So I finally got my entire 40k Army assembled. You can thank The WarStore for that one - Neal is a true pro. Of course, painting it up properly will take much, much longer, but until then, the Gray Tau of Doom are ready to roll.
I played a couple Combat Patrols last week against my old roommate and a 12-year-old kid with (go on, guess) Ultramarines. I won't bother with the details, but suffice to say a good time was had by all (with the possible exception of that time Eyob's last Chimera immobilized itself on a dangerous terrain test, letting me shoot it in the side armor, letting me explode it, killing half the squad inside...)
Anyway, I finished up my next list. Actually, I had it finished a few days ago, but I kind of didn't feel like shifting gears from "dude... people..." to "VIKINGS IN SPAAACE!!," so I let it sit for a few days. That said, brace for SPACE VIKINGS.
The Space Wolves are the third 'special' Space Marines Chapter, and have the disinction of having the most out-of-date Codex (yep, even older than Dark Eldar, if you believe it). Never fear, though: a shiny new 5th Edition Space Wolves Codex will be coming out this October! (And I'm sure Dark Eldar will be right behind it, promise...)
In any event, the Space Wolves Chapter is loosely based on old Viking lore. That, and wolves - everything's Wolf This or Fang That or Somesuch Pack, etc. Just keep reminding yourself: it's not furry, it's badass. And slightly furry.
In any event, Space Wolves have a fair number of differences from normal Marines, from their Troops choices to the wargear they're allowed, and sadly I'm not building a list big enough to really give a good scope of the differences. 1000 points is small enough already, but Space Wolves have a weird rule requiring them to take 1 HQ for every 750 points (or fraction thereof), meaning I need 2 in this list, along with the regular two Troops selections. That doesn't leave much space left over for cool stuff.
So instead, I went with a common Space Marine tactic that the Wolves seemed especially good at: Drop Pod Assault. Basically, every unit enters play via Deep-Striking drop pods. What makes the Space Wolves good at this is their combination of good firepower with durability, meaning they can land in the middle of the enemy force, shoot them up thoroughly, and still survive the return fire/counter-charge.
But enough! To the list!
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Space Wolves - Drop Pod Assault Team
HQ
Venerable Dreadnought (125) [note#1]
-Assault Cannon (30)
-Heavy Flamer (5)
-Extra Armor (15)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Wolf Priest (95) [note#2 part 1]
-Healing Potions & Balms (25)
-Bolter (2)
Elites
4 x Wolf Guard Bodyguards (100) [note#2 part 2]
-all in Terminator Armor (20)
-all w/ Runic Charm (20)
-2 w/ Assault Cannons (40)
-2 w/ Combi-plasmas & Power Weapons (40)
-in Drop Pod (50)
Troops [note#3]
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
9 x Grey Hunters (153)
-8 w/ Bolters (8)
-1 w/ Meltagun (10)
-in Drop Pod (50)
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Note#1:
Remember the Furioso Dreadnought from the Blood Angels list? This guy is the same concept, but better at everything. He's got an assault cannon (no such thing as too many!) that's shooting at BS 5, and a heavy flamer rather than a flamer, for extra roasting-your-enemies goodness. And he's just as great in close combat, too.
Space Wolves' Venerable Dreadnoughts are a neat choice for a lot of different reasons besides raw firepower, too. For one, they fill an HQ slot, which takes care of one of the two I'm required to have. Second, his 'Hard to Kill' ability lets you force the enemy to re-roll the damage dice after a hit, significantly increasing his survivability. He's also 'Old & Wise', letting you reroll when deciding who gets first turn - very important for drop-pod lists.
Note#2:
A big chunk of points went into this unit, but the result is pretty awesome, and incredibly tough to kill too. First off, we've got our second HQ choice [part 1], a Wolf Priest with Healing Potions & Balms, and a bolter just for that extra shot. He's a pretty good hand-to-hand fighter, but his main role is glorified field medic for his 'bodyguards', [part 2] the four Wolf Guards in Terminator Armor with Runic Charms.
What makes them so tough? Let me explain. Terminator Armor gives them a 2+ armor save, meaning only one in six wounds will actually kill them. Runic Charm allows each one to reroll 1 failed armor save per game, meaning they'd have to fail twice in a row (1/36 chance, if you're keeping track) in order to die. On top of that, the Wolf Priest's Healing Potions & Balms allows you to ignore one failed save each turn (not just armor save, it works with their Invulnerable save, too).
This makes them so hard to kill that most people will just give up on it, but they do so at their own peril. Two of the Wolf Guards are armed with assault cannons (8 Str6 Rending shots per turn!) and the other two have combi-plasmas (which are bolters with a single-shot plasma rifle attached) and power weapons, making them nasty both in shooting and against an assault. Overall, this unit cost 342 points, and will probably soak up enough firepower, and dish out enough in turn, to be worth that price every time.
Note#3:
Oh, right. Troops. With all that effort spent making a truly frightening Terminator squad, it's easy to forget that I've brought two units of troops. These guys are great in their own right, though. Grey Hunters are essentially Space Marines, which means on the turn they land they'll either be pumping an enemy squad full of bolts with their bolters, or ripping some unfortunate vehicle a new exhaust port with their meltagun. What makes them nifty, though, is True Grit (hey there, all you UMBC people), which lets them use bolters as bolt pistols to get an extra attack in close combat. Thus, even though they get all the firepower of a Tactical Squad, they fight as well as an Assault Squad when they get charged.
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Drop pod lists all play roughly the same, though this one has some nice tricks to help it out. First off, remember that you're going to be deploying by the "Drop Pod Assault" special rules, meaning half your pods will arrive on your first turn, with the others showing up as usual in the next couple turns.
Use this to your advantage - namely, using the Ven-Dread's "Old & Wise" ability, give your opponent first turn. He'll essentially waste the turn, having nothing to shoot at, since you won't have a single model on the table. Then you drop in your dreadnought and bodyguard squads, right into the middle of his line, and take a big chunk out of his two most valuable units.
On his next turn, he'll have to shoot at your toughest units; either the Venerable Dread with it's re-rolling damage, or the nearly-indestructible terminator bodyguard (the only real threat against them is a plasma cannon, so watch out for those). After that, you can drop in your last two squads of Grey Hunters, either taking out more of the enemy with bolters and meltaguns if they come in on Turn 2 or 3, or dropping directly onto your objectives if they come in towards the end of the game.
Like any list that spends a lot of points on mobility (200 for the four drop pods), this list doesn't have the same amount of firepower a less mobile army will have. It's therefore vital for you to limit return fire as much as possible, both by getting the the first shot (by going second, as above) and by positioning yourself so only a portion of the enemy can return fire against you at any given time.
Next Time (40k): Rise of the Machines (nope, not more Space Marines)
Next Time (Cop Stuff): Hostages this Thursday
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