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I have always run a wraith list to varying degrees and with the advent of the new wraithblades I want to run them but am struggling to see where they would be more valuable than their shooty counterparts. Does anyone who has had an opportunity to use them in a game have advice on how to fit them into a list and use them effectively?

I haven't used them, but I've had both thrown against me, and Wraithblades are a pleasant surprise every time. Wraithguard with D-scythes are far more frightening than anything else that might take their place.

Yeah, if eldar had an assault vehicle, I could see wraithblades being nasty. As it stands, however, they don't, and that makes wraithguard the way to go. I have had quite a bit of success flying my wraithguard around in a serpent and killing whatever I point them at. The wraithguard have to march up the table getting shot to pieces, or get out of the transport and stand there... and then get shot to pieces.

So the answer is Wraithguard.

D-Scythes are bloody scary. Really damn scary...

I have played against and with them and escpecially when you throw doom and how potent wave serpents are in there with the runes of battle... Crazyness.

The axe/shield ones make a decent bunker for ICs to create a mini deathstar. Ultimately the guard tend to be better in most lists though.

OG Wraithguard all the way - no transport. I just don't expect it to win the battle by themselves and I've never had them fail me.

I have not gotten any of the new wraithblades or plastic models, but my old metal wraithguard are still my favorite. I run my spiritseer with them in a serpent, and having 5 D-cannons re rolling 1's to hit makes for a nasty little strike unit. The scythes are also quite good. Overall, wraithguard are better than wraithblades, but if you want the blades I would only run them in squads of 10 with ghostaxes and forceshields. They make a very hard to kill wall unit that can hold its own in CC.

 ansacs wrote:
The axe/shield ones make a decent bunker for ICs to create a mini deathstar. Ultimately the guard tend to be better in most lists though.

So basically this.

Both units have their place depending on what you are trying to add to your army.

Wraithguard bring a nice squad of high power shooters and short range AT fire that allow you to blast MC's to pieces with ease. There's very little in the game that doesn't have to worry about taking hits from Wraithcannons. If you are already loaded up on Lances and D-Cannons and the like they don't actually add that much.

Wraithblades with twin swords are in my opinion, a roadblock unit and my favored way of running Wraiths. Their high toughness and offensive power means that many units simply cannot deal with them. Add in a Spiritseer and they could be rocking 2+ saves or reducing their opponents Strength or Weapon skill. With the -1 Strength power they can tie up a S3 unit indefinitely as they can no longer injure them at all.

I run an Ulthwe army so i have lots of Guardians and high power shooting support so to me the ability to roadblock an assaulter away from my Guardians carries more weight, and while wraithguard could do the pure toughness side of it the Blades will not only tie them up but also hack through any unit up to terminator armour (Which is also vulnerable to Jinx, the Spiritseer really synchs up beautifully with these guys.)

Rikoche wrote:
D-Scythes are bloody scary. Really damn scary...

I have played against and with them and escpecially when you throw doom and how potent wave serpents are in there with the runes of battle... Crazyness.

This. I'd prefer Wraithguard, while Wraithblades are harder to pull off (assault from a Serpent, or on foot) and have too less attacks as an assault unit.

I've been a fan of the Wraithblades; axe and shield makes them very tanky. Transports are nice but you can just walk them across the board. Yes the enemy can avoid them ... but I've literally walked them over to objective and booted the enemy unit off them. Won't win a game on their own but as a troop choice I've not found better.

Sometimes I think about taking wraithblade as a answer to others armie CC, then I remember 5D-scythes = 5d3 automatic hits against any unit that assaults...

CC-units are either there to avoid being shot at, or to bind a threatening unit of the enemy, both of which are things that a wraithlist doesn't really need.