Reecius here with an 8th edition Warhammer 40,000 tournament report featuring a Wraithost themed Ynnari Eldar army, or Aeldari as they’re now called!

First off, the list!

Unit Force Org Cost # Total Weapons Cost # Total Total Vanguard Ynnari Command Points 1 Eldrad HQ 180 1 180 0 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Spearhead Ynnari Command Points 1 Autarch with Wings HQ 85 1 85 Reaper Launher 31 1 31 0 Power Sword 4 1 4 0 Banshee Mask 0 1 0 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Shuriken Cannon 12 2 24 0 Flamer 9 2 18 0 Ghost Glaive 10 1 10 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Shuriken Cannon 12 2 24 0 Flamer 9 2 18 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Bright Lance 20 2 40 0 Flamer 9 2 18 Super Heavy Aux Ynnari Command Points 0 Wraithknight LoW 402 1 402 Heavy Wraith Cannons 50 2 100 0 Star Cannon 30 2 60 Totals 21 1321 677 1998 Command Points: 5 Detachments: 3

The army is almost entirely Wraith units! How cool is that? In many previous editions of the game this army–apart from Eldrad and the Wraithknight–would not have been very appealing. Now though in 8th, this is a solid army that has lots to offer. It’s tough as nails, obviously, but also has a lot of firepower and surprising mobility as the Wraithlords and Knight are quick by base stats, and the Wraithguard can advance and shoot as their weapons are assault. The Autarch too, gets a special shutout here as he is fast as can be with wings but can also skyleap to come down later in the game on an objective or for linebreaker! Plus, those D-Scythes are just plain nasty. They melt things.

Beyond the awesome buffs of Eldrad (Fortune, Doom and Guide and still staple powers!) and the Autarch (the reroll 1’s is amazingly good), the benefits Ynnari gives you are immense. The ability to Soulburst (basically a free action for Infantry and Bikers with the rule when any other unit–friend or foe–within 7″ is destroyed) is devastating. When those D-Scythes get to fire multiple times in a turn? Holy smokes, it is hard to watch at times.

We played pretty much book missions at the event with the the ITC style modified Kill Points mission where each unit was worth its Power Level in Kill Points.

Mission 1

Opponent: Drukhari

Mission: Retrieval

I was playing Keith, a really cool guy with a brand spanking new Drukhari army with 2 Razorwings, a Voidraven, 3 Ravagers, 4 Venoms filled with Warriors, an Archon + a Farseer on Bike. My army is a tad slow and doesn’t really like fast, shooty armies. This was going to be a tough fight!

I got first turn as we were playing by the book guidelines (I got first every game due to my low unit count army) and got First Blood as I did every game, lol. The Wraithknight with Guide pretty much ensures I smoke something round one. I kept my Wraithguard hiding behind a building while the Wraithlords bum rushed forward to run interference and force my opponent to shoot them. The Autarch, Shooty Wraithlord and Wraithknight focused on taking out the Ravagers and as many fliers as possible until mid game when it was safer for the Wraithguard to rush out and start blasting things with D-Scythes.

It was a tough game for both of us as our high damage output armies started to get munched. Fortune on the Wraithknight kept him in the fight for as long as possible but Keith overwhelmed my Wriathlord on the right flank taking that objective. My Wraithguard crossed the table diagonally to take his rear objective, D-Scythe’ing everything in their path! The game came down to the two objectives on the left side and we both managed to threaten the others’ home base. End game came down to Keith taking my home objective away from Eldrad with his fliers and my two lone Wraithguard surviving a charge by an Archon to barely hang on to Keith’s home objective by a single model! As we tied on objectives, and both had line-breaker but neither had Slay the Warlord, I won a minor victory on First Blood.

Great game! Some sound tactics and admittedly cold dice on my opponent’s part when rolling on his Blasters let me sneak a win in what was a tough match-up.

Result: Aeldari victory!

Mission 2

Opponent: Renegades and Heretics

Mission: Kill Points

My opponent had a nasty Renegades army! He had 12 individual Spawn, 4 Earthshaker Batteries, 6 Rapiers laser Destroyers and 6 Quad Heavy Bolter Rapiers, lol. A smattering more of various infantry and support characters to taste and that was a shooty stew, baby. He knew with the auto go-first mechanic he’d never get first turn so said screw it and maxed out MSU, haha. A decision I think many players will make in that situation.

However, my army is tough and also shoots pretty well. As stated, I got first turn and First Blood as a guided Wraithknight is good at that, lol. Thankfully, we weren’t playing “real” Kill Points as at this point the game would have been over for my opponent as I could have simply hid and let the Wraithknight pick off a unit a turn for a huge win. However, with Power Level Kill Points it gave me a big advantage but my opponent was able to fight his way back into the game after he took down the Wraithknight with Earthshaker fire! Lol, not something you’d normally expect but with the changes to blast weapons being able to hit a single modle multiple times and some hot dice, my opponent was able to eat him up over the course of the game and when he died, that was 27 Kill Points to him putting him in the lead!

Even with that, I had him dead to rights as my Autarch and shooty Wraithlord were wearing him down and I lined up 3 kills, any of which should have won me the game but my opponent had a 6+ save on each, and made all three! Doh! So when the dust settled on a remarkably quick game (it was his Earthshakers and Heavy Bolters vs. my Wraithknight and Wraithlord) I was only up by 7 Kill Points and as I needed a differential of 10+ to win, we tied!

Super fun game and very glad to see the Power Level KP mission in the wild. Had we been playing book standard KPs it would have been a silly game which I would have won on the first shot of the first turn. I think this using Power Level is a positive change.

Result: Tie!

Mission 3

Opponent: Space Marines

Mission: The Relic

For round 3, I drew Pablo, haha! Pablo had gone through a very challenging schedule of tough players including Brandon Grant. However, Pablo also had an absolutely nasty list featuring Booby G (Roboute), 4 units of Devastators in Rhinos, a Chapter Ancient, Apothecary, Quad Heavy Bolter Rapiers some Scouts and a second detachment with Lias Issodon and 3 more units of Devastators. That is some serious firepower! The trick here being that the Ultramarines Devastators get rerolls to hit and wound thanks to Bobby G, and can shoot again as they die on a 4+ thanks to the Chapter Ancient and can get back up on a 4+ thanks to the Apothecary. As if that weren’t enough Tom-Foolery for one list, he also has Lias Issodon who “deep-strikes” in with himself and 3 other units (in the lore, they had been lying in waiting). So that is another 3 units of heavy hitters with rerolls to hit and Lias Himself shoots like a bad ass, too.

So despite all that, this game came down to first turn. Another reason why the auto go first turn mechanic is perhaps not the best for tournament play (although feel free to play as you all enjoy playing, or course). I say this because I got first turn and with an infantry model that is fast (the Autarch) i was able to fly out and jump on the Relic top of turn 1. My punchy Wraithlords and Wraithguard then advanced out in front of him (Wraithlords got a 15″ move, each!) while the Wraithknight and shooty Wraithlord took out key enemy units to rduce the firepower coming at me. As I was now screening the Autarch with Wraithlords, he could not be targeted except by snipers. Pablo had none and had to chew through the Wraithlords, one of whom was Fortuned. It took pretty much everything he had but he clawed through the screening Wraithlords but was unable to kill the Autarch as only one unit could target him at that point and simply didn’t have enough oomph.

At this point the game was effectively over as the Autarch then flew back behind 15 Wraithguard and on turn 3 was behind a building and safe. Had I remembered to soublurst, as soon as the first Wraithlord died, I could have jumped back with the Autarch and then been behind the building top of turn 2. To his credit, Pablo put up a good fight and we had a laugh as Bobby G tried to take on my army by himself but Soulbursting Wraithguard just ate the Devastators up and the Wraithknight smoked Roboute…twice!

Be endgame I only had a few models left as did Pablo but none of it mattered as the Relic is all or nothing and the Autarch was safely tucked away with it. This game came down to if Pablo could seize on me or not and he didn’t. Womp, womp.

The Relic is fun, but may need some modification (similar to Kill points) for tournament play. What do you all think? We are for sure going to add in progressive elements to the ITC Combined Arms Missions (our more advanced mission set) but what about modifying this one a bit for the basic ITC missions? Thoughts?

In all, a great tournament and tons of fun with 3 awesome opponents.

Result: Ynnari go 2-0-1

I believe I got 2nd place to James with his nasty Forgeworld heavy Chaos Khorne army who went 3-0.

My list performed well and I am now something like 10-1-1 with it. The next iteration of my list will look like this, though as I’d like some more firepower.

Unit Force Org Cost # Total Weapons Cost # Total Total Vanguard Ynnari Command Points 1 Eldrad HQ 180 1 180 0 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Wraithguard Elites 23 5 115 D-Scythe 22 5 110 Spearhead Ynnari Command Points 1 Autarch with Wings HQ 85 1 85 Reaper Launher 31 1 31 0 Power Sword 4 1 4 0 Banshee Mask 0 1 0 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Aeldari Missile Launcher 25 2 50 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Star Cannon 30 2 60 Wraithlord Heavy 103 1 103 Bright Lance 20 2 40 Super Heavy Aux Ynnari Command Points 0 Wraithknight LoW 402 1 402 Heavy Wraith Cannons 50 2 100 0 Star Cannon 30 2 60 Totals 21 1321 675 1996 Command Points: 5 Detachments: 3

I think the new version of the list gives me more firepower, and more reliable damage output. I may keep one of the Wraithlords cheap as they were amazing as throwaway units. So I may go back to one with 2 Flamers and nothing else to just go bonzai! on the enemy as needs be for a low price point, but we will see.

The Autarch though is an absolute stud. With the Reaper Launcher and the reoll buff, he is soooooo good 😉 His mobility lets me strike at objectives anywhere on the table which is game winning. The Wraithknight with Heavy Wraithcannons seemed not the optimal choice on paper but as I played more I came to see I needed high strength shooting and he provides that in spades, particularly when buffed by the Autarch or with Guide.

Ultimately, Ynnari Wraithguard are just silly good. They tremendously benefit from Soulburst as they are good in melee and with shooting and tough suckers, too.

Thanks for reading!

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