Alright, since summer is in full blast I am getting more and more tempted to do a full nature army. only problem is… I have no clue how the Forces of nature works.
I want an army with some big stompy trees, Green knights, maybe some water elementals and plenty of toughness. Unfortunately, I really dunno which nature army to choose. I want to focus on trees and tree hearders, but it seems they are kinda… bad? I dunno, trying to figure out how the army works any advice and tips?
Off the top, if your primary goal is knights + tree herders + elementals, have you considered Order of the Green Lady (no herders but water elementals, including formation, as well as earth) or Sylvan Kin (no water elementals but forest shamblers)? Both have strong knights, which Nature does not, and access to high def (earth for Order, herders for Kin).
As for the scouting elemental concept, I have a Herd army that’s basically a Verdant Nature army but with a bunch of spear goat regiments and friends (2x herders + 3x forest shambler hordes is the scouting block). It’s … not great? Partially because shambler hordes are pretty mediocre. They don’t really grind and they certainly don’t punch hard. Herders, however, are amazing, tho I really look forward to when their surge becomes optional to save points 
All my games with the army have been reported over at blood-fire.com if you’re interested in anecdotal research (click The Hallow on the right for those reports).
Shambler regiments, however, are some of the best thicc chaff in the game, especially as scout helps them with scenario duties, while scouting a horde seems to get them killed faster most times.
I think knights + tough elementals + fast chaff + flying hammers (beasts or greater air elementals) + bane / heal support is a great concept, that Nature doesn’t quite have the first component of. That said, Riverbourne Naiad Wyrmriders are the first time wyrmriders have looked interesting, they might serve as your cav hammer? If you’ve got minis that you like for that, fairly monstrous for ‘green knights’.
EDIT: Here’s me messing around with Nature to make a (large) cav + De 6 + elementals + support:
Forces of Nature
Riverbourne Naiad Wyrmriders (Horde)
Riverbourne Naiad Wyrmriders (Horde)
Water Elementals (Horde)
Earth Elementals (Horde)
Forest Shamblers (Regiment)
Forest Shamblers (Regiment)
Pegasus
Tree Herder - Upgrade to Wiltfather [1]
Gladewalker Druid - Lute of Insatiable Darkness, Surge (8), Ring of Harmony [1]
Unicorn - Replace Heal (5) with Lightning Bolt (5), Upgrade with Wings
Unicorn - Replace Heal (5) with Lightning Bolt (5), Upgrade with Wings
Total Unit Strength: 20
Total Units: 11
Target Points: 1990
It’s very much the good stuff from Nature (except for greater air elementals) plus wyrms. Not sure if it scratches that itch you’re after, or if it’s super great in game, but theoretically it has legs - and wings!
that’s a good list I think, and it is helping me piece together some ideas for what I would like.
Honestly I was kinda thinking about a Sylvaneth style list, where there are big tree monsters surrounded by smaller, stronger trees and quicker lighter ones ones, but it doesn’t seem that nature really is like that. really, a list focusing around tree herders would be fun, and myabe do some proxies for what I have in mind.
kinda hard for me to describe exactly what I would like tbh!
You can certainly do Sylvaneth as Nature, and I’ve seen it done. Dryads end up being Hunters of the Wild, which IMO are quite mediocre. Sylvan Kin are a real option for Sylvaneth as well, and probably how I’d go. If you’re a fan of the more modern Sylvaneth stuff, like the Spite-Revenants and all that, you’ll have a wider breadth of units to rep all that then with Nature. Like Boskwraiths for the spites, Hunters for Dryads, Wood Elf cav, etc. More meaningful Forest Shamblers too, thanks to that horde upgrade.
yea that was what I was looking at just now lol. Plus, it allows me a reason to buy that forest dragon I had my eye on!
so something like this would be good for a more monster heavy list? trying to get some healing in there too, but I don’t know how to exactly make it all fit. Still, finding some models I would love to use!
Sylvan Kin [2000]
Yeah, its really a balance of exactly what you want in an army, then seeing which list can best mirror your initial idea (or you work out the most powerful list, and change your concept!).
I’ve got a sprawling SK/OotGL/FoN army - so some units that will fit in all of them, plus units that will work in at least one, then play it on a game by game basis.
Hunters are a decent unit and work nicely with shamblers, but need BC support to kill stuff - while boskwraiths can chew though chaff but, as me4 and no cs/tc, can also struggle.
Unfortunately SK dont have much cheap BC access, unlike FoN (the druid is one of the best support characters in the game). The archwraith with the TC aura might work nicely in your list?
still very new to the game but does BC mean brutal charge? dunno too many acronymsatm, but yea I get the idea!
Honestly, with modeling I could probably get my knight theme I wanted, plus ally in some water elementals from the mermaid kingdoms if I really want it. I think the Sylvan kin may be the way to go for me.
BC = the spell Bane Chant
And agree on BC accessibility, I’ve started messing with Sylvan Kin and been nonplussed at the Arch Mage vs the humble Druid my Herd have going for them …
Because I was messing around:
Sylvan Kin
Forest Shamblers (Horde) - Awakened Guardians [1] (Horde only)
Forest Shamblers (Horde) - Blessing of the Gods
Boskwraiths (Regiment) 175
Boskwraiths (Regiment) 175
Hunters of the Wild (Troop) 90
Hunters of the Wild (Troop) 90
Hunters of the Wild (Troop) 90
Hunters of the Wild (Troop) 90
+
Tree Herder - Upgrade to Wiltfather [1]
Tree Herder
Elven King - Blade of the Beast Slayer, The Shardblade [1], Upgrade to Wanderer
Archwraith - Wings of Honeymaze, Aura (Thunderous Charge (+1) - Boskwraith only) [1]
Total Unit Strength: 18
Total Units: 12
Target Points: 1995
Uses both Dryads (as Hunters) and Revenants (as Bosks), and the Arch-Revenant as Archwraith. The Shardblade of the Beast Slayer Wanderer King is one of the best parts of Sylvan Kin IMO, perfectly fitting the old Wood Elf wanderer king mini if you can find him.
It can be an acronym heavy game, but you pick them up.
As above - bane chant for that all important crushing strength. Its all well hitting on 3+ or having lots of attacks, but if you can actually hurt the enemy afterwards its slightly pointless.
The fact the 3 lists have units in common or can count-as others does give you plenty of freedom, so just try things until you find something that works for you.
oh yea, that would work pretty well! gonna try to fit that dragon in from my list as well, but I like this a lot as well. probably going to do both ideas sometime.
The models I am finding online are fueling the desire to do this, so I may open up a tactics forum for this topic. Trying really hard to avoid just sylvan archers too.
I am getting pretty excited for this, just gotta sit on the idea until I finish my salamanders, but I am happy I am finding out how to run this.
Also… think the dragon is excessive? or think it is good enough?
Dragons are certainly cool! Personally I’d hold off for 2300+ points, two herders and a dragon is a whole lot of points at 2000 
yea, that is fair! I may remove one hearder, but I can get that.
Thanks a tone! I am pretty happy with finding what I needed!
I tend to shoot for 14-15 drops (i.e. number of unit) in 2,300 points, so that averages about 165 points per drop. With forces of Nature you have the splendid druids and pegasi which are cheap and very useful.
A core of 2 forest shambler hordes plus 2 druids (extra spells as required) and 2 pegasi is roughly 650 points for 6 drops and a solid base for many an army. The shamblers only work in certain kinds of lists (the more agressive lists due to scout) and need to be supported.
From that perspective, I think TWO herders and a dragon is a huge chunk of points. Though they are great units, they need some heavy hitters alongside them, as both the herder and the dragon is a heavy support piece.
The Sylvan kin list as posted above by boss savage has that hittiness due to the boskwraiths and hunters which do a lot of damage for their point costs and move fast enough to support the centre of both shamblers. It’s a nasty list which will be in your face in turn 2.