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

Land Raider Variants and Space Wolves

This is a topic which has been causing me no end of wonder recently. In my most recent article, the 1250pts Space Wolf list, you will see I opted for the Land Raider Redeemer eventually to deliver my Wolf Guard (maybe a bit Deathstar(ish)) unit into the heat of battle! (excuse the pun)

But I believe this topic to be one worthy of a little more debate. In our codex, we have access to 3 Land Raider Patterns, the usual, the Crusader and the Redeemer. Here I hope to list the reasons for taking each, and my opinions on them.

Right, so first up we have the usual Land Raider. Weighing in at 250pts, it's expensive as always. (one thing I'm surprised at is that the points weren't lowered in the Dark Angels Codex, but I'm sure they have their reasons). Armed with 2 twin-linked Lascannons, and a twin-linked heavy bolter, it's got a lot of firepower! As well as a transport capacity of 10 and AV 14/14/14 with 4 HPs, all for 250pts. This is the variant I feel is hardest to decide upon the role. For a start, it carries the long range weapons of our arsenal, is the most survivable vehicle we have access to. So I feel sitting it at the back of the battlefield, putting the Lascannons to good use is wasting the overall potential. But sticking a squad of Wolf Guard and the like inside it and pushing it forward is also a little risky, since it reduces the fire ability. For these reasons, I tend to leave this one back in The Fang, it doesn't know what it wants to do with itself.

The Crusader. Again, 250pts, but this time armed with 2 Hurricane Bolters and a twin-linked assault cannon, frag assault launchers, with a transport capacity of 16!! Definitely the dedicated assault vehicle we want to deliver the death star to define all deathstars. The hurricane bolters are effective at the grange this vehicle wants to operate at, close, as does the assault cannon. The one thing it lacks is the straight up fire power. You could argue this is offset by the sheer volume of shots it can deliver, and the payload it will probably be carrying, but when I'm spending 250pts on something, I'd like it to do a little more than simply deliver a unit to the battle safely. This is something the standard Land Raider does well, with it's Lascannons able to de-mech enemy units for the occupants to charge. But with the Crusader, unless it's Dark Eldar you're fighting, with their paper aeroplanes, you're unlikely to get much in the way of de-meching, or softening of the more elite units. Instead, you get something which can soften up an enemy unit moderately, before a 16 (or 8 terminator) model unit finishes it off. Frankly, even I don't take squads this big. Despite the safety of its armour, I still feel there's too much risk involved. And as mentioned above, I like to feel my vehicles do something in the battle, other than merely soften an enemy unit.

This leads me on to the final variant, the Land Raider Redeemer! 10pts less than the other 2, at 240pts (for some reason...) it comes with a transport capacity of 12, a twin-linked assault cannon, frag assault launchers, and my favourite bit: 2 flame storm cannons!! Possibly my favourite weapon in the game - These S6 Ap3 beauties reduce even marine units to molten slag in one shot, even if they decide to cower in cover!
But back on track. Personally, I feel that a capacity of 12 is perfect. It allows for a terminator armoured character to accompany our Wolf Guard Terminators, nothing more I could really wish for. A 10pts multi-melta brings it up to 250pts along with the others, and adds the extra firepower we need to do some serious damage to enemy tanks. The assault cannon is a very useful weapon (the amount of times i've seen it destroy Rhinos...). And the Flamestorm cannons are perfect for dealing with the many MEQ units in the local meta. Unfortunately, the positioning of shots can sometimes be difficult, and if the enemy is optimising model spacing... A dismissed kill count will be achieved (as well as a disgruntled look). But overall, this is my favourite variant.
Able to decisively reduce units threatening to get close with melta weapons, and soften the enemy unit before it's occupants charge in.

Hopefully an article which will help you decide which variant to field, and not too long winded... If you feel I've missed anything out, or have some gay ideas/feedback of your own, as always, feel free to leave a comment!
-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