Tyranids VS Space Wolves -Botch 4 of 6

This Space Wolves VS Tyranids game was a disaster on my part.

My inexperience with the new Tyranid army really shone through and in hindsight my deployment could have been so much better, as well as my overall strategy.

Although it didn't help my opponent passed every cover save under the sun. But that's the way it goes when your opponent's lucky.

I was playing against a polite young chap called Rob in the old 4th edition Cleanse game. So that's a table quarter set up and you fight to claim or contest table quarters at the end of the game.

1500 points of Space Wolves

Rune Priest
Jaws of the World Wolf & Murderous Hurricane

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

Grey Hunter Pack:
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun and Mark of Wulfen
Razorback APC transport

(X2) Land Speeders:
Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

(X2) Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

1500 points of Tyranids

Hive Tyrant
dual twin linked devourers, brain leeches, old adversary
3 Tyrant Guard with boneswords
Warrior Prime with lashwhip and bonesword

(X2) Tervigon
(X2) 3 Hive Guard
(X2) 10 Termagaunts
(X2) Zonathropes


THE GAME
He won the roll off and set up first behind a large, square building. I set up opposite with my Long Fangs at the back, Razorbacks on the flanks and Grey Hunters in the centre. Then I rolled to Seize The Initiative and won it.

I shot, advanced, popped smoke on my tanks and did a bit of damage to his Tyrant Council.

He blew up all my Rhinos.

I advanced again, cast Jaws of the World Wolf and lots of stuff fell down a hole.
My Grey Hunters were all right up in his face, wiped out his gaunt screen in close combat and pretty much said "yeah, come get me!"

Unfortunately none of my long ranged firepower did any damage to his Tyrant Council this turn. lascannons, missile launchers, mulitmeltas and even the kitchen sink did nothing as he passed every single cover save. Horrifying!

He charged his Tyrant Council into my Grey Hunters. They died. He drowned the rest in a horde of shots from freshly spawned Termagaunts that had emerged from the Tervigons.

I continued firing all my heavy weapons. He continued to pass all his cover saves.

I conceeded after all my Grey Hunters and Rune Priest died by Turn 3. There wasn't anything more I could do, except keep firing with little effect and die a quick, painful death.

CONCLUSION:
I need to read the Tyranid Codex cover to cover and play some games against them. They've got a lot of special rules!

My set up wasn't bad. But what I should have done was huddle all my Grey Hunters in the rocks at the front of my fire base and let him come to me. Would the extra shots have made the difference? Well, it could have removed his screen of Termagaunts, but with all my missile launchers and lascannons firing through terrain, he would still be getting his cover saves.

Perhaps all 3 Grey Hunter squads counter charging his Tyrant Council could have dragged them down screaming had he charged them into difficult terrain?

The only other option is to play things "Tau Style" with my firebase in one corner while everything else goes into reserve and attacks from the other flank.

Due to the slower nature of his army, this would have been a much more sensible ploy. That way wherever he goes, he get shot from all angles. it also makes Jaws of the World Wolf far more devastating if it's hitting him from the flank.

I scored 1 point for a Loss.

Ah well, at least I'll know for next time. Rob was a very courteous player, although it was extremely satifying when his Warrior Prime fell down a hole from Jaws of the World Wolf.

Speaking of which, stay tuned for my next battle report against the Death Guard, when lots of things fall down holes!

Razorwolves

Hi guys, Alex here with a Razorwolves list. Razorwolves is basically Space Wolves mounted in lascannon plasma gun Razorbacks. I've noticed that Razorwolves are really popular in the US, but not so much in the UK.

In fact, here in the UK, all the Space Wolf lists are very similar, so Ive decided to start off a series of different yet extremely hard lists for people to perhaps develop and use themselves. Here is a 1750p points list I have made recently:

HQ
Rune Priest: 100pts
Jaws, Storm Caller.

Elites
Inquisitor: 87pts
Emporers Tarrot, 2 Mystics, 2 Veterans with meltaguns.

3 Wolf Guard: 154pts
1x Combi-flamer.
1x Combi-flamer & Wolf claw.
Dedicated Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

3 Wolf Guard: 199pts
2x Combi-melta & Power fist.
1x Combi-flamer & Wolf claw.
Dedicated Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

Troops
5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers: 70pts
2x Meltaguns.

Heavy Support
5 Long Fangs: 190pts
4x Rockets. Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

5 Long Fangs: 190pts
4x Rockets. Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.


Please bare in mind this wont tick all the boxes for some of you, but is there purely for competitive reasons. I have thought about everything carefully and each thing is there for a reason.

I will first explain the wolf guard. The wolf claw & combi-flamer wolf guard joins the flamer grey hunters. I didn’t have points for a third wolf claw, so there is a wolf guard with only a combi-flamer. Some people may prefer to instead use those 30pts on the wolf claws to simply give all 3 of the combi-flamer wolf guard a power weapon, which is perfectly fine. My decision on the wolf claws is because the combi weapon is two handed so a power weapon doesn’t give the bonus of an extra attack, which is the main reason for taking one. There is 1 spare wolf guard with no wargear to throw onto your Long fangs for an ablative wound. The power fist Wolf guard are attached to the melta grey hunters, and they are there to provide a punch against big nasties.

Next we have the allies. The inquisitor nabs one of the spare razorbacks and provides melta assistance, a chance for your army to alpha strike with the emporers tarot (9 lascannons and 8 rockets isn’t something to sniff at). The mystics will also help you with some free lascannon shots on those deep striking MC’s and termies etc. One free wound or model is worth the 12 points. The Storm troopers provide a cheap melta suicide squad, who can perform either the "sit in the back and hold the objective" role, or provide you with an extra option when facing tough mech armies or AV14 spam.

Now we have the formation itself. By utalising the storm caller power near the middle, your formation should be able to move up 6 inches a turn, blast your opponent and be able to counter anything that comes near. By staying close together, people will be rather scared to assault you piecemeal i.e. death stars. By sending in a land raider full of termies to kill one of your razor squads, only to get obliterated next turn by massed plasma & hunter spam, is rather scary for your opponent.

Utilise your surroundings. By blocking off passageways with your razorbacks, you can easily deny your opponents objectives. In capture and control you can simply leave one razorback behind and send the rest up. Your opponent will have a hard time getting past your wall of armour and hunters. Kill points is hard, but by simply pushing for a massacre is perhaps the best, if not viable option.

This is certainly a list I will be testing for laster use once I have the money and time, so leave some feedback and let me know your ideas.

Adam also requested a 1500 points cut down version of the above list, so here it is:

HQ
Rune Priest: 100pts
Jaws, Storm Caller.

Elites
5 Wolf Guard: 260pts
2x Combi-melta & Power fist.
2x Combi-flamer & Wolf claw.
1x Combi-flamer,
Dedicated Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

Troops
5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 150pts
Flamer. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun. Razorback with lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun

Heavy Support
5 Long Fangs: 190pts
4x Rockets. Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.

5 Long Fangs: 190pts
4x Rockets. Razorback with Lascannon & Twin-linked plasma gun.


Please let me know your thoughts!

Space Wolves YouTube Channel

The Space Wolves YouTube Channel is coming soon!

What's the Space Wolves YouTube Channel going to be all about? Anything and everything Space Wolves from painting guides, tactics and battle reports to strategy, tournament coverage and much more. So essentially everything that the Space Wolves blog has to offer, but in quick to digest video format.

All the best videos will be posted right here on the Space Wolves blog as well.

I've had my eye on the Beasts of War guys for a while now. They may post a lot of random ramblings and speculation to mop up a lot of traffic right now, but in the early days their straightforward, but professional presentation had me in awe.

So stay tuned for a series of amazing Space Wolves videos from the Space Wolves blog!

In the meantime, checkout the Space Wolves YouTube Channel and Subscribe!

Space Wolves at Toy Soldier

Toy Soldier has been and gone and lots of fun was had by all especially for the Sons of Russ. Overall I came 11th place after a gruelling battle against Nids on table 3 last off but I did take the best Sportsman award in the end.

There were 40 players in total and all I can say that the Sons of Russ and Sanguinious were out in force with 16 armies. Every other table had Power Armour of some sort on it with around 24 armies being a marine army.

Toy Soldier was held over two days with 3 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday. For those who don't know Toy Soldier was a 1750 tournament with two custom missions and missions from the rule book.

I had a tough weekend pulling Blood Angels for first game and managed to pull a draw out of a potential loss. This must have slowed my momentum as I went on to get 2 more draws to finish off the first day.

My Second day started better after I got a victory against Imperial Guard which sent me into the top ten at which point I faced off against the Tyranids and unfortunately lost my last battle after probably one of the most bloody battles I have ever fought!

As I have already said there was a lot of Space Wolf armies around and to be honest I did not manage to get round and have a look at them all. Some were painted and were not but one that caught my eye was the Space Wolf army of Iain Miller.

Iain was running a Mech Force led by a Thunder Lord with 4 Thunder wolf cavalry using the Thunderwolves from Mr Dandy. I have never seen these models up close and I was really impressed with them even more so by Iains really nice paint job.



I spoke with Iain after the tourney and was surprised to find out he was a Space Wolves Blog fan and is a regular visitor to the site!

Now that I have had some sleep I'll start working on my battle reports to be posted in upcoming weeks after Adam finishes his BOTCH battle reports.

Space Wolves 13th Company VS Space Wolves -Botch 3 of 6

13th Company Space Wolves VS Space Wolves was going to be a bloody game!

In fact, we were in close combat from Turn 2 and eventually had to agree to end our game on Turn 5 because the close combats were taking so long.

Suffice to say, it was a complete blood bath and as a pair of Space Wolves players, we both had an awesome time!

While we both had the same number of Grey Hunters, that's where the similarities between our armies ended. But we both had the same gung ho approach.

1500 points of Space Wolves

Rune Priest
Jaws of the World Wolf & Murderous Hurricane

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

Grey Hunter Pack:
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun and Mark of Wulfen
Razorback APC transport

(X2) Land Speeders:
Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

(X2) Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

1500 points of 13th Company Space Wolves

Rune Priest
Living Lightning and Jaws of the World Wolf

Wolf Scout Pack:
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun

Grey Hunter Pack:
Arjack Rockfist
7 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Land Raider transport with Multimelta turret

Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Drop Pod transport

Grey Hunter Pack:
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun and Mark of Wulfen
Razorback APC transport

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


DEPLOYMENT:
The mission was Seize Ground with a Pitched Battle deployment. We got 4 objectives, so I broke out the beer barrels. He won the roll to place first and put on barrel in the woods in the centre. I placed one to the left of the hill on the right. He placed one in the rocks top centre right and I placed one in the open bottom centre right. We joked that we didn't need the other half of the board and rolled to see who went first.

He won that and chose to set up and go first before placing his Long Fangs in the rocks by an objective, his Rune Priest and Grey Hunters in a Rhino on the right and his Land Raider with Grey Hunters and Arjack Rockfist in. The Grey Hunters in a Drop Pod and Razorback he kept in reserve.

With only three units on the table, I saw my opportunity to overwhelm him from the start and set up my entire army 12" on.

Landspeeders on the flanks, Grey Hunter Rhinos in the middle, Long Fangs in the rocks to the left, Long Fangs in rocks in the centre. Now to weather the first round of fire power and strike back!

I also positioned one of the Grey Hunter packs close enough to assist the Long Fangs on the left flank in case his Grey Hunters landed next to them.

TURN 1:
The Drop Pod slammed down next to my Long Fangs and his Grey Hunters got out and fired at the Long Fangs, but failed to kill any of them.

A barrage of krak missiles from his Long Fangs destroys my Rune Priest's Rhino. The Rune Priest and the Grey Hunter pack disembark into the rocks, beside the Long Fangs.

His Land Raider drives forward 6" and takes a shot at my Landspeeder on the left flank, but I pass the cover save.

On the right flank, his Rune Priest and Grey Hunters in a Rhino also speed forward onto the hill and fire the smoke launchers.

My landspeeder on the left zooms down the flank, behind the ruins.
My other landspeeder advances and blasts his Rune Priest's Rhino apart with its multimelta, but none of the Grey Hunters inside are injured...not until my Long Fangs kill 3 of them with krak missiles.

My Rune Priest and his Grey Hunter pack run out of the rocks, around the wreckage of their Rhino and behind the nearby Grey Hunter Razorback.

My Grey Hunter Rhino on the left drives 12" and the Grey Hunters disembark to rapid fire his Grey Hunters attacking my Long Fangs. With combined fire from my Long Fangs on the left and reduces them to 3 models, but they hold their ground.

My Razorbacks fire on the Land Raider and blow off one of its right lascannon to stop it firing at my flanking Landspeeder.

TURN 2:
Running from their drop pod, his remaining 3 Grey Hunters charged the Long Fangs, killing them all with an overwhelming number of rending Wulfen attacks. At the end of the carnage only his Wulfen warrior remained standing.

The Land Raider sped forward and fired its smoke launchers, the Grey Hunters led by Arjack Rockfist got out and charged my parked Grey Hunter Rhino and destroyed it.

This was all part of my plan. The Grey Hunters disembarked behind the wreck...then failed their pinning test. That wasn't part of my plan!

His Grey Hunter pack is also able to multi-charge the Long Fangs and kills two of them in close combat, but my Space Wolves hold their ground.

His Rune Priest and Grey Hunters shot and charged my Landspeeder on the right flank, destroying it.

Meanwhile his Long Fangs blew the twin linked lascannon turret off my Razorback on the right flank.

In my turn, my Grey Hunters on the left flank charge his remaining Wulfen warrior and after some hot Wulfen on Wulfen action, cut him down and sweep around the rocks.

My Landspeeder sweeps around the ruins to target the rear of his Land Raider with its Mulimelta...and misses!

My turrent-less Razorback on the left flank speeds forward towards the hill occupied by the Rune Priest and Grey Hunters. My plan is to use it to contest an objective later in the game.

My Rune Priest leads his Grey Hunter pack in a heroic charge against Arjac Rockfist's Grey Hunters. Both packs use their Wolf Standards and a fierce close combat ensues as both Grey Hunter packs suffer minimal casualties and I forget to roll for my Wolf Guard with the Power Fist -woops!

TURN 3
His Wolf Scouts arrive from reserve and fire their melta gun at my turret-less Razorback advancing down the left flank, but miss.

His Long Fangs split their fire between my turret-less Razorback and my Landspeeder behind his Land Raider, blowing it apart, but only glance and prevent my Razorback from firing -Not a problem when you don't have a gun!

His Rune Priest and Grey Hunters fire at my turret-less Razorback, but find their melta guns out of range while my Rune Priest blocks his Rune Priest from casting Living Lightning on the tank.

In close combat both Grey Hunters packs are equally ineffective against one another until the Rune Priest and Wolf Guard with Power Fist tip the balance in my favour. Meanwhile Arjac Rockfist slays the last of the Long Fangs to equalise and draw the combat.

In my turn, the Grey Hunters that were pinned rush around their wrecked Rhino and join the raging close combat. His Grey Hunters are wiped out in a bloody melee, but Arjack Rockfist remains and seems to shrug off everything that's thrown at him.

On the left flank, my other Grey Hunter pack runs to the right as fast as it can.
The surviving Rhino follows closely behind.

The turret-less Razorback continues its advance and fires it smoke launchers.
My other lascannon Razorback advances and also fires its smoke launchers.
It looks like I may use both of these tanks to contest objectives in the dying moments of the game.

TURN 4:
His Wolf Scouts chase after my turret-less Razorback and fire their melta gun once more, but I pass my cover save from the smoke lauchers.

His Rune Priest detaches from his Grey Hunter squad so they can chase the turret-less Razorback with their melta gun. The Rune Priest casts Living Lightning but is blocked one again by my Rune Priest.

Meanwhile his Grey Hunter pack fires their melta gun into the smoke surrounding my turret-less Razorback, but I pass my cover save again.

His Long Fangs split their fire between the two Razorbacks, but had no effect.

It's at this point time is running out fast and we agree to end the game on Turn 5

His Land Raider blows up my Grey Hunter Razorback. They disembark into the woods, right in front of it.

The struggle against Arjac Rockfist continues and the Grey Hunters seem unable to hurt him. He smashes the Rune Priest with his Thunder Hammer and wins the combat. One Grey Hunter pack fights on, the other breaks and runs.

In my turn they carry on running because they didn't fall back far enough to be 6" away from Arjac. The cowards!

On the left, my Lascannon Razorback advances 6" to get his Rune Priest, who is now all on his own in my sites and right out in the open. I shoot, I miss! I reroll to hit, I miss! -aah!

On the right my turret-less Razorback advances 12" and gets ready to drive on to one of the objectives on Turn 5.

My 5-man Grey Hunter pack in the woods fire their melta gun at his Land Raider, but it has no effect.

Arjac Rockfist continues to smush my Grey Hunters until finally, my Wolf Guard lands a final, fatal blow with his Power Fist and emerges the victor of the combat and the sole survivor of his pack.

TURN 5:
On to the final turn!

His small Grey Hunter pack in a Razorback finally arrives from reserve to claim the objective his Long Fangs have been keeping safe in the ruins.

His Land Raider drives forward, gunning down 4 of my 5-man Grey Hunter pack and they fall back, away from the objective in the woods.

On the right his Grey Hunters fire advance towards my turret-less Razorback, accepting that they're never going to be able to claim the nearby objective if they go to it, because I'll get the final turn and can simply drive right up to it. They immobilise miss my tank with their melta gun and close range, then charge in and wreck it.

His Rune Priest casts Living Lightning to no effect.
His Long Fangs fire krak missiles at my advancing Razorback on the left flank, but just can't stop it.

His Scouts move towards the objective bottom right and kill the lone Wolf Guard with their melta gun, but realise they can't get too close otherwise the approaching Grey Hunters will simply charge them and wipe them out in the final turn.

I start my final turn by driving my Razorback on the left flank through difficult terrain (which it passes), right up the the beer barrel in the rocks, contesting that objective.

I ignore his Land Raider that's on an objective, beause I know I can't shift that. So I move the unscathed Grey Hunter squad to the bottom right objective near his Wolf Scouts, then run to make sure they're in range.

The game ends with 1 objective in my possession. Bit harsh because we had to agree when we would end the game, which gave me a bit of an advantage, but it couldn't be helped.

I failed to complete my Secret Mission, which was to kill his most expensive character. He failed to complete his Secret Mission, which was to kill half of my Troops choices.

30 Points Win to me.

CONCLUSION:
This was a totally crazy game. Massive casualties, a huge close combat and lots of last minute driving about. I gave this guy (James McGlough) my vote for Best Player because he was an absolute blast to play and a very good sport.

I think that his biggest mistake in the game was having so much off the board at the start, which allowed me to counter his deployment and get more numbers on the field from the very start. Plus, I had more firepower than him.

In hindsight I should have put both packs of Long Fangs in the middle and protected them better. But I'll know for next time.

It has to be said that he rarely failed an armour save, especially when it came to Arjac. Meanwhile I was failing pinning tests, moral checks and armour saves all over the place. But that's just the way it goes some times. I think Arjac would have been dragged down screaming had one of my Grey Hunters squads not become pinned.

Either way, I'm tempted to field Arjac in one of my lists soon!

I exercised the same tactics as in my earlier games. Because I have more firepower, you come to me! There was no way he could win an open fire fight and the plan to let him blow up a Rhino and get into the thick of my army was a good one.

Obviously I needed 2 Grey Hunter packs to jump on his 1 pack, but it all worked out in the end, even if it was a little close. I really wish we had the time to swap armies and play again. Hopefully there will be a next time.


In the meantime, stay tuned for my next Botch battle report against the screaming horror of the Tyranid hive mind!

Toy Soldier 2010

Once again the cargo bays of the Strike Cruiser "Skoda Octavia" ring with the sound of Iron Priests and Thralls preparing the war machines of Task Force Jorgmundr for war yet again!


This weekend I will be attending the Warhammer 40k 1750 point tournament at the Toy Soldier event at Preston University. The event takes place every year and the tournament is run by the Coppull and Chorley Knights wargames club otherwise known as C.A.C.K.

From what I've heard this is one of the more popular non GW events in the country and some of the top players like to attend, all I can say is I'm in for a good fight. This time round I've taken a different approach to my list adding in some Close Combat wallop in the form of two Thunder Wolf mounted Wolf Lords! The Twins as I have come to call them add some much needed support to my list as I found last time round I tended to be dominated by assault units and had to rely on my Powerfists to do any damage. This was fine but my Grey Hunters took heavy casualties in the process, anyway here is my 1750 list:-

HQ

Wolf Lord
Thunderwolf Mount
Thunder Hammer
Storm Shield
Runic Armour
Wolf Tooth Necklace
Wolf Tail Talisman
Saga of the Bear

Wolf Lord
Thunderwolf Mount
Wolf Claw
Storm Shield
Runic Armour
Wolf Tooth Necklace
Meltabombs
Saga of the Warrior Born

Rune Priest
Murderous Hurricane
Jaws of the World Wolf

ELITES

Wolf Guard, Powerfist, CombiMelta
Wolf Guard, Powerfist, CombiMelta
Wolf Guard, Powerfist, CombiMelta
Wolf Guard, Thunderhammer, CombiMelta

5 x Wolf Scouts
Meltagun

TROOPS

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Mark of Wulfen
Wolf Standard
Rhino APC

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Mark of Wulfen
Wolf Standard
Rhino APC

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Mark of Wulfen
Wolf Standard
Rhino APC

5 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Rhino APC

FAST ATTACK

10 Fenrisian Wolves

HEAVY SUPPORT

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers
Pack Leader

As you can see its my standard list with the addition of the Thunderwolves and some Fenrisian wolves to soak up wounds. I have included the Wolf Scouts this time round because I missed them so much last time it hurt bad, I also have a spare Wolf Guard floating around. Depending on the mission and opponent he can either go into the Wolf Scout unit or attach to the fourth Grey Hunter unit to make them more resilient.

I am aware this list lacks in Long range fire support with only one pack of Long Fangs but I like to play aggressively and enjoy the close combat phase so I am playing to my strengths I guess.

Stand by for a series of Battle Reports in the upcoming weeks and wish me luck Wolf Brothers!

Forge World is at it again!

Looks like it is confirmed, Forge World like GW proper has decided not to do anything official for gaming in the age of the Great Crusade or Horus Heresy.


This week our preview sure does look to be a Mk III Crusade armor helmet. The detail is amazing!



Quoted from the latest newsletter:

Last week’s MkV ‘Heresy’ pattern power armour helmet has clearly piqued many peoples’ interest. We have been inundated with e-mails and telephone calls, all seeking more details about this Top Secret project – it’s still under lock and key, but our agents have managed to obtain another exclusive work-in-progress glimpse of some of the many forthcoming Space Marine releases that our talented Studio team are working on. Many boffins died to bring us this information, but despite their sacrifice all we can say for now is that it is well and truly set in the 41st Millenium…

Even though the release will be set in the current timeline it sure does seem t be a great way for Forge World to cash in on the Horus Heresy gaming craze. This is a win for everyone involved.

I must admit that I am very excited.

13th Company Space Wolves

This week we have a 13th Company Space Wolves battle report on Friday, so I thought we'd take a closer look at the Space Wolves 13th Company army I played against.

In my third game at the Battle Of The Chumps, I was drawn against James McGlough who was working on a stunning 13th Company Space Wolves force complete with dramatic poses, ferocious conversions and even a Wolf Lord riding a Chaos Knight horse!

So I took some snaps and chatted to James about his army.

As someone who liked the Space Wolves playing style, but loved the look of a rag tag Chaos Marines army, the Space Wolves 13th company was the perfect blend of both.

James' paint scheme was relatively quick and easy, comprising of an Adeptus Battle Grey basecoat, Macherite Red red bits, Boltgun Metal silver boots, Dwarf Bronze gold bits and a Badab Black wash. Then he'd quickly paint highlights in a lighter grey. Job done!

All of his conversions were a simple blend of Chaos Marines and Space Wolves with his Grey Hunters all holding bolt guns and close combat weapons.

To keep things quick, he'd also neglected to paint all the Space Wolf trims and details in gold or silver, keeping them grey with a highlight instead.

Even though he'd only been base coated, I was particularly fond of his Wolf Lord riding a Thunderwolf (thunderhorse).

The photo I've taken really doesn't do his conversion justice and it's amazing just how good a Space Wolf terminator looks riding a Chaos Knight horse.

As the Space Wolves gallery was still up at Warhammer World, I took some snaps during my lunch break and spotted a Bulveye 'axeman of Russ' conversion leading the studio Space Wolf 13th Company army.

You can clearly see Space Wolf termminator legs, power armour torso, Blood Angel arms and wrist mounted pistol as well as a standard Space Marine bare head (with green stuff beard) and Space Wolves frost axe.

I'm tempted to try something similar for the plastic Ragnar Blackmane conversion I've been planning for months.


Stay tuned for this week's battle report as my Space Wolves take on James' 13th Company Space Wolves in a 1500 points game. -It's gonna be bloody!

More Marine armor variants from Forge World

That sure does look like Mk V Heresy Armor! The picture was sent out in the latest Forge World Newsletter.

I noticed this interesting little thing it the name of the photo: mkVnl which might translate into Mk V Night Lord. Could there be an Imperial Armor series based on the Horus Heresy on the horizon? Oh my, I surely do hope that’s the case!

Here is the text that goes with the picture.

As you may have heard from our Studio design team at the Forge World Open Day back in March, or read in the Games Day UK Preview, our designers, graphic illustrators and writer Alan Bligh have spent much of the past few months feverishly working on an incredibly exciting Imperial Armour project that is, as yet, still Top Secret.

Our agents have managed to obtain this exclusive work-in-progress sneak peek of one of a veritable cornucopia of forthcoming Space Marine releases. Forge World is once again turning its attention to the noble warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, the Emperors' Finest. Many boffins died to bring us this information, so keep an eye on the Forge World Newsletter over the coming weeks for more details of this thrilling project...

While this isn’t exactly Space Wolves news or rumors, it does benefit Space Wolf players. The up coming Mk V and the existing Mk IV and MkVI kits offer some really interesting conversions possibilities for the staunch and superstitious Sons of Russ.

Imagine your Wolf Guard decked out in a mix of early armor variants; this would be the perfect way to represent their venerable status with in the ranks of the Space Wolves.

Once these are released you can expect to see plenty of them in my Space Wolf army, which is already, dominated by converted Mk IV and Mk VI armored Wolves.

Ultramarines VS Space Wolves -Botch 2 of 6

The Space Wolves took on the Ultramatines led by Marneus Calgar himself in my second Botch game.

The Space Wolves certainly learned that the master of Ultramar isn't one to be trifled with!

In fact, I spent a good few minutes reading up on his rules, because I've never come across him before.

Fortunately, my opponent had pumped so many points into fielding Marneus Calgar that he was outnumbered by my Space Wolves.

1000 points of Space Wolves

Rune Priest
Jaws of the World Wolf & Murderous Hurricane

X3) Grey Hunter Pack:
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

1000 points of Ultramarines

Marneus Calgar

10 tactical marines, missile launcher, flamer, sgt with powerfist
10 tactical marines, heavy bolter, flamer, sgt with power weapon
10 assault marines, 2 plasma pistols, sgt with powerfist

Dreadnought with heavy flamer, close combat arm and plasma cannon


DEPLOYMENT:
We got the Seize Ground mission with a Pitched Battle deployment. He won the roll and chose the side with the most cover, leaving me with some rocks and a big hill. Fine by me. More rocks for my Long Fangs to sit in for the game.

He decided to combat squad his army and set it up in a nice big line with the Dreadnought out in front.

5 marines in a wood with missile launcher on the left, 5 marines centre left with 5 assault marines in front, Calgar in the middile, 5 marines centre right with 5 assault marines in front and 5 marines with a heavy bolter up on a hill on the right.

He deploys his objective right of the centre in some rocks, about 14" on from his board edge. I do likewise, deploying mine left of the centre in some rocks, about 12" on from my board edge.

I didn't fancy marching forward into all that, especially when Marneus Calgar could easily rip apart a whole Grey Hunter squad with his Gauntlets of Ultramar.

With more big guns, I planned to sit back, bait him in, then counter charge with my Grey Hunters. Hopefully I'd be able to drown Calgar in bodies and drag him down screaming.

I set up the Long Fangs in the rocks centre right with their Razorback behind. They'd be shooting down that Dreadnought.

Two Grey Hunter Rhinos, including one with the Rune Priest deployed behind the ruins in the centre while a third Grey Hunter Rhino sat back, ready to reinforce the Long Fangs should they get into trouble or the Grey Hunters.

TURN 1:
The Ultramarine army advanced. One of the combat squads joined Marneus Calgar and ran down the centre, behind the Dreadnought who fired his plasma cannon at the well spread Long Fangs, hitting 1 model -the sergeant of course, who passed his cover save.

The assault squads advanced down either side of the centre.

A missile launcher missed the Space Wolves Razorback while heavy bolter shells pattered off the hull of the Rune Priest's Rhino.

In response the Long Fangs stunned the Ultramarines Dreadnought and the Grey Hunter Rhinos wheeled round, now with all 3 transports behind the ruins in the centre while the Rune Priest cast Murderous Hurricane on the Space Marine assault squad on the right, killing two of them.

TURN 2:
The assault squads advanced. The one on the right found themselves just short of the Long Fangs and very exposed in the open while the one of the right too horrendous casualties from Murderious Hurricane as they failed dangerous terrain tests to flie into the ruins and charge one of the Grey Hunter Rhinos, but failed to do any damage.

Calgar and his combat squad advanced, firing the Gauntlets of Ultramar at the Long Fangs, who passed both cover saves.

Meannwhile the other squad runs into the rocks to claim their objective.

The missile launcher fired again, stunning the Long Fangs Razorback and preventing it from moving or firing this turn.

On the right, the heavy bolter blew the storm bolter off the Rune Priest's Rhino.

The Rune Priest's Rhino, drove around the ruin and fired its smoke launchers.

The Space Wolves Rhino in the centre disgorged its cargo of Grey Hunters who charged the tiny Ultramarines assault squad and wiped them out.

Meanwhile the other Grey Hunter pack leapt from their Rhino and into close combat with the other assault squad in order to protect the Long Fangs. At the end of the combat, 3 Space Wolves had died and only the Ultramarines Sergeant remained, surrounded by Grey Hunters.

The Long Fangs fired another krak missile salvo at the Dreadnought, blowing it up and showering Calgar and his squad in debris, but they all survive.

TURN 3:
Marneus Calgar and his combat squad advanced once more, firing on the Long Fangs and killing two.

The missile launcher blasts the twin linked lascannon turret off the Space Wolves Razorback. On the right, the heavy bolter squad fails to damage the Rune Priest Rhino.

The trap is sprung! The two Grey Hunter squads on foot advance, while the Rune Priest and his Grey Hunter pack disembark and march through the ruins.

All three Space Wolf packs open fire on Marneus Calgar and his combat squad, killing 3 of the Ultramarines and wounding Calgar once. Now for the charge. The Grey Hunter squads in the ruins need only a 4 to charge. The Rune Priest's pack rolls a double 1 -eek! The other Grey Hunter pack rolls a 2 and a 3 -argh!

That leaves just one Grey Hunter pack (currently 6 strong) to charge Calgar and his two chums.

What the heck, I charge them in and manage to kill the 2 remaining Space Marines before Marneus Calgar tears the Space Wolves apart with the Gauntlets of Ultramar. Only the Wolf Guard is left standing by the end and he bravely hold his ground.

In the following turn, Calgar finishes him off, then the remaining Grey Hunter packs and Rune Priest charge in, hack him apart with rending wulfen attacks and Rune Priest rune axe attacks under the power of the Wolf Standards.

One Grey Hunter pack gets back into a Rhino to claim their objective while the Rune Priest and his Grey Hunters sweep up the board, weathering a hail of bolter fire and into combat with the Ultramarines holding an objective in the rocks. After wiping them out in close combat the game ends.

2 objectives to the Space Wolves
0 Objectives to the Ultramarines

I also drew Clubs as my Secret Mission, which is to kill the most expensive enemy character, earning me another 5 points.

Full 35 Points Win to the Space Wolves!


CONCLUSION:
Due to the simple Win, Draw, Loss system of the tournament, I ended up playing this army. Don't get me wrong, the guy playing this army was an awesome guy. In fact, he went on to win Best Sportsman (and didn't come last!). Unfortunately this was a rather weak list that relied too much on Marneus Calgar to see it through. It's a shame, because his 1500 points list looked pretty good!

Like my first opponent, he seemed to have fallen into the trap of creating a 1500 points list, then downscaling it for 1000 points and upscaling it to 2000 points, rather than building a solid core at 1000 points and building up from there.

My strategy paid off, because he'd never have been able to weather all those krak missiles, so he had to come to me. He could have sat there and died or advanced and died. Not forgetting that Murderous Hurricane is horrible for assault squads who need to move to be any good.

Because of the difference in the strength of our lists, he was doomed from the start. However, when two of my Grey Hunter squads failed to charge Marneus Calgar, I thought I could be in trouble! Fortunately the remaining Wolf Guard held him up for an extra assault phase or I could have been wittled down by a single pumped up character.


Stay tuned for the next battle report when my Space Wolves clash with the mythical Space Wolves of the 13th Company!

Space Wolves Summer Siesta

The Space Wolves Blog is going to be taking it easy this summer. I don't know about you guys, but it's just too damn hot to paint. We don't have air conditioning here in the UK and to be honest, we're used to it constantly raining. So the chance to actually wear some sandals and get out in the sunshine is a real treat!

Unfortunately, I'm stuck indoors working on my bathroom. And while I'm doing that, I have to crash at my folk's place because...well, I have no bathroom at the moment.

But don't worry, the Space Wolves blog isn't going away for the summer. Instead we're cutting down the number of weekly posts while sticking with a big Space Wolves battle report every Friday.

I'm doing my best to write up one of my games from Battle Of The Chumps every week. Meanwhile, I was lucky enough to play a couple of games on Sunday evening against Alex Ley's brutal Blood Angels army in all their spray painted, bright red glory. To be honest, they're not that tough...unless they charge you!

Stay tuned for more bloody battle reports from the Space Wolves blog every Friday, with the occassional article thrown in for good measure.

Mark of the Wulfen conversion

I wanted to convey the part about using "claws and teeth in close combat" specifically claws. I found a perfect claw from the old space hulk, plastic genestealers models. With the expansions, I have a ton of these old genestealers still on the sprue. Converting the model was a simple mater of cutting the Space Wolf hand off, and replacing with the genestealer hand. the genestealer hand just needed to be trimmed up a bit around the wrist. I love the pose of the outstretched fingers ready to "render" some flesh.

Propero Burns Preview

The Prospero Burns preview is up! Dan Abnett has suggest running another Propsero Burns preview in the future. I can't wait for this to come out!

Death had them surrounded.
It had come to cut threads, and today, it wore four faces.
A burning death for those too hurt or too afraid to flee the settlement as the firestorm swept through it. A freezing death for those who ran away up the scarp to escape the murder-make: even in spring, the wind came in off the ice flats with a death-edge that sucked an exposed man’s life-heat out through his lungs, and rotted his hands and feet into black twigs, and left him as a stiff, stone-hard bundle covered in rime.
For others, a drowning death, if they attempted to flee across the blue-ice around the spit. Spring’s touch was already working the sea ice loose against the shore, like a tooth in a gum. The ice would no longer take a man’s weight, not reliably. If the ice broke under you, down you went: fast and straight if you plunged through, slow and screaming if an ice plate tipped and slid you in. Either way, the water was oil black, and so cold it would freeze the thoughts in your brain before your lungs were even empty.
For the rest, for those who had remained to fight, a bloody death, the death of the murder-make. This was the death that knocked you down hard onto the ice with an axe or a maul, so you felt nothing except the cold burn of the ice, and the hot burn of your own blood, and the pain-scream of your crippling wound. This was the death that stood over you and knocked you again, and again, and as many times as necessary until you would not rise again, or until you were so disfigured that death could no longer bear to look at you, and moved off in disgust to find another soul to knock.

Any of those four faces would cut your thread as soon as look at you. And those were the faces the Balt were wearing.

The Balt. The Balt had brought the murder-make down on the Ascommani aett. Twenty boat. It was early in the season for a raid. A man had to be desperate to go out making red snow when he could wait for the first grasses and milder weather.
Twenty boat, and all of them still rigged for ice-running under their sea-sails.
If there had been time, the Ascomanni might have wondered why their doom had come so early. Ironland, where the Balt had settled, had persisted twenty Great Years, but many now said its roots were soft. Many now said it would only be one more summer, two at the most, before the ocean sucked it down again into the World-forge.
Ascomanni land ran from the spithead to the ice shelf, and was poor for farming and lacked natural defences, but it was yet just one Great Year old, and the dowsers had proclaimed it strong land, with many years left in it.

So land-thirst. Perhaps it was that.

Fith knew better. Nothing got the murder-urge pumping like fear, and nothing stoked up fear like a bad omen. A broom star. A day star. Colour in the ice. Bloom in the sea. Smoke out on the ice shelf where no settlement was. Some dead thing washed up that should not be. Something born to livestock or to a woman that should not be. Something with birth defects.
Sometimes a bad dream would be enough to do it, a bad dream that told you the tribe down the coast or around the headland was maleficarum. You let land-thirst be your excuse as you reached for your shirt and your blade, but you made sure the gothi marked your face in soot-glue with good cast-out marks like the sun-disk and the warding eye before you opened out your sails.

And there had been a bad omen, all right. Fith had seen it.

Fith had seen the make coming too. He’d seen the sails approaching along the in-shore early enough to blow the scream-horn, but too late for it to do any good. He had merely enabled his kinfolk to die awake.
The Balt main force had come up around the spit in their wyrmboats in the sightless pre-dawn grey, sailing black sails straight out of the water and onto the shore-ice on their rigs, translating from water-craft to ice-craft with barely a jolt. Their skirmishers had put ashore on the far side of the headland, and come romping in over the high back of the snow dunes to fall on the Ascommani settlement from the hind side.
After that, it had been fire and knocking. The Balt were mongrel-big, men with long faces and beards waxed into sun rays under their spectacle-face helms. They were horribly able with axe and maul, and the occasional high status sword that some carried.
But they brought with them none of the screaming vigour of a normal Balt raid or murder-make. They were silent, shit-scared of what they had come to kill, shit-scared of its sky magic. They were silent and grim, and set to murder everything to wipe the magic away. Men, women, the young, livestock, nothing was spared a knock. There was not a shred of mercy. There was not a moment’s thought to claim prisoners or take slaves. Ascommani girls were famously fine-looking, and there were plenty of healthy girl-children too, who would make valuable breeding slaves in time, but the Balt had put away all appetites, except for a fierce desire to be cleansed of fear.

The sound of an axe knocking-in is a wet smack of slicing meat and shattering bone, like sap-wood being cut. A maul makes a fat, bruising sound like a mattock driving pegs into marsh loam or wet ice. Worse than both are the after-sounds. The screaming of the agonised, the ruined and the dying. The begging shrieks of the hurt and maimed. The hacking impacts of death knocking until the fallen stop being alive, or stop trying to rise, or stop screaming, or stop being in once piece.

Fith had just enough time to get his shirt on and loft his axe. Several other hersirs fell to arms with him, and they met the first skirmishers coming in through the walls and window-slits of the settlement, head on. The panic was up already. It was blind blundering in the dark, a reek of urine, the first nose-full of smoke.
Fith’s axe was balanced for a single hand. It was a piece of proper craft, with a high carbon head that weighed as much as a decent newborn boy. From the toe of the blade to the heel of the beard, it had a smile on it wider than a man’s hand-span, and it had kissed a whetstone just the night before.
The axe is a simple machine, a lever that multiplies the force from your arm into the force delivered by the blade. The rudiments apply whether you’re splitting wood or men.
Fith’s axe was a bone-cutter, a shield-breaker, a helm-cleaver, a death-edge, a cutter of threads. He was a hersir of the Ascommani aett, and he knew how to stand his ground.

It was a throttle-fight in the settlement itself. Fith knocked two Balts back out of the tent wall, but the tight confines were choking his swing. He knew he needed to get out. He yelled to the hersirs with him, and they pulled back.
They got out of the tents into the settlement yard, wrapped in swirling black smoke, and went eye to eye with the Balts in their spectacle-helms. It was mayhem. A free-for-all. Blades swung like windmills in a storm.
Fenk went down as a Balt axe split his left calf lengthwise. He bawled in rage as his leg gave out, useless. Seconds later, a maul knocked his head sidelong, and snapped his neck and his thread, and he flopped down on the earth, his shattered skull-bag leaking blood.
Fith drove off a Balt with a mattock, scared him back with the whistling circles of his swinging axe.
Ghejj tried to cover Fith’s flank, using the basics of shield-wall tactics. But Ghejj had not had time to collect a decent shield from the stack, just a tattered practice square from the training field. A Balt spear punctured him right through, and tore him open so thoroughly, his guts spilled out onto the snow like ropes of sausage. Ghejj tried to catch them, as though he could gather them up and put them back inside himself and everything would be all right again. They steamed in the spring air. He squealed in dismayed pain. He couldn’t help himself. He knew he was ruined unto death.
He looked at Fith as he squealed again. It wasn’t the pain. He was so angry that he was irreparably dead.

Fith put mercy into his stroke.

Fith turned away from his last picture of Ghejj, and saw that there were fingers scattered on the snow, on the yard snow churned up by scrambling and sliding feet, along with blood by the bowl-full. They were the fingers of women and children, from hands held up to protect themselves. Defensive wounds.

There on the snow, a complete hand, the tiny hand of a child, perfect and whole. Fith recognised the mark on the ring. He knew the child the hand had once belonged to. He knew the father the child had once belonged to. Fith felt the red smoke blow up in his head.

A Balt came at him, silent and intent, and Fith flexed the lever of his axe, and hooked it in, and made a ravine of the Balt’s face.
Four hersirs left. Fith, Guthox, Lern and Brom. No sign of the aett-chief. The chief was probably dead and face down in the red snow with his huscarls.
Fith could smell blood. It was overpoweringly strong, a hot copper reek spicing the freezing dawn air. He could smell shit too. He could smell Ghejj’s insides. He could smell the inner parts of him, the ruptured stomach, the yellow fat of Ghejj’s belly meat, the heat of his life.
Fith knew it was time to go.
The Upplander was in the furthest shelter. Even the Ascommani knew to keep him away from people.

The Upplander was propped up against cushions.
“Listen to me,” Fith hissed. “Do you understand me?”
“I understand you. My translator is working,” the Upplander replied, looking pale.
“The Balt are here. Twenty boat. They will knock you dead. Tell me, do you want the mercy of my axe now?”
“No, I want to live.”

“Then can you walk?”
“Perhaps,” the Upplander replied. “Just don’t leave me here. I am afraid of wolves.”

Plastic Thunderwolf Conversions Comin' Up!

Plastic Tunderwolf conversions here we come! Photos of the new plastic Blood Crushers (juggernaughts) are online and they'd make perfect plastic Tunderwolf conversions.

Some clever Spaniard came up with this Thunderwolf cavalry conversion shortly after the release of the Space Wolves Codex.

You can see how he's removed some of the detail and applied green stuff to get a 'wolf wearting heavy armour' look.

I wanted to do this, but kept putting it off due to cost and time. But now the plastic Blood Crushers are here, this conversion just become a whole lot easier and cheaper!

As you can see, these are all plastic with plenty of poseable parts and a choice of different heads.

Best of all, these are going to be sold in packs of 3 for £27.50, which is just as well when Canis Wolfborn costs £27.50 on his own!

I'll be getting 3 Blood Crusher boxes. That gives me 3 for my Wolf Lord combinations, 5 for a single Thunderwolf Cavalary unit and 1 for a Canis Wolfborn conversion.

Stay tuned for a release date and a plastic Thunderwolf conversions tutorial!

Prospero Burns Finished!

Prospero Burns, the Horus Heresy Space Wolves novel by Dan Abnett is finished!

Originally the release of Prospero Burns was postponed until January 2011 due Abnett's late-onset epilepsy. There's currently no further news on a final release dae.

On May 29th at the MCM London Expo, I was loitering for the preview of the Ultramarines Movie and didn't realised I'd effectively queue jumped and was stood right next to Abnett's book signing desk.
So I casually said "Alright mate" and asked him how Prospero Burns was coming along and that I was really looking forward to it.
"Me too" he said, then added: "It's neeearly finished."
Then I had to get out of the queue pretty sharpish.

Dan Abnett declared the completion of Prospero Burns on his blog, describing it as a "Monster".

On Monday at noon (aka: mid day), UK time, he'll be posting a short taster of the novel, to whet our appetites and our axes. I dunno about you guys, but I can't wait!

Check it out here: http://theprimaryclone.blogspot.com/

Eldar VS Space Wolves -Botch 1 of 6

In this Eldar VS Space Wolves battle report from Battle of the Chumps we had 1000 points each in an Annihilation mission with a Spear Head deployment.

His Eldar army looked stunning with its simply grey and striking orange colours, but he confessed that it was much better at 1500 points. At 1000 points my Space Wolves were overwhelming with their sheer number of power armoured troops.

1000 points of Space Wolves

Rune Priest
Jaws of the World Wolf & Murderous Hurricane

X3) Grey Hunter Pack:
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

1000 points of Eldar

Eldar Avatar

Farseer with fortune, doom, runes of witnessing, singing spear
5 warlocks with a mix of embolden, destructor, singing spears and witch blades
Wave Serpent with twin linked bright lance

10 Guardians, Warlock, shuriken cannon
10 Guardians, bright lance
10 Guardians, bright lance


DEPLOYMENT:
He won the roll off and chose the table quarter with the most scenery, forcing me to take the quarter with the least. But there was 1 patch of rocks for my Long Fangs, so I was happy with that.

He put the first Guardian squad in some ruins at the front, the second Guardian squad in the woods at the back, along with the Avatar and the Waveserpent complete with Seer Council. Finally, the third Guardian squad depoyed right at the back.

I deployed my Rhinos as far forward as possible, the Long Fangs in the rocks further down, backed up by their Razorback.

I failed to seize the initiative and he took first turn.

TURN 1:
My plan was to let him attack with the Seer Council, drown them in Grey Hunters, krak missile the Avatar to death, then frag the guardians with my Long Fangs.

So, I was pleased when he Turbo'd the Wave Serpent with Seer Council across the top of the board. His firing with the Guardian heavy weapons was predictably ineffective (come on, Guardian's suck!) and the Avatar waddled down from the woods towards the Guardians in the ruins.

In my turn the 3 Rhinos full of Grey Hunters rumbled up towards the Seer Council Wave Serpent and the Guardians in the woods, firing their smoke launchers.

The Long Fangs fired a barrage of krak missiles at the Avatar, inflicting 2 wounds.

TURN 2:
The Seer Council disembarked, blew up the Rune Priest's Rhino with their Singing Spears, forcing the Space Wolves to disembark, then charged into close combat.

The combat was tough, with the Space Wolves losing, but holding their ground. I wasn't able to dispel Fortune with my Rune Priest, which made things difficult.

Meanwhile the Avatar moved back towards the woods and hid behind a large tree!

The Guardians continued firing their heavy weapons, but with the Rhinos firing their smoke lauchers, nothing got through.

In my turn one of the Grey Hunter packs burst from their Rhino and smashed into the Seer Council, calling on the power of their Wolf Standard. The Seer Council was torn apart, leaving just the Farseer standing.

The other Grey Hunter pack leapt from their Rhino into close combat with the Guardians in the woods and made short work of them, before falling back into the open, away from the Avatar.

The Long Fangs fragged the hell out of the Guardian squad in the ruins.

TURN 3:
The Avatar advanced behind the woods, towards the Grey Hunters in the open and ran to get closer.

The Guardians in the ruins continued to fire at transports with no luck.
The third Guardian squad advanced down the board, firing their bright lance as they went, but with no effect.

The Wave Serpent fired at the Long Fangs Razorback, but didn't inflict any damage.

Having wittled the Rune Priest's Grey Hunter squad down to a single Space Wolf and killing the Rune Priest himself, the Eldar Farseer fell to the savage attacks of the other Grey Hunter pack's wulfen.

The Grey Hunter pack and lone Grey Hunter blew up the Wave Serpent with their melta gun and combi-melta and ironically, the lone Grey Hunter was killed in the explosion, conceding a Kill Point.

The Long Fangs finished fragging the Guardian squad in the ruins, leaving just the Warlock who broke and fled.

Meanwhile the Grey Hunters in the open, marched around the woods, fired their bolt pistols and crashed into close combat with the Eldar Avatar! After striking down 4 of the Space Wolves, the ferocious Wulfen and Wolf Guard with powerfist took his last 2 wounds, before sweeping into the cover of the woods themselves.

TURN 4:
The lone Eldar Warlock regrouped and fired his Destructor at the Space Wolves in the woods, killing one of them. They gunned him down in kind.

The remaining Guardian squad ran down the left flank, hiding behind a large square building. They sat here and kept firing their bright lance with no effect until the end of Turn 5.

6 Kill Points to the Space Wolves
3 Kill points to the Eldar

I also drew Hearts for my Secret Mission, so I got an extra 5 points for wiping out half of the enemy Troops.

Full 35 Points Win for me!

CONCLUSION:
One look at the armies and it was obvious how this game would go. Guardians are no match for Grey Hunters. I'm used to the Avatar and were it not for the big trees, the Long Fangs would have finished him off by Turn 2.

Rushing the Seer Council off on their own was a bad move. He should have led with the Avatar, used the Seer Council for back up and fired all his heavy weapons at my Long Fangs.

He was going to have a tough time either way due to the sheer amount of stuff I had in 1000 points.


Stay tuned for the next battle report against the Ultramarines led by Marneus Calgar himself! What will it take to bring the master of the Ultramatines down?

Friendly 40K Tournaments

Friendly 40K tournaments? Really? I don't believe that 'friendly' 40K tournaments can exist for the simple reason that a) it's a tournament, and b) there's a prize at the end.

Just to clarify that by "friendly", I mean "not quite so competitive."

During the Battle Of The Chumps, a group of us had a chat in Bugman's Bar about it. A couple of guys insisted that the intention of the tournament was to be a relaxed and friendly affair, but some had abused that and brought hardcore Grand Tournament style lists. Meanwhile I insisted that no tournament could ever be friendly, otherwise it wouldn't be called a tournament.

I'd rocked up with a pretty strong list, I'll admit that. You know why? Because I wanted to win! There were plenty of other armies on display which had been built for that exact same purpose. However, even with the army list restrictions in play, many players were able to create army lists which danced around the restrictions. The end result was a lack of Battlewagon Ork armies.

I can appreciate good intentions behind army list restrictions and a desire to play in the right spirit of things. But the minute you enter competition and a prize into the mix, spirit of play goes right out the window and the tournament rules and restrictions are there to be played -just like the game.

I'm not a fan of army list restrictions. They punish some armies while rewarding others. It's as simple as that. Balance, Fairness and in some cases Fun goes right out the window as soon as players are restricted on what they can field.

Heck, where were the Ork Battlewagon armies at Botch? I wanted to play against one with my Space Wolves to see how they do!

The only friendly 40K tournament I've played was Chaos Day, where I took a fairly standard and not-so-competitive Space Wolves army and played a bunch of games against random opponents. I had no idea there was a prize at the end (won a £5 voucher). I just had a few beers, made some new friends and enjoyed my games!

So while some may talk about playing in the spirit of things, there will always be those that bring a competitive list, butcher all the fun armies and claim the top prizes for themselves. How do you stop it? Well, you can't -you have to play competitive too!

After Botch, James and I were kindly invited to a day of casual games in Nottingham another time. Just like Chaos Day, I'll bring something fun to it and play for fun against random folk.

I feel that if you want to play for fun, meet up with a bunch of people for a day and play some games.

If you want to play a tournament, build a strong list and play to win.

Decals: Tips n' Tricks

I used to get discouraged when trying to apply decals to space marine shoulder pads, because the decal would not firm up against the shoulder pad and would have a frosty edge. Once I discovered the product below, it solved both of these problems.

You apply the Micro Set before the decal goes on which helps adhere the decal, then apply the Mico Sol after the decal is applied which helps the decal grab on to the shape and detail of the area. It is very simple to use.













Hobby Tip #1: Did you know decals are reversible? 
Great for Terminator's or if you want to use a transfer on the right shoulder pad. 

Apply the Decal Set to the area in question. Once decal is movable slide it up a bit so you see the top for positioning.

Flip the paper over and position decal where you want it.
















Carefully slide off onto the shoulder using the brush.

Dab off any excess liquid with a paper towel. Allow to set / soften for a bit, and you can carefully press out any wrinkles in the decal to  the shape of the shoulder pad.














Once happy with the placement above use the decal Sol to finalize and give the decal that painted on look. Allow to dry fully.




Note: Some multi colored decals are not exactly reversible such as Logan's Wolf against the Moon. when reversed the full moon is on top of the wolf head.

Hobby Tip #2: You can convert decals and make them your own. 


For my army of Harold Deathwolfs Company, there is no GW decal, and I didn't fancy Painting every Icon by hand, so I though I would modify the existing Logan Grimnar decal into a "version" of Harolds Wolf devouring the Sun.

Apply the logan Icon using Tip #1 above.

Once fully dry, I used yellow ink to color in the moon. The ink is translucent, so it does not interfere with the detail of the wolf.

Once the Ink is dry I start blocking off the sun by painting little triangles around the perimeter.

....Continuing until the sun is complete.

Harold Deathwolfs' Unit complete! Why are these Space Wolves Black? That is another story.