I’ve been messing around with several army lists featuring wraiths of late and often end up with similar patterns and ideas in each. That makes it easy to build an army at least!
I’m going to share some ideas about writing a list for an ITC style of event featuring wraiths now. Its not perfect and its got issues but its a step right? When building for ITC you have to consider how to score points critically.
Hold one / Hold more – This should be ok for wraiths in general. They are tough and should be able to hold objectives as they reach them. Hold more requires more mobility but thats not a huge issue thanks to wave serpents (who already hold objectives well) or using the webway strike stratagem.
Kill one / Kill more – this is actually harder than it first seems as you need to get there to kill one or more enemy and the wraith armies are fabulously short ranged if you go heavy down that road. It got me thinking and I remembered after I posted the last article that I forgot a key element in wraith armies… the Hemlock Wraith Fighter!
Secondary Missions – Lets break them down one at a time.
Head Hunter is managable but not ideal due to the short ranges. The Hemlocks can act as assassins in a pinch but a savvy opponent can block them easy enough.
King Slayer falls into the same issues as Head Hunter but its more specific again and pending the enemy hard to max out.
Marked for death I can see being used a lot by wraith armies. They excel at killing big targets regardless of which wraith unit is in use so picking units to smash with wraith seems like a sound plan.
Titan slayer can be ignored for the most part unless the enemy has the right target but if they do, wraiths can handle it once they close the gap.
Gang Busters can be a good one as just about every wraith does multiple damage – just not efficiently as I would like. In a pinch yes but I don’t know its the best call.
Big Game Hunter is very much like marked for death for and arguably better pending the opponent.
Pick your poison is one i would probably pass up given it doesnt stack and the other secondaries which target similar units exist and the wraiths dont do well again all the rest of options.
Butchers Bill would be ok mid to late game if you can get the range in but could be risky since the first turn or 2 might be light on the ground kills wise.
The Reaper – its a big ask since wraiths tend to be less attacks but big damage. That said, wraith blades can rack up attacks so if the enemy horde is going to try and screen you out then maybe this can work.
Recon can work if you can control the centre of the table since you units are so hard to shift. Its not ideal since you will have a low unit count but it could work.
Behind enemy lines will be a hemlock objective if at all. I’d probably pass this one.
Ground Control might be a solid choice thanks to the durable nature of the army, you should be around to score this.
King of the Hill is a solid choice if you push forward and claim the centre but it conflicts with other objectives like recon. King of the hill seems like the easier of the objectives that said.
Engineers is just to much of a loss for an elite army like wraiths – every models needs to be active in the game and unless you have chaff to add to the list, I would skip it for wraith armies.
Old School is a tough one since you need to get first strike – which is tough with short ranged units. Maybe a trio of hemlocks could help but you can’t simply use them as a stop gap for every problem.
What about picking against wraiths?
Head Hunter might seem like an ok one but its unlikely you will score the full 4 against them unless you build 3 detachments including a battalion. Kingslayer is another that won’t max out unless you field a Wraith Seer. Marked for death is basically a given since the wraith units are so power heavy. Titan Hunter is only relevant if you run a Wraith Knight. Gang Busters is another given vs wraiths due to the multi wound profiles.
Big Game Hunter will be another you have to think about since running multiple wraith lords/seers and hemlocks means giving up the full 4 points here is a risk. Pick your poison could give up 3-4 points given the way you want to build the army but not so reliably while Butchers Bill might be a big call for larger wraith units. An opponent who picks reaper against a wraith army has made a huge mistake.
Recon, Behind enemy lines, ground control and king of the hill can be a mixed bag. You dont have the board control to deny the wider board so dealing with recon or Behind enemy lines can be tough. Ground Control can be an issue for a low unit count army like wraiths while king of the hill can be hard to stop based on low model count.
Engineers can be hard to stop due to low mobility. Old School can work since you are so tough – denying first strike and thus stopping the enemy maxing this out. Giving up line breaker is likely and Slay the warlord can be a mixed thing pending your warlord. Last Strike is more likely to be given up since you will have damaged units more often than not.
When you look at how you deny some of the secondaries it becomes apparent that the units you need to do this are often the ones you have earmarked for completing your own missions. It means you have to decide how you want to tackle the secondaries – active or reactive.
Next post I’ll share a proposed list and walk through the secondaries in context. Until then – happy gaming!