The dragons breath flamer is possibly there best weapon choice now. Even tho crack shot is only half as effective with the flamer as you only really see the re-rolls benefit. It does mean you can use doom somewhere else. And effectively use a 4 man + flamer squad as a tactical squad for killing scouts.
In 4th I really liked DBF, but in 5th the pike with crack shot is really the way to go. AP1 is really important so you can destroy on 4s instead of 5s and the ability to ignore cover is huge. Tanks are going to be using cover a lot and ignoring cover makes it much easier to take them down. Other stuff (warlocks with destructors) can do the flaming. 5th really makes dragons stand out above and beyond everything else when it comes to ranged anti-tank power.
the guard need to be in a unit of 10 to be troops...
Not a problem for Iyanden armies. The 10 guard troop choice is sort of the core of the army. Unless playing a small game, Iyanden will likely have at least 1 if not 2 of these monster squads available to hold objectives.
Don't bet on it. Going to ground in the open at an objective will grant a 4+ cover save.
One way that you can ensure that you get the cover save is to string the squad out a bit. Have a line of guard long enough to have a model able to control the objective and put the rest of the squad in cover. As long as 1/2 of them are in cover, the whole squad gets the save. Now you can go to ground while controlling an objective that is in the open and get a 3+ cover save for the squad which is by the why probably rerollable thanks to the attached fortuneseer. With just 3 models out of cover, and the rest of squad in cover, you can use cover 15" from the objective while still controlling it--6" from objective, 1" base, 2" space, 1" base, 2" space, 1" base, 2" space, rest of squad in cover.
Were they ever viable? there great at low points. But they provide little fire support and are rubbish in CC. They use the your a noob tactic of look at this... ohhh it's really going to hurt you..... the only option i can see for them is Shuricannon, scatter, twin flamer. Even then there are better things for less points that can do a lot more.
Keep in mind that this thread is about Iyanden and wraithlords are one of the key Iyanden units. 5th really has only done good things for them. They can get cover saves from the guard in front of them. Rending isn't quite as big a threat as it was. They can run. For 100 points you can have a lord with sword running along with the guard and giving an added boost in cc. Make sure the guard are in contact with the powerfist and the lord is in contact with normal model and he can't be hurt while he steadily adds 1 or 2 kills for the eldar combat res score.
I really think the guard will be running the first 1 or 2 turns and if the lord is supporting them in cc, then he doesn't need to do any ranged shooting. He will just run along with them. Once the guard are in range to fire, the lord can stop running and throw a few shots down range. I like the shuriken cannon because it is so cheap and if you only fire once or twice, why spend a bunch of points to do so.
I am not a big fan of lords (I didn't really like them in 3rd when they were supposed to be so uber), but I think 5th will be better for them than 4th was.
I must disagree with your assessment of the 5th ed. Fire Prism as support for Wraithguard-heavy armies.
Fire Prisms are now very inaccurate, with only a 44.44% chance of a direct hit on the target point. Perhaps more relevant to the Iyanden army is the 12" range of the Wraithcannon coupled with the possible 8" scatter of an S9 AP2 blast. I don't want to suggest that you would hit yourself often, but doing it even once would be enough to dissuade me.
Who cares if you get a direct hit on the target? The new blast rules (particularly no partials) makes up for this. Fire the prism into the midst of a large group and at times it can be litterally impossible to miss. Most of the time you scatter 3" or less if you scatter at all. That scatter should still be hitting someting in the target squad.
The prism isn't really meant to hunt tanks. It can do that, but blasts have always been designed to take out troops, not vehicles. Large numbers of troops also happen to be one thing that guard aren't very good at dealing with since they don't have a high volume of fire or a large number of cc attacks. The guard also can't do anything to troops in the first couple turns because of their short ranged guns. The prism can reach out and touch stuff early and deal with large numbers. Both those things compensate for weaknesses of the guard. Let the guard handle the tanks, the prisms can go after the troops.
Also, if the prism lasts, it has the speed to get somewhere it needs to be to contest objectives. Support platforms and reapers are useless for this. Walkers can do it, unless they scout in from the wrong edge in which case you'll get their shooting but may have to forget about objectives. Falcons have the speed like prisms, but lack the range and blasts which make the prism so useful.
Prisms can ram if need be. Falcons can as well, but the other heavy choices won't help there.
Certainly the Prisms are not terribly durable particular without fields, but if you are careful to select the right targets and limit incoming fire lanes, they do quite well. Mine don't often get shaken much less destroyed. 2 10 man wraithguard squads running at your lines tends to draw a lot of fire.
I think of 120 points of Shuricannon War Walkers taking the field from the short board edges and selecting targets of opportunity. Disposable units certainly don't require support =)
I do like the warwalkers too. That potential to be sent in from the wrong board edge disturbs me though. Anyway, nothing says you can't have walkers and a prism or two. This gives a nice bit of variety.
Also, a WG unit advancing on the battlefield can give a generic Autarch with Fusion Gun/Powersword and SH Wings an excellent platform to go solo hunting when opportunity arises, especially as transport hunting, where you can detach the IC to kill that Rhino/LR and force these Fearless Termies to come out in the face of Wraithcannon death.
Good point. I never saw the point of a winged or warp spider pack autarch before. Jetbike is the way to go, but he would actually be quite useful in this situation, quite a bit cheaper and would give that nice reserve bonus.
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It is interesting that in 4th I often found it was better to put my guard in cc, than to stand around shooting. You get more attacks per turn in cc since you can attack in both your turn and the enemy turn. Very few squads have adequate tools to deal any serious damage to the guard in cc. Even a power fist doesn't help much--it'll only kill 2 or 3 per turn if rolling well. My guard squads would rarely lose more than 3 models and more often than not would only lose one or two.
They are even harder to kill now since rending is nerfed a bit and so are powerfists, but have lost none of their own effectiveness. This means fewer die each round. One or two power weapons in the squad, plus the squad's own attacks should allow the guard to win cc most of the time and probably do so by 4 or more wounds. This means LD10 is testing on a 6 to not run, and fearless units are taking 4 saves for not running. That mean a lot more kills with combat res.
Guard, I think are going to be significantly more deadly in cc. Enhance has them striking first and hitting on 3s against most enemies. Run gets them there faster. The strong support they need can hide in the squad. Wraithlords are better equipped to support them. Charge in, kill stuff, end up standing in the open an laugh as the enemy futilely attempts to shoot them before you rinse and repeat.