Wood Elf Treeman Overview:
With the option to take a Treeman on a Wood Elf team, they are the only one of the four Elven teams that can take a Big Guy. The most distinctive things about a Treeman is their high strength and low movement. They are the strongest players in the game but on the flip side they are also the slowest players in the game. Fortunately speed isn’t really something of a big problem for Wood Elves as they are the second fastest race in the game. Wood Elves are though the most expensive of the low armoured teams and a Treeman can be a great asset in helping against attrition. There is a lot of debate though as to if Wood Elves should have access to a Treeman as they are consistently one of the best performing teams and the Treeman has been removed and added from one edition of the rules to the next.
So the main benefit of having a Treeman is to soak up some of the damage that would otherwise be inflicted on one of your expensive and fragile Elves. Their high strength makes it hard to hit them and an inexperienced coach can often concentrate too many of their players to knock them over. This opens up more space for your Elves to run around in and dominate the game. Treemen also can’t be easily pushed around so you can use them to tie up players that aren’t going to be happy about having to try and dodge away. This can either take that opposing player out of the game, cause them to waste rerolls, create turnovers and sometimes even injure the opposing player if they fall over. Treemen also have high armour and are hard to knock out meaning that even if they do get taken down, they will likely remain on the pitch.
There are a couple of downsides to the Treeman like every other Big Guy player. The first is that they are slow, they can’t move around very far and could end up away from where you need him. Their slow speed also hampers them if they need to stand up should they fall over for any reason. It is not uncommon for a Treeman to remain on the floor for the remainder of a drive after they become prone. The other main drawback is that they can also Take Root and refuse to move at all until the next drive or the opposing team knock them over. For Wood Elves this isn’t really that great of a problem if he is occupying space that the opposing team will need to use, but if it happens when they aren’t then they are fairly useless until the next drive.
Take Root isn’t always bad though, if you have opposing players around him, then he will still force them to dodge. Also if he is in the middle of the pitch, whilst he can’t move, the opposing team aren’t likely to move next to him but he creates space which you can freely run around. You can also try and push opposing players next to the Treeman so he can hit them. With his role on the team pretty much always just down to soaking up hits and tying up opposing players they are fairly strait forward to develop.
Road Block Treeman:
- Normal: Grab, Guard, Break Tackle / Multiple Block
- Doubles: Block / Pro, Sure Feet, Diving Tackle
- Stat Increase: +MV +ST
The first skill you will want to give the Treeman is Grab so that he can keep as many opposing players in his tackle zone as possible. This is even more important when he can’t move (including following up on blocks) in order to prevent him becoming a useless immovable lump. After that Guard is helpful to have though his limited movement limits where it is going to come into effect. Break Tackle can be useful as well, especially should the opposing team make the mistake of getting a cage too close. Multiple Block can come in handy against average strength teams as he can hit two opposing players without any assistance. Beyond that there aren’t really any great normal skills to take, Piling On puts him prone which you want to avoid with the issues of standing up. Juggernaut is the last option but his low movement and agility means you aren’t likely to be blitzing with him.
There are a lot of doubles that are useful for a Treeman though, Block makes him more reliable and even less likely to get knocked down. Pro is a good alternative as well to help prevent taking root and aid standing up. It can also be used for go for its and to reroll blocks as well. After those two Sure Feet gives them a bit more reliable movement. I also like Diving Tackle as well, with Stand Firm and high strength he isn’t likely to get pushed away from anyone you tie up. You do have to bear in mind it is tricky to stand up again though if you elect to go prone yourself if someone tries to dodge away. It also has the benefit of keeping opposing players next to you in order to hit them, if you have Grab as well the opposing players aren’t going to like ending up next to the Treeman. For stat increases +MV is a god send as you can stand him up normally and get a bit more range out of him. +ST you may want to pass up for the double skill instead, though if you take it he gets three block dice against any sole ST3 player he blocks. Pass up on +AV and +AG, they are of little use compared to the alternatives.
Wood Elf Treeman Summary:
A Treeman is great at soaking up damage and occupying the opposing players. He can provide a great distraction to the other team if they go out of their way to knock him over. You don’t necessarily need to take one though as they can end up being useless and are very one dimensional in how they operate. You may think that his Team Value is better spent on another Elf and some skills. In a bash light league this is perhaps even more attractive, while in a Tackle and Mighty Blow heavy league, you may decide that he is an asset that you can’t pass up on.
I’m not sure you’re allowed to use Diving Tackle once you’ve Taken Root:
“A player that has taken root may not Go For It, be pushed back for any reason, or use any skill
that would allow him to move out of his current square
or be Placed Prone.”
Fair point, I’ll remove that part, can you tell I’m on the side of the fence that thinks Wood Elves shouldn’t have Treemen!
A question… Why not Jump-Up on doubles?
(May be there is a good reason or a rule, but i don’t remember any now…)
Agur,
Aingeru
Not 100% sure how Jump Up interacts with Treemen, before they weren’t able to get it at all so the problem didn’t crop up (in the rules editions where Jump Up was a Trait rather than a skill). It says that you don’t have to spend the 3 squares of movement when standing up, though Treemen don’t have 3 squares of movement. I would suggest that means you still need to roll to stand up, but if you succeed then you can still use your two squares of movement.
As for doing a block with Jump Up you still have to roll a 4+ cause of your AG1, whether or not you then have to roll for standing up as well I’m not sure. Either way it isn’t something I would like that is going to fail 50% of the time.
Yes, it’s true, bue it costs you no Blitz action…
I don’t know… but i find besser Jump-Up than Sure Feet…
Internet arguments seem to suggest that Jump Up removes the requirement to spend 3 squares of movement to get up, hence it works well for Treemen. BBRC members Doubleskulls and Galak support this interpretation I believe. (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9579)
But if you want to Block on a Jump up, you need to make an AG (1) roll, which means a 6! So it’s really only good to avoid the standup roll.
But Block is a much better choice anyway, so it only really becomes relevant if you get 2 double rolls. Even then I’d still go Pro, which lets you reroll the get up roll anyway. Now if you managed to get 3 doubles…..
“But if you want to Block on a Jump up, you need to make an AG (1) roll, which means a 6! So it’s really only good to avoid the standup roll.”
You get +2 AG when doing a Jump Up. So a Treeman does it on a 4+.
Halfling teams are able to deploy two of these beasts, and they always give me fits. A really tough big guy to deal with if it’s in your way, considering he hits all other big guys with 2 dice blocks unassisted!
I play a Wood Elf team, and I guess I’m on the side of Wood Elves being able to have a Treeman. It helps them immensely, especially with no other real “pure” hitters on the team. My Wood Elves are really hot and cold. They either get blown out or blow out their opponent, no real close games. The Tree does help a lot aginst teams with big strength advantages like Lizardmen, Chaos or Nurgle teams. I guess it could go either way though.
If you keep him off of the line of scrimmage, the treeman can be a great player to give the ball to on a touchback. Run him towards your end zone, bring a couple others (preferably including your passer) in to form a semi-cage, and watch the other coach scratch his head.
This can help you in a few ways. The other coach may send most of his team after the ball, leaving plenty of room for your TD machines. If he chooses to hold back and wait for you, you can just dodge all of your elves out of contact, and burn down a couple turns, which is usually difficult/dangerous to do with elves. This clearly depends on which turn you are currently on, but be smart and the delays will win games, especially against running teams.
Eventually you should have at least a couple of elves in scoring position, hopefully uncovered or lightly covered. Use your free elves to blitz out a passing lane, or free up any opposing players that made it to the treeman/passer. Then simply hand-off to your passer (keep a RR for that), and use his high MV to *hopefully* complete a pass for a quick and painless TD.
Keeping your treeman off the line will also allow better adjustments post-kick, instead of having him sitting center the whole drive. Obviously he is equally as useful for punching holes in the line, or getting an initial multiple block to start your drive. Depends on the opponent and your build, but a ball-keeper treeman can work. For an extra challenge, try running him 2 squares at a time for a TD!
I gave my Treeman jump up on the computer game, and it was really effective! I find that you really need him up and swinging during an offensive drive, he keeps the scrimmage players busy and stops them blitzing and blocking your flair players.
I always start him up in the centre of the line of scrimmage btw, best place for him, block isn’t a massive issue with Treemen, obviously it’s useful, but I use him to assist blocks at least twice as much as he blocks himself.
So what I’m really saying, it’s better to have your big guy up and swinging than on the floor. I’d take block if I ever got a second double though…
I like the Treeman. He definitely gives the team some muscle. One thing I do is put him right behind 3 adjacent linemen on the LoS on defense. That gives everyone on the line a de facto “Fend” because nobody on the other team wants to follow up because next turn, I’m gonna clobber them with the Tree. Another thing they help with is people who like to Turn Burn. Without the Tree, Turn Burn means Elves get beat up while tying to crack a cage. With the Tree, I can walk around (given that he doesn’t take root) and pummel their team too. They are not as quick to start a fist fight when you got a 6ST, Mighty Blow guy on your side.
Great advice as usual Coach. I recently found myself going back to the original Blood Bowl PC game. Even though I only play casually against the computer, I still find myself coming to your articles for skill up advice! Old habits die hard.
I tend to dislike blocking with all big guys – they seem to be particularly subject to Sod’s Law, in my experience. But Treemen have a fair amount of value even just as one massive, immovable set of tackle zones. If you’re like me and don’t like throwing dice around, you may prefer to reverse Coach’s suggested order of Guard and Grab.
Contrarily for doubles, however, while Block is obviously amazing for its active and passive components, given the miseries provoked by Take Root and (especially) trying to stand this big bugger back up again, I think this is perhaps the one case where I’d really argue in favour of Pro.
BBT forever!