1500 DE vs Yannari- 8th edition

Trying to get a jump on some practice before ATC, so played my first 8th edition game.

I had:
Urien
10 wracks/ 2 ossefactors
2x talos / stinger pods
10 mandrakes
10 hellions/agonizer
10 warriors/ blaster/ dark lance/agonizer
raider/ lance/ prow
2x ravager w/3 lances/ prow
5 scourges/ 4x shredders


HE had:
Wraithknight
Wraith lord
5 snipers
5 guardians
5 scorpions
5 spiders
farseer on bike
waveserpent
3 dark reapers


Heres a basic overview:
I lost turn 5. Tabled.

His farseer kept the knight twin linked and a 5++ feel no pain save, so I ignored it at first. Maybe I shouldn't have.
The soulburst power is freaking rough to counter, but I knew that going in.

In the end, he had the knight (5 wounds left out of 24) a farseer (2 wounds left) and that was it. So quite the bloody affair.

So here are my impressions of units and how they did. Please be aware that this is after just one game, so your mileage may vary:

urien - Meh. a C. He was well worth the points, and I rolled well on his casket, but in reality +1 toughness is nowhere near as good as it used to be. he was... uninspiring. Died to 12 titanic feet attacks.

Warriors- Good. B+
Their shooting is not nearly as effective as other editions. In fact, we were BOTH amazed at how pathetic our shooting turned out to be based on 7th expectations. He got first blood by pumping almost all his shots at a talos, but it took almost all his shots! Smaller units over larger, don't upgrade the hero. Died to the combined fore of Knight, Spiders and losing 6! (yes SIX!) freaking models to the vehicle dying. I rolled 6 ones out of 10. used a command point to reroll one to lose only 5.

Talos- C
They did... mediocre. One died before it could move, the other ate 5 scorpions over two rounds, THEN died to the knights feet (again). I will not be taking these in future games. There are better options for close to the same cost.

Wracks: B+
I was impressed. Their shooting is nice with an ossefactor, the extra unsavable wound is nails against smaller, elite type units. (looking at you reapers...) but where they shine... where they shine so so well was in hand to hand versus the Knight. A lot of attacks, hitting on 2's (turn 3) and wounding on 4's. A squad of 10 did the majority of wounds to the knight, even when it was buffed! I would not hesitate to take them again, and they were on foot. toss em in a raider and you have a monster killer.

Scourges- B-
They didn't do well for me, as I didn't have the points to spend on great weapons. They did take out the dark reapers before dying to the wave serpent and serpent shield. I gave an agonizer to the champ, but would never do so again. I don't want them in combat and neither do you!

Hellions- D (as in defer to later)
Ok, I had such high hopes for this unit. I chose the +1 Attack, as the other drugs would not help overall, waited until turn 2 so I had a reroll charge, dropped in and promptly shot the dire avengers off the table, and charged... well, nothing as they failed both the first and the reroll.
They were then curb stomped! a 5+, 6++ is a joke, and they did not stand a chance. Will give them another go, maybe in smaller units of 5.

Raider/Ravagers A+
We have some of the best vehicles in the game. We have good HTH, good movement, good survivability and good damage output. Whats not to like?

Mandrakes- A+
The stars of the game. Holy fraking hell, a unit of 10 puts out 20 shots at str 4, hitting on 3's, and every 6 you roll ADDS a mortal wound! They erased everything they shot at or charged, and the -1 to shoot them came in SO handy, especially when people move with a heavy weapon. Ex: hit on 3's, move with a heavy weapon, shoot at mandrakes, you are now hitting on 5's!
Venoms have this same rule, and it was so effective I am going to be using venoms as Incubi transports next game.


So there you go. Will get a few more game sin, optimize my list and let you guys know what I find out.

Woah! Thanks for the share and insight! Did you deepstrike your hellions in?

How did the Wracks damage the Knight on 4+? Poison hurts things with the Vehicle keyword on 6+.

I want to paint my mandrakes for sure - good to hear that they are as good as I thought they would be!

The hellions are another unit I have hopes for - need to get them on the table soon!

Thanks for the write up!

I'm glad the warriors, wracks, mandrakes, raiders and ravagers did well.
I thought they would and am including them as core in my 8thed lists.

I'm actually not surprised the hellions wiffed. I know their damage output is goodish now but they still melt when anything looks at them.

@mynamelegend wrote:

How did the Wracks damage the Knight on 4+? Poison hurts things with the Vehicle keyword on 6+.

wraithknights don't have the vehicle key word

Fair enough! Some little birdie told me they had the same profile as Imperial Knights, guess that didn't include the keywords.

@Barrywise wrote:

Woah! Thanks for the share and insight! Did you deepstrike your hellions in?

Yes. I held them until turn 2, so they could reroll the charge.
Still didn't help.

Once a hellion hits the tabletop, it will be killed. They NEED to charge after deepstrike or they wont work. 9" with a reroll... You should make it in what, 70% of the time? The other 30%, they will shoot (and do some damage to be sure) but then they are toast.

But...Hellions can´t deep strike anymore.

Is it really a 70% with rerollable 2d6? Cause I know without the rerollable it's only a 27.77% chance

@Skulnbonz and pardon me: Why are our Raiders so good? Not questioning it, just want to know what they are good at to use them correctly.

@CptMetal wrote:

@Skulnbonz and pardon me: Why are our Raiders so good? Not questioning it, just want to know what they are good at to use them correctly.

most other vehicles are 6+ to hit opponents in HTH. We are 4+
Bladevanes are -1 ap
shockprows are 1 pt and worth it if you have a few extra points lying around
our 5++ will come in more handy than you believe it will.
they are fast
Open topped


Again, this is from one game, but my raider took shots from a wraithkinght, wriathlord and dark reapers and still kept coming.

My mistake would be taking 1 unit of wracks 10 strong instead of 2 units of 5 in the same raider. wont make that mistake again.