Bran Redmaw

[Marmande]

Evening (relatively) everyone.

 

I should be working on a school paper right now, but ever since my Eldar and Dark Angels-playing roommate had his copy of IA11 delivered and giving myself to read over Bran's rules and fluff I've been thinking of how to build a list around him. So, to get this monkey off my back (and to perhaps provide some good discussion for this subforum) I wanted to see what other people were using (or considering using). I've got no solid list but a basic idea:

 

HQ:

 

-Bran Redmaw - The titular character of the list

 

-What else to put here? Rune Priest(s?) to ride with the Grey Hunters seems like the most obvious choice here

 

Elites

 

-2 squads of Wolf Scouts with Meltaguns at a minimum, with an attached WGPL with a Fist and Combi-Melta; helps maximize the chance of a Melta showing up where you need it when paired with the special Grey Hunter squad.

 

-Wolf Guard pack for assigning PLs

 

Troops

 

-Grey Hunters in Rhinos - Our most dependable unit, kitted-out as needed

 

-BEL Grey Hunters - Obvious choice here seems to be a full squad with double Melta, but one thing a friend pointed out was that BEL doesn't prevent you from taking a Terminator Wolf Guard to join them, as that unit can't join Scouts. This opens up a whole 'nother layer of options, especially when you have five Wolf Guard and unlock a Heavy Weapon like an Assault Cannon or Cyclone Missile Launcher. 2 Meltas and an Assault Cannon will likely shred anything they creep up on, or maybe infiltrating a unit with double Plasma and a CML for squatting on objectives in cover. To me, this unit alone is what makes taking Bran so interesting because it takes the flexibility of the Grey Hunter squad and increases it tenfold.

 

Fast Attack

 

-Speeders for the extra anti-tank or TWC for the combat punch?

 

-Fenrisian Wolves - I'm kinda torn on this unit. On one hand, I like it and it gives another deployment option to the army and Redmaw a good number of ablative shooting wounds that can swarm units and tanks (especially good if you can surround a transport and Bran wrecks it). On the other hand, it's a 120pt investment and if the emails from people contacting Forgeworld are any indication, Bran's transformed self is neither ejected from a transport when the change occurs, nor does he take up more than a single slot. Bran could be content to sit in a Rhino or even a Land Raider (the latter making up for the Redmaw's inability to use grenades in an assault) in that case, and the points saved on the unit of Fenrisian wolves could be put towards the aforementioned Speeders or TWC. For fun, I'll be collecting a unit of Wolves, but I think it's a point and tactic worth debating. :P

 

Heavy Support

 

-Long Fangs are an obvious take here, or even Predators

 

-A Land Raider Crusader, as mentioned, would make a good transport for Bran and perhaps another squad of Grey Hunters. This is a unit where I'd like to throw in a Wolf Priest and undo all that nice reasoning I had for saving 120pts on skipping on the Fen. Wolves. :)

 

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So, thoughts?