Tourney List Play Test

[OnlyInDeath]

With the upcoming 40k radio tourney in september, I have put together a mechanized list that I wanted to give a whirl and finally got a play test in vs my friend who decided to try a tourney list with his Fists. I've actually never done a tournament before, so trying to find a flexible list that had enough scoring units combined with anti-swarm ability (I know I'll be facing some orks in this tourny) proved to be a little more challenging than I had thought. What I was looking for was something that could deal with both swarms and also gobs of space marine players (last tourney at this particular store saw 1 dark eldar player, 1 ork and something like 8 marine players). I know it's not the perfect list, but I came up with the following:

 

HQ:

 

WGBL: Frost blade, Bolt pistol, frags, WTN, WP= 109 pts (attached to bloodclaws)

 

WGBL: Power Fist, Bolter, WTN, WP, frags = 101 pts (attached to grey hunters #1)

 

Ven Dread: TLLC, ML, extra armor = 190 pts

 

 

Troops:

 

Grey Hunters #1: 9x grey hunters: PW, PF, Meltagun, 8x Bolters, Rhino (extra armor, smoke launcher) = 254

 

Grey Hunters #2: 10 x grey hunters: PW, PF, Plasmagun, 9x Bolters, Rhino (extra armor, smoke launcher)= 274

 

Blood Claws: 14 x blood claws: PW, 2x PF, Flamer (will be mounted in LRC)

 

 

Elites:

 

Scouts: 6x scouts: 2x PW, plasma pistol, meltagun, frags, shotguns= 130 pts

 

 

Heavy:

 

LRC= 265 pts

 

Vindicator: 125 pts

 

Whirlwind: 85 pts

 

 

Grand Total: 1749 pts

 

EDIT: actually, gotta rework my math on this one for the next battle! it's 1770 total. prolly have to take out a couple blood claws

 

 

 

Fist List:

 

Chaplain w/ jump pack and melta bomb

Chapter Master w/ plasma pistol, iron halo, power weapon

 

3x 10 Tactical squads, all mounted in rhinos (SL on all), i think 1 w/ ML, 2 w/ HB

 

10x Assault Marines, 3 plasma pistols and a PW

 

5x Scouts, 4 sniper rifles, plasma pistol

 

2 x Predator Annihilator: HB sponsons

 

Ven Dread: AC, Heavy flamer

 

 

And now down to the fun: Spearhead deployment, objective = annihilation

Quick description of the board: the center of the board was a grove of forest, both deployment zones had a hill in the back and there were sporadic areas of forest and rock formations off to the sides of either deployment zone. I had to set up first and deployed the LRC and a rhino of GH to my left flank, behind the central forest and to my right I deployed the Vindicator, Vendread and the second rhino of GH. The whirlwind i placed behind the hill in the rear of my deployment zone (a mistake I would later realize as it kept it too far out of the action). In response, he put his Predators in the middle of his formation with his Vend Dread, flanked on his left (my right) by one rhino, while my left flank with the LRC he threw out 2 rhinos. His assault troops he deployed behind the hill and his scouts into the unused quarter on my right flank, somewhat behind the vindicator.

 

Turn 1: Turn one found me surging up towards the center of the board. Both of the rhinos entered into the forest to be able to deploy troops in the next turn. I moved my LRC up my left flank, drawing a bead on the Vend Dread in the middle of the table, while on the right flank, my Ven Dread and Vindi moved forward to get some targets into range and sight. My first round of shooting started off extremely well with my vend dread opening up on the rhino, causing it to explode (no casualties for the passengers unfortunately) revealing his chapter master with a tac squad (of course they passed the pinning check). Next, the vindi took aim at the only target in range and planted a shell square into the Predator annihilator on the fists left flank, again, causing a detonation which actually took out a marine of the previously mentioned squad. The rest of the shooting was much less effective, as the assault cannon on the LRC only managed to shake the Dread and the whirlwind tried to target the disembarked squad only to fall short.

 

The fists turn saw the disembarked squad move out of the crater and start it's way forward. The assault marines moved over the hill and the dread trundled forward towards the forest. On my left flank, the predator moved to get a better angle on the LRC and the rhinos moved forward to flank it. The fists' shooting phase was rather ineffectual, the Predator hitting the LRC but rolling a 1 for armor pen.

 

Turn 2: OBEL scouts did not show up.The rhinos in the forest moved forward to the edge and deployed the grey hunter squads along the edge, the one led by the WGBL along the left flank of it, the 10 man squad on the right. The Vindi and the ven dread continued up along the right flank, jockying for position on the fists remaining armor. The LRC kept stationary on the left flank, drawing the fists into range of a charge next turn and staying back in case I needed a quick counter attack. Shooting saw the melta armed grey hunters try a shot on the dread moving towards them, which they promptly missed. The LRC tried to open up into it with both the melta and the assault cannon, which failed to even glance. Cursed dice! The GH on the right flank of the woods continued this dismal shooting phase by opening up with rapid fire on the disembarked marines and only causing one wound (horray for plasma guns). The vindi took a long range shot at a single assault marine, and managed to scatter onto 4 more, killing 3. Due to a terrible oversight on my part, the ven dread didnt have an angle on the remaining fist armor due to trees, and instead opened up on the assault marines, vaporizing one with a well placed lascannon shot. As frustrated as I was with my shooting phase, completely forgot to fire my whirlwind at the scouts...

 

The fist 2nd turn was much more effective than the first, with the tac squad on my right flank moving forward to address the GH in the woods, the ven dread also clanked in their direction. The assault squad moved forward towards my left flank GH and got into position to assault them. The remaining rhinos and predator decided not to move. The shooting phase saw the right flank GH lose 4 of their number to the combined fire of the tac squad and the dreadnaught, who then proceeded to fail their morale check and fall back 9 inches. The predator and a rhino crewed by a ML toting marine tried to shoot the LRC again, again with the pred rolling a dismal 1 on armor pen. The assault squad took aim at the left most GH squad and managed to drop one of their number due to a plasma pistol shot. The scouts also tried to take aim at the rear armor of the vindi but only managed to melt the sergeant with the plasma pistol overheating. The assault phase saw the assault squad into the grey hunters, striking in initiative order. The chaplain promptly saw off two marines thanks to litanies, and the remainder of the assault marines accounted for 2 GH with a loss of only one of thier own (awsome armor saving on the fists part). The WGBL and GH with power fists then opened up and knocked off all but the chaplain and 1 assault marine, winning the combat for me. The fists passed the resulting armor checks and we piled in.

 

Turn 3: Turn 3 saw the OBEL scouts show up, who took up position behind one of the rhinos on my left flank. The LRC surged forward, coming out behind the dread and the Blood claw pack disembarked on the angle towards the remaining predator. The broken GH regrouped and moved their 3" towards the disembarked tac squad, moving into rapid fire range. The vindi stayed stationary while the ven dread, upon spotting a lack of power fist in the tac squad, moved forward into assault range. The shooting phase saw the LRC unleash hell into the dreadnaught's rear armor, scoring 3 penetrating hits and yet again sending more fist armor into an explosion which managed to miss anyone present. the Vindi tried to blast the disembarked tac squad but missed badly, but the dread managed to take out another marine from the squad. OBEL scouts managed to whiff on both shots to the rear of the rhino. The whirlwind remembered it's part in the battle and tried to take aim at the scouts, but also missed fairly badly, managing to only take out one of their number (they passed both the morale and pinning check). Assaults saw the dread into the tac squad, where it slew 3 of their number and they couldnt do anything back. Unfortunately, they managed to pass the morale check and stuck around. The Bloodclaws assaulted the side armor of the predator with 6 power fist attacks, penning the stationary tank 4 times, yet again causing a fist tank to explode, which unfortunately took out 3 hapless claws. The assault marines were seen off by the remaining GH in the woods, only losing 2 more of thier number to power weapon attacks.

 

The fist turn three saw my friend shake his head in dismay, as he realized he had nothing to deal with all of the armor left on the table for me. He took aim at the blood claws with flamers and heavy bolters from the rhinos and managed to kill another 4. The tactical squad in combat with the dread was wiped out, with the chapter master hightailing it to the board edge. After that, however, annihilation was in sight and he conceeded the rest of the game.

 

Victory for the wolves!

 

6-0 in victory points

 

 

This list ended up working out better than I thought it would. I have to get used to using a whirlwind, as this is actually the first time i've busted one out in a game, and I need to learn where to put it pregame so it has more effect during the course of the game. Remembering to fire it also helps. The OBEL scouts in this game weren't all that spectactular, but they only had one turn of action, so there wasnt much I could do. Overall, the wolves performed exactly as I hoped they would. In an objective game, I will have to be a bit more careful with the troops choices, but in annihilation it was fun just getting them into a couple of fun combats.

 

Player of the game: WGBL with power fist. Accounted for i think 3-4 assault marines and the chaplain.

[saphius]

Never been a fan of WTN on my characters that are already WS 5. Could save 20 pts there.

 

Think your Dread should have a CCW and HF rather than the Missle launcher. Makes him more versitile. And if you do that you could drop the Twin Lascannon to wither a Plasma Cannon or AC. - Making him cheaper as well. If you do this get smoke and Extra armor for sure. I really don't think you need the range of a lascannon as your whole army will be on the move.

 

To make your scouts effective against Marines and swarms Id go with my usually loadout. 6 Scouts W/ 2pw, frag, Melta bombs, Flamer. -140 pts Could get some plasma pistols for some rear armor shots if you like. And a Pack leader with a TH or PF is also very nasty.

 

I don't like the PF in your Grey Hunter Squads as much as PW. (Make sure any models with PW's have Bolt Pistols rather than bolters.)

 

Your Bloodclaw Loadout is great.

 

Heavy Support choices are perfect.

 

Might want to consider Sticking one squad of GH in a pod rather than a Rhino. The rapid deployment is very useful. (To get scouts or another unit out of a tight spot.) Also a cheaper option.

[OnlyInDeath]

I agree with what you say Saphius in the normal course of games, where I would be making a custom list against a foe, but being a tourney list I used the above options for the following reasons:

 

I put the WTN on my WGBL because you never know when you might end up in combat against another character or a daemon with equal or higher WS. In those cases you NEED the WTN. I've loved seeing the jaw drop on the local daemon players when my frost blade is hitting their bloodthirster on 3's instead of 5's.

 

The Dread I almost always do the assault build, but in this case I was realizing my list was very anti-tank light which could prove to be a problem, so I knocked out two birds w/ one stone by taking the HQ choice with anti tank weaps. Normally for the anti-tank dread config I would use an elite choice and use the ven dread rules from the SM codex to make him tank hunting. Overall though, this config worked rather well.

 

The scouts are a matter of just using what models I have available to me:P Your config definately has some merit in the tourny list layout, I just dont have the models. Same deal w/ the drop pods. Come Oct when the plastic ones come out, I will go on a spending spree for those bad boys. As for right now though, 90 bucks for FW pods is just too much. Plus this is GT rules, so no scratch built....

 

As for the fist in the GH squad, I actually am up in the air about this. It's a nice little bit of punch, but only 1 attack after the first round of combat has definately weakened it. However, mathematically speaking, the wound rate is only about 9% less than a PW and gives the ability to take out a dreadnaught that might have come at the unit, or something of the like. So again, I'm up in the air about it. I'll have to play test a 2xPW config sometime soon

[OnlyInDeath]

2nd battle tomorrow vs some DA deathwing/ravenwing list (if he comes as expected). My list will be as above but with 12 BC's and I've swapped out the WGBL with a FB for a wolf priest (I wanted at least 1 char w/ an invuln save and Ld 10 is just dandy w/ me with the BC's). I'll be sure to leave you a nice little battle report at the conclusion tomorrow and if I can figure out how (feel free to PM me) I'll get some pics posted up here of my force. 40k radio tourney is coming up this sat and I'm getting pretty psyched! Get back to you here tomorrow!

[OnlyInDeath]

Well, 2nd play test is done and overwith. I played the above list, with the exeption of the BC pack now numbering 12 and I took out the WGBL with a frost blade in favor of throwing out a WP. I wanted a model with and invuln save and Ld 10 in that BC unit, and the model I have for it is just plain cooler lookin'.

 

Went up against essentially a pure infantry DA army list. I think something like 3 tac squads, a dev squad, 3 termie squads, chapter master and belial (sp). I was rather surprised that he went with this makeup, as he does in fact have vehicles and a full raven wing group, but it's what he decided to field.

 

The game actually was straightforward, so I wont bother with a turn by turn. It was annihilation/pitched battle. His set up was all the tac squads and the IC's in the middle, all the squads broken into combat squads. He also put the devs on either flank with a plasma cannon and ML in each. The termies were kept in reserve.

 

My deployment I had the LRC in the middle of my zone, flanked by a rhino on either side. I had the Vindi on my left flank with the WW in a copse of woods on that side and the vendread over on the far right flank.

 

The early stages of the game saw me move forward into the middle of the table with the majority of my forces, one GH squad taking the middle table terrain with the other taking off down the left flank to deal with the assorted combat squads over there. The first turn of shooting was ineffectual for both sides, but in the second turn (with the scouts having come on the table by his right flank dev squad) saw me take out about half his models on the table with shooting alone (including making Belial run!). After that, the termies came in piecemeal and got cut up. The rest of the game was pretty much me mopping up the combat squads. In the end, I was able to table him by the end of turn 4.

 

In the end, it looks like this list will be a pretty solid mech list. I'll let you know how it goes come Sat!

[Haegr]

well done, we have a brother of the Wolves entering the 40k radio World Wide War i presume its called?

 

 

Good luck in that, and destroy sum foul chaos scum!

 

 

Btw the list looks good, I would enter in this tournament, but i cant drive to the located store in australia ;)