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So I think the WL is a good unit, but could really use a little extra to make them worth it.

I'd like to give it same ability as the WK (move and fire heavies without -1 penalty) or the WG ability to Fallback and still fire.
I just find it odd that WLs do not have at least one of these abilities. So which one would fit best?

Alternatively, the WL could have a rule that treats Heavy weapons as Assault weapons.
This would not only mean it wouldn't suffer the -1 to hit, but it could Advance and fire.
As it does not have Battle Focus, it would still suffer -1 to hit for Advancing, but this makes sense for balance.

Thoughts?

I'd put more value on being able to move and shoot without penalty. Currently, taking any heavy weapons feels like a trap. Moving my expensive, unscreenable wraithlord up the table means only hitting with half my shots. This is less of a big deal with the recent price reductions, but it still makes half the wraithlord's options seem like a bad idea.

The "fall back and shoot" thing that wraith guard have seems more like a way of keeping an absurdly expensive unit from being shut down entirely by cheap tarpits. A wraith lord can actually contribute to close combat.

So yeah. Of the above options, I'd prefer being able to move and shoot or treat Heavy as Assault.

On the topic of wraith lords, does anyone else wish we had some way of representing the type of exarch a wraith lord was in "life"? Meltaguns instead of flamers for fire dragons, shadow weavers instead of other heavy weapons on a spider lord, etc.?

I agree. I feel like WLs should treat Heavy as Assault. It would be a small change overall, but would really give a good feel to the WL, especially since you can model him with any of the guns in his hands like a rifle.

As for modeling him as a Exarch, I think that is too rare to be represented. While we know Exarchs can be WLs, it is not often enough since the Exarchs themselves can "come back" without a Wraith-construct. Even when they spend time as a WL, it is temporary.

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Wraithlords actually do not have Battle Focus anyway, so that change wouldn't work.

I think they're okay - admittedly nothing particularly special, but stat-wise they're good enough. The Toughness 8 helped --- I decided to run my Craftworld as Iyanden, so the benefit there is pretty good.

 Elbows wrote:
Wraithlords actually do not have Battle Focus anyway, so that change wouldn't work.

But that's exactly why it would work. WLs not having BF but treating all Heavy weapons as Assault would mean that they would not suffer -1 to hit while movie, but WOULD suffer -1 to hit while Advancing
So you could move their 8" and shoot any weapon without penalty, or move 8.1+" and shoot any weapon with -1 to hit

It balances out and makes Advancing a choice rather than a no-brainer.
I just feel like WLs are the red-headed middle child of the Wraith-constructs. Not as good as WG in this edition, nowhere near as good as WKs in 7th.
Even WKs would be good this edition if they weren't so expensive and I keep coming back to them because they shoot with no penalty and can fall-back, shoot and assault

I just think WLs should have some snowflake rule like WG and WKs. Treating Heavies like Assault weapons would be a cool rule for them, even without BF.

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