Sylvaneth Overview

The release of the Sylvaneth Battletome marks the first Battletome with the additions of the General’s Handbook in mind.  Along with new fluff and amazing art we received a plethora of new goodies. Be sure to check the Tactics Corner for more great articles!

In this overview I’ll be going over the Allegiance abilities, Deepwood Spell Lore, Artefacts of the Glade, and Arcane Treasures: Sylvaneth.

SYLVANETH ALLEGIANCE

If every model in your army contains the keyword “Sylvaneth” your army can be considered to have the Sylvaneth Allegiance.  Having that allegiance gives you a ton of new options for your army including new battle traits, command traits, and powerful artefacts.

BATTLE TRAITS

• Wyldwood Groves: Allows us to set up a Wyldwood after all other terrain is set up. This is a great trait that allows us to get our first Wyldwood.  Put this sucker behind enemy lines, then summon one on your own side of the board and march your tree-homies to their backlines.
• Forest Spirits: Instead of setting up a unit on the board you can set units up in a “hidden enclave” (which just means setting them to the side). In your movement phases you can choose to bring a unit in from the hidden enclave to within 3” of a Wyldwood and at least 9” away from an enemy unit.  This is particularly good with the Harvestboon Wargrove battalion.  The Wargrove gives you +1” to your charge range (among other things) which makes it so you have an 8” charge instead of 9”.  Great way to bog down the enemy early on, or to protect your important models until your turn.
• Navigate Realmroots: In the movement phase a unit within 3” of a Wyldwood may be removed from the Wyldwood and set up within 3” of a different Wyldwood, but has to be 9” or more away from an enemy model.  After doing that, roll a dice. On a 1 they can’t do anything for the rest of your turn, a 2-5 the unit is not allowed to move further, and on a 6+ the unit may move again.  All three treelords treat a 1 as a 2-5 instead.  This ability provides a HUGE amount of mobility granting access all over the board for all of our models instead of just treelords

COMMAND TRAITS

1. Realm Walker: Allows you to add two to the result on a Navigate the Realmroots move. This is great for a Treelord General like Spirit of Durthu.  Allowing him to reposition then get an extra move on a 4+ could be game changing for you.
2. Gnarled Warrior: Your general ignores -1 rending. This one is a bit weak compared to the rest.  The Sylvaneth have plenty of ways to increase saves like staying in the Wyldwoods and Mystic Shield, this shouldn’t really be needed.
3. Gift of Ghyran: The general heals 1 wound automatically and D3 wounds if they are within 3” of a Wyldwood. This is very strong on characters like Spirit of Durthu.  Unless you are bringing Alarielle this trait should get a strong consideration.
4. Lord of Spites: You can reroll the first failed hit in each phase. This one is a bit situational, at most you’ll be granted three rerolls in a single turn (both players).  Might be useful for Spirit of Durthu’s Guardian sword and possibly the massive impaling talons but it’s not a top tier pick.
5. Warsinger: Add 1” to any charge roll for Sylvaneth within 10”. This one is pretty powerful and allows you to make charges a little more manageable, for example reducing the 9” range after navigating the Realmroots to 8” instead.
6. Wisdom of the Ancients: All Sylvaneth within 10” add one to their bravery in the battleshock phase only.  Not much to say on this one, not very powerful with the tree people unless you are running massive Dryads and Revenants, and even with that army composition the +1” charge would be more valuable.

DEEPWOOD SPELL LORE

1. Throne of Vines: Casting value of five; grants D3 to spell casting and unbinding until the caster moves. This spell is only really useful for Alarielle, but it’s incredibly good for her.  Unlike all other Sylvaneth Wizards she gets to cast up to three spells instead of just one per turn.
2. Regrowth: Casting value of five; heals one friendly model for D3 wounds, if that model is Sylvaneth it’s healed D6 instead. This is one of the three best spells we have available to us.  Being able to heal D6 wounds from a Spirit of Durthu or either of the treelords is incredible.
3. Verdant Blessing: Casting value of 6; you can set up a Sylvaneth Wyldwood within 18” and not within 1” of anything else. This is the second of our three major spells.  Since the change to Durthu this becomes our most consistent way to create Wyldwoods.  Combine this with our automatic first one with Wyldwood Groves and you already have some table advantage!
4. The Dwellers Below: Casting value of 7; select a unit and roll a number of dice equal to the models in the unit and for each six that unit suffers a mortal wound. This spell is not particularly strong as we have more than enough to deal with mobs.
5. The Reaping: Casting value of 6; all enemy units within 3” suffers D3 mortal wounds. This should only be used in conjunction with The Silverwood Circlet Artefact (see below).
6. Treesong: Casting value of 7; Pick a Wyldwood within 10” and rouse it.  After that move it 2D6” ending 3” or more away from enemy models or terrain features.  Any unit fully within the Wyldwood is moved with it.  This wraps up the top tier of our spellcasting.  Use this sucker to transport your melee models up the field in the command phase and reposition a Wyldwood.  There is nothing like watching your Spirit of Durthu surf his way up the field to keep that D3 extra attacks for being near a Wyldwood!

ARTIFACTS OF THE GLADE

1. Dalth’s Reaper: Pick one melee weapon, when you roll a 6 to wound with that weapon it gains a -4 rend characteristic.
2. The Oaken Armour: Ads one to any save for the hero. Pretty simple, but we still have so many ways to increase our saves that it’s a bit overkill.
3. Briarsheath: Your opponent subtracts one from all hit rolls made against your hero. This is our best defensive Artefact.  Increasing the difficulty to hit the Hero provides more defensive power than increasing the save with The Oaken Armour or ignoring wounds on a six with Glamourweave.
4. Seed of Rebirth: The first time the bearer of this artefact loses its last wound, it immediately heals D3 wounds. You would have to hope that your hero dies at the end of a combat phase to make the most of this one.  If you have healing casters this could be useful.
5. Wrathstone: Subtract one from the bravery of all enemy units within 10” during the battleshock phase. The only time this is worth considering would be when combining it with the revenants and going all in for the battleshock tactic.
6. Glamourweave: Anytime you take a wound or mortal wound roll a dice and on a 6+ the wound is ignored. With only 1/6 chance it falls short of the protection that either the Briarsheath or Oaken Armour would provide.

ARCANE TREASURES: SYLVANETH

Instead of taking an Artefact of the Glade a Sylvaneth Wizard can take one of these treasures.

1. Acorn of the Ages: Your Wizard tosses an acorn in the ground up to five inches away and it turns into a Wyldwood. This is decent value but if you are taking the spell, this treasure’s value will be lowered significantly.
2. Warsong Stave: The Wizard knows the Treesong spell along with all other spells. This gives a bit of versatility with your casters.  If you don’t have many casters this may be worth it to ensure you get the three top tier spells.
3. Moonstone of the Hidden Ways: Once per game you may remove the Wizard and place them anywhere on the board that’s four or more inches away from an enemy. This is a great repositioning tool.  Once per game limits it, but it could still be quite useful depending on the scenario.
4. Ranu’s Lamentiri: Add one to casting rolls, or add two if the spell is a Deepwood Spell Lore spell. This is a very consistent artifact and should be considered for any caster with one or more of the three top tier spells.
5. Hagbane Spite: Once per game instead of unbinding a spell you can force the caster to take D3 mortal wounds after the spell is resolved. This is pretty weak and with only a one time use it will likely not make the cut.
6. The Silverwood Circlet: Add six inches to the maximum range of every spell the wearer knows. Put this puppy on any caster and it will have value.  If you combine this with The Reaping spell above, you’ll have nine inches of D3 mortal wounds to units.

The Sylvaneth have had the theme of synergy since they became their own little family apart from the elves.  This battletome has cemented that fact and given the Sylvaneth even more power to stand on their own two branches.  It will be interesting to see how the other factions pan out when they get their battletomes, but until that point breath in the power that is the Sylvaneth Battletome!

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