Sunday 3 April 2011

My Space Wolf GT Autopsy

So here I am a week after the UK Independent Grand Tournament for 40k, and after 6 games with the same list, it's time to de-construct the list and rebuild it so it's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

So I'm going to list my army out and go though how each unit performed and then a nice big summary at the end along with a new list.

So without further ado......

HQ's:
Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Chooser of the Slain
Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf
Only ever 1 Rune Priest ever performed in each of my games. Powers wise I only ever used Living lightning and occasionally Jaws of the World Wolf, and that was only twice and the Priest died the following turn but it did always bag a big target (Old Zogwart and a Tervigon). I think I can just get away with the 1 Rune Priest as combat wise they where generally no better than a Grey Hunter with a power weapon. They performed best vs enemy psykers, minimising the impact of Alan's Blood Angels Libby, shutting out multiple Catalyst powers (grants Feel No Pain) vs Tim's Tyranids and making Thomas's Salamanders Terminator Libby useless. 
Elites
5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun
5 Wolf Scouts, Melta Gun 
With the one exception against Tim's Tyranids the Wolf Scouts always made for a royal pain in the arse against everyone, and where one unit failed the second picked up the slack. The made Gary's Sister's castle up around his Exorsists, they won me the game vs Thomas, got the Wolf Guard power fist into place to kill Ben's Warboss, saved my Long Fangs against Gareth's Orks.
3 Wolf Guard: 2 armed with a power fist and a combi melta each, 1 with a combi melta and a bolt pistol
I need more. I need more power fists/weapons etc. The flexibility of placing the Wolf Guard where I like was always handy.

Troops
10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen
Rhino 
10 Grey hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Wolf Banner, Mark of the Wulfen 
Rhino 
5 Grey Hunters, 1 Melta Gun
Rhino 
6 Grey Hunters, 1 Flamer
Rhino = 35
I need a dedicated scoring unit. Having so much potential killing power waiting to be unleashed in only 4 units meant that I struggled to contest and fight over multiple objectives. As for the 10 man squads it's nice to have the 2 melta guns, but generally they would fire and then either hit the target or the contents in assault so obsessing over 10 men and double melta over 9 + Wolf Guard isn't a biggy for me any more as I always need the that "hidden" power fist more. Having the power fist lets me take on more targets, deal with characters, and combined with the banner will be great.

Fast Attack
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer 
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer 
Land Speeder Tornado, Multi Melta, Heavy flamer
 
Nothing wrong with these guys - I just got to learn to use them better. I was debating on if I should drop the heavy flamers, but in hindsight having a second gun makes it more flexible and able to deal with anything that pops out of what it shot.

Heavy Support
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers 
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin linked Plasma gun
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers 
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin linked Plasma gun  
Right I'm going to be honest here and say....
The Las/plas-backs sucked. With only two they where shooting target 1 and 2. For 150 points I would rather have a 3rd unit of Long Fangs to pick up the slack should the other 2 fail (which they did in 2 games). In fact for 150 points I can get another 5 man, 4 missile unit and have change for more Grey Hunters and Wolf  Guard. The power of the Las/plas-back is in numbers, and 2 is no where big enough, in fact I reckon it's a all or nothing choice.
The 'power' of this army over the weekend was it's balance, and how every unit was a equal threat, and the Las/plas-backs stuck out as a easy armour 11 thumb to shoot at.
So to recap:
I can get away with 1 Rune Priest,
I need a dedicated scoring unit,
More Wolf Guard!
Las/plas-backs are good but only if that's all you're using


So what has my army list evolved into now?

HQ
Rune Priest (Powers yet to be decided) = 100

Elites
5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun = 85
5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun = 85
5 Wolf Guard, all with power fists and combi meltas = 215

Troops:
8 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 150 (Rune Priest rides with these guys)
Rhino = 35
9 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 165
Rhino = 35
9 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Wulfen, Melta Gun = 165
Rhino = 35
5 Grey Hunters, Flamer = 75
Razorback, Twin-linked Heavy Bolters = 40

Fast Attack
Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70
Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70
Land Speeder, Multi Melta, Heavy Flamer = 70

Heavy Support:
5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115
5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115
5 Long fangs, 4 missile launchers = 115

This leaves me with 10 points left which I am unsure what to spend (or tweak with) on. I might just chuck a Wolf banner on the 5 man unit. Making the 5 man unit 6 strong seems like a good idea but 6 makes them seem almost like a front line unit, but more importantly robs them the chance of the Rune Priest or a Wolf Guard to ride along with them in objective based games as I have seen many LD8 Marines run off a objective in turn 7. I would really like to get the Scouts up to 6 man squads (7 with a Wolf Guard) as the extra body will make them a longer lasting threat with more attacks/grenades to mess things up, but that's a bit more of a wish at the moment.

I'm stuck with the original list for Open War 15 for next week, but I'm wiser for it.


Oh I've been to the Forge World Open Day today and the rules for Bran Redmaw.........

.......Psycotic Ware/wuflen-marine......

.............. Behind enemy lines Grey Hunters anyone???


2 comments:

  1. Hi, just found yours from your post of the other space wolf blog.

    I've been doing some tweaking like this and deconstruction for a team list lately on my blog over at dissentingdice.blogspot.com.

    OK, so most of your moves I agree with, except for the mark of the wulfen, I think the wolf banners are good stuff, but 15 points extra for randomness?

    Maybe it has worked out well for you, any comments on them?

    I was also thinking about the more guys/ razorbacks issue, and well you gave me that confirming bit to nix the idea. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At the very least the Wulfen is more to mess with with wound allocation. On average he is pumping out 4/5 attacks (presuming 3/4 is a average roll).

    He is fantastic vs light infantry due to the sheer number of attacks you can pump out. But he comes into his own when combined with the banner.

    I like them, but they are no means the be all and end all. I remember someone saying on another blog somewhere "The best upgrade to buy for a guy, is another guy to stand next to him"

    ReplyDelete