I think it's pretty obvious that the good old ranger is about to become obsolete. So much for your little hunting group in the woods, because the ranger is being replaced by it's female counterpart: The Woodland Sniper

I'm not saying this is bad b/c you get a **WS for the price of a ***Ranger with basically the same stats including the ever-important stealth. But the WS has a 12" range!

I just get a little upset when a figure is so obviously replaced that you have absolutely no need for the original version whatsoever. What do you guys think? I'm sure everyone who used to use the Ranger has pondered this.

I've never used a ranger in an army and I don't plan to with a rather neat sniper here, the ranger has never been good, low range 8 is not going to help it, the relatively high attack is ok but it won't bring good with low range.

So what are you going to do with guys with no range. If a high attack and low range are bad then I should be assuming that a high attack and no range is worse. All you have to do is pin it in hindering and when someone gets near you just pop out your Cystral Blademen. They have simalar stats but they lose the range and stealth and get Weapons Mastery. That group is not the best but it could work. Sometimes... Hopefull... I give up... :D

I don't mind much. I like the snipers way better than I ever liked the ranger. Plus, you can still hunt for imps!;)

The only time I used a Ranger was in a group of Crystal Bladesmen. They look almost exactly alike.

And not everyone notices his bow.

"What do you mean you are going to shoot me! Bladesmen don't have range!!"

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the Woodland Sniper, but I wouldn't count the Ranger out just yet... compare the *** Ranger at 20 pts to the **Sniper at the same cost... Sniper only has 2 damage on its starting click, as opposed to the Ranger which still has it after taking 3 damage....

I feel Snipers are going to have to have ME backup, probably in a Shaman, to overcome this.

i personally like the ranger. he is great with bladesmen. as count said. but snipes are good too. it all depends on how you use them.

I always have liked rangers, since I had one in my very first army. I still get a kick when someone says "what? bladesmen dont have range!" I think sniper and ranger are equally good, sniper has longer range, but ranger has better damage values. Both are pretty good for imp hunting:D

Yeah, I think it's funny, too. They made the bladesmen and rangers look exactly alike. As far as the damage difference goes after they get hit:
My strategy with Rangers and now with the Snipers is to try to work them so they'll never take damage in the first place. It doesn't work all the time, but hey, no strategy's perfect

I think some new players will be wondering what you all are talking about
The unlimited ranger(which is very neat looking) could not possibly be mistaken for a bladesman as it looks very different
An UL nightstalker maybe but not a bladesman

theyre talking about the rebellion release of the ranger and the crystal bladesmen. which has the same figure sculpt and paint sans the bow.

hmm... never liked the snipers damage capabilities. but the range is really important...

a fragile counterpart to the amotep/demi formation:

*** woodland sniper x 3
** elven demi-magus x2

I'm mostly a dungeon's player since thats the main thing in my area. But every once in a while we bring in some rebellion figs for a game. I personally love the ranger and bladesmen. They will always have a place in my army (atleast when I play EL). Havent really gotten any newer pieces lately (my local venue shut down), so havent seen the WS.

i love the range on the snipers. make a great support piece with arties. and they are good on their own. hiding them with baldesmen are great though. but i have found a good fig in them and will continue to use them over rangers.

yeah I played a friednly game(way back in the day) using EL pieces and I had a ranger(beta) with one part of its bow arm broken off. he was just laying around with some crystal bladesmen and it took my opponent about 5 successfulla ttacks to notice it.

Wow, and here I thought I was original.

But I was talking about the Unl. rangers.