All Mouth and No Trousers?

I was busy sticking my nose in and giving Graham some unasked for advice in this post, when I realised it would be incredibly hypocritical of me to do something different. The next Open War is in October time and since I've got no plans to enter any tournaments before then, now seems as good a time as any to start my preparation.

Today I'm going to talk about "the core" of the list and some possible options and then I'll finalise it in time for my next game and then we'll stick with it for a few games and see how we get on...

HQ

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

Elites

3 Wolf Guard, 3 Combi-Meltas, 3 Power Fists

Troops

8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino

Fast Attack

Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs, 5 Rocket Launchers
6 Long Fangs, 5 Rocket Launchers


Nothing really different there to a million other Space Wolf Lists. It clocks in at 1,214 points, leaving me with just over 500 to play with. Well, there are four-and-twenty million doors down lifes endless corridors, so lets open some of them...

HQ

A second Rune Priest. Now, I don't think you really NEED 2 at 1750 but it does give you another Living Lightning and greater coverage for psychic defence.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf. A nice counter charge unit that can either be left back to babysit the Long Fangs or sent forward. WGBL over Wolf Lord would merely be due to him being less points.

Elites

Wolf Scouts. As discussed on this blog previously, they can be a bit random but I like them as they bring something different to the army.

Wolf Guard. Gav at the club (the other Gav) runs 4 Wolf Guard with Combi-Meltas in a Drop Pod as a Turn 1 suicide unit. I quite like this as it's like having some long range anti-AV14 and even if you don't blow up whatever you were aiming for then it's still got to drive around your Drop Pod. Is it a liability in Kill Point games though? You've essentially given your opponent 2 free Kill Points.

Lone Wolves. Another unit I really like. These guys can be a PITA to kill but they're very slow since they're only on foot.

Dreadnoughts. I ran two "Rifleman" Dreads at the last Open War and I have to say they're brutally efficient.

Troops

Razorbacks. I'm a bit worried about the lack of long range low AP shooting. A couple of Las/Plas Razorbacks could really help out here. Plus, it's adding more scoring units which never hurts.

Fast Attack

Swift Claws. I tried them when the codex first came out but I could never really get them to work. However, I saw that Goatboy was experimenting with some and it piqued my interest again. I don't think my tactics were especially good with them last time either - Turn 1 - Turbo Boost. Turn 2 - try and get into combat.

Sky Claws. I saw a guy at the club running two units of these and it's yet another case of "monkey see, monkey do" Also seeing Dave use his Assault Marines quite successfully and seeing Darren running Storm Boyz makes me want to break out the Jump Packs. Plus it would give me an excuse to but the new Forge World Mk 5 Assault Marines.

Thunderwolves. Mick isn't using his anymore so I could potentially borrow those. I like the fact that they're a big target and people are scared of them which can allow the rest of your army a good couple of turns without being shot. Or I could go down the Stelek route and run a couple of single ones as counter attack units.

Speeders. A couple of Typhoons would add to my long range firepower.

Heavy Support

Long Fangs. Mick has gone down this route although the fact that they have to walk on in the first mission and the crazy L-shaped deployment in mission 2 could hamper them for Open War.

Tanks. Mo' mech is m' better. I always used to run a couple of Predators and I tried a double Vindi' list at the last Open War. However, I'd be worried that a single AV13 hull would attract the wrong sort of attention. However, with the Open War mission, mobile firepower is more useful than static firepower.


I know what "the internet" would say - 2 Las/Plas Razorbacks and 2 "Rifleman" Dreads (plus drop a Grey Hunter to make it fit) Now, that would be a really good army but I think it might be a bit boring. I'd much rather try and get in some Bikes or a couple of Lone Wolves. Well, I've got a couple of days to decide so lets see what I can come up with...

What would you add to the core to make it "competitive" yet "different"? Should I just go with the cookie cutter, hyper points-efficient list? Did you get the Oasis reference?