Rumoured Rules for the New 40K Eldar Wraithknight

Warhammer 40K Eldar Wraithknight

Eldar Wraithknights from the Iyanden Craftworld

Tomorrow should see the official release of the new White Dwarf and, with it, the pre-orders for the new Eldar miniatures. Apparently, the lucky Warhammer 40K fans of France also received Games Workshop’s official email announcing the new release a few days early.

It appears that a few people in the world have already gotten their White Dwarf. People are now brooding over it to divine the new rules we will see for the Eldar in Warhammer 40K 6th Edition.

There’re more rumours and rules and stats out there than I could count. Rather than reprinting all of them, I thought I’d share the select few that have cropped up concerning the Eldar Wraithknight.

With the Eldar Wraithknight being a massive 9″ tall and – already – widely see to be the first Apocalypse-Style unit to be introduced into “regular” Warhammer 40K (the start of a future trend?), it will clearly be interesting to see how GW’s game designers have chosen to implement such a potentially disruptive and almost certainly game-defining unit on the table.


#1 – Wraithknight Rumours from Dakkadakka

This one from Ravajaxe on Dakka (via somewhere on 4Chan, which I couldn’t find).

Wraithknight (heavy support 240 points)
-Strong Profile (s10 T8 W6 AS 3+, Jumppack
- 2 heavy phantom lasers (23″ S10 AP 2 instant death on wound rolls of 6)
- alternative equipment possible – for example close combat weapons with a 5+ invul and blind special rule or a S6 5″ Blast with ap 2. with 5+ invul and blind special rule.


#2 – Rumours from Heresy Online / Age of Strife

These ones allegedly from Heresy Online (couldn’t find it there) via Age of Strife

The Wraithknight starts at about 250 points and caps around 350, and towers over even the Tau Riptide. It’s 9” tall. The Wraithknight has the ability for its weapons to become twin-linked if it hits with a scatter laser it comes equipped with, even against airborne targets. It can shoot S9 and 10 small blasts, and has a total of four weapons on it– you have a choice of several, including a huge wraithblade and a lance weapon.


#3 – Wraithknight Rumours from BellofLostSouls

From the BoLS Lounge

Wraithlord w/Brightlance Ghostglaive
Wraithknight w/suncannon, shattershield, 2x scatter lasers


#4 – “Older” Suncannon Rumours via Dakkadakka

Earlier this week, Powerguy posted the following bits on Dakkadakka

The Wraithknight is insanely huge, it is literally twice the height of a Wraithlord, and the sword option it can take is basically the size of a Wraithlord as well. It can take up to 2 Suncannons, which are S6 AP2 Heavy 3 Small Blast or up to 2 Wraithlances(?) which are presumably the heavy anti tank option. Sword replaces one of the big guns I think (they are arm mounted like the Titans). This is in addition to the two shoulder mounted heavy weapons (I saw Scatters and Starcannons, so presumably the normal range of heavy weapons are available)


#5 – Thoughts

Overall, this will be a Land Raider-priced (minimum) Monstrous Creature, with a few stats scraping at the ceiling of “10″.

From these rumours, I would guess the Wraithknight will need to have the shield he can be seen wearing on some pics to get an invulnerability save, which may be a “weak”-point.

However, if the Wraithknight does have an inv. save and Eldar continue to excel at re-rolling these saves in 6th Edition, bringing one of these things down (T8 and W6 MC, after all) will be a lot harder than dispatching a Land Raider.

The weapon options are nasty, but even the rumoured Phantom Lasers seem to have the punch of Tau Hammerhead Railgun, though the Wraithknight can take 2 and may have more shots.

Of course, all these bits and pieces are built on salt. And exact point values are missing

Still, from what you see, would you consider fielding a Wraithknight in your Eldar Army?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Z.

Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
Zweischneid

@pinsofwar

Knights of the Imperium by Graham McNeill - Book Review http://t.co/M2aEhfxooa #40k #wh40k #wargaming #book - 17 hours ago
Follow @pinsofwar
Zweischneid

+Zweischneid

  • disqus_I1VIVQiPZK

    I find it a little hard to believe that it would have 2 s10 AP 2 guns. Also 23″ range is a really weird number since all other ranges are divisible by 6, and lastly it also being jetpack sounds iffy to me cause eldar have no jetpacks and it is huge, though that might just be me hopping cause even if all I mentioned above isn’t true it is WAY better than the riptide

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      Yeah. A lot of the specifics in all those rumours seem iffy. That range not the least. Even if it’s a typo and should be 24″, 24″ inches seems incredibly short for a 9″ miniature sporting some 6″+ guns.

      Still, they seem to point into a general common direction of an incredibly tough MC.

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/9360674@N04/sets/72157600510023664/ BrassScorpion

      The Revenant Titan from Forgeworld can not only walk, it can “skim” long distances using the jump jets in its feet. This makes a possible Wraithknight “jetpack” rule seem plausible even if it turns out not to be true.

      • disqus_I1VIVQiPZK

        I figured a jump pack would make sense, but jet packs are a tau thing so far

    • Isha’sTears

      “Eldar have no jetpacks”??? Half of the army has some sort of skimming/jumping/flying ability…

      • disqus_I1VIVQiPZK

        But they aren’t jetpacks, they don’t have jump shoot jump, but the rumors say its a jump pack any way

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/9360674@N04/sets/72157600510023664/ BrassScorpion

    If the Wraithknight is “only” about 240 pts which is roughly the same as a Land Raider then it doesn’t seem so much more “Apocalypse” than other Codex models. In other words, though it is a minor Titan it sounds like its destructiveness in games and associated points value are not really expanding regular 40K much if at all toward it becoming more like Apocalypse with huge models that have rules requiring they cost 400 points or more.

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      The price issue is an odd one.

      I remember everyone fawning over the DreamForge Leviathan Titan, saying how GW would never, ever release a 9″ injection-moulded kit for as little as GBP 85,- or whatever it costs.

      Than GW undercuts them by GBP 15,- (with more weapon-options in the default-box) and everyone thinks its hugely expensive.

      Not bashing DreamForge. I love their stuff. But GW seems cheaper than any other company making similar kits could ever hope to be. Stuff like the Privateer Press Colossals are all 25 to 30 GBP more expensive than the Wraithknight.

      • http://www.flickr.com/photos/9360674@N04/sets/72157600510023664/ BrassScorpion

        Frankly, I think the price on the Wraithknight is less disturbing (nasty though it is relative to all previous Codex model releases) than the roughly 88% price increase on the Dire Avengers. Since its first release the set has gone from $30 to $37.25, not too terrible, but effectively jumping to $70 US for the same ten models all in one go will seem like highway robbery to anyone who knows they were $37.25 just days before.

        GW has in recent years made 40K and Warhammer Fantasy much more oriented toward collecting and fielding huge armies than ever before, yet their approach from just a few years earlier when they made the core troops affordable to collect in large number then understandably gouged a bit on the more special and elite choices is gone. Price increases in the past couple years on basic troop choices for both games have been significant, making it more difficult than ever for newer customers to field large collections. For example, Imperial Guard Platoons as troop choices are virtually a thing of the past since the troopers went from $35 US for 20 models to $29 for 10 models. When one factors in that army books have jumped to near $50 US and other increases I fear for the growth of the hobby and GW’s customer base. Last year the Land Raider jumped $8.25 US for the second consecutive year while other popular Space Marine vehicles also went up about $8 US in price. Earlier annual increases were usually only a dollar or so.

        As a customer of more than two decades I like to see new customers in GW’s stores, it keeps the stores open and the design studio busy cranking out cool new stuff. I hope GW doesn’t implode from it’s own draconian price increase philosophy of the past couple years.

        • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

          I am not arguing any of that. And there’re more shenanigans. Like the LE Eldar Codex which doesn’t even seem to have a different cover anymore, only an added card-board slipcase for some $30 or $40 extra. Black Library LE are ridiculous these days. Etc.. . All true.

          It just seems that – at least temporarily – GW is trying to undercut the competition on the big kits like the Wraithknight.

          PP Khador Conquest is 9.5″ tall, no alternative weapon options, $ 135,-

          DreamForge Leviathan is 8.5″ tall, no weapon options (with more available for purchase at $25,- ) and costs $ 140,-

          Forge World, well, is Forge World

          Wraithknight is allegedly 9″ tall, at least three different weapon options and rumoured to be $115,-.

          • http://www.flickr.com/photos/9360674@N04/sets/72157600510023664/ BrassScorpion

            GW has one thing that keeps me loyal through both their periods of good behavior and bad toward their customers, I still think they have the best looking fantasy miniatures out there. I’ve never cared for the look of most of the Warmachine stuff even when a lot of gamers were touting it as being cheaper to game with a few years ago. GW has Jes Goodwin, the man is an artistic genius. Nothing Warmachine makes even comes close. The hobby part is the much more important to me than the gaming part and GW’s models inspire me to build, convert and paint in a way that others cannot.

            Nice chatting with you.