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Author Topic: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening  (Read 3595 times)

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Offline sunstrider

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Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« on: September 16, 2016, 10:52:29 AM »
Hey all,

So I was listcrafting the other day, particularly designing lists that leverage the Hemlock Wraithfighter because why not, and an interesting synergy dawned on me while I was looking at the Wraithfighter's datasheet: Psychic Shriek and the mindshock pod combined really do make a mess of the leadership and morale of opposing units.

Given that the wraithfighter has psychic pilot and access to the telepathy discipline, I really liked the idea of getting within range for the mindshock pod and psychic shriek, then letting loose and watching and handfuls of enemy models be removed.

But then I had one more revelation when I looked closer at the telepathy and runes of battle psychic disciplines: both of these disciplines have powers that decrease the leadership of enemy units. AND for those of you with access to the doom of mymeara book and some shadow spectres, their exarch power also plays havoc with leadership tests. So the potential for enemy units to roll the leadership check for psychic shriek (one from the shadow spectres, one from the power), seems devastating.

So I've thought of a few ways to modify leadership:
- mindshock pod (from Craftworld Eldar book)
- Shadow Spectres exarch power (from Doom of Mymeara book)
- telepathy psychic discipline
- runes of battle discipline
- Mask of Secrets (wargear from the Harlequins book)
- Armor of Despair (wargear from Dark Eldar book)
- Freakish Spectacle (Homunculus Coven detachment special rule)
- Twilight Terror (Irillyth's warlord trait from Doom of Mymeara book)
- Corsair Prince can take wargear from any eldar book (from Doom of Mymeara book)
- Death is Not Enough (Death Jester special rule)
- Diresword (Dire Avengers Exarch weapon)

I think this list theme has a lot of potential, so what are your thoughts on all this? Are there any other ways to decrease leadership and make enemy units more vulnerable to psychic shriek? Is there any parts of these rules I may of gotten wrong? Or do they fit together as nicely as I think?

Edited for rules content.  Please avoid writing out the rules for how powers work, as this breaches GW's copyright.  Please see forum rule 1 for further details - Iris.

EDIT: Updated for additional ideas and rules
« Last Edit: September 17, 2016, 01:03:33 PM by sunstrider »

Offline Lord of Winter and War

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2016, 05:04:44 PM »
Dark Eldar 'Armour of Dispair' has a negative leadership buff, and any detachment from the 'Homonculi covens' book gives a -1 penalty to nearby units as well.
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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2016, 07:51:50 AM »
Hey Sunstrider. Yeah the Leadership Shenanigans game can be very fun. Another way to augment it is through including a Dark Eldar: Haemonculus Covens formation or two. They have a rule called Freakish Spectacle which also significantly reduces leadership.

A good way to get the Mask of Secrets which is huge, is by taking a Corsair Prince who when selecting his "Path" can take artifacts from any of the Eldar books (Harlies, CW, DE) and so he can take the Mask as well.

Mask of Secrets + Hemlock + Freakish Spectacle + Farseer with the Ld. Targeting powers+ Death Jester and Death is Not Enough, are the best ways I know to play the leadership game.
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Offline sunstrider

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2016, 11:49:58 AM »
Hey Sunstrider. Yeah the Leadership Shenanigans game can be very fun. Another way to augment it is through including a Dark Eldar: Haemonculus Covens formation or two. They have a rule called Freakish Spectacle which also significantly reduces leadership.

A good way to get the Mask of Secrets which is huge, is by taking a Corsair Prince who when selecting his "Path" can take artifacts from any of the Eldar books (Harlies, CW, DE) and so he can take the Mask as well.

Mask of Secrets + Hemlock + Freakish Spectacle + Farseer with the Ld. Targeting powers+ Death Jester and Death is Not Enough, are the best ways I know to play the leadership game.

Didn't know the Corsair Prince could do that, I'll have to look into that. And yeah I also realized last night that the death jester would fit in really well with this theme. That makes taking the cast of players formation from the harlequin book a pretty good option. That way you can get the mask of secrets on the shadowseer, along with a level 2 on telepathy for more psychic shrieking.

Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight is also a cool option for this type of list. His warlord trait and shadow spectres exarch power go really well here. The ideal warlord choice really.

And thanks for all the suggestions so far guys, I'll update the OP!

Offline magenb

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2016, 06:48:01 PM »
Splintermind has a nice podcast covering some of these options, episode 20 from memory. They had a guest that specialised in build this type of list.

If you are thinking about corsairs, take a strole back through the CWE pages as the Shadow Spectres also have some leadership shenanigans.

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2016, 07:21:18 AM »
@Magenb- I forgot they did a podcast on that! Yeah its with Jimsolo whose an absolute pro with what he calls the "Freakshow" list. He's crafted some lists that create leadership debuffs which make passing LD almost impossible. Its actually a very challenging list to play but very fun. I highly recommend checking out that episode of Splintermind as well. Great call Magenb!
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Offline sunstrider

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2016, 03:11:48 PM »
Alright everyone, I've made an army list leveraging this concept that I'm pretty happy with. Check it out below and let me know what you think (fyi I use some units and formations from the Doom of Mymeara book):

Twilight Host
Warlord: Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight

Craftworld Warhost Detachment - 1497 Points

Pale Courts Battlehost - Core Choice - 447 Points
Trait One: Aspect Lord Shrine - Dire Avengers
Trait Two: None

Farseer

7 Dire Avengers
Dire Avenger Exarch w/Diresword & Shuriken Pistol

8 Dire Avengers

8 Dire Avengers

Aspect Host - Auxiliary Choice - 550 Points

4 Dark Reapers w/Starshot Missiles
Dark Reaper Exarch w/Eldar Missile Launcher

5 Shadow Spectres
Shadow Spectre Exarch w/Prism Blaster

7 Warp Spiders
Warp Spider Exarch w/Powerblades & Twin-linked Deathspinner

Wraith Constructs - Auxiliary Choice - XXX Points

Hemlock Wraithfighter

Engines of Vaul - Auxiliary Choice - 140 Points

1 Fire Prism
Holo-field

Living Legends - Command Choice - XXX Points

Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight

Tactics: The farseer will go with the Dire Avenger squad with the exarch and Irillyth will join the warp spiders. I chose that dire avenger squad because there is a character in that unit that can take a challenge for the farseer with his low AP melee weapon and good invulnerable save. I chose warp spiders for Irillyth because they synergize well with his exarch power and warlord trait, where his own aspect is better off staying at range, avoiding the front lines.

The farseer will be taking Psychic Shriek at minimum from the Telepathy tree, then will be rolling on Telepathy/Runes of Fate for his remaining powers given the opponent I'm facing etc. The Hemlock will also be auto picking Psychic Shriek and may roll on Telepathy or Runes of Battle.

Getting close to the enemy to take advantage of the shadow spectres exarch power then blasting away with psychic shriek is the only specific strategy this list has. Other than that, just moving against the enemy and bringing the most appropriate aspect to bear against the enemy's forces is the overarching strategy for this list.

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2016, 08:37:16 AM »
am I right in thinking u can stack the negative leadership from multiple wraitherfighter mindshock pods?

Offline Lord of Winter and War

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2016, 07:17:59 PM »
am I right in thinking u can stack the negative leadership from multiple wraitherfighter mindshock pods?

No, as they wording says "within range of a model with", instead of something along the lines of "Unit gets -2 for each mindshock pod".

Also, it wont effect Psychic Shriek anyway, as Mindshock pods only effect Morale, Pinning and Fear tests. Shriek, is a Leadership test.

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Offline sunstrider

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2016, 03:21:35 PM »
Also, it wont effect Psychic Shriek anyway, as Mindshock pods only effect Morale, Pinning and Fear tests. Shriek, is a Leadership test.

Normally I'd agree with you, but consider this: So far as I know, there are only 3 types of leadership tests in the game: morale, pinning and fear tests. So, given that mindshock pod affects all leadership based tests in the game, it would be equivalent to it affecting all leadership tests.

But  this is an implicit equivalency, so you should run this past your opponent instead of assume to make sure everyone is on the same page. But it's entirely reasonable and so far all my opponents have agreed with me.

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2016, 04:36:11 PM »
Also, it wont effect Psychic Shriek anyway, as Mindshock pods only effect Morale, Pinning and Fear tests. Shriek, is a Leadership test.

Normally I'd agree with you, but consider this: So far as I know, there are only 3 types of leadership tests in the game: morale, pinning and fear tests. So, given that mindshock pod affects all leadership based tests in the game, it would be equivalent to it affecting all leadership tests.

But  this is an implicit equivalency, so you should run this past your opponent instead of assume to make sure everyone is on the same page. But it's entirely reasonable and so far all my opponents have agreed with me.
That is actually incorrect.  Morale, pinning, and fear are all specific leadership tests.  An ability has to specifically say that it affects leadership tests for it to apply to everything.  In most cases, if the ability will affect all leadership tests, it will just have a direct reduction against their leadership value.

Morale, Pinning, and Fear tests are all leadership tests, but not all leadership tests are Morale, Pinning, or Fear.
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Offline Lord of Winter and War

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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2016, 06:02:51 PM »
Also, it wont effect Psychic Shriek anyway, as Mindshock pods only effect Morale, Pinning and Fear tests. Shriek, is a Leadership test.

Normally I'd agree with you, but consider this: So far as I know, there are only 3 types of leadership tests in the game: morale, pinning and fear tests. So, given that mindshock pod affects all leadership based tests in the game, it would be equivalent to it affecting all leadership tests.

But  this is an implicit equivalency, so you should run this past your opponent instead of assume to make sure everyone is on the same page. But it's entirely reasonable and so far all my opponents have agreed with me.


Mindshock pods do not effect all leadership based tests. They only effect Morale, Pinning and Fear tests. They do not mention Leadership tests, nor regroup tests. 3/5 doesn't mean all of them.

By the same Logic, fearless models are immune to any leadership based attacks (like psychic Shriek), as they automatically pass all Morale, Pinning, regroup and Fear tests.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2016, 06:06:09 PM by Killersquid »
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Re: Psychic Shriek and making the Eldar Psychic phase more threatening
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2016, 07:26:42 AM »
Yeah sorry Sunstrider gotta side with GML, and Killersquid on this. It only affects morale, pinning and fear. Still very useful though if you get enough LD shenanigans going. In combination with Harlies I could imagine the effects of Fear wreacking havoc against units like Necrons, Orks, Chaos, Imperial Guard etc. Still worth employing IMO especially considering the Heavy D-Scythes.
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