That's massive!
More than 2 games every week
Most other lists struggle to get 18 games a year...

So how do things look on the approvement front. Whats missing or are we there yet?
I believe I have only contributed with 3 reports so they do not count (yet)
So if I were to make my forth report what opponent and what build needs testing? (If it doesn't matter I will probably continue with my current build or try a Titan)

Alright, it's good to have some healthy discussion on the list.
I recognise people's concerns about the Wraithseers +1 initiative and the cost of apsects.
I also recognise that people largely seem to think the list is fairly balanced and "close" to a point where approval should be considered.
I have been speaking with Greg and once we get the last couple of games in I'll start the report process for the board. I will highlight the concerns that have been raised, and leave it to the board.

Look I have to say that I am stoked with the amount of Batreps that have been done since February and the amount of discussion that has been generated so far. I am happy with the win loss ratio.

Guys so we are going to push the list up to board but I would welcome people's thoughts good bad and the ugly...

Thanks gents

Mic

I didn't like the old (1+ initiative on all Wraithguard) version, but I do think that it's worth keeping that 1+ for the Wraithseer. It's a maximum of one per army, and comes at a significant cost: generally around 450-500 points + transport for the formation.

Applying that "auto-retain" is more difficult in practice than it might seem on paper: to really benefit, the formation often relies on a lower Initiative transport formation to activate first, or for enemy units to obligingly rush towards multiple slow Wraith formations and stay within range for multiple assaults. Also, keeping the Wraithseer off the table to come on in a double/triple retained action means you leave the rest of the army (at 2+ Initiative) without access to the Supreme Commander's re-roll - and you're paying +100 points to get that re-roll.

Won a small tournament with the Yellow Elves a couple of days ago.
Played three games that were all very close.

Here is my list, the plan was very simple and very aggressive. March across the battlefield with the Stormserpent. Retain and engage something big with the large Wraithguard formation. (Preferable something that was not in the middle but to one side) Use the move after winning to get into supportrange of something else. Tripple retain and send in one of the Vampires to engage something more. Survive the inbound counterattack and then send in another Vampire to the mix with lots of support if they survived. I placed the two objectives close to the blitz (or at least one within 30 cm) to be able to get two objectives and the blitz after the dust has seattled.
Two of my opponents had never played against the Iyaden so they were a little bit surprised by my tactics so I guess it will be a lot harder next time we meet

Iyanden Craftworld (4.2)
==================================================

SPIRIT WRAITHGUARD WARHOST [275]
4x Wraithguard units, Spiritseer

SPIRIT WRAITHGUARD WARHOST [275]
4x Wraithguard units, Spiritseer

SPIRIT WRAITHGUARD WARHOST [475]
4x Wraithguard units, 2 Wraithguard, Wraithseer

WRAITHGATE [50]

AVATAR [0]

VAMPIRE RAIDER [200]

VAMPIRE RAIDER [200]

SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [250]
3 Falcons, 2 Fire Storm

SWORDS OF VAUL TROUPE [250]
3 Falcons, 2 Fire Storm

ENGINE OF VAUL TROUPE [250]
Storm Serpent

RANGER TROUPE [100]
4 Ranger

WINDRIDER TROUPE [200]
5 Jetbike, Vyper

PHOENIX BOMBERS [325]
3x Phoenix Bombers

GUARDIAN TROUPE [150]
Farseer, 7 Guardian

First game, against Marines. Initial assault went good and a couple of formations was almost whiped from the board. The Marines left my Wraithguards and focused on the other units. It was a close call and the game was settled in the last activations when his Thunderhawk landed near the blitz to contest it but my Wraithguards was on overwatch and managed to shoot it down. Had he managed to land and if he had some better luck in a couple of fights he would have won 2-0 but as it turned out it went the other way around.

His list:
Codex Astartes (NetEA Tournament Pack 2014)
==================================================

TACTICAL [375]
6 Tacticals, Supreme Commander, Rhinos

TACTICAL [275]
6 Tacticals, Rhinos

DEVASTATOR [250]
4 Devastators, Rhinos

PREDATOR [325]
4 Annihilator, Hunter

LAND SPEEDER [200]
5 Landspeeder

LAND SPEEDER [200]
5 Landspeeder

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

SCOUT [150]
4 Scouts

THUNDERHAWK [200]

BIKE [250]
4 Bike Unit, Attack Bike, Chaplain

WARHOUND [275]
1 Warhound Class Titan

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175]
2 Thunderbolt Fighters

THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON [175]
2 Thunderbolt Fighters

Next game was against Dark eldar. I have never played against them but guessed this would be settled in turn two by some massive engagements. My initial assault failed a little bit by not being able to get the Vampire to respond (snake eyes). The opponent is one of the better players oround here but I manage to hold off. Mostly thanks to winning the initiative in all three rounds and to the fact that one of the smaller Wraithguard formations just didn’t die. His big unit kept assaulting them and shooting at them but they just saved every hit.

His list:
Dark Eldar (EpicUK V.10042013)
==================================================

KABAL COTERIE [350]
4 Incubi, 1 Archon character, Barge

KABAL SYNDICATE [200]
6 Warriors, 3 Raider

KABAL SYNDICATE [200]
6 Warriors, 3 Raider

KABAL SYNDICATE [200]
6 Warriors, 3 Raider

KABAL FLOTILLA [275]
Ravager

HEAVY BARGE [250]
1 Vessel of Pain

HEAVY BARGE [250]
1 Vessel of Pain

SCOURGES [250]
6 Scourges

HAEMONCULI COVEN [275]
2 Haemonculi, 4 Wracks, Ancient

TALOS [225]
4 Talos

PORTABLE WEBWAY PORTAL [50]

WEBWAY PORTAL [50]

SLAVEBRINGER [200]

VOIDRAVEN BOMBERS [225]
2 Voidravens

Last game was against Chaos. Due to heavy overwatch and a large amount of AA I abandoned the initial assault thing. I did lash out a little bit here and there and after a while my opponent moved away from his “cage” so I could take out the ones on the flanks. The game was close but in the end my opponent could only hope for a draw but due to some luck and a bad move in the last activation by the chaos player this was a 2-0 win.

His list:
Emperors Children (Epic UK v070414)
==================================================

EMPERORS CHILDREN RETINUE [625]
6 Noise Marines, Chaos Warlord (Supreme Commander), Chaos Champion, 3 Chaos Land Raiders, Daemonic Pact (includes 1 lesser daemon)

EMPERORS CHILDREN RETINUE [305]
Chaos Lord, 6 Noise Marines, 6 Dreadclaw Drop Pod

DAEMONIC KNIGHTS [300]
4 Daemon Knights

DAEMONIC KNIGHTS [300]
4 Daemon Knights

SUBJUGATOR TITAN [225]

SUBJUGATOR TITAN [225]

SUBJUGATOR TITAN [225]

DEFILER PACK [275]
4 Defilers

DEFILER PACK [275]
4 Defilers

DEVASTATION CLASS CRUISER [150]

DAEMON POOL [95]
Greater Daemon, 3 Lesser Daemon

Conclusions:
Against opponents not familiar with Wraithguards and moving gates the first turn can be real hard.
The biggest advantage is the ability to move full speed after winning an engagement and the fact that they have Farsight so the retaining is not that hard. Perhaps this is a little bit too good…
The ability to retain on a 1 was also questioned but on one formation they thought it was ok. The fact that the two Vampires can land and contest objectives on the last turn was the main cheese. It was almost not fun, but hey it was a tournament

Overall the list feels good and balanced (perhaps you could cut farsight or hit and run on the wraithguard units) I think the surprise of how hard the units is and some luck mixed with skill got me to the top.
I was the only player that won all my games but we were only 6 players so…

/Uven

G'day Uven

Well done on the tournament win!
Thanks for the feed back from your games. A lot hinged on getting that single storm serpent forward and not destroyed.
I will now finish writing the report and push it forward to the board.

You and Mordoten have certainly contributed heaps to the development of the list. I hear you on the removal of farsight off the spiritseer and Wraithseer, which if we go down that road will address the concerns of the auto retain from the wraithseers formation. It will also mean that players will have to take a formation of guardians or Warlock Titan to be able to triple retain... Which is not necessarily a bad thing. This way the wraithseers formation can keep the 1+ intiative which will benefit it in other ways.

Uven, you mentioned that the ability to drop the vampires onto objectives late game felt "cheesy". Did you feel this option effects the enjoyment of either player?

In saying all this. Do you feel the list is ready to be pushed up for approval?

Cheers

Mic

Edit: we also explored addressing the hit and run rule for wraith formations with the Animated Construct special rule which after heaps of testing was abandoned.

The only real issue with this list is the possibility to auto-retain. No unit in this game should have that. It's just too strong...

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"You have a right to be offended" - Steve Hughes
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Mordoten I have made sure I really explored the concern of the auto retain in the report. I have also made reference to TT concern about aspect/wraith spam. I made an effort to depict a honest representation of what has been highlighted by player discussion and Batreps.

In saying that the report for approval has been submitted and I am looking forward to hearing what the board think of the list as it stands at the moment. I know some will be happy about this while others feel a bit more testing and tweaking is required.

I will keep everyone posted with news and feedback.

Thanks all for the continued effort

Mic...

Well the landing (emty) aircraft/WE that contests the home Blitz in the last turn is nothing special that has to do with the Iyanden. Just took it up because two of my opponents hadn't played against that kind of tactic before and with me having two Vampires in the list they thought it was really hard to grab objectives.

I think this list is ready as it is, as you and several others have mentioned this list has it's weaknesses so it's just a matter of time before the opponents will learn them. This list have a hard time against spaceships that pin point the Stormserpent or against screens. And as every airassault list it doesn't like hydras and fighters

Nice to see the list is submitted!

Had another fight against Mordoten today that I will post in a couple of days, it didn't go well