Picking the Best Lore for your Army

Hey guys, Azeebo here

So Wood Elves have 3 magic lores in which to choose from which gives us less variety than other races but your choice of lore is vitally important... especially in smaller games where you can only field 1 high level wizard.

The Lore of Athel Loren
This is our default lore and is the ONLY lore level 1 and 2 wizards can take. The lore itself is not terrible however its use is a elite and situation based as the Wood Elves themselves. Here is a quick run down of the list:

1. Tree Singing (4+): This spell is our Signature Spell. It allows us to deal tremendous amounts of damage to enemy units even partially within a wood and allows us to move woodland terrain around the board. To top it all off it is very cheap to cast. 
2. Fury of the Forest(6+): A magic missile with an 18" range. It deals Strength 4 hits so is rather effective however if an enemy is in or within 6" of a forest they take Strength 5 hits instead which can deal with heavy infantry making this cheap spell a good addition overall.
3. The Hidden Path(7+): An odd spell, but useful none the less. A single unit within 18" ignores all penalties for moving through terrain (treats all terrain as open ground) and cannot be harmed AT ALL by non magical missile weapons. The uses for this spell are nearly endless, here are a few examples: A unit of Dryads marching towards an Empire gun line? Their powder based weaponry cant harm them. A Treeman in danger of being hit by a Cannon Ball (usually a death sentence)? This spell will prevent that. Beware of anything magical however (most Dwarf Cannons) as this spell will have no effect.
4. The Twilight Host(8+): Another odd spell, it grants the Fear special rule to a single unit. Fear itself is not very effective in 8th, and most things you want in combat already cause it making this part of the spell useless. The more beneficial side is that it makes Fear causing units cause Terror instead which is a bit more useful. Unfortunately it is a bit pricey in terms of power dice to cast and in 8th edition it doesn't really have much of an impact.
5. Ariel's Blessing(9+): This is a very potent spell that can add a lot of durability to a unit. A unit within 18" gains Regeneration...this is much more potent than the Lore of Life's equivalent and due to its low casting value for what it does this is a great spell to have flying around your battle line.
6. The Call of the Hunt(11+): The final spell in the Lore of Athel Loren and this odd lore ends with a bang. With an 18" range any unit targeted that is in close combat gains additional attacks. This makes units like Dryads even more effective and can really give you an edge in combat as you might well imagine. The other side of the coin is if it is cast on a unit NOT in combat that unit moves 2D6" towards the nearest visible enemy, if they make contact with an enemy it is classed as charging however the enemy can only use Hold as its reaction. Basically, this spell lets you deal a tonne of damage, move important units faster or fix a failed charge. This is a winner no matter how you look at it.

For a more in depth look at the lore check out this post:

http://wanderersglade.blogspot.com/2011/06/lore-of-athel-loren-and-its-uses.html

Overall this lore is perfect for the tactical gamer. Nothing in the lore is overly powerful but nearly every spell has a specific use to counter a weakness of our race and with a bit of mind control using the tips found in the above link, this lore becomes VERY powerful. If you want to use it without the dedication of a high level wizard Spell Singers are cheap and can pack quite the punch with this lore. 

The Lore of Life

This lore is the most popular and one of the most powerful lores in the game. Why? It makes your army extremely hard to kill. Spells that increase toughness, regenerate wounds, increase damage potential, increase magical prowess and more! This lore is just NASTY. 

Life Bloom: This is the lores special attribute. Whenever a Life spell is cast, the wizard or any model within 12" instantly heals a wound. This is HUGE for us. We can heal our Treemen and Treekin without even casting spells directly at them keeping them alive and kicking! Considering the 2 units mentioned are some of our most powerful units keeping them alive longer is a great idea.

1. Earth Blood(8+): Basically, this spell grants a weaker version of the Regeneration rule. Its not really worth the investment in power dice without Throne of Vines since its a pricey spell and doesn't really do much compared to its beefier version. It is your Signature spell however so you can always have this spell no matter what you roll when picking your spells.
2. Awakening of the Wood(6+): A spell that is very similar to Fury of the Forest. You deal D6  hits, however if the enemy is partially in a wood it instead does 2D6 hits. Not bad for its cost, but certainly a spell to drop for Earth Blood if you have the opportunity. 
3. Flesh to Stone(8+): Now we are talking. This gives a single unit an INSANE toughness boost making even the weakest of models tough and the toughest of models invincible. When boosted with throne of vines its even more potent. This spell is rightly feared by players everywhere.
4. Throne of Vines(8+): Do you like your spells to be more powerful? Do you like not exploding with a miscast? Do you enjoy watching your immortal legions destroy the enemy? THIS IS THE SPELL FOR YOU! This lore is great without it and AMAZING with it. Pray to Isha you roll this spell every game.
5. Shield of Thorns(9+): Basically this spell is a waste of potential greatness. Its not that its BAD but like Awakening of the Wood you would MUCH rather any other spell in the lore to this. It deals damage to units in base contact with the targeted unit. Not bad like i said...but not great either.
6. Regrowth(12+): The spell to get...this spell literally brings the dead back to life. Have throne of vines active and watch a entire units of dryads and glade guard return to full strength when they are nearly wiped out. A mighty spell to have at your disposal.
7. The Dwellers Below(18+): So far, the general rule of this lore is: If it doesn't make you indestructible its not worth it. This spell is the exception. Basically target a unit and there is a very high chance the majority of the unit will suddenly fall into a pit and die horribly. Whats not to like?

This lore takes the trophy, It is just so good. No spells are BAD but 2/3 of the damage based spells just dont compare to the buff spells. If you want your army to be tougher than dragons then  this is the lore for you!

The Lore of Beasts

This is an...odd lore. It doesn't really make sense to use it most of the time but if you look deeper into it you may find something you love. Life has some competition!

Wild heart: This is the lores special attribute. Erm...its crap. Well not really, its OK but compared to ANY OTHER lore attribute it just doesn't compare. You will likely forget it is there, and if you do remember it wont actually do much.

1. Wyssans Wildform(10+): Grants +1 modifiers to strength and toughness to an entire unit. A great spell and since its a signature spell you can spam it to hell and back. Watch as your dryads become tougher than Ogres, your Treekin become tougher as a dragon and Treemen become gods. Oh, and elves are given a nice boost. Cast this on a unit of eternal guard and watch the kills wrack up! Best signature spell we can take in my opinion.
2. The Flock of Doom(5+): A bunch of low strength hits...just not worth the effort.
3. Pann's Impenetrable Pelt(8+): This is more interesting than you might initially think. Grants a +3 toughness modifier to a single character or to ALL characters for its boosted version.Good stuff. This shines when cast on Nobles and Highborns who are naturally pretty fragile but whats more interesting is you can cast it on Treeman Ancients making them Toughness 9! HURRAH!
4. The Amber Spear(9+): Basically it fires a bolt from a bolt thrower out of your hand. Boosted it fires a cannon ball. Considering we lack this sort of ranged damage its a great spell to have.
5. The Curse of Anraheir(10+): A nasty hex that makes it very difficult for an enemy unit to hit opponents in any phase and makes all terrain dangerous and fatal on a 1 or a 2...ouch.
6. The Savage Beast of Horros(10+): I LOVE this spell. It is just so good for a number of reasons. It grants bonuses to attacks and strength...cool. We have a bow that gets +1 shot for every attack a character has (so 8 in this case), we have arrows that ignore armour...so now we get 8 armour ignoring shots a turn...AWESOME! Your killy close combat characters who are low on strength now have an over abundance of it and almost 2x the attacks...again...awesome! Finally it can be used on TREEMAN ANCIENTS! So you have just given a treeman 8 S9 attacks followed by D6 S9 hits. That is just BRUTAL. Oh and boosted you can cast it on all characters within a certain radius.
7. Transformation of Kadon(16+): You weak wizard transforms into a dragon. Nuff said.

A great lore overall, this is the opposite of life. If you want aggression in your armies take this lore every time. Damn those treeman ancients become insane!!! 

Hope this helps

-Azeebo