Space Wolves Victory

[Valerian]

Brothers at The Fang,

 

I just finished a great game over at the LGS this evening. With the demands of the family and work, I don't get to make it over there to play very often, so I figured I would just type out a little note with the major points of the game. I've only gotten to play 5 games since our 5th Edition codex came out last October, but so far I have won every game, and am pretty pleased with my simple, but effective army. My opponents so far have been a) a combined Tau and Necron force; B) 4th Edition Blood Angels (the .pdf before their new codex);c) Imperial Guard; d) Necron; and e) 5th Edition Blood Angels (same Blood Angels player as before, but with his revamped army based on the new codex). All games were played using standard missions from the rulebook at either 1,850 or 2,000 points.

 

Tonight's game was a random pickup game, and I had no idea who/what I was going to play against, so just took an all-comers list at 1,850. I hadn't used Ragnar in the last couple of games, but it is his Great Company, so I thought I would give him another go. My opponent came with an all-comers list at 1,500 - so we compromised and met at 1,750 points (him by adding a few things from his army bag, and me by leaving out the 3 Drop Pods that I usually include (I figured I wouldn't bother with the Deep Striking against the Blood Angels).

 

My list consisted of:

 

HQ:

Ragnar Blackmane

 

Wolf Priest Halfdan the Black

 

Elites:

3x Wolf Guard Leaders (Combi-Melta + Thunderhammer for Wolf Scouts; Bolt Pistol + Power Fist for Grey Hunter Pack 3; Bolt Gun + Power Fist for Grey Hunter Pack 2).

 

Venerable Dreadnought with Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer

 

9x Wolf Scouts (1x MotW; 1x Power Weapon; 1x Plasma Pistol; 1x Meltagun) (Wolf Priest attached to the Scouts)

 

Troops:

10x Grey Hunter Pack 1 (2x Melta Guns; Wolf Standard; Power Fist)

 

10x Grey Hunter Pack 2 (2x Melta Guns; Wolf Standard)

 

8x Grey Hunter Pack 3 (1x Flamer; 1x Power Weapon) (Ragnar attached to these Hunters, and they all started game in the Land Raider)

 

Heavy Support:

6x Long Fang Pack (1x Lascannon; 2x Plasma Cannon; 2x Heavy Bolter)

 

Land Raider with Multi-melta

 

 

My opponent roughly had:

 

HQ:

Dante

 

Elites:

Corbulo and a regular Sanguinary Priest with a Jump Pack and Power Weapon

 

Furioso Dreadnought with Dual Blood Fists (Melta gun and Heavy Flamer) in a Drop Pod

 

Furioso Dreadnought with Dual Blood Talons (Melta gun and Heavy Flamer) in a Drop Pod

 

Troops:

9xTactical Squad with Meltagun; Sergeant had a Power Weapon; in a Drop Pod (Corbulo attached to this unit)

 

10x Assault Squad with Meltagun; Sergeant had a Power Fist; (Dante attached to this unit)

 

10x Assault Squad with Meltagun; Sergeant had a Power Weapon; (Sanguinary Priest with Power Weapon attached to this unit)

 

Fast Attack:

Baal Predator with TL-Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolter sponsons, and Storm Bolter

 

Baal Predator with Flamestorm Cannon, Heavy Flamer sponsons, and maybe Storm Bolter)

 

 

Before the game started, Dante used his special rule to remove 1 point from Ragnar's Weapons Skill, Wounds, Initiative, and Attacks characteristics (it ended up not mattering much, as Ragnar tore through the Blood Angels, personally accounting for 8 Tactical Marines and 8 Assault Marines, as well as the TL-Assault Cannon Baal Predator)

 

Mission was Annihilation, which was the first time I had actually played this one, and deployment was Pitched Battle. I won the toss to go first, but I was more concerned about knowing what his deployment was going to look like, so I let him go first. He deployed both Baals; and the Assault Squad with Sanguinary Priest on the table. I deployed everything (keeping Hunter Pack 3 + Wolf Guard Leader + Ragnar in the Land Raider). I opted against keeping the Wolf Scouts in Reserve for the first time; and deployed them in a crater that was just left of center of my table edge; I knew he was coming to me since there were no Objectives, so I might as well use them as part of my line. I deployed the Long Fangs in an elevated crater near my left corner, giving them decent lines of fire, especially toward his standard Baal Predator, and deployed one Hunter Pack just in front of them. The Land Raider went just to the right of the Hunters and Long Fangs, the Wolf Scouts in a crater just to the right of the Land Raider, the Venerable Dreadnought to the right of the Scouts, and the final Grey Hunter pack to the right of the Dreadnought, behind some cover.

 

In my deployment I made two large errors. First, my Grey Hunter pack to the right, although in cover, was lined up almost directly across from the very nasty Baal Predator with the Flamestorm Cannon. Although I knew not to deploy them up to the edge of my 12" deployment zone, I seriously misjudged the reach that thing has, considering he took a full 18" Full Out Scout Move prior to his first turn, then was able to move an additional 12" in his first turn, and used his 8" Flamer Template to blast my vulnerable Hunter Pack. Automatic Hits, Strength 6, AP3 and no Cover Saves allowed saw 6 of the Hunters quickly toasted in his initial shooting.

 

The second major deployment error was with my Long Fangs. Although they were in a great spot, with good cover and fields of fire, I had to deploy them in a line to get them in the right spot on the crater. Unfortunately, I placed my two Heavy Bolter models (the guys that I intended to use as my ablative wounds for the squad) in the middle. I took a single wound in the first turn, removed the Heavy Bolter guy as planned, then realized that I had to reconsolidate in my Movement phase and had to forego my shooting. Same thing happened the next turn, and I then saw the dilemma that I would either have to remove the second Heavy Bolter model and forgo shooting again, or remove the much more expensive Plasma Cannon model (which I really needed in the upcoming turns). That lesson has been learned, however, and from now on the Long Fangs deploy a little closer, if possible, and to put the Heavy Bolters on the end so I can work my way inward. So, as the battle unfolded, the Long Fangs ended up not firing a single shot the entire game as they were eventually whittled away by his TL-Assault Cannon Baal Predator.

 

I won't go through a turn by turn synopsis, by I'll hit the highlights: The depleted Hunter Pack on the right were destroyed in Turn 2 by his Blood Talon Dreadnought. My Venerable Dreadnought locked the Blood Talon Furioso in close combat and eventually destroyed it in Turn 4 (it really helped that my DCCW was Strength 10, while he was going for Glances with his Strength 6 Talons). If I had added a Wolftooth Necklace to my Dreadnought I think the fight wouldn't have taken near as long to win. The Blood Fist Dreadnought assaulted my Hunter Pack on the left and killed one or two per Assault phase until they finally broke, and were chased off of the table. The Blood Angel Drop Pod with the Tactical Squad and Corbulo landed just left of the center of the table, and Dante and his Assault Squad landed right beside him, but an inch or two further back, forming a nasty block of Blood Angels that I had to deal with.

 

My Land Raider surged forward, Ragnar and his Hunter Pack disembarked, shot, and charged the Tactical Squad. I wanted to charge both units, but the Assault Marines were just out of reach. It probably worked out better for me just focusing on the Tactical Squad. Rolling a 4 for his Berserk Charge, everybody got an additional 2 attacks on the charge as well as Furious Charge. Ragnar killed 5 of those Tactical Marines himself, some of my Hunters killed another Tactical Marine, as well as Corbulo. The remaining Tactical Marines broke and ran, making it back behind some cover in his deployment zone. When Dante and his full Assault Squad assaulted Ragnar's pack in his following turn, I wasn't expecting to survive it, especially since he had moved in such a way as to get Furious Charge from his other nearby Sanguinary Priest. He did kill off everyone but Ragnar and the Wolf Guard Leader (7 of my guys), but the Warrior Born Ragnar counterattacked with 10 attacks and killed 6 of those Assault Marines in his turn, with the Wolf Guard Leader and his Power Fist taking a shot at Dante but missing.

 

In my turn, the nearby Wolf Scouts with Wolf Priest Halfdan joined in the assault. Halfdan had been prescient enough to select Jump Infantry for his Oath of War giving those Scouts Preferred Enemy where they needed it, and Ragnar used his War Howl to give the Scouts Furious Charge when they joined the melee. Dante was able to only kill a single Scout, before they, Wolf Priest Halfdan, Ragnar, and the Wolf Guard Leader obliterated Dante and his 4 remaining Assault Marines.

 

Ragnar and the WGL then went off on their own as a two-man team to chase down and kill the 3 remaining Tactical Marines that had broken in the initial assault, while the Wolf Scouts turned to face the other Assault Squad that had moved down my right flank. Those Assault Marines charged the Scouts in the next turn, but even the Sanguinary Priest and his Furious Charge/Feel No Pain bubble didn't help as the Wolf Scouts caused more casualties than they took. In the next turn my Venerable Dreadnought was finally free (after having eventually destroyed his Talon Furioso) and piled into the ongoing Wolf Scout vs. Assault Squad combat.

 

Right before we resolved the the close combat at the bottom of the 5th Turn, my gracious opponent threw in the towel. The only thing he had left on the table was a Drop Pod with it's Storm Bolter Destroyed; an Immobilized Assault Cannon Baal Predator that Ragnar (with Melta-Bombs) and the Power Fist wielding Wolf Guard Leader were assaulting; and 4 Assault Marines that were locked with my Wolf Scouts (which still had a Power Weapon Scout, the MotW Scout, a Wolf Guard Leader with Thunderhammer, as well as 2 or 3 regular Scouts) and my Venerable Dreadnought had just joined the fray. I still had my untouched Land Raider as well, that was really looking forward to getting rid of that last Drop Pod, if the game had gone on for one more turn.

 

For those that actually read the whole thing, thanks for sticking with me. I had a great time, and am hoping to get in one or two more games before the family comes back in two weeks.

 

Regards,

 

Valerian

[Beef]

Congrats, a Few things can you give wolf tooth necklaces to our dreds? If so wow I never knew that

 

Secondly i see that the GH did not have a transport. how did that work out for you. Footslogging just seems weird to me. Never tried it even with the new running rules

[old git]

I've played quite a few games now with my shiny new wolves (including 5 of Mr Dandy's finest) and all of them have been footslogging forces, not a single vehicle, not even a dread'. It took a while to work it out but the last couple of games I've virtually tabled my opponent. In two annihilation missions (both at 2k points) I went 12-3 against Blood Angels and 13-5 against Nurgle marines. Wolves on foot are nails.

[Hear da Lamentation]

Well done V ! Sounds like a great game. I too was surprised about the footslogging element, but it certainly seems to be working nicely.

 

Nice one mate.

 

H.D.L.

[Wolf Guard Nostromo]

Congrats, a Few things can you give wolf tooth necklaces to our dreds? If so wow I never knew that

 

Secondly i see that the GH did not have a transport. how did that work out for you. Footslogging just seems weird to me. Never tried it even with the new running rules

WTN on dreads are handy as they help to make up for the lack of attacks, and hence make more of them count. Handy little trick to add an extra dimension to an already formidable unit - make sure they have a heavy flamer as preference though as this helps even more!

 

Nice report by the way Valerian. I'm happy to read any report with a wolf scout pack leader with a combi-melta and thunder-hammer :) . Sounds like a good game, though I m not sure how successful a foot-slogger force will consistently be aginst Blood Angels - avoiding the charge is pretty key. What your secret to success!?

[Merclock]

Hes tactical squad with drop pod is illegal, you say he had a 9 man Tactical with meltagun and power weapon with Corbulo... he cant have a special and/or heavy weapon until the tactical squad had numbered 10 models

[Valerian]

Congrats, a Few things can you give wolf tooth necklaces to our dreds? If so wow I never knew that

 

Secondly i see that the GH did not have a transport. how did that work out for you. Footslogging just seems weird to me. Never tried it even with the new running rules

 

Beef, yeah any of our Dreadnoughts can get a Wolftooth Necklace for a mere 10 points; the option is right there with Extra Armour and the Wolf Tail Talisman. I highly recommend it!

 

I usually put at least 2 of my Hunter Packs in Drop Pods, with the 3rd Pod going to either another Hunter Pack or sometimes a Dreadnought. Since it was a pickup game and I saw I was playing Blood Angels, I figured that I'd just remove the 3 Pods from my list, since I wasn't about to start trying to Deep Strike into the middle of the Blood Angels. I've played mostly footslogging forces for the last 20 years, so I'm pretty comfortable with that. I only recently started using the Land Raider, which has done very well both times I included it (not taking a scratch either game).

 

Nice report by the way Valerian. I'm happy to read any report with a wolf scout pack leader with a combi-melta and thunder-hammer <_< . Sounds like a good game, though I m not sure how successful a foot-slogger force will consistently be aginst Blood Angels - avoiding the charge is pretty key. What your secret to success!?

 

Yeah, that WGL for the Scouts is nails. He ended up wasting his single Melta shot on a Drop Pod (wasn't even within 6", so ended up not doing much to it), but there weren't any other good targets around for him to shoot at. He is still nails though, when he charges in with the hammer. This was also the first time I went with a "Death Star" Scout unit, around 340 points worth of Scouts including the WGL and the Wolf Priest, just to see how they would do and they did very well (when charged by full Assault Squad with attached Sanguinary Priest, my Scout unit still killed more of them than they killed of mine, thanks to Countercharge and Preferred Enemy: Jump Infantry).

 

Key to avoiding the charge with my mostly Footsloggers against the Blood Angels? Well, the only infantry he actually deployed on the board was a single Assault Squad, which deployed in cover across from my right side. I simply put my Venerable Dreadnought on that side, whose mission would be to move forward to intercept them. Even with Running it was going to take that squad at least 3 turns to get to my center of mass, anyway. The majority of my forces were being covered by Ragnar and the Hunter pack in the Land Raider. The BA player didn't have any Vanguard Veterans, so he can't charge with anything after landing, so it is pretty easy to charge them, rather than get charged, when the Land Raider gave me a nice 20" reach, to go out to wherever he happened to Deep Strike to and deal with them. The only time that I felt that a Rhino would have been handy, was to have a place for my right-side Hunter pack to hide, and avoid that Flamestorm Cannon Baal Predator. However, I could have easily avoided that anyway, had I just paid better attention to that Baal's threat range and deployed those Hunters more to the left over with all of my other units (even if I had to leave them out of cover, it would have worked out a lot better for me).

 

Hes tactical squad with drop pod is illegal, you say he had a 9 man Tactical with meltagun and power weapon with Corbulo... he cant have a special and/or heavy weapon until the tactical squad had numbered 10 models

 

I was doing his list off of memory, so he might not have had a Meltagun in that 9-man Tactical Squad. He definitely had one in each of his Assault Squads though.

 

EDIT: Just remembered that Ragnar saved with his Invulnerable 4+ against a shot from that Tactical Squad's Meltagun right before Ragnar and the Wolf Guard Leader charged in finished them off in the 4th Turn, so yeah, you are right, that was illegal. I'll have to remember to point that out to him the next time I see him.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback guys,

 

V

[Leonaides]

Couldnt have been a combi-melta on the sergeant? Just a thought...

 

Congrats on the win, though he did kind of hand it to you by not taking out the landraider in turn 1 with the dreads, allowing you to eat DAnte, Corbulo, tac squad and RAS... Also, it wasnt a particularly good list of his, with anti-tank coming from a half-dozen meltaguns on things that werent very mobile...

[Valerian]

Couldnt have been a combi-melta on the sergeant? Just a thought...

 

No, the Tactical Sergeant just had a Power Weapon, it was definitely a regular Tactical Marine with the Meltagun. No big deal, mistakes happen. I'll just be sure to remind him since he likes to play in the local tournaments.

 

Congrats on the win, though he did kind of hand it to you by not taking out the landraider in turn 1 with the dreads, allowing you to eat DAnte, Corbulo, tac squad and RAS... Also, it wasnt a particularly good list of his, with anti-tank coming from a half-dozen meltaguns on things that werent very mobile...

 

One of his Dreadnought Drop Pods scattered off to the right, so he wasn't close enough to target the Land Raider when he dropped in on Turn 1. His other Dread did come in pretty close to the Land Raider, but failed to damage it. In his second Turn he wasn't able to Assault the Land Raider, since my left Grey Hunters were between him and it, so he just shot at and assaulted the Hunters, allowing me to move on out.

 

I didn't think his list was too bad, really, especially since it was for playing against all-comers and he didn't know that I was only going to have two vehicles (the Land Raider and my Venerable Dreadnought) for him to shoot at. He did have a Meltagun in each of his three squads (2 of which were Jump Infantry) and on both Furioso Dreadnoughts (which dropped in 1st Turn via DPA). I think each of his Sergeants also had Melta Bombs, but none of them ever made it into contact with the Raider or Dreadnought to use them.

 

V

[Shieldwall]

Don't let anyone talk you into that the win was handed to you, you both had perfectly allright lists.

 

Congrats man, sounds like it was a fun game, and I hope to read more reports in the future.

[Warhorse47]

Well done! Congratulations

[Godhead]

its a special per 5 for assault squads, and are we sure it wasn't an assault squad without packs in a free dp? It's a good 1st turn anti tank drop if so. Corb can let the melta gunner reroll something should he need it. Just wondering.

[Valerian]

its a special per 5 for assault squads, and are we sure it wasn't an assault squad without packs in a free dp? It's a good 1st turn anti tank drop if so. Corb can let the melta gunner reroll something should he need it. Just wondering.

 

No Godhead, they were Tacticals, everybody had Boltguns except for the Meltagun model. Like I said though, no big deal. Remember that he came prepared for a 1,500 point fight, and when we decided to play 1,750 he probably just decided to add in Corbulo (as well as a few other things) and pulled out a regular Marine so that Corb's would fit in the Drop Pod and probably just forgot that his ability to take the Meltagun went away when he reduced the size of the unit from 10 to 9. That kind of mistake is easy to make when you are trying to make a last minute adjustment to a list for a pickup game. It really didn't end up making any difference to the game anyway.

 

V

[Godhead]

True enough. I hate when i show up with a list and then have to either chop it up or add to it. I never bring the right things to offset the points differences properly.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Just a minor point. Jump infantry is a subset of infantry, as jetbikes are a subset of bikes. You only need to take Infantry as your oath to deal with jump infantry as well.

 

At least that's the way we play it here.

[Valerian]

Just a minor point. Jump infantry is a subset of infantry, as jetbikes are a subset of bikes. You only need to take Infantry as your oath to deal with jump infantry as well.

 

At least that's the way we play it here.

 

Fremen,

 

Most folks don't play it that way. Jump Infantry is a separate unit type than Infantry, and get treated differently than standard Infantry in many ways, to include some of our own Space Wolves psychic powers.

 

V

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Intriguing. However that makes the Oath even more specialised and consequently less useful than before.

 

However I do see the point. Did they ever clarify what the different unit types were?