u/R-Didsy

To get something that combines the current scale of 40k, with the old style mixed-armour pieces of Tactical Squads during M41, you really have to go out of your way.

Heresy Mark VI is a good start. Then it's a case of combining armour elements from the current Tactical Squad, Infractors/Tormentors, Space Marine Heroes, Red Corsairs.

The hobbying required to pull this off is admittedly, really enjoyable. But sourcing the parts costs an arm and a leg.

It's far easier to collect an army set in either M31 or M42.

Hi all.

I just thought I'd make a post with some reviews for our legends units. I'm not a majorly competative player, and these aren't majorly competative units, but I've noticed that they're rarely discussed, and I figured it might be interesting to somebody.

My group tend to play semi-competatively. We're each looking to win, but no one is trying to grind anyone to mince-meat.

I understand that legends are inherently not very viable, but I try to make them work where I can.

I think the Eldar are in a pretty unique position when it comes to legends. We had a massive Forgeworld Range, at a general guess, I'd say our unique units were perhaps the third or fourth-most prolific behind Guard, Marines and Chaos Marines. And the models we did have all looked amazing.

Shadow Spectres:

For me, they exist in the shadow of being up to -3 to be hit, in 8th edition. It's fair to say they were pretty broken back then. They still fill the battlefield role of infantry generalists, being able to cause significant damage to MEQ and GEQ, with their two firing modes.
Their guns have a much better range then they did in 8th. Combined with Stealth and their move-shoot-move ability, they can be made to survive a little longer with correct positioning.

They also have Deep Strike, so you drop in, take some shots, and move them out of the way again, with Shade of Twilight.

I must say, I haven't had a great deal of luck with them in Deep Strike, especially when they're in competition with Hawks, Spiders and Dragons. Deep Strike seems to be of much better use for our other shooty-aspects, who already know what their job is. Using Spectres as mid-range aggressors seems to work out well for them, especially with their 12" movement and variable threat selection.

Being Legends, they also come with their "quirks". First and foremost, they do not have the "Aspect Warriors" keyword - denying them many useful stratagems. They are also missing any of the new Aspect Token rules.

The Exarch is also lacking in flavour. You're paying 7 points more for an extra model with 2 wounds, which isn't terrible, but it adds nothing unique to the squad. No special weapons or rules. In previous editions, the Exarch could take a Haywire Cannon or the awkwardly-ranged-yet-harmful Prism Blaster.

At 115points for 5, they sit in-between Warp Spiders and Fire Dragons. With a closer battlefield comparison to Warp Spiders. Due to their interesting movement behaviours, they do definitely maintain a gameplay distinction from Spiders, but really are hampered by the lack of the Aspect Warrior key word.

For me, Spectres look amazing and their lore is great. I sincerely hope they get remade in plastic (their rune does appear on the Avatar), but until then, I'd like to see them updated with the Aspect Warrior keyword.

Irillyth:

Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Spectres. He generally follows a similar pattern as the Spectres: There are the bones of something interesting here, but he's a little neglected.

He's 105pts, the second-cheapest Phoenix Lord. And his biggest crime is being bland.

Despite what Wahapedia will tell you, he can be attached to a squad of Spectres, providing them with +1 to hit. While this is definitely appreciated, I feel like a Phoenix Lord should have a little bit more pizazz. His Shadow of Death aura forces a -1 to enemies during Leadership and Battleshock tests, but I've rarely found this to be useful. Shadow Spectres should really avoid being within 6" of anything, if possible.

Irrilyth's Spear of Starlight is actually quite remarkable. 24", Atk3, BS3(+1), Str8, AP-2, Dmg4. It really fills an anti-elite niche that rightly sits somewhere between Fuegan and Asurmen's weapons.

Like his Spectre acolytes, he is also missing the Aspect Warrior and Phoenix Lord keywords, which continues to be a huge shame. Along with the Spectres, again, he also runs on a 25mm base, which allows for some minor shenanigans. As a unit, they're a little harder to screen out than other similar sized squads, when deepstriking. But you can really do some weird stuff where you have Irillyth, on his own, dropping virtually un-impeded in the enemy's deployment zone. Again, this was much more appealing in 8th, when he could be -3 to hit, but it is worth mentioning.

My advice, is not to deepstrike him. Stick him with some Spectres and have them glide into position against some marines or terminators. As I mentioned earlier, there is something good to be found here, he just needs some tuning.

Wraithseer:

Straight out of the gate, the Wraithseer is absolutely one of my favourite units. Though it's important to stress, the Wraithseer does not have a high damage output. It shines in it's ability to soak up damage.

A Wraithlord comes in 30 points cheaper and is a more effective gun platform, but also has lower defensive capacity. The Wraithseer's defensive stats are: T11, W10, 2+/5++ That's +1T on top of the 'lord, with an invulnerable save. In this regard, the Seer is the nearest next step down from the Wraithknight with shield, in terms of survivability.

More often than not, the Wraithseer lasts until the end of a game. It's an excellent distraction, and no pushover in combat. However, it's biggest weakness is the Wraithseer D-Cannon. It's got one shot and only hits 50% of the time. You'll see the Str14, -4ap an expect it to really pack a punch. And even if you jump through the hoops of hitting and wounding, it's Damage D6 can easily be a 1 or 2.

I do understand it's weapon being the way that it is. The D-Cannon used to have Precision, and that really made the random damage a lot more palpable, but it also made the Seer too much of a menace. He's also got Destructor, now, which nets him some wounds.

Having said all this, the Wraithseer doesn't have to be a damage monster. It's presence and endurance seriously sets it apart from the rest of my army.

One thing I wish I could comment on would be it's usage in a Spirit Conclave. I don't have enough wraiths to run one of these, so I'd love to hear from anyone who uses it in this detachment.

Finally, it has surprisingly little in the way of Legends quirks. It's points are reasonable and it has all the keywords. For me, this could receive a straight port in to the main dex.

Bonesinger:

The Bonesinger is another unit I rather like. It's a 45-point techmarine who can lead Wraith Blades/Guard/Lords, providing a 6+FNP to models in the unit it is leading.

It can repair vehicles and Wraith constructs. It's ability to look after vehicles is a niche that we definitely don't have.

I think it's real problem is that it clashes with the Spiritseer in weird ways. The Bonesinger can be attached to Wraith units while the Spiritseer cannot. But the Spiritseer also doesn't need to be attached to a unit in order for it to be effective. This means that the Spiritseer and Bonesinger can be near each other, both of them buffing the same unit.

This means that both characters can choose to heal them same wraith unit for d3 wounds each. On the one hand, this should be great because it means that whatever unit they're both alongside will not be going down. On the other hand, it doesn't feel very satisfying when you do this. They become one of the big reasons for rejecting Legends in casual games.

In isolation, the Bonsinger is great to use. It's worth it's points and you will feel rewarded for holding on to such a rare artefact of a model. I really encourage you to give it a go, but careful using it alongside a Spiritseer.

Scorpion Tank:

I was lucky enough to have picked up an old Forgeworld Scorpion Mk 1. There's no way I'm going to part with it, but man, it sees very little use.

Really, it's just one massive knight-killing cannon for 410pts. In theory, this thing ought to delete anything it looks at, but it hardly ever does. It's costed at a fifth of a 2k-point army, it's gigantic and threatening. It consistently draws every piece of fire from every enemy unit and has rarely survived to turn 3.

Admittedly, I'm probably not it's best commander, and perhaps 2k-point games are a little too small for him.

If you have one, they're great to use in a narrative setting. An apocalyptic gun platform that will likely get destroyed or charged is a very fun centrepiece for a battle like this.

I guess my advice, here, is not to get one if you're expecting it to perform like a mini-titan. Leave that to the Wraithknight.
But, if you already have one to go, they can entertaining if you're focus isn't on winning. Maybe stick a Bonesinger next to it for some heals.

If you've have had some good use with a Scorpion, I'd love to hear it!

Corsair Cloud Dancer Band:

With the new Corsair detachments, these guys are my latest fascination. Straight out of the gate, you might say that they're massively over-costed. They're 210 for six (though they can take up to seven), which is a bit pricey compared to 6 Windriders for 160.
Both units can be kitted out entirely with Shuriken Cannons, so what's the difference?

The Cloud Dancers can also all individually take either Dark Lances, Splinter Cannons or Dissonance Cannons (plus a couple more). I'm eager to try them with lances, but it's the Dissonance Cannons that I've really been enjoying.

Dissonance Cannons have a near-identical statline to the Shuriken Cannons. 24", Atk3, BS3+, Str6, AP-1, Dmg2. But they swap the Shuriken Cannon's Sustained Hits 1 for Devastating wounds.

On a squad of 6, that's 18 dmg2 shots with devastating wounds, very nasty.

These guys really start to shine in the Eldritch Raiders detachment. For an extra 15 points, they get access to Exotic Munitions. This upgrade gives them Critical Hits on 5+ against Vehicles or Monsters. With the right target, those 18 Devastating wounds are now criting on 5+.

But we're not done with the fun quite yet. In the same detachment, they get access tothe 1CP Withdraw and Reinforce stratagem, which allows them to uppy-downy and return with their squad at reinforced at full strength.

Honestly, this is one of those rule combinations which feel like Legends cheese, but given their points tax, I don't feel like it's quite as ergregious as the Bonesinger/Spiritseer combo. I've made sure not to reveal this as a "gotcha", and let my opponents know that I intend to do this before the game has started. On one occasion they did get destroyed before I could pull it off. On another occasion I had to be very careful, making them fall back from being charged and having them escape the follwing turn. Though perhaps a better player could use them more effectively than me.

A final thing to not about the Cloud Dancers is that they can be joined by the Legends Autarch Skyrunner. I haven't tried this yet, as I think there's perhaps negative synergy, here. Both units have different strengths, and the Autarch probably just needs bodies to protect him, so cheaper Windriders will do. I suppose the Cloud Dancer's Reckless Abandon, to use Heroic Intervention for 0CP might be useful with an Autarch Skyrunner.

As for their promotion to the codex, I think it could happen. I know the latest Corsairs release hasn't been exceptionally popular, but if the Corsairs don't go the way of the Harlequins, then the Cloud Dancers return is probably the next logical choice. However, looking at the old Forgeworld Reavers and Skyreavers, the Cloud Dancers will probably be heavily re-imagined, and I doubt the Dissonance Cannon would survive. Dissonance weapons were a huge part of the flavour for Forgeworld Corsairs, and that seems to have been entirely abandoned.

Anyway, that's all from me, on this. I haven't got any more Legends to try out, but if anyone was keen on this, I'll see if I can grab some more to use - or at least re-visit them for 11th edition. I'd love to hear about anyone else who uses Legends units, what your experience has been and if you have any priase or grumbles either way.

Struggling to find any information on if Reform have lost any of their previous council seats. I'm interested to see how constituents voted in Reform-lead councils.