Revised Treeman

[Beragon]

Here is my vision of what I'd like to see out of new Treeman rules. It's inspired in part with the new Maneater entry with their many options available as well as incarnations of Treemen in older editions. I admit, I'm just throwing out points costs here, as I've got little resources as to how to price the different abilities. Let me know what you think. Also, should there be a Treeman Ancient option?

Treeman: Points/model: 220

M5 WS5 BS0 S6 T6 W6 I2 A5 LD9

Troop Type: Monster

Unit Size: 1

Equipment: None (doesn’t need any)

Special Rules: Forest Walkers, Forest Spirit, Flammable, Large Target, Scaly Skin 3+, Stubborn, Terror

Options (may choose up to two of the following):
Ancient Spirit +20 pts.
Hates Fire +10 pts.
Iron Wood +30 pts.
Re-Growth +40 pts.
Rooted to the Spot +15 pts.
Strangle Roots +20 pts.
Tree Singing +45 pts.
Tree Whack +25 pts.

Ancient Spirit – The ward save granted from the Forest Spirit special rule works against magical attacks as well.
Hates Fire – The Treeman gains the Hatred special rule against any enemy unit that has Flaming Attacks or spells that are Flaming Attacks. The Treeman never loses this Hatred.
Iron Wood – The Treeman gains +1 Toughness.
Re-Growth – If the Treeman is within 6” of a forest, he has the Regeneration (4+) special rule.
Rooted to the Spot – At the end of close combat, if the Treeman did not suffer 1 or more wounds during that close combat phase, it is Unbreakable.
Strangle Roots – This is a special attack that occurs in the shooting phase. It may be used even if the Treeman marched. Pick one unit within 6” and within the Treeman’s forward arc. Roll an Artillery Die. The target unit takes a number of Strength 4 hits equal to the result. On a misfire, nothing happens. Strangle Roots may not be used in close combat, nor may it be used in a Stand & Shoot charge reaction.
Tree Singing – The Treeman is a level 1 Wizard who may only select spells from the Lore of Athel Loren.
Tree Whack – In close combat, the Treeman may elect to forego his normal number of attacks to make a single, powerful attack. This attack is resolved at Strength 10 and has the Multiple Wounds (1d6) special rule.

[ItsaMario7]

I do like the numerous options and combinations that could be made but I don't like the idea of that on the treeman and most of the abilities listed, in my opinion, i wouldnt use. I think though perhaps waywatchers or some other elite fighter getting numerous choices to show how they differ and are better than normal glade guard ? E.g. special rules could include sniper, many shots, a veil of darkness (necron) type thing, where you can effectivly teleport around the board ?

[unholyquake]

don't you think that by making tree singing and strangle roots optional extras you're making the treeman weaker?(i know that if you add their points value to the treeman it comes to 285 like it is now) i think they should come as standard, as they do now but perhaps the current treeman should have a bit of a points reduction.

treewhack is a good strong ability but if you could do it everyone combat turn you would slaughter everything, maybe it would have to be a 1 use only type of thing like the dragons poison breath (which is weaker and is 1 use only).

isn't your strangle roots weaker than the current aswell? currently it increases to str5 in target is in a wood, does yours need los? also the current strangle root can be used as a stand and shoot charge reaction.

the other thing is is that are so many options necessary? perhaps combining some of them would be better like ancient spirit and regrowth, what would happen is you gain a ward save to all types of attack and that would save would increase from 6+ to 5+/4+ when in a certain range of a wood. i suggest this because ward and regeneration work the same now unlike previous editions so this combination might be better.

[Shandrakor]

I think I'd pick Tree Whack and Ancient Spirit every time unless it was a Storm of Magic game, in which case, drop Tree Whack for Tree Singing. Also, yes, that Strangle-roots is weaker than the current version by quite a bit.

[ItsaMario7]

For the new army book i hope the treeman remains the same with only a points decrease as a change.

[Dragon halitosis]

Nice ideas. Maybe needs some refinement but the principle is sound. Maybe different types of treeman based on the type of tree (a little like one of the previous versions of the WE list where dryads could choose their 'form'... so maybe fast but less tough, or very strong but reduced movement etc. Would add spice to the game and allow you to take diffrent types of model (I'm sure GW would like to market different models of treemen) and allow you to change your list load out to keep regular opponents on their toes.

[Beragon]

Great feedback from all. Thanks.

Some commentary:
Some like the Treeman in the 6th edition book. This may sound a bit presidential, but... if you like the Treeman as it currently is, then you can still have it (more or less) by picking the proper upgrdes. I personally like its older iterations (Toughness 7, Rooted to the spot, Treewhack). I found them more entertaining in previous editions. So, the best way IMO to achieve this is by having options to tailor the Treeman the way you want to. There is precedent for this if you look at the new Ogre Kingdom's book... the Maneaters have 8 upgrades to choose from... and you can choose any two. I simply followed that format for this Treeman entry.

As far as points go, I really just made guesses as best I could. Any suggested changes would be appreciated. Namely, I have too few books in my possession to guage how a bare-bones treeman would cost... 220 sounds about right, but I'm not solid on that without the ability to compare it to several monsters from other books.

With regards to tree singing, I do plan on revising the Lore of Athel Loren soon. I may be trying to fit the 'Rain Lord' in there somehow. But 45 points for that ability seems quite appropriate as I have ample sources to draw that cost from.

Strangle-Roots is indeed weaker on purpose... to streamline it and take out ambiguous rulings and questionable errata decision-making. It plays exactly how it reads. No LOS... just has to be in forward arc like direct damage spells, can't stand and shoot... it's not a 'shooting' attack, etc. If it seems to weak for the points cost, let me know.

In light of that, any new suggested revisions to this revision are welcomed.

[unholyquake]

as i said perhaps some of those additions could be combined.

but i really like the idea of different abilities depending on the type of tree it is. here are some ideas about the tree types, oak trees are incredibly tough and durable we've got some oak and we had to sharpen our chainsaw several times just to cut a log in half, so perhaps an oaktype treeman would have a higher toughness than other versions, whereas pine is a much less durable tree than oak. then there's mahogany a very sturdy tree that is resistnat to rotting but can be felled by high winds due to not having very deep roots, roots that don't go so deep might be to a mahogany treemans advantage allowing it to move more quickly than other types of trees etc.

i would be surprised if gw did this though, even though it's a good idea (IMO) just because of the extra effort of having to write rules for every type of tree they decide to do.