Open War 17: Imperial Guard 1750pts

As mentioned in my GT post I have a "new" style Imperial Guard army in the works as a sort of concept. As it stands now this is what I will take to open war:

HQ:

Company Command Squad, 4 melta guns = 90

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Troops:

Veterans, 3 Plasma Guns = 115

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Platoon Command Squad, 3 melta guns = 60

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Infantry Squad = 50

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Infantry Squad = 50

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Special Weapons Squad, 2 flamers, 1 demo charge = 65

Fast Attack:

Hellhound Squadron: 2 Hellhounds, Heavy flamers = 260

Heavy Support:

Manticore, Heavy Bolter = 160

Leman Russ Squadron A: 1 Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter. 1 Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter = 300

Leman Russ Squadron B: 1 Leman Russ, Demolisher, Heavy Bolter. 1 Eradicator, Heavy Flamer; = 325

A Few things to point out. The special weapons squad will more than likely hijack a chimera and make a bee line for the biggest nastiest unit the enemy has (people forget the demo charge is AP2), or hold back as part of a massive flamer base counter attack or advance.

The big odd ball is the Eradicator with the Demolisher. The Demolisher is the big old Ap2 St10 pie plate we love and the Eradicator is St6, Ap4, Pie plate that ignores cover. Why such a odd couple? Well the vast majority of armies will only be scared of one or the other if not both. Anything without power armour will hate the Eradicator while the Demolisher can pick on those 2+ save units. The Eradicator is great at clearing out those deck chair units who only job is to score as most will be crappy units with 5+/4+ armour saves such as Scouts, Grots or Eldar Warriors of some type that the Hellhounds can't get to or are busy with something else. So why mix them? Well I can abuse the squadron mechanics by putting any damage on to the less needed tank, and it's another AV14 hull to hide behind. Also I can hide the not so useful tank in cover to give the useful tank out in the open a cover save if needed.

The Leman Russ Exterminators are pretty much AV 14 Hydras, but unlike Hydras they are no where near as vulnerable and are a lot more mobile, but their 4 shots come from 1 gun unlike the Hydras 2 so a weapon destroyed result can be quite bad but should be less likely.

On the attack/move I can hide most of my army behind cover and the AV14 hulls and advance. Once the enemy is in range or have themselves advanced to try and melta the Russ's they are in strike range of multiple flamers, meltas and plasma weapons. It's not full proof but as things stand at the moment it's a drastic change of pace and tactics for the Imperial Guard.

One thing I can see giving me serious problems is Necron Lords in their Douche Canoes Command Barges doing fly by attacks, but I think smart deployment and movement should make this suicidal at best.

Like I said in my last post in these last few months of 5th Edition I think it's time to really mix things up and go against the established grain, and have some fun doing it!

40k UK GT: Saga of the Defeated....

"Gather round pups and let me tell you a tale of woe..."

Well it wasn't that bad, but by god it was frustrating.

I won't go into a full "stato" breakdown of the numbers as Neil Kerr has done a good job already. But as one of the 6 Space Wolves I played 4 of the 25 Grey Knights in a field of 114 players.

Now I will make it clear now that I am not whinging about the Grey Knight Codex itself. In the big bad days of leafblower, IG where my bread and butter (Thanks to wolf Scouts), but even IG where rare with only 3 players present.

I came 85th, with 1 win (Grey Knights), 1 draw (Blood Angels - almost tabled him), and 4 losses (3x GK Henchman spam, Deamon Cavary with Fateweaver).

Anyway I would go over the games I played, but I think it's irrelevant. I made the same mistake over and over - I tried to fight my way out against the odds, and made mistakes (hindsight is great) again and again - one of which cost me a draw against the Deamons.

Out of the 4 GK armies i played the 3 I lost to where all Henchman spam in one form or another - and two of them where 80% similar:

Cotez,

4-6 units of Acolytes in Razorbacks

2 Units of Assassins in Razorbacks or Land Raider Redeemers or a Storm Raven

3-4 Psyflemen Dreadnoughts

Now someone asked in my last post why a Psyflemen Dreadnought is better than a full unit of Missile Launcher Long Fangs - well the Long fangs get 5 shots, so that's roughly 3 hits a turn, the Dreadnought gets the same but with re-rolls so you are looking at consistently 4 hits a turn. But the big difference is that on that turn you only get 1 hit the Dreadnought gets to re-roll his misses - Long Fangs don't, and this happened alot! Also the Dreadnought has fortitude so it's nigh impossible to stun lock him, and on top of that unlike the Long Fangs he is mobile. Then there is the comparable point costs:

Grey Knight Dreadnought, 2 Twin Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo = 135

6 Long fangs, 5 Missile Launchers = 140

Granted the Dreadnought can die in one shot, but all the same a unit of Long Fangs can run off the table after taking only 2 wounds.

This comparison can continue though out the pair of codices, where Wolves had the upper hand (Razorback spam) Grey Knights get Fortitude, Psybolt Ammo, and Twin Linked Weaponry that becomes more effective due to the Psybolt ammo. Granted Wolves will take Las/plas-backs GK get in more Razorbacks who may only be spitting out St6 but it's Quantity, some quality and lots of reliability (Twin linked, Fortitude) vs quality that isn't twin linked.

Last year my friend Walter said about his old vanilla marine army "Who wants to waste shots at a (Heavy) Bolter(razor)backs"

Well now thanks to super cheap Henchmen and Psybolt ammo - EVERYONE!

How times have changed.

Skill > Codex 

Of course all this doesn't matter as I played like a total chump. I have had no real practice, and no practice what so ever vs Grey Knights (never mind henchman spam) and it showed, as all I have said so far is from the experience of those 3 or 4 games.

In retrospect my Rune Priest was terrible! He only stopped 3 powers all weekend and there was fortitude and hammerhand everywhere. In addition as much as I love Wolf Scouts (and I LOVE them!) I will have to dump them. A smart player can nullify their potential targets, or you get bad reserve rolls. Every game I would of rather had another unit of Grey Hunters or 2 Lone Wolves to cock block nasty units, but with Death Cult Assassins I think even Lone Wolves might of had their day in the sun cut short.

So where does leave us dying breed of Russ's sons?

Well for one I think my Dual Land Raider idea has some merits. It is working for Blood Angels but they do get a 35 point discount on theirs without taking up Heavy Support choices.  I think Long Fangs have had it - controversial I know, but like Hydras, Vendettas, and Thunder Hammer Death Stars before them people have adapted, found their achilles heel and have worked their way around them, same for the Wolf Scouts. But this is what happens when one codex or army list is saturated at a tournament or event. The more there is the quicker players adapt.  

Like Imperial Guard, Space Wolves of the "competitive future" need to mix things up. We only have a few months till (rumored) 6th edition comes out so it's back to the free for all but in these last few twilight months of 5th edition it's time to get radical, and Guard and Wolves have the tools to mix things up.

Next event for me is Open War in 17 on the 14th of April, followed by War of the Roses in May, and then Blog Wars 3 in June.

I might take the Dual Land Raider build to one of those, but for Open War I have submitted a Imperial Guard List that I will go through in a few days time.

Dual Land Raider Space Wolves - Good Idea or Pipe Dream?

On the UK scene Wolves are coming a rarity and their last "effective" build being Razorback spam has been surpassed by Blood Angels and Grey Knights - mainly GK razor/acolyte spam backed up with Psyflemen dreads who work out better than Long Fangs.

In response most Blood Angels players have gone towards a dual land raider build backed up razorbacks or assault squads in rhinos. But people forget the main strengths of the SW codex, grey hunters, flexibility, that we have very, very, few bad match ups and the fact they still have access to regular vanilla Marine units as well as our own unique units or twists. But yet no one has tried this with SW so here's my first try at such a thing with wolves:


HQ:
Rune Priest = 100 (or Wolf Priest/Lord/Battle Leader but nowadays psychic defence is a must IMO)

Elites:
Wolf Guard:
4x Power fist + combi melta
5x Terminator Armour + 5 combi plasma, 3 power weapons, 1 wolf claw, 1 chain fist = 382

Troops:

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Plasma Pistol, Wolf Banner, Power weapon, Mark of the Wulfen = 210

Heavy Support:
Land Raider, Extra Armour = 265 (or dedicated transport for the Wolf Guard)
(Terminator WG here)

Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armour, Multi Melta = 265
(10 man GH unit, +1 Wolf Guard and Rune priest here)

1732

Now it's only a idea at the time, but like the similar BA build GK shooting becomes harder as they lack melta, AP1, or natural St9+ at range in their more traditional builds.

The maxed out 10 man unit of Grey Hunters with the priest (or character of your choice) and a power fist wolf guard can do terrible damage on the charge or counter charge and like all GH units their shooting is not to be sniffed at as they can unleash 3 melta shots, 1 plasma, and what ever psychic powers you like (Jaws, Living lightning, Murderous hurricane, fury of the wolf spirits is you want more ap2 shots) as well as rapid fire bolters or bolt pistols depending on your choice of target and if you are willing to take a charge or not (ie vs Blood Angels or GK with their grenades).

Then there are the terminators who with 10 rapid fire combi plasma shots followed up with power weapons (thanks relentless) can make a mess of even large GK units (except paladins IMO) or Mephiston!

So what do you think a good idea? Something Different? Or better of doing it as Blood Angels?