Wood Elves?

[Inquisitor d'Hauk]

I've been slowly gathering wood elves because I love their looks and the fun I have painting and adding my own details to them, but I see they are always frowned upon as a weak and terrible army.

I have never played with them because I've held back in going all out into fantasy because of my lack of Fantasy knowledge and the vast amount of people saying they are no good. I can see their lack of CC forces, but some units seem decent. It also appears to me that their magic is seriously lacking compared to other armies, but are they really that bad overall?

So I want to ask ya'll... Should I bother with building a force of wood elves? If so what would be a decent force composition? If not, why?

I just don't want to try and build a force that is utterly un-viable. If they are truly terrible in the current version, I'll be content to simply paint what little I have for fun and stop there, but I figured it would be fun to actually play them at some point as well.

[Architech]

I'm not fully versed in them...but you could maybe compare them to Tau? All about positioning and killing from range...but they really do still lack the competitive punch that Tau...can have.

Any army can beat any other...and I'm not certain of all the nuances that 8th ed has had for WE, but I'll say they need some work. But, you like the look/fluff and that's most important really...you'll find a way to play them

[Son of Sanguinius]

In my experience wood elves are a difficult army to play, the are not great in CC and while they are great at shooting, high armor armies can beat them down. They are however rather good at taking out swarm armies, 40 elves shooting at 40 goblins usually ends with almost all goblins dead or running.

What you have to do is position your guys carefully, if you make full advantage of terrain then you can kick ass.

[Inquisitor d'Hauk]

So, as I figured shooting is their strength, and that means lots of Glade Guard. But what about other elements?
Are dryads a good unit to defend the Glade Guard or War Dancers. I will own both for painting fun, but are they any good?
What about War Hawks and the Mounted Archers.
How much magic should I take? The WE magic section seems very weak, but I always read how important magic defense is. If I have no plans on being offensive with the magic how many Spell Weaver would be adequate for defensive purposes?

I realize you two have not played with them but against? or any help in the magic section? Thank you for what you have stated so far, as it has been helpful.

[Liam]

Glade Guard, Dryads, TreeKin, Treemen, Nobles and Mages, that's what you'll be wanting

A Lv4 Life/Beasts is pretty decent. The Beast Magic makes the already T4 Dryads better and more hitty while the Life magic Lore can keep your Trees easilly topped up and a Silly Toughness. With a Treeman, a Lv2 and a Lv3/4 you'll be doing ok in most magic phases, it doesn't all have to work each turn to be worth it, just the little bit you need to work

[herplover]

Better to play a "weaker" army you like then waste your money on a "good" army you do not like the models with.I think ALL the armies are balanced but you need to know how to use them.Some are more forgiving with mistakes but used properly a specialized army should dominate a balanced army much of the time.

[Inquisitor d'Hauk]

Thank You for all the information. You've all been really helpful.
I actually like all the models mentioned, and the Wardancers and Way Watchers I own can easily be only for display.
I guess when I start to bulk up and play a few games I can get a feel for what I need and so on and go from there, but this helps me with a basis.
I'll post a list up for review when I have the time and the money to build it. Right now all I have is a few models here and there. A box of this or that with no cohesion. All bought for painting and converting. Figured I should put them to work