Is anyone using Supoprt Weapons in Iyanden list? Are they truly forgotten in 5ed and replaced by Warwalkers and Writhlords and Fire Prisms? I think they still have a place in Iyanden lists.
Over the past months I have been testing Support Weapon batteries in Iyanden lists, off and on. Playing Iyanden presents certain list limitations that need addressing. If we wish to remain fairly true yto the fluff we have some difficult choices to make at the 1500 point level and below.
1) Iyanden lists are very good at taking down Meq forces. The Wraithcannon can hurt teminators, tanks, and Meq armour. They do lack cc punch however.
2) Your Wraithguard troop selection will eat up a lot of points. If you decide to add a small elite squad as well, you find yourself short on scoring troops so holding objectives becomes a paramount issue.
I looked at the support weapons on paper and was not overly impressed. I did not want Warwalkers or Falcons in my list but Wraithlords certyainly seemed a choice option for the heavy slot. I never used more thyen two though so I aleays have room for a battery of cannons. The question was whether they would fill any niche in a Iyanden list. We must first examine basic Iyanden tactics to determine this.
Iyanden almost always fields a Wraithwall. This typically consists of a Wraithguard troop choice, a Wraithlord and a Farseer. This wall really forms a mobile castle moving into position to hold an objective and get into range to fire their weapons. This leaves them open to counter assault. The other troop choice will; typically try and hold and objective away from the wall. These may be Pathfinders, Dire Avengers, Guardians or even small jetbike squads.
So I have used my support weapon batteries in two ways to Support my forces. They are called support weapons for a reason. Understand that these barrage weapons do not require LoS and pin. This means they can be hidden and protected while dishing out damage. It is aso understood that they are artillery, so they cannot run but moving them into position and giving up a round of shooting is quite acceptable.
So their limitations are their mobility, range (D-Cannons) need to take a least two in a battery to be consistent and the chance of scatter onto your own troops. Carefukl tactics can mitigate these limitations. They are also frail and easy targets for deep strikers and outflankers. Again, careful deployment helps and if they go after your cannons they are not going after mporee dangerous threats. I found my cannons were ignored until too late in many games.
D-Cannons -
These have provided an area denial ring of death around an objective. They can nbe devastating against high armour. Once you place them in position your opponent will be at a psychological disadvantage and a physical disadvantage. They are more then capable of dishing out damage and are fairy consistent. I find they do what I want around 40% of the time (a good result) so with two cannons I'm doing damage.
Here is a link to a previous article with the statistics
http://forums.tauonline.org/index.php?topic=84035.0The article also discusses there uses against tanks, etc., but here we are focusing on their primary purpose in an Iyanden list.
Their second use is to follow your Wraithwall. Even though they perform a similar function in terms of target selection their range is 12" greater then your Wraithwall. This means that their targets want to get at them and it will often draw your opponent closer to the wall. If you have dedicated cc unit by your Wraithwall this tactic effectively increases the range ogf your guns.
Shadow Weavers and V-Cannons
I'm not going to discuss these weapon's AT potential as that is not what we use them for in an Iyanden list. In an Iyanden list they serve one purpose. We need to whittle down swarms before they hit the Wraithwall. By following the Wraithwall and setting up we can pin and rerduce the impact of running opponents trying to get into cc with our wall. Using them in conjunction with a nice counter charging squad can really add an extra element to your lists that alleviate our lack of cc prowess. I found that often by the time a squad or two hit my Wraithwall they were reduced enough in number for my lone cc counter charging squad and my Wraithguard to handle quickly without damage.
I will just add that I used a farseer with guide every time I fielded my support weapons. This greatly increased their effectiveness. In terms of consistency D-Cannons won out. For the price, Shadow Weavers were a bit of a bargain. However, the V-Cannons were quite effective in games against Orks, Nids and IG.