Wraithguard /Iyanden advice.

[IcedAnimals]

So here I am looking at my wraithguard models and I seriously think they are some of my favorite models in the entire game. However I hate almost all the other eldar models. Wraithguard are just so expensive of a model that I have never been able to field an army. However a friend of mine has deployed recently. So until he gets back I get to use his models. He has about 20 wraithguard models and two wraithlords (which I also like) I have my 5 wraithguard I bought before giving up on the army due to cost.

But basically Using 25 wraithguard and two wraithlords as the starting point of an army what are some recommendations. Should I be taking two full 20 man squads as my troops? (What I was thinking of doing) Should I be doing 1 troop unit with 3 elite to use up all of them? Should I have yriel with a unit for a yriel bomb trick? Should I footslog? With such high toughness and good saves + portable cover they seem decent enough. Especially since the 10 man units can't fit into a vehicle. Other units I am interested in taking include banshees, dark reapers, rangers/pathfinders, and the avatar. I know wraithguard are super expensive so any list I play will likely have to be 1500 minimum. Should I be aiming to stay at 1500 points with the list to try to keep my opponent from having as many toys to beat my wraiths? Or should I be aiming at a 2k+ list so I can field other things to cover the WG weaknesses?

Keep in mind that this isn't an army I will be taking super serious, maybe a local tournament or two and some casual play as I won't have the army forever. And I'm sure eldar will have a different dex soonish or at least play completely different once 6th hits. So even though I love wraithguard I probably don't want to go out and spend another 100$ on the models when 90% of the army isn't even mine.

But I would love to hear some advice on the best ways to field an army that sticks close to what I mentioned above.

[Dervos]

Wraith guard are a lot of fun, one of my favorites as well, Wraithguard suffer a lot in close combat because they are slow, only 1 attack, and their shooting is just so much better. They'll definitely stick around for a while being T6 and +3, you could either kit them out with enhance or conceal, most people will probably tell you conceal though so you have some kind of shooting invuln save.

Yriel is a pretty good choice to walk with wraithguard but I gotta say I like taking Jain zar more the only problem though is she doesn't have a invuln save but she has a good str 5 ap 3 assault 3 weapon and wrecks face in close combat with insanely high I and pretty good strength(4+2 executioner +1 while furious charging, 5 STR7 no armor save attack at INI7 base, or INI10 on first assault round). If your local players are fine with it you could always proxy her in. But another phoenix lord Karandras can contribute to a wraithguard squad incredibly as well, can do 6 attacks base at S5 or at S8 but I1 hes a bit more balanced out and can handle both GEQ and MEQ, plus his stealth rule benefits the conceal your warlock takes which would give the squad a ++4 cover save out in the open is something to think about.

For two full squads of troop choice guard with a warlock and two wraithlords your already looking at a minimum of 930 points, you could spend the rest of the points trying to cover the armies weaknesses but personally I'd just roll with it, at 1500 points there isn't much else to add, at 2000 you might be able to balance it more but using 20 guards and 2 lords they will be the focus of your (and your opponent's) army.

I'd take something like this for fun

1487

Eldrad 210
Karandras 215

Wraithlord 135
EML
Scatter Laser


Wraithlord 135
EML
Scatter Laser

Wraithguard 10 (396)
Warlock
Conceal
Spirit Seer

Wraithguard 10 (396)
Warlock
Conceal
Spirit Seer



Eldrad in one guard squad karandras in the other, when not in assault Eldrad casts fortune on both wraithguard groups and uses the other power when the situation calls for it.
Wraithlords follow behind and fire long range weapon. (Note that when your in assault Eldrad won't be able to cast his third power which means no second fortune, since you can't do the same one at twice until you've casted another power).

at 1500 your basically going to be playing a death star anyway; at 2,000 you'd be able to build a hyrbid foot and mech list.

[Shamana]

Is there any chance that you can afford FW's wraithseer? If you like wraithlords, you'll probably like it, and I think it has pretty nice synergy with wraithguard/lords. It and a farseer (eldrad or a regular one) can form quite the team.

[IcedAnimals]

Actually I have thought about picking up the wraithseer just to paint it because of my love of the eldar wraith models. I haven't seen any rules for it past the experimental rules. For 50$ if it would be a significant improvement to the army then I could pick it up. There are a few people who have the imperial armour books around here. Which one is he in and ill take a look at him.

[xxRavenxx]

My personal suggestion would be a farseer, and a unit or two of guardians (I prefer storm). You need some cheaper guys to tie things up or hold objectives. Your low model count really arses you over otherwise.

[Kelanen]

Wraithseer is in IA Apocalypse (2nd) and in IA11 - same rules either way. It's basically a Wraithlord on steroids with 3 unique psychic powers (I *think* the same as experimental, but not 100%). I suspect mostly you'll use the one that gives a Wraithseer, Wraithlord or unit of Wraithguard FNP the most. D-Cannon is probably the weapon you want him to mount.

The army you are looking for is WraithWall. It's a great fun army, but not good in a highly competitive playgroup. In a more causal group it will do just fine as long as there are no Dark Eldar around (which absolutely murder you by effectively making everything T3, and Toughness 6-8 is what Wraith constructs pay through the nose for!

Field a Wraithseer, Avatar, 3x Wraithlords, and 2+ units of Wraithguard Troops as a base. A unit or two of Harlequins as a screen to give you cover saves are excellent (the only time I advocate Harlies actually). whilst not fitting the theme, you may find some use for Rangers/Pathfinders to give you some long ranged ability.

[Tethylis]

I have had great success recently using a similar theme list with 2 x 10 wraith squads as troops, backed by Eldrad & Karandras. This can be an extremely difficult anvil for opponents to break. T6 with fortuned 3+ and 4++ cover means its only real weakness is in CC against powerfists, which can be sniped using mindwar. The inclusion of Karandras is what really gives this sort of list a boost with his ability of improve the units conceal save and also being a monster in CC himself! A big problem I was having with this type of ghost army list was against hordes, so now I have dropped the Wraithlords and instead am using a squad of scatter walkers & nightspinner which are great at thinning and slowing down most things that cant be handled by 20 x wraithcannons

[Bonzai]

Field a Wraithseer, Avatar, 3x Wraithlords, and 2+ units of Wraithguard Troops as a base. A unit or two of Harlequins as a screen to give you cover saves are excellent (the only time I advocate Harlies actually). whilst not fitting the theme, you may find some use for Rangers/Pathfinders to give you some long ranged ability.

This is actually fairly close to the list that I am building. While I love the harlequins (and intend to have them in the 2,500 point version), I instead had two units of guardian jetbikes for some mobility and last minute objective grabbing. The 2k list that I am shooting for;

HQ
Avatar
Wraithseer w/ D Cannon

Troops
10 Wraithguard w/ Warlock, Conceal, Spirit Seer
10 Wraithguard w/ Warlock, Conceal, Spirit Seer
6 Eldar Jetbikes w/ warlock, embolden, 2x SC
6 Eldar Jetbikes w/ warlock, embolden, 2x SC

Heavy
Wraithlord w/ EML, BL
Wraithlord w/ EML, BL
Wraithlord w/ EML, BL

A Farseer or Eldrad may be a better choice than the Avatar, but in this list I needed some counter assault. Yriel could be another option, but I like the Avatar better. If I wasn't running Guardian Jetbikes, Harlequins would be my first choice to add to the list. They fit perfectly with the foot slogging list, but I like having a the mobility that the bikes bring to the tabe for objective games.

[bobafett_h]

I have about 30 Wraithguard models. All bought from eBay second hand. I probably only spent as much as one squad for all of them...

I like building Wraithwalls consisting of 10 man squads with Spiritseers with Enhance or Conceal all marching forward providing cover to Wraithlords following behind them. A Farseer providing Fortune to them is usually all I use (Eldrad would be nice if you have enough points to Fortune 2 squads a time). I don't usually take Yriel unless I'm using reserves somewhere in the army, but his abilities in combat would certainly help out too, but a Wraithlord tag-team can be just as effective.

My interpretation of the Codex is that Karandras's Stealth ability can only be applied to units of Striking Scorpions and not any other unit, especially not large robotic wraith constructs. I also feel it is wrong for Phoenix Lords to join units other than their own Aspect anyway...

[TheGreatDalmuti]

Your interpretation is correct. Only a striking scorpion unit will gain stealth. But as of 5th you don't need the whole unit to have stealth in order for it to benifit. One member having it is sufficient.

[Sildani]

Correct, as Stealth is a USR, NOT an Exarch Power, and an IC with Stealth confers it to the unit he joins.

Once again, props to Cosmic Girl for spotting that.

[Kelanen]

Correct, as Stealth is a USR, NOT an Exarch Power, and an IC with Stealth confers it to the unit he joins.

Close.

Stealth is a USR not an exarch power. An IC with Stealth DOESN'T grant Stealth to the unit he joins. HOWEVER the effects of stealth (ie: cover save) are granted to the entire unit, not just the character with stealth. This is why the combo works.

It's a nitpicking distinction, and I can't think of a difference between them at the moment. There could be one in future though - imagine a piece of wargear or psychic power that said "Inflict 1 wound on any model with the Stealth rule" Then only Karandas would take a wound, not the Wraithguard, even though they do benefit from the cover save Stealth grants.

[Clarkson]

I thought the only way to field a Wraithseer is that it isnt the main HQ and you NEED a farseer of somekind to even field it in the first place?

as far as i am aware The Avatar of Khaine isnt a farseer, so your list falls apart...

[Kelanen]

I thought the only way to field a Wraithseer is that it isnt the main HQ and you NEED a farseer of somekind to even field it in the first place?

as far as i am aware The Avatar of Khaine isnt a farseer, so your list falls apart...

You think wrong.

The stipulation is " your army must included one non-Wraithseer HQ choice". Nothing about Farseers, or anything else. You just need to include any other HQ as well. And a squad of Wraithguard.

The armylist outlines presented above are all fine and legal.

[Clarkson]

i stand corrected, I have a wraithseer and have always been put off on using it as i didnt like using farseers at the time...

though i doubt i will field the avatar... just a giant target...

[Kelanen]

Well the idea is a an army of just giant targets - Avatar, Wraithseer, 3x Wraithlords... the little targets are Wraithguard and they are T6 still!

If you are trying to build something semi-competitive then the other HQ slot almost certainly is either Eldrad or a Farseer (probably on a jetbike with council), so I can see where that got fixed on your head. It's not a rules requirement though, just a sensible 2nd HQ slot.

[Clarkson]

problem with the jetseer is that losing the avatar doesnt give enough points to allocate to a jetseer at its cheapest.. and it seems out of place in a slooooooow walking army

[Kelanen]

There's a strong argument that a slow army needs a rapid-reaction force more not less. The big (huge) problem that Wraitguard have is that you can't transport them, and as long as an opponent can stay more than 12" away, they do nothing. Even picking apart high toughness units slowly, works if they are doing nothing back.

As to points, it doesn't need to directly trade for the avatar, it depends how many points in the list, and what other stuff you are taking as well. A jetseer council seems to plug a number of the lists biggest holes if you have the points. Sadly the the Wraithseer can't give them FNP on top of their rerollable 3++! lol

[Bonzai]

There's a strong argument that a slow army needs a rapid-reaction force more not less. The big (huge) problem that Wraitguard have is that you can't transport them, and as long as an opponent can stay more than 12" away, they do nothing. Even picking apart high toughness units slowly, works if they are doing nothing back.

As to points, it doesn't need to directly trade for the avatar, it depends how many points in the list, and what other stuff you are taking as well. A jetseer council seems to plug a number of the lists biggest holes if you have the points. Sadly the the Wraithseer can't give them FNP on top of their rerollable 3++! lol

Yeah... If I am playing in a no forge world environment, I would most likely drop a guardian jetbike squad and the Wraithseer for a jet-council. Even with the wraithseer it is arguably better to drop the avatar and throw in the Farseer and a council. I just love the FW model, and Monster Mashing is fun.

[Kelanen]

I think the JetCouncil is always better than the Avatar to be honest. Avatar is there for theme...