Making Wracks Viable

I recently started a thread about the idea of using Eldar as a basis for a horde army ("Eldar" to me means Craftworld, Dark Eldar and Harlequins). One thing I had on my mind in all of that was the idea of flooding the field with Wracks, but after reading what others had to say, I don't think it's a very good idea.


Nevertheless I find myself desperately trying to make the concept of at least 20 to 30 Wracks a viable thing in an army list (semi-competitive). I think that the idea of having them in Venoms is good, but then I wouldn't be showcasing the awesome models..
..plus I already play Venom spam. I can picture it now:

The Scribe: Hey, you wanna play some 40k?
Friend: Uh.. are you playing your Dark Eldar Venom spam again? No thanks!
The Scribe: Oh, don't worry it's a different kind of Venom Spam!
Friend:

Before I dive into things, I want to point out that my goals are actually quite simple:
- Semi-competitive list (1500 to 2000 points),
- Mostly Dark Eldar, but can include Craftworlders and/or Harlequins in any number,
- 20 to 30 Wracks in any configuration; I just want to have Wracks as a visual part of the overall theme

As a side note, I've considered adding Cultists in for fun (Helbrute Formation or just plain old Cultists). Why Cultists? I feel that they fit the overall Dark Eldar theme as slaves, cattle or just because it's fun for the whole family: lords of pain and skull-takers alike enjoy a good fight

One last thing before I start presenting some of my more in-depth ideas: I want to talk about what Wracks are good at. Namely:
- T4 and FnP (5+) and Fearless as of turn-2 if from the Covens supplement
- 2 Attacks base, 3 on the charge -- all 4+ Poisoned

To me this says a couple of things right off the bat: Monstrous Creature hunters and decent against MEQ. They can also serve as tarpits, albeit they're not the best at it; Grotesques and allied Cultists would be better. Another idea: fielding them in small units to sit on objectives; they could be small enough in number that no one wants to divert firepower onto them even if they're not objective secured. These roles and ideas that I just mentioned may have some variety to them but they're so precise that it makes it a little hard to use them. With that in mind, my next thoughts were:

I've been mulling some ideas over and considering a video by Archon Timatron, which you can view here. The basic gist of my idea is that the best way to make Wracks work in any way whatsoever is to go with the Haemonculus Covens Supplement where they can get Fearless on the second turn:

- Power From Pain in the Covens Supplement: turn-2 Fearless
- Haemonculus: +1 Power from Pain table for the model and its unit (turn-1 Fearless for a single unit)
- Urien Rakarth: +1 Power from Pain table with 12" range (turn-1 Fearless for any units within 12" of Urien)


In regards to the Scarlet Epicurean in particular, the Cronos offers:
- Spirit probe: 6" range +1 FnP (4+) meaning that the Cronos should sit between both units of Wracks

At this point I was thinking that if you could add in a Craftworld psyker who could confer some covers saves, you'd be looking at T4, FnP (4+), Fearless Wracks with variable cover saves (realistically: 4+ cover save, 4+ FnP), however a reliable psychic cover save isn't guaranteed, so you'd have to roll for Night Fight and/or hug cover as you advance. Nevertheless Urien Rakarth does dish out It Will Not Die as of turn-3 to any friendly Coven units within 12", so I'd imagine that a cool way of running things would be as such:

- Urien in the center with the Cronos in front or behind him
- Two units of Wracks within 6" of the Cronos and within 12" of Rakarth
- One or more units of multi-wound models (Grotesques, Talos or even Cronos) within 6" of the Cronos
- One or more units of multi-wound models (Grotesques, Talos or even Cronos) within 12" of Urien
- Possibly more units of Cronos providing combat support and +1 FnP (to a maximum of 4+, before even considering any potential effects that might be awarded by the Nightmare Doll to a Haemonculus)

Of course there's no need to stick to the Scarlet Epicureans; I was also thinking that the Covenite Fleshcorps might be good, as well as the Scalpel Squadron. Realistically I think that the Scalpel Squadron has the best chances of bringing something semi-competitive to a Dark Eldar, Craftworld and/or Harlequin army, but like I said earlier I already run Venom Spam and so am looking for something a little different, unless it's the only truly viable option for a semi-competitive list.

In any case that's where I'm at with my ideas. What do you guys think? How could we make 20 to 30 Wracks viable? They can be fielded in any way you like, in any kind of Dark Eldar, Craftworld or Harlequin army. Really all I want is to be able to showcase the models and play out a cool scenario of the maniacs akin to the Cenobites from Hellraiser.

Love your videos, first of all. Been thinking of making a series myself actually, something a little like this - after coaching a new DE player at the local store on list-building when he asked how to build his Wyches and Wracks, trying to discuss optimal builds for each unit, just for people who do try to play for optimized armies, but have some unit they're in love with that isn't necessarily Tier 1 on the tabletop.

Anyway, when it comes to Wracks, the only things that really matter to them on the Covens PFP are Fearless T2, Zealot T5, and to some extent Eternal Warrior T6 so that they can take FNP even against lascannons and such. On the core DE PFP, you instead get Furious Charge on T4, Fearless T5, and Rage T6. Looking at the two charts, Covens gives you Fearless much earlier, but Furious Charge in the core book helps with rerolls to wound against T3 models and smashing up vehicles. Either way, the difference between the two isn't such that you couldn't make a case for taking them with either PFP table, and I'd say the core table is better for them if you can stick a Covens Haemonculus or something with them. Since we're largely looking at Covens formations this conversation about which book to take them from doesn't mean much, but in theory if you've got a spare Covens Haemonculus that isn't doing anything (from a Grotesquerie, for example) then there are many worse things you could do than take a single unit of Wracks from the core book to stick him in. If you go with that option, I give the same advice that I do for trying to optimize Wyches - run them in a Raider with your Covens Haemonculus, deepstrike in on Turn 2, and you've got Furious Charge when you go into the assault on Turn 3. Take the Sump on your Haemonculus so he's got Rampage; if he gets those extra attacks he's at least on par with the Archon and Succubus in terms of number of attacks, and the lower Weapon Skill and Initiative won't matter at all in the vast majority of situations.

Keep in mind that you can also take the Animus Vitae in a Dark Eldar CAD, which can help your Wracks get either Furious Charge or Zealot a turn earlier. Two with a Haemonculus, three if Rakarth is at work also.

In terms of Covens formations though, let's take a look at our three options:

All Covenite Fleshcorps grants you is PFP boosting - which, when you're on the Covens chart, doesn't actually mean anything until Zealot, which you'll get on Turn 4. Having Fearless or not doesn't really matter on Turn 1 - you're not likely to get swept in melee Turn 1, and if anything it's a detriment because you lose the ability to Go To Ground on Turn 1 and then instantly get back up on Turn 2. Master of Apotheosis as your WT for 4+ FNP for a single Wrack unit is nice, but I don't think it's enough to really make the Fleshcorps worth taking.

Scalpel Squadron is solid. I recognize you said that's not something you're terribly interested in running, but for completeness' sake I think its worth mentioning that the Warriors in a Venom aren't really the selling point of Venomspam - it's the Venom itself - and a unit of Wracks with Ossefactor is just 10 points more than a unit of Warriors with Blaster. You lose volume of fire and anti-tank utility, but you gain some resiliency through T4, FNP straight from Turn 1, and Assault capacity. If you're running Venomspam anyway, it's entirely reasonable to take 1-2 Scalpel Squadrons just to mix it up a little. Plus who knows, the extra VPs or ability to Null Deploy might win you the game.

Next up is Scarlet Epicureans, which I think is the one to go for unless you don't want to pay for that Cronos. First off, all Wracks within the Formation counting PFP as one turn higher is essentially just a better version of the bonus from the Fleshcorps. Plus, with Haemonculus, Rakarth, and Animus Vitae, you've already got Zealot on Turn 1 and Eternal Warrior on Turn 2. Frankly, you don't even need the PFP benefits that quickly - based on points, I'd drop either Animus Vitae or Rakarth. In terms of other formation bonuses, Precision Strikes is awesome. Master of Epicureans isn't the best WT though, so I'd probably go ahead and make something other than the Haemonculus from this formation the Warlord. And if there was ever a time you'd consider taking the Spirit Vortex over the Spirit Probe, it might be here - if you're packing your Wracks into Raiders, they might outpace the Cronos to the point where they wouldn't benefit from the Probe. If you want FNP 4+ for these guys, I'd take a Dark Artisan, deepstrike that in behind enemy lines(with Spirit Probe Cronos), and push your Wrack Raiders up to sandwich your opponent.

In terms of actual builds for Wracks, let's look at the options:

Ossefactors are awesome. I'd always take as many as possible. Sadly, you can't take two if you want a Haemonculus riding with your Wrack unit, but the Haemonculus can at least take a Liquifier or something even though those are a bit supbar. Alternatively, you can drop the Haemonculus entirely - have him with some other unit, while both Wrack squads stay 10-strong. In that case you'd probably want Rakarth nearby (take him as a part of a Grotesquerie, where his CC ability will help out?) and the Animus Vitae, just so you have your Zealot charge on Turn 2 in case you need it. 10-strong Wrack unit with 2 Ossefactors in a Raider can pick on any unit in shooting and charge targets of opportunity.

The Acothyst, sadly, I think isn't worth it. Our weapons like Agonizers and such are a bit overpriced at 25 points - and the reason for that is, we're paying a tax because of our high initiative. An Agonizer essentially lets you autowin challenges against any squad sergeant that doesn't have a 2+. But, the Acothyst is stuck at Initiative 4 - so we lose a large part of what makes our weapons good. For some reason GW gave the Scourge Solarite the 15 point Agonizer, rather than giving it to the Acothyst where the discount would make sense. But, in the spirit of this "If I had to take this unit, here's how I'd do it" post, if you have your heart set on running the Acothyst, might as well give him the Venom Blade - 2+ poison is pretty solid, especially if manage to leverage the Wracks against their preferred target anyway - high toughness, poor save models. Since those are multi-wound though, the Flesh Gauntlet may be the better option. Scissorhand may be decent as well, if nothing else to make the unit a little better at smashing armor. If you don't care one way or the other though, I'd leave the Acothysts at home.

Hope you got some value out of that wall of text.

Just going to chip in that I've had some success with MSU Fleshcorps - using units of 5 Wracks with an Ossefactor. Though, it was part of an MSU DE list and I'm not sure they would have done better than Warriors.

Still, they've always performed better than my Scarlet Epicureans.

If I was set on using 20-30 Wracks, I'd probably run Fleshcorps + Scalpel Squadron, all with Ossefactors. I'd only put an Acothyst in the squad the Haemonculus is in.

I've used the flesh corps myself, but have had limited success.  It's hard to argue a better way to field large quantities of wracks though.

I have to admit that I didn't think to MSU them, as I was trying to maximize ossefactors in that build.  I actually have the raiders and (converted) wracks to MSU two of these formations though, so I might try that this weekend.  I'll be playing against a dark angels army, consisting mostly of bikes - at least jink and toughness 5 won't matter to wracks

If you manage to kill one with an Ossefactor, then the subsequent hits ignore cover...