Valerian's Plans for 9th Edition

[Valerian]

My new Terrain set came in yesterday.  I had a few of these pieces already, but got 14 more pieces to really finish it off well:

 

 

[Valerian]

I did a little play-testing earlier today, using all of the Rules that we currently know about 9th edition, with current 8th rules filling in the rest.  Tested my new/evolving Space Wolves list against Grey Knights.  Without going into the details, the Daemonhunters were done for by the end of Turn 2.  It was ugly.  Might adjust a few things and give it another go tomorrow.

[BadgersinHills]

Interesting to hear. The table looks great too. :)

[GrFlur]

How much separation do you leave between buildings?

[Valerian]

How much separation do you leave between buildings?

You can see the initial layout from the pics a few posts up, but I’m going to rearrange today.

[GrFlur]

 

How much separation do you leave between buildings?

You can see the initial layout from the pics a few posts up, but I’m going to rearrange today.

 

 

Ok,

 

 

Thx.

[Lord Blackwood]

I am jealous of your table. I will have to buy the set and a mat when it becomes available again.

[Valerian]

I am jealous of your table. I will have to buy the set and a mat when it becomes available again.

 

Go ahead and order it now, and they'll make one for you and ship out in a couple months.  I think it's so popular that is just always on backorder, so you'll never see it listed as "currently available," but by ordering now you'll get in the queue.

[Valerian]

I moved everything around, and aligned the ruins diagonally to the board.  The worked much, much better in play-testing today, and the wife agreed that it looked better this way, too.  I did not give the small ruined temple in the very center the Obscuring trait, just Light Cover and Defensible.  All of the other Ruins got all of those, plus Scalable and Breachable (as I anticipate them working).

Much fairer fight this time around too.  By the end of Turn 5 the Grey Knights had been wiped off of the board, but were quite a bit ahead on Victory Points.  Only models left on the Space Wolves side was Ragnar, the Primaris Wolf Priest, two full-strength Assault Intercessor Packs, and a badly damaged Impulsor.

 

 

[Valerian]

Also, I've just ordered this piece to be my new, coordinating, center piece.  I should have just ordered it in the first place, when I got the Ruins set.  

 

[Karack Blackstone]

This is some boss terrain.

[Chazzmos]

Nice looking table! Can you direct me towards the mat and terrain? I might get some...

[Valerian]

Nice looking table! Can you direct me towards the mat and terrain? I might get some...

@Chazzmos, I got the terrain from here; I got the Gothic Ruins Set and the Gothic Temple. The Gothic Ruins Set will say "not currently available," but go ahead and order it, if you want it, and you'll get on the queue and they'll ship one, when they've got one ready.

 

You can also get your mats from them, as well, but I ordered mine from FrontlineGaming. My mat is a 4'x6' one, but they're now selling the new 44"x60" versions, as well.

 

V

[Valerian]

The new Gothic Temple arrived super quickly, so I've got a new centerpiece for the table:

 

 

 

Also, I bought some 4' sections of 2-by-6s to jack up the height of the table a few more inches, to see if that helps make game-play a little more comfortable on this old back.  Hopefully it helps, although I might need to add a little more height.

 

[GrFlur]

Maybe adding another row of shelves directly it can go higher and you can see the landscape more in a way the minis looks. 

 

Don't know if my english is good enough to express the idea.

 

main idea it to get as closer as possible to the line of sight of the players so they can get a "minis view" with ease but still seeing almost everything from the top.

 

Makes sense?

[Valerian]

I did a little play-testing game again today to try out the new Eradicators (against the usual Grey Knights).   I dropped two packs of Intercessors to fit them in (estimating rough points based on Power Levels).  Had Bjorn hang out near them for a few turns to get the to-Hit rerolls (until he was needed elsewhere), and kept Haldor Icepelt near them throughout for the to-Wound rerolls.  

 

Tried to keep them safe in Ruins for the extra Light Cover.  They were never in a good position to try to work on the opposing Paladin blob, that made it to an objective behind more Obscuring Ruins, and one pack of 3 died by Turn 2, due to some poor positioning of my Impulsors (not being in the right spot to screen the Smite spam).  The other pack of 3 survived the whole battle, though, and help finish off one GMNDK, and accounted for about 8 Strike Marines.  Not optimal targets, but they paid for themselves, and killing the GMNDK in the Shooting phase meant he couldn't retaliate with Only in Death Does Duty End stratagem, like they always do when destroyed in melee.

 

So, looking forward to playing around with them more, and they definitely have a lot of potential.

 

The highlight of the match, though, was when I charged Ragnar into close combat with 7 Paladins all by himself.  Activating both Touch of the Wild and Seeking a Saga (my usual go-to combination for a Ragnar charge), and he makes 18 hits, with 15 of those wounding, despite the Paladins having Transhuman Physiology up (which requires 4+ to Wound, no matter the Strength of the hit).  They tanked quite a few wounds with their Invulnerable saves, but he still killed 4 of them.  The remaining 3 Paladins got some Daemon Hammer hits past his Invulnerable Save, and killed him, so Ragnar pops Only in Death to Fight again, and gets another 18 hits, and 15 of those wounding, and finishes off the opposing squad.  I'll make that trade every time.  That was 30 Wounding Hits in 1 round of combat on an AP-5 (in the Assault Doctrine) D2 weapon!

 

Ragnar is such a beast, especially when he Fights in the Assault Doctrine with 2 cheap Stratagems in play.

[Lord Blackwood]

Thanks for the report , very interesting results from the Eradicators.  

Not super surprised about Ragnar though that is very  effective and promising given we will have more CP  to work with every game. 

[Debauchery101]

Edit:I meant to say repulsors instead of impulsors

 

I think the Eradicators will be great. Has anyone seen info on squad size? I ran these in a 1500 pt game using the new mid size board. Paid same points as aggros with boltstorms...i feel the Eradicators will cost less when 9th comes out because no fist threat.

 

I played vs a chaos knight/daemon engine list and raptors. Impulsor rides really make these guys one of the most threatening units. My brother brought some for the Raptors as well. We weren't competing really just trying to get familiar with changes we know are coming.

 

The unit just in 3s using impulsors or Master of Ambush is really powerful and if the squad can be up to 6...expect to see Raptors/RG spamming these as well as IH and Salamanders. Just about any target in the 12-16 wounds zone always die by just 3 of these guys. The only unit that I used that didn't die in one round was my wulfen dreads. The real strength the range. Its really easy for these guys inside impulsors or with RG trait MoA to always get into half range. It seemed like both of us had mostly 5s for damage rolls.

 

We also played only using stratagems for pre game upgrades, deployment strats and Movement strats. We just wanted to focus on maneuvering.

 

Eradicators are going to be real hot for sure. I predict most RG players will be taking as many of these as possible

Edited July 1, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Valerian]

Debauchery, Eradicators can’t ride in Impulsors.

[Debauchery101]

Debauchery, Eradicators can’t ride in Impulsors.

you're correct and I messed up and put impulsor when I was using the Repulsor so I could have a wolf priest and lord near them. I was trying to take advantage of them being protected at deployment, hop out for 3inch disembark plus their 5 Move and if needed advance then fire. Works out that if you're 6 inch from center on the long side of the 60 inch board you can shoot anything in LOS after movement. The squad size question i had asked before was because i would rather have a repulsor full of Eradicators vs the buffing characters. Edited July 1, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

Great thread you’ve got here Val!! I too like so many have finally embraced the Primaris range. After the loss of the majority of my army several years ago I lost all momentum with Space Wolves and kinda 40K in general. I digress... With the release of the Ragnar I sooooooo wanted and was needed and is awesome, I’ve returned to the Rout. I’ve split the Rag/Gaz box, bought an intercessor squad and am eagerly awaiting the assault Marines for that oh so appealing feral marine look.

Your gaming table blows my mind. Brilliant design!! I especially like the pull out drawers underneath and the massive amount of army and terrain storage.

I’m looking forward to more as it is very inspiring for me!!

 

End of Line

[Valerian]

Tentative (early!) thoughts on how to proceed based on today’s leaks and news:

 

 

1. Being an Elite, and not an HQ, I’m really liking the stats, kit, and abilities of the Judiciar. He essentially comes with an extra Armour of Russ, that has a better range, with his Tempormortis ability. I don’t care for the model, but I think this is the perfect spot for me to use my Haldor Icepelt model. Big Axe works just fine for me as an Executioner Relic Blade, and Bolt Carbine as an Absolver Bolt Pistol. He’s got a lot more utility here than he does as a stock Primaris Battle Leader with a regular Power Axe, and this change in status frees up an essential HQ slot for something else.

 

2. Assault Intercessors do not yet have any Leader upgrade options, other than the Plasma Pistol. I think those options will eventually come, however, for now, I see no reason to use these over a tactical Intercessors. That means no change for me with Troops probably until their separate multi-pose kit comes out.

 

3. Well, the Bladeguard Vets didn’t get the bodyguard rule that I was really hoping for. They’re still a good assault unit, and the extra point of Strength on the Master-crafted Power Swords was an unexpected bonus. With the right kit-bashing, that some folks here have already done they will definitely make a fine and proper Wolf Guard for a Primaris Wolf Lord. Ragnar doesn’t need them with him, though, as he shreds units by himself, and regular Intercessors are plenty good enough to travel with him for Look Out Sir purposes. They could travel with a secondary character, like a Primaris Wolf Priest, though, and pitch in there, where he could probably use more help in an attack. For now, though, I’m not really in a rush to add these. When it comes to first-rate melee, I’ve still got Wulfen; they’re still champs in an assault, despite the change to Storm Shields.

 

4. I don’t really have a use for the Bladeguard Ancient, nor the Bladeguard Captain, since I’m running Ragnar. I could see maybe using the Bladeguard Lieutenant/Battle Leader, but that would require me to drop another HQ choice, or spend 2 CP to add a Patrol Detachment.

 

5. Outriders look really nice as highly mobile, hard-hitting unit. Hopefully, the Pack Leader gets some melee upgrade options in the future, too, though. Until then, I don’t see getting these guys either.

 

6. Eradicators are awesome. Other than the Judiciar, this is the only Indomitus unit that I see an immediate use for. Decently durable, mobile, infantry with top-notch anti-tank weaponry, that can fire twice. I can put these to use right away.

[Debauchery101]

Tentative (early!) thoughts on how to proceed based on today’s leaks and news:

 

 

1. Being an Elite, and not an HQ, I’m really liking the stats, kit, and abilities of the Judiciar. He essentially comes with an extra Armour of Russ, that has a better range, with his Tempormortis ability. I don’t care for the model, but I think this is the perfect spot for me to use my Haldor Icepelt model. Big Axe works just fine for me as an Executioner Relic Blade, and Bolt Carbine as an Absolver Bolt Pistol. He’s got a lot more utility here than he does as a stock Primaris Battle Leader with a regular Power Axe, and this change in status frees up an essential HQ slot for something else.

 

2. Assault Intercessors do not yet have any Leader upgrade options, other than the Plasma Pistol. I think those options will eventually come, however, for now, I see no reason to use these over a tactical Intercessors. That means no change for me with Troops probably until their separate multi-pose kit comes out.

 

3. Well, the Bladeguard Vets didn’t get the bodyguard rule that I was really hoping for. They’re still a good assault unit, and the extra point of Strength on the Master-crafted Power Swords was an unexpected bonus. With the right kit-bashing, that some folks here have already done they will definitely make a fine and proper Wolf Guard for a Primaris Wolf Lord. Ragnar doesn’t need them with him, though, as he shreds units by himself, and regular Intercessors are plenty good enough to travel with him for Look Out Sir purposes. They could travel with a secondary character, like a Primaris Wolf Priest, though, and pitch in there, where he could probably use more help in an attack. For now, though, I’m not really in a rush to add these. When it comes to first-rate melee, I’ve still got Wulfen; they’re still champs in an assault, despite the change to Storm Shields.

 

4. I don’t really have a use for the Bladeguard Ancient, nor the Bladeguard Captain, since I’m running Ragnar. I could see maybe using the Bladeguard Lieutenant/Battle Leader, but that would require me to drop another HQ choice, or spend 2 CP to add a Patrol Detachment.

 

5. Outriders look really nice as highly mobile, hard-hitting unit. Hopefully, the Pack Leader gets some melee upgrade options in the future, too, though. Until then, I don’t see getting these guys either.

 

6. Eradicators are awesome. Other than the Judiciar, this is the only Indomitus unit that I see an immediate use for. Decently durable, mobile, infantry with top-notch anti-tank weaponry, that can fire twice. I can put these to use right away.

Lets not forget the Chaplain on a bike...if they say all units are available to all marines then I 100% will like a substantially tougher character that can buff. Its 130 pts though Edited July 2, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Valerian]

Yeah, Chaplain/Wolf Priest on a Bike is definitely on my radar. He’s not precisely in the Indomitus boxed set, though, unless there is an easy way to kitbash the Chaplain that is in the box with the Outriders.

 

In whatever fashion we do eventually see him, though, the Primaris Wolf Priest on a Bike will definitely be a suitable replacement for the currently popular Firstborn Wolf Priest with a Jump Pack. He’ll just need an Outrider escort to keep him safe. Will be great for zooming up along a board edge to meet up with the Outflanking Wulfen. Nice that he starts on the table, too, so Litanies can be in play, which you can’t currently pull off when he’s in an Impulsor.

 

Edit: and he definitely gets the Wulfenstone, too, so those Outriders get 7 Attacks each on the charge, 8 for the Pack Leader.

[Valerian]

New Wolf Priest sorted:  https://youtu.be/MODr7oNXCCo