Something Changed

(Two Pulp references in a week!)

With my first tournament over, I find myself asking the same questions as Michael: Where next? I've got four weeks until my next one which is the Freebootaz Open held at Maelstrom. Now, last time I was up there they had some fantastic boards full of LoS blocking terrain and even though they've had a refurb, I expect it to still be pretty similar. Hence, a lot of my long range firepower loses its usefulness. I also want to learn the lessons from Open War as I tweak my list. I also want to put something together that will work well moving forward beyond the next tournament. So, this list has clearly has three objectives (chocolate, a toy AND a surprise!)

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf

So, the biggest difference here is going with an extra Priest. I think that from the middle of November we'll see a lot of Dark Eldar flying around and getting 2D6 S7 shots at infinite range with BS5 is bound to be a winner. It's my understanding that the new DE Codex has a piece of wargear that makes you subtract 12" from your range when shooting at their vehicles. Well, as a mathematician I can confirm that Infinity - 12 is still Infinity. I've also brought back my favourite power - Murderous Hurricane. No-one likes Dangerous Terrain tests least of all dedicated assault units.

Elites

7 Wolf Guard, 5 with Combi-Melta, Power Weapon, 2 with Combi-Melta

These guys are the response to my leadership issues that I had at Open War. The two without the Power Weapons go with the Rune Priests' squads and the other 5 go with the other squads.

6 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun

Lone Wolf, Chainfist, Storm Shield

Troops

7 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

7 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin-Linked Lascannon

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin-Linked Lascannon

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

With the Heavy Support section going I felt that I needed to keep the Razorbacks in to supply mobile firepower. Every unit has a Power Weapon courtesy of the Wolf Guard so they're potentially a threat in combat.

Fast Attack

Land Speeder, Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

With there not being much room to drive around especially for the bigger vehicles, being able to block really comes into its own.

The big difference with this list compared to my old one is the flexibility. For example I can keep this one totally in reserve if the opponent and mission dictate it. Is this army as good as my current one? I'm not sure. I think that my current one would easily outshoot this one. However, with some judicious use of Smoke Launchers I think that I can get this list into midfield (especially at Maelstrom) and once it's there it will be pretty hard to shift. I want to test this list but I'm already thinking about potential changes, namely dropping the Scouts and Lone Wolf for a pair of Predators which I could put at the head of my mechanised assault giving mobile AV13 cover.