‘Warhammer: The Old World’ – The New Elf Magic ‘Lore of the Wild’ Will Give You Wood

The new Wood Elf Magic Lore of the Wild is something to get excited about in Warhammer: The Old World.

The new Wood Elf Arcane Journal is out for pre-order and hitting shelves soon. Earlier this week I took a look at it and why I think it’s a great book and addition to the game. One of the real stand-out sections in it is the new Lore of the Wild, a full new magic lore for the Elves of a Woodsy persuasion. Now this lore goes hard, and I was only able to give it a quick look over in my full review, but I did promise a more in-depth look at it and why it’s so good. So, here we are, let’s dig into this lore and why it’s one of the best in the game.

Who Can Take Lore of the Wild

A lore can be influenced a lot by who can take it. However in this case the answer is, luckily, most Wood Elf Wizards. Right off the bat any Wood Elf Mage, Treeman Ancient, or Branchwraith in the Host of Talsyn can take it. Beyond that, the book adds a new very common magic item, the Heartwood Pendant, that for 15 pts lets the barer pick spells from this lore. This gives it pretty wide usage.

Now sadly it does mean that non-Talsyn Treemen and Branchwraiths can’t take it as they don’t have access to magic items. This is a shame as it’s pretty great on Treemen. However, any list can get access to it somewhere and likely wants it. With that said let’s get into the seven spells.

Swirling Mists (Signature Spell)

Right off the bat, we’ve got a pretty solid signature spell in Swirling Mists. This is a range: Self enhancement that goes off on an 8+. When it does until your next turn any enemies that shoot at the caster or their unit have to re-roll 6s to hit.

While this spell isn’t crazy, it is a nice little defensive spell. Wood Elves are good at being hard to hit from range already, with lots of cover and skirmish options, so making the enemy re-roll sixes can make them pretty much impossible to hurt with BS ranged shooting. It’s also a great way to nerf big poison shooting blocks and it greatly reduces the chances of poison going off. This makes its a great option for a Treeman in particular. A solid start.

1. Fury Of Athel Loren

At a 10+ to cast this magic missile has an 18 inch range and hits with d3+1 S6 ap -2 Multiple Wound (2) hits. While it’s a bit hard to get off this spell packs a punch, with one of the hardest hitting magic missiles around. This is a great anti-monster spell and you’ll never be sad to have it.

2. Ariel’s Blessing

Please give me more saves!

9+ to cast. Range 10 inches enchantment. Gives a unit a 5+ regen save until your next turn. Just a very generically useful spell that is great for the lightly armored Wood Elves. Not a lot to say here, but you can easily use it to get triple save units, which is great. Ariel’s Blessing can’t be cast into combat which is the only minor bummer here.

3. Spiteful Torrent

Magical Vortex. 10+ to case and 15 inch range. Remains in play and uses the 3 inch template, counts as dangerous terrain. This vortex moves d6 in a random direction and hits enemy units with 3d6 s2 Ap -1 hits.

This is really the only big miss out of the bunch to me. Random move/direction Vortexes are just not really great and far too unreliable. It does do a lot of hits, but low S hits just aren’t that great, and Wood Elves can already throw out a lot of low S AP-1 hits anyway. Since it’s got random move you cant really set up the big multi unit hits that would make it good. This one you can kind of skip.

4. Durthu’s Wrath

Ready for some whiplash? Because we are going from a very mediocre Vortex to maybe the best assailment in the game. Cast on a 10+ this Assailment is hard to get off but brings the pain. It forces each model in the enemy fighting rank to make an I test. If they fail they suffer D3 S4 hits, with no armor saves allowed (you do get ward and regen).

Holy Tree Bark Batman! This spell is pretty crazy. Now it’s big downside is obviously needing to take an I test and there are plenty of enemies that aren’t going to find this a huge issue. But against others this spell can be a real killer. Failing that test will pretty much kill any 1 wound models (note its a little unclear given the wording if these hits can spill over to other models, or just effect the one whole failed the test) and you can devastate a unit with this. It’s especially good vs a lot of the slower heavily armored units that Wood Elves can struggle with.

I also really like that this spell feels like its made with the actual game in mind. This is a spell that is pretty anti-Linehammer, and would really make you think twice about using that tactic with this on the table. Sure it’s not quite as abusable as Doppelganger can be, but it also doesn’t require any combo to work.

5. Hidden Pathways

Needing an 8+ to Conveyance is decently easy to get off. It’s got a 12 inch range and gives a unit Reserve Move and Quick Turn until your next turn. Not the flashiest spell, but like Ariel’s Blessing just generically useful and helps grant some extra mobility. Given how mobile Wood Elves are already that’s not small thing!

6. Sapping Blight

Rounding things off we’ve got the final spell with Sapping Blight. This hex has a 9+ to cast and a range of 12 inches. It can be cast into combat, but casting it remove all other Hexes on the enemy. A unit hit by it will take a -d3 to their S until your next turn.

This is another pretty great one. T3 is a big draw back of Wood Elves and means in combat they are normally getting wounded on 3+s or 2+S by even basic units. This spell can fix all that, and can really turn around the odds of a combat but taking the wind out of the enemy sails. Heck even charging Knights might end up wounding your Elves on a 5+! Spicy. This is also a great spell to throw out to support a Treeman or Dragon Lord. Overall just another very generically useful spell to have around.

Let us know what you think about the new lore, down in the comments. 

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.

Read the Comments (0)

Read more at this site