Game 3: Annihilation, Spear HeadOpponent: Michael, Space Wolves
In the third round I found myself drawn against Michael from the Claws And Fists blog. it was time to show him who the Big Dog is.
A quick look at his list showed me a lack of lascannons, lots of points poured into Thunderwolf Cavalry and two large Long Fangs packs.
I won the roll off, choosing to go first and blast him apart at range. Cruel as it may be, his list was much weaker when it came to heavy weapons. Thanks to the mission I could simply sit back and shoot, then pounce on him if he came too close.
His list included:
Rune Priest with Jaws and Lightning
Wold Lord with runic armour, frost axe and storm shield riding Thunderwolf with 2 wolves
5 Thunderwolf Cavalry with a mixture of stuff
10 Grey Hunters with 2 plasma guns, mark of the wulfen, power weapon and standard
Rhino
10 Grey Hunters with 2 melta guns, mark of the wulfen, power weapon and standard
Rhino
10 Grey Hunters with 2 melta guns, mark of the wulfen, power weapon and standard
Rhino
Long Fangs with 4 missile launchers, 1 lascannon
Long Fangs with 4 missile launchers, 1 lascannon
The Game
I deployed everything in a nice big firebase, just outside of any potential Thunderwolf charge range off the starting line.
The Michael rolled to seize the initiative and got it. Unfortunately he'd deployed very defensively, expecting to get the second turn, so wasn't in the best position to take advantage of the first turn. Although I feel he should have rushed me with everything he had. It was clear he wouldn't survive at range, even playing defensively.
With the first turn lost, the confident grin was wiped off my face as his Long Fangs opened fire...
...and immobilised 2 Rhinos.
Erm, okay. I thought he was going to kill my Long Fangs, but he'd attempted a crack at easy kill points early on.
My Space Wolves returned fire, hammering one of his Long Fang packs with 8 frag missiles and an assortment of lascannons. In the end only a single Long Fang with missile launcher was left standing, after passing a lot of cover saves.
In the following turn his remaining Long Fangs continued firing at my tanks with little effect.
My Long Fangs and tanks shot back, killing his Long Fangs.
His Thunderwolf Cavalry advanced. I fell back a little bit.
His Wolf Scouts rolled a 2 for their Operate Behind Enemy Lines and appeared on my left flank. They got charged by some Grey Hunters and killed.
With his transports now coming under fire and his army not moving fast enough to intercept all my shooting units, Michael charged out the Thunderwolf Cavalry into the middle of my army.
They blew up a Rhino and stunned the Land Raider. He was only just (just!) in charge range for the Land Raider, but the Rhino had been placed there to hurry things up, bunch his guys together and act as bait. Big, juicy bait.
The Grey Hunters in the blown up Rhino called on their wolf standard, opened fire and charged.
The Grey Hunters led by the Rune Priest got out of their Rhino, called on their wolf standard, opened fire and charged. Not before the Rune Priest killed a Thunderwolf with Jaws Of The World Wolf.
And finally, the Wolf Guard Terminators got out of their Land Raider, fired all their combi-weapons and also charged.
Meanwhile every other available gun in the army fired at the Thunderwolves as well.
By the time all those Grey Hunters and Wolf Guard charged, there wasn't much left.
The Thunderwolf Lord butchered a whole pack of Grey Hunters, only to be beaten down by the remaining Wolf Guard with a Power Fist.
Meanwhile the remaining two Thunderwolves were despatched by the Rune Priest and Grey Hunters to the South and the Wolf Guard Terminators to the East without any casualties.
Erm... it was pretty much over after that.
CONCLUSIONThe rest of the game Michael fed some Grey Hunters to me piecemeal, which I graciously killed. Although had things gotten hairy (which was unlikely by this point), I could have simply driven away, fat with Kill Points.
By the end of Turn 5 only a pack of Grey Hunters led by their Rune Priest remained and the game ended. I'd lost a 2 Land Speeders, 2 Rhinos.
8 Kill Points to me, 4 Kill Points to him.
So Where Did He Go Wrong?
We had a chat after the game and he was at a disadvantage due to the mission and the number of lascannons in my army.
Although I felt that he'd poured too many points into his Grey Hunter packs and Long Fang packs.
But he hadn't coordinated an attack between his Grey Hunters and Thunderwolves very well.
Also, he should have targeted my Long Fangs early on, as they were the real source of my anti-infantry fire power who later laid waste to his Long Fangs, Thunderwolves and even Grey Hunters after my other guns had exploded their Rhino transports, leaving them bunched together in the wreckage. All nice and ready for a few frag templates.
Regardless of what he did, due to his army composition he was going to have a tough time.
Could I Have Played Better?
I had a clear strategy right from the start and stuck to it. Knowing when to take on the Thunderwolves was the trickiest part. Although I don't believe they're that fantastic in close combat, the Wolf Lord butchered a whole Grey Hunter squad on his own! It was better to shoot them lots, then finish them off with a big charge to get the job done proper.
I had to use a bait unit to make it difficult for the Thunderwolves to manoeuvre, so they'd have no choice but to take it. Otherwise they'd just sit around for another turn while I could fire all my big guns at Michael's transports.
I'd like to play Michael again in a friendly game and send everything straight at him to see what happens. It'd be a complete bloodbath, but I believe that the better composition of my units and the Wolf Guard Terminators would cut a bloody swathe through his army all the same.
But more than anything, this game demonstrated why I'm not a fan of Thunderwolf Cavalry.
Michael poured a ton of points into them and a Thunderwolf Lord to lead them, but they spent most of the game hidden behind terrain to stop me from killing them with all my krak missiles and lascannons, then it was difficult to get a good charge out of them without having the plough straight into the middle of the enemy formation.
That said, when the plastic models come out, I'll almost certainly buy some!
6 comments:
April 12, 2011 at 2:44 AM
hahah, and you complain about "castling marines".
There's nothing really wrong with it though, you have to play to your strengths, it just takes advantage of spearhead (which I personally think needs to be revised as it favours shooty armies so, so much)
How many times have you been blasted away by guard/tau when they get spearhead and first turn... It's almost impossible to win.
Good question to ask you though - Have you come across any great substitutes or revisions of spearhead that you might like to share?
I reckon spearhead would be better with at least night fighting rules on turn one, possibly a bit more space to deploy. 12" from a cross-table diagonal.
April 12, 2011 at 4:48 AM
Ironically, I've always seen fast close combat armies favoured in spear head.
April 12, 2011 at 10:32 AM
I have to hand it to you, your usage of Terminators (which are my favourite Wolf models!!) inspires me. But I can't seem to find a role for them in my armies. Do you think they are feasible at 1500 points though?
I agree, as much as I love some of the DIY sort of Thunderwolf Calvary, I really think they're the most overrated unit in 40K right now.
Good job on the win.
-Prot
April 12, 2011 at 1:34 PM
I'd never take them in 1500pts or less. They're too expensive.
April 12, 2011 at 9:09 PM
I tend to use them in my 2000 point list as a counter charge unit, with just three TWC and a Thunder Hammer. They exploit the fear factor that's been built up around them, meaning that the rest of my army is ignored. Fortunately, they are also tough enough to do some real damage, especially to the hordes of mech IG metal beasts.
On Spearhead, I actually like it and find it to be one of my favorite types of deployment, whether I'm playing Vanilla, Wolves, Guard, Chaos, or any other army that I've played over the years since 5th ed. came out.
April 12, 2011 at 10:46 PM
You seem to use the WG+Raider much like Crisis suits get described in the fluff. Not so much as spearheading an assault as counter-punching with them.
They apply a concentrated amount of anti-armour at just the right time, cashing in on having "just" combi-weapons, as they rip the guts out of the foe in one blow. Those weapons work just as well on Tyranid MCs as they do Death Co. with FNP. Nice.
Whilst I'd never really given the LR-classic much credence, being a somewhat confused design, it actually works well in a counter-punching list, such as yours. Pewpewpew until the foe gets close, them dump the WG on them :)
Do you ever deploy the WG out of the Raider during deployment?
In a Templar list, the 5 man squad with 2 CML [with tank-hunters] is becoming an increasingly used unit, as it fires away from the get go, and then belts units that come too close. A nice deterrent ;)
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