Lukas The Trickster in "A Barrell of Laughs" Batrep

Lukas The Trickster turns a simple Space Wolves battle report into complete anarchy in the adventure "A Barrell of Laughs".

Having just played a very close battle between my Space Wolves and James' Ravenwing (batrep coming soon!), we got chatting about the game in general. Then James suddenly asked out of the blue "Have you got Lukas The Trickster?"

Ironically, I've never played him, even though he was the 2nd Space Wolf I ever painted for my army.

Yes, I had him, but I'd always felt that he was a waste of points that could be better spend on Long Fangs or Land Speeders. But having just given James a sound thrashing, I thought "What the heck?"

So I threw down my friendly Space Wolves list with some modifications, while James threw down his 1500pts Deathwing army.

Neither of these are serious tournament winning lists. They're just good fun.

1500pts Deathwing Army
Belial with storm bolter and master crafted power sword
+5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist

Librarian with terminator armour and Hellfire and Force Barrier
+5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist

5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist
5 terminators, cyclone
5 terminators, cyclone

1500pts Lukas The Trickster Space Wolves
Wolf Priest with wolf tooth necklace, saga of the hunter, runic armour
Lukas The Trickster
Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and chainfist
14 Blood Claws with 2 melta guns

Wolf Guard with combi-melta and powerfist
7 Grey Hunters with melta gun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard with combi-melta and powerfist
7 Grey Hunters with melta gun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard with combi-melta and powerfist
7 Grey Hunters with melta gun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard in terminator armour with cyclone missile launcher
6 Long Fangs with 5 missile launchers
+ Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

SET UP:
We rolled for mission and set up, getting Capture & Control with a Dawn of War deployment.

James won the roll off, opting to go first (he had a cunning plan) and placed his Beer Barrell objective top right in some ruins.

I wanted to keep the battle fairly close ranged, so placed mine directly opposite 24" away, on the edge of some ruins.

James then deployed 2 Terminators squads. One top right and one in the centre.

Meanwhile I deployed the Blood Claws led by the Wolf Priest, Wolf Guard and that unsavoury roustabout, Lukas The Trickster in the ruins to the right.

To their left, was an empty Rhino transport.

Now I had to wait for James' first turn and the arrival of 2 of his 3 remaining terminator units via Deathwing Assault.

TURN 1:
Deathwing Master Belial and his squad deep strike North West of the barricade with autocannon anti-aircraft turret. This barricade effectively become the centre of the battlefield.

Meanwhile the Librarian leading another Deathwing squad deep strike directly North of the barricade. Both land bang on target.

The entire Deathwing army opens fire on the Rhino and Blood Claws, many of them unable to find a target in the darkness until Dawn begins on Turn 2.

The Space Wolves army arrives, but for the lone Wolf Guard in terminator armour with cyclone missile launcher...because I forgot to put him on. We agree that he can go into reserve instead.

The Blood Claws run towards the barricade, hugging cover.

A pack of Grey Hunters marches into the board and embarks into the empty Rhino, which then speeds forward 12", up to the edge of the barricade and fires its smoke launchers.

Two more Rhinos full of Grey Hunters speed on, as does a Razorback who fires its smoke launchers before the Long Fangs inside get out and run into the cover of the ruins and take up firing positions for the rest of the game.

TURN 2:
The Deathwing fall back and form a firing line. Krak missiles slam into Rhino transports with little effect, while storm bolter and assault cannon fire rake the advancing Blood Claws, killing 5 of the ferocious Space Wolves.

The Space Wolves press the attack with the Blood Claws running up the field, towards the top right Beer Barrell, closely followed by a pack of Grey Hunters in their Rhino who hastily disembark to rapid fire the Deathwing Terminators, but inflict no casualties.

The other two packs of Grey Hunters begin to establish a foothold in the barricades with one disembarked pack of Space Wolves using their own Rhino to block line of sight and shield them from two of the Deathwing squads.

The Long Fangs launch a salvo of krak missiles to no effect, meanwhile their Razorback slays a single Deathwing terminator to the left.

The lone Wolf Guard walks on and takes cover behind a building before killing another with deadly accurate fire from his storm bolter and cyclone missile launcher.

TURN 3:
The Deathwing hold position and keep firing. Meanwhile the terminators top right, claiming the Beer Barrell fall back, firing.

Between them they kill 6 Blood Claws.

Led by Lukas The Trickster, the Wolf Priest and Wolf Guard, the 2 remaining Blood Claws charge into close combat! The Deathwing terminators are torn to shreds...all for 1 who passes all 3 of his 5+ invulnerable saves. Meanwhile the Grey Hunters alongside them continue to advance.

Two Grey Hunter packs occupy the barricades in the centre and open fire on Belial and his terminator squad with 28 bolter shots and 2 melta gun blasts, as well as 4 shots from the Rhino storm bolters. 1 Terminator falls.

The Long Fangs fire another krak missile salvo into the Librarian and his squad, but fail to kill any of them. Finally, their Razorback cuts down one of the terminators with its twin linked lascannon.

From behind the cover of a building the lone Wolf Guard continues to fire, but this time his weapons have no effect.

TURN 4:
The 5th Deathwing terminator squad arrives from reserve and Deep Strikes right behind my Long Fangs. I knew this was going to happen, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Fortunately, one of my Grey Hunter packs was just a short Rhino ride away.

The terminators open fire on the Long Fangs, killing two of them, but it's enough to cause them to break and run right off the board. I rolled a double 6 for their Leadership and then another double 6 for their fall back move -doh!

North of the barricade the Librarian leads an attack on Lukas The Trickster, the Wolf Priest, terminator Wolf Guard and a single Blood Claw.

The Librarian and his squad cut them all down (while passing an insane number of 5+ invulnerable saves!) leaving just Lukas, surrounded.

The Space Wolves begin their tactical withdrawal. The Grey Hunter packs in the centre barricade, get back into their Rhino APCs and speed away. The one to the North speeds towards the top right objectives, while the one of the South speeds towards the bottom right objective, currently claimed by the newly arrived Deathwing terminators.

The razorback fires its lascannon, killing one of the nearby terminators.

Then all eyes turn to the combat between Lukas the Trickster, the Dark Angels Librarian and 4 Deathwing Terminators.

Because of his Cloak Of The Duppelgangrel, the Librarian fails to land a single blow on Lukas who in turn wounds the Librarian once, twice, thrice! Then James rolls a trio of dice, passing every one of his 5+ invulnerable saves.
Now it's time for the Deathwing terminators and their powerfists. They seem to have no problem battering Lukas The Trickster into a bloody pulp!

Surrounded by 5 hulking figures, Lukas' stasis bomb detonates with his dying breath...

I roll a 4 and James rolls a 5. Damn it! Had I equalled or beaten his score, all 4 terminators and his Librarian would have been trapped in stasis forever with Lukas.

With everything to play for the game continued and the Librarian and his terminator squad swept towards to the top right objective currently held by 2 packs of Grey Hunters in Rhinos.

TURN 5:
Realising two of his terminator squads are miles away from the objectives and the Space Wolves have left him in the dust, James advances Belial and his squad to the North and the other squad to the South who gun down the lone Wolf Guard with a lucky burst of storm bolter fire.

The Librarian leads his squad into the top right ruins, immobilising one of the Grey Hunter Rhinos with their assault cannon, before charging the vehicle and ripping it apart with their powerfists.

The Grey Hunters disembark out the back of the transport and pass their pinning test.

At the bottom right objective the Deathwing terminators open fire on the approaching Grey Hunter Rhino. The assault cannon rounds simply patter off its armoured front.

Suddenly the Librarian and his squad are surrounded as the second Grey Hunter pack disembarks and the two packs charge through the terrain, inspired by their Wolf Standards.

The ferocious mob of 16 Space Wolves took a handful of casualties as they quickly cut down the Deathwing terminators and quickly surrounded the Librarian who was now on a single wound.

At the bottom right objective, the Grey Hunter pack disembarked from their transport, marching towards the terminators in cover and fired their melta weaponry. The terminators went to ground, saving them from the melta blasts and the sweeping beams of the Razorback's twin linked lascannon.

The Grey Hunters declared the use of their Wolf Standard...then failed to charge into cover due to the difficult terrain. At least the terminators had Gone to Ground and wouldn't be able to shoot them this turn.

Meanwhile the Rhino moved to block line of sight from the advancing terminators to the west of the barricade in the centre.

TURN 6:
The Deathwing started running towards the objectives, but it was all too late now.

The Librarian was cut down and the Grey Hunters embarked into the one remaining Rhino while the Grey Hunters who had sustained the most casualties waited in the ruins...just within range to claim the objective, but hopefully be out of charge range of Belial and his squad should the game go on for another turn.

At the bottom right objective, the Grey Hunters and Razorback opened fire once more, killing two of the terminators before charging in and finishing the job up close and personal.

We rolled for another turn...and the game ended.

Space Wolves: 2 Beer Barrells
Dark Angels: A serving of hard cheese

CONCLUSION
Lukas The Trickster didn't get The Last Laugh, but the Space Wolves did win the game. If only I'd rolled a little higher, James would have lost 4 Deathwing Terminators and his Librarian to Lukas' stasis bomb, which would have pretty much won me the game right then and there and made Lukas worth his points, having taken 240 points to hell with him.

Would I take Lukas again? -Not when I can better spend 155 points elsewhere on more cost effective characters of even a pair of Land Speeders. Also, the Blood Claws are a terrible unit and eat up a lot of points which could also be better spent elsewhere.

In terms of strategy, I knew that the Deathwing would just keep falling back and shooting as I advanced, so with this in mind, I advanced the two Grey Hunter packs into the centre, pushing the Terminators back.

Anyway, he'd have been mad to charge 16 Grey Hunters in cover with no frag grenades. That's before I even declared use of the Wolf Standards -which I would have, to make sure he died quickly.

In the following turn I was able to get back in the Rhinos and fall back to the objectives, leaving his 2 Terminator squads and Character to slowly run after them. Having held him back for a turn, he had little hope of reaching both objectives.

Anyway, it was a fun game and Lukas The Trickster is quite a fun character too!

Finally, having Saga of the Hunter on the Wolf Priest leading the Blood Claws was nice, but it made me want to hug cover too much, which isn't an effective mindset for a 'get in close combat as fast as possible' kind of unit. Definitely better for a unit like the Grey Hunters who tend to spend their life in cover.

Stay tuned for more Space Wolves batreps!