Space Wolves

6th Edition: Armylist Building Part 2

2013-05-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hiya! I'm back to continue on the guide to armylist building. If you haven't yet seen the first one, you can just click right here. So, last time i was looking at the rulebook and the events that make up a game of 40K. This time around I was thinking i'd go more into detail about space wolves and how we can use our codex to bring the pain.

With space wolves, i imagine that they really enjoy blowing up stuff on the battlefield, so why not bring out the big guns! Although you'd think that these guys are really into close combat, they aren't a typical assault kind of army. If you think of the counter-attack rule which all space wolf units have, there isn't all too often that you need to charge in as soon as possible. There are some reasons of course that you want the charge, and that's when your opponent will get a major advantage from charging and you can stop him from getting it. Another reason could be that you wish to take shelter from shooting and know that by the end of your opponents assault phase, you'll be ready to move on to the next thing in line.

Now, i'm not saying that we don't do well in the assault phase, that is completely up to how the army works out as a whole, but if you ask me, i prefer to keep to the mid-ranged shooting weapons and some supporting long range weapons. That way i can have control over 50-70 % of the table without having to move around too much. Space wolves do pretty well as a Gunline army, but we also need to be able to get around to objectives while taking care of threats at the same time. Now, for that to work out properly, you need to make your units co-operate with eachother.

The List

With my example list here, i'll be taking out some toys that might not get used all too much by many players, but it is a list i find quite fun to play and also quite challenging to win with. It always makes for a close game between me and my opponents.

The list goes like this:

HQ: Rune Priest w/ Runic Armor/Terminator Armor, Chooser Of The Slain 130 Pts. (Warlord)
HQ: Wolf Priest w/ Saga Of The Hunter, Combi-Plasma, Melta Bomb 125 Pts.

Troops: Grey Hunters(7) w/ Meltagun, Mark Of The Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino 170 Pts.
Troops: Grey Hunters(7) w/ Meltagun, Mark Of The Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino 170 Pts.
Troops: Grey Hunters(10) w/ 2x Plasmagun, Mark Of The Wulfen, Wolf Standard 185 Pts.

Elites: Wolf Guard(3) w/ 2x Combi-Melta, 1x Combi Plasma 69 Pts.
Elites: Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannon 125 Pts.
Elites: Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannon 125 Pts.

Heavy Support: Long Fangs w/ 5x Missile Launchers 140 Pts.
Heavy Support: Vindicator w/ Siege Shield 125 Pts.
Heavy Support: Vindicator w/ Siege Shield 125 Pts.

Total: 1489 Pts.

So i have 10 Pts left that i can use on anything i want, i usually have no idea what that should be.

As you can see, my list looks quite simple. The reason why i have pairs of things is basically saturation. Vindicators are bullet magnets, Long Fangs are bullet magnets, and the dreadnoughts can draw some fire as well. So taking two of the vindicators will mean that most likely at least one of them will do some damage and they will both take fire away from troops and such. If there was something more i would like to put in here, it would have to be more Long Fangs, Grey Hunters and another Rune Priest.

If you just had a thought about taking 3 HQ's being illegal, then i can happily share that each FoC slot for HQ's in the space wolves codex let's you take 2 HQ Choices, that means you can have 4 HQ's at point levels up tp 1999, and at 2000 pts you could have an astonishing 8 HQ's, not that i'd recommend it.

List Analysis
With a little recap on last time i'll start with a few questions to myself:

-Do i have enough Ranged Fire?
A: Well, i do have quite some Ranged Firepower in the long fangs, Dreadnoughts and Vindicators

-Do i have something to counter assaults?
A: To be honest, it could be a tad weak against assaults, but space wolves can hold their own for quite some time in close combat because of their power armour. Also, Mark of the Wulfen and Wolf Standards helps your squads perform that much better.

Picture taken from GMM Studios

-Do i have enough AP2/AP3?
A: There is plenty of AP2/AP3 with the Vindicators, Long Fangs and the Grey Hunters which have plasma and meltaguns. In CC, there is a model in each Grey Hunter squad with Mark Of The Wulfen which gives bonus attacks and Rending!

-Do i have enough Anti-Tank?
A: Yeah, for 6th edition there should be enough if you play your units well, not too many people bring alot of armor to the party. That said there is enough firepower to deal with quite alot here.

-Do i have enough scoring units?
A: Personally i think it's too little with only 3 scoring units, but i think that they will not be the first priority to take down so it should work out pretty alright.

-Do i have enough Anti-Infantry units?
A: Anti infantry can be covered by all units in this list if you think about it. You have Marines with their bolters, plasma- and meltaguns, there are 2 dreadnoughts with autocannons, there are 5 missile launchers and last but not least: 2 large pieplates that kills anything it hits.

-Do i need Anti Air? How Much?
A: This is the ultimate weakness of the list, there is little that can take out flyers with relative ease. On the other hand I usually don't need to take any anti-air with me to local games, because there are little to no flyers around where i play.

If i were to prepare for flyers with this list, i would change the Wolf Priest for an Aegis defence line or a Bastion, and a Quadgun. I would put my Rune Priest on it and fire away. The Long Fangs would of course not be far off so they could be buffed if need be. There are also 8 twin linked s7 shots from dreadnoughts should i have the need for that.

-Will my units survive long enough?
A: Hard to say, but if i play them well and cling to cover when it's needed, i could keep many of my units intact with armour saves and clever play.

Summary

In shorter terms, this list can deal with most things effectively, but lacks a bit in scoring units, can't take on flyers, possibly lacking assault units and is not very customisable when it comes to how the units are played. That way you are going to need a plan from the start and you will not be forgiven too easily if you make too many tactical errors.

When you think of giving up victory points, the list isn't all too impressive. The Warlord is fairly easy to kill, but the opponent would have to work against that end if he should have a chance at gaining slay the warlord.

Linebreaker is fairly easy to negate with this list since you have a fair deal of units in your own deployment zone at most times of the game. Linebreaker can be achieved fairly easily by outflanking the grey hunter squad with the wolf priest, the only problem you could meet here is if your squad of 12 marines gets wasted. Then again, if all that fire was used to take them out, you should have alot of other units left to deal with many other things.

This list gives up First Blood quite easily considering the tin cans that rhinos are. Cover saves or Line of sight blockers are your friends when you deploy your units, use them.

Wrapping it up, like a neat little Tortilla!

Okay, so now you have seen what my last list was when i played my space wolves army, and it performed quite alright, but due to being out of practice with games, i lost. I'm not saying my list is perfect or that it is better than anyone else's, but i like how it plays(when i don't meet Cron-Air). The most obvious reason for my loss was mainly because of bad movement, and me not being able to think on my feet as the game progressed. I am also not a Wargamer-Godlike-General, so i happen to make mistakes now and then.

However, even when losing the game, i still learned a great deal about 6th edition, and i certainly learned alot about grey knights as well. I cannot describe how much easier it is to play games against a codex you know pretty well, so a lesson better learned is to "Know Thy Enemy". It sounds cheesy, but you know it's true.

Now that i'm done talking, i'll pass the microphone to the next one who wishes to throw in their 2 cents. I tend to get a little stuck in my own ways with armylists and such, so i would in fact be very interested in hearing you guys out. Come with the idéas, good or bad, bring 'em all!

Thanks in advance to all of you who keeps on reading.
-Rune

Allies: What do they bring to the table?

2013-05-06T16:34:00.001-04:00

Allies are a great way to fill a hole in your army's abilities. They allow you to grab the best parts of another codex and plug a chink in your army. Some armies work well together like Imperial Guard and everyone or Tau and everyone but Chaos and Tyranids have limited or no choices as who they work with. Each one can offer different abilities and buffs to your Space Wolf force, what works best is dependent on your army list.

What can allies do for you?

What are your needs, what do you want? In general allies can bring speed, a combat edge, ranged fire power, flyers and anti-flyer units. As Rune is telling us all how to build a list you need to take all of the issues into account when building your list. If you are building a list around a certain type of tactic and want to get more units that fit this paradigm or build a backstop if this tactic doesn't hit the mark all the time. Allies can take 2 troops and one of the remaining codex selections.

What do each of the allies give you?

Tau are something I've been looking at for the last while. They give high rates of fire-power, can remove cover saves and do shooting better than almost any army out there. The main units to look at are broadsides, Skyrays and hammerheads for heavy support as they can do serious damage. Broadsides and Skyrays can devastate flyers either by design or with weight of fire. Broadsides can take velocity trackers and get skyfire but I'm not sure it is the best thing to do. Skyrays will kill a flyer, even the Heldrake in a single turn of fire. Broadsides can destroy large numbers of troops with the ion cannon, I don't think the railgun is a great buy as anything with armour 13 or 14 is better killed with melta weapons or something with armourbane. When it comes to fast attack you can grab a few Piranha, take some drones or grab a Pathfinder team. Pathfinders are a great way to boost the rest of the allied detachment. A plethora of drones and a commander with a drone controller can give you a mobile fire platform. Ethereals and Cadre Fireblades can buff gun lines and offer a cheap HQ slot. Firewarriors are great for taking out high toughness units with massed fire-power but Kroot offer you a cheap sniper unit that can outflank. They have flyers but I don't think they are a great investment of money or points.

Blood Angels can give you some fast or combat orientated units. Chaplains and Librarians will buff combat potential, Sanguinary priests will keep unit's alive longer; in the end your characters here are to ensure that whatever units you take survive to get into combat and massacre the opponents when you do. Stormravens are able to pump out massive amounts of fire-power and can transport large squads for a high points cost. They have some expensive characters that can do interesting things but a tooled out assault force would be far cheaper than a characterful force. Assault squads, Vanguard veterans and Sternguard are all good choices as they can pump out a large amount of fire-power or combat attacks into your enemy. Avoid the flashy units like sanguinary guard as they are too expensive for what you can get out of them.

Space Marines offer solid choices, they can give you access to specialised weapons and firepower. Sternguard and Thunderfire cannons spring to mind as drop pod forces to unleash on enemies. More powerful bike squads and flyers can give you more fast moving units to put on the board. By taking Space Marine squads in drop pods you can have more flexible deployments and have more instant gun lines on the board at the start of your first turn. Techmarines are good choices if you plan on playing long range or defensively and the master of the forge can boost a piece of terrain to make it a real strong-point.

Dark Eldar offer poisoned weapons and fast combat units. They strike hard and fast but are vulnerable to ranged fire. Their units can cover a large portion of the board in very short time and can assault from their transports. They have a fragile nature, poor armour saves but they are a scalpel not a cleaver. Their flyers have lances that can power through any flyers armour and they can deliver exotic bombs and missiles into the heart of the enemy's formation. Incubi and Wytches are difficult to sweep from the board and they can maim HQ units in good order.

Necrons could bring their budget airline to your list. Cron-air cannot mount the same devastation as with a main list but a couple of cheap flyers with a variety of units loaded in can eviscerate large units with ease. Crypteks and deathmark units are lethal, re-rolls and Hunters leave few standing. They can take armour off of units with ease and wraiths can bump up your combat potential by ensuring your enemies hit after your space marines in combat.

Guard are the ultimate allies for space wolves. They have the best anti-flyer flyers, cheap anti-flyer tanks, massive troop choices and ordnance. Vendettas are great for taking down flyers and other big threats, they can drop cheap units on objectives and nail enemy fliers. For 120 points you can fill the troop and HQ slots. After that you can load up on ranged weapons or just max out on troops and heavy weapons. The volume of guard you can fit in a single allied slot is quite impressive. 150 points buys you two anti-air batteries which can fix any issues you may have with flyers. If you are going for efficacy, a guard blob with a rune priest or Njal is quite a pain to dislodge especially if you have divination to bump up the shooting stats.

The Eldar have a range of interesting builds that can bring a bonus to your army. Their Farseers prove a popular choice, runes of warding will hamper enemy psykers while doom and mindwar can take care of problematic units and monsters. They have anti-armour and anti-monster units in Fire Dragons and have fast and dangerous jet-bikes to harry the enemy. A cheap allied detachment is a Farseer on a jetbike with three Guardian jetbikes. I don't recommend this for anyone building a Rune-priest heavy army but if you want combat heavy HQ choices a Farseer can limit the effects of the enemy witchcraft.

Dark Angels can do a few things but unless you are going with Deathwing, Ravenwing or flyer choices you'd probably do better going with vanilla space marines. Both the bike and terminator lists are unobtainable as an allied force because the codex requires you to have the Dark Angels as primary detachments but you can still fit in two terminator or biker squads. I think the bikes make a good choice for fast armies though Deathwing assault can compliment a Drop Pod army nicely.

Black Templars are not divergent enough from vanilla space marines to really warrant that much consideration. They have lots of interesting characters and the small differences between most of their units and the vanilla can sometimes be a boon but in general they are just dudes walking around in power armour. Power of the machine spirit is nice on their tanks but since 6th edition came around snap fire has reduced it's impact factor. Watch out for their points cost because once you hit 750 that force must contain an Emperor's Champion.

Grey Knights are a strong combat option terminators with force weapons and a plethora of psychic powers to unleash on your foes. They are an expensive ally but when they recoup their investment you will see their worth. People are still cursing Paladins and psycannon rounds on tanks and dreadnoughts. The assassins are highly effective units, either mauling units with their combat weapons and abilities or long range sniping of important characters.

Orks exist, they can do a few things well. One of them is take a huge blob of boys with a kustom force field on a Big Mek, it's a tough unit to kill and they can be dangerous units on the charge. Their jets are ok but there are far better options out there.

In summary:

There are plenty of options out there for prospective alliances. Within each of the choices you can build a lot of different armies and create novel lists based around fulfilling the needs you see as important. Fire superiority, combat potential, objective holding, etc etc. All of these can be covered by taking the right mix of units. Be wary of taking desperate allies. Orks, Necrons and Dark Eldar can be crippling if your units end up within 6" at the start of the movement phase. Each unit risks being useless for a turn on a roll of a 1.

Make sure you don't starve either force for points. Your primary list needs to stand strong either with or without the allies depending on your plan. If the allies cannot carry out their mission fully then they need to be re-thought or replaced. Try out a few lists that look good to you with friends before you commit to buying a new force. If they list doesn't perform then you have lost nothing.

6th Edition: Armylist Building Part 1

2013-04-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hiya! Today i was thinking of talking a little bit about building an armylist with Space Wolves in 6th Edition.
I'm going to be making this a "multi-part post kit"(get it?) because i think it would get too long if i were to include all that i wanted. In any case i will be moving on now.

When building an army it's important to ask yourself what kind of an army you want it to be. Fast, Big Guns, Scoring units, Elite? Fluffy? Themed? Furry? Anything goes really. But if you want to play to win, then i guess a simple "Take All Comers" kind of list is the most reasonable.

Whatever the type of list you want to play, there will still be some "rules of thumb" that could help your army perform that little bit better, Why am i saying this? Because when it all comes down to it, you would very much like to win, I can't really say that i've heard of anyone that plays to lose.

Get on with it!
When you want to build an effective army, there are many steps you should think through beforehand. I find that one of the better ways to do this would be to make a list of all the things you should take into consideration.

One thing i see alot is that many players focus only on the codex that they play and don't really think that much about the rulebook itself. How come the Rulebook is relevant? Well, for starters, that is where the game is actually at! Think of the Phases that comes and goes in the event of a game.

-Mission
-Deployment
-Scout/Infiltrate
-Seize The Initiative
-First Turn
-Movement
-Shooting
-Assault
-Reserves

All of these things is something you should keep in mind when building your army, how do you take advantage of these things, or how do you stop your opponent from gaining the advantage from these things? Advantages you have are most likely never the same when you play different opponents, so it's important that the list can be played with a few alterations in deployment and how you move your units, very often, timing is key.

When it comes to missions in 6th Edition, there are some differences that make for an interesting game, You have 6 missions where 5 of them are objective based, and one is kill point based. That means that Troops should be in abundance, if not then you need to have survivable troops that can weather it all throughout the game.

Mission special rules that come into play is sort of important, if you think of night fighting then the first turn may be very eventless with lots of great cover saves. But all in all you shouldn't rely too much on it, afterall there are armies that ignore cover alot or armies that ignore night fighting, such as C:SM and Dark Eldar respectively.

- Big Guns Never Tire and The Scouring: These missions have some extra rules that could be to your advantage just as well as to your disadvantage. In Big Guns the heavy support units become scoring, but gives the enemy a victory point if it gets killed, and in The Scouring it's the same just with Fast Attack Choices. So in "Big Guns" Your long fangs are going to be even more of a fire magnet than usual.

In addition there are secondary objectives, which can have alot to say when the game reaches it's end.

-First Blood! This one can really be a game winner, because only one of the players can achieve it. Making an army with durable units would make First Blood harder to achieve for your opponent. But this is not the only way to thwart your opponents plan. There is something called Deployment, and it's a great tool that you should use to the best of your advantage. Of course, this can also be one of the hardest parts of the game, but keep at it and you should get good at it quite fast.

-Slay The Warlord! This is something you need to think a bit about, but don't let it control you. If you want a warlord that isn't too survivable, then you just need to find a way to protect him, either through supporting units or simply through deployment.

- Linebreaker: As a Space Wolf player you should have a fair chance to achieve linebreaker through having a strong midfield presence. which would also mean that you should have a fair chance of denying your opponent as well. With a Gunline army, i'd say you'd have a hard time achieving Linebreaker, but even easier to deny your opponent. Of course this as well shouldn't control you entirely, but it is nice to keep it in mind from the start of the game instead of turn 3 or 4.

Now that i've gotten your braincells to work a little bit extra, i would like to move on.

Analyze The Meta:

When i talk about the meta, i don't mean all that net list crap. Sure cron air and double heldrakes are a pain in the ass, but i rarely come across them. Heck, i rarely come across any flyers anymore, people around my local area have abandoned them for other things that they'd rather use.

That's why i say you should analyze the local "meta", because that's where most of your games will be taking place. That 100 point Aegis defence line that you have lying around, sprayed black, but not a speck of paint on it? what if you didn't need it anymore? It could be another Rune Priest in your army instead, if there aren't any flyers to be met, you would be better of with him.

Some small and simple things you should try to ask yourself:

-Do i have enough Ranged Fire?
-Do i have something to counter assaults?
-Do i have enough AP2/AP3?
-Do i have enough Anti-Tank?
-Do i have enough scoring units?
-Do i have enough Anti-Infantry units?
-Do i need Anti Air?
-Will my units survive long enough?

Finally when you feel you are pleased with your draft, you can ask yourself two more questions...
-What are my strengths?
-What are my weaknesses?

When these things have been thought through, it is time to put it to the test, play with a friend and see how you do. After the game , you can discuss tactical errors or flaws in the list and see what worked well for you and what didn't work at all. Which unit was highest on your opponents "Takedown- List"?

Analyze the game yourself and see if there was something that didn't fit your style as well, some people are great at playing speed armies that just goes in for the kill with pinpoint target priority. They can be few in numbers, but when in the hands of a master strategist, they can really put the hurt on things.

Don't be afraid to try out new things as well, it helps to develop your own generalship as much as it helps keep the game more interesting, don't be afraid to lose a game now and then. I have been on both sides often enough, and i can say that tabling someone isn't a great feeling, it's just about as bad as being tabled.

Next time i will go a little more in debt with an example list to work with, and tell you what i believe

it's strengths are, maybe i'll even show you some weaknesses as well.

Any thoughts? Anything you want to add to the checklist of armybuilding? I'd love to hear 'em people :-)

6th Edition: Fast Attack

2013-04-22T07:14:00.001-04:00

Hiya! I'm back with the last update that i will post on the codex itself for 6th edition, at least for now. I might go through some special characters at a later time, but for now i'd like to leave them out for a little while and give them a more thorough look through playtesting as well as theory. With that said i think it's time to take a look at the Fast Attack section in the Space Wolves Codex.

Let me just say that this is probably the part of the book that gets used the least, and i can see why people tend not to take too much from it. The rest of the book offers up more interesting things at a first glance than the fast attack section, like Long Fangs, Lone Wolves, Vindicators, Wolf Guard, Dreadnoughts and last but not least, a ton of unique characters with tons of wargear and fancy stuff and fur.

Picture Taken from Tartan Paint Studios

However! While i see many units i'd rather like to field, it is my duty not to dismiss these other units, because they all have their place in the grand scheme. Moving on then to a more detailed look at each unit.

Skyclaws:

These guys here are sort of the black sheep in amongst the space wolves chapter, the biggest troublemakers among the bloodclaws. You basically get a man in power armour, prone to frothing and rampaging, a man who is anarchic and semi-uncontrollable... And somewhow the wisest decision you can come up with; you give him a Jump Pack... Is it me or does it smell like carnage and destruction already?

They are subject to all the rules a bloodclaw unit have, the only difference is that they count as Jump Infantry and get the rules stated in the warhammer 40k rulebook that are associated with it's unit type. So if you haven't used your jump pack in the movement phase, you can re-roll your charge distance, and also get hammer of wrath on the charge. That means that all models that are in base contact at initiative step 10 gets an attack at their unmodified strength characteristic at AP-. It's not much, but i could very well thin down some units before the actual combat starts.

I happen to enjoy the way skyclaws play, not that they are extremely good at at what they do for their points, but beacuse i like models with Jump Packs. There is one thing these guys do pretty well, and that is infantry hunting. You can kit them out with some shooting weapons as well, but they only have BS 3. Of course they aren't badass in close combat since they have only WS 3 as well, but it's something that can be mitigated by adding in a Wolf Priest which gives them Fearless and Preferred enemy.

There are some builds that i think are better than others, and so i think i might as well list up one of them and describe how i could see it used.

RAAAGE! GRRRR!
10 Skyclaws w/ Mark Of the Wulfen, Powerfist 220 Pts.

Alright, so these guys can dish out 32 normal attacks, up to 9 Rending attacks(d6+1,+2 from Berserk Charge) and 3 Str 8, AP 2 attacks on a charge.

As i mentioned above a Wolf Priest would actually make quite a good addition for this unit to help them make the most out of their charges. I'd strongly recommend that at least some sort of Independant character to lead them into battle so they don't go attacking what seems to be the best, and with the best i mean the closest target.

Independent Character Builds:

Wolf Priest w/ Jump Pack, Melta Bomb 130 Pts.
Notes: A simple way of dealing with most things on the table, all in all it's not a bad build.

Rune Priest w/ Jump Pack, Melta Bomb 130 Pts.
Notes: With Divination you could get re-rolls from the Primaris Power, re-roll to hit/to wound and saving throws with "Precognition", make the opponent re-roll all successful saving throws with "Misfortune", or perhaps a 4+ Invulnerable save for the whole unit with "Forewarning".

This unit also has the potential to be a fairly durable Linebreaker unit as well. I also think that using the deep strike rule with these guys could put you at a disadvantage, more so than just letting them walk over the board since you have to stand and wait for 1 round and do nothing before you can actually do anything after deep striking. But hey! if you are already fielding Skyclaws, then winning the match most likely isn't your top priority.

Swiftclaw Bikers:

Okay, so bikers in my book are all about the mobility and the possibility to be tank hunters. The greatest strength of the swiftclaw bikers however, are their bikes. It Sounds pretty obvious to you as you read it, but if you compare it to other armies bikes, the swiftclaws have some disadvantages. First of all they are WS 3 and BS 3, which makes them less than good at both shooting and close combat due to the unit not being very big in addition to being less skilled. The other fact that buggers me about them is that they can't be troops like in the Space marine codex. That way they are left to only function as a support role for the rest of the army and looses out to other choice in the army in my book.

If i were to take Bikers in a space wolf army i think it would have to be a versatile unit that can support just about any other part of my army. Let's say the long fangs can't take down that land raider fast enough! Swiftclaws comes up the flank with a multi-melta and a meltagun, led by a wolf guard on a bike with a combi-melta. Pew Pew, there goes the durable land raider into pieces. Let's say that a swarm of Orkz/Nids are running straight towards your lines ready to decimate some of your more valuable units, the swiftclaws comes in and cuts them off before they can reach their destination. Again, Support.

If you get my point, that is how i would play them when it comes to space wolves bikers. In other Armies i'd use them as scoring units that can hold their ground much better due to T5 and mobility as well as being a harassing unit chocked with meltaguns to take out tanks and TEQ units with shooting, and assaulting mostly when i know i'll be coming out of the combat with minor casualties.

I don't really have any Preferred Builds when it comes to Swiftclaw bikers, other than having a wolf guard on a bike with them, but they are most likely the only unit i would kit out to be a "Jack Of All Trades".

Fenrisian Wolves:

I like Fenrisian wolves, but only when taken with a character that has Saga of The Wolfkin. That way they are I5 and Ld 7 instead of their usual profile. It also helps if you have a powerhouse HQ on a Thunderwolf that you wish to deliver into close combat. They are beasts, so they can easily move through terrain and they can be used to bog down other units, and best of all, they only cost 8 points a piece.

"WLDS"
10-15 Fenrisian Wolves 80-120 Pts

I like to call this unit a "WLDS", A Wolf Lord Delivery System. That's basically what I have taken them for in previous lists that i have played, but since i don't use thunderwolves too much because of the meta shift with flyers and all, i can't really say they go as a competitive solution anymore.

However, analyze your meta first before you write them of, because they can put out quite an amount of attacks, and as numbers and dices go, with pure weight of numbers, something is bound to go down.

Thunderwolf Cavalry:

Alright! We have gone through this unit so many times in discussions all over the internet, and i honestly don't feel like saying too much about it since Declan has written up quite the analysis of them a little while back. Sorry, it's my lazyness kicking in :P

However, i will not leave them totally untouched, here's a build that has worked well for me earlier although it does cost alot of points.

Team Jacob
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 3x Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer 270 Pts.

Alright, so the idea here is that they can hunt anything! There are two guys with S5 and rending and a S10 Thunder hammer guy. You can Instant death some stuff and have a fair chance of getting rending on some of the attacks. With 4 attacks in the profile and 5 attacks on the charge, you can wreck just about anything that doesn't fly. They are also quite durable due to their storm shields that grants them 3+ Invulnerable saves. Add in a badass Thunder-Wolf-Lord and you have your very own deathstar that actually works.

Land Speeders:

Picture Taken From Spellscape Miniatures

I like Land speeders. I've liked them since i saw star wars back when i was a kid, and i don't really see how people can hate speeders at all. So what do land speeders do? well, they can do quite a lot of cool things actually. I thought i might as well list up a few reasons why you should take speeders.

No.1 Land Speeders Are Cool
No.2 Land Speeders Are Versatile
No.3 Land Speeders Are Fast
No.4 Land Speeders Are Fairly Cheap
No.5 If you have some points left, why not?

There Are of course some reasons that might compel you not to take them, like, you don't have the points for them, they are only AV 10 all around and only have 2 Hullpoints, or they don't fit your style. But most of all, i think if you are going to take something from the fast attack section of the FoC, it might as well be Land Speeders. You can fit them to take out most things effectively at a budget rated price tag when it comes to points, maybe not so much when it comes to your wallet.

With the choices between Heavy flamers, Heavy Bolters, Multi-Meltas, Assault Cannons and Typhoon Missile Launchers, you can basically arm yourself for just about anything.

Missile Speeders:

1 Land Speeder w/ Typhoon Missile Launchers 90 Pts.
1 Land Speeder w/ Typhoon Missile Launchers 90 Pts.

If you are going first in a game, then deply these guys to help taking out units for First Blood and removing threats that can take them down very fast. In most cases, they should be able to do something that first round unless night fighting is happening. But if you can't shoot your enemy, then your enemy most likely can't shoot you either.

If you happen to go second, you could deploy them in reserves or simply hide them behind terrain or use range limitations of your enemy to negate them giving first blood.

Melta-Speeders:

Picture Taken From Spellscape Miniatures

1x Land Speeder w/ Multi Melta 60 Pts.
1x Land Speeder w/ Multi Melta 60 Pts.

These are some sort of suicide units that can, with the right rolls really mess up your enemy formation and to top it of, it's not that many points that gets blown up should they happen to accomplish very little. They can work as tank hunters and transportation disruptors and the like. I however like the missile variant better despite it's point costs. The difference though is that you could have 3 land speeders with the melta loadout and only 2 with the missiles for the same amount of points.

If you Would like it to hunt transports, i might suggest adding a heavy flamer to the melta variant for some infantry killing power. It could also be a very nice way to kit them out in a TAC-List kind of way.

With that out of the way i think that i've gotten through most of the units in this book, except for the Special Characters.

As usual, I really enjoy hearing of your exploits with the units we all have to work with. How do you play them? how well do they play? What Builds do you find optimal?

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your time.
-Rune

Tau. They make Grim Dark look shiny and new.

2013-04-15T12:28:00.001-04:00

The tau list is here. The most overdue codex has finally arrived, I will take a look at the codex from the Space Wolf player's point of view and just give you a run through of the units and what they can do. I honestly don't care what the Dark Angels or any other army can do against Tau as this is a Space Wolves blog and I'm here to give you a few tips to bring glory to the armies of Fenris. The obvious one it do not get caught in the open, this is the army that lives for shooting do not meet them on their terms.

Tau special rules:

The Tau have changed a good bit from their old codex. They now gain the Supporting Fire and Bonding Knife Ritual special rules. How their drones work and Marker Lights have gotten a change up which makes them far more useful. They are still low initiative and strength who would die in their droves if a combat unit got in amongst them but getting into combat with them has gotten even harder. I play against Tau regularly but I am not sure if I will be keeping my win/loss record against this army.

Supporting Fire is a large divergence from the norm. If a Tau unit is assaulted any Tau unit within 6" can overwatch fire at the charging unit. Tau units may only overwatch once per turn but this can be quite deadly when you are dealing with a gunline as 60 shots should see a lot more failed charges against Tau.

The Bonding Knife just allows a unit to make a re-group test even when below 25%. It is a boon for non-space marine units as they can always sit the remains of a shattered unit on an objective in area terrain and go to ground.

Drones no longer die when you kill their character or controller. They stay as a unit, this means that a sniper drone unit cannot be taken out by a lucky shot or jaws hitting the controller and that the useful drones that the Tau HQ unit buys don't go away when the character dies. They either form a unit on their own or stay attached to the unit their Independent Character joined.

Marker Lights are not fun. They are a weapon that just has to hit to cause an effect, this effect is that for every hit you get a marker counter. When shooting at a marked unit the Tau army can discard counters for different effects, 2 counters remove all cover saves, 1+ counters to increase the BS of the unit or 1+ marker counter to fire seeker missiles. Only units with networked marker lights can make use of their own counters. Marker Lights can be used in overwatch, so if you get hit with Supporting fire from a pathfinder team and anything is in range to make use of marker counters you could be in trouble.

The warlord traits are also of note. Precision of the Skilled Hunter prevents ranged attacks from the warlord being reallocated with "Look out Sir!". Through Unity, Devastation is a one shot power that allows all Tau units within 12" to re-roll their to hit rolls for a phase. A Ghost Walks Among Us give the warlord and his unit 3D6" movement in the assault phase instead of 2D6". Exemplar of the Selfless Cause allows a once per game ability of allowing all units gone to ground to get up and fight normally. Predator of the Skies makes the warlord and his unit Skyfire for a turn. Through Boldness Victory, the warlord can be like Dante and not scatter when they deep strike.

All of these abilities are good. None of them bar the Marker Light spring any broken tactics to mind but there are so many interactions that can happen in these rules that can crop up that there will be some very vicious army lists from what I have read.

What the units do:

Fire Warriors are the rank and file Tau soldier, they form the backbone of the army in theory. They have stats similar to guardsmen except with poorer combat abilities, a 4+ armour save and better weapons. They have photon grenades which negates your charge bonus and can Support Fire. They are very cheap, 9 points, and can get two drones for 12 points each with a Shas'ui. With large numbers of Marker Drones Fire Warriors can be very annoying, charging them becomes less and less attractive the more I think about it. Large numbers of losses will be incurred unless you are coming out of a Land Raider and even if you survive the overwatch you may be left out in the open as Tau are very easy to break in combat.

Kroot got their statline pulled down but they now have a 6+ armour save. They are now strength three and have mostly gone from a good disruption unit for assaults to a woodland harrier. They can take Kroot Hounds and Krootox and all three subspecies have infiltrate so you now deploy units with Krootox in the enemy's back half. The Kroot can take sniper rounds in their guns so they can pin units and make a stab at wounding even the toughest units. The Krootox is a bit of a glass cannon as they are only toughness 3 but the Kroot Hound offers the unit high initiative attacks and outflank. This unit is still a threat, sniper guns either infiltrating or outflanking can be a huge pain. The last thing you want is squad of Long Fangs pinned down because of a cheap 70 point unit.

Ethereals are now units worth taking for Tau. 50 points buys you a unit that will die easily but one that will buff all those around it until it finally goes down. It can take drones and combat weapons but the really interesting thing is the buffs they grand to all unit's in 12". The Ethereal gives all friendly Tau units LD 10 for almost all tests and can bestow one of the following rules on units, either stubborn, Feel no Pain (6+), models can snap-fire after running or they can fire an extra if armed with pulse weapons and the target is at half range. They are quite easy to kill if you can catch them alone, however they can make it a lot more exhausting to try and kill the Tau units around them.

The Tau have a non-crisis commander, a Cadre Fireblade. This is the king of fire warriors. With BS 5, 3 wounds a marker light/pulse rifle combo and split fire it can do a decent amount of work for 60 points. If this model sits still with it's unit they can all fire their pulse rifles or carbines with an extra shot. This coupled with an ethereal for small games would be quite a pain. They can make a gunline together that can fire 4 times at half range.

Crisis Commanders are just BS 5 gun platforms. With jetpacks, up to four weapons mounts, signature systems and support systems that can boost the abilities of the suit you could be looking at a seriously powerful piece of hardware. They can also take an upgrade for a 2+ armour save or feel no pain. A commander on their own is not too hectic but since it is only meant to be one model in a squadron of elites you really need to watch out for them.

Crisis Suit squads come in two flavours either Bodyguard Teams or normal XV8 squads. The Bodyguard Teams are a free slot available for every Commander in your army, the come in squads of 1-2 XV8s unless you take Farsight and then they get bumped to 7. These models are equivalent to the shas'vre of XV8 squads and can take all the usual XV8 buffs but can also take 2 drones each.

XV8 squads are just annoying, the can deep strike and move with impunity. A good player will keep them out of sight during your turn to minimise casualties before driving them forward in their turn to spam your lines with plasma fire. These are the main threat in a lot of the Tau lists I have seen. They are fast, well armed and have two wounds. Ideally krak missiles will scour these units from the board but waiting for them to fall into your line of sight is not a clever tactic.

Stealth suits are infiltrating jet units that can take homing beacons to guide down deep striking units and can harry your back lines with 4 shots per model. These guys have stealth and shrouded so the'll be difficult to blast away before they can do anything and if they are in any cover at all they'll be getting a 2+ cover save.

The Riptide is a Crisis Suit on steroids. It is a strength and toughness 6 monstrous creature, with a 2+ armour and 5+ invulnerable save. This beast can have twin missile systems, plasma guns or fusion blasters as a secondary weapon and the main weapon consists of either a heavy burst cannon or an ion accelerator. The nova reactor allows the Riptide to risk taking a wound in exchange for a bump to either its invulnerable save to a 3+, it can fire it's secondary weapon twice, nova-charge its main weapon or it can move 4D6" for an assault move. The Heavy burst cannon is normally 8 shots at strength 6 and AP4 but if you nova charge it the weapon fires 12 shots with gets hot and rending. The ion accelerator has three modes of fire, either normally 3 shots at strength 7, AP2 or a strength 8, AP2 get's hot large blast if overcharged and if nova-charged it strength 9 and ordnance on top of overcharges rules. This beast can be tooled up with a pair of shielded missile drones to keep the Riptide from taking all of the hits and to further augment it's fire power. The riptide is hard to kill, harder to catch and good at what it does. As a monstrous creature it won't go down easy, in combat if it can hit your models they are likely to die from the AP 2 combat hits.

Pathfinders are the most important support unit in the Tau army, they are the marker light unit. These models offer the ability for all of the big guns of the army to fire at BS 5 and ignore your cover saves. Two small units of pathfinders and a Cadre Fireblade make for a dangerous combination, the fireblade marks an important unit, the pathfinders get a BS bump and mark the unit for a lot more marker counters. They are scouts and can turn up in unwanted places if they don't begin the game on the board they may end up outflanking into your back line. They can also take experimental weapons, rail rifles, S6 AP1 rapid fire or ion rifles S7 AP4 rapidfire and S8 AP4 gets hot heavy 1 blast. Another experimental option is a choice of drones, Recon drones which has a homing beacon and allows outflanking units to come in along a board edge within 6". Grav-inhibitor drones knock D3" off an enemy unit's charge towards the drone's unit and the Pulse Accelerator drone adds 6" to pulse weapons' range. Pathfinders are a big priority, they can fit in a lot of Marker Lights and take a few upgrades to make them a thorn in your side. Rail rifles are lethal and an overcharged ion blast can make a go of armour or instant kill characters, if you get the chance to wipe them out or break them take it.

Vespids are 18 points a model for a S5 AP3 assault 1 weapon, initiative 6 and 1 attack. They are in theory a combat unit or marine killer but they are not strong or well armoured enough for combat. Their guns are dangerous but a couple of frag missiles would sort these guys out before they do much damage.

The Tau flyers are of interest, they have light armour but carry an array of high impact weapons. The bomber can drop a S5 AP5 large blast in the movement phase and can generate additional bombs on a roll of a 2+. This, coupled with two Interceptor drones armed with twin ion rifles, a networked marker light and a missile pod makes the Sun Shark a high output fire platform. Two overcharged ion rifle shots and a pair of S7 missiles on one squad, after a large blast hit another due to the bombing run and a seeker missile on top of it all makes for a large amount of fire. It's not the most dangerous flyer but it's not without it's strengths. Space marines aren't as worried about it as orks or tyranids should be but its weight of numbers is worrisome.

The Razorshark on the other hand has a very different load out, 2 seeker missiles, a quad-ion gun which is either 4 normal ion-rifle shots or a large blast when overchaged. It can deliver a lot of firepower but isn't much of an anti-flyer model in comparison to the Dark Angel Nephalim which is almost guaranteed a penetrating hit on most flyers. It's turrets cannot offer much overlap of fire so you are likely not to get the full brunt of the fire from this flyer at all times.

Broadsides are back and just as lethal, everything they carry is twinlinked. They now have a weaker Railgun,the Heavy Rail Rifle but at S8 AP1 it's still quite a beast and they can also swap the railgun for a missile suite that gives 4 shots of S7 AP4. Charging these mechs got a lot more dangerous and since the can fire two weapons at once they can make full use of their smart missiles or plasma rifles. As with XV8 suits there are a lot of options available to them from the support systems, the most important ones are the Velocity Tracker which gives the choice of skyfire to the unit and sheild generators which grant a 4+ save to the model. These are very expensive so if you can take these models you can cripple the tau heavy fire but with a 2+ save and 2 wounds it will be an uphill battle without plasma or power fists.

Skyrays are a very powerful unit in this codex. They can skyfire have 2 networked marker lights and 6 seeker missiles plus two gun drones that can have their weapons upgraded. The Skyray can now fire it's own seekers and use he marker lights to take away cover saves from flyers and flying monstrous creatures before firing all of its missiles in a single turn if the target is such a threat. Even after expending its missiles the Skyray is a threat due to the marker lights boosting other unit's firepower. Kill them quick because they can make life hell with vehicle upgrades. Items that grant vehicles precision shots are very dangerous when seeker missiles or Hammerheads that get to expend marker counters come into play.

Hammerheads are still dangerous. The ion cannon has become a weapon worth taking again but the railgun is immensely powerful against armour. If you are facing this skimmer only a Landraider has a hope of making it across the board against the railgun. The ion cannon can fire 3 S7 AP3 shots or a large blast S8 AP3, it will decimate grey hunter and long fang squads.

Sniper drone teams are back again, as I said already they don't fall apart when the hammer falls on their Firesight Marksmen. With markerlights and sniper weapons that can rapidfire these units can tie up your troops with pinning tests. I don't know if you'll see them on the board since they are competing with all of the other heavy support choices.

How they are an issue?:

Crisis suits will maim any marine unit with plasma, they can all fire two weapons and have blacksun filters that cancel night fighting. They are damn difficult to pin down and they have more options and buffs to take so they are very versatile. The only saving grace is that you cannot build an entire army out of them. Unless your opponent splashes out the points on Farsight the maximum is 15 suits in 5 squads and two Independent characters. They are devastating when played well and can easily kill Grey Hunters and Terminator Wolf Guard are not much safer. Long Fangs are the only trusted method to kill these units as they have the range and the weapons, bolter fire can take a few down and plasma guns will be of great utility too but XV8s are unlikely to be out in the open. Rushing the Tau can work but it is a highly risky manoeuvre that can fail more often than win.

The Riptide is the biggest distraction you could face, it does enough damage to make you need to deal with it but it isn't important enough in the game to take your eye off of other units. It is named aptly as it will drag you away from where you need to be. As it is elite it can never score but it is hardy enough that it can probably contest any objective and survive the game there.

The tanks are good at taking out other armour and with the right load outs are amazingly good at killing marines. They'll be probably armed with disruption pods to give them a +1 to their cover saves and with armour 13 in the front it won't be easy to take them down. Outflanking units such as Wolf Scouts with melta guns can make a go of these skimmers but a 4+ cover save after moving is quite a pain to contend with. Broadsides are a priority to kill, with their loadouts they can be devastating, three armour negating shots from a plasma/railgun broadside or 9 missiles in two different flavours these units are dangerous.

The troops are not great in combat but with better weapons and range than a space marine they are not something to take lightly. Charging into a mass of Tau will see a charge fail and your unit will be wiped out before your next turn. While Kroot are easy to gun down they are only played in cover and rarely move out unless they have to so you may need to ignore them to focus on bigger threats but if you don't deal with them quick enough you'll have a thorn in your side in the last turn.

Their flyers are not the biggest threat in the codex, they are not without use but their points can be far more effective in the heavy support slots than in flyers. What good is a flyer that cannot negate armour saves for almost all of your army compared to a Hammerhead of equal cost?

Conclusions:

The Tau are here, they are dangerous. I look at the codex and think that nothing is useless and everything has it's place. They bring massed firepower and are one of the most dangerous armies in combat just because of their overwatch potential. They will ruin tanks and cripple squads. Without a fast reactive army list you cannot deal with them. I think that landspeeders are probably going to make a re-appearance in my army list for the first time since 3rd edition (I hate speeder models that much) just to ensure I can move fast enough to put some firepower into the Tau where it is needed. Fast units with strong firepower are what you need. Bikes, speeders and long range fire support are the best ways I see to deal with Tau. Thunderwolves could work but they are too expensive to throw away in a fusillade of small arms fire.

On the other side of the coin, I think I just found my allied force. While watching a game the other day broadsides did serious damage to the Chaos flyer in one turn of snap fire, with a 20 point upgrade I think I've found the best anti-flyer unit in the game to take with my army. 3 broadsides, a Cadre fireblade for his marker light and some Kroot are all I need to do serious damage to any flyers that come onto the board. They should also put a few dents in any infantry that cross my allies path.

Vehicles, why have people abandoned them?

2013-04-07T21:21:00.000-04:00

I read the rule book nearly a year ago and though to myself, there goes my Blood Angels list with all of those Rhino chaises now being paper thin. I also thought my Space Wolves should become all infantry. Coming back to building a list now I am sure that was not the right move. This week while I wait for Codex Tau to be delivered I think we need to talk about what place vehicles have in Space Wolves armies and how they should be played.

Transports:

In 5th edition it was possible that a Rhino could take 20 shots from krak missiles and just spend the entire game with crew shaken or crew stunned. If you were mounting up all of your troops you had a much lower chance of having a traffic jam on the board and you would only have one or two transports left behind as your enemy had to either prioritise or spread their fire too thinly to be effective. When tanks did get a chance to cross the board it did so and really gave your army a rapid boost across the table. Transports covered a good distance before popping the smoke launchers to keep it free from getting torn apart by an infantry meltagun or some other anti-armour gun. The next turn you threw the contents out to make the most of shooting or assault. If you played Razorbacks you just sat the tiny squad inside and waited by an objective until the tank got wrecked or the game ended. Drop pods rained from the sky and covered the board while Land Raider pairs would sweep the board with massed fire.

Transports are still a necessity in sixth edition, it is not a question of will your transports get destroyed, they will. The question is how can I use them to their fullest before they do so. While your local metagame may not have lots of non-flyer vehicles I think there is a grave over simplification of what they can do. The speed with which infantry can get across the board is not enough to successfully exploit the objectives. The volumes of AP 2 and AP 3 weapons out there and the danger of the units like the Heldrake means that keeping your unit from taking these shots becomes more pronounced.

Rhinos are still good for what they do and if you go first or it is nightfighting you can get a decent cover-save by popping smoke or you can move flat out to try and cover the distance.

Razorbacks are not great for Space Wolves, they are very useful in other armies especially Blood Angels but I don't see them at their best here. They necessitate small squads or if you have more than six men cannot be used as transports. While they bring a lot of AP 2 guns, they are no more durable than the Rhino and cannot use smoke launchers if you want to make any use of their firepower. You also cannot move flat out if you want to make use of the guns. It's a case of it can either be a gun platform or a transport but it cannot do both well. I think for Space Wolves they are something that should be left on the shelf or maybe taken with long fangs as a throw away tank if you have points to burn.

Land Raiders are still the king of tanks. They are hard to damage and can pump out a huge volume of firepower. It's unlikely you'll be taking them as a dedicated transport but if you are pushing a dozen terminators across the board it will get them there in good shape and allow you to pepper the enemy with lots of firepower. Each flavour of Land Raider offers a different weapon profile but if you go for the Redeemer or Crusader you won't have to worry about shooting until you are within 24" or closer. They are the only assault vehicles that Space Wolves have access to. This beast is proof against everything but heavy or exotic weapons. If it isn't strength 8 or higher a landraider can shrug it off. With 4 hull points it will take quite a bit to wreck this tank, with Tau having a new codex there is a lot more ways to kill a tank. Melta weapons at half range and haywire grenades are still major threats but these tanks don't have to worry about being killed by normal infantry guns stealing their hull points.

Nothing changes how Drop Pods work. They are just as much of a paper box that delivers Space Wolves where you need them as ever. With armour twelve and being opened topped, they cannot handle much firepower before being wrecked or even exploded. They will still give up a kill point very easily. While I wouldn't recommend an entire drop pod army, they are a great way to put units where you want and give you a first turn counter deployment. I don't think they need much discussion as they are the most popular vehicle in the codex at the moment.

Battle Tanks:

The battle tanks in the Space Wolf army are not a popular option Long Fangs are the popular choice. Predators and Vindicators are tough in the front with armour 13. They keep the worst of the fire off and can do different things with their weapons. A Predator can move and shoot or just sit and fire all of its weapons at full BS, while the Vindicator has to move up close to the enemy before dropping ordnance. They can do some damage before they are torn down but I am not sure they do enough to earn their worth in most games.

The Whirlwind is like the Rhino when it comes to longevity but what it does is sit in the back shooting missiles. It compliments Long Fangs when it comes to dealing with hordes. If an enemy can get anywhere near to this tank it won't last long but you stand a good shot of recouping the cost with a large blast that ignores cover.

I think the battle tanks are going to be sidelined for a while longer in the Space Wolves lists. For them to really work there needs to be 2-3 of the same tank carrying out the same role and forcing the enemy to split fire. Even if there is a large number of transports in your list, your opponent will prioritise a Vindicator over a Rhino every time. Their survivability requires a force multiplier and without it I don't think there is any point in using them. One lone tank shooting into the board risks a lucky shot killing it early, three tanks require far greater luck.

Dreadnoughts:

At range dreads fear most weapons as they don't have the armour to shrug off hammer blows. This gives you two options, take ranged dreadnoughts and hope to keep outside the big gun's range or to go for close combat and try to avoid power fists or the like. If you try to foot slog your army, the dreds can keep in cover behind infantry, they can also hide behind tanks. Like the battle tanks they require greater numbers to draw away firepower. That being said dreads are still used in Drop Pods and thrown into battle with wild abandon to act as line breakers. A cheap dread with assault cannon or dual heavy flamers can do a world of damage on the first turn and if they survive to get into assault against troops they should be fine. However with armour 12 up front, a few powerfist attacks can seriously harm them. I think Dreadnoughts work but only when supported.

Conclusion:

Since we still don't have any flyers I think we need to look at what we have to work with. Armour is something we can use still in our lists. They don't last for ever but they supply mobile cover, greatly improve our mobility and make the lists work better. Land Raiders can get you where you need to go and once that is done they can shoot away at what remains. Rhinos will get you there like a budget airline, it won't be pleasant, you won't like it and the transport may not survive the trip but you'll get there. Dreadnoughts, Predators, Vindicators and Whirlwinds are not fit to be sole hunters, if taken in packs they can do some good work. Yes there are other options available but an all infantry army hasn't got a hope in the wider meta-game.

Elites: 6th Edition

2013-04-01T05:42:00.000-04:00

Hello again fellow wargamers, it's Wolf Lord Rune here again with some new yet old stuff. Continuing with the update of our units for 6th Edition.

I was thinking that today, I was gonna take a look at a section that seems to be often neglected by many players. At least based on my firsthand experience with other marine playing armies. Kind of Funny how that is so, considering that the units presented here are quite good. I'm talking about the "Elites" section.

The Elites And What They Bring To The Table:

Unlike many other Marine armies, ours looks quite different. There is nothing that is called sternguard and Vanguard veterans for example. When we look at the elites section it's often a specialized unit designed to fulfill a specific purpose in an armylist. I guess that might be why there isn't always that many elite units fielded, considering there might be units that can do the same job at almost the same success rate while doing other things like scoring objectives and such. Moving on to the units included in this section of our book then.

Wolf Guard

These guys are often said to be a compulsory choice for adding a character/sergeant to a squad of Grey Hunters, but you always have the choice of not taking the Leader of the pack with them for the extra free special weapon from having 10 Grey hunters and still be able to fit them in a Rhino or Drop Pod. When taking less than 10 men of any kind of squad that you wish to fit in a transport i think the wolf guard pack leader is a great choice since it can add a sergeant to take challenges and some special weapons for dealing with armoured units.

If you are on foot with a maxed out squad then i think the Terminator armour option is needed so you can take some 2+ saves for the team due to model placement. Also you can Look Out Sir the wound if it's something that would kill him anyway, just make sure the closest guy is not one with a special weapon/upgrade.

These guys also have the option to take terminator armor and the versatility seldom seen in any unit and can therefore be tailored to do just about anything. With that said, it also can be one of the most expensive unit in the codex as well.

A cool thing with Wolf Guard is that if you take Logan Grimnar as your HQ choice, these guys counts as Troop Choices, which in itself isn't to be taken lightly.

Also, Wolf guard have a unique character upgrade which is Arjac Rockfist, which costs the price of a wolf guard model and another 170 pts on top of that. What you'e looking at for these points is aWolf Guard Terminator with 2 wounds, a Storm Shield which grants an extra attack in the first round of any assaults he makes, a Thunder Hammer which he can throw 6", Saga of the Bear(Eternal Warrior). In addition his special rules like Grimnars Champion: Arjac has to allocate his attacks against an indepenent character if it is possible, in addition it let's him re-roll all failed to-hit rolls against Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures. He also has the Stubborn special rule which let's his entire unit ignore any negative modifiers when you have to take a leadership test.

So Arjac is one hell of a close combat monster, but don't expect him to make his points value back on the tabletop. My number one issue with him is that he costs so many points, and he only has 2 wounds. That being said, he is really cool, the model that came out last year is also very cool, and running him in a fluffy list with Logan Grimnar is guess what... very cool.

Leaders of The Pack:
3(or more) Wolf Guard Armed with Combi-Weapons according to the special weapons in the squads each wolf guard model joins.

Each wolf guard model cost 23 Points with just a combi weapon and nothing else, nice leadership boost and some more shooting output than a regualr marine. If you want him to be able to kill stuff in close combat add in a Power Sword or a Power Axe for 10 cheap well spent points.

These guys are nice to add in to grey hunter squads to add some punch and firepower and just seems like a very nice addition to just about any army. I don't really care much for footslogging Space Wolves armies since it takes a damn long time to walk across the table, meet something that ignores cover while shooting at you and your squads won't be lasting all too long. Yes CSM, i am looking at you and your annoying noise marines and blastmasters.

Distracterrific Mk1:
5 Wolf Guard Terminators w/ 3 Combi-Plasma, 2 Combi-Melta, Drop Pod 225 Pts.

Alright, so things that i think Wolf guard do well is using Combi-Weapons at a fairly cheap price tag, dropping them in with a Drop Pod is a nice way of greeting your enemy on the tabletop. With a Setup like this you can cause quite some disarray in the turn you come in and have some staying power as well while letting other units in your army advance without taking too much fire, Nobody wants 5 terminators walking around their own deployment zone causing havoc for multiple turns.

They are good for taking out MEQ units such as Devastator Squads, combat squads, Xenos, and with a bit of luck you can even take out some TEQ units if your rolls in the shooting phase aren't half-bad. You can also take out tanks if your roll decently on the dice with the combi weapons if that is the most threatening unit your opponenet has brought. Think of how much you'd love having your Long Fangs Removed early in the game because of a unit armed like this came in on turn 1 and shot you to pieces.

Assault Guard:

5 Wolf Guard Terminators w/ 3x Double Wolf Claws, 2x Powerfist/Storm Shield. 260 Pts
Dedicated Transport: Land Raider Redeemer w/ Multi-Melta. 250 Pts.

These Guys are really cool and bring one heck of a punch to the party with the land raider adding a bit of shooting to soften up targets before you charge in and mop up the rest of the gang.
With this setup you have a little room to mix it up a bit as well since the land raider redeemer can carry up to twelve models or sic models with the bulky rule. In any case i would urge you to add a nice HQ or something to give even more punch to this squad.

Possible Candidates for this would often be a Wolf Lord, Wolf Priest, Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Logan Grimnar, Arjac Rockfist and such. Actually, a Rune Priest is not too shabby either with the right powers.

If i were to take a Rune Priest with me, i think i would take the powers from the Space Wolves Codex, like Living Lightning and JotWW or Biomancy Powers to make him a bit more Awesome.

The biomancy Primaris power Smite isn't half-bad when you think of it( S4, AP2, Assault 4) and the other powers like Life Leech, Iron Arm and Warp Speed can really enhance the output of your Rune Priest, to top it off, a Rune Priest with Terminator armor and a Wolftooth Necklace is only 130 Points and also adds psychic protection to most of your army with the insane reach the runic staff has, for an extra overkill upgrade you could take Master of Runes to be able to cast 2 Psychic Powers each turn, your Rune Priest now costs 180 pts. Like a true Deathstar in points value i'd say.

Divination has misfortune of course, which means that any saving throws made by your opponent that were successful must be re-rolled, and Forewarning gives you 4+ invulnerable save which is pretty darn good as well, but that would depend on how many Storm Shields your unit has.

Telekinesis doesn't seem to fit all to well with this group so i usually wouldn't be using that.

Well, i guess that would cover the Wolf Guard unit for my sake, feel free to add in some cents in the comment field :)

Dreadnoughts:

Dreadnoughts, i've always loved dreadnoughts... Actually Walkers in general i think. If there is something that screams Fire Support it must be the dreadnought in our codex. The main reason for that is that they cannot have 2 Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons while many other Space marine armies can. I would like them to be able to have it, but then again, most people would probably end up using a shooty rifleman dread in 6th Edition anyway. It's basically a tank that walks instead of rolls and has an Armour Value of F12, S12, R10 and has 3 Hull Points which makes it quite Durable. Then there is the bigger brother, the Venerable Dreadnought. What you pay for in general is BS and WS 5 and you can make your opponent re-roll a dice on the Vehicle Damage Chart should you not like the result he got. But for 60 points extra, i think i'd rather take those point into another Dread or something entirely different.

So now that we all agree that Dreadnoughts are very stylish looking i think it is safe to proceed with the roles a dreadnought can fulfill in deeper detail.

Autocannon Rifleman:
Dreadnought w/ 2x (T)win Linked Autocannons 125 Pts.

With 4 S7, Ap4 shots a turn at 48" range with re-rolls to hit, i'd say it's a fair price to pay for an excellent, durable weapons Platform. A thing i like with it is that you can place it on the field and the enemy will often overlook it for a while since it doesn't scream SHOOT ME FIRST! That leaves it with some room to perform it's role of support fire admirably. It can take out Fliers if need be, it can take out transports and it can instakill Xenos/Guardsmen if there isn't much else to shoot at. In any case i think that the Rifleman Dread is really worth a look at if you are going for a gunline army or simply just need something to support your advancing troops. It can also easily help you get first blood by just popping a transport.

Standard Template Dreadnought:
Dreadnought w/ Nakedness and a Drop Pod 140 Pts.
Options: Replace Assault Cannon with Twin Linked Multi-Melta For tank busting.

It's kind of a 5th Edition trick that you put a Dread with a Multi-Melta in a pod and blow stuff up only to get blasted next turn, but hey, it still works against some armies. Actually, with a twin linked Multi melta, that Terminator unit riding in a Land Raider might nit even get across the board if you get to blow it up early in the game. The exchange of a Dreadnought vs a land raider and some delayed models inside the land raider is quite a good bargain. Another example is the Dark Eldar. They Do not like to be surprised by a Dreadnought Dropping in and firing an Assault Cannon/Multi-Melta into their Raiders/Venoms early in the game causeing things to explode killing little space elves by the second, causing them to flee of the board. Maybe not something to rely upon, but it is known to work.

Anyways, i like Dreadnoughts, i think they are worth their salt, and i'd like to hear your opinions on how you work them out or how you think they are bad should that be the case.

Iron Priest:

I'm not gonna lie, i haven't got much experience with the Iron Priest... There simply is no room for him in a list that i feel would work out nicely on the tabletop. Why? well, you have so much other stuff that is ten times better points spent. He is fragile once he fails his armour save(2+) beacuse of ony 1 wound, of course the cyberwolves are cool and all, quite cheap for what they do, but this unit really isn't going to make your army better and is not a very forgiving unit should you play it unwisely. Although i would say that your first mistake is made the moment you decide to put these guys into your army for other than cool looking models.

Sure, he has a thunder hammer, a servo arm, Runic armor, can be mounted on a Thunderwolf, can add in cyberwolves and servitors... But he just doesn't fit the playstyle of the space wolves in my most sincerely honest opinion.

On a side note, i would love to be proven wrong if anyone has had any success fielding this fella here with his little minions and creations.

Wolf Scouts:

I actually like wolf scouts quite alot. They can outflank nicely behind enemy lines and you could rely on them to appear mostly where you want them to come in due to Their "Behind Enemy Lines" and "Acute Senses" special Rules.

Their role as i see it is basically to pop some armour in the enemy deployment zone and then move along to the next target. My biggest beef however with the Scouts in the Space Wolves Codex is that they are Elites Choices instead of being Troops Choices like in the Space Marine Codex.

Wolf Scout Tank Hunters:
5 Wolf Scouts w/ 1x Melta Bomb, Meltagun. 90 Pts.
Other Options: Adding in more melta bombs to make things blow up in assault, although you would have to survive that first turn where you are stuck with only shooting.

Basically outflank these guys and start blowing stuff up. It's not the best option in the book due to less vehicles in 6th ed. But against Imperial Guard with tanks and stuff, these guys can make holes in the static formation that IG tends to have.

if you'd like you could also have sniper rifles to make wolf scouts have a different role, but surely you can think of other things that can fulfill those roles equally good or better.

Any other thoughts on this unit would a make me happy as with all the other units :)

Lone Wolves:

Okay guys. The lone wolves are quite the weird unit i must say. I don't think i will go too much into their effectiveness as they can perform very well for some, and only be a points sink for others. What i do like is the concept of the unit. The last man remaining of a wolf pack... I am a bit at a loss since i don't really enjoy fielding these guys. There are some well known build for these that have been stated earlier which i think is a bit over the top and some that i think are plain cool.

Lone Wolf #1:
Lone Wolf w/ Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves 105 Pts.

Hmmm, running these guys around the table can be quite effective considering that they will either take fire from other units, or simply be ignored until they hit the frontlines and starts to kill something. The funny thing about the lone wolves is that you want them to die. Kamikaze for the win however absurd it sounds. a way of keeping out of too much fire would be running up the field behind a transport or something that blocks line of sight would work if you want him to keep alive for as long as possible.

Lone Wolf #2:
Lone Wolf w/ Storm Shield, Mark Of the Wulfen. 65 Pts.
Optional Upgrades: 2 Fenrisian Wolves. +20 Pts.

With Mark Of the Wulfen, you get 1+d6 attacks and those attacks my friend are Rending! Add in the Storm Shield for some survivability and if you feel like it, add in some extra bodies in form of fenrisian wolves to protect from shooting and you've got yourself a mad as hatters furry friend that only wishes to die in battle(while taking some xenos scum down with him). I like this option the best since it's a bit cheaper, i don't want to throw in the equivalent of a Dreadnought in points for a suicidal little mongrel that might get something done or nothing at all.

Looking at what these two builds presents, then it is clear that the top one is more dedicated to deal with vehicles and armoured units, while the second one is more of an infantry hunter. Either way, as for points efficiency i don't think that these guys are the best of choices.

Conclusion:

With that wall of text out of the way, I would say that there are many options that are good, some that are alright and at least one option which i think is a bad choice altogether. If i were to state my favorite units from the elites sections it would be as follows:

Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannons
Wolf Guard Pack Leaders w/ Power Axes/Combi-Weapons
Wolf Guard Terminator w/ Combi-Weapons
Wolf Guard Assault Terminators

As a last note, The pack Leaders can also be part of the same squad as the terminators. That means that you get a nice and tough unit while you also get some boosting effects to your Troop choices, all from only 1 Force Organisation Slot, which is pretty nifty i'd say.

Again, Thanks to all who keep on reading the Space Wolves Blog! It is for you that we write, well... and a little bit for ourselves that we keep on writing. It helps to catalogue our own thoughts as well as getting new thoughts from all of your helpful comments. We all have different minds, and that is what makes this hobby so great!

If you have anything to add, or want to ask about, just put it in the comment section below! Sharing is Caring, right?

Space Wolf Tactics: Thunderwolf Cavalry

2013-03-25T08:27:00.001-04:00

Unit Name: Thunderwolves
Unit Type: Fast attack, 1-5 model squads of cavalry.
Construction: Using the thunderwolves pack box.
Unit Deployment: In partial cover to screen line of sight.
Unit in play: Rapid strike assault squad.
Unit is most effective against: Low initiative or horde squads.

General Discussion:

Do you like space wolves riding wolves from space into battle? If so, Thunderwolf Cavalry. These guys are the secret wing of the wolf guard; nobody talks about them outside of the chapter. Only the strongest of the warriors can tame the monstrous wolves that roam the Asaheim plains, to even attempt this feat you need to be inducted into the wolf guard. I love the models and they bring a proper combat edge to your army. I took a look at these beasts again as I am currently playing around with a juggernaut lord for my chaos army.

What do you get for your investment?

Thunderwolves come with power armour, bolt pistol, combat weapon, frag and krak grenades. They also come on a large beast that increases their combat efficacy by lending them the rending, fleet and hammer of wrath special rules. The cavalry come with the stat-line of a Grey Hunter with a few changes. An extra point in strength and toughness as well as baseline 4 attacks makes these beasts something to fear.

If you don’t know how cavalry play yet, there are a few quick things that they do. They move 12” and have the fleet rule. Fleet means that they can re-roll their run or charge distance. These beasts can cover on average 15.5” a turn and up to 24” the turn they charge. At the end of turn two they should be anywhere you want them to be on the board. While they aren’t slowed by difficult terrain and because of frag grenades don’t take an initiative penalty, there is an issue of difficult terrain. Cavalry take a dangerous terrain test when they go through difficult terran. It’s not very likely but it can be problematic when you take a wound on the charge after having to weather overwatch.

When the beasts get to charge into combat they can rip units in two. Firstly hammer of wrath will soften the targets up, it doesn’t get any of the benefits from weapons or rending but it’s a free attack. Following that you have six attacks at initiative 4 with rending. If you run a large pack it can be quite a devastating unit.

What upgrades should be considered?

The weapons choices for the unit can be interesting. Firstly the idea of choosing mark of the wolfen is out of the question. You reduce a baseline 4 to D6+1, this averages to 4.5 attacks a turn. While the ability to get 7 attacks a turn sounds great, the truth of it is that you will also have to weather those turns you get 2 attacks. The cost of the upgrade is equal to a power weapon which can do a lot better than rending.

Thunderhammers and powerfists are a solid choice for an anti-armour or monster killing. Unfortunately they are expensive and ensure you strike last. The upside is that you are almost guaranteed a penetrating hit on all vehicles but the downside is that most units will be striking ahead of you. Concussive on the thunderhammer is no longer as good as it used to be, while it does mean that anything you wound will strike at initiative 1, it no longer effects vehicles. If you are stripping wounds off of a monster with the thunderhammer then it is unlikely that you care when it hits as you’ll not get an armour save and if the monster smashes you’ll still be instant killed. In general I think the power fist is a better buy as it does what you need without the extra points wasted.

Power weapons offer different choices, sword, axe, maul and lance do something interesting. This is the only unit on which the lance is not a waste of time. The strength bonus can really be brought to bear since Thunderwolves have the attacks to make use of the first round benefits but unless you can wipe out the enemy in one round you are down to ap4. Power swords are the balanced power weapon, no bonuses to strength but ap 3 and striking at initiative. They can power through marine equivalents and do a decent job of killing most hq units. Mauls are great for monster hunting as they bump you up to strength 7 but hitting with ap4 really limits how effective they can be at cleaving through units. Finally the axe, I think in this squad an axe is not a good choice. The extra ten points buys you a 2+ to wound in almost every situation and a real anti-armour boost.

Frost blades are rather expensive and the added strength is of less impact due to the increased strength of a Thunderwolf. I fail to see why it is worth ten points more than a power weapon. A frost axe on the other hand is completely superfluous as every benefit it offers is matched and/or surpassed by a power fist. Strength is lower than a fist, its ap is the same and you still strike at initiative 1. If you want to use a frost axe buy a power fist.

I like the wolf claw just because it gives you the re-rolls. It is twenty points and you do drop an attack over a power weapon but it actually is more effective and will cause more wounds.

All in all I think you need to maximise what the unit can do, a powerfist seems to fit this better than any of the other options. The fist is a few points cheaper than a thunderhammer and while you strike last you get to ignore armour and instant kill most units that you will face. When compared to power weapons extra ten points also ensures that you are going to get more wounds from your hits, wounding on 2’s is always going to be better than 3’s or 4’s and the added ability to explode vehicles is a better investment. The fist allows you to make a much better job of an all-round assault unit.

So how would I arm the rest of the squad?

Quite simply either put storm shields on the models or nothing at all. 5th edition’s wound shenanigans are long gone and I am happy for it. Never again will a Thunderwolf be armed with a bolter or a stray meltabomb.. The level of ap2 and 3 weapons that can be found in most armies these days is quite a problem for such an expensive unit. If you are not looking to have these models blasted apart by every single heavy gun the enemy has then you might be best off springing for this upgrade. Yes you will have fewer attacks in combat but the squad’s survival will be increased.

For the remainder of the options the only one worth talking about is the melta bomb. I don’t think this is a necessity but it can be useful to help power through heavy armour.

How to play the unit?

Multiple targets always works better than a single unit to aim at. Having one unit of Thunderwolves crossing the board is great but when you force your opponent to either split fire or sacrifice a flank you’ll get a lot more out of your cavalry. Two units of three wolves rather than one unit of five will do far more on the board and you can tie up two units at once in combat and when you’ve got a really dangerous threat you can focus on that.

At leadership 8 they cannot afford to be taking too many leadership checks. Screening them from fire is a priority. Using tanks is a good option, since most people haven’t seen the swing back to light transports that others have just trust me it works. 35 points buys your Grey Hunters a quick jaunt across the board and unless you are unlucky they’ll just be kicked out of the Rhino after a turn or two’s movement. During this time you’ll be able to keep a 3 or 4+ cover save on your more expensive cavalry units. Another option is to run a unit of Fenrisian Wolves, they'll not be making many armour saves but they are only to soak wounds.

I've been mostly looking at how to run a cavalry unit as a character delivery system for the last week and while this works well it is a bit different to Thunderwolves. You cannot really afford to throw away these guys. They are not cheap and they have some weaknesses, if you want to make the most of them you need to screen them from fire. Heavy fire can severely impact the unit’s combat efficacy but a bolter line or even a lasgun line can actually be a problem. If you run a Thunderwolf lord it might be an idea to give him runic armour and try to have him eat through the wound pool.

Since they have only WS 4, it could be of great benefit to cast prescience on them, the turn they charge you’ll almost double you’re tally of wounds. If you do this for a unit with an attacked Battle Leader or Wolf Lord the number of wounds that will be inflicted will be quite high.

The only unit I foresee being an issue for Thunderwolves is terminator equivalents. The number of attacks the unit can pump out is impressive but even they will find it difficult to cut through a 2+ save. The real power of Thunderwolves is harriers, they should be able to break or wipe out any normal troop choice in a turn. The way I would play them is to cut down scoring and fire support units, take out the problem units first before moving on to the tough combat targets.

In conclusion:

I love these models. For a combat edge to a space wolves army Thunderwolves are a great option, they are the strongest unit in the fast attack section. They are fast, hard hitting and tough. They pump out a high number of attacks, have some good upgrades and can have an invulnerable save on every model. A harder unit in combat you won’t find in the codex. If you play them right they can hammer the enemy into submission. If you hug cover while minimising line of sight and make the most of their speed they shall make you proud. When you count up the kills at the end of the battle be assured that these monsters will have taken an immense tally.

Wolf and Sister Part 63

2013-03-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

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Heavy Support: 6th Edition

2013-03-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hiya! Wolf Lord Rune here with an update for the Codex in 6th edition! I have been twisting my head over what i would like to write about over the last few weeks. So while i still work on getting a "BatRep" ready, I Thought i might as well finish what was started with the Rune Priest And the Wolf Lord posts. Moving on then to a different part of the codex!

Heavy Support:

In the heavy support section, i tend to find that 3 slots aren't always enough for me, since i like most of the units there.

Long Fangs:

This must be the most popular unit choice in all the codex because it is so versatile and comes at a very good price. They are basically the same as a space marine devastator squad, but much cheaper, and on the top you can fit in 5 heavy weapons and a squad leader. The best build for the unit is not really my place to say but i have my favorite way of fielding them, and so i think i might as well present them to you.

#1 Missile Fangs
5 missile launchers and the squad leader completely naked comes in at a handy 140 Pts.

It's dirt cheap and can take out just about anything reliably. The only thing they seem to struggle with are 2+ Armor save units.I usually just fire away with the Krak Missiles on anything since it's simply the way that most reliably takes out units in the long run. Of course, against hordes like Nids and xenos with bad armor saves the frag missiles can cause quite the carnage.

I like this option because it's cheap and gets the job done most of the time.

#2 Multi Purpose Fangs
3 Missile Launchers, 2 Lascannons, Naked Sergeant. 170 Pts.

This will have to be my favorite build for Long Fangs since they can take out just about anything. Especially when they are given divination Re-Rolls from a Rune Priest. You have the lascannon to take out Terminator Equivalents and vehicles, and the missile launchers can do most things except for the 2+ saves. I usually like to field two of these squads as it gives me 6 missile launchers and 4 lascannons. If you have 2 Rune Priests with divination you can twin link them both to really put the hurt on your opponent no matter what he brings.

With this build it really helps to have the squad leader in there as he can make the rest of the unit split fire as they wish. So in general you will be able to separately target the units on the other side of the table with the appropriate weapon for the situation. If your opponent doesn't bring anything with a 2+ armor save, then jolly good for you. One more thing which i feel that this build brings forth by mixing the weapons as i do, is that it usually takes some time before you lose all of your Lascannons or all of your missile launchers.

Well, those are my ways of fielding them. In addition, Long Fangs in a Bastion or an Aegis Defence Line is not a bad idea as it gives you a solid cover save from turn 1. My favorite would probably be the bastion as you get higher up and can more easily draw line of sight to more enemies. In addition you can hide some stuff behind your bastion if you play things that ignore cover saves or if you go second and there is no night fighting.

The aegis is not a bad choice either since you get more space for the rest of your units to possibly hide behind a wall.

Predator

Alright, so the predator is cool and all, but it doesn't suit my style. But with the lascannons you can safely park behind an aegis defence line and enjoy your armor 13 in the front and add a nice cover save if you get shot at. I think it's a viable enough choice, but i think other units in general have a better chance of winning you the game.

I think that 9 times out of ten i would go with the lascannon options if i lack AP2 weaponry in my list.

Whirlwind

However much i like the whirlwind, i always seem to struggle to wound and kill just about anything with it. With so much marine armies around i really can't bring myself to integrate this model in my lists. Against horde armies the whirlwind only needs a few good hits to actually make it's points back and is of course a nice addition to most armies out there, but again you can take long fangs as a better tool to deal with most things.

But i urge everyone who haven't tried this one before to give it a shot, it's not bad, you just need to have the right kind of target for it.

Vindicator

Hello there! I'm sorry if i can't keep my opinion of this one objective, but it is afterall my favorite space marine vehicle. It's a S10 AP2 Pieplate that you simply dump on stuff to make it dead. and being able to move 6" and Shoot with the demolisher cannon is quite impressive. Good front armor makes this one a bit more survivable and therefore is a viable choice in my book. If anyone disagrees with me, you may state your opinion in the comment fields below :)

This is a good unit to guard your midfield role, but there is one thing that you should watch out for when it comes to using the Vindicator. Army Synergy. If you run a very assault focused army, then the vindicator will often find itself shooting at your own units via scatter or finding itself out of targets in range since enemy units are preoccupied with being in close combat with yours.

Land Raiders

Here we have the biggest and baddest of tanks that a marine army can field. Maybe it doesn't bring the most devastating fire options, but it's more of a question of what you can put inside it, the survivability of Armor 14 all the way around, 4 Hull points and the fact that it's an Assault Vehicle.

#1 Standard Pattern with Lascannons
It's cool enough, it can take out other tanks and Terminators and such, but the long range doesn't always fit that well with the cargo it carries(if it carries anything at all). I personally would like to use that utility at all times since it offers of a great protection for valuable units that can be placed inside of it. The transport capacity is 10 models, or 5 models with the bulky rule.

#2 Redeemer Pattern
I have a bit of a soft spot for the Redeemer since it carries those nasty flamers at S6, AP3 that can really make your opponents blood boil. Fill it with Terminators, drive up close and unleash hell before the meltagun comes back into your face. I know i have said that i don't really like fielding terminators, but they are good nonetheless and should therefore be included as a viable choice. Add a multi-Melta in for a nice possibility of wrecking other nearby enemy vehicles. It's also nice to mention that the capacity of the Redeemer is 12 models. I start to think of putting 10 Grey Hunters In there with fancy upgrades, a Wolf Guard Pack Leader with some nice weapons and of course at last, maybe even a Wolf Lord or Wolf Priest.
The wolf priest seems like a very good option to me since he has alot of nice buffs he can give to his squad, like Preferred enemy and Fearless

#3 Crusader Pattern
The Crusader pattern comes in here at last with what at first glance might seem a little weak. I mean, sure it doesn't bring a cascade high strength and low ap shots, but it does bring quite many shots! The Hurricane Bolters fires 6 shots each in rapid fire mode, which totals to 12 shots counting both the sponsons. In addition these are twin linked. You also have an Assault cannon and the option to bring a Multi-Melta, which i think is great to bring to fill the hole when it comes to anti tank option on this one. The transport capacity of this sucker is no less than 16 models which i find quite amazing, as you can fit 8 terminators in that thing! The points cost of course is sky-high, but it is still amazing.

The good part about the land raider is that it can be taken as a dedicated transport for wolf guard models, that way it doesn't tear away at your Heavy Support slots.

Conclusions
So, i think we can all agree that the Heavy Support choices we have really meshes well with the entire army, no matter how we build our armies, there will always be something in here that will give great support to other units that wishes to advance on their own or with these choices.

With that out of the way, as i usually do, i would like to ask you guys about how you feel about the units we have to offer from the heavy support section! Don't be shy, come with 'em :) Critique is always welcome, and if you have any exciting combinations then fire away, the comment box is just below!

Look! New Tau to Kill!

2013-03-17T05:25:00.000-04:00

Someone's been playing Transformers lately, because the new Tau Riptide looks like something from Fall Of Cybertron.

Meanwhile the Tau Broadside now holds its twin linked railgun like a rifle.

Although from the photos it seems as though you have to choose between railguns and smart missile systems with that kit.

And the Crisis suits are as butt ugly as ever.

But what it means is that we have a new foe to crush!

I can just see that lovely big Riptide model going down to a pack of howling Grey Hunters clambering all over it.

At first glance the flyers don't look too worrying and strangely enough, the Tau Riptide only has 1 gun! Although I'd bet good money that it's some kind of crazy super gun.

In the meantime, if you're getting ready to take on the Tau Empire, here's my guide to How to Beat Tau with Space Wolves from a while back.

Obviously, this is probably going to change, but you get the idea of how the Space Wolves and Tau armies interact.

Wolf and Sister Part 62

2013-03-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

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The Eye Opens: Codex Chaos Daemons is here.

2013-03-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Codex daemons has arrived. There are new models and new rules. There is a major shift in how the army plays and some reallyinteresting special characters that can be brought to the board. I'm going to run through the codex and give a breakdown of the main units and rules.

What is special about this army?
Daemons have access to almost every unit type in the game. They all have deepstrike (bar the blue scribes), the daemon special rule, daemonic instability and the warp storm. With this range of options there are a large number of powers and rules interactions. I'll seek to cover them all but there will be many that will not come out for a few weeks of playing the armies.

The Daemon warlord traits offer instant death, hatred, -1 to leadership in fear tests, re-rolls of instability tests within 12", re-rolls to warp storm and finally daemons that deepstrike within 6" don't scatter. Each of these can be potentially very dangerous but I think they are within the scope of any warlord traits. The deepstrike could be very dangerous if a large unit of screamers land near your lines but they could have done that anyway just with a slight chance of scatter. Instant death again isn't much of a problem as the majority of the warlord options excel in combat and only a few multi-wound models will be in your army.

The warp storm is an army ability that kicks off every daemon shooting phase. On the roll of 2D6 a host of effects can impact the entire game board. These effects range from spawning 2D6+3 of a chosen god's basic troop or possessing a psyker and replacing him with a herald to forcing daemonic instability tests and inviting the wrath of the gods on daemons of specific gods and those with their mark. It is a rule that will benefit an opponent most of the time but it doesn't hobble the daemons either.

Daemoic instability is an interesting rule, it come into play when a unit of daemons loose a combat or when the warp storm dictates. It is a leadership check with special effects. Firstly if you roll a double 1 it causes all of the wounds lost this phase to be regained and casualties to return to the board and if you roll double 6's the unit is removed from the board. For every other result you compare it to the leadership of the unit and take into account any modifiers that apply, for every point you failed the test by you inflict that many wounds to the daemon unit. Daemons are essentially fearless and don't fall back. While I am not sure you'd like to be trying this tactic on a unit of Bloodcrushers some of the units in the army are much weaker targets in combat.

The core of the army:
The core of the army is unsurprisingly made up of daemons dedicated to each of the four gods. Nurglings, Plaguebearers, Demonettes, Pink Horrors and Bloodletters are the choices. Each of them bar Nurglings can take an instrument of chaos and an icon. The icons allow you to reduce the scatter of daemon units. They can also be upgraded to standards which offer once per game bonus. The instruments allow you to deepstrike another unit when the unit with the instrument passes it's reserve roll. It also allows for re-rolls when the warpstorm inflicts the wrath of the gods.

Bloodletters are all armed with ap 3 weapons and have a 6+ armour save. These guys are still a good shock troop and can do a swath of damage to any unit not in terminator armour. They are a bit of a glass cannon though and rely on getting the charge to make any use of their abilities.

Pink horrors are the opposite of Bloodletters, they excel at range but crumble in an assault. While their blue horrors rule gives them a chance to inflict some actual damage in combat it is too weak to cause a decent number of wounds. Since they can generate more than one warp charge a turn depending on their size they're perfect to use flickering fire with. This makes them dangerous within 24" but if you survive the shots you may gain feel no pain 6+ due to the warpflame rule.

Plaguebearers are slow and ponderous but they are hard to kill. They have shrouded and defensive grenades. This means they will always have a coversave and within 8" they'd get a 4+ from shooting. In combat they strike at I 2 but they will wound on a 4+ with re-rolls against anything that isn't on a Thunderwolf. As a daemon of Nurgle Plaguebearers receive shrouded and also receive stealth within 8".

Daemonettes are nearly as dangerous as Bloodletters but possibly more effective. They strike at I 5 with more attacks and have rending. They can thin out your numbers before you can strike. With fleet and an extra 3" on their run distances they can cover the board quick enough to be a real threat.

Finally Nurglings are a swarm of minor daemons that gain all of the coversaves that Plaguebearers do. They can infiltrate and have 4 wounds and attacks per base. As with all swarms they are annoying and can bog your units down in protracted combat. While they are not a powerful unit they can be tough to move off of objectives.

Each of these units is weak against shooting to varying degrees. The Nurgle daemons are the hardest to shoot off the board but the rest can be taken much more easily. Frag missiles and bolter rounds will tear chunks from these units and combat will smash horrors to pieces. I would avoid Daemonettes and Bloodletters in combat at all costs, they can do enough damage to leave your Grey Hunters and Blood Claws too damaged to continue. Plaguebearers are tough but don't look like they'll do enough damage to be a major threat. As most of these units will be either foot slogging or deep striking onto the board they'll be open to at least a turn or two of fire. These are the scoring units and as such are a high priority. If it was my army I'd march a unit of Grey Hunters up to one of these units and unload into them and double tap their rapid fire weapons but only when there are not more important targets.

The anti air unit:
Soul grinders are beasts of extreme damage. I would compare them to the Defiler in the chaos space marines codex. When dedicated to Nurgle they will have a cover save otherwise they have a 5+ invulnerable save. Coupled with armour 13 in it's front and side arcs it is a tough best to strip 4 hull points off. It is armed with a harvester cannon, a three shot autocannon with the ability to fire flakk rounds. While Space Wolves don't have a flyer there are a lot of allied lists out there and this beast can make life difficult for them. It can also take either a 36" strength 8 ap 3 ordnance blast, strength 6 ap 4 torrent weapon or a 24" strength 8 ap 1 weapon. The ordnance weapon is the most dangerous of these as it can wipe out most of a unit in a single turn. These beasts are not slouches in combat either as they come with a power fist as standard and have the option of taking an aditional ap 3 master-crafted weapon for an extra attack. Fortunately they have WS and BS 3, this means they hit half of the time and their shots will scatter, however I'd still prefer not to tackle them in combat.

Chariots:
The Skull Cannon of Khorne is a battle tank equivalent with av 12 front and side and three hull points. The chariot comes with BS 5 and a skull cannon, a S8 ap 5 large blast. Any unit the cannon hits can be assaulted without incurring charging through cover penalties. As a chariot it can make D6 hammer of wrath hits and as a daemon of Khorne it resolves them at strength 7. It is largely a buffing unit used to soften up a squad in cover before it is assaulted.

Blood Thrones of Khorne are very different animals. They transport a herald of Khorne and can only be bought as a dedicated transport. They allow the herald to share his locus's effects on any unit within 6". As with the Skull Cannon it makes it's hammer of wrath at strength 7 and for every wound this inflicts can recover a hull point. The herald isn't a combat monster and while it will do some damage with it's hellblade all of your hits will be against it's rear armour which is only 10.

The Burning Chariot is Tzeentch's fire platform. It is a skimmer so it can make sweep attacks, fire and charge in the same turn. It is a very weak unit with armour 10 all around but it can deal a lot of damage in a single turn. It's rider fires either a D3 shot strength 9 ap 2 weapon or a torrent weapon with strength 5 and ap 3. It's hammer of wrath attacks also have the warpflame rule. It can also with a blue flamers upgrade reduce the leadership of any unit within 6". This unit can really bring the pain and can debuff your units to break from shooting attacks.

The Slaanesh chariots are a much more dangerous beast in combat than you might think at first. They are weaker than the khorne chariots with 11 front and side and 10 in the rear but come in three different flavours. The Hellflayer is a combine harvester rolling across the board. It does D6 hammer of wrath attacks for every hull point it has remaining due to flesh shredder. These attacks are resolved at strength 4 ap - with the rending special rule. This is far more problematic as you're facing more attacks and if they cause unsaved wounds they add that number to the Alluress's attacks. Since she has 4 rending attacks on her profile a few bad dice could see your unit hobbled before it even gets to hit.

The Seeker Chariots are a little less dangerous, while they retain the flesh shredder rule they don't gain the extra attacks in combat. The Exalted Seeker Chariot is the one I think stands to do the most damage. When undamaged it can unleash 4D6 hammer of wrath attacks as per the Hellflayer. What makes the seeker chariots so dangerous is that they are run in squadrons of 3. For 120 points three of the little chariots will be hitting you at the same time. Since you can mix and match which are in the squadron it is likely you'll see two exalted chariots with a small chariot to soak up the damage until they hit one expensive unit to recoup their points. On 10D6 rending hits you'll definitely see on average twelve wounds before the Alluress' attacks.

While I think these units are all dangerous the priority must always be the seeker chariots. In squadrons they can decimate your army in a few turns. If they are on the board turn one they'll be easily able to charge your units and once that begins there is little to stop them. They cannot be locked in combat so while you can withdraw, fire and assault again to try and bring it down it is not going to be an easy feat. It would take your entire heavy support section and a lot of luck to take one squadron out in a turn of shooting. The burning chariot is dangerous but it's impact is going to be far less as it can be taken out quite quickly. Each of these models has a 5+ invulnerable save which adds to their problematic natures. Plasma fire will do some damage to the Slaanesh and Khorne chariots but I'd pound them with fire from the Long Fangs first and leave the Grey Hunters free to focus on them only if they survive. Anything will take down the Burning Chariot, if you are within 12" a Grey Hunter sqaud should tear it apart with bolter fire.
Another thing to be aware of is that each of the heralds purchased as a HQ choice can take a chariot if allowed. A Tzeentch chariot with a level two psycher is a lot more dangerous than the basic model.

The harriers:
Bloodcrushers are a strong and tough unit. They hit hard and fast with ap 3 hellblades. With 3 wounds you'll be finding it hard to beat them in combat. Denying them assault is the only way to ensure they do the minimum damage.

Flesh Hounds are simple attack dogs. They has WS 5 and three attacks on the charge as beasts they can fly across the board and get into assault very quickly. They have 2 wounds and a 2+ roll to deny the witch due to their collar of Khorne.

Seekers of Slaanesh can do the usual things you'd expect from a Slaanesh cavalry unit. Rending, outflank, fleet and acute senses are what you have to face. They not very tough but they strike before your marines and with a lot more attacks.

Fiends of Slaanesh are a dangerous unit. They do a small amount of damage in combat but they inflict a -5 I penalty to any units they charge for the first turn. This lowers any space wolf to I 0 and as such they cannot attack. This unit coupled with a heavy hitter will wipe Grey Hunters from the board.

Screamers are a fast moving jetbike unit. They inflict D3 strength 4 ap - hits when the Screamers turbo-boost over a unit. In combat they aren't special but they do have the ability to inflict strength 5 ap 2 hit.

Flamers of Tzeentch are jump infantry that drop strength 4 ap 4 templates on your units. They are not very tough but they sheer number of hits they can pump out is enough to put a dent in your squads.

Plague drones are jet pack cavalry, this is a new unit type combination. They can move 12" as cavalry, run D6" and then thrust move 2D6". If they are not in combat end of their first turn on the board they will be wherever they want to be end of their 2nd. They are tough and have 3 wounds. With the usual Nurgle buffs that makes them a pain in the ass to kill at range and with their plagueswords they are not completely useless in combat.

Beasts of Nurgle are a walking counter assaulting wound soak. If you charge a unit within 12" of a beast squad, they have to try to assault into that combat. They will then inflict wildly random amounts of damage and soak up 4 wounds each.

Chaos Furies are a poor assault unit of all of these units they are the least worrisome. They have few attacks and limited ability. What they could do is waste a turn of shooting by bogging down units so be aware of them.

There is no one way to deal with these units. For everything bar Tzeentch's Screamers and Furies avoid combat. The thing that will kill this army is saves, ensuring numerous wounds at range with blast weapons will weaken the armies resolve. Assault the unit's you think you can wipe out quickly and instant kill anything that looks too dangerous such as the cavalry models. These units can cross the board in the flash of the eye and still bring the pain, if need be there is a counter attack unit perfectly suited to killing other cavalry and beasts, Thunderwolves.

The leaders:
Greater Daemons are combat monsters, as monsterous creatures they can tackle any weak squad. All but the Bloodthirster can be a psyker and you don't want to have them inflicting their powers on you. With high toughness, WS, initiative and having ap 2 attacks in combat they are not something to assault. The Bloodthirster is the only one with armour and it is a 3+, missiles will damage these guys. Ground the flyers with small fire, if you have skyfire units use it on them. Once they are grounded concentrated fire will take them out as they no longer have hard to hit. Only risk combat if you can bring them down to one or two wounds. Be weary of the Great Unclean one, with shrouded he can cover his hide with a screening unit and bump that to a 3+ cover save, 2+ if he is very close.

If you take a greater daemon you may take daemon princes of that alignment as a heavy support choice. The daemon princes are just as per the chaos list and are hard as nails. While they cannot get their hands on the black mace they can take the same if not equivalent wargear and upgrades.

Each of the gods have heralds that they can bring forth. In one HQ slot an army can take 4 heralds. This includes all the minor characters and heralds of the gods. Each of these is an upgraded version of the core troop of their god. They can become psychers, take steeds or a chariot appropriate to their god. They may also take locus powers, these powers grant the herald and a unit he joins several abilities. These buffs range from furious charge to re-rolls in combat. They are really situational and will depend heavily on the build.

One thing to be aware of is that it is possible to get 13 seeker chariots in a list between heralds and seeker squadrons for 660 points. I'd probably not do that myself but if I could get some cheap anti-air allies in there it could be a real killer for footslogging lists.

I'm not going to cover special characters but I have some advice. Don't assault Skarbrand, do assault Kairos and splash the rest with some priority as they are annoying and offer some real benefits to the army.

Final thoughts:
This codex has some interesting units in it, the army has shifted considerably in it's play from the previous codex and can really bring destruction onto your Space Wolves. The monstrous creatures are hard to deal with, the chariots can be brutal when they get in close and there are a few different abilities to generate new units. When you get caught in an assault remember that runic weapons wound daemons on a 2+ and every little advantage helps when you're looking at lots of minor character models in a daemons army.

Interceptors are king against this army list. The quad-gun will soften up units as they hit the board and since almost nothing has a decent armour save it will chew up units. A lot of the units are toughness 3, plasma weapons will be useful to chew up any multi-wound models that have this problem.

Beyond that, focus your fire on the big threats, ground flying creatures and then spam them with heavy weapons. Cut down troops without giving them assault. Most importantly kill anything that can reduce your initiative to 0 before it gets a chance to assault you.

If you do all that you might pull a win but since you're no longer looking at an all reserve army. You can string out the enemy and burn into his units turn one. Turn two you may have to start worrying about the threats in your half of the board. Have fun and good luck.

Wolf and Sister Part 61

2013-03-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

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HQ: The Wolf Lord

2013-03-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

Greetings! Wolf Lord Rune here again to continue where we left of with the space wolves codex for the 6th edition update. Today i was thinking we were going to have a look at the Wolf Lord, because i really like fielding them.

So to begin with we might as well look at his statlines, and compare it to other units that are out there. For those of you who actually don't play space wolves or are new to WH40K, he basically is the equivalent of a Space Marine Captain, with the exception of the Wolf Lord having 4 attacks in the profile, while the captain only has 3 attacks.

If this wasn't a good pointer to what he does, here's the easy term: He is a beast in close combat! Now, I know that 4 attacks in itself isn't all that amazing, but you have a quite long list of wargear that you can choose from to make him do just about any task you want him to.

Before we head over to the Wargear section , i'd like to point out that to make this guy a good choice for an HQ you might want to tool him up a bit, but this also makes him a very expensive unit very fast, so keep in mind what you take and what you leave at home.

A Wolf Lord And His Weapons

Let's start out with what he already has, and then start to think and tinker around with what juicy extras we can put on him.

Starting Wargear: Power Armour, Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon, Frags & Krak Grenades.

Boltgun(Free): There is no apparent reason for me to take the bolter as you lose 1 Attack in Close Combat, and there is no option for special ammunition in codex space wolves.

Storm Bolter(3 Pts.): Well, 2 Shots are better than 1, but again i don't really see the point since close combat is where it's at with this guy!

Combi-Melta/Plasma/Flamer(10 Pts.): One shot of chosen type and the fun stops. I wouldn't take it on such a dedicated Close combat character.

Plasma Pistol(15 Pts.): It's alot to pay for 1 or 2 shots of plasma which might end up doing more harm than good. I don't like it and i never will.

Power Weapons(15 Pts.): Allright, i'll bite, it's not a bad option, not at all really. Nice if you want to keep him as cheap as possible and expect him to actually do something. Axe or Sword? your pick really.

Wolf Claw(20 Pts.): Not too shabby, it's a bit expensive but when wielded in pairs they do have the "Shred" special rule.

Frost Blade or Frost Axe(25 Pts.): I like frost weapons, i really do, but they are very expensive, but they are so cool and really full of space wolf iconography! It can be used in some good combinations which i'll go into later.

Powerfist(25Pts.): For the same price as a frost weapon it's a good call if you take it instead of an axe! x2 strength and AP2 is something that begs you to take it, but your initiative goes down in exchange.

Thunderhammer(30 Pts.): It's effective already, but 30 Pts. ? think about it twice before you go for it, i probably wouldn't, unless i wanted him to hunt vehicles.

Storm Shields(30 Pts.): It's expensive, but in close combat it really is a lifesaver. It also helps you to actually get into close combat if you are slogging on foot.

Runic Armor(20 Pts.): If he is your warlord i'd really consider it, since it grants you a 2+ save and a 5++ save against psychic power effects.

Terminator Armor(40 Pts.): The Price of this thing is ridiculous... taking Runic Armor and a Storm shield for 50 pts. grants you 2+ armor save, 5+ invulnerable save versus psychic powers and a 3+ invulnerable. While getting a storm shield and terminator armour costs you 55-65 Pts. Just Sayin'...

Also, Terminator means it's land raider or drop pods for transport options. You could slog over the table, but i can't say i like doing that. One reason that might compel me to take terminator armor is that it unlocks the option of taking a Chainfist.

Jump Pack(25 Pts.): Nice For Mobility, but where do you wish to place him? I'd leave it at home under a chunk of ice where Russ would have left it.

Bike (35 Pts.): It gives mobility and toughness 5, which is nice.

Thunderwolf Mount(45 Pts.): Grants you +1S, +1T and +1A. Also grants you the Rending Special Rule in close combat. It's expensive and only let's you join Thunderwolf Cavalry and Fenrisian wolves. It really turns you into a close combat beast though, so on the the paper your stats are really nice.

Melta Bombs(5 Pts.): Nice to have against MC's, Vehicles and Walkers.

Wolftooth Necklace(10 Pts.): It's not bad, but it's depending a bit on what you want to do with your lord. You already have WS6, so most things will be hit on a 3+ anyways. On the other hand, if you want to kill characters and MC's with high WS then this will definetely come in handy.

Wolf Tail Talisman(5Pts.): Nullifies effects of psychic powers that targets the model or the unit which the model is attached to on a 5+. Not bad, if you have the points why not take it given the many psykers that are fielded in 6th edition.

Fenrisian wolves(10 Pts. each): If you want them, take two i'd say. It's a nice way to get 2 extra wounds for walking across the table to beat some face.

Mark of the Wulfen(15Pts): Given the fact that you already have 4 attacks in the profile it is the worst upgrade i could think of for the wolf lord. Very fluffy, very cool, but mostly not even remotely worth it.

Belt Of Russ(25 Pts.): It's a nice way to get a 4+ invulnerable save while wearing pairs of specialist weapons.

Phew.... that list is long man, it's almost agonisingly long... well, on to the Sagas then eh?

Saga Of The Beastslayer(10 Pts.): You may re-roll any to hit rolls against MC's, Walkers and all models with T5 or higher. Could be very good depending on your local meta.

Saga Of Majesty(15Pts.): Any unit within 6" may re-roll failed morale checks. Not bad, but most of your army is LD9 or higher.

Saga Of The Wolfkin(15 Pts.): Makes all Fenrisian Wolves and Cyberwolves I5 and LD7. If you use a Wolf Lord attached to a group of fenrisian wolves it would definetely be worth it.

Saga Of The Warrior Born(35 Pts.): Grants you bonus attacks equal to how many models the Wolf Lord killed in the previous assault Phase. In my opinion it's too expensive, but he can stack up many attacks this way.

Saga Of The Bear(35 Pts.): Gives you the eternal warrior rule, which means you can't be instant killed.

It's a great ability to have, but it's very expensive and therefore i would steer clear. Then again, you might have spent many enough points on him to make him immune to instant death.

With all of the wargear out of the way, i think we can safely come up with more than enough combinations to keep us going for week, luckily for you (and me), i'll only be dragging out a few of them.

Wolf Lord #1: Thunderlord 245 Pts.

Wargear: Runic Armor, Bolt Pistol, Frags & Krak Grenades, Frost Blade, 2 x Fenrisian Wolves, Belt Of Russ, Wolf Tooth Necklace.

With The combination of the wargear you have now have a monster with the following profile:

WS6, BS5, S6, T5, 3W, I5, 6 Attacks (7 on the Charge/Counter Charge), LD10, Armour save 2+ and 4+ Invulnerable save. Not to mention that The Thunderwolf makes him cavalry which means he moves 12 inches in the movement phase and has fleet to re-roll the charge distance. That's a pretty long range to get into close combat.

So the Plan here is to try and get the most attacks possible out of him, in order to kill Infantry, Independent characters and Warlords, and of course MC's. With a toughness of 5 he can only be instant killed with S10 or Instant Death Weapons, but that is when you look out sir or park your fenrisian wolves in front of him so he won't be hit at all. He has the Wolf tooth necklace to make sure he hits as often as possible, and a strength of 6 to wound more easily, and since the frost blade is not a specialist weapon it means that you will have rending as well because of the thunderwolf! If I am not mistaken these guys have the hammer of wrath rule as well on the charge, so he will be making many attacks that first turn of combat. That being said, you might be too successful and kill the unit you attacked on your own turn and be found free in the open, and you don't want that! Weight of fire will usually take you down in the end as well as high strength weaponry.

If you want a deathstar unit that will take a long time for your opponent you may want to run him with a unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry to add to the carnage.

Otherwise the only other option is putting him with a cheap fenrisian wolf unit that will basically give you a fair amount of survivability against shooting as they can be taken in numbers without fear of spending too many points. If you max out the unit to 15 Fenrisian wolves, they alone on the charge will dish out 45 attacks with S4, on the top of the cake you will have 7 S6, AP3, Rending attacks that always hit on a 3+. If you want to put him in a unit of Fenrisian wolves, you might want to consider "saga of the wolfkin" to make your furry friends strike at I5 together with your lord and before many other units.

As a little side note, Since this character is already as expensive as he is, you might want to make him immune to instant death, that is if you add "Saga Of The Bear" to his list of wargear. This will take him to 280 Pts. total which is even more than Logan Grimnar himself! I'm not sure if it is worth it, but if you have the points to spare, why not? This guy will be the icon of Space Wolf Leadership, and certainly is an individual slaughtermachine on his own.

Wolf Lord #2: Terminator Lord 190 Pts.

Wargear: Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Chainfist, Wolftooth Necklace

Allright, this guy here is a badass at smashing just about anything with his chainfist, and survivable because of his storm shield, but he weighs in at a high points cost, a bit too high if you ask me. On the other hand, if you already have spent many points using Wolf Guard Terminators, then this guy here will of course fit nicely into an army using drop pods and land raiders.

If you don't like lowering your initiative from 5 --> 1 then you could always just drop the Chainfist, but again he then loses the ability to whack out TEQ units effectively. Some small adjustments and you will probably make him fit. As for me, i don't enjoy fielding terminators with space wolves because they very quickly cost too many points for my taste.

Another option to keep the initiative is to exchange his weapons for Dual Wolf Claws. Which takes him down to 170 Pts. If you think 5+ Invulnerable save is too bad for your lord, throw in the belt of russ for 25 pts. That should take him to 195 Pts. Personally, i would not take the belt since your Inv. Save only improves by 1 for a very high cost.

Wolf Lord #3: Cheap Wolf Warlord 145 Pts.

Wargear: Runic Armor, Power Weapon, Wolftooth necklace

This is a pretty standard build for those who want him to be slightly more survivable than a normal marine, and still be able to kill characters with MEQ armor saves. The wolftooth necklace is there in case you might foes with a higher than average WS. He can fit in just about any unit that wishes to see the assault phase for a couple of rounds during your game.

Conclusions and afterthoughts

To get to the end of this little chapter, i think it's safe to say that the Wolf Lord is a very expensive unit that need to be supported by other units in the army to make it worthwhile spending the points that you do. The thing about wolf lords for me isn't really the competitive side of him, but rather the status which that single model emits on a battlefield. He is a pillar of light emitting a radiant confidence and strength, the leadership of which any young space wolf will look up to, when the lord wades through bodies of his fallen foes all the way up to his knees still marching onwards to dispatch the threats of the imperium, A true warrior at heart.

Now then, If you would be ever so kind, i would like to know what you guys feel about the wolf Lord? Is there any builds that you run that has worked out for you in previous games? I would love to see the comment section down below riddled with options and thoughts of fellow gamers, even criticism is well appreciated :)

Until Next Time Then

- Rune

Black Ops Steam Lords

2013-02-28T16:34:00.000-05:00

Check out these Black Ops Steam Lords from Anvil Industry.

I was watching the video on Facebook just now and couldn't help but think "How the hell would I actually build these?" because of all the details.

Then I took a look at the sprues and noticed that they're basically 1 piece with a choice of head, gun, back pack and stick on accessories.

I'm just blown away by these.

They're so simple, so detailed and at the same time, totally unlike anything else on the market right now.

You get 5 guys that are quite customisable, like the squad leader and 4 specialists, while the other 5 are basic 'running and gunning' dudes.

It costs £35 for a squad of 10. So that's £3.50 per model.

Compare that to a 10 man Tactical Squad of Space Marines for £23 (£2.30 per model) or 5 Forge World Space Marines for £23 (£4.60 each) and you've got the perfect price for this type of model. But at the same time it's a darn sight cheaper buying these than having to purchase accessories and other extras to customise your Marines.

They'd make awesome Wolf Scouts with their stripped down style armour and all their 'behind enemy lines' style Black Ops gear.

Check out the video and see what you think.

Wolf and Sister Part 60

2013-02-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

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HQ: The Rune Priest

2013-02-25T03:05:00.000-05:00

I must honestly say that I haven't fielded every single unit in the Space Wolves Codex, but i've played them for some time now and painted about 3000 Pts of the buggers, enough to get sick of my paintscheme, so with that i have decided to paint them again.

I've asked myself many a time, "in which form will I contribute here on the blog?" It so happens that Adam who most of you guys know has left us a pretty hefty legacy, and i intend to follow up on that. In other words I will try not to bore you guys to a slow and agonizing death while i update some of the content on this page for 6th edition.

To begin with i wanted to make things easy for myself, so i thought why not do an article on the "Rune Priest" ! I mean, he is one of our most favored HQ selections, and with good reason that is!

The Rune Priest

Now, to get on with it, let's take a look at the Rune Priest, which I would say is probably the best and easiest choice when it comes to the HQ's. The reason I like to field Rune Priests is because they are cheap; they have 24 inches of psychic protection ( runic weapons: A force weapon that negates all effects of psychic abilities on a 4+, and also wounds all Daemons on a 2+ in close combat).

He also has access to great psychic powers be it from the codex or WH40K rulebook.

His starting wargear is composed of power armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and kraks.
What sort of wargear do I equip him with? Let's take a look at your options shall we!

Master of Runes: Up to mastery level 2, 50Pts.- expensive, but could be useful.

Boltgun: cost is free- Can't say I ever tried this, as I use his psychic powers instead.

Plasma Pistol: for 15 pts, I dont like it. Waste of points since you will be somewhere out of range most of the time.

Storm Bolter: 3Pts. - Well, can't say it's a bad thing, but let's try to keep him cheap.

Runic Armour: 20 Pts. - As artificier armor, just gives 5+ invulnerable save against psychic power effects. If he is your warlord, take it.

Terminator armour: 20 Pts.- well, it's quite a good price, but you can't go into a transport unless it's a Land Raider or a Drop Pod. It could be a good option if it fits with your army.

Jump Pack/Space marine bikes: Why on earth would you choose these things? leave it for the Ultramarines and Blood Angels.

Meltabombs: 5 Pts.- If you will get close to MC's or vehicles it's a nice thing to have.

Wolftooth Necklace: 10 Pts. - You always hit on a 3+ in close combat. Nice enough, though I tend to leave it at home to keep the pts low. Note that this guy is not a CC monster and is better suited for other things.

Wolftail Talisman: 5pts. - Nullifies enemy psychic powers if the model or unit the model is with is affected by it. Nice for psychic protection if the caster is outside 24 inches. I usually leave it at home.

Chooser Of the Slain: 10 Pts. - Grants +1 to BS to the Rune Priest if the enemy unit can draw line of sight to the chooser. Enemy units may not infiltrate within 18 inches of the chooser of the slain. It is placed before the deployment phase starts. Take it if you plan to put him on a Quadgun/Icarus Lascannon.

Saga of the Beastslayer: 10 Pts. - You may re-roll failed "To Hit" rolls against walkers, MC's and all models with T5 or higher. This saga could be very good depending on your local meta.

Saga of the Warriorborn: 35 Pts. - Grants you a bonus to attacks, equal to the number of models the character killed in the previous assualt phase. It's too darn expensive, and the Rune Priest will have a hard time getting any use for this. Leave the saga in the bookshelf where it may gather some dust until someone finds a use for it.

So that's it for the Rune Priest's wargear... I'll present some of the options i've run with before.

Rune Priest 1: 130 Pts.

Wargear: runic armour, runic reapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades and chooser of the slain.

Place him on a gun emplacement in a fortification and enjoy shooting down fliers with BS5!
2+ Armour save for survivability since he might happen to be your warlord. Exchange psychic powers for divination and keep your long fangs close so you can buff them. Think of it as a twin-linked Devastator squad!

If you feel like it, you could always exchange the Runic Armor for Terminator Armor so you have a 5+ Invulnerable save, the cost is the same, but it's harder to find a suitable transport for him if shit hits the fan and you need to get away from there quickly. It's all a matter of what you prefer i'd say.

Rune Priest 2: 180 Pts.

Wargear: runic rrmour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades, chooser of the slain and master of runes.

This one is the most costly version I can think of ever using. It's mostly the same as Rune priest 1, but if you run two units of Long Fangs camped behind an Aegis Defence line, you can use two powers to twin-link them. Pretty Sweet, but still costly.

Rune Priest 3: 135 Pts.

Wargear: runic armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades, melta mombs and saga of the beastslayer.

This works great if you want him somewhere else than your backline. With melta bombs you can get some lucky results against walkers and MC's. Stick him in a squad of Grey hunters and go where you are needed.
As for psychic powers, I think that you should look to your local meta for the choices, I like to have jaws of the world wolf, living lightning or tempests wrath on this setup.

Rune Priest 4: 100 Pts.

Wargear: runic armour, runic weapon, bolt pistol, frags and krak grenades.

Yup, your eyes are not decieving you. It's straight of the bat, nothing fancy at all. Just his psychic powers and nothing more. Use him for anything, usually attached to a squad of Grey Hunters or Long Fangs.

As you can see, without any of the fancy upgrades compared to Rune Priest 2, you could almost afford a second Rune Priest. Also, you need to keep in mind that Space wolves HQ's cannot have the same combination of wargear, and the Rune Priests can't have the same combination of psychic powers as well.

That's that for for this time, now it is my turn to ask a few questions! Muahahahah!

What is your most used option for the Rune Priest? I am quite curious as to how other people kit out their units.

Wolf and Sister Part 59

2013-02-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

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The armour of champions

2013-02-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

Space wolves have many things going for them. With the advent of 6th edition and the foot slogging list there are some things to consider in how you play and how you use the greatest strength space marines of any variety have, their armour saves. A 3+ save will keep you safe from all but the most exotic or anti-tank of weapons on the board. The 2+ save is a powerful tool in the arsenal of the prospective Wolf Lord, it proofs you from all but the most lethal weapons in the game. Each unit has an ideal armour depending on what you are using it for and the role they fulfil.

What armour is available and what does it do?

As there may be newcomers to the hobby, the basic armour of a space marine of any flavour is power armour. It offers a 3+ save against ranged and close combat attacks. This is fairly powerful when clad on the basic man of the line for any army, it allows you to ignore two thirds of incoming fire unless the weapons are AP3 or better.

Runic armour is a beast of a different flavour. It offers a 2+ armour save and a 5+ invulnerable save against wounds from psychic attacks. While the invulnerable save is of very limited use but it can pay off in those cases when you're hit with a psychic power. Just to clarify, this is not power armour. Runic armour is not compatible with saga of the hunter as it isn't power armour, fluff is not rules and power armour doesn't have a 2+ save.

Terminator armour is the king of battle plate. It gives you a 2+ armour save and a 5+ invulnerable save. It allows you to fire any weapon without penalty and assault in the same turn. The armour doesn't allow for frag grenades nor does it allow you to commit to a sweeping advance.You also have to buy specialist weapons to get your +1 attack for two weapons in terminator armour. It offers a good save but with a lot of restrictions.

Which armour for your characters?

Wolf Lords are combat orientated, they should maximise this potential. With runic armour you have the best armour save available, can still carry grenades for charging into cover, make sweeping advances. With six attacks on the charge a Wolf Lord can potentially cut down enough of a unit on his own to break them, let alone when he has a large squad at his back. When this happens you need to make the most of that opportunity and with his high initiative and a bit of luck you can make it happen.

When wearing terminator armour a Wolf Lord will have to risk striking last when dealing with dug in units and weather fire and charges since you cannot cut down units at the end of an assault phase. Couple this with the fact it takes up two slots in a transport when you need to have the Lord supported with mooks to look out sir! dangerous wound to.

Power armour is an option for the Wolf Lord when you are playing small points games but I wouldn't recommend it. The likelihood of power weapons, heavy weapons or weight of numbers punching through that armour is too high to consider putting it on a 100 point model.

Terminator armour is a fine choice for a Rune Priest, this model won't be aiming to rush into combat. If you are using a priest as a divination re-roll generator for your long fangs then it is best for him to be in the rear of the army. Back there he can sit comfortably with a 2+ armour save and an invulnerable save for when it is needed.

If you play a mounted cavalry list or drop pod your army onto the field you may be better off using runic armour to fit the Rune Priest into your transports without extra difficulties. A common tactic is a jaws of the world wolf bomb consisting of two rune priests landing on the board and strafing an army with initiative tests. It can be devastating but is a bit of a glass cannon.

Wolf priests can take your pick of staying in power armour or runic armour. One allows you to outflank a large squad while the other gives you a great save. Terminator armour is a waste as you already have a better invulnerable save and you gain all the restrictions for no gain over runic armour.

What to do with wolf guard?

The pack leader is an interesting aspect of the space wolf list. You have the ability to place a terminator in every squad infantry squad for 33 points. This allows you to give your squad a save against all but the most dangerous weapons if you place him at the front. When charging into combat unfurling the wolf banner and having the terminator at the front allows you to ensure that you can limit the damage inflicted by overwatch on the squad. This little trick can be repeated in close combat by putting the wounds on the Wolf Guard.

Using the 2+ save of the Wolf Priest and the re-roll from the wolf banner you will have a one in thirty six chance of failing an armour save. While dice don't always follow the average you can put an entire combat's wounds onto this model and should come out with most if not all of them saved. The terminator Wolf Guard can also proof a unit against the effects of most power weapons and for other weapons the invulnerable save can keep your unit relatively intact. Some players make the mistake of sacrificing Grey Hunters on mass to keep the Terminator alive, anything beyond one or two grey hunters cannot be justified, you've lost more combat and shooting attacks to preserve a model that has limited combat potential.

What is better than an armour save?

The only thing better than a good armour or invulnerable save is not being shot at. I am aware that in certain parts of the world your game board consists almost exclusively open terrain but everywhere else you can use the terrain to screen your army from fire. Buildings, ruins, trees, hills and all those other terrain pieces can deny line of sight to your units. If you are running a foot slog list you need to keep fire off of the Grey Hunter squads. Armour saves or cover saves will not keep these units alive when faced with large numbers of shots. The less fire you can take the better while you move across the board the better.

The Rune Priests can offer a number of abilities which can improve your odds of getting across the board. From the biomancy table, endurance will grant a unit feel no pain, relentless and it will not die. This blessing can bolster your troops and have them hitting harder before charging into combat. Feel no pain will reduce most of the wounds you take by a third, if you put this on a unit before they unfurl the banner it will be a very good round of combat for you.

Stormcaller can grant cover saves to a few units at a time but with a decently populated board you can gain the cover save in area terrain. I'd only recommend it if you play on bare tables as decent terrain offers a 5+ cover save too. The Wolf Priest grants stealth to his unit which improves your cover save by one. Cover saves are only really a benefit when you cannot make an armour save, usually this means you're being peppered with heavy weapons, the

Conclusion:

Space Wolves have the finest armour in the Imperium of mankind. The power armour makes your basic troops tough to kill and can be further augmented by your characters powers or special rules. There is an optimum armour for each of the HQ choices runic armour is the best in most cases but there are a few builds that it doesn't work well for.

Taking advantage of terrain is really important, some people don't play the terrain on the board to their strength and it costs them. If your board is anything more than a flat table you need to take advantage of that. Despite their toughness Space Wolves cannot stand in the open and hope to weather massed firepower. If you use armour, psychic powers and line of sight to minimise your casualties then you should stand a good chance of bringing your armies full force to bear on the enemy.

Wolf and Sister Part 58

2013-02-13T02:00:00.000-05:00

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Wolf Priest

2013-02-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Unit Name: Wolf Priest

Unit Type: HQ Unit. Unit consists of one model.

Construction: Using the space wolves pack or wolf guard terminator boxes.

Unit Deployment: In a unit in partial cover or a transport

Unit in play: Attached to a variable role squad

Unit is most effective against: Infantry.

General Discussion:

The Wolf Priests are the chaplains of the space wolves; they bring you the blessings of Russ and the Allfather. What do they bring you on the board? Are they worth taking over a rune priest?

What do you get for your points?
A power maul and wolf amulet is the standard equipment you find on the model. This means you will be ideal for crushing poorly armoured foes but underpowered when it comes to marines and their equivalents. Surprisingly this unit is good when it comes to tackling synapse creatures. Since you will be attaching this model to grey hunters or wolf guard it isn’t much of an issue. The wolf amulet gives you a 4+ invulnerable save and you will get to look out sir! most of the wounds if you need to.

This priest is nothing if not a buff character; he gives you fearless and preferred enemy. These are great assets. Fearless is amazingly useful when you don’t want to run the risk of failing a leadership check in combat, when tank shocked or from a round of shooting. While it is not as good as a wolf banner or prescience, preferred enemy can be a great boost. It applies to shooting and assaults, allowing you to re-rolls 1’s to hit and to wound. When packing plasma this ability is highly useful since you are hitting on 3’s and wounding on 2’s in most cases, this really ups the pain that a unit can deal when attached to the priest. You are also even less likely to get your models killed by “gets hot”. While you must nominate the unit type that you have preferred enemy against at the start of the game you can be guaranteed to bring a lot of firepower and attacks to bear on those units.

Wargear options:

Terminator armour gives you a good save but you would be better off paying for runic armour as it gives you the same save with none of the drawbacks. You have the better invulnerable save already and you also retain your extra attack for your pistol, the ability to sweeping advance and grenades for charging through cover. On top of that the model is only one space in a transport. The better option by far is the runic armour for a space wolf. If you are going to be outflanking this priest you’ll need to keep him in the basic power armour. Being stuck in power armour means you’ll just need to keep the wolf priest in the middle of the unit to keep the wounds off of him.

When it comes to guns, you should work with what aligns best with the roll and armour of your priest. If you are going to be jumping into combat then pistols are the way to go. Plasma is a good choice as it is rather unlikely you would fail to hit and wound with the priests abilities. It can also add another anti-armour shot to a plasma cutter squad. Combi-weapons and a storm bolter are only options really to be considered for a terminator character since the wolf priest is still a character that shines in the assault phase. As such I don’t think anything other than the pistol is worth bothering with.

The other options of a bike or a jump pack don’t work well unless you have a list with a few squads of Swifclaws or Skyclaws. While you could stick a Wolf Priest on an allied unit of bikes or assault marines they would actually be better with their own chaplain. Wolf priest’s preferred enemy are for Space Wolves only and the vanilla or Blood Angels’ chaplain are far more beneficial to their own.

Meltabombs are as always a good choice if you mean for the priest and his unit to tackle armour in the assault phase. A wolf tooth talisman is a fine addition to the character as it increases their combat profile. Even though the priest is not a combat character he can add a few good hits to the wound pool. When up against monstrous creatures or enemy characters getting every hit in is a priority. The wolf tail talisman is a useful addition. Any time your rune priests are out of range to use their runic weapon.

The real interesting abilities are the choice of sagas available to the wolf priest. Beastslayer is an interesting saga but not a great option as many models that it applies to will have better than a 4+ save. Saga of the wolfkin is an option I would never recommend as Wolf Priests have little business with Fenrisian wolves. Saga of the warrior born is of most use on wolf lords due to their number of attacks. With a Wolf Priest you may clock up an extra attack or two but a wolf lord can clock up a dozen against a horde. The really interesting saga is saga of the hunter, it gives you the ability to have a squad outflank with the priest and gain stealth. If you couple this with his other abilities makes an impressive tool. Acute senses allows a re-roll for outflank, so it’s an eight out of nine chance of putting him where you want and bringing a unit along too. This gives you the opportunity to land in the back lines of the enemy and blast a unit off the board with concentrated plasma and bolter fire.

How to play the wolf priest?

The offensive use of the priest is clear; outflanking him with Wolf Guard or Grey Hunters makes for a plasma cutter unit. He could also be mounted in a Drop Pod with those units and given runic armour. The Drop Pod option is a great use of the plasma cutter especially if you use the drop pod to screen the unit from line of sight. Outflanking works well too but it leaves a greater wait until the priest is on the board. You want to be making the most of this character and dropping as much ranged and combat attacks as you can on the enemy while you have a fearless unit to do so.

A classic maneuver from 5th edition is to strap a jump pack to the priest and stick him in a squad of Skyclaws or unadorned add him to Blood Claws and tear into the enemy. This isn't as good as it used to be but they can still do a serious amount of damage. 40-60 attacks on the charge with preferred enemy will do a decent amount of damage. The only problem is that these units don't have the same all round ability that Grey Hunters have.

If you are forced onto the defensive for a game the priest can be stuck on a long fang squad as it ensures they'll be wounding most units with missiles, plasma and lazcannons. Once the enemy closes the gap you can move him onto a Grey Hunter squad to maximise their potential. This can add an extra punch to your heavy support ensuring that almost every hit is a wound.

How does it compare to a rune priest?

The Rune Priest is a great choice, he adds a lot of buffs to a squad but he isn't ideal for a combat squad. While the Rune Priest can grant prescience to a unit he is still vulnerable to moral checks. Rune Priests can work well for defensive formations but the Wolf Priests have the edge in when working with aggressive units. Gunning forward without fear of falling back ensures you can deliver the unit where you want and inflict maximum damage while doing it.
Stealth can give you a decent cover save to your unit when it faces heavy fire. The priests first turn on the board will be the hardest to weather. The Rune Priest can offer the same protection with storm caller but must trade that off for divination powers which are far more useful in most games.

Conclusion:

The priest isn't like your Wolf Lord. He can’t reap a tally of pelts on his own but what he does do is to make the units he joins better. With his addition your unit will inflict 5 or 6 more wounds when shooting or in combat, this is nothing to ignore and can be the difference between breaking a unit in one turn or being stuck in combat for another turn or two. Wolf Lords are a combat monster on their own offering little to their squads and Rune Priests need to have their hands held through most fights to increase the power of their squad. The Wolf Priest is in the middle of those two, he can fight and he offers a range of abilities to your squads that you cannot get elsewhere.
I think he offers a substantial gain to your army. One Wolf Priest is enough however as you will still want to take a different HQ selection to augment your army in other ways.

Wolf and Sister Part 57

2013-02-06T02:00:00.000-05:00

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Women in Warharmmer 40K

2013-02-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

So Adam wrote an article about the gender imbalance in wargaming. Firstly I think we can all agree that there is a gender imbalance. The reason that people point to the lack of women when there is a problem in a group is that it is self-evident, you can tell just by sticking your head in the door of any club, game night or competition. While there may be other problems in the wargaming community they are not as in your face as the gender imbalance. I find it crazy that FPS games like Call of Duty that has documented sexism in their online communities has a much greater uptake than our hobby with women gamers. There needs to be some changes but they aren’t to make the game more “girl friendly”; I think we just need to make it friendlier for everyone. Some people say we shouldn’t change what the culture is within 40k as it will drive lots of people out and that changing the culture is just patronising for the minorities. I think there is a difference between a culture and endorsed bullying. Now I suggest you read the entire article, any cries of "No true Scotsman!" serve nothing. We all want to play our game, we enjoy doing it and I feel we owe it to ourselves to ensure that everyone that wants to can.

Firstly, what do I mean when I say bullying? Bullying occurs according to Dab Owelus, an expert in the field, when someone is “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons”. It isn’t just when you actively attack and insult someone, but also when it happens passively. The first is obvious and I doubt there are many of us out there that would let that slide but the passive bullying is what I think is the issue here and I think it’s something we need to talk about and deal with.

We don’t notice when people leave the hobby much because it just happens that people get bored or move on to other things but it also happens that some leave because of the atmosphere. Lots of people I have spoken to who have fully painted armies blame the atmosphere as to why they didn't keep playing. Thinking back on the gaming club that I was involved in during secondary school, the amount of bullying that was there was shocking. If guys are not enjoying the atmosphere in our “male dominated” hobby why would anyone else enjoy it?

I think we need to be honest; the game has a bad reputation out there, to fix this we need to do something about how we behave. The subject material will always be nerdy and tabletop games are not for everyone but we can make the gaming clubs more welcoming. Selection bias may mean that there are less women interested in 40k but it shouldn't be zero. I think the problem is that we have entrenched certain ways of engaging with one another that tend to exclude new people and that is what needs to be tackled.

Who is playing and what does that bring to the group?

So when you walk into your local gaming store who do you see? Usually guys aged 13 to 30 from similar backgrounds and having the same general interests. Now why is this not the best thing in the world you may be wondering? The reason I say it isn’t great is because when people that think the same way from a clique, that clique becomes inward looking as there isn’t much diversity of opinion or behaviour. At a simple level you think the same things are cool and the same jokes are funny. The group even sets its own norms, what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour. This is how groups work; it is not bad unless the group takes on some negative ideas or aspects.

So back to the people that play the game: it’s a lot of teenage guys. We were all that age once, I have been through that crucible and know that it isn’t always the most fun time of life. When you are that age you don’t always see the outcomes of your actions. You may think some things are funny and witty but they aren’t to the people you are saying them to. When the group is comprised of a lot of guys in that time of their life certain attitudes, jokes and tropes become the norm for the group. At that age young guys throw out lots of insults as part of their back and forth but they also use “gay” as an insult along with jokes about the threat of rape. So we get a situation where the norms that exist within gaming are those of a group of male teenage friends. The status quo becomes re-enforced when you have a lack of diversity in the group over time and it sets in stone the way people interact within the group because you don’t have anyone challenge the ethos.

Diversity in a group is important for many reasons; the simplest is the fact of optics. It looks good. It means that people see the hobby as not just a pastime for white, heterosexual, men aged 13-40. Being seen to be more welcoming is actually important because it shapes how people behave when they first come in contact with the hobby. If people are worried that going into a club is going to be like walking the gauntlet then it will put them on edge to begin with. Any negative experiences they have will just re-enforce that stereotype for them. It is also important as diverse groups made up of people from different backgrounds tend to be more welcoming and inclusive. This is down to the fact they understand that not everyone is the same and likes the same things but people generally like to be treated with respect.

Why does the group matter?

Groups can start to take on greater meaning to its members than just playing a game. Look at the outpouring of vitriol by gamers after Anita Sarkeesian dared ask is there a problem with how women are portrayed in video games. You lose the objectivity when it comes to how your group interacts with others. You stop having an impartial idea of how that group behaves or acts because in some way you see any criticism of that group as being aimed at you. I’m not saying that every wargamer is going to attack people that question 40k but we do all fall prey to the mob mentality sometimes and that doesn’t excuse anything. This mob mentality tends to mean that we gloss over instances where the group is at fault.

Our gaming groups tend to have a male dominated culture to them and nobody who is in the group really challenges that status quo. It is hard enough to come into somewhere new and try to make friends when you are an outsider but if you feel that the group is hostile towards you because of your gender, sexuality, race or whatever then there is no hope that you will partake in the hobby. It’s not a case of “awh, they cannot handle it” they shouldn’t have to. Nobody should have to put up with a hostile environment.

We become victims of “group-think” and don’t really take responsibility for that or how our actions effect others. Think about this example. When someone gets trounced thoroughly by a player two things usually happen. Either the winning player runs back to his friends and brags or more rarely the winner has a bit of a chat with the other player about things to watch out for in the future. The first can put players off and leave them with a bad taste in their mouth while the second can encourage a player to build a new list and take another go at it the next week. The people that leave the hobby do so because they feel that they’re not part of the group, be it due to some perceived passive attitude towards them or that they don’t enjoy getting beaten and ignored by the people they play against.

I have heard people say that they’ve never done anything like that. Just because you haven’t done it yourself doesn’t mean it isn’t happening elsewhere or that you just weren’t picking up on it. When you are a member of a community you have to take some responsibility for what goes on in it. Saying that none of this stuff happens in our club is all great and good but is that the full story?

What is the problem?

The problem I see is that there are some people that don’t get called on their behaviour. On passive/casual side of the bad behaviour coin is the use of “gay” as an insult, sexist jokes and the use of rape as a synonym for winning. None of these are good things; they are not big and not clever. You can actually make lots of young LGBT people think people dislike them and make it harder to identify as such because even in the best situation it’s not the easiest thing to come out. Similarly sexual violence against women and (though you never hear of it) men is a fact that doesn’t go away because you make jokes about it. I am as guilty as any kid of making those jokes, but that isn’t a reason to normalise them. This adds to an atmosphere that is toxic for certain people and drives people away. It isn’t that you are actually sexist or homophobic but that you come across as such. The world begins to see the hobby in that light and it is a label that is hard to wash off. I don’t think that players are, in the majority, trying to insult people but it happens. When you get a lot of socially awkward people together at an event some someone will say the wrong thing. It happens and between the ages of 13 and 21, that was me.

Bad sportsmanship is part of this too. People that are awful to play with kill the hobby for others. If someone doesn’t know a rule that you know exists, just point it out to them rather than treating them like a fool and if you see someone at that sort of thing just call them on it. If someone is beating you don’t belittle their victory because they have a certain list or whatever. In as much as possible shake hands and acknowledge your opponent, even if you are dealing with a clown.

It doesn’t require a chewing out for most people to get the idea that maybe you should treat people they don’t know with a little bit more decorum and politeness than the friends they have known for year and have a report with. A lot of these things can be nipped in the bud with just saying “Hey man, not cool.” This prevents someone getting their feelings hurt too badly by receiving a huge crushing speech but it gets the idea across that it isn’t something the group likes. It also doesn’t make the person that is getting insulted feel further apart from the group by having to be some “protected class”. That can actually come across as patronising, so don’t make things bigger than they are but do call them out. However if you notice that someone is acting out of line a lot then just pull them aside and have a chat with them. Explain the issue and talk with them and not down to them, there is no point to demonising someone that isn't being malicious.

Now here is the sore topic, TFG as he is known online. That un-Friendly Guy, the person that does try to insult people because they think it is edgy or will help win games. The one that makes personal comments they should never make to anyone, ever. The worst thing you can find, though they are very rare, the person that touches people inappropriately. Let’s be honest, we have all met one of these people, I have met guys and girls that fit these stereotypes throughout gaming. These people do need to be told off and it needs to be seen to have been done. The reason is very clear, you need to call people on intentionally making people feel bad/committing a crime otherwise you are passively endorsing them. Unlike just being a bit of a social moron, these actions cannot be justified but many gaming groups let it slide with comments of “It’s only a joke” or “It’s only Bill”. This creates the image that the group approves of this and adds to any underlying misgivings that the victims feel. A quiet word afterwards isn’t good enough either, you need to make it clear that this isn’t on by calling over the person that was out of line and dressing them down out of earshot of everyone else.

Also just on inappropriate touching, even if you think everything I say is wrong, keep an eye out for this, especially if you are in charge of a club or running an event. I hate to say it but it actually was a problem at a con I was at a few years ago and complaints were made. The number of underage people that play wargames means that you could have an irate parent coming to you wondering whom to direct the police to.

All of these problems add to an image that wargaming should be trying to shake; that it’s not welcoming and has a very sexist attitude. That is how it is seen by the world. It is not true that we are all sexist and it is a small minority of our hobby that do these things. However, if we pretend it’s not there, if we just hope it goes away, then we get people like Aris Bakhtanians who claim that sexism is an intrinsic part of a hobby. Some cultures have bad things attached to them, that doesn't mean that you cannot change a culture to excise the bad elements and preserve the thing that makes it great.

People seem to cling to the idea it’s patronising to expect them to change their behaviour around other people, specifically women. Do people actually believe that women will feel that you are patronising them when you don’t stare at their chest or assume that they are only at wargaming events because of their boyfriend? Nobody is saying you treat the few girls that come along as some fragile flower but you also don't shout "Gonna rape ya, bitch!" at her either. When you are already behaving differently around the few women that do turn up, that is when you need to change your behaviour. You need to stop treating them as a bit of eye candy or a sideshow and talk to them just as any other player. You wouldn't make a slave or cotton field joke if a new African player came along because you wouldn't like to be seen as a racist, so why don't you extent this courtesy to others?

The problems within our hobby are in part exacerbated by group dynamics; luckily group dynamics can easily help solve a lot of these problems. Clubs usually have someone in charge, whoever that person is should be acting as a role-model for the younger players. The actual answer to younger players not following the bad example of a few rotten apples is for older players to “police” their clubs. Older players should take some time in their club to just make sure that things are ok, now and again. If you did have cases of active bullying it is the more senior members of the group that would be trying to deal with it. Why should it be any different for passive misbehaviour?

If we can get more people into the hobby and hopefully up the percentage of women then we will shake off the negative images. I don’t think 40k players will ever match perfectly the population’s demographics of genders or sexuality but that’s ok so long as the only reason people aren't joining in is because it’s “not their thing”. To ensure that the only thing holding people back from the hobby is their interest in it we need to just be a little bit more welcoming. If people look lost, just ask them in a friendly way can you help. It is actually the little things that make the biggest differences.

What was it I was trying to say?

So when it comes to the lack of women in the gaming circles why do I think that you need to treat women differently? I don’t actually. I think you need to treat people you don’t know differently, I think being friendly and welcoming is a huge thing. Look how GW’s staff behaves when people come into the store, they try to be friendly, engaging and positive. If you make new people feel like a part of the group then they will be engaging in the “witty” back and forth in no time. I do think that there is a level of politeness needed when dealing with new people and that certain subjects are taboo in public environments. If you think your wargaming club is the last place you can make ribald sexist jokes or tongue in cheek racist comments, then I'm sorry to say this but you shouldn't be making them anywhere. Bernard Manning is dead and the audience for those jokes are in their 70’s now.

All that is really lacking I feel is a bit of common sense. When there is actually someone that needs to be told what they are doing is wrong, don’t shy away from it. I am not saying be a “white knight” and slam your social outrage in their face but just talk to them and explain that what they are doing isn't something they can do in the club or competition. A great example would be when I was painting and dropped a plastic model that smashed in a store a while ago. I cursed, as many would, and a parent who was teaching his kid to play 40k just said to me to keep it down as he'll never heard the end of it from his wife if he daughter starts cursing. I curse like a sailor but I know there are times and places where it's not a good idea.

Finally we have to make it clear that behaviour that makes us all look bad deserves the harshest punishments. If someone wilfully and consistently is acting like an ass towards others in your club exclude them, make it very clear that they are being excluded because they did something the group doesn't stand for. If they learn their lesson welcome them back, if not then let them rot.

Wolf & Sister Part 56

2013-01-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

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