DE: Strength from Death

Some really nice art recently.

In my last article, I talked about how I'm going to re-purpose my list to make it more Ynnari.  Let's just say that I'm looking at this from the angle that excited to try quite a few things, some of the them very new to this edition.

The first one being that you can put multiple units inside a transport and that's going to shake things up a bit.  Having 2x squads of 5-man Warriors with Blasters inside a transport gives me greater sources of units to trigger Soulburst once something dies.  Blasters are still very good weapons to have when you're doing a lot of movement, and having 8/16 poison shots with 2x Blasters per Raider is still very respectable.  The extra units gives me more opportunities to Soulburst while keeping my overall firepower the same.

The next thing I want to talk about is the addition of the Hemlock Wraithfighter.  OK, so this thing might be one of the best flyers in the book.  It has pretty good durability for a Flyer, especially if you take the Reveal/Conceal power that allows it to give it a further -1 to Hit from ranged attacks.  It already has the Hard to Hit special rule so having Conceal on top of it is a very nice to have.  The big thing about this Flyer is its damage potential being 2D3 S10 AP-4 2 damage auto-hitting attacks.  You just need to be within 16" of this weapon and you're going to be rolling out some damage, end of story.  Even if you take damage and you start degrading in hull, you're still going to auto-hit with your weapons so it doesn't really matter.  The Hemlock can either throw out Smite or Conceal, but it can also Horrify if you so choose to start stacking leadership debuffs.  Combined with the Mindshock Pod, PGL and Horrify, you can impose a -3 leadership to a single target and that might be all the difference with the new morale system.

Speaking of PGL, let's talk about upgrades for a second.  There's two upgrades that I really like, and that's Shock Prows for 1 point and PGL for 3 points.  Shock Prows just gives you a single S6 -1 1 damage attack (or D3 when it charges) for 1 point and I think that's a pretty fair ask.  PGL is another great upgrade because it's readily available on almost every infantry unit including HQs, and it's a 18" range Assault D3 weapon that only needs to hit negatively affect the unit.  With how shooting works now, if you have multiple PGLs in a unit, you can literally spread the -1 Ld. love everywhere.  This means more units that can be affected by Mindshock, and more units will be afflicted with leadership penalties when testing for morale.  At 3 ppm and readily available on most units, I see these as a higher priority buy than something like the Blast Pistol or even the extra Splinter Cannon buy on the Venom.

When it comes to luxury upgrades, I'm really starting to see BP and SC as luxury.  Even PGL is luxury if you think about it, and so is Shock Prows.  I would only take these upgrades if I have no room for anything else.  The way I prioritize it is by looking at how much use I can get out of these upgrades.  How many times am I expected to use my Blast Pistol in my playstyle vs. the Splinter Cannon on the Venom?  I expect to use my SC much more certainly, so it would take priority over the BP.  What about SC compared to the PGL?  A single extra SC or Blaster upgrade can buy me 5 sets of PGL for example, so I would consider this a better upgrade overall if I'm playing the debuff leadership game.  Sometimes my OCD bleeds in a bit here because I roughly like my units to be pretty uniform.  As you can see from the list below, not having a Blaster on the 5-man unit of Warriors is literally driving me insane, but I just don't have the points for it!  I guess overall, that's not too bad because the 2x Archons riding in it is giving me 2x Blaster shots at a higher BS.

OK, then what do you think about taking Agonizers on everyone?  This is a more applicable upgrade sure, but it's also about how much value you're getting out of the upgrade.  Agonizers are not created equal even though they cost the same points on everything.  Taking an Agonizer on an Archon with 5 attacks that hit on 2s that comes stock with a 2++ Shadowfield is a lot different than shitty unit champion that dies like a bitch and hits on 3s.  This is difference in maximizing your upgrade potential and something that all players need to do if they're to squeeze maximum value out of their armies.

Anyways, here's the list updated list:

1999
Ynnari Battalion - 6 CP, 10 drops

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 76
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 76

TROOP:
5x Warriors, PGL = 38
Raider, Dark Lance, Shock Prow = 116
154

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Raider, Dark Lance, Shock Prow = 116
216

5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
5x Warriors, Blaster = 50
Raider, Dark Lance, Shock Prow = 116
216

ELITE:
5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster = 115
Venom, Splinter Cannon = 80
195

5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster = 115
Venom, Splinter Cannon = 80
195

5x Trueborn, 4x Blaster = 115
Venom, Splinter Cannon = 80
195

FLYER:
Hemlock Wraithfighter = 211

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155
Ravager, 3x Dark Lance = 155

The first Raider is literally a grenade boat, giving me 3 sources to spread out grenades all the while shooting with Blasters from 2+ to hit Archons.  Once the party starts and I need to get in close combat, the Archons with the Agonizers will hopefully go to town and do some work.  I made a lot of large-scale sacrifices here for the Hemlock, but I think the Hemlock is one of the best units that the Aeldari has to offer.  I think for now, I'm going to stay away from the Horrify and go with the Reveal/Conceal power instead.  The -2 to hit from all sources ranged is just too good to pass up on.

Analyzing overall firepower again, what has changed really?  Well.. less poisoned shots overall because of the cheaper Venoms and a few less Warriors.  No Dark Lances on the Warriors but increased potential for Soulburst with Blasterwars might be a bit of a lateral trade.  All in all, I have less long-ranged damage potential but more close-ranged potential, and I gain the Hemlock which gives me some serious auto-hitting 2D3 S10 AP-4 D2 firepower.  The leadership shenanigans is a great nice to have, but nothing you can realistically form your battleplan around.

Total numbers look something like:
12 Dark Lances
18 Blasters
2 Heavy D-Scythes
3 Splinter Cannons
3 Twin Splinter Rifles
24 Splinter Rifles