Bat Rep: 1500 pts, Wolves VS Space Marines

[Didacsoy]

Well, today I had my first game in more than six years.

 

And I can't wait to play again! I knew we sons of Russ were powerful, brave and tactically flexible, but today's game just blew off my mind. I have to say that I had a great time, as it was very intense. My opponent was a gentleman, and I hope the outcome of the game doesn't discourage him from playing with me again.

 

The armies:

 

Space Marines

Chaplain (TDA)

Terminator Assault Squad (2xthunder hammers, 3xlightning claws)

Land Raider Crusader (with multi-melta)

 

Terminator Squad (10-man strong)

All with storm bolters / powerfist plus assault cannon and heavy flamer

 

Tactical squad 1

Missile launcher

Flamer

Sergeant with melta bombs

 

Tactical squad 2

Missile launcher

Plasma gun

 

Scout Squad (6-man)

Sniper rifles

Cammo cloaks

Missile launcher

Teleport homer

 

 

Space Wolves

 

Venerable Dreadnought

Assault cannon / heavy flamer

 

Wolf Priest (nekkid) + frags

 

Dreadnought

Multi-melta / storm bolter

 

Grey hunters pack 1 (10 man)

PW, PF, 2xplasma pistol, 7xbolt gun, flamer

rhino

 

Grey hunters pack 2 (10 man)

Plasma gun, 9x bolt gun

 

Blood claws pack (9 man led by WP)

2xPF

Rhino

 

Land Speeder (Multi-melta)

 

Long fang pack (3+leader)

Lascannon

Plasmacannon

Missile launcher

 

Vindicator

 

Predator

AutoCannon + Lascannon sponsons

 

 

Here goes the rep:

 

We played on a very nice table at our LGS, the new Citadel one (4'x6'). We asked the guys in the store to set up the terrain for us, and when they were done I couldn't believe it: 12 friggin' buildings! The GW plastic ones. The big multi-story ones. They also threw in some large goo-oozing pipes and some short walls for good measure so there were 18-20 terrain features all in all. Next we rolled the dice: Capture & Control with Spearhead deployment. We rolled off and I got to go first, yay!

 

 

I chose as my home objective the smallest building in the field, which happend to be just at the foot of a hill in the southwest corner of the table. It had a medium-sized corner and two small floors above ground level. GH pack 2 deployed behind cover in the corner and later the Long Fangs made themselves at home in the stores above it (two on each floor).

 

My opponent deployed Tactical Squad 2 in his home objective: a 5 (five!) story building in the east part of the table, near the longitudinal edge of the board. Of course he split the squad along three floors, so they had a nice field of vision stretching to Michigan or so. The rest of his deployment was the LRC with the termies and the chaplain in its belly in the northeastest corner, with Tactical Squad 1 footslogging literally behind the Land Raider's side. At that point that LR's side started to look like a big barn's side to me... :lol: He saved his scouts for his infiltration move and his Big Scary Terminator Squad From Hell (BSTSFH) for deep strike.

 

I decided to deploy my two goodness-loaded rhinos along the long table edge (southern edge) along with the Venerable Dreadnought, the Vindicator as close as possible to the center of the board. The Predator and the regular Dreadnought were keeping the east flank, while the Land Speeder was in store so I could Deep Strike it.

 

The scouts were deployed on the second floor of a building in the middle of the north edge of the board. When I had a look at everything deployed I realized: everything was in cover! I wondered how long would I be able to keep my wolves that way for. The loaded LRC scares me out of my socks, and the prospect of 10 terminators poping up from the aether in front of me really gives me the creeps, but I decide to place me in the Allfather's hands and hope Russ witnesses my brave struggle and get on with the

 

Wolves Turn 1:

 

Both Rinhos run the southern edge for all they are worth. The plan is to get the blood claws to assault my opponent's home objetive (or turn to shreds anything preventing them from it) while the GH1 cover them up and mop behind. On the west side, I hope the combined firepower of the Predator, Vindicator, the Long Fangs and the regular Dreadnought is enough to wittle down any enemies with funny ideas about assaulting my home objective. If worse comes to worst what is left of the enemy will have to deal with a 'shooty' grey hunter pack eager of counter-attacking anyone bold enough to come close enough.

 

The Venerable Dread tots behind the rhinos (a little bit more towars the center of the battlefield, though) so he can provide some cover fire. The Vindicator takes position near the center of the table and the Predator does the same thing between two buildings in the west flank. It is aimed at my opponent's objective, as its guns' range allows for a great 'snipping stance'. Now it is able to pick sideways at anything that comes alont the center of the field. The regular Dreadnought positions himself behind the Predator, near the west edge.

 

In my shooting phase, the predator shoots its autocannon at TS2 (holding objective) and manages to down 2 marines. Vindicator shoots the scouts (the plan was to take them down before they brought the BSTSFH across the warp), but they are 2 inches out of range, leaving me nothing short of doumbfounded. Next I shoot them for all the long fangs had (except for the lascannon, which I saved for the LRC), landing a hit with the plasma cannon and the missile launcher (the scatter gods smiled at me today!), but only one scout is slain. The lascannon shot misses the barn's side by a mile or more, so quite crestfallen, I end up my turn.

 

 

Marines Turn 1:

 

My opponent pushes his LRC forward along the north edge while TS1 literally has to run to keep up and get a nice comforting cover from the big machine. Sniper scouts try to pin down my long fangs, but only manage to kill the leader, while TS2 is too far away to shoot at anything. My opponent frills with anticipation for the moment to unleash his terminators on me, but fortunately I have my second turn to try and prevent that.

 

 

Wolves Turn 2:

 

The Land Speeder arrives from reserves! I position it cleverly in the open in an conspicuosly close position to the LRC (now I have second thoughts about this, because if I don't pop it, it will be shot by the LRC itself, the TS1 and the TS2 as it is the only miniature in range, but I consider the risk is worth it if I get to blow the thing up). However, I happen to scatter on top of the LRC and my opponent gets to place my model as he wishes, and decides that the land speeder needs to take a long walk on a short bridge (literally), so I end up in front of the snipping scouts, in the opposite side of the field and taking a dangerous terraint test, which I pass. I sigh in relief. Aloud. And I sigh again.

 

Rhinos continue their trip along the long edge of the board, take a sharp turn and come to a stop, one behind a building and the other in the open but obscured from the land raider by a nearby building. Next turn they will be in position to unleash their load upon the enemy! Venerable Dreadnought continues his advance along the middle, the Vindicator advances a few inches, so this time it won't have range issues with the scouts, and the regular dreadnought keeps advancing to flank the scouts.

 

Shooty time! My wolfs go happy on the trigger and it shows: The Predator continues to slowly trim the squad holding the objective downing 2 of them, the long fangs land a lascannon shot and a missile shell on the scouts (plasma cannon gets hot, but its holder survives), however they make all of their saves (damned cammo cloaks!). At this point I'm starting to think those scouts are holograms or something, but my trusty Vindicator proves me wrong: a huge pie-plate lands on the building the scouts are hidding in taking 3 of them down. The two left don't make their morale test and run like there is no tomorrow, taking the teleport homer with them. Now I'm relieved, as the terminators are not able to come in my face. I keep thinking anything short of another planet is too uncomfortably close, though.

 

Marines Turn 2:

 

My opponent rolls for the BSTSFH in reserve and makes his roll, thus bringing them in. He deploys them on the west side of the north edge, but fortunately and due to the scout's running around he won't be able to assault my home objective for at least another 3 turns.

 

The LRC comes forward and aims directly at my rhinos (good thing they are in cover, I think) and the TS1 holes behind a low-running wall taking shooting stances. As there is nothing else to move, my opponent tries a pot shot at my GH1's rhino with the land raider's assault cannon, wrecking it and forcing GH1 to footslog for the rest of the battle. My blood claw's rhino gets some attention from TS2, but the missile misses. The newly arrived terminators try to take down the land speeder sitting like a duck in front of them, but fail miserably only getting 2 'crew shaken' results while the remaining scouts don't have any luck against my Long Fangs either.

 

Wolves Turn 3:

 

This is getting pretty interesting as both sides' plans are thrown back one way or another, but I still have almost all of my forces with me and decide to stick to the original plan. The Venerable dreadnought comes closer to the remaining rhino as it aproaches the enemy and obscures itself with the smoke launchers. GH1 comes behind's the BC's transport to make for a nice second wave for whatever comes around (at this point the LRC or the termies inside it). The land speeder hides itself using its 24" move and the regular dreadnought tries to aquire a nice vista of the BSTSFH, as I plan to decimate them this turn.

 

Here comes the shooting: the venerable dreadnought shoots the squad at my opponent's objective, putting one marine to rest. The Predator tries the same, but fails its four shots miserably. The Vindicator scatters its Demolisher shot too far away from the terminators to do anything. The Long Fangs in turn aren't succesful either: the lascannon misses, the plasma cannon gets hot (model survives) and the missile launcher only manages to force 3 saving throws, which the termies pass promptly. Seeing he is alone against a horde of terminators, the regular dreadnought prefers running out of sight to exposing himself to a deadly volley of fire next turn.

 

This was a key turn, and quite a disappointing one. With both terminator units still intact and the imminent assault from the LRC cargo, the sons of Fenris look into a grim future.

 

 

Marines Turn 3:

 

First things first: the BSTSFH closes in slowly but relentlessly into the wolves' home objectly. Then the LRC approaches the BC's rhino and unloads its cargo. As shooting goes, the BSTSFH downs a grey hunter in GH2 and the scouts fail every shot against the long fangs. TS2 manages a kill against GH1 while TS1's line of sight is blocked by the land raider. The LRC shoots at the rhino, missing the multi-melta shot (thanks Russ!) but scoring 2 penetrating hits with the assault cannon. However the smoke launchers save the day and the blood claws howl in excitement from inside their armoured restraining shirt.

 

Having failed to blow up the rhino, the assault terminators try to pop the transport and manage to blow it, feat which proved a huge tactical mistake later, as it left the terminator squad in the open and unengaged, at the price of two deade blood claws, blown up with the rhino. The Wolf Priest helps the young pups pass their pinning test, the deaths of their brethren making them even hungrier for the enemy's blood.

 

Wolves Turn 4:

 

And this is where the fun begins! The footslogging grey hunters come just behind their younger brothers and ready their weapons. The Venerable dreadnought closes in to the frey and the regular dreadnought sticks his head out again in hopes of taking down some terminators.

 

Preparing the blood claw's assault, the vindicator directs a nasty death rain towards the terminators and the chaplain, scattering the template one inch and caching 5 termies underneath it, killing four of them. The grey hunters shoot the remaining termies, but only get one of their own killed by a nasty case of gets-hot-itis. The venerable dreadnought shoots at the TS2 killing another 2 marines and the predator fails to do any damage to the same squad at all. The Long Fangs and the shooty GH squad make up for their previous turn killing 3 terminators in the BSTSFH while the dreadnought kills the fourth.

 

Now on to the assault! there are just two terminators (lightning claws) and the chaplain left of the original unit, and the blood claws throw themselves against them. The wolf priest manages only one wound and kills one marine. The remaining marine and the chaplain get to slay 4 BC while the pups put down the regular terminator and score a wound against the chaplain. I thought I'd win the assault as my power fist wielding blood claws still had 6 attacks to make, but the chaplain went on to save the 4 wounds I could score. I lost the combat by 1 and failed my morale check with a 10 (sic.). That left my remaining blood claws unengaged and in the open, a position I don't recommend when you have a land raider crusader within spitting range.

 

This turn saw a ridiculously succesful shooting phase and the worst of lucks in a close combat I remember... Apparently a chaplain can pull off N 4+ saves before taking a wound, where N is an absurd number.

 

Marines Turn 4:

 

My opponent tried to salvage a draw by this point and came to me with everything he got. He moved the land raider out of the way so his TS1 could shoot the crap out of me. He kept advancing with his remaining terminators into my position, hoping he would at least contend my objective. His shooting phase saw the undoing of my blood claws before his LRC's hurricane bolters, his termies shooting down two more of my home grey hunters and the scouts stunning the regular dreadnought. Fortunately, his attempts to destroy the venerable one weren't successful. Without HtH, he ended his turn.

 

Wolves Turn 5:

 

The GH1 advanced towards the objective to try and at least contest it. The dreadnought menacingly turned to the land raider and purposefully advanced towards it. The Long Fangs along with the GH2 shot the remaining terminators, bringing them down to a lone marine who refused to flee and would keep advancing on the next turns, but that achievement was not free of grief: the plasma cannon wielding long fang got blew up from an unlucky gets-hot roll. The predator, the vindicator and the GH1 managed to shoot down the remaining marines in the TS2, thus leaving the marines' home objective unprotected.

 

The venerable dreadnought enraged by the destruction of the brave blood claws and the loss of a wise wolf priest run towards the land raider crusader and with a mighty blow from his combat claw penetrated the armored beast's thick hide, stripping its steely heart appart and causing the machine to release its spirit with a powerfull blast. Having avenged the deaths of his brethren, he consolidated towards the only enemy in sight: TS1.

 

Marines Turn 5:

 

The Space Marines' remaining forces amounted to a lonely terminator, two scouts and an undamaged tactical squad. The terminator kept advancing and the scouts tried to finish off the nearby dreadnought, but couldn't get a clear shot. The TS1 tried to knock the Venerable Dreadnought with a missle shell, but it ricocheted to the sky from his front plating.

 

 

I rolled for the end of the battle and the mighty Allfather granted the wolves another turn to carry out their mission, so on we went.

 

 

Wolves Turn 6:

 

The GH1 advanced to claim my opponent's home objective uncontested, while the Venerable Dreadnought advanced towards the tactical squad still remaining. The shooting phase brought the dead of the last terminator and a volley of assault cannon shells and fiery death to the tactical squad. After the Venerable Dreadnought's assault on them, only 2 remained.

 

Marines Turn 6:

 

With only the scouts in the battlefield and the engaged TS1, my opponent didn't have much to do. The scouts tried, but didn't even scratch the paint of the dreadnought, and the ongoing assault ended up badly for him: one immobilized venerable dreadnought and a tactical squad completely wiped.

 

Mercifully, the roll for the next turn was a 2 and the battle ended there.

 

Result: The wolves held both objectives, and the marine force was never seen again!

 

 

Final thoughts

It sure feels great to be back! I thought I'd be a little bit rusty after such a long time without playing, but everything turned out fine in the end. I have to say probably the spearhead deployment hurt my opponent, but I'm impressed at how well my shooting went for this game. Probably his force, scary as it may be, lacks flexibility for objective play. Maybe an extra troop choice with a transport would have gone a long way in the tactical assets department. I think things would have been different if he had used his second squad to secure his home objective instead of giving support fire, or concentrated in not letting me in so easily.

 

Overall I'm really happy with my army and how it performed, though I was hoping for some more assaulty action. I want to try it in different settings, maybe against more armour or against a more assault-oriented army. Definitely the MVP was the Vindicator tank, followed closely by the Venerable Dreadnought. In the end the casualties in my side amounted to: 2 rhinos, immobilised Venerable Dreadnought, Wolf Priest and Blood Claws Pack, 4 grey hunters (one self inflicted) and 2 Long Fangs (one self inflicted). I don't think that's bad at all for a first 5th edition game!

 

All in all, great game, great opponent, great fun! The only thing nagging me is that as soon as I packed my last model, I wanted to be back on the table fighting another battle. I can't wait to see my packs in action again! :D

 

 

PS: Sorry for this mammoth post. I'll try to get some pics next time so you don't have to read so much ;)

[Ryzouken]

Congratulations on a successful first game! I squeaked out my first game of 5th Ed as well, it seems a lot of people underestimate our venerable sons of Russ. About the only critique I can make is that (IMHO) Melta is a better investment than plasma for a few reasons.

1) you can't fry yourself with melta

2) you can fry enemy Land Raiders (which are now very common) with melta

3) Plasma's worth against light vehicles has gone down due to the changes to vehicle damage.

So you might consider bodging together a few meltagun troopers, or you might not, entirely up to you. I think you'd have been better able to prosecute that Raider with Melta (at the cost of anti Termie effectiveness, but the latter is made up for by the Vindi)

[Didacsoy]

Congratulations on a successful first game! I squeaked out my first game of 5th Ed as well, it seems a lot of people underestimate our venerable sons of Russ. About the only critique I can make is that (IMHO) Melta is a better investment than plasma for a few reasons.

1) you can't fry yourself with melta

2) you can fry enemy Land Raiders (which are now very common) with melta

3) Plasma's worth against light vehicles has gone down due to the changes to vehicle damage.

So you might consider bodging together a few meltagun troopers, or you might not, entirely up to you. I think you'd have been better able to prosecute that Raider with Melta (at the cost of anti Termie effectiveness, but the latter is made up for by the Vindi)

 

I also put a lot of thought in this plasma vs. melta thing. The reason I took a plasma gun is the same reason I give bolters to my GH: flexibility. The meltagun range is quite limited in that you must be really close to your target to be effective for tank hunting in a 'shooty' squad. If I can get within 6 inches of a land raider to fire a single melta shot, maybe I can assault it with other thing that my 'shooty' squad.

 

On the other hand, a plasma gun gives me up to 24", that little extra punch to really hold against an assault in that kind of unit AND the ability to pop rhinos, speeders, bikes and terminators from afar. At the same range (12") I prefer 2 ST7 shots over 1 ST8 shot, even if I can fry myself, because I get a normal save against it, while my opponents just won't. If the squad was a dedicated tankhunter (6 man, 2 powe fist WGPL with melta bombs and the such) then a meltagun would be a no-brainer... but OBEL scouts are the way to go for that kind of thing, really.

[Ryzouken]

Fair enough. You've obviously put some thought into it and your arguments for the plasma are fairly sound.

[Thorgad]

This was a great battle-rep to read, so kudos to you Didacsoy on that!

I just had one beef. I don't think you can fire your smoke-launchers and also fire your weapons. Rulezpack?

[Didacsoy]

This was a great battle-rep to read, so kudos to you Didacsoy on that!

I just had one beef. I don't think you can fire your smoke-launchers and also fire your weapons. Rulezpack?

 

You are right, you can't. I'm fairly sure I didn't either, but it might have slipped in the repport. Thanks for the comments!

[Ryzouken]

Land Raiders might be able to. It's a bone of contention as to whether PotMS allow firing despite smoke being popped. That said, it does read that on Turn 3, the Ven Dread popped smoke then opened up during the shoot phase.

[Grey Mage]

I think one of his problems is that he took a six hundred point unit and a 450pt unit. If he wanted that many termies he would have been better of playing deathwing IMHO. That many points tied up in two units is crazy. You did really well minimizing the effects of them aswell I see.

 

A cityfight like that is always good, had one myself this afternoon vs orks.

[Didacsoy]

Land Raiders might be able to. It's a bone of contention as to whether PotMS allow firing despite smoke being popped. That said, it does read that on Turn 3, the Ven Dread popped smoke then opened up during the shoot phase.

 

You are absolutely right: I messed the report. That's what happens when you forget to take notes and pics :) I'm sure I did it the right way in-game, though but for the life of me I can't remember in which turn I did the shooting and when I popped the smoke launchers. Maybe it was the other dreadnought altogether! What I'm positive is that some smoke was launched and some dreadnought was obscured by it. At some point. Anyway. Probably. Whatever B)

[Ryzouken]

Not too big a worry. Important part was, Wolves showed up some Vanilla Glory Boys with honor.

 

Now go trounce some more armies. Preferably ones that're wearing dresses or think they know magic.

[Didacsoy]

Now go trounce some more armies. Preferably ones that're wearing dresses or think they know magic.

 

Hehe... That's my intent, brother. Maybe I'll get lucky this week and get to set a game with a Chaos-tainted greatly deluded false god worshipping filthy scumbag highly regarded opponent.

[Wolf Guard Nostromo]

Good report... and welcome back to the joys of 40k.

 

Space Wolves are indeed a great flexible force in 5th edition. The ability to deal death to a large terminator squad both at range and in close combat is a combination that many commanders can only dream of. Good luck for the future. Bring glory to the hall of Russ!