Using V formation to win as wood elves

ChangeofWar

NOTE: This is different from the wedge formation!

I was able to beat the AI on very hard consistently in one on one full stack fights. You have to make small variations to the formation depending on what enemy you face.

On each army I had:
8 melee - Wild Wood Rangers
6 Ranged - Glade Guard 4 with star fire and 2 with poison
5 Cavalry - Wild Rider Shields
1 Lord

On the left side and right side of the V formation put 4 melee in front and 3 ranged (1 poison 2 starfire) behind them. Both sides should be facing inwards with an empty center to allow for enough space for the army to envelope the enemy. The AI will mostly funnel inside the V formation allowing your archers on the right side to hit the backs of the enemies to the left and the archers on the left side to hit the backs of the enemies on the right. Cavalry is there for you to send where you need them like fighting other cavalry/rear charges whatever. Sometimes I put my lord in the middle of the empty center as bait for my cavalry.

Sample:

---------------------------Funnel enemy-------------------------
--------------------------through center------------------------

----C----C---C---M----------------------------M---C----C-------
-------------------R--M-----------------------M--R----------------
---------------------R--M------------------M--R-------------------
-------------------------R--M------------M--R---------------------
-------------------------------------L--------------------------------

WARNING: Your archers on the right side should be in range of the archers from the left side vice versa.

Philoslothical#1562

Seems funny, will try this. Wouldn't it be more effective with a couple treekins to hold the line ? They are damn resilient.

ChangeofWar

Philoslothical said:

Seems funny, will try this. Wouldn't it be more effective with a couple treekins to hold the line ? They are damn resilient.

I know that tree kin are amazing but their lines are not tight. Some units can actually pass through and attack your archers which is annoying that is why I prefer to use a unit with a more tight spacing.

You can also use War Dancers with spears for the charge defense but Wildwood Rangers have higher melee attack. The only downside to Wildwood Rangers is they lose their charge defense if they are not in the forest which is a total nerf. Don't use eternal guard though. The whole point of this build is to route the enemy quickly which is something that eternal guard can't do. Once the enemy is funneled in, close the V with your cavalry and let the slaughter begin.

As for the Lord bait just use a Tree for the charge defense against flyers.

Zergles

I just use all Glade Guard with poison arrows. Then you use your Lord and heroes to snipe their lord down within the first minute of battle.

If you want to get fancy, throw Dryads between your massive ranged force and the enemy as a tar pit.

Use your waywatcher and lord to kill his lord. Then keep them moving with the skirmish mode glade guard.

"BUT CAVALRY"

Mounted Hagsbane dudes. Same idea as the glade guard. Kite.

Gunga_din#7413

Zergle said:

I just use all Glade Guard with poison arrows. Then you use your Lord and heroes to snipe their lord down within the first minute of battle.

If you want to get fancy, throw Dryads between your massive ranged force and the enemy as a tar pit.

Use your waywatcher and lord to kill his lord. Then keep them moving with the skirmish mode glade guard.

"BUT CAVALRY"

Mounted Hagsbane dudes. Same idea as the glade guard. Kite.

hmmm...

this doesn`t work if there`s any armored cavalry on the field or too much cavalry. They just ignore the mounted hagsbane and go straight for the archers

yukishiro1#8819

Wildwood rangers are terribad. Wardancers with spears are better in essentially every single way.

SaurianDruid#4682

What do you do when the enemy decides not to advance? I think that's the most frustrating part about this game. You set up an excellent ambush using all the special mechanics the wood elves are built around and the enemy decides to just sit back and wait.

deadhead

SaurianDruid said:

What do you do when the enemy decides not to advance? I think that's the most frustrating part about this game. You set up an excellent ambush using all the special mechanics the wood elves are built around and the enemy decides to just sit back and wait.

You use your glade riders to pepper enemy units on the flanks. Usually you can kill/shatter a unit per glade rider unit, provided they are unarmored and unshielded (which is a big if).
This way you can also abuse the AI into spending all his artillery ammo trying to hit your glade riders.

If you at the same time have a piece of forest near him you can use that to hide a couple of units of wild riders and see if you can bait them away from their lines straight into a charge from your wild riders.
Also use this piece of forest to hide your units when they get exhausted.

SaurianDruid#4682

Deadhead said:

You use your glade riders to pepper enemy units on the flanks. Usually you can kill/shatter a unit per glade rider unit, provided they are unarmored and unshielded (which is a big if).
This way you can also abuse the AI into spending all his artillery ammo trying to hit your glade riders.

If you at the same time have a piece of forest near him you can use that to hide a couple of units of wild riders and see if you can bait them away from their lines straight into a charge from your wild riders.
Also use this piece of forest to hide your units when they get exhausted.

Ah, see I have been playing as Durthu so glade riders cost amber, so I've only used them when defending settlements. I sometimes use hawk riders for that purpose but since they can only fire in front of them and take so long to fire their first volley it can be hard to kite with them properly.

Why basic cavalry archers cost amber I do not know. One would think Wild Riders would be the cavalry that cost amber because they are literally servants of Orion.