Grudge match - Iyanden vs Tyranids:

http://sdahl.net/~sdahl/whepic/20130304/

It's my first game with the Iyanden list; My opponent thought the highly mobile Wraithguard formations to be somewhat overpowered. Any thoughts on that?

Did rolling play any factor in his rather total annihilation?

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The wraithguards and Wave serpents did make more of their saves than usual, but mostly the reason for the onesidedness was the insane amount of FF4+ dice dished out by the Eldar. For instance, the first engagement had 22 FF4+ and 12 FF4+MW attacks, against poorly armoured gaunts. Under those circumstances, combat resolution just through casualties inflicted will do massive damage to a set of intermingled formations. This effect is compounded by the high mobility of the Iyanden wraithguard - their opponent really has no way of avoiding them, which is of course the usual way of dealing with hard, but expensive formations.

The Iyanden wraithguard is definitely a hammer, it's just not a glass hammer anymore.

In my experience Iyanden is very tough opponent, wraithguard perhaps overpowered.

Doesn't help that current Tyranid list also has very little answer to Eldar with all the skimmers and high FF.
In fact Tyranid list has been slaughtered by most opponents in the few games I have played with or against it.

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At least the galaxy's safe from the ravages of the Great Devourer?

On the bright side, the Wave Serpents would be easy to fix if they're a problem. Dunno about Air Assaulting.

I've never really compared the stats on Wraithguard to their 40K stats before. They're...rather good.

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As a prospective Tyranid player, I'd like list to represent the Great Devourer rather than the Intimidated Nibbler...

I think the easiest fix would be to change the formation to be 4 strong at 250 instead of 6 strong at 300. But this is opinion only, neither researched, nor thought fully through.

In 40K or Epic? I don't know their 40K stats.
In Epic, they are definitely on par with Terminators.

They're a bit better in Epic than is probably justified by their 40K stats. Among other things, they shouldn't have more MW attacks then sodding Fire Dragons. And should probably just have 3+ armor (or 2+ - RA is excessive).

Still. Could be worse.

Four per formation would really limit air assaulting, but probably not in a bad way.

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I've seen a couple of similar issues with Iyanden at Heavy Bolter. The Wraithguard are usually the topic of contention. The problem is do other Eldar lists require them to be "as is...?"

Is it feasible to drop the FFMW to 5+? Could their 40K stats warrant it? If not this is epic and balance is more important surely?

Shrinking their formation's probably easier than changing their stats. Probably.

They should be lethal in FF - Wraithcannon are awesome. They just are probably shootier and tougher than they should be. Though there may be many reasons for both.

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Don't forget that Eldar vs 'Nids is a very one-sided match at best, because the 'Nids play to the Eldar strengths with lots of FF and skimmer. For example, I quite like using mounted Guardians commanding 2x Jet-bike formations into assaults, yielding 24x FF4+ attacks with moderate armour. Or you can have 'lots' of Night Spinners etc to shoot up at a distance, or . . . . .

In the specific battle, there really wasn't much in the way of skimmers. The Wave serpents were useful to force FF, but the only other skimmers were Scorpions and Nightspinners (who don't engage anyway). But yes, I agree, Eldar (in whatever flavor) are a nasty matchup for Tyranids. It is perhaps a Tyranid list issue, that there are no builds that are good counters to skimmer FF heavy lists?

There looked to be a lot of Tyranid formations/units lost due to intermingling of formations, it appears at least 4 extra formations were lost/broken in the battle report.
What was the intent of the Tyranid player with so much intermingling.

also don't most of the small 'nids have the grot rule? wraithguard are potent but wiping out a nid formation through combat res is a tough deal for anyone, let alone 4 intermingled formations..... agreed with dptdexys, that large intermingled mass is too tempting a target for a clipping engagement.....

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Don't forget a Vampire can transport 8 units. Making the formation smaller would mean you can get 8 wraithguard in, rather than being limited to 6.

Edited to add: Do any other craftworld lists have formations that can take wraithguard in a vampire? Reducing the formation to 4 and making them take up 2 spots (like they do in wave serpents) would limit their effectiveness.

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FYI 2+ is better than 4+ Reinforced. IIRC it goes something like this (from strongest to weakest)...

2+
4+ RA
3+
5+ RA
4+
6+ RA <-- Although I should note that I have made this 6+ RA save maybe twice in my whole life
5+
6+

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