Wargrove of Woe


 * Wargrove of Woe requires Realm of the Wood Elves to play.

Wargrove of Woe is a playable Wood Elves faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer II with The Twisted and the Twilight. It is led by Drycha and can be found in Gryphon Wood, in the eastern parts of the Empire.

Background
Long ago, Drycha held court amongst the roots of Addaivoch, the once-glorious creature known in recent times as the Tree of Woe. Most believe that Drycha lost her mind when Morghur’s death tainted that ground forever, but in truth, she was capricious and malevolent for many long years before that tragedy. Drycha remembers well the days before the coming of the Elves, and has ever rued the folly that shackled the forest to mortal whim and fate. She rarely converses with others, even the Dryads who serve her as handmaidens, but instead chants a mantra of the names of all those fellow spirits whom she believes have been failed by the Elves. As old as Drycha is, she still possess a crystal-clear memory, and it is doubtful that she will ever reach the end of her tally; new names are added with every battle between Athel Loren and the outside world.

In the early years of the alliance between the Elves and forest, Drycha was ever in evidence about the glades and groves, watching the Elves and examining their every action for any sign of betrayal. She has been seen little in the years since Morghur’s blood was spilt upon her glade, though she is known to commune with Coeddil, a Treeman of great age and power, and serves as his herald while the great being lies shackled in the depths of the Wildwood. Such a thing cannot help but provoke unease, for Coeddil’s distrustful attitude of the Wood Elves is legend. He is so incredibly ancient that it is difficult to ascertain his motivation, for Coeddil has forgotten more than many younger beings — the Elves included — will ever know. If these two embittered spirits have found common cause, as it appears, it can only be a matter of time before the balance of Loren forest is thrown into disarray.

In recent years, strange tales have come to Athel Loren, worrying rumours of Drycha’s activities. On the fringe of the great Drakwald Forest in the Empire, the peasants tell stories of the trees that come alive, hungry for blood. On the edge of the Forest of Arden in Bretonnia, villagers gather only deadwood for their purposes, citing tales of other settlements found ruined and torn, the inhabitants left as scraps of tattered meat by the vengeance of the trees. To many, these events seem as senseless as they are apparently random, but if they are indeed the work of Drycha and her handmaidens, there must surely be a greater goal behind them than mere slaughter — though what that goal is remains to be seen. Alas, even Naieth the Prophetess cannot see the destination for which Drycha strives, for the road leading there is hidden by blood and horror.

Race Attributes

 * Similar to Argwylon, the Wargrove has access to Aspects for Tree Spirit units
 * Also has access to a unique version of the Forest Council called the Court of Addaivoch
 * Forest Spirit focused unit roster with a variety of instantly recruitable wild spirits and beasts

Wild Beasts
The Wargrove has access to a number of unique units:


 * All of their Tree Spirit units are replaced by Malevolent versions which have Frenzy. Branchwraiths and Ancient Treemen also have varients based on their lores of magic (Beasts, Shadows, and life) rather than only life magic of standard Ancient Treeman or the mixed life/shadow lores of standard branchwraiths.
 * Malevolent Dryads
 * Malevolent Tree Kin
 * Malevolent Treeman
 * Malevolent Branchwraith
 * Malevolent Ancient Treeman

Wild Beast units:


 * Giant Wolves
 * Cave Bats
 * Giant Spiders
 * Great Hawks
 * Feral Manticore

Starting Location

 * Gryphon Wood

Starting Units

 * Giant Wolves
 * Malevolent Treeman
 * Malevolent Dryads

Faction Effects

 * Upkeep -10% for Dryad, Tree Kin, and Treeman units (all armies)
 * Upkeep +10% for all Elf units (all armies)
 * Starts with 1 Amber
 * All Elf units are Glamoured, reducing their combat power and making them Expendable.

Diplomatic Traits



 * Hates Beastmen
 * Hates Wood Elves

Victory Conditions
Short Campaign:


 * At the start of your turn have at least 500 Forest Health (Athel Loren)
 * Win the following battle: Defence of the Oak of Ages
 * Complete the Ritual of Rebirth in Athel Loren

Long Campaign Victory


 * At the start of your turn have at least 500 Forest Health (Athel Loren)
 * Win the following battle: Defence of the Oak of Ages
 * Complete the Ritual of Rebirth in Athel Loren
 * Complete 8 Rituals of Rebirth

Strategy
-Properly buffed tree spirits form the backbone of this faction particularly in Drycha's army with Coeddil. Use your first ember on poison for tree spirits and always take the red skill tree for both drayds and treekin/men. Dryads and treekin can easily reach 45-50% physical resistance and very respectable combat stats. focus on the synergy of dryads and/or tree kin screening treemen. Eventual treemen will damage surrounding enemies like mortis engines, all you spirits will cause poison and have frenzy. aspects are great. willow is almost always best for dryads and treekin, dryads can switch to oak or birch as needed but vs infantry willow is almost as good as birch even when fighting armor, only use oak if facing tons of large.

- Wolves are great early and keep 2 in every army, these shred through gates faster than monsters or any other unit. open every gate in less than a minute. treekin are not necessarily better than dryads, dyrads kill much better vs infantry and are great on walls, treekin do much better vs large. I prefer 6 dryads plus 6 treemen each paired but treekin are good as well, treekin are bad in offensive sieges sieges though.

-Have lore of life in every army and lore of beasts as well. Pelt plus shield of thorns makes your troops and monsters hit the physical resist cap. Use glade captains and branchwraiths to boost your melee stats. Dont overlook spiders or manticores, spiders are the closest you get to heavy cav and do fairly well with buffs. Manticores are stronger for you than anyone else with the ability to give frenzy and physical resistance they are more cost effective than forest dragons and about the exact same toughness. choice of lore on lord matters, shadow treemen remove the debuff from elf units, beast improve beast units, and life gets regen as a skill. go for beast or shadows with a life branchwraith. finally take or leave elves (only use elves with dycha, the council position or a shadow treeman). Only real units you get are starfire glade guard, shield eternal guard and swiftshiver scouts, neither work great with your in your face attack style. There isn't much synergy between the two styles in one army. You play more like beastmen by default. Vanguard swiftshiver skirmishers do shred unarmored units well so there's that. You cant get range boosting lords except by confederating durthu while he has one, so your archer potential is severely gimped. Treeman/dryad or treekin doomstacks work very well, salt with beasts as needed.

Trivia

 * This faction is unique because it is currently the only faction from Total War : Warhammer II that can be played exclusively in the Mortal Empires campaign.