Space Wolves vs Blood Ravens Detailed Battle Report

[Kasper_Hawser]

Battle Report 24/11/2017

Overview: Greetings brothers of the Rout. Had another worthy battle worthy of a saga, this time against a fellow player pitting some of his best toys against me. Being a good sport, I could tell that while probably not competitive, I needed to be wary nevertheless because he was bringing 3 flyers in a game, along with a couple of Land Raiders, one of which would be Forgeworld which I allowed one since he was a good friend who never stomped on me before.

The last time I faced him earlier this year in 7^th Edition, he had 3 Deredeo Dreadnoughts gunning my wolves down, though thankfully my Iron Priest tanked most of the hits. Nevertheless, he was a great guy and even with his Forgeworld stuff, never made me feel completely helpless or OP. So as we arranged for a game, I decided that despite my restrictions on strategems, I would allow him to bring just one Forgeworld model rather than none. He obliged, choosing the Land Raider Achilles which was basically a Whirldwind Turret on a Land Raider chassis but also armed with a part of twin linked Multi Melta, making it the second most deadly thing anti-tank on his list, the first being the Hellblasters. I wasn’t too worried about the Stormhawks, confident that between Stormcaller and Smoke Launchers, along with the lack of Power of Machine Spirit, I could weather his storm of Assault Canon, missiles and lascannons.

Space Wolves Army List:

Battalion Detachment:

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 with HB

Total CP: 3 + 3 +1 = 7 CP

Blood Ravens:

Patrol Detachment:

1 Techmarine

10 Hellblasters with the Rapid fire plasma version

6 Aggressors

Land Raider Achilles - Quad launcher and 2 Twin Multimeltas

Land Raider Crusader

Flyer Wing Detachment:

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

Total CP: 3+1= 4 CP

Mission type : Retrieval with 4 objectives

Deployment type: 4, the one with arrow pointing to middle along long table edge

Legend:

BJ – Bjorn the Fellhanded

R – Rhino

RB – Razorback

RP – Rune Priest on Bike

WBL - Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Bike

AGR - Aggressors

LRC – Land Raider Crusader

LRA – Land Raider Achilles

TC - Techmarine

HB – Hellblasters

STH – Stormhawk Interceptors

Obj - Objectives

Anyway, without further ado, on to Turn 1: Blood Ravens

Turn 1: Blood Ravens

Movement : Two Stormhawks surged forwards towards my Stormwolf. The other Stormhawk went the other side to hurt my other flank and pop my transports. The Achilles whose Techmarine was embarked on it, chose to go to his nearest objective to release his techmarine to hold that objective, which he would do and then for rest of the game, we forgot all about the techmarine.

His Aggressors moved towards the Rhino wall, along with the Crusader, while the Hellblasters cautiously advanced behind the Crusader which also functioned as a gigantic LOS block.

Shooting: Sadly the two Stormhawks DID succeed in destroying the Stormwolf, can’t remember which did the final shot, probably the Lastalons. To make it worse, two of the six wulfen inside perished as they disembarked, their fur caught on fire or something I suppose. The other Stormhawk damaged the right most Razorback to within an inch of its life but it survived. Aggressors tried to take off the last wounds but again, the Razorback protected its cargo like a champ.

Assault : No assault yet.

Morale phase : Wulfen passed their morale test.

Turn 1: Space Wolves

Movement : Furious at the Stormhawks, I decided to deploy my full plasma squad and the plasma squad from the near dead Razorback to deal with them. The Rhino and mostly dead Razorback moved forward to block LOS, popping smoke. Other Razorback with melta squad went forward on objective. My other Razorback behind ruins stayed put to use its Heavy Bolters, though out of range of the Bjorn buff.

Psychic phase : Rune Priest casted Stormcaller, giving +1 cover save to my battle line. Smited one Stormhawk for a wound.

Shooting Phase : Sadly wasn’t as effective as I wished, even with the plasma gunners, heavy bolters and Bjorn, the one Stormhawk I focused fire was taken down to just 3 wounds.

Assault phase : no assault happened.

Overview: Despite loss of Stormhawk and some Wulfen, so far so good. On another negative side, my plasma squad was now exposed to the quad launcher but being AP 0 with Stormcaller, I took the risk in order to neuter the Stormhawk. And at least one Stormhawk was hitting on 4+, which becomes 5+ for most of its heavy weapons. And more importantly, the razorback survived to annoy him another turn.

Also should have put the Stormwolf with Wulfen closer to enemy, as it was unlikely I could hide from the Stormhawks anyway. So now Wulfen were slogging it from the back, thankfully they have fairly good movement that would enable them to get up front later.

To be continued…

Edited December 4, 2017 by Kasper_Hawser

[Dantay VI]

I am confused. The Achilles does not have whirlwind turret. That is the Helios.

 

The Achilles has a thunderfire cannon. Has upgraded armour so melta loses the 2d6 advantage and has a 2+ save.

 

That thing with 22 wounds is darned deadly. I should know. I have one

[Kasper_Hawser]

I am confused. The Achilles does not have whirlwind turret. That is the Helios.

 

The Achilles has a thunderfire cannon. Has upgraded armour so melta loses the 2d6 advantage and has a 2+ save.

 

That thing with 22 wounds is darned deadly. I should know. I have one

 

Interested to see what your counter to it is.

 

Thunderfire cannon then, it was S5 AP0, but also had another stronger firing mode. can't remember. Regardless, my strategy was to just avoid it and trust in my power armour to stand the barrage. apart from the hellblasters, the multimelta on it was the bigges threat on the ground. But as long as Bjorn was alive, he didn't dare come near. My main concern was the aggressors and hellblasters.

 

Will update soon.

[Dantay VI]

The second variant was something like 4 strength 8 shots.

 

The thing is brutal.

 

Interested to see how you got on

[Kasper_Hawser]

Turn 2: Blood Ravens

 

Movement – The Achilles dropped of the Techmarine at the top right objective and promptly forgot about him there. The Crusader went towards the left hand objective ahead of the Aggressors. The Aggressors positioned themselves in a way where they could decide to shoot left or right of the LOS blocking terrain, and also decide if want to charge either way. Hellblasters shifted to forward to the edge of their rapid fire range to get rid of either the Razorback or Rhino. 2 Stormhawks moved off to the right while another the other one tried to move to get at Bjorn’s backside.

 

Shooting Phase – Stormhawk at Bjorn’s backside took a potshot at him with lastallon and typhoon whereas assault cannon went to the troops. Thankfully Bjorn made his 5+ save and only a couple Grey Hunters died. The other two stormhawks took potshots at the Razorback and the Rhino in the middle but didn’t do much thanks to popped smoke. It took the Hellblasters and Aggressors to finish off the nearly dead Razorback and Rhino. On the other side, the Crusader destroyed the Razorback with its Multimelta, Assault cannon and hurricane bolters, leaving the melta squad exposed. To summarize turn 2 shooting, he blew up most of my boxes. The Achilles shot his artillery barrage but thankfully due to Stormcaller, only a couple of Grey Hunters from the big squad died.

 

Assault phase – the Crusader assaulted the melta squad from the destroyed Razorback, actually killing a couple with his frag launchers. The Aggressors charged the rhino but thankfully the Rhino survived.

 

Morale Phase: none.

 

Turn 2: Space Wolves

 

Movement – Alright, aggressors are up front, time for some shooting and melee payback. Nevertheless I didn’t really want to expose myself to the Hellblasters just yet, so me intention was to shoot them off if I can while hiding behind the corner of the terrain. If anybody was to go in front of the hellblasters, it would be the Wulfen with their shields.

 

The MSU plasma squad moved forward to flank the aggressors and hide behind another terrain to avoid hellblasters. The Rhino fell back away, to expose the Aggressors to my big plasma squad, Bjorn, Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Rune Priest and Wulfen. The melta squad I decided to keep it in combat with the Crusader. Bjorn moved somewhere in between the Aggressors and the Crusader.

 

Meanwhile the Razorback hiding behind the middle ruin quietly zoomed the back edge table towards the right hand most objective.

 

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

 

Shooting – Between the MSU plasma squad and the full Plasma squad, I took down about 3 of the Aggressors. Bjorn took a potshot at the nearby Stormhawk but didn’t do damage to it due to amazing 6+ save. Not that g

 

Assault – The big plasma squad charged the aggressors to absorb most of the overwatchfire. Wulfen also charged, then the small MSU squad to pin the aggressors in case they survive. Rune Priest joined in too.  In the end, the Aggressors died.

 

Bjorn charged the Crusader. Bjorn smashed the Crusader.

 

Overview:  A bit difficult and risky, but I had to bank on him focus firing on the Wulfen instead of spreading his Hellblaster shots to everyone. Thank God he has no rerolls so if he overcharges, he should lose at least a couple of blasters. If the wulfen died, they would still have done their job. Next few turns for me would depend on protecting what troops I had left to capture 3 objectives. The far top table one I intended to zoom with my battle leader, so I moved him up slightly next to Bjorn.

 

End of Turn 2

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

|              ____                 _____                                 ____         |

|             |       |                 |       |                                   |TM |         |

|             |___|           Obj |___|           ­­­     _____  LRA|Obj |         |

|                                                         HB|         |                           |

|                                        _____             |____|                           |

|                           LRCGH|        |        GH                   ___           |

|             ____     BJ Obj |____|AGR WF           STH |__|          |

|            |___|        WBL              GH RP            R                      |

|                      ____                         ____                  _____       |

|                    |       |                        |       |                   |        |       |

|                    |___|              STH   |__ _|          STH   | Obj|       |

|                                                                           RB                 |

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

[Kasper_Hawser]

Turn 3 – Blood ravens

 

Movement         : One Stormhawk moved to get Bjorn again. HB moved to rapid fire range of the Wulfen. Other two Stormhawks zoom around for another strafing run at my troops. LRA moved closer to eventually use its Multi melta.

 

Shooting phase : the one stormhawk managed to damage Bjorn twice with Lascannon but thankfully Bjorn was only down to two wounds. Other Stormhawks took potshots at the Rhino, Razorback and Wulfen but only destroyed the Rhino. Then the Hellblasters promptly knocked the Wulfen down as I was pretty bad at my 3++ but nevertheless, the function was fulfilled, most of my troops were safe.  More importantly, he had overcharged the plasma and lost 3 guys in the process. Now I would be camping on the left side objective, grab the right objective with my Razorback with Blood Claws and survive to Turn 5 (or 6), then prepare to grab Objective on top with bike later.

 

Assault                 : none.

 

Turn 3 – Space Wolves

 

Movement         : Melta Grey hunters moved downward to cover Bjorn’s backside, while plasma hunters moved towards the Hellblasters, a few of them forming a conga line to Bjorn’s reroll aura. Lone 2 man MSU plasma squad also moved up, while the RP on bike also moved to get ready assault if it didn’t work out. Razorback at the back parked on the bottom right Objective and stayed there for most part, taking pot shots at the Stormhawks when they get too near.

 

Psychic phase: Can’t quite remember, I think I failed Stormcaller but smited one wound on the Hellblasters.

 

Shooting phase – Shot with my 2 plasma squads, but sadly in the end, there were still 4 Hellblasters were still standing. Bjorn and the melta squad shot at a nearby Stormhawk and neutered it to 2 wounds. Damn guppy wouldn’t die but at least that was 2 Stormhawks almost neutralised.

 

Assault phase: Most disastrous, I decided to charge the Rune Priest at the Hellblasters, and once again, they overcharged and actually managed to hit 3 times on overwatch! 6 damage, failed my 5++ and down the Rune Priest went.

 

Overview: damn, that didn’t go according to plan. My valuable Rune Priest was gone but on the plus side, he only had 3 Hellblasters left, and his only viable target was the 2 man plasma squad and the main plasma squad that still had 2 guns. The 2 man squad was probably dead but the other plasma squad still had 5 bodies and plus the melta squad near Bjorn. I was cutting it close, but was still hopeful.

 

End of Turn 3

 

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

|              ____                 _____                               ____         |

|             |       |                  |       |                                |TM |         |

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

|                                                           HB|       |    STH               |

|                                        ____      RP    |____|                           |

|               STH           GH|       |GH  GH WF         LRA___           |

|             __ WBL,BJ Obj|___|                                   |__|          |

|            |___|                                  R                                            |

|                      ____                         ____                     _____       |

|                    |       |                      |       |                     | RB |       |

|                    |___|                      |__ _|                     | Obj|       |

|                                                                                               |

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

[Kasper_Hawser]

Turn 4: Blood Ravens

 

Movement – His last two stormhawks got ready for another strafing run, one of which was still at full health, whereas the other one moved off before Bjorn could finish the job. Helllblasters moved moved closer to other objective to get ready shoot. LRA goes closer to fight the Razorback at bottom right but luckily my Razorback was well hidden.

 

Shooting phase – Amazing turn all things considered. The three hellblasters completely whiffed, leaving all my 3 squads intact! The quad launcher didn’t do much, maybe killed the last bolter dudes from my GH squad.

 

Assault Phase – None.

 

Space Wolves Turn 4

 

Movement Phase – Now was my chance. Once the Hellblasters were gone, not only were his troops gone, but there would only be two real units left to damage me, the undamaged Stormhawk and the Achilles. Sadly I would regret to underestimate the neutered Stormhawks later.

 

My main plasma squad moved towards Bjorn and the objective, while the half plasma squad moved towards the hellblasters. Bjorn also peeked out of the corner to train his lascannon at the hellblasters just in case. This would cost me later. Razorback with Blood Claws stayed put.

 

Shooting phase - The Hellblasters were removed. Now we would play the endurance game.

 

Assault phase    - None.

 

End of Turn 4

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

|              ____                    _____     STH                     ____         |

|             |       |                  |       |                       STH      |TM |         |

|             |___|           Obj |___|                  ­­­____ _         |Obj |         |

|                                                           HB|         |                          |

|                                        GH _       GH   |____|                           |

|                      WBL  BJ  |       |                              LRA___           |

|             ____    GH Obj|___|                                        |__|          |

|            |___|                                                                                |

|                      ____                STH  ____                  _____       |

|                    |       |                      |       |                     | RB |       |

|                    |___|                      |__ _|                       | Obj|       |

|                                                                                                |

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

 

Turn 5: Blood Ravens

 

Again I have to rush this. Basically the highlight of the game is that his nearly dead Stormhawks managed to kill Bjorn who had peeked out the corner and mistakenly exposed himself on the front. His other stormhawks managed to kill the small plasma squad but in the end, the double plasma gun squad still had some bodies in it. LRA didn’t do much but its cannon wasn’t doing much anymore. I still controlled the last objective on the bottom right.

 

Turn 5: Space Wolves

 

All squads converged on left hand objective. The Wolf Guard Battle Leader zoomed to grab the top objective.

 

As per tradition, an outsider rolled to see if game ended. It continued!

 

Turn 6: Blood ravens and Space Wolves

 

Suffice to say, the Stormhawks and Achilles couldn’t kill enough of my troops left on objectives, and as a fun tactic, I deployed my Blood claws, left the Razorback on the objective and charged the Achilles just in case it became Turn 7.

 

Luckily it didn’t. Victory for the Rout! Grey Hunters for the win! And the Wolf Guard Battle Leader on bike! Oh and Bjorn too!

 

Game Analysis:

 

A nail biting game, my friend was using lots of toys that initially frightened me but in the end, I kept my head, protected my troops, sacrificed my elite wulfen against HIS elites, and evaded the damn Stormhawks for 6 turns. One thing I should have done is deployed the Wulfen in the Stormwolf as close to the frontline since, with 3 stormhawks on the table, there wasn’t much chance I could avoid them, so may as well put them in front where the wulfen could have advanced and charged faster.

 

I really have to thank GW for putting the strange restrictions of Heavy Weapons on most flyers, it really saved my bacon that Stormhawks didn’t get bonuses to hit on the ground targets.

 

Once again, my faith in troops over toys seems to have paid off. My friend also said well played and there was little I did wrong apart from the Rune Priest charging up front, and the Stormwolf/Wulfen deployment.

 

For his part, he was also amazed that his 3 Stormhawks which I now christen Guppies, survived all 6 turns, and it was the near dead one that got Bjorn in the end.

 

Thanks for reading guys. Feedback appreciated.

[TiguriusX]

Played the objective and didnt let toys intimidate you.

 

Well done

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hooboy, i'm intimidated tonight. My next opponent is bringing in a Leviathan Dreadnought with the Lucius Drop Pod. But on bright side, like the Ultramarine player earlier, he is light on the bodies, except for a big blob of Hellblasters (again), and some Inceptors.

 

Hopefully I can keep my vindicator alive to actually kill something finally. And this time I got a couple of double Melta gun GH squads. Priority will be the Leviathan Dreadnought once he comes in, keep my boxes close by and deal with it before going after objectives. Hopefully by turn 3, the Leviathan will be sufficiently damaged then I can rush off to objectives. Long range he only has Laspredator and a small squad of Devastators with 2 lascannons. Just have to keep out of sight from them while ideal with mr Leviathan.

 

Ah what am I doing? focus on the list, not the toys. Wish me luck guys. For the Rout!

[Dantay VI]

Good luck... It sounded like the Blood Raven needed to be far more aggressive with the Achilles, he dd not use the muti-meltas by the looks of it

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hi everyone. Just to inform you I've posted a victory for the space wolves battle report in Liber Victorum section of B&C. Hope you will read and comment. In future I will be posting my reports there.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/343115-space-wolves-vs-necrons-1000-pts-battle-report-sw-victory/

 

For those who wonder what happened to my game with the Leviathan, well, didn't go well. I also had a battle with Deathwatch and Primaris Imperial Fists that also didn't end well but still learned loads and wasn't depressed.