Wraith Army Project Section 1

Hey Game Fans, this is one of the many articles that will be part of my feature for the year on my new Craftworlds army project. Now, this is a big project, full of ambition and hilarity. The goal is to have the army ready to take to Gencon at the end of July this year. Now assuming that this all works out, this army project should be ready to go well ahead of that. First things first though, let’s talk a little bit about Diabetic Retinopathy.


Diabetic Retinopathy is a visual impairment that occurs as a result of uncontrolled high blood sugar for an extended period of time. It’s a leading cause of blindness in diabetics and is an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. Currently, at the time of this writing, I have one eye is filled with a yellowish fluid that is symptomatic of the broken blood vessels in the back of my eye. This means that while i can see out of that eye, my vision is on par with 2100:20. Legally blind in that eye and when i try to have both eyes open, my vision is blurry. Upside, there’s a treatment. Downside, it involves getting needles stuck in my eyes once a month.


So...with one semi functional eye, what possessed me to decide on a new painting project?


Well, a couple of things. I’m getting ready to downsize a lot of my gaming collection, and i would rather concentrate on a couple of things that i really want to play. This means cleaning out drawers and boxes of old stuff and finding new homes for space marines, some other things, and games i just don’t play anymore. I had my fun with them, but it’s time for them to find new homes of happiness and folks who are going to play with them more than I ever will going forward.


Second, hopefully of greater importance to me, with my diminished eyesight, I am working on finding a happy medium of being able to enjoy the hobby while being realistic about those capabilities. So what does that mean? Well it means that i am going to be painting larger models that are easier to paint for me. I’ve always preferred Terminator sized models as about the perfect size for me to paint, and this is going to play into that bias going forward.



So...what does this actually mean for this new project of mine?



Well, i’m going to be building the Spirit Construct army i have always wanted to build since I started playing this game almost fifteen years ago. The Craftworlds army has expanded and turned into something that let’s me fully embrace the Spirit Construct design, and with the release of the Apocalypse bundles earlier this year, I have one of the best opportunities to buy into the army at a very reasonable price point.



So...what am I starting with, and where are we going with this?


Initially, I’m picking up three things for this program.

1. Apocalypse Vanguard Aledari Detachment. This is the core of the army as it sits.
1. 2 Wraithlords (i’m going to equip mine with double bright lances and shuriken catapults for Tank hunting duties).
2. 15 Wraithguard/Wraithblades (these are the meat and potatoes of the army. I’ll do three different builds, either Wraithguard with Wraithcannons, Wraithguard with D-Scythes, Wraithblades with Axes, or Wraithblades with Swords). 5 man squads are the core of the army, and once I get the first squads put together, we’re off to the races.
3. 1 Spiritseer (this the obligatory living eldar in the bunch. He’s here to mostly stand in as a Warlock to cast Quicken on whichever squad needs to murder someone.)
2. Craftworlds Start Collecting Box. This adds a bunch of mostly useful things
1. 1 Farseer (the other living Eldar in the army, this is the primary psychic mayhem battery of the army and does a couple of useful tricks that help the Wraiths do their job of killing things)
2. 5 Wraithguard/Wraithblades (the last of the core 20, this squad will be built to fill the last spot for the ones I didn’t build out of the vanguard box)
3. 1 Wraithlord (just like it’s friends in the Vanguard Box, double Bright lances hunt tanks)
4. 1 War Walker (Hey Kids, want to buy a War Walker kit?)
3. Wraithseer (This is probably the kit i’m looking for most, as it is going to be the Warlord of the army. This kit is a lot of fun, since ifs a Forgeworld kit with lots of fiddly bits to work on)

Expansion plans involve 2 more Vanguard Apocalypse boxes and a Wraithknight. Possibly another WraithKnight.


This is the starting point of this army project, and it’s going to be an uphill struggle to get it done. Again, I’m planning to get everything done in time for Gen Con and playing a few games with some friends.


Now, the next article i put together will be about Color selections, and then we’ll get deeper into ideas about strategy and tactics and see if we can’t get pictures and other such calamities together. See you all then, Game On, Game Fans.