What kills your Thunderlords

[Godhead]

I want to know what kills your WL on TWM with TH/SS. Obviously lots and lots and lots of shooting will do it. But what else? My TWC and WGBL on TWM typically fall when they get charged by like 3 squads of something. So what kills the thunderlord?

 

I am thinking about running a squad and hero hammering it up. My 'Ard Boyz list ran 2 wgbl on twm with wc/ss along in a unit of 5 twc. It did really well. For my 2k list I am thinking about a thunderlord instead.

 

The unit would be:

Thunderlord TWM, TH, SS, RA, WTN, WTT, SOTB, 2x Fen wolves

WGBL TWM, WC, SS, RA, WTN, SOTWB, 1x fen wolf

TWC SS/TH

TWC

 

It's a smaller TWC squad than I normally run, but my experience with two IC's in that squad is that in CC they will have to pick who to hit which will allow them to survive longer. The TWC is there as another TH/SS as I've found that to be the REAL beast. The WGBL is there to pack some I5 punch and thin out things a bit. If he doesn't get started then he gets to hulk out and get more and more attacks as combat goes on (hopefully this will help alleviate some of the issues i've had with losing to hordes where weight of numbers takes em down).

 

Post up your experiences. I'd like to see what I can possibly expect.

[Slipp]

I personally would change two things here, the wolf claw should be a frost blade cause then your killing marines on a two at i5, plus you have a 50% chance on rear armour. The second is it sounds like your sold on two independant characters, I think the wgbl should have the thunder hammer and don't worry about the sorb cause anything that can instant kill you in combat will be going last(save for walkers, which your long fangs should have killed by the time you reach combat). Obviously your frost weapon wielding wolf lord should have the sotwb, and the points you save are a down payment on extra's for everyone else.

[Godhead]

Actually, that's not true. Force weapons, Skulltaker, Khan, and a handful of other characters/abilities can ID you before I1. There is enough things that ID's if you don't have eternal warrior that I am considering bear. The other appeal is the extra wound. It might not seem like a lot, but it definitely can turn a bad situation around when your dice take a bad spell and you lose that second wound.

 

It might just be a matter of preference, but WC vs FB, I think the rerolls are HUGE. I was meh about wolf claws and favored the frost blade as well, then I tried the WC's and was sold.

 

The battle leader is there to thin out those big units. Plus if i'm running him with warrior born, then I'd like to have the option to reroll. I have two TH's in the squad to aim at vehicles so i'm not terribly concerned about the frost blade glancing on a 4 vs the wc glancing on a 5.

[Slipp]

Ok those are valid points for sure, I always split the lord off for maximum killage so that's where our play styles differ. I never thought about the force weapons, as I usually send my lords to kill infantry rather than lord bash, I roll way too poorly to leave my game to chance. I rely on my long fangs for anything tougher than my lord. Do you mind posting a copy of the list you use... I am converting my thunder wolves now and have not had the chance to play them. I just want to see if I'm in the same ball park, as it seems you have more experience than I at using twc.

[Grimtooth]

Rapid firing bolters have been the bane of my thunderlords. I am going to end up rolling some 1s no matter what against mass bolter fire.

[Bikeninja]

The Swarmlord and Imperial Guard tanks. The worst however is my dice. They will kill my Thunderlord before anything else will.

[Godhead]

Volume of fire has been my bane too, be it from cc or ranged combat. It is manageable though. I am going to give a smaller squad a try this time since it will be easier to hide. I do tend to split off my IC's at times as well, but it really depends on my target.

 

I don't always get to pick the fights either. If I can shoot something 1st to kill it, then i'm all for it, but alas there are times that my ranged fire is needed else where and I have to do something to neutralize a threat, that's where TWC come in.

 

I like the power weapon/wolf claw, but every time the powerfiest/thunder hammer has been whats really impressed me.

 

Also the games where i've done poorly, it seems are the games that I've tried to play cautiously or defensively with my TWC. The sooner I charge something the better the game starts going from there. Most of the time, they end up attracting so much attention that I'm able to move my other units to where they are needed.

[Requiem of the Wolf]

Large amounts of enemy Independant Characters...and 3 squads of soldiers rapidfiring on my Thunderlord are the two things that have managed to destroy my lord really.

 

If I had the models I would run him with a Thunderwolf squad,and...well that would be hilarious.

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

bolters, regular close combat attacks, and 1 powerfist wound.

[Wispy]

lots of dice.

[Niiai]

Heh. I was playing demons. First turn flamer flame my long fangs of the board (they killed 3 and they did not make the leadership test witch is a FIRST!) That same round his horrors shot the other long fangs who did not make there leadership test (that was the second time my wolfes failed an important willsave.)

 

2 or two rounds after a new pack of flamers enters and they toast my thunderwolf cavalary. Last turn a lott of horrors and a deamon prince killed my thunderwolf lord in mellee (saga of the warrior born, not that good against +4 invunerable saves.)

 

I should add that I wonn that game. :( 2 objectives to 1. (It was the portal mision from the battle missions.)

[Coverfire]

Ork Nobz with Hidden Powerfists

 

Ghazgull

 

Deff Roller

 

Kharne the Betrayer + Bezerkers

 

AP3 like Thousand Sons

[Niiai]

It might be just me, but that ap2 rune armour is realy good :lol:

[MaleOpener]

If I'm not running Ragnar, I'm running a wolf lord with ....

 

Thunderwolf mount.

Runic armor.

Frost weapon.

Storm shiled.

Wolftooth necklace.

Saga of the bear.

2 fenrisian wolves.

 

And he joins a pack of 10 - 15 fenrisian wolves.

 

The pack soaks up the incoming fire, as the rest of your force should be dealing with opposing tanks and MCs.

 

Wolf lords seem to be infantry killers, IMO, and I've broken the backs of many forces by plowing through their squads.

[Heimdall Skullcrusher]

I made the mistake of charging a dreadnaught with my thunderlord w/ Frost Axe the other day.... Keeping him cheap so no sagas. Even with S6, thats still 6 needed to glance. He insta-deathed me on the first round. Luckily the TWC accompanying him were able to finish him off after a couple rounds. Still hurt though as it was the first combat with the thunderlord.

[Vorion]

Three eldar war walkers with two scatterlasers each. I ended up with one TWC with a wound left by the end of the game. Fortunately he focused on them and I tabled every other unit in his army.

 

Personaly I use my lord as anti infantry. between a wolf claw and warrior born he tears everything apart. And since I play a lot of armies with S3 infantry it makes it tough for them to stand a chance should they get the chance to swing back

[Howling]

Hmm.....what kills my Thunderwolves....actually not very much, since I run my Thunderlord in a pack of 5 Thunderwolves wound allocation saves me from alot of those high number attacks/shooting attacks....of course I position my wolves in a way that only a few of his people can attack my lord and the rest has to deal with the thunderwolves......wouldn't want all of them to attack my lord and see him die from numbers of wounds alone...

 

But what I really learned to hate is this nasty gift of chaos spell the tzeentch bastards love to use....in a game I played all of my enemies wizards had that damn spell, and Ahriman casted it like 3 times.....even if he has to roll a 6 to make it work...3 times a try equals 50% chance of turning him into a chaos spawn...adding some other sorcerers to the try and he's nearly done it automatic..... sure I had my runepriest close, but still he managed to do it at least twice in the last months....which annoys me ALOT....

 

But anyways....it's not THAT big of a deal...usually my Thunderlord + Thundercav just slaughters right through everything in my way...so no problem

[Thunderhawk3015]

Massed *insert army generic ranged weapon here* fire tends to do it if I get caught with them out of position. Short of that, anything that gets the charge with furious charge and has many power weapons can see you off especially if its death company and your opponent "forgets" that his chainswords are power weapon proxies.

 

Aside from that its hard to kill off thunderwolves with the wound soak you can get throwing them in a unit of cav.