How Many Powerfists?

Back on the subject of taking Space Wolves to the Battle of the Chumps. The most important part of the army is the first 1000 points.

I've taken Brad's original list, because it has all the good stuff and plenty of it. A Rune Priest, 3 Wolf Guard leading 3 packs of Grey Hunters with plenty of upgrades in Rhinos and a pack of Long Fangs.

But, are the Powerfists on the Grey Hunters too much for 25 points each?
If I took off all 3, then I could afford a Razorback with twin linked lascannon for the Long Fangs.

1000pts Space Wolves Army List with Extra Powerfists
Rune Priest

(X3) Grey Hunters
Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Powerfist
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

BENEFITS
While quite expensive, the 2 extra Powerfist attacks in the first round of close combat (either due to charging or counter-charging) can make a big difference. It changes the increases squad's total of 3 Powerfist attacks (from the Wolf Guard) when charging to a total of 5. In the past I believe that this has proved pivotal in killing enemy units in close combat.


1000pts Space Wolves Army List with Extra Razorback
Rune Priest

(X3) Grey Hunters
Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Powerfist
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

BENEFITS
The Long Fangs can deploy as rapidly as the rest of the force and become more versatile thanks to having a transport which can block line of sight and protect them from one flank. It also stops any embarrassing difficult terrain rolls, which could prevent my Long Fangs from firing their missile launchers for 2 turns rather than just 1 when they would normally run into position.

Most importantly, the Razorback brings a lascannon to the board. In the past this 1 lucky lascannon has proven pivotal in taking down Soul Grinders, Hive Tyrants and Dark Eldar Ravagers.


CONCLUSION
So the choice is to go for better face-beating with the Powerfists, despite their cost or to go with the Razorback to more dynamic strategies, deployment and long ranged anti-tank.

I'm leaning towards the Razorback, because Space Wolves need all the lascannons they can get! In the past missile salvoes from the Long Fangs have been highly effective, but it's always been the twin linked lascannon on the Razorback that has taken down or finished off the big targets. The extra powerfists are great at pummelling things close up, but they'll never be able to easily take out the high point cost tanks and monsters without sustaining heavy casualties first.

I'd like to know your opinions and hear which of the two options you would choose and why.

My first 1000 points Space Wolves army for Battle of the Chumps is built, painted and ready to play. Once I've got this finalised, I can plan my next 500 points and focus on building and painting that.

I've already decided on my final 500 points (mostly due to time constraints), but more on that later!

PS: The Space Wolves blog is One Year Old today!

Speed Building Space Marines

If you want to build a Space Marine army at speed, you need to build and paint in big batches!

While it was awesome to sit down and take my time with the 5 Wolf Guard Terminators, I have a lot of power armoured Space Wolves to paint and not a lot of time to do it in. The Wolf Guard Terminators were relatively quick because they'd already been basecoated, washed and drybrushed, leaving them ready and waiting for the details to be added. As most people who know me as a painter will tell you -I'm a sucker for details!

How to Quickly Build Space Marines:
Step 1: Trim legs, glue onto bases
Step 2: Trim bodies, glue the two halves together
Step 3: Trim arms, heads, bolters, shoulder pads and back packs from the sprue
Step 4: Glue bodies onto legs
Step 5: Glue arms onto bodies, using boltguns to help get the hands in the right place to hold the bolter (which we'll leave off for painting later).#
Step 6: Glue on back packs
Step 7: Glue on shoulder pads
Step 8: Glue on head. You do this last to get the most out of the pose. After all, your Space Marines should be looking down their gun sights, not gazing off in some random direction.
Step 9: Go outside for an hour and ventilate the room!

This last part is really important. I've just sat and glued 40 Space Marines and my nose is pouring due to the polystyrene cement glue fumes. It's probably worth taking regular breaks and getting some fresh air every hour too!

Once they're all dried fully, come back and flock your models. Leave the flock to dry for at least 12 hours before you start painting. You don't want all the sand to come off and gunge up your brush, your paint and your model.

You can read the full guide for How to Paint Space Wolves, although I've basecoated, washed and drybrushed mine before leaving them on the shelf to wait their turn. I have to finish fully painting the models I'm most likely to field in a game of Warhammer 40K first!

Stay tuned for more frantic Space Wolves army building this week!
I can't wait until most of this is done. Then I can play some more games.

Nachomon Art

The Space Wolves blog has bribed the talents of Nachomon (aka: Nacho Fernandez) for a new set of banners and on site artwork.

As you can see, I've made some changes already and with more artwork on the way, we can dodge the 'cease and desist' bullet from Games Workshop for using so many of their official images before it comes.

I've known Nacho since starting FIREBASE magazine and shortly after persuading him to become one of our regular artists.

Since then (2006) his art has gone from strength to strength and he has pursued his trade as a professional illustrator with passion, skill and a crisp, clean style that makes his work instantly recognisable.

Nacho was also there to give me some pointers during the early days of the Space Wolves blog, back when the forthcoming Space Wolves Codex was merely a rumour.

As you can see (left) his latest batch of Warhammer 40K art is spectacular -combining his own unique comic book styling with the more gritty aspects of the 41st Millenium.

I can't wait to see what he produces for the Space Wolves blog.
In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for some amazing Space Wolf wallpapers!

Wolf Guard Terminators

Today I painted 5 Wolf Guard Terminators. Really pleased with how they turned out! I particularly like the terminator heads. It's amazing what you can achieve with just a basecoat, wash and drybrush.

As you can see, I've mostly given then combi-weapons and power weapons. This is because it's quite a unique load out for loyalist Space Marines and if no one else can take it, then it must be worth taking!

Besides, arming my Wolf Guard Terminators with anything else is more expensive than other Space Marine Terminator squads.

Wolf Guard Terminator Squad: 210pts
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and Chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with heavy flamer and power sword.

This squad is reasonably cost effective with a focus on anti-armour and anti-tank as well as a heavy flamer for hordes of light infantry. They're great to deploy by Drop Pod or from a Land Raider and because every model is an individual, you can get very crafty with your wound allocation.

It's also worth pointing out that the Heavy Flamer is a much better option than a Combi-Flamer for the same points!

I've painted these Space Wolves terminators in my usual scheme and converted their combi-weapons from storm bolters and parts from melta guns and plasma pistols.

I'll confess that the bases could be better. Some larger rocks would have broken up the large patch of ground quite nicely -but they looked fine before they were painted. Too late now to faff about, so I'll keep on pushing forward with my army. I'll definitely have to get some larger stones for when I make my Thunderwolf Cavalry.

If you'd like to know how I painted them, read our How to Paint Space Wolves guide.
If you'd like to know how I made the combi-weapons, then read our Combi-Weapon Conversion guide.

It's taken me a whole day to paint these. I'm shattered. I'll do the Space Wolves chapter badge another day.

In the meantime stay tuned for more updates throughout my Space Wolves painting week!

Logan Grimnar VS Mephiston

Logan Grimnar VS Mephiston duel. One shall stand, one shall fall!

If Logan Grimnar fought Mephiston who would win? Having read Mephiston's stat line in the new Blood Angels Codex, many people (Alex Harrison included!) are turning their gaze from the Space Wolves to the Blood Angels.

But, determined to prove them wrong is Brad, who threw down the gauntlet to Alex H, stating that Mephiston was "a dirty little space emo that can be smacked around."

Meanwhile, Alex insisted that Mephiston could not be beaten in close combat, even by the Chapter Master of the Space Wolves.

There was only one way to resolve this and as third party, it was up to me to be the referee.

Both characters have their own bonuses and restrictions in the game as a whole. Logan Grimnar would no doubt be leading a unit while Mephiston will be on his own.

In the end we decided that Mephiston would be charging into close combat using his Wings of Sanguinius psychic power and Fleet of Foot while Logan Grimnar will have chosen the Preferred Enemy skill as part of his High King ability.

Round 1:
Mephiston casts Wings of Sanguinius to fly into close combat, followed by Transfixing Gaze, which Logan fails his -4 Leadership test against. Mephiston draws his Strength 10 Sanguine Sword and unleashes 6 attacks.

Due to Logan failing against Mephiston's Transfixing Gaze, Mephiston will reroll to hit and to wound this round.

Mephiston is hitting on 3's and scores 4 hits before rerolls, scoring another 2 hits for a total of 6 hits!

Next he rolls to wound, needing 2's with rerolls. Unsurprisingly all 6 hits wound the Old Wolf.

However, Logan Grimnar's Belt of Russ grants him a 4+ invulnerable save. He passes 4 of the 6 saves, leaving him on just 1 wound. Mephiston cannot instantly kill the Space Wolves Chapter Master with his Force Weapon because Logan has the Eternal Warrior ability.

Having taken a beatening, it's now Logan Grimnar's turn!
The Old Wolf raises the Axe Morkai in two hands and Counter-Charges, also unleashing 6 attacks.

Because of his Wolftooth Necklace he hits on 3+, scoring 4 hits and thanks to his Preferred Enemy skill this turn, he rerolls the two failed dice, scoring another 2 hits for a total of 6 hits.

Because the Axe Morkai is being wielded in two hands it counts as a powerfist, so Logan will also be wounding on 2+.

He scores a total of 5 wounds to Mephiston. Unfortunately, the Blood Angels Chief Librarian doesn't have an invulnerable save and it quickly smashed into pulp by the High King of the Space Wolves.

Logan is heavily wounded, but victorious!

Round 2:
The same thing happens as before, by Brad rolls average for his 4+ invulnerable saves and Logan Grimnar takes 3 out of 6 wounds, which kills him.

Mephiston celebrates a flawless victory!

CONCLUSION
Alex H was quite surprised that Logan Grimnar can triumph over Mephiston in close combat. Having just finished his Logan Grimnar conversion, Brad was suitably chuffed!

Obviously a little bit of luck is involved and Mephiston is far more forgiving to play. It all comes down to Logan Grimnar's invulnerable saves. Which means it's going to go horribly wrong for one of the two special characters.

Truth be told, we're all finding that the Blood Angels army is extremely fierce and forgiving, but can be beaten by the Space Wolves backed up by some solid strategy. As a counter-attacking army, the Space Wolves have always done well against armies that come to them. As mentioned earlier, Logan Grimnar also augments those around him, not just himself!

Personally, I can't wait to field Logan Grimnar. With his collection of High Long skills, Living Legend ability and close combat prowess, he'll form a rock-hard core for a Space Wolves force by augmenting the troops around him.

More on Brad's Logan Grimnar conversion soon!

Battle of the Chumps (Botch)

Great news! James, Alex Harrison, Alex West and I have gotten into Battle of the Chumps. James will be taking his Dark Angels while the two Alex's and I will be taking our Space Wolves.

As I've already mentioned, Battle of the Chumps (aka: Botch) is the annual tournament run by wargaming group FlameOn! It includes 6 games over 2 days and is in an escalation format, starting with 1000pts, followed by 1500pts and ending in 2000pts.

You can't have 2 of the same HQ, Elite or Heavy Support choice.
You can't have 3 of the same Fast Attack choice.
This includes dedicated transports like Land Raiders and Battlewagons.

After Neil (the organiser) told me I'd be thrown in the 'Dirty Dozen' for my openly cheesy Logan Grimnar army with lascannon totting mob of Long Fangs, I've been rethinking my strategy -especially after seeing how James has made a pretty powerful and straightforward army using the Dark Angels Codex!

So it's time to nut up or shut up.

I've booked all of next week off work as holiday to chill, relax, de-stress (my job is stressful!) and paint little plastic dudes. So you can expect lots of painting updates throughout next week.

While I'm working through my Space Wolves army, I'm going to give the army lists for Battle of the Chumps some more thought.

But, I've decided to start with Brad's 1000 points list that he took to Vapnartak. It's going to take some playtesting, although I'm tempted to drop the Grey Hunter powerfists (maybe even a Grey Hunter and swap 1 Rhino for a Razorback) and give a twin linked lascannon Razorback to the Long Fangs.

Brad's 1000pts Space Wolves Army List

Rune Priest

3 Wolf Guard:
3 Combi Melta and 3 Powerfist
(Each of these is attached to a Grey Hunter unit

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers


Once I've finalised my first 1000 points, I'll need to create two 500 points expansions.

In the meantime, stay tuned for lots of painting next week. I may even have time to write a tutorial or two!

Goatboys Space Wolves

Hi, Goatboy here throwing down a Guest article talking about my current favorite army right now, Space Wolves.

I know my usual Space Wolves lists look a lot different than some other current play styles, so I wanted to go over my choices and explain why I feel they create an exciting and pretty successful list. I also want to mention some trends I am seeing and why I think they are not the best choices at this time.

First of all, let me throw down 2 lists, one for 1750 points and the other for 1500 points. In fact the 1500 points army would be the list I will most likely take to Las Vegas next year.

1750 - Thunder, Thunder, Thunder WOLVES HOOO!!!

HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Bear, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tail Talisman, Fenris Wolves X 2 - 265
HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Warrior, Frost Axe, Storm Shield, Runic Armor, Wolf Tail Talisman, Fenris Wolves X 2 - 280
HQ: Canis, Fenris Wolves X 2 - 205
Troops: Fenris Wolves X 15 - 120
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, MoW, Rhino - 205pts
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, MoW, Rhino - 205pts
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, MoW, Rhino - 205pts
Heavy: Long Fangs (6), ML X 3, HB X 2 - 130pts
Heavy: Long Fangs (6), ML X 3, HB X 2 - 130pts

Pts: 1745

1500 - Smaller Thunder Thunder Thunder Wolves HOOO!!

HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Bear, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tail Talisman, Fenris Wolves X 2 - 265
HQ: Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolf, Saga of the Warrior, Frost Axe, Storm Shield, Runic Armor, Wolf Tail Talisman, Fenris Wolves X 2 - 280
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, Rhino - 190pts
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, Rhino - 190pts
Troops: Grey Hunters (10), Meltagun, Flamer, Rhino - 190pts
FA: Fenris Wolves X 15 - 120
Heavy: Long Fangs (6), ML X 3, HB X 2 - 130pts
Heavy: Long Fangs (6), ML X 3, HB X 2 - 130pts

Pts: 1495

As you can see, both lists revolve around a massive assault element, followed by a large amount of back up in 3 large troop choices as well as a good mix of anti vehicle with anti infantry. What ends up happening with these types of lists, is that the opponent is involved with the big fist of doom for 2 to 3 turns, giving you more then enough time to get all your troops into position. This also lets your Long Fangs get a few more turns of shooting that they might not otherwise have also.

Space Wolves is one of the few books that can really gives us, Super Heros. We actually have characters that seem greater then life. In fact, that is one of the reasons I play this army because I feel it gives me the type of Chaos Lords I would really want to play with/ I am also an extremely aggressive player and this type of lists gives me the playing style I enjoy to throw down with.

The way I play this list is the hammer unit (dogs + Spiderman, Thor, and Wolverine) is going straight at my opponent. The other parts move into positions to deal with any survivors that might make it out of the Superhero Team book beatdown that is coming towards them. It is a pretty straight forward list and it rewards players who have good target priority skills as well as those who are not afraid to lose 250+ point characters.

Different armies provide different challenges for the list. The new Blood Angels book really only has a few things I am worried about. A Blood Taloned dreadnought will always be a pain, as they can easily kill all your dogs and then slowly start to put wounds on your super heroes. Fear the Darkness is another one of those really good psychic powers versus half the armies in the game so it is another thing to have to worry about. This is why you see 2 to 3 Wolf Tail Talismans in the super unit. The assault troops are not much better then your own and for the most part, your Super Heroes can take out just about anything they throw down. Go for the throat and don't look back versus the Blood Angels. Space Wolves love an army that gets closer.

Imperial Guard can be a completely different game. If you are going first, start on the board. If you are going second, go ahead and reserve/refuse flank. If they are playing a blob army, then just throw your Super unit into them. They should do more then enough wounds to hamper the crap out of it and still leave guys to kill during your opponents turn. If you are playing the Mech Imperial Guard build, move up and split out your guys to hopefully kill 2 to 3 chimeras/squads as you break out. The Long Fangs will come in handy to pop stuff and hopefully your Super Unit can keep them busy for awhile. If they get 2 good rounds of shooting there isn't a whole lot you can do. The WolfTail Talismans are there to stop Psychic Battle Squad nonsense too.

Marine builds are usually ok. If they are running a Vulkan spam list, just know your Thunder Wolves don't care about strength 8. Go after the Land Raider that is housing the Thunder Hammer termies, get them to come out and pop them. You have a ton of attacks that hit first, and any one or two guys you get rid of means you will most likely crush and win combat. Thunder Fire cannons can be annoying as they slow the unit down, if they are bothering you split up and just run at them in 2 to 3 units and hope for the best. You have much better assault elements and ways to easily kill 5+ guys per assault. You also do not fear Power Fists so just run in like the crazy Wolves you are. The massed Razorback spam you are seeing is also not that big of a deal, as you have a big unit that can multi assault a large batch of them as well as they needing to only drive 6 to be effective. Your long fangs can also go a long way by popping them. Also your 10 man squads will easily destroy any of those 5 man weenies that pop out of their hard candy shell.

Orks are a problem for this army, as deff rollas can auto kill your characters as well as nob bikerz being an extremely hard unit to crack. Two of them spells trouble and you have to play extremely smart and efficient to try and deal with them. If they are playing one unit, throw your hammer into it and hope you can spam out a ton of wounds. Have your Saga of the Bear touch the warboss and hope your other guys can throw down a ton of wounds into the squad to have a mutual destruction effect. You have an extremely good invulnerable save so you should be ok. Lootas are also a problem as they have the range as well as the strength to put a ton of wounds into the squad and take out your floating wounds. The boys are not that big of a deal as a dog charge should easily put 14+ wounds into a squad of guys, not including any of the super heroes.

Eldar are a really annoying list to throw down against. A rune priest would be a big help, but most of the time they are not killing your opponent so I have taken them out. Eldar players if you want to know a great secret to kill Space Wolves, tank shock. Their leadership is lower and with 3 to 4 tank shocks a turn, you can easily break the army and chase them down the board. If you are playing versus a lot of Eldar locally, then you might want to look at a Rune Priest somewhere in there. A 100 points isn't too hard to get and you can dumb down some of the characters to fit one in. This is why I have been paying Long Fangs as I need some long range fire power to go out and touch some of those jerk flying machines.

Tau are another annoying list, as it really takes you getting there. If you roll low fleets as well as low difficult terrain, expect to be whittled down by massed plasma and missile pods. Also if they are rolling well on the 4+ saves on vehicles look for a long game. This is one of those armies that just needs some small point tweaking as well as unit changes up to be a much more viable list. It is a shame as they are one of the more interesting looking armies out.

Dark Eldar can be a big pain as they have lots of speed as well as some annoying heavy fire power. Just try to get there and punch as many of them as you can. It is the same with Necrons as once you get there don't expect to stay in combat as you crush a ton of the robots too. A lot of the older armies suffer from being over costed and this type of lists punishes those by having a nice amount of troops, long range fire power, as well as some of the better assault elements you could ever see in the game.

So there you have it, my thoughts on my list and why I like to play it. Space Wolves is one of the few books that really gives you the Super Characters you read about in the stories and the fluff. I think GW did a great job letting the Thunder Wolf keep your character alive versus a hidden powerfist. I think some of the other Space Wolves lists become to reactionary and really are missing the ability to really hurt an opponents army instead of just reacting to it.

If all else fails, mob the enemy with a ton of hitting. Plus you have two super characters that can hurt a ton of stuff still. I wanted to show lists that don't suffer from reduced points level games and still give you an insane amount of punch. Plus 3 fat scoring units should do well versus most things.


Adam: So there we are. Words of wisdom (and brutality) from the Goatboy himself.

While I'm concerned by the lack of power fists and Wolf Guard as well as some flamers appearing where I'd rather have melta guns, it looks like quite a fun list to run.

Even so, there's a lot of units in there that most of us haven't gotten around to building yet. So it goes to show, if you want to play an army competitively, you need to get Everything and furiously paint it so you can play with Whatever you want Whenever you want!

I've always been a big fan of the Space Goats army for the simple fact that they can be used to represent absolutely anything in power armour. It's slightly wrong, but very convenient. They may not be the most conventional or the prettiest army you'll see, but if it's pure playability you're looking for, you'd do well to follow Goatboy's example.

As for his Space Wolves army list, I'll leave that to you to decide. Either way, it's worth taking for a spin and I shall certainly be giving his Thunderwolf Character Cavalry unit a go!

A New Direction for Munky

Well as you all know I got hitched the other weekend and my wife and I had a wonderful day, and we are grateful for your comments on the blog.

Unfortunately the honeymoon has fallen foul of the Volcano in Iceland and we have had to shelve our trip to Mexico for a couple of months.

This has meant I have had time to consider my new direction with my Space Wolves, My painting speed is slow and detailed so its gonna take me a while to do the figures how I want them but my local gaming buddies are joining me in revamping our armies.

The basic plan is to design a 750 point core force which we will paint up first and use in our weekly gaming night, the four of us pick a random partner on the night and combine our two forces into a 1500 point force and fight the other two.

So in light of that I have made a new list as my core force to collect and paint, which I will build on in the future up to 1500 and beyond.
Whilst I am doing this it will allow me to do some painting/modelling articles for the blog as well ( I will be visiting each of the Characters from the Codex in turn and hopefully turning out some spectacular paint jobs for you all)

Well that's enough prattle, what am I collecting:

Rune Priest = 100
Bolt Pistol + Runic Axe

Wolf Guard Battle Leader = 95
Bolt Pistol + Frost Axe

Wolf Scout squad = 85
1x Meltagun
4x Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

Grey Hunters = 165
1x Flamer
1x Meltagun
1x Mark of the Wulfen
7x Bolter + Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

Grey Hunters = 165
1x Flamer
1x Meltagun
1x Mark of the Wulfen
7x Bolter + Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

Long Fangs = 140
1x Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
5x Missile Launchers

Total = 750

I prefer footslogging armies and seeing as this isnt for tournament play thats why I am collecting them this way. Plus, it will give me a good core force to test out and build apon in the future.

The picture at the top is the Wolf Guard Battle Leader for this list I painted him up whilst waiting for news of our flight last night, he is a good indication of how the army will look once done.

Stay tuned for lots of Space Wolves army building updates!

Munky

Thunderhawk Scratch Build from Cardboard

This amazing Space Wolves Thunderhawk which has been scratch built using just cardboard, a Star Wars pod racer and some spare heavy bolters by Space Wolves blog reader Arastoru.

If you haven't got £375 to spare on a ForgeWorld Thunderhawk gunship or you fancy making a fleet of scratch built Thunderhawk gunships for Apocalypse games, this is a sensible option.

In order to get the cardboard nice and smooth, Arastoru started with a spray on car primer before painting the whole thing plate by plate, diluting the paint to make the final texture as smooth as possible.

You can see in the before and after photo how he's used cardboard from a number of sources including cereal boxes. Ultimately it's the clean line painting that makes this cardboard Thunderhawk look great.

Personally, I don't think I'd get away with the wash and drybrush painting style I use on my Space Wolves.

Even so, it shows what you can do with a little bit of cardboard and a lot of persistence.

Got an awesome Space Wolves conversion? Write to us at the Space Wolves blog to see your name up in lights!

Battle Report: Space Wolves VS Daemons

My first battle report on the Space Wolves blog! This week I took my Space Wolves for their second game against Neil's Chaos Daemons.

I was going to do a battle repprt of a game against my mates Eldar but mid way through I had a phone call to tell me that I had been burgled!

Luckily they only took my laptop and iPod. I also got married at the weekend. So now that's all out the way and I have a new laptop and no money, here is my first battle report!

We decided on a 1,750 points game using a regular mission from the rule book. We rolled up the mission which was Capture and Control with Pitched Battle deployment.

Alex West's 1750 Points Space Wolves Army:

Wolf Lord [Thunderwolf, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Runic Armour, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Beast Slayer]

Rune Priest [Stormcaller, Murderous Hurricane]

2 Wolf Guard [combi meltas, power fists]
1 Wolf Guard [combi melta, terminator armour, chainsfist]

Lone Wolf [Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer]

6 Wolf Scouts [melta gun, mark of the wulfen]

7 Grey Hunters [melta gun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, rhino]
8 Grey Hunters [melta gun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, power weapon]
5 Grey Hunters [melta gun, razorback - twin lascannons]

2 Land Speeder Typhoons

Land Raider [multi melta, extra armour]

5 Long Fangs [4 missile launchers]

Total - 1749 points


Neil's 1750 Points Chaos Daemons Army List:

Lord of Change
Blood Thirster

6 Fiends
6 Fiends
5 Crushers with full command

5 Plague Bearers x 2

3 Tzeentch Daemon Princes

Deployment:
I deployed everything apart from the speeders and scouts.

The raider, razorback and rhino clumped around my objective in the centre of the table while the long fangs took up a decent firing position on the balcony of a building to my right.

The wolf lord went to the right of the raider and the lone wolf went to the right of the rhino in the terrain to keep him roughly central.

Turn 1:
Neil chose a Lord of Change, Daemon Prince, Blood Thirster, unit of fiends and a unit of crushers as his preferred wave which he got.

Everything landed pretty much where he hoped it would and with a bit of running and shooting which stunned the rhino on the left and killed a long fang was done.

In my turn I don't move much. The wolf lord moves towards the lord of change intending to charge him whilst the land raider spins on the spot to pump some heavy firepower into him. The razorback moves backwards to add a lascannon to the mix. The lone wolf moves towards the rhino anticipating a blood thirster attack.

Shooting sees the land raider and razorback kill the lord of change with some poor dice from Neil. This freed up the long fangs to do a bonus 2 wounds on the blood thirster. The rune priest casts murderous hurricane on the blood thirster but it has no effect. In close combat the wolf lord charges the fiends, always a gamble due to the high number of attacks, and promptly dies. I can't complain too much after my shooting!

Turn 2:
Neil rolls for reserves and gets his fiends which come in using the blood crushers icon in the centre of the table. His shooting did nothing to the rhino. The fiends that killed the wolf lord charged the razorback and blew the weapon off and immobilised it. The blood thirster wrecked the rhino.

I roll for reserves and my scouts and the speeders come on. The lone wolf moves forward to threaten both the daemon prince and the blood thirster whilst the grey hunters that got blown out of the rhino moved to shoot and then assault the blood thirster. The razorback squad and the land raider squad get out and move to shoot up then charge the fiends that assaulted the razorback.

Shooting killed the newly arrived daemon prince and wounded the blood thirster. The Rune Priest put a wound on the blood crushers and shooting from the remnants of the army killed a fiend from each unit.

The assault phase was an unmitigated disaster which we both agreed cost me the game. The grey hunters and lone wolf charged the blood thirster killing him for the loss of just 1 marine which was good. However the 2 units of grey hunters which charged 5 fiends lost 6 marines and did no wounds to the fiends despite the large unit using their wolf standard! Both units failed their morale test, the remnants of the razorback squad succumbed to the additional saves but the larger squad held up ok. That pretty much killed the game for me and it would take a massive swing of luck to get back into it.

Turn 3:
Neil rolls up another daemon prince to come on which lands near the scouts on his objective. The crushers move towards the lone wolf and the fiends in the centre also move to charge him. His shooting kills a scout. In close combat the fiends charge the lone wolf and only do a wound, the lone wolf does 2 wounds back killing a fiend and winning the combat. This is a bad thing as it means the fiends are likely to kill the lone wolf in my turn freeing them up to charge again in his turn. The super killy fiends put 7 wounds on the grey hunters who save all but one of them. Could this be the point where it swings back in my favour? no. I do no wounds back to the fiends. I pass my test and stay in combat.

In my turn the land raider tries to cross difficult terrain to pick up the grey hunters who killed the blood thirster but gets immobilised, luckily within 3" of my objective though. The grey hunters now have to move away from my objective into cover of they would be fiend breakfast. The speeders move forward a bit to shoot the newly arrived daemon prince. Shooting from the speeders and the long fangs killed the daemon prince. In close combat the lone wolf dies and the super killy fiends kill 3 grey hunters for the loss of 1 wound. I pass my ld test. Joy!

Turn 4:
The last daemon prince and the plague bearers arrive. One unit goes on my objective using the crushers icon, the other unit lands near my scouts. The fiends move up to charge the speeders and the crushers move up to charge the landraider. The daemon prince kills 2 scouts with shooting who pass their test. The crushers charge the land raider but the one with rending fails to damage it and the fiends charge the speeders blowing both up. The killy fiends finish off the grey hunters.

There isn't a whole lot for me to do now as I'm pretty much man down but Russ wouldn't give up and neither would i!

The grey hunters in cover prepare to rapid fire into the fiends which killed the speeders whilst the rune priest moves up to add a murderous hurricane into the mix. The scouts move up to charge the plague bearers figuring if I can kill them and keep the land raider alive I could draw the game. Shooting kills the fiends with murderous hurricane inflicting 6 wounds on the last fiend. The long fangs put a wound on the daemon prince and the scouts kill a plague bearer with shooting. The scouts charge in and kill a plague bearer with no losses in return but its not enough.

Turns 5-7:
The game continued to turn 7 but it was basically a case of the daemon prince helping the plague bearers kill the scouts and the crushers continuing to recharge the land raider which survives. The killy fiends kill the rune priest.

In the end it was a reasonably comfortable win for the daemons and I wasn't really ever able to recover from the drastically failed charge on the fiends. Working the odds out roughly I should have lost 3 marines before I got to swing but then inflicted 6 wounds in return with the fiends losing another model from combat res which would have made a huge difference and that's without factoring in the wolf standard. But ho hum, it just goes to show that even when you stack the odds in your favour it doesn't always work out. Other factors contributed to my loss, not least the lone wolf surviving the fiend charge which cost me the speeders and a desirable move with the grey hunters from the rhino and charging the scouts into the plague bearers when I should have carried on shooting up the daemon prince with them and the long fangs whilst being sat on the objective.


CONCLUSION
I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about how to win at 40k. Obviously its not rocket science, but I have a habit of complicating things, so I wanted to pin down some key principles that sticking to would, with some judicious use of tactics, ensure winning the majority of my games.

Looking at my list, I lacked in long range firepower. While it's never a Space Wolf army's strong point, it's now partially solvable by the cheaper Long Fangs.

By rejigging a few things I have included a squad of these guys who in conjunction with the razorback grey hunter squad should form a fairly meaty 'home force'. I also lacked anything to really make my opponent think about how he was deploying and where he was moving in the game. Everything in my army deployed in my deployment zone which makes it easier for an opponent to plan.

In the past I've used 5 Grey Hunters with a melta gun and a Wolf Guard with a combi melta, terminator armour and a chainfist in a drop pod to drop down first turn, pop a tank and generally be irritating. This works well but can be readily countered by someone who realises what the squads role is -which is generally any good player.

It is for this reason I wanted to try out scouts. They have the advantage in that they don't have to come on first turn so force the opponent to think about them and if they forget them they will happily chew through most stuff that is left behind to guard home objectives.

In the old codex Wolf Scouts were brilliant for forcing an opponent away from the table edge and towards the main Space Wolf army which enabled the Wolves to get in close where they excel. They should perform the same role in the new codex.

Anyway, it was a really enjoyable game against a mate and I'm sure I will get my revenge next time! I just need to keep playing and become more familiar with the new Space Wolves army.

Stay tuned for more battle reports coming soon!

Space Wolves Battle Reports

I've just finished working on a new layout for our Space Wolves battle reports.

Now can you browse the Space Wolves blog for battle reports against each army type under the BATTLE REPORTS tab on the sidebar.

So if you click on the link for Space Marines VS Space Wolves, you'll get all our Space Wolves battle reports against all the different varieties of Space Marine.

If you click on the Tyranids VS Space Wolves link, you'll see all our Space Wolves battle reports against the Tyranid menace.

It's only a small thing, but I'm really pleased I've managed to tweak the way that Blogspot displays labels to make it work. Please bear with me while I go through and map all the battle reports to each relevant section.

In the meantime, stay tuned for Alex West's first battle report with his new Space Wolves army tomorrow!

Painting Space Wolves Step By Step

Brian (aka: MasterDarkSol) from All Things 40K has got in touch with his guide to painting Space Wolves.

It's quite an in depth guide actually, using all manner of washes. I was particularly blown away by his Chaos Space Marines step by step painting tutorial and may 'borrow' this in the future.

So if my how to paint Space Wolves and Dave's painting Space Wolves guides didn't take your fancy, Brian's might be right up your street. You can check it out Here.

Battle of the Chumps Space Wolves Army

Battle of the Chumps (aka: Botch) is an annual Warhammer 40K tournament laid on by the FlameOn group and I intend to take my Space Wolves army, provided I can get a ticket.

As an escalation tournament, the first two games are at 1000 points. You then need another 500 points to bolt onto your first 1000 points to make 1500 points and finally another 500 points to make a 2000 points list.

However, to spice things up a bit (to prevent cheesiness apparently), you can't have more than 1 of a single HQ type or more than 2 of any Fast Attack, Elite of Heavy Support choice. That goes for vehicles that can be taken as dedicated transports like Land Raiders and Battle Wagons too. Also, if you take a Special Character, you may not field any other characters in your army.

Now, I'm not a fan of restricted army lists, because there's always a certain army configuration that dances around all the restrictions and comes out on top. In fact the new Blood Angels Jump Pack army springs to mind in this instance.

I also know that as FlameOn are generally a very competitive bunch, the first 1000 points games are going to have some really nut cracking army lists with Land Raiders, Terminators, Trygons, the Doom of Malanthai and lord knows what else.

I had a chat to James (my friend who plays Dark Angels) and he was up for it and quickly produced a well rounded, but competitive escalation list using the Dark Angels Codex, insisting that the Dark Angels smoke launchers and Interrogator Chaplain rules would see him to victory.

He suggested a Space Wolves army for myself and often I welcome James' input because his army lists are always straightforward, simple and forgiving, but what he dished up was rather weak.

I had a great list in mind, however, the question is whether I can build and paint it in time?

Battle of the Chumps Space Wolves Army

1000 points
Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard in terminator armour with cyclone missile launcher
6 Long Fangs with 5 Lascannons

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

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

+500 points
Wolf Guard with combi melta and powerfist
8 Grey Hunters with melta gun, mark of the wulfen, powerfist, wolf standard
+ Rhino APC

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

+500 points
5 Thunderwolf Cavalry with thunder hammer, melta Bomb, boltgun and storm shield

6 Long Fangs with 5 Missile Launchers
+ Razorback APC


THE PLAN
My first 1000 points forms the core of the army through each stage. It's hard as nails, it's cheesy as hell and it's all because of Logan Grimnar!

I expect people to be cramming the hard hitting units into the small point games where a huge mob of Terminators, Mega Nobz, Land Raiders and Battlewagons can simply smash through the enemy with minimal resistance. Let's see them resist 5 lascannons with 'Tank Hunter'!

Should they get close, Logan and the Grey Hunters can give them a good seeing to! I'm also fascinated by the concept of a 'Relentless' long Fangs squad shooting the enemy with lascannons before charging into close combat.

The Great Wolf makes the Long Fangs extremely versatile, allowing them to use all manner of special rules from Relentless to Tank Hunter and even Preferred Enemy. To top it all off, he gives +1 Attack to all friendly units within 18". I like the idea of them walking on from the board edge and opening fire. I can even split their fire if I need to!

I know that by taking Logan Grimnar I've sacrificed the chance to take a Rune Priest, but when I'd ideally be fielding 2-3 of them, it's not so bad.

The first +500pts is simply more troops in the form of Grey Hunters who are quite simply brilliant!

The second +500pts is to compliment to mob of Space Wolves I already have. I was sorely tempted to add another 2 packs of Grey Hunters for a total of 60 Grey Hunters. Instead I saw the chance to add both Long Fangs and a full squad of Thunderwolf Cavalry.

I knew I'd need the extra firepower and the chance to bring on a full squad of Thunderwolves from reserve and charge anything that was foolish enough to venture half way across the board was too good to miss. Besides, with Logan Grimnar holding the army together from its centre, they'd easily be within 18" to get the +1 bonus attack.

Only one question remains: Can I build and paint it all by the end of May?

Big Jim's Weekly Painting and Modelling

This is the introductory post for my new Space Wolf Great Company; it is aimed at our readers that do not know me from the many 40k forums out there. For to my long time friends and fans of my work this will be a reminder of where I am going with the new army. I plan to do an update post every week on Tuesday.

I've been playing Space Wolves since Rogue Trader and haven't updated much of the army since the end of second edition 40k. So they are a extremely dated, and the perfect excuse to paint a new army to showcase my favorite Marines.

It is high time that these venerable miniatures were retired, and it will be chronicled right here on the Space Wolves Blog.

I've decided take out all the stops and make this my showcase Army. There will be lots of conversions as the bulk of my Wolves will be wearing Mk 4 and Mk 6 armor; they are my favorites. Each model will have a 3D Great Company badge I sculpted and am reproducing with a push mold as a guide.



So let’s start off with a look at the past. Here is a smattering of my old Wolves; all painted 10+ years ago. These are being replaced by the new Wolves I will be painting.






The predator will be the only thing for sure to transition into the new army; although Njal will probably get a new paintjob and also be used.

Here is the first Grey Hunter in the new armies paint scheme.





This is my converted Venerable Dread for the new army.



I want to represent a large mix of armor types; this is the general breakdown of what I am planning on.

Blood Claws will be wearing predominately Mk VII armor with Mk VI mixed in.

Grey hunters will have mostly Mk IV and Mk VI armor with a few Mk VII mixed in for flavor.

Long Fangs will be wearing reinforced armor befitting the indomitable nature of the Fangs.

Wolf Guard will wear any type of armor.

Next week look out for an update on the painting progress of the first Grey Hunters Pack. I will also be showing my Long Fangs conversions, including how I when about creating them.

Objective Markers

Space Wolf objective markers are a barrel of fun!

When it comes to making objective markers for Space Wolves it's surprisingly tough though. I had this dilemma after playing a few more multiple objective based games when my opponents didn't have any objective markers either. Normally this has never been a problem for me, but I was genuinely stumped as to what I could use to represent Space Wolf objective markers. While I'd been tempted to do the usual assortment of teleport homers, crates and other Imperial bits that Space Marines tend to get away with, it just didn't feel right for the sons of Russ.

The problem is that in the background the Space Wolves have never really had to claim something. It's usually only to steal it from the enemy and smash it...or just go after the enemy and smash them!

It was only when I was in my local hobby store that I saw a pack of resin barrels. After all, what else would the Space Wolves try to protect besides ale and food?

I was really pleased with my barrel objectives, then Brad called me up and said he'd got some objective markers of his own. Great minds think alike! I think he's done a better job, although he's mounted his ale barrels on bigger bases.

In game terms do you measure 3" to the centre of an objective or to the base? You'd presume the base right? So this means that the size of your objective markers plays an important part in the game and can make all the different between a win, loss or draw. Of course there's nothing wrong in using a bigger or smaller base in order to give yourself a tactical advantage. Although bigger bases make it harder to place multiple objectives in strong positions on the tabletop. But that's a very tactical post for another day.

So if you're stumped for your Space Wolf objective markers, simply get a pack of rustic barrels. They're cheap, in theme with the army and guaranteed for a barrel of laughs!

Munky Weds

Space Wolves blogger Dave (aka: Munky) is getting married today! We'd like to wish him and, the soon to be, Mrs Munky the very best.

Brad and I had a quick chat to Dave yesterday to wish him well. He was really excited and we hope it all goes well for him.

Considering he's met a nice girl who doesn't mind him playing with little plastic dudes after spending hours painting them, we think he's done rather well!

Dave would like to thank everyone for following the blog and promises a new direction for himself along with a new Space Wolves army list and some definate progress with his painting.

Hopefully Brad and I can talk him into joining Team Space Wolf at the next UK Grand Tournament.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more amazing modelling articles from Munky coming soon!

Task Force Jorgmundr at Mayhem 2010

This weekend I will be loading my Space Wolves onto the Strike Cruiser "Skoda Octavia" and making a Warp Jump to Warhammer World Nottingham for the two day Mayhem 2010 Tournament. Six 1500 point games await over two days accompanied by gallons of Ale and a Hall full of Virgins ;)

I know I posted my 1500 points army list a few weeks ago, but since then many battles have been fought and Ulf the Horrible has re evaluated his tactical needs and rolled the bones of fate, he did not like what he saw.

To accompany him into battle Ulf has called upon his apprentice and fellow Rune Priest "Skalf Ice Glare" to bring extra Psychic power to the field of battle.

One thing I noticed in my battles was that the "Boars Snout" tactic needed all three of my Grey Hunter packs to commit to the attack. This is fine but I have been finding myself without a unit to claim back field objectives so more Grey Hunters have been recruited in the form of a 6 man pack in a basic Razorback. Its a basic unit with a Meltagun, led by a Wolf Guard with a Combimelta, I will probably reserve this unit and use them to claim objectives and provide a bit of support to the Long Fangs and Predator.

Since Vapnartak in February I have had some good practice games in against Tau, Orks, Imperial Guard and Deamons. I've learnt that my army is not an all out assault force and certainly not a sit back and shoot gun line. The two Rune Priests have definately improved my army, throwing two Jaws of the World Wolfs around is certainly scarier than just the one. Ulf still uses his Storm Caller to cover the advance whilst Skalf uses the Murderous Hurricane for crowd control.

Lastly I'll mention my Wolf Guard in Terminator armour equipped with a Chainfist, I've given him a Chainfist after stealing the idea from Alex Harrisons GT list, in non kill point missions I'll be running him around on his own probably following up the Grey Hunters advance.

Brad's 1500pts Space Wolf Army


Rune Priest
Meltabombs
Wolf Tail Talisman
Powers:-
Jaws of the World Wolf
Storm Caller

Rune Priest
Wolf Tail Talisman
Powers:-
Jaws of the World Wolf
Murderous Hurricane

TROOPS

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

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

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

Wolf Guard,CombiMelta
5 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Razorback APC with TL Heavy Bolters

HEAVY SUPPORT

Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour
Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist
6 Long fangs
Pack Leader
5 Missile Launchers

Predator
TL Lascannon turret
Lascannon Sponsons


COMP SCORES
In this tournament points are deducted for having multiple choices of the same Heavy Support, Elite, HQ or Fast Attack choice. This is why I've chosen a to take a Predator instead of a second Long Fangs squad. While I've taken 2 Rune Priests, this only leaves me with 18 out of 20 bonus points, which is pretty good.

Wish me luck in battle brothers if not I'll see you in the Feasting Halls when the Wolftime is upon us! Stay tuned for more Space Wolves battle reports next week.

Space Wolf Markings

This weekend I have been mostly painting Space Wolf markings. It's amazing what you can achieve with just a Standard Brush, a steady hand and a Space Wolves transfer sheet for reference.

I'll do a 'how to paint Space Wolves pack markings' very soon. But essentially what I'm doing it constructing the basic shape of the marking with a set of straight lines, filling in the black, then tidying around the edges.

I was meant to be spending the bank holiday with my girlfriend, but I seem to have pulled a muscle in my back on Friday morning, which means I'm mostly only good for sitting and rather grouchy. At least the pain is muscular rather than spinal though!

As you can see in this photo, not all the wolf heads are 100% perfect, but they're an acceptable standard which is far more important when you just want to get an army done.

Using the Foundation Paints on the shoulder pads for the red and yellow has been a real godsend because you can easily paint over Chaos Black to tidy up the details, it dries in seconds and if need be you can paint more watered down Chaos Black over the top.

One thing I have learned though, is not to paint these tiny symbols when you're tired. Normally I can force myself to paint and get away with it, but these need complete concentration and good eyesight.

Now that I'm used to painting them, each wolf head company badge takes around 5 minutes. So I can do a whole squad in under an hour now.

Sorry there's no tutorial yet, but I just want to get my army done as quickly as possible, but keep your eye on the sidebar navigation for a full guide on How to Paint Space Wolves Markings -coming soon!

Blood Angels Jump Pack Army

I've borrowed Kris' Blood Angels jump pack army list he posted yesterday to analyse an alternative Blood Angels force.

By the way, there is no Death Company in this list, I just used the photo because it's cool!

It seems that with the Blood Angels mechanised or flying is the way to go. But what can the Space Wolves do about it? Quite a bit actually.

But first, let's take a look at one of the jump pack lists kindly submitted by one of the regular Space Wolves blog readers.

Kris: "This list can start on the table or off and will most likely go completely in reserve with second turn. The Assault Squads will generally split into two combat squads to bust tanks and shield the actual combat elements. The Sanguinary Guard are really only there to add to combat resolution and bolster massed assaults as pure jump pack troops generally struggle taking out really hard targets. The extra power weapon attacks can really help towards combat resolution."

1500 Points Blood Angel Jump Pack Army List

Librarian, Jump Pack (Blood Lance, Sanguine Sword)
2 Sanguinary Priests with Power Weapon and Jump Pack
10 man Assault Squad, 2 eltagun, Powerfist, Meltabombs
10 man Assault Squad, 2 Meltagun, Powerfist
10 man Assault Squad, 2 Meltagun, Powerfist
10 man Assault Squad, 2 Meltagun, Powerfist
5 Sanguinary Guard, 2 Infernus Pistol, Banner

PS: I just priced this up for James's cousin Alex on Wayland Games and can't believe it came to only £130!!

Overall it's quite a tidy list and I like how the 4 Assault Squads can become 8 small Assault Squads to better claim objectives, harass the enemy and allow the army to absorb more firepower on the whole.

Sanguinary Guard are a nice addition and while many people seem to swear by Vanguard because they can Deep Strike and Assault, for the same points and versatility, I'd rather have a bunch of guys with a 2+ save and lots of power weapon attacks. Besides, the last thing you want is for your expensive squad to 'scatter and splatter'.

There are 3 obvious set ups for this army.
1) Everything on the board, right up to the starting line, ready to surge forward.
2) Everything in reserve and arriving from the table edge.
3) Everything in reserve and Deep Striking.

Options 1 and 3 are going to be the most popular against the Space Wolves. Option 2 is better for a defensive counter-attack strategy, which probably won't be employed much judging by the nature of the Blood Angels army.

The first is nice and straightforward with minimal risk, but a high chance of taking casualties from incoming enemy fire. Sanguinary Priests may offer Feel No Pain, but it makes the army far from invincible against the Space Wolves tendency to field lots of missile launchers and psychic powers. I'm thinking of Alex Harrison's Space Wolves GT army in this regard. Once again, a canny defending player can lure in the mass of infantry for a counter attack, but it's still going to be a close and bloody game due to the sheer volume of infantry on either side.

The third is going to be a very popular choice, especially for those who tend to roll very well for their Reserves and always seem to roll a HIT with their scatter dice. However, like Chaos Daemons, the Blood Angels player may end up feeding their army piecemeal to the Space Wolves. Yes, melta guns will blow up transports, but when Space Marines in general are a mid-field army, the Space Wolves will still have plenty of time to react to any threats. The presence of the Sanguinary Priests will make a huge difference in this type of game and if they don't arrive in good time, the Blood Angels will really feel it.

For the Deep Strike army, Blood Angels players will probably favour Vanguard because they can Deep Strike and Assault in the same turn. Obviously, this relies on the Scatter dice being kind and when you're most likely to scatter 7" Blood Angels players will have to pick their Vanguard drop zones carefully and have to be grateful that they can charge 'something' rather than their perfect target.

CONCLUSION
Despite how any of this looks on paper, playing against it in a real game of Warhammer 40K is the true test of an army's potential. So until then, this is all theory and speculation. But, I can see a battle between the Space Wolves and Blood Angels turning into a very bloody game of Chess where units are constantly charging and countering one another. While the ferocity of the Blood Angels makes them very straightforward to play, the versatility and cunning of a well played Space Wolves army can tip the balance.

Until then, I'm going to build up my Space Wolves army some more and look forward to playing the Blood Angels in the near future. Whatever happens, it's going to be an awesome game!

How to Beat Blood Angels with Space Wolves

My inbox is flooded with people asking how to beat Blood Angels with Space Wolves. Fortunately, the new Blood Angels Codex is in my hands and here's the kind of 1500pts Blood Angels Army we're most likely to see straight out of the gate.

Of course, the Blood Angels army lists we see will no doubt become more finely tuned over time, but for now these seem to be the obvious power combos.

I'm just going to run through this sample Blood Angels army, detail how it works then suggest how the Space Wolves can beat it and really kick it in the Baals.

1500pts Blood Angels Army List

Librarian with Blood Lance and Fear of The Darkness
Sanguinary Priest
5 Assault Terminators with 2 pairs of lightning claws and 3 thunder hammers and storm shield + Land Raider transport with extra armour

5 Assault marines with a melta gun + Razorback with twin linked heavy flamer
5 Assault marines with a melta gun + Razorback with twin linked heavy flamer
6 Assault marines with two meltaguns and a powerfist + Rhino

Baal Predator with twin linked assault cannon turret and heavy bolter sponsons
Baal Predator with twin linked assault cannon turret and heavy bolter sponsons

Predator with autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons


HOW IT WORKS:
Either the whole thing thunders towards the enemy firing with the Land Raider in the centre. Or the Predator moves around at the back, picking targets while the Land Raider thunders forward as the Baal Predators and transports Outflank from the sides.

Either way this army throws down a lot of firepower, is tough to kill with so much Armour 13 and an Armour 14 tank -and that's before all the terminators get out.

All Rhino based vehicles (such as Predators and Razorbacks) being Fast is a Space Marine player's dream come true and makes this force incredibly versatile. No more overstretching forces when you're on the attack and leaving all the objectives behind. Simply mount up and zoom 18" in your Rhino!

It's worth noting that due to the Sanguinary Priest giving everyone within 6" Feel No Pain, the Land Raider and Terminators form a strong point of the army. So if a Rhino or Razorback gets blown up alongside the Land Raider and the squad within are within 6", they get Feel No Pain as they run forward on foot.

I'd also like to point out that the Razorbacks do not have twin linked assault cannons, favouring twin linked flamers instead for clearing out swathes of Orks and other numerous foes. Each contains a mere 5 Blood Angels Space Marines within, so killing as many infantry as possible is key to their survival. Plus, you've got plenty of assault cannons already thanks to the Baal Predators!

Delivery of the terminators is essential in this army, because they're so hard to kill with the Sanguinary Priest giving everyone within 6" Feel No Pain.
Normally I like to turn the game into one massive close combat with my Space Wolves, but I'm seriously wondering if this is still a viable option against the Blood Angels.

COUNTERING WITH SPACE WOLVES:
I don't believe in tailoring an army to beat another because an army has to be able to take on all-comers in a tournament setting. So while there will always be that element of Rock, Paper, Scissors in Warhammer 40K, the most versatile army usually comes out on top.

I'm going to take my 1500pts Space Wolves starter army and Alex Harrison's Grand Tournament Space Wolves army and look at how both of them could counter what I'm going to call the 'typical' Blood Angels army above.

Adam: While my army seems to lack long ranged firepower but makes up for it in masses of power armour Space Wolves, I'd be playing defensively and let the Blood Angels come to me. I'd put the whole army in reserve to prevent taking too much damage from their firepower. If the Blood Angels come in for the kill, which is the only way to get Kill Points from me or claim objectives, then I'll be able to counter by strategically placing my reserves.

I can see the Grey Hunter packs making short work of the Razorbacks and the assault squads. In fact I can see them blowing up the Razorbacks with their melta guns and taunting the Blood Angels in the wreckage to charge them and see what happens. If the other Blood Angels tanks get too close, they'll eat melta gun! Otherwise I'd just have to weather their fire as best I could, using my Rhinos for cover while returning fire with my Long Fangs.

The tough cookie is the Land Raider packed full of Assault Terminators, a Librarian and a Sanguinary Priest. But can the Blood Claws receive their charge and smack them about in close combat, even with the Sanguinary Priest giving them Feel No Pain?

When I did some Mathhammer, Feel No Pain didn't factor into things that much, even so the first round of combat ended with 3 dead Blood Angel terminators and 12 dead Space Wolf Blood Claws -eek! Throwing the remaining Grey Hunters into the fight seemed to tip the balance, but Feel No Pain really comes into its own against the sheer volume of basic attacks. But it's the Space Wolves powerfists that silence the Librarian, Sanguinary Priest and Terminators once the squad has been gradually wittled down.

Once the combat ends, there's two depleted squads of Grey Hunters and the Wolf Priest remaining to face off against the Blood Angel Predators that have probably sat back firing all game. But by this point, the Space Wolve should be able to claim whatever strategic points remain while being up by a good deal of Kill Points as well.

But while Mathhammer is a nice way of judging how effective your units will be against a particular army, there's nothing like playing a real game of Warhammer 40K to see for yourself.


Alex: From my army's perspective, it depends what mission it is. In objective missions, I would hold back 1 Rhino and the Razorback. The rest of my army would form a strong centre in the middle, daring him to push me.

My missiles will disable his transports while my mutlimelta Landspeeders hold back to counter the Land Raider. Once the Land Raider is down, a mixture of Murderous Hurricane and Jaws of The World Wolf from my Rune Priests will hit the Terminators.

The Baal Predators will be going for my Rhinos, by which time should be in a good position. Living Lightning from my Rune Priests would hit their side armour. I would then go for melta drive-by in the Rhinos against the Baal Predators if they come on from the flanks, or ignore them while I handle his troops.

Since the troops are so small, I would decimate them first, or the Terminators, which ever one comes close, through the use of massed Grey Hunter assault.

My reserve squads will come on and hit the Baals and Razorbacks in my line with melta and mop up the small units. His psychic powers can be nullified on a 4+ while to stop mine he still needs to roll high with his psychic hood.

Once I've held of his assault force by turn 4, I'd start mopping up and moving into mid field.
Since Blood Angels will play aggressive, it makes sense to play defensive and act to what is happening.

If he outflanks, rack up your force in the centre. He wont throw his termies at your whole army, unless it is supported by his troops, which he would not want to commit as much in an objective game.

In Kill Point missions I would perhaps reserve everything except the Long Fangs.
Since the army has hardly any long range anti-infantry weapons, he will either be baited ino coming towards the Long Fangs in mid board ready for me to hit him when I arrive, or he would hold off allowing me to stun or hopefully destroy his Predators and Rhinos with my long ranged anti-tank guns.

Positioning and deployment is key. Its hard for me without doing it. I will have to play a few games against such an army first. It will be difficult, but I don't think I would be too worried. With only 18 troops and 4 reliable long range weapons, he WILL be coming for me, which is exactly what my Space Wolves like.

CONCLUSION
It's clear to see that my army needs a little bit of tuning while Alex can quite comfortably rely upon his Rune Priests to turn the tide of battle while my struggle with the Blood Claws against the Blood Angels terminators will be rather more desperate.

However, the way the game plays will be decided by the Blood Angels player. Will they sit back and engage in a long ranged firefight and play for the draw, speed towards you in a bloodthirsty attack or watch as the armies gradually wittle each other down while advancing more cautiously across the board? Either way, it's going to be a tough game.

Blood Angels players may have the brute force and the ease of attacking, but from what we can see victory is more likely to go to the savvy Space Wolves player who can use the flexibility of his forces to create a devastating counter attack and wrestle control of the game.

So don't be intimidated by the Blood Angels and their shiny new toys, because any army can be overcome by good tactics.

Until next time, good luck and good hunting!

Deathwing VS Space Wolves Reconnaissance in Force

The Dark Angels Deathwing take on Adam's Space Wolves in one of the new Battle Missions.

It was Sunday afternoon and as I arrived James was just mopping up the last of, his cousin, Alex's Daemons with focussed firepower from his Deathwing terminator army.

They'd been playing the Daemon Gate Battle Mission, which had put Alex at quite a disadvantage, because James knew where all his units would be arriving from. Rather than going to claim objectives, it was easier for the Deathwing to blast the Daemons apart as they arrived. And with Alex's horrific reserve rolls, they did just that!

So when I came to play James, he was keen for another Battle Mission. I honestly wasn't and don't feel that any of the Battle Missions are really suitable for games of a competitive nature -and things always get competitive between me and James.

We rolled the Necron themed mission Reconnaissance in Force with James as the Defender and myself as the Attacker.

I took my current 1500pts Space Wolf army list complete with Wolf Priest, big mob of Blood Claws, 3 packs of Grey Hunters in Rhinos and some Long Fangs in a Razorback.

Deathwing Terminator 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

SET UP
Reconnaissance in Force starts with D3+2 objectives and the Defender deploying their entire army on the board anywhere further than 12" from a board edge. Before they deploy the Attacker secretly notes which table edge his forces will arrive from. In this case, I told James' cousin Alex in secret.

I chose the long table edge with some easy to get to cover on the flanks for my Long Fangs, meanwhile James formed a Deathwing terminator phalanx in the middle of the board as this was the safest position when my army could arrive from anywhere.

Unless you have a very fast army, there's no point attacking from either of the short table edges as you'll be too far away from the action to do anything. Also, James had opted to place his objectives in a straight line down the centre of the board, which is all truth suited me just fine. I didn't want to break up my force. Rather, I just wanted to rush across the board, kill him and maybe think about objectives around Turn 4.

It's also worth mentioning that for this game I kept my Wolf Guard in terminator armour with a cyclone missile launcher separate from the Long Fangs so that they could drive up, disembark and run into cover more effectively.

TURN 1
With a mighty howl the Space Wolves surged on to the battlefield. On the left flank the Razorback sped around the trench, disgorging its cargo of veteran Space Wolf Long Fangs who jogged up to the sand bag walls and readied their missile launchers.

The Blood Claws led by the Wolf Priest ran into the woods and were flanked on the left by a Grey Hunter pack in a Rhino and flanked on the right by two more Grey Hunters packs in Rhinos as well as the lone Wolf Guard who bravely ran up alongside them.

The Space Wolves tanks fired their smoke launchers in unison.

Sighting the enemy, the Deathwing terminators fell back as one, forming a wall of roaring storm bolters, screaming missile racks and thundering assault cannons.

When the smoke cleared the Grey Hunters Rhino on the left flank had been immobilised while one of the Grey Hunter Rhinos to the right had been mildly shaken by the high calibre shells slamming into its side.

TURN 2
The Blood Claws continued to run through the woods and the Grey Hunter Rhinos to their right slowed their advance to match their pace. Meanwhile the Grey Hunters on the left flank disembarked from their immobilised transport and marched towards the Deathwing line, bolters firing as a salvo of frag missiles from the Long Fangs erupted amidst the tightly packed Dark Angels. The Razorback added its fire to the barrage, while on the right flank the Wolf Guard and Grey Hunters armed had melta guns and combi-melta fired from the open hatches of their Rhino transports. A total score of 6 Deathwing terminators had been killed.

It was at this point I expected James to focus his firepower upon and charge the Grey Hunters on foot on the left flank, but he chose to continue his firing retreat instead.

The Deathwing fell back once more with Grand Master Belial's squad taking cover in the nearby bunker. The terminators opened fire once more, blasting apart a Grey Hunter Rhino with a well aimed krak missile. The Grey Hunter pack within disembarked towards the Deathwing terminators and passed their pinning check.

Otherwise the guns of the Deathwing pattered harmlessly off the armoured hulls of the Grey Hunter transports and even the Grey Hunters themselves.

TURN 3
The Grey Hunters disembarked from their Rhino and the Space Wolves army advanced as one. Firing was light to prevent James from denying me any charges and on the right flank both Grey Hunter packs crashed into the nearest terminator squad, tearing the Dark Angels veterans apart in a frenzy of tooth, claw, chainsword and powerfist while receiving light casualties in return.

Both Grey Hunter packs swept into the cover of the nearby bunker to bear the brunt of the Deathwing's blood retribution. And it was very bloody indeed!

The remaining terminators opened fire on the Grey Hunter packs before charging in and smashing any who survived the deadly hail of fire with their powerfists. However, Grand Master Belial had lost two of his terminators in the assault while the Deathwing Librarian had lost three of his battle brothers.

James rolled for his consolidation moves, producing a trio of 1's! Finally, he rolled for the lone cyclone terminator and ran him towards the approaching Space Wolves lines as a sacrifice to stem the tide.

TURN 4
It was all over for James as the Blood Claws reached the foot of the trenches and sprinted up it and into close combat, led by a Wolf Guard terminator revving a chainfist.

On the left the Grey Hunters leapt upon the Deathwing terminators.

Grand Master Belial and his squad were torn to bloody rags by the sheer ferocity of the Blood Claws attacks and under the gaze of the Wolf Priest, their re-rolls to hit drowned the Deathwing terminators in sheer weight of attacks.

Meanwhile the Wulfen warrior of the Grey Hunters almost single handedly slew the entire Deathwing terminator squad in a wild frenzy of snarls and slashing claws.

Only the Deathwing Librarian and a single Deathwing terminator survived the slaughter. And with that James conceded.

CONCLUSION
Okay, it wasn't the most exciting battle report ever and it certainly wasn't the most exciting to play. He fell back, I moved forward. The question was whether or not his fire power would whittle me down enough over the course of the game.

Let's put aside the fact that Battle Missions are a bit unbalanced, because I do feel that James made 2 mistakes that cost him the game.

First of all, he didn't focus his firepower, which is the #1 rule of playing a Deathwing army.

Secondly, I'd left my Grey Hunters on the left flank too far out on Turn 2.
At this point he could have focussed his fire power on them instead of my Rhinos. Or he could have sent a Deathwing terminator squad off to shoot and charge them while the rest of his force blazed away at the Blood Claws. There was no escaping the Grey Hunters. But with potentially 2 of the squads dead earlier in the game, it may have given him the leverage needed to finish off the other two Grey Hunter squads (probably by feeding them another terminator squad), before Belial's squad and the Librarian's squad went in and mopped up.

Then there'd be possibly 3 Deathwing squads against 2 Rhinos, a Wolf Guard, Long Fangs and a Razorback. Overall, not bad odds for the Deathwing.


On the flip side, if James hadn't rolled badly for his consolidate moves after killing my Grey Hunters on Turn 3, I probably would never have caught him. Or maybe I could have kept him busy with the Blood Claws while the remaining Grey Hunters got in one of the active Rhinos and claimed an objective.

Because everyone was on foot, packing plenty of fire power and lots of lethal close combat weapons, it was quite a tough game. So even though it was a bit repetitive I'm really pleased with my win.

I think it's just as well that I wasn't trying out Alex Harrison's 3 Rune Priest army, otherwise this may have become a very one-sided shooting fest for the Space Wolves.

In the meantime, I have lots of pack markings and company badges to paint. Stay tuned for more battle reports, painting guides and articles from the Space Wolves blog!