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Hey all,

So overhauled my plans on Blood Ravens after seeing that they've got some proper fluffy Iyanden rules out there again since the 7th edition Limited edition codex I loved so much.

So here's the list for an army with plenty of turn 1 threat potential I've come up with:

Battalion:

HQ:

Farseer - Witchblade - Psychic Powers: Doom, Guide

Spiritseer

Troops

3 Sets of:

5xDire Avengers 1x Exarch w/Shimmershield & Power Glaive

Vanguard:

HQ:

Wraithseer w/D-Cannon - Relic: Phoenix Gem - Warlord Trait: Incomparable Hunter

5x Wraithguard w/D-Sycthes

5x Wraithguard w/Wraithblades

5x Wraithguard w/Wraith Cannons

Dedicated Transport:

Wave Serpent w/ Shuriken Canon, Twin Shuriken Canon - Star Engines, Vectored Engines

Wave Serpent w/ Twin Shuriken Catapults, Twin Star Canons - Crystal Targeting Matrix, Vectored Engines, Star Engines

Super Heavy Auxiliary:

LoW:

Wraithknight w/2x Starcanons, Titanic Ghostglaive



So idea is to have the Wraithguard with Wraithcanons webway assault as they have the range from 9" and have the Wave Serpents packing all HQ's and Wraithguards boost straight into the face of the enemy and have the Wraithknight do the same, so multiple threats all over the show with high toughness values so should survive retaliation or if I end up going second. The Dire Avengers are there to advance about on the map and take objectives, helps also having the shimmershield on them to make them that bit more durable, hopefully they're ignored with all the undead in the enemies grill.

The Spiritseer and Farseer are there as buffers/smiters. The Wraithseer will be providing both psychic support and wrecking face. I was unsure about the Warlord trait but liked the idea of getting straight into the lines of the enemy and him jumping out and sniping a character with the D-Canon hitting on 2's almost guaranteeing deletion of said unit with the Warlord trait.

For an elite army I think it has some legs with it's generally high toughness values and also craftworld trait meaning I won't be losing too many units to morale.

With all those Avengers, is there a reason to not take Biel-Tan except for fluff?

that wraithseer with Dcannon. I couldnt believe me eyes lol. Could it really hit anywhere without los?

 Elric Greywolf wrote:
With all those Avengers, is there a reason to not take Biel-Tan except for fluff?

Purely for fluff reasons, I mean I could run them as Biel Tan tbh, not like they'll be painted in yellow!

What about the list then if they were Biel-tan?

 Pellegrino wrote:
that wraithseer with Dcannon. I couldnt believe me eyes lol. Could it really hit anywhere without los?

I know right? Characters can't even hide from this bad boy! His wound profile shouldn't change much either unless taking a massive battering! letting him hitting nicely with the Iyanden trait

Well, Dire Avengers are not fluffy enough in a Iyanden army. Just a working hypothesis.
I'd take Rangers or philosophers and poets aka Guardians.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, Dire Avengers are not fluffy enough in a Iyanden army. Just a working hypothesis.
I'd take Rangers or philosophers and poets aka Guardians.

I think guardians and rangers are pretty lacklustre though, the range on the guardians weapon make them purely objective sitting blobs and I think snipers (in my experience, unless running super cheap rattlings) suck for the points. Plus painting 30 guardians yellow seems crazy uninspiring :(

Plus dire avengers were seen in Warzone Valedor for Iyanden iirc?

Avengers are plenty fluffy and the one aspect shrine Iyanden are actually meant to have a reasonable amount of still to my knowledge. I would say full squads of them would be good though to actually take advantage of the morale security you have as Iyanden and the volume of fire compliments Wraith units well.

I'd actually consider dropping a wave serpent and biting the bullet of 3CP cost to Webway two units. Wraiths are tough enough that they don't need the durability and all you want is the speed so why not use those points to bulk out your objective grabbers?

I'd also consider if the Farseer is really what your list needs as you are hitting with high Str already, do you need doom? or do you just need warlocks to put the +1 save on your Wraithknight? Not saying he is wrong for the list, but I would challenge your thinking to ask if he is adding enough to be worth his points and be what the rest of the list needs.

Lithanial wrote:
Avengers are plenty fluffy and the one aspect shrine Iyanden are actually meant to have a reasonable amount of still to my knowledge. I would say full squads of them would be good though to actually take advantage of the morale security you have as Iyanden and the volume of fire compliments Wraith units well.

I'd actually consider dropping a wave serpent and biting the bullet of 3CP cost to Webway two units. Wraiths are tough enough that they don't need the durability and all you want is the speed so why not use those points to bulk out your objective grabbers?

I'd also consider if the Farseer is really what your list needs as you are hitting with high Str already, do you need doom? or do you just need warlocks to put the +1 save on your Wraithknight? Not saying he is wrong for the list, but I would challenge your thinking to ask if he is adding enough to be worth his points and be what the rest of the list needs.

Thanks for the critique fella. I agree with almost everything you're saying, Farseer. I was actually thinking about Yriel as he's quite a close combat beast and having the path of command is handy for potential command point reclaiming + his reroll buff, but is it as handy as the potential smites and fortune you think? Not sure you can use protect on a Wraithknight as it's not infantry/biker sadly

With the dropping Wave Serpents suggestion is that I think they're really versatile with having fire power and the speed that my army massively lacks for objective games and claiming those. Plus painting all that infantry.....

Only other thought I had was switching out the Wraithknight for 3 Wasp Walkers with BL + SC's and adding several Dire Avenger to each squad and an Autarch with wings.

Food for thought!

Ah right you are on Protect, my bad, i'm still getting back into this. For the Autarch vs Farseer thoughts, it boils down to if you want Fortune or something that can fight in close combat since smite balances out with the re-roll aura if used right. Maybe try out the Farseer and see how you get on with him but make the switch if he doesn't end up doing much.

Wave Serpents are nice fire platforms for sure, but by going for that speed you are actually losing out on firepower and building risk into your list; here's why:

- If one of them goes pop turn 1 then the Guard inside are too slow to be doing too much for the rest of the fight. Webway will guarantee delivery
- You are Star-Engine boosting on the first turn from the look of it to get close. Doing so you can't shoot that Star Cannon and all the troops inside can't shoot either. With Webway then it can all shoot a turn earlier.

2 Serpents and a Wraithknight is a nice amount of durable armour on top of everything else so it works, you just might want to change the configuration of a few of the units to get the most out of it and put as many Wraithguard into the Webway as possible.

Yeah I think the wave serpents might only work in a list that has the wraithknight included for the reason that people’s heavy weapons will all inevitably be focussed on taking out a close combat variant wraithknight.

As for the wave serpents advancing I didn’t realise the troops can’t do anything if they advanced that turn?

It's more they have to stay on-board the transport if it moves and they can't shoot while still inside the thing. Remember that you can only dis-embark before the vehicle moves, not after.

I wouldn't take the shimershield on the dire avengers the exarch already has a 4+ invuln and the way cover and AP works it's just not what it used to be. Take the double catapults insdead as you'll want that nice boost in damage output.

I'dd drop one wraith guard squad, and as previously mentioned just webway the remaining two units onto the table. They'll feel so much better that way. You can keep the wave serpent, and adding in a bone singer now throw the dire averengers adn your characters into both the serpents will be a good way to get them up the battle field. Wave serpent damage output is most certainly lack luster but they are nice durable models that can really help you win out a long.

Plus as you say you are maybe taxing your opponent's heavy weaposn and plasma with all the high T models you have.

I think the wraith knight doesn't really synergize well with other wraith buddies. you really need something that can help you with hordes. A hemlock keeps with the fluff and could help.

Well how about this then for some tweaking:


Battalion:

HQ:

Autarch w/wings, mandiblasters, fusion pistol, power sword

Wraithseer w/d-canon, ghostglaive - Warlord Trait: Mark of incomparable hunter - Relic: psytronome of iyanden

Troops:

3x: 6x Dire avengers 1x Exarch w/ dual avenger catapults

Dedicated Transport:

1x wave serpent w/ twin Bright lance, twin Shuriken catipult, vectored engines, spirit stone

1x wave serpent w/ twin Shuriken canons, twin Shuriken catipult, vectored engine

Flyer:

2x Hemlock Wraithfighters - Psychic: Horrify
Vanguard:

HQ:

Spirit-seer Psychic: Enhance/Drain

1x Bone-singer

8x Wraithblades

8x Wraithguard w/ D-Canons



Only thing I don’t know how I’d get the wraithseer in quick. I want him there with the wraithblades (who obviously using the 3CP webway along with wraithguard) to activate the psytronome and also use enliven to get them into charge. The Avengers can all fit into the wave serpents as you said. The Autarch could drop in with deepstrike for rerolls making