WraithMight!

The ground shook under foot, rubble from a ruined Imperial communications outpost poured off the rough edges of broken walls with each footfall. Luther’s Noise Marines dived out of the crumbling structure just in time as the alien construct smashed through what remained of the reinforced armored wall. With its elegant shape and smooth lines the Eldar Wraithknight moved with an un-natural grace for a silhouette of its size. The Wraithknight stood upright among the broken ruins bringing it to its full colossal height, challenging with its tank sized sword. Then it charged accelerating at breakneck speed….

I may be no author but I do like to think I know a little about Eldar and today I want to talk about the Wraithknight. This beast is the tallest kit GW has ever released standing at an impressive 9”, it even towers over the Tau Riptide and rivals the Ork Stompa. Aesthetically in my opinion this model is very nice, especially when armed with the Ghost Glaive and Shimmershield. So let’s take a closer look at this monster:

Type: Monstrous Creature

WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld
4	4	10	8	6	5	4	10

That’s a very impressive stat line right there especially with it’s incredible strength 10 and toughness 8 along with 6 wounds. This means most fire arms won’t be able to even wound the Wraithknight requiring weapons of strength 5 or more to even be allowed to roll to wound and at that, they are needing 6’s. Also in 6th edition monstrous creatures only need to have their toe in cover to claim that invaluable 5+.

Armaments:

Wraith Cannon’s x 2

I recently played a doubles game with this configuration and popped a Land Raider quite easily. This gives you two strength 10 shots at BS4 with an AP of 2. Also any roll of a 6 to wound causes instant death due to the distort rule. At base, this set up costs “just” 240pts and it WILL reliably kill armored targets. You pay the points to kill the enemy tanks and it will do it well but what happens when all the armor is destroyed? Well this is where I think investing in two shoulder-mounted Scatter Lasers might just come in handy.

In my recent game I destroyed the Land Raider and a Razorback, oh and managed to send Marneus Calgar into the warp but after all that there was very little to shoot at. I was shooting just two shot’s a turn so it felt like it was a little redundant, bit like shooting a high powered rifle at a swarm of rats. So my recommendation would be to take two Scatter Lasers along with the 2 Wraith Cannons bringing the points cost up to 280pts but making it much more flexible.

Suncannon & Shimmershield

Straight away im just gonna come out and say the Suncannon is awesome. It’s a 3 shot Strength 6 AP 2 small blast weapon with a decent range and is sure to melt infantry of all kinds in large numbers. Then there is also the Shimmershield which gives the Wraithknight that invaluable 5+ invulnerable save. So no more trying to touch cover, you can get that 5+ out in the open and in close combat. Then at least one Scatter Laser is a must have. That will allow you to reroll the scatter dice for the Suncannon shots making it super accurate. This is an absolute beast and will cause havoc with all armies you face. Just beware that everyone and their granny will be out to get it, but that’s what you want!

Ghostglaive & Shimmershield

Not as good as the other two set ups in my opinion but it certainly has its merits. Taking into account that the Wraithknight can jump 12” and then a potential 12” charge, that bring's its threat to a fantastic 24". Upon the charge the Wraithknight will also get a single Strength 10 Hammer of Wrath strike at initiative 10 so before the combat even starts you can take out that character in a 1v1. Then striking at initiative 5 with 5 attacks on the charge and at Strength 10, very little will survive. Just beware that if your Wraithknight gets charged by 30 Ork Boyz or Chaos Cultists or Plague Zombies that they will tar pit it for the rest of the game. Like all Eldar units it is still a precision tool and should be used for smashing vehicles or other monstrous creatures and small elite squads.

Overall the Wraithknight is an excellent addition to any Eldar army and will serve the player well. It isn’t a battering ram, but a destructive tool that in decent hands it will ruin your opponents day. Also enjoy the pictures in this article from various talented hobbyist's from around the globe.

Thanks for reading,

Johno