The Unholy Union

Team Jacward.

Alright guys, I think I got something going here with 2 of my marine armies.  So as you guys know, I have Space Wolves and Blood Angels.  I took a look at the Allies chart today and noticed both to be Blood Brothers.  Why?  I have no fucking clue.  I guess the whole thing about Werewolves and Vampires hating on eachother isn't true in the 40K universe.  They are, after all, Battle Brothers until death!

Anyways, here's the list I'm thinking about trying for 1750:

1749
14 VP

HQ:
Rune Priest (RA, WTT) = 125
Librarian* (JP) = 125

TROOP:
9x Grey Hunters (Rhino, WG/PF/CbM, Plasma Gun, MotW, WS) = 243
9x Grey Hunters (Rhino, WG/PF/CbM, Plasma Gun, MotW, WS) = 243
8x Grey Hunters (Rhino, WG/PF/CbM, Plasma Gun, MotW, WS) = 228
10x ASM* (PF/Infernus, 2x Meltaguns) = 250

ELITE:
Wolf Guard
Sanguinary Priest* (JP, MB) = 80

HEAVY:
Vindicator (DB) = 120
Vindicator (DB) = 120
Stormraven* (EA, TLLC, TLMM) = 215

The idea behind this list is pretty simple.  You take your generic 3x Grey Hunter squads and you put them in the list along side your Rune Priest who always takes Divination.  The great thing about the Rune Priest is that his Runic Weapon remains unchanged in the new edition.  If a psychic power succeeds anywhere within 24" of you, you have the ability to nullify it on a 4+.  This gives you an insane amount of psychic protection in an addition where everyone and their mother loves psychic abilities.  On top of this, I'm giving my Rune Priest Runic Armor now every chance I get.  The 2+ armor save and the innate psychic defenses that it sports is just too good not to take for the points.

Let's go over some psychic powers really quick.  Divination, is in my opinion, the best psychic lore in 40K.  If you have armies that can take this lore, you pretty much want to take this lore.  The free spell that they have, Prescience, is basically a pumped-up version of Guide that extends out to 12", and lasts until your next phase.  I don't know what to say except for that's amazing.  Next, you have Misfortune and Forewarning, both extremely strong spells that can be used against the enemy.  Ideally, if you have two psykers who have Divination (which SW and BA can), you can cast Prescience on your unit and Misfortune on the target unit and basically ram it into the ground.  Re-rolling ALL saves is no joke, it's basically a better version of Doom due to the number of raw causalities you can inflict on the enemy.  The best part about this is that it lasts until your next turn as well, so stacking these two abilities is batshit crazy.

This brings up something really clever:  Since BA and SW can both take Divination, why not take both right?  While powerful, we shouldn't discount some of the other psychic powers that the two armies can mix up.  BA have access to Telepathy, something that SW does not.. so with that, you gain Psychic Shriek, Puppet Master, Invisibility and Hallulncination.  The unfortunate thing about Telepathy is that its most powerful powers require you to be a ML2 Psyker.  That's 50 extra points for Epistolary that I simply do not have.  That means you have to look at the cheaper lores; Divination already being a fantastic buy, Biomancy for the chance to get Enfeeble, but most importantly, the BA book lore.  The main things that stand out here is Unleash Rage for the squad the Libby is in, Sanguine Sword to make you S10, Blood Lance so you can throw it at fliers (yes, it auto-hits), and Shield of Sanguinius that gives your Libby and "any unit" within 6" a 5+ cover save.  With a good amount of vehicles in my list, and a Flyer, I can cast Shield to give the Sons of Russ and the Stormraven a happy go lucky 5+ cover.

Now let's think about something really quick.  We all know Divination is good, but I think a mix between Divination and Blood (just calling it this from now on) is the sweet spot.  I can only take 2 skills though, so I think for my first trial, it'll be Sanguine Sword and Blood Lance.  Unleash Rage is not needed with the Rune Priest to cast Prescience, but the S10 and auto-hitting S8 AP1 Lance is always good.  Shield of Sanguinius is incredibly strong if you're running your dudes behind or near the Grey Hunter wall, but I think I'll be placing my Libby, SP and 10x ASM squad in reserve along side the Stormraven.  I want my forces to hit the enemy lines around the same time and with the fury of an angry god.  This first list you see here, will be all about offense (the way I like to play).

Well, I don't think I have anything else here to cover.  The Vindicators are there because I like them, the Grey Hunters are the staple, and the Libby + ASM provides a nice little wild card.  The inclusion of the Stormraven gives me a solid AA platform, and if worst comes to worst, I can throw a Blood Lance at enemy fliers and skewer them out of the sky.

BR: BA vs. GK, SW vs. BA

Fun times to be had!

Well guys, no pictures, but I do have some hysterical fun times to tell you.  My friend took all the pictures so I'll probably just upload them later.  Don't worry, the BRs I'm going to share to you will be pretty epic.  First thing's first:  We played two games tonight, one with my Blood Angels vs. his Grey Knights, and then another with my Space Wolves vs. his Blood Angels.  Which one is more awesome?  I'll let you folks decide.

My list:
Dante
Librarian w/ JP, Sanguine Sword and Unleash Rage
3x 10x ASM w/ Fist/Infernus and 2x Meltaguns
5x Sanguinary Guard w/ CBanner and Fist
Chaplain w/ JP
2x Sanguinary Priests w/ JPs
3x AC/LC Predators

His list:
Draigo
Librarian w/ MC Halberd, 3x Skulls
Sanctuary, Shrouding, Might and Vortex
10x Paladins, 4x Psycannons, BBanner, the works
5x Paladins, BBanner, 2x Psycannons
2x Rifledreads
Dreadknight w/ Heavy Incinerator, Teleporter

Space Marine Mixed Armor Tactica

This is the long awaited vehicle tactica that deals with different armor groups, notably the AV13 toys that Space Marines have to play with.  One of the biggest follies in the 40K gaming community is that Predators and Vindicators suck because of their static nature and fixed firing ports.  A lot of people see this as a weakness because these two tanks, as dominate as they are in the front arc with their AV13 hulls, have AV11 side armor.  This means that every time they pivot and shoot, they're as durable as Rhino.

That must suck right?  Wrong.  This guide will show you the folly in your ways with some tested battle formations.  I took all these pics using my iPhone since my attempts at MS Paint sucked harder than it should have.  Keep in mind that this tactica is designed for a mechanized army.  Some elements in this guide may or may not work depending on what you field.

Short BR, SW vs. GK

This will be a tactics overview because the game was pretty much a slaughter in my favor.

Mission was Kill Points and deployment was Dawn of War.  Darian got 1 KP from a Rhino at the end of the game to my 8 (leaving on the Dread alive).

The list I ran was the following:

1980

13 kp

HQ:

Wolf Lord (TH/SS, RA, WTN, WTT, Bear) = 230

Rune Priest (Chooser, WTN) = 120

TROOP:

9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243

9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243

8x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 228

ELITE:

7x WGT (6x PW/CbP, 1x CF/CbP) = 281

in LRC (EA, MM) = 275

HEAVY:

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Darian ran..

2x 7x Grey Knight Terminators

Librarian

2x Stormravens

Psyfleman Dread

10x Purifiers in a Rhino

Dreadknight w/ Heavy Psycannon and Incinerator

I have inserted 3 screenshots to help explain.

Wolf Lords, their word is law

The only time I find myself taking Wolf Lords is in games of 2K points.  At 1750 points, I find that the humble Rune Priest is all I need in the HQ slot.  Sometimes, I even take 2 Rune Priests as their psychic powers and psychic protection is too good to pass up on.  So why Wolf Lords?  Well, for one, I think they're one of the most iconic pieces in an old-school Space Wolf army.  Space Wolves, by design and fluff, are Vikings in Space who rely on honor and courage to carry them through the day.  That's why most of my army lists for Space Wolves have little in terms of campy shooting.

Now that I've thrown down that my Space Wolves enjoys the nitty gritty, let's examine my favorite Wolf Lord builds.  He is my physical manifestation on the battlefield:

Wolf Lord
Runic Armor
Frost Blade (or Thunder Hammer), Storm Shield
Wolf Tooth Necklace
Wolf Tail Talisman
Saga of the Warrior Born (or Saga of the Bear)
225 points (or 230 with Thunder Hammer), Thunderwolf Mount for 45 more.

Let's take a look at this build and examine what I like about it.  He has 4 attacks, has 2+ armor and 3++ invul saves, always hits on 3+ vs. anything with a WS with a S5 power weapon and goes ape shit after killing things in melee.  He averages 2 MEQ kills in the first round of combat and that bumps his attacks up to 6 in the next round of combat since he gets +attacks for each model killed in the previous combat.  The Warrior Born Saga is more for fun really, since it allows him to chew through enemies so you can tally up the totals.  Wolf Tail Talisman is one of those neat little gizmos that lets you take a 5+ save against anything that's targeting you or your squad with a psychic power.  If you roll a 5+, you negate the psychic ability outright.  If I could be anyone in 40K, it would probably be this guy.

Why no Terminator Armor?  Because if you want a Storm Shield, you're going to have to pay 15 points more on top of the 40.  Runic Armor is 20, Storm Shield is 30, so for 5 less points, you have the same 2+/3++, can be put in a Rhino, takes up less room in a LR, has the benefits of Runic Armor (5+ invul vs. all wounds caused by psychic attacks) and you keep your frag and krak grenades.  It's a no brainer at this point.  Saga of the Bear makes your Lord immune to instant death because of Eternal Warrior and the Thunder Hammer allows him to deliver crushing force against anything in the game.

What it really comes down to is whether or not you want to put the Lord on a Thunderwolf mount or not.  Personally, Thunderwolves don't make sense to me because marines are riding them.  It's 40K years into the future and as if things couldn't be more ridiculous, marines are now riding ancient battle beasts.  Aside from how ludicrous this may seem, we can't overlook the benefits of a Lord on the Thunderwolf.  True T5 makes him immune to Fists (although not Force Weapons), the extra attack and strength makes him a beast in combat.  The higher strength makes all the weapon options good to have:  The Wolf Claw is cheap and S5 re-roll hits or wounds is fantastic at killing MEQ, S6 Frost Blades are more dangerous to vehicles and S10 Thunder Hammers just rock anything in the game.  With 6 attacks on the charge, the Lord is absolutely fantastic at putting down anything in combat.

Unless you're taking a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf, the WL can be put anywhere you want.  I personally like to put him a LRC with a WGT retinune, but I feel very comfortable putting him in a squad of Grey Hunters.  The great thing about Runic Armor is that it allows the Wolf Lord to travel freely.  If he wants to be in a Rhino, he can, if he doesn't feel like being bogged down by Terminators, he can leave and join something else.  Best of all, the Wolf Lord can run things down once he beats their ass in combat.  For that reason, I like to keep my Wolf Lord as violent as possible.  He is my personal avatar on the field and there's nothing better than seeing him rampage through mutants and aliens in the name of the Allfather.

If you like taking a Wolf Lord too, let me know what config you like traveling with.

Long Fangs vs. Predators

Believe it or not, I play Space Wolves.  They're actually my first Space Marine army after Grey Knights and the first army I blogged about.  I think it's time to pump out a few articles on them this week.  To start things off, let's talk about a rarely discussed topic.

We all know Long Fangs rock and for good reason.  They are cheap, effective and put out diverse and powerful long-range firepower.  As you can see from this article I wrote a while back about Long Fang loadouts, I do like myself some missiles.  However, with the recent shift in the meta, I'm wondering if there are other options out there for Space Wolves.  Let's take a moment and look shall we?

First, let's look at the humble Predator.
Not just any Predator, but the AC/LC Predator that comes in at 120 points.

What's the difference between the Pred and the standard loadout of ML Long Fangs?  Well for one, it's cheaper, by 20 points.  It's AV13 and it's a vehicle and thus is immune to DE Venoms, S6 shots from Mechdar and better protection vs. S8 shots since it needs a 5 to glance.  With 2 BS4 Lascannon shots at S9 and 2 BS4 S7 Autocannon shots, it's an incredible fire platform vs. vehicles and MCs but lacks severely when it comes to hordes.  Just like Long Fangs, once deployed, there's very little opportunity to move these things around unless you want to sac a round of shooting.  The only difference is that if Long Fangs want to move, they'll take a Razorback (more points) whereas the Predator will move 12" and smoke.

Long Fangs can also Split Fire, but most ML loadouts opt to shoot all their missiles at one target to force results.  Flexibility is there, definitely, but for all intensive purposes, the Predator and the Long Fangs share similar target priority vs. vehicles.  The biggest drawback of the Predator is the dreaded VDC.  If you're glanced, you're spending 120 points to sit there for a turn.  If one of your Long Fangs die, you pull the Leader and continue shooting 5 missiles back at your opponent.  Of course, we can also say if the Pred got stunned or shaken, it doesn't lose any damage potential next round whereas you might lose out on missile fire if Long Fangs start dying.  There are pros and cons from both, but for the points mentioned, both are solid choices imo.

I think this is where the metagame comes in.  Looking around my area, I see a shit ton of different Space Marines, BA, SW, Grey Knights, Mech IG, Tyranids and Dark Eldar.  Orks are a rarity but I think I'll mention them anyway so players get a better picture.  I only have one friend who plays Eldar and he's got a good amount of diversity as well.  I think it's safe to say that against mech-focused armies, the AC/LC Predator serves a better role.  Unless, of course, you're siting cross table from Long Fangs who can outspam you in terms of raw shots.  When fighting Grey Knights, AC/LC Preds are better imo.  S9 AP2 gives you a solid answer to Paladins and Terminators and Lascannons are better for punching through Psyfledreads.  Lastly, it goes without saying that Predators are much better vs. Dark Eldar.  You ignore Splinter Cannon fire from his Venoms and destroy vehicles with each breath you take.  Against the likes of Tyranids and Orks however, when the ever-shifting need of anti-horde and anti-crappy armor arises, the Long Fangs are clearly superior.

SW back then, SW today

You know, for such a characterful army, there's a lot of SW players out there that bring shame to Russ and the All-father.  That's right, I said it.  I've seen too many RB spam lists as of late and and the number of Thunderwolf + Wolf Lord lists sicken me.  Recently, a friend of mine participated in a tournament and six Space Wolf players placed in the top 10.  Out of the six that placed, half was wound-allocated TWC and the other was RB spam.

Now I don't know about you guys, but I like it when there's a theme going on with a army.  What theme is there in a list that's built for the sole purpose of winning?  It might be the Canis Helix in me running wild, but I don't think it's very thematic when a SW player puts down a min-maxed lists of maxed Long Fangs, Rifleman Dreads, 3 Rune Priests and as many RBs as he can field.  Gunlines are lame in general, but playing a gunline in a army that made out of a bunch of brawlers is even lamer.

When I picked up my Space Wolves, I picked them up for the sole reason that they're Space Marines that can fight in close combat.  They welcome any challenge, fight any foe and will take the fight to their enemies in a second's notice.  This is written in their fluff, enforced in their codex and everyone knows not to mess with the wolves.  Space Wolves are essentially Vikings in space.  Here's what Vikings did back in the day:  Eat, drink, fight.  Here is what they do now:  Take psychic tests with their Rune Priests and shoot things in Razorbacks while conveniently asking their opponents if they're having fun.

For the real Space Wolf players out there, I salute you.  For the RB spammers: Take a long hard look at the picture above and let it sink in.  Never forget where you come from.

My balanced approach at 1750

Here is my 1750 SW list.  I named it "Steel Rain, Armored Column".

1732
11 kp

HQ:
Rune Priest (Chooser) = 110

TROOP:
9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243
9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243
8x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 228
10x Grey Hunters w/ Rockfist (2x Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 368

HEAVY:
6x Long Fangs (5x ML) = 140
6x Long Fangs (5x ML) = 140
LRC (MM) = 260

The idea behind this list is quite simple. You force a reaction out of your opponents army by shooting the hell out of him with 10 rockets per turn. S8 AP3 at 48" means I can reach out and threaten everything he has so I'm satisfied in that department. I mean, I could go for max beard and take Razorbacks for those Grey Hunters and min-max my list to shoot, but I like my friends so I think I'd rather keep them. Space Wolves, believe it or not, can shoot the living crap out of you with 15 missiles per turn (3x6 Long Fangs) with Razorbacks w/ TLLC and supporting Cyclone Launching WGT. All that fits pretty comfortably in your heavy support choice too.. which is pretty scary.

Optimal Long Fang loadouts

As many Wolf-Brothers know, Long Fangs are one of the best things in our new dex. Their ability to split fire with differently equipped heavy weapons gives them unmatched versatility and target options, not to mention they're cheaper than their C:SM counterparts! In this short blurb, I'll go over what I consider to be the most optimal Long Fang configurations.

6x Long Fangs (5x Missile Launchers) = 140

With the ability to hit and wound anything from MCs to vehicles as well as delivering earth-shattering instant death to MEQ from 48" away, this is the most popular and tried setup. S8 AP3 allows you to chew through Marines and punch open Rhinos. They can reliably bust open any armor save for AV14 due to their sheer amount of shots. If you're facing Orks or Tyranids and few like throwing some frags into their face, 5 blast templates will sure give you justice. You might even consider adding a Wolf Guard Terminator with Cyclone Missile Launchers to this squad. He'll take orders from the Long Fang squad leader and you can fire control those 2 additional missiles at separate targets if you want to just like the rest of the group.

The Man-Mountain

So everyone knows about Arjac Rockfist right? In case you didn't know, he's a special character/upgrade character to Wolf Guards (essentially, a SM Sergeant equiv). That means he can be split up and put into a squad at the beginning of the game and can't be picked out in combat. If you think that's mean, he's WS5, always hits on 3s (Wolf Tooth Talisman), re-rolls vs. ICs and MCs, has a S10 AP1 Thunderhammer that can be thrown at BS5 at 6", has 4 attacks in the first round of every fresh combat (5 if you charged), and wears Terminator Armor with a Storm Shield, and oh yeah, he has Eternal Warrior with 2 Wounds. His S10 Thunderhammer known as Foehammer can crush the skulls of any MEQ, Tyranid Warrior or Nob Biker. He's 188 points and he's one of the best buys in the book.

I've taken him a few times and in the games I've used him, he has rarely died. He has always made his points back in the games where I've taken him.. killing tens of Plague Marines, Tyranid Warriors or Wraithguard, he's always a great buy. A lot of the players in my club are complaining that he might be too powerful; I agree with them. The fact that he can't be picked out in combat and is always swinging at targets of opportunity (such as ICs) is ludicrous. That S10 hammer threatens everything in the game and nothing is safe from it. I normally take him in a squad of 10x Grey Hunters w/ 2x Meltaguns, Mark of the Wulfen and a Wolf Standard. The fact that I can use Wolf Standard in conjunction with Arjac is also pretty funny. Being able to re-roll failed Terminator saves of 2+ or SS saves of 3++ is quite entertaining.

I think in every game I've taken him, he's killed triple his cost. If that's not a good buy, I don't know what is!

My current SW army list

My current army list is scaled at 2K points and I add and subtract points from it depending on the opponent. No matter what, the core pretty much always looks the same. I will always have my 3x Grey Hunter packs in there as well as my Rune Priest.

My current army list:

1984
13 KP

HQ:
Ragnar Blackmane = 240
Rune Priest (Chooser, WTT) = 115

TROOP:
9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243
9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243
8x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF, cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 228

ELITE:
5x WGT (WC/SB, WC/cbM, PF/cbM, CF/cbM, WC/HF) = 225
in LRC (EA, MM) = 275
Lone Wolf (TDA, WC/CbM) = 55

HEAVY:
Vindicator (Dozer Blades) = 120
Vindicator (Dozer Blades) = 120
Vindicator (Dozer Blades) = 120

Space Wolves

Space Wolves is my current 40K army and they're fantastic.

I like the rate the armies that I come across in 3 different fields: Power, Balance, Design. Before I go any deeper, I'll define what these words mean to me in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Power
The strength of the codex compared to the current metagame. How does it fair against the top rated tourney armies at the moment? Are there many viable power builds in the book? Are the units strong throughout the entire codex? Are they weak? Even if two casual players sat down and played a game, who does it favor more? This is something that competitive players care about a lot - whether or not their current army stands a chance against X new codex.

Balance
This is defined in two ways: Internal balance and external balance. By internal, I mean how the units in the book is priced against eachother. Do you find some units absolutely terrible and others too good? Or does everything have a use and is priced at reasonable levels. By external balance, I mean how does this book compare to other books in terms of unit/cost effectiveness? The biggest question here is simply: Do you get the best bang for your buck? Out of these three values, I believe this one is the most difficult to analyze as it's often skewed by opinion and criticism.

Design
I like to define the design of the book as this: Does the book capture the essence of the army strictly in terms of gameplay aspects? Does it feel like a Wolf army when I'm constructing my lists and playing them on the table? Can I make multiple different armies with this book or am I stuck with just one viable build? These aspects must fit the needs of a competitive and casual player. You must feel comfortable playing an army not only because you enjoy the fluff and the lore.. but because the fluff and lore plays out just as you imagined it on table-top. That is the selling point of a good book; one that players will love for many editions to come.