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Blood Claws underated.


Hfran Morkai

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Yep, you heard it. They run at 15 points with power armour and four attacks on the charge. Two points more than nilla scouts for that, counter attack, acute senses, a few cool upgrade options and bezerk charge.

 

I think people are just thinking of the actual reduction in close combat weapons in a pack but considering what you are paying for I think they are underated. Obviosuly you can't outflank or infiltrate with them but I feel that they have a place in the Great Company still, you just need to know how to get them there.

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you wanna get em where you need them then buy a rhino, it gets them there, or footslog, its not as quick as a rhino, but also not as slow as back in 4th edition due to running, footslogging 15 blood claws could be very viable, especially if the target your aiming for is being held up by a smaller rhino born unit of claws or hunters.

 

I've always been a huge fan of the claws, and I still am, and they will have a significant place in my army no doubt about that

A quick comparison reveals this.

 

Bloodclaws and Grey Hunters are of equal cost. Bloodclaws compared to Grey Hunters as follows:

(Pros marked by +, cons marked by -)

 

+ +1 attack on charges,

+ Large Squad size.

 

- Bs & ws 3

- No bolters

- No standards

- No MOTW

- If within 6" of an enemy squad, cannot shoot, and must assault.

- Require 15-man sized squad for additional free special weapon, as opposed to 10.

- Landraider Crusader only option for transports of 15-man sized squads.

I've found a good way to use them is as a second wave (after grey hunters and/or wolf guard) drop pod assault. The grey hunters/wolf guard land, rapid fire and then either assault or counter attack. This tied up enemy units in the heart of their lines and allowed the Blood Claws to assault. The three units then snow balled abouts 60 imperial guard troops. Only done it once though, so luck may have played a large part..... :huh:

I'm also a big fan of Blood Claws. I think they should have a place in all but the most competitive lists (tournament). Mine will be 15 strong, led by a WG pack leader, and footslogging their way to glory. If nothing else, it will give my opponents something else to think about during battle.

 

~fearlessgod~

so it's been 1 year 6months and 19 days since i joined and i am about to type up my 1000th post :huh:. sorry i had to just write this off-topic part of my reply ^^ and i am about to over-take Grey Mage in the days top posters today! ( i didn't spam they were 99% detailed with some longs comments in there ).

anyway, BC are very underrated. give them a power fist and a wolf guard with a power fist. and stick ragnar in with a lrc and that's you ultimate anti-horde and naturally anti-anything.

thanks

antique_nova

- Bs & ws 3

which makes no difference since your gonna be charging more than shooting, and since the most common WS is 4 even with WS3 your still hitting the same as if you were WS4

- No bolters

again does that matter for a squad thats charging and moving every turn, otherwise assault squads get a minus for having no bolters

- No standards

not really such a huge minus, and a blood claw with a banner would get more raised eyebrows than a blood claw without

- No MOTW

overrated ability

- If within 6" of an enemy squad, cannot shoot, and must assault.

add a wolf guard then, you will anyway, its stupid not to

- Require 15-man sized squad for additional free special weapon, as opposed to 10.

so?, then either buy 15, or have only 1 special weapon

- Landraider Crusader only option for transports of 15-man sized squads.

then make them 10 men in a rhino, or walk+run

I remember the days of running them in rhinos, you get out and hide behind the rhino for a turn. And I was comparing with nilla scouts, that makes them so much more tasty for those two points. Obviously a Grey Hunter is preferable in a lot of circumstances and you don't get infiltrate/outflank but you have a unit throwing out four attacks each on the turn they charge (and often when getting charged) that will smack a SM captain or even our own Wolf Lords on a 4+. Sure they'll be hit on threes but that is an insane amount of attacks.

 

Also with regards to sky claws, yes they are better and good value but they cannot hold an objective, at least Blood Claws can if you really need to, you shouldn't in my opinion because you should be running one BC pack to at least one GH pack.

 

Also if the WS really upsets you, Wolf Priest, gets round headstrong, is a cheap HQ unit, makes the unit fearless and gets you re-rolls against a unit type.

 

I'm not saying I'm going to be using them that much, just that the game isn't about throwing down as many powerfists as possible.

I think that you're correct in saying that they're not overcosted, but there are two big things working against them.

 

1. GHs are way better at the same cost and have better options. Ditto for skyclaws.

2. They got a big hit with the nerf stick, so a lot of veteran players feel a big let down.

 

@King Tiger: While some of the points you make are good, the negatives mentioned are still quite important.

- WS3: Getting hit back on 3's by those WS4 units that will hit at the same initiative really hurts. Also, there are quite a few other WS3 units out there and GHs hit as much with their 30 attacks as BCs will with 40.

- No bolters: The advantage of bolters isn't just the shooting, GHs don't loose a CC attack when they get a special because they keep the BP/CCW combo.

- Another disadvantage is that if you want to keep some kind of control for them, you have to spend points on an extra for the squad. An extra 30-40 pts for a wolf guard ('cause you're going to buy a special CCW for him) to stop them running of an objective on turn 6 of the ability to shoot when in charge range is a significant investment.

 

They do have their place though. Agaist mediovre CC armies (IG, Tau, Necron, Sisters) they can be great shock troops. A decent size squad led by a Wolf Priest will hit hard. Load them up in a rhino or a crusader to get them to the front rapidly and distract the enemy with other GH squads so that they can make it to the lines intact.

I have been thinking of using a full 16 (15 bc+wg) man pack and buying them a rhino for them to run behind. has anyone tried this

you cant buy then a vehcile that they wont fit into

 

Pfft. 15 pack + WGBL w/ SoHunter. Outflank. Charge. Win.

 

People who don't take BC are missing the point ... unless they are tournament hounds (GET IT?!), then there is some slack. :)

wouldnt the WGBL lose hunter when he jons the claws

then the best way i see to run a 15 man pack is like i did back in 3e, foor slog with a master of runes, which he uses lighting on the enemy and then storm calls so that you have a cover save. or you take hurricane for the offensive/defensive ability of it to be a nasty cuss
People who don't take BC are missing the point ... unless they are tournament hounds (GET IT?!), then there is some slack. :)

I think its more todays generation of wolf players are not just missing the point about BC, but about space wolves, even the older veterans are starting to miss the point entirely, there all too interested in whats effective and whats going to win them the next battle in 1 turn, instead of what is wolfy and wanting a big hard won victory worthy of actually telling about for years, back in the day space wolf players were space wolf players, not anymore, now old and new wolf players have degenerated into Ultramarine players in grey armour, wanting a quick victory and an army full of uber units.

 

its a sad dark time for the space wolves, a very dark time indeed :) .

i have two units of BC that i can merge into one 15 man if i wanted two, or keep them in two units. i may take them from time to time, but with GH being the same points, GH are a better choice, its not what is the uber unit, its quality versus points

i run a unit of 9 no upgrades and a wg with a power sword in a rhino and i love em i take them every game and they make a mess of most things

blood claws rock and they do what it says on the tin grey hunters are for there own uses dont get me wrong but blood claws are for fun

2 units of 15 with flamers and meltas, plasma pistols, and powerfists, led by 2 different Wolf Priests. They're going to hide behind a pair of Razorbacks, and then slingshot (to borrow a NASCAR term) around for the ridiculous assault. In Apocalypse, their will be even more Blood Claws, I'm thinking 6 packs, all tooled for CQB, and prolly all led by Wolf Priests. I like the Wolf Guard a little too much hanging out with my WGBL or Lord to make them babysit. Of course in Apocalypse, they'll be riding Thunderwolves, so it won't matter anyhow.....

 

My plans are to do combo charges and wave attacks, meaning either 2 units will be charging 1, or the Blood Claws will go in first, followed a turn later by Grey Hunters. 114 attacks in one turn from the combined charges of 2 full Blood Claw packs (not including Wolf Priests) should annihilate just about anything, no matter how badly you roll. Thats assuming they're at full strength, obviously, which when I load mine up in LRC's they hopefully will be.

 

The point of all of this random rambling on is that they can still be rather ridiculous, even without powerfist spam or MotW.

 

(note: my math for the attacks is prolly bad, but I'm really too tired to care much)

i run a unit of 9 no upgrades and a wg with a power sword in a rhino and i love em i take them every game and they make a mess of most things

blood claws rock and they do what it says on the tin grey hunters are for there own uses dont get me wrong but blood claws are for fun

 

This point is missed by many. My Blood Claw pack with WGPL is out there to sow confusion and havoc. People are going to be freaked out by a cheap and crazy squad running amok with 40+ attacks on the charge.

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