Thanks for the well written report Jim, good to see some conclusions in the end also
Looks like you had fun!

Thanks for the report. I'll be honest when I saw only one Storm Serpent I expected the worse. Also the wraith gate seems to have been used twice in the third turn. Interesting test though.

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I think maybe twice in the second turn.

Also mic forgot to bring out the avatar. Also I conveniently forgot to remind him.hahah!

Yeah a great fun game. The iyanden are hard as but fragile when it comes to the supporting activations. Thats another reason why the iyanden 1:1works well.

Cheers
Jim

My thought too.

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Great report. I've been looking at a very similar 3k Iyanden list (planning for Heavy Bolter), swapping the Revenants for Nightwings & Phoenix Bombers, and trying to work out whether to buy Wave Serpents for one Spirit Host or mix in some Wraithlords to improve the resilience of the webway formations. I like the flexibility of bringing a Vampire and Storm Serpent (and only have one of each model...) but can't help wondering if a pair of the same unit might be easier to use.

Gents

Great write up Jim, it was a fun game with a heap of heckling over a couple of schooners.
Good catch Tim I think I made an error with the Wraithgate on turn 2 which neither Jim or I picked up on at the time. All in all I quiet like that list and I deliberately wanted each of the delivery systems in there supported by the revenants. The nature of Iyanden being an engagement heavy force means you have to go for a few gambles and I feel if you leave those moves to late in the game you can end up conceding too much of the table.
Admittedly had I remembered the Avatar to join the assault with the wraithlord against the Shadowswords etc we may have seen a different outcome to the game.

My thoughts
-WB it was good they made it into hand to hand but felt a little lack luster, possibly a MW ea +1 would help balance them. However I did find that they were handy to launch a FF engagement were I had significant support from WG in Waveserpents.
- Regarding the 1:1 ratio, Jim and I had a good chat about this and we both agreed that the jury is still out on this and more testing is required. I guess we need to also consider the formation costings here for the Warhost as some minor adjustment here may have some effect as well. Anyway we both felt that the list can still support a good number of effective builds so I guess more testing.
-animated construct didn't have an impact despite several seers eating dirt.
-I really dig the WG in Waveserpents formation and can see a lot of effective builds which centre around one or two of these formations.

Hopefully the other batrep from my other game on the weekend will be up soon and this was the same list but up against the orks.

Morsla, I am actually thinking along the same lines of having more air elements in my next list also. Possibly 2 vamps and either Nightwings or phoinex as I am still deliberating the pros and cons. Have you got any games lined up?

Cheers

Mic

Not in the next month unfortunately (work is killing my gaming time at the moment...) but I'm painting up enough Wraithguard to field four warhosts - my old Iyanden list only used two of them, so I've had to change it quite a bit to fit with the new list.

Wraithblades are a tricky one to balance. Currently, their strengths just don't seem to balance their many weaknesses. If they went to CC 3+ and added MW to their extra attack, they could almost be used interchangeably with Wraithguard at the same cost: you would lose the close range shooting and FF of the Wraithguard, but you could put a few units up front to assault battle tanks etc. They'd have the same CC stats as Wraithlords, losing the FF and brightlance attack, but giving the option of an all-infantry formation.

As CC units (with no FF ability at all) are generally much harder to use than FF, there are two ways they could go. They could become much better at CC, to sit at an equivalent points cost to Wraithguard. Or, they act as the "cheap" warhost/upgrade option. Personally, I'd rather see them brought up to the same cost: that would simplify the army list, with a single "Spirit Warrior Warhost" of 4-6 Wraithguard or Wraithblades in any combination + Wave Serpents or Wraithlords, and the "Wraithlord Warhost" as a second option.

Ok, so I played Alansa last night:-
Iyanden Vs AMTL


Iyanden (Net-EA 4.2)
625 Wraithguard (Black) + Wraithseer + 2x Wraithguard + 3x Wraith Lords
525 Wraithguard (Silver) + 2x Wraithguard + 3x Wraith Lords
375 Wraithguard (Red) + 2x Wraithguard
375 Wraithguard (Blue) + 2x Wraithguard
350 Wraith Lords.
350 Guardians + Wave Serpents
200 Jetbikes including a Vyper
200 Jetbikes including a Vyper

AMTL (E-UK)
900 Warlord+Legate with 2 x Turbo Laser Destructor, Volcano cannon, Gatling
650 Reaver with 3 x Multi Rocket Launchers
700 Reaver + Carapace Multi Lasers, with Turbo Laser Destructor, Gatling, Multi Rocket Launcher
600 Warhound pack +2x Veteran Princeps (with Vulcan Mega bolter, Plasma Blastgun)
150 Thunderbolts

Sorry, having trouble with the images
Setup
Both sides place their T&H opposite their own Blitz adopting a similar strategy of pushing major forces to capture these, retaining a fast formation to contest Blitz.

Turn #1
AMTL win the initiative and force Iyanden to go first

1a. Wraithguard (Red) march forwards into buildings holding their T&H on left flank
1b. TBolts strafe Guardians causing a BM

2a. Guardians fail to Marshall, so advance behind same buildings
2b. Reaver (TLD) advances into woods towards Iyanden T&H

3a. Big Wraithguard (black) march into same buildings
3b. Reaver (MRL) goes on OW (also acts as a Blitzguard)

4a. Bikes(1) advance into cover of the same buildings
4b. Warlord advances into cover towards AMTL T&H

5a. Bikes(2) march into cover behind hills on left flank
5b. Warhound pair double into woods on right flank towards AMTL T&H

6a. Big Wraithguard (Silver) fail to march despite SC reroll (snake eyes!), so advance into woods in centre

7a. Wraithguard (blue) march into woods on right flank near Warhounds (no pic)

8a. WraithLords fail to march, so advance into central woods behind WG (silver)

End phase All formations remove BMs, leaving Guardians with a single BM


Turn #2
Iyanden win initiative

1a. Big Wraithguard (Silver) double forwards to shoot Warhounds.
. . . . Reaver (MRL) uses OW, killing only one but laying 4x BM preventing shooting
1b. Retaining, Wraithguard (blue) assault Warhounds anyway.
. . . . One Warhound dies without causing any casualties,
. . . . the remaining Warhound retreats behind buildings near AMTL Blitz
1c. Warlord advances into cover and shoots big Wraithguard (silver) causing 13 hits (Volcano misses)
. . . . one WraithLord and one Wraithgauard die. However this is enough to break the formation which withdraws forwards to right flank near Wraithguard (blue)

2a. WraithLords fail to activate, so clear BMs remaining in central woods
2b. Reaver (TLD) sustains shooting Wraithguard (Red), covering big Wraithguard (black) as well.
. . . . Wraithguard (red) suffer 4 hits, one dies; Wraithguard (black) suffer 2 hits, one dies

3a. Wraithguard (Red) fails to double towards the Reaver, so holds removing BMs
3b. TBolts strafe bikes(1) behind buildings, killing the viper

4a. Big Wraithguard (black) double forwards towards Reaver (TLD), removing a shield

5a. Bikes marshall, moving into command range of Big WG (Black) Wraithseer and removing BMs

6a. Bikes advance into command range of Big WG (Black) Wraithseer, removing a shield from Reaver (TLD)

7a. Guardians Marshall, moving into command range of Big WG (Black) and removing BMs[/list]

End phase Wraithguards (silver) fail to rally so withdraw up the right flank towards AMTL Blitz
Warhound rallies, Reaver (TLD) removes a BM (leaving one), other formations remove all BMs


Turn #3
Avatar arrives beside the Wraithseer,
Iyanden win initiative

1a. Avatar commands combined assault by Guardians and Wraithguard (Black),
. . . . Reaver (TLD) loses shields and two hits, one goes critical.
. . . . In reply its 6x hits kill a Wraith lord and Wraithguard.
. . . . Reaver (TLD) loses, withdrawing towards Warlord.
. . . . Guardians and Avatar consolidate forwards into the wood towards AMTL Blitz, and Wraithguard move backwards towards objective.
1b. TBolts strafe bikes(2) killing one bike
1c. Warlord retains doubling forwards shooting the Wraithlords, while contesting an AMTL T&H objective.
. . . . Volcano cannon misses again, so cause only one casualty

2a. Wraithguard (blue) double back to contest the AMTL T&H, shooting the Warlord removing 6 shields
2b. Reaver (MRL) is just in range sustaining and causing 3 casualties which breaks Wraithguard (blue)

3a. Bikes(2) fail to activate, so remove BMs in anticipation of 4th turn
3b. Warhound marches on Iyanden blitz. We measured it carefully after movement and it was just not in range, but I let it go

4a. Bikes(1) fail to march, despite SC reroll (snake eyes – again!), losing the battle 2-1 since I cannot move anything to contest objectives!!!
(AMTL Blitz, T&H; Iyanden T&H)

(Side note, I threw 22x '1's to Alansa's 17, so still wear the "unlucky crown" )

Thoughts
An interesting game for several reasons. Iyanden survived a silly number of hits, losing a total of 3x WL, 8x WG, a jetbike and a viper, though two WG formations were broken.
We both played a similar strategy, though I was a little more (too??) aggressive in pushing forwards, not keeping a Blitz guard in easy reach of my Blitz.
The Iyanden advanced up their left flank, while trying to resist the AMTL advancing down on the right flank, and this strategy seemed to be working - until the rallied Warhound dashed though the middle.
I expected it to go into a 4th turn. Had this occurred, the broken WG that had advanced near the AMTL Blitz would have rallied and were in position to assault the Reaver (MRL) guarding it, while I had other stuff that could contest and potentially destroy the Warhound which could have swung the game the other way.

The Iyanden list certainly raised some eyebrows amoung other E:A players there (two of whom are in the tourney tomorrow), where a slightly modified version will make an appearance . . .

If I can I will add some photos, to illustrate the game.

Iyanden 4.2 rules
Finally, the animated construct rule had no effect (WG blue lost their spiritseer but were also broken). Equally I could not sensibly summon the Avatar near any of the Spiritseers - the Wraithseer was in the lead when it was finally summoned.

Quick jump in the AMTL should only have one Vet Princeps in the Warhound Pack. Looked like a fascinating match up though.

Thanks for the report Ginger

Yes very interesting. Footsloggers FTW!

By the way neither jetbikes nor wraithlords can enter buildings.

You did roll at least six 7's from 12 dice when your wraithguard shot the warlord though Just a pity the macro was wasted on shields...

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No, I threw 6x '6's since the WarLord was in the open; however several people have commented over time that I throw "extreme" dice mainly '1's and some '6's

(and yes you can (or could) get extreme dice marked 1,1,2,5,6,6 . . .

And FWIW, no bikes entered the buildings which were deemed to be ruins so dangerous to walkers, not impassable (which would have caused the AMTL problems which we deemed a bit unsporting . . .)

Ah yes it had just activated, missed that. Still, not bad!

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