Well as a certain FW release has made wraithguard lists a subject of interest atm it seems like my writing schedule has caught up with the times nicely, on the subject of writing schedule we are not far shy of completing the write ups for the entire book, there are only two elites to cover and I think HQ will likely split up into two posts possibly three depending how much I find to blither about.

They can be elites in 5’s or troops at ten , it’s quite nice to have the option of T6 troops, I feel they are a much better troop and objective sitter than an elite unit.

Lets do the usual breakdown starting with the stats , WS and BS 4 the ‘game standard’ so little to report here , str 5 is nice enough but you really do not want these guys in CC unless it’s a necessary evil, assuming no power fist they will eventually beat a tactical squad … and I suppose fi the wraithguns fail to do much to a tank a follow up charge of str 5 on rear armour is worth a go?

T6 is the real eyebrow raiser here , coupled with their decent armour save they are effectively immune to small arms fire , though DE will chew em up the same as marines….

1 wound is, I suppose, to be expected  though I think they would possibly  justify their price/effectiveness better with a 2 wound profile, le sigh. ld10/fearless is nice , though I’m not keen on the prospect of fearless wounds…

Wraithsight- is made of lame ,fail and aids , buy a warlock , it still sucks that if for some reason you don’t have them in range your overpriced models will do jack shit one sixth of the time, one despises unreliability of this kind. you can  mostly mitigate it though.

The Wraithcannon – Their only piece of shit kit, I kinda hate these things , woefully short range is the first problem , you can kinda get round this by running them in a serpent , but this then gives the problem of not enough bodies/guns , and dragons are far more dangerous to tanks , pretty much just as lethal to everything else and cost less than half , they are also both elites. I ONLY run Wraithguard for fun. My main gripe with Wraithguns is that they are an overcomplex rule to give a net result somewhat worse than a meltagun that costs more to put on the table, the only good D weapon breaks from the shitty D-table and is apocalypse only (All hail the mighty Cobra).

lets have D-guns ignore invulns/fields , that should help balance out the Thundernator spam that is rife these days.

Also now that the vehicle table has changed they are even weaker AT guns, good for suppression maybe, pretty much just a heavy haywire greande, but unless you take ten hardly worth planning around. D weapons need an overhaul in the next book. I tend to think guide helps out with the lethality  somewhat , you can also use doom to re roll ones or if you are trying to kill something MC like you can use doom to re roll anything thats not a six if you wish.

Warlock- Is a must have as he turns of wraithsight , he can add to their ranged or CC AT with a singing spear or Witch blade, choosing enhance helps them in CC , making them I and Ws 5 , which is non too shabby , shame about the lack of attacks and grenades really. the only other power worth consideration is Conceal , 5+ perma cover save ? it’ll do nicely , I prefer the conceal to be honest as WG drop like flies to high str high ap weps, especially  worthwhile on the bigger squads as you will get more chances to save , coupled with fortune you can go out of cover if needs be.

I would like a Bonesinger really …FNP?

Wraithguard are difficult to pigeon hole as they neither excel at shooing or close combat , their guns whilst effective do not put out enough shots to be a truely terrifying threat to anything  other than lone MC’s who are  an endangered species in 5th anyway , they are good at suppressing vehicles and with big enough squads can do an adequate job of AT , @ 350 points for a ten man unit it’s nothing to write home about . Likewise their CC output is meagre but fortunately  because of their toughness they can be a good tar pit , again not really what I want from 350 points of anything……