Some Kill Team

Hello all! Today I played my first Kill Team ever with the new rules against my brother.

 We both found the game really fun, short and sweet. We used Lego for scenery, which worked worryingly well. 

The problems with it were that it did become a little formulaic; move forward, shoot, move forward, shoot. Though this could be down to the relatively sparse scenery, mission (number 3, kill the leader one) , it being our first game of this type, or maybe even that it was Blood Angels Vs Space Wolves. Time will tell I guess.

There's plenty of scope for army choice, on this case I used:

TROOPS:

Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 165pts

-flamer

-plasma

-Mark of the Wulfen

ELITES:

Lone Wolf - 35pts

-Mark of the Wulfen

It worked well. And MotW slaughtered my brother's commander, a mere sergeant.

So what I hope for in the future with Kill Team is to make the battlefield interesting with more intricate scenery, and try more exciting lists. Thumbs up from me,

-Aseldi

Possible Additions to my Space Wolves Army

Greetings, Aseldi here with a brief post with some additional content which didn't really fit in the last one.

Njal, despite being the first Space Wolf model was only glued together and used for the first time last Friday at the GW lock in. From that experience, he is great fun to field. While no where near as potent as he should be, I love his lore, and the Lord of Tempest rule is great fun. Currently, I'm working a list around having him deploy by drop pod with some Wolf Guard.


I've also been looking into adding Cypher to my force. My idea behind this would be that Cypher's ultimate show of defiance against the Dark Angels would be siding with their rivals. Considering my first army was also the Dark Angels, it's got quite a personal touch to it too, and I've always loved him as a character. His rules are also pretty awesome judging by a glance, which is a bonus!


All in all though, I'm holding off adding much to my Space Wolves until the get their update, which judging by certain rumours, and the GW's current pattern, shouldn't be too long.

-Aseldi

A Return to Tournaments (and a 1500pts List)

Greetings, Aseldi here. Recently, my local GW hosted a small lock in tournament for the release of the Tyranid WD. Having not played a game since the Invasion tournament 6months back, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get back into things.

In short, I turned up with much the same list I'd used for the previous tournament, with Njal added on and minus a power fist on the Grey Hunters since the points limit was 1500pts.


HQ:

Njal, Lord of the Tempests - 265pts
-runic terminator armour

Rune Priest - 120pts
-Runic armour


TROOPS:
Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 220pts
(Rhino)
-plasma gun
-plasma gun
-Wolf Standard
-Mark of the Wulfen

Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 210pts
(Rhino)
-plasma gun
-flamer
-Wolf Standard
-Mark of the Wulfen


ELITES:
Wolf Guard Pack (5) - 270pts
(Drop Pod)
-5x terminator armour
-combi-plasma, wolf calw
-combi-plasma, wolf calw
-assault cannon
-combi-melta, power fist
-combi-melta


FAST ATTACK:
Thunderwolf Cavalry - 265pts
-3x storm shields


HEAVY SUPPORT:
Longs Fangs Pack - 140pts
-5x missile launcher


Total - 1495pts


1st Game:
My first game was against a Dark Angel DeathRavenwing build. I'm pleased with the way my force acted here, as they were easy able to divide his forces and whittle them down with bolter fire from the Grey Hunters, and missiles from the Long Fangs, before charging in for the kill with the Thunderwolf Cavalry. I'd go as far to say that this is the best method with which to use them.

As before, the Rune Priest stayed back with the Long Fangs as well as in range of one of the packs of Grey Hunters, able to cast Prescience whenever necessary.

Njal himself was rather underwhelming this game. Without a squad he could easily be attached to, since the Grey Hunters had Rhinos and the Wolf Guard being at full capacity in a drop pod, it was hard to move him anywhere meaningful without fear of him being gunned down easily.


2nd Game:
My second game happened to be against my friend, who I'd arranged to attend the tournament with. He was fielding a nonsensical bunch of Eldar units which i stood no chance of distinguishing. All i know is that it was horrible to play against, with his Guardians, once a favoured target to be easily mowed down with Bolters now have access to an almost perpetual 2+ cover save and have Rending… I still suspect some of the rules, but he wiped the floor with me in 2 turns, with the tanks (no idea which ones) wiping out entire squads in 1 shooting phase… If someone could tell me I'm not alone in thinking the Eldar are a tad OP, that'd be much appreciated.

Njal died turn one...


3rd Game:
A suitably exciting game to end the night on. My opponent was fielding Imperial Guard, and it turned out that we were using the Escalation and Stronghold Assault Rules, so he'd brought one of their massive tanks (the one with the Vulcan MegaBolter, I should really brush up on my unit knowledge). Anyway, I managed to seize the initiative, and my Wolf Guard managed to destroy a Leman Russ by Dropping behind and using the combo meltas, and my Long Fangs dispatched another. The game continued in much the same manner, me destroying tanks, his Vulcan Mega-bolter firing a silly amount of shots… It all came down to the last turn when I managed to seize victory by charging the Apocalypse Vehicle with my last remaining Thunderwolf, and destroy it with the power fist. Epic conclusion.

Also, Njal survived until the penultimate turn! Rolling well on the Tempest table, and causing half of his infinity units to flee from the game!


Placings wise, I achieved 2nd for painting, which I'm astounded by, and 2nd overall! Considering my length of time away from the game, and the ageing codex, as having not intention of high placings, I'm very pleased!


So what I learned from this tournament… That Eldar are a nightmare to play against. Escalation and Strong Hold assault, in my opinion and that of the group I regularly play with, aren't expansions we'll be picking up any time soon. Mainly this is due to the rather high cost of even more books, and the models which they allow. Almost bordering on Pay to Win in a way?

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated! Especially on the devious ways of the Eldar, and whether Stronghold Assault and Escalation really are worthwhile additions.

-Aseldi

6 Months Without Warhammer

The title says it all; and so it is, with a somber mood, I make this blogpost.  Basically, I'm hoping to relay what my experience in relation to the hobby has been like having taken a step back for a number of months; what else have I wasted my time on, off not intense theory crafting for toy soldiers?

Firstly, LAN gaming. With a group of friends, a club has been set up where we ignore the wonderful convinience of online gaming, and instead wire out laptops up to a router, and muck around with firewall settings for hours upon end. You know how it is. But why am I bringing this up? Well, it's my blog, I can do what I like, but also because the main game we've been playing is actually Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Dark Crusade to be precise. And in doing so, rediscovered what an epic game it is! Nothing can compare with the experience of building armies with friends, and sending them to battle. Much like real warhammer, except costing a fraction of the price. 

So if you haven't played Dawn of War in a while, try it again! It opens up a whole different angle on the franchise, and on LAN, it's pretty great.

Keeping up with news has proved to be near impossible. Now it seems that digital mini codices are a thing, as well as singular character cards? Still no news on a Space Wolf update though, so we can all rest easy. Seeing as I'm still to update my other armies, Warriors of Chaos and Dark Angels, it's also quite a relief on my wallet. Wood Elves are something else I've got my eye on though...

With all this hype around the hobbit release too, and Battle for Middle Earth another game featuring in the LAN club (also excellent, although incredibly difficult and expensive to pick up these days), I'm also beginning to feel almost inclined towards trying that side of the Games Workshop's franchise. Lord of the Rings after all is what created most of the lore that Warhammer is based upon anyway.

So in the meantime, I'll keep telling myself I'll try and paint the many untainted models I still have - and start immersing myself more in the lore, since that's a much easier thing for me to access these days.

-Aseldi

Another 2000pts Space Wolf Army List!

Hello there, Aseldi here. This army list is really a more revised and built upon list to the one I reviewed after Conflict Scotland, hopefully expanding it's strengths, and further focusing it.

So let's get started!


HQ:
Rune Priest - 120pts
-Runic armour

Wolf Priest - 115pts
-Saga of the Wolfkin

TROOPS:
Grey Hunters Pack (10) - 185pts
-plasma gun
-plasma gun
-Wolf Standard
-Mark of the Wulfen

Grey Hunters Pack (10) - 185pts

-plasma gun

-plasma gun

-Wolf Standard

-Mark of the Wulfen

Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 175pts
-flamer
-plasma gun
-Wolf Standard
-Mark of the Wulfen

ELITES:
Wolf Guard Terminator Pack (5) - 425pts
(drop pod)
(Arjac Rockfist, the Anvil of Fenris)
-combi-plasma, power weapon
-combi-plasma, power axe
-combi-melta, power fist
-assault cannon, power weapon

Lone Wolf - 35pts
-Mark of the Wulfen

FAST ATTACK:
Thunderwolf Cavalry (3) - 265pts
-storm shield
-storm shield
-storm shield, power fist

Fenrisian Wolf Pack (15) - 120pts

Fenrisian Wolf Pack (15) - 120pts

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Long Fangs Pack (6) - 140pts
-5x missile launchers

Long Fangs Pack (60) - 115pts
-5x heavy bolter

TOTAL - 2000pts


The first thing you probably noticed is that I cut the Rhinos, despite having raved in the past about how good they still are. I stand by this, but at this point in 6th ed, the Space Wolf codex is certainly showing it's age, especially with the price of some of the HQs, but I'll hopefully be doing a post on this topic in the near future. So the reason I cut them is that they generally blew up in rather spectacular fashion, killing a few occupants each time. This annoyed me. So by cutting them, I gain access to their full power at all times, despite being more vulnerable. But hey, its footslogging, as the Russ intended.

And that slogan is the one I'm hoping to stick to for this list. By including the character Arjac, the Fenrisian Wolves, and the Lone Wolf, units which only we have access to, it becomes a little more Space Wolf flavoured, and should be more fun to play because of this!

So the Rune Priest, cheap and cheerful, served me well so far, but i am definitely hoping to achieve the feat of killing a Hive Tyrant and a Tervigon with one Jaws of the Worldwolf again!
The Wolf Priest is included mainly to buff the Fenrisian Wolves, but his Preferred Enemy should prove invaluable with one of the plasma armed Grey Hunter packs.

3 Packs of Grey Hunters this time due to the increased game size, and they will be moving forward as an unstoppable line hopefully. Basically moving them wherever the line needs bolstered.

I've had to trim down on the Wolf Claws this time, mainly due to my consistent poor choosing of the rerolls, but I have a little more access to AP2 with the Power Axe, something I sorely felt was missing with the previous list.  They will hopefully be dropping near where the Thunderwolves have managed to weaken the line, then begin the process of butchering enemy heavy infantry from there.
The Lone Wolf is another cheap and cheerful addition, hopefully able to run around, taking down those pesky small units, and maybe even something bigger? Mark of the Wulfen is funny like that. The unit is also sorely overlooked in my opinion, so might as well lead by example.

The Fast Attacks are probably the strangest focus of this list.  The Thunderwolves remain unchanged, but this time they have EVEN MOARE WOLVES! Their primary role is to act as meatshields, charging before the Thunderwolves so they can take the Overwatch shots (tell me if I'm wrong about this rule?) but with Saga of the Wolfkin they can actually deal a nice amount of damage, and their numbers should also bring some added tank to the list. Just hoping they aren't shot at too much... But if they are, at least that's one less unit shooting at the Grey Hunters!
Both units will advance ahead of the Grey Hunters with the Thunderwolves acting mainly as an alpha strike force, almost as a real wolf pack would: weakening the enemy with the expendables and younger wolves before going in for the kill.

The missile launcher Grey Hunters make a return, not much explanation needed, but this time there is also a squad of heavy bolters to aid them.  In the past, I have found the slightly shorter range of the Heavy Bolter a small hinderance, but hopefully I have learned how to use them more effectively now. Especially with the move to footslogging lists on the local meta -cough- these guys should prove invaluable!

And there we have it, a pretty exhaustive breakdown of a list I am yet to even play.  But with all the Space Wolf character in it, it should be a blast no matter what the result!

-Aseldi

Army List Review

Hello all, Aseldi here today to review the list I took to Conflict Scotland.

Firstly, here's the list I took.

HQ:

Rune Priest - 120pts

-Runic armour

TROOPS:

Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 220pts

(Rhino)

-plasma gun

-plasma gun

-Wolf Standard

-Mark of the Wulfen

Grey Hunter Pack (10) - 235pts

(Rhino)

-plasma gun

-flamer

-power fist

-Wolf Standard

-Mark of the Wulfen

ELITES:

Wolf Guard Pack (5) - 270pts

(Drop Pod)

-5x terminator armour

-combi-plasma, wolf calw

-combi-plasma, wolf calw

-assault cannon

-combi-melta, power fist

-combi-melta

FAST ATTACK:

Thunderwolf Cavalry - 265pts

-3x storm shields

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Longs Fangs Pack - 140pts

-5x missile launcher

And I'll start off by going over the Grey Hunters. They were fantastic! Definitely stand by the claim they are the best troops in the game. I had them stay in the Rhinos as long as possible (which usually ended up with it exploding and killing a couple) firing out the hatches with the plasma guns, and a bolter in the case of the other squad as well. When they were eventually de-meched, the enemy was faced with an increased volley of bolter fire! So win win either way in my opinion. In combat they did superbly as well, dishing out a frankly obscene amount of attacks, reducing most other units to nothing!

    Item wise, I think the gun load out works well.  Wolf Standard is insane! And Mark of the Wulfen is a great bonus too. The only thing I still hold doubts about is the power fist, but it did bag a couple of guaranteed kills, so I guess it was worth it.

    Rhinos also remain pretty sturdy, considering all the anti-infanty weaponry people bring these days usually being rather ineffective against them.

Now the Wolf Guard. These guys scored me First Blood most games, which is always nice.  Things I've learned though - WTF NECRON LORDS?! I should have known something was up when it made a complete U-turn and came for my Termies as they dropped in! S7 ignoring armour saves... Seriously?? I thought Necrons were poor in close combat?? But I'll save that rant for another day. 

    Generally, placing the drop pod worked well when it was where the enemy line was weakest, allowing me to break it and cause the enemy to have to reposition to deal with them. In close combat they also fared well for the most part, but I did feel the lack of AP2 sorely.

    And their loadout. Combi-weapons are great for 5pts, those plasma and melta shots delivered at the right time can be a game changer!  I love assault cannons, 4 shots S6 AP4 rending? Need I say more? And Wolf Claws did come in use, but I have a habit of calling rerolls and then being successful in all of them anyway, then fail the set I can't reroll.

The Thunderwolf Cavalry.  Very hit and miss. Some practice with these guys is needed I reckon. For a start, I'm awful at rolling their saving throws! Losing 2 to Overwatch is awful!  But they bring to bear an insane amount of rending attacks, and S10 Ap2 hits, very nice.  Usually I'd just charge them at the first thing I saw, which isn't a good idea, I need to learn which units to prioritise with them for sure. I have an idea about how to reduce the amount they suffer from overwatch, but another post.

    Storm shields are great, worth the points for sure (if I could ever make the save anyway...) and the powerfist is good too!

And now the Long Fangs! Again, a tricky one. The opponents I faced generally didn't have many great targets for them... And the ones that did kept them in buildings with a 4+ cover save they ALWAYS made. So I guess I am a little disappointed they didn't do as much as they have in the past, but they have the potential to decimate enemy vehicles and heavy infantry!

    Taking 5 missile launchers with them is my favourite way being honest. But I actually think 5 heavy bolters would have been more effective against the infantry heavy lists I ended up facing.

Finally, the Rune Priest.  I ended up being thoroughly unimaginative, and taking Divination, opting for Prescience each time. He buffed the Long Fangs and nearby units no end, so a great addition. But I felt I should have made more use of him than just sitting him at the back sending blessings. Perhaps against another army.

    A cheap and cheerful build, but one which offers great value for points!!

There we go, a rather large wall of text describing my army's performance. I hope it can help you when you're selecting units to take, and give you some things to consider too!  Overall, my top rated unit would definitely be the Grey Hunters, for the consistent brilliance!

-Aseldi

Rune Priest Conversion

Hello again, Aseldi here once more. This time, I'm here with the intention of explaining how I made the Rune Priest.


Pretty simple conversion really, and a definite money saver giving better results than the bought model in my opinion!!

The picture taken at Warhammer World.

First I took a Chaos Warrior cloak, and the front and legs of a normal Space Wolf. The sides of the body front had to be quite heavily cut to fit between the cloak's shoulders, then filled the remaining gaps with blu-tac (AMAZING MODELLING TOOL BY THE WAY! It also is now holding on my Wolf Guard's arms on, so I can keep them as flexible as possible, both in posing and arming), but modelling putty would probably work better, if you have it, and then stuck the body and legs together on the cloak.

Then it was a matter of finding a suitable weapon. I wanted it to be a Force Staff, so clearly the biggest stick in my bitz box would have to do: the Chaos Knight lance! I had to cut it off just to the elbow, then sick it onto the cloak. The same was also done with a bolt pistol.

And then the head was stuck on. Pretty simple really, and with a totally badass Rune Priest to finish!

-Aseldi

Tis Done!

22h of painting later, I have finally finished my 1250pts Space Wolf army for Conflict Scotland! Not much else to say, back is killing me, and I'm going to have nightmares of pains running out for weeks, but I finished it!
And here are the pictures, safe to say I'm pleased.

As I'm a bit pushed for time, that's all for now, comments are greatly appreciated!
-Aseldi

The Sprint Finish!

Hello there! Aseldi here,

As you know from my last post, I took the widely discouraged, yet most commonly taken approach of 'leave it all to the last minute' for my painting for Conflict Scotland. Thankfully, I seem to have kept on track so far today, completely one Grey Hunter pack, Long Fangs pack and the Thunderwolves. This leaves me with only the Wolf Guard and the other Grey Hunter pack to paint, which should be manageable! 

On the other hand, I'm yet to actually get a rune priest... So I reckon I'll throw together a quick conversion using a Chaos Warrior cloak (heresy I know) and a torso and legs I have spare with the generic staff etc. 

So that's my rambling for today, and on the topic of CS, I'm hoping to get some battle reports, but with a lack of a camera, this could prove difficult.

Pics will be up tomorrow hopefully,

-Aseldi

The Inevitable Has Occurred!

Hello all! Aseldi here to proclaim that indeed, the schedule I posted on the blog a couple of weeks ago has been completely neglected! Here we are, a week from the event, and I've just finished assembling and basepainting the best part of my army...
So it seems the next few days will be rather frantic. To give an idea of the scale of the task (which is definitely achievable), here are some pictures of my army! (minus the Rune Priest... which I am yet to produce, as i completely ran out of superglue and have never gotten round to renewing it...)

Rhino Painting Step by Step Guide

Greetings to all who've graced this Blog! Aseldi here with a followup to yesterday's painting article, with a run through on how I painted the Rhino, in case you want to go for the same look, or maybe get some inspiration.

Like I've said before, I'm on a pretty tight time and budget, so have stuck to a few simple steps, which can be applied across my whole army, using similar colours.

The paints are mainly from the recommended Space Wolf colour scheme on the Games Workshop site (cause I'm creative like that...). So they go as follows:

And can be found here to buy from the GW

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/paintChart.jsp?catId=cat820002a&rootCatGameStyle=paints-tools

So, I started off by spraying the Rhino black (duh) then base-coated it The Fang, followed by a wash of Nuln Oil.

Next, I painted most of the raised areas Russ Grey.

After that, I painted the edges, and most raised areas Fenrisian Grey. As well as adding some of the old Mechrite Red to the banner, and painted the casing of the weapons Abaddon Black.

I then gave the whole model another liberal wash of Nuln Oil (I get through that paint massively quick...)

After the wash had dried, I used Etherium Blue over the model from front to back, like I imagined the wind would blow the snow over it as it raced through the desolate, freezing, landscape.

I really like the look of the model at this stage, as if it's being frozen by the harsh surroundings, frost accumulating on every surface. But with the introduction of the texture paints, I thought I'd add some Mourn Mountain Snow onto the areas around the treads, where the snow would be thrown by the movement of the vehicle.

And there we have it! My humble guide to painting the Space Wolf Rhino! This wasn't at all an alternative to painting the rest of my army...

As always, comments are greatly appreciated!

-Aseldi

Week 1 - Painting update

Aseldi here, with my frantic painting update.  I actually managed to complete my first week's schedule! I never thought Rhinos and a Drop Pod would take so long though.

Anyway, here's what I've achieved this week.  I'm by no means brilliant... But I'm aiming for a thoroughly weathered snow effect, and I think I got that!

Also, being under massive time and budget constraints, I'm using a fairly limited palette. Should pay off though.

So there you are! I'm pleased with actually finishing it, and what it looks like. Hopefully I'll get a step by step up tomorrow on how I painted the Rhinos.

-Aseldi