Wraithguard Got Game ..

I got a game in this weekend and threw together a completely mixed up list to get a feel for what's decent and whats crapola. I played against the new Chaos Dex so it was a good test for one of the oldest Dex's out there. My list really was a mess haha but I wanted to play test a lot of units.

Eldrad
Farseer w/ Stones and 3 powers
5 Jetbikes
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
10 DA + Ex w/ 2 SC and Bladestorm
8 Wraithguard
5 Hawks
7 Spiders + Ex w/ Duel Spinners and WD
5 Reapers + Ex w/ Fast Shot (whoops edit bad word spell check missed)
Deathspinner
3 WWalkers w/ duel Scatterlasers
Aegis D line

It was a good game and we called it a draw as my friend had to leave at turn 4. It was the 5 Obj mission and he went first. He was sitting on 3 of them and I had 2 but I was making for one on the far side of the board with my Jetbikes to either contest or take. I had been pummeling his blob of chaos zombies or whatever the hell they were most of the game with the Spinner. I really haven't had time to even read the new Chaos Dex so really didn't know what the new stuff was and figured I'd just learn what they did as I went. My list was far from optimized and wanted to see how it would go down. I got first blood and would have most likely had line breaker. If his dice wouldn't have been on awesome mode I would have marched up the field sooner with the WG and Eldard to through down a Challenge on Typhus. But man was he getting a lot of 5s and 6s on his Mauler (whoops edit not the flyer) Daemon saves. Those things were pretty tough, especially for my non CC Dar haha. But 2 Witchblades brought one the pain and then the WG sent anothers' ass back to the warp.

Some things.. The Eldar did get a boost in the Psy Field. With the addition of the deny the witch and changes to the Psy Hoods you are going to be able to get off most of your powers without being contested at all. Most of the new powers in Div and Dex powers are Buffs/Blessings so it doesn't target the enemy. No stopping me sucker! We have Ghost Helms, the only thing I can think of that still will save you against a Perils. Poop, double ones.. Booyah .. a 5, the Warp aint got nothing on me! Runes, we still have a way to stop our opponent (not counting Deny the Witch) plus they have the added bonus of whoops you had a Peril.. My friends Sorcerer died from perils. I love that. Not to mention he got to use not one power before his head exploded. And that's just equipment.

New Powers - I chose to replace both Eldard and the Seer's powers. I wanted to see how good they were and I'd have to say I was pleased. I was hoping for the Seer to be more of the face puncher but Eldard got the better powers for that role. Not to mention him getting to replace 4 powers helps to get all the good ones. I only used Div powers as I wanted to test the all buff mindset I mentioned. Grouped up with a squad of Wraithguard they are a mean combo. Re-rolls for shooting, Firing Snaps at full BS plus some of the others. The other Seer in the backfield with the Reapers giving them re rolls and Snaps at BS as well. Being able to reposition and still fire normally is pretty nice. Overall pretty happy with are Psyness so far. I think next game I may put in a Council and see how they do.

Aegis D Line, I think will be a must. With fliers filling the sky now the Dar need something to shoot them down. The Dar have no GW fliers atm and have nothing to reliably shoot them down (Unless a Seer has buffed a unit and they are in range and have a decent Str weapon, a long list). I put the Seer with the Reapers and the Reaper Ex on the IcLas from the D Line. I gave him fast shot for that sole purpose. Getting another shot in with it is pretty sweet, on the second turn his first Helldrake came in and got smoked by the Reaper Ex. A bit lame that the Dar have to hop on some Imperial equipment to get the job done but what can you do. I see this setup working well so I'll probably be making my own version of an Eldar D Line.

Wraithguard, what's not to like. Their guns will destroy anything pretty easily, be it infantry, vehicles or even characters. If he wouldn't have had awesome rolling on a 5+ they would have brought down one of his Mauler Daemon things in one quick round of shooting. He ran amuck on a poor squad of Pathfinders who thankfully held him up though his next turn and then the WG brought it down. They have a high Str for Eldar as well as Toughness coupled with some Seer powers they are down right mean. Charging down a squad of WG firing at full BS is going to be a hard overwatch to get through even for Termies. ReRolls to hit on an already good BS and then a 2+ to wound and AP2, all that equals up to MEAN. The only downfall is their speed and range but it could be worse. I liked the combo so I'm thinking 10WG with Seer in the future. I'll have to paint up the rest of my WG though, only had enough painting that could ride in a Serpent and that won't be happening anytime soon.

War Walkers, Wasn't too impressed. I'm use to having a faster gun platforms so maybe I have to just get use to it but there wasn't much to really shoot at in the game. The way the board was setup the only fire lines I had would have put me in range of 48" guns that would have taken the WWs out quickly or have nothing to shoot at so I pretty much just shot at the second Helldrake. 24 Shots, 3 Hits and then 1 Glance (Saved). I think I got about the same result twice. The number of shots is nice but they aren't going to be decent vehicle killers for sure and definitely not flyer killers. I was hoping to have Eldrad in the back so I could give them re rolls as well but no such luck. I'll give them another try but they really aren't calling to me so far.

Hawks, they did nothing. And that may tell of their usefulness. I don't see people running large mech forces anymore so I don't know if the hawks are worth putting in a list. All they did was hide as I looked for an opening to do something and when nothing appeared I jumped off the table to at least do something with them. They dropped their grenades and missed. Blah .. oh well 8)

Spiders got caught by the Mauler thing and cut them up pretty bad so they didn't get to do much either as they were now limited in numbers.

Nightspinner, I love this thing. I actually did as soon as it came out but never has the space for it. Now that people are slogging a lot more and seem to be using blobs on more then just IG the NS really shines. It's range is very good and is TL'd. So if it scatters poorly, re roll. With it being Str 6 on average you are going to wound alot and if you are hitting T3 units it's instant death. You also have a chance to pin and now they are in dangerous terrain. So you have another chance to put some hurting on them plus they are slowed. If someone is footslogging over you can really hold a squad back. Overall fun, I don't know if it would be as awesome in a Tourney but the annoyance factor is there haha.

I'd have to say the game went pretty well, the things I was trying to do seemed to work and that's cool. I'll have to whittle a little more and see how it goes in the next game. But it seems like I'll be painting a lot more as many of the units I have done are what I ran in my old lists. It also means I'll be painting stuff that might be getting replaced when the Dex comes out if rumors are true. So, don't know where I'm going to go with that haha.. not that it matters at the moment. Hopefully soon I'll have more time to work on some stuff.