Space Wolves: the Bully Way

Compared to most modern codices, the Space Wolves book is fairly weak and outdated. Specifically, no litanies of hate, no rites of battle, and no Ld 10 psykers puts them at a distinct disadvantage against their vanilla counterparts as well as almost every other race. Nonetheless, the sons of Russ still have access to a great set of special rules: no matter the odds, counter-attack, wolf pelts, frost blades, Storm Caller, and the ability to put up to two power fists in each squad, not counting any attached Wolf Guard. Together, they mean that almost every Space Wolf model will have the advantage in close combat against anything but specialized assault troops. Even then, however, the packs will fight to the last man, and that last man has probably been waving his power fist around for at least two or three phases, hopefully long enough to bring their opponents below scoring as well. The main liabilities of the army list (high point cost and low model count) must be countered by tactical deployments that concentrate their own strength while diluting the enemy’s, as well as wise micromanagement to maximize objective-taking and minimize casualties. To this end, my general strategy with Space Wolves is to make a coordinated assault on just enough objectives to put me ahead and use the units in the best combination to hold on for dear life. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always entertaining if I can just remember all the special rules. I wrote up a few thoughts on the application of the various units I currently use or have used in the past.

Grey Hunters

I choose to put my Grey Hunters in drop pods for a couple of reasons. Without access to jump packs, using them in a pure assault role is less attractive and it would waste true grit besides. Instead, I prefer to give them a lot of bolters and plasma for an initial burst of shooting, and count on their special rules and multiple power fists to defend their location from counter-assaults. Pods are great for Hunters because they aren’t destroyed by scattering into enemy formations, and you can usually place them in fairly cramped quarters, ensuring at least one round of double-tap shooting from which the enemy cannot hide. If possible, I try to deploy the Hunters in cover and screen out the worst angles of enemy fire with the pod itself. Still, they don’t last very long isolated by themselves, so I usually try to place them near another friendly unit and reinforce the position as soon as I’m able. As far as target priority goes, I usually try to inflict the most casualties on the nearest, most dangerous assault unit.

Battle Leader, Rune Priest, and Blood Claws in a Land Raider

With a potential 20-inch charge and 12 frost blade, 24 normal, and 8 power fist attacks all striking first, this pack has the potential to make quite an impact. It’s taken me loads of games to figure out the best ways to use it without losing their scoring capacity in the process. Transport is the first issue. The time delay and potential exposure associated with drop pods makes them a poor choice for transporting a pure assault unit, and Rhinos are not that much better for basically the same reasons. Biker Claws are just too expensive and giving them jump packs instead just makes you pay for the +1 T and 24-inch turbo boost without actually getting it, not to mention you can’t send the characters along with them. For these reasons, I’ve become resigned to deploying my Claws in a Land Raider. Raiders are a big point sink, and their fat ass usually hangs out of both sides of any terrain they might be hiding behind, but they look impressive on the battlefield, are better anti-tank than a Long Fangs squad of equal cost, and the assault ramp makes for a very long charge range.

Ever since the last book came out, I’ve always dreamed about that ideal 20-inch Storm Caller-enhanced Blood Claws charge from the assault ramp of a fast moving Land Raider. Honestly, though, I don’t even remember the last time I was able to get their charge bonus. It’s hard to find someone who will sit still long enough for the Blood Claws to charge them, even with an assault ramp transport, so they’re usually charged themselves and only fight with two attacks. Their WS3 at I4 means several of them are probably going to die before their 4 power fist attacks strike back, and half of those usually miss anyway.

Recently, I replaced the Wolf Guard Leader from my Blood Claws squad with an HQ Wolf Guard Battle Leader. Even if the unit is charged themselves, the two HQ models will counter-attack and strike with 12 WS5 S5 power weapon attacks at I5, and since they’re in base-to-base (BTB) contact, at least one or two enemy models will usually be forced to attack the independent characters, meaning less attacks go into the Blood Claws, hopefully keeping the squad at scoring size for a bit longer. Maneuvering to actually get that counter-attack is a little tricky and can depend on your understanding of the following rules:

• Assault (p. 38): Once a model is in base-to-base contact, or within two inches of a model from its own unit in BTB contact, with an enemy model, it is said to be engaged. The unit that the models belong to is then said to be locked.


• Characters in assault (p. 51): Characters are treated as a separate unit when resolving close combats, following the normal rules for multiple combats on page 45. If the unit they have joined is locked in combat with the enemy, the character is locked with them.


• Counter-attack (p. 74): Unengaged models from a unit that has been charged by the enemy must move up to 6” to get into BTB contact with the enemy, taking terrain into account as normal.

So let’s say you have a unit of 8 Blood Claws and two HQ units with wolf pelts (Rune Priest, Wolf Priest, Wolf Lord, whatever) that just jumped out of a Land Raider. They’re too far away to charge anything but most likely are in range to get charged themselves. So long as you’re not pinned, this is not as bad a situation as it could be. The main objective is to minimize the chances of an enemy model being able to actually get into BTB contact with your HQ units, because when the unit is charged, the HQs will be locked but never engaged unless they actually come into BTB, since they count as a separate unit in close combat. As long as they’re not touching, they’re not engaged, and as such can make a counter-attack as described, not to mention getting that lovely 6th attack from their wolf pelt. Most of the time I’ll form up a single or double line with the Blood Claws spaced less than one inch apart, curving back away from the approaching enemy at the ends, with the HQs tucked away in the middle behind the line.

This leads to a subtle advantage that ICs have over a Wolf Guard “sergeant” in leading Blood Claws. Since the 30-point Wolf Guard leaders count as part of the same unit in assault, and can therefore be engaged if models within two inches of them are touched by an enemy model, it’s quite easy to deny them their counter-attack move and wolf pelt bonus unless they’re way in the back and the enemy barely made their charge distance. However, if you can pull it off, i.e., keep the Wolf Guard more than 2" away from any of his squadmates that have been touched in BTB by an enemy assault, he can earn the counterattack move and wolf pelt bonus, and thereby get 4 attacks - getting that wolf pelt bonus is the only way 4 attacks is possible for a bolter Wolf Guard "sergeant" because of true grit!

With such a big block of points tied up in such a fat (albeit strongly armored) vehicle, I will usually drive them toward an objective first rather than go balls-out toward the enemy line, and deploy either the squad or smoke launchers, if I’ve bought them. In my mind, it’s better to deploy riders too early and head them on foot toward cover than risk getting pinned, exposed to enemy fire, and out of their element (assault) even longer. I’ve never made points back from stranded Blood Claws – they are almost always shot up and destroyed having made no impact on the game whatsoever.

About the Rune Priest specifically... I'm surprised that I haven't run into any players who object to the idea that a squad with Storm Caller will strike at I 10 just like normal units in cover who are charged themselves, but then again like I said I rarely get to charge with the squad anyway. And not that the rule isn't very clear, which, to me it very much is, especially when taken with the statements in the codex FAQ, but it's still a pretty interesting effect that I expect will be translated into something new in the next codex, like Eldar Banshee mask rules or something. The Ld 9 is pretty weak, and besides Storm Caller farting every once in a while, his psychic hood (is also less effective. Still, he's just as good a fighter as the battle leader (himself a two-wound version of the overpriced Lord), and his Chooser of the Slain has helped the pack on many occasions.

Wolf Guard Terminators

Another very points-heavy unit that can inflict a good amount of damage, but cannot be left alone for long. In fact, since they have better range than the Grey Hunters I’m more likely to deploy their drop pod farther away from the enemy to avoid the Terminators being charged. If possible, I’ll put them into 4+ cover and try to get as many turns of shooting with the assault cannons as I can. Since my Land Speeders carry multimeltas, I switched my attack bikes to heavy bolters and used the points to make the AC’s master-crafted. A little dickish, maybe, but a) I’m paying out the ass for them and b) I wanted to milk the 4th edition rending rules a little bit more before they disappear this summer. I usually keep the Terminators in the same formation as the Blood Claws: a line curved away from the nearest enemy, the Battle Leader tucked behind with enough space for him to get out and around with counter-attack.

Wolf Scouts

The recent BFG hobby tournament inspired me to get off my ass and sharpen my wolf scouts squad. I had made a trade for some plastic space marine scouts so I assembled and painted up two of them, gave them plasma pistols and assorted space wolf icons, and added them to the four I'd been using. I've already seen an improvement in this squad's game effect in the 6 games I've had with them so far. Haven't lost one yet to a plasma overheat, so I guess I'm due for that, but those extra wounds in the squad let the power weapons stick around for longer and make more of an impact. Also they're not such a one hit wonder against vehicles - the plasma pistols took out a rhino full of noise marines last week, killing several and pinning the rest, after the meltagun trooper had missed. I give them frags since the static rear guard units that they're so good at attacking are usually hiding in cover.

Vindicator

I’m going to take a break from my cousin Vinnie for a while. Half of my games it’s been destroyed in the first couple of turns, and when it does survive longer, it rarely inflicts enough casualties to warrant the points. I might bring it back into a 2500 point army, but for my 2000 I’m going to replace it with a couple of melta/flamer Land Speeders instead. I think they’ll do as much or more damage than the single tank and be much better at objective management.

Long Fangs

Abandon all victory points ye who enter here. Just too freakin expensive. Split fire is just not that special in a numbers game and that stupid pack leader costs way too much. Maybe I'd bring them back in to a 2500 point list for more "wolfy" flavor if I was especially concerned with fluff, but otherwise forget em.

Leman Russ Exterminator

Could this be my next experiment? I could convert one up from a standard Russ using guard autocannons easily enough. Talking to Jay at the tournament on Sunday, I realized that I had almost all of their little tricks represented except for the quintessential Wolves tank. If I switched this in for my Land Raider and gave the Blood Claws a Rhino instead, I'd be taking away those bad ass lascannons, but then I could switch multimeltas back in on the Attack Bikes to try and make up for it. Then again, I do really like my Land Raider model... Maybe I should wait for the codex update to make sure it's even going to be available. Anyone have any rumors in that regard?

Whoever Pelt It, Dealt It

As I poked the embers of my old Space Wolves army, I noticed a rule nuance that bears mentioning, something I know I’ve played wrong in the past. It has weighty consequences on the use of a particular piece of wargear, namely, the wolf pelt. Fellow sons of Russ know this as a cheap way to give a character or wolf guard +1 attack when the squad gets charged. Maybe I’m just the last to know, but after I reviewed the specific counter-attack rules as written in the USR section of the rulebook, it appears that wolf pelts might be a little harder to use than I previously thought, especially for a drop-pod force like mine.

First of all, according to the counter-attack USR, only unengaged models from a unit that has been charged can move the 6” to get into BTB with an enemy model. “Engaged” models are defined as those being either in BTB or 2” away from a friendly model in BTB with an enemy. So a model with a wolf pelt would not be able to counter-attack, and thus get the +1 attack, unless it was farther than 2” away from an amigo in BTB. Unless you’re getting charged by only a few models, which seems like a foolhardy thing for anyone to do against space wolves, it will be difficult to keep your pelted model from being immediately engaged and having their wargear short-circuited, wasting *gasp* all of 3 points, but more importantly, an extra attack with a power weapon/fist. In previous games I was just moving characters/wolf guard into BTB and granting myself the +1 attack just as long as he was not personally brought into BTB by the initial assault (which, I now realize, was actually illegal).

It doesn’t say that you actually have to make it into BTB with your counterattack move to get the +1 attack, so it appears the main issue is to keep a pelted model more than 2” away from anyone in the squad who would come into BTB with an enemy assault. This might be a simple matter with a big spread-out foot squad of blood claws, but with a drop pod you only have so much deployment space to begin with, and keeping your choppy pelted guy far enough away to counterattack could be a problem. Taken with the fact that an IC has to be personally in BTB to even join the combat, and that he only gets a 6” move to do it, it appears that you have to be pretty tricky to actually benefit from the pelt.

Example 1 – A squad of asscan/boltplas terminators led by some kind of pelted character, in this case a Wolf Priest. I don’t see how you can ever keep the character unengaged by an enemy assault, pretty much regardless of size. Even if you put him on the end of the line, around the drop pod and possibly out of range/LOS for his shooting, he’s easily going to be within 2” of a friend in BTB when an enemy assaults them and therefore missing out on the +1 A. You really need to spread them all out 2” away from each other around the pod, with the character as far away from a charging enemy as possible, and your assault cannons and powerfists closest to the character. The larger terminator bases will help. Now I’m starting to think that I should drop my potion pouring, plasma pistol waving Wolf Priest that I had been running with my terminators and bring back my old black helmed WGBL with lightning claws. If he’s not going to be in LOS to shoot, he might as well be able to reroll wounds when he comes running around the other side of that pod (plus he’s much cheaper!).

Example 2 – A 10-strong squad of grey hunters led by a pelted wolf guard. Placing the guard on the farthest side of the drop pod from a nearby enemy might put him far enough away to stay unengaged in the oncoming assault, but that leaves him and possibly several other models out of range for shooting. Again I see folly in giving him anything other than a bolt pistol for a gun if I want to get the pelt love on the counterattack. I had given the Grey Hunters’ wolf guard a plasma pistol for one more AP2 zinger (to make a total of 5 plasma shots from the squad). The question is: what’s more important, +1 attack with a power weapon/fist if and when they do get charged, or an additional plasma shot (that costs 15 points and might overheat and kill him anyway)? My instinct tells me trying to get the extra counterattack is better.

Example 3 – A squad on foot. As I stated before, it might be simpler to keep the character/squad leader out of engagement range if they’re part of a big spread out squad. But against any hack shooting army on a board with 25% cover, this seems like suicide. I changed my wolves to be more mechanized for a reason: they were constantly getting caught out in the open and mowed down before they could have any effect on the game’s outcome. As it is, if I consolidate all the elements into one big push, I can sometimes hit real hard FTW, but any halfway mobile army can just stay out of the big push’s way and pick off squads at their leisure.

I haven’t actually played with my wolves in ages, but having gotten a little burnt out on Witch Hunters (except for my assassins, I still love you guys!), I think I’m ready to pick them up again. I need to really rethink my general strategy, retool some wargear loadouts, and I’ll definitely have to take a moment to think before placing anyone with a pelt in order to give them the best chance of actually using it. I’ll report back on my experiences as soon as I get a few games in.

Notes on Teh Purging

Some thoughts on the Purging of Tartaron Witch Hunters list...

The army really consists of two modules that can separate or stay turtled together, depending on the situation. The main battle line includes the imperial guard infantry and heavy weapons, sister squads, lascannon sentinel, Leman Russ, and exorcist. The mobile elements consist of the two armored fist squads (or at least their chimeras), seraphim, immolator, and the callidus assassin.

All the battles I’ve played against space marines lately included a librarian with fury of the ancients. Especially vulnerable in their massed low T and Ld formations, my guardsmen continue to be randomly picked on and pinned with impunity. Mixing a few sisters squads into their ranks will hopefully grant me more opportunities to nip that in the bud, as any psychic power that includes sororitas units in its effects is immediately nullified on a 5+. It’s something at least. Against troops assaulting the gun line, the guard will hopefully serve as a tar pit with their leadership backed up (or not) by nearby books of St. Lucius. The girls will have time to either move back out of assault range and prepare to fire on stranded foes, or charge in themselves.

I’m experimenting a little bit with the inquisitor’s loadout. I used to run him around with a guard squad packing an inferno pistol, but he rarely ever got a shot off. Now his liber heresius will grant me a 72% chance of table edge choice, 25% chance of rolling off as normal, and a 2% chance of losing the choice before the battle begins. Part of the benefit is being able to pick an ideal side for my own army, but mostly I’m interested in being able to dictate my opponents’ deployment. That combined with the callidus’ “word in your ear” ability could add some valuable confusion to the match. Ideally he’ll also be hammering the witches every turn, (lightly) harassing eldar seers and warlocks, tyranid synapse creatures, any and all Tzeentch devotees, and librarians. For 25 points I could upgrade him to an inquisitor lord, but the power would only be around 5% more effective and I’d also have to give him a small retinue. I’ll probably wait to get my heavy bolter servitor and chirurgeon retinue going before I do that.

The combat abilities of the callidus assassin are a nice little bonus to her “word in your ear” ability. After she emerges, her neural shredder template should try to touch vehicles as well as any troops she wants to assault. It will always shake a vehicle if not stun. In addition to her little poison blades gimmick, she also has a “jump back” move that lets her attempt to disengage from close combat, but in all practicality it's only a 50% chance to get out of consolidation range and requires her to survive 2 rounds of combat, which can sometimes be difficult with only a 4+ save.

The seraphim are twitchy. They can move fast, deal a significant amount of shooting damage, and hold their own in close combat (with help from faith points), but I’ve also seen them fall out of the sky like motherfuckin duck hunt. They can provide a nice little backup for the streaking chimeras and immolator, grabbing cover where they can, jumping out to lay down divine guidanced flame templates, draw charges or (preferably) sweeping advances, then use hit and run to move out and leave the enemy stranded. Between krak grenades and the superior's plasma pistol and eviscerator, they should be able to handle a light vehicle or two. If the birds stay close to the main coop, I need to remember that they add +1 to Ld of all sisters within 6”.

My cannoness also requires some care. She should start the battle in heavy cover, out of LOS if possible, and definitely kept separate from the seraphim to allow them to use hit and run as well as to make acts like the passion or spirit of the martyr easier for them to activate. I think she’s best kept near the main gun line as counterassault.

The infantry, sentinel, and exorcist give me some good anti-tank, which is probably the hereticus' greatest weakness. The Russ is primarily anti-infantry. After enjoying the upgrade so much in my last tournament, I added a dozer blade to the Exorcist and Leman Russ, allowing them to start out of sight, move into terrain to shoot, and be obscured to return fire. They'll likely stay with the main gun line as well.

Interestingly, the GW Armies of the Imperium software suggests that it’s illegal for the inquisitor to not be equipped with at least one weapon, but I can’t find any supporting rule for that. It just says he may be given anything from the armory. It's fuckin lame that he doesn't come with a laspistol/ccw automatically. It also has reduced point costs for inducted guard infantry command squad heavy and special weapons (?), and the heavy stubber is not available for an upgrade to the Leman Russ. I’m going to assume these are all program errors until I can find rules to the contrary.

Tanksgiving

I mentioned that I managed to get some good use out of my chimeras during the tournament this weekend. They usually worked well as a screen for my infantry and other tanks, limiting their exposure to enemy heavy weapons and enabling the big guns to get closer to enemies. It’s true that these walls cost 93 points each, but they also include 6 anti-infantry shots good for killing another 1-2 MEQs. In games against smallish forces (seemingly more rare nowadays), I can deploy my platoon command squads inside the transports and use them to spread my line out further and grab objectives early on in the game.

Today whilst flipping through the rules, I remembered that vehicles can be tank-shocked just like troops, so long as your front armor is greater than that of your target. Chimeras have a front armor of 12, so they would be able to push Rhinos and other light vehicles around. Right this second, I can’t think of a specific instance where this might be useful, but it’s something to keep in mind for the future. Something else to remember: a Leman Russ, with its 14 front armor, can drive over a wrecked Chimera or Hellhound. Another time where that dozer blade will come in handy!

Thoughts on Necrons vs. Chaos

This will be sort of a continuation of a discussion with Mack found here. Looking at the odds, it takes an average of 18 warrior shots to kill a terminator and 27 shots to wound the tougher obliterators (who have 2 wounds each). Mass warrior shooting appears to be much more effective against the smaller, weaker chaos units, like the havocs, possessed, and berzerkers (9 shots per wound). Keeping the army in one huge ball seems like the necrons' only hope to survive chaos, teleporting out charged units to a short distance away (getting some WBB rerolls if it's through the monolith), leaving the enemy stranded, and pouring fire into them in the following turn. To stymie power weapons/fists in assault, every WBB unit should always be within 6" of a lord, excepting possibly destroyers, who can usually move fast enough to avoid an assault. When not teleporting (early game?), the monolith should try to put pie plates down on units with a 3+ or worse save.