Sunday 23 June 2013

Eldar Tactics: Wraithguard and Wraithblade.

Let's get serious for a minute.Wraith units are good at two things:
1. Looking awesome.
2. Bringing the pain at extremely high points cost.

An entire Wraithguard/Blade/Lord/Knight army is easily my second most favorite theme (DKK being first). However, I'm not a huge fan of them game play wise.Wraithguard/blade effectiveness depends heavily on what support they have. Unlike the rest of the Eldar army, they do not have Battle Focus or Fleet. T6 and Fearless makes them a hard unit to remove but with only 3+ armour save, not impossible. If you are lucky enough to roll Protect on a Spiritseer to give them a 2+ armour save then they become much scarier.

Wraithguard:
Everyone's favorite model. Their standard weaponry: the Wraithcannon is pretty amazing and will scare most MC's and Terminators into hiding (Combine with doom and you are likely to roll at least one six, insta killing most models). The D-scythe is crazy. If you have Doom in your army, the D-scythe will obliterate anything. Two ways of taking these guys:

1. Footslog with Spiritseer. Make sure you take conceal so you are getting maximum cover. 5-10 WG with cannons. If you have taken Iyanden then spam Spiritseer's to maximise your chance for Protect and just hope you're not facing a plasma spam list. Also, with Iyanden you can give Battle Focus to the unit........nice! Additionally, you could always stick Karandras out front or Baron (Dark Eldar) to gain Stealth and also a beefier save.

2. Five WG with D-sycthes in a Wave Serpent. If you have a Spiritseer then attach him anyway. Zoom as fast as possible towards the enemy (remember the Serpent Shield). If your opponent is crazy enough not to wreck the Serpent then move 6" + 6" disembark and start flaming away. Costly but deadly.

3. Stronghold Assault Slingshot. Bastion + Escape Hatch. Add in an Iyanden Spirit Seer and a squad of WG. Deploy the Bastion as far forward as possible and place the unit inside. Place the hatch as far forward as possible. First turn, you cast Battle Focus on the WG (you're attach and inside with them) and disembark 6" out of the hatch, then run D6" and flame/shoot stuff. Pretty brutal.  (Added 28/01/14).

Wraithblades:
I'm not entirely sure about this unit. To be effective they really need to keep their Ghostswords for the +1 attack. They have no grenades so are striking last in cover but arguably their T6 makes them largely invulnerable. The Ghost axe and force shield combo is nice but not necessary unless you are facing off against a lot low AP weapons or Terminators. The problem is getting them into combat fast enough. Quicken is a nice bonus for these guys but not reliable enough to count on. Taking a Wave Serpent will mean turn 3 combat at minimum (unless it's Wrecked in turn 1.....not likely). They fit more of a defensive role to scare off your opponents assault troops getting to close.

  

4 comments:

  1. I had an idea with the wraithblades; a ten man unit with a farseer with faolchu's wing to get right up you opponent's arse. Not sure if it would work, as I have only recently come up with it and I still need to play-test it.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately only the model with the wings can get the huge movement bonus. Would be freaking awesome otherwise!

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  2. now with 7th ed get a raider for 5 of these shiniez and boost them on turn1, 2nd turn they shoot/flame/hack anything down, only problem u cant stick a seer in it

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  3. I'm trying a Wraithblade unit in a Wave Serpent. Moving fast towards the enemy home objective. Dismount and assault. Not sure how effective it is, but my friend wants to play a close combat Eldar Army with no allies and this seems like the best way. Otherwise T3 gets massacred in overwatch by Guard, Tau etc. T6 with a 3+/4++ should weather most storms, and then the assault might be nice. My worries are IG/cultist tarpits. Nothing sucks more than hacking through 50 Fearless Guardsmen.

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