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Back from 1st Tourney with the new Codex

littlbitz

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littlbitz Venerable Brother

littlbitz

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Posted

Yesterday I went to my local games shop (by local, I mean about 35 miles up the road) for a 3 game Tournament, the games played were 1850.

There were 20 players in attendance with a suprising assortment of armies represented. The approximate mix was; 3 Chaos Marine armies, 3 IG armies (one of which was all Mech), 4 Eldar armies, 2 Necron, 2 Space Wolf armies, 2 Black Templar armies, 1 Blood Angel, 2 Tyranid armies, and one Codex Marine list.

Odd meta game, eh?

Prizes were to be awarded for 1st Place, 2nd Place and Best Painted. Interesting to note that the Best painted score Did not count towards over-all. 1st Place and 2nd place were just battle points. No comp scores either. Best way to describe this Tournament was an 1850 Hard Boyz with an award given for the best painted army.

This being said, some of the lists I saw were just plain scary. Once again, I found people looking at my army and insisting my list was weak, and mocking me for bringing such a list. This seems to becoming trend as the same thing happened with my last outing in Pa.

Though, I must point out, one player at the Tournament said, "Ya know it never have been your Space Wolves that scare me. Its you that scares me." I guess that was a compliment, even if not, it made me happy...

Here is the list I took to the Tournament:

HQ: Wolf Lord on a Bike with a Frost Blade, Melta-bombs, Belt of Russ, Wolf-tail Talisman, Saga of Warrior Born

HQ: Wolf Lord on a Bike with a Thunder Hammer and Stormshield, Saga of the Bear

HQ: Wolf Guard Battle Leader on a Bike with a Pair of Lightning Claws and Melta-bombs

Elite: 3 Wolfguard in Terminator armor, all 3 have Combi-Plasma, armed with a Wolf Claw, Power Fist and Power Sword respectively, mounted in a Drop Pod (there are 5 WG in total, I'll list the other two with thier respective packs)

Troop: Grey Hunters Pack x10 with 2x Melta guns, Plasma pistol, Power Weapon, Mark of Wulfen, Standard. Led by a Wolfguard Pack Leader in Terminator armor with a Power Fist and an Assault Cannon

Troop: Grey Hunters Pack x7 with a Plasma gun, and a Power Weapon

Troop: Blood Claws Pack x8 with a Flamer, Plasma Pistol, and a Power weapon, mounted in a Rhino. Led by a Wolfguard Pack Leader with a Power Fist

Fast Attack: Swift Claw bikers Pack x3+1, Power Fist, Meltagun, and the Attack bike has a Heavy Bolter, all have Melta bombs

Fast Attack: Swift Claw bikers Pack x3+1, Power Fist, Attack bike has a Heavy Bolter, all have Melta bombs

Heavy Support: Predator tank with Twin-linked lascannon and heavy bolter side sponsons.

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My first game was against, "Big Black Dave" not a very imaginative nick name, but thats what he goes by. He was fielding a Chaos Marines list with the following:

Abbadon the Despoiler, 3 Oblits, Land Raider, Dreadnought with Plasma cannon, Defiler, Large Squad on foot with Asp champ with PW and Las, Plas, a Squad in a Rhino with Power Fist, melta, and mark of Tzeentch, 8 Berzerkers (in the Land Raider with Abba)

The mission was Seize Ground with 5 Objectives, and a Spearhead deployment. I won the roll to determine first turn, and I took the first turn and chose my corner. When I win the roll off, going first or second really depends on alot of factors and is never an automatic decision for me. In this case there was a particular set of Markers I wanted to fight for (based on the terrain lay-out and our objective placement), and I had an idea of the flow of battle before the game even began, so I opted for 1st turn when I won the roll.

I deployed my bikers on the left side of my board corner all the way toward my line, out of sight, and looking poised to take the left side. I positioned my large GH pack right on an objective in the center of my Deployment zone, behind plenty of cover, my smaller Greyhunter pack was positioned to my right along with my Predator postitioned to head into the other corner to take and hold one of the objective markers. I kept my Rhino with BloodClaws in reserve and my Pod with termies of course were preparing for Drop Pod assault.

Just as I had hoped he deployed his Land raider with 'Zerkers and Abba on his right, supported by the Dreadnought on his right, in order to face off with my massed Biker packs. He even had an evil grin on his face when he did so, as if he had me where he wanted me. His defiler was a bit off center in his zone a bit on his left and he placed a rhino in front in an attempt to provide it with some cover and he had his large Chaos Squad on a hill with a large field of fire covering both the left and right approach. His Oblits were held in reserve.

He declined the option to steal initiative wanting to hold last turn in an objective based mission.

Drop Pod assault began my first turn, I deployed my Drop Pod as close to his Defiler as I could, I scattered a bit, placing me directly in front of his large Squad on the hill, but still in a position that I could get my shots off at the defiler.

I Turbo-boosted all of my bikers to my right straight across from my deployment zone, effectively avoiding any confrontation with the Berzerkers until I wanted to fight them.

My Large Grey Hunters pack began to advance slowly, spreading out, and setting up to hold a second objective. My smaller GH pack moved into the other board corner heading for cover and to snatch up another objective marker, my Predator moved 6" to support the GH and to get a shot off at the Chaos Rhino.

In the shooting phase I gleefully shot my Combi-Plasma from my small Termie squad at the defiler and was laughing like a drunken Wolf Lord when I hit with all six shots! ( its ok, me and Dave are regular opponents and there is always lots of smack talk between the two of us, people who don't know we are friends always think our games are quite intense but its all in good fun) When rolling to penetrate however it was the Chaos gods who got the last laugh as I failed to even glance the Chaos monstrosity!

Deciding that the Defiler was more of a threat than the Rhino, my Predator shot its twin-linked las at the Defiler, rolling a 2, then saying out loud "Man, good thing its twin-linked" and promptly re-rolling, yes, a one...

In his first turn, he rushes his Rhino forward towards board center, popping smoke and taking the center objective that my Large GH pack was moving to take. (His big mistake here was moving this unit in unsupported)

Abba, disembarks, leaving the 'Zerkers and heads towards my small WG pack.

He scoots his Land raider to take a pot shot with a twin-linked las at my large GH pack, and his Dread fails his roll and only tries to shoot at his Land Raider.

His Shooting phase is completely ineffective, Abba charges my Wolfguard and kills them without them even getting a chance to swing.

In turn 2 I roll for my reserves and my BloodClaws come in. I deploy them about board center, driving the full 12" and popping smoke, this is a bit of a bold move, but there is an objective I can move onto in the next turn should they survive the anticipated gun fire from the Dread and Landraider.

My Large GH pack, advances again, now holding one objective and contesting the center one that Dave had just moved his Rhino onto.

The smaller GH pack moves onto a wooded hill, taking another objectve (after thier run moves) and again my Predator scoots 6" in support of the smaller GH pack.

My Biker packs which had turbo boosted across my own zone were now in perfect striking distance from the unsupported Chaos Rhino. Even smoke doesn't help as the combined fire of my GH pack and the Predator destroy the Rhino and force the Renegade Marines to deploy. The ensuing Swift Claw biker charge is the stuff that Sagas are written about as all of my Bikers utterly destroy the Marines who have dedicated themselves to Tzeentch.

In his next turn he fails to get his Obliterators to arrive, and Abba, heads back to his Land Raider to embark and rejoin his 'Zerkers squad. His defiler launches a pie plate which drifts off target, his Landraider and Dreadnought both fire on my Rhino in an effort to halt the advance of the BloodClaws, but the Smoke saves them, from the one Lascannon shot that is potentially dangerous, and the Plasma drifts off target.

In my third turn, my Rhino rushes and takes another objective, this also provides cover for my large GH pack. My Biker packs split, heading in different directions, my WGBL and Wolflord with Frostblade, take one pack and Turbo-boost to my left, preparing to support my Rhino. The other Wolf Lord with Thunder hammer takes the other Pack (with meltagun) to face off with the defiler.

My Large GH pack continues to move, Spreading out and in a bit of a gamble, begins stringing out to capture a THIRD objective.

My shooting from the Predator manages to Imobilize the defiler, my Bikers charge the Defiler, and manage to take off several of its close combat weapons, bringing it down to one attack. He attacks the squad and several of my bikers fall.

In his turn, his Oblits arrive and he uses his Icon to ensure an accurate deployment, bringing them on near his large Marine squad, then using a run move, contests the one objective I currently don't hold.

His shooting is again ineffective, blowing the stormbolter off of my Rhino, and causing a "Cannot shoot" effect for next turn.

The Battle continues with the Space Wolves in complete control. I rush my Rhino forward to contest the marker his Oblits are on, parking right in front of the Landraider and turning so my Side armor is in front of the assault ramp. "Did you really just do that?" was his only response.

My bikers on that side went wide, preparing to assault the Land raider, as the Wolf Lord with them leaves the Pack and Turbo-boosts wide, preparing to assault his large Marine squad that has been sitting on the hill all game.

In Close combat the Defiler (with a large amount of luck), holds his own...

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I assault the Landraider but only manage to blow off a couple of weapons, Oops...

In his turn, his large squad now blasts appart my Rhino, my BloodClaws deploy behind the wreck, his Oblits fire 3 Plasma cannon shots at them, but I only lose one Claw thanks to Cover. Abba, disembarks from the Landraider and approaches in an attempt to move towards the BloodClaws. The Landraider pivots and Tank shocks the Bikers, in an attempt to move towards my Large GH pack and attempt to assault them and pull them off of objectives. I use Death or Glory and plant a Melta-bomb, BOOM! he destroys the Land raider and the Berserkers must disembark and they are not happy...

In the close combat that follows, only my Wolfguard battle leader survives, and he even manages to drop a few of them, locking the 'zerkers in combat. A failed charge from the Oblits and its my turn.

Just some Clean up now really, in an odd twist of fate the Defiler manages to kill my Wolf lord! Though by now its out of weapons, and poses no real threat, it is annoying.

My Blood Claws move onto the hill and prepare an assualt towards the Obliterators, they even shoot first (thanks to the WG pack leader holding the leash) but cause no wounds. My Assault cannon WG pops the Dread who poked his head out last turn.

In the Charge, the BloodClaws through sheer weight of attacks kill 2 Obliterators for the loss of only one BloodClaw!

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In his 5th turn, he moves Abba up over the Rhino wreck in an effort to get to my large GH pack, his hope is that the game will continue and he will be able to either push me back off an objective or draw me in off of two in Close combat.

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His 'Zerkers kill my Battle leader and whats left of them move towards my lines.

In close combat my BloodClaws stay locked in combat with the Oblits.

I allow him to roll to see if the game will continue, he rolls a One and the game ends.

The Space Wolves control 4 Objectives, he controls 1. A 20 Point win for the Wolves!

Next up game 2

Jaarl Stormfang Battle-Brother

Jaarl Stormfang

Posted
Posted
Very interested in your army selection, as always. Wonder if you could give a bit more info on how specific units worked, vs how well they normally work. Sort've a continuous evaluation and your thought process? In particular the 3 man WG squad. How did you arrive at their final equipment etc?
littlbitz Venerable Brother

littlbitz

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  • Author
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Well Jaarl,

The Terminator Pack of three is more a product of what I have painted on hand rather than what I would like to field. I am currently of the thought that 3 Combi-Meltaguns are the way to go, especially with thier (typical) mission of anti-tank. In fact had they been combi-Meltaguns, I probably wouldn't have had the first turn failure that I experienced with them in the first turn. As for thier close combat weapon options, I went for 3 different weapon for wound allocation reasons, over any real Assault phase effectiveness. In fact, I am convinced that I would be better off Tactically with 3 Power armored Wolfguard with just Combi-weapons in a Pod. They would be cheaper, and die just as fast as these Termies have been. (Though, oddly enough, game 2 will throw all of the above theories out of the water.)

 

My Bikers are really the workhorses of this list and I am sure they are why the list is working. They are fast, they hit hard and they keep my opponent off balance. I've said it before, but I'll mention it again, with bikes the key is patience.

 

The large GreyHunters pack with the TDA Pack leader with assault cannon is another key factor in this army. However alot of thier power is wasted currently, and after playtesting and reviewing some of Lord Ragnarok's lists, I am going to switch to 2 Plasma guns in this pack so I am not wasting those shots all game.

 

My Wolf Lord with Warrior Born, didn't perform as I thought he would this game, and My Wolf Lord with Thunderhammer ultimately let me down as well (failing to destroy the Defiler). The Battle Leader on a Bike is going to go, I am definately going to exchange him for a Wolfpriest to go with the BloodClaws. In fact, I don't like the new Wolfguard Battle leaders, they lost an attack, and they cost more. For me the Wolf Lord is going to be the way to go.

 

The Predator is there for some long-ranged fire support. It is a bad configuration for 5th ed. and is really not that effective. I am going to be dropping this unit as well.

 

I hope I answered some of your questions anyways. I will be posting Game 2 tomorrow.

the great beaver Veteran

the great beaver

Posted
Posted

yeah baby! that's how you roll!! awesome battle report Bitz and I love how you are really in the right headspace for playing with space wolves too :lol:

 

patience, threat assessment and controlled losses to keep your enemy where you want him.

 

totally classy mate!

littlbitz Venerable Brother

littlbitz

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Thanks Beave!

Now, on to game two. Game two was against a fella named Kendell, the thing about Kendell is that he has a huge Eldar army and you never know what to expect. He usually takes rock hard lists, but said he wanted to try something a bit more balanced in this Tournament.

The Mission, Annihilation with a Spearhead deployment, on a Desert type board, against Eldar. Yuck.

His List: Farseer, Autarch on a Jet bike, Dark Reapers and Exarch, Two Guardian squads with gun platforms, Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, 2 Wraithlords, Pathfinders, Warp Spiders, and Swooping Hawks, Shining Spears

He wins the roll to choose board sides and chooses the corner which denies me the most cover, he then proceeds to set up his entire army (except his Warp Spiders and Swooping Hawks which he keeps in reserves), he is well spread out in his deployment zone, covering the avenues of approach with his nasty array of ranged weaponry.

I survey the board, and begin to think to myself, that no matter how I set up, I was going to get shot to pieces and not have enough of my force intact to make a dent in his army. Especially given the terrain and his set up. I decide to do the only thing I feel will give me a chance. I declare that I am keeping my whole army in reserves.

He deploys his Path finders in the board corner on his left, and a bit flustered at my decision begins his first turn. For some reason, his first move is to disembark his Dire Avengers from the Wave serpent and move them towards my board edge, I guess attempting to get a lane of fire and prepare for the arrival of the Space Wolves. He then turbo-boosts his Shining Spears and Autarch to his left in an effort to support his Path finders, I can't help but wonder if this was in response to me saying how much I hate them and wanted to kill them all for pinning my BloodClaws in a game a few weeks prior...

In his shooting phase he runs his Dire Avengers to adjust thier fire lanes and ends his first turn.

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(Picture shows Kendell's Eldar after his Shining spears left for the other side of the board, and him disembarking his Dire Avengers)

Normally with my Drop Pod, I deploy in a manner so as to take out a hard target. In this mission however, I needed to do something else very important with the Pod. This game thier mission was to secure the arrival point of my army and block an important fire lane, providing cover with the Pod, and Spearheading the attack from my newly created front.

I placed my Pod on the left side of my board edge next to a hill and blocking the lane and line of sight from most of his army. My Wolfguard deployed behind the Pod with the Dire Avengers being the only unit able to draw a bead on my Wolfguard.

My Wolfguard open fire on the Dire Avengers, and in an amazing bit of shooting kill SIX! Thats right, they all hit and they all wound. But wait, thats not all, he then proceeds to roll a twelve for his Morale check, the unit then breaks! Not a bad start I'd say.

In his second turn, he rolls for reserves but receives no help from either unit. He attempts to consolidate his position in preperation for the arrival of my Wolves and takes a couple of shots at my Drop Pod (only blowing off the Stormbolter) attempting to open up the lane of fire that he now realizes is going to be his new front, rather than my deployment zone.

In my turn 2 I begin rolling for reserves and again Russ smiles upon me as all of my units except my smaller GH pack come on!

All of my Bikers deploy on my far left, and move thier full 24" turbo boosting onto the board. At this point it really felt like a scene from a movie for me, I could picture the Wolfguard landing and clearing the way as the Bikes passed them on thier left heading for the front lines. I then brought on my Predator behind them to secure a fire lane, the Grey Hunters walked on behind a hill, and the BloodClaws arrived in thier pulling in behind cover.

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My Wolfguard move out from behind thier Pod, with the Guardians as thier target. The Predator shoots and Immobilizes the Wave serpent. Not wanting to prematurely break the Guardian squad, my Wolfguard opt not to shoot at the pointy eared ones, but instead just rip them appart. They charge, and promplty kill 5, they kill none in return and promplty break from combat and begin to flee.

In Kendell's 3rd turn his Swooping Hawks arrive, thier gredade attack thing does nothing, he attempts to land on my right to shoot at my large GH pack, but scatters back out of range. He adjusts his Shining Spears in an attempt to support the rest of his army, and he begins taking all sorts of shots with those Dark Reaper things and begins attempting to whittle down my GH pack with his Indirect fire weapon on his Exarch.

He turns the bulk of his army on my Wolfguard and fires, he is tired of these 3 guys wreaking havoc on his lines. In the end they fall valiantly in Close combat with a Wraith Guard.

In my 3rd turn, I roll for my reserves and hope to get my smaller GH pack on in order to crush the now exposed and very vulnerable Swooping Hawks. They decide they are having to much fun back at camp, and continue to drink around the campfire.

I disembark my BloodClaws, and adjust the position of my large GH pack in order to deal with the Swooping Hawks, my Biker Packs split, one continuing towards his board edge, the other heads toward his center to avenge the death of the Wolfguard and take out one of the Wraithlords.

In the shooting phase the combined fire power of the BloodClaws and the Assault Cannon in the GH pack destroys the Swooping hawks. My Predator fires on the closer Wraith Lord but has no effect. I charge and effectively slay the Wraith Lord with my Thunder Hammer wielding Wolflord, the Wraith Lord focuses his attacks on the BloodClaw Bikers and I lose a few of them in the exchange.

In his next turn his Warp Spiders arrive and drop in close to his board edge, in an effort to keep my other bike pack from hitting his other Guardian squad. Thier combined fire power causes a couple of wounds, but nothing too damaging, the Dark Reapers begin pounding the Bike Pack in the Center, leaving only The Wolf Lord with Thunder hammer at the end of the shooting phase.

In my turn, my small GH pack comes on as I continue my advance, my Wolf Lord charges the Warpspiders with the BloodClaws, while the Wolfguard battle leader breaks off and deals with the Guardian pack, the Wolf Lord with the Thunder hammer kills his second Wraith Lord of the day.

Trying to salvage the game, Kendell begins to scramble, he pounds my newly arrived GH pack with his Darkreapers and then charges them with his Shining Spears and Autarch, killing them all. He also blows the Twin linked las cannons off of my Predator with the guns on his Wave serpent.

Its now a matter of Clean up for the Space Wolves, I shift my large GH pack and advance with my BloodClaws, thier combined fire kills all of the Shining Spears. As the BloodClaws prepare to charge the Autarch, he breaks and begins to flee. I destroy the Wave Serpent with a melta-bomb from a Bloodclaw biker who survived the combat against the Warpspiders as my Frost Blade, Saga of Warrior born Wolflord turbo-boosts and prepares for a Charge on his Darkreapers and Farseer in the next turn.

There is no need however at the end of turn 5 he rolls a '1 and the game ends. We tally up the Kill points and the Wolves win 9-6. With the bonus points I get a 16 point win.

antique_nova Venerable Brother

antique_nova

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i have to be totally honest here, i agree with your local club members. you don;t have a very competitive list, but i wouldn't go as far as mocking you. the eldar from a few glances looks less competitive than yours.

thanks

antique_nova

Grey Mage Venerable Brother

Grey Mage

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Posted

Wow... really well done Littlbitz- Deploying in reserves rarely seems to work out for people in my area... but you managed it superbly.

 

Good fight.

 

The Eldar Player had a couple of issues... but frankly I just have to cringe anytime I see gaurdians on the table, anywhere.

Wolf Guard Nostromo Veteran

Wolf Guard Nostromo

Posted
Posted

Two great reports and battles by the look of it - Good pictures too.

 

Im a big fan of the 'reserve all' tactic - I fully admit that it can go wrong, badly wrong, but it does seem to force opponents to make alot of decisions early, and in a rush, and thus normally make a mistake or two, as was the case here I feel.

 

I look forward to reading more.

Mar Bloodaxe Battle-Brother

Mar Bloodaxe

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Good work litlbitz. I enjoyed reading your reports. I also like the fact you play YOUR army the way you want. Too many times have I heard that xyz is subpar or that this list isn't good or whatever. Good for you. Can't wait for the next report!
littlbitz Venerable Brother

littlbitz

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  • Author
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Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

@Antique_Nova, I hope I didn't give the wrong impression. Those guys always break my chops about my lists, its all in good fun.

They are well aware that I could bring a variety of lists, or Armies, some of which are not nice at all.

 

I would really like to say that the 2nd win was all tactical genious on my part, but as you can tell, my opponent made some critical errors that I was able to capitalize on.

 

Although, he was a bit lucky that the game did not continue another turn or two, that probably would have resulted in me wiping him completely, and me with a 2nd 20 point win.

 

Next up, game 3.

 

Against, wait for it...

 

Another Eldar army :wallbash:

 

I'll post my report either tonight, or first thing in the morning.

BDS Veteran

BDS

Posted
Posted

Thanks for taking the time to post these battle reports. They are informative and well done...with pics!!

 

I know from your other posts regarding your list, that modifications are on the way. Though you really don't need a major change, IMO.

 

Not every list has to be the ultimate GT list. Heck, they don't even have GT's in the states anymore. Your list would do fine in most major tournaments.....when run by a competent general that knows the game and your opponents armies.

 

If all you needed to win in 40k was a great GT list, we all would be condemned to an endless hell of draw after draw.

 

If you like playing your list, it fits your style, and you wish to be and are competitive, have at it.

 

my two fangs,

BDS

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