How to protect thunderwolves

[Theis]

Got in several games against the new BA dex yesterday with a thunderwolf heavy list I've been working on for a while.

 

My list;

Twolf Lord, frost weapon, saga of the warrior born

Rune priest, beast slayer, chooser

Riflemen dreads x 2

Grey hunters in Rhinos

2 twolf squads

Longfangs 2 las 3 missile

 

In each game the ba players had multiple psykers, one had three, two of them in av 13 dreads.

 

Long story short, in each game, twice in turn one, I had 300 points of twolves scared off the board. I failed the runic weapon power prevention, then they used that fear of the dark power, and I failed a leadership roll of a 6 or less, as you make the roll at -2. Once the lord went with them, as his wolf tail talisman didn't make the grade either. From that point the games were pretty one sided.

 

Now my dilemma is this, how do I stack the odds to prevent that from happening, while keeping an all comers list?

 

BA can field 5 psykers, 3 in av13 dreads, blood lance and fear the dark seem to be pretty popular powers, and the defense I can think of are, mech up entirely, or stack as many saves vs. psychic powers as I can.

 

Given that I spent the last month's spare time (which I have very little of) painting up these twolves, I don't want to give up on them. So, if I have a rune priest near them, and he fails, my other defenses against the scary scary space vampires are a wolf tail talisman, and buffing their leadership up. To me, that reads, a wgbl per squad, and a rune priest nearby. Alternately, I can throw in a wolf priest to make them fearless.

 

The problems I run into there are, can't put wolf priest or rune priests on twolves. Bikes work, after a fashion, but thematically seem to be striking an odd chord.

 

Really, I'm thinking of shelving the twolves for serious competitiveness, which seems odd to say. Any thoughts on how to save them?

 

Thanks all.

[Michaelus]

I see your problem with psykers, my friend. We all hate them. Let's purge it to ashes!

 

Against psykers, you can do a couple of things. (Still experimental)

1. Give a couple of pods with guys ready to bust open that tin can of psyker, or blast that psyker guy.

2. Gun them down with LF like there's no tomorrow.

3. IF their psychic powers can't be used in CC, then make sure they're in one.

4. If their psychic needs LOS, hide them. Anywhere is fine, just hide them.

 

I know they might change your list a bit (or a lot),..

 

Or, you can use those TWC as psychic magnet and make sure the other squad get them and slice them to bits.

 

And don't shelve them. They can still be used in some way to be competitive. (Like scare tactic, magnets, counter-charger, hard hitter, etc etc..)

 

For Russ, for the Wolftime, we drink and cheers!! Huraa!!

[TiguriusX]

The single magic bullet you are looking for is Njal Stormcaller

 

Nullifies powers on 3+

 

Besides that you can spread RPs around and put WTT on your WL

 

The ultimate psyker protection (may also earn you a spot on the black list with your local gaming group) is to combine Njal with an allied inquisitor lord with psychic hood.

[MayorDaley]

I frequently use Inq. Lord kitted out with hood, psycannon, 2 mystics, and 2 sages. I use this set up because my buddy constantly brings the Doom of Malantai. Stupid bug doesn't get a save from a BS 5 psycannon, and the 2 mystics let my long fangs shoot up any spore pods. The board wide LD 10 hood is awesome, usally nerfs his bug powers. I think this set up will work nicely on deep striking BA as well.

[Lord Ragnarok]

The single magic bullet you are looking for is Njal Stormcaller

 

Nullifies powers on 3+

 

Besides that you can spread RPs around and put WTT on your WL

 

The ultimate psyker protection (may also earn you a spot on the black list with your local gaming group) is to combine Njal with an allied inquisitor lord with psychic hood.

 

Well if the BA guy is using 5 psykers maybe it is black list vs black list? :)

[Wispy]

Yeah, a rediculously oversaturated list like that is just asking to be shutdown.

 

My adice is to drop the thunderlord and rune priest and squeeze in njal and the inquisitor. Do this until your buddy's list normalizes.

 

Also am I the only one who keeps my TWCS behind my rhinos? Rhinos move faster, but when it's assault time, they catch up with their charge. This has the advantage of delivering my whole army together at the same time, while shielding my Tw from fire.

[Lord Ragnarok]

Wispy what's the pts total in those games and how many rhinos?

[Wispy]

1500, with 3 rhinos. Usually I have a vindicator or two to drive in front, too (him and the TWC have roughly the same range, so they work well together. Combined with smoke popping, it helps 1) get everything a cover save 2) ensure I'm hitting with the highest concentration of my force at once

[wiplash]

The single magic bullet you are looking for is Njal Stormcaller

 

Nullifies powers on 3+

 

Besides that you can spread RPs around and put WTT on your WL

 

The ultimate psyker protection (may also earn you a spot on the black list with your local gaming group) is to combine Njal with an allied inquisitor lord with psychic hood.

 

isnt that only within 24"?

[Theis]

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. It's been very helpful.

 

In one list, I've wound up dropping the wolf lord replacing him with Njal, and making some other modifications. To over come the 24" limitation Njal will shepherd the twolves toward the enemy from inside a rhino until they get into close combat. The rest of the list is a Logan's heroes, missile spam foot slog. So, I think there's some potential there.

 

In another list, I'll add a rune priest with a bike, add Canis to the second squad of twolves for wolf tail distribution, and the runepriest will shepherd them. This will be more of a high mobility rhino rush list, and hopefully the rhinos will block line of site there.

 

All either will cost me is working on a Canis conversion I've had planned for a bit, and painting up a biker runepriest which can double as a lord idea I've had for a bit as well.

 

When I'm next at the store, I'll definitely pick up the relevant inquisition codex for the allied inquisitor lord. If the BA players at the shop are bringing this many psykers, I figure, they're asking for it.

[Wispy]

The single magic bullet you are looking for is Njal Stormcaller

 

Nullifies powers on 3+

 

Besides that you can spread RPs around and put WTT on your WL

 

The ultimate psyker protection (may also earn you a spot on the black list with your local gaming group) is to combine Njal with an allied inquisitor lord with psychic hood.

 

isnt that only within 24"?

Sure. But the inquisitor with hood is unlimited range, and because the hood and runic staff are different things, they can be used together. If a power goes off near Njal, the inquisitor gets first crack at negating it. Then if it still passes, Njal gets to negate it at a 3+.

 

It's incredibly ugly thing to come up against in an a psyker heavy list... It's very mean thing to do, but, man, five psykers... That is an ugly list - with a powerful gimmick, but by stopping it, the whole list falls a part. As far as I'm concerned, he's asking for an Eldar or Space Wolves to shut him down.