GoatBoy Wins Adepticon with Space Wolves

GoatBoy from Bell of Lost Souls has won Adepticon with a Space Wolves version of his 'Space Goats' army.

Over the weekend he faced Black Templars, Tau and Khorne armies, avoiding the vast number of Imperial Guard armies at the tournament.

Let's take a look at his Space Wolves army list and see what we think:

GoatBoy's 1850 points Space Wolves army list

Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Saga of the Bear, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Powerfist, Wolftail Necklace, Saga of the Wolfkin, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Runic Armor, Storm Shield, Frost Axe, Saga of the Warrior, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

10 Grey Hunters, 2 melta guns, mark of the wulfen + Rhino
10 Grey Hunters, 2 melta guns, mark of the wulfen + Rhino
10 Grey Hunters, 2 melta guns, mark of the wulfen + Rhino

15 Fenrisian Wolves

6 Long Fangs with 5 missile launchers
6 Long Fangs with 3 heavy bolters and 2 lascannons


HOW IT WORKS:
Basically the 3 Wolf lords join the Fenrisian Wolf pack and thunder up the field, closely followed by the Grey Hunters who melta gun things while the Long Fangs provide long ranged support.

I quite like the idea of creating a single Uber Unit to smack down anything that opposes you, but that's a lot of points tied up in 1 big mob. Fortunately it's very fast moving!

However, with this list costing 350pts more than the standard English tournament list of 1500pts, I've still got my eye on Alex Harrison's Space Wolves grand tournament army. Heaven knows what Alex could come up with if given an extra 350pts to play around with!

For as long as anyone can remember, US tournament have always involved more points than the UK ones. As a result, we have to be more conservative with our points spending in the UK, while in the US the bigger, more expensive and more powerful units are far more common. In the UK these units tend to only appear if they're completely cost effective and don't draw too much away from the cohesion of the army as a whole. Or if they do, some very careful playing is needed with only a handful of Troops to claim or contest strategic points.

For more info on how GoatBoy got on at Adepticon and about the armies he faced, checkout his battle reports over at Bell of Lost Souls.

To the Mardi Gras!

I'm in the middle of painting pack markings on my Space Wolves and it has to be said that they're looking rather fruity!

I think this is what happens when you take a very colourful scheme created by the 'Eavy Metal team and have it apply by a simpler painter.

I'm going to paint my first 1500pts Space Wolves army with all the 'traditional' pack markings and chapter badges to see what it looks like as a unified force, but right at this moment, my first Grey Hunter pack looks as though it's off to the mardi gras. Maybe the sheer wealth of feral/viking bling isn't helping?

Either way, I can't get a certain song from The Mask out of my head. Perhaps not the best battle-anthem for my Space Wolves.

Stay tuned for more progress and a 'how to paint space wolves pack markings' guide.

Cheap Space Wolves Army

I got an email this week asking about a cheap Space Wolves army.

Basically, this kid wanted to build a Space Wolves army on the cheap.

I sympathise, because this is an expensive hobby and often take the fact that I'm a grown man with a salary for granted. I was once a poor teenager with pitiful wages and my parents wouldn't buy me any toys either.

Fortunately a Space Wolves army can be the cheapest army in Warhammer 40K!

A little while ago we talked about building a Logan Grimnar terminator army. Now that I've got my first 1500 points complete, I wondered if this was worth a shot.

While my Space Wolves terminator army list was more of a comparison to the Dark Angels Deathwing to see who could do a terminator army better, my good friend Neil Kerr, came up with a slightly beardier list, like so:

Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard Squad:
Wolf Guard 1: Terminator Armour, Storm Shield
Wolf Guard 2: Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta
Wolf Guard 3: Terminator Armour, Chainfist
Wolf Guard 4: Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta
+ Drop Pod with Deathwind

Njal Stormcaller
x 3 Wolf Guard Squads:
Wolf Guard 1: Terminator Armour, Storm Shield
Wolf Guard 2: Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta
Wolf Guard 3: Terminator Armour, Chainfist
Wolf Guard 4: Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw
Wolf Guard 5: Terminator Armour, Cyclone

As you can see, there's a lot of melta, lots of close combat weapons, and plenty of cyclone missile lauchers, plus two badass characters to kick the snot out of people. You could even swap the cyclone missile launchers for assault cannons if you were feeling particularly short ranged and brutal -or if you didn't want to fork out for the Cyclones from a Bitz Service.

Cheap Space Wolves Shopping List

• Logan Grimnar blister


• Njal Storm Caller blister


• 1 Drop Pod boxed set


• 4 Space Wolves Terminator boxed sets

Games Workshop retails this at £140, which is really good.
But, if I'm going to buy this, I'll do it online with an independent retailer. I might be a salary man, but this hobby still isn't cheap.

1500pts Space Wolves Grand Tournament Army

We chat to Alex Harrison who came 3rd with his 1500pts Space Wolves army at his first UK Grand Tournament.

Having fought off Imperial Guard, Chaos, Eldar and lots of Orks, the dice gods would be young Alex's undoing. But having won 3rd place using the new Space Wolves army, Alex has done a fantastic job.

We don't have any photos of Alex's army, but as he insists he's not much of a painter, we shan't worry about it! I've taken a quick photo of my almost finished Blood Claws instead.


Alex Harrion's 1500pts Space Wolves Grand Tournament Army

Rune Priest [Living Lightning, Jaws, Chooser of the Slain] 110
Rune Priest [Jaws, Murderous Hurricane, melta bombs] 105
Rune Priest [Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane] 100

5 Wolf Guard [3 with power fist and combi-meltas, 1 with combi-melta, 1 with chainfist, terminator armour and cyclone missile launcher] 230

6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
5 Hunters [meltagun, razorback] 120

2 Speeders [multi meltas and heavy flamers] 140

5 Long Fangs [4 missile launchers] 115
5 Long Fangs [4 missile launchers] 115

Total - 1500 points


Adam: First of all; congrats on coming 3rd. I see you're only a mere youngster at 19, have you been playing for long?

Alex: I've been playing since I was 13, always been a competitive player. This was my first ever Grand Tournament, but I have won 3 tourneys with my wolves before hand! One 1000pt one, one 1750pt one and one at 1500pts. Now I've got 3rd place at the UK Grand Tournament as well as the 'blood thrister award' for scoring the most Victory Points, which was awesome!

Adam: Looking at the army list, it's pretty straightforward, using the most cost effective units from the Codex. What kind of ideas did you have when it came to crafting your Space Wolves army list for the GT?

Alex: The army is tough, but takes some finesse to use. The rhino squads NEED to back one another up. Splitting your force is dangerous. Perhaps in some cases, I would break of one rhino squad to go for an objective with covering fire from long fangs, and the other 2 and the razor and speeders provide my main assault. Speeders are great, and can hide behind your rhinos, or go in reserve for later assistance, especially when facing an army which is rushing you like orks.

Long fangs should be kept to the back board, not deployed 12 inches on. Utilise that 48 inch range, its scary.

Marines love to push midfield and try and counter their way through opponents, rather than a pure rush or a pure defense. By mixing your tactics, this list covers it all.

I can hold back in Killpoints, or even rush in objectives. In sieze ground I can cover ground to mid field, then let lose the wolves The rockets stay back and provide covering fire. Even in dawn of war, they walk on and get into the right position.

Speaking of which, in Dawn of War, I deploy 2 empty rhinos with their rear hatches 8 inches from the board. I then walk on my 2 selected units and priests 6 inches, which are 2 inches from the hatch. They then embark and I move the rhino 12 inches. Im now in the middle of the board if need be, or if facing an army pushing forward, I then pop off powers to slow them down.

Having something to hold your own base is key, in which I had a unit of hunters in a razor back. I originaly had a lascannon on this which is very helpful, but instead dropped it for the cyclone on the wolf guard terminator. I have a wolf guard with a combi-melta and meltagun in there. This is for added measure when players like to try and fly onto my objective, I have a nice unit to blow it up!

The selection of powers for the priests is compulsory. Living lightning is fantastic at all time, Murderous huricane is a must with the large amount of ork players out there, and jaws is an obvious choice. Its great, yet having those 3 powers is extremly versitile. Jaws isnt always the best choice, I'd rather living lightning a daemon prince than try and Jaws him!

The speeders are fantastic. It gives me that fast melta option to go for those raiders, or battlewagons. They rarely get shot at, as they have rhinos to contend with. If they do, then fine, but half the time, well in my case most of the time, they do fantastic.

Adam: What kind of armies did you come up against at the GT, what was in them, how did you deal with each challenge?

Alex: First game was Seize Ground, Spearhead against a Valkyrie themed Guard army.

He had the following:
Primus psyker.
5 vet squads of 10, 3 with 3 meltas, 2 with 3 plasmas. Not sure whta had what but I know some had demolitions etc.
4 valkyries in squads of 2. 2 had missile pods, 2 had 2 of those strength 8 missiles.
1 Vendetta with triple lascannons.

Rather small, but very powerful. He had first turn and there was 4 objectives, one in my corner, 2 in his and one in the top left zone.

As a space wolf player I had never faced this type of army before so it was rather new to me, yet I know how devastating it can be with its scout move, then first turn bombardment. The best thing to do against this is reserve, yet there was also the problem of arriving peicemeal. I decided to deploy 1 priest in a rhino with the hunter squad, and 1 long fang squad, and the rest stayed in reserve. I then...siezed the initiative...Wow! The shock of his face!

But yeh, I then went on to move my rhino up, pop a valkyrie and then pop another with the rockets. His turn he took out my rhino squad, all that was left was my rune priest. In my turn, long fangs and speeders and a grey hunter squad turned up, and popped another valkyrie, and took down two of the vendettas lascannons. The rune preist went on to wipe out a veteran squad himself. The game bassically from then on went down hill for my opponent. I flanked him on both sides and with missile shots coming from all directions, he had to split his force up.

He said after the game he didn't expect me to rush him with rhinos. I felt this puts pressure on him as with his squads of 10, he likes to advance and go where he wants, rather than be pushed back into corners, which was the best way to go about it. In the end I tabled him by turn 6, he had nothing left.

Man of the match being the wolf guard with chain fist and cyclone who blew up a valkyrie with the cyclone then demolished another with his chain fist!

As his army was only 1495pts, I was thinking to myself I shouldn't be facing anyone too harsh, as Im sure they'd be on the full 1500. To my dismay, I was to face Eldar...and not just any Eldar, but the eldar army which won Heat 3. I was not only worried about this army, but the mission! Annihilation...against eldar..BAH!

So onto game 2, Ahnihalation, pitched battle.
He had:
Eldrad in a wave serpent with 5 fire dragons
Wave serpent with another 5 fire dragons
2 units of 3 walkers with scatter lasers
8 man bike council with embolden, enhance and a farseer with fortune
2 units of 5 dire avengers.

Now this game was interesting.

He chose to go first, so he deployed everything to his right, behind a huge plot of trees. I then deployed in the opposite corner, with only the council infront of me (I knew he was going to redeploy with eldrad). I left my speeders and razorback in reserve. 1 unit of long fangs take to the woods, the other is on the back of the board. Huge terrains peice will annoy me this game!

He then rolls for his repositions, rolls a 4, so 3 movements. Eldrads wave serpent moves to face my army, as does the 2 units of walkers.

I fail the initiative, so he goes first. He guides both units of walkers and fortunes his serpent and the farseer fortunes the council. For some reason, he is very scared of jaws, so holds his council back. The walkers move into firing positions, and both wave serpents turbo boost to cover the walkers (or try to).

He opens fire on my fangs squad and kill ...yes 4 marines from 48 guided shots lol! My saves were amazing. Left me with 1 rocket long fang and the wolf guard with cyclone attatched. My turn, I moved my rhinos into position, 2 moving up and 1 trying to flank on the left. I move one of the rhinos into terrain. Shooting was very minor, I destroyed one walker, and stunned eldrads wave serpent.

His turn, this is where it gets interesting! He first tries to guide both fire dragon squads (who are in wave serpents) with eldrad who is in another serpent. This is of course imposible, yet he tries it, and I have to get a judge over to show that he can't. In the end he fails the guide on the dragons and then fortunes one of the walkers. He also fortunes the council. He then tries to only get his fire dragons out from eldrads serpent, and leave eldrad in. I promptly tell him he can't do that, which his supposedly never heard of such a rule. He therefore decides to keep them inside. The other wave serpent moves a little, then he starts to shoot me! One unit of walkers pop my rhino on the right out of vcover, and the other destoys the one in the terrains storm bolter off. The explosion kills one of my marines.

My turn, time for payback. I move the unit without a rhinos squad up and prepare to fire and engage eldrads serpent. The rhino in terrain then...immobilises itself...great! The one on the left revs up to flank his army and pops smoke. Shooting is better this turn. I manage to immobilise eldrads falcon with the rockets, and stun the other serpent. I popped one of the walkers from the other squad, so he's down to two units of 2. I then assault eldrads falcon with the grey hunters and blow it up. 1 dragon dies and the rest and eldrad pile out.

His turn, he fortunes his council, fortunes eldrad, guides the dragons squad he's with, and guides one of the Wlker squads. I only stop the fortune on eldrad. He then moves his dragons to face my squad on foot and disembarks the other to go for my flanking rhino. Walkers get ready to open up, and the council flies next to my unit on foot. Oh and of course one unit of 5 avengers turn up, ready for more shots lol.

I then take a hell of amounts of shooting into the squad on foot, with only 2 guys and a rune priest alive, who then got charged by the council and was destroyed. The dragons also poped open the flanking rhino, and the squad inside lose 2 marines in the explosion.

My next turn was quick, moved the squad inside the immobilised rhino out and went for the council, rockets popped a unit of walkers and the flanking unit took cover behind eldrads poped wave serpent ready for next turn. The flanking priest assaulted the 3 man dragon squad (due to living lightning) and was killed in combat by the dragon! That shouldn't happen.

I assaulted the council with my disembarked unit and was just in range. Managed to kill 2 bikers and he killed 2 in return, drawn combat. His turn was again quick; stunned serpent stayed where it was, walkers and avengers shot up my squad behind eldrads unit and I had 2 men left. Eldrad guided the walkers and doomed that squad, but forgot to cast Fortune on the council!

Combat, I kill 4 of the council with no fortune, eldrad kills 1 marine, the council kill 1 marine, I win by two, both the council, farseer and eldrad get cut down in his turn!

My turn, (now this is the pivot) my reserves arrive, speeders turbo up. 2 man squad goes on to kill the 2 dragons, rockets kill the other dragon squad and stun the serpent. Unit which killed the council and eldrad rush into 5 avengers and kill them.

His turn was extremely short, other avenger squad and walkers move up to shoot and then asdsault my advancing unit of 5 men including the priest, kill 3 and then I kill 3 avengers and do nothing to the walkers, drawn combat.

My turn my speeders pop the serpent and finish off everything in combat except a walker. Turn 5 is over and I have tabled him bar for one walker. What a turn for events.

Game 3 : Dawn of war, Capture & control.
I was to face a friend of mine, Courtney Rhodes. I lost this game and it was a very straight forwards game! I killed loads, he killed loads, we both had each others objective, yet due to him having last turn, he managed to wipe out what I had on mine, and then rolled a 1 to end it. If it went on another turn I would of had him. Jaws killed the mad doc on turn 1 which was comical.

His army was:
2 wagons, 1 with 5 mega nobs & gaz, the other with 20 sluga boys & claw. 2 killa kans, 15 grots with slaver, 1 unit of 20 shoota boys with nob, 30 shoota boys with mad dok.

At the end of day 1 I was 2 wins & 1 loss.

In this game my rolls were attrocious. For example, 8 wulfen attacks (after rolling a 6), 4's to hit, not 1 hit. Rune priest assaults the 1 ork and nob with klaw with 1 wound on his objectyive (my main chance to properly hold his objective for a draw at least). 4 hits, no wounds....klaw turns around kills my priest. I assault 20 boys with a full hunter squad, only kill 6 orks, they knock me down to 3 men. Was rather frustrating. Gaz passed 3 jaws attempts. If the game went on to turn 6 or 7 I would have won or at least drawn.

Adam: How did the games on the second day go?

Alex: I will quickly tell you what and who they were against:

Simone De Tomaso with chaos lash.
Alejandro with horde orks and Gaz and wagon with rolla.
Spanish guy I can't spell his name, but he had 6 nob bikers and warboos, gaz in wagon with mega nobz, unit of 15 lootas, wagon with 20 boys, 10 gretchin.

I tabled bassically all 3 of these opponents. Simone had 2 oblits left and an immobilised raider, Alejandro had 9 grots left, and the Spanish guy, well I tabled him on turn 3...and I had first turn..so yeh! Ended up with 7941 VPs overall out of the possible 9000!

Adam: So where are you going from here? Continuing to expand your Space Wolves army or looking a new challenge?

Alex: From here on, I have a Land raider to paint, a few more termies, and I might be ordering some thunderwolves from MrDaddy or whatever the company is called.

I will also be starting the new Blood Angels. I have a few tourneys upcoming, there is a brighton warlords tourney mid april, I may go to the Open IX in Nottingham in may and perhaps Mayhem if I have the time off.

Adam: Thanks for talking to us about your time at the Grand Tournament and your fantastic Space Wolves army.

Hopefully our readers will get a lot out of it. I'm certainly eager to try out your Dawn of War deployment for myself as well as having the Wolf Guard with cyclone missile launcher and chainfist wandering off on his own and causing havoc.

SVA X Campaign weekend - Army List

On the 24th and 25th of April Spiky Club are hosting a campaign weekend. Myself and a friend (Gary) are attending. Gary is taking his Witch Hunters and i wanted to take Wolves. One minor hitch was the fact that i have one squad painted to date and would be unlikely to finish them in 5 weeks or so to make the 1500 and 1750 points lists i would need. Cue a desperate plea on TWF and a knight in shining armour in the form of James from said Spiky Club who had a pre new codex army i could borrow. Supplemented by what i could paint up i was sure i could make a list that would enable me to join in the fun without being tabled every game.

The list of available models from James is:

Ragnar, made from plastics
wolf guard, power armour, wolf claws
1 Venerable dread with twin linked las-cannon, CCW, storm bolter
1 regular dread, as above
9 grey hunters, melta gun, 2 pwr fists x2
10 Blood claws, 2 pwr fists
2x rhinos
1x land raider

Added to this i have painted 8 Grey Hunters with Wolf Guard in a Rhino.

So what to take?

Well my hand was forced to a degree but i also wanted to use the more relaxed environment of a campaign weekend to try out a few things from the Wolf codex. Here is the lists i came up with.

1500pts:

Wolf Lord [frost blade, bolt pistol, saga of warrior born, belt of russ] 185

I wanted to try out sage of warrior born as i believe it to be a chronic waste of points, especially for a guy on foot. Same goes for the belt of russ, a 50/50 chance of living against instant death is odds that would make me want to avoid being in that place in the first instance. However, it does allow me to keep an extra attack to make the most of warrior born and if i'm comfortably winning any games during the weekend i will try and throw my wolf lord into situations i normally wouldn't just to see what happen!

Rune Priest [Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, chooser of the slain] 110

Normally i take stormcaller and jaws but like the look of lightning and hurricane and it would make for a more offensive rune priest so it will be interesting to see how it does. It also gives me an excuse to paint my rune priest!

3 Wolf Guard [2 with combi melta and power fist, 1 with twin wolf claws] 134

Great opportunity to try out a really iconic choice - twin wolf claws.

Dreadnought [twin lascannon, extra armour] 150

Dreadnought [twin lascannon, extra armour] 150

I've always liked dreadnoughts but don't generally take them in 'competetive' play. Opportunity for these guys to show their worth beyond fantastic modelling opportunities.

7 Grey Hunters [melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard, Rhino] 170

8 Grey Hunters [melta gun, wolf standard, power weapon, Rhino] 185

Each joined by one of the combi melta and fist wolf guard.

8 Blood Claws [power fist] 145

Go in the Land Raider with the Wolf Lord. I would have loved to give these guys a flamer but the model isn't available unfortunately.

Land Raider [extra armour] 265

So thats the 1,500 point list. Its basic plan is to drive forward an hit stuff. Hard. The dreads can advance more slowly and pop transports for the blood claws and wolf lord to charge.

To make the list up to 1,750 points i am a bit spoilt for choice. I'm tempted to go for another squad of grey hunters but think i should go for something more fun like a couple of speeders or a Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf. Or a predator and something else. Or another land raider...

Hmmm!

One thing is for sure i will be doing report of the weekend and the battles that are fought in the name of Russ.

Converting Thunderwolves

Thunderwolves are the one unit every Space Wolves player wants. Unfortunately, Thunderwolves are a nightmare to make because there's only one model. But not to worry, because there are a number of options!

The first Thunderwolf concept was by Saul Remis in 2006 and what was a cool one-off conversion has become one of the most awesome units in Warhammer 40K.

Saul used one of the (new at the time) Forgeworld Space Wolf terminators combined with a Chaos Juggernaught to create his vision of a Fenrisian hero riding an enormous cybernetic wolf.

I've been thinking about Thunderwolf conversions ever since the Space Wolves Codex was released and it's taken me this long to begin work, because they're such difficult conversions.

Recently Brad got his hands on the Canis Wolfborn model, so I took the opportunity to have a quick peak and couldn't believe how difficult it would be to convert.

A simple Canis into a Wolf Lord conversion would be no trouble at all, but a whole unit of 5 Thunderwolf cavalry would take some serious work.

Dave Taylor has already undertaken this challenge, creating a full unit of Thunderwolf calvary with each model using Canis Wolfborn as the basis.

He's done a great job and used a lot of green stuff to rebuild the riders and repose the Thunderwolves. However, the problem presists that every rider has a torso twisting around to their left.

More importantly, the work here is beyond the skill of the average hobbyist. It's certainly beyond my skill, if not, my patience.

So, I started looking at other models and found this:

Some clever Spaniard (no idea who, because the forum was in Spanish!) has come up with this.

I've overlaid an image of a Chaos Champion riding Juggernaught so you can see how he's filed down and applied green stuff to the Juggernaught model.

By covering the correct areas in 'fur', you get a wolf covered in heavy armour rather than a big wolf with little bits of armour stuck on here and there. This looks like a proper suit of armour made for the Thunderwolf. Does Canis Wolfborn's Thunderwolf look like he should get a 3+ save? I don't think so.

It's ironic that the new Juggernaught is probably more suitable than the old Juggernaught for making a Thunderwolf. We just had to wait and see someone else pull it off. It's even more ironic that this simple conversion has been right under our noses all this time.

With more and more unofficial Thunderwolf models popping up allover the internet (kudos to Casey Dean for link), I can only wonder why Games Workshop didn't bring us plastic Thunderwolves, especially when you look at all the new plastic toys the Blood Angels get. But that's a rant for another post :)

In the meantime, my Chaos Champion riding Juggernaught and Blood Crusher boxes have just arrived in the post this morning and I can't wait to start work on them.

Stay tuned for a step by step Juggernaught to Thunderwolf conversion guide very soon!

Battle Missions: After Action Report

With the arrival of my shiny new copy of Battle Missions I'll start off by saying what a brilliant book if you haven't got it already go out right now and get it then come back and finish reading this. I was getting quite bored of roll and D3 for set up and then roll a D3 for Mission type to be honest although the random nature of this method is quite nice as you never know what your going to get.

Battle missions still gives you this randomness but with a lot more flavour, each mission although listed as faction specific can be played by any race quite easily in my opinion. Anyway I'll shut up, this is not a book review this is a Space Wolves battle report so lets get on with it.

My mate Cpt_Yukka came round with his Purple Tau eager for a bit of Battle Missions action and some revenge following the last game we played which was a glorious victory for the Sons of Russ.

This would be the first time I would be fielding my 1500 points Space Wolves list which is an upgrade of my 1000 point list you all saw me use at Vapnartak. So after a cup of tea and a chin wag about the new Blood Angels Codex we set up the battlefield and then consulted the Battle Missions book.

We decided to use the "Themed" method of mission selection as described in the book. Both players roll off and the winner then rolls on his race specific mission chart. A quick deice throw later and we are looking at the Tau missions as Yukka won the roll off. We then rolled a D3 and got a 1, our mission would be Vertical Envelopment.

Vertical Envelopment or "Mont'Ka" if your a Tau is the Tau Empires killing blow manoeuvre. It is a kill points mission with a set up very similar to pitched battle from the 40k rule book except you can deploy up to 9" away from the centre line. The Tau deploy first and are guaranteed first turn unless you manage to roll a 1 at the start of the game. The twist in this scenario is that the enemy cannot put any units into reserve. Any Tau units that are skimmer and put into reserve can enter play from the enemy table edge! Ouch OBEL'ing Hammerheads anyone?

Brad's 1500 Points Space Wolves Army

Ulf the Horrible
Runepriest, Jaws of the World Wolf, Storm Caller, Meltabombs, Wolf Tail Talisman

Hrothgar the Cursed
Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Storm Shield, Thunderhammer, Meltabombs, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Wolf Guard Barri, Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC

Wolf Guard Henghist, Combimelta, Powerfist
8 Grey Hunters,Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC

Wolf Guard Kjartan, Combimelta, Powerfist
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC

Land Speeder Typhoon, Heavy Bolter

land Speeder Typhoon, Heavy Bolter

Predator Annihilator, TL Lascannon, Sponson Lascannons

6 Long Fangs, Pack Leader, 5 Missile Launchers
Razorback APC, TL Lascannons


Yukka's 1500 Points Tau Hunter Cadre

Command Crisis Suit (Fireknife)
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod

3 Fireknife Crisis Suits
Plasma Rifles, Missile Pods

3 Deathrain Crisis Suits
TL Missile Pods, Flamers

3 Stealth Suits
2 Marker Drones

6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish APC

6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish APC

6 Fire Warriors
Devilfish APC

Hammerhead Gunship
Rail Gun

2 Broadside Battle suits
2 Shield Drones

Deployment
I was surprised to see Yukka putting out all of his Tau onto the table to start off with. When I asked if he was going to take advantage of his special flanking rule with a smile on his face he gladly informed me he was going to deploy everything with a view of hitting me with everything he had in first turn seeing as I could not reserve anything.

The Broadsides were placed in decent cover with an excellent view of the battle field supported by some fire warriors and an empty Devilfish. On the opposite side of the field he deployed his Hammerhead again with a view of making the most of his range advantage. The ruins in the centre were occupied by the Stealth Suits and more Firewarriors whilst the unit of Deathrains were hiddenaway behind the ruins. The Fireknives deployed in support of the Hammerhead ready to send any assault packing.

It was time for me to deploy the "Boars Snout", this time with Hrothgar the Lone Wolf loping in between the formation. My Rhinos were placed pretty central all within Ulfs stormcaller range and as far forward as possible. I placed the Predator slightly behind this formation, he was deployed so that the Hammerhead and the Broadsides could draw line of sight but he would be in cover, I really did not want my Rhino's blowing up first turn. The Long Fangs took cover in a crater on my right flank with decent lanes of fire whilst I placed the Land Speeders in cover. Finally the Razorback went Hull down behind the Bastion but could still draw a bead on the Hammerhead.

I offered a prayer to Russ and the Allfather and rolled a dice hoping to roll a 1 to steal the initiative. I was rewarded with a 6, how ironic.

Turn 1
Turn 1 started with the Stealth Suits dropping two Markelights on the Predator followed by some excellent sniping from the Broadsides which immobilised the Predator and blew the turret off.

The rest of the Tau army moves aggresively towards the Space Wolf lines bringing most small arms into range. Combined Pulse rifle and Burst Cannon fire kills 3 Long Fangs whilst the Deathrains blow a Stormbolter off Henghists Rhino shaking the crew as well.

Enraged at being fire at Henghist orders his Rhino forward and he and his pack jmp out. With Bolters at the ready Henghist is about to order his pack to open fire on the fire warriors when his keen nose detects something in the upper levels of the Ruins. The Grey Hunters target the new threat and spray the top floor of the Ruins with Bolter and Melta fire, three stealth suits quickly uncloak and fall lifeless to the floor.

Kjartans pack dash forward and disembark within melta range of the Empty Devilfish, then then proceed to cause the transport to explode.

All across the field Krak missiles and Lascannon fire attempt to lock onto the Tau armour but a combination of skillful piloting and disruption pods mean no damage is caused.

Hrothgar stalks forward with his companions seeking a worthy foe.

Turn 2
The majority of the Tau army springs into action acquiring new firing positions and heading for safer cver. The Hammerhead locks onto the Razorback and turns it into a ball of flames and twisted metal with a well placed Railgun shot.

The fireknives hover forward and arc dozens of missiles into the Long Fangs' crater killing all but one.

meanwhile in the centre of the field the Deathrains jumpout of cover and flame Henghists pack casuing 18 hits. After the smoke settles one of the Grey Hunters lies dead.

Finally the Broadsides target one of the speeders and swat it out of the air with Railgun fire in an awesome display of marksmanship.

Thanks to being able to deploy further forward my Rhinos are in position to unleash Grey Hunters on various parts of the Tau army. Kjartans pack advances on the Firewarriors dug in nearby and unleash a volley of Pistol killing 5 Tau Warriors.

Ulf's pack closes in on the Broadsides, Ulf unleashes the fury of the World Wolf which swallows a whole Broadside suit, the rest of his pack open up with Bolters leaving just one Broadside standing who decides he better serves the greater Good breathing so he turns tail and runs off the board.

Henghists pack are withing charge distance of the Deathrains but some nifty screening from a unit of Loyal Shieldrones will prevent the suits from getting charged. The Grey Hunters decide to use firepower to sort the job and drop two Deathrains.

Hrothgar the Cursed finally plows through the rubble and barrels into the unit of Firewarriors lurking there. The Tau were well dug in as only two fell to the Lone Wolves charge, luckily they hold their ground meaning Hrothgar would not be subject to large doses of plasma fire next turn.

Turn 3
The Tau started turn 3 with a view of killing off my last Long Fang who still posed a threat with his Missile Launcher. The Hammerhead was the closest resource to do the job and locked onto the old Wolf with its Railgun. The solid slug hit home, glanced off the Long Fangs armour and knocked him off his feet. The Tau gunners smile turned to a snarl when he saw the Long Fang defiantly stand back to his feet, Missile launcher still in hand. Enraged at the Wolf the Hammerhead fired its bursts cannons finally finishing off the Veteran.

In the centre of the battlefield Henghists Pack were subjected to a mass of Plasma and missile fire from the ramining Tau battlesuits. The firepower was too much for the Marines armour and the pack was killed outright leaving a pile of Grey armoured bodies.

The melee in the ruins continued as Hrothgars pet wolves downed a firewarrior ripping his throat out followed by the rest of his entrails in a frenzied attack. One of the Firewarriors seized the opportunity caused by the carnage, drew his knife and drove it through a weak spot in Hrothgars Terminator armour causing a wound. Enraged at the stabbing pain Hrothgar kills all but one of the Firewarriors, with a bloodied combat knife still in his hands the Tau warriors sees his chace and flees through a small doorway out of combat towards the safety of the Fireknife suits nearby.

The Fireknife battlesuits cheered thier comrade on having safely escaped certain death against the Fenrisian. Cheers of joy soon turn to screams of horror as the door which the Firewarrior escaped from exploded outwards in a shower of debris making way for a rather angry Lone Wolf who barreled through the gap in hot pursuit. I had rolled a 6 for Hrothgars consilidation move and he made straight for the battle suits.

My turn started with an extreme act of violence as the lone Firewarrior over on the left flank was gunned down in his hoke by Kjartans pack.

The rest of the Space wolf army does little in the shooting phase as most of the Tau are either out of range or concealed.

Hrothgar bellows a mighty war cry and plows straight into the Tau commander and his comrades. Hrothgars wolves are cut down by the armoured suits but it is too little too late for the Tau commander as the last thing he see's his Hrothgars Hammer arcing high above his head. Seeing their commanders head pop like a melon is too much for the Fireknife team who decide to flee off the battlefield back to the Manta. The inner beast has truly taken over Hrothgar now as he consildates straight towards the nearby Deathtrain suit.

Turn 4
The tau are definately on the back foot by now but there is still some fight in them. The hammer head keeps up its kill streak by knocking the last Land Speeder out with a Railgun slug.

With little else to do Ulf orders the Grey Hunters to mop up the remaining Tau drones floating around the battlefield.

Hrothgar howls as he charges the Deathrain suit hoping to find an opponent to best him in combat. The Battlesuit stands little chance against the frenzied Wolf and is cut down depsite bravely attempting to stop the rampaging Space Wolf. Hrothgar then spies a squad of Firewarriors hiding in some nearby Ruins which he decides will be his next victims.

Turn 5
In what will be its final act the Hammerhead wrecks the crippled Predator claiming yet another kill. The rest of the Tau army is in flames of fleeing, having just seen the carnage caused by the Giant Space Wolf the Tau Firewarriors set to receive the charge. Levelling their Pulse rifles they unleash everything they have at the oncoming monster but it is not enough as the Fenrisian ignores the wounds caused.

Hrothgar smashes into the Firewarriors position sending stone and bodies flying in all directions. His hammer is swift and deadly killing three of the brave Tau warriors. The remainder of the squad break free of the massacre and head for safety.

It is at this point we roll to see if the game continues and we get a "1" neding the game. The final score is 10 kill points to 6 in favour of the Space Wolves, we then realise because Hrothgar failed to meet his maker he gave away a further kill point bringing the final score to 10-7.


CONCLUSION
That was a pretty decent game although it felt like a regular kill point mission due to Yukka's choice of deployment. I can see his thinking in that he wanted to bring as much firepower onto me as he could muster in the first turn. In hindsight I think he could have brought his three Devilfish on from behind and got plenty of rear armour shots with his strength 5 weaponry. I would have had to slit my force to deal with him too which would have aided the rest of his army. The Hammerhead was star of the show as it soaked up plenty of firepower and got a decent kill tally.

For me I have to say Hrothgar the Cursed won the day. I know Tau are not the close combat monsters he was made to fight but he really did plow through some units thanks to some nifty consilidation moves. My long ranged firepower did not really step up to the mark today but I think that was due to some ace Disruption pod work on Yukka's part.

As for my lists I think I'll be changing one of two things, I will probably end up giving Hrothgar a Chainfist to mince up armour more efficiently but apart from that I am fairly happy with it.

Overall I enjoyed the game and I am looking forward to playing more missions out of the Battle Missions book.

You can read the Tau's side of the battle here.

More UK GT Space Wolves Info

New recruit to the Space Wolves blog, Alex West was at the UK Grand Tournament and has more details on the Space Wolves army that came third.

Alex has been playing Space Wolves since the tender age of 12, some 15 years ago, and is the captain of the English ETC (Euro Team Championship) Warhammer 40K team with an equally strong love for gaming, painting and background.

Over to Alex with the latest shreds of information:


"With regards to the wolf armies at the GT final I saw the 2 Land Raider Crusader and unit of Thunderwolves army but I didn't see if it had 3 Wolf Guard. I assume it did though as all lists were checked!

I did however speak with Alex Harrison who came 3rd and got a copy of his list. It was:

Rune Priest [Living Lightning, Jaws, Chooser of the Slain] 110
Rune Priest [Jaws, Murderous Hurricane, melta bombs] 105
Rune Priest [Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane] 100

5 Wolf Guard [3 with power fist and combi-meltas, 1 with combi-melta, 1 with chainfist, terminator armour and cyclone missile launcher] 230

6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
6 Hunters [meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino] 155
5 Hunters [meltagun, razorback] 120

2 Speeders [multi meltas and heavy flamers] 140

5 Long Fangs [4 missile launchers] 115
5 Long Fangs [4 missile launchers] 115

Total - 1500 points

Speaking to him about the army the Rune Priests were awesome. The army stays compact so it can support eachother apart from the long fangs who go on either flank right at the back. The squads in rhinos seem small but actually tot up to 8 guys each when you add a Wolf Guard and a Rune Priest to each squad. The rhinos then generally advance 6" so the Rune Priests can cast from the top hatch. By placing the objectives as close together as possible it forces the enemy to come towards the bulk of the wolf army being picked on by the Long Fangs and Rune Priests then the Hunters can mop up what needs to be mopped up.

The Wolf Guard with the cyclone is an interesting option. In non annihilation games he walks around on his own behind the rhinos taking shots with his cyclone and generally being a nuisance, a bit like a Lone Wolf does. In annihilation he just joins one of the Long Fang squads. So he never costs a kill point, tricksy!

All in all an interesting army. I don't know if he played Eldar at all. I imagine it could struggle against them but on the flip side he would get good board coverage with his runic weapons so can stop the Eldar psychic powers. Also I imagine Land Raiders might cause an issue as missile launchers are great for popping most transports and medium tanks but aren't really a threat to armour 14. I guess thats where the Land Speeders come in but a canny opponent would target them first and foremost if he had a Land Raider or two.

There were a couple of other Space Wolf armies there, an all drop pod one which was mostly marooned around the bottom tables and a more mixed one which was floating around the mid tables I believe.

One good thing to note is that no two Space Wolf armies were the same which is the sign of a good codex!"


In the meantime, Alex Harrison has got in touch with the Space Wolves blog. All we need to do now is track him down and interrogate -er, I mean, talk to him about his experience with the Space Wolves army at the Grand Tournament.

I like this army, simply because it's got a lot of units. That makes it fairly forgiving and with plenty of long ranged firepower and close combat brutality, plus mobility to get where it's needed, there's very little that this list cannot do.

Stay tuned for more info as we get it. And of course, stay tuned for more content from Alex. Hopefully we'll get a look at his army soon too.

Warhammer 40K Spearhead

The next Warhammer 40K expansion is Spearhead which focusses on mechanised armies and enormous tank battles. If Warhammer 40K wasn't mechanised enough, Spearhead is a tread head's dream come true.

Of course, it's a great opportunity for Games Workshop to sell more tanks than ever and we can only cross our fingers that some of the Apocalyptic Formations boxes return so we can by our tanks in bulk discount once more.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the revamped Space Marine Predator with rumours of its improved sponsons. I think these will be the same as on the new Baal Predator for the Blood Angels, but the weapon mounts still don't have a lower support like the Land Raider sponsons. Still, they can't be any more flimsy than the current heavy bolter and lascannon Predator sponsons.

So as another supplement bolsters the Warhammer 40K game, it's becoming ever clearer that Games Workshop is promoting massive armies.

Previously we talked about choosing a 40K army, not just a 1500 points list to trounce your mates with. It seems more and more advantageous for players to choose a single army and build that and nothing else 'til kingdom come.

Then you would have this massive army which would allow me to comfortably play Apocalypse, Planetstrike, Battle Missions and now Spearhead.
Just some food for thought.

Warhammer 40K Spearhead is arriving in June and will bring even more missions to the game. I wonder what Tyranids will get instead of tanks? Probably more monstrous creatures.

Space Wolves at the UK Grand Tournament

Reports of Space Wolves armies at the UK Grand Tournament final are coming in.

Sadly I didn't make the Grand Tournament final with my Tau (just a few points short), but friend of the Space Wolves blog, Neil Kerr has returned with tales of heroism for the sons of Russ.

Two Space Wolves armies caught his eye while finishing 24th with his Chaos Daemons. The first is this brutally straightforward list with no long ranged support, just a lot of Space Wolves in two Land Raider Crusaders with a unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry to make a wonderful mess of things.

Thunderwolf Lord
5 Thunderwolves
(X2) 14 Blood Claws, Wolfguard with chainfist, Wolf Priest
+ Land Raider Crusader

Considering how much damage my Blood Claws did at the Chaos Day massacre, this is one hard hitting army and that's before the Thunderwolf cavalry crashes into the enemy! I'm very tempted to field this army, because it looks like a lot of fun and if the Land Raiders get blown up, 16 very angry Space Wolves will be getting out of them.

However, one plucky Space Wolf player was able to claw his way to 3rd position. Hopefully we'll get some more information about this army list, but from what Neil tells me, it consisted of:

3 Rune Priests
4 packs of Grey Hunters
2 packs of Long Fangs

This list picks the most cost effective of the Space Wolves units and maximises them to good use. Two units of Long Fangs provide the covering fire while 40 Grey Hunters march forward, joined by Rune Priests who focus their psychic powers to devastating effect.

I'm a little surprised that the army isn't mechanised, but maybe that's so it can squeeze in as man bodies as possible.

What each unit is armed with is a bit of a mystery right now, but my money would be on melta guns for the Grey Hunters and mostly missile launchers for the Long Fangs.

More news as we get it. In the meantime, give these army lists a go, fill in the gaps and see how you get on. They both look fun and competitive to play!

Tau VS Space Wolves

A game with the Space Wolves against the Tau Empire could be one of the easiest games I ever play. As a former Tau player myself (I will return to the Empire one day), I knew that there was only 1 way my opponent could stop the relentless rampage of the Space Wolves and that was with mobility and focussed firepower.

It was a big gamble, but I knew I'd have to go all out, speeding across the board and slamming into his lines with everything I had. Casualties be damned! The kill must be confirmed.

I suppose it was just my luck that we rolled Secure & Control with 4 Objectives for our mission and the Pitched Battle deployment.

Playing on a desert board with a huge no-man's land in the middle, my opponent Luke was feeling quite confident.

Luke's 1500 Points Tau Army
Tau Battlesuit Commmand Team: Shas'el, 2 bodyguards, plasma rifles, missile pods, 2 shield drones, all hitting on 3+

Tau Battlesuit Commmand Team: Shas'el, 2 bodyguards, plasma rifles, missile pods, 2 shield drones, all hitting on 3+

6 Stealth Suits

6 Fire Warriors
8 Fire Warriors

Broadside Battlesuit Team: Team leader with Advanced Stabilisation System, 2 shield drones and targetting array, 1 Broadside with Advanced Stabilisation System.

Broadside Battlesuit Team: Team leader with Advanced Stabilisation System, 2 shield drones and targetting array, 1 Broadside with Advanced Stabilisation System.

SET UP
I won the roll off, taking the first turn and setting up first. The plan was to kill things first and grab objectives later. I knew I couldn't survive repeated turns of Tau firepower, but just a few turns would be fine, then I could claim his Objectives and call it a day.

I set up as far forward as possible. Blood Claws in the centre, Long Fangs in the rocks, Grey Hunters to the left flank, 2 Grey Hunter Rhinos to the right and a Razorback out on the far right flank for any tank duelling.

I could only guess how Luke would set up. I probably would have deployed on the flanks to create maximum distance and catch the Space Wolves in a cross fire, but he formed a fairly even gun line.

From left to right his line included Battlesuit Command Team, Hammerhead, 2 Broadside teams, 6 Fire Warriors, Stealth Suit team, 8 Fire Warriors and a Battlesuit Command Team.

TURN 1
The Blood Claws ran towards the sand dune, followed by the Grey Hunter Rhino to their left which fired its smoke launchers.

The other two Grey Hunter Rhinos sped around the ruin, towards the palm trees on the right and fired their smoke launchers.

The Long Fangs fired krak missiles at the Battlesuit Command team to the left, killing 2 of the Shas'el's bodyguards and 1 of the drones.

The Razorback fired on the other Battlesuit team, but the shot was deflected by a shield drone.

The Tau gunline returned fire, stunning the crew of the Grey Hunter Rhino on the left flank. Explosions, smart missiles and pulse rifle fire slammed into the Blood Claws, but none of them fell.

The smoke launchers had done an excellent job of protecting the advancing transports from railguns, missile pods and more.

TURN 2
It was all looking so good until the Grey Hunter Rhino trapped behind its stunned fellow decided to drive through the nearby ruin and immobilised itself. Irritated, the Grey hunter pack disembarked and continued on foot.

The other Grey Hunter pack left their stunned crew behind and made their way forward on foot to the tree line and opened fire on the Tau Firewarriors through the trees, killing 4 of them, but the Firewarriors held.

On the left, the Blood Claws did their best to scale the sand dune, spreading themselves wide to threaten as many units as possible with their charge range.

To their left the Grey Hunters Rhino pulled alongside the sand dune and the Grey Hunters within disembarked, opening fire on the Broadside team to their front, but only succeeding in killing a single drone.

The Tau return fire was more decisive. The lone Battlesuit Commander, Broadside teams, Hammerhead, Fire Warriors and Stealth Suits combined their firepower to bring down 7 of the Grey Hunters, but it wasn't enough to stop the charge of the Space Wolves. Under the guidance of the Wolf Guard, the pack continues its advance.

On the right flank the Tau Battlesuit Command Team glanced the Razorback and prevented it from firing next turn.

TURN 3
The Grey Hunters who were forced to leave their immobilised Rhino embark in the spare one and drive towards the sand dune.

The other pack of Grey Hunters advance beneath the palm trees and gun down the rest of the Tau Firewarriors. Meanwhile several krak missile scream overhead, killing the 2 of the Battlesuit bodyguards and shield drones nearby.

The Razorback speeds forward and fires its smoke launchers to keep itself safe.

The Blood Claws spring across the sand dune and into close combat with one of the Tau Broadside Battlesuit teams and smash them to scrap metal before sweeping towards the Stealth Suits who have found themselves trapped at the back of the board.

The 3 remaining Grey Hunters leap upon the Tau Firewarriors who are ripped apart by the feral wulfen before the Wolf Guard can even use his powerfist. Their bloody work done, they consolidate back on to the sand dune.

With nowhere to fall back to, the Stealth Suits lock Blood Claws along with the Hammerhead and Battlesuit Commander, but only managed to kill 2 of them. Luke isn't impressed by the number of 3+ saves I'm making and I can't blame him. This is what used to annoy me about playing James' space marines!

The Broadsides target the 3 Grey Hunters and kill two of them with their rail guns, leaving just the lone Wolf Guard.

The other lone Battlesuit Commander on the right flank fires at the Rhino transporting a Grey Hunter squad, immobilising and stunning it for the turn.

TURN 4
The Blood Claws butcher the Stealth Suits.
The lone Wolf Guard runs to the nearby Objective. The nearby Rhino reverses to block line of sight.

With their transport destroyed the Grey Hunters on the right get out and add their fire to that of the Grey Hunters beneath the palm trees claiming and Objective. Between them they make short work of the last Tau Battlesuit.

The Long Fangs loose another salvo of krak missiles, this time at the Tau Hammerhead, but the rockets patter harmlessly off the thick front armour.

The Broadsides, Battlesuit Commander and Hammerhead fall back into the corner.

The Hammerhead targets the Blood Claws, killing just 1 of them.
The Broadsides blow up the nearby Rhino, revealing the lone Wolf Guard on an Objective.
The Battlesuit fires its plasma rifle and missile pod at the Wolf Guard, but it unable to kill him.

TURN 5
The Grey Hunter pack next to the immobilised Rhino dash across the sand dune and to the Wolf Guard's side, securing the objective.
The Long Fang's kill the last Tau Battlesuit.
The Blood Claws run towards the Broadsides, but are out of charge range.

Luke fires the Broadsides and Hammerhead into the Blood Claws, killing 5 of them and the game ends.


CONCLUSION
Tau fire power just isn't what it used to be. I feel that my opponent could have played better by using his Hammerhead to block line of sight to his Battlesuits who could have got closer and hosed down my Space Wolves with rapid firing plasma rifles, then jumping back to stay outside of charge range.

Compared to my old Tau army, Luke's is very static and relies on the Broadsides to deliver the killing blows to transports. Maybe if he'd got the first turn things would have been more difficult for me.

It was clear to see what happens to a Space Wolves squad at full strength if he concentrates his fire power.

There wasn't really many tactics on my part. I just knew to shoot his battlesuits with lots of krak missiles and keep surging straight towards him.

I would have been more hesitant if he'd put all his Battlesuits with plasma rifles together. I suppose I would have them driven all my transports at him, let them get blown up and try chasing him around the board with a horde of 45 Space Wolves.

Actually, I think I'm being too humble. There were tactics here. I made sure all my units could support one another. The Grey Hunters to the left supported the Blood Claws in the centre while the Grey Hunters packs on the right supported one another quite nicely, despite some transport problems early on.

The Blood Claws went on a bit of a mindless rampage, leaving the Long Fangs the stars of the show once again. Seven krak missiles is quite amazing.

Well, that's enough battle reports from me for a while. I need to finish painting the squad and company markings on my first 1500 points, then I have some Thunderwolf conversions to make a start on.

Khorne Daemons VS Space Wolves

The second day of the friendly tournament began with my Space Wolves fighting Khorne Daemons. Having beaten Alex's Daemon's the day before, I was ready for Greater Daemons, Daemon Princes and Soul Grinders. The only difference was that Mr Fisher had 2 Soul Grinders. I later found out that he also *ahem* 'tweaked' his army list to better fight mine. But considering I was 75pts over by mistake, I forgive him.

Simon Fisher's 1500 Points of Khorne Daemons
1 Blood Thirster
12 Blood Letters
12 Blood Letters
4 Blood Crushers
2 Soul Grinders
7 Plague Bearers
1 Daemon Prince with shooty powers

SET UP
We rolled for mission and set up, getting Secure & Control with 4 Objectives and the Spear Head deployment. Not ideal, but hey.

4 Objectives were placed. one in the rocks, one in the woods, one at the foot of the landing pad and one in the woods to the right.

I had to laugh when I discovered I was playing on the same table for 3 games running.

Simon won the roll off, choosing a quarter which would force my army to deploy in as little terrain as possible. With nothing to set up, it was over to me to deploy my army.

I deployed much the same as before with Long Fangs up on a hill and the Blood Claws forming the centre of my battle line, flanked either side by Grey Hunter packs in Rhinos.

My plan was to repeat my last game against Alex and his Daemons by using the rocks as a defendable position.

I really could have done with the first turn to get my army into position, but Simon seemed to be aware of that.

TURN 1
The Soul Grinder tried to appear on the landing pad, but scattered left towards the trees and opened fire on the Blood Claws with its phlegm cannon and machine gun arm, killing three of the young Space Wolves.

A pack of Blood Letters emerged in the rocks and spread out, awaiting the advancing Blood Claws. The awesome form of 'The First Obliterator' teleported in behind them and ran into the rocks.

The Blood Thirster was not far behind, but scattered away from the rocks, to the left of the landing pad.

Finally, the Blood Crushers landed on target between two of the Tau domes, safely concealed out of sight from the Long Fang's missile launchers.

With no desire to over stretch myself in wanting to attack the Blood Crushers, I charged the Blood Claws, led by their Wolf Priest towards the Blood Letters in the rocks. They fired their bolt pistols and melta guns as they advanced before crashing into the snarling, reptilian figures. Two of the Blood Claws were cut down before the Wolf Priest and the howling Space Wolves hacked the daemons to bloody chunks.

They strategically fell back through the rocks, just out of range of the Blood Thirster's charge.

The Grey Hunter Rhino cruised around the back of the Blood Claws, between the Long Fangs and the rocks to form a better position for a counter-attack.

The Long Fangs let fly their krak missiles at the bellowing Soul Grinder, rocking its biomechanical body in ways that would have stunned other vehicles, but due to its daemonically possessed body, it began to advance with little concern. Even the Razorback's twin linked lascannon was unable to do anything.

TURN 2
To make matters worse a second Soul Grinder emerged on the left flank and fired its cannon at the clustered Rhino transports. Fortunately it scattered and missed.

The Soul Grinder to the North scuttled across the open ground and over the rocks into close combat with the Blood Claws who began swarming around it, hacking away with chainswords and planting krak grenades to little effect. After the daemon engine had plucked 3 Space Wolves from the ground and crushed them in its claws, the Wolf Guard terminator's chainfist found its mark, but was unable to cut through the Soul Grinder's armour!

Content that the Soul Grinder would deal with the Blood Claws, the Daemon Prince advanced towards the Grey Hunter Rhinos and fired another Bolt of Change, but was only able to shake the crew.

The Blood Thirster took to the skies and landed alongside the Daemon Prince, but would be unable to charge this turn.

To the right flank, the Blood Crushers began to advance out from behind the Tau dome

I had no choice but to leave the Blood Claws to their slow, steady fate if the Wolf Guard couldn't take out the Soul Grinder in time.

But the Blood Thirster and Daemon Prince I could deal with now.
The newly arrived Soul Grinder, I'd just have to ignore for the time being.
If the Blood Crushers charged the Blood Claws in the rocks, I'd have to deal with that later as well.

The three Grey Hunter Rhinos drove forward, disembarking the 30 Space Wolves across the woods to the left and the rocks to the centre. The Grey Hunters aimed their bolters as one, ready to open fire.

The Long Fangs on the hill launched a salvo of krak missiles at the Blood Thirster. The twin linked lascannon turret of the Razorback took aim and inflicted the final wound, banishing the Greater Daemon of Khorne back to the warp. My opponent wasn't a happy bunny!

With nothing else to shoot at, the 30 Grey Hunters turned their guns towards the Daemon Prince and blasted him apart in a spectacular display of close range firepower.

It was at this point that American Paul from my first game walked passed and exclaimed "Man! That's a lot of Space Wolves!"

The combat between the Soul Grinder and the Blood Claws continued as crushing claws murdered two more Space Wolves failing to breach the creature's iron hull with krak grenades. The Wolf Guard terminator struck again with his chainfist, sawing through the daemon engine's underside, causing a massive explosion! Fortunately all of the Blood Claws survived and used their consolidation move to move away from the Blood Crushers who may now be out of charge range.

TURN 3
The Plague Bearers appear beside the objective to the North, behind some woods and began shambling towards it.

On the right flank, the Blood Crushers advanced towards the rocks and attempted to charge, finding themselves 1" outside of their 5" difficult terrain roll.

On the left flank, the remaining Soul Grinder advanced, firing it's phlegm cannon and machine gun arm at the Grey Hunters in the woods, killing 4 of them, but the Space Wolves hold their ground.

The Grey Hunters in the woods hold position and ready their melta guns for when the Soul Grinder comes within range.

The other Grey Hunter pack also holds position, claiming an objective and expecting to sit there until the end of the game.

The Grey Hunter pack in the rocks advance alongside the Blood Claws who fire their storm bolters and melta guns as one before charging into the Khorne Blood Crushers. When the dust clears 2 brave Blood Claws have been trampled underfoot, but only 1 of the Blood Crushers remains.

Finally, the Long Fangs launch a salvo of krak missiles at the Soul Grinder to their left with little to show for. Once again it's up to the Razorback to finish what they started and it doesn't disappoint, hitting the daemon engine's power plant and causing a massive explosion as the daemonic energies within detonate.

TURN 4
The final pack of Blood Letters arrives and appears in the middle of the rocks on an Objective.

The Plague Bearers continue their audible shuffle towards the Objective to the North.

The Blood Claws and Grey Hunters finish off the last Blood Crusher with brutal efficiency. The Grey Hunters consolidate back towards the rocks, currently held by the newly arrived Blood Letters while the Wolf Priest leads the remaining Blood Claws towards the Plague Bearers to the North.

With a pack of Grey Hunters either side, the Blood Letters are in trouble. Both packs call on the power of their Wolf Standards and tear the daemons apart in a horrifying frenzy.

The Long Fangs fire krak missiles into the Plague Bearers, but their fire has little effect on such tough creatures.

Unable to hold the last Objective for long, Simon concedes and it's victory to the Space Wolves once more!


CONCLUSION
I played like a Tau player in this game. It's amazing what the subtlest movement in your army can achieve to keep you out of charge range for a turn. Delaying your opponent from getting any usefulness out of his units for a single turn can have a massive effect on the game.

As I've said before, Daemons come in waves. You deal with the immediate threats first and this makes the later waves easier to deal with.

If you can't deal with it all, move away from the elements you can't deal with and focus on the ones you can kill. If I'd let the Blood Thirster and Blood Crushers be able to charge, I would have had a much tougher fight on my hands.

I actually wanted to fight the Blood Thirster in close combat with my Blood Claws led by Wolf Priest, because it would have been fun. So long as the Blood Claws take the brunt of what the enemy has to throw at my Space Wolves I'm happy. It's the Grey Hunters that do all the strategic work.

I was worried when the Soul Grinder didn't die from my first salvo of missiles from the Long Fangs. However, I was equally surprised that Simon charged him into close combat. If those had been my Soul Grinders I'd have used their constant shelling to keep the Space Wolves' heads down.

Simon's reserve rolls weren't brilliant, but even so, he could have put the pressure on me so much more easily by being a bit more ballsy with his Deep Striking. Often he was just too far away to be effective.

After three games of the Space Wolves on the defence, my final game of the weekend would depict the outright ferocity of the Space Wolves on the attack against the Tau Empire.

Daemons VS Space Wolves

If Tyranids weren't bad enough, my Space Wolves would now be fighting off Chaos Daemons. This was going to be a real test of the Space Wolves close combat potential and with so many AP3 weapons, power weapons and rending claws flying about, there would be a lot of casualties.

But with numbers, guns and mobility on my side, I was sure my 1500 points Space Wolves army would be able to pull it off.

I stuck with the original plan, which was to keep close to cover, using my Blood Claws as bait and the Grey Hunters as back up while the Long Fangs would provide supporting fire. The Wolf Scouts would probably get slaughtered in this game, but that's how it goes some times.

Alex's 1500 Points Chaos Daemons
1 Keeper of Secrets
1 Herald on Juggernaught
1 Masque
12 Daemonettes
12 Blood Letters
12 Plague Bearers
3 Flamers
2 Fiends
1 Soul Grinder
1 Daemon Prince

SET UP
We ended up playing on the same table again and rolled for mission and set up getting Annihilation (yay!) and Pitched Battle. Alex won the roll and made me go first so that I'd waste a turn doing nothing. Fine by me as it gives me time to get my forces into position to receive the Deep Striking Daemons.

I set up the Long Fangs on the hill, Blood Claws in the middle, flanked either side by a Rhino full of Grey Hunters. I kept 2 Grey Hunter packs in their Rhinos to the left. Depending on the strength of the Daemons, I may have to pull to one flank and the left flank with its more open terrain was my flank of choice. I'd either get my fill of Kill Points and fall back or focus all of my force on a single flank and crush the Daemons there. Of course, the Rhinos also had plenty of movement to reinforce the centre of the Blood Claws were holding out.

TURN 1
The Blood Claws sprinted forward into the rocks, the Grey Hunters sped either side of them in their Rhinos while a third Rhino waited at the rear to see how the battle went. They fired their smoke launchers in unision. The Long Fangs loaded their missile launchers in anticipation.

The Soul Grinder materialised onto of the landing pad to the North and fired into the Blood Claws, combining its firepower with that of the 3 Flamer who appeared just outside of the rocks. To the left of the rocks, behind the wood, the Keeper of Secrets appears and cast a shooting attack that ignored the armour of the young Space Wolves. The combined barrage of unearthly powers wiped out 9 of the Blood Claws. Made fearless by the presence of the Wolf Priest, the pack held it ground.

The Daemon Prince also arrived and scattered wildly to the left flank, landing in some rocks and launched a psychic barrage against the nearest Rhino, but had difficulty inflicting any damage due the obscuring trees and smoke.

The Daemon Herald riding a Juggernaught of Khorne also scattered to the right flank and took refuge behind the nearby Tau dome.

TURN 2
The Grey Hunters on the left flank disembarked into the woods and opened fire on the Keeper of Secrets.

The Grey Hunter Rhino on the right swept around the rocks and the Grey Hunters disembarked into the rocks and gunned down the Flamers of Tzeentch with little effort.

The Grey Hunter Rhino in the centre trundled forward cautiously with the Wolf Guard and melta gun armed Grey Hunter aiming at the Greater Daemon from out of the top hatch.

Seeing their chance for glory, the Blood Claws, led by the Wolf Priest charged out of the rocks, firing their melta guns and bolt pistols and barrelled into the Keeper of Secrets who snipped them in half one at a time as they advanced. Only the Wolf Priest remained who struck the Greater Daemon with every attack thanks to his Saga of the Beast Slayer, bringing the creature down to a single wound.

The Long Fangs targeted the Soul Grinder in the distance, blowing off its legs, but doing little else. The Razorback's twin linked lascannon turret spun around and blew the biomechanical daemon's head apart, leading it a steaming wreck of twisted metal and sizzling flesh. (Can you tell I've been reading 40K fiction lately?)

Alex rolls quite badly for his reserves and a pack of Daemonettes appears beside the Herald on Juggernaught, using his icon to emerge safely from the warp.

The Herald and Daemonettes cautiously advance around the Tau dome.

The Keeper of Secrets makes short, bloody work of the Wolf Priest, before falling back to the cover of the woods, even if the nearby Grey Hunter pack is waiting for her.

On the left flank, the Greater Daemon staggers out of the rocks and fires at the Grey Hunters in the woods, killing 2 of them.

TURN 3
With little resistance at this point, the Grey Hunter Rhino behind the rocks speed around them and the pack of Grey Hunters disembarks in front of the landing pad.

The Grey Hunters in the rocks advance to the edge of the terrain and level their bolters at the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh.

The Grey Hunters in the woods move around the Keeper of Secrets, towards the rocks.

All three Space Wolves packs open fire and mercilessly gun down the decadent monstrosity.

The Long Fangs take aim at the Daemon Herald riding Juggernaught to their right flank and blast him apart in a devastating salvo of krak missiles. The Razorback takes aim at the Daemon Prince on the left flank and inflicts a single wound.

A pack of Blood Letters emerges from the warp to the left flank and scatters away from the rocks, leaving them out in the open. They run forward an impressive 6" to close with the Grey Hunters occupying the rocks.

A pack of Plague Bearers appears beside the Long Fangs while the Daemonettes run into the nearby trees for protection from a possible frag missile salvo.

On the left flank, the Daemon Prince continues his ponderous advance, firing psychic missiles at the nearby Rhino and yielding no results as his Bolt of Change misses once again.

Meanwhile two Fiends of Slaanesh appear to the left of the landing pad and gallop forwards. I want to stay as far away from these as possible, but I may have to let them just charge me and deal with it.

TURN 4
It's turning into a shooting gallery.

Not wanting to be charged by the Fiends of Slaanesh, the Grey Hunters by the landing pad get back in their Rhino and speed towards the rocks where another Grey Hunter packs marches towards the approaching Blood Letters.

The other Grey Hunter pack advances alongside them and the two Space Wolves packs (with some help from their Rhino transports) blast apart the Bloodletters with ease.

I know that this is the last volley of fire I'll get from the Long Fangs before the Plaguebearers charge them. So I let loose with all my krak missiles at the Daemon Prince, bringing him down to a single wound. His Daemonic save deflects the finishing lascannon beam from the Long Fangs Razorback.

The Space Wolves circle the wagons around the rocks. I want the Fiends of Slaanesh to charge one of the Rhinos, but Alex advances cautiously instead.

The Masque prances into existence alongside the Plague Bearers and 'lashes' the Long Fangs towards the slow and purposeful daemons.

The nearby Daemonettes leave the woods and move in for the kill next turn.

The Daemon Prince marches through the woods and fires at the Long Fangs, killing 1 of them.

The Plague Bearers and The Masque charge the Long Fangs and lose two of their numbers to the veteran Space Wolves.

TURN 5
The wall of Rhino transports part and a pack of Grey Hunters marches out of the rocks, gunning down the Daemon Prince with their bolt pistols and melta gun before they could charge.

The two other Grey Hunter packs got in their Rhinos and continued cruising at full speed around the rocks. Once the Long Fangs had been wiped out, there would be hell to pay!

The Long Fangs continued to bravely battle the Plague Bearers, taking three casualties, but held their ground.

The Fiends of Slaanesh galloped around the trees and smashed into the Grey Hunters who had made short work of the Daemon Prince. Having torn apart 4 of the Space Wolves, a ferocious counter-charge of rending claws and powerfists silenced the bizarre creatures.

The Daemonettes joined the ponderous combat between the Long Fangs and Plague Bearers, wiping out the Space Wolves with elegant ease.

With three packs of angry Grey Hunters ready to unleash the full fury of Fenris upon the Daemonettes and Plague Bearers, things looked bad for the Daemon army. Fortunately, the game ended on Turn 5.

Daemon Kills:
Wolf Priest, Blood Claws, Long Fangs, Wolf Scouts (omitted)
= 4 Kill Points

Daemon Kills:
Soul Grinder, Keeper of Secrets, Daemon Prince, Soul Grinder, Flamers, Blood Letters, Fiends, Herald.
= 8 Kill Points


CONCLUSION
Daemons come in waves, so put everything on the board and bring all your firepower to bear. For me it was much like playing my old Tau army. You set up, you take some hits, you keep moving and bring as much of your army to bear on 1 target as possible.

Annihilate that 1 target, then move on to another.
And only deal with the immediate threats. Target priority is key.

Because Daemons come in waves, if you can wipe out important parts of each wave (like the Soul Grinder), it makes the later turns of the game that bit easier.

By Turn 3, I was ready and waiting for the rest of his army to arrive. Unfortunately for Alex, it took a little longer to arrive, which gave me some more breathing space before the next wave hit.

The Blood Claws took a real beating in this game, but I'd rather that they took it to the face than any other parts of my army. They also crippled the Keeper of Secrets and the Wolf Priest died a glorious death having wounded the Greater Daemon. I'd say he lives up to his Saga Of The Beast Slayer!

The Grey Hunters may have had the glory, but the Long Fangs were the stars of the show yet again. There's nothing that can't be solved with a salvo of seven krak missiles it seems. And if it can't, what's why I have the Razorback on stand by.

Tyranids VS Space Wolves

My third game with the Space Wolves would be against the Tyranids. As the first game of the Chaos Day weekend, I was drawn against Paul the crazy American.

He was so American it was awesome! Tall and loud with a beard, a trucker cap and said "Man" a lot. Great guy.

Anyway, he'd only played a few games with his Tyranids and I was surprised (and slightly disappointed) to see a lack of Trygons or Mawlocks in his army. But the new Hive Guard were present, as was the dreaded Doom of Malanthai.

We rolled for mission and set up getting Capture & Control and Spearhead deployment.
I won the roll off and chose to go first.

I felt confident that my 1500 points Space Wolves army could deal with the mission, hang onto my objective while contesting his. Claiming the Tyranid objective could be tough, so I planned to play defensively while surging the Rhinos forward in the dying turns of the game to contest his base counter.

Paul's 1500 Points Tyranid Swarm

1 Hive Tyrant with Barbed Strangler (or whatever they call it now), old adversary, some other upgrades
1 Tyrant Guard

3 Hive Guard
2 Zoanthropes in a Mycetic Spore
1 Doom of Malanthai in a Mycetic Spore

12 Genestealers with upgrades to reroll to hit and reroll to wound
12 Genestealers and Brood Lord with upgrades to reroll to hit and reroll to wound

12 Termagaunts with devourers
12 Termagaunts with devourers


SET UP
I won the roll off and let Paul go first. Paul set up his Hive Guard behind the landing pad to the North where they would be difficult to see while being able to shoot at me with their Impaler cannons. Sweeping round to his Objective in the top right corner were Genestealers, Termagaunts, the Hive Tyrant, Genestealers led by a Brood Lord and more Termagaunts who were permanently left in place for the whole game to guard that single objective.

The Zoanthropes and the Doom of Malanthai waited to deepstrike onto the board from their Mycetic Spores.

I deployed my forces on the bottom left corner with my objective on the edge of the rocks which were occupied by the the Long Fangs, with their Razorback at the top flank to give them some cover and add to their barrage.

I then placed the Blood Claws led by Wolf Priest and Wolf Guard as far forward as possible behind the woods, flanked by a pack of Grey Hunters in a Rhino APC to their right and two packs of Grey Hunters in Rhinos to their left. The Wolf Scouts were held in reserve to Outflank where I forgot about them until the end of the game -doh!

TURN 1
The Tyranid swarm ran forward into better positions, looking to close with the Space Wolves as quickly as possible. The Hive Guard fired at the nearest Grey Hunter Rhino as they advanced around the land pad, but only succeeded in preventing the transport from firing next turn.

The Tyranid army didn't have that much shooting, but their close combat potential was quite terrifying. They'd have more shooting once the Zoanthropes arrived, but I'd have to deal with that later.

The Blood Claws ran into the woods, tempting the swarm to charge them, while the Grey Hunters in their Rhinos surrounded the young Space Wolves, ready to get out of their APCs and charge or drive up, get out and rapid fire, then prepare for a counter-charge. The Rhino's fire their smoke launchers.

The Long Fangs open fire on the Hive Tyrant, their poor aim hitting very little. Their Razorback fires at the Hive Guard to get their attention and inflicts a single wound on the tough Tyranid creatures.

TURN 2
The first Tyranid Mycetic Spore arrives and lands in the space between the advancing Space Wolves and the Long Fangs I had left on purpose for it. Well within 12" of the nearby Grey Hunter Rhino, the Space Wolves within would be able to disembark and charge no matter what happened this turn.

The Zoanthropes targetted the rear armour of the tank and immobilised it with a blinding flash of psychic energy.

The Tyranids continue their advance while the Hive Guard hold position and fire at the Blood Claws along with the newly arrived Mycetic Spore, the advancing Hive Tyrant and Termagaunts. Between them they kill just enough to leave the Genestealers just out of range and unable to charge the Blood Claws.

The Space Wolves trap was sprung.
One Grey Hunter pack to the left of the Blood Claws got out of their Rhino and marched forward, bolters at the ready.

Their empty Rhino sped backwards towards the Mycetic Spore.

The Grey Hunter pack behing the Blood Claws disembarked from their immobilised Rhino and crashed into the Zoanthropes, smashing them to pulp.

The Blood Claws marched out of the woods and right up to the Genestealers, firing their bolt pistols before charging into close combat with the few aliens that remained. 4 Blood Claws were torn apart, but not before the Genestealers were wiped out and the Blood Claws continued their charge on to the landing pad to the North.

This left the Grey Hunter to their left with little to do. Instead of firing their bolters, they ran towards the cover of the landing pad and the Hive Guard's firing position.

This was a big mistake on my part when I could have driven up to the Hive Guard and began firing into them, but I wanted to cover the Blood Claws in case they hadn't rolled high enough to charge out of the woods and into the Genestealers.

The other Grey Hunter squad disembarked into the rocks and gunned down the nearby Termagaunts. I wanted the Hive Tyrant to charge them.

The Long Fangs fired a salvo of krak missiles at the Hive Tyrant, killing the Tyrant Guard and bringing the beast down to 2 wounds. A single shot from the Razorback's twin linked lascannon and it was down to just 1 wound.

TURN 3
The Doom of Malanthai appeared in the centre of the board and unleashed its terrible Soul Leach upon the gathered Space Wolves, killing 3 Grey Hunters by the landing pad and 4 down in the rocks, but the Blood Claws were protected by the heightened Leadership of the Wolf Priest. Angered by this, the Doom of Malanthai launched a Strength 10 psychic fireball against the Blood Claws, killing 5 of them.

The Hive Tyrant charged into the remaining squad only to be cut down by the Wolf Priest who roared in triumph at fulfilling his Saga Of The Beast Slayer.

The Genestealers led by the Brood Lord rolled a consistent number of 6's to leap across the rocks and into the Grey Hunters and began dismembering the squad.

The Hive Guard fired at the nearby Grey Hunters, killing 3 of them.

Faced with the Doom of Malanthai sucking out the souls of my Space Wolves in every shooting phase, including my own, I had to get the hell out of there!

The Blood Claws ran to the right, while the Grey Hunters by the landing pad crashed into the Hive Guard and tore them to bloody chunks.

The Grey Hunters which had destroyed the Zoanthropes embarked inside the new Rhino that had been sent for them while the Grey Hunters in the rocks fought to a man as the Genestealers made short work of them.

The empty Rhino drove at full speed around the rocks. If the Grey Hunters were dead, their Rhino APC may as well try to contest the Tyranid objective.

The Long Fangs got the Doom of Malanthai in their sights. Even with the creature's 3+ invulnerable save, there was no way it would survive 7 Krak missile shots. Every single missile hit and wounded their target and the mutant Tyranid detonated in a shower of straw coloured fluid.

The Razorback took aim at the nearby Mycetic Sport and cut it in half with its lascannon. I was surprised to discover that Mycetic Spores only have a toughness of 4 and can be instantly killed.

TURN 4
It was all over for the Tyranids and all Paul could do now was fall back and protect his objective.

The Genestealers made short work of the last Grey Hunter in the rocks before rushing across the board to catch up with the advancing Rhino APC.

The Termagaunts sitting on the objective opened fire on the Blood Claws, killing all 3 of them and the Wolf Guard in Terminator armour. The Wolf Priest was suddenly very alone.

The Grey Hunters who had finished off the Hive Guard ran towards the Wolf Priest and added him to their ranks.

The Grey Hunter Rhino continued its advance while the Long Fangs took a heavy toll on the retreating Genestealers and Brood Lord with a deadly accurate barrage of 7 frag missiles.

The Razorback targeted the last Mycetic Spore and blew it apart.

Meanwhile the Grey Hunters that had killed the Zoanthropes got in the new Rhino and sped towards my own objective.

TURN 5
The Brood Lord charged the Grey Hunters Rhino, but failed to stop its relentless advance.

The Termagaunts fired on it, but couldn't get through its front armour.

The Grey Hunter Rhino ploughed into the lesser Tyranid creatures who failed their morale check and fled off the table. Meanwhile the Grey Hunters led by the Wolf Priest were able to embark into the Rhino.

The game went on for another turn as the Brood Lord tried fruitlessly to rip open the Rhino transport. The Space Wolves disembarked, ready to strike down the roaring Tyranid, but put him down with their bolt pistols.

The fight was over, the table cleansed of alien filth. The Space Wolves had been victorious, claiming both objectives and losing only 2 units. Then I realised that I'd forgotten to roll for the Wolf Scouts to arrive.

CONCLUSION
Okay, this wasn't the strongest Tyranid army, but it shows what you can achieve by using all your Space Wolves units to support one another.

The Blood Claws were my 'juicy bone' bait unit to lure him in, the three Grey Hunter packs in Rhinos were my counter attack and the Long Fangs were my fire support. The Wolf Scouts (if I remembered to bring them on) would be a distraction/herder/sacrifice unit.

It's a pretty simple plan, but it seems to work and it consistently worked throughout the weekend.

I think the real beauty of it is that the Blood Claws can really hold their own due to numbers, Wolf Guard, Wolf Priest and melta guns.

I know that sooner or later the Long Fangs will fall foul of Outflanking units, but when I come up against that kind of army, I'll figure out another deployment to beat it.

In this game Paul was amazed at how much cover I used, but it kept my guys alive darting from cover to cover, which really saved my bacon with the Doom of Malanthai blasting apart my Blood Claws.

As for the Doom of Malanthai, Paul expected me to charge everything I had at it. Considering how many Grey Hunters I'd lost to it in a single turn, using my movement to get the hell away was very sensible. I can see lots of people's heavy weapon squads getting in practice to gun this thing down.

Having crushed my first opponent, we broke for lunch.
Stay tuned for my next game against Alex Ley's Daemons.