Space Wolves Rhino Rush

After a few games of my Long Fangs doing very little, I'm considering the Space Wolves Rhino Rush of old.

Grey Hunters never let you down. So lots of them in Rhinos should be able to overwhelm virtually anything.

It's true that without long ranged fire support from the Long Fangs they can get into trouble and probably take horrendous casualties from monstrous creatures.

But in games when you simply can't set the Long Fangs up without them all getting butchered or they can't see a damn thing due to the terrain, you really wish you had more packs of Grey Hunters instead.

So here's my Space Wolves Rhino Rush. I did try including Logan Grimnar or Arjac Rockfist, but their requirement for a Land Raider transport diminished the numbers so much that the army didn't really work.

At 2000 points I'd bolt on my usual Wolf Guard Terminator squad in a Land Raider for some added front line punch.


1500pts Space Wolves Rhino Rush:

Rune Priest
wolf tooth necklace, chooser of the slain, saga of the beast slayer, wolf tail talisman and melta bombs.

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

1 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta and Power Fist
7 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

Land Speeder with multimelta and heavy flamer
Land Speeder with multimelta and heavy flamer

CONCLUSION
I had a load of points left over, so I tooled up the Rune Priest, although a Wolf Priest could be a better choice. A few games will determine which is best.

Meanwhile, you've got 6 packs of Grey Hunters in Rhinos with a couple of Land Speeders to help the army to take out tanks up close without forcing the Grey Hunters to disembark. I did consider giving all the Rhinos extra armour to keep them rolling, but couldn't justify the points cost.

It's a fun list, it's built to go beat face and it has 49 Space Wolves in it with more than enough melta guns. What's not to like?

Coming Soon

Don't fret about me having sold my Space Wolves, because my new Pre Heresy Space Wolves army is already well under way!

There's also a heck of a lot in the pipeline. Even if it seems to have been marked in red text on the side bar for a couple of months.

I felt that now would be a good time to have a chat with you guys and let you know what's going down with your Space Wolves blog.

Things have been a bit manic lately in The Life Of Adam. I've changed jobs again and now find myself working in central London, doing SEO for a global communications group. It's scary!

But now that I'm having to learn about digital social media, it seems like a good time to integrate all these funky things into the blog.

So this means:
YouTube Videos are coming back
Facebook LIKE button is coming back
Twitter feed will go live

Better, Faster, Stronger
Battle reports are time consuming. This is why a lot of bloggers don't produce them. But I know that you all love a good battle report. So I'm going to start doing video battle reports.

However, the videos won't just appear on the Space Wolves YouTube Channel, they'll also be integrated into blog posts, accompanied by a transcription of the video. So you can digest the content any way you like.

Meanwhile, I'm sure that many of you are already following the Space Wolves facebook group. Personally, I like glancing at it every day to see what other people are up to with their armies. Plus it's quicker than trawling through forums looking for pretty pictures.

Finally, there's the Space Wolves Twitter feed. I've never been a great fan of twitter, but let's give it a whirl. I've often wanted to give you guys quick, short updates, but can't really justify it on a content rich blog platform. So this could be fun.

"SpaceWolvesAdam- Marc killed me with Draigo + 20 Paladins. OMG!"

Traditional Written Content
I ran a poll a while back to see what kind of content you guys wanted. Ironically, despite all the buzz about the digital age, mobile browsing and all that jazz, there was an overwhelming vote for good, written content (with pretty pictures of course).

And contrary to what many media leaders may think, skim reading information is never going to go away.

That's because it's quicker than listening to someone witter on *cough*BeastsOfWar*cough*.

So to summarise:
All the special characters tactics are in the pipeline.
The las plas razorback turret conversion guide is in the schedule.
I'm hoping I can find time to do a Sun Wolf Razorback conversion tutorial.
If so, then there will also be a Thunder Rhino conversion tutorial too.
I'll try to do a Pre Heresy Space Wolves conversion guide this weekend.
And when I come to paint them, I'll definitely do a painting guide as well.

Unfortunately, while I can write articles pretty quickly, building, painting and playing takes up a lot of time.

But I've got a plan in place that will allow me to start assembling my Pre Heresy Space Wolves at speed, so I should be able to assemble a complete 2,000 points army by the time my current Space Wolves army ships out on the 11th of July.

In the meantime, stay tuned for videos, tweets and facebook updates!

Blog Wars

"What do you mean, Blog Wars is only a week away!?" I exclaimed.

So in the classic 'Adam hasn't prepared for a tourney' style, I'm going to take my 1750pts from the UK GT and shoe horn in a special character somehow.

Now I understand that Blog Wars is a friendly tournament (click on the link for my full feelings on 'friendly' tournaments), but the whole compulsory Unique choice really screws certain armies while others are usually taking a Unique unit anyway.

For Space Wolves it means we have to take a special character, which I personally would never take. They're just too expensive. Although Arjac is incredible.

I took Njal out to play a few weeks back (I still need to write that up!) and he wasn't fantastic. In fact, he was a fat waste of points.

But, that's the only Unique unit I can cram into my army at such short notice.

Sometimes you just have to make the best of what you've got. I dunno about you guys, but I don't have time to build and paint the perfect army in advance of a tournament.

Anyway, as the picture above beautifully illustrates, here are the modifications to my GT list:

Adam's 1750 Space Wolves Army for Blog Wars

Njal Stormcaller

Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, wolf claw
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, chainfist
Wolf Guard Terminator with storm bolter, power sword, cyclone missile launcher
--> Land Raider

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
--> Razorback APC with Twin Linked Lascannon

5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
--> Razorback APC with Twin Linked Lascannon


CONCLUSION
You all know I love my Wolf Guard Terminators. They seem to do so well for me, I managed to pull them from my usual 2,000pts lists and cram them into my 1750pts lists instead.

Then I've got my usual mix of fairly well sized Grey Hunter packs, backed up by Long Fangs in Razorbacks with lascannons.

I'm sad to have to drop the Land Speeders so I can afford Njal.

Truth be told, I wish I had 6 Grey Hunters packs in Rhinos led by Ragnar. It may not be sensible, but it'd be great fun!

On the flip side of things, I've seen some seriously maxed out MSU (many small units) lists on other blogs for Blog Wars.

Aside from the torrents of plasma, the Terminators and Land Raider seem to be fairly immune to the worst of it. So that'll be interesting.

While the meta game seems to be swinging back to MSU for many people, I'm still not convinced that it's the way to go.

Sure, against Marines it's pretty good. But against armies that can and will blow up all your light armoured tanks, you're just throwing away Kill Points.

But I guess that the real moral of this story is to have EVERYTHING built and painted for your army. Then you can just build your perfect list without having to worry about what's in your miniatures collection.

I'd better start working on my list for the next Battle Of The Chumps too...

Wolf and Sister Part 8

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Space Wolves For Sale

My 3000 points Space Wolves Great Company is now for sale.

This can only mean that my Pre Heresy Space Wolves are already well under way, but more on that later.

In the meantime, I'm offering Space Wolf Blog readers the rare opportunity to grab a huge, completely painted and fully optimised Warhammer 40K army without having to fiercely bid for it.

So if you bought this, all you'd have to do is get it out of the case and play with it...and kick people's arses of course!

Important Stuff You Need To Know

• I'd like £700 for my 3,000pts Space Wolves army
• Payment in monthly installments is an option
• I ship from the UK to anywhere in the world
• Shipping will be insured & recorded at additional cost
• The army will be incredibly well packaged for travel
• Payment can be via Paypal, cheque (UK) or cash (UK)
• The army will be shipped from the 10th of July 2011

I'm making this fantastic army available to Space Wolves Blog readers until the 1st of July. After that, I will reluctantly break it up and auction it off unit by unit on eBay.

So while that's considerably more profitable for me, I'd rather they all went to a good home and continued fighting together.

What You're Getting
If you've followed the blog for some time, then you've no doubt skimmed over this army's illustrious 2-year war record.

They've fought hard, they've fought bravely, and more often than not, they've triumphed. So this is an army with a rich and detailed history.

They helped me to win 3rd place at the Battle Of The Chumps 2010 and even clawed their way to 9th place at the extremely competitive UK 40K GT 2011, becoming the highest scoring Space Wolves army.

Everything unit individual pack markings as well as company badges, which have all been hand painted on. Plus there are rare Wulfen models in the Grey Hunter packs and a plentiful supply of hard/expensive to acquire melta guns and missile launchers.

Head Quarters:
Njal Stormcaller
1 Rune Priest
3 plastic Rune Priests (conversions)
1 plastic Wolf Priest (conversion)

5 Wolf Scouts:
5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun (conversions)

5 (6) Wolf Guard Terminators:
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword (conversion)
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, power sword (conversion)
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, wolf claw (conversion)
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, chainfist (conversion)
Wolf Guard Terminator with storm bolter, power axe, cyclone missile launcher (conversion)
Spare Wolf Guard Terminator with heavy flamer, power axe (conversion)
+ Land Raider transport (guns swivel)

10 Grey Hunters:
1 Wolf Guard, combi-melta, powerfist (conversion)
8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wolf standard, power fist
1 Wulfen miniature (RARE!)
+ Rhino Transport (removable turret)

10 Grey Hunters:
1 Wolf Guard, combi-melta, powerfist (conversion)
8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wolf standard, power fist
1 Wulfen miniature (RARE!)
+ Rhino Transport (removable turret)

10 Grey Hunters:
1 Wolf Guard, combi-melta, powerfist (conversion)
8 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wolf standard, power fist
1 Wulfen miniature (RARE!)
+ Rhino Transport (removable turret)

5 Grey Hunters:
4 Grey Hunters, melta gun, wolf standard
1 Wulfen miniature (RARE!)
+ Razorback Transport (removable turret)

15 Blood Claws:
1 Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, chainfist (conversion)
15 Blood Claws, 2 melta gun

2 Land Speeders:
1 Land Speeder, multimelta, heavy flamer
1 Land Speeder, multimelta, heavy flamer

6 Long Fangs:
1 sergeant
5 Long Fangs, missile launchers
+ Razorback transport, twin linked lascannon (removable, swiveling turret)

6 Long Fangs:
1 sergeant
5 Long Fangs, missile launchers
+ Razorback transport, twin linked lascannon (removable swiveling turret)

PLUS! You get a 'Kaiser 2' KR Multikase to carry your army around in. There's some extra space for more tanks and infantry as well.

PLUS! You get painting guides, strategies, army lists and more to help you play the army. All you have to do is keep following the Space Wolves blog! It's all here for you and will continue to update forever and ever.

Interested?
I'm sure you'd like a fully painted, competitive, 3000pts Space Wolves army. I mean, who wouldn't?

Please click on one of the images in this post and see what this amazing army has to offer.

It's been an exciting roller coaster ride with these guys since day one. I'll be sad to see them go, but I'd rather they gave someone else just as much enjoyment instead of collecting dust on a shelf.

So if you'd like to play an awesome army that crushes your opponents with a brilliant mix of brains and brawn, then please get in touch at the usual address: spacewolvesblog@hotmail.co.uk and let me know how you'd like to pay.

PS: I have a spare Space Wolves Codex I can throw in if you need it too!

Wolf and Sister Part 7

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Space Wolves Vs World Eaters

In this battle report we see my Space Wolves go head to head with some Pre Heresy World Eaters which belong to my friend Tim Smith. Tim is a regular tournament player and his new World Eater army has won best painted on a number of occasions. Tim got in touch and told me he wanted to get to grips with my Wolves as we have missed each other on the tourney tables a couple of times over the past 12 months.

Not wanting to miss out on a good scrap I loaded the boys up and headed up to Tims house for and evening of 40k. Tim uses the Blood Angels codex to represent the close combat nature of the World Eaters Legion and in my opinion it fits the bill perfectly.

We decided to play one of the Open War XV missions as at that time we were both set on attending that tournament and needed some practice in the non standard mission types we were going to be playing. (Since then it ended up I could not attend that tourney)

The mission we played was basically the old Seize Ground mission with victory conditions being set on who had the most scoring units in a table quarter, you scored 1 points for each quarter on your own side of the table and two points for quarters on the enemies side. The Deployment zone is 12" from the board edge and similar to Dawn of War with only HQ and Troops being allowed to deploy, however you could deploy as many of them as you wished, everything else either went into reserve or walked on turn 1.

Tims army list was as follows:-

Librarian
Unleash Rage
Blood Lance

Sanguinary Priest

Furioso Dreadnought
Blood Talons
Extra Armour
Drop Pod

5 Assault Terminators
2 x Lightning Claws
3 x Thunderhammer and Storm Shield
Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armour, Multimelta

10 x Assault Marines
2 x Meltagun
Powerfist

5 x Assault Marines
Meltagun
Razorback
Twin Linked Lascannon

5 x Assault Marines
Meltagun
Razorback
Twin Linked Lascannon

2 x Attack Bikes
Multi Meltas

Predator
Autocannon Turret, Lascannon Sponsons

Predator
Autocannon Turret, Lascannon Sponsons


Brads 1750 Space Wolf List

Wolf Lord, Thunderwolf Mount, Runic Armour, Saga of the Bear, Thunderhammer, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace

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

3 Wolf Guard
3 Combi Meltas
3 Powerfist

Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield

Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Wulfen
RHINO

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Wulfen
RHINO

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Wulfen
RHINO

8 Fenrisian Wolves

5 Long Fangs
4 x Missile Launchers

5 Long Fangs
4 x Missile Launchers

5 Long Fangs
4 x Missile Launchers

DEPLOYMENT

I Won the roll off and chose the table edge that would benefit my Long Fangs the most, I had three good pieces of terrain and some good lanes of fire all the better to funnel those World Eaters into my Wolf Lords.

I deployed all my Rhinos in strong central positions with the Wolf Lords lurking towards the Left flank. I didn't want to get caught short by that Land Raider early in the game.

Tim opted to deploy just two Razorbacks in cover whilst the rest of the force opted to turn up turn 1 along with the drop pod. Tim the tried to seized the initiative but had no such luck.

Turn 1

Turn 1 was pretty uneventful, I shifted the Rhinos around and moved the Wolf Lord towards the centre of the battlefield. The Long Fangs all ran onto board and deployed into cover whilst the Lone Wolves stalked onto the board in the centre ready to hold the line.

The World Eaters came on in force, The Redeemer steamed onto the board directly towards the centre of the board with the large Assault Squad in tow lapping up the FNP bubble. The Predators got into position to provide cover fire along the back edge. Finally the Drop pod plummeted to the ground on my right flank, the Dreadnought inside intent on causing havoc on my back lines with my Long Fangs. Luckily for me it scattered backwards 11" right out of threat range so Tim just deployed his dread behind the pod for cover.

Tim then scores first blood with one of his Razorbacks by immobilising one of my Rhinos.

TURN 2

With both armies on the board it was time to turn up the heat. The Bastion in the centre of the battlefield had two lanes of approach on either side and it was clear the melee was going to take place there. I split one Lone Wolf off to block the Dreadnought whilst the other stuck himself right in front of the Land Raiders approach path. If he wanted to advance he had a rock hard Beserk Chainfist to get past.

My Rhinos shifted again getting into cover and into counter attack positions while the Wolf Lords moved up again now ready to dominate that centre. Last turn Tim had moved one of his Razorbacks flat out down my left flank, in answer for this I sent the Fenrisian Wolves after it hoping to swamp him in strength 4 rear armour attacks.

My shooting looked promising with 3 packs of Long Fangs but I only managed to wreck a single Razorback, still better than nothing.

The Fenrisian Wolves then charge the lone Razorback but fail to do any damage.

The World Eaters army advances again but with the threat of two Thunderlords and Lone Wolves I had a feeling it was not as aggressive as they would have liked. The Land Raider was now in threat range with the Assault Squad still tucked in behind.

His first action was to tank shock my Fenrisian Wolves with the Razorback which caused them to flee with their tails between theier legs.

The Furioso Dread broke cover and steamed towards my Long Fangs and was quickly joined by the Attack Bikes.

Tims Shooting phase was a poor as mine with everything either missing or failing to penetrate he did however manage to blow a storm bolter off one of my Rhinos.

TURN 3

With the Fenrisian Wolves running I sent some Grey Hunters to deal with the sneaky Razorback on my left whilst everything else pretty much stayed put. I could have probably got the Wolf Lords into combat this round but it would have left them horribly exsposed.

I decided to let the Lone Wolf take the brunt of the attack and placed him right in front of the Land Raider. Tim would have to either risk tank shocking him, shoot him with lots of guns or assault him. Either way he was being a nuisance.

With an Angry Furioso Dread bearing down them my Long Fangs decidced to actually hit something this turn and blew the Dreadnought sky high. Meanwhile my Grey Hunters on the left jumped out of the Rhino and fired both Meltas at the Razorback but only managed to shake the damned thing!

It was certain the World Eaters would be in combat this turn. Tim decided to Tank Shock the Lone wolf directly in front of his Raider which would also allow him to ram one of my Rhinos. The Lone Wolf fired up his chain fist and howling oaths of vengeance hit the Land Raider head on. Impressive as it was it ended up in one dead Lone Wolf as he failed to stop the Raider dead in its tracks, it then went on to score a strength 8 hit against my Rhino which wrecked it leaving the pack inside in a very bad position, staring down the barrel of a Flame storm cannon!

The Assault Terminators inside now had room to disembark intent on some destruction. In the shooting phase the inevitable happened and the Flame storm cannon toasted all but three of my Grey Hunters who had just spilled out of the rammed Rhino.

The Predators managed to pour enough fire into another Rhino wrecking completely forcing the pack inside out of the transport.

With plenty of Targets to choose from the Assault Terminators multi charged my Wolf Claw Wolf Lord and the third Rhino in the middle of the board, one the left flank the Assault Squad in the Razorback charged my full strength Grey Hunter pack, luckily for me I had seen this coming and activated my Wolf banner in the shooting phase.

And finally the Attack bikes charged my Long Fangs on the right flank. I will write about this fight now and get it out of the way. Basically they knocked lumps out of each other for the remainder of the game with neither side breaking the other!

My Claw Lord counter attack the Terminators slashing left and right but all but one Terminator passed its invulnerable save! In return the Wolf Lord was dragged from his mount and battered to a pulp. Furious Charge Terminators with re rolls to hit from unleash rage is just too much for one Wolf Lord!

The Assault Marines smashed into the Grey Hunters but realised they had bitten off too much to chew when the Grey Hunters counter charged and wiped them out without taking any casualties. That's why I take large Grey Hunter Packs kids!

Turn 4

The game was on now, these few turns would be the decider with so many combats going on.

I still had my Hammer Lord in a strong position. I could go for the Assault Terminators but I really don't fancy rolling all those invulnerable saves again so I made a bee line for the Large Assault Squad lurking behind the Land Raider.

The three flame storm survivors decided to climb over the wrecked rhino to get within Melta Range of the Land Raider. The burning wreckage must have been red hot with molten metal as two of the three failed dangerous terrain checks leaving the Wolf Guard on his own.! Muppets!

I also moved the Lone Wolf Towards the Assault Terminators, if he could hold up that unit for a at least one turn it would relieve some pressure on my Grey Hunters. The pack on the left flank moved into the World Eater Deployment zone pretty safe from any threat at this time.

The shooting phase was pretty dire, the Wolf Guard missed with his Combi Melta and the Long Fangs missile Launchers could not punch through the armour 14 of the Land Raider as it was the only target they had.

The Assault phase was much better, the Thunder Lord hammered into the assault squad and despite taking a wound he hammered three marines into ground, the World Eaters decided they wanted more hammer medicine next turn and decided to hang around.

My last Lone Wolf was just in charge range of those Assault Terminators so barrelled into combat. He was set upon by Lightning Claws but he shrugged off everything that was thrown at him. He then split the Librarian in two with his Chainfist whilst again deflecting half a dozen Thunder hammer hits! What a legend, that's why I love Lone Wolves!

At this point in the game the World Eaters were running low on scoring units and to think about it so was I. The Land Raider moved off towards my deployment zone going after my pack of Grey Hunters claiming it whilst the Predators moved into firing positions to take care of my other Pack in the World Eater deployment zone.

Not much happened in the shooting phase, my lone Wolf Guard was finished off with a Lascannon shot while the Raider fired its assault cannon at my Grey Hunters but failed to cause any damage.

The Lone Wolf had lost his momentum this round and was finished off by the Assault Terminators. He had done his job they were well and truly sat in the middle of nowhere now and posed no threat to any of my scoring units.

The Thunder Lord took another wound from massed Chainsword attacks and again killed a handful in return leaving the Squad Sergeant with his Powerfist all alone.

Turn 5

Turn 5 could see the end of the game, as it stood I was scoring three victory points for the two quarters I was holding. I just needed to survive.

My two Grey Hunter packs realised that a tactical position would secure victory so both packs moved away from threats into cover. We aren't uneducated Barbarians you know!

That was about it for my turn, My Long fangs tried their luck against the raider again but once more the missiles pinged off the armour.

In the Assault Phase the Wolf Lord finished off the Assault Squad and consolidated towards another Assault Squad in the World Eaters deployment zone.

The World Eaters shifted around with the Predators moving to block the Wolf Lord from getting to those squishy troops lurking in the ruins.

The game did go onto turn 6 but again it was a case of units shifting around and very little happening. The game ended with me scoring 1 victory point for holding one of my own quarters and the World Eaters scoring nothing. However I needed to win by at least 3 points to gain a win so the game ended in a draw. The battle had been a costly one though, when we totted up Victory points I had lost a lot more than Tim as I had failed to take out that Death star unit.

Conclusion

Those open war mission are tough! They definitely favour troop heavy armies as the scoring point difference is huge when you think about it. That said it was a cracking game with plenty of exciting combats which is what I love the most.

As for the battle I think I made a few mistakes that could have changed things a lot. Firstly I broke my own rule and I split my Grey hunter packs off from each other. I was so focussed on the mission parameters I forgot my packs need to work together and it cost me slightly.

Second failing was standing my ground with the Lone Wolf, I should have just stepped out of the way and waited for those Terminators to get out. This could have saved my Claw Lord from his fate and changed things greatly.

I recognise my failings and will be sure to correct them.

John's Army List Evolution

Sorry about the lateness of this post and my lack of conversation on last weeks battle report but after it went up my laptop blew out it's motherboard!

So after 9 tournament games (and countless practise/friendly) with the same list, it's time for me to de-construct the list and rebuild it so it's Harder, Better, Faster, & Stronger.

So I'm going to go through list my original army list out and go though how each unit performed and then a summary at the end along with a new list.

HQ's:

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf.

 

In all the games only ever one or the other Rune Priest ever performed well. Powers wise I only ever used Living lightning and occasionally Jaws of the World Wolf, and that was only twice and even then the Rune Priest died the following turn - but he did always bag a big target (Old Zogwart and a Tervigon). I think I can just get away with the 1 Rune Priest as combat wise they where generally no better than a Grey Hunter with a power weapon. They performed best vs enemy psykers, minimising the impact of Librarians, shutting out multiple Catalyst powers vs Tyranids and just being a grade A pain in the arse against Grey Knights!

 

Elites

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun

5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun

 

With the one exception against Tyranids the Wolf Scouts always made for a royal pain in the arse against everyone, and where one unit failed the second picked up the slack (I firmly believe in taking 2 or none at all). They make player's castle up around fire bases, they won me a few games by just spanking scoring units left at the back of the board, they help the Wolf Guard power fist into place to kill Characters, and can hijack the razorbacks vs deep strike armies.

 

3 Wolf Guard: 2 armed with a power fist and a combi melta each, 1 with a combi melta and a bolt pistol

 

I need more. I need more power fists/weapons etc. The flexibility of placing the Wolf Guard where I like was always handy - and the power fist more so.

 

Troops

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen

Rhino 

10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen 

Rhino 

5 Grey Hunters, 1 Melta Gun

Rhino 

6 Grey Hunters, 1 Flamer

Rhino

 

I need a dedicated scoring unit. Having so much potential killing power waiting to be unleashed in only 4 units meant that I struggled to contest and fight over multiple objectives. As for the 10 man squads it's nice to have the 2 melta guns, but generally they would fire once and then either hit the target or the contents in assault. So I am no longer obsessing over having 10 men and double melta over a unit of 9 & a Wolf Guard isn't a biggy for me any more as I always need the that "hidden" power fist more. Having the power fist lets me take on more targets, deal with characters, and combined with the banner will be great.

Fast Attack

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer

Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer  

Nothing wrong with these guys - I just got to learn to use them better. I was debating on if I should drop the heavy flamers, but in hindsight having a second gun makes it more flexible and able to deal with anything that pops out of what it shot.

Heavy Support

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers 

Razorback, Lascannon, Twin linked Plasma gun

5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers 

Razorback, Lascannon, Twin linked Plasma gun 

 

Right I'm going to be honest here and say....

 

The Las/plas-backs sucked. With only two they where shooting target 1 and 2. For 150 points I would rather have a 3rd unit of Long Fangs to pick up the slack should the other 2 fail (which they did in 2 games). In fact for 150 points I can get another 5 man, 4 missile unit and have change for more Grey Hunters and Wolf  Guard. The power of the Las/plas-back is in numbers, and 2 is no where enough, in fact I reckon it's a all or nothing choice (I'm sure many people disagree)

 

The 'power' of this army over the two tournaments was it's balance, and how every unit was a equal threat, and the Las/plas-backs stuck out as a easy armour 11 thumb to shoot at.

 

So to recap:

I can get away with 1 Rune Priest,

I need a dedicated scoring unit,

More Wolf Guard!

Las/plas-backs are good but only if that's all you're using (spamming).

So what has my army list evolved into now?

HQ:

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf, melta bombs, wolf tail talisman = 110

Elites:

5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun = 85

5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun = 85

5 Wolf Guard, all with power fists and combi meltas = 215

Troops:

8 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 150 (Rune Priest rides with these guys)

Rhino = 35

9 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 165

Rhino = 35

9 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 165

Rhino = 35

5 Grey Hunters, Flamer = 75

Razorback, Twin-linked Heavy Bolters = 40

Fast Attack:

Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Heavy Support:

5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115

5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115

5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115

This is how my regenerated list rolls at the moment, pretty much as before - but more efficient across the board. In test games so far they have done well (and badly). Having the wolf guard with power fists in the Grey Hunter units has definitely given them the boost they needed vs the big stuff!

Having the 3 units of Long Fangs is a god send! Against light armour or MSU I can split fire up to 6 times, and vs the bigger, tougher stuff the concentrated fire makes a difference. 

Against my friend's Chaos Marines they have struggled (mass plague marines) so at the moment I am considering dropping my favourite units the Wolf Scouts for another unit of Grey Hunters with plasma guns to help cut through really hard stuff like Plague Marines and Terminators at range and with rapid fire when they get too close. But on the other hand the Scouts keep fire base units occupied as the Grey Hunters close in.

What do you readers think???

Are We Nearly There Yet?

It seems like it's taken forever for the Dark Eldar second wave to emerge. And although we're still waiting for our plastic Thunder Wolf Cavalry, plus whatever else could be in a Space Wolves second wave, I really do wish there were more competitive armies to play against right now.

Don't get me wrong, Space Wolves are far from being kings of the castle. Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Daemons and Grey Knights are still battling for the top spots at all of the tournaments. Vanilla Marines do alright and occasionally you'll see a token Ork battle wagon army or two.

I guess what I'm saying is that there aren't enough competitive armies right now. Hence why so many people seem to bitch, moan, cry and generally throw their toys out of the pram when it comes to Space Wolves.

We haven't really faced Dark Eldar properly yet. People are STILL figuring them out, despite a Baron led Hellions army doing fairly well at the recent UK 40K GT.

Meanwhile the Orks aren't quite as good as when they first swamped our tabletops in a tide of green for 5th edition. This is a real shame, because everybody loves Orks. Admit it, you do too!

Tau, Eldar, Chaos Marines and Necrons are all waiting for new Codicies in order to become worthwhile again. So right now only half of the armies in the game are really viable in a competitive environment.

I Feel For The Other Players
Because it's horrible getting butchered every game, or battling your very best and all you can get is a Draw. I've been there back when I used to play Tau Empire. Every new Codex seemed to make my army that bit weaker until, eventually, they just got overrun and couldn't put up much of a fight.

It's a really tough situation to be in. Do you carry on for who knows how many years? Do you sell up and start something new? Do you collect another army on the side?

No wonder people complain that other armies are overpowered. Because their armies are out of date and underpowered.

I Feel Sorry For Me
Because I like to play a good game against a variety of armies. I'm sick of fighting Imperial Guard and Chaos Daemons. That's gonna change soon thanks to Grey Knights, but for once in a while I'd like to face Eldar, Tau or Chaos Marines -especially if they're Thousand Sons of course.

6th Edition
Already? Well, there's rumours/musings/random tat that's been floating about on the net for a while about this.

But honestly, what could GW improve? Personally, I love 5th edition. Every single thing about it. All they need to do is get all the Codex books done and the whole thing will work just fine.

Just don't let Matt Ward write any of the background.

Wolf and Sister Part 6

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Open War 15: Game 3 vs Space Wolves

Yes it’s Brother vs. Brother today!

Game 3 was Hold the Line, which had a diagonal pitch battle style deployment zones (as you can see in the first picture). The objective was simple – get into your opponents deployment zone, 2 points for a scoring unit, 1 for any other unit – but dedicated transports, and/or immobile vehicles do not count or score A 4+ point difference was needed to win the game, anything less was a draw.

The game would last randomly as in the rulebook (5 to 7 turns), with night fight in effect in turn 6 and 7.

My opponent was Nathan Roberts, brother of (then) UK Number 1 Josh Roberts – some training partner to practise against! 

Nathan’s Space Wolf list was:

Rune Priest with Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf and a Chooser of the Slain

Rune Priest with Murderous Hurricane, Jaws of the World Wolf, and melta bombs

2x Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Storm Shield, Chainfist

3 Squads of 7 Grey Hunters with a melta gun & wolf Standard,

+ Wolf Guard with power fist & combi melta

+Rhino with dozer blade

5 man Grey Hunter Unit with a melta gun

+ Wolf Guard with Terminator Armour, Chain Fist, Cyclone Missile Launcher

3x Land Speeder Typhoon with a multi melta

6 Long Fangs with 5 missile launchers

+Wolf Guard

6 Long Fangs with 5 missile launchers

Deployment:

I won the Roll and set up centrally using the ruins in the middle as cover for the first turn or two should Nathan seize. I put a unit of Long Fangs up on the hill to my left as it provided some fantastic firing lines into his deployment zone. Nathan set up fairly centrally as well, but a little of too the right. His Lone Wolves set up on the left to run though the ruins I was planning to use as cover.

Turn 1:

Thankfully Nathan didn’t seize (as that many Krak Missiles would have ended the game before it began!). I advance my Rhinos down the right of the central ruins, using the lead rhino to cover my Razorback and Rhinos containing my Rune Priests who used living Lighting to destroy 1 and stun another Land Speeder. Nathan’s response cautiously moved his Rhinos up to a small wall just outside of his deployment zone and castled them up so they all got cover saves. His shooting resulted in me losing my lead Rhino, but it took everything he had.

Turn 2:

I cautiously advance my Rhinos and Razorbacks wary that if I got too close not could he only krak them open but also get the charge on me, or at least get into melta range. My Razorback on my left takes a wound off a Lone Wolf before a Land Speeder finishes him off. The Grey Hunter’s who lost their Rhino advance out of the former transport’s crater in a ballsy move for a multi charge on his Rhinos – presuming that they roll ok for difficult terrain. I manage to destroy another Land Speeder and Stun another (again). In assault my Grey Hunter’s make the charge but only the Wulfen manages to harm a Rhino, but he dose wreck it with his bare hands! I get a unit of Wolf Scouts in, but I rolled a 1 so they come in from my left flank and are effectively out of the game.

Nathan’s now Rhino-less unit goes towards the perpetrators as the unscathed Rhino tank shock the unit closer to them, but not before the unit inside it disembarks to help double team my unit. Shooting wise not much happened other than ripping off both guns from one of my Razorbacks. In assault his last Lone Wolf barley taps a Rhino with his chainfist,. In the main fight I lose all bar 3 of my Grey Hunters to his Grey Hunter double team, but my unit manages to escape combat, and a dastardly plan forms in my mind for turn 3......

Turn 3:

My now weaponless Razorback tank shocks one of Grey Hunter units that had a Rune Priest in it, this sets me up for a double team of my own with Land Speeder Heavy Flamers! This resulted in 6 toasted Grey Hunters and a grateful reduction in the numbers on my door step. I also destroy the Rhino that tank shocked last turn as it was being used to try and sheppard off my fleeing unit. I charge my last 10 man Grey Hunter unit into combat against one of his units who had already used their banner. But even with banner “advantage” not much happens despite my number of attacks, and again his wolf guard with a power fist redresses the issue. I also had a unit of Wolf Scouts come in from the right flank and they charged the unit of Long Fangs lacking the Wolf Guard and Rune Priest but they fluff combat (even with the power fist) and run away!

Nathan’s Long Fangs destroy the weaponless Razorback and his Lone Wolf rips the open the other one with his chainfist (unsurprisingly) and he hides his mainly intact unit in the ruins. He charges in his 5 man squad (who had been walking their way down the right) into my (now) formally fleeing unit (thanks to "They Shall Know No Fear"), but thankfully the Wolf Guard forgot to turn on his Chainfist.

Turn 4:

I move my now regrouped scouts on the right flank to come over to the combat with Nathan’s 5 man unit as well as my 6 man unit with one of my Rune Priests. In the shooting phase I launch 8 frag missiles into the Grey hunter’s in the ruins and unsurprisingly many of them dropped but to my luck they also decided to flee, and thankfully I still had a Land Speeder in the area to make sure they would still be running in his turn too. Unsurprisingly his 5 man unit Grey Hunters crumple under the combined assault from my Rune Priest, Scouts and Grey Hunters. So that’s 2 scoring units away from my deployment zone.

Nathan’s fleeing unit carries on fleeing, but he does manage to take out the Land Speeder that was denying them the chance to rally. He pushes his Rune Priest and the remains of the heavy flamed squad towards my zone along with his Lone Wolf. His Long Fangs manage to krak open my last Rhino so his advancing units can charge them and make up more ground. Again my unit fluffs combat and his Wolf Guard with power fist again proves to be the decider, but I hold thanks to the Rune priests LD10. More annoyingly his Lone Wolf managed to make combat with one of my unit of Long Fangs, which went as well as you would expect, but the Veteran Wolves hold their ground.

Turn 5:

Remember those Scouts who were out of the game? Well they are now in range to cause his fleeing unit to flee off the board come his turn. I pile my other unit of Grey Hunters with the other Rune Priest towards the combat just outside my zone but they fluff their difficult terrain tests. My Rune Priest and His Rune Priest (both the very same model) kill each other, while the last Grey Hunter and Nathan’s Wolf Guard do nothing but watch the mirror match. The Lone Wolf finally kills of the Long Fangs and manages to consolidate 3 inches.

We roll for game length and after a few bounces the die turns up a 1 so the game ends....

We measure out my deployment zone and it turns out that if the lone wolf had rolled a 4+ he would of been in my zone for 1 point, and if the Wolf Guard hadn’t turned off his power fist vs my Grey Hunter then he would of been in too, both of which combined would of given Nathan the 3 points needed to win! But alas it was a draw.

I learned a lot from this game, and it really highlighted the weaknesses in my list, which if you where a follower of my own blog you will know all about.

Overall I came 15th out of 62 players, so a vast improvement on my GT rank!

Next week I will recap what worked and what didn’t in my list and what is had evolved into, and what other ideas I am cooking up and trying out.

And after that a little series of fluffed centred Named Character based army lists.

Njal Vs Rune priests

Many of you have expressed many different views on army list, theory hammer and math hammer, but does that all work out in games? Well It’s hard to tell. Do you play a diverse amount of players, all who are good, and all who run fairly strong “net” lists? Of course not, so I am here to discuss some strengths and weaknesses between 2 units who have some contending within certain people’s lists and views.

Njal has crept up a fair bit recently. Now I will start by saying this, he is NOT point efficient. People have been saying this since the codex came out, but all of a sudden, one person (Tony, a good player none the less) has done well using him at a fairly large Tourney (Adepticon) and the internet has imploded. Let me tell you this; are those 7 games a good enough conclusion? Of course not. Do we know who he faced? Well I know of some of them, a few Orks, Nids, another wolf army and guard. Are any of these armies going to bring the best out of Njals abilities? Some of them you say? Ok, so how do we meet the balance and efficiency of his 245pt cost?

Discussion

Let’s start with his rules. 2 Powers a turn, ok cool that’s neat, but only 1 can be shooting. Seeing as 75% of the powers are shooting, this kind of nullifies his effectiveness.

His tempest abilities are nice. One of the best ones, the ability to reduce enemy shooting within 24 inches can only be used if you get Turn 1 (check the Faq). Ok so, that’s very situational for a start, so let’s go back and look at Tony’s games. We notice that he had first turn in almost all of them, so that’s beneficial from the start. Now let’s look at the real world, does this happen? No, ok so that’s solved.

Other abilities are decent, but mostly 18 inch range. This means I have no choice but to use him in an aggressive manor or face wasting his pts...brilliant. What If I want to play like proper wolves do and control midfield, not bum rush my opponents army just to get anything out of him.

What if his transport goes down and there’s nothing near to pick him up. How would that happen, you ask? Well some people need to cover a lot of the board with their armies. I for one don’t want to put 2-3 rhino squads next to Njal JUST in case his transport gets blasted off the board early on. Overall, it’s a big fat MEEH from me. Nothing special and nothing game breaking. It forces the player to use Njal and his unit in an aggressive way which in some games is stupid, great.

3 + Nullification, this is where it gets decent. This is fantastic against most of the newer armies out there. With psychic powers become very staple and common, this ability alone is a fantastic ability, but again, how many pts over a Rune priests 4+ are we paying here? Well we will come to that in a minute.

2 Wounds and basically the same stat line as a normal Rune priest...well that sucks, how is he “special”..oh yeh he has awesome “abilities” right? Yay he gets a cyber eagle, which is a chooser of the slain but gets to make a rubbish attack before combat starts. How many pts of this character has been invested into that crappy upgrade I wander? Chooser of the slain is 10pts, I assume GW made this 20 because it’s obviously twice as good...not.

Oh but wait, he has a 15 pt saga which allows me to re roll LD test nearby...awesome. Well it’s nice to have sure, but let’s now counter all these “pro’s” with logic.

Comparison

First, let’s take 2 Rune priests, 1 with chooser of the slain & a wolf tail talisman, and 1 with just a wolf tail talisman. Now this isn’t standard, but let me explain. A fair amount of psychic powers are damaging spells or target spells. This load out (which is still cheaper than Njal btw) allows me to roll a 4+ within 24 inches, followed by a 5+ to stop the targeting spell. To me, thats decent for the pts I have paid. Do I really need to spend 140pts more just to get a slightly better roll off when we all know in games you going to roll a 1 anyway. I’d rather have a re-roll (effectively).

So the 2 priests can target 2 enemy units with 2 damaging spells. This can be potentiall 2 Jaws or living lightning’s depending on how you have configured your priests. Both are above an 18 inch range like Njals tempest, do decent damage in their own way, and can be controlled. I can announce which spell I want, rather than have to roll a dice and get the crappy one I don’t need or want. Awesome, great start.

2 Priests mean I can provide two units LD 10 and have them be on different sides of the board. No need to stay within 6 inches of one another just to gain Saga of the majesty’s effects or become a pickup truck when one of their transports falls down a hole.

2 Priests mean further board control. I can cover a much larger range with their hoods. This is very big in Dawn of war. Sometimes, it’s best to flank your army rather than deploy centrally, so have 2 sides of the board covered can be very effective. If one gets de meched, you still have another. What I also mean by board control is psychological effects. Having Njal on one side of the board, and Ghazghull on the other isn’t helping much. Having 2 priests mean you can deal with Ghazghull and have the other deal with another threat. This gives your opponent a tough decision and further “no go” areas. This is of course an example and fairly situational, but none the less an advantage over Njal.

2 Priests also has some Njal will never have, a positive effect on our grey hunter squads. Not only in LD, but in combat. Both throw out 4 attacks on the charge and counter charge, boosting your unit’s damage potential. Sure It’s nothing amazing, but neither is it something to scoff at. 4 power attacks mixed with a banner, in 2 squads, makes those units even deadlier. With Njal, I only see one of those 2 units boosted, so overall not as effective.

What about the new Vindicare assassin, other wolf armies with jaws, or getting that one unit locked into combat with something you didn’t want to be. Losing that priest can prove really damaging in some games. For example, Njals squad has suffered a lot of casualties in shooting and are about to be charged by a fairly strong unit. You know they are going to die and you made a few mistakes, or a few bad rolls. This has effectively ended you priest’s role in the game. It happens, but when you have two priests, this isn’t as damaging. You may, for example, need your priest to jaws a Tervigon as your missiles just aren’t doing what they should. With 2 you are fairly likely to achieve that role.

Conclusion

Now I personally run 1 priest in my list, so i am not telling you guys to take 2 priests, but look at the difference in those points spent. I have effectively increased my armies output, redundancy and efficiency just by utilising the points I had available to me. Id personally rather get 1 priest (100pts) and a 6 man Long Fang squad with 5 Rockets (140pts) and throw those 5pts spare on some Dozer blades, than take Njal, but that’s just me. I see more efficiency in those selections than Njal.

To conclude, I leave you all with this: How many times in your games have you thought “Damn if only he was Njal” EXCEPT for when you roll a 3 to nullify a power?

Killswitch