By Simon Marshal

Oh!, How they've grown...

Welcome dear wanderers. Let me guide you as we carefully make our way through the darkest forest in the old world. You had better keep to the track and avoid walking on the grass as they don’t like that. And I’d put that flower back down if I were you, you don’t know if it’ll upset them.
This fine tome is clearly overgrowing with wood elf goodness. I’ll be giving a brief overview of some of the lovely things available in this book and what it could mean to those that choose to wield a wood elf army, and also those on the receiving end of the sharp stick. Don’t expect to see stat lines and exact rules here (if you want that then you’ll just have to buy the book like everyone else.)
I’ll try my best to tell you all that I know of the fickle creatures that inhabit Athel Loren.
First let’s look at the things that haven’t changed. Elves are elves and they still suffer from the low toughness which makes them brittle. Coupled with the wood elf dislike of heavy amour, means that they will need a competent general to wield them effectively. But with the new units available to them they should have many tactical options to choose from.
Units like the dryads have been toned down (but then so have their points)
And Warhawk riders are a lot more expensive than before but do get a lovely new special rule. All in all I reckon most wood elf players will enjoy using the new army list. Now let’s take a closer look at the different units available.

Many people out there will be pleased (or not) to hear that there is now a large number of lords and heroes to choose from. The lord choices include the Wood Elf Highborn, Wood Elf Spellweaver and the Ancient Tree man. The heroes include the Wood Elf Noble, Wood Elf Spellsinger and the Branch Wraith Dryad.
The Wood Elf Heroes can choose different kindred aspects. These choices will of course affect the other choices in regards to equipment and magic items. There is even a shape shifting aspect for those out there in conversion land. (More on this later) The Wood Elf Spell Weaver and Spell Singer now have access to their own Wood Elf Magic and more magic items to choose from than the last incarnation.
The Ancient Treeman and Branch Wraith choices now mean you can field your very own army of walking shrubbery. They make a nice change and can help give a theme to your army (e.g. The Woods of Athel Loren being more active during summer).Though they don’t have access to the magical items like the elves do they can be given spites (more on these little blighters later.)

Being the core of your force there is quite a good selection of core units to make up your army.
Glade Guard
This is your basic Wood Elf armed with a bow. Depending on what role you want them to fulfill, from a standard formation to skirmishing scouts these guys (and gals) can do it.
Glade Riders
These fast cavalry units will no doubt fulfill the role of mobile support for other units. Though, they will have to be used carefully as they don’t have any form of armor.
Eternal Guard
When your army is led by a Highborn, these guys count as a core units.
Their unique fighting style gives them some nice bonuses without drawbacks (though not making them overpowered by any means). When given a character to lead them they can become a formidable unit.
Dryads
These vicious feminine shrubs aren’t quite as powerful as they previously were, but they can still pack a punch for their points cost.

Wardancer Troupe
These devilish dervishes of doom are pretty much the same as their previous incarnation. They’ve only being given a couple of tweaks here and there.
Warhawk Riders
While a lot more costly than they previously were, these flying piranhas will no doubt cause a headache with their hit and run tactics causing disruptions up and down the battle line.
Wild Riders of Kurnous
Though not heavy cavalry these feral creatures have as many special rules as a bird has feathers (well maybe not quite that many). They can be nasty even if they don’t get to charge.
Tree Kin
These walking bundles of lumber will be a welcome option to toughen up those vulnerable elves with their greater toughness and scaly bark like skin. (Not that a well placed fire wouldn’t soon fix things).

Way Watchers
These sinister forest assassins will no doubt have characters running for the nearest unit when they turn up way to close for comfort.
Treeman
These lumbering fire hazards have been given a bit of an increase in points, but their little tweaks make up for it. Treemen now get a ranged attack that can be a nasty surprise for a unit trying to hide close by.
Great Eagles
Though you can only field one as a single rare choice they’re still a useful unit for their points cost.

What are those little things?
Mischievous little forest spirits known as spites inhabit the forest of Loren playing their tricks on the elves and helping protect the forest from interlopers. The introduction of the spites would have to be one of the biggest changes to the wood elf book. And feature heavily in the artwork throughout. These vicious little blighters can be used to upgrade your wood elf heroes or ancient treemen and branch wraiths just like equipment. Their abilities ranges from adding dispel dice to some very nasty bound spells.
Magical doohickeys
Lets look at the shiny baubles that the wood elves have at there disposal.
Though a lot of the previous magical arms and equipment have disappeared there are still some of the old favorites left. Magical weapons like the Spirit Sword and Bow of Loren remain as well as the enchanted item like the Hail of Doom Arrow. Many of the magical armor and talisman items focus on protection, giving ward saves of varying degrees. There are quite a few more magical arrows in the enchanted items list, and a wonderful one use item that allows transportation from one wood to another.The Arcane Items list focuses on defensive magic giving greater chances of dispelling spells. Magical banners seem to focus on slowing the enemy down by either making one of your units unbreakable (for a period 20 seconds or however long the turn takes) to preventing march moves within 12 inches instead of the usual 8.
Wood Elf Kindred
Throughout the book are little paragraphs describing the different factions or Kindred as the wood elves call them, giving plenty of ideas to theme different wood elf armies. When choosing your wood elf heroes you are given a choice of giving them a kindred aspect. These aspects cost points, but you can gain some very useful special rules often at the cost of equipping them a certain way. The aspects allow your Highborn/Noble to become things like Waywatcher Kindred, Eternal Kindred and even Alter Kindred that have changed their shape into a sleeker form (as mentioned before). While most of the Kindred Aspects are focused on Highborn and Nobles there is an aspect called Glamourweave Kindred just for the Spellweavers and Spellsingers.

While Ariel still remains strongly all through out the book she isn’t featured in the Special Character section. Orion still there leading his wild hunt and there’s an addition of two (or three) new special characters. Drycha the fanatical Branch wraith, as well as Naestra and Arahan the sisters of twilight that ride either a great eagle or forest dragon. (I won’t mention any more about these characters. I’ll leave it up to you to find out how nasty they are.)

The Lore of Athel Loren
Wood elves now have access to there own list of magic spells. While the spells aren’t overly offensive they will now doubt prove useful to most generals.
Wood elf magic varies a great deal between spells, from Tree Singing to giving units the ability to regenerate. There’re also a couple of spells that increase the mobility of units.

Well there you have it. I hope you found it enlightening, love ’em or leaf ’em there here to stay. If you’re a wood elf player, may your arrows fly true and your trees bear fruit. And if you’re an enemy, walk vary carefully when you’re in the forest they’ll be watching your every move.

Simon