So you like Ghost Warriors? BOO!! Ok time to grow up a bit
John. I covered Saim Hann in my
Fun and Efficient article, but this time I would like to go over my second
favourite Craftworld which is Ilyanden.
From a fluff point of view it really has everything hasn’t
it? Great victories in the early days with Biel Tan against Chaos, followed by
humongous losses to a ravaging Tyranid fleet only to be saved by an Outcast
Hero and then the devastation inflicted by a renegade pirate fleet caused by
nuclear torpedoes (ref Ilyanden Supplement). Now though, Ilyanden is an
enormous Craftworld with large sections devastated and devoid of any activity.
A true ghost ship amidst the stars where only a handful of the living Eldar
tend to the dead and keep them alive in menacing wraith constructs. As is customary
on other Craftworlds, the dead are usually released back into the infinity
circuit after a battle, but not on Ilyanden for the dead refuse to go to sleep
while their drifting cosmic continent is on the brink of destruction.
Bear in mind that if you do decide to do a Wraith army, that
all the other Craftworlds keep an extensive stockpile of Wraithguard pattern
constructs along with Wraithlords and Wraithknights when desperate times
require help from long dead heroes. With that in mind I will be doing a Saim
Hann Wraith themed army. You can imagine the wave upon wave of Jetbike clans
and Vyper Squadrons supported by aircraft and Grav Tanks zooming on ahead and
the Autarch ordering the Wraith Constructs to stay in reserve incase some heavy
handed work is required. Standing there with their ornamental loincloth bearing
their warrior house insignia flapping in the wind waiting for the order to
charge head on into the enemy lines.
So to lead our army we have a number of fluffy HQ choices
that would fit the bill very well. The Dire Avenger Aspect Warrior shrine is on
Ilyanden so to see the likes of Asurman leading an Ilyanden army wouldn’t be unheard
of. Then you have the Mighty Avatar which would be called upon perhaps more than
any other Craftworld due to the low numbers of warriors Ilyanden can deploy.
Naturally Yriel would be a very fluffy and decent HQ choice to lead your Ilyanden
army, maybe you want to do a pirate themed Ilyanden army? Then there is the
Autarch who has taken a somewhat revival in the new codex and could be useful.
This then brings us on to the Farseer and the Spiritseers. If you want to do a
true Wraith army you will need a Spiritseer. These guys make all Wraithguard
and Wraithblades troops which is key to this army working. I would take 2-3 of
these guys, certainly one for each unit as you can have up to 5 Spiritseers for
one HQ slot. I would then take along a Farseer to boost your army and hopefully
give it an edge with Fortune and prescience etc.
For the troops section Dire Avengers would be very fluffy if
you want some fairly cheap boots on the ground. Throw in and Exarch with Shimmershield
and then they are quite solid. Guardians as with all Craftworlds would be quite
numerous so taking a squad or two of Guardians might be of interest to you. Of
course being a Wraith army we are going to take Wraith Guard and Wraith blades.
A unit of 10 Wraith Blades with the Ghost Axe and Shimmershield supported by
two Spiritseers would be awesome to say the least. An expensive unit but
extremely durable and the core of the army. The Farseer will hopefully be
casting fortune on this unit too. I would then take a unit of 5 cheesy Wraith
Guard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent to cause your opponent some attention.
The Serpent is loaded out with Holofields and Scatter Laser and upgraded to Shuriken
Cannon.
Finally we need some heavy firepower; ok well we have that
but more heavy fire power! Throw in a Wraithknight with standard Heavy Wraith
Cannon loadout and a Wraithlord with a Ghostglaive, Brightlance and Missile Launcher
and Heavy Flamers and we are laughing. Then a squadron of three War Walkers
with dual Scatter Lasers for tackling flyers and transports and infantry alike.
So here goes my list (2000pts)
HQ
Farseer with Runes of Warding
Three Spirit Seers (two go with W.Blades, one with W.Guard)
Troops
Wraith Guard x 5 with D-Scythes and Wave Serpent
Wraith Blades x 10 with Ghost Axes and Shimmershields
Dire Avengers x 10 with Exarch, Power Weapon and
Shimmershield
Guardian Defenders x 10 with Scatter Laser Platform
Guardian Defenders x 10 with Scatter Laser Platform
Heavy
Wraithknight with Heavy Wraithcannon x2
War Walkers x 3 with Dual Scatter Lasers
Wraithlord with Ghosglaive, Bright Lance, Missile launcher,
Heavy Flamer x2
I could have gone all Wraith units but although it would
look awesome, it would get very monotonous after a few games and the fun levels
would go way down. So a bit of variety while sticking loosely to the Wraith
theme and I think we have a nice army that will look great with those big
Wraith constructs and the big intimidating wall of 10 Wraith Blades marching
across the tabletop. It should be able to tackle most non power build armies.
Would it do well at a tournament? I think it would do ok although against heavy
flyer lists it will struggle. I have most of the models mentioned above, I just
need a War Walker, a Wraithlord and 10 WraithBlades.
Thanks for reading guys!
Johno
Firstly, whats the current state of my Saim Hann army? Well I have a long list of models to paint and I got started on this last weekend. I have 35 Guardians on my painting table at the moment which I hope to mostly get done this week or early next week. This will then be followed by 20 Dire Avengers. For the medium term I have retired the Jetbike horde but they will certainly make an appearance in my new list's from time to time but rarely will I field a full Jetbike army.
I have found that foot Eldar armies are just so much fun. They pack such a wallop and with so many bodies on the table it's kind of like playing an Ork army, just with less emphasis on rage and blood-lust and more on shiny spirit gems and razor sharp Molecular flying discs! The thing with my Jetbike army is that it either suffered a heavy loss or on another day it absolutely smashed my opponent but with this foot based army I am playing it lends for much closer games and that's much more fun for me and my opponent.
Defensive Wing:
