Hfran Morkai Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Analysis of Blood Claws, Skyclaws and Swiftclaws, covering equipment and uses I thought it time to create a guide for all the brothers of the Fang on how I would recommend to use the newest members of the Great Companies. Of course this is my opinion but I do feel they have certain battlefield applications if you seek the correct application. Perhaps this shall make it onto an external tactica site I'm contemplating for me to compile tactics. Anyway, to the task at hand! Why choose any type of Claw? Good question! With the Blood Claw starting at fifteen points, the same as a Grey Hunter you could be forgiven that they have no tactical purpose. They come equipped with a bolt pistol, close combat weapon and grenades as standard. Blood Claws are fun to use and on the charge have more attacks than a pack of Grey Hunters. Sure they might have one less ballistic skill but you don't want to do too much damage shooting with them because you might lose the ability to assault due to being out of range. The weapon skill of three is not that bad either, your Blood Claws will still hit anything up to and including a Space Marine Captain on a roll of a four plus. Admittedly your Blood Claws will be hit on a three plus by anything with weapon skill four or above but we can live with that! My most important tip! Get the Claws a leash of some kind, even if only a Pack Leader. Blood Claws are leadership eight which is not ideal for those occasions when you counter-attack (not that you should ideally!) and also being able to fire their weapons before charging the enemy is a bonus. Pack Leaders are relatively cheap leashes for the unit, providing leadership nine and one brilliant base for kitting out. I would recommend a Powerfist or if you have the points, a Thunder Hammer to enable the pack to deal with any monstrous creatures they might come across or deal with armour if nothing else is a juicier target. The Pack Leader with powerfist will run cheaper than an actual Blood Claw whilst having one more attack standard, meaning you're more likely to kill something with that fist. Rune Priests can be hidden in the unit although I recommend against it as the psykers are not as dependable in combat as some of the other choices, however the powers can significantly boost the squad by either giving it a cover save from shooting or adding to the pack's shooting, to soften the enemy up before a charge. Wolf Guard Battle Leaders are another unit with a lot of upgrades available to them to create a killing machine. However unlike a Pack Leader I would recommend against something that would drop his initiative, you want to do as much damage with those attacks as quickly as possible. A fairly good middle ground leash, not overly expensive but not great either. The Wolf Lord with a pack of Claws is interesting indeed, lots of attacks, a nice initiative and one big armoury to choose from, allowing you to give a significant boost to your packs. However he's expensive and is more suited to a unit of Wolf Guard as his "retinue" Finally the Wolf Priest. I feel this unit was pretty much created for the Claws. Starting at one hundred points he is a true warrior of Russ, making the pack fearless and granting preferred enemy against a unit type of your choice, obviously pick something that will complement the pack's intended target to get the most from him. With all these leashes I would recommend a plasma pistol or in the case of a Rune Priest Living Lightning to allow you to deal with transports, leaving your Claws to assault the disembarked squad. This is specified in the rulebook so is in no way a dodgy tactic. Equipment Well first off you can take a special weapon regardless. If you take a fifteen man pack (Blood Claws only) then you can choose two special weapons, making the pack very deadly indeed. In my opinion the Plasma Gun is a waste as you want to assault with these packs, so a rapid fire weapon is not ideal and of course there is always the chance he manages to kill himself. The Meltagun is a good upgrade as it allows the pack to eliminate transports and then assault the contents, of course it can be used against infantry too and if it hits it's typically going to do some damage. Flamers are pretty useful, considering they automatically hit and work with the use of the pack in eradicating infantry. I would only recommend a Plasma Pistol if you have the points going, being able to deny an enemy a save is nice and having another weapon to pop transports with is good but remember he still needs a four to hit and it's pretty expensive. If there is a leash with Powerfist/Thunder Hammer already in the pack then I would suggest a Power Weapon to allow some attacks to ignore armour at initiative value, for the points four attacks on the charge is quite effective. If the leash either doesn't exist or does not wield one of these weapons then I would take a Powerfist on the Blood Claw because Dreadnoughts and the like can really ruin the packs day, krak grenades are quite unreliable against such things and against monstrous creatures they happen to be useless. Blood Claws These are your basic Claws. So no extra toys for them to play with. However this unit has the option of being the largest in the Space Wolf Codex, coming in packs from five to fifteen individuals. The bonus over the other, faster types of Claw is that they can hold an objective if needed and are a troop choice for our armies, fulfilling one of our compulsory choices. Uses Blood Claws are designed to hunt infantry, they should be employed aggressively to make the use of their four attacks on the charge to shift enemy units from objectives or tie up the enemies assaulting elements whilst the rest of your force repositions to either aid them or let them perish. Equipment I would advise against Drop Pods because they will shoot their pistols and be waiting in the open for a turn. Razorbacks can only take small packs and Blood Claws work well in larger numbers, but the addition of a heavy weapon should not be overlooked, the tactic is similar to the Rhino detailed later. Rhinos can be used effectively if you move it up, turn it so the side is facing the enemy and disembark your troops from the side hatch on the side opposite the enemy, the next turn you either move the Rhino or go round, allowing you to assault. Land Raiders are the ideal transport for these packs but they are expensive. The pack is naturally good at killing infantry so the main appeal of the Crusader is the large transport capacity over it's weapons. The standard Land Raider offers anti-tank capabilities and works well as a transport for the pack as it can either hunt the enemies transports or go tank/monstrous creature hunting whilst the Blood Claws get on with their job. The Redeemer is another infantry killer, this time heavy infantry and the capacity is larger than a regular Land Raider making it appealing and denying Power Armour or equivalent an armour save is not to be sniffed at. Skyclaws The next unit up if you will, still relatively cheap at eighteen points and equipped with jump packs, making them faster than a Blood Claw pack without need for a transport. Uses Pretty much the same as a Blood Claw pack. However you might want to use these guys to tie up that really nasty ranged unit that will proceed to decimate your advance with high strength firepower. I find they also work well for securing a flank. The downside is that they are not scoring units although like other packs they can still contest. Swiftclaws These guys are fairly expensive but then again the combat effectiveness is higher. The toughness 4(5) can be a real boon against weapons less than strength eight. Uses The main advantage of these guys is their speed. Being able to Turbo-boost and gain a save is beneficial. They are equipped with relentless twin linked bolters, which means you can considerably reduce the numbers of a squad before you attack, with four attacks each still. Once again these packs are brilliant for hunting infantry, particularly with a Heavy Bolter attack bike attached. However the pack can be quite efficient tank hunters with the addition of Meltabombs and a Multi-Melta attack bike. So there we have it. I hope someone finds my analysis of these units useful, I reinforce however these are my experiences and opinions on them. Just don't forget your leash! :sweat: Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audun Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Hey, nice job! This must have taken you a while and I really appreciate the effort, thanks. And it's good to see someone on the Claws side, they seem to be a getting shelved more often than not nowadays! I currently run a 15 man footslogger (eventually get a crusader though!", 10 Skyclaws and 8 bikers and they do good in the recent games I've played. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181523 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfran Morkai Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 Hey, nice job! This must have taken you a while and I really appreciate the effort, thanks. No problem! It took a while but it could have taken much longer. I was remembering a complete tactic guide to the Space Wolves a long time ago and am considering my own but I've been looking at the codex trying to make the best of the tools given to us, rather than seeing the loss of one special close combat weapon per five men I've looked for the positives. I thought it would be appropriate to share my experiences, the others are fairly well covered but the Claws seemed a little unrepresented by topics on use. And most importantly of all, I find them fun to use. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181539 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Bloodskull Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Nice guide, but i think you should have mentioned one more thing about the swiftclaw's, like the fact that pointswise they are the best bikers in the game. Do notice i said pointswise, a squad of SCB is not going to win a battle with a nob biker squad, but than again, those squads costs a heck of alot more. At least, that's what i think. Sven Bloodskull Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181679 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Guard Nostromo Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Nice little summary, and while I admit to being a real proponent of Grey Hunters there is nothing quite like the charge of the young uns to stir the wulfen in you! I particulary favour the fast attack options with the new codex - they are such good value now and really are ferocious combat packs, particularly with your correct suggestion of giving them a firm hand to lead them whenever possible. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181687 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhorse47 Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Very well done and clearly presented! I can't wait for my Crusader to get here so the lads can grab a grouchy Wolf Priest and go to work! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181699 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Wilhelm Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Good one Mikal, It makes it easier when a list of pros, cons & uses are all lined up next to one another. :D I was over at BoLS and some guy mentioned Warpshadow & Advanced Tau Tactica and so I checked it out. I guess a bit of espionage on my behalf..... ;) Anyway, ATT has a really neat write-up of the various Tau Empire units, what they do, how the squad changes with upgrades & options and how they work in synergy with others. Here is the link: Wolf Scouting the Tau :) I thought I'd mention it to give you some more stirring of your creative juices. ;) Thank you for making a write-up. :) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181927 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfran Morkai Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 Nice guide, but i think you should have mentioned one more thing about the swiftclaw's, like the fact that pointswise they are the best bikers in the game. Thank you for that little nugget. I was simply unaware this was the case not having access to other codexes but that is certainly a valid point. Good one Mikal, It makes it easier when a list of pros, cons & uses are all lined up next to one another. :yes: I was over at BoLS and some guy mentioned Warpshadow & Advanced Tau Tactica and so I checked it out. I guess a bit of espionage on my behalf..... :woot: Thanks for the link, I'll give it a browse and once I've delved deeper into the Wolves perhaps we'll have something of more value. Thanks for the encouragement people! So long as one person finds it useful then I feel it was worth it. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2181989 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CainTheHunter Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 This one certainly must be sticked at the top of the forum list! Nice job! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2182313 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeddon Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Very nice, thanks for the prospective Mikal! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/184559-mikals-guide-to-the-whelps/#findComment-2182894 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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