TWC, looking for testimonials

[Godhead]

I have been playing with a squad of TWC for a wee bit now, and at 1st I was a bit underwhelmed. Initially my pack consisted of Canis (with 2 fw), 1xth/ss, 2 stock standard (i with meltabombs). 1st I didn't like Canis because of the lack of invuln save. In fact I felt my entire pack needed more survivability.

 

Load out number 2 went 3 twc and a Lord basically loaded out like Canis with a few extras (twm, 2xwc, RA, WTN, SOTWB, BOR, 2x FW) The TWC consisted of 1x th/ss, 1 stockstandard with ss, and the other was just bare bones. With this set up I liked the lord, but even then I felt underwhelmed. I just didn't really feel like it had the punch it should (partially due to poor dice rolls, but more significantly I think the pack size was too small.) Any loss, including the fen wolves seemed to have a major impact on the performance.

 

Try number 3. 4 TWC and the tooled up lord.

1 with PF/ss, 2 with ss/stock loadout, 1 with ss/meltabombs. (I know i could add a boltgun, but I don't have it modeled on my TWC and just haven't bothered to included it atm) All I can say is wow. The inclusion of the extra body and the storm shields was WOW. Suddenly the rending was having an impact and the lord was well protected so much so that is two 2k games (vanilla marines and chaos daemons the only casualty from both games 1 fen wolf).

 

I was wondering what other peoples experiences have been with them and what loads have been successful/unsuccessful.

[Tograth]

From my own experience, and the other players in the local club, these are the best ideas we've seen:

 

when running TWC, the best setup is 2 squads of 3, one squad with 1 meltabomb and a TH, and the other squad with 1 meltabomb and frost weapon.

 

Another set up is 2 TWC with TH, joined by canis, and 3 TWC with 1 meltabomb and frost weapon.

 

 

whatever setup you use, you want to keep unit size to 3, and you want more than one unit. You must use cover - if they are out of cover they will die, and they wont be effective.

 

 

you want to keep them as cheap as possible - storm shields look nice, but they are far too expensive for what they do.

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

leave canis out.

 

what your problem is that your list is missing something scarier to draw fire from the wolves.

 

i usually pack 2 squads of 3.

 

pack 1; 1 Thunderwolf stormshield, thunderhammer

1 Thunderwolf

1 Thunderwolf Meltabomb

 

Pack 2; 1 Thunderwolf stormshield, powerfist

1 Thunderwolf

1 Thunderwolf Meltabomb

 

lesson one stay away from tooled up combat squads that ignore your armour ie: honour guard, termies of all shape and size

 

lesson two use the wolves mobility and strength to hunt down infantry squads and vehicles. with the str 10s attacks from the fist and hammer and the extra meltabomb attack you have just as much likelyness to kill raiders and almost guaranteed penetrates on any other vehicle as well as monoliths

 

lesson three dont rely on the wolves to be your only threat. they will get gunned down. a vindicator or landraider with an assault unit inside or long fangs need to be more threatening and there for require to be dealt with first.

 

lesson four use rhinos or razorbacks as shields. advance your cavalry behind the relative safety of armour.

 

lesson five avoid adding hqs and characters. your cavalry are expensive enough dont make it worse by adding another expensive monster to them such as your 185 canis or your 200+ wolf lord.

[Godhead]

@tograth I agree storm shields are expensive, but i'm not sure its too much for what they do.

 

I realize that the set up that you've posted utilizes the TWC in a different role than mine, so take my comments with that in mind.

 

I made the commitment to TWC when I spent 295 points on my lord. He is a big point sink that kills alot of stuff. However, no man is an island and as such he need support. So I chose to make an all eggs in one basket type of unit.

 

For me that means I needed people to take some heat off him while he does his thing. That job falls to TWC, packs of fen wolves, or an Iron priest on a TWM. I prefer the TWC because they are a harder unit to crack. I tried the 3 man keep them cheap method and they were pretty ineffective. Getting shot up getting to a target absolutely was not the problem. It was getting shot after killing a unit that became the problem, or just getting bogged down with large units.

 

Attrition hurts a unit like this. One death from a 3 man squad can take a huge bite from their hammer blow. Plasma shots, battle cannons, anything ap3 or better puts wounds on these guys without benefit of an armor save. A cover save is 50/50 if your opponent doesn't disagree with you getting a 4 up cover save. If he does, now you are saving on a 5+. Storm shields means you can charge that unit and kill it, and even if you are left out in the open, you have protection. It also helps against hidden fist/claws/ and lots of power weapons.

 

Obviously everyone experiences will differ based on opponents and sets up, which is why I started this thread. I was hoping to see what people have been using theirs for, and what allows them to be effective.

[Godhead]

@tograth I agree storm shields are expensive, but i'm not sure its too much for what they do.

 

I realize that the set up that you've posted utilizes the TWC in a different role than mine, so take my comments with that in mind.

 

I made the commitment to TWC when I spent 295 points on my lord. He is a big point sink that kills alot of stuff. However, no man is an island and as such he needs support. So I chose to make an all eggs in one basket type of unit.

 

For me that means I needed people to take some heat off him while he does his thing. That job falls to TWC, packs of fen wolves, or an Iron priest on a TWM. I prefer the TWC because they are a harder unit to crack. I tried the 3 man keep them cheap method and they were pretty ineffective. Getting shot up getting to a target absolutely was not the problem. It was getting shot after killing a unit that became the problem, or just getting bogged down with large units.

 

Attrition hurts a unit like this. One death from a 3 man squad can take a huge bite from their hammer blow. Plasma shots, battle cannons, anything ap3 or better puts wounds on these guys without benefit of an armor save. A cover save is 50/50 if your opponent doesn't disagree with you getting a 4 up cover save. If he does, now you are saving on a 5+. Storm shields means you can charge that unit and kill it, and even if you are left out in the open, you have protection. It also helps against hidden fist/claws/ and lots of power weapons.

 

Obviously everyones experiences will differ based on opponents and sets up, which is why I started this thread. I was hoping to see what people have been using theirs for, and what allows them to be effective.

 

 

Crap double post. Didn't bother to edit or fix the fat fingered typing on the 1st post.

[Godhead]

For those of you who say run two packs of 3, what are you hunting tanks with? I run 2 speeders as seperate units with MM (sometimes TML/MM, sometimes MM/HF) So that eats up two fast attack slots.

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

easy put the grey hunters to good use with either las/plas razorbacks or chaos death rides with melta weapons or the thunderwolf cavalry, or my favorite 5 long fangs with missile launchers with a cyclone missile launcher wolf guard. 7 missiles will have a good chance of cripping a land raider and will make any vehicle worry.

[BrotherRanik]

Right now I just run one squad of three TWC; untill I can buy the models for 3 more. Right now I have them kitted out as such:

 

1 w/ Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

1 w/ Storm Shield

1 as is

 

So far they are almost always my MVP's of my games. I most always use them for flanking and tearing into the back lines of my enemy. Taking out tanks and vital units he's trying to hide.

 

I like to go first and run them by some LOS blocking terrain if there is any. If not I don't worry because the two storm shields offer plenty of protection for me. Then come turn two I'm set up to charge most things in his deployment, given I got a good fleet role in the previous turn. I also prefer to get stuck in combat with what I charge so that they won't get shot at and then I can mop the squad up in his assault phase and then keep going.

 

If my opponent goes first and anything comes forward (ie. Rhinos, Chimeras, Demolisher Leman Russ's, etc) I can almost always get a first turn assault on them with a good fleet role.

 

Sometimes I think about putting a character with them, Canis or a Wolf Lord. But Those points can normally be spend buying support for the TWC. I believe that having other units that hold equal or greater threat can help the TWC live longer. A lot of my opponents shooting goes into my Vindicator or Long Fang packs before they relise that my TWC are in assault range. A lot of people I play against underestimate the 12" charge range.

[Wildfire]

Searchy is your friend. There's probably 20+ threads on this topic already.

[Godhead]

Dead threads from when the codex came out, and since I was asking and giving my impressiongs after getting to play with them more I felt it was a new topic where we could compare recent experiences. Sorry if that's not the case.

[MaveriK]

Dead threads from when the codex came out, and since I was asking and giving my impressiongs after getting to play with them more I felt it was a new topic where we could compare recent experiences. Sorry if that's not the case.

 

I understand what your saying Wolf Brother, however some threads may appear dead to most people, they still shed allot of insight and give answers to questions many find themselves asking :down: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=187941

[Mafty]

well im building an army around TWC, wolf lord, iron priest. so I hope they're good :P. I bought 10 of the russian sculpted wolves from ebay, cant wait. :)

 

Ill make a thread for them once I get them, ill do a WIP blog

[VorpalDoom]

I've had very good success with single thunderwolf models w/ Stormshield + Thunderhammer. I usually run with 3 of them. They soak up an insane amount of fire, and when they hit something, they really turn it into pulp. Sucks for killpoint missions, but other than that, it's a brilliant model by itself.

[Archnomad]

In my 1500 infantry list I run 2x3 Thunderwolves. Both set up; Power Fist on sarge, Melta bomb on Jimmy, and Frank is naked.

 

That's 180 points, for a unit that will destroy tanks, tactical squads, anything that can't fight basically. But mostly tanks. Yeah, they're my tank hunters :lol:. They've done well so far. Just don't expect them to be Nob Bikerz.

[greese_m0nkey]

I have only used one so far in a game. A WGBL with SS/FW and saga of wolf kin to make the pack of 15 FW i had with him I5, Used my LRC as mobil cover

 

and took out a full squad of corn bezerkers then ran around the back of a hill and killed off a full squad of Alpha legion. Didn't even loose a wolf the hole game.

 

The I5 helped allot to kill every thing before it got to hit back.

[Stormbrow II]

Tograth and some of my other buddies have been on the receiving end of my TWC's for a few weeks now.

 

In my 1500 infantry list I run 2x3 Thunderwolves. Both set up; Power Fist on sarge, Melta bomb on Jimmy, and Frank is naked.

 

That's 180 points, for a unit that will destroy tanks, tactical squads, anything that can't fight basically. But mostly tanks. Yeah, they're my tank hunters smile.gif. They've done well so far. Just don't expect them to be Nob Bikerz.

A man after my own heart.

 

I'm running 2 x 3 for 175 points each and using them in a support role for bagging tanks and taking care of whatever emerges from transports that are wrecked by Long Fangs and Grey Hunter Meltas. On their own they tend to get shot to bits but when teamed up with other units they are formidable.

 

In 1500 points games I keep the points down so that I can buy units that will distract my opponent's attention away from my 6 wound 5 attack S10 psycho - I treat him like this because I don't need to buy gear to make use of the wound allocation rules. In a unit of 3 you have one with Bolter, one with Pistol and the last with a Fist. It's probably the most cost-effective of the options.

 

EDIT: I should actually mention that I first ran with a single unit of 4 TWC with Fist, 2 Storm Shields and Bombs. It didn't work. People simple forced them to make lots of armour saves by shooting lots of shots at them and they would fail 1/3 of them and keel over. I realised that dropping gear was the way to go and saw that by losing the SS I saved 60 points to buy me another TWC. Having another 2 wounds works out better than the 3+ save because the unit lasts longer and tends to get a 4+ save for free already preserving them from the worst of my opponent's anti-tank fire.

 

To be honest this unit didn't last too long either and was blown away in most games too, although they did tend to make it to my opponent's lines with 1 or 2 wounds before they were pulled apart.

 

I wanted something more consistent so I figured if a bigger unit didn't work then maybe more small units would. Up to now it has as it forces my opponents to split their fire between the units while giving me lots of mobile threats that tends to terrify his tanks. If one unit gets wiped out then it doesn't matter as much as I have other units that can still cause damage.

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

Searchy is your friend. There's probably 20+ threads on this topic already.

 

damned for making a new topic when theres threads about it, damned for necroing old threads. always a catch 22.

 

but i like thunderwolves and how they make the space wolves different form nilla marines.

 

i would suggest usually having one hammer or fist in a pack but lately ive been thinking about power weapons. when you have 6 attacks on the charge thats some dead termies or anything with power armour.... hmmmm i just had a brain wave.

 

wait nvm only one thunderwolf can have a power weapon.

[Archnomad]

Great minds think alike Storm (or do you prefer Jive?). I personally like the Melta Bomb, as mine are tank hunting, and more often than not (AV14 all facings) the melta bomb comes in handy. And it's only a small amount of points for both units.

 

P.s. If I recall correctly, you are the one writing articles on fantasy Lizardmen? Mind if I drop you a PM or three discussing the new book? They were my first fantasy army (when the last book was "new"), and I'm quite interested in picking them up. :D

 

Archy