Hexwraith and Banshee ethereal problems

[Oppenheimer]

So, I love the idea of ethereal units and using them against Bretts works wonders because they don't have much they can do about it besides Grail knights and I know they'd love to use those elsewhere.

But, now I'm playing against the new HE army and I'm afraid to even field Banshees or Hexwraiths because of the sisters of avelorn. They have ranged magical shooting. Since neither the Hexwraiths or Banshees have any actual toughness or armour they get picked off before I get a chance to use them at all.

Any suggestions on how to keep ethereal units safe from magic shooting attacks?

 

[Hanblack Nagash]

In units unless they have sniper rule?

Apart from ethereals that are units themselves ofcourse

 

[Oppenheimer]

Okay so that kind of works for the banshee, what about the poor Hexwraith? :-(

 

[Minty]

I'm strongly tempted to say 'Man up and take your medicine'.

Which is to say, tailoring a list against specific armies is not very sporting. Play an all-comers list and accept that some elements of that all-comers lists will be particularly good or bad against some armies.

Other than that, Melekoth's Mystifying Miasma will have those Elves hitting your Hexies on fives or sixes sixes and unless he's running a full-on gunline you'll be able to resurect them fast enough to keep pace.

I'd be more worried by the magic missile spells.

 

[Bullhax]

Against a unit with S4 magical flaming attacks not much is to be done for the hexies.. Target saturation is your best bet.. Loads of juicy targets. But giving up 160 points just like that is sad to say the least.. I would leave the hexwraiths at home if you make a dedicated anti HE list. In all comers be prepared to lose them..

Place your hexwraits last and more than 24" away and hope for viable targets for them outside of sister shooting range, the sisters do not have a musician so are less mobile in this regard..

 

[The Sun King]

Kill them before they kill you. Keep out of range with the ethereal stuff if you can and cast Fireballs and Gaze of Nagash on those Averlorn Archers.

 

[Abhorash.]

Sun King said it. Keep your Hex's far enough away and dwindle his Sisters with Gaze of Nagash (or any other magic missile). Or try Varghulf/Gheist hunting. Once he has been hit with either of those his damage output goes down quite a bit.

Their bows are much stronger than their bodies.....

 

[The Sun King]

Their bows are much stronger than their bodies.....

Haha I like that saying

 

[Aedin]

I have been toying with the idea of running a ethereal list with 2 mortis engines so that the ethereal would have a 5+ Regen save. :devil2:

 

[Hanblack Nagash]

I have been toying with the idea of running a ethereal list with 2 mortis engines so that the ethereal would have a 5+ Regen save. :devil2:

Ive done it with 3 mortis.
It becomes a final fantasy style fight.
Must shoot down the big glowing green things so the bad nasty things get weaker lol.

You will get some dissaproving looks believe me.
But overall its fun.

 

[RobTheWise]

The sisters only have 24" range and there will probably only be one unit of them. You will also probably have a deployment advantage over High Elves, and even then, you can vanguard move them to a more advantageous position behind a hill or some trees.

So keep em out of range / in cover (block line of sight with your own units too) and do as Sun King said, hit em with magic missiles.

 

[RobTheWise]

I have been toying with the idea of running a ethereal list with 2 mortis engines so that the ethereal would have a 5+ Regen save. :devil2:

The sisters have flaming magical bows :tongue:

 

[Ilnar]

Take a unit of hounds, hard cover = not scary shooting,
Of course, normally the hexes go in front,

 

[Aedin]

I have been toying with the idea of running a ethereal list with 2 mortis engines so that the ethereal would have a 5+ Regen save. :devil2:

The sisters have flaming magical bows :tongue:

I find shooting to not be very effective. I just run for melee combat and stop worrying about it. lol

 

[Oppenheimer]

I find shooting to not be very effective. I just run for melee combat and stop worrying about it. lol

If there wasn't such a thing as Stand and Shoot that'd probably work more often for me. They're quick to fire when they're in a unit with the Handmaiden.

 

[Aedin]

I find shooting to not be very effective. I just run for melee combat and stop worrying about it. lol

If there wasn't such a thing as Stand and Shoot that'd probably work more often for me. They're quick to fire when they're in a unit with the Handmaiden.

I was actually suggesting charging something else that cant hurt you with the stand and shoot. Sorry i did not specify.

Of course sometimes you just have to declare a multi-unit charge and take your medicine on whom he decides to target.

 

[Bounce]

I would take a unit of Vargheists and turn 2 charge them into the archers and rip them to pieces. Then your Hexwraiths should be okay.

 

[Blutsauger]

I'm strongly tempted to say 'Man up and take your medicine'.

Which is to say, tailoring a list against specific armies is not very sporting. Play an all-comers list and accept that some elements of that all-comers lists will be particularly good or bad against some armies.

It's only unsporting if you don't give your opponent a chance to do the same thing. In my local group it's very common to arrange a game a few days in advance, then both go away and tailor your lists to fight your opponent. This is a great way to balance the army books, and a great way to refresh your own army instead of relying on the one TAC list, you can try different units out!

 

[Ether Dude]

Quick point about using dogs as hard cover: there's bound to be lots of shooting in the HE list, and it's not hard to deal 3-5 wounds on a unit of dogs to remove the cover save.

Also, sisters have BS5, but even so, they are typically looking at -2 for long range and move, since they are only 24".

Depending on the rest of the army, you might want to try target saturation (as suggested) with many terrorgheists and vargheists and keep the HW off in the wings a bit waiting to pounce on the probable silver helm bus. Keep banshees in units and they just don't care about BS based shooting.

 

[Oppenheimer]

I would take a unit of Vargheists and turn 2 charge them into the archers and rip them to pieces. Then your Hexwraiths should be okay.

I tried that once. They shot me on my first turn when I marched in range of a charge. Then I charged them and failed the charge so I got shot. On the third turn I charged them successfully, got shot again and my unit was finished off with Always Strike First before they even got a chance to attack.

 

[The Sun King]

Seems you were unlucky there or moved them badly. The good thing about Vargs is that they have insane movement and can go behind buildings and stuff(peeking out a bit because of true line of sight) and then charge from there. So you'll get something like: Longe range -1, Skirmishers -1, Hard Cover -2... even with bs 5 they need 6's to hit you.