First Game of 8th Flesh Tearers

Had my first game of 8th 40k last Saturday against the Guard, man it was fun.  I put the Eldar aside for just a little bit as the Tearers are nearly completed as a painted army.  I finished re-basing the entire army and now have a three colour min on every model.  The commission for my tanks and death company from Frontline Gaming makes for one sharp looking army.  The list I ran is as follows (with one exception - I had equipped two heavy flamers on the dreadnought and the company vets were stock with one powerfist):

The rhino rush is back!  Seth was a beast of a beat stick as well as a great force multiplier with his area reroll buffs.  First turn the three rhino's pushed into the enemy deployment zone while the stormraven pushed a flank.  I deposited the missile launcher tac squad in my back field and moved up mid field on the flanks with my Baal preds  My opponents turn one saw two of my rhino's destroyed but they absorbed the entirety of the Guard's fire power.  Turn two saw me crush face.  The deathcompany exploded from their rhino with +1 strength from priest and reroll hits (I failed both psychic tests for 4++ save and +1 attack).  The dreadnought charged and wiped out a Russ and started causing havoc with his gun line.  My two tac squads were tied up in combat with his assaulting chimera's and did little.

The real MVP were my tanks.  While the damage output of the Baal preds was a bit underwhelming, being able to assault and tie down large portions of my enemy paid off in spades.  I made changes to the list so that the army will be WYSIWYG.  While 2 heavy flamers on the dread is better than equipping the melta gun and storm bolter I did not want to hack up the model to make changes (it is another model well painted by frontline).  Not too discouraged by running the melta gun: as the unit proved to be a really good at anti armour.  Plus with the freed up points I was able to equip the Vet squad all with plasma pistols (I gave the sergeant a plasma and a bolt pistol in honour of Cypher).

Over all the army plays well, it is very aggressive in your face which I think is a fun way to play this game.  I need to touch up the vet squad with the remodeling to plasma pistols and finish painting up my priest and banner bearer.  Otherwise the army is complete and gtg for 2k points.  I think this is the first time I'm playing with a fully painted army.  I should have the last bits done this week, then its back to painting up my wraithguard.

Wave Crush: 2000 Point Ynnari 8th Edition List

Watched a couple of battle reports and had some more time to digest the new rules for 8th.  Came up with a 2000 point list that I think will be very strong for new edition.  A nice bonus is that the army is few in models and well on the way to being painted.  Its only one Vanguard Detachment but I think there is a ton of built in synergy that only having 4 command points won't be too debilitating.

Vanguard Detachment:

HQ:
Spiritseer
Warlock - witch blade

Elites:
2 x 5 Wraithguard - wraithguns, wave serpent,  vectored engines, star engines
5 Wraithguard - d-scythes, wave serpent, vectored engines, star engines
5 Wraithblades - axes, shield, wave serpent, vectored engines, star engines

Heavy:
Night Spinner - shuriken cannon, crystal targeting matrix

Flyer:
Crimson Hunter: crystal targeting matrix

Total Points: 2000
Total Wounds: 140
Total Command Points: 4

Potential Shots a Turn:
10 x strength 10, -4ap, d6 damage
5-15 x strength 10, -4 ap, 1 damage
2 x strength 8, -4 ap, d6 damage
2 x strength 8, -3 ap, 3 damage
2d6 x strength 7, ap0 (-4 ap on wound roll of 6), 2 damage
39 x strength 6, ap0 (-3 ap on wound roll of 6), 1 damage
4d3 one time mortal wound shots (plus smite from warlock and spiritseer)

Really low model count but everything hits really really hard.  The wave serpents move/advance 13 + 2d6 inches a turn putting 20 wraithguard down my opponents deployment zone for turn two.  The serpents are tough being -1 to hit and reducing all damage by 1 with 13 wounds at toughness 7 with a 3+ save.  I suspect one or two serpents likely with die by end of turn one but they will absorb a ton of fire power.  If a wave serpent is destroyed, then I can place the wraithguard unit on table, remove the serpent then soul burst the wraithguard squad.  I love it!

The Night Spinner will stay out of sight in my deployment zone thinning down hoards or putting wounds on light vehicles.  It's mobile enough to score objectives in my zone as needed.  The Crimson Hunter is a distraction unit that will hunt monsters, medium vehicles and flyers.  It cannot be ignored as it hits on 2's and wounds tough 7 and less on a 3+.  Rerolling wounds against units with fly type is icing on the cake.  It is also extremely fast to grab hard to reach objectives for points as needed.

The real meat and potatoes are the wraith units.  They just seem boss.  Three wound models that cannot be tied in combat with a leadership 9 makes for a heck of a solid core to build around.  I've a nice spread of wraith units to help deal with whatever army I may face.  I will likely save my command points for re-rolls on shooting the d-scythes.  The Wraithblades are there to tar-pit elite units and or super heavy walkers.  The Spiritseer will run with this squad giving them +1 to hit and re-rolls on hit rolls of one.  The Warlock will try and stay as central in the meatball of wraithguard to cast conceal.

I think having only 6 models to put down turn one will more times than not give me first turn.  I foresee a lot of wave serpents crushing into assault with pile in moves to tie up major parts of my opponents army to reduce incoming fire to the wraith units.  Over all I think its going to be a rock solid army that is fast, tough, and hits hard both against hordes and tough units.  Really looking forward to getting a game in to test it out.

1850 Eldar Iyanden 8th Edition

I've had some time to digest the leaked rules and put a list together I want to try out (hopefully this Wednesday).

Vanguard Detachment:

HQ:
Spiritseer

Elite:
2 x 5 Wraithguard - wraithcannons
5 Wraithguard - d-scythes, wave serpent (underslung shuriken cannon, twin link shuriken cannons

Troops:
2 x 10 Defender Guardians - scatter laser

Heavy:
Wraithlord - sword
Wriathlord - 2 starcannons

Super Heavy Auxiliary Detachment:

Wraith Knight - sunncannon, scatter shield

Total Points: 1850
Total Units: 9
Total Wounds: 130

So I'm hoping an Eldar wraith army will work this edition.  Really like the wraithguard on paper.  A loss of toughness but an increase in wounds seems like an overall buff.  But because of the increase in points they may not be the most efficient choice now even though they effectively have hit and run.  I think the way to run them is as ynnari.

The plan with the above list is to run the spiritseer up the middle of the board behind the swordlord and two basic wraithguard squads as an anvil.  The d-scythes and wraithknight will push a flank and act like a hammer.  The 2 starcannon wraithlord will stay back and protect my guardian squads.  It's a low model count but has a high wound total.

Placement of the spirit seer is key as he provides a nice buff, army wide, against enemy units within 6 inches of him.  I plan to play very aggressively pushing him deep into the enemy.  He will also be buffing 40 wounds worth of wraith units with conceal.  The wraithknight seems like too many points but I really feel like I need to include if I want to keep the iyanden theme.  I picked the suncannon because I want the 5++ save and don't want to be forced into assault all the time.

Its a slow army and I might just get shot off the table.  I like the look of it though and I hope it can hold its own in the new addition.