Wednesday 21 September 2011

Is less more?


I've been reading this over at YTTH and it's got me thinking about my Grey Hunter squads. Rather than running 3 fully tooled up squads, would I be better off running more, smaller squads. Now, I like the big squads because they're good in combat (note, that's good, not great) and they can do quite a bit of damage on the charge/counter-attack with Mark of the Wulfen and the Wolf Standard. Their size also makes them pretty durable. However, could this in fact be a weakness? There are a lot of units that I don't really want to get stuck in combat with because it would be more beneficial for me to lose the combat and then shoot the enemy unit with the rest of my army. In a way it's almost like I'm providing protection from shooting.

Well, let's see what 6 six man squads would look like at 1750...

HQ

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

Elites

5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
8 Wolf Guard, 8 Combi-Meltas, 2 Power Fists

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino

So, the Combi-Fists go with the Scouts who can then go BEL or can infiltrate as needed. The other 6 split off to join the Hunter squads. I've gone with Rhinos so they can deliver Melta death while staying in their vehicles.

Heavy Support

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

All that comes to 1474 and wouldn't actually be a bad 1500 point list. Normally at this point I'd take a couple of Land Speeders but I think with that many Rhino chassis and the Scouts I should be able to block things like Land Raiders. However, there's not a huge amount of long range firepower.Two things immediately spring to mind; Razorbacks and Cyclone Missile Launchers. Since I've already got 8 Wolf Guard, I could take two more and they could both have a CML. That would be 126 points leaving me with 150 to spend - exactly enough to Las/Plas Razorbacks for the Long Fangs. This gives me the option of splitting off the CMLs to go with the Fangs or they can drive on in their Razorbacks in Dawn Of War and I'll have a two man unit capable of moving and firing 4 Krak Missiles per turn.

List in full:


HQ

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

Elites

5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
10 Wolf Guard, 8 Combi-Meltas, 2 Power Fists, 2 Terminator Armour, 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Rhino

Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs, 5 Rocket Launchers, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun
6 Long Fangs, 5 Rocket Launchers, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun


I like the large number of units (especially scoring ones) which of course gives the option of targeting a lot of different enemy units. However, I do feel this list is full of relatively easy to claim Kill Points. Yes, I know, it's about how many you get rather than how many you lose but against certain builds, that mission is going to be a real uphill struggle. It's also completely lacking in any combat units (although I did rule out Thunderwolves as replacement for the Speeders purely on the grounds that the models still don't exist)

What do you think to this list and this concept in general? Is big beautiful or do you prefer small, yet perfectly formed?

2 comments:

  1. I have played with both and do like both large & smaller squads. Althought I will say that I do prefer even my small squads to have some kind of combat punch. Remember, steleks lists have Thunder wolves somewhere, so don't think that your Grey Hunter squads can mop up much without a fist or Wolf Claw. 1-2 Las/plas never really accomplish much, so I would suggest dropping them, giving your Grey Hunters Banners (60pts) and Wolf Claws(90pts) just so you have a solid base of anti-meq

    Like the list apart from that mate :) Very similar to my own current list.

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  2. I think that's the thing I don't quite get yet. I can see that it needs some kind of combat punch  but I don't want to spend too many points on the Grey Hunters since they're supposed to die if they get charged. Hmm, time to do some playtesting methinks...

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