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Hi folks,
I've been looking at the Shadow Spectre Phoenix Lord, and must say I'm sorely tempted to get her! While a pricey model at around 220pts, she does appear to pack quite a punch, and with her jet pack and large list of special abilities seems incredibly versatile. Add to that her unique Warlord Trait to increase the odds of Night Fighting and 12" radius to force Ld re-rolls really adds a nice tactical edge.

Some of my thoughts are using her aggressively with a Warp Spider squad, where aside from devastating firepower, using Split Fire with the exarch to force a pinning check on another squad can really cause some great chaos by allowing fair chance of one squad running and another being pinned. Another idea is to have a large squad of Telepathy wielding Shadow Council forcing Ld related headaches for the enemy, which with Irillyth forcing re-rolls on would be great synergy.

Firstly, this is all under the assumption that the online Forgeworld 6th ed FAQ is the latest rule set for her. What are your thoughts?

Just like most of the Pheonix Lords, he tends to be a bit over costed, but by no means is a bad choice. I have run Irillyth a few times now and was pretty statisfied with the performance. The night fighting thing is pretty cool becuase you can outflank with a full unit of Shadow Spectres for some excelent surprise damage right where you need it with Acute Senses. Irillyth can wreck face in combat too. 5 S6 AP2 (as long as you shot the unit first) attacks on the charge at initiative 7 is pretty boss. The Fear + Shadow of Death combo can be pretty rage inducing as well. The only thing he is really lacking is an invul, but he does get 4+ cover for making a thrust move.

I dont think Warp Spiders would be great with Irillyth as he can only move 6" in the movement phase, and would slow them down too much.

Interesting... and reassuring that you've had some good mileage from him! What units did you tend to field him in?

I don't see it as such a mobility problem having her with the Warp Spiders.. I keep the assault move, and only loose out on the Warp Jump; but with the options such as Deep Strike a and Outflank, I don't; see it as a deal breaker - plus you still have move, battle focus and Assault jump. If I still need to Warp Jump, I could always jump the Warp Spiders forward and have a a trail of coherency for the phoenix Lord to lag behind on - the range of her weapon means she can be back and still fire away.

With a full unit of Shadow Spectres.

I have also thought about throwing Irillyth in with a 10 man Dire Avenger squad to take advantage of the 5++ the exarch can take for the squad.

I say go big or go home.

Put him in a full unit of Shadow Specters AND add an Autarch with Shadow Specter gear.

This helps you control your reserve rolls adds an invul save to the squad. Not to mention the Autarch can be very well equipped.

I understand this means there will be no Farseers but sometimes thinking outside the box is not a bad thing.

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
I say go big or go home.

Put him in a full unit of Shadow Specters AND add an Autarch with Shadow Specter gear.

This helps you control your reserve rolls adds an invul save to the squad. Not to mention the Autarch can be very well equipped.

I understand this means there will be no Farseers but sometimes thinking outside the box is not a bad thing.

You could have farseers in a dual FoC list.

Because if you're sinking this many points into something you may as well play a 2k+ game.

I've played against Irillyth and a squad of Shadow Specters in an Apocalypse game. It wasn't fun to deal with. If you want to keep friends, I'd avoid it. That being said, I don't think the guy playing them knew all the rules or used and updated FAQs. So it may be different.

The night fight control seems like adding insult to injury with him.

Irillyth is an intresting pick that will spice up your game, and pretty fair too.

The specters themselves are rather poor though, at least with the new rules for the ghostlight making combo shots triggering off the weakest gun.