WS 3 for only 7 points more.
They are Light Cavalry, with the Fast Cavalry special rule, and the choice of being used in Skirmisher or Open Order formation. They also have the Fire & Flee special rule built in (which costs an extra point for Glade Guard, so really the pony is only costing you 6 points).
Like the Glade Guard, they can take all the different types of arrows for an Asrai Longbow. I think here the choice is much more meaningful, depending on the role you intend the unit to play. I think there are a lot of potential roles for Glade Riders, as they are very good, cheap, fast cavalry. The obvious examples are as chaff/chaff removal, and war machine hunting. A unit of 5 is only 90 points, which, while not the cheapest chaff in the army, is still not bad. You can forego any magic arrow if they are just playing a chaff role, although Trueflight probably would make sense for just an extra point per model, thus giving you a much better chance of picking off a couple of wounds before charging the opponent’s chaff unit. For war machine hunting, I think you need more models, or perhaps two units, and give them Hagbane tips for the Poisoned Attacks.
Some units in the army can also be given Ambushers (this seems like a bad choice, given how unpredictable the rule is), Drilled or Reserve Move. Both of these latter two seem like they would be better on a larger unit, rather than a 5-model chaff unit, but they come with the caveat that this unit is T3 and has no armour saves, and so any kind of points spent here are also easily lost if you don’t protect them well.
Drilled is not something you’d take if you’re going to run them as Skirmishers, but that got me to think about what way it might work. Perhaps in a block of 12, so you could have a 3×4 marching column, march 27″ on turn 1 (yes, 27″, with as many wheels as you like and remembering that they get no penalties for moving through cover*) and pivot at the end of the march (thanks Fast Cavalry!). Then on your next turn, you declare a charge into squishy things (like War Machines) in the back line, Redress the Ranks to put 7 in your front rank, and 5 in the rear and get your full (+1 for Light Cav/Open Order) rank bonus. However, while this seems like it’s very fun in theory, I think the reality is that this unit will die to whatever shooting or magic missiles your opponent has, and that a unit of 12 with Drilled will cost you 240 points which you’d probably rather spend elsewhere.
Reserve Move seems like a decent rule for a unit that wants to perform flank / harrying role in the army, and I think this is probably one of the better roles for this unit. Being able to skirmish forward, shoot, and then move out of charge range/arc is going to be very annoying for your enemy. It also allows them to be positioned for a supporting / flank charge to help out your other units–remember Wood Elves more than any other army want to be charging with multiple units into the same target. However, I’ve a feeling they can perform this role pretty well without spending the extra +2 per model it costs to give them Reserve Move. It was pointed out to me that this special rule is only +1 point, so I think it’s likely auto-take on most units, so that you can shoot and still move 18″.
And the final role I see for them, and the one I think they’ll be used for a lot, is as a screen. Running a unit of Glade Riders in front of your Wild Riders not only prevents the Wild Riders from being directly targeted by enemy missile fire, it also stops the Wild Riders from making disadvantageous charges due to their Frenzy special rule.
Overall, I think running multiple small units of Glade Riders is a pretty effective way to spend your Core points. In a 2,500 point list, taking 3-4 units of 5 will eat up 3-400 points of that Core allowance, and give you some very fast moving units–they’ll die easily, but in the end, better them than something else in the army!
Of the five Core choices in the army, I rate the Glade Riders at #2 in the list. They are a pretty good choice, moving fast and forcing your opponent to deal with a minor threat with a lot of range, as long as you remember how easily they will die.
*After posting this article, it was pointed out to me that Glade Riders are the only unit in the Wood Elf army that don’t have the Move Through Cover special rule. I’m assuming this is an oversight and will get fixed in the Errata for Forces of Fantasy (I’ve also added it to the list of FAQ/Errata stuff I’m tracking). Any opponent who forces you to play without it should have their name written in the Book of Grudges–oh, crap, wrong army!
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