The final rank and file unit for the Wood Elves are relative newcomers, having first appeared in 8th edition, just a few months before the End Times. Wildwood Rangers have cool hoods, big weapons and no fear.
Stats and Special Rules
Wildwood Rangers have exactly the same statline as Eternal Guard, with a base cost of 14pts, which is 1pt more than their spear-wielding brethren. Much like the Eternal Guard, they come with light armour as base (you can buy shields for 1pt per model), and they are Close Order and come with Elven Reflexes and Move Through Cover. You can purchase full command for 6 points each (compared to 5 for Eternal Guard) and the champion and standard bearer each have 50 points to spend on magic items/banners.
Where things start to diverge is with the last two special rules and their weaponry. The Rangers are armed with the “Ranger’s Glaive”, which Requires Two Hands (making the shields only useful vs shooting attacks), but gives S+2 and AP -2. Note that unlike a Great Weapon it does not have Armour Bane (1) nor does it Strike Last. At base Initiative 4 (or 5 when Elven Reflexes kick in), it’s likely that you’re going first against a lot of enemies.
Rangers are Immune to Psychology, which makes sense when combined with their unique special rule: Guardians of the Wildwood. This rule gives them +1 Attack and Multiple Wounds (2) when in base contact with a model that causes Fear or Terror. Note that it explicitly states base contact, so you’ll have to roll two sets of dice if your unit is wider than what you’re attacking, to account for those supporting attacks that don’t do Multiple Wounds.
Battlefield Role
Part of the reason I left this unit to last is because I actually think they have a very limited battlefield role. At S5, they are not good against the big ridden monsters that are dominating the meta (looking at you, Dragons) as they are all T6. I really want them to be, but the math just doesn’t work out. Even assuming the Dragon Rider has foolishly allowed you a charge in the flank, where you can get 6 models in base contact with the 100mm of the base, you won’t do enough damage to really hurt it. (Against a Dragon Rider with a 3+/5++, you’ll do on average 1.78 wounds, assuming 12 attacks with multiple wounds 2, which really means you’ll either do 0 or 2. The Dragon and Rider (assuming wielding a GW), will do 5.58 wounds, not counting stomps …).
So, you’re really looking at smaller monsters or monstrous creatures, monstrous infantry / cavalry, or Undead. This means that against some armies, you’re just not doing much (e.g. most of the Forces of Fantasy), but against others you’ll do pretty well (e.g. Tomb Kings). Once I start getting into situationally good units, it turns them into a narrative / fluff choice rather than a competitive one. It could be argued that they’d still have S5 vs say Dwarfs, which is fine. But you’re still T3 with a 5+ AS at best, which means you’re an excellent shooting target (albeit one that won’t panic at any point).
Let’s take a look at how they do against some of these more ideal targets. One monster I see a lot of is the Chimera: it’s fast, and it’s pretty effective against T3 infantry, so it’s something that a Warriors player might well take vs Wood Elves. At I3 and Fly (10), it’s likely that the Chimera will get the charge, but let’s assume you’ve screened the Rangers well with Dryads, and now you’ve got the charge and get to attack first. You’ll get max 3 in base contact (front/rear) or 6 (flank). In the flank, you’ll average 5.33 wounds (assuming it has 5+ Regen, which they typically do) which will kill it. In the front, it’s half that, which means you’ll either do 2 or 4 wounds … the latter kills it. Likely you’ll get it either way, so that’s not bad? Getting the charge will be tricky though. The Chimera, if it survives, will likely do ~4 wounds back (maybe more if it also has a Fiend Tail), so if you don’t kill it, you’re still probably winning combat, assuming you have a banner …
Another common threat from Warriors are Dragon Ogres. Vs them you’ll likely go first because they usually have Great Weapons. They are 50mm wide, so it’s easy to get your whole front rank into base contact. Let’s assume the maximum amount of models in base contact which would be 8. It’s more likely it’d be 6, so I’ll look at that too. 16 attacks results in 9.5 wounds on average (vs T4, 3+ AS) so you’ll kill 2 and take the attacks back from the third. It’s about 7 wounds on average for 12 attacks (6 models in the front rank) so you may end up only killing 1 Dragon Ogre and taking attacks back from 2. Each Dragon Ogre will average 3 wounds back (the 2 stomps are the real killers), so you may still win combat – definitely not a sure thing.
So what about vs Tomb Kings? Vs 3 Ushabti, assuming you can maximize frontage to 7 models, you will wreck face. 10 unsaved wounds before they’ve even had a chance to loosen those Ritual Blades. The big difference here is T4 (vs T5 of the Chimera) and only having heavy armour (which your AP -2 deletes).
In fact, if you start to math it out, the right targets for Wildwood Rangers are Fear causing models that have multiple wounds and a 4+ AS or worse, and ideally no regen/ward save (although a 6+ is fine). Against anything else, they’re taking too much damage back for not enough damage output.
This leads me to the conclusion that a big block of them is only really useful if you know in advance that you’re facing a lot of monstrous infantry (who tend to fit that profile). Not great in a take-on-all-comers list.
The 5-pack
I actually think the right way to take these guys in all-comers list is the same way as you should take all our other infantry (except Eternal Guard) which is in small units. 5-7 models max, and just run them one rank wide. No champion, no upgrades, keep them cheap and treat them like specialist chaff. 70 points for 5 is not bad for what they can do, and they’ll be situationally excellent, and you could go up to 7 and still be (just!) under 100 points.
You could also put the Ruby Ring on a champion in this unit, which is not amazing but it’s an option. The range on the Ring means they don’t have to move super fast to be useful with it.
However, I think I’d run them more in the backfield, protecting the units of Glade Guard that are trying to weaken your opponent with repeated archery shots. If you’ve got 10 models because you bought a box, put 5 on each side of your archer battle line, along with 5 Dryads, and you’ll have enough chaff to prevent enemies from just casually eating your archers for several turns and possibly the whole battle. Of course, I like to also keep a Treeman nearby …
Final Thoughts
I want this unit to be better than they are. All the evidence I’ve had of them being good has been anecdotal or situational (“Oh, they wrecked this unit in my game vs Vampire Counts”). From an optimal tournament choice, they’re low on the list. If you love the models, run 1-2 small units of them (heck, even run 3-4) to help prevent losing too many points at once and to give you the best chances of getting into base contact with those prime Monstrous Infantry targets.
I’m building mine some as Eternal Guard and some as Rangers, and putting the EG at the front of the unit when I want a big block of Guard.
How are you using yours? Had much success at a tournament with them? Any character builds that really maximize their utility? I’ve not found any, but I’d love to hear from other folks about their experiences.
Leave a Reply