Björn

[Frater Cornelius]

So, grand daddy Bjorn now costs significantly less, can buy and pod, has access to the decent Helfrost Cannon and has become extremely choppy while losing that annoying 'becomes objective when he dies' rule.

I am considering taking him in a pod. I already have 2 blizzdreads coming down in pods and loads of armour rushing forward. He would make life easier for my Grey Hunters dwith his warlord trait and he is an intimidating presence.

So, you think investing 255 points for Bjorn in pod is worth it or am I better served in stocking up with Ulrik and Wolf Priests along with my GH and possibly Bloowclaws?

[knife&fork]

Do you have any other pods? You generally don't want to drop choppy dreads in the first wave.

 

255 pts is quite a lot. I honestly think a stormwolf or some TWC would be a much better use of them.  

[Kasper_Hawser]

Depends on what you are facing. For me, I'm actually in favour of dropping all 3 dreads in one go, either to eliminate heavy armour or eliminate blobs with their heavy flamers. Very risky but hopefully you can destroy the big guns before getting shot at the following turn. I wouldn't take the stormshield axe version, as it prevents you from taking a heavy flamer. If you focus fire properly, you should clear enough for your second wave to drop in safely. To take stormshield, one has to be a venerable dread as well, which will add another 25 points cost per dread, which in the end makes the extra 2 dreads quite expensive. 

 

I did the calculation last night. If 3 dreadnoughts including Bjorn with 3 drop pods and a heavy flamer on the other 2 dreadnoughts, will come to 535 points. Already very expensive and in my 1250 list, leaves barely enough for 2 Troops, an elite termie squad and a tooled wolf lord. Gets even more expensive if you make them Venerable Dreads to 585 points. And that's just with heavy flamer. Adding the blizzshield and axe will be another 50 points.

 

I think we should focus on shooty dreadnoughts and pray they survive long enough to shoot second round and charge. Plus, the Formation of Bjorn's venerable ones give two bonuses: giving the other 2 venerable dreads 5+ invuln as long as they're 6" from Bjorn, and allowing them rerolls in close combat. Problem is the two accompanying dreadnoughts MUST be venerable, which as I mentioned, comes up to 585 points minumum with 3 drop pods and heavy flamers. I think perhaps the best combo is give Bjron a plasma cannon in case you meet terminators, and keep the other 2 ven dreads with just their stock multi melta and an additional heavy flamer. That way you have a 3 Dread combo capable of dealing with anything. If you got points to spare, just give the other ven dreads a Great Wolf claw and it should be enough. Mind you that either way, its going to cost nearly half your army so you better be wise on your troop selection. Perhaps 5GH teams with plasma at minimum to provide some firepower support.

 

In a sense, the 3 dread combo is a powerful deathstar by itself, if only for the shock factor. Just pray you don't meet Lysander or assault termies, as those 2 will destroy Bjorn despite AV13. Bear in mind that Lysander is S10 thunder so it's just 3s to glance and 4s to pen. I learnt that first hand. Bye bye Bjorn. :( Then again, if you succeed in destroying their Land Raider turn 1, they won't be able to charge, giving Bjorn time to swing that sweet BS6 pie plate of plasma in Lysander's face even on first turn. A lot of eggs in one basket though. Though if he packs Lysander squad in a land raider, it will also come up to 500+ points I think, if not more.

[Frater Cornelius]

I see blizzdreads somewhat different. Sure, you pay 145 per dread, 180 in a pod. But their function is not to kill on arrival. I have 2 rhinos with ultragrit melta gh, 2 vindicators and a stormeolf with claws on the way. Blizzdreads just scream 'shoot me or have your lines broken', but what will you be shooting at? A dread that will ravage your line but has a 3++ against most of your shots? The Rhinos to slow my advance? Or the Vindicators maybe?

The theme is not alpha strike, it's high pressure from the start where I capitalize on turn 2.

 

And as for Lysander, you know, you do not have to deploy the dreads inside their pods, neither do you have to drop right next to the LR. In a WUD detachment and the above setup I can guaranteed that the LR will be down turn 2. And a slogging Lysander won't concern me at all to the honest.

Be creative ;)

[Kasper_Hawser]

I see blizzdreads somewhat different. Sure, you pay 145 per dread, 180 in a pod. But their function is not to kill on arrival. I have 2 rhinos with ultragrit melta gh, 2 vindicators and a stormeolf with claws on the way. Blizzdreads just scream 'shoot me or have your lines broken', but what will you be shooting at? A dread that will ravage your line but has a 3++ against most of your shots? The Rhinos to slow my advance? Or the Vindicators maybe?

The theme is not alpha strike, it's high pressure from the start where I capitalize on turn 2.

And as for Lysander, you know, you do not have to deploy the dreads inside their pods, neither do you have to drop right next to the LR. In a WUD detachment and the above setup I can guaranteed that the LR will be down turn 2. And a slogging Lysander won't concern me at all to the honest.

Be creative

Very valid points Immersturm, opens up more ideas of using the Blizzard shield dread other than a beatstick. One thing though, what do you mean WUD detachment?

[Frater Cornelius]

WUD = Wolves Unleashed Detachment. Automatic reserve for stormwolf to have to meltas active turn 2.

[Iacton Qruze]

You need a blizznought in that Formation.  I ran it at a tournament yesterday, and the 5++ is not enough to hold against everything, especially if you drop in on Tau or Eldar.  Deathwinds on the pods give you close range firepower that can support the loss of the heavy flamers, but even that doesn't do anything against Serpent Spam.

[DanPesci]

Although bjorn is, well, BJORN!! im not sure that running him with 2 ven dreads is going to be as effective as running murderfang with 2 ven blizz/axe dreads. Sure, they're not going to shoot..at all...but the fear of that hitting your lines will almost definately mean nothing is shooting the rest of your army

[Frater Cornelius]

There's 2 problems with Murderfang. 1. he's the squishiest of all dreads with only IWND protecting him. 2. he isn't a HQ and I only have space to edit my HQ slots. The rest is fairly set in stone.

 

I for one like Bjorn and I believe that he is one of the more sensible HQ choices for my list. He gives me another pod, he does not need a unit, thus allowing me to run full GH squads. He has good choppa. The other good HQ options would be Ulrik (who I've got riding the Stormwolf), Wolf Priests and possibly Rune Priests. All the other characters would require their own units and ultimately a greater investment.

[magnusthetraitor]

I've been collecting Space Wolves dreadnoughts for the last five years, and I have too many to play at any one time. I'm pretty stoked to have this Bjorn formation, cause now I can bring:

Formation:
Bjorn
Ven Dread w/ Axe and Shield
Ven Dread w/ Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

Elites:
Murderfang
Dreadnought w/ Multimelta and Stormbolter
Contemptor with Kheres and DCCC

Yeah, that is a big chunk of points. But when else am I gonna be able to bring all that to the club for a game under Apoc points?

[d@n]

The thing to remember with bjorn is that he is a character. Most generic warlords outside monstrous creatures are going to get pulped by bjorn before they can swing with anything that can hurt him in a challenge. He's our best bet at getting slay the warlord