Employed!!!

I now have a job...

Unfortunately this has somewhat sidetracked my plan to restart blogging in the same way that the effort involved in getting the job has sidetracked it for the last two weeks.....I now have a two week intensive training program to undergo that will take up all my spare time for that period so my grand plans have to be put on hold...again...

At least I'll be able to buy cool stuff now.....

Warhammer Forge Newsletter #24

Those guys at Forge World have been spending time on stuff that isn't 40K again.....

Warhammer Forge Newsletter #24

02/03/12

	Hi there, We have two fantastic new releases in this week’s newsletter: the savage and brutal Skin Wolves and the rather more quirky Arcane Frogs. We’re also excited to announce the first details of the Forge World Open Day which will be held at Warhammer World on Sunday 1st April. Skin Wolves Many are the dark and nightmarish horrors that the Ruinous Powers have visited upon the world, yet few are as strange as the Skin Wolves of legend. The witch-curs’d and Chaos-tainted men and women afflicted with this gift from their unholy gods bear a mutation that does not show as a stigmata of the flesh, but instead lurks in the blood, a slumbering beast to be roused by dark sacrifice and unspeakable ritual. When this horror is unleashed, there is no mere transformation from man into beast; instead a great humanoid wolf-thing bursts fully-formed from the body of the human. Lean and half-insane with Chaos-tainted hunger, the Skin Wolf is so-named for the scraps and tatters of flesh and chunks of gristle that cling to its hulking frame; all that remains of the human form it once bore. Only once battle is spent and their voracious hunger sated will the transformation be reversed, the flesh of the Skin Wolf collapsing into a pallid and terrible mass from which the human must tear itself free. The Skin Wolves set, designed by Keith Robertson, contains three multi-part resin models, each packed with amazing detail and dynamically posed. This kit is available to pre-order now for despatch from Friday 30th March. A set of experimental rules that allow the Skin Wolves to be used alongside any Warhammer army in Storm of Magic games can be downloaded now, taken from the forthcoming Monstrous Arcanum book. Arcane Frogs The physical effect of a Storm of Magic on the Warhammer world is most often visible in the great Arcane Fulcrums that rear from the earth, drawn forth by the howling gales of sorcerous power. Controlling and channelling such unimaginable energy is not without its risks however, and if it goes awry dramatic and sudden transformations can occur, leaving once-mighty spell casters no more than bloated amphibians atop their eldritch perches. The Arcane Frogs set comprises two whimsical and detailed resin miniatures, designed by Mark Bedford and Thais Mariblanca Lopez. Each bears a suspicious resemblance to the mighty spell caster they once were, and are suitable for use with any Warhammer army, or even as Chaos Familiars or similar creatures. This set is available to pre-order now for despatch from Friday 30th March. Forge World Events News: Forge World Open Day, 1st April, Warhammer World, Nottingham Sunday 1st April will see us abandon our top-secret Manufactorum for our annual Open Day. This year’s event is even bigger and better than ever, as we will be taking over not only the Gaming Hall for our Sales stands, but also the Staff Restaurant for our Studio displays You can now download a map of the event from the Forge World Events page to guide you around the Open Day, and we’ll be bringing you even more information about the event in future newsletters. Today though, we can reveal a few details about our Studio and Sales areas. The entirety of the Forge World and Warhammer Forge model design teams will be present throughout the day, and each designer will be showcasing their recent work as well as future releases and work-in-progress models that have never before been seen. You’ll be able to chat to all our designers about the process of creating such detailed kits, how they are painted and maybe even get a few hints about future projects as well! The Book Production team of writers, artists and graphic designers will also be on hand, with lavish displays of the full-colour artwork that graces the pages of an Imperial Armour or Warhammer Forge book. Rumour has it that you’ll even be able to see first-hand the work and skill that goes into producing our artwork. The writing team will undoubtedly be showcasing proof copies of future books as well as the febrile scribblings that form the basis of each storyline. Who knows what dark hints will be dropped about projects as yet unannounced? As well as our Studio team, many of our detailed display boards will be set up for you to take a look at, including those built for the Doom of Mymeara, and Raid on Kastorel-Novem Imperial Armour books. We also intend to run a ‘Studio Café’ Q&A session in the afternoon in which a panel of key members of the team will take your questions (and maybe even answer them too!). Our Sales stand will be packed with a huge selection of resin kits, books and modelling supplies, including some pre-release kits that will be announced in future newsletters, and as always the Open Day will be the first chance to purchase our 2012 Event Only models. We’ve designed a Warhammer Forge and a Forge World model once again, and while we can’t tell you what they are just yet, suffice to say that we are very excited about them! We are now accepting reservation orders for the Forge World Open Day, which is the best way to ensure we have the exact product you want, packed up and waiting for you at the event. As with all our UK shows, Open Day reservation orders are pre-paid to make the collection process quicker and easier, leaving you with more time to enjoy the rest of the event Please telephone the Customer Service team on 0115 900 4995 to place a reservation order. We will require your name, contact telephone number and e-mail address along with the list of products you wish to reserve, and you will need your card details to hand. We’ll process the payment while you are on the phone, and in the week before the event you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail containing your order number. This is your proof of payment, and you must bring this e-mail with you to claim your order. The Open Day runs from 10am to 4pm and all of Warhammer World’s facilities will be available throughout the day, including Bugman’s Bar for breakfast, lunch, and refreshments. The event is free to attend, no pre-registration or booking is required, and we look forward to seeing you there! Thanks, Ead Brown Customer Service Manager Forge World     Forge World  Games Workshop Ltd Willow Road, Lenton  Nottingham, NG7 2WS Registered in England & Wales Company Registration Number 01467092   Phone: 0115 916 8177  Fax: 0115 900 4882  Web site: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/  Copyright © Games Workshop Limited 2000-2012. Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo, GW, Forge World, the Forge World logo, Warhammer, the Warhammer logo, Warhammer 40,000, the Warhammer 40,000 logo, the Aquila logo, 40K, Citadel, the Citadel Device, and all associated marks, logos, names, places, characters, creatures, races and race insignia, illustrations and images are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2012, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All Rights Reserved.

E-Mail In : Cavalry List.

E-Mail In :

GMort.

As Games Workshop has finally decided to release some Thunderwolf and Fenrisian Wolf models I've decided to do a pure Cavalry Space Wolf List. Any chance of some help?

I'm looking at 2000 points and I want at least 3 units of Thunderwolves and 2 of the ordinary ones (units that is). I'm not looking for the most competitive thing ever I just want to use the models and not get (to use your term) kerb stomped every game.  

Any chance?

Reply :

I've covered this before but I can't find where so I'll give it a fresh look.

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder Cats Wolves.

Thunderwolf Cavalry are fairly resilient to small arms fire but like any middle toughness unit can be torrented to death. They're fast so if you want them in amongst your enemy then they can be there fairly quickly which has the added advantage of avoiding that pesky hail of gunfire I mentioned a moment ago. They're going to be a magnet for heavy weapons which may lead you to the temptation to give them an invulnerable save via Storm Shields but that gets expensive as an 'across the board' upgrade. My advice would be to keep them relatively cheap, add the odd upgrade here and there for 'wound allocation' trickery and just shove them down your enemies throat....

Bullet Shields Fenrisian Wolves.

Low leadership and lack of armour is a bad combination on a unit you want to stay in the fight. I personally see Fenrisian Wolves as a fast moving cover save for the rest of your army that the survival of can be considered a bonus rather than a necessity. Even with Canis they can't hold objectives so you'll still need Grey Hunters which (I'm sure I've mentioned before) makes 'pure' cavalry as good as impossible (If you want to win games at least). As they only become 'Troops' in conjunction with Canis Wolfborn, each unit of Fenrisian Wolves equals one less unit of Thunderwolves. Therefore Canis is going to be essential if you want quantities of both.

Other Riders.
Several standard HQ choices can take Thunderwolf mounts and there's Canis to consider as well in addition to the fact that Iron Priests can take them as well.

Space Wolf HQ's on Thunderwolf mounts get expensive but considering how much damage they can do that's understandable. Chaos players would happily exchange their own crappy HQ choices for the Space Wolves ones in a heartbeat which is probably why the Space Wolf codex is most often the first choice for 'counts-as' with Chaos players.....but I digress.....

Canis is worth considering (and for most builds of this type is essential) if your taking a lot of Fenrisian Wolves as the boosts to their Leadership and Initiative are nice to have and he's fairly handy in a scrap himself. If your going to be taking Iron Priests with Cyber Wolves he'll obviously make those better as well...speaking of Iron Priests.....

An Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf really needs ablative wounds in the form of Cyberwolves as otherwise he's not going to last very long. This also gives you some more scary fast moving targets for your opponent to worry about and it also happens to come with a Thunderhammer and a Servo-Arm ;-)

Lets look at some options then,

HQ's.
If were using three units of Thunderwolves and Fenrisian Wolves then were going to have to take Canis. You can take a 2nd Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf Mount if you wish (and a 3rd and 4th if you like but that might be considered both a points sink and a bit of overkill). Canis's options are limited to a couple of extra wolves, The Wolf Lord is a tad more complicated though.....

As a minimum we need the Wolf Lord (obviously) and his ride (equally obviously) which comes to 145 points. A 'Belt of Russ' for the 4+ invulnerable save is definitely worth 25 points.

Saga's are a debatable point...I like Saga of the Warrior Born for the potential extra attacks as I think that Saga of the Bear (The one that gives you Eternal Warrior) can be done without once you've got the base T5 from the mount but others prefer the piece of mind that comes from having the Eternal Warrior rule. The only other that I'd consider is Saga of the Beastslayer for the useful re-rolls against MC's walkers and other tough bastards you might encounter.

As for your weapon options your (as usual) spoilt for choice. You already have Strength 5 Rending from being on a mount. You lose the Rending if you upgrade to a 'special' weapon of some kind but that's a reasonable sacrifice if you pick the right weapon.

I'm going to use Canis on his own and save the points I would have spent on an additional HQ choice to buy more puppies but I thought I'd list your other options in case you have a different core idea in your head.

Iron Priests.
An Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf Mount with four ablative Cyber Wolves comes to 155 points. A Wolftooth Necklace for the 'always hits on 3's' bonus is worth considering for 10 points.

Fenrisian Wolves.
Fenrisian Wolves cost 8 points each and the only upgrade available isn't worth bothering with. Take as many as you need (5 and 15 are the minimum and maximum). I tend to end up with them in 12's for no particular reason that I can think of currently.....

Thunderwolf Cavalry.
The core of a Thunderwolf Cavalry list, lol. I'd take them in 4's and I'd upgrade three of them so I can be one of those bastards who takes advantage of the 'wound allocation' rules that seem to bother large portions of the internet. I'd go with,

1 Thunderwolf  Cavalry with Mark of the Wulfen,
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry with Melta Bombs,
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry,
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry with Power Fist.

Which comes to 235 points. If you don't approve of such things or just deem them unnecessary then just keep the Power Fist and spend the other 10 points wherever you like.

Troops.
You need scoring units. Take 2 10 man units of Grey Hunters with 2 special weapons. They don't particularly need a transport in a build like this but you can give them  one if you really want.

There now follows a warning for competitive gamers.

Couldn't find an appropriate warning sign....

Thunderwolf Cavalry lists are a gimmick army. You'll steam-roll over some armies, die hideously to others and calling your army balanced will make people laugh their arses off.....but.....you'll probably have a lot of fun and sometimes that's the point ;-)

If you want to run them competitively take a Rune Priest HQ, 5 Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta's, 5 Units of Grey Hunters with a Meltagun in a Rhino (attach Wolf Guard to these), support with 3 units of Missile Launcher Long Fangs and spend the rest of the points on two tooled-up units of Thunderwolf Cavalry to fist-fuck the enemy with.

Where were we...Oh yes...
Now I've got that off my chest here's the lot from the themed bit of this post put into a list.

'Themed' ThunderCav List.

HQ.
Canis Wolfborn (185), Fenrisian Wolves x2 (+20)   (205)

ELITES.
Iron Priest (50), Thunderwolf Mount (+45), Cyberwolves x4 (+60)   (155)
Iron Priest (50), Thunderwolf Mount (+45), Cyberwolves x4 (+60)   (155)
Iron Priest (50), Thunderwolf Mount (+45), Cyberwolves x4 (+60)   (155)

TROOPS.
Grey Hunters x10 (150), Meltaguns x2 (+20)   (170)
Grey Hunters x10 (150), Meltaguns x2 (+20)   (170)
Fenrisian Wolves x15 (120)
Fenrisian Wolves x10 (80)
Fenrisian Wolves x10 (80)

FAST ATTACK.
Thunderwolf Cavalry x4 (200), Mark of the Wulfen (+5), Melta-bomb(+5), Power-Fist (+25)   (235)
Thunderwolf Cavalry x4 (200), Mark of the Wulfen (+5), Melta-bomb(+5), Power-Fist (+25)   (235)
Thunderwolf Cavalry x4 (200), Mark of the Wulfen (+5), Melta-bomb(+5), Power-Fist (+25)   (235)

TOTAL - 1995


It will be fun enough but if you really want to beat face then I'd use a version of the 'competitive' bit I mention just before the list. It is.....what it is.....

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome