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Dp people prefer to run these as rare skirmishers or Heroes? Why?

Heros for the front rank of ethereal madness

Seconded.
Five HeroWraiths or HeroBanshees in the fron rank of a five-wide unit of, idk, skeletons?
They'll be hitting your ethereals, preferably not being able to damage them at all.
You hit back with 15 S5 attacks. And some attacks from the second row (possibly third if using spears).
But, the really important one - You gain rank bonus.
Rank bonus + 15 S5 attacks + Opponent cannot wound you at all = Good combat resolution.
Yes... Very good combat resolution..

(Though it should be mentioned that this is extremely risky. If you happen to face any Hero with magical weapon in the opposing unit, you're in trouble )

Not to mention that costs 300 points, minimum, for a trap that's easily foiled with magical attacks. There's also a trend in local tournaments to ban this with a rule "No more than 4 ethereal heroes". For me there seems to be more useful things in the list to spend those points on, so I go 1-2 Wraiths and Banshee in Heroes and treat them as unit upgrades for my skeletons. You can still decrease incoming attacks (so long as they're non-magical), because some of the models in the enemy unit will be forced to attack the Wraith. I usually save my rare points for Vargulfs and Blood Knights.

Both.
Chill touch is awesome. I love to charge a lone wraith into a steam tank and slowing tear it up.
Charging turn 1 out of the pre-game movement ghouls is awesome.

At 2400 points, I'm going to run a ton wraiths.
Rare unit for the ethereal BSB and general, and then 6 wraith heroes (two in 2 skeleton blocks, and 1 in flanking ghoul units).

I won't be putting ~5 in a unit, that's grounds for a nut-kicking.

-Matt

Chill touch? Never read that article- didn't know about that one.

Matt, there was someone at my last GT that ran 5 ethereals in the front of a big skeleton unit with static combat res. I didn't have to face it, and I'm not sure where it ended up.

Red_Zeke wrote:Chill touch? Never read that article- didn't know about that one.

Matt, there was someone at my last GT that ran 5 ethereals in the front of a big skeleton unit with static combat res. I didn't have to face it, and I'm not sure where it ended up.

Wraith characters can trade all their attacks for 1 attack, it auto-wounds with no armor save.
T8 necrosphinx? No problem.
Steamtank? Auto hit, Auto wounded, no save.
Fanatics? Easy, just go for a 12" jog and step on as many as possible.

-Matt

Gah! Good to know.

Yeah, wraiths are really game changers.
All it takes is a vampire player or two and a handful of wraiths, and suddenly, fighting characters with magic weapons make a comeback.
I know the local armory has a run on 5 and 10 point weapons, and lore of fire (flamig sword) when I come to town.
Skeletons can rock the house when supported by a pair of wraiths.

-Matt