WOOT! I play Yncarne with my Ynnari and quins for my ITC games and tournaments, i have only gone to a few events in 2019 (Im more into
AOS right now), but i am still at 2-1 wins for each events.
Here are a few things about them;
1) They do work as mono, just not vs competitive (You dont care about this so thats good!)
2) It works VERY well with
CWE allies, and i mean VERY WELL, it makes them just 100x more fun.
3) Troupes are overcosted, this is were you waste points if you dont ally and want
CP
4) You need
CP as Ynnari, mono pure quins not so much, you must have 1-2 battalions as Ynnari
A special note about the Yncarne:
IMO, it is, the greatest unit in
40k for all of 8th (Not the greatest as in the best unit on the table) But its abilities, how it plays, the aura, the teleporting, it being Ynnari, everything. The Yncarne will make any player a better player. If you havent used it yet, you need to, and you need to for many games, i mean lots, like 10+ just to get used to it. Once you master it you will be able to put it where you need when you need (this is more important in ITC than non-ITC, for ITC its just very good) and most importantly, its a character.
You will for sure want the following no matter what:
Shadowseer
Deathjesters (2 or 3)
Solitaire
6 Skyweavers (or 12)
Units you want if you go Pure:
Troupes (15 of them)
Units you also need but at higher points (1500-2k):
Yvarine
2 Starweavers
Lets talk about each unit:
Yncarne: We already went over the Yncarne, it will be a trail and error to learn how to use it. Try to teleport at the end of phases on your opponents phases (end of Shooting, end of Melee) so you can move/power/charge on your turn, or heroic as well.
Shadowseer: A little costly for sure, but the extra movement (twilight Pathways), and the ability to have -1 to hit or
MW's is good, if you are playing Troupes takes -1 to hit, if not take More
MW's, the
HGL also is very good, 2+ to hit, then
2D6 meet the
LD you deal D3
MW in shooting (remember its not a Grenade). Combine with Shards of Light (-1LD and D3
MW) its very easy to deal 2D3
MW;s to a unit, and with Smite you are able to deal 3D3
MW's, i have killed Gman off this way before (not at full, he had 7 wounds left) Take it as Dreaming Shadow or Silent Shroud (Shoot twice or Anti-overwatch Strats)
Deathjesters: These guys are cheap, always take 2 or 3, they are good b.c they are cheap. You use them for everything, b.c they are also Characters. Holding objectives they cant be shot at (if you have units in front), shooting and clearly out bubble wraps, supporting in killing large units like Orks (-2LD, 4 ish kills, with a Shadowseer -1LD and multiple D3
MW's, killed them down to 10 and the rest runs away so no need to over kill them) Or just run and charge to eat
OW. Take them as Dreaming Shadow or Silent Shroud (Shoot twice or Anti-overwatch Strats)
Solitaire: He is basically a melee assassin, very very strong in Ynnari. You will need to learn what units he is good at and bad at, this is very important! You can attack up to 4x in 1 round (tho its extremely rare) you can move 30" without trying, you can Blitz + Twilight Pathways, etc.. There is 2 ways to play it, the 4 attack way, or the 3 attacks and a free move or just 2 with anti-overwatch. I prefer the anti-overwatch, some top players prefer the 4 attacks. I use him more as a scalpel they use him more as a nuke lets talk about each: Take his as Midnight Sorrow or Silent Shroud (Melee when dies or Anti-overwatch Strats)
A) 4 attacks, The 4 attacks if due to Ynnari +1, Midnight Shadow strait +1, War Dancers Strat +1, normal melee +1. No matter what you will get 3 attacks if you kill ANY unit, insure you attack a weak unit 1st, a unit with 2-5 1 wound guys. Then you can go on to you 2nd charging character (you declare 2 targets) the 2nd target is normally you big juicy important one you need to kill, then make sure to pile into another unit so when they kll you, you can use the Midnight strat to attack 1 finally time (its called No price too steep), remember they HAVE to attack you, so as long as you can make it into another unit (you must declare a charge also for them) they w ill fight you
B) I have been using my Ynnari Double movement instead to move AFTER i kill the 1st target. Declare 2 (or more) targets, main targets and a sub target i know i can kill (this only works turn 2, strategy A works on turn 1 or 2). You will kill your 1st easy target, use Ynnari Double move to move again (remember you are blitz so that 12" movement and you are now moving so Flip Belts work) jump over other units and get to your main target BUT in just the right spot to consolidate into a 3rd unit after you are done, at the same time you are using the Fight twice Quins strat (War Dancers) so you are able to fight your 2nd target. After it dies consolidate into the 3rd unit and if you die you fight 1 final time.
C) Anti-Overwatch scalpel attacks, this is best to kill key units your shooting just cant, think of Dark Reavers Fire and Fading in and out of cover, or units with -2 to hit via shooting (Lots of Aeldari units), Blitz, move twice if need to, target all the shooting units and spnd points
ot stop
OW, and melee like A and B examples. Its almost the same, just you dont take Overwatch instead of fighting after you die. This is VERY good vs Tau, Orks,
CWE, and a couple others.
Skyweavers: These things are extremely viable, you MUST have 1 with HWC's, even if there are no vehicles its still
D6 Bolter shots with -1ap, so it still works killing light infantry, you dont need melee weapons on them, but i would take 3 for sure, 6 is normally over kill as they are bad in melee. Tho they are good vs anything with
FnP's (due to 2D), and 1 with grenades always, its a good close range shooting weapon vs Multi wounded units, you could kill 1-2 Primaris for example. I tend to use 5 glaives and 1 bolas. Take them as Silent Shroud or Frozen stars, i personally like them as Frozen StarsS4 isnt very good, Wounding 2w troops or 1 wound +
FnP troops on 3+ compare to 4+ makes a large difference, they are also very good at counter Ynnari Shining Spears with the Frozen stars Strat, you are now able to have 15-18 attacks (re-rolls 1 with Ynnari power) and wounding on 3+ for 2D, -1 save, means every failed 5+ kills a bike.
Troupes: A special note, they are trash, literallly Wyches are better in everyway for melee and bodies/
CP (they deal 30% more damage for equal points, they are double the bodies compare to a 4++ vs a 6+/6+++ vs shooting thats still better on average, and in melee they are always better). You want them to be cheap, go 5 troupes, either melee or shooting, NOT both, never both. 15 of them with a 7pt weapon (Caress or
FP) is 100pts, finally you can just go super cheap and take no weapons for 65pts. You either take them as a support shooting, support melee, or a body guards for your character, either way, they are body guards for you characters and supporting your characters.
Alternative note: I play Vanguard Quins (Yncarne, Shadowseer, DJ, DJ, Solitaire, 6 Skyweavers) and i have Wych Battalion with 30 wyches and 2 Succubus instead of Troupes, same game play, but more fun and better.
Starweavers: You only take these to protect your charaters (Yvarine, Shdaowseer, Solitaire) and only if you are taking 3 Troupes, you take them also if you want less drops. otherwise i wouldnt take them. I personally like Starweavers, but i like them for Mech Aeldari. I have a mech list that won vs the top 3 lists from back in the day (Storm Raven spam, and
DC spam, also Khorne Berserker Spam), it works well vs Gman spam you see some lists doing, but is very bad vs Knight spam. I havent played it much anymore b.c the other lists are just better.
Now, putting it all together!
The most IMPORTANT two things are Movement and Timing. Some armies like Tau, Imperial, Chaos, has other things to worry about, for us. If you miss place you lose, if you miss time, you lose. These lists are very fragile very sharp scalpels, its going to take some time playing, you will need many games to practice it well.
You will want you non-character units to protect your characters at all times, this is why
CWE works great with them, 2 Ranges squads and 1 guardian squad (2 of them DSing) can protect 1-2 characters turn 1 and all your characters turns 2-4, Rangers strat to only be hit on 6's keeps them alive for a couple turns, guardian 20man blob with its shooting keeps them live as well via threat priority. As pure Quins you will need to use Skyweavers, and a Troupe squad or more to do this.
After you pick your targets turn to turn, and you know what is going to shoot and melee what (including powers) now you can move your units, move them in ways to get to your target but also in ways to protect your characters. Anytime you can stop them shooting your characters is good. Now to compound that even more, what is the Yncarne going to do? It would take me 10 pages to tell you how to use this beast.... i'm not doing that. Just practice with him
Quins will have a lot of small combos that are very strong, even more combos with
CWE, i would for sure look into getts a Farseer, a Warlock (or Eldrad and Yvarine, that is a better combo) 2 Ranger boxes and 2 Guardian Boxes. a very solid start for a battalion with Quins.
Finally here are 2 list, 1k List with Yncarne mono Quins
Battlaion
Yncarne
Shadowseer
Troupe x5 (no gear on any troupe)
Troupe x5
Troupe x5
Solitaire
Skyweavers x5, x5 HWC, no melee
Vanguard
Yncarne
Troupe x5 (again no gear)
Troupe x5
DJ
DJ
Solitaire
Skyweavers x6, x6 HWC
You have 75pts to do what you want
Alternative Battalion with a
TM
Yncarne
TM - Caress
Troupes
Troupes
Troupes
DJ
Solitaire
Skyweavers x5, x5 HWC
23pts left to do what you want
15k+
Emperor's Spears 2500
Beastmen 10k