break from marines to go craftworlds

[MarshalMittermeier]

So, yeah. Went dual missiles for the warwalker and dual starcannons for the lord.

[MarshalMittermeier]

update: just bought the second start collecting box. will start assembling tonight. maybe now that i have approx. 1000 pt army, i should start actual armylist building , namegiving for craftworld and characters, etc. the fun now begins!

 

first take:

Spearhead detachment: 

craftworld traits: expert crafters, hunters of ancient relics

HQ:

-farseer ( doom,fortune, faolchu's wing, seer of the shifting vector, singing spear)

-spiritseer (protect/jinx)

 

ELITES:

10 x wraithblades (axes)

 

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Wraithlord (glaive, dual starcannons, dual shuriken catapults)

Wraithlord (glaive, dual starcannons, dual shuriken catapults)

2 x warwalkers (dual missile launchers)

 

990 points, will probably add dual flamers to one of the wraithlords for any potential 1k game as proxy.

thoughts regarding configurations?

the flgs has kits of wave serpents and guardians/avengers to slowly start buying afterwards to round up my force.

Edited October 3, 2021 by MarshalMittermeier

[MarshalMittermeier]

the next purchase will probably be wave serpents & troops, but i want to wait for the new codex cause i have a strong feeling guardians will get 4+ save like the drukhari equivalents.

[Urkh]

I have a feeling you have both of your boxes painted before mine, hahaha.

[Karhedron]

the next purchase will probably be wave serpents & troops, but i want to wait for the new codex cause i have a strong feeling guardians will get 4+ save like the drukhari equivalents.

It would certainly be welcome although it would rather leave Dire Avengers looking a bit pointless as the boosted save is one of their big bonuses over Guardians.

[Slasher956]

 

the next purchase will probably be wave serpents & troops, but i want to wait for the new codex cause i have a strong feeling guardians will get 4+ save like the drukhari equivalents.

It would certainly be welcome although it would rather leave Dire Avengers looking a bit pointless as the boosted save is one of their big bonuses over Guardians.

 

Very easy fix....they're aspect warriors allow them to ignore the -1 BS mod when advancings and shooting (on top of the differences between avenger cats & standard shuriken cats) helps give a role to the units

[MarshalMittermeier]

I have a feeling you have both of your boxes painted before mine, hahaha.

i don't think so. i have assembled everything, but want to first try painting the converted spiritseer, because i was never a good painter and have never painted eldar before. he will be my "test model" for painting the rest of the force(lower risk, since the spiritseer, while good, isn't a MUST have model). so the actual painting may be a little slower.

[MarshalMittermeier]

question regarding 2k organization: i have 2 options:

 

-fill a battalion by getting 3 troops and wave serpents, and get more CP that way.

-use just 2 guardian squads on wave serpents and stay a spearhead. this will cost me CP, but will allow me to use more heavy support options; for example the third mech squad that i want could be, instead of guardians + serpent, dark reapers + falcon.

 

what would be best?

 

for context, what i plan regarding the final list:

 

-how will you score primary objectives?

by wraithguard slaying people midboard, shooting some enemies off objectives, and contesting with guardians +waveserpents.

 

-how will you score secondary objectives?

by using vehicle hulls to score engage in all fronts, using a small mobile squad to score data (idk which yet), and tailor the third objective to opponent's list .

 

-how will you take down hordes?

by blast weapons from the warwalkers, shoot + fade to protect them, and added shuriken fire/doom.

 

-how will you take down elite infantry? 

by wraith constructs' cc, buffed by protect + fortune + spiritseer + hunters of ancient relics, combined with the starcannons.

 

-how will you take down vehicles? 

-by missiles, starcannons, Doom, and possible bright lances (maybe on vypers, idk yet), shooting buffed by expert crafters should help some here.

Edited October 8, 2021 by MarshalMittermeier

[TrawlingCleaner]

In 9th ed, everyone is given the same amount of CP to start with, you only spend CP when you want to use more than one detachment. It's a massive step up from 8th (IMO) as it deinsentivises fillinf out detachments with the bare minimum. If you use a Spearhead or a Battlion, you still start with the normal amount of CP for that game size. You only start to spend CP when you bring more than one detachment.

 

While Wraith are great at killing units, they aren't objective secured and slow so they can just be swamped by troops with ObSec while objectives are taken. Holding objectives are one of the things that Eldar struggle most with as our troops are so fragile. I've had success with Dire Avengers jumping out of a Wave Serpent with the vehicle blocking off enemy units from getting closer or blocking Line of Sight to the Avengers. I've yet to run Guardians properly so I can't comment on them!

[Karhedron]

In 9th ed, everyone is given the same amount of CP to start with, you only spend CP when you want to use more than one detachment. It's a massive step up from 8th (IMO) as it deinsentivises fillinf out detachments with the bare minimum. If you use a Spearhead or a Battlion, you still start with the normal amount of CP for that game size. You only start to spend CP when you bring more than one detachment.

That is not quite true. Only Patrol, Battalion and Brigade refund the CP cost if the Warlord is part of the Detachment. If you take a Spearhead detachment, it costs 3CPs, even if it has your Warlord in it.

 

Personally I think that a lot of our best units are in Heavy (Reapers, Fire Prisms, War Walkers). Unless I am playing small games, I tend to bite the bullet and pay the 3 CP for a Spearhead Detachment. You still have way more CPs than in 8th and you do not have to bring so many Troops if you do not want to.

 

My usual arrangement at the moment is Patrol (with Warlord so 0CPs) and a Spearhead. This means I can take 2-4 HQs, 1-6 Troops, 3-8 Heavy, 0-4 Elite and 0-4 Fast. I get 9 CPs before extra WLTs and Relics (to be honest our WLTs and Relics are often not worth the extra CPs at the moment IMHO).

 

Holding Objectives with 1W T3 Troops is definitely a struggle. I tend to use my Heavies to clear enemy units from Objectives and my Wave Serpents to actually grab them. Enemy units with ObjSec can't steal Objectives from you if your Fire Prisms have turned them into red mist.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Karhedron

[TrawlingCleaner]

 

In 9th ed, everyone is given the same amount of CP to start with, you only spend CP when you want to use more than one detachment. It's a massive step up from 8th (IMO) as it deinsentivises fillinf out detachments with the bare minimum. If you use a Spearhead or a Battlion, you still start with the normal amount of CP for that game size. You only start to spend CP when you bring more than one detachment.

That is not quite true. Only Patrol, Battalion and Brigade refund the CP cost if the Warlord is part of the Detachment. If you take a Spearhead detachment, it costs 3CPs, even if it has your Warlord in it.

 

Personally I think that a lot of our best units are in Heavy (Reapers, Fire Prisms, War Walkers). Unless I am playing small games, I tend to bite the bullet and pay the 3 CP for a Spearhead Detachment. You still have way more CPs than in 8th and you do not have to bring so many Troops if you do not want to.

 

What a numpty, I've been playing that wrong then! Oops!

 

Definitely agree about Heavy Support being our strong points, Night Spinners, Support Platforms and a lot of the Forgeworld tanks are all ace too. Troops are our weakest point at the moment, even with Celestial shield and Protect on a Guardian unit won't do much

[MarshalMittermeier]

Wraith units can use matchless agility too or even strike from webway. I think they will do fine for the first turns. However, yeah I agree now my best bet for the future is spearhead or patrol + spearhead.

[Karhedron]

 

 

In 9th ed, everyone is given the same amount of CP to start with, you only spend CP when you want to use more than one detachment. It's a massive step up from 8th (IMO) as it deinsentivises fillinf out detachments with the bare minimum. If you use a Spearhead or a Battlion, you still start with the normal amount of CP for that game size. You only start to spend CP when you bring more than one detachment.

That is not quite true. Only Patrol, Battalion and Brigade refund the CP cost if the Warlord is part of the Detachment. If you take a Spearhead detachment, it costs 3CPs, even if it has your Warlord in it.

 

What a numpty, I've been playing that wrong then! Oops!

 

No worries, I am still wrapping my head around the notion of Detachments costing CPs rather than providing them.

[Dr. Clock]

question regarding 2k organization: i have 2 options:

 

-fill a battalion by getting 3 troops and wave serpents, and get more CP that way.

-use just 2 guardian squads on wave serpents and stay a spearhead. this will cost me CP, but will allow me to use more heavy support options; for example the third mech squad that i want could be, instead of guardians + serpent, dark reapers + falcon.

You missed on option: Battalion + Patrol is still 1 less CP than a straight Spearhead, and still you get up to 5 choices in every slot, as long as you pay the HQ+Troops tax.

 

Eldar happen to be blessed with very efficient MSU troops right now though in the form of Dire Avengers, and warlocks are likewise cheap and effective.  Guardians certainly work (I take 20 in w/ lances every game), but 2x5 DA + up to 2 characters will fit in a single Serpent and have a touch more for the trading game where you just slowly feed 45 point 5-man Obsec units out over a few turns.

 

All of that means that the cheapest option CP-wise is generally going to be best, and therefore if you need to go outside a single Battalion there's basically no reason to take a Spearhead unless you a) don't have enough HQ/troops in your collection for a second patrol or Battalion, or b) absolutely want to take 6+ HS choices.

 

You really do want 4+ troops choices available most of the time in this edition, I find. So I usually run at least 20 guardians and 15 DA (1x10+1x5), but a unit of Rangers on top of that can be clutch for camping when the other stuff is mounted or in the Webway. Heck - min/maxing DA to spam Serpents is probably among the most points-effiicient lists we have, but I still like taking the bigger squads (Ulthwé Guardian bomb never gets old IMO).

 

ObSec is not everything, just almost everything.

 

Guardian Serpents will work ok... they're just not quite as efficient as DA, and you can't take both the platform and a warlock / farseer pal in there.

 

It's a bit annoying that DA only come with 5 in the kit these days.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[Karhedron]

If you don't mind buying 4 Troops units then I agree, Battalion + Patrol is not bad at all. MSU Avengers are decent for the price if you protect them carefully.

[MarshalMittermeier]

...so my craftworld has been building up. I will get some more models glued/undercoated and then post a picture. What is now missing is troops (will be waiting for that sweet new guardians box). 2 hq, 2-3 elites, 2-3 fast attack, many heavy support options.

[TrawlingCleaner]

Looking forward to seeing these Marshall! Those new Guardians really do look sweet as!

[MarshalMittermeier]

[MarshalMittermeier]

there it is. craftworld cuinnsear-its humble beginning.

Edited January 10, 2022 by MarshalMittermeier

[Dwango]

Walkers for the win! Looking good.

[MarshalMittermeier]

hey all. i haven't posted in a while, but surely i didn't forget the buildup of my craftworlds force!!!! i have long got past the 2k mark.

 

i hope to post some pictures soon. 

I went to a tournament with my new army, it was my first team event. great fun!!! we placed 5th team out of 10, and i placed 17th out of 40, so overall i'd say ok. but the best game was the final one where i lost 13-7, to the best player in the tournament. tense game, very fun and exciting tournament (we used arks of omen).

would people be excited to hear reports? :)

Edited February 5, 2023 by MarshalMittermeier

[Karhedron]

I would definitely like to hear about your tournament experiences. Battle reports are always great to hear how the army is performing and to give me new ideas for things to try out.

 

No pressure but if you would like to write 'em, I would like to read 'em. 

[MarshalMittermeier]

ok, so the list went like this: 

Ulthwé craftworld

HQ: farseer (guide, fortune, seer of the shifting vector), farseer (doom, ghostwalk), farseer skyrunner (executioner, crushing orb, kurnous bow)

Troops: 10 x guardians

ELITES: 5 X howling banshees, 5 x striking scorpions, 6 x wraithblades with shields, 3 x wraithlords 

Fast Attack: 2 x vypers, 5 x warp spiders

Heavy Support: Falcon, 2 x warwalkers

transport: wave serpent with lances

 

i dont remember everything, i will try to describe: 

 

GAME 1: vs Votann. i dont remember his list well, start was hectic and we had lost time. he had 2x5 troops, 3 characters, 2 x 5 berserkers, 3x5 bikes, 2 fast transports, and some hearthguard.

unfortunately, we only played 2 rounds, i was still learning the ropes and he was even slower, plus the whole round 1 of tournament had delayed start as team captains struggled to get used to how to make matchups etc.

Mission 11. He played first. i redeployed my scorpions back, but his bikes made pregame move and blasted them, charged a warwalker too. that was a big mistake of his; on my turn, two of my wraithlords charge one unit of bikes, ghostwalk and a cp reroll ensures my wraithblades charge a second unit, and mortal wounds seer + banshees wipe out the third unit. right before that, shooting from vehicles + wraithlords kill the two transports and one unit of berserkers.

 

by the end of the second turn he had 12 models on the table. UNFORTUNATELY, i only scored 12-8, so win was small margin.

 

GAME 2: much more exciting game. vs Daemons. he had Belakor, 6 units of daemonettes and bloodletters, 3 units of flamers, and a daemon prince, and two more monsters.

 

Mission 22, conversion. i choose Behind enemy lines, no prisoners, and i make the mistake of picking interrogation instead of warp ritual, thinking how i couldnt fight belakor in the middle.

i play first, and my alpha strike hits him HARD. he loses 20 daemonettes, and one of his big monsters. he uses belakor to kill the scorpions, as his daemon prince and other forces try to push me off. i then make a BIG charge roll with the wraithblades, who proceeded to kill much more than they had any right to this game.

 

on third round, he does his best to retaliate with the flamers and daemon prince, as belakor tries rush back to hold his home objective from wraithblades + spiders. flamers hit me like a truck, but his daemon prince is exposed after killing two wraithlords, and is finished off by the mortal wounds seer doing 8 mortal wounds on him. rounds 4 and 5 were chaotic as we both took heavy casualties, but he played better. however, my strong first turn and my lucky wraithblades charge made a huge momentum swing, for an eventual 11-9 victory. across the tournament, that guy went W-L-W-W-W. i was the guy that beat him.

 

GAME 3: vs necrons. mission 13. i chose warp ritual, no prisoners, and behind enemy lines. he had an unusual necron list with multiple wraiths and destroyers, only 40 warriors. he was new and made the colossal mistake of trying to outfight 6 wraithblades with Fortune with necron wraiths in cc. 20 of his warriors died from spiders, and mortal wounds seer hurt his army bad , often countering his resurrection protocols. we only played 4 rounds (slow game), but i won 13-7, and difference would have been higher in turn 5. i didnt pay much attention to this as IMHO his list probably had just available models.

 

GAME 4: Word Bearers. 2x5 posessed, 10 x terminators, 1x5 warp talons, 1x5 havocs, 5 chosen in rhino, dark apostle, master of posession, disco lord, obliterators, and 10 legionaires and 20  cultists.

Tide of Conviction.

(to be continued)

Edited February 6, 2023 by MarshalMittermeier

[MarshalMittermeier]

continued:

he had first turn, he advanced cultists and legionairies towards one of the objectives, advanced terminators towards middle, posessed on the flanks, chosen in rhino between the terminators and the troops. my warwalkers were on forward objectives but well-hidden. on my first turn i opened fire, killing the obliterators as well as the chaos chosen's rhino. i started doing warp ritual.

 

on his turn he just did some weak shooting, and posessed charged one of the warwalkers in nomans land objectives, terminators closing towards middle. on my second turn i disembark + move both grav tanks near his legionaires + cultists + chosen, prepping a banshees + scorpions charge, adding some shooting. that failed- i killed some chosen with pulse laser + lances with Ulthwé rerolls, my banshees killed most cultists and remaining chosen, but scorpions + banshees exarch  failed to kill the legionairies, who then killed all scorpions and all but the banshees exarch. he just made many invulns. he autopassed morale and, due to obsec, he remained in control of the objective. i countercharged his posessed on the other flank with two wraithlords, a big brawl for lots of turns that in the end found the wraithlords victorious due to high T. i failed to wound many times however, so he got that objective for two more turns due to model numbers. in the middle, i prepare the wraithblades with guide + fortune to receive a charge. 

 

his third turn his warp talons charged and killed the wave serpent, while havocs killed the falcon. we continued with the brawls-talons piled onto the banshee exarch, who focused and killed remaining cultists and legionairies. "are you sure he has 10 attacks with those swords?" he asks with puppy eyes. his terminatos and disco lord charge my wraithblades, BUT some of his terminators had to lag behind to protect support HQs. wraithblades hold the line, taking damage but also dishing back. gave me time to complete warp ritual #3. brawl between posessed and wraithlords continues, posessed unaffected by shooting but also failing to wound wraithlords enough and slowly chipped down by sword. on my third turn, banshee exarch charges the talons, only kills 2 despite wounding on 3+ 2d each, he makes many 5++. she is cut down in response.

 

4th and 5th rounds saw us licking our wounds as talons were killed by battlefocus guardians and and OP mortal wounds seer+ warp spiders killed havocs;  terminators getting stuck by fortuned wraithblades, third wraithlord adding more weight on that close combat. on right flank, a badly wounded and an unwounded wraithlord now firmly held the objective uncontested. in the end, i lose 11-9. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by MarshalMittermeier

[MarshalMittermeier]

now, the most exciting game of the tournament imho. I play a guy with Tau. 1 coldstar commander, 1 ethereal, 3 devilfish with fire warriors, 3 skyrays, 3 hammerheads, and 2 bombers. up until then, from 80 possible points he had gathered 75. we decided to use chess clock, because we both had a couple of previous opponents who played very slow. i choose bring it down, warp ritual, and behind enemy lines. we played abandoned sanctuaries.

 

he deploys properly screened, caring for my warp spiders. he had his devilfish+skyrays in a line to protect his coldstar from scorpions charge, and his hammerheads hidden. i get first turn. i advance wraiths to the middle and buff them to get time to do warp ritual before their demise; wraithlords, war walkers and tanks open fire and start chipping down vehicles. lances destroy a skyray, shurikens wound another skyray, mortal wounds seer blows up a devilfish, but scorpions fail to finish off the wounded skyray, leaving it with 1 wound remaining. on his turn, he blows up my falcon with hammerheads, kills my scorpions with the skyray, moves coldstar to an objective, kills a war walker. 10 fire warriors shoot at a war walker on an objective, who survives due to t6 vs s5 (he got 5 wounds out of 6; but tbh, that was even an above average roll for him , on average he isnt close to killing a t6 w6 thing with one fire warrior squad). some remainging devilfish vehicles + fire warriors start shooting at fortuned wraithblades, they hold.

 

second turn, banshees get off the serpent and charge the coldstar commander. seer + wave serpent kill a hammerhead. a wraithlord charges and destroys a devilfish. warp spiders drop and wipe out 10 fire warriors that hurt the warwalker. wraithblades charge fire warriors , killing them. a hammerhead is left on 1 wound via shooting and mortals. banshees FAIL to kill the coldstar commander on that objective, and get WIPED OUT by cc in response, losing me behind enemy lines and giving him the objective. his bombers come in, his coldstar kills my wave serpent, his two remaining hammerheads kill two wraithlords. fortuned wraithblades lose 2 of their number, firmly holding center.

 

third turn, vypers arrive close to ethereal, shuriken + strands of fate for wounds take out last wound of the 1w hammerhead, some shots on ethereal miss. 1 hammerhead remaining. spiders , warwalker and a remaining wraithlord shoot a devilfish, leaving it at 1 wound, and spiders teleport close to ethereal and vypers. mortal wound seer wipes out last 10 fire warriors. on his turn, he does the 1 remaining hammerhead shot on the remaining wraithlord, which MISSES! 2 bombers try to destroy fortuned wraithblades, only kill 1. but thats enough so 1 skyray "snipes" my 2 footseers now closer to them. coldstar kills the menacing mortal wounds seer.

 

fourth turn, i use strands of fate and catapults of a wraithlord to kill the 1w remaining devilfish, and he rolls a 6 on the ap3 save. he had the devilfish and remaining hammerhead on an objective, i shoot + charge the remaining hammerhead with remaining wraithlord and fail to kill it. he retains control of the objective. i was quickly running out of units. vypers shoot the skyray, and i charge that wounded skyray that killed the footseers with my wraithblades,killing it. spiders kill ethereal. on his turn, the 2 remaining bombers kill most of my remaining army, coldstar killing the warp spiders. 

 

by 5th turn, i was tabled, my hidden guardians falling to the bombers. i lost 13-7, and was tabled, but it felt very satisfying. my team captain had asked around 3rd round how it was going, opponent immediately told him "there is NO WAY i can win this 20-0 as i did most games", and said he was hoping for a 17-3. i did tons of damage, and if banshees had killed that coldstar it definitely would have been a different game. my opponent ended the tournament with 5 wins and a score of 88 out of 100-he only lost 12 points, and 7 were to me.

in the presents draw, i also got Abaddon as a gift, so theres that too :P

all in all it was very enjoyable. i learnt a lot. i think 3 faseers is a bit much, because warlocks are far superior in doing the occasional psychic action, wasting a farseer is silly, and 5+ psykers (for 3 farseers and 2 warlocks) is also much. so better 2 farseers and 1-2 warlocks. i regretted not adding my dire avengers and more war walkers. i think wraithlords did ok, but just ok. i think they can work as affordable midfield units, just there are better units. mortal wound skyrunner was OP as heck, and wraithblades i think need some thought-they can hold middle FOR SURE, but at what cost? 225-310 (5-7) plus 105 for a babysitting fortune? idk. i think i need to make some changes like adding dire avengers/more war walkers for more firepower.

 

it was my first eldar tournament, and i had tons of fun. this definitely deserves to be my main army.

Edited February 6, 2023 by MarshalMittermeier