I got to play two 2000 point games today. I love how much quicker 8th edition games run than previous ones. I recently got the wraithseer I had been wanting for awhile and decided to try something very close to the monster list I am building once I get two more wraith lords. Here is what I brought today:
+++ Aeldari Spirithost: Lords/Hemlocks/Knight (2000) (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) +++
++ Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachment (Aeldari - Craftworlds) ++
+ Lord of War +
Wraithknight: Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Cannon, Titanic Ghostglaive with Scattershield
. Rules: Ancient Doom
++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Aeldari - Craftworlds) ++
+
HQ +
Avatar of Khaine
. Rules: Ancient Doom, Battle Focus
Wraithseer: D-cannon
. Rules: Ancient Doom
+ Heavy Support +
Wraithlord: Flamer, Flamer, Ghostglaive, 2x Shuriken Cannon
. Rules: Ancient Doom
Wraithlord: Flamer, Ghostglaive, 2x Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Catapult
. Rules: Ancient Doom
Wraithlord: Flamer, Ghostglaive, 2x Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Catapult
. Rules: Ancient Doom
Wraithlord: Flamer, Ghostglaive, 2x Shuriken Cannon, Shuriken Catapult
. Rules: Ancient Doom
+ Flyer +
Hemlock Wraithfighter: 1. Conceal/Reveal, Spirit Stones
Hemlock Wraithfighter: 3. Enhance/Drain, Spirit Stones
++ Total: [98
PL, 1996pts] ++
My first game was against primaris marines. I don't have the exact list from this opponent or my next one, but his force consisted of two large squads of marines (one with a ton of plasma), several characters, a hover tank, two flier and a couple dreadnaughts.
Game Type: Secure and Control
Deployment: Front-Line Assault
My opponent set up most of his marines, including the dreadnaughts, in one of the ruined buildings along with his objective. His Tank was set wide. I set up with the intent to charge my lords and knight into his objective building.
Turn 1:
I got first round and he did not seize. My thought was that his flyers would be a problem; I figured if my hemlocks died I would struggle to hit these and they would just go on harassing me. So I decided to fling both my hemlocks downfield and try to at least take out one flyer before he could react. The rest of my army all advanced up toward the ruins his foot soldiers were stationed in. My hemlocks did their job and blew the flyer out of the sky, but I forgot to use their psychic powers (and I would forget for the rest of the game). My Wraithseer attempted to give one of my lords Deliverance, but he failed, perils, and took 2 mortal wounds. My lords managed to kill a couple of plasma-marines with shuriken fire, but one of my opponents special character allowed them to get some shots off before dying, wounding my knight slightly. My Knight attemped a very long charge at the dreadnaught but did not make.
My opponent retaliated against my flyers with his plasma squad, evaporating one of the poor hemlocks. The resulting explosion caused some mortal wounds to his twin. It was at this point I decided that they were a bigger threat than the enemy flyers. His remaining flyer and dreadnaughts peppered my Knight for some more damage, though nothing to significant. His hover tank was horribly ineffective at shooting my remaining hemlock and, in desperation, he attempted to charge it which failed and my hemlock gave him 8 wounds as a present.
Turn 2:
I suddenly remembered that I had left my objective completely undefended and he was moving his tank full of marines over to it. I redirected my Seer and two Lords to handle that situation. The rest of the army moved up to prepare for an assault and my hemlock hopped the building. My hemlock shot the squad of plasma marines, killing five. My other units also shot into that squad, taking another two out, and they would later roll horribly on moral and be wiped out. My Knight charged both dreadnaughts, soaking the overwatch. My Avatar and other lord would join the fun. The knight cut down the larger dread and the Avatar ripped open the smaller one, leaving only some characters left to hold my opponents objective (all of whom were likely wearing brown by this point).
My opponent disgorged his other marines from the tank and use them and the tank to attempt to take down the lords heading his way. He did put some wounds on them, but he split fire too much and nothing died. Once again his tank was utterly abysmal at doing damage for some reason (his dice seemed to hate his tank the whole game). His characters tried to do some damage through shooting (mainly pistols) to my monsters in his building but not much came of it. His marines charged one of my lords, wounding him a bit. My lord wiffed his return attacks.
Turn 3:
My Seer and the Lord near him that was not in combat moved to get ready for assault, the rest of my force positioned to attack his characters. My Hemlock hopped back over the building to go after the tank and primaris over there. My Avatar chucked his sword at the flyer, managing to hit and do significant damage, followed by lots of shuriken cannons finally bringing it down. My Avatar/Lord/Knight team charged his captain /lieutenant /apothecary, killing all of them and leaving only the ancient left in the building. My Seer joined with the Lord in assault with the marines and my last lord assaulted his tank.
We played to conclusion, but the rest of the game was essentially me mopping up his remaining units. Nothing else I had died.
After watching this game, one of the other people decided they wanted to try their experimental dreadknight-heavy grey knight list against mine. So I ignored some other social obligations I had for the day and threw down for another game. He brought 4 Dreadknights, A Stormrave with Draigo and some Paladins inside.
Game Type: Big Guns Never Tire
This was going to be fun since we each had 4 heavy-support, and we put all the objectives as close to center as possible.
Deployment: Vanguard Strike
We basically deployed in a line exactly opposite of each other, both intent on closing as quickly as possible and having a monster mash around the center objectives.
Turn 1:
He got first and I did not seize. He moved everything forward and his small dreanaught (venerable i think) used gate to get behind me (though he forgot that he could only use that once per-turn in matched play otherwise he may have done it with a dreaknight instead). His shooting killed a Lord, wounded another (slightly) and the Knight.
I also moved almost everything forward, surrounding his Stormraven as best I could (this would end up being a mistake). My intent was to unload everything I could into the raven, hopefully blow it out of the sky, and use my hemlocks to devastate the paladins inside. 3 smites (one of which got denied), 6 shuriken cannons, 1 heavy d-cannon, 1 wailings doom, and 2 heavy d-scythes later and the flyer was brought down... and exploded... I made the mistake of surrounding it a bit too close. The result was 3 mortal wounds on each hemlock, 3 mortal wounds on a lord, 3 on the knight, and 1 on the Avatar (thank god for molten body). Miraculously, not a single paladin died as they fell from the flaming wreckage of their former transport. Despite this little mishap, I threw everything that could into close combat with the paladins. The avatar killed two, The Seer killed one, The Knight kicked draigo to death. When all was said and done, only an apothecary was alive, and he was tied up with my Knight. My two lords that did not participate in this turned back to deal with the dreadnaught and, after some shooting and assault, did just that.
Turn 2:
Here is where things really got bloody. His dreadknights all moved up to join the fight.
They shot down one of my hemlocks and put some serious damage on the other. It was a tight squeeze, but three of them managed to fit their way into fights with a Lord and the Knight. I was very surprised by how much damage these things could do to my knight so, after the first one had attacked, I burned a command point to let my Knight go next and he managed to kill a knight in one round. The remaining dreadknight chewed through the Lord he was in combat with. My Seer managed to kill the apothecary on the return attacks.
My Avatar, who had been freed from combat with the death of the apothecary, moved around to assault the dreadknight still on my Knight. My Other lords turned around and started heading back towards the thick of things. The Hemlockt managed to cause a little more damage to a dreadknight as a flew by. At this point, my Knight was having a harder time hitting things and it showed in that he needed the Avatar to assist in killing another dreadknight. My Seer damaged the other dreadknight, but not significantly.
Turn 3:
His last dreadknight shot and charged my Avatar, killing it (dang anti-demon special rules!) (also I could not make a molten body save to save my life let alone the avatar's). His other one piles more wounds on my Knight. Some hot invulnerable saves and my knight's ever worsening
WS meant I had a fairly ineffective return attack.
My Hemlock began the process of circling back around, nearly flying off the table because I had forgotten to turn it at the end of my last movement. One of my lord sat on a nearby objective while the other rushed forward. My Seer finished off the dread he was facing but my Knight could not manage to kill his. His Dreadknight did more damage to my Knight.
Turn 4:
His lone dreadknight finished off my Knight in a spectacular set of rolls.
I decided to finish the game with some flash, using the smite from my hemlock and wraithseer to put down the final dreadknight.
Closing Thoughts:
This list was
far more powerful than I expected. I honestly thought that the lack of invulnerable save on many of my units would make them extremely vulnerable to high-
ap AT firepower. When I posted a similar list, with 2 more lords in place of the hemlocks, people here said that the sheer amount of T7, multi-wound models would be tough to take down and that seems to have held true. In addition, the Hemlocks are such a huge threat and distraction that they acted as something of a screen for my melee units to get to the enemy.
In truth, I am not a fan of tabling opponents unless I was close to being tabled as well. I don't think lopsided battles are as fun as close ones. I really like monstrous creatures though and don't want to give up on the idea of this list. I am hoping that, once i get two more wraithlords, taking out the hemlocks will tone down this list enough to make the fight more even.
The wraithknight has proven itself to be extremely capable. I have used both the twin wraithcannon and sword/board versions now and I would use either again. I like the sword and board for this list as he makes a very effective buffer between enemies and the rest of my army. Usually people want to poor fire at him and he soaks up a substantial amount before falling. In addition, the sword just absolutely destroys high wound models. My opponents were both surprised to learn that it did a flat 6 damage on wound.
I like the double-
SC + sword wraithlord loadout. It is fairly cheap, I don't worry about advancing them unless I think I could make close combat,
SCs do pretty well at a large variety of targets, and the sword is very nice in combat.
I am very pleased with my new wraithseer. Between smites, d-cannon shots, and the spear attacks he was a worth companion for the Avatar in leading my wraith to victory.
Hope you all enjoy and this was not too much text in one go.
