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

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

To Take, or Not to Take the Metal Box?

Greetings all, Aseldi here to look over the changes brought upon general army composition brought by 6th edition. More specifically, whether to take a footslogging list, or transports?

Firstly, I'll state that by transports, I mean 10 Grey Hunters in a Rhino.  I've never been a fan off the MSU list, and I seem incapable of taking squads of fewer than 10 marines...

Right, to business.  Space Wolves are the perfect choice, out of marines at least, for both of these lists.  We can do footslogging well, and rhinos are nice and conforming with What Russ Intended.

Footslogging, we can easily take a Wolf Guard Squad leader in terminator armour, and stick him on the front of a unit. He acts like a small tank, soaking up all incoming fire on his 2+ armour save, and seriously annoying your opponent.  He also adds a nice wee challenge ability to a squad that wouldn't otherwise have it, and with a variety of wargear at his disposal, can be kitted out to deal with almost any threat. So all sounds good so far doesn't it? And it looks great having squads led by a terminator marching across the battlefield towards an enemy!

But I don't use this one... Despite the benefits above.  This is mainly because I have the worst luck with armour saves ever.  Every time I've used this tactic, my terminator has died to the first bolter shot his way, removing the unit's whole utility, but by no means their effectiveness (they are Grey Hunters after all!).  I just dislike this possibility, and as it happens so often, I rarely feel inclined to spend roughly 35pts on the guy...

Now to our old friend the Rhino! At the beginning of 6th, it seemed to be an endangered species, people proclaiming left right and centre that mech lists were on the down (and to an extent they were right), and Rhinos had been hit by the nerf bat.  However, in my opinion, the situation is quite the contrary! 

Lets look at the stats: For 35pts we get a 11/11/10 vehicle which can boost our Grey Hunters 18" up the board right towards the objectives, where they want to be.  Armour 11 negates most armies' basic weaponry too.  And if they happen to survive past the first turn, they can act as a screening unit, which can be invaluable!  3 HP is also pretty survivable, but with the rise of plasma, still a little tenuous.

In conclusion, currently I am using the Rhino tactic. It has more reliability, and adds a huge amount of manoeuvrability to an otherwise relatively slow army, and can allow a Grey Hunter squad to stay nearby those Thunderwolves.
-Aseldi