Space Wolves vs Ultramarines Detailed Battle Report

[Kasper_Hawser]

Battle Report 12/11/2017

 

Overview: Greetings brothers of the Rout. As mentioned many times, tales of victory for the Space Wolves are far and few in between, especially detailed battle reports showing the cunning and patient hunter aspects of the Vlka Fenryka. After a period of, frankly depression about 40K, I had a long talk with a friend on strategy, deployment as well as what I love about the game (which was manly Space Marines of the Viking variety fighting the forces of evil), and finally decided to have a game with his Ultramarines.

 

To ensure that the fight IS an even fight, we agreed that only BRB strategems will be used on both sides, although I allowed him to bring a Codex Relic (sanctic Halo), his Ultramarine chapter tactic as well as Calgar’s warlord trait of recovering used CP on 5+. His was basically a shooty list, exactly the type of list I have trouble fighting, but at least, this time, I had about 50+ bodies on the ground, whereas he only had about 30 bodies. So the lesson I needed to apply was capturing objectives and denying him CRITICAL kills during the 5-7 turns.

 

TLDR: I had a very satisfying victory in the end, which I want to share with you all in detail. Sadly its going to be long, but what the heck, like I said, detailed VICTORIES of Space Wolves are far and few in between. So I’ll begin this post with the setup of the armies and board.

 

Space Wolves Army List:

Battalion Detachment:

Wolf Lord on Bike with Master Crafted Boltgun and Wolf Claw

Rune Priest with Runic Axe, Runic armour and Storm Bolter

 

9 man Grey Hunter Pack with 1 Wolf Guard Pack Leader X 4

-          2 Grey Hunters have Plasma guns

-          Wolf Guard has combi plasma and chainsword

-          All have chainswords

 

4 Rhinos, each with 2 Storm bolters

 

5 man Blood Claw with Wolf Guard Pack Leader X 2

-          Wolf Guard has combi plasma and chainsword

 

2 Razorbacks with Twin Assault Cannon and Stormbolter

 

2 Vindicators with Storm bolters

 

Total CP: 3 + 3 = 6

 

Ultramarines List:

Battalion Detachment:

Chapter Master Marneus Calgar

Lieutenant with bolt gun

 

Venerable Dreadnought with Storm Bolter and assault cannon

 

5 man Tactical squad including Veteran Sergeant X 4

-          1 Plasma gun

-          Sergeant has combi plasma

 

4 Razorbacks with Twin Heavy Bolters and Storm bolters

 

Devastator squad with 4 heavy bolters, sergeant with signum X 1

 

Spearhead Detachment:

Captain with power fist and plasma pistol

Lieutenant with Plasma pistol and power sword

 

3 Predators with twin lascannons and lascannon sponsoons

 

Total CP: 3+3+1+2 = 9 CM

 

Mission type      : Retrieval with 4 objectives

Deployment type: 3, the one with the big empty circle in middle

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                  _____                     _____               |

|             |       |                  |       |      MC   UL    |         |              |

|             |___|             Obj |UDV|    P   P  P     |____|                 |

|                                                           URA  URA  URA           |

|             ____                     _____               URA_____            |

|            |       |                   |        |                     |         |UDread   |

|         R |___|         V  Obj |__ _|                     |____|Obj          |

|                      R  RA   R                                                             |

|            ____  RA  RP  V   ____                     ______                 |

|           |       |           WL  R |       |                    |         |                 |

|           |___|                       |___|                     |____|                 |

|                   Obj                                                                           |

|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 

Legend:

V – Vindicator

R – Rhino

RA – Razorback

RP – Rune Priest on Bike

WL - Wolf Lord on bike

URA – Ultramarines Razorback

MC – Marneus Calgar

UL – Ultramarines Lieutenant

Udread - Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnought

UDV – Ultramarines devastators

Obj - Objectives

 

Additional Notes: All Rhinos and Razorbacks have their squads inside them, no infantry except Space Wolves bike HQs, Calgar and one lieutenant is outside their transports. Ultramarine Captain and Lieutenant in spearhead detachment are hitchhiking on two of the Ultramarine Razorbacks. In the end, my opponent had first turn as I had far more units to deploy than him. So no choice, even before deployment I was already planning ahead with the assumption that my opponent would go first and needed to weather as much of the firepower as I could.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Kasper_Hawser

[Kasper_Hawser]

Update 14/11/2017

 

Overview: Sorry guys, no matter how I try, I can’t seem to “draw” the battlefield deployment properly as it keeps coming out of alignment. Just bear in mind that there were only 9 pieces of terrain, with the middle one being a sort of round tower which provided me with a limited LOS blocking piece in middle.

 

Anyway, without further ado, on to Turn 1: Ultrasmurf….. ahem, Ultramarines

 

Turn 1: Ultramarines

Movement         : Predators stayed put, preparing to unleash their might with Calgar and Lieutenant. Razorbacks also moved forward but didn’t disembark their Plasma MSUs, Captain and Lieutenant yet. The Ultramarine Dreadnought poked his chassis out of the corner of the Middle right hand terrain to get a shot with his assault cannon and storm bolter. Basically his game plan was to get rid of the 2 Vindicators first with two Predators and use one to crack open a Rhino for the Razorbacks to get at the juicy nuts, ahem, Grey Hunters inside.

 

Shooting: As expected, the two Vindicators went up in flames from two of the Predators. However, he failed to destroy any of my metal boxes with his remaining Predator and all the Heavy Bolter shooting! Although he did badly hurt one of my Assault Cannon razorback, the one closest to middle Objectives behind the Vindicator. But basically, my infantry were safe.

 

Assault                 : No assault yet.

 

Morale phase    : None

 

Turn 1: Space Wolves

 

Movement         : Vindicators are gone so I plugged the hole in my lines. I aimed to hold the middle as long as I could and make him WORK to crack the Rhinos and shift my infantry which I outnumbered him. So moved the line to make another Rhino/Razorback Wall. One Rhino I pulled back to hide behind the middle bottom terrain as an emergency response unit and also to try contest the last objective on the right hand side held by the dreadnought. The Razorback wounded earlier I pulled back to camp near last objectives, still with its complement of Bloodclaws.

 

Rune priest and Wolf Lord shifted around to make sure the middle Rhinos and Razorback wall were in range for buffs and aura.

 

Psychic phase    : Rune Priest casted Stormcaller, giving +1 cover save to all units around, improving my chances of surviving Lascannons slightly by boosting armour saves to 2+, hence I would be saving Lascannons on 5+ instead of 6+, and giving me terminator armour grade against bolters, as well as maintaining my 3+ save against Heavy Bolters

 

Shooting Phase : Razorbacks took some potshots and wounded an enemy razorbacks but nothing big happened.

 

Assault phase    : no assault happened.

 

Overview: A seemingly devastating turn for me, but in the end, despite the loss of the vindicators, all of my transports lived and their troops were intact, forcing him to commit ANOTHER turn to crack the transports. Turn 1 for me was the first time in a long time which I tempered my bloodlust to rush and deploy all my infantry to kill him first.

 

To summarise, I took a beating but the game plan was intact: protect the troops. And now, with Stormcaller active, the Rhinos and Razorbacks would have a better chance of weathering next round.

 

In end, board looked like this:

 

End of Turn 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                  _____                       _____           |

|             |       |                  |       |      MC   UL  |         |               |

|             |___|           Obj |UDV|    P   P  P     |____|                 |

|                                  URA  URA                                            |

|             ____                     _____  URA            _____           |

|            |       |                   |        |                    |         |              |

|            |___|        R  Obj|____|    URA        |____|Obj          |

|                              RP  R                                     UDread    |

|            ____           WL R  ____                   ______             |

|           |       |                RA|         |                   |         |             |

|           |___|  RA               |__ _|                    |____|                |

|                Obj                        R                                              |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Kasper_Hawser]

Turn 2: Ultramarines

 

Movement – 2 Predators stayed put for the most part. All Ultramarines disembarked their squads of plasma & combi plasma tacticals, accompanied by the lieutenant and captain whose aura could cover at least 3 of the top middle squads bearing down on central objective. Razorbacks moved a little closer to be able to fire at my whole line. Hilariously, the most bottom URA moved closer to my centre rhino formation to be able to multi charge 2 of my Rhinos and a Razorback simultaneously.

 

Shooting Phase – Two things made his life very difficult: one was the afore mentioned Stormcaller power gave everyone near my RP cover saves, the other was the fact I had popped smoke on every transport I had. As a result, when the smoke cleared, only the top centre Rhino was killed and only one full squad spilled out, and out of that squad, I think all of them survived the heavy bolters and the few plasma shots from the MSUs. The Dreadnought did a few potshots but failed to get through the storm of snow thrown up by the Rune Priest.

 

Assault phase – Hilariously, one of his razorback charged 3 of my vehicles, the 2 Rhinos and Razorback in middle near the Wolf Lord and Rune Priest, preventing my healthy Razorback from shooting its loadout. Then the other razorback nearest my top bunch of Grey Hunters also charged them to prevent them from shooting.

 

Turn 2: Space Wolves

 

Movement – Bottom Rhino disembarked its troops which climbed up the ruins to have a clear LOS to the Rhino that assaulted my vehicles as well as the nearest MSU squad. After careful deliberation, I pulled back the Razorback without disembarkings its cargo, disembarked the other southern Rhino to take care of the annoying Razorback and just in case finish off the other MSUs. The dismounted troops went closer after the 3 MSU squads with captain and lieutenant. Had to neutralise as many of the plasmas as I could and weather the heavy bolters.

 

Psychic phase – Rune Priest casted Storm caller as well as a smite potshot at the nearby razorback

 

Shooting – Between the two full squads of Grey Hunters, one of which was near enough to reroll 1s to risk overcharging, managed to kill the southernmost MSU squad and damage the Razorback. The damaged razorback managed to kill a couple of marines, along with the Wolf Lord’s and Rune Priest bolters but it was still not yet time to unleash hell yet with all my infantry.

 

Assault – the middle Grey Hunter squad assaulted the Razorback and actually blew it up! I hadn’t planned to blow it up, I actually rolled high enough to surround it so I could actually stick it in combat and prevent from falling back in Turn 3. Sadly it backfired but at least one Razorback was down for what its worth. Unfortunately it meant one more full GH squad was fully exposed in addition to the one which was already in combat in the top middle. That one I managed to shave a few wounds off the Rhino but not enough. I didn’t want to charge the Wolf Lord or Rune Priest yet for fear he might manoeuvre his heavy weapons to be able to shoot them.

 

End of Turn 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                  _____                    _____                  |

|             |       |                  |        |      MC   UL  |         |                |

|             |___|           Obj |UDV|    P   P           |____|                 |

|                         URA                URA     P                                  |

|             ____    MSU   MSU_____                _____                 |

|            |       |         URA   |        |      MSU     |         |                |

|            |___|    R GH Obj|____|                    |____|Obj          |

|                               RP    R             MSU                UDread    |

|            ____           WL       GH URA            _____                 |

|           |       |     RA    R    |   GH |                  |         |                  |

|           |___|  RA               |__ _|                    |____|                 |

|                   Obj                        R                                            |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Kasper_Hawser]

Note before turn 3: critical stage for my Wolves. I needed to survive with most of my infantry to have a chance of weathering the next two turns of fire. If my three Grey Hunter squads are mauled, then there’s a good chance he can push me off with his 3 remaining MSU and mostly intact vehicles except for one Razorback

 

Turn 3 – Ultramarines

 

Movement         : Not much, just pulled back his Razorback that had engaged my top squad of Grey Hunters, moved his Predators closer to my lines and get a better angle on my back units, along with Calgar moving forward to continue giving his reroll aura.

 

Shooting phase : Luck could have been better but a lot more survived than expected. 2 of his  Predators tried to kill my last Rhino with troops inside but against all odds it survived! Thank god for the power of snow! This forced him to use 3 out of his 4 MSU squads to kill the rhinos, leaving less to kill the exposed Grey Hunters, by end of which, I still had my 2 plasma guns and combi-plasma still alive. His heavy bolter Devastators also didn’t make much of a dent thanks to the snow flying around too.

 

The most hilarious part I must say is when he shot one Predator’s lascannons at the Grey Hunter Squad (due to no better targets) and out of the 4 lascannon shots, I saved 3!

 

Assault                 : none.

 

Turn 3 – Space Wolves

 

Movement         : My bottom Grey Hunters embarked in their transport again and zoomed towards the last objective and Dreadnought. I figured now is the time to see if my Grey Hunters can either kill the dreadnought or survive combat with it until Turn 5. Unlikely to kill it as without a reroll, I was reluctant to overcharge that GH.

 

Meanwhile in the middle, my Blood Claws came out and moved to the centre. I really didn’t want the MSU’s alive by end of the turn and was going to risk exposure if I could totally remove his troops. With the amount of bodies I had, I was now a bit certain I could survive his vehicle and heavy bolter firepower over next two turns. The top 2 squads of Grey Hunters moved upwards to kill the MSUs.

 

Psychic phase – Critically, I failed to cast Stormcaller, or rather I casted it but his Captain had the relic Sanctic Halo which allowed him to deny one power as though he was a psyker. Oh well, in turn I smote a few of his MSU squads.

 

Shooting Phase - Between my 3 Grey Hunter squads along with my undamaged Razorback, I managed kill all remaining MSUs as well as badly damage one Razorback. Only his Lieutant and Captain was left on the field but I chose not to charge them yet, as it would put me out of range of the Wolf Lord. the Wolf Guard pack leader from the Blood Claw squad also contributed his combi plasma to the field.

 

 

End of Turn 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                    _____                        _____               |

|             |       |                  |        |                         |         |                |

|             |___|           Obj |UDV|         UL           |____|                 |

|             URA        URA  C  L    URA    P   P  MC                          |

|             ____      MSU   MSU_____      P            _____                 |

|            |       |    GH    GH    |        |      MSU     |         |                    |

|            |___      RP WL Obj|____|                   |____|Obj            |

|                                BC   R R     GH                         R    UDread        |

|            ____                        ______                           _                 |

|           |       |     RA            |         |                   |         |                  |

|           |___|  RA                 |__ _|                      |____|                 |

|                   Obj                                                                                |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Edited November 15, 2017 by Kasper_Hawser

[TiguriusX]

Update 14/11/2017

Overview: Sorry guys, no matter how I try, I can’t seem to “draw” the battlefield deployment properly as it keeps coming out of alignment. Just bear in mind that there were only 9 pieces of terrain, with the middle one being a sort of round tower which provided me with a limited LOS blocking piece in middle.

Loving the batreps keep it up. Stop teasing us and wrap it up

=P

I hope to share my batreps as well once I actually assemble this army and make my way to the FLGS.

With any luck I can chronicle game #1 (on TT) through all my campaigns.

As a digital wolf there are other ways to show your batrep.

Vassal helps with story telling (but can be time consuming to recreate)

[Kasper_Hawser]

@ Tigurius X and others following: sorry for the wait, at long last here's the rest. I will try to learn Vassal in future, assuming my future games are as fulfilling as this even if they don't end in victory.

 

Turn 4: Ultramarines

 

Movement – His troops were gone but he still had a frightening amount of power that he had to use to shift my troops off the middle objective as well as the last objective on my bottom left. His lieutenant and Captain was still alive. Deciding to live up to their motto of Courage and honor, both lonely characters moved forward to bravely engage my top two grey hunters. The Captain targeted the smaller squad of about 4 Grey Hunters while the Lieutenant went after the big Grey Hunter squad. This was done in preparation after shooting was done to dwindle the big GH squad. The Dreadnought on the left moved closer to the Rhino to begin killing it.

 

Predators all moved to get better angle, especially the last Razorback in my backfield and to crack the Rhino bearing down on the Dreadnought so that the Dreadnought could fight the infantry instead of wasting a turn killing the Rhino.

 

Shooting phase – amazing turn all things considered. Thanks to me popping smoke on the Rhino near the Dreadnought earlier, the one Predator he dedicated to destroying it failed to outright destroy it. Exasperated, he shot another Predator at the backline Razorback on bottom left, spilling out the squad behind, then shot one more Predator at my Rune Priest in his backline. The RP died as expected, a mistake on my part, should have done that later in Turn 5 rather than in Turn 3. Still, it diverted attention away from my infantry. His heavy bolters then shot at my Grey hunters about to be charged and killed quite a few, but in the end, the two squads were still standing albeit severely depleted, each dwindled to 3 man and 5 man. Should have been easy picking for the power sword and power fist equipped Captain and Lieutenant.

 

I can’t quite remember, but I think he killed my last Rhino, leaving me only one Razorback left as my transport

 

Assault Phase – This is was rather disastrous for him, but not in the sense of being killed. It was more that he didn’t manage to kill all or most of the dwindled GH squads with the Captain and Lieutenant. In particular, the Captain wiffed his wound rolls by rolling three 2s, leaving him in combat with just 2 Grey Hunters, whereas the Lieutenant still had to deal with about 4 GHs.

 

Space Wolves Turn 4

 

Movement Phase – BC moved towards the Captain to help the GH stuck in combat. The full strength GH squad in the middle tries to hide behind the middle terrain close to the objective, and also move a bit closer to the right to be able to hit the Dreadnought with Plasma guns. Wolf lord moves to middle to ensure everyone gets their buff.

 

On the right flank, the Grey Hunters moved closer to the last Objective on the Right, preparing to risk their lives to delay or at best kill the Dreadnought.

 

Behind on the bottom left, the last BC squad tried their best to hide behind the terrain while still capturing objective. My last razorback moved backward to block LOS of my last BC squad holding the line.

 

Shooting phase – the two full GH squads in middle and right flank unleashed their guns on the dreadnought, actually managing to damage it to less than half its life. The Razorback put some potshots at the nearest Predator but couldn’t penetrate its toughness enough.

 

Assault phase    - hoping to surround and tie the Captain to Turn 5 and save myself shooting from the last turn, I charged my Blood Claws into the Captain. However, despite having no power weapons, the +1 on the charge which Blood Claws get proved devastating and killed the poor Captain. In addition, the Grey Hunter on the right flank charged the Dreadnought, surrounding the venerable veteran. Can’t remember if I managed to deal a wound but that wasn’t important, the important thing was surviving the Dreadnoughts’ fists and fall back unto the last objective in my Turn 5. Thankfully despite his 2+ WS and wounding on 2s, he killed just 3 in his phase.

 

End of Turn 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                    _____                        _____                  |

|             |       |                  |        |                         |         |                |

|             |___|       RP Obj |UDV|                      |____|                 |

|             URA                             URA    URA                                     |

|             ____       C  BC    L    _      P    UL         _____                 |

|            |       |    GH       GH|        |     P     MC |         |                   |

|            |___            WL Obj|____|        P         |____|Obj            |

|                                 R               GH                            R     GH          |

|            ____                         ______                 _____   UDread     |

|           |       |                          |         |                  |         |                  |

|           |___| RA RA               |__ _|                    |____|                 |

|             BC   Obj                                                                                |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 

Turn 5: Ultramarines

 

Sorry to rush this but somehow I’m in a hurry to get to the end of this satisfying victory. Basically in his turn, he did his best to kill my bottom left objective campers with his Predators, 1 of them blowing up the last Razorback while the other 2 tried to kill the last 4 man squad camping behind (they lost 2 when their Razorback blew up). Sadly didn’t work and 1 blood claw was left to camp on the bottom left by end of Turn 5.

 

The rest of his Razorbacks and Devastators desperately tried to wipe out my infantry, but in the end, he only got rid of the diminished GH squad and most of the BC, leaving the BC sergeant alive, and my middle GH squad still nearly in full strength.

 

In assault, his Dreadnought killed 3 of my Grey Hunters, leaving 4 more still alive.

 

Turn 5: Space Wolves

 

Movement         - 4 man Squad engaged with Dreadnought fell back on last objective. The Lone BC Sergeant in middle moved towards the predators, intent on engaging them just in case the game last to Turn 6, therefore I needed to tie the Predators as much as I could be the end. The Wolf Lord, finally giving into his thirst for combat, zoomed towards the nearest Predator. The main GH squad in middle moved a little to capture middle objective and at the same time, maintain plasma range at the venerable dreadnought.

 

Shooting phase                 - GH in the middle managed to kill the venerable dreadnought with overcharged plasma, saving the last GH from a dangerous opponent should the game continue. Although Calgar could potentially walk and charge to that flank later.

 

Assault Phase    - I charged lone BC sergeant at one predator, who survived the overwatch and made it into combat, while my Wolf Lord later charged the same predator. I could have charged a second predator but knowing my luck, I didn’t want to risk my losing my warlord to even one Lascannon shot rolling 6 wounds. Sadly the Lord only had a Wolf Claw which barely scratched the Predator but that was OK, I just wanted one less Predator firing on me assuming it went to Turn 5.

 

At end of Turn 5, I controlled 3 Objectives, the bottom left, the middle, and the right flank. My opponent had 1 objective and First Blood. If the game continued, I would be in big trouble as the Devastators, 2 Predators, Razorbacks and Calgar could potentially knock me off the middle and right objective, maybe even snipe the last BC holding the bottom left objective.

 

Thankfully the game ended on Turn 5! Victory for the Rout!

 

End of Turn 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

|               ____                    _____                     _____            |

|             |       |                  |        |                         |         |           |

|             |___|            Obj |UDV|                         |____|             |

|             URA                             URA    URA                              |

|             ____                             _                      _____                 |

|            |       |    GH       GH|        |  P  UL  MC |         | GH          |

|            |___                  Obj|___|BC P            |____|Obj            |

|                                         GH      WL  P                                    |

|            ____                      ______                              UDread     |

|           |       |                    |         |                   |         |                  |

|           |___| RA               |__ _|                    |____|                 |

|             BC   Obj                                                                                |

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 

Game Analysis:

I know I shouldn’t put myself down on this hardwon game, but here’s some context. As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been really depressed a few times this year, both before and after 8^th Edition. The worst part of 2017 for me was Apr’17 when I was smashed by 4 daemon princes in Tetrach formation and more recently, having the Raven Guard use their strategems to sneak up on me all over and use Hellblasters on me turn one (among other things).

 

For a long time, I felt like I was useless and was incapable of not just winning, but even enjoying the game. It wasn’t as bad as 7^th edition, but I felt the recent updated Codex were so damn good that the Index Space Wolves just couldn’t cut it anymore. Yes we were better than 7^th, arguably more flexible and hard hitting than BA and DA, but even against Grey Knights, widely considered the “weakest” of the 8^th new codexes, I just felt people outmatched by the new toys, relics and strategems, in addition to being outplayed.

 

So my friend who played Ultramarines offered to “coach” me on tactics and also get a feel of what I like my lists to be and help me “figure” out my “strategy”. He noted that I loved troops, which of course meant GH, BC, Rhinos and Razorbacks as the “core” of my army. The strength of so many troops was that of objective taking as opposed to a “killy list” with wulfen and terminators. So he taught me how to place objectives, as near each other but also taking into account terrain to make sure that a shooty army can’t focus their firepower. Hence during the game, my rhinos and GHs were dancing around the middle terrain to deny his focus fire Predators and Devastators.

 

Also for this game, I asked that we only use the BRB Strategems. Nevertheless, I allowed him to use relics (Sanctic Halo) as well as his Ultramarine chapter tactics, which didn’t really come into play since he didn’t charge much, and in an MSU list, the leadership boost is a bit redundant.

 

Bottom-line? I had fun knowing this time, the field was level. If I feel bad about anything, is that I “spammed” my Grey Hunters and Blood Claws to nearly all my foot infantry up to 52 bodies, whereas my friend only had 20 bodies, both numbers excluding HQs. Then again, he had all the long range weapons and Calgar whereas I had almost no anti-tank. If he had Autocannon/HB predators, I think the game would be even worse. Until now, I believe the dakka volume of the Autocannon pred is better than the random damage of the Lascannon pred.

 

I don’t know whether it is fair to continue limiting my opponents in terms of strategems, relics, even Lord of Wars. But for the sake of my sanity, as well as maintaining what goodwill I have with my fellow wargamers, until the Space Wolves Codex comes out, I have to restrict my opponents “toys” so that I don’t “BLAME” the toys if I lose.

 

What do you guys think?

[TiguriusX]

Hard to say about sportsmanship.

 

Some of the stratagems make or break a codex.  There are quite a few where a specific unit gets to do double actions (shoot twice or fight twice in combat)

 

Seems fair to remove those if a codex and non-codex army are playing...then again I think like a Space Wolf (i.e., the non-codex army at this point in time)

 

I'm a competitive person by nature and think some things really break the spirit of the game (Forge World units can be over the top...too many special named characters being used in an army etc.)

 

I'm also a stubborn person and will keep trudging along to show I don't need those crutches (although I do plan on using Bjorn/Arjac/Njal in tournament settings so...dabbling in the hypocrite pool I guess)

Edited November 17, 2017 by TiguriusX

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hard to say about sportsmanship.

 

Some of the stratagems make or break a codex.  There are quite a few where a specific unit gets to do double actions (shoot twice or fight twice in combat)

 

Seems fair to remove those if a codex and non-codex army are playing...then again I think like a Space Wolf (i.e., the non-codex army at this point in time)

 

I'm a competitive person by nature and think some things really break the spirit of the game (Forge World units can be over the top...too many special named characters being used in an army etc.)

 

I'm also a stubborn person and will keep trudging along to show I don't need those crutches (although I do plan on using Bjorn/Arjac/Njal in tournament settings so...dabbling in the hypocrite pool I guess)

 

to be fair, Bjorn, Arjac and Njal are perfectly balanced by their high costs and other "weaknesses" unlike the likes of Papa Smurf, Grandpa Smurf, and to a lesser extent, Dante and Shrike who either have overpowerful rules (Grandpa smurf), cheesy cheap mobility (Shrike and Dante) or cheesy weaponry (Calgar).

 

As such, I would never regard SW characters as cheese, blue, cheddar or otherwise. So no, you are NOT a hypocrite for using Space Wolves characters. 

 

Bjorn - no invlun so multi wound heavy weapons will still put a big dent on him, T8 and 5+ FNP not withstanding. And he is the most expensive of them all.

Arjac - Low number of attacks, and I found out that despite his reducing damage made to him by 1, it won't matter if its a LOT of DAKKA. Plus he has terminator armour, with all the weaknesses it entails. Not to mention the random damage of his hammer unless its a character/monster meaning he is VERY vulnerable to tarpits.

Njal - tempestas power is really, well, I wouldn't say suck outright, but cannot compare to other psychic disciplines. Although the Stormcaller I'm beginning to think is the most useful power unless facing Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors. Jaws is too situational and relies on both high dice rolling on 2D6 and low movement on enemy part.

 

Back to topic though, I'm seriously depressed no one else is interested in the battle report. Sigh, why did I bother.... oh wait, I just wanted to share my cake with everyone. Except no one wants the cake.....

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

I just got around to reading the battle report. But it was quite good. I liked the map you made it helped visualize better.

 

In my small group we have been limiting the updated stuff a bit. Mostly keeping strategems basic brb ones. As a result it's been alot more fun for those of us without an update as we don't feel too left in the dust. I think it's fine to level the playing field a bit before everyone is up to date.

[Dantay VI]

I enjoyed the report, but found tge map.... Tricky. Would have preferred pictures :)

 

You did well in the report I thought. Stormcaller and the smoke launchers really seemed to help ease the pain.

[Araith]

Loved the battle report Kasper. I'm sure others among the 400+ viewers did as well. ;)

 

Also good to see your mass of grey hunters doing well.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Thanks for feedback. Would sure like to hear from even 1% of the 400+ viewers though.

 

Sadly this weekend my grinding advance was defeated by a Stormlord filled to the brim with 40 infantry along with a couple of  Valkyries, a Chimera, a Taurox Prime (all of which had infantry in it, either tempestas scions or regular Cadian troops), and at least 3 squads of deepstriking scions.

 

Not going to elaborate on that particular one but suffice to say, this is where I should have NOT done what I had done in this game, which is try outlast him with smoke launchers and Stormcaller. Which by the way in the whole 4 turns (when the RP died), I did not get Stormcaller off at all, which really really really hurt when the overcharged plasmas and hotshot lasguns came. 

 

Should have spread objectives behind every LOS blocking  terrain and HIDE LIKE A ....... whatever that hides cowardly when predators come. In this case, forced his forces to come to me and at least deny him his mid range firepower rather than try meet him in the middle.

 

On a more positive note, found that Valkyries despite their intimidating appearance, loadout and infantry capacity, are not that damaging unless they start hovering and don't move. 

 

Arggghhhhh, painful lesson. should have specified no LOW but I thought I could handle just one and thought if he fielded one Storm Lord, it means I would face 2 less Leman Russes of any variety. Sadly, I found out the Stormlord is like the equivalent of 3 leman russes.

[Araith]

Many are just readers though and don't comment unless they have something to say. And that's okay. I'm the same. So no need to feel bothered by lack of replies. :)

 

As regards tactics, I only try to simply and only outast the enemy if I really have no hope of hurting and beating them. And then mostly on tournaments (though I've been out of the tourney scene since 6th), because if a friendly battle heads that way I'd rather concede than finish a hopeless slog 'till the last dice throw.

Rather, as a fellow player heavy on the grey hunters, I aim to survive an enemy onslaught long enough to launch a big attack to cut out the enemy's heart.

That often translates into a slow and careful advance in the first few turns, hiding as best I can (long live Stormcaller!), until we've maneuvered such that I can unleash my packs, like you did turn 3.

There supporting bubbles from a captain and WGBL, and storm caller's cover are crucial. I've also taken to having a small pack of skyclaws hop behind my rhino's to add more weight of attacks to where-ever an assault will take place, as well as more easily reaching upper levels of buildings.

 

A stormlord is a tough challenge. My instinct would be to get close and then completely surround it in assault before it can disgorge its contents, so it can't withdraw and then beat it to pulp, no matter how long that takes. Probably charge in a rhino first, since its overwatch is probably brutal. While you're in combat the rest of his army can't shoot you, and if you succeed the enemy is crippled.

And I guess it can shoot even if locked in combat, so when I say 'no matter how long it takes' I doubt I'd be able to handle more than one turn of its shooting on my packs. So a bunch of thunder hammers is probably crucial.

If the battle is big enough I'd probably lead the army with Arjac and his buddies, in which case I wouldn't be worried at all about destroying the stormlord.

Perhaps this is a foolhardy plan, but this would be my first thought.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Many are just readers though and don't comment unless they have something to say. And that's okay. I'm the same. So no need to feel bothered by lack of replies.

 

As regards tactics, I only try to simply and only outast the enemy if I really have no hope of hurting and beating them. And then mostly on tournaments (though I've been out of the tourney scene since 6th), because if a friendly battle heads that way I'd rather concede than finish a hopeless slog 'till the last dice throw.

Rather, as a fellow player heavy on the grey hunters, I aim to survive an enemy onslaught long enough to launch a big attack to cut out the enemy's heart.

That often translates into a slow and careful advance in the first few turns, hiding as best I can (long live Stormcaller!), until we've maneuvered such that I can unleash my packs, like you did turn 3.

There supporting bubbles from a captain and WGBL, and storm caller's cover are crucial. I've also taken to having a small pack of skyclaws hop behind my rhino's to add more weight of attacks to where-ever an assault will take place, as well as more easily reaching upper levels of buildings.

 

A stormlord is a tough challenge. My instinct would be to get close and then completely surround it in assault before it can disgorge its contents, so it can't withdraw and then beat it to pulp, no matter how long that takes. Probably charge in a rhino first, since its overwatch is probably brutal. While you're in combat the rest of his army can't shoot you, and if you succeed the enemy is crippled.

And I guess it can shoot even if locked in combat, so when I say 'no matter how long it takes' I doubt I'd be able to handle more than one turn of its shooting on my packs. So a bunch of thunder hammers is probably crucial.

If the battle is big enough I'd probably lead the army with Arjac and his buddies, in which case I wouldn't be worried at all about destroying the stormlord.

Perhaps this is a foolhardy plan, but this would be my first thought.

 

I would have liked to assault the Stormlord with everything I had, but sadly he used the Chimera and Taurox to block me and he had first turn. Wouldn't be guaranteed anyway considering Stormlord can fire its HB and flamers in close combat. Without a powerfist, unlikely I can bring it down or hurt it enough. 

 

Thanks for feedback. I love that kind of defensive aggressive tactic or patient hunter. sadly in this case, should have turned tail and run for objectives.

[Araith]

Makes sense. ^^

 

And that's indeed why I tend to give the WL or WGBL leading my force a thunder hammer. We wolves always have a lot of normal attacks, but such high powered attacks are rarer, so that's where he comes in.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Got an upcoming battle report for you all, this time with some pictures. Vanilla Marines vs my Bjorn Task Force. I'm happy to report after 6 gruelling rounds, I won.

 

Sneak Preview:

 

Bjorn Task Force

Bjorn the Fell Handed

Rune Priest on Bike

Wolf Guard Battle Leader on bike with Storm shield and frost sword

6 Blood Claws (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma) in HB Razorback

6 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma), plasma gun in HB Razorback

6 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi melta), melta gun in HB Razorback

10 Grey Hunters (including Wolf Guard Pack Leader with combi Plasma), 2 plasma guns in Rhino

6 Wulfen (2 Shields, 3 Axes and Pack Leader) in Stormwolf wih HB

 

Guppy Primaris List (Guppy being my new term for Stormhawk Interceptors)

1 Techmarine

10 Hellblasters with the Rapid fire plasma version

6 Aggressors

Land Raider Achilles - Quad launcher and 2 Twin Multimeltas

Land Raider Crusader

3 Stormhawk Interceptors with Assault cannons, Typhoon Missile Launcher and Lastalon 

 

As usual, I placed my restriction on strategems so no shenanigans. Well, not counting those 3 guppies that REFUSED TO DIE AFTER 6 TURNS! Most hilarious but satisfying part of the game. 

[Araith]

Looking forward to it!