I think Ulthwe is a great list and it's what I'm using for my homegrown Craftworld, but I'm still of the opinion that it needs some tweaking.
That Strategy Rating 5 is still something they're getting "for free". The biggest "abuse" I've been able to pull off with it was bumping a Marine Battle Barge's arrival into Turn 4 by declaring my Wraithship's arrival in Turn 3. Sure, I had a 50/50 chance of doing that (well, slightly better than 50/50 as my birthday is next up *laugh*), but it was something the local Marine player had never had to contend with before. His entire drop army was prevented from entering play as the game was easily won by Ulthwe in Turn 3 when only two units of garrisoned Devastators were available to him. Any other army with a "slow-n-steady" ship is automatically hosed if the Ulthwe player brings a spaceship, not to mention the benefits of choosing table edges, set up order, placing teleporters, etc. It may be "only one extra point", but I think it's significant.
Compared to Biel-Tan, Ulthwe tends to (at least in my experience) have more activations, have a Supreme Commander that doesn't have to risk getting "stuck-in" to be useful (and I'd gladly pay 50 points for a Supreme Commander with +2 MW attacks in both CC and FF, plus all the other Farseer benefits than 75 for Inspiring and +1 MW attack), has some better Guardians, and is more likely to have *nasty* Guardian Warhosts with many upgrades (my local grew is more afraid of facing a Wraith-enhanced Guardian formation than facing an Aspect Warhost). All of this for the same point value as Biel-Tan.
Looking at the Battlestats, even though there's only been about 30 Ulthwe games posted, they've got the second highest win percentage, and they are smoking Biel-Tan (in the few games we've played Biel-Tan vs Ulthwe, Biel-Tan hasn't won yet.). The loss of Aspect Warhosts does not seem to be enough of a "payment" for the advantages of Ulthwe, since they can be easily replaced by other strong units.
My suggestion is simply to raise the point cost of Ulthwe formations by 5-10 points each; the Guardian formations by 10, perhaps the super-heavies as well, and other formations by 5. It's not much, but it's subtle enough to have a nice effect. In a 2700 point game, with 12 activations, that enough to have to choose to include Support Platforms or not for a Warhost, whether to upgrade Wraithguard to Wraithlords, or how many Exarchs to include. It makes some tough choices for the Ulthwe player, which I, as one, think is a good thing.
I'm really tired of people complaining about any Eldar being cheesy/beardy. And Ulthwe, with nearly all the advantages of Biel-Tan and then some, really makes itself a target for such complaints, whether they're valid or not. I think it's better to err on the side of caution than status quo. The subtle changes I've suggested do not require extensive playtesting, I think they're just enough to flavour the difference of Uthwe.
Thoughts and comments?[B][B]
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) and yes I will be taking it to tournaments and expect to see others playing with it as well.