Space Wolves

Dark Angels VS Space Wolves Apocalypse Batrep

2011-11-28T19:00:00.002Z

The Space Wolves bloggers and friends finally got together for an apocalyptic game of Warhammer 40K!

Despite players being substituted at the last minute and one army also being borrowed at the very last minute, we managed to organise a 6,000 points a side game of Dark Angels against Space Wolves that lasted most of Saturday.

We were even able to borrow boards, terrain and someone's boardroom to play our game in too.

We all agreed upon the standard Apocalypse deployment with a slightly shallower board to make the whole thing fiercer, but banned the use of Strategems or Formations. We effectively chose to play a big game of 40K with 6 Objectives instead.

All the armies were around 2,000 points and included a number of characterful units for a more fun game. After all, this would get boring if there was nothing but cut n' paste las/plas Razorback spam army lists all over the table.

The Space Wolves had a nice mixture of Thunderwolves, Lone Wolves and Wolf Scouts mixed in with the usual assortment of Grey Hunters and Long Fangs. Meanwhile, the Dark Angels had three forces themed around their 1st, 2nd and 3rd companies.

Objectives
While half of us were unpacking our armies, the other half were busy setting up the terrain.

The centre and West side of the battlefield was dense with ruined buildings while the East side was sparser, dominated by a single bastion, barricades and a ruined artillery emplacement.

Before deploying we chose 6 buildings to be the Objectives for the game. Simply being within 3" of a building would allow units to claim or contest them. So this would be a very close game indeed -especially considering the number of Land Speeders in play. These would be ideal to contest objectives, as would most of the Dark Angels Ravenwing. Meanwhile the Space Wolves would have to rely on their brute strength to wrestle the objectives from their rivals.

The Space Wolves:
In typical Space Wolves style, each of the forces sent forth from the Great Companies was very different. While John favoured as many Grey Hunters as possible with Wolf Scouts to disrupt the enemy battle plan, Brad favoured Wolf Lords riding Thunderwolfs to battle while Dave favoured Lone Wolves to beat the enemy senseless. But together their armies complemented one another to create a horde of Grey Hunters and heroes backed up by a multitude of missile launchers.

Erik Morkai's Great Company
Wolf Lord with Wolf Claw and Storm Shield with Saga of the Warrior Born riding a Thunderwolf and joined by 2 Fenrisian Wolves.

Wolf Lord with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield with Saga of the Beast Slayer riding a Thunderwolf and joined by 2 Fenrisian Wolves.

Rune Priest with Jaws of The World Wolf and Living Lightning

(X2) Dreadnoughts with 2 Twin Linked Autocannons

2 Landspeeder Typhoons
(X2) Landspeeder Tornados with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer

(X2) 8-Man Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-Melta
Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Gun, Wolf Standard
The Squad rides in a Rhino transport

(X2) 6-Man Long Fang Packs:
Sergeant and 5 Missile Launchers

Harald Deathwolf's Great Company
Wolf Lord with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield with Saga of the Bear riding a Thunderwolf and joined by 2 Fenrisian Wolves.

(X2) Lone Wolf with Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield and 2 Fenrisian Wolves

5-Man Wolf Scout Pack with Melta Gun, led by Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-Melta

Thunderwolf Cavalry with Wolf Claw and Storm Shield.

(X2) Landspeeder Typhoons

(X2) 8-Man Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-Melta
Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Gun, Wolf Standard
The Squad rides in a Rhino transport

(X2) 6-Man Long Fang Packs:
Sergeant and 5 Missile Launchers
One of these squads ride in a Razorback armed with a Lascannon and a Twin Linked Plasma Gun

Gunnar Red Moon's Great Company
Rune Priest with Tempest's Wrath and Living Lightning

(X2) 5-Man Wolf Scout Pack with Melta Gun

(X4) 8-Man Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Powerfist and Combi-Melta
Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Gun, Wolf Standard
The Squad rides in a Rhino transport

(X3) Landspeeder Tornados with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer

(X3) 6-Man Long Fang Packs:
Sergeant and 5 Missile Launchers
Two of these squads ride in Razorbacks armed with a Lascannon and a Twin Linked Plasma Gun

The Dark Angels:
James, Glenn, Neil made up the Dark Angels team and everyone was in awe as James brought tray after foam tray full of painted miniatures out of an enormous carry case.

James is the proud owner of an enormous Dark Angels army and while we were only playing with 6,000 points a side today, there was plenty more where all this came from.

It's worth mentioning that because the Dark Angels Codex is considerably underpowered, we agreed that 1st and 2nd company units would be drawn from the Codex as standard, while 3rd company units could be purchased from the Space Marines Codex.

Dark Angels 1st Company
Master Belial with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
Librarian in Terminator Armour
Deathwing Terminator Assault Squad:
Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields, the Deathwing Standard and an Apothecary.
The squad rides in a Land Raider Crusader

(X5) Deathwing Terminator Tactical Squads:
Sergeant with Power Sword, Chainfist, Cyclone Missile Launcher

Dark Angels 2nd Company
Master Sammael riding in custom Land Speeder

(X4) 10-Man Ravenwing Squads:
Sergeant with Power Sword, 2 melta guns
Attack Bike with Multi Melta
Landspeeder Tornado with Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter

Landspeeder Typhoon

Dark Angels 3rd Company
Chaplain with Jump Pack

(X2) Dreadnought with Plasma Cannon, Close Combat Weapon and Heavy Flamer

Dreadnought with Twin Linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher

(X3) 10-Man Tactical Squad:
Sergeant with Powerfist, melta gun, lascannon
The squad has a Razorback transport with Twin Linked Heavy Bolters

(X2) 10-Man Assault Squad:
Sergeant with Powerfist, flamer

(X2) 5-Man Devastator Squad:
Sergeant with Auspex, 4 Missile Launchers

Deployment
After measuring out the deployment zones in the Apocalypse style, the two teams took it in turns to select which buildings would be their objectives before rolling off to see who would go first.

Normally in Apocalypse the teams 'bet time' to set up, but we really couldn't be bothered with that. It would also make forming battle plans far simpler.

So with a 'team' element in mind, all 3 players from each side would roll their dice and add up the total number. The Dark Angels began by rolling 5, 5 and 6 while the Space Wolves rolled 3, 4 and 1.

The Dark Angels opted to take the first turn and began setting up first. This would give them the first turn of fire, which could make all the difference. It also allowed them to pick the best terrain to deploy in. However, it also meant that the Space Wolves could counter-deploy to meet their strategy and would also have the final turn of the game, allowing them to claim or contest objectives more effectively.

The Dark Angels deployed most of their forces to the West with the Ravenwing occupying the ground and the 3rd company heavy weapon teams occupying the rooftops and taking up firing positions. A smaller position was also created in the centre of their lines.

Meanwhile Mast Belial's Deathwing Assault Squad riding in a Land Raider Crusader was deployed on the West flank.

The rest of the Deathwing were in reserve and would Deathwing Assault on the 1st turn.

Two Assault Squads were also placed in reserve.

The East side was left unoccupied due to its lack of terrain and could provide an ideal landing zone for a Deathwing Assault.

This left the Space Wolves with a deployment zone lacking in terrain. The Long Fang packs set up as best they could on the small rooftop spaces, behind barricades on the ground and used every ounce of terrain available to find good firing positions for the game.

A mass of armoured vehicles packed full of Grey Hunters were deployed in the open to the West, flanked either side by Thunderwolves and Lone Wolves.

Meanwhile the Space Wolves forces swept down to the East, hugging terrain as best they could in anticipation of a Deathwing Assault or change in direction for the highly manoeuvrable Ravenwing forces.

All of the Landspeeders were held in reserve, as were all but 1 of the Wolf Scouts which infiltrated just outside of the Dark Angels main force to the West.

Turn 1
Three Deathwing squads deepstrike into the centre of the battlefield, using the teleport homers to land safely. Meanwhile the Dark Angels army advances as one.

countless lascanons blasts and krak missile impact against the hulls of the Space Wolves Rhino transports while bolters, heavy bolters and assault cannons rake the Thunderwolf Cavalry. But at the end of the onslaught only a few Fenrisian Wolves had fallen to the guns of the Dark Angels while the Rhino transports emerged for the most part unscathed. However, the Wolf Scouts in the centre had been wiped out after putting up a brave fit that took a number of Ravenwing bikers down with them.

The Space Wolves also advanced with Thunderwolves and Lone Wolves leading. The Space Wolves fired the smoke launchers on their vehicles while the countless packs of Long Fangs returned fire with salvoes of krak missiles that blasted a huge hole in the Ravenwing formation.

The two Wolf Lords riding Thunderwolves lost their Fenrisian Wolf companisons, but made short work of the remaining Ravenwing bikers in the centre and advanced towards the newly arrived Deathwing Terminators.

Meanwhile to the East the Space Wolves repositioned, expecting the possible arrival of Dark Angel Assault Squads from the board edge as well Deathwing reinforcements.

Turn 2
Two more Deathwing Squads arrived from Reserve and Teleported alongside their 1st company brothers in the centre.

Meanwhile both Assault Squads also arrived from reserve and advanced behind the main Dark Angels battle line to the West.

It was clear to see that the Dark Angels had abandoned the East and would concentrate on claiming objectives in the centre and to the West.

The Dark Angels continued a cautious advance, gunning down the Thunderwolves, before blasting apart a Rhino and annihilating the Grey Hunters that stumbled out of the wreckage with a deadly plasma cannon blast from a Dreadnought.

Countless more missiles and lascannon blasts slammed into the main force of Space Wolves Rhinos, but now concealed by smoke and with some bad luck on the Dark Angels players' part, they only suffered minor damage and remained actively mobile.

Meanwhile the Deathwing formation in the centre advanced, gunning down the nearest pack of Long Fangs on the roof of a ruin.

One squad charged the nearest Wolf Lord riding riding a Thunderwolf and were torn to shreds by his Wolf Claws combined with the Saga Of The Warrior Born. Having reaped a tally of 3 kills in the previous round of close combat, the Wolf Lord was on 8 Attacks!

In the Space Wolves turn almost all of the Land Speeders arrived from reserve to the West, as did the Wolf Scouts who together advanced to target the Dark Angels Ravenwing, Dreadnought and Master Belial's Land Raider with their melta guns and multi-meltas.

The Land Raider Crusader exploded spectacularly, leaving the rest of the Land Speeders to unleash their flamers on the tightly packed Ravenwing bikers. Only a few of the bikers perished in the flames, but Belial and his Deathwing Assault Squad were now stranded and would have to cross the battlefield very slowly on foot.

With many of their transports unable to move this turn, the Space Wolves chose to sit tight while the Lone Wolves got stuck into close combat with the Ravenwing bikers and began hacking their way through them with their chainfists.

To the East the Space Wolves began advancing towards the objective in the centre while leaving long ranged units behind to claim the objective.

Meanwhile the Long Fangs unleashed a salvo of frag missiles into the Deathwing Terminators in the centre, inflicting casualties across all of the squads.

The Space Wolves Dreadnoughts both fired their autocannons at the Dark Angels Venerable Dreadnought, immobilising its legs and leaving it unable to move.

Turn 3
To the far West Belial's Deathwing Assault Squad, the Dreadnought and the remaining Raveniwng bikers began butchered their way through the tightly packed Space Wolves Landspeeders. The Land Speeders had done their job and that was to take down Belial's Land Raider, leaving him effectively stranded and out of the game. The Wolf Scouts gave a valiant account of themselves, but were also wiped out when the Chaplain led Assault Squad also joined the fray.

In the West the Ravenwing advanced all guns into rapid fire range and gunned down the Lone Wolves with sheer weight of fire.

The Assault Marines flew across the table to contest a Space Wolves held objective while Razorbacks with Dark Angels combat squads inside drove to claim more objectives.

Finally, the Space Wolves Rhino formation was destroyed from deadly accurate fire from the remaining Dark Angels Devastator squads and Ravenwing Landspeeders.

In the centre the Deathwing Terminators advanced towards the central objective while gunning down one of the Wolf Lords riding Thunderwolves, but they could only wound the other.

The remaining Space Wolves Landspeeders arrived from reserve and along with the Long Fangs succeeded in wiping out most of the Deathwing and Ravenwing bikers with frag and krak missiles.

The remaining Wolf Lord riding a Thunderwolf charged the full strength Deathwing squad which had been unscathed by the salvo, killing two of the Terminators in close combat with his Thunder Hammer while taking a wound himself.

Meanwhile the Space Wolves forces in the East continued their advance towards the objective in the centre.

At this point it was clear to see that while the Dark Angels controlled 2 objectives to the West and fought for another in the West, the Space Wolves controlled 2 objectives to the East, which meant that it was the central objective that would decide the winner of this battle.

Turn 4
On the final turn of the game, all hell broke loose in a blood soaked frenzy of close combat as the Dark Angels and Space Wolves wrestled for control over the 6 objectives.

Belial and the forces to the far West moved as quickly as they could, but were too far away to do anything this late in the game. The Chaplain led Assault Squad however was able to fire their jump packs and crash into close combat with pack of Grey Hunters.

The other Assault Squad also charged into close combat with another pack of Grey Hunters.

Meanwhile the Ravenwing also piled in after gunning down a few of the Space Wolves with their twin linked bolters and melta guns.

Now all the Dark Angels' guns were focussed on the Grey Hunters to the West.

In the centre the Deathwing Terminators made an incredible number of 5+ invulnerable saves before pummelling the Wolf Lord to red mush with their Power Fists.

The other Deathwing Terminator squad, accompanied by a single Ravenwing Landspeeder stood their ground against the oncoming Space Wolves from the East, but only succeeded in blasting the turret from a nearby Razorback. Hopefully they could stay out of charge range while weathering the storm of lascannon, plasma, missile and bolter fire which would be coming their way...

In a devastating display of firepower the Space Wolves forces from the East disembarked and surrounded the Deathwing squad with guns while the Long Fangs in the buildings turned their missile launchers towards this new target. As did the Landspeeder Typhoons and the nearby Razorbacks.

The Ravenwing Landspeeder fell out of the sky and crashed spectacularly while the Deathwing Terminators were cut down by sweeping energy beams and plasma blasts before finally being riddled with bullets from a firing line of Grey Hunters. The central objective had been claimed by the Space Wolves.

Meanwhile, the battle to the West had devolved into a bloody close combat with a heavy tally of casualties on both sides, but with so many units clustered around the last objective, neither side could claim it. And with that the game ended.

3 Objectives to the Space Wolves, 2 Objectives to the Dark Angels.

CONCLUSION
It was a close, extremely violent and very enjoyable game! However, it did take a lot of organisation, but it was all worth it in the end. Best of all, we all got to meet up for a day of what we all enjoy.

As for the game itself, the army lists were all excellent. However, it was the deployment of these forces that seemed to make or break the game.

I felt that the Space Wolves deployed very well, considering the lack of terrain available to them. But not only that, their deployment contained a mixture of units across their battle line, while the Dark Angels seemed very segmented.

Committing so much to the far West was possibly a poor plan for the Dark Angels, especially when Belial's Deathwing Assault Squad riding in a Land Raider Crusader was placed here. This is a devastating unit which could have battered the Lone Wolves, Wolf Lords riding Thunderwolves and most of the Grey Hunters single handedly in the centre, even if the Land Raider had been destroyed.

Instead this unit was stuck far out on a flank and once the Land Raider was taken care of, it could be ignored.

But overall the Dark Angels had plenty of Toughness 5 bikes, Dreadnoughts, Assault Squads and Terminators with powerfists and could have taken the fight to the Space Wolves and won. Instead they sat back and cautiously shot, which we've seen isn't effective enough at wiping out whole units.

However, the Space Wolves weren't perfect either, because they could have been more aggressive too. I felt that the Rhino just sat there taking hits turn after turn when they could have been advancing forward at full speed. This would have given the Thunderwolves some protection too, but instead they just got shot and killed.

The Landspeeder Typhoons all should have been on from the start as well. With their range they could sit back out of harms way and add to the salvo of missiles being unleashed each turn by the Long Fangs.

But having played a game of Apocalypse, I think we would all play it again very differently and have a much more direct strategy in mind. Because you only get 4 turns to play in, everything you do has to count. So units being inactive or not doing anything for a turn can really hurt your army as a whole.

I'd like to thank Brad, John, Dave, James, Glenn and Neil for all coming along and making it such a great day. Also a special thanks to Alex West for lending us his army at 8am in the morning!

After this we were all really fired up to go home and start working on our armies. But I've got to say that after seeing how much carnage Wolf Lords and Lone Wolves can cause, I'm keen to get some for myself. Some Landspeeder Typhoons seem like a good choice too.

Ragnar Blackmane Tactics

2011-11-21T19:00:00.060Z

Ragnar Blackmane is the youngest Space Wolf have have ever been promoted to Wolf Lord. Famous for his blood curdling howls and berserk charges, Ragnar has a capacity for raw hatred that gives him great strength, yet many believe that his impetuous nature may yet prove his downfall. But to witness one of his beserk rages is to watch the fury of the hurricane come to life and countless blows are rained down upon the enemy.

As an aspirant Ragnar slew an enormous blackmaned wolf and wore its hide on his journey through the great snow drifts and back to The Fang. From that day Ragnar took the Blackmane as his totem and namesake, forever cementing his place in the legends of the Sky Warriors.

Since then he quickly rose through the ranks, displaying incredible ferocity and rising from the ranks of Blood Claw to Wolf Guard, which was an almost unheard of promotion. Finally, having avenged the death of his Wolf Lord, Ragnar found himself elected as the next Wolf Lord -a remarkable accomplishment for such a young warrior.

Naturally, such a ferocious character is a very appealing HQ choice for any Space Wolves player. Ragnar Blackmane not only has the Saga Of The Warrior Born, but also a number of other unique abilities to increase the Assault potential of friendly units around him.

Equipment: Bolt Pistol, Frost Blade, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, Melta Bombs, up to 2 Fenrisian Wolves.

Skills: Saga of the Warrior Born, Insane Bravado, War Howl (Furious Charge), Incredible Reflexes.

Using War Howl
It's easy to forget that this ability automatically gives Ragnar and any unit he leads the Furious Charge ability. When he uses his War Howl, all units within 12" also receive Furious charge for that assault phase.

So this ability is best used at times when all your Grey Hunters have disembarked from their transports and are ready to pile in to a massive close combat! No doubt you will be able to easily measure 12" from Ragnar to a model in a friendly unit.

Of course, if Ragnar is in the centre of your battle line, you've got a 24" wide area of effect for this ability centred on Ragnar.

Using Insane Bravado
Any squad Ragnar joins MUST launch an assault if possible. In addition to this, Ragnar and any unit he leads gets +D3 Attacks when they charge instead of the usual +1.

While some players may be keen to have Ragnar leading a pack of Blood Claws, the Blood Claws' Berserk Charge ability offers a similar bonus to Insane Bravado, making the combination of these two units a poor choice.

Instead we would recommend having Ragnar lead a pack of Grey Hunters because of the Wolf Standard. Because the Wolf Standard allows the rerolling of all 1's during the Assault Phase, this would also allow you to reroll and Insane Bravado rolls of a 1! Because of Ragnar's many other abilities, the Wolf Standard would give even greater benefits with its rerolls.

Ragnar Blackmane Leading Wolf Guard
As a Wolf Lord, many will be keen to give Ragnar Blackmane his own bodyguard of Wolf Guard. However, a regular pack of Wolf Guard can't compare to a pack of Grey Hunters.

Although Combi-weapon spam Wolf Guard Terminators in a Land Raider have proven to be a brilliant assassination unit to take down enormous monstrous creatures or powerful characters.

I always arm mine with a mixture of combi-weapons, power weapons, a chainfist or thunderhammer (for anti-tank, anti-monstrous creature and last minute infantry smacking), a wolf claw to help with wound allocation and finally a cyclone missile launcher for long ranged fire power.

Its the optimum combination and the most rewarding in return on investment for your points. It also makes all 5 models unique for the purpose of wound allocation.

When you add Ragnar Blackmane to the mix, these Terminators get a boost to their Initiative, Strength and Attacks when charging -And that's really good when you're attacking with a plethora of power weapons!

However, to fit Ragnar in their Land Raider we need to boot out a Wolf Guard (and lose the Cyclone Missile Launcher) or take a Redeemer over the standard Land Raider. I've often said that Space Wolves need all the lascannons they can get, but there's no denying the awesome power of the Redeemer's flamestorm cannons.

While the idea of getting Ragnar, a handful of Wolf Guard Terminators and bunging them in a Land Raider Redeemer sounds like a brilliant idea, this unit comes to over 700 points! That's a lot of eggs in one basket.

Ragnar Blackmane Leading Blood Claws
As mentioned above regarding Ragnar's Insane Bravado, there really aren't any benefits to be had by Ragnar leading a pack of Blood Claws. Sure, they get Furious Charge, but that's about it.

There are far better units in the army for Ragnar to join and share his abilities with. In particular, Grey Hunters who are able to share their abilities with Ragnar in return, creating a much stronger unit.

Ragnar Blackmane Leading Grey Hunters
We all know that Grey Hunters are the best unit in the army and largely its down to them having access to a Wolf Standard.

The Wolf Standard works brilliantly with Ragnar's Insane Bravado and Wolf Howl while allowing the unit and Ragnar to reroll all rolls of a 1 for a single assault phase.

Also, Grey Hunters do have a tendency to get bogged down in close combat in the assault phases following the first (which they often use their Wolf Standard for). This is where Ragnar's Saga Of The Warrior Born really comes into play, keeping the number of hitting and wounding attacks high to ensure that the enemy are effectively wiped out without sustaining too many casualties.

Ragnar Blackmane Leading Long Fangs
They would have to be some seriously ferocious Long Fangs for Ragnar to lead them!
There really are no benefits to Ragnar joining a pack of Long Fangs...or any static unit for that matter.

CONCLUSION
If you're looking for a Wolf Lord who encourages you to get stuck in to close combat, you won't find better than Ragnar Blackmane.

While he's fairly expensive in points, he does give the unit he leads +1 Initiative, +1 Strength and +D3 attacks on the charge. He also gets these bonuses himself, so he's an excellent close combat character. And that's before we take Saga Of The Warrior Born into account.

The best place for Ragnar seems to be in with a pack of Grey Hunters because of the benefits from the Wolf Standard.

This not only enhances all the abilities he passes to the Grey Hunters, but also enhances Ragnar's abilities (like Insane Bravado) in return.

Now you just need to decide whether you want Ragnar Blackmane to join a pack of Grey Hunters in a Rhino or to get more of them into a Land Raider Redeemer and take the fight straight to the enemy!

Ulrik The Slayer Tactics

2011-11-14T20:00:00.068Z

Ulrik the Slayer is the Wolf High Priest of the Space Wolves and has been mentor to some of the greatest leaders the Space Wolves Chapter has ever seen.

Ulrik gained the name 'slayer' during the first war for Armageddon, as one of Lord Kruger's Wolf Guard. As Lord Kruger was cut down by Khorne Bezerkers, Ulrik leapt to defend his dying Wolf Lord and butchered them all, earning himself the name 'slayer' and receiving a grim salute from the lord of the World Eaters.

Once the battle was over the remaining Wolf Guard elected Ulrik to be Kruger's replacement and become the next Wolf Lord. Astonishingly, Ulrik turned the honour down. Instead he accepted the rank of Wolf Priest and applied his centuries of martial experience to the selection and training of new recruits.

In recent years however, Ulrik has become ever more aggressive onthe battlefield, swearing great oaths to cut down the most deadly of enemies in the name of Russ and the Emperor without a care for his own safety.

But in game terms Ulrik the Slayer is a Wolf Priest who not only improves the close combat abilities of the unit he joins, his improved stat line means he's no slouch in close combat either.

Equipment: Plasma Pistol, Power Weapon, Fang of Morkai, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolf Amulet, Wolf Helm of Russ

Skills: Fearless, Slayer's Oath, Mentor

Slayer's Oath
Much like Saga of the Beast Slayer, Ulrik has a special version of the Wolf Priest Oath of War ability. In this case he and any unit he joins which allocated their attacks to a model of Toughness 5 or higher may reroll to hit and reroll to wound.

While this is great for hacking your way through Necron Elites, Plague Marines or Bikers, it also means that you don't get the flexibility offered by the regular Wolf Priest Oath of War.

Mentor
This allows you to give 1 model in the army +1WS so long as they're not a special character. It's a nice way of giving a close combat specialist a bit of a boost. Really you're looking to promote a WS4 model up to WS5, because then they're more likely to be hitting on 3+. This would be wasted on characters who are likely to have a Wolf Tooth Necklace anyway. Instead I'd give the upgrade to a regular Wolf Guard with a Powerfist leading a Grey Hunter pack. That way you can make sure that his Power Fist scores as many hits as possible.

Wolf Helm of Russ
Any Space Wolves unit that can trace a line to Ulrik may reroll failed morale tests, which is nice, but nothing something you can really plan a strategy around.

Meanwhile any enemy Independent Characters attacking Ulrik in close combat must pass a Leadership test to attack. Once again, this is nice if it happens, but it's not something that can be relied upon as most Independent Characters have good Leadership values. That said, a powerful character failing the test will give you something to laugh about!

Ulrik the Slayer Leading Wolf Guard
While some people like to run combi-weapon spam Wolf Guard units, I don't feel that they're very cost effective. Combi-weapon spam Wolf Guard Terminators on the other hand are pretty good.

I always arm mine with a mixture of combi-weapons, power weapons, a chainfist or thunderhammer (for anti-tank, anti-monstrous creature and last minute infantry smacking), a wolf claw to help with wound allocation and finally a cyclone missile launcher for long ranged fire power.

Its the optimum combination and the most rewarding in return on investment for your points. It also makes all 5 models unique for the purpose of wound allocation.

Mine also ride in a Land Raider to get them to where they are needed quickly and to take out a particular target.

When you add Ulrik the Slayer, these Terminators become even better at hunting the big and tough stuff that typically needs a lot of combi-weapons and a couple of powerfists to kill it. Ulrik's Slayer Oath allows them to re-roll to hit and re-roll to wound anything with Toughness 5 -and that's exactly the kind of enemy units this squad is designed to hunt down. Ulrik simply makes them much better at it, which is great when they have a tendency to get bogged down in close combat if things don't go well for them.

However, to fit Ulrik in we can either boot a Wolf Guard out of the Land Raider or take a Redeemer over the standard Land Raider. I've often said that Space Wolves need all the lascannons they can get, but there's no denying the awesome power of the Redeemer's flamestorm cannons.

Ulrik the Slayer Leading Blood Claws
The best way to run Blood Claws is to have a Wolf Priest leading them, because his oath of War gives them Preffered Enemy against a particular unit type chosen at the start of the game.

Ulrik's Slayer Oath however, only allows them to reroll to hit and reroll to wound against enemies with a Toughness of 5 or above.

Ulrik the Slayer
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Chainfist
15 Blood Claws, 2 Melta guns

In this loadout we've swapped our regular Wolf Priest for Ulrik. You can still run these across the board and into the carnage of close combat. However, you'll probably go for Toughness 5 models as a priority instead of simply attacking the nearest unit.

Still, a savvy opponent could deny you getting near anything with Toughness 5, making Ulrik's Slayer Oath useless.

Ulrik the Slayer Leading Grey Hunters
Similarly, Ulrik has the same issues leading Grey Hunters. Due to their midfield role, you're not very likely to get to choose exactly what you charge -unless you pack them all into a Land Raider of course.

But when the best configuration is 7 Grey Hunters and a Wolf Guard in a Rhino and you have three units of these, it's almost impossible to know which squad to put Ulrik in or where he'll end up by the end of the battle.

As before, a savvy opponent can just keep his Toughness 5 units well away from you.

Ulrik the Slayer Leading Long Fangs
Brave as my Long Fang pack leaders might be in close combat, there really are no benefits from attaching Ulrik the Slayer to Long Fangs when his Slayer Oath only works in close combat.

CONCLUSION
For 80pts more than a regular Wolf Priest, you get a Character with I5 who is a little better in close combat and gives you an extra boost against anything with Toughness 5.

This makes him awesome when leading units which are designated monster hunters, like the Wolf Guard Terminators. But a regular Wolf Priest is just so much more versatile.

And that's the whole point of a Wolf Priest, to augment the unit he's leading. Unfortunately, Ulrik only does this in very specific circumstances and for many Space Wolves armies a regular Wolf Priest will be a much better choice.

So whether you use Ulrik or not really comes down to how many Toughness 5 units you're likely to face. That's generally Necron Elites, Plague Marines and Bikers, which means if Toughness 5 units become more common, then he is definitely worth taking.

Canis Wolfborn Tactics

2011-11-07T20:00:00.074Z

Canis Wolfborn, the Fangrider is essentially a Wolf Guard Battle Leader with extra wounds and attacks who allows you to take Fenrisian Wolves as Troops while giving them a Leadership and Initiative boost.

The Wolf Priest theorise that Canis was somehow lost in the wastes and raised by a brooding she-wolf in whose lair the young Canis found shelter. And having been raised by Fenrisian wolves, all wolves great and small now instinctively obey his commands.

In battle he rides Fengir, the largest of the Thunderwolves into battle, which accounts for his improved stat line and extra attacks.

Canis Wolfborn is a pure close combat character who works best in the thick of the fighting, surrounded by as many enemies as possible. But without an invulnerable save he does require a little bit of looking after.

Equipment: Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, Two Wolf Claws, Thunderwolf,

Skills: Saga of the Wolfkin, Rending, Wrath of the Savage, Lord of the Wolfkin, The Wolf King.

Lord of the Wolfkin
Any unit of Fenrisian wolves within 12" may use Canis' Leadership instead of their own. It's a nice bonus, but it's not going to win you any games, especially when Canis' Saga of the Wolfkin gives Fenrisian Wolves a Leadership boost already.

The Wolf King
This ability allows you to field Fenrisian Wolves as Troops in an army joined by Canis Wolfborn. Unfortunately Fenrisian Wolves cannot claim objectives.

Still, this does allow you to take 2 minimal, cheap troop choices so you can max out on units designed to obliterate your enemies instead.

Lately some players seem to prefer this to bothering with objectives. After all, if the enemy are all dead, you win automatically anyway!

Out of a 1,750pts army, spending 80pts on 2 Troop units so that you can spend 1,670pts on Long Fangs, Land Speeders, Thunderwolf Lords, Thunderwolf Cavalry and Wolf Guard Terminators in Land Raiders could put you at an awesome advantage -Especially if your opponent has spend at least 300 points on standard objective grabbing units that don't do much all game.

Wrath of the Savage
Instead of using his regular 6 attacks (that's 5 +1 for a pair of wolf claws), Canis may choose to use the number of enemy models in base contact with him as his basic Attacks characteristic.

We managed to surround Canis with 10 models in base to base contact, giving him a total of 10 attacks +1 for his Wolf Claws. So that's 11 attacks in total and we used his Wolf Claws to reroll to hit, because his Thunderwolf puts him up to Strength 5, so rerolling to wound wouldn't be as much of an issue.

Remember that because of his Wolf Tooth Necklace, he always hits on a 3+ as well. So statistically, that's 11 attacks, producing 8 hits, rerolling 3 fails and getting 2 more hits for a total of 10 hits! Providing he's attacking Toughness 4 models, his 10 hits should produce approximately 7 wounds with no armour saves allowed.

And because Canis is Initiative 5, he's likely to strike first as well. However, of those 3 models remaining, 1 of them will probably have a Power Fist. So be carefully, otherwise Canis will cause a great deal of damage, only to get pummelled in return.

Rending
It's easy to overlook this, because you're going to be attacking with Canis' Wolf Claws, but don't forget that when attacking vehicles in close combat Thunderwolf Cavalary have the Rending ability which will help you to pierce armour -especially if you end up in close combat with a Dreadnought.

Canis Wolfborn Leading Grey Hunters, Long Fangs, Wolf Guard, Blood Claws, Skyclaws, Swiftclaws
For obvious reasons, you wouldn't have Canis leading any of these units. They're simply not fast enough (or move at a different speed in different phases) and would tie him down.

We had considered putting him in with a pack of Blood Claws as they always run forward anyway. However, for competitive purposes we'd advise against taking Blood Claws altogether, because they're not a patch on Grey Hunters.

Canis Wolfborn Leading Thunderwolf Cavalry
While this seems like an obvious choice, it's actually an extremely expensive one! Many people have stopped taking big units of Thunderwolf Cavalry simply because they cost so much in points. Similarly, attaching a character like Canis to them makes the unit even more expensive and puts all of your eggs in one big basket.

Canis Wolfborn Leading Fenrisian Wolves
Because Canis is going to do most of the damage, giving him 2 Fenrisian Wolves as wargear and attaching him to a pack of Fenrisian Wolves is a great way to get him across the board and into close combat.

Who cares if all those wolves get shot at? Getting Canis into close combat and surrounded by enemies is what you need to do. Any Wolves that make it in can be used to tie up any Powerfists and keep them out of base to base contact so that Canis can continue to butcher the enemy for another turn.

CONCLUSION
Canis Wolfborn is good fun to play because of all his extra attacks and Wrath Of The Savage ability. However, many players would prefer to take a Wolf Lord riding a Thunderwolf with the Saga Of The Warrior Born instead.

Our optimal Thunderwolf Lord has the following:
Thunderwolf Mount, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Claw, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Saga of the Warrior Born, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

The Thunderwolf boosts his Toughness, Strength and Attacks by +1. So he can't be instantly killed by a Strength 8 Powerfist.

The Wolf Tooth Necklace ensures he always hits on a 3+.

The Wolf Claw allows him to reroll to hit or reroll to wound. This works well with the Wolf Tooth Necklace to make sure you inflict as many wounds as possible.

The Runic Armour and Storm Shield obviously helps to keep him alive, as do the 'ablative Wolves'.

Finally, Saga of the Warrior Born works with the Wolf Tooth Necklace and Wolf Claw to keep the number of successful kills as high as possible turn on turn.

All this comes to 280, while Canis costs 205pts. The extra 75pts buys you survivability and a Saga that doesn't need you to be dangerously surrounded by enemies in order to benefit from it. You just have to kill things.

So after comparing these two units, the only real benefit of taking Canis is his ability to make Fenrisian Wolves Troops choices for the army, which is totally not worth it -Especially when Grey Hunters are such useful Troops choices to have, even if they can get quite expensive with all their upgrades.

Our advise is to get the Canis Wolfborn model and convert him into a Thunderwolf Lord with a storm shield. That's a nice and simple conversion!

FREE Space Wolves Wallpaper!

2011-10-31T19:00:00.001Z

Grab your space wolves wallpapers!

I've commissioned Nacho to create a Space Wolf wallpaper, which I'm sharing with all of you.

It's just a little something to say thanks for following the blog. Plus I wanted a cool wallpaper for my desktop.

There are 4 Space Wolves wallpaper sizes to choose from which should match your screen dimensions of whatever you're using.

I'd appreciate if you didn't host these anywhere else online, but would kindly link back to this page instead. I did pay quite a lot of money for this after all.

So please enjoy and thank you for reading the blog. It means a lot to me.

Space Wolves Wallpapers

If you have problems viewing them, Right-Click and Open In New Window.

1600 x 900
1600 x 1200
1600 x 1280

Bjorn the Fell Handed Tactics

2011-10-24T19:00:00.060+01:00

Bjorn the Fell Handed tactics are fairly straightforward, because he's a badass venerable Dreadnought with a few extra rules.

But more importantly than that, he's an HQ choice that encourages you to play in the midfield role which Space Wolves excel at.
I'll explain how and why Bjorn the Fell Handed works in this way, but first some background.

Bjorn is the oldest warrior in the Imperium, having fought alongside Russ during the Horus Heresy and babysitting Kasper Hawser (see Prospero Burns) before Russ had his vision, gathered his best warriors around him and left to pursue an unknown quest. Bjorn was left in charge and became the first Great Wolf before getting torn to shreds by 'a warp beast with a thousand maws' and interred into the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.

Now Bjorn is a living relic from the Great Crusade who is awoken every Century to hold court at The Great Feast and recount elements of his own saga.

Equipment: Assault Cannon/Plasma Cannon/Twin Linked Lascannon, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon (with Heavy Flamer), Wolf Tail Talisma, Smoke Launchers

Skills: Saga of Majesty, Venerable, Ancient Tactician, Ward of the Primarch, Living Relic

Using Venerable & Living Relic
If Bjorn suffers a glancing or penetrating hit, you can ask your opponent to reroll the damage result. However, you must accept the second roll. So it's important when to ask for that reroll. Some times it's worth Bjorn being immobilised than risk being destroyed. Similarly, it may be worth playing it safe and having a weapon torn off.

Other times you may want Bjorn to explode in an Objective based game. So you can encourage rerolls to try and get him killed and use his Living Relic rule to turn his wreckage into extra Objective on your side of the board. It's a bit cheesy, but what the heck!

Just be careful in an Annihilation mission, because if a friendly model isn't in contact with Bjorn when the game ends, you lose D3 Kill Points.

Remember that if Bjorn is destroyed all Space Wolves become Fearless for the rest of the game.

Custom Built Dreadnought
Stat wise, Bjorn is even better than a regular Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought. His BS and WS are higher, he has 4 Attacks as standard and Armour 13 to the front. However, the only trade off is that he is Initiative 3, not 4. So you need to be careful who you get in to close combat with.

Choose Your Weapon
Bjorn has a choice of an Assault Cannon, Plasma Cannon or Twin Linked Lascannon which you have to pay extra points for.

Due to his high Ballistic Skill, there isn't much incentive to take a twin linked lascannon. Similarly, Assault Cannons aren't quite as devastating as they once were, which leads many people to equip Bjorn with a Plasma Cannon.

I feel that this is the perfect choice because it's pretty difficult to get a Plasma Cannon in the army as it is. Plus, the Space Wolves need all the high strength, low AP weaponry they can get to deal with enemy Space Marine Terminators. A highly accurate blast weapon is nothing to be sniffed at either!

CONCLUSION
Give Bjorn a Plasma Cannon, stick him in the centre of your formation, near the back and steadily advance, firing.

He's a great support character and with 4 Attacks basic, plus Armour 13 on the front, he's everything you could ever want from a Space Wolves Dreadnought, although he can't ride in a Drop Pod.

Sure, he's a glorified Dreadnought. One that's incredibly tough, great in a fight, great at long range, lets you reroll for the first turn and offers a couple of sneaky strategies thanks to his Living Relic ability. He has Saga of Majesty too, which I often forget to use, but it helps to stop any Space Wolves from running away.

Is he worth 270pts? Compared to how cost effective Rune Priests are, no. However, he does appeal to my personal sense of Space Wolves playing style, which is to inhabit the midfield.

Because Bjorn is an all-round fighter like Grey Hunters, he's ideal in the midfield. And even when he eventually explodes and drops an objective or could give away Kill Points, his proximity to the other midfield units generally makes this an unexpected plus.

So if you're fed up with fielding Rune Priests and don't feel that a Wolf Lord is a suitable investment for your points, then Bjorn is a surprising change to the HQ line up.

Lukas The Trickster Tactics

2011-10-17T20:00:00.045+01:00

Lukas the Trickster epitomises the anti-authoritarian streak of the Space Wolves chapter, earning him a reputation for sewing anarchy -even amongst his own ranks.

Whether playing pranks on Ork warlords, getting one of his two hearts ripped out by Dark Eldar Lords or spiking the ale of his own Wolf Lord, Lukas the Trickster is described as the dirtiest fighter in the entire chapter and has an equally impressive stat line to match.

Every bit as good as a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, it's an irony then that Lukas' absolute disrespect for authority has seen him remain as a Blood Claw.

But considering the way he plays and the role of Blood Claws to sprint across the board, causing as much carnage as possible, perhaps this isn't such a bad thing?

Equipment: Plasma Pistol, Wolf Claw, Pelt of the Doppelgangrel, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolftail Talisman.

Skills: Rebellious, The Last Laugh

Using The Pelt of the Doppegangrel
All successful to hit rolls specifically allocated against Lukas (not against the squad he is with) must be re-rolled. Now because, Lukas isn't an Independant Character, he cannot be picked out. Unless a Vindicare Assassin or similar unit that can pick models out of units is being used of course. But on the plus side, this does make him much harder to kill once the rest of his squad is wiped out and he's about to make the best use of his The Last Laugh Ability.

Using The Last Laugh
If the Space Wolves player is successful, then all models in base contact are removed as a casualty along with Lukas. So it's important to ensure that Lukas is the last model to be removed. In a perfect world, the The Pelt of the Doppegangrel will keep him alive long enough to be surrounded by enemies so that when does finally die (not before taking a few of them out with his wolf claw) and characters, powerfists, etc will be removed along with him!

Lukas The Trickster & Blood Claws
Because Lukas is an upgrade for a Blood Claws unit, you can only field him in a Blood Claws pack. Despite a nice piece of background about Lukas leading a pack of Sky Claws, sadly he can't do that in the rules.

The best way to incorporate Lukas into your army is to bolt him on to the usual Blood Claw mob and run him forward with the rest.

Here's how we normally do it:

Wolf Priest with wolf tooth necklace, saga of the hunter, runic armour
Lukas The Trickster
Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and chainfist
14 Blood Claws with 2 melta guns

Please note that the Wolf Priest with saga of the hunter gives the whole unit Stealth for a boost to their cover saves.

The Wolf Priest's ability to make the unit Fearless also helps to ignore Lukas' Rebellious rule.

The Wolf Guard in Terminator armour and the Wolf Priest in Runic Armour are there to take saves against Krak Missiles and other AP3 weapons which could whittle down the squad very quickly.

Obviously, be careful when taking these saves. The last thing you want to do is fail a 2+ save on the Wolf Priest when he's been hit by a Strength 8 Krak Missile!

The unit storms across the board as usual and starts hacking their way through close combat.

They'll all die eventually, which is nothing new. Except that there will be Lukas to deal with at the end. His Pelt of the Doppelgangrel means it takes much longer for him to die and he'll usually be surrounded by enemies. Then The Last Laugh comes in to play to hopefully make all his points back and if you're lucky, kill an expensive enemy character model too!

CONCLUSION
Like Blood Claws, Lukas the Trickster is a unit that's only taken for fun games. Sure, he can make all his points back and eliminate an extremely expensive character model if you're lucky. You might even play him in an Apocalypse game and hope a Warlord Titan stamps on him, but realistically this isn't something you can rely on.

Also, as we've discussed before about why Blood Claws suck, the unit he needs to be in tends to be so massive and so costly, that it drags the rest of your battle plan along with it.

Don't get me wrong, Lukas the Trickster is great fun and I cackled maniacally as I got him surrounded by James' Librarian and a squad of Deathwing Terminators before I rolled for The Last Laugh, but you won't win any tournament games with him or Blood Claws for that matter.

If you're thinking about using Lukas and would like to know a little more about how he works, read this Lukas The Trickster battle report and see for yourself.

New Necron Rules 2011

2011-10-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

Here are the new rules for Necrons! As always, a pinch of salt with any new Necron rules and rumours.

HQ

• Imotekh the Stormlord (Lord of the Sau): The most powerful Necron Overlord currently. A master strategist whose nemesis is the Orks (since their random nature is the only thing that can accidentally disrupt his flawless plans).

• Nemesor Zahndrekh: Overlord damaged in the great sleep who still thinks he is flesh and blood fighting the war of secession against his brother Necrontyr. Therefore, he is one of the few Necron Lords who still fights with honor and valor towards his enemies. Has a bodyguard named Vargard Obryron.

• Illuminor Szeras: The Necrontyr who took the C'Tan's knowledge to do bio-transfer and actually made it a reality...so he's the chief architect within the Necrons for actually making the bio-transference happen. He is a master of technology and can augment D3 units in the army with an augmentation.

• Orikan the Diviner: A master astromancer (a Cryptek specializing in tech that can predict the future), he is renown for knowing what will happen and when. During the game he is able to achieve a 'powered up' state that gives him a greatly increases statline, but this boost can randomly end on any turn dropping him back down to his regular stats.

• Anrakyr the Traveller: A Necron Lord whose goal is to unite the Necron Empires again. He travels to Tomb Worlds still sleeping and kills the 'lesser' inhabitants that may live there unaware they are on a Tomb World, the 'price' for this service is to claim a tithe from the newly awakened legions. Some Necrons see him as a golden crusader others don't want reunification and would rather see him dead.

• Trazyn the Infinite: He is a Necron who woke very early and is fascinated with studying and collecting history. His tomb world is filled with secret trinkets including (I quote) 'a giant of a man clad in baroque power armor' (start your wild theories here!). He even will attack other Necron tomb worlds to capture artifacts from them that he doesn't think they deserve. He is the character that has the CC ability to pick one type of model he killed that round and inflict wounds on all models of that type in the combat.

• Necron Overlord: Generic DIY Necron Overlord (guy who rules a Tomb World) with plenty of options. Can ride on a Catacomb Command Barge (which is a one man transport) as can all the named 'Lords' above, but not those that are Crypteks in their fluff (Illuminor Szeras & Orikan the Diviner). Also can be a Destroyer Lord instead.

• Royal Court: 0-5 regular Necron Lords (lieutenants to the Overlords) as well as 0-5 Crypteks. Crypteks are masters of Necron technology, whose abilities sometimes appear like sorcery to other races, but they do not have any psychic powers...all their abilities do not require a psychic test or anything like that (nor are they ever referred to as psychic powers in any way). Any member of the Court (Lord or Cryptek) can be split off at the start of the game to lead a unit of Warriors, Immortals, Lychguard or Deathmarks (but only one per unit). Neither Lords nor Crypteks are ICs.

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

• Night Scythe: A variant of the Doom Scythe fighter that is a 15 model flyer transport with the 'supersonic' 36" flat-out move that the new flyers (that are really skimmers) have. Can carry jump infantry models (taking up 2 spots each) and fire all its weapons even when moving at cruising speed. Has living metal (chance to ignore crew shaken & stunned) but not quantum shielding (which gives +2 armor until the vehicle suffers its first glancing or penetrating hit). AV 11/11/11 like most Necron vehicles (not open-topped though).

• Ghost Ark: 10 model transport, Open-topped AV11 with quantum shielding and living metal. Also is able to regenerate D3 models to one unit within 6" each Necron movement phase (but cannot take the unit above its starting size).

• Catacomb Command Barge: One-man vehicle for most ICs. Open-topped AV11 with quantum shielding & living metal. Can make sweep attacks over 3 enemy units it passes over when it moves. Also the character can lose wounds to negate immobilized or weapon destroyed results.

ELITES

• Deathmarks: 24" range rapid-fire AP 5 sniper unit that can choose to Deep Strike in immediately after any enemy unit arrives from Reserves (which just allows the enemy to fire at them first?)...teleporting in from a pocket dimension to target their prey. They can also mark a single unit as their 'target' which allows them to roll to wound on a 2+. Beautiful models from the pics leaked, but at the point cost listed I can't see them ever being used except to see those great models on the table. Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

• Lychguard: Traditionally these have been the bodyguards for the Overlords. Come standard with Warscythes (+2 Strength Power weapon) and can replace them with Hyperphase swords (power weapon) and Dispersion Shields (the thing that gives them a 4+ invuln and reflects enemy shooting). I made a mistake before. The Shields don't only reflect enemy shooting within 6", they reflect all enemy shooting, but only against enemy units who are within 6" of them (they reflect saved wounds, they don't affect blast/templates, for example). Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

• Triarch Ptaetorians: These used to be effectively the 'police' (my term) of the main Necron ruler (the last of which was the Silent King) to help enforce his will onto the Lords of the Empire. They are known to respect great warriors and honor valor and have sometimes ordered Necron Overlords to stop attacking a foe they deemed worthy of respect (much to the Lord's chagrin). They are Jump Infantry with a 6" AP2 S5 weapon. They can swap that out for Void Blades (a weapon with Rending and the same Entriopic ability that Scarabs have) and Particle Casters (a pistol weapon). No transport option.

• C'Tan Shard: Must take 2 of the 11 listed ability choices that basically shape what kind of C'Tan shard you're fielding. No ability can be taken more than once in the army (even if you take 3 C'Tan shards in the army). The statline is slightly less impressive than previous incarnations of the C'Tan, but still pretty decent. Also has Eternal Warrior and ignores all terrain penalties. Still explodes D6" when they die. Fluff-wise, these are shards effectively controlled by the Necron (even though they have most shards locked away in pocket dimensions). Each shard represents only a portion of the power and consciousness of the C'Tan and therefore in battle the C'Tan may not even think to utilize some of its power because the portion of it that knows it has 'X' power simply isn't there. This is essentially what explains why they only have access to 2 special abilities in battle.

• Flayed Ones: 3 Attacks base (and no additional CC weapons). Can infiltrate or Deep Strike. No transport options.

• Triarch Stalker: Concept Sketch shows a Triarch Praetorian sitting in an open-topped cockpit that is riding on a Necron-style giant almost scorpion walker set of legs. Very cool looking IMHO. Has a variable heat ray (which can be upgraded to a couple of other weapons) that can either be fired as a template or as an Assault 2 S8 24" Heavy2 Melta weapon. Has a Targeting relay which means that any enemy unit hit by the Stalker gets a counter placed by it that allows all other Necron units shooting at the same unit that phase to count as being twin-linked. AV11 & open-topped, but does have Quantum shielding & Living Metal.

TROOPS

• Warriors: You know them, you love them. Described as being basically automatons, with very little (if any) sentience. These were the non-warrior Necontyr before the bio-conversion. See my previous rumors (in the OP) for details on their points cost, etc. Can be transported on a Ghost Ark or Night Scythe.

• Immortals: Immortals are said to have the ability to at least speak, but still aren't too much brighter than Warriors. These were Elite warriors of the Necrontyr before the conversion (not sure who the rank and file troops were if the Warriors were the non-combatants and the Immortals were the Elite soldiers?). Can exchange their Gauss Blasters for Tesla Carbines (24" S5 Assault1, extra hit inflicted on a 'to hit' roll of '6') Can be transported on a Night Scythe.

FAST ATTACK

• Canoptek Wraiths: Protectors of the Tombs while the hosts slumber. Jump Infantry who ignore terrain. 3A base with Rending. All models can take one of a few different upgrades including a Whip Coil (nearly identical to a Tyranid Lash Whip), particle caster (pistol) or a Exile Beamer (12" range that kills a random model in the target unit unless it passes a Strength test).

• Canoptek Scarabs: See the rumors copied in the OP for more details on what Scarbs do now.

• Tomb Blades: Jet Bikes. From the artwork, these look like Necron warriors fused into a flying crescent throne carrying a weapon harness in their arms that is base twin-linked Tesla Carbines. The fluff says that they are pre-programmed with a bunch of different flight patterns and vectors that the onboard Warrior chooses from on the fly. this mitigates the fact that a Warrior has poor coordination, but since the programs are so advanced, in reality they act basically like any other similar unit in an enemy army despite the fact that their 'pilots' are much slower to react. They can upgrade their weapons to a couple different choices (twin-linked Gauss Blaster or Particle Beamer). The entire unit can take any of the 3 options: Nebuloscope (increases BS to 5), Shield Vanes (increased armor save to 3+) & Shadowloom (Stealth).

• Destroyers: New fluff that says Destroyers are infected with some kind of degenerative virus that causes their sole purpose in life to be to kill their enemies. As such they hate everyone and have the Preferred Enemy special rule against everyone (as do Destroyer Lords). They are Jump Infantry now. Any model in the unit can upgrade to a Heavy Destroyer.

HEAVY SUPPORT

• Doomsday Ark: Variant of the Ghost Ark transport: Open-topped, AV11, Quantum Shielding, Living Metal. Something I forogot to say about the Ghost Ark...each Guass Flayer array (5 Flayers) on each side is allowed to fire at a different enemy target (and different from the Doomsday Cannon). Not entirely clear whether a weapon destroyed takes out a whole array or not, but I'm leaning towards yes. The Doomsday cannon has two profiles, one for if the vehicle did or didn't move that turn (with the non-moving one being 72" range S9 AP1 Large Blast). The moving profile only has a 24" range and a S7 blast. Basically described as gunboat whose strategy is to hit first and destroy the enemy before they can fire back.

• Annihilation Barge: Described as anti-infantry support platforms. Variant of the Catacomb Command Barge: Open-topped, AV11, Quantum Shielding, Living Metal. Has a twin-linked Tesla Destructor & a Tesla Cannon, but can upgrade the cannon to a Gauss Cannon. Not exactly sure why you'd want to do that except for the extra range (36" for the Gauss Cannon as opposed to all Tesla weapons which are 24" range).

• Monolith: 35 Point reduction along with corresponding nerf in invulnerability (were you not expecting that?). Still AV 14 and still has Living Metal (although again that only helps remove Crew Stunned/Shaken now). Can still Deep Strike but no longer has invulnerability from Mishaps. Has 4 Gauss Flux Arcs (which are now just Heavy 3 instead of randomly rolled). Particle whip is now just a straight up S8 AP3 24" large blast. The portal can be used to either transport any non-vehicle friendly Necron unit through it or to suck enemy models within 6" to instant death who fail a Strength Test. No bonus to reanimation protocols (the replacement for WBB) is present. Although, at the end of the day, this is still an AV14 vehicle all around, which is pretty imposing in the current game. Unfortunately all of its weapons are really close range, which means it will also now tend to be in Melta range...

• Doom Scythe: Pure fighter variant of the Night Scythe. AV11 with Living Metal (but no Quantum Shielding or open-topped). Is supersonic (36" flat-out) and can fire all its weapons when moving at cruising speed. Has a twin-linked tesla Destructor & a Death Ray, which allows a 3D6" line to be drawn (with one end of the line being within 12" of the vehicle) and causes a number of hits on every unit crossed by the line equal to the number of MODELS in the unit hit. Oh and did I mention that these hits are S10 AP1? Nasty indeed! But at nearly 200 pts for an AV11 vehicle, to get within 12" to unleash this beast will probably be a bit rough.

• Tomb Spyders: The artwork makes them look much more flying and nimble, like giant Scarabs. Can now repair vehicles like a Techmarine, Big Mek, etc. Can take an anti-psychic defense against any power targeting a friendly unit within 3" (nullified on a 4+). Can still create Scarab Swarms, but only into existing swarms on the table (they no longer form a unit with the Spyder) and it can still take damage if it rolls a '1' while doing so. Can take Whip Coils (by giving up a close combat weapon and a +1 to repair vehicles) which is like a Tyranid Lash Whip. Can take 1 or 2 Particle Beamers (by removing its CC/fixer arms) to do so. 1-3 in a unit.

CONCLUSION
While all this sounds quite tasty, I think we'll only know what to do about it once the Codex comes out. Either way, we're going to have more things to kill, which can only be a good thing!

Saga of the Warrior Born

2011-10-16T00:00:00.001+01:00

I think Saga of the Warrior Born could be a great way to kill Necrons. We know they're tough, we know they get back up and we know that power weapons make short work of them. So it's likely that our Wolf Lords are going to be stuck in close combat with them for a couple of rounds.

We played a game yesterday where Brad's Thunder Wolf Lords caused untold carnage as they rampaged from squad to enemy squad, reaping a huge tally of kills thanks to Saga of the Warrior Born. Or 'saga of the blender' as it's affectionately called!

This allowed Brad to unleash a total of 11 Attacks in the second phase of combat, using his Wolf Claw to re-roll to hit while deflecting any retaliation with his Runic Armour and Storm Shield. Of course, riding a Toughness 5 wolf-monster also helps!

Even I had to admit that Thunder Wolf Lords are a great choice after yesterday's game. Previously I'd turned my nose up at Thunderwolf Cavalry. They're still not great, but a properly equipped Wolf Lord isn't just a fun and characterful unit, he's incredibly destructive too.

Here's the best load out for a Wolf Lord with Saga of the Warrior Born:

Wolf Lord:
Thunderwolf Mount, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Claw, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Saga of the Warrior Born, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

The Thunderwolf boosts his Toughness, Strength and Attacks by +1. So he can't be instantly killed by a Strength 8 Powerfist.

The Wolf Tooth Necklace ensures he always hits on a 3+.

The Wolf Claw allows him to reroll to hit or reroll to wound. This works well with the Wolf Tooth Necklace to make sure you inflict as many wounds as possible.

The Runic Armour and Storm Shield obviously helps to keep him alive, as do the 'ablative Wolves'.

Finally, Saga of the Warrior Born works with the Wolf Tooth Necklace and Wolf Claw to keep the number of successful kills as high as possible turn on turn.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start killing those Necrons!

Necrons in 2 Weeks...Apparently

2011-10-14T20:00:00.006+01:00

Word round the campfire is that Necrons are due to arrive imminently. This is all in keeping with Games Workshop's new SURPRISE! marketing strategy that's designed to make us all splash a huge wadge of cash on preordered goods.

Fair play to them, because it's a very 'measurable' strategy. It's easy to see the cause, effect and record all the data. Previously their long term leaked releases may have got people building armies early. But due to having to track that marketing data over a long period, I guess it didn't paint a very clear picture for them.

So what does a new Necron Codex mean for Space Wolves players? More things to kill of course...and typically of the 3+ armour save variety. 40K 5th edition really is the 3+ edition isn't it?

In my last (and only!) game against the Necrons with Space Wolves, I found them to be very tough to deal with due to 2 Monoliths, the Nightbringer and a Lord leading Immortals that simply wouldn't die.

Although making the Nightbringer fall down a hole with Jaws Of The World Wolf was without a doubt the most satisfying moment in my Space Wolves career!

Like the Dark Eldar, Necrons will be back, with lots of funky rules and more units than ever before. But so long as they streamline We'll Be Back into something a bit more sensible I'll be cool with that.

Now you're probably wondering if this Codex will continue the trend of Codex Creep and dump all over Grey Knights...and pretty much everyone else. Or if we'll get something a bit more balanced.

Keep your power weapons ready. Only time will tell...

Raging Heroes Cyber Wolf

2011-10-14T09:00:00.000+01:00

The Cyberwolf from Raging Heroes could be just what we're looking for in an appropriate Thunderwolf Cavalry model.

Loads of independent miniatures companies have made giant wolves, but for me, none of them have really nailed the concept.

Some look like up scaled wolves, some look like bears, some look...well, they just look a bit rubbish really.

I talked about a Thunderwolf Cavalary conversion a while back, using green stuff, plasticard and a plastic Khorne Juggernaught. However, the persistent rumours of Forge World not making Thunderwolves because Games Workshop want to make them has made me hold fire for well over a year now.

Frankly, I'm sick of waiting and believe this previewed Cyberwolf could be the answer we've all been waiting for -Especially when the sculpts we've seen from Raging Heroes are amazing!

Njal Stormcaller Tactics

2011-10-10T19:00:00.047+01:00

Njal Stormcaller is the most powerful Rune Priest in the Space Wolves Chapter, but when it comes to playing him in the game of Warhammer, it takes some serious micro management to get the best results.

Njal offers you a whole host of psychic powers to choose from and lets you cast two per turn, as well as his Lord Of Tempests special abilities, which can really ruin your opponent's game if you're lucky.

He's exactly what you'd want every Rune Priest in your army to be and like most of the Space Wolves characters, he's a supporting unit. However, this means he also needs support from other elements of the force to function effectively.

If you can get Njal in the right place, at the right time, he can cause a lot of damage. But it's getting him there and keeping him safe that's the hard part.

Equipment: Runic Armour, Staff Of The Stormcaller, Nightwing, Bolt Pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades, (can also take Runic Terminator Armour)

Skills: Master Psyker, Lord Of Tempests, Saga of Majesty

Runic Terminator Armour
For some extra points Njal can replace his Runic Armour with a special suit of Runi Terminator Armour which gives him a 2+ save and a 4+ invulnerable save.
However, but giving him this armour upgrade, Njal becomes restricted to Land Raider and Drop Pod transports, which in turn restricts how you can use him tactically.

Like most Rune Priests he's best firing his psychic powers (and Lord Of Tempests game effect) from the open hatch of a Rhino APC.

Not to mention that as a Rune Priest, he's fairly squishy in close combat. So while putting him in Runic Terminator Armour may give him a 4+ invulnerable save, you still don't want him stuck in a lengthy close combat.

Staff Of The Stormcaller
Just like a regular Runic Weapon, but dispels psychic powers on a 3+. Don't rely on this thought, it's just a nice little boost.

Nightwing
Just like a regular Chooser Of The Slain, but the psyber raven Nightwing pecks at people's eyes in close combat. Not bad for trying to take out a single model with a Power Fist at Initiative 5 with some lucky rolling before Njal gets smacked round the chops!

Lord Of Tempests
This is one of the best things about Njal, but as the game goes on, the effects become more direct and shorter in range. So to make the most of these powers you have to get within short range of the enemy.

However, the progression of strength and the reduction in range of the powers would seem to emulate how Space Wolves tended to play when they were first released. They just get closer and closer each turn until they really in an oppoent's face and pummelling everything around them.

Sometimes this isn't such a great idea though, because you might be in the middle of a tactical retreat or simply keeping your distance against an army that's better at short range.

Also, due to Njal's rather fragile nature, you have to be careful how you manage him and the squad he's leading. Getting stuck in a big close combat is likely to get him killed.

Master Psyker
Having access to all of the Space Wolves psychic powers, all of the time is a very handy thing to have. Plus, you can cast two of them per turn.

Storm Caller
Jaws Of The World Wolf
Murderous Hurricane
Living Lightning

There are the powers you'll no doubt use. I personally don't rate Tempests Wrath much, unless you're facing an all-skimmer or all-jump pack army.

However, because many of these powers are 'shooting attacks' they both have to be targetted at the same enemy unit, which isn't so good.

But let's put all these abilities aside for a moment and focus on which units Njal works well with.

Njal Stormcaller Leading Wolf Guard Terminators

As we've discussed before, the only Wolf Guard worth taking that aren't leading one of your Space Wolves squads are a pack of Wolf Guard Terminators.

I always arm mine with a mixture of combi-weapons, power weapons, a chainfist or thunderhammer (for anti-tank, anti-monstrous creature and last minute infantry smacking), a wolf claw to help with wound allocation and finally a cyclone missile launcher for long ranged fire power.

Its the optimum combination and the most rewarding in return on investment for your points. It also makes all 5 models unique for the purpose of wound allocation.

When you add Njal Stormcaller (in his Runic Terminator Armour of course), these Terminators are accompanied by psychic powers and an ever intensifying weather effect.

So essentially you're getting more shooting attacks in the squad and possibly a cast of Muderous Hurricane to make it hard for the enemy to charge you.

On the downside, Njal's Lord Of Tempests power only works when he's outside of a transport, or firing from a top hatch, which a Land Raider doesn't have.

Although with a pack of Wolf Guard Terminators in support, you could consider Drop Podding Njal and the Wolf Guard on to an enemy's flank for a sneaky casting of Jaws Of The World Wolf, followed up by the squad's combi weapons to do some serious damage.

Njal Stormcaller Leading Blood Claws

I think we've established that Blood Claws Suck, but many people still like them and regularly field them for fun.

To get the best from Blood Claws you need 15 of them with 2 melta guns led by a Wolf Guard. Normally we have a Wolf Priest with them as well, because they really need the rerolls.

Blood Claws are there to cause a big distraction, soak up lots of firepower, run straight towards the enemy and cause lots of carnage.

Unfortunately, this means that Njal won't be casting many psychic powers, although his Lord Of Tempests ability will remain in play, which could help a big close combat mob running forward on foot to survive the hail of firepower and potential counter charges against it.

Still, this unit tends to get butchered in every game, especially when they reach close combat and draw lots of enemy units in. So it may not be the safest place for old Njal.

Want to cut the numbers down a bit and cram them all into a Crusader to make sure they arrive safely? Then all of Njal's powers become redundant.

Maybe Blood Claws aren't the best match for the Stormcaller.

Njal Stormcaller Leading Grey Hunters

Like regular Rune Priests, Njal seems to work best when joined to a pack of Grey Hunters in a Rhino transport. And like all characters, Njals benefits from the Gey Hunters' Wolf Standard rerolls in close combat. Obviously, Njal won't be wearing his Terminator Armour while he's doing this.

He simply fires his psychic powers out of the top hatch (2 per turn), plus the Lord Of Tempests weather effect as the tank rolls 6" forward, along with plenty of Grey Hunters inside.

Njal Stormcaller
Wolf Guard with combi melta and power fist
7 Grey Huners: Mark of the wulfen, wolf standard, melta gun
Rhino

Storm Caller gives the Rhino a 5+ cover save at all times and often reaches nearby vehicles as well. So if you've got a bit of a convoy driving towards the enemy, or simply sitting tight, you can effectively keep them in 'cover' for a few extra turns.

In my last game I found myself casing Living Lightning and Storm Caller turn after turn, along with the passive Lord Of Tempests ability. This gave me a nice mix of offensive shooting and protective cover saves for all the vehicles within 6".

Njal Stormcaller Leading Long Fangs

I guess the first question you have to ask is whether you can justify spending 245pts on a character who sits at the back of the board -especially when his Lord Of Tempests ability is designed for midfield play.

So you could deploy Njal with some Long Fangs in the middle of your battle line and get them into the centre of the table as a kind of fire base protected by a the Lord Of Tempests powers. But it would be a risky tactic because the unit would be exposed to all sorts of firepower and fast attack units.

Even so, the Long Fang Sergeant allows Njal to split fire with the rest of the Long Fangs, letting him target his psychic attacks at other enemy units.

The standard set up would look something like this.

Njal Stormcaller
Long Fang Sergeant
5 Long Fangs with missile launchers

Although you could form a fire base with three Long Fang packs on a piece of large terrain, surround it with Grey Hunters in Rhinos and then use Njal's psychic powers and Lord Of Tempests to dissuade anyone from coming close.

But can you out shoot everyone with 15 missile launchers? Probably not. It would be a cool looking 'castle' defence against Tyranids, although I'm not sure about the other armies. But it's certainly worth a play test.

CONCLUSION
At 245pts Njal Stormcaller costs a heck of a lot for what he does...or rather, what he doesn't do!

He gets a Chooser Of The Slain that pecks people. That's not really anything special. In fact, I tend to forget about it all too often.

He can cast 2 psychic powers per turn, which is kind of nice. But in my experience Storm Caller hasn't been as effective as I'd have liked. Meanwhile I never seem to be able to use both Jaws Of The World Wolf and Living Lightning in the same turn.

However, the 3+ dispel is fantastic and extremely annoying for opponents that rely on their psychic powers to make their army function at its best.

Meanwhile Lord Of Tempests seems to be amazing at the start of the game, but becomes just another shooting attack half way through the game. The short ranged nature of these shooting attacks also means that you need to be right in the enemy's face with Njal by Turn 3 onwards -and that's far too early for the Rune Priest to sensibly survive. Heck, sometimes you need to run like hell and keep your distance, but then the Lord Of Tempests powers become useless.

I kind of wish they'd left Lord Of Tempests as a constant "Enemy models within 24" are at -1 BS this turn", because then it could be incorporated into a game strategy. Instead you roll the dice and see what you get without really being able to use the result to your benefit.

Also, for 245pts, you could get 2 regular Rune Priests and kit them out. That gives you a bigger dispel area, more close combat attacks, more wounds and 2 locations to cast psychic powers from.

So while Njal is a fun Rune Priest character to play, I feel that he costs too much. Although when I do run him, I always play him like a regular Rune Priest leading a pack of Grey Hunters in a Rhino. Then all his additional kit and abilities are just nice little extras to have, but not something I'd plan a game winning strategy around.

Wolf and Sister Season 2 Preview

2011-10-05T20:00:00.013+01:00

Things seem a little empty without Wolf & Sister to bring us all our weekly dose of beautifully illustrated Warhammer 40K carnage. But Nacho has sent me this sketch for a layout of one of the pages from Volume 2.

Yes, there are Eldar! But I'm sure you figured that out already.

I think we can expect the Eldar to interfere and manipulate fate for their own alien ends. But only Nacho knows what's going to happen and he doesn't share that with me until I get sent the latest page to edit and publish.

At the moment I have no idea when we'll be ready to roll with the second volume. But in the meantime Nacho is working on an awesome Space Wolves wallpaper for you all. So there's plenty to look forward to in the meantime.

I'll share more previews as I get them.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the support. We really appreciate it!

Everyone Seems to be Playing Warmachine

2011-10-03T19:00:00.020+01:00

Warmachine is making a come back in a big way lately, even though the new rules have been out for quite a while.

I used to play Khador during 1st edition some 10 years ago. But now that Warmachine the warmachine range is becoming increasingly plastic and the rules have been revised, James and Marc are interested in picking it up again -and who am I to argue?

Sometimes you need a break from 40K and Warmachine could be a good alternative, especially now things are a little more balanced... Well, more balanced that when Escalation came out and turned the game into an infantry based blood bath.

I'll freely admit that I didn't really 'get' Warmachine. It felt like playing 2nd edition 40K and Magic The Gathering at the same time. So I got rid of Sorscha as my Warcaster from out of the boxed set and took THE BUTCHER instead. Suddenly my army became a lot simpler and the game more enjoyable...until the Escalation book ruined everything for me.

Come to think of it, it was Cryx that ruined everything for me with their Machine Wraiths and Pistol Wraiths.

But anyway, we're back into Warmachine. James has picked up the Cryx battlegroup, as he still has most of this stuff from when we last played. Meanwhile Marc has picked up the Cygnar battlegroup having lot faith in Menoth from the first time we played. I think he just got sick of every unit being 'knights' of some description. Finally, that leaves me with the Khador battlegroup which I'll either paint in traditional Russian military colours or just bright red.

We'll play with the boxed sets to start, then build up from there. But rest assured that THE BUTCHER will be back to bring carnage, mayhem and maniacal laughter to my games. I mean, who needs magic when you've got an enormous axe?

I plan to follow the recommended army lists from the Khador Kommunity on the Privateer Press site and create a simple, effective army. So stay tuned for some Warmachine to mix things up over the coming months.

In the meantime we're looking into other games as well. James is keen on Malifaux, but I'm still not sold. It just looks too damn random! Instead I'm considering buying Super Dungeon Explore for some monster slaying fun!

Swift Claw Tactica part 3 by Ted Nagel

2011-09-30T19:00:00.000+01:00

Hi folks I'd like to present part two of my Swiftclaw article, in this part of article I will talk more about the actual battlefield tactics I use with my bikers and how to pull off these maneuvres.

So how do I use Swift Claws in conjunction with the rest of the Army:

The first thing I think is common sense but I think it needs mentioning as it seems to be the main reason why Wolf Lords don't like to use Swift Claws along with the fact that Swiftclaws are not Thunderwolf Cavalry.

1. Using Swift Claws to Spearhead your assault

Swiftclaws and Thunderwolves both compete for the Fast Attack slots, but their uses are quite different, if you are consistently trying to place your bikers center and charge them at the enemy as fast as you can go, then they will (more often than not) get shot to pieces. They just don't have the resilience or the numbers to do so. This is what Thunder Wolf Cavalry models do, and if that is your goal, or need in your force then use them instead of the Bikers.

Now, I try to be very careful with my wording most of the time and try to avoid certain words when discussing tactics. Words like NEVER and ALWAYS, should send up a red flag. In a true tactical situation, things are fluid and constantly changing. Rules will sometimes be broken in order to accomplish the mission, and this is ok, as long as you know why you are breaking this rule and know the risks involved ahead of time.

That being said there will be times when your Bikers are pressed into front line duty, and find themselves spearheading your force. I think the trick here is ensuring that your Bikers are properly supported.

Thunder Wolf Cavalry are a good choice, though believe it or not I currently use a Blood Claws pack in a Rhino. Why on earth would I do that? Because they are a cheap scoring unit. Care has to be taken to keep the Pack Leader alive, though if you are planning to keep an objective with those guys.

When would I Spearhead an assault with Swift Claws?

A.Terrain is poor, this is the biggie for me. At some Tournaments, terrain can occasionally be sparse. 25% of the board is a lot of terrain! Try it one time, take a board corner, fill it completely with terrain, then spread it out and see. I don't know why Tournament Organizers feel the need to set up Battlefields like they are Fantasy games, but that is for another rant, er, I mean discussion.

First turn is important here, you are going to have to risk the possibility of your opponent seizing the initiative, but so be it. Set up your Swift Claws as close to your line as possible, and in your first turn just send them forward, following up with the rest of your force as a second wave, in support.

B. Dawn of War, if my opponent has first turn and has set up center across the halfway line. Depending on my opponents army make up and units he has deployed this may be worthwhile. Force his hand, and push forward by coming on in your first turn and Turbo-boosting forward. I like to use a staggered approach here using a forward biker unit, to protect the 2nd with both ICs lumped in here.

When using this technique, I frequently hope to wipe the unit out early so my Bikes can free up early and move on to other things. I am not going to tie up many other resources either, using the rest of my force to gain good position and hold objectives early. (I use a large Footslogging GH pack led by a TDA pack leader that is very hard to shift once in position)

I know I mentioned this before, but I am going to say it once more. I don't like to use my Bikers like this, but there are times when I feel its my only choice. I am sure there are times other than the 2 I mentioned above, but I just wanted to give a couple of examples. Typically, if I am forced into such a maneuver I am against a very hard list, in a difficult mission or on an unfavorable board.

2. The "Pincer Attack":

This brings your 2 Biker units up separately, one on each flank. This tactic can be accomplished several ways, all with different set ups in deployment.

A. you could deploy your Two Biker packs on each flank of your deployment, and turbo-boost them along the board edges towards the enemy, each hitting opposite sides of the enemy.

B. you can deploy both packs together in the center of your deployment zone, then separate them, each heading in a different direction and then run a flank, in an effort to confuse your opponent.

C. you can Set up in a Refused flank type set up, but then turbo-boost in different directions, striking "one side" of your opponents force but from different angles. This last one, attacks one section of the army, rather than separating and attacking different elements, attempting to use the Turbo-boosting moves to confuse your opponent. This last one also works well if the Bikers need to operate alone for a period of time. Both A and B work well in both a wedge and a reverse wedge formation.

Thunder Wolf Cavalry once again are great to act as the "tip of the spear" in the wedge formation, though I typically use Blood Claws in a Rhino. (Actually I usually use both, as I do have a small TWC unit that is great for this)
In the Reverse wedge, I move forward toward center usually with my Large GH pack in an effort to lure in my opponent, running the Bikers up the flanks and moving in for support once the GH are engaged, the center is usually supported with a small TWC unit and the smaller GH pack, or the BloodClaws, both in Transports off to the side and a bit to the rear.

I like to use both A and B in a Wedge formation against Armies with strong Gun line that are going to stand and shoot, rushing forward from several angles in an effort to overwhelm the enemy. This works best if he has his ranged weaponry scattered throughout his deployment zone, and there is no way to really avoid his fire while advancing.

The Reverse Wedge is great against armies that are more assault oriented and want to close in on you, moving the Grey Hunters forward and center, especially if on an Objective are great bait. (Orks just can't resist this)

C also works well against a strong Gun line, but is best suited against an opponent who has set up a strong fire base in one area of his deployment zone, and there is an avenue of approach which allows you to get close while taking away LOS.

None of the above is automatic, remember The Battlefield situation will remain fluid, there will be times when you wont need to actually "close" the Pincers. Sometimes only one unit will need to come in for support, or maybe the center will be able to hold its own.

This is where the Swift Claws really shine over other units, they are never really committed to any one area of the Battlefield and are great at redirecting their attacks, especially with a 24" Turbo-boost. A last minute shift in direction, or a changing of target for the Swift Claws is a great way to keep your opponent off balance and reacting to your moves.

While originally typing this thread in the Bolter and Chainsword, I received a questions from “Big Jon” another member of the B&C. While the question was a bit off topic of my current train of thought, I felt it was a good question so have kept the content of my response where it originally appeared in the original thread.
The question was in regards to fielding 2 or 3 biker packs in support of a Drop Pod Force. I used a force like this exclusively in 4th edition. It worked very well, mainly because at the time, Biker Packs were scoring units. 5th edition changed all this and I attempt to explain this below.

"Hey BigJon, I like the thoughts behind your list. It actually sounds like your bikers will be supporting the Drop Pods

In a list like that, I would try and go with at least 3 units in Pods, that will give you 2 coming in on your first turn and hopefully be enough to keep your opponent busy while you get your bikes into position.

The main problem you are going to run into is that in 5th edition, it’s important to keep your troop choices alive in most missions in order to capture objectives. With your troops in Pods and acting as a "shield" for your Bikers while you try and get them into position, they are going to take lots of casualties early on, this will make it difficult to take objectives later in the game.

With 3 Packs of Bikers and the ICs to lead them, I would probably exchange the Pods for Rhinos. This will allow the bikers to do their job, and also allow the Troop choices to act in support of your assault units, and take objectives later in the game as well.

Of course Pods have their place in a list like the one you are going for, but I would be wary of placing all of your troop choices in them.

Hope this helps."

3. The One-Two Punch:

This is one of my favorite ways to use my Bikers.
I can set them up in one of two ways during deployment, I can either set them up together as one large group or I can set them up separately and then bring them together in their first movement phase.

I should also note that in a Dawn of War mission, I will typically bring all of my Bikes in on the first turn, and with turbo-boosting onto the board this maneuver is ideal. I hate having them come in piece-meal.

The Idea here being that as I run up a board edge the Packs are in a "Stack" one pack behind the other. Now, you would think I would lead with the "weaker" pack, letting the Battle Leader take the brunt of the punishment, in order to allow the Wolf Lord and his pack into the action unscathed.

This just isn't the way that Wolf Lord Throgrimm rolls however, and the opposite is true. My lead pack is typically led by my Wolf Lord. Why?

That is what he is designed to do, when Turbo-boosting even Las-Cannon shots will usually bounce off of his bike with his 3+ cover save, and if the odd shot does get through his armor, then he simply takes a wound. The Pack can take an enormous amount of punishment, and still make contact with the enemy.

This also leaves the other pack virtually unscathed. Allowing the 2 Wound Character to get into contact without any damage done to him.

Usually by Turn 2, (3 at the latest) you will be making contact with the enemy.
Sometimes, due to many factors, you will only be able to make contact with the enemy with one pack. This is where the One-Two part comes in, I will position my lead Pack for assault, then in a sort of Leap Frog maneuver, Turbo-boost the Second Pack Up alongside of the lead pack using the inevitable assault as cover for the next turn. Then in the following turn, I have a Biker pack deep in enemy territory.

If both Packs are within charge range then you have a lot of decisions to make, you could easily attack up to 4 different units simply by moving your ICs move away from their packs in the movement phase. Sometimes, I will break the ICs off from their packs and attach them to one another, this can be especially effective if you can catch a Devastator squad on either side.

One thing I try to keep in mind here, I trust my Wolf Lord. He has taken on squads of 20 Kroot and come out without a scratch. If you equip him like I do, and he costs as much as a Land Raider, then treat him like the unstoppable beast he is. That being said, there are times when you will want him to stay with his pack, especially if you are forced into attacking another unit that is geared up for Close Combat.(Something I try to avoid, unless I can suitably thin the horde with enough firepower first)

Rule of Thumb: Shoot the Assaulty ones, and Assault the Shooty ones...

The idea behind using so many bikes is an attempt to control the flow of battle with your speed. When pulling this maneuver if your opponent realizes what you are doing he may attempt to respond by shifting the majority of his force in an effort to halt your advance and get rid of your bikers.
You can (and usually should) then turn your One-Two Punch into a Feint Maneuver (which I will talk about next, so stay tuned )

4. Next up we have a "Feint"

This is just like it sounds. Primarily there are two ways that I will deploy if I am going to start out using this tactic. I will either setup my Bikers behind the rest of my force, or I will set up the majority of my army in a "Refused Flank" type set up with the Bikers all alone on my weak flank of the board.

In the First set up, in my first turn I will typically turbo boost all of my bikers in one direction and then watch for the response. This first direction is not my actual target however, and I move in this direction in an attempt to "Pull" resources away from the protected area.

In my next turn as I move my army into the actual target area I will again turbo-boost back in order to support the main assault group, leaving the pulled units where they are.

The second set up is especially useful if you have won the die roll for first turn and are setting up first. Deploy your bikers all alone on the far flank. Many times your opponent will place several units on this side of the board in an effort to respond to your deployment. If he responds like this, then you simply turbo boost along your own board edge and use this movement to get your bikers back with the rest of your force.

If he does not place units in response to your deployment, then this changes things, as you can run up the flank.

Sometimes one of the other maneuvers will turn into a feint. This is why I always try and have a secondary target for my Bikers.
When turbo-boosting into position, watch his response, if your opponent stacks a heavy response, then look for another target or avenue of approach.

Keep your opponent responding to your moves, not the other way around.

I do hope you all enjoyed reading this tactica article. I am sorry if it appears a bit choppy, but it was originally written in a thread format, I have rewritten it where I thought needed, and made updated some of the information.

Swift Claw Tactica part 2 by Ted Nagel

2011-09-28T19:00:00.004+01:00

In this part of the article I will discuss some general tips for using Bikers and will show you a my army list from the Mechanicon GT 2010.

Before I go into the "General Tips" section, I should mention using the Swift Claw Bikers in more of a support role.

Because of their speed, they are actually really good when used in this fashion.

The idea here is that the Bikers are used as a "second wave" of sorts behind your infantry. This is a useful tactic in KP missions against armies that specialize in close assault.

I will set up with a strong point using the bulk of my army, the Bikers will either be on a flank or behind the main force, out of harms way.

As the bulk of my force Shoots at the enemy, or advances as necessary, the bikers move along the flanks and rear of my army, turbo boosting to stay safe, or even draw a little fire from the main force if needed.

The trick here is to always move fast, and try and stay within 18" of the main body of your army so you can properly support them, when they are needed.

There will be times when you won’t be able to turbo-boost, or when you see an opportunity to take advantage of positioning in order to apply the significant firepower of your Bikers, don't be afraid to do this. With proper spacing of the lead element, your Bikers will be able to position themselves behind a GH or BC pack.

The Twin-linked Bolters give the Blood Claw bikers a significant advantage over the regular packs, and more than compensates for the poor BS.

Here are a few general tips for Swift Claw Bikers.

1. I consider the Attackbike in the pack a must have (already mentioned but worth stating again)
2. Ditto on the Pack Leader
3. Don't be afraid to shoot into a unit before assaulting it (though some care must be taken here), things like Huge Ork mobs, and full Marine squads will rarely lose enough models to cause you to lose assault range. However, the one or two casualties you may cause in shooting may well sway the over-all outcome of the turn and the assault.
4. Turbo-boosting is your friend
5. Learn to judge distances. A common mistake is to turbo-boost up a flank and place yourself in assault range of the enemy, be wary of this, and do your best not to become the victim of an assault.
6. Patience must be utilized when using bikes, don't just throw them into the fray, use their speed to find a weak spot in your opponents force, then strike there.
7. Don't be afraid to change your plan, you have the speed to shift the battle field
8. Running the flanks is a great way to utilize Bikers, but always be wary of any out flanking units which can come on the board and steal away the initiative.

I can't tell you how many times I've read a list, or a Tactica on Army Building techniques that talk about a unit "getting its points back". The theory being that a unit is only good if it destroys more than it costs.

I guess at times you can use this as a guage of sorts when designing an army, but I think the more important question should be "what is the units role in the army?"

While this is a "Wargame" its not always about destroying all of your opponents force (Ok, so 1 out of the 3 basic missions is about that) typically in any type of Tournament play, KPs and Victory points end up being secondary or tertiary objectives, the primary mission being to take and hold some type of objective, or to get into your opponents deployment zone.

When I am designing my lists, I like to look at 3 things:
1. Mobility
2. Counter-Mobility
3. Survivability

Here is a question from HDL another B&C member.

Q: Terrain is always a difficult one for me. Because you have to do a dangerous ground test whenever you go through cover, I avoid it even when it would be really advantageous (for turboboosting for instance). I'm too worried about losing wounds through my own actions. How do you treat that issue Bitz?

Terrain can definitely cause some problems, there are time however that I try to use it to my advantage.

On occasion I try to place my Bikers and a Target between terrain, my opponent, thinking his unit safe will get close. I will then move my Bikers around the terrain to shoot, and break my IC away from the unit and go through the terrain, with his skilled rider rule, it is much less likely that he will take a wound.

Be aware however, that you cannot Turbo-boost through difficult terrain.

Then there are those occasion when you just have to assault into cover. Typically I just do it, and hope for the best. Though, there was that time I did that and rolled 4 Ones!!!

Here is the 1850 list that I took to the 2010 Mechanicon GT. I managed to come in 5th Over-all with this list, and really could have won the whole thing if it weren’t for my Achilles heel (the IG Psychic Choir).

HQ: Wolf Lord (Thorgrimm) Bike, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Runic Armor, Wolf Tail Talisman, Saga of the Bear

HQ: Wolf Lord (Erik, the Master of the Hunt), Thunder Wolf, Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Runic Armor, Melta-bombs, Wolf Tail Talisman, 2x Fenrisian Wolves, Saga of the Warrior Born

Elite: Iron Priest on a Thunder Wolf, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, 4x Cyber Wolves

Troop: Grey Hunters Pack x10+1(Wgpl), Melta-guns x2, Mark of the Wulfen, Power Weapon, Wolf Standard, Wolf Guard Pack Leader wears Terminator Armor, has a Power Fist and an Assault Cannon

Troop: Grey Hunters Pack x5+1(Wgpl), Plasma-gun, Power Weapon, Wolf Guard Pack Leader has a Power Weapon and a Combi-Melta. The Pack is mounted in a Razorback with Twin-Linked Lascannons.

Troop: Blood Claws Pack x7+1(Wgpl), Flamer, Power Weapon, Wolf Guard Pack Leader has a Storm-Bolter and a Power Fist. The Pack is mounted in a Rhino.

Fast Attack: Swift Claws Biker Pack 3+1(attack bike)+1(Wgpl), Power Fist, Melta-gun, the Attack Bike has a Heavy Bolter, the entire pack is equipped with Melta-Bombs, the Wolf Guard Pack Leader has a Bike, a Combi-Melta, and a Power Fist.

Fast Attack: Swift Claws Biker Pack 3+1(attack bike),+1(Wgpl), Power Fist, the Attack Bike has a Heavy Bolter, the entire pack is equipped with Melta-Bombs.

Now, I do have some concerns with the list for this year, one is that Psychic Choir, that ran my Wolf Lord and his posse off the board. The second is Grey Knights. I just love Thunder Wolf Cavalry models, but I don’t think that the 2nd Lord is going to be worth it if he can be instant killed by anybody in an army.

My thoughts? Well, I have a few. Dropping the 2nd Wolf Lord, the Wolf Tail Talismans, the Power Weapon from the smaller Grey Hunter Pack, and the Iron Priest gains me 479 Points.

Here are my thoughts with those points, I can add a Wolf Priest on a Bike, add 4 Swift Claws with Melta-Bombs to the Pack that runs with the Lord, and I still have the points to toss in some Heavy Support in the form of a Long Fangs pack with 5x Lascannons.

I have been play testing this list with some success, but may change it again to gain 2 Wolf Scout packs to keep things more in “theme” with my play style.

Thanks for reading,

Littlbitz (Ted Nagel)

Swiftclaw Tactica Part 1 by Ted Nagel

2011-09-26T19:00:00.003+01:00

The article I present here was originally a post in the Space Wolf forum section of the Bolter and Chainsword. After being asked to post it on the Space Wolf Blog (which was a great thrill and honor, I must say), I thought this a great opportunity to update the Article a bit as some of my thoughts have changed somewhat since then. I have left the majority of this article intact for those who want to read the original content as written, and I have placed my new thoughts on some matters in italics and in red so the changes are easy to find for those who are familiar with the article and want to check out the changes.

Recently I have received quite a few questions about one of my favorite units, The Swift Claw Biker Pack, this has been at the game shop I hang out at, Tournaments, and via PM and Email. Of course this made for some very good discussion and also prompted me to do a little more research.

After reading several Space Wolf Tactica articles it dawned on me that very few recommend the use of this unit. In fact many simply state that they are a waste of points and that the points are better spent else where.

My hope with this discussion is to shed some light on the uses and composition of the Swift Claws Biker pack and maybe even entice a few Wolf Lords to give them a try, or at the very least invoke some discussion on the matter about this under-used and frequently under-estimated unit.

I am a long time fan of my BloodClaws on bikes, and they have been a main stay in my army for several years. The most recent edition of the Space Wolves Codex only made me want to take more bikes as I feel they have improved over the last Codex that we had.
1. They dropped in points cost
2. They gained an additional weapon, giving them an additional attack in close combat.
3. They can now add an Attack bike at a minimal points cost
4. They now come with Frag Grenades.

Now, add in the fact that the 5th edition of the game is "The Mech Age" and you have a unit that is not only faster than mechanised units, but also reduces the effectiveness of much of the enemy's anti-tank fire power, especially with good use of the "Turbo-boost" rule.

1st lets look at the slot they take up, and how many units to take.
In a 1500 points game I typically take just one unit of Swift Claws though the unit will be slightly larger than if I were going to take 2 units, supported by my HQ on a Bike (usually a WGBL). I should note that other than campaign play, I rarely play games at 1500 points, when I do my Wolf Guard Battle Leader is equipped as follows: WGBL on a bike with a Frost Blade and Melta-bombs this comes in at a cheap 135 points. A Wolf Priest on a bike would probably be a better choice for tournament play, but since I only play at this point level in campaign situations, the Battle Leader is a better choice for storyline purposes.

Once I hit the 1750-1850 point mark, I typically take 2 units of Swift Claw Bikers, and upgrade the IC to my "Standard" Wolf Lord. After last years Mechanicon I began rethinking my list a bit, and have since added a second HQ to my “Standard” 1850 Tournament list. A Wolf Priest on a bike is the new staple here in addition to my Wolf Lord Thorgrimm. The Wolf Priest not only Makes the unit fearless, but I am finding that the preferred enemy he gives the pack is a huge bonus.
Wolf Lord Thorgrimms load out is as follows: Wolf Lord on a Bike with Runic Armor, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Bear (if I have the spare points I take a Wolf tail talisman).

At 2000+ I take a second HQ on a bike. Originally I was using two Wolf Lords on bikes at this points level, but having since started using the Wolf Priest, I have been taking my 2nd Lord on a Thunder Wolf. The combination of the Bikers hitting followed up by the Thunder Wolves has proven to be devastating. Also and perhaps more importantly the Thunder Wolf adds to the survivability of my Warrior Born Lord. All too often he was being felled by a lucky Power fist hit, the T5 of the Thunder Wolf helps mitigate this weakness.

Of course the above is a guideline, and I occasionally vary this depending on mood, and trying new builds.

You can see that in a typical size game for my Gaming Group and in Tournament play I typically go for 2 units, why is this? Well, the tactics that my army uses relies on speed, 1 unit is good, but I find that if that unit goes down I am struggling, and fighting an up hill battle. These guys truly set the pace of the battle (more on how I accomplish this later), it has often been said in my group that if you want to beat me, you need to get rid of the Bikers quickly.

I am trying to figure out an even more biker heavy build, but that is more of a themed list and less balanced for the purposes I am trying to demonstrate here.

Now lets talk about the units composition. In my "typical" army list I use the following: Three Bikers, one with a Melta-gun, and one with a Power-fist, Plus an Attack bike with a Heavy Bolter. All of them are upgraded with Melta-bombs and are led by a Wolfguard with a Power-fist. I have recently added a combi-melta to the Wolf Guard on the bike, this has proven to be a very valuable addition.

This gives me a unit of 5 models (6 or 7 if they have an IC or two attached).
2 of these units gives me 10 bikers plus any ICs I have mounted. I could take larger units but I find they become unwieldy, being more difficult to get into position, and or take cover (more on this later as well). As people are getting accustomed to my play style and learning what is important to target, I am re-thinking the numbers a bit. I think I can add one or two bikers per pack, and maintain the maneuverability of the units while slightly increasing their size. I will write more on this after I get the models painted and run a few games with it.

Vrox, from the Bolter and Chainsword had asked me a question as to the reasons for the change of my standard Swift Claw Biker load outs. Below is my response, a bit of history involving the how and why of the changes I have made.

"Well Vrox, to be honest, I have tried quite a few load outs. My current load out (as described above) is the result of trying out several configurations."

I don't want to get off topic by starting to ramble on about the "Old Codex" but I will take some time to talk about it to explain the progression of my use of ICs on bikes and the use of Blood Claw Biker Packs (Swift Claws) (at Vrox's request).

Towards the end of our last Codex I was running one Large Blood Claw Biker pack with 2x Powerfists and a Wolfguard Pack leader with a 3rd (or a pair of LCs). This was led by a Wolfguard Battle leader on a Bike with a Boltpistol, Frag, and a Frost Weapon, this IC only cost me 117 points! Now, I also ran a Grey Hunters Attackbike Pack with Heavy Bolters this was also led by a Wolfguard Battle Leader on a Bike with Boltpistol, Frag, and a Frost Weapon.

This worked well at the time for a few reasons:
The larger pack was needed because each BloodClaw had few Attacks
The lack of Frag needed to be compensated for with numbers when attacking into cover
I was still running 2 Biker Packs with the potential to split into 4 different units
The Attackbikes were better as a support unit, especially given their higher BS

With the new Codex, I was forced to immediately make some adjustments. 1st off, I only had one fist in a Pack this reduced the high Str hitting potential, but the addition of the extra weapon added some power by increasing the overall attacks. The addition of Frag grenades, allows me to strike units in cover at initiative, this is a huge bonus. I lost Attackbike packs but gained the ability to take them in a Swift Claws pack. I should note here that while I love the addition of the attack bike to the Blood Claw Biker Packs, I do still miss my Grey Hunter Attack Bikes. My First Configuration with the "new" Codex was just as I am running the packs now, and my current Packs are more effective than they have ever been.

Where I really needed to tweak things was in the ICs. My first attempt saw me running them just as I had before. But, I had to alter some Wargear to make them different with the new rules for our HQs.
So, I took one Battle Leader with a Bike, Frost Blade, and Wolf Tail Talisman, and the Other without the Talisman. The hardest thing for me to swallow here, is that I was paying more points for fewer attacks! Also, in the last edition of the Codex, the Battle Leaders would frequently break from their respective packs and join together to hit hard units. I found that with my new configuration I didn't do this as often and this reduced the effectiveness of the 2 characters.

After a few games, I felt the Sagas calling me, these new rules were too cool not to try. 1st I tried giving Warrior Born to a Battle Leader, but he was to fragile. (I now reserve Warrior Born for my TWC Lord)
So, I upgraded him to a Lord and gave him a Belt of Russ. Still I found that the random Power Fist could spell his doom before he really got rolling.
So, Saga of the Bear it was.

At first I was sticking with the Frost Blade, but then I found with such durability I could tackle Big Nasty stuff, so I switched to the Thunder Hammer, nothing could kill him in one blow anyway.

At that point the Belt of Russ, while good was kinda silly especially since my Bolt Pistol now didn't give me an extra attack, so in comes the Storm Shield.
I played with this Lord for quite some time, and it was only after a couple of Tournaments, that I noticed that the difference between a 3+ save and a 2+ would be huge, I am already spending so many points on my Lord that I figured whats a few more. So in came the Runic armor. I haven't looked back since...

My second IC leading the other pack has changed little. I still run the Wolfguard Battle leader quite frequently. For his points I could run a Wolf Priest on a Bike, and that is certainly a model I am working on and will be using in the near future.

Sorry for the rambling but I really wanted to set the scene and give you guys some insight into my thought process whilst building a list based around Swiftclaws. In the next part of this article I will explain the tactics I employ when using Swift Claws.

Thanks for reading

Ted Nagel AKA (Littlebitz)

Bran Redmaw Games Day UK 2011

2011-09-25T11:38:00.007+01:00

Bran Redmaw has been spotted at UK Games Day 2011.

He looks very Norse, very hairy and seems to be covered in all sorts of Norse style runes.

Bran also appears to be on a terminator sized base. Very interesting...

Will there be a 'wulfen' version of Bran Redmaw? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Either way, I think I'll buy this.

EDIT: and that was Games Day UK 2011. What jip! Glad I didn't go.

Wolf and Sister Part 25

2011-09-21T19:00:00.007+01:00

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There's More to This Hobby Than The Game

2011-09-16T20:00:00.050+01:00

Having just finished building my Iron Warriors army, I stood back and admired my work.

My half arsed, build it as quickly as possible, work.

But that's okay, because this army was intended to be built, painted using Army Painter and played. It's there for the game, not for the hobby.

Even so, I couldn't help but think how I'd spent £20 on each of these units. Don't they deserve a little more attention? Shouldn't I be getting a better return for my money by spending more time on them?

My 2000pts Chaos Space Marines army cost around £300. But when you think about it, it's not much more than investing in a games console and a couple of games. In fact, people pay more for their iPhone subscription than I spend on little plastic dudes every month.

But now I have a playable army to game with, I can pour my efforts into creating stunning conversions and beautifully detailed paint jobs.

Before I was constantly torn between creating fantastic models and trying to get them done quickly for the game. This led to a lot of compromises in quality which I wasn't happy about.

In fact, I wish I'd spent more time on the last batch of Pre Heresy Space Wolves that I'd made. But they've gone to a good home now, leaving me with a clean slate to start a new army -painted and converted to the very best of my abilities.

In the meantime, stay tuned for photos of my finished Chaos Marines and further down the line, my new Space Wolves too!

Land Raider Proteus

2011-09-16T19:50:00.007+01:00

The Land Raider Proteus costs £80. It looks amazing, but come on eighty quid!!

The worst part is that I want it. Oh how I want a Land Raider Proteus in my Pre Heresy Space Wolves army.

The mind says YES, but the wallet says NO!

Then the gamer in me says "But where will my models disembark from?" Because the side hatches aren't good and with no front hatch, game play is going to be difficult.

My other concern is that this is 100% resin. And we all know how good Forge World are when it comes to making resin kits that do together properly. In other words, it's one of the things they really suck at.

I'm just going to look at it some more...wantingly...longingly...

So what do you guys think?

Wolf and Sister Part 24

2011-09-14T19:00:00.009+01:00

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How to Make Pre Heresy Space Wolves

2011-09-12T20:00:00.001+01:00

The long awaited Pre Heresy Space Wolves conversion guide is finally finished. Sorry to keep you guys waiting for this, but it's a pretty intense tutorial.

Not only will I be showing you how to make the standard Pre Heresy Grey Hunters, but also how to make the specialist troops in each unit from the Wolf Standard to the Wolf Guard waving his powerfist and combi-melta.

Kits Needed to Make Conversions
Space Wolves Boxed Set
Chaos Warriors Boxes Set
2 Melta Guns
1 Assault Marine Power Fist

Recommended Tools
1 Stanley Knife -with sharp blade!
1 File
1 pair of Clippers
1 Polystyrene Cement Glue

Please note that the Stanley Knife I recommend is made of METAL so you can grip it and give it some force to cut through solid parts of models. If your modelling knife is a tiny scalpel, go buy a real Manley Knife instead!

PS: I should mention now that the knife edge should be nice and sharp to cut through thick pieces of plastic and to cleanly cut away tiny details. Just be careful, because I cut my thumb quite a few times making these when removing the thigh armour. More on this in a bit.

Get Your Bits Together
Use the clippers to get everything you need off the sprues in double quick time, clean all the parts with your Stanley Knife and then glue all of the legs to the bases using the Polystyrene Cement Glue.

It's probably best to come back to these conversions a day later. You're going to be applying some force to these legs glued to bases and the last thing you want is the whole conversion coming apart in your hands.

Next you need to take the Chaos Warrior cloaks and dig out part of the plastic so that you can marry the Chaos Warrior torso to the Space Marine legs.

I tend to dig in at either side with my Stanley Knife, then cit lined diagonally across until I can cut the plastic out triangle by triangle...then scrape the rest out with the knife blade.

Now take the Chaos Warrior torso and legs and chop them in half.

I lay the model down on my hobby table and score along where I want to cut with the knife before cutting to get a nice straight line.

Then you can apply the pressure, rock the blade back and forth a little and eventually the blade will go through.

It's worth taking a moment to tidy up the edges where you've cut as you'll be using all this bits again very soon.

Now you've got to cut off the thigh armour from the Chaos Warrior legs. This is not easy!

So what you do is score a line across the top of the legs which outlines where the thigh armour piece should be in all that plastic. You them cut downwards very carefully, using the lines of the detail around the armour piece to help cut straight and get it out.

I find rocking the knife back and forth in your hands helps to get the metal blade through the mass of plastic.

As you can see, I use the middle of the blade because this gives me more control.

I've cut down as far as I can without cutting through the knee, so I'll come down with the knife in a straight line above the knee to get the piece of thigh armour out.

You'll be so relieved when you've done it. Then you realise you've got to do the other one!

This is actually quite tiring, so I don't recommend doing this late at night, especially in case you slip and cut yourself.

Clean these up and make sure they're flat on the side you're going to glue to the Space Marine legs.

Chop the backside off the Space Marine legs and you're ready to start assembling the main body of your Pre Heresy Space Wolves.

It's also worth removing any detail from around the upper parts of the Space Marine legs which could get in the way of the thigh armour sticking reasonably flat. Some of the Space Wolves legs have little trims at the top. Be sure to remove these.

With a head, backpack, bolter and hands you've got everything you need.

Be sure to clean all parts of any flash.

Also, cut the sword out of the Chaos Warrior hand and the grip out of the bolt gun.

You can trim the top of the hand at an angle to be flat so that the bolt gun sits better on the hand.

Wolf Standard Bearer
While you'll quickly get into the swing of converting Pre Heresy Space Wolves, let's focus on the unit specialists, starting with the Wolf Standard Bearer. He is probably the easiest after all!

Start by gluing the two halves of the Chaos Warrior torso and cloak together. Once this has dried, glue the torso down on top of the Space Marine legs.

Note how I've used the knife to smooth down the tops of the Space Marine legs to make sure the Chaos Warrior thigh armour fits properly.

You may also find that parts of the cloak make contact with the back of the Space Marine legs. It's worth gluing these together for extra strength.

You can glue the pieces of thigh armour onto the underside of the ride of the Chaos Warrior torso over the Space Marine legs. Obviously, glue the thigh armour to the legs as well.

Now leave to dry for a day. I'm serious. Too many times these things have come apart in my hands while I've been gluing heads, arms or backpacks on!

Here's a Wolf Standard I made earlier. I used the Chaos Warrior standard pole arm and chopped the pole down and also cut it so that it would fit the back of the Wolf Standard you get in the Space Wolves boxed set.

Obviously, I cut the standard pole from the Wolf Standard so the new one could slide in.

I also chopped the top off the Wolf Standard and stuck an enemy skull on top instead. All my Pre Heresy Grey Hunter packs have a different enemy skull on top. I recommend acquiring these from your friends armies!

Glue the standard together and make sure it's dry before gluing the standard arm to the body and the bottom of the pole to the base of the miniature.

Then add a head, a back pack and a left arm and you're done!

And here he is fully assembled. All pretty straightforward stuff. I also glued the back pack to the back of his cloak. But if you're very pedantic about fitting, you can trim the fur on the coat with a modelling knife to get a smoother, flatter fit for the backpack.

You should always use the legs with the wolf pelt from the Space Wolves box as this makes the model stand upright. If you use any other legs, they tend to make the model too short to hold the Chaos Warrior banner pole!

You'll probably want to take a break after making this. I know I did the first time around. Go get a cup of team, you deserve it -especially when the next one is a little harder.

Mark Of The Wulfen
Instead of having a full on furry werewolf with fangs and claws, I fancied more of a Beserker look to my Grey Hunter with the mark. So I chose the 'big hair' Space Wolf head and acquired a couple of barbaric axes from the Beastman Gor Herd (link) boxed set.

If you're going to be making a lot of Grey Hunters with Mark of the Wulfen, then it's worth buying this box. Otherwise I'd recommend just giving him a couple of Chaos Warrior axes and be happy with that.

So it's the same kind of conversion again, except we've got big axes and a head that's designed to glue on to a flat surface, not into a collar.

Cut both Beastman and Chaos Warrior axes off at the top of the hand. Make sure you do this from the same direction, because the curvature of the knife cut will ensure a good clean fit.

This is also the best place the glue the axe on, because it has the largest surface area to attach to against the top of the hand. No pinning needed here!

Rawr! Here he is all built and ready to lop off some heads. I'm particularly happy with the posing on this one.

The head is a bit of a nightmare to glue on with polystyrene cement. But once it's dry you can push some Green Stuff into the gap between the bottom of the head and cup that the head is supposed to sit it, then smooth it flat with your finger.

Once you've got the Grey Hunter with the Mark of the Wulfen out of the way, the next Pre Heresy conversion should be simple! All you have to do is accommodate a Power Fist.

Grey Hunter with Power Fist
I used a Blood Angels powerfist for this conversion, but you can easily use the powerfist supplied with the Space Wolves boxed set.

Same set up again, just with different arms. The only real conversion work how is the powerfist.

Simply figure out how you'd like to position it and take it from there. Although I'd admit the positioning is pretty restricted.

What I do is cut just above the elbow as this forms a nice fit into the Chaos Warrior torso where a hand is mean to fit.

Even though there's a 'double' armoured elbow when you do this no one seems to mind or to notice. But if it really bugs you, simply glue a purity seal or other detail flowing across the Chaos Warrior elbow.

I quite liked the chunkiness of this powerfist and glued it against the body for maximum strength.

I often leave the details on powerfists and other weapons, but in some cases when the logos are't appropriate for Space Wolves, simply cut/scrap them off with the sharp edge of your Stanley Knife.

It's probably worth mentioning that you should always glue the thigh armour on before you attach any of the hands. Sometimes you find that the hands prevent you from getting the thigh armour on!

Once you've mastered all of these, it's time to convert the Wolf Guard with powerfist and combi melta -and this is when things get really involved.

Pre Heresy Wolf Guard
Everything you've done so far has prepared you for this conversion. I can appreciate that these models aren't easy to make and this one is probably the most fiddly.

Same legs, torso, etc as before. But this time you will need an Assault Marine powerfist, the Chaos Warrior champion cloak, the Chaos Warrior champion sword arm, a melta gun and a storm bolter from the Space Wolves box.

You'll need a spare bolt pistol from the Space Wolves box too.

I also recommend using the Space Wolf legs with the wolf pelt down the middle. Due to the default pose and the large combi weapon, this model tends to look best stoop up straight and pointing for the rest of the pack to advance.

To start with we need to cut off all the rubbish from the Space Wolves storm bolter.

Cut the arm off at the wrist, then start to cut the gun away from the hand by cutting across in front of the knuckles.

Then cut in a straight line between the top of the hand and the flat bit of the gun that sits on the hand and wrist.

Finally, carefully cut away that silly tooth stuck to the top of the gun sight. Now we've got something we can work with.

Now cut the barrels off the front of the Storm bolter, but make sure you leave the little rectangular bit that sticks out at the bottom. This helps in making the conversion strong later.

Take the bolt pistol and using a sharp knife shop the barrel and sight above it off in one clean cut.

You should then be able to glue this to the front of the storm bolter as a single piece. Make sure it's aligned to the left hand side of the storm bolter, because you have to leave room for the melta gun barrel.

Now take the melta gun and chop the barrel off the end. Then trim the end until it smoothly joins to the front of the storm bolter.

Now you have 1 perfectly good combi-bolter. Leave to dry thoroughly before trimming a Chaos Warrior hand to hold the gun. Attach the gun to the hand and leave to dry. Because the gun is relatively heavy the hand and gun need to be fully dry before you can glue the hand holding the gun into the Chaos Warrior torso. Now for the powerfist.

Take both the Chaos Warrior champion arm and the Assault Marine powerfist and cut them below the elbow.

You need the top half of the Chaos Warrior champion arm and the bottom half of the Assault Marine powerfist.

Then powerfist will need a bit of trimming to keep all the cables, which you'll be pleased to discover glue straight on to the Chaos Warrior champion upper arm almost perfectly!

Here you go. Doesn't that look good? Now all you need to do is glue it into the Chaos Warrior champion torso for a perfect fit.

Actually the kit doesn't go together that well, so once dry you may want to plug the gap with some Green Stuff.

Next up, glue the hand holding the combi-melta in place, glue on the head, backpack and you're done!

Now go have a nice long rest, you earned it.

CONCLUSION
And that's how it's done.

As you may have gathered, these are time consuming, energy draining conversions. So many people will only reserve this level of dedication for their characters. Meanwhile other people with more time, money and enthusiasm will go the whole hog and convert their whole army to look like this.

Whatever you decide, that's up to you. But hopefully this guide has given you all the essential conversion tutorials you need to make your own Pre Heresy armies.

Thanks for reading and if you thought this article was helfpul, then please share it around the web and let others know about it.

Anvil Industry

2011-09-09T19:00:00.001+01:00

I took a trip to Anvil Industry at the weekend. Or rather, Joel invited me over for lunch to chat about his product lines and to show me his new pressure chamber for faster resin casting.

Yes, Anvil Industries are currently based in a garden shed in sunny Hertfordshire, England. Much like in the same way that most successful US businesses start in a basement. We don't have basements here. So a shed or garage is the next best (and very British!) thing.

Prior to setting up Anvil Industry to help pay for his kid, I've known Joel for about 6 years now. In fact, I met him at a 40K tournament and managed to blag a lift home!

He's a fantastic painter and modeller. Sure, he sucks at the game, but he's really in it for the hobby and that's why he's offering a slowly growing range of generic 28mm accessories for people who play sci fi wargames.

So far the range consists of shoulder pads, cloaks, loin cloths and other small accessories. However there are a number of new things on the way, such as a tripod mount with a variety of heavy weapons as well as riot shields, energy packs and there has been talk of a jetbike of some kind.

A range of bases are also in production, made of a very special material with cleverly designed undersides as well! I would never have thought of this, so I was particularly impressed when Joel demonstrated what the first batch of Anvil Industry bases would be capable of -both for painting and for playing games.

Although personally, I can't wait for the missile pods (mounted on the tripod in the picture) to be finished and available. Just think of all the tanks and heavy infantry you could use them with.

But before Joel can create any more new products, he's busy trying to get his casting process as perfect as possible. Currently 1 in 5 products aren't casting correctly and are thrown away, which has prompted him to invest in a pressure caster and air pressure generator.

Also, the quality control is taking a lot of his time. It probably doesn't help that Joel is particularly fussy, but that definitely does benefit his customers.

He also showed me some products cast in regular resin and products cast in 'special resin'. The special resin products were a grey colour, exactly the same colour as Citadel Finecast and Forgeworld products in fact.

When I asked what made them so special, he laughed "Nothing, I just added a grey colour!"

But we could both clearly see the details in the model and most importantly the white/cream coloured resin looked very cheap in comparison. So there's an interesting perception of value for you! Now we know why so many manufacturers produce their model parts in grey resin.

Before I left, I caught a glimpse of some interesting steam punk style rocket packs. I also placed an order for the forthcoming Anvil Industry 'special' bases, which I'll explain more about when they're released. And I also picked up a selection of studded shoulder pads for my next batch of pre heresy Space Wolves. Aren't generic 28mm sci fi bits wonderful?

Anvil Industry is small right now, but has a heck of a lot going for it. Joel seems to be better on price, faster on production and ships from the UK, so for UK and US residents his popular shoulder pads are certainly more affordable than the European alternatives.

So if you've got a minute, check out Anvil Industries for yourself and see if your little plastic dudes need some extra accessories.

Painting Munky Style

2011-09-08T19:00:00.027+01:00

Munky (aka Dave) is one of the best painters I've ever seen. A while back he brought some of his Space Wolves round and they simply blew us away. These photos do not do them any justice, because not only were they incredibly reach and vibrant, with crisp detail, they looked dirty and battle wearing as well.

It made me realise that THIS is how I wanted to paint my Space Wolves!

I think this is Space Wolves army #4 now. The other armies I built and painted all had 1 major problem - I was compromising on quality the entire time.

Sure, my Pre Heresy Space Wolves with fur cloaks were beautifully converted. But the paint scheme could have been so much better. My Ragnar Space Wolves were painted quickly to play the game. Then my original Pre Heresy Space Wolves were basically grey Space Marines.

And while James is often a very supportive friend, I've found his boasting about being able to blitz through a whole Tactical Squad and Transport in a single day to have a very negative effect.

So this is why I did the Chaos Space Marines army at speed -to give me a whole army to play with. But more importantly, an army that I don't give a rat's arse about. So now I can go and beautifully convert and paint my Space Wolves in peace!

So I've decided to pay careful attention to my miniatures, because they're Space Wolves and they deserve it. After all, they're not exactly cheap.

I'm going to be following Munky's paint scheme to the letter while seeking out other excellent painting techniques to make my miniatures as good as they can be.

No short cuts. No compromising. Just a good quality Space Wolves army. Who knows, I may get nominated for Best Painted Army at tournaments, just like I used to with my old Tau Empire, Deathwing and Black Legion armies?

Wolf and Sister Part 23

2011-09-07T19:00:00.005+01:00

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Meet the Pack

2011-09-06T19:00:00.001+01:00

As some of you know my Great Company was based on Erik Morkai's Great Company with white Shoulder pads and the double headed wolf emblem. For a few months now there's been a few things bugging me about the colour scheme, firstly white is a bitch to paint and unless I get it completely right it looks blobby and messy. Secondly I hate water slide transfers which is what I have had to use on my shoulder pads as I found it impossible to freehand the double headed wolf easily. The last thing was a bit of a fluff issue in that Erik Morkai is famed for using lots of scout which to be honest is a unit I never really use anymore.

So with a new army scheme on the cards I set about choosing a new Great Company. The most Important thing for me was it had to have a symbol I could free hand on shoulder pads. This meant it couldn't be too detailed and certainly wouldn't have symmetrical icons in it i.e double wolf heads. Lastly I would have to like the fluff behind the Great Company, not so much a big issue but something that does bother me (Boo Yaa to all those who thought I didn't give a monkeys about fluff)

Here is a sneak peek of one of my Rhinos.

With a bit of thinking and test painting I finally came up with a scheme I liked, Gunnar Redmoons Great Company. The symbol is quite easy to paint on a shoulder pad and the red moon on black background really goes well with my dark grey power armour.

It was time to start working on the new project and I was stuck as to where to start. To hell with it I thought I'll start with the big man himself, Wolf Lord Gunnar Redmoon. I wanted this guy to use the rules for Logan Grimnar (yes folks another Logan counts as, haters can start hating now). I tried this conversion before but that guy ended up becoming a Lone Wolf so I had to start again. Luckily I've got tons of Terminator bits lying around and even some Forgeworld torsos.

Ladies and Gentlewolves I give you Gunnar Redmoon.

The conversion is simple enough, I used the Forgeworld torso and some bog standard legs. The Frost Axe and Powerfist are from the Wolf Guard box set which means so far everything was pretty simple. Next I had to tackle the Stormbolter, I could have wimped out and just ignored it but I've decided I'm going 100% WYSIWYG with my army. I ended up filing down the back of the Powerfist and then filing a Stormbolter to attach to the back. I had a neat little idea to make the Stormbolter belt fed and loop the feed around to the back of the mini, I could imagine Gunnar wanting to fire off as many rounds as possible into the enemies face before he beat the snot out of them. I used the Wolf Guard cloak as its pretty epic and stuck a shield on the back, I was inspired by the Wolf Lord in the book "Battle of the Fang" who kept an axe from his previous life as part of his personal effects.

Next up I have begun work on a new pack of Grey Hunters followed by some Wolf Guard inspired by Adams Pre Heresy Wolves. I've also got some epic Lone Wolf conversions I am dying to show you guys but you can wait for now.

Arjac Rockfist Tactics

2011-09-05T19:00:00.003+01:00

As the ultimate Wolf Guard pack leader for your Space Wolves. Arjac Rockfist tactics are very straightforward, especially when he's going to be in the thick of the fighting and can only travel in a Drop Pod or Land Raider transport.

Arjac's saga tells a tale of a stubborn refusal to give ground to a horde of teeming kraken things...until Logan Grimnar and his men dug him out from beneath a mountain of chitin and scythed limbs. The Great Wolf was so impressed that he named Arjac his personal champion on the spot!

On the tabletop, Arjac displays the exact same stubborness and general refusal to die. Essentially a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, he's a fantastic melee character without eating up one of your HQ slots or giving away a Kill Point.

In fact, for all his equipment and abilities, he's better value for your points than a Wolf Guard Battle Leader with the very same load out.

Equipment: wolf tooth necklace, foehammer, anvil shield, terminator armour

Skills: saga of the bear, Grimnar's champion, stubborn

Wolf Guard:
Because Arjac is one of the Wolf Guard, he must be purchases along with at least 2 other Wolf Guard as an Elites choice. This also means that he may only lead Blood Claws, Grey Hunters and Long Fangs into battle.

Stats aside, when thinking about how best to use him, we need to take his equipment and special rules into account, just like we did with Logan Grimnar.

Foe Hammer
Strength 10 Thunder Hammer that he can THROW 6". It's a bad idea to base any tactics around this, but it's a nice little extra. It's worth noting that the thrown Thunder Hammer reduces the target's Initiative to 1, which makes it awesome in combination with a Rune Priest casting Jaws Of The World Wolf on a monstrous creature. But let's focus on Arjac's squad leading abilities for now.

Otherwise think of his Thunder Hammer as a power fist style weapon which mops up at the end of a close combat and batters any survivors with Wound Allocation.

Anvil Shield
This gigantic storm shield gives Arjac +1 attack in the first round of close combat. Combine that with his basic 3 Attacks, the +1 attack from charging normally (or counter-charging) and you've for 5 Attacks hitting on 3+ (thanks Wolftail Necklace!). Not bad at all.

Let's not forget he get's a 3+ invulnerable save from this on top of his 2+ terminator armour save.

Grimnar's Champion
Not such a great rule, but it will make your opponent thing twice before charging an Independant Character into close combat. If an enemy Character is in the combat, Arjac MUST allocate all his attacks against them.
I dare you to try and kill him. Even Mephiston probably can't before he gets pummelled in return.

Just remember that Arjac is NOT an Independant Character, so your opponent cannot pick him out from the squad he's leading in close combat. Suddenly he just got a whole lot better!

Stubborn
Should you lose close combat (most likely due to the softer squad members getting butchered), Arjac's Stubborn ability and high leadership is likely to keep the squad in place for another round of fighting. Arjac is often the last to die, which turns whichever squad he leads into a serious tar pit unit that inflicts a lot of casualties before it finally dies.

Arjac Rockfist Leading Wolf Guard
The only kind of Wolf Guard unit worth taking is Terminator Wolf Guard. We've established in other articles that 5 is the perfect number. Anymore doesn't give you much of a benefit for the extra points and they struggle to fit in transports too.

Fortunately, because Arjac is one of the Wolf Guard, he fits into the mix rather nicely and the squad doesn't have to lose their heavy weapon either.

Arjack Rockfist
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma and power weapon
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta and power weapon
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta and wolf claw
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma , power weapon and cyclone

Land Raider/Drop Pod Transport

Sure, it's a lot of points. But with Arjac leading them, they're going to kick ass and take a lot of hits. The lack of models is a concern though.

Arjac Rockfist Leading Blood Claws
Blood Claws suck. How did you know I was going to say that? Well, it's because it's true. They simply can't compare to Grey Hunters for the same points. Arjac gets no benefit by joining them and he gets no benefit in leading them...except he might have 15 guys to take hits before the enemy get around to him.

The problems with Blood Claws needing high numbers, resulting in high points costs outweigh the fun of being able to deliver Arjac into the thick of the fighting.

Arjac Rockfist Leading Grey Hunters
Wolf Standard and numbers make Grey Hunters the ideal unit for Arjac to lead. Think about it, the Wolf Standard allows you to re-roll 1's on a model with a 2+ armour save and a 3+ invulnerable save in close combat. It also makes those 5 Attacks at Strength 10 more likely to count when it comes to hitting and wounding. Grey Hunters give a good account of themselves in close combat too and are less likely to take casualties in the first round of combat thanks to rerolls from their Wold Standard.

Just be sure that your opponent isn't ready to blast them all to kingdom come the minute his unit breaks from close combat.

If your opponent is planning to throw more units into the close combat, then you'be succeeded in creating a tar pit which will suck lots of his units in as he struggles to single out Arjac with Wound Allocation and bring him down.

For a good example of how to use Arjac Rockfist really well, check out the Space Wolves VS 13th Company battle report. It took 2 Units of my Grey Hunters led by a Rune Priest 2 whole Turns to bring down Arjac and his squad. Of course this only happened after Arjac smashed my Rune Priest with his Thunder Hammer and battered one squad so badly that they broke and ran!

Arjac Rockfist Leading Long Fangs
You just wouldn't. Arjac likes to get up close and beat face. Long Fangs like to sit back and shoot. I think he'd get bored...

CONCLUSION
Arjac's awesome enough, but once he gets some rerolls thanks to the Grey Hunter's Wolf Standard, he's nigh on unstoppable in the first round of close combat.

Because he can't be singled out, your opponent has to fight their way through his entire squad before they can finally bring him down.

Even then, it's going to take more than a punch from a powerfist thanks to his Saga of the Bear.

He takes some serious killing and can hold up a lot of points, making it difficult for your opponent to commit units to objectives, let alone winning the battle.

There is 1 downside however: He cannot join more than a single unit during a game, because he's a Wolf Guard pack leader and not an Independent character. So start every game with a plan for him in mind and stick to it.

I honestly don't expect him to survive a single game, but he should always die gloriously atop a massive mound of foes!

Iron Warriors VS Deathwing

2011-09-04T19:00:00.027+01:00

I took my Iron Warriors for a spin against James' Deathwing in a 1750pts game this weekend.

James had his usual Belial Command Squad with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield all round, Deathwing Banner, Apothecary and Ezekiel. Plus 5 Terminator squads with storm bolters and Cyclone Missile Launchers.

Meanwhile I took the first 1750pts of my 2000pts Chaos Space Marines list (link), led by the ruthlessly cunning Techno-Sorcerer Manneus Drath ('Manny' for short).

We rolled for mission and set up, getting Secure & Control (1 objective each) with a Dawn of War deployment.

I won the roll off and opted to go first and placed my objective (a spare Pink Horror from James' Thousand Sons army) just to the left of the centre. James placed his objective in the top right hand corner -oh yawn!

PS: James lent me a Whirlwind as I was 1 Rhino short.

THE GAME
James rolled to seize the initiative...and failed! Meanwhile the Iron Warriors mechanised company rolled on from the board edge while the Obliterators waited in reserve to teleport in.

Sudden the Chaos Space Marine army converged in the centre, Chosen led by Manny disembarked from their Rhino APC and brought 5 plasma guns to bear, alongside 3 twin linked plasma guns from the nearby obliterators and opened fire -annihilating a Deathwing Terminator squad while losing one of the Chosen to an overheating plasma gun in the process *evil cackle*.

On the left flank the other Obliterator Cult and the Havocs with melta guns made short work of another Deathwing Squad, but lost half of their number in the close combat that ensued with the squad's remaining member, before they cut him down.

Belial and his Command Squad advanced towards the centre to find themselves surrounded with Chaos Marines, plasma guns, melta guns, combi meltas and countless bolters.

The first round of fire did very little while Manny's attempts to 'Lash' the unit resulted in them moving only 3". Curses!

I fed a Chaos Marine squad to them to keep them occupied for the turn. The squad was wiped out -just as planned. Manny's evil minions had done his bidding perfectly!

The Chaos Hord advanced as one, and fired once more, gunning down a handful of Deathwing Assault Terminators, before Manny 'Lashed' them apart to create a more favourable alignment of targets to charge.

Despite heavy casualties, the Deathwing Command Squad was wiped out, leaving the Iron Warriors to fall back to claim their objective.

Meanwhile the Obliterators advanced, gunning down 3 of the Deathwing Terminators close to James' objective. Then to add insult to injury Manny 'Lashed' them away 9".

In James' turn he moved and then ran them back towards the objective.

We rolled to see if the game ended -and it did.

I felt that James had been a little generous with his movement and his measuring to the objective. But what the heck, it had been a close game, so I didn't argue.

CONCLUSION
Could I have played better? Definitely! But as a first outing it wasn't a bad game.

James remarked that I had played like I didn't care. Well, that's not entirely true. I'd crafted an army to go forward and get stuck in with their special weapons -and that's precisely what I did.

Putting one Cult of Obliterators down on the flank had seemed like a great idea at the time. Committing the Melta Gun Havocs had felt equally brilliant. But then they struggled to get back into the game from that point onwards. So it feels as though the army really has to move together as one in order to be effective.

Just imagine the carnage had another Cult of Obliterators and 4 Melta Guns been blasting down the centre into the Deathwing Command Squad!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to playing more games with my Iron Warriors special weapons fest while I'm working on my new Space Wolves.

Plastic Chaos Obliterators Conversions

2011-09-03T19:00:00.001+01:00

Check out my plastic Chaos Obliterator conversions! I made these using Black Reach Terminators from eBay and a plethora of heavy weapons and technological bits from all manner of Space Marine and Chaos Space Marine sources.

There were inspired by Paul Scott's plastic Obliterator conversions from his Death Guard. Then I went to town and bulked them up even further.

The process is surprisingly simple. Just start with the Terminator body, a chaos marine head and the back half of the Chaos Marine gunner from the Chaos Vehicle Accessory sprue.

Cut the top of the stumpy bit inside the terminator body out, then the back half of the Chaos Marine gunner should be able to glue neatly in place. Not before you trim a Chaos Marine head and glue that in place first of course.

Then you take a Multi Melta and Plasma Cannon from the Space Marine Devastator box and trim the Terminator arms back to the elbows until you create a flat surface to glue each gun and army together.

Then you glue the arms in place.

Leave the whole thing to dry solid and you've formed the basis for your Obliterator conversion.

Now you can start filling in the gaps and bulking up the model with more and more bits. Be sure to trim any spare piping and little technical box shapes off of whatever you can find in your bitz box. They're great for plugging gaps and layering up detail to make these Obliterators much bigger and bulkier than regular Terminators.

I'm very fortunate to have access to so many bits, thanks to James buying so many Devastator boxes over the years. He certainly wasn't going to use all those Plasma Cannons and Multi Meltas!

I couldn't begin to list all the bits used in these conversions, but buying a couple of Black Reach Terminator boxed sets for £10 each (+£2 postage) on eBay was certainly preferable to paying out £14 per Chaos Obliterator. Seeings as I needed 6 of them, that would have cost me £84!

Instead I only spent £20 + £20 for an extra Devastator boxed set. So £40 in total. Although each of these did take 3 hours to build up in layers of bits.

You've no doubt noticed that I'm steered clear of the 'fleshy bits' usually seen on Chaos Obliterators and stuck to technology instead. It's much easier to jam bits of piping, tech and armour plates over any gaps rather than filling them in with green stuff.

These are really messy conversions, but they did get much better as I went along. So I'm sure that someone with a little more patience and care could create cleaner, more uniformed Obliterator conversions of their own.

But if you've got a bitz box that's overflowing with heavy weapons, why not give this kind of conversion a try? Because once you've got the basis sorted, sticking bits on and building up the model is relatively easy!

Chaos Space Marines Army List

2011-09-02T19:00:00.019+01:00

My Chaos Space Marines army was designed to give me a break from the Space Wolves by being similar, yet different.

I haven't quite finished building it all yet. But when it comes to painting the whole thing, I will be using the Army Painter spray, paint, dip and varnish approach.

I really don't care about them. They're just there to be played with while I figure out which direction my Space Wolves are taking.

Okay, I do care, otherwise I wouldn't have gone to great lengths to convert Manneus Drath (left) to lead my army. We call him 'manny' for short!

Anyway, I started off with my usual 1000pts of Space Wolves and made them evil. It seemed like the logical starting point. However, I swapped out a few things in favour of what the Chaos Codex seems to do best.

So this Space Wolves army list:

Rune Priest with Living Lightning & Jaws

(X3) Wolf Guard with combi melta and powerfist
7 Grey Hunters with melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino

6 Long Fangs with 5 missile launchers
Razorback with twin linked lascannon

Became this Chaos Marines army list:

Chaos Sorcerer 'Manny' with Mark of Slaanesh, Lash

(X3) Aspiring Champion with combi melta and powerfist
7 Chaos Marines with melta gun
Rhino with combi melta

7 Chaos Havocs with 4 melta guns
Rhino with combi melta

Good VS Evil
Yeah, Chaos Space Marines aren't really a patch on Grey Hunters for the points and neither is the Sorcerer compared to the Rune Priest. But, I could use Lash to knock any nasty units away. Meanwhile the extra melta guns on the Rhinos could make a big difference when it comes to popping tanks up close.

The Havocs are just an excuse for lots more melta guns, plus Rhino. Obviously, Manny will lead them so they have some close combat clout too.

I was getting fed up with my Long Fangs getting left to sit and die in 1000pts games, so essentially buying lots of melta guns for the same points seemed like a logical choice in creating an aggressive Heavy Support unit.

Expanding Chaos Space Marines Army
While James is happy to play games of 1000pts, Marc was keen to unleash his Draigo Wing once again (yawn). So I had to bulk the army up by 750pts.

On top of that, since attending Battle Of The Chumps as well as tournaments of various sizes over the past year or two, we tend to make our armies very modular in terms of structure. So then we can just swap units in and out as we need them.

This is a bit of a bitch when it comes to the Chaos Marine Codex, because everything is so damned expensive. Plus, you don't really want to spend 40pts on a Chaos Spawn (hilarious as they are!) when they easily concede a Kill Point.

So after some playing around and fantastically straightforward input from James, I came up with the following...

2000pts Chaos Space Marines Army

Chaos Sorcerer 'Manny' with Mark of Slaanesh, Lash

(X3) Aspiring Champion with combi melta and powerfist
7 Chaos Marines with melta gun
Rhino with combi melta

(X2) 8 Chaos Chosen with 5 plasma guns
Rhino with combi melta

7 Chaos Havocs with 4 melta guns
Rhino with combi melta

(X2) 3 Obliterators

CONCLUSION
The stand out strengths of the Chaos Space Marine army are its special weapons. So it made sense to build an army around these.

Sure, I could have taken Plague Marines as troops, but I quite like Chaos Undivided. Okay, I gave Manny the Mark of Slaanesh and the Lash. But what else was I going to give him? Besides, I can't see the value in making him a Chaos Lord. I've done the maths and the extra attacks from a Daemon Weapon don't seem that great. I felt it would be better to have an all-round strategic character leading my force instead.

The Chosen can either Infiltrate and shoot people from Turn 1 to be really annoying. Or they can Outflank in their Rhinos. Or they can roll forward with the rest of the army.

Meanwhile the Obliterators can either stroll along from the start or Deep Strike in. I think I have Manny a Personal Icon in the first 1,000pts. I need to check that. Obviously, that will make Deep Striking easier if I need the Obliterators to lay down some close range special weapons fire.

But the army looks good on paper. Once it's built, I'll take it for a spin and see how well it does.

This wasn't optimised in any way for a particular opponent, but I feel it should do well against Marines of all colours.

What do you think?

Chaos Space Marine Army

2011-09-01T19:00:00.013+01:00

Check out my Chaos Space Marine army video. I'm back doing YouTube videos again after my PC exploded, taking all my music files and video templates with it.

So I thought I'd get back on the video bandwagon, starting with my Chaos Space Marine army, who are of course Iron Warriors. It's completely Chaos Undivided and designed for maximum melta and plasma.

To be frank, I got fed up of Land Raiders driving down my throat and all the Terminators getting out and being pretty much invincible.

Let's see my opponents try that when I have 16 melta guns, 10 plasma guns and 6 fat lads who can become any weapon they like!

Throw in a bit of 'Lash' and I should be able to knock units away, or drag them out of cover and into special weapons range for Obliteration!

But don't fret folks, I will be focussing on Space Wolves again very soon. I just wanted something to play with that I didn't really care too much about so I could spend countless hours making my new Space Wolves as jaw droppingly awesome as possible.

In the meantime, if you haven't already subscribed to the Space Wolves YouTube Channel, please do!

Wolf and Sister Part 22

2011-08-31T19:00:00.007+01:00

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Killswitch's ETC Report Part 1

2011-08-30T20:03:00.009+01:00

Apologies for leaving this so late. I have been awfully busy with my return to real life that I have had very little spare time. So as you all know, I attended the European Team Championships (ETC) in Switzerland – Montreux. I was elected as England’s Space Wolves player which I was very pleased about, and couldn’t be any happier than to represent the sons of Russ at one of largest 40k tournaments in the world.

Now before I start my epic long ramblings about how I did etc, I just want to give you all a brief description of the ETC Experience. I will be dedicating this post just for that, and you will all have to wait patiently for the bat reps themselves I’m afraid! I feel it is a large part of the event, and I should at least give it the justice it deserves.

Travel

So I wake up at 5am to the loud squawking of my bed side alarm clock. The birds are chirping, the seagulls are bomb diving the neighbours and my army is still loitering around the house being thrown around by my two mischievous kittens. I've had a good 5 hours sleep, 2 cups of coffee and I’m raring to go.

I set off and arrive at Dover, only to be told that the rest of the England team is running late, and they certainly were. I was left standing around for a good hour and 15 minutes before my transport arrived. We missed our first ferry, but were lucky enough to grab another one not too long after we arrived at the docks. Seventeen hours and 4 pit stops later, we arrived at Montreux.

Now I personally love traveling with a group of friends, talking 40k and life, having a few drinks and general musing about. However, I have never been so agitated in my life. Good god is it hard to travel for a total of 19 hours, and to say my legs and rear end was stiff is an understatement. For the price of travel, who can complain, but to say it was an experience certainly hits the nail on the head.

I think it is safe to say that next time, I may consider putting out for a more comfortable experience and take the Plane instead.

Montreux

What a beautiful city. No word can describe this place except clean. I was shocked to see hardly any litter lying around, clean buildings & streets, hell even clean people. Gorgeous designs were to be viewed within and without the cites, as the architectural structure & layout of the buildings were certainly a sight to behold. The bay was breathtaking. A beautiful lake spanned across the horizon, and opposite us were the sky-high mountains spanning across the width of the view.

Breathtaking views

The lake was clean with no rubbish or green muck which is commonly seen along the coasts of England. The water was fresh and they even had drinking water fountains loitered around the city which was a useful hang over cure for the team as we trekked over to the venue every morning.

The shops were plenty in number, but wow, the prices were steep. I heard Switzerland was expensive, but I never would have thought it would be that bad. For example, we found a McDonalds and decided to just view the prices, and we were quickly thrown back by the £11 Big Mac meals advertised in the shop window.

Average price for a can of coke was £2 and it just goes to show how hard it was to find a cheap shop for supplies. Luckily we had Tim, the Scottish ETC captain on hand and he managed to find a fair few shops which were nice and cheap for students like myself.

Venue

The hall which the event was held in was fantastic. There was the World Miniature Expo being held at the same time, so there was plenty to see and do whilst we was there. Being situated near the high street, local shops were within walking distance and the Lake was just outside for those who fancied a dip. Unfortunately this was banned after the first day due to a few streakers scaring the locals!

Food was decent. It was obviously in large supply for the 750+ gamers and refs at attendance, so I wasn’t expecting much. Processed meat in curries and a beef stew the day after. The bread was fantastic however, so good in fact that the English Fantasy team decided to take an entire loaf of it.

Terrain was in large supply, and every board was set out to have 25% covered before the event started. This was great and how all tournaments should be played, however this didn’t help the fact that there was a majority of LOS blocking terrain. Now I am one for LOS blocking terrain as I think it is great and promote tactical play rather than who gets turn 1, however this was just a bit too much. Even the small pieces of terrain were completely blocking Rhinos and Thunder wolves etc which was giving a slight advantage to some armies.

Hundreds of boards & sweaty gamers...yum!

Every board was similar, which reduced the tactical flexibility of being put forward and getting to select a table since all the tables were similar and all the tables had a large supply of BLOS terrain pieces. This in turn reduced the effectiveness of my Wolf army, which relied on its shooting to assist me over the course of the game. Fire lanes were still easy to get, but having to split your force meant that your opponent could capitalize on deploying on one side which usually wouldn’t be such a big deal. This is just a personal viewpoint, and I hope next years (if I attend) has a fair amount of both LOS blocking and standard area terrain.

The boards themselves were all smaller than 6x4 which was annoying. Two of my games required you to place a certain amount of objectives in specific places. This meant that you had to deploy then, for example, 12 inches away from the short board edge, and 18 from the long. The problem I had was that the board was not 6 foot long or 4 foot wide, so we had to play around with positioning to get it in the exact spot for fair of play. This wasn’t a huge deal, but something again which could be improved upon.

Games

Now I won’t go into much detail here as it will spoil my bat reps, but I thought I would give you a quick overview on how the games went at the ETC. Each team would roll a dice and the loser would put forward an army for the other team to play. The winner then puts a player forward an army fro the loser to put an army against, and this happens until 7 armies are paired off against each other. The army which has been put forward, gets its choice of board, as this is to balance the fact that they are most likely getting a harder match up. Both teams pop down a secret player called the “Champion” and are both announced at the end of the pairings. These two armies face off on the last available board.

This adds some tactical decisions which is different to normal Tourney play. At first I was skeptical, as it allows some armies to lose badly and others to win big. But after experiencing it for myself, it was awesome. It adds a completely different level of play and tactical decisions which could effect the outcome of the match. Having to play your best against tough match ups makes the game that much more fun as its down to all of you to pull your weight and do your best for the team.

I really enjoyed this and it’s something which you could never appreciate fully until you have whitnesed it yourself. I could not recommend this more to anyone out there considering joining in on the experience. It is something completely different to normal tournament playa nd you will see some very strange but interesting lists and tactics used. I for one was thrilled at this and it broadened my thoughts on how 40k can be played.

Conclusion

If you currently don’t belong to a country already entered in the ETC I suggest you make a team now and pop over next year, for it is worth the weight in gold. If you are part of a country which has already attended the ETC, I suggest you try out for the team, for you will never regret that decision. I had a fantastic time and enjoyed the social, gaming and visual aspect of the experience and I do hope that some of you would consider joining in on the fun.

Team England in all its glory

I hope to see you there next year if I am lucky enough to represent my country. Stay tuned for my Bat reps, and a detailed talk about the evolution of my Space Wolf list.

Killswitch

Logan Grimnar Tactics

2011-08-29T19:00:00.003+01:00

As far as Space Wolves special characters go, Logan Grimnar tactics are anything but straightforward.

Chapter Master of the Space Wolves, Logan Grimnar is as hard as nails, hefting the mightiest of axes while enhancing the warriors around him with all manner of special abilities.

The perfect embodiment of the Space Wolves' playing style on the table top, he's good at everything without being great. Like the rest of the army, he's a supporting unit who in turn needs support from other elements of the force to function effectively.

But, if you can support Logan while he supports the rest of the force, you'll achieve a stronger army overall.

Equipment: Terminator Armour, Axe Morkai, Storm Bolter, Belt of Russ, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolftail Talisman.

Skills: Living Legend, High King, Stubborn, Eternal Warrior, Great Wolf, Saga of Majesty.

Full Fat Footslogger
Unfortunately, due to his compulsory suit of terminator armour, Logan Grimnar has trouble fitting into most transports and as a result, most units.

This means that there are only a handful of units in the Space Wolves army that he's suitable to lead. These include Wolf Guard, Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and Long Fangs.

Using the Axe Morkai
Logan Grimnar can use his Axe Morkai as either a Frost Blade or a Power Fist and you can split his attacks between the two. Also, thanks to his Wolf Tooth Necklace, he always hits on 3+ in close combat.

While many people tend to use all his attacks as a Frost Blade when he has a higher initiative than his opponents, or a Power Fist when he has a lower initiative, splitting his attacks between the two types also yields certain benefits.

Of course this depends on what the squad he's leading is armed with. In the case of leading Grey Hunters, he could make a couple of Frost Axe attacks, followed in initiative order by the Grey Hunters, then add to the Power Fist attacks of the Wolf Guard leading the Grey Hunters at the end of the close combat, allocating individual Insant-Kill wounds on many more models within a unit. It's a great way to kill off any Independant Characters or specially equipped models (Blood Angels Apothecary) more efficiently.

Foe bashing tactics aside, the real key to succeeding with Logan Grimnar comes down to which unit he's leading.

Logan Grimnar Leading Wolf Guard

As we've discussed before, the only Wolf Guard worth taking that aren't leading one of your Space Wolves squads are a pack of Wolf Guard Terminators.

I always arm mine with a mixture of combi-weapons, power weapons, a chainfist or thunderhammer (for anti-tank, anti-monstrous creature and last minute infantry smacking), a wolf claw to help with wound allocation and finally a cyclone missile launcher for long ranged fire power.

Its the optimum combination and the most rewarding in return on investment for your points. It also makes all 5 models unique for the purpose of wound allocation.

So once we add Logan Grimnar to the mix, we get a special character who gives the whole pack access to the Tank Hunter and Preferred Enemy abilities.

Tank Hunter is great for all the combi-meltas and combi-plasmas. Likewise, it's great for the cyclone missile launcher.

Meanwhile Prefered Enemy gives the small, elite pack armed with power weapons some serious combat clout -especially when Logan uses his once-per-game Living Legend ability.

The only downside is the limited room in Space Wolves transports which will often see the Wolf Guard Terminators losing their heavy weapon as they're forced into a 4 man squad to accomodate Logan Grimnar in a Drop Pod or Land Raider.

However, there's plenty of room in a Land Raider Redeemer and for maximum numbers a Land Raider Crusader can carry 7 terminators and Logan. But that's a lot of eggs in one basket at approximately an 800 points.

Logan and the 4 Wolf Guard Terminators in a regular land raider comes to roughly 650pts by comparison.

Logan Grimnar Leading Blood Claws

I think we've established that Blood Claws Suck, but many people still like them and regularly field them for fun.

To get the best from Blood Claws you need 15 of them with 2 melta guns led by a Wolf Guard. Normally we have a Wolf Priest with them as well, but Logan nicely fills this role and does it a bit better.

Unfortunately there are too many models to fit inside even a Land Raider Crusader, but that's not really what Blood Claws are for. They're there to cause a big distraction, soak up lots of firepower, run straight towards the enemy and cause lots of carnage.

Logan's ability to give the unit he leads Preferred Enemy obviously benefits the Blood Claws with Beserk Charge. If he uses his once-per-game Living Legend ability, the +1 attack for every model could give the unit some serious clout. But it all depends on how many Blood Claws you can get into close combat after taking the full brunt of the enemy's firepower. Based on previous experience, not that many seem to make it.

Want to cut the numbers down a bit and cram them all into a Crusader? That'll be 800pts please. Once again, not cheap!

Logan Grimnar Leading Grey Hunters

Combined with the re-rolls of a Wolf Standard, Logan Grimnar leading a pack of Grey Hunters is an awesome prospect. Unfortunately, you'll need a Land Raider or Drop Pod to get them into position. But we've established that with most of the other unit choices already.

Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard with combi melta and power fist
7 Grey Huners: Mark of the wulfen, wolf standard, melta gun
Land Raider / Drop Pod

Logan Grimnar's ability to confer the Tank Hunter skill to the squad makes all the bolters great for bringing down Armour 10 targets.

Preferred Enemy is the obvious choice to give any enemy an extra hard kicking in close combat. Throw in the Wolf Standard for the Grey Hunters to reroll a 1 rolled for the number of Wulfen attacks, to wound rolls and armour saves and you can have a devastating round of combat.

Use the once-per-game Living Legend ability and they all get +1 attack with said rerolls at the same time. Now that's pretty tasty!

Finally, there's the overlooked skill 'Relentless'. This lets you rapid fire all those bolters before charging into close combat, especially if disembarking from a Land Raider.

For all this you're looking at just over 700pts. Compared to Logan and 4 Wolf Guard Terminators in a Land Raider for 650pts, this doesn't seem too bad.

Logan Grimnar Leading Long Fangs

When the new Space Wolves Codex was released, everyone wanted Logan Grimnar leading their Long Fangs jumping out of Drop Pods and firing off their multi-meltas. It's a no brainer choice for getting into the thick of things, but can the Long Fangs take much of a beating in the thick of close ranged combat? Probably not.

Relentless, Tank Hunter and even Prefered Enemy have their part to play when Logan Grimnar leads a pack of Long Fangs.

All you need to do is choose your heavy weapons, what to equip a Wolf Guard with and which method of transport will be best.

I always favour massed missile launchers for my Long Fangs because anything else is too expensive to justify. While lascannons with Tank Hunter might be a drool inducing prospect, at 40pts per model it's just not worth it. So here's my little line up:

Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard in terminator armour with cyclone missile launcher
Long Fang Sergeant
5 Long Fangs with missile launchers

That comes to just under 500 points.

This unit can ride in a Land Raider or simply walk up the board, firing off missiles with Relentless before taking up a good position and turning their skills to Tank Hunters for a healthy barrage of 8 krak missiles with +1 to the armour penetration roll.

No one's going to want to charge them with Logan leading them. But is the Great Wolf wasted in this capacity?

Considering that the Space Wolves army seems to thrive on securing the midfield, this could be an excellent central unit.

Get them in the centre, surrounded by your Grey Hunters and Logan augments the entire army with his Living Legend ability while the Long Fangs lay down a surpressing fire with their missile launchers. If this tactic sounds risky, then maybe it's worth giving the Long Fang Sergeant a power fist for good measure? He does have the same stats as a Wolf Guard after all.

More aggressive players have tried to pair Logan Grimnar with a pack of Long Fangs all armed with multimeltas for the same points. This doesn't seem to fair any better against tanks outside of 12" than missile launchers and with a maximum range of 24", the missile launchers would probably be a better and more versatile choice with their longer range and frag missile options.

Is it worth putting them in a Land Raider? They can disembark and fire their heavy weapons -even charge into close combat if need be. It's not bad, but the Land Raider is a lot of points and anything close combat related with Long Fangs, even if lead by Logan, seems very risky.

CONCLUSION
Logan Grimnar can lead all of the best units in the Space Wolves army, so you're really spoilt for choice when it comes to placing him. However, he'll always need to ride in a Land Raider or Drop Pod if you want him to see close combat.

But whatever happens, Logan Grimnar is an augmenting character that's dedicated to close combat. Get him in the middle of your army and let him do what he does best -which is supporting the units around him.

Just remember all the skills at his disposal, even the lesser used ones like Relentless and Fearless. They all have their place in the theatre of table top war.

Personally, I plan to put him with a pack of Grey Hunters because they can make use of all the High King skills while Logan can make use of their Wolf Standard.

The Best Space Wolves Army List?

2011-08-26T19:00:00.027+01:00

Perhaps this isn't the best Space Wolves army list, but it's certainly the most sensible.

In fact, as soon as Alex posted this, I scrolled through it and thought "Hey, that's actually a really good list". For a change it's not points optimised to the eyeballs and not everyone is in a minimal squad riding in a las/plas Razorback.

In fact, it's the kind of list that James (aka: Dark Angels Beat Stick) would come up with, because it's very forgiving and simple to play.

Here's the list again in case you missed it:

Rune Priest:
Chooser of the Slain
Jaws of the World Wolf & Living Lightning

Dreadnought:
2 twin linked autocannons

Dreadnought:
2 twin linked autocannons

5 Wolf Guard:
4 Combi-meltas, 3 Power Fists, 1 Terminator Armour & Cyclone

7 Grey Hunters:
1 Meltagun, 1 Wolf Standard, Rhino

7 Grey Hunters:
1 Meltagun, 1 Wolf Standard, Rhino

6 Grey Hunters:
1 Meltagun, 1 Wolf Standard, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters:
1 Meltagun, 1 Wolf Standard

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with lascannon and twin linked plasma gun

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with lascannon and twin linked plasma gun

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers, Razorback with lascannon and twin linked plasma gun

Army Philosophy
I know we call James "Dark Angels Beat Stick", but his army lists are generally very good. They're not meta army lists, but they're always tough, numerous and very well balanced.

Like I've said before, if James played more often and analysed the game better, he'd be kicking my arse all over the place.

Normally we're used to seeing Alex come up with the most meta spam army lists we've ever seen -gawd bless 'im! But you have to ask yourself whether it's better to take a shot at the top spots with a seriously optimised army that needs a lot of micro management, or to field an army that's more forgiving?

The real beauty is that anyone could play this army straight out of the box. All the units do one thing and do it well. And it's obvious how to use them the minute you look at the line up.

Footslogging Space Wolves

2011-08-25T19:00:00.000+01:00

I spotted this photo up on Zen 40,000 alongisde the caption "The Lamenters are overwhelmed by a savage 13th Company force" and felt compelled to dig a little deeper.

Turns out this is from 'Ard Boyz a few weeks back. The army consisted of lots of Grey Hunters and Long Fangs joined by Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour and led by Logan Grimnar -all on foot.

Apparently there were just too many of them to kill.

We've talked about footslogging Space Wolves in the past, but never really tried it out for ourselves. We've been too content to hide our Space Wolves inside Rhino transports and drive forward, firing smoke launchers.

The thing is, a Rhino costs 35pts. So buy ditching the Rhino, your 7-man Grey Hunter packs (led by a Wolf Guard of course) go up to 9-man. Then for another 15pts you can buy 1 more Grey Hunter, giving you a free special weapon.

So overall you're spending 10pts on an 11th model with a special weapon in exchange for ditching your transport. Will those 3 models make much of a difference when it comes to taking casualties as you run across the board though?

Personally, I just see the army being slow and getting shot a lot. But when you pitch it against other Marine lists, which tend to drive down your throat at high speed...can you drown them in sheer weight of numbers?

But let's not forget that Logan Grimnar leads this mob of Space Wolves. That means he can sit back, giving Tank Hunter to some Long Fangs to pop any nasty tanks, before moving forward and using his High King ability to give all Space Wolf packs in 18" +1 attack for the turn. Combine that with Counter Charge and Wolf Standard and your opponent will realise it's best to let sleeping wolves lie. Or to just shoot them from afar.

Anyway, have you run a footslogging Space Wolves list lately? And how did you get on?

Wolf and Sister Part 21

2011-08-24T19:00:00.007+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH: Wolves Vs Nurgle CSM

2011-08-23T19:00:00.009+01:00

My final game of the day saw me up against Paul Scott and his fantastic Death Guard army. I'd seen Paul's army on the best painted tables and it looked awesome with a huge Greater Deamon converted from the Warhammer Giant and a pair of Nurgle Blight Drones.

The final Mission was kill points with the Dawn of War set up, kill points tend to be a weakness for my army because of the amount I can give away but at the same time Paul's army looked to ripe with them too so this could be interesting.

Paul's army consisted of:

Lash Sorceror

Deamon Prince with Warptime

6 x Terminators + Combi weapons

Dreadnought, Twin Lined Heavy Bolters

8 x Plague Marines + upgrades
Rhino

8 x Plague Marines + upgrades
Rhino

8 x Lesser Deamons

3 Obliterators

Vindicator

2 x Nurgle Blight Drones

The Game

As usual the roll off was lost, I must be cursed with these dice rolls, Paul took first turn. He set up a Rhino and Deamon Prince in cover and elected to move the rest of his army on first turn with the Greater Deamon and Terminators in reserve. There was a nice ruined building to provide cover for most of his army so when his army moved in he set up around this terrain feature. I was quite worried about the amount of high strength templates his army could chuck around which would mean if he got a decent lash off I would lose a pack a turn easily.

My army set up in a pretty standard fashion with the Long Fangs dashing for any available cover, the Razorbacks came into their own here as the extra movement allowed me to get into position ready to unleash hell in turn two. The Riflemen Dreads walked onto either flank accompanied by the Typhoons trying to set up a cross fire and get into the side arcs of that Vindicator. I took a chance and used my Rhino search lights to light up the Vindicator which allowed my Riflemen to let rip. Several glancing and penetrating shots later and I had managed to blow that big fat cannon right off the front of the tank, awesome!

The Chaos counter attack was rather nasty starting with a well placed Lash on one of my Long Fangs packs dragging the pack right out of cover and into the kill zone. The poor oldies were then subjected to a triple salvo of Plasma Cannon fire and evaporated, that will teach me to pick on the Vindicator. Meanwhile the Chaos reserves failed to come in and the Blight Drones failed to do any real damage to the rest of my army.

With a clear field of fire I could no use my superior long range firepower and hopefully weaken the Chaos Long range game. My priority target was the pair of Blight Drones, I had a bit of breathing space as none of the chaos reserves had landed yet. With the combined Long Fang and Riflemen fire power I managed to explode both Drones and knock out a Rhino containing some Plague Marines, my Grey Hunters pushed forward towards the Ruins, I needed to take out that Lash Sorcerer quickly and the only way possible was to get dirty and dig him out like a rat.
Turn 3 saw the Chaos Terminators come in from reserve, they landed right next to a Riflemen on my right flank and Melta’d him good and proper. I lost a Rhino to Obliterator Lascannon fire causing the pack to spill out right in front of the Sorcerers unit. Luckily my Warp-fu was strong and my Rune Priest stopped a pitiful attempt at lashing him around.

The Chaos Deamon was still jumping around in cover waiting to pounce, he was obviously waiting for his big brother to show up before he waded in. My shooting this turn was rather uneventful but I managed to knock a wound off the Deamon Prince and kill a couple of Terminators, this was important and you will see why next.

So its turn 4 and I’m ahead on kill points but I’ve got my blood up and the hunt is on, there’s no way I’m prancing around conserving my forces and waiting this one out I want the kill! This turn would see the most amazing feat of arms I have ever seen my lads achieve. Pauls turn started well with his Greater Deamon coming in from reserve using an Icon to land right in front of my Rune Priests unit on foot. He then jumped the Deamon Prince out of cover and into position to support charge. The Terminators advanced within charge range of my Long Fangs but did not fire as the distanced looked to be just about 6”, I could have easily remove a model and leave then floundering in the open.

I can’t remember what happened in the shooting phase as the assault phase was so epic. It started with the Terminators charging my Long Fangs, all five of them made it into combat and my Fangs counter attacked. The Power weapons swung in and not a single blow connected, looks like the old dogs still had a bit of pounce in them still. The Long Fangs counter assault was devastating, smashing four Terminators to the ground with the butts of their missile launchers leaving just a single Terminator with a power fist who managed to crush a single Long Fang in return. The Lone Terminator held his ground but things were looking grim.

Over in the centre of the battlefield the horizon was dominated by the Greater Deamon lumbering towards the Rune Priests Grey Hunters pack. Both Deamon’s charged in intent on wiping the pack out. The Deamon Prince swung first charged up by the Warptime power, after a flurry of blows he had managed to kill one Grey Hunter. Next up was the Greater Deamon who was swinging at Initiative 4 (I think) Lots of dice were rolled but no Grey Hunter fell as all the hits failed. So now it was my time to play slapsies. I sent the Rune Priest, Wulfen and Powerfist into the big lad whilst the rest of the pack piled into the Deamon prince. Four failed invulnerable saves later and the Greater Deamon was down whilst the Grey hunters tore the Deamon prince a new one and sent him packing back to the warp. Yes that’s right folks two bad ass Deamons defeated in close combat by a pack of Grey Hunters and a wrinkly old Rune Priest, that’s the stuff epic sagas are made of!

After that bloody round of combat the fate of the Death Guard was sealed, the game continued a couple more turns but it was a case of me finishing off the Nurgle Marines in the ruins. It was quite a grind with the feel no pain proving quite hard for my chain swords to get through but my weight of numbers prevailed eventually. At the end of the game all that remained of the Death Guard army was the Dreadnought who had not really contributed much as he had rampaged around for a few turns.

Conclusion

That was a really funny game, Paul was a top opponent and his army was absolutely superb. There were times during the game when I could see things going either way. My skin was saved by the one in a million combat which saw off both Deamon’s in a single round with very little damage in return alongside the Long Fangs who battered the Terminators to death. I had again achieved my secret mission which was to kill the most expensive enemy unit which gave me the points to sneak to 10th place overall. Not bad considering I had lost three battles.

So that was my last battle report from Battle of the Chumps 2011, I hope you all enjoyed reading them and find them inspiration to attend next years event. I want to say thanks to Neil Kerr for organising the event and to Maelstrom games for a superb venue and facilities.

I’ll hopefully see you all at BotCH 2012 if I don’t see you before.

Adam's BOTCH: Spaces Wolves VS Space Wolves

2011-08-22T20:00:00.025+01:00

In the final round of BotC 2011 I found myself drawn against Space Wolves Blog reader Andy and his force of Grey Hunters, Long Fangs, compulsory Rune Priest and a Wolf Lord riding Thunderwolf as well as a Wolf Guard Battle Leader riding Thunderwolf. Then I spotted the Drop Pod full of Wolf Guard armed with combi-plasmas!

The mission was Kill Points with a Dawn of War deployment.

One look at all of his Grey Hunters and those Thunderwolves and I knew I couldn't beat him in close combat. I simply didn't have enough men.

But if there was one way I could beat him, it was at range with all my extra lascannons. So I planned to play like a Tau and fall back firing. It was Kill Points after all.

The Wolf Guard in a Drop Pod didn't concern me in the slightest. But if they'd had combi-meltas, then this could have been a different story.

I gave Andy a hearty handshake and wished him the best of luck before the game began.

THE GAME
I won the roll off and elected to go first, choosing the table edge that would favour my cowardly strategy. Everything would arrive from my board edge on Turn 1.

I brought the Land Raider on in the centre with everything else spread along the left. The Long Fangs got out of their Razorback transports and ran into the tower on the left flank to take up firing positions for the game.

Meanwhile my Land Speeders zoomed up the right flank.

Andy deployed his force right of the centre. Deploying directly opposite wouldn't have given his tanks much of a cover save past turn 2, so this wasn't such a bad decision.

The drop pod full of Wolf Guard slammed down in the middle of my army and the Wolf Guard got out and fired their combi-plasmas at the nearest Rhino, but only managed to immobilise it.

All my Grey Hunters got out and messed them up!

Meanwhile Andy needed another turn to get his Long Fangs into position, but which time he came under fire from my Long Fangs and a torrent of Krak missiles.

Once his long range capabilities had been eliminated, it was a case of my mobile units falling back while trying to destroy as many of his Rhinos as I could before he could finally close with me and bring his superior numbers to bear.

But, as the Land Speeders closed in on his right flank, dangerously close to 2 of his Rhinos he took the bait (aka: the juicy bone!) and steered both transports, packed full of Grey Hunters, towards them.

Sure, both Land Speeders died, but that bought me an extra turn of keeping his Grey Hunters out of the fight and nicely divided up his army.

The game ended on Turn 5 with a mountain of Kill Points on both sides.
I won 10 - 8 in the end and despite the way it looks, the game felt very close. However, by the end Andy's army was in tatters while mine was closing for the kill.

CONCLUSION
I felt slightly ashamed in playing this game like a total coward. I wanted to charge in and turn the game into a massive drunken brawl -and what Space Wolf player wouldn't? But there was no way I could beat 4 Rhinos full of Grey Hunters, a drop pod full of Wolf Guard and Thunderwolves in close combat with what I had.

So instead I shot him up...and ran away.

I really liked Andy's army, but I had made things difficult for him. I knew how hard it can be to set up your Long Fangs if they have to come on from the board edge and then come under fire.

The gambit with the Land Speeders acting as a bait unit worked better than I'd imagined. I was surprised he didn't take them out with his Long Fangs. Two Rhinos were drawn away from the right, essentially halving his army and making my target selection much easier.

Although the Thunderwolves were closing very quickly...until a Vindicator shell killed the Wolf Lord outright! Well, I guess the Vindicator did something in the end, even if it took 3 games.

The mission and all my lascannons favoured me in this game. The Wolf Guard Terminators didn't even get out of their Land Raider, although they were ready for a counter attack. But by this point I'd got fed up of them dying to bolter fire.

Although it was rather one sided, it was a good game with plenty of laughs and Andy was a fantastic opponent to play against. I'd definitely like to play him again with a more aggressive Space Wolves force so we could have a proper ruck!

Thanks for reading. Now for me to go away and think about improving my army.
I've got a great idea for a Space Wolf Assault Terminators substitute which might just work...

Killswitch Is Off To The ETC

2011-08-17T22:22:00.001+01:00

So It's that time. The night before the trip to the ETC. Pretty nervous, more so due to the fact that the journey will take around 12 hours in total (we are driving! I know right..hardcore).

Really excited, and should be a great time. Seems there is also a change to the team. Due to unfortunate circumstances James Ramsay, our Nid player, has had to drop out last minute. Luckily we had a trusty Northerner to fill in the slot. In comes Courtney Rhodes with his Black Templars. Not entirely sure as to what he will be taking, but expect something similar to what he usually brings :)

Ill be there with my Wolves which have been painted over the last 2-3 weeks and STILL not finished (I'm a slow painter, sue me). For those of you who don't know, here is a recap of the list I am taking:

Space Wolves

HQ 1: Rune Priest (100) Chooser of the Slain (10) Jaws of the World Wolf (0) Living Lightning (0) – [110]

Elites 1: Dreadnought (105) Twin-linked Autocannon (10) Twin-linked Autocannon (10) – [125]
Elites 2: Dreadnought (105) Twin-linked Autocannon (10) Twin-linked Autocannon (10) – [125]
Elites 3: 5 Wolf Guard (90) 4 Combi-meltas (20) 3 Power Fists (60), 1 Terminator Armour (15), Cyclone (30) – [215]

Troops 1: 7 Grey Hunters (105) 1 Meltagun (5) 1 Wolf Standard (10) – [120]
Troops 2: 7 Grey Hunters (105) 1 Meltagun (5) 1 Wolf Standard (10) – [120]
Troops 3: 6 Grey Hunters (90) 1 Meltagun (5) 1 Wolf Standard (10) – [105]
Troops 4: 5 Grey Hunters (75) 1 Meltagun (5) – [80]

Heavy Support 1: 6 Long Fangs (90) 5 Missile Launchers (50) – [140]
Heavy Support 2: 6 Long Fangs (90) 5 Missile Launchers (50) – [140]
Heavy Support 3: 6 Long Fangs (90) 5 Missile Launchers (50) – [140]

Transport 1: Rhino (35) Transports Troops 1 – [35]
Transport 2: Rhino (35) Transports Troops 2 – [35]
Transport 3: Rhino (35) Transports Troops 3 – [35]
Transport 4: Razorback (40) Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma Gun (35) Transports Heavy Support 1 – [75]
Transport 5: Razorback (40) Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma Gun (35) Transports Heavy Support 2 – [75]
Transport 6: Razorback (40) Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma Gun (35) Transports Heavy Support 3 – [75]

Sorry about the format, standard ETC layout :). I will try take a good few pics on my phone, so don't expect the best quality. I hear there will be lots of coverage over on rankingshq.com and people will be posting via Twitter and the warhammer.org.uk forums, so keep your eyes peeled for those interested.

Anyways, It's time for my well deserved nap. Wish me luck!!

Killswitch

Wolf and Sister Part 20

2011-08-17T19:05:00.007+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH: Space Wolves Vs Space Wolves (again)

2011-08-16T19:00:00.001+01:00

I’ll start by saying this was probably the most frustrating game of 40k I have ever had and I want to start by apologising to my opponent Wil because these frustrations got the better of me at times during this game. I will explain my frustrations as I go on but do not think in any way this is an attack on my opponent.

Things were not helped by the fact I was slightly hung over from the spending all night in the Maelstrom bar and the fact our hotel was like a zoo with morons running up and down the halls all night setting fire alarms off.

This was the 5th round and the points level had escalated to 2000 points, the mission was 5 objectives and the setup was spearhead. I had played Wil before when I attended Mayhem in 2010 and before I get started I will explain the cause of my frustrations. Wil was running a Thunder lord accompanied by some Thunderwolf Cavalry, the problem was his Thunderwolves are actually Space Marine bikes on the Games Workshop bike bases. The size of the model itself did not bother me as something that can give a bike cover would probably give a Thunderwolf cover too, the problem is the base. The smaller base not only allows the model to squeeze through gaps it shouldn’t really squeeze through but it also allows more models to easily get into combat with a shorter frontage.

I fell foul of this back at Mayhem when a Thunder lord was able to squeeze through some terrain avoiding a terrain check and charge my squad on the other side, not a problem me thinks I’ll just clarify this pre game with Wil and a judge. The outcome of this was basically ruled against me and the models were to be played as they are, oh well lets just rock on and see how this game goes.

Wils army consisted of:-
(Again from memory so may not be accurate)

Wolf Lord, Thunderwolf, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, gubbins
Wolf Priest
Lone Wolf, TDA, Chainfist, Storm Shield
8 Grey Hunters, Melta, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters, Melta, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Melta, Razorback TLLC
5 Grey Hunters, Melta, Razorback TLLC
4 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Thunderhammer, Meltabomb
Landspeeder, MM/HF
Landspeeder, MM/HF
Vindicator
5 Long Fangs, Lascannons, Missile Launchers
5 Long Fangs, Lascannons, Missile Launchers

The Game

The second contributing factor to my frustration was the board we were playing on, it was horrid. The terrain consisted of two huge Line of sight blocking pieces dead centre of the board with a gap of about 5” between the two which essentially created three valleys in which we could advance at each other for. Wil won the roll off and elected to set up and take first turn, he deployed his Long Fangs in some tall ruins in his quarter and then everything else pretty much hidden by those monstrous pieces of terrain. I was in a bit of a pickle the terrain definitely favoured a close combat army and really limited my long range advantage. The plan was to funnel those Thunderwolves into a kill zone and hopefully tie up that Wolf Lord with a Dreadnought as his Wolf Claw would be useless against it. I had a tall ruin in my tale quarter as well so I deployed my Lascannon fangs in there whilst the others deployed on ground level covering the left flank where I was hoping the Thunderwolves would come crashing through. The rest of my army made use of the cover the best it could maximising the potential of the three lanes of fire.

The game started with my bad luck returning with a bang, those Long Fangs could just see my Dreadnought and managed to clip him with a few Lascannon shots, I failed my cover save and the Dreadnought got wrecked. I also lost a Razorback next to the Dread to a lucky missile shot from the second pack. The Vindicator nosed forward into a dominating position covering the central “lane” and then opened fire on a Rhino blowing it sky high, killing three Grey Hunters and then pinning the pack inside. The Thunderwolves as expected made a dash for my left flank heading straight for my lines.

My retaliation fire was pretty poor with the Long Fangs doing absolutely nothing to that Vindicator and everything thing else failing to either hit or penetrate armour. My Typhoons however did manage stun a Rhino creeping up on the right flank around a building. I edged my Rune priests Rhino forward 6” and then let rip with Jaws at the oncoming Thunderwolves. The Jaws line clipped the Lone Wolf and two Thunderwolves, I was quite pleased to see the Lone Wolf and a Thunderwolf fall to their doom.
It was about this point I started to get a bit flustered, the Wolf Lord broke off from the Thunderwolf pack and then fleeted towards my Long Fangs 6”. He was then able to squeeze through a gap between the board edge and the wrecked Razorback I had placed to block such action, needless to say my pack of Long Fangs were wiped out. The Thunderwolves made for my Rune priests Rhino and despite it moving it was wrecked causing the pack inside to spill out.

The Thunderwolf unit was now the focus of my attention but I still had a Vindicator bombarding my lines and two Rhinos full of Grey Hunters creeping towards my firebase. I disembarked my Grey Hunters from the third Rhino and rallied what I could to join the assault on the Thunderwolves, I jumped my Rune Priest back into his Rhino alone, he had a task to complete. He then summoned his powers and blasted the Wolf Lord with the Jaws of the World Wolf, despite being an agile fellow he wasn't agile enough and was sent tumbling to his doom.

Two Grey Hunter packs then crashed into the Thunderwolves aided by the Wolf Banners, both sides smashed each other apart and then my Power fists finished off what was left. I had killed them off but now my Packs were really depleted.

Over on my left flank I the two Rhinos full of Grey Hunters finally hit my lines and it was looking bleak, I had a small pack of Grey Hunters and a Dreadnought to hold the line against the assault. One of those Grey Hunter Packs contained a Wolf Priest who would chew through my small pack if I wasn't careful. My only option was to pour all my firepower into those units and thin them out, both units were in cover but I managed to take out about 50% of the strength before they assaulted my lines. A lucky Power fist hit sent my Dreadnought up in smoke whilst the Wolf Priest set about my pack and killed them all.

It was around this point I realised I had taken too many casualties to stay in this fight. Wil had captured three objectives with his troops whilst I only captured one. It was the bottom of turn 5 and if I could get another turn I could get into position to contest some of those objectives with my Speeders and get a Pack of Grey Hunters onto another objective, alas the dice gods were being cruel ended the game with a roll of a 1 leaving the game in a defeat for myself.

Conclusion

Despite my frustrations I can't take anything away from Wil, he out punched me and out punched me good. My Grey Hunters were punished by that Vindicator and its dominating position mean't I could do bugger all about it. The battlefield favored a close combat army and forced me to engage his units head on which was never a good plan. If I had not dropped that Wolf Lord with a lucky Jaws hit the game would have been over a few turns before as he would have chewed through my remaining Grey Hunters with ease. All in all a good game with some ass clenching moments which could have swung the game either way.

Guns Don't Kill People, Power Fists Do!

2011-08-15T18:24:00.028+01:00

As I won't be talking about my 5th game at BotC, I thought I'd explain some trends I keep seeing in the game when it comes to being able to kill stuff and kill lots of it.

Now there's been some debate lately about players fleeing the Space Wolves Codex like rats from a burning ship to go and play Grey Knights. Speaking for ourselves, we've seen nothing but a further increase in Space Wolf players and Blood Angels players these last few months.

However, with the tournament scene now full of Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Grey Knights and Deathwing terminator armies, the game is turning into a battle of the armour saves.

Now statistically a Space Marine should fail 1 in 3 saves and a Space Marine Terminator should fail 1 in 6 saves. But this never seems to be the case when I've been playing at tournaments lately. It's more like 1 in 6 and 1 in 12. That before you take Blood Angels' tendency to have Feel No Pain into account.

So all the kills really come down to power weapons and power fists. Especially power fists, because the inflict so many more wounds due to their high strength.

In my recent game against Brett's Blood Angels he said "My god, you have so many powerfists!" but as it turns out, I had just as many as he did. The difference was The Wolf Standard, which allowed me to get re rolls on my 1s for a single round. But this made all the difference when it came to kills.

Similarly, I played a game against James' Dark Angels where he charged 2 combat squads into a Grey Hunters pack. Both combat squads were led by a Veteran Sergeant with a power fist and boy did he give my Space Wolves a battering!

Sure, he died eventually, but not before taking a terrible toll on my squads over a couple of rounds of combat. And it was all down to him having 1 power fist more than me.

Also, with everyone getting a 3+ or 2+ save, is the Mark Of The Wulfen really as tasty as it once was? Even with re rolls using the Wolf Standard? Possibly not. I'd rather have the rerolls with the Power Weapon for the same points against all these Marines.

CONCLUSION
You'll be pleased to know that Space Wolves still have their place in the Marine Wars and it's still about playing defensively (or counter-defensively) and smashing people in the face with the Wolf Standard to give some added clout in close combat. That's whether you're charging Grey Knights or Blood Angels.

Obviously, Grey Knights give us a hard time, but they can be beaten in close combat...so long as they're not Paladins. In that instance, you just need lots of melta guns and lascannons hitting them instead.

I know I've talked about close combat, but my thoughts extend to shooting as well. Statistically you should be able to kill things with enough bolter fire, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. That's when you need the high strength, low AP guns to ignore armour saves and inflict those wounds.

So in conclusion, maybe now's the time to try out a Power Weapon in your Grey Hunters pack instead of the Mark Of The Wulfen? I'd like to take an extra Power Fist, but for +25pts and only 2 attacks on the charge, it's really not worth it.

I'm going to stick a couple of lascannons into my Long Fangs packs as well. Let's see how those Grey Knight Paladins like that!

Wolf and Sister Part 19

2011-08-10T19:10:00.008+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH: Space Wolves Vs White Scars

2011-08-09T19:00:00.004+01:00

With my luck picking up last game allowing me to pick up a solid victory things were looking a lot better for me now. My final opponent of the day Mark Stevens was running a codex marine with a lot of bikes led by the Biker King himself Khan. The table was actually quite nice with a good mix of area terrain and ruins and best of all some nice lanes of fire for my Long Fangs. The mission in this round was Capture and Control with the Pitched Battle set up. I cannot remember exactly what mark had in his list but it was something like this:-
Khan

Command Squad with Banner and weapon upgrades all on bikes

8 Space Marine Bikers, attack bike, Meltaguns and Power fist

8 Space Marine Bikers, attack bike, Meltaguns and Power fist

10 Tactical Marines, Lascannon, Meltagun, Powerfist, Rhino

5 Tactical Marines, Razorback Twin Linked Lascannon

3 Attack Bikes with Multimeltas

3 Attack Bikes with Multimeltas

The Game

Mark won the roll off but gave me first turn and allowed me to set up, I had a feeling he was going to reserve and outflank his entire army and this move confirmed to me it was what he intended to do. I had a nice piece of area terrain in the centre of my deployment zone and a ruined building on my right flank. I placed my objective on the second floor of the ruins on my right ( yes I am a naughty boy) which meant Marks bikes would not be capturing that and he would have to send his foot troops in. I then deployed a unit of 5 Grey Hunters into the building and the three empty las/plas Razorbacks around it to provide some fire support. The rest of my army deployed centrally ready to counter attack the outflank move from either side whilst the Long Fangs set their deck chairs up in the central rubble and cracked open the Pimms and Lemonade.

As expected the enemy was put in reserve and outflanked which was what I expected, what I did not expect was for everything except one biker squad to come in on turn 2 and arrive on my right flank right next to my objective! Doh!

The second turn was a mess with Razorbacks exploding left right and centre as a swarm of angry bikers bushwhacked them, it certainly was not looking good. I retaliated by sending in a pack of Grey Hunters to bail out the 5 I had left in the ruins whilst the other two packs raced across the board to Marks uncontested objective. The Long Fangs then got busy and started to punish one of the bike squads on my right, I could have targeted the Command Squad and Khan but they looked to be a little too far out to threaten anything next turn without turbo boosting.

My five lonely Grey Hunters took a real beating in those ruins forcing me to go to ground and weather the torrent of fire coming in at them, after the smoke had settled I still had 3 Hunters lurking in the rubble. Khan and his buddies decided to go after the Long Fangs ad as I predicted they were well out assault range and had now placed themselves right in the open. This ended in the only way it could have really, both packs of Long Fangs ranged in on the command squad and destroyed the entire unit with Krak missile and Lascannon fire and even dropped the Bike King himself.

Meanwhile my Grey Hunter relief force was getting to grips with the tactical squad in some trenches near the objective, in a short ranged trench fight there was only ever going to be one winner. I think it was around turn 4 when the final Biker squad arrived from reserve on the right flank. By this time I had two full strength Grey Hunters packs sat on the enemy objective whilst the rest of my army was going toe to toe with the initial biker assault. Mark sent this squad racing across the board in an attempt to contest his home objective from me supported by a Razorback but despite turbo boosting they still took a pounding from my Long Fangs who were on fire this game and rarely missing a shot.

I intercepted this last ditched attack with a pack of Grey Hunters and quickly saw off any chance of me losing that objective. Meanwhile over in the ruins he had dislodged my Grey Hunters and managed to get his small Tactical squad up onto the first floor but this put them in line of sight of my Long Fangs which allowed me in turn 5 to bombard them with every long ranged weapon I had available and wipe them off the board. It was at this point the game was well and truly over as there was nothing that could capture my home objective and certainly nothing to contest the objective I had captured, I had also bagged my secret mission which was to get more of my units into the enemies deployment zone than the enemy had.

Conclusion

Without wanting to take anything away from my opponent I was very comfortable about winning this match up from the word go. I anticipated a flank attack and prepared for it, he was going to struggle to take my home objective up in the ruins and once he had lost his command squad the wind had been knocked out of his list. The fact my Long Fangs were owning everything they shot at helped immensely and the firing position allowed them to dominate most of the battlefield. I salute my opponent because even when things were going wrong for him he kept a smile on his face and it was a pleasant game.

Adam's BOTCH: Spaces Wolves VS Sisters of Battle

2011-08-08T20:00:00.026+01:00

In the 4th round I found myself against my regular opponent James "Dark Angels Beat Stick" Le Grys! But, because we play each other all the time, we asked if we could play someone else. Fortunately, the two chaps next to us were happy to oblige.

One had Space Wolves (painted red !?) and one had Sisters of Battle. We rolled for it and I got drawn against the Sisters.

Time to storm across the board and beat up a bunch of little girls! Or so I thought...

It turns out that Gary (smashing chap by the way) plays at the ETC as a specialist 'space marine destroying force' and boy, was I in for a surprise. My inexperience against the Sisters of Battle was about to be made all too clear.

The mission was 1 Objective each and the deployment Pitched Battle. He won the roll off and deployed everything in the top right hand corner along with his Objective.

THE GAME
I placed my Long Fangs and Razorbacks in terrain left of the centre and deployed all my Grey Hunter Rhinos and Vindicator opposite his convoy of tanks.

The Land Speeders went into reserve and would be arriving via Deep Strike to blow up his Exorcists up close.

The Vindicator exploded. The Rhino next to it exploded and as Grey Hunters staggered out of the wreckage the Sisters of Battle convoy rolled forward while the Seraphim led by a Cannoness and Paladin flew down the right flank.

The Space Wolf tanks struggled to get around the terrain. Meanwhile I found all my Long Fangs and Razorbacks to be out of range -disaster!

Gary applied the same 'drive up and melta out of the top hatch' tactics I use to good effect. Except whereas I would fire a melta gun and combi melta for 1 turn, then only a single melta gun in the following turn, he could continually fire 2. He also had 10 models per squad, not 8. These things made a big difference when it came to a shooting match and with my heavy weapons JUST out of range, I was unable to support the rest of the army.

The Seraphim were torn apart by one Grey Hunter pack, but then the Cannoness and the Paladin used their Faith Points to get 2+ invulnerable saves. They hacked through all of the Grey Hunters with their eviscerators over the course of the game. There was nothing I could do to stop them once they were stuck into the thick of the fighting.

CONCLUSION
In hindsight, now that I know how horrible Sisters of Battle can be, I would have played this game very, very differently.

For starters, I would have kept my distance and relied on my superior long ranged fire power to take out the Exorcists (or failing that, deep striking Land Speeders), then pop all the transports and sit on my objective.

Sure, the game would have been a draw. But I'd have won on Victory Points.

I've already said that my list could have been better, but in this game it really showed. I'd overspent on the Long Fangs and the Vindicator was unnecessary.

Gary was an absolute pleasure to play against and won my vote for best sportsman.
And I'll be sure to get him and get him good next time!

Wolf and Sister Part 18

2011-08-03T19:00:00.006+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH: Space Wolves Vs Deathwing (Traitors)

2011-08-02T19:00:00.004+01:00

This is the third battle report in my Battle of the Chumps 2011 battle report series. My day had started really poor with an absolute spanking in the first round against Descent of Angels Blood Angels and a loss to a rival Space Wolf army in the second, it was certainly not looking good for me.

The third round was announced and battles were now being fought at 1500 points, I was a lot more confident in my 1500 point army than my previous 1000 point army. This confidence was knocked back down to size when I saw that I was back on that horrible table from the first round. Things went even more downhill when I saw I was playing Paul Burke and his Deathwing army, Paul took 1st place at the 40k UKGT back in March and when I last played him back in February 2010 he beat me with a Sisters army so I knew I was in for a fight.

In this round the mission was five objectives with the dawn of War deployment, Paul's army consisted of:-

Belial with Claws

5 x Terminators
4 x TH & SS
1 x Chainfist & Storm Bolter
Cyclone Missile Launcher

5 x Terminators
4 x TH & SS
1 x Chainfist & Storm Bolter
Cyclone Missile Launcher

5 x Terminators
4 x TH & SS
1 x Chainfist & Storm Bolter
Cyclone Missile Launcher

5 x Terminators
4 x TH & SS
1 x Chainfist & Storm Bolter
Cyclone Missile Launcher

5 x Terminators
4 x TH & SS
1 x Chainfist & Storm Bolter
Cyclone Missile Launcher

Land Speeder Typhoon

Land Speeder Typhoon

The Game

I lost the roll off again as usual ( Regular readers will probably know I'm cursed and never ever win the roll offs) so Paul elected to go first and deploy. He set up two Deathwing squads and Belial right in the centre of the board threatening several objectives. It was clear the the rest of the Squads will teleport in close by in turn 1 using the Deathwing assault and I would have a phalanx of Terminators rampaging all over my lines. I did not deploy anything and elected to bring everything on in turn 1.

The game started and the first move of the game brought sunshine to my cloudy day. The first of the Deathwing Squads teleported in but ended up scattering into a friendly squad, I wasn't lucky enough for them to die but I was able to place the unit wherever I wanted.

I could have placed them right out the way at the back of the board and make them foot slog but they had a Cyclone Missile Launcher and would be still in the game. The only other option was to place them right in the open on my side of the board. Those Deathwing Squads were like a herd of Woolly Mammoth, safety in numbers and very dangerous whilst working as one, but a calf had strayed from the herd now and there were Wolves in the snow.

My army raced onto the battlefield in their transports and pounced on the isolated squad of Deathwing, the Three packs of Grey Hunters jumped out of their Rhinos and lit that squad up like a Xmas tree combined with a healthy dose of twin linked plasma guns from the Razorbacks. Now I only had to deal with four Deathwing Squads, I could see that every single casualty hurt this style of army bad.

Despite the small victory the Deathwing counter attack was viscous as one of my Grey Hunter Squads was pounded with Frag and krak missiles reducing the pack to three members, the pack held firm though.

I was now facing four Deathwing Squads and I knew these boys could still wipe my army out of I was not careful, there was a squad on my left flank however who was a little too far out from the rest, again I had the mental image of the herd of Mammoth and again a calf had strayed too far. I embarked my Grey Hunter back into their transports except for the three survivors of the damaged pack and advanced everyone. In this turn my Long Fangs were ready to get to work, I directed all of my firepower at the stray unit and despite a sickening amount of heavy firepower I only managed to drop two of the buggers. I had a taste for blood at this point and thought to myself "sod it" so I declared an assault with my three Grey Hunters on the remaining Deathwing.

Now in this pack I had my Wolf guard toting a fist, my Wolf Banner and the Wulfen. It was a risky move but I was up for a laugh. The pack charged in and set about cutting threads, the Wulfen threw out 8 attacks and combined with the Wolf Banner bearers attacks I caused a lot of wounds. I looked on in amazement as two Terminators fell to the flurry of attacks, their armour failing them. The surviving Terminator swung his hefty hammer in retaliation but the swift wolves dodged the attacks avoiding harm, my Wolf Guard then smashed him to pieces with his power fist killing off the squad.

These Deathwing squads were looking much more manageable now but I wasn't going to get sloppy and let things slip as I still had Belial to watch out for. Paul sent two Deathwing Squads after my Grey Hunters whilst the third squad made for my Long Fangs. Battle was finally met in the dead centre of the board when my remaining packs crashed head on into Belial and his honchos. It was a bloody fight that lasted for two turns but thanks to my Wolf banners I was able to swamp the Terminators with lots of wounds and in my favour Paul was rolling lots of 1's. Belial fell in the first round with a fist to the face after which it was a battle of attrition that I came out on top of.

The game ended a Wolf Victory with my depleted Packs being able to capture several objectives in the centre of the board, the final Deathwing Squad had been so busy trying to kill Long Fangs they had taken themselves out of the game and well away from causing any threat to my troops.

CONCLUSION

I'd finally shaken off my losing streak and scored a comfortable victory. I couldn't help but feel my bad luck had turned into good luck and really turned the outcome of this game. Being able to wipe out that first squad and then another in the following turn inflicted the crippling blow to the Deathwing army as every casualty counts. On the other hand this game demonstrated how a couple packs of Grey Hunters are a deadly foe and when working together can take on anything and come out on top.

Adam's BOTCH: Spaces Wolves VS World Eaters

2011-08-01T19:00:00.030+01:00

In the third round I found myself facing Tim Smith's stunning Pre Heresy World Eaters army presented by the Blood Angels Codex, complete with two Land Raider Redeemmers, 2 units of Assault Terminators and Mephiston! He also had 2 5 man squads, a Razorback and a Sanguinary Priest of course.

Space Wolves always seem to struggle against Land Raiders. Well, mine do at least. And having been roasted alive by a Land Raider Redeemer in the last tournament, I didn't fancy letting either of them get close.

So the plan was simple - pop the Land Raiders, kill what's inside, some how kill Mephiston (shoot him!) and advance up the board.

The game had 4 Objectives and the deployment was Pitched Battle. Not that it made a lot of difference in this battle.

Tim won the roll to go first and deployed a Land Raider either side of the fort in the centre, which Mephiston hid behind.

Meanwhile I elected to castle on the left flank and buy myself as many turns of lascannon fire as I could while setting my Grey Hunters up in a suitable counter attack position.

The Land Speeders went into reserve and would Deep Strike next to the Land Raiders and hopefully take them out with their multimeltas.

The Vindicator also went into reserve and would hopefully arrived just in time to land a big ordnance shell on some Terminators too.

THE GAME
As expected, the Land Raiders came speeding across the board. Lascannons bounced off them, multimelta blasts disabbled weapons, but they kept on coming.

The game came to a head when one Land Raider was met by a wall of Space Wolves Rhinos and as melta guns were fired from the top hatches, nothing happened.

The Assault Terminators disembarked and along with Mephiston charged the Rhinos, smashing them apart.

The Space Wolves staggered out, formed a line, opened fire with everything while Krak missiles slammed into the Terminators from overhead and the newly arrived Vindicator managed to fire a shell directly into the middle of one squad. Finally, a casting of Jaws Of The World Wolf before each Grey Hunter pack called on the power of their Wolf Standard and charged into close combat.

Not a single Terminator died.

Then it was time for my opponent to attack back.
Pretty much all hit, all wound, all dead.

Hmmm...

Then the World Eaters tore through my army like a hot Frisbee through butter.

CONCLUSION
Despite having made a pact with Satan when it comes to dice rolling, Tim was actually an awesome guy to play against. And it's not as if anyone could say there was something up with his dice, because they flew everywhere! I thought James had trouble keeping his dice on the table, lol.

The big combat in the middle should have gone in my favour. I've done this kind of thing a few times before. All the Ap2 guns going into the Terminators alone should have done something. But sometimes, that's just the way it goes.

Of course, had I won the close combat, no doubt the two Redeemers would have closed in and incinerated everyone with their dual S6 AP3 flame storm cannons. So the strength of Tim's list really is the two Land Raiders. Hence why his next game against the Grey Knights ended quite badly when he lost both on the first turn to rending psycannons.

As for me, my list could have been a lot stronger. The Long Fangs were both 6-men strong, when they only needed 5 and the Vindicator was a fat waste of points. Sadly, the Land Speeders didn't do so well either.

The cost of extra Razorbacks, Land Speeders and a Vindicator seems to be detracting from the core of the Space Wolves army, which is Grey Hunter packs. Lots of Grey Hunter packs!

Wolf and Sister Part 17

2011-07-27T19:00:00.008+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH: Space Wolves Vs Space Wolves

2011-07-26T19:00:00.005+01:00

After my spanking in the last round by the Flesh Tearers I was hopeing for a bit of an easier game to claw some points back. Even though I had lost I still managed to score 9 Tournament points thanks to my secret mission and victory point difference which wasn't much when we totted things up, so essentially I was just short of 10 points which I would have scored if we drew.

The missions for second round were announced and it was a variation of the Bore Draw mission Capture and Control. IN this mission each side had a home objective but there was a third objective in the centre of the board worth two points. Brilliant I thought! my army loves scrapping midfield so I stand a good chance of grabbing that middle objective. My opponent then turns up with a Space Wolf army not too far off my own, this is going to be a punch up.

This time round the table was quite nice with plenty of area terrain and some nice lanes of fire for Long Fangs. My secret mission was to kill the enemies most exspensive unit which after a quick glance at his list I decided was either of the Long Fang Packs. My opponents list was (from memory so may be a bit off):

Rune Priest
Jaws + another power

6 Grey Hunters
Mark of Wulfen
Meltagun
Banner
Rhino

6 Grey Hunters
Mark of Wulfen
Meltagun
Banner
Rhino

6 Grey Hunters
Mark of Wulfen
Meltagun
Banner
Rhino

6 Grey Hunters
Mark of Wulfen
Meltagun
Banner
Rhino

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers

6 Long Fangs
5 Missile Launchers

My immediate thoughts on this list was that he had the ranged supremecy by having more Long Fangs and he had the same amount of bodies to throw forward at me too to comtrol that centre objective. We rolled for deployment and thankfully I lost the roll and my oppoenent took first turn, I say thankfully because I was now able to see where those Long Fangs would be setting up and hopefully avoid some firepower to even things up.

The Game

The game started off a bit dreary for me as my Razorback copped for some rockets and went up in flames, I really needed that Plasma gun this game to thin those packs out a bit. Both sides advanced to the centre on a head on collision course.

One of the enemy Long Fangs packs had set up on my left flank in some ruins but the lanes of fire from that spot were poor so I was able to position myself out of sight and only have to endure one salvo a turn from the remaining pack who had deployed out in the open. I assigned my own Long Fangs the task of killing off this pack and netting the secret mission bonus points.

The game looked like it was going well I had a full pack of Grey Hunters blow up a Rhino and then assault the contents in turn 2. With superior pack numbers and a Fist in each one I was hoping to domiante the close combat pahse easily. My whoops of joy turned to cries of horror as my pack charged in, killed nothing, lost two in return and then fled the combat with 6 angry Grey Hunters right behind them! This was not good, my pack was going to be escaorted off the board now with ease leaving my other two pack to fend for themselves.

It was around turn 3 when the real fighitng began, I lost my Rune Priest to a Jaws snipe (God damn that is annoying when it happend to you lol!) and by the end of the turn pretty much every Grey Hunter on the board was in close combat.

I managed to kill off the Long fang pack on my right flank by about turn 4 but by this time I was started to realise the combats in the middle were not going my way. A couple of bad rounds saw my numbers thin out drasticaly, I had managed to beat off the Grey Hunter swarm but they packs had escaped with one or two surviving in each one which meant they could still claim objectives.

I only had three Grey Hunters left in the centre and my pack that which had fled earlier had finally re grouped and was able to claim my deployment zone objective. At the start of turn 5 the game was draw, we both held our own objectives and the centre was contested but I only had three Grey Hunters and a Rhino to do so.

It was a pretty decisive finishing blow on my opponents part, he sent his Rune Priest and a couple of Grey Hunters into my pack and blew my Rhino up with his long fangs. The close combat was pretty much one way with the Rune Priest killing off my Grey Hunters with his Runic Axe thus ending the game in a loss for me.

Conclusion
Damn that was a close game! It was almost a repeat of the first game Vs the Flesh Tearers, I lost a pack early on to a failed morale test which meant my other packs had to fight on thier own. We both played well in my opinion and the game came down to a punch up in the centre that I ended up losing. I had bagged the secret mission and thanks to victory points I walked away with 9 points again. My opponent Andy was a great guy and he told me he was a regular reader of the blog so he deserved to win!

I was looking forward now to some bigger games with my 1500 point list. I always seem to struggle with 1000 point games, my 1k list was a solid choice and I think I just got really unlucky in both of the games I had with it, hopefully my luck will return in the upcoming games.

Adam's BOTCH: Spaces Wolves VS Blood Angels

2011-07-25T19:00:00.012+01:00

In the second round I was drawn against Brett's Blood Angels. This beautifully straightforward jump pack army was just wanted I wanted -a force that would come to me for a good punch up!

Fortunately Brett didn't disappoint, but first we had the bizarre mission to deal with.

The deployment was Pitched Battle, but we had an objective in the centre as well as an objective each to put down.

Brett won the roll off and made me go first, which was exactly what I wanted.

I put my objective 12" on from my board edge, exactly 12" away from the objective in the centre. This create a nice area for me to defend.

Meanwhile, Brett placed his objective in the top right hand corner...and the game began!

THE GAME
I circled the wagons with the Long Fangs on a hill in the middle and waited...

Turn 1 passed and I advanced my tanks into a Z formation which would allow the Grey Hunters within to disembark and charge en masse in any direction. All my tanks fired their smoke launchers and waited...

Brett rolled for his reserves, which he tried to keep off of the board with his Descent of Angels rerolls, but everything turned up, much to his frustration.

He had planned to stay off the table til Turn 4, hold me up while claiming his objective in the corner, but now he had to commit everything.

The Blood Angels landed on my right flank and fired their melta guns to little effect. Through the smoke the best they could do was blow the storm bolter off the nearest Rhino.

However, the Librarian and his Assault Squad gunned down three of the Long Fangs who broke and fell back towards the board edge, only just avoiding running straight off the table.

Meanwhile a 5-man Assault Squad landed in the top right hand corner, claiming an objective I'd never be able to reach.

The Long Fangs regrouped and fired krak missiles into the Assault Squad while the Grey Hunters disembarked as one, advanced on the Blood Angels and fired their melta guns before calling on the power of their Wolf Standards and crashing headlong into close combat.

3 rounds later and I'd lost a Grey Hunter pack while the Blood Angels had been wiped out.

The Grey Hunters advanced to claim two objectives while the Rune Priest, Razorback and Long Fangs gunned down the 5-man Assault Squad sitting on an objective from afar with lightning bolts, lascannon blasts and screaming krak missiles.

With the Blood Angels wiped out, the Space Wolves had scored a massive victory!

CONCLUSION
There wasn't much else Brett could have done in this game. I knew what was coming for me and so I prepared accordingly.

The mission didn't help him either, because I could simply sit on 2 objectives within close proximity of each other.

It's always a huge brawl between the Space Wolves and Blood Angels, but with his Assault Squads vulnerable to being charged, he was on the back foot right from the start.

However, his plan to hold up my units in the later turns of the game was a pretty good one, although some of his units were sure to turn up earlier than others. Shame his Blood Angels had other ideas!

But despite the game being rather one sided, we had fun rolling buckets of dice and I bought him a beer afterwards.

Wolf and Sister Part 16

2011-07-20T19:00:00.008+01:00

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Brads BOTCH: Space Wolves Vs Flesh Tearers

2011-07-19T19:00:00.002+01:00

This is the first of my Battle of the Chumps 2011 Battle Reports. For those who don't know BoTCH is an escalation tournament with games being played at 1k, 1.5k and 2k. After a coffee and a catch up with some faces I hadn't seen in a while it was time for the first round. The mission announced for this round was kill points with the Spearhead deployment. This was no big deal for me right up to the point I saw my opponents army list.

My opponent was running a Descent of Angels style list, this is all well and good but those kind of armies are low on kill points compared to my Mech style list. The situation got worse when I saw the table we were playing on. It was littered with Ruined walls with two large LoS blocking buildings on the far end, this was going to be tough.

The Flesh Tearer list was:

Librarian, Jump Pack
Unleash Rage + another power

2 Sanguinary Priests
Power Weapons

10 Assault Marines, Jumps Packs, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist

10 Assault Marines, Jumps Packs, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist

10 Assault Marines, Jumps Packs, 2 Meltaguns, Powerfist

We rolled for deployment and I lost but I was given the opportunity to choose deployment zone and take first turn. I play against DoA quite a bit and know how to handle these buggers and I think that made me go into this game a bit too confident. There was no way I could deploy near those two large building or those marines would drop in out of LoS and then be all over me turn 2 so this forced me into the maze of ruined walls on the right flank.

The best way for my army to beat DoA is to circle the wagons with the Long Fangs nearby and wait for them to drop in and Melta my transports. Then it is a case of launching a counter attack and catching them flat footed and hopefully reduce the number of Marines to deal with the following turn.

The Game

So I set up in my Wagon Circle, I placed the Long Fangs just off to me left as a bit of a bait uni seeing as they would struggle do do much this game with all of that terrain blocking LOS. Turn 2 and the Flesh Tearers all descened onto the field, the wind must have been good as they all landed on target.

Last turn I had smoked my Rhinos expecting some close range melta action so I was pretty confident my plan was working. That all went down the pan when the first shot of the game exploded a Rhino and pinned the pack inisde!

My bad luck continued when another Rhino went up in smoke giving the Flesh Tearers some nice cover from my Long Fangs. I decided to stick to my plan and go for the throat early, there was a large squad nearby with the Librarian lurking inside and a Priest. If I could bag this unit it would give me three kill points and my secret mission which was to assassinate the enemy HQ.

I did a bit of shooting bu not much as I did not want to leave my units stranded so went onto the assault phase after popping my Wolf Banners. The first pack made it into combat now all I had to do was get my Rune Priests pack through some terrain and into the same melee. I declared the charge and measured the distance which was 5" I
rolled for difficult terrain and rolled double one! No worries I'll re roll with the Wolf Banner....Double two.

It was at this point I realised the game was pretty much over for me, the pack that made it into combat stood no chance alone and took a beating. The Flesh Tearer counter strike was devastating and wiped out over 50% of my surviving Grey Hunters and then after that it was a Grind to the finish line. I did manage to eventually kill the Librarian and get my bonus points and by the time we had finished there was about 15 Flesh Tearer Marines left so they had taken some flak too.

Conclusion

Like I said before I don't know if I went into this game too confident or not, tactically wise I don't think I could have made any different decisions. The table and the scenario was against me from the word go and I had the most unlucky game ever. I think in one combat I rolled 15 to hit dice and didn't manage to cause a single wound.

Overall it was a good game and my opponent Rob was a top bloke so I didn't feel cheated of miffed that I had lost, this game just showed that ina game that is decided on by rolling dice the best army list and battle plans can sometimes mean nothing if you don't roll well.

Adam's BOTCH: Spaces Wolves VS Imperial Guard

2011-07-18T20:00:00.022+01:00

In the first round of BotC I'd been drawn against Michael Bolton. No, not that Michael Bolton sadly, but he was still a smashing chap and we had a great, if rather simplistic game.

At 1,000pts games of Warhammer 40K are very simple. In this case it was Space Wolves against a mass of Imperial Guard infantry and heavy weapons.

The mission was Kill Points and deployment Spear Head. So we all knew how this game was going to play out.

He won the roll off and went first, laying down a nice gun line.
Meanwhile I had the choose whether I wanted to set everything up and get shot.
Or put everything into reserve, arrive piecemeal...and get shot!

THE GAME
In the end I chose to put down the Rune Priest, Long Fangs and a Razorback (to block line of sight) while my 3 Grey Hunter packs in Rhinos went into reserve to drive on closer to him and fire their smoke launchers.

Well, the Razorback got blasted apart and the Long Fangs gunned down for their troubles. However, their return fire was pretty good with krak missiles and the Rune Priest's Living Lightning psychic power killing a Missile Launcher team.

They managed to hold out for another turn before 2 of the 3 Grey Hunter packs arrived.

The Imperial Guard opened fire on the Rhinos, but failed to do any real damage.
Then the Space Wolves drove up to the Imperial Guard lines, got out and fired, took some casualties back, then got stuck in!

By this time the third pack was advancing behind them and it was pretty much all over.

CONCLUSION
I felt that Michael had deployed his units really far forward. Too far forward in fact.

Perhaps lining all his heavy weapons along the back of the board would have been a better choice?

Then he could simply gun down my Long Fangs from afar, pop my transports and then sit tight until the game ended with 5 kill points to his name.

Meanwhile, I'd been silly leaving the Long Fangs and Rune Priest out, thinking they could weather the fire. They took a lot of casualties and were nearly wiped out.

I didn't feel confident throwing everything down and getting shot at. However, I could have put the Long Fangs into reserve too (in their Razorback) and just driven everything at the Imperial Guard. After all, Long Fangs can kill Imperial Guardsmen in close combat too!

Michael was a pleasure to play against, although I feel that we both could have done a lot better.

The second game however, was incredibly quick and extremely bloody! So stay tuned for that.

Best Space Wolves Elites Choices

2011-07-15T19:00:00.002+01:00

So today I want to talk to you all about Elite choices, what works and what doesn’t. The Elite section for us is the most diverse and hotly contested of all out Force Organization Slots (FOS). We have so much diversity in selection, that there isn’t what I would call a “take at all cost” unit choice, bar perhaps Wolf Guard.

What I will be going over is each of the most solid choices, how it compliments your army, and its versatility compared to its units cost.

Wolf Guard
These compliment your Grey Hunter squads more than anything. LD 9 is a huge boost and should be always considered over a 2nd special weapon choice in your units. With options for cheap combi-weapons, your Grey Hunter packs still have the option to take 2 special weapons which is fantastic. All their options are relatively cheap until we start looking at Terminator upgrades. A common load out for Grey Hunter squads is the Combi Melta & Power fist. The Melta provides additional anti-tank firepower & the fist provides you with a weapon to hurt even the most lethal of MC’s/Characters & Vehicles. For 43pts this is a great buy, but bare in mind this isn’t always the best choice.

Look at the army your fielding. Is it a large horde on foot and you want a wolf Guard to lead your squads? Why not take him with Terminator armour and use those few points to give him a Chain fist? This is also a great addition for Drop pod squads.
Small 5 man units used as suicide squads or sitting on objectives? Keep him cheap and give him a Combi weapon. What about those Wolf scout units that you like attaching them to? Perhaps giving him Meltabombs and Mark of the Wulfen gives the unit even more versatility when facing none mech armies, but still gives you additional anti-tank.

I won’t cover how this unit can be used in Logan Wing forces as that could be an entirely new post itself.

Point for point, Wolf Guard are a great buy and since their options are also relatively cheap, I can’t see why any army who uses a fairly large base of Grey Hunters would leave without them. I would however say it’s not worth taking in Razorback armies. I have rarely ever needed a Wolf Guard with a Combi weapon or the like within a razorback as they tend to be stationary or move 6 a turn, keeping at range rather than getting up close. Try not to get too carried away with these options as you don’t want your Grey Hunter units costing you an arm and a leg.

Point for Point rating: 8/10
Effectiveness: 7/10
Diversity: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

Fairly strong rating overall here as their large amount of options gives them a great use in most armies. Little else is needed to be said for these guys as they are more of an addition than an Elite “choice”. Shame they take up a slot, but such is life.

Dreadnoughts
These are a tough cookie. I like Dreadnoughts, but why don’t we see these much? Well let’s see what they bring. Large mounted weapons which are relentless, option for long range or short range guns, Power fist as standard, AV 12 mobile platform & option for Drop podding. We can also take venerable dreads which are a fair amount of points but gives us a fairly solid, hard to kill walker. Now for 105pts, they aren’t too dear, but they tend to fill 2 roles despite their options, fire support or dropping into enemy lines.

Now what else in a wolf army already does this well? Wolf scouts, also in Elites, can fulfil our “in your face” approach, perhaps more effectively than dropping a 140pt Dreadnought which has 1 chance to pop a tank, and then die.
Scouts do this cheaper, and threatens even the most hard to reach places, which I will explain later. Fire support, well where do I start? Rune priest living lightning, Long Fang packs, Melta support from GH’s, Lascannons on our Razorbacks, Typhoon Speeders etc.

What do dreadnoughts do best then? Well they don’t do anything “best” they support, as I said at the beginning. There is nothing wrong with additional firepower is there? I wouldn’t mind having an extra twin-Lascannon or dual Autocannons pumping out solid shots whilst in a building giving me cover. AV 12 mobile platform which is hard to take down isn’t all that bad? Sure they don’t have the lovely Fortitude like GK Dreads do, but there are bigger targets in our Wolf army already. This means that our Dreadnoughts are less likely to be shot early on.

I prefer to use them as an additional Fire support element to an already fairly solid shooty army. Dual Autoannons or Twin Lascannons & Rocket launcher does this well. I can’t see them seeing too much combat, so leave the fist at home. Bare in mind, they also act as great speed bumps. Have you ever wandered how to stop those Blood Crushers racing through your lines? Well welcome to the Dreadnought, your most humble speed bump which can only be hit in combat on the front armour facing. Brilliant is it not?

Now, are they worth 105+ pts? I think overall, no. I would prefer to see them a few points less but in a codex which already has so many cheap units (Long fangs & Grey Hunters, we all know they shouldn’t be THAT cheap right?) it doesn’t hurt our lists as much as it would to other Marine lists.

Point for Point rating: 7/10
Effectiveness: 6/10
Diversity: 9/10
Overall: 7/10

Standard option, again it really depends on the list you’re running. Do you want to make a fairly shooty army or perhaps just fancy running a Dread bash list? Then these boys are for you.

Wolf Scouts
Behind Enemy Lines (BEL’s) is fantastic, but is it dependable? How many times have your Scouts arrived late, or even on the off chance on the wrong side of the board? Well it’s the risk which comes with them unfortunately. Against, what is now seen to be as a very common thing, mech armies, Wolf Scouts are a fantastic addition. Melta support which has a fairly good chance of arriving behind your opponent can be very psychological. This ability alone could dictate your opponent’s deployment & movement throughout the early turns of the game. I personally used to take 2 units of these with meltaguns, but recently dropped them due to their biggest weakness, arrival.

If Space Wolves had a way of dictating their reserve rolls, these could almost be an auto addition, but unfortunately we don’t, so now my Scouts are sitting on their shelves catching dust. Some players swear by them, and rightly so. As stated they bring something which a Wolf Army lacks, disruption.

Not many opponents out there would really like you bringing models, lethal or not, behind their army. Wolf Scouts brings that threat with a heavy load out. Options for meltabombs, Mark of the Wulfen, Power weapons & special weapons, this unit can be equipped to take on anything from Devastator squads or Manticores hiding in the backfield out of reach from your own army.

Cheap, small and efficient, there’s nothing wrong with the cost for these guys. They also have the option of adding a Wolf Guard to them, but this is where in lies the problem. Without a Wolf Guard, they are fairly weak. 1 Special weapon tends to not fulfil much, as we all know. To bring out the most of this unit, you need an additional Wolf Guard to effectively double their output. To do this, you’re using another Elite Choice. This effectively means that it’s all or nothing with Wolf scouts. 1 Unit doesn’t cut it and I would confidently say they should be run in doubles. 2 Units of scouts with Wolf Guard support, as we all know 1 will either arrives late or on the wrong side of the board. Using all 3 Elite slots on these boys can really push a lot of those other juicy options aside, so have a good think about whether you really need these guys.

The best use of these guys is bringing meltaguns to bare upon your opponent, so ask yourself, does your army need this or not? Does that risk of coming on and potentially not doing anything appeal to you? It’s a risky tactic that doesn’t always get pulled off, so bare that in mind.

Point for Point rating: 9/10
Effectiveness: 5/10
Diversity: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

I’ve given them a lower “Effectiveness” rating due to their random nature. In some games they might not do anything, in others they could potentially win the game.

Lone Wolves
Adam had a small talk on Lone Wolves recently. To some extent, I agree with him. Lone wolves are very characterful and are a great addition to a fun force, but how well do they run on the tabletop? Well I personally think very well. Something which most lists lacks is something to literally throw down someone’s neck and take on something which the rest of your army cannot. A Lone wolf is just this. It requires little finesse and should simply be used as a large bullet magnet, taking on as much as possible before he is finally brought to its wounds. They should be equipped with as much as they need to fulfil this role, as there is simply no other role for them to fulfil. I tend to equip them with a fairly common load out: Chain Fist, Terminator Armour & a Storm Shield. Why? Because he is now rock solid in terms of survivability, and can take on almost anything bar a Monolith (what’s stopping you trying eh?)

So some people like to give him other wargear, perhaps Mark of the Wulfen, perhaps a pair of Lightning claws, perhaps no Terminator armour at all so they can steal a Long Fangs Transport, but are any of these really what your army needs? Grey Hunters and Thunder wolves’ deals with close combat if needed, and stealing a transport means you’re putting not 1 but 2 models in danger.

This is even more important in KP’s where you want the Lone Wolf to die, but hopefully not before he takes something down with him. To this end, the above load out is perhaps overall the most effective point for point. He remains a cheap and affordable 85pts, and you lose nothing if he dies. Charge him forward and let him speed bump whatever lies in his path. His an irritation and should be used as such. He is one of the few Elite choices we have which fulfils a role that we don’t have in any other FOS, or in fact the army, so perhaps that’s something to consider.

Point for Point rating: 10/10
Effectiveness: 7/10
Diversity: 3/10
Overall: 7/10

For his points, it’s hard to see why you would not take him. The only reason people don’t is because of the Elite slot choice, but isn’t that what this post is about? I’d say try a Lone wolf out in a Hybrid/Mech army and see how he fares. With Long fang support, there’s little reason to not take him as he can support your army’s advance in midfield effectively. Due to his weaker options, I have given him a 3 for diversity as there is little to no other reason than fluff to take anything but the Load out I mentioned. A Thunder Hammer is an option over a Chain fist, but why stun a vehicle if you can kill it dead, and why make a Character I 1 when you will perhaps only have 1 chance to kill it in the first place?

CONCLUSION
So there you have it, what I see available in our Elites section. Hopefully some of you out there will look at each choice differently and try out some new combinations to better your list.

For anyone who wishes to further discuss these choices and your armies, feel free to contact me on alexflyf@hotmail.co.uk and I shall try and be prompt with a reply.

Killswitch

Wolf and Sister Part 15

2011-07-13T19:00:00.005+01:00

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Brad's BOTCH 2011 After Action Report

2011-07-12T19:00:00.005+01:00

Woo Hoo what a weekend! As your all aware we're back from the Battle of the Chumps 2011 and I'll say it again what a weekend, I loved it. I've never had such an up and down tournament as far as game results go.

So on day one I lost my first two 1000 point games but managed to score top bonus points through achieving my secret missions and scoring lots of victory points. The games then went on to 1500 points where I managed to get two major wins and score nearly maximum points for both games which boosted me up to table six and back into the tournament. After fours games in one day I was well and truly knackered but the sun was shining, the beer was flowing nicely and to top it all off Maelstrom Games had organised a BBQ in the courtyard to finish the day off. I got to catch up with Adam and James(Dark Angels Beatstick) as well, we talked crap and drank beer. Overall it was a great day.

Day two did not start well for me at all. Firstly our Hotel was full of drunken morons who spent the evening running around the corridors shouting and screaming. Wehn I finally got to sleep at 3am they set the frikkin fire alarm off! So as you can guess I was very very tired and ill tempered.

My first game was against Space Wolves, at this stage of the event the games were now being played at 2000 points. This game was an absolute bloodbath on both sides but in the end I made a gamble and it cost me dearly. The final game was saw me lined up against an awesome Nurgle Themed army with plenty of Forge World goodies. The game itself was pact full of tactical maneuvers and unbelievable feats of arms which swung the game several times. The game ended with the Space Wolves having the upper hand and smashing the enemy.

All in all I took 10th place which I am extremely please with to say that I lost 3 games. I always aim to get into the top ten at least nowadays and if I manage that I'm happy. I'll finish for now by saying thanks to Neil Kerr for hosting the event, the staff at Maelstrom for staffing the bar all day! (that's one hell of a shift guys and gals) and finally to all my opponents for some great games.

Stand by for some Battle reports.

Adam - Back From BotC 2011

2011-07-11T19:00:00.114+01:00

Just got back from the Battle of the Chumps tournament weekend with 3 wins and 3 losses, but I learned a heck of a lot.

The first lesson was the read the rules pack and not print it off the morning of the tournament before driving for 3 hours up to Mansfield.

The second was to plan and write my army list well in advance and do some play testing. Instead I got an email from the organiser when I got home late from work and hastily bashed out an army list 1 hour before the submission deadline.

But despite my god awful army list, I played the best I could, apart from 1 game where I really screwed up on strategy. But more on this in due course.

The Armies
Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Space Wolves and Imperial Guard dominated the tables. There was the odd vanilla Marine army here and there. An Ork army, a Tau army, an Eldar army, a Tyranid army and a Dark Eldar army. Tyranids did rather well actually with Carnifex and Genestealer spam!

But it was clear to see which armies were on top of the meta game.

However, none of them were the same. Everyone took something a little bit different. But I guess that's the nature of BotC due to the escalation of the army building. Plus, due to army list restrictions there were no Battlewagon Ork armies, so I'd expect to see more duplicate lists at the next UK 40K GT.

My Games
To my surprised, there were 4 games scheduled for Saturday and 2 for Sunday, which meant that Saturday was going to be an intense day!

In the first round I was drawn against Imperial Guard in a Kill Points mission with Spear Head deployment. He won the roll off for first turn, while I reserved everything but my Long Fangs and Rune Priest. Was this a bad idea?
Mitch was an awesome opponent and great fun to play against.

In the second round I found myself facing a Blood Angels jump pack army. The mission was a variation on the old Take and Hold mission from 4th edition with an objective in the centre, 1 objective each and a Pitched Battle deployment. My opponent won the roll off and made me go first. I deployed my objective 12" away from the centre Objective, circled the wagons and said "come get me"...and he did. Brett was a really great guy and I bought him a beer afterwards.

In the third game I was facing a beautifully painted Pre Heresy World Eaters force which used Blood Angels rules. Tim was a good laugh, a great sport and had the luck of the devil!

In the fourth game I was drawn against James (aka: Dark Angels beat stick), so we asked if we could switch opponents. I then found myself against a stunning Sisters of Battle army. The mission was 1 objective each with a Pitched Battle deployment. Unfamiliar with Sisters of Battle, I went to go beat face and got spanked for my troubles. In hindsight my strategy would have been very different. But you live and you learn. Or in this case die and learn. Gary was superb to play against and got my 'best sportsman' vote (although Tim came close).

On Sunday, my fifth game was against a Blood Angels army. I lost this game because my opponent brought his reserves on from his board edge while I had 'circled the wagons' in preparation for a Descent of Angels from his jump pack troops. However, he insisted that he hadn't declared that they would be arriving by Deep Strike at the start of the game. I did not enjoy the for this and a number of other reasons. However, I chose not to make a formal complaint to the judges, because I don't feel it's worth the hassle, nor do I feel it would produce a positive result. And to avoid any accusations of defamation I will not be reporting on this game. Sorry guys.

Finally, for the 6th game, I was drawn against another Space Wolves player (hooray!). The mission was Kill Points, the set up Dawn of War (my favourites) and my opponent was fantastic to play against. The game went on for 7 turns and as kill points rapidly racked up on either side, it could have gone either way. But a sneaky bait tactic aka 'the juicy bone' won it for me. Andy was a pleasure to play a game with and turned my day from a bad one into an awesome one!

Overall, I came just below the middle of the pack while Brad came 10th. But I'm sure we'll hear Brad's side of things shortly.

Taking a Break
A lots been happening in real life and I've decided to take a break from 40K for a little while.

Don't worry, because we won't leave you hungry for more! There's at least 6 months of content in the schedule for the Space Wolves Blog.

So in the meantime, you can look forward to a regular stream of battle reports, special character strategy guides, themed army lists to match and fresh new pages of Wolf & Sister every week. And stay tuned for pre heresy space wolves conversion guide coming soon.

Thanks for the Feedback

2011-07-08T09:00:00.009+01:00

Hi guys, just wanted to say thanks for all your feedback and let you know what we're going to be doing with all your thoughts and recommendations.

Finding Your Way About
You all liked the navigation and have been finding your way around the site very easily, which is great news. This was actually our biggest worry!

Where's My Comment?
A common question was people asking why their comments haven't appeared or take a long time to appear.

This is because after 24 hours of a post being publish all comments on that post require manual approval.

The strategy has been phenomenal in reducing bot comment spam. So please be patient fr your comment to be manually approved.

If you have an important question about an old post, please email us for a direct response.

Wolf & Sister
While everyone (who likes comics) loves the artwork, the English got a bit of a battering. That's my bad, not Nacho's. Sometimes I just can't meet editing deadlines, so I have to get it out on time regardless. Fortunately I've been on top of the later pages, so we'll be back to proper English in no time.

Social Media
It seems that on the whole wargamers aren't that fussed about social media. Still, many of you like facebook and YouTube. I'm not a huge fan of Twitter either, but I'll see how it goes.

The Space Wolves facebook group is pretty good for discussion though.

Special Characters
I've written a third of the special character tactics articles so far and they're really in depth.

Meanwhile John is following each one up with an army list themed around each special character. Sound good?

The armies are going to be quite fluffy, but fairly competitive at the same time. As you know, we like to have it both ways and then fill in the gaps with some solid strategy.

Conversion Guides
More of these on the way, especially for my new pre heresy Space Wolves army, as I make them.

On the list of tutorials are:
pre heresy grey hunters
pre heresy wolf guard terminators
pre heresy dreadnoughts
pre heresy rhinos
sunwolf razorback

Then there's going to be 1 huge painting guide for all of the above. This is because I'm doing pretty much the exact same scheme on everything and so far it works really well.

Battle Reports
We recently changed the format for our battle reports, because of time, remembering everything and taking photos while trying to concentrate on winning the game we're playing. This seems to be working really well.

However, I'm also working on a new video format for battle reports. It'll be much the same as the current format, but with a 5 minute video that you can watch as well.

Armies Gallery
Will definitely look into this! A gallery where you guys can submit your own photos would be even better.

Submitting Your Work
Many of you said you'd like to send us articles. We'd be happy to receive them, so if you have a great post about painting, conversions, battle reports or something we haven't covered yet that you want to shout out to the world about -email us and get your name up in lights!

spacewolvesblog@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks again for all your feedback. We truly appreciate it.

Please continue to support the Space Wolves blog by clicking on the banners and buying from our sponsors. They work hard to make this hobby more affordable for everyone and help us to buy tournament tickets so we can keep pumping out battle reports for you guys.

All the best

Adam, Brad, Alex, Nacho, John & Dave

Battle of the Chumps 2011

2011-07-07T19:00:00.010+01:00

Its been long.... too long since my last tournament. The last event I attended was Vapnartak back in February and boy am I feeling it. I should have attended Open War in April but a couple of days before I got a call out to work the Saturday and I just couldn't turn the overtime down.

I've also had a bit of a 40k low period. I'm sure you've all had it when you just can't be arsed to paint or even sight of an un built model just makes you cry well that's been me for the last month or so. There's no better motivation for getting an army built and painted than the looming deadline of a tournament. Because of this I've got my Mojo back and I've been busy painting.

The tournament in question is the Battle of the Chumps hosted by Neil Kerr and the Flame On team. I missed this gig last year and boy was I gutted when Adam told me how good it was so I made a vow that I would attend this year. The event is at Maelstrom Games and for those that don't know it is a two day escalation tournament meaning battles will be fought at a variety of points levels.

The first two rounds are played with a 1000 points Recon force after which armies receive an extra 500 points to add onto the previous force used. For example the 1500 point list must include new units, points cannot be used to upgrade units from the previous force. The last two rounds are played at 2000 points with the same rules as before. Finally armies are restricted to a maximum of the same two Elite, Heavy and Fast Attack choices and only one of each HQ choice.

So as you can see I've had to do a bit of thinking about my list as my regular army list is 1750. The first thing that came to mind was three Long Fang packs which would easily take me to 2000 points but sadly I can't take three packs so that was that idea screwed. Not being able to take three Long Fang Packs meant I had to find my firepower from somewhere else, I don't own any Predators or Vindicators and to be honest I think they are naff in a Space Wolf list so they were out of the question. This left me with two viable choices, Riflemen dreads and Typhoons.

"A WIP shot of my Typhoons"

I really wanted to take two Lone Wolves but the extra firepower those Dreads bring can't be ignored and besides they can do what a Lone Wolf does to a certain degree in combat too! I had about 200 points left to spend so I decided to go for even more firepower and take two Typhoons in a squadron. I've been really into Speeders lately and what they bring to a Space Wolf force so the Typhoons were an easy choice, they have got the firepower of a pack of Long Fangs and some kick ass mobility which comes in dead handy. Here is my 2011 Battle of The Chumps escalation list:-

1000 points

Rune Priest
Living Lightning
Jaws of the World Wolf

3 x Wolf Guard in Power Armour
3 x CombiMelta
3 x Powerfist

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Mark of Wulfen
Rhino

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Mark of Wulfen
Rhino

7 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Wolf Banner
Mark of Wulfen
Rhino

6 Long Fangs
3 x Missile Launchers
2 x Lascannons
Razorback, Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmaguns.

+500 points

5 Grey Hunters
Meltagun
Razorback, Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmaguns.

2 x Land Speeders with Multimelta and Heavy Flamers

6 Long Fangs
5 x Missile Launchers
Razorback, Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmaguns.

+ 500 Points

5 Grey Hunters
Flamer

Dreadnought with 2 x Twin Linked Autocannons

Dreadnought with 2 x Twin Linked Autocannons

2 x Land Speeder Typhoons, Typhoon Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters.

So there you have it folks, perhaps not what I really wanted to take but but should be fun to play. I'm off to Botch this weekend and plan to write you guys some bat reps when I get back, wish me luck.

"And finally a sneak peak of what I have planned for my Great Company."

Wolf and Sister Part 14

2011-07-06T19:00:00.006+01:00

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Give Us Your Feedback

2011-07-05T20:47:00.000+01:00

That's right, we want your feedback. It's a dangerous thing to ask for, but what the heck!

This blog is written for you guys and we really appreciate all the support we receive online as well as when we rock up to tournaments.

So I wanted to ask which bits of the site you like, what you think could be improved and how you're using this resource.

I've received a lot of emails lately asking me for painting guides, conversion tutorials, tactics and battle reports which are right there on the side bar.

So perhaps usability is an issue? Or maybe those fancy dividers with red wolf logos and squiggly text are too hard to read?

How are you finding your way around the blog?
Do you drop in and read the latest posts, then go?
Do you used the 4 suggested articles at the bottom of each entry?
Do you click on the side bar navigation?
Do you only click on the top level navigation?
Do you browse using the labels?
Do you browse using the archives?
How far back in the history of the blog have you ventured?

What's your favourite bit about the blog and why?
Could this be improved at all?
What else would you like to see?

What's your least favourite bit about the blog and why?
Could this be improved at all?
What would you like to see instead?

Do you visit us every Wednesday to read Wolf & Sister?
What do you think of it so far?
What do you like best about it?
What would you change?

Do you follow our social media?
Facebook?
Twitter?
YouTube?

If we announced a tournament for 160 players, would you go?
We talked about the "Wolf Time" tournament a while back. It got pushed back til next year, but we'd really love to run it and meet you all. Obviously, you can bring any army, it doesn't have to be Space Wolves, although we'd expect a strong Fenrisian turn out.

And give us your final thoughts...about anything!

Thanks for your feedback, we really appreciate it and will continue making this the best dedicated Warhammer 40K army blog ever!

Draigo Must Be Stopped...No Matter The Cost

2011-07-04T18:57:00.023+01:00

Marc's Draigo led Grey Knights army is running riot all over my gaming table.

It's an army that shouldn't work. But it does, oh so beautifully. At 1750pts and up only though, otherwise he simply can't get the right numbers for would allocation and loses a good chunk of his psycannons in the process.

I've played against it 4 times now and every time I took a pounding. I gave as good as I got with my Space Wolves, but lately we just seem to be mauling one another, then falling back to the objectives and the game ends in a draw.

Kill Points is not fun at all, because he only has 3 Kill Points to give away. So I need to wipe him out in order to win.

Instead, because his deployment and movement isn't dictated by objectives, he just rocks up and murders me.

1750pts Draigo Paladin Army

Kaldor Draigo
10 Grey Knights Paladins:
Mixture of halberds, swords and hammers for wound allocation
apothecary
4 psycannons

10 Grey Knights Paladins
Mixture of halberds, swords and hammers for wound allocation
apothecary
4 psycannons

Notes:
Every model has 2 wounds and gets Feel No Pain.

The huge Terminator Phalanx puts out 12 storm bolter shots per turn and 32 psycannon shots per turn.

Any lascannons are allocated to Draigo and usually deflected with his storm shield...or he just takes a wound. He has 4 and Eternal Warrior.

Thoughts:
I can't out shoot this army. The psycannons just tear through all my tanks and my troops.

I can't outmanoeuvre this army, because the Grey Knight Paladin Terminators simply form a big phalanx and spread out...or Deep Strike. This also means I struggle to claim objectives.

I can't beat this army in close combat. I just get stabbed in the face by lots of force halberds.

So I need to combine shooting and assault in order to take down just 1 of these units effectively.

Marc and I did some set ups for pure close combat between the Grey Hunters and Grey Knights. It didn't end well for the Space Wolves.

The Plan
This army has a maximum shooting range of 24". However, I can only stay away for 2 turns at most before I feel his firepower.

The guns that really count against Paladins are lascannons and melta guns.
In close combat it's power fists.
So basically anything that instantly kills one of these suckers!

With 2 wounds each, optimised wound allocation and feel no pain, basic firepower is hardly going to make a dent.

From previous games, I've seen how Grey Hunters using their Wolf Standard have been able to stand up to the Grey Knight Paladins in close combat thanks to the power fist and mark of the wulfen. However, they taken a hell of a lot of casualties doing this.

To get a good result, I need at least 2 Grey Hunters packs to charge a single Grey Knight Paladin squad (with or without Draigo) on the same turn, both using their Wolf Standards for ensure those power fists make a difference. Meanwhile the rest of the army fires everything it's got at the same unit!

Where Are The Battle Reports?
Someone asked why we haven't done any battle reports about this the other day. Truth be told, it's because the games were boring as hell.

If we were bored playing it, then you'll be bored reading about it.

Marc was telling me how fed up he is with the army, because it's just mindless. He doesn't have to really think. He just puts it down, rolls dice, stuff dies and he wins...until he comes across an army with lots of high strength, low AP weaponry. Or spades of poison weapons. Then it's a complete role reversal. So it's very rock/paper/scissors.

I've just got to work out how my rock can beat his paper. I have to beat this with STRATEGY, which is what the Space Wolves are really all about.

But perhaps it's just a happy coincidence that I'm painting up a Vindicator as part of my ongoing army evolution? Although I didn't have Marc's Draigo Paladin army in mind when I bought it.

The Best Game Ever

2011-07-03T17:00:00.001+01:00

We played the best game ever yesterday. I got invited round James' place for a 2,000 points game of 40K to warm up for the tournament next weekend.

James had been working on his Space Marines army (in Dark Angels colours) for the past month or two, while I had quickly tweaked last year's BOTCH list at the last minute.!

Unfortunately, I didn't pack my camera, so no photos. I'm gutted because not only did the game look spectacular, the sheer level of strategy involved made it seriously close fought from the start of Turn 1 to the very end of Turn 7.

Anyway, the point is that having both been destroyed repeatedly by Marc's Draigo led Grey Knights Paladin army, we were up for a fun game and looking to experiment with different units in our armies.

I was taking a Vindicator for the first time. James was taking more Space Marine Assault Squads and I decided to Deep Strike my Land Speeders to 'see what happens'.

The game was 5 objectives with a Spear Head deployment.

Game highlights:
Space Wolves Seizing The Initiative, the Wolf Guard Terminators in their land raider driving up and getting a 1st turn charge (after firing their combi-weapons) on the Chaplain led Assault Squad.

The Dark Angels charging Grey Hunters with as many small units as possible, then pummelling them with lots of powerfists from the surviving veteran sergeants.

Then one Grey Hunter pack lost close combat (by 1 point), I failed my morale check, they ran, didn't get caught and fell back 5". Whoo!

James them used a variety of units for the next 4 turns to herd them almost the full 48" across the table before they finally rallied to claim on objective on Turn 7. That was amazing to see, but very frustrating for me at the same time.

For the first time I Deep Striked my Land Speeders into the heart of the Space Marines army, blowing up a Dreadnought on Turn 2 and blowing up a Razorback on Turn 3. Then the Land Speeders simply wouldn't die!

CONCLUSION
Wolf Guard Terminators don't seem to be so hot lately. They took a few casualties fighting the Chaplain led Assault Squad, then got hosed down by a bunch of bolt pistols by the other Assault Squad in the following round. Bad times indeed.

I'm wondering if Arjac Rockfist leading a pack of Grey Hunters in the Land Raider might be a better option? Especially when 3 Grey Hunter packs seems to be too little when it comes to objectives, or simply just holding the backbone of the army together.

Long Fangs were awesome in this game, even though they struggled for targets early on due to all the vehicles.

Vindicator didn't hit a thing.

Land Raider did okay. A Redeemer would have been amazing in this game. Instead the Land Raider wasted turn after turn firing at a single guy with a meta gun in cover who wouldn't die and I couldn't allow to get close. A Redeemer would have simply driven up and burned the single Space Marine to ashes!

The Land Speeders were great Deep Striking in. I'll definitely do this in future when I don't think I can get them safely across the board.

Anyway, it was an awesome scrap between the Space Wolves and Dark Angels.
I apologise if this post is a little empty though. I would love to have done huge a turn by turn account with loads of photos.

That said, there was so much going on in this game that it took us over 3 hours to play!

Sun Wolf Razorback

2011-07-01T19:00:00.001+01:00

This is what I call the "Sun Wolf" Razorback. Just a little something I cooked up over the weekend.

I'd spent quite a lot of time looking at the Horus Heresy illustrations of Rhino APCs and was determined to create something similar for my growing Pre Heresy Space Wolves army.

The starting block was an illustration of a 13th Company Rhino with the front track armour stripped down.

This gave it a much more 'tank' like look, rather than a metal box full of metal super soldiers. So I went with that to start.

This required an extra bit of track of course.

I stuck two crates on the back of the tank, like the Rhino APC kit of old.

But then I needed a front plate to match. Or at the least, look distinctly different.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Heresy style front plates. I wanted a large, flat surface to build up armour and detail on.

So I turned the regular hatch upside down, filled in the gaps around the vision slits with green stuff and smoothed it over.

Then I cut one of the trims on the armoured vision slits off and glued that where a vision slit could go (top left).

Then it was a case of armouring up the front.

I trimmed the top of the autocannon ammo box from the Predator tank kit, cut off the skull icon and once glued flat to the hull, trimmed a wolf symbol from the Space Wolves box flat and glued it in place of the skull.

Either side, I trimmed and glued a small shoulder shield from the Wolf Guard Terminator box. To cover the rest of my green stuff work, I trimmed the back of two wolf tails flat and glued them beneath the small shields, as though they were dangling from the shields.

Finally there was the turret mounting and the hatch.

I made the decision to move the turret forward, like modern APCs with turret cannons for a more military 'real tank' feel.

I took the Predator hatch and carefully cut the turret mounting ring off with my modelling knife. This was really hard work and the ring I got was a little warped, so I had to bend and trim it until it was perfectly flat again.

I then had to trim the top of the tank where the ring was going to go. This was also really hard work. Especially when the little discs that go into the two cupolas at the front needed to be trimmed down as well.

The ring hung over the back of the cupola area, so I built up the back using trimmed down pieces of the front track armour I'd removed at the start of the conversion.

Obviously, I made sure none of these piece overlapped the hatch on top.

Once everything was flat and the ring fitted are flatly as possible, I glued it in place with polystyrene cement. I'll have to come back later and green stuff around this and cut it flat to cover all the gaps and keep the model looking clean.

Lastly, there was the top hatch. I turned the Predator hatch over to get the Razorback hatch on the other side and aligned it so that the small doors would be at the back of my tank.

Meanwhile I had a large circular hole to cover.

So I took a spare Rhino door (luckily I was using Forgeworld doors for this!), flipped it over to reveal two grills. This would be the 'vents' on the back of the tank.

I trimmed off the 3 stubby bits that normally poke out the top, plus any other details, so it would like flat over the hole.

I also trimmed any details on the Razorback hatch to ensure a good, flat, central fit for the reversed door.

I glued it into place, but there was a small gap at the side. A piece of cut down tube (from the spare Predator autocannon barrel) covered this nicely and maintained the technical tank appearance.

I'll glue the completed hatch in place once I finish the green stuff work around the turret ring mounting.

Make Your Own Sun Wolf Razorback
All you need is a Predator Tank, 2 plasma guns, some extra Rhino tank track, 2 extra Rhino doors, plus Space Wolf accessories to decorate the tank in.

Stay tuned for a complete tutorial including how to make the las/plas turret as well as the rest of the tank itself.

Be warned though, this is a tough conversion and requires a lot of skill and patience. It took a long time, it was very tiring and I've got to make two more of these...

...Should look awesome when it's painted though!

Wolf and Sister Part 13

2011-06-29T19:00:00.005+01:00

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