Everyone waits for the new part of the Gathering Storm from Games Workshop. Now that we have quite a lot of info, leaked into the web, we can analyse the playability of the units from this book.
It’s totally about Eldar and it unites all playable factions into one detachment – like in the Fall of Cadia, but without doubling the number of unit type options. Also, you can’t take units from Covens, since Dark Artisans didn’t admit Ynnead and didn’t join the Ynnary army.
Wait! Ynne...who? Yeas, we have a brand new Eldar god here – the one, who is supposed to kill Slaanesh and revenge. The one, who was supposed to awake in the Death Masque campaign, but everything went wrong. So, now we see the army of his followers lead by his avatar and emissary.
Before we discuss their rules, it’ necessary to look at the army special rule – Strength from Death. This rule allows you to immediately move\run\charge\shoot with one of your units in 7 inches of the destroyed one. It’s really great – you can spoil your enemy’s strategy by killing his units, or locking them in combat in his own turn! However, 7 inches is not that far and you have to keep your units close to each other, which is bad for Eldar’s mobility.
The first of new characters is the avatar of Ynnead. Really weird creature, who looks like something in the middle between Slaanesh daemons and Eldar. There’s o surprise, since Ynnead also gains power from the Eldar souls. It’s quite tough monstrous creature, who can heal on 3+ if there’s a friendly model slain near him. He has only 3+ armour and 5++ daemon invuln. Also, Yncarne is a dangerous close combat fighter with 6 attacks Str6 on the 10th initiative step. However he’s quite vulnerable himself. Toughness 6 and 3+ armor can barely impress in modern Warhammer realities. (Ask Tyranids if you doubt) Also, he moves only 6 inches and has to start in Deep Strike. He can enter the game only after friendly unit was slain – so you can only charge on the 3rd turn is you go first. 275 pts also don’t male him more playable. Khaine avatar is not a frequent guest on the tables – and he has close stats. Well… this guy is also a psyker, who can generate spells from Sanctic and the new(!) Eldar discipline. He also gives Fell no Pain and Fearless to all the allies in 12 inches. And has a great model.
Yvraine. Farseer with some bonuses for 200 pts. And I could finish here. Yes, she generates D3 additional warp-charges for her pussy (while 2 farseers generate stable 6 for the same points). Yes, she can add one ML and spell (up to 2) each time, a psyker dies near her. Yes, she has a nice sword with Instant Death and descent 4 attacks (AP 3, though)… Well, the character is still playable, but too expensive. There are too BUTS. However, if you remember Dark Eldar characters, Yvraine is pure usefulness.
Visarch the most useless guy in this trinity. It would be enough to say that he costs 150 pts, has 3+ armor, T3 and no invuln. AP2 sword, but all stats lower that the other’s. He can automatically take the attacks, allocated to Yvraine, but with no invuln he’s definitely not a good tank. Generates Warlord trait even if he’s not a warlord and heals on 4+ if there’s an ally, slain nearby. Sure, Eternal warrior adds him some chances, but he won’t survive serious shooting attack. And in close combat, he will be easily killed by the ordinary Dark Eldar Archont.
In general, new characters don’t seem really useful. They are vulnerable even for the Eldar, their abilities don’t give much and they are really hard to use. They might be nice in friendly play, especially for the Dark Eldar players.
However, there’s a new powerful magic which makes Ynnary more playable. There are 3 spells which you will use anyway:
Storm of whispers – 9 inch nova with PA2, ignores cover and 2D6 shots. Only Str3 but considering the piercing ability, there will be really a lot of casualties. And only 1 WC cost.
Word of the Phoenix - allows you immediately activate a squad according to with the Strength from Death special rule. The most useful psychic power ever.
Unbind souls – the ideal instrument to smash crowds of weak models. It hits the number of times equal to the number of models in the unit. Str 4 and no AP tell you that it’s better to be used against the imperial guard or cultists.
Gaze of Ynnead – could be the 4th in this list at the first glance – Str 10 and no saves of ANY kind allowed sounds really scary. But only one shot and 12 inches range make it not as useful as it could be.
The other spells you are not likely to use – nothing interesting and helpful.
The Ynnary army is definitely an interesting thing to play – Strength from Death is really useful and will bring many problems to your enemy. The army with this bonus is definitely more effective that the usual Eldar alliance. In general, the rules are quite balanced and require a thoughtful approach. However, you expect something…bigger from the Eldar army. Maybe, the formations, we’ll look into later, will add depth to this army, but now it doesn’t look more powerful than standard Eldar archetypes. But Warhammer is not only for sportsmen, isn’t it?
