Wednesday 2 May 2012

They're behind you...

After a game a few weeks back when my wolf-scouts were stars of the show again, a guy down at the local club challenged me to come up with a 1750 list with as much outflank in it as possible (limited to the SW codex and the models I own).   

I've only managed to get in 2 games with it so far, but I'm quite enjoying playing it as it is somewhat different and it confuses players as they aren't sure how to deal with it.  I thought I'd post it up here and a few thoughts on it, to see what others thought of it.


The Outflank part:

Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Thunderwolf, Frost-blade, storm-shield, Saga of the Hunter, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tooth Talisman, 2 wolves

10 Wolf Scouts, meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen
Wolf Guard, combi-melta, powerfist

10 Wolf Scouts, meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen
Wolf Guard, combi-melta, powerfist

The core:

6 Grey Hunters, meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Razorback with twin-linked Lascannon

6 Grey Hunters, meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Razorback with twin-linked Lascannon

6 Grey Hunters, meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Razorback with twin-linked Lascannon

5 Long Fangs, 4 missile launchers
Wolf Guard Terminator, assault-cannon, Wolf Claw
Razorback with twin-linked Lascannon
1499 pts


The two games I've played have been at 1750 points so to fill in the gap, I've loaded up on a foot terminators to chug forwards and give my opponent the un-enviable choice of either staying back and facing the scouts, or coming forward to face the terminators.  I'll also add that this list could easily be more optimised, but is based solely on the models that I can field.

As far as thoughts on the list go:
Scouts:  These have performed fantastically in both games, easily causing more damage than the other elements of the army.  They've been very useful as their ability to arrive from any board edge 2/3rds of the time give a lot of flexibility.  Their only downside is the classic of anything that outflanks, their arrival is unreliable at best regards to timing.
Battle Leader:  I want this guy to be good, but he just isn't.  As I've argued before, I feel that Space Wolves HQ's should work in tandem with other elements of your army, not be death stars as they just aren't good enough to do that.  In my two games he's taken 9 rounds of combat to kill off 3 war walkers against an Eldar army, then died to shooting, and was tarpitted by gaunts in a second game before being killed by a monstrous creature.  I'm trying to figure out how I could replace this guy.
The core:  Yes, it is Razor-spam, but I had to fit a few troops into the list, and needed some kind of fire power with a bit of range and this was the obvious choice of how to do it, net-list or not.  The lascannons on the Razorbacks and missile launchers of the Long Fangs provide my main ranged fire power, generally sitting towards the back of the field, slowly moving forward (in the case of the Grey Hunters) and trying to de-mech as much of my opponents as possible or take down the larger targets like monstrous creatures.  The Grey Hunters are there for claiming objectives mostly, but with their upgrades can pack a decent enough punch if they have to get into combat.  They die quickly though if they don't get rid of their opponent in the first round, or if they are caught out in the open.
Added Terminators:  although on foot, I haven't really had any problem getting these guys across the board to where they are needed in my two games as the Razorbacks tend to shield them in the first couple of turns till they are mid-field.  They haven't performed all that well when they have got into the enemy, but I wonder if I've just been picking the wrong targets for them.

Anyway, let me know what you think, or if you think I'm a fool.  Its not the easiest list to play, and I'm certainly not a great general to run it but its fun and a bit different and has definitely added new flavour to playing my Space Wolves.  Cheers - Andy





10 comments:

  1. You could add a Wolf Priest to your Battle Leader. Fearless, more power weapon attacks etc... But as I look through the codex I was shocked by how little can actaully outflank. Before I opened the book, I was sure Landspeeders or bikes or at least Fenrisain Wolf Packs could outflank, but nope.

    Ok, per the FAQ, your Battle leader could join the wolf scouts and outflank with them also, so you could have a wolf priest with saga of the hunter join one group and a WGBL with SotH join the other along with the regular Wolf Guard Leaders.

    Although it is not directly stated, since Infiltrate and Scout are not conferred on units that are joined by IC's with either of the USRs, and those are the two USRs that give the ability to outflank, it is fair to assume that you cannot give outflank to a unit by attaching a WGBL with SotH.

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    1. Hey Spyrle, some interesting thoughts about using a Wolf Priest instead as my HQ, that certainly would add a little more punch.

      The slight problem with your other points is that you can't give a Saga more than once in an army, so I'd have to drop the WGBL to be able to have a Priest with SotH. I may give it a go anyway as it might be more effective in the long run anyway.

      As to the conferral of Scout/Infiltrate, if you check the USR section in the rule book you'll see it has a * next to it which means that it is one of those rules that is lost if either a squad/IC is attached to an IC/squad that doesn't have the rule, so its only worth attaching an IC with SotH to a Scout squad anyway.

      Thanks for the comments, I'll definitely be having a go with a Priest at some point soon.

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    2. Yeah, I knew you couldn't have two WGBL's with the same saga, but I thought its was of for a priest and wgbl to have it. I was obviously wrong.

      Yeah, that's what i read about scout/infiltarte, but...Saga of the hunter grants outflank, not scout or infiltrate, so since it acts like them, we have to assume it has the same restriction. I just wish they would have clarified it. I don't try to use it with a regular squad and have them outflank, but I wonder if it was a tool that I'm ignoring.

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    3. It is a difficult one and of course GWs FAQs never answer the really necessary questions satisfactorily. On a second reading of things, I realise that I can't use it on a Character on a Thunderwolf Mount as it confers the unit type Cavalry, and SotH is for Infantry only.

      I guess I'll have to confine this list to the bin - d'Oh!

      Delete
  2. I like seeing all of those scouts out there, maybe some army pics? I can't really comment on the list itself, but those scout models are just too cool and getting as many out there as possible is always cool.

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    1. Cheers Mik. I'll have to admit, I am cheating a little, using a mixture of my Wulfen models (which form my usual 5 man scout squad) and a squad of old metal Blood Claws to form the squads of scouts at the moment as I don't have enough scout models for 2 full 10 man squads. I'm going to be checking for some of the old metal Space Wolf scouts soon as I'm really enjoying using them at the moment though.

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  3. I'd suggest adding a wolf priest to each scout blob, more cost effective than a WGBL and adds reroll ability

    I'd also consider swapping those Razors for Drop pods, and get in your opponents face ASAP.

    to that end, I'd be looking to take some MM/HF speeders too, but not sure where I'd get the points from. - I might be tempoted to drop the LF's, I know most people consider them and auto include. but WG with PF/CM along with each 6 GH's in a pod and you're still taking out armour.

    it's a more risky set up, either a very quick win or a equally quick "oops", but then I'm not a WAAC player, I like that element of risk :)

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    1. I like those ideas, a lot. As above though, I'd only be able to have 1 Priest attached to the Scouts due to the Saga restrictions. There isn't even an IC with SotH who could take the second slot.

      I just had a quick look at a list, 2x10 Scout squads with WG, 3x8 Grey Hunters with WG in Drop Pods and 2x3 HF/MM Land Speeders comes to 1540 points, I'm sure something like that could be massaged into a useable list, even at 1500pts if you dropped a couple of Land Speeders and Scouts to give room for an HQ. It would certainly be a risky army to play as you'd be dropping 20 Grey Hunters in to face a whole army and hoping the rest of your force turned up pretty quickly unless you use Scout moves instead of the Behind Enemy Lines.

      I'll have to give it some thought though.

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  4. Looks like a real fun list, I love using Logan to free up Wolf Guard as Troops and then taking three units of Scouts :D

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    Replies
    1. Now that is a great idea!

      I can just see a list with Logan, Wolf Guard, plenty of Grey Hunters and 30 Scouts. As I've just said to Spyrle, I've realised that my list isn't valid anyway as Thunderwolf Mounts make a character Cavalry, and SotH is for Infantry only, so perhaps I'll be running with something like you mention soon.

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