Probably my favourite unit in the army roster, I’m stoked to move on to writing about Wild Riders. The ultimate “glass cannon” unit, Wild Riders hit like a truck but die to even the mildest attacks. In this article, I’m going to talk about the pros and cons of the unit, and techniques I’ve found for getting the most out of them.
Stats and Special Rules
Wild Riders are elite cavalry, and their stat line reflects that. They have 1 Attack at WS5–I think only Grail Knights have higher WS?–and S4 base, along with I5 and Ld9 (you’ll rarely use their Leadership though!). Their mounts are also S4, something that often catches opponents by surprise and usually helps with getting an extra wound or two. Like all Elves, they are T3, and they come with Light Armour and a Hunting Spear for 27 points. An extra point per model will buy you shields, and each of the command group costs 7 points. The banner can be up to 50 points, and the champion has a 25 point item limit. That’s it! Not a lot in the way of customisation, and frankly not a lot of need for it either. The Hunting Spear can only be used on the charge, and is S+1, AP -2, AB (1) (don’t forget the Armour Bane! It can really help at times).
Like all Wood Elves, they have Move Through Cover and Elven Reflexes. The unit is Light Cavalry, and has Swiftstride, Fast Cavalry and Open Order special rules. Those last two mean that after any move that isn’t a charge or flee, you get a free pivot up to 90° (more on this later). And then finally, they have five rules that really make them into the Wild Riders: Fear, Frenzy, Furious Charge, Counter Charge and Talismanic Tattoos. Frenzy and Furious Charge both only affect the riders, not the mounts, but it means that any turn in which you charge more than 3″, you have 3 attacks per model, which is monstrously good! Counter Charge means you’ve a 2/3 chance of being able to get that Furious Charge off even when someone else is charging you. The Frenzy also means they don’t care about Fear/Panic/Terror, and they do also cause Fear. Cavalry have Unit Strength of 2 per model, so Fear will occasionally come into play (more on this later too!). Talismanic Tattoos grant a 6+ ward save, so if you take the shields that’s a 5+/6++ which is … well, it’s crap, but occasionally it will keep one model alive, and that’s not nothing.
Battlefield Role
The Wild Riders role is very clearly defined: they are fast moving, hard hitting shock troops. They always want to be charging, not just because of Frenzy, but because it’s the best way to keep them alive and have them score points for you. They win by killing enough models on the charge that there are few to no attacks back, and so you want to select targets that are most likely to give you that opportunity. Here are the criteria I’m looking for:
- WS4 or lower
- this means hitting on 3+ rather than 4+
- T4 or lower
- wounding on 3+ or or 2+
- 4+ AS
- AP -2 makes that a 6+
- Normally you’re hitting things with a 3+ AS though
- 1 wound each
- Monstrous Cav / Infantry have an annoying habit of taking 2 wounds and still being around to hit you back and then stomp on you
This means that when the Wild Riders charge on their own, they are usually charging other cavalry, and occasionally infantry. However, the golden rule of Asrai close combat is (say it with me!) “Never charge alone!“
When taking Wild Riders in my list, I am usually running 6. 7 is often a bit too wide for manoeuvring and usually when I get into combat the 7th rider is only able to give 1 supporting attack. 5 didn’t seem to pack enough punch, so 6 it is! People run their heavy cav 4-5 wide, so if you are charging (or counter charging) in the front, you’ll still get all your attacks. You don’t want to have your Wild Riders in two ranks – you want to maximize the chances that you get all 4 attacks per model (3 rider, 1 mount) actually into the unit you’re charging.
Combo charging with two units of 6 Wild Riders is actually pretty difficult and rare just because you’d likely need to be able to charge them into two different arcs to really get the benefits of charging with both. So, I’ve found that the best pairing to combo charge with is your favourite build of Great Stag riding combat character. Here’s the BSB build that I’m enjoying:
There’s a lot to be said about this build, and I’ve now run it often enough to say that I will likely not run Wild Riders without this BSB (or similar). She has a 2+ Armour Save (Great Stag has Armoured Hide (2), +1 from Helm of the Hunt (or HotH as it’s often abbreviated, and so I call her The GotH BSB – hmm, maybe she needs to be painted black …), plus Light Armour and Shield) although this only applies to shooting attacks – it’s 3+ in Close Combat because she uses a Great Weapon. She has +2 static combat res (BSB + War Banner). She’s also a Skirmisher, giving her that amazing 360° charge arc meaning it’s a lot easier to position her correctly to combo charge with the Wild Riders (in other words: you can focus on positioning the Wild Riders correctly for a charge, knowing it’s easy to move the Skirmisher into a complementary spot for combo-charging).
She pumps out a decent amount of damage in combat on the charge:
- 1 S5 impact hit at I10 (Great Stag
- 4 S6 WS7 attacks at I9 (Great Weapon)
- 2 S5 WS4 attacks at I7
- 1 S5 Stomp at I0
The real trick comes from the Befuddlement of Mischiefs, which puts 1 unit in base contact at -1 WS and -1 I for the combat. The GotH, as I’m now calling her, is WS7 and the Wild Riders are WS5. Here’s the To Hit chart with the relevant parts highlighted (blue for Wild Riders, green for The GotH BSB):
As you can see, when a target is WS3 and then drops to WS2 because of the Mischiefs, the Wild Riders go from hitting on 3+ to 2+, and are only hit back on a 5+ (rather than a 4+). This same effect happens for The GotH at WS 4 – they drop to WS3 and are now hit on 2+ and hitting back on 5+. There’s also a minor buff for Wild Riders hitting targets of WS5, as they’ll drop to WS4 and thus can be hit on 3+ instead of 4+. This changes the combat math a lot, and so really helps when thinking about target priorities. Now we know we’ll hit harder against WS3 targets, which includes most monsters and monstrous infantry. We also know that against WS4, the BSB will get that same bump (and the Stag gets bumped from hitting on 4+ to 3+). The BSB is also not afraid of T5 targets, being S5 and S6 for all her attacks. (A final note on the Mischiefs – the -1 I rarely comes into effect except when fighting other things with Strike First, at which point you put them on I9 and striking simultaneously with your BSB. I would not recommend charging a Strike First unit with Wild Riders if you can avoid it.)
Let’s do a little math! In the games I’ve been playing, I’m most commonly charging my Wild Riders into other people’s knights, particularly Chaos Kinghts (at WS5, T4), Knights of the Realm / Empire Knights (WS4, T3) and Knights Errant (WS3, T3). These are all prime targets. Not counting the BSB or mount attacks for the moment, 6 Wild Riders charging into one of these units will do damage as follows:
| Unit | At normal WS | At -1 WS | Damage Back |
| 6 Chaos Knights | 4.5W | 6.0W | 1.8W / 0W |
| 7 Knights of the Realm | 4.9W | 4.9W | 1.0W |
| 8 Empire Knights | 7.4W | 7.4W | 0.4W |
| 9 Knights Errant | 4.9W | 6.1W | 1.8W / 0.9W |
Clearly Wild Riders blend up other cavalry really well – going first makes a huge difference, and the -1 from the Mischiefs really helps with extra damage output against WS5 and WS3 opponents. Obviously there will be more actual damage output, once you include the mounts and the GotH BSB, and then +3 static combat res for 2 banners and the War Banner. You can also throw this into large infantry blocks, monstrous infantry … pretty much anything that isn’t T5+ and expect the combo charge to do very well.
Here’s the part where causing Fear comes in! Your unit Strength is 12, and your opponent will roll for Fear after you’ve had your attacks, so most likely their unit is quite depleted at this point. [Edit: your opponent must roll for Fear at the start of combat, not when its their turn to fight–thanks Vít!] If they fail that Ld test, they are at -1 to hit back, meaning they hit the Wild Riders on 5s and the BSB on 6s. It’s not going to happen very often, but maybe once or twice over the course of an event, and it’ll be useful if it does!
The other advantage the GotH BSB will give you is the ability to block the compulsory charge from Frenzy. Putting the BSB in front of the Wild Riders will prevent them from being forced to charge. With T4 and a 2+ Armour Save against shooting, she can sit up front and not be afraid of what your opponent might try to shoot her with (although cannonfire is always something to be wary of!). She also has Evasive, if you need to get out of the way in a hurry!
By being in front of the Wild Riders, she’s actually providing them with Partial Cover if someone decides to shoot at them. If you aim to keep Wild Riders at long range for BS shooting attacks, your opponent will be forced into choosing between shooting Wild Riders at -2 or a tough and Evasive BSB, neither of which is a great choice.
Hammer and Anvil
In this classic tactic, the Wild Riders (+ GotH BSB) are of course the Hammer. We have a choice of anvils to use, which will depend a lot upon the style of army you’re playing and your model collection. There are pros and cons to each, which I’ve outlined for them all here. They are all Stubborn, which I think is essential for a good Anvil unit. Likely your army will include at least 1, and potentially more.
Anvils
| Pros | Cons |
| Very hard to kill (T6, 4+/5++ saves, 5-6 wounds) | Slow (M5, Close Order) |
| Has a stand & shoot reaction! | High points cost |
| Smallest base footprint (50×50) |
| Pros | Cons |
| Hard to kill (T5, 5+/5++ saves, 3 wounds) | Slow (M5, Close Order) |
| Small Footprint | Low damage output (S4, AB2) |
| Low minimum points cost (102 for 2) |
| Pros | Cons |
| Cheap (13pts a model) | Medium Speed (M5, Skirmish) |
| Very agile (Skirmisher) | Low damage output |
| Good redirection (Open Order) | Medium to kill (T4, 6+/6++) |
| More than just Anvil roles |
| Pros | Cons |
| Good redirection (Close Order) | High points cost (300 for 20) |
| Very mobile (Drilled) | Low damage output |
| Static combat res | Easy to kill (T3, 5+ AS) |
| Core |
All of these will work great as anvil, depending on what the rest of your army is doing. If in doubt, use Dryads, as they are the cheapest and most flexible. They can also be used as a screen, chaff, etc. but because of Stubborn, they are still suitable for use as an anvil, taking a hit for the team then Falling Back at an angle to present a flank/rear for the Wild Riders, like this:
In this example, what appears to be a head on charge will become a flank charge, giving you much less risk of attacks back and +1 combat resolution. Make sure when you Fall Back In Good Order that you use your free reform to form into Open Order so that it forces the redirection.
Vulnerabilities
Obviously the biggest risk you have with Wild Riders is Frenzy. The most recent FAQ (1.1) means that there are pretty easy ways to block it, just by putting another unit in front as a screen. I’ve already outlined that I use the GotH BSB for that, but you can also use Great Eagles or even Dryads for this role. Any kind of screen will also help with the next major vulnerability which is being T3 with a 5+ AS … in other words, a prime target for BS shooting attacks. I mentioned eariler about using your GotH BSB to act as Partial Cover, it’s a neat trick. Oh, in case you need the reference, the rules for being in cover are actually in an unintuitive place in the rulebook: p103 under “Obscured Line of Sight”, which is actually a part of the chapter titled “Model & Unit Facing”.
Be wary of other armies using their chaff to bait the Riders into a charge – whoever is screening for them usually needs to be placed correctly to prevent charges in every direction. Also, if you do end up having an overrun you don’t like, Wild Riders have the Fast Cavalry rule, meaning that they can pivot up to 90° after an overrun (Quick Turn rule, under Open Order: after any move that isn’t a charge, march or flee), so it’s a little easier for our Riders to get back into the thick of things if they do accidentally get pulled off course chasing down enemy chaff. [Edit: with the FAQ, any unit (including Frenzied ones) can make a Ld test to reform after wiping out an enemy unit and overrunning – I guess you can still Quick Turn if you fail your Ld test]. Use whatever shooting or magic missiles you have to deal with enemy chaff as early as you can.
But the real problem is currently the meta-defining Magic Missiles, particularly Fireball (and the Ruby Ring) and The Summoning, both of which can easily wreck your Wild Rider unit if not dispelled. There’s no silver bullet here, but here are the different things I’m using to help keep them safe.
- Bring the Oaken Stave (or Broaken Stave as it’s been nicknamed locally). This is our most potent Arcane item, on your L4 Spellweaver. I can’t overstate how good this item is. 27″ Dispel Range vs everyone else’s 24″, so you can stay out of range of their Dispel while still being able to Dispel them. Oh, and when you are Dispelling? Roll 3d6 and drop the lowest. It actually feels like cheating: it’s not, but the math is very good! Apparently the probability shows that 62.4% of the time, 3d6 drop lowest is higher than 2d6, 27.6% of the time it’s lower, and the other 10% of the time it’s a tie which in the case of Dispelling means a loss. The odds of winning a straight up Dispel roll (my 2d6 beats your 2d6) is 44.4%, so it’s like you just got a 40% boost to your odds of winning that roll, which is why it feels like cheating 🙂 Yours for the low price of 40 points. (The downside is very mild: you must be within 3″ of a Forest.)
- Deploy the Wild Riders last, just before characters. This gives you the best chance at being able to keep them away from Enemy Wizards. Figuring out where your enemy will deploy those ranged threats is definitely an important part of the Deployment phase. It also helps you deploy in such a way so as to maximize your chances of getting a charge at your prime sorts of targets, as mentioned earlier.
- Keep a screening unit between the enemy Wizard and your Wild Riders. The GotH BSB can do this pretty well but not entirely on her own, as she only has a 50x50mm base – she doesn’t care about being Fireballed (note, she can use Evasive to get out of range or line of sight, and even if you don’t want to do that she’s still got T4 and a 2+ AS).
Summary
Wild Riders are great, far and away my number one favourite unit to use. They are not the easiest to get the hang of, and there’ll be games where you’ll just lose the whole unit to a Magic Missile because you didn’t position things quite right. But for all those games where you use them right, they will blend up most armies. And always remember the golden rule of Asrai combat:
Never Charge Alone!
How do you use your Wild Riders? Is there any tech or kit you consider must have? Let me know in the comments!
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