Space Wolves (Again)

Adopting one of the ideas from my 'Foot' list, I thought the following might be interesting.

2000 Pts - Space Wolves Roster

HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (1#, 135 pts)

1 Rune Priest in Power Armour @ 135 pts (Chooser of the Slain; Wolf Tail Talisman; Wolftooth Necklace; Living Lightning; Tempest's Wrath; Saga of the Beastslayer)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (4#, 144 pts)

1 Wolf Guard Pack @ 144 pts (Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Razorback)

3 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (5#, 187 pts)

1 Wolf Guard Pack @ 187 pts (Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Razorback)

1 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Melta Bombs; Combi-Meltagun x1; Wolf Claw x1)

3 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Elite: Wolf Scouts Pack (5#, 85 pts)

5 Wolf Scouts Pack @ 85 pts (Meltagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 150 pts)

5 Grey Hunters Pack @ 150 pts (Flamer; Razorback)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 100 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 100 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Typhoon Missile Launcher x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 100 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 100 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Typhoon Missile Launcher x1)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (7#, 215 pts)

5 Long Fangs Pack @ 215 pts (Missile Launcher x5; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (7#, 215 pts)

5 Long Fangs Pack @ 215 pts (Missile Launcher x5; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (7#, 215 pts)

5 Long Fangs Pack @ 215 pts (Missile Launcher x5; Razorback)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Total Roster Cost: 1996

As in the foot list, the Wolf Guard with Wolf Claw and Combi-Meltagun joins the Wolf Scouts unit. The remaining Wolf Guard and the other unit act as suicide Melta units if necessary.

Everything else just shoots the crap out of you.

9 Lascannons/Plasmaguns, 19 Missiles and an additional D6 S7 Living Lightning shots from the Rune Priest.

Not sure how much fun it would be to use though...

Space Wolves on Foot - Another Look.

I still think a Space Wolves foot list is viable. Having thought about it a bit more I think this is something like how I'd do it.

2000 Pts - Space Wolves on foot Ver 2.0

HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (1#, 120 pts)

1 Rune Priest in Power Armour @ 120 pts (Chooser of the Slain; Living Lightning; Tempest's Wrath; Saga of the Beastslayer)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (7#, 291 pts)

1 Wolf Guard Pack @ 291 pts (Wolf Guard in Power Armour; Wolf Guard in Power Armour)

5 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Melta Bombs; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1)

2 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Combi-Meltagun x1; Wolf Claw x1)

Elite: Wolf Scouts Pack (5#, 85 pts)

5 Wolf Scouts Pack @ 85 pts (Meltagun)

Elite: Wolf Scouts Pack (5#, 85 pts)

5 Wolf Scouts Pack @ 85 pts (Meltagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (10#, 185 pts)

9 Grey Hunters Pack @ 185 pts (Mark of the Wulfen; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Meltagun)

1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (10#, 185 pts)

9 Grey Hunters Pack @ 185 pts (Mark of the Wulfen; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Meltagun)

1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (10#, 185 pts)

9 Grey Hunters Pack @ 185 pts (Mark of the Wulfen; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Meltagun)

1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (10#, 185 pts)

9 Grey Hunters Pack @ 185 pts (Mark of the Wulfen; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Meltagun)

1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (10#, 185 pts)

9 Grey Hunters Pack @ 185 pts (Mark of the Wulfen; Meltagun; Power Weapon; Meltagun)

1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen

Fast Attack: Fenrisian Wolf Pack (9#, 72 pts)

9 Fenrisian Wolf Pack @ 72 pts

Fast Attack: Fenrisian Wolf Pack (9#, 72 pts)

9 Fenrisian Wolf Pack @ 72 pts

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (5#, 115 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 115 pts (Missile Launcher x4)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (5#, 115 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 115 pts (Missile Launcher x4)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (5#, 115 pts)

4 Long Fangs Pack @ 115 pts (Missile Launcher x4)

1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

Total Roster Cost: 1995

101 bodies of various types, 73 of which are power armoured.

14 melta weapons, 12 Missiles and a shit-load of Boltguns.

The 2 Combi-Melta+Wolf Claw equipped Wolf Guard go with a Wolf Scouts unit each and annoy gun lines when they turn up right behind them.

The other Wolf Guard join a unit of Grey Hunters each.

The Fenrisian Wolves act as a moving cover save for the turn they survive, lol.

The Long Fangs do what they do, lol.

5th ed. may be the era of mech but I still have hope that there's some variety out there somewhere if we look hard enough ;-)

2nd Company Project - Colour Coordination...

Nothings ever bloody simple is it?

I base coloured one of my Vindicators today, All was going well until I compared it to one of the 'originals'.

Apparently the 'Night Reapers' were a lot more cheerful 4 years ago and used a much brighter Metallic Blue paint-job on their vehicles...

Looks like I'm going to have to dull down the colours on the original batch of vehicles I painted all those years ago. Though now I've looked at the quality of the painting on them and how poorly done the chaos markings were, I'm going to see if I can cover the old colour completely with the new one and start from scratch.

Just the thought that I've taken vehicles that badly painted to tournaments is slightly embarrassing in retrospect :-(

Well I've convinced myself it needs doing now, so I suppose I best get on with it...One down, five to go...

2nd Company Project - Ironclads

I figured that the most boring part of this project was going to be applying the base colour to everything. I therefore have decided to get it out of the way first...

The observant amongst you will notice that I only have enough arms for five of them. There was a very good reason for this but it seems a bit silly now...

Time to mix another pot of metallic blue paint and brace myself ready for the Vindicator pile ;-)

2nd Company Project and Other Distractions.

So, I had assembled a few bitz and pieces that were awaiting an undercoat of Chaos Black followed by a dry-brush of 'Night Reapers' blue ;-)

3 Veteran Devastator Squads 'Count-as' Long Fangs,

3 Lone Wolves that are actually going to be part of 3rd Company but that had the good fortune to be sitting on my painting tray,

I haven't decided how much of my Tech-Marine will be in the traditional red colour so I've just given him a dry-brush all over and I'll paint over any parts I don't want in chapter colours in whatever shade of red I finally decide on,

Huron as 'Vulkan' seems to have been in the wars since I last dug him out and his spear arm has managed to both fall off and break. I'm not sure I liked the original that I made anyway,

It seems that I'd started to paint him anyway so he might not take as long as I thought he might. His cloak* actually looks better than I remembered so that bit will be staying.

* Which you can't seen in the picture which is a shame as It's the bit with the most painting done, lol.

In addition, what would a Space Marine Chapter be without a fleet of ships to get it to places so it can get shit done,

Most of these have been bought cheaply 2nd hand and re-painted, which explains the odd selection of vessels. Since I'm only making their fleet for my own satisfaction then I don't suppose it matters how much of it is a 'legal' list. In fact I suppose the random nature of the vessel selection is only to be expected with a bunch of renegades...

Tomorrow evening will be spent completing the rest of the basic details on the Long Fangs and maybe a bit of work on 'Vulkan' if I have any time left.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Guest Appearances...

I was asked to do a few articles for the House of Paincakes Blog network the first of which can be found here. In case your too lazy to scroll to the bottom of the links here's a short cut to the Blog Network.

If you have a blog of your own it's definitely worth signing up to as it has a much more flexible policy on swear words than the others...Also the guest articles are usually quite entertaining ;-)

A HUGE project.

I have as usual got too many projects on the go at the same time.

A list of some kind may illustrate my point.

1) Shooty Space Wolves

2) Space Marine Bikers

3) Ironclads

4) New Daemon List

5) Fellblade

6) Etc.

And on it goes.

What I need is some brilliant way of turning all those ideas into one easily managed project...

No, I couldn't work out a way either. I can however work out how to turn it into two projects.

One HUGE one and a smaller one.

The smaller one (relatively) will be my new Daemon list which I will endeavour to complete a bit of each week or Brent will start getting all twitchy, lol.

The larger of the two will go something like this,

As some of you who have been following the blog for a while may know I have a 'Renegade' Chapter of my own creation called 'The Night Reapers' who have a rather fetching metallic blue colour scheme. They've been (in no particular order) Chaos Space Marines, Space Marines, Space Wolves, Blood Angels and for a brief time Black Templars.

As a consequence I have a lot of models at various stages of production with a wide variety of equipment load-outs that started off as a Space Marine Battle Company* most of which have never quite made it as a finished army (to a good painting standard anyway).

* Which was by the way the best value box set Games Workshop have ever released and should be rushed back into production as soon as possible...please...pretty, please...with sugar on top...

As the background for my Chapter (which I really must get around to compiling and publishing one day) interprets the Codex Astartes rather flexibly I can cram a lot more things into a Battle Company than traditionally would be allowed by a bunch of namby pamby loyalists ;-)

The upshot of all that is that will be attempting over the next year to have built (if it isn't yet, as I have most of this already**), under-coated (some of it is, some of it isn't) and painted (painted well I mean, as some of my earlier stuff was average at best) the following,

** It's fortunate that my Girlfriend doesn't read my blog because this lot would have easily paid for that holiday I said we couldn't afford, lol.

'Night Reapers' 2nd Company

Command.

1x Captain (he will probably be the Huron as Vulkan conversion I never finished)

1x Lieutenant

1x Company Standard Bearer

1x 'Chosen' Command Squad

2x Rhinos, 2x Razorbacks, 1x Damocles Rhino, 1 Land Raider Prometheus

Command Support.

1x Chaplain (Maybe 2 if I ever find the other one I remember buying)

1x Chief Apothecary, 3x Apothecaries (My Sanguinary Priests are actually 3rd Company so may not be getting attention any time soon, lol.)

3x Techmarines and Servitors

2x Librarians (these will be a bit more 'sorcerer' than librarian in appearance)

4x Rhino's (1 for the Apothecary with an appropriate paint-job, the other 3 for the Techmarines)

Primary.

6x Tactical Squads

2x Assault Squads

2x Devastator Squads

8 Rhino's, 8 Razorbacks

Secondary.

4x Bike Squads

3x Veteran Devastator Squads (Long Fangs, obviously)

Vehicle Armoury.

1x Venerable Dreadnought

3x Dreadnoughts

6x Ironclad Dreadnoughts

6x Vindicators

3x Predator Destructor

3x Predator Annihilator

3x Whirlwinds

6x Landspeeder Tornado

6x Landspeeder Typhoon

3x Landspeeder Tempest

Air Support.

3x Hell Blade

1x Hell Talon (I don't have one of these yet but XMas is coming...hint,hint)

Superheavy Support

1x Fellblade

And I think that's it...

With that lot done I should never have to worry about whether I can field a particular list or not ever again...I hope.

I'd initially given myself 6 months for the project and then after checking just how much I had unpainted I doubled the time frame. If any Fluff Nazis feel like telling me that a Battle Company isn't configured that way then my answer is this...It's people like you that made us want to turn renegade in the first fucking place ;-)

Thoughts, Comments and queries about why they don't have any Thunderfire Cannons*** in their armoury are (as usual) most welcome****

***Except if they're really about Thunderfire Cannons, obviously.

****Don't ask about Drop Pods either!!!

New Daemon List

For those of you who browse other blogs and forums* the list in this post may come as no surprise as It's been discussed already here and then a bit more here.

* After checking mine first, obviously ;-)

A bit of background info.

Both me and Brent started Daemon armies at about the same time, though Brent went down the more 'shooty' path while I went down the 'Cavalry' path.

The list is here if your interested.

The Cavalry list of mine did pretty well at the time but as more and more people have 'meched-up' my lack of shooting has become a much greater issue.

Though I had the number of attacks to crack transports I was left having to endure another round of shooting (which incidentally Daemons aren't fond of due to their abysmal save) before I could get stuck in. Of course knowing that they were going to be charged anyway I inevitably got shot first and then charged by the unit I had just deprived of a transport as well as any other spare fire-power that they had available.

I was stuck in a rut of this chain of events.

1) Charge Vehicle

2) Vehicle explodes killing several of the things that had charged it.

3) The rest of my army is doing the same thing or has only just arrived from deep strike and therefore I have nothing spare to charge in with.

4) Unit inside shoots my unit and does a few more wounds (or a lot more if the have a Flamer type weapon)

5) If still able, transported unit charges what's left of my Daemons and deprives me of either some attacks (Fiends) or Furious Charge and some attacks (Flesh Hounds).

6) I'm now either tied up in combat or am forced to start back at stage 1 with a lot less guys.

In a vague attempt to keep to theme but actually kill vehicles more efficiently I added basic Daemon princes with no upgrades. They killed Dreadnoughts with remarkable efficiency but would struggle against anything that could move quickly and still shoot. With Imperial Guard players being far more common and both Blood Angels and Dark Eldar being able to move 12" and still fire at me the problem has increased in magnitude at a far greater rate than expected.

This particular game highlights the issues quite well.

I therefore have redesigned the list completely and have done so for the 2000 point mark.

2000 Pts - Chaos Daemons Roster

HQ: Herald of Tzeentch (1#, 95 pts)

1 Herald of Tzeentch @ 95 pts (Bolt of Tzeentch; Chariot of Tzeentch)

HQ: Herald of Tzeentch (1#, 95 pts)

1 Herald of Tzeentch @ 95 pts (Bolt of Tzeentch; Chariot of Tzeentch)

HQ: Herald of Tzeentch (1#, 95 pts)

1 Herald of Tzeentch @ 95 pts (Bolt of Tzeentch; Chariot of Tzeentch)

HQ: Herald of Tzeentch (1#, 95 pts)

1 Herald of Tzeentch @ 95 pts (Bolt of Tzeentch; Chariot of Tzeentch)

Elite: Fiends of Slaanesh (6#, 180 pts)

6 Fiends of Slaanesh @ 180 pts

Elite: Fiends of Slaanesh (6#, 180 pts)

6 Fiends of Slaanesh @ 180 pts

Elite: Fiends of Slaanesh (6#, 180 pts)

6 Fiends of Slaanesh @ 180 pts

Fast Attack: Flesh Hounds of Khorne (10#, 185 pts)

9 Flesh Hounds of Khorne @ 185 pts

1 Karanak, Hound of Vengeance

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (5#, 75 pts)

5 Plaguebearers of Nurgle @ 75 pts

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (5#, 75 pts)

5 Plaguebearers of Nurgle @ 75 pts

Troops: Bloodletters of Khorne (10#, 160 pts)

10 Bloodletters of Khorne @ 160 pts

Troops: Bloodletters of Khorne (10#, 160 pts)

10 Bloodletters of Khorne @ 160 pts

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 140 pts)

1 Daemon Prince of Chaos @ 140 pts (Mark of Tzeentch; Bolt of Tzeentch)

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 140 pts)

1 Daemon Prince of Chaos @ 140 pts (Mark of Tzeentch; Bolt of Tzeentch)

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 140 pts)

1 Daemon Prince of Chaos @ 140 pts (Mark of Tzeentch; Bolt of Tzeentch)

Total Roster Cost: 1995

I've also decided to split the waves more distinctly than before as in my previous list both halves were almost identical.

This time I think I'll be doing it like this.

Preferred Wave

Heralds x4, Bloodletters x2, Fleshhounds x1, Daemon Prince x1

2nd Wave

Plaguebearers x2, Daemon Princes x2, Fiends x3

Ideally this gives me 5 shooty units to de-mech the opposing army and 3 scary assault units to draw fire. The 2nd wave will reinforce objectives (Plaguebearers) and finish off survivors (Fiends).

If I get the wrong wave I can at least get a couple of shots from the Daemon Princes and position the Fiends for charges against vehicles like they had to in the old list, lol.

Modelling will be interesting as I really want to keep in theme.

Therefore I'll be sticking with my original plan of basing my Daemon Princes off Spawn.

How I do Heralds of Tzeentch and Bloodletters will take a bit more consideration however...

Thoughts, Comments and brilliant modelling ideas are (as usual) most welcome.

Thor Teaser Trailer

When I heard about this I was somewhat dubious...

However it doesn't actually look that bad...

Thunderhammer Vs. Lightning Claw - Part 3

So it's been theorised by Mike that the Lightning Claw Terminators are actually the best unit for killing Thunderhammer Terminators.

Lets see if he's right.

We'll take 5 man Terminator units. Each unit fully equipped with their weapon of preference. We'll also see if Furious Charge makes much of a difference.

We'll let the Lightning Claw guys have the charge first time around but no Furious Charge bonuses and we'll round off the dead to the nearest whole number.

Round 1

Lightning Claws charging.

Lightning Claw Terminators get 4 attacks each on the Charge.

20 attacks, 10 Hit, 5 Wound + 2.5 with re-rolls so 7.5 in total. After 3+ invulnerable saves that's 2.5 dead Terminators. We'll call that 3 dead then.

The two remaining Thunderhammer Terminators get 2 attacks each.

4 attacks, 2 Hit, 1.67 wound, 1.11 dead Lightning Claw guys after 5+ invulnerable saves. well have to call that 1 dead then.

An average roll will see them pass a Leadership test even at -2 so we'll presume they do.

Round 2

Lightning Claw Terminators going first, 4 guys left, 3 attacks each.

12 attacks, 6 hit, 3 wound + 1.5 from re-rolls is a total of 4.5. That's another 1.5 Dead Thunderhammers. Rounding up that's one dead unit of TH/SS with only 1 casualty in return.

I suppose we should see how much difference Furious Charge makes...

Round 1

Lightning Claws 'Furious' charging, so they'll be Initiative 5 and Strength 5 this time.

Lightning Claw Terminators get 4 attacks each on the Charge. The extra initiative is somewhat irrelevant as they were going first anyway.

20 attacks, 10 Hit, 6.67 Wound + 2.2 more with re-rolls so 8.87 in total. After 3+ invulnerable saves that's 2.96 dead Terminators. We'll call that 3 dead then.

The two remaining Thunderhammer Terminators get 2 attacks each.

4 attacks, 2 Hit, 1.67 wound, 1.11 dead Lightning Claw guys after 5+ invulnerable saves. well have to call that 1 dead then.

An average roll will see them pass a Leadership test even at -2 so we'll presume (like last time) they do.

Round 2

Round 2 is going to be the same as last time so we'll skip that. So it still takes 2 turns to do the job and the Lightning Claw casualties are exactly the same. Note though that first time round the 3 dead could easily have been 2 as we rounded up from dead in the middle (2.5) whereas with the benefit of Furious Charge it was a far more conclusive 2.96.

Lets rob the Lightning Claws of a few attacks and let the Thunderhammers have the charge.

Round 1

Thunderhammers charging.

Lightning Claw Terminators get 3 attacks (2 base, 1 for the 2nd Claw).

15 attacks, 7.5 Hit, 3.75 Wound + 1.88 with re-rolls so 5.63 in total. After 3+ invulnerable saves that's 1.88 dead Terminators. We'll call that 2 dead then.

The three remaining Thunderhammer Terminators get 3 attacks each.

9 attacks, 4.5 Hit, 3.75 wound, 2.5 dead Lightning Claw guys after 5+ invulnerable saves. we'll call that 3 dead then.

We'll presume Leadership tests are passed.

Round 2

Lightning Claw Terminators going first, 2 guys left, 3 attacks each.

6 attacks, 3 hit, 1.5 wound + 0.75 from re-rolls is a total of 2.25. That's another 0.75 Dead Thunderhammers. Rounding up that's one dead.

The two remaining Thunderhammer Terminators get 2 attacks each.

4 attacks, 2 Hit, 1.67 wound, 1.11 dead Lightning Claw guys after 5+ invulnerable saves.

Not going quite so well for the Wolverines this time is it?

Round 3

Lightning Claw Terminators going first, 1 guy left with 3 attacks.

3 attacks, 1.5 hit, 0.75 wound + 0.38 from re-rolls is a total of 1.13. That's another 0.38 Dead Thunderhammers after 3+ invulnerables which to the nearest whole number is I'm afraid...none.

The two remaining Thunderhammer Terminators get 2 attacks each.

4 attacks, 2 Hit, 1.67 wound, 1.11 dead Lightning Claw guys after 5+ invulnerable saves.

A win for the Thunderhammers!!!

In Conclusion.

So I'm afraid Mike was both right.....and wrong, lol.

Charging Lightning Claw Terminators either with or without Furious Charge beat the crap out of Thunderhammer Terminators in 2 rounds but don't exactly come out unscathed.

On the other hand if they don't get the charge then they're not going to have a fun day at all.

5th edition 40K, where the guy who goes first usually wins....

Thoughts, Comments and other mathematical input is (as usual) most welcome.