Building a Wood Elf force completely devoid of large blocks of troops and powerful monsters significantly alters the strengths and weaknesses of the army. Time to examine them again.

Weaknesses Revisited

In the general tactics article, I listed what I perceived to be the weaknesses of a general Wood Elf army. These limitations included the facts that their troops are costly, frail, and unarmoured. In addition, few units in the Wood Elf army gained a bonus to combat resolution from extra ranks, and only about half of the unit types had the ability to negate the enemy's rank bonus.

Ready to Rumble
Playing with only the most mobile troops — namely the Skirmishers, Flyers, and Fast Cavalry — removes the toughest units in the Wood Elf army as well as some of the weakest. Under these self-imposed unit limitations, Eternal Guard, Tree Kin, and Treemen all get left behind. These units are among the few Wood Elf units with armour and/or Toughness sturdy enough to deflect a blow. On the other hand, the frail Glade Guard are also off limits as they are neither Skirmishers nor Fast Cavalry. Generally speaking, the units in the Ambusher army are less combat worthy than those of the general Wood Elf army list.

Broken Ranks
Not having many units with the ability to rank up and get a combat resolution bonus was a big problem for the Wood Elf army. For the Ambusher army, it is a calamity. Not a single unit in the Ambusher army list gets a rank bonus! This absence is a huge disadvantage, but it also liberates you from the confines of standard army building. You can design your units with other purposes in mind than aiming for the rank bonus.

Attacking Infantry Blocks
Similar to the problem with getting rank bonus, the Ambusher army has huge problems negating the enemy's bonus to Combat Resolution. Of all the potential units, only the Fast Cavalry units — the Glade Riders and the Wild Riders of Kurnous — have the ability to disrupt the enemy's rank bonus when they charge in the flank or the rear with a unit of Unit Strength 5 or more. Neither Flyers nor Skirmishers have this ability, although they can still get the +1 for flank bonus and +2 for rear attack bonus if they have sufficient Unit Strength.

Strengths Revisited

While weaknesses actually got worse under the Ambushers, let's see how strengths do. As I mentioned in a previous article, a well-rounded Wood Elf army has superior manoeuvrability, excellent delay capabilities, great missile fire, a psychological advantage, and the ability to alter the battlefield during the setup and during the battle.

Mobility
Almost exclusively, army mobility is the characteristic that is being augmented by choosing an entire army of Skirmishers, Flyers, and light cavalry. By choosing an Ambusher force, almost every other strength is being thrown out the window. However, by building an army that is so fast, you sidestep so many Warhammer combat principles that getting them locked into combat will be nigh impossible.

Mischief
By opting for only quick, manoeuvrable troops and attempting to avoid combat, you'll find your foe's units slowed, spun around, and confused. In the end, you might not even have a battleline for the enemy to move against.

Specialist Troops
With the elimination of many troop types as options, your unit choices with Fear or Terror are cut in two. Furthermore, your core unit of missile troops, the Glade Guard, is no longer an option. This is a huge limitation, as without them, you are really only left with costly archers on horseback along with expensive Special and Rare unit choices. Deploying a powerful shooting Wood Elf army is much more difficult without these Core troops.