Authored by: Raymond Tan

We have all certainly heard about how "beardy" the Wraithlord is in terms of prowess and how "unbeatable" it is. To call it in such a manner is not unfounded, knowing that the high toughness is quite a pain to overcome.

However, the one tactic that many do not see is 'concentrated fire'. This tactic works overall for pretty much anything in the game of 40k. To think that you cannot beat an Eldar army due to the Wraithlord just because you didn't have the weapons or insufficient firepower is mainly cause you just didn't arm yourself well enough either with heavy weapons or close combatants. In a game of 40K, you just have to prepare yourself for any kind of army. Not being able to take an Eldar army with ONE Wraithlord simply means that your list don't have what it takes to cut it.

I know that there are those who just itch asking this: "So what can I field to take it down then?"

My answer?

In every army in 40K, there will be strong units (eg Wraithlord) and weaker units (ie Troops). You must keep concentrated with the type of targets and weapons. This translates to using the right weapons for the right kind of units.

To illustrate: An Space Marine army takes his Devastators and opens up on the Wraithlord NOT the Guardians or Falcon. Doing this will almost guarantee that the Wraithlord suffers at least a wound or two. Yea…then you will complain about the rest of the army coming in and eating you up. True; that is what the Eldar excels at, masters of specific tasks. The Wraithlord is mainly used as a Heavy Support hence he either absorbs wounds for the rest of the army or supports the main assault. In this example, he has played the role of cannon fodder. Leave the Wraithlord alive and he comes to wreck your army. Leave the other parts of the Eldar army, they come and chew you when you least expect it.

What this all boils down to are timing and sound tactics. If you cannot beat an Eldar army just cause he has a Wraithlord, then you have to reanalyse your tactics and army list. "Did I bring enough heavy weapons?" "Did I use these heavy weapons correctly AND at the right time?" Ask yourself these questions and you may just realize that the trouble lies in yourself, not the high toughness of the Wraithlord. Everyone has this problem with his enemy's army so you have to arm yourself appropriately. I have problems taking out the Leman Russ as well as Whirlwind that skulk at the back of the battlefield, but do I just sit and complain that I cannot win cause "its impossible to beat the Leman Russ or Whirlwind since its behind enemy lines?" No and definitely not. I look for solutions, which comes in the form of Vypers- fast and easy to send into enemy lines. Frail too, which means that I have to manoeuvre it constantly to be hidden by terrain and strike at the appropriate time. Look for your own army strength and stop complaining about the Eldar army's strength.

Another point I would like to raise is that the Wraithlord is the ONLY unit in the whole Eldar army that can sustain prolonged fire poured at it. He is there to counter-balance the weakness that lies in the Eldar army who are majority at toughness 3. Taking a look at the other units and their SHORT ranges (most are 12" or 36" at the most), the Eldar army is frail and need to close range pretty quick, therefore the need for something that can take this punishment as the army crosses the battlefield. Is it not right to have something that can take this punishment to "help" the other parts of the army to arrive in one piece? Being such a slow and large target also means that he is easily gunned down if done correctly. So stop fretting and start thinking; the Wraithlord is beatable: concentrated fire.

Another thing that I constantly get "bombed" with is how my Howling Banshees are so CHEEZY. All I can say is, you just need to realize that you are playing wrongly. I have seen my Banshees take the victory and also let slip a whole flank of my army. What does this say about you if you constantly lose to me? Well, that means you are not using your strengths to beat my weakness.

The Banshees are known for one thing popular-Power Weapons-which means that they cleave through armour like a hot knife on butter. Yeah…lovely but no one ever sees that these gals have lousy armour save, low toughness and strength. This implies that they HAVE to break the unit that they are attacking as they cannot take a protracted fight. Either that or they have to cripple this squad they are attacking so that they cannot wound the Banshees enough to make the gals fall back.

There are tactics that you can use to bring these gals down. What this effectively call for is that you bring tough units or at least in numbers. Bring enough attacking units or at least counter attacking units, the gals will not make it on the battlefield till the end of the game. In a recent game of mine against a Khorne army, my Banshees were cut down.

Why?

Cause they had a very good backup of another 10 Berserkers and a Dreadnaught. All used in coherence, the timing was very accurate and my opponent took my Banshees down. I could not do anything. Yes, I did manage to kill his one squad, but he managed to pull down my only close combatants. This demoralized me awfully but I did manage to pull a WIN in the end. What this proved to me is that I don't need to rely on just these gals for my games; the most important was making my army clique.

How I won?

I just pulled back from his assault units and then concentrated fire on his units lying in the open. Didn't this just prove that I could use other units to beat my enemy too than JUST my Banshees? So stop worrying so much about the gals, they are quite harmless unless you screw up by leaving small plops of men running about alone.

To prevent them from coming up to you, just shoot them to death before they arrive or get their transport. Remember however that when you train all your weapons on this machine, you leave the other parts of the army to come and eat you later, much like the Wraithlord. Again, this all boils down to appropriate timing and tactics.

What did we learn today?

Brush on our army list but not resorting to cheesy methods (read Power Gamer) and utilizing good timing with sound tactics (I can't emphasize this enough!). Every army has their weakness, look at it and exploit it. Complaining will only get you that far (which is not far!). Good luck hunting!

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