Back In Grey

My lucky 40K outfit

Andy and I had a game last night and, despite the blog still being gripped with 'nid fever, I brought out the Space Wolves. Now, it's been a while since I played at 1750 points but Andy want to playtest his Open War list. I was running late so by the time I rocked up at Warhammer World I didn't actually have a list ready so I had to write one on the bar:

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

Elites
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen
8 Wolf Guard, 6 Combi-Meltas, 5 Power Fists, 1 Terminator Armour, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher

Troops
8 Grey Hunters, Mark of the Wulfen, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Rhino, Hunter Killer Missile 
8 Grey Hunters, Mark of the Wulfen, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Rhino, Hunter Killer Missile
8 Grey Hunters, Mark of the Wulfen, Meltagun, Wolf Standard, Rhino
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun

Fast Attack
Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

Heavy Support
6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers


Problem 1 - Writing lists in the pub

Now, this is by no means a bad list but as I was writing it I got it up to 1699 points very easily. To fill in the remaining, I took MotW on the Scout packs and the two Hunter Killer Missiles. Of course, I then went and promptly forgot all about the HKMs and only remembered that one of the Scouts had MotW when I was bringing on the second squad and the first was long since dead (killed in assault by a 5-man Tactical Squad - MotW would have been very useful there)

I've harped on before about knowing your lists inside out and yet I've been tinkering again. I really need to settle on a 1750 point list so that I can just pull it out o my case and know exactly what it does without having to think about it every game.

Problem 2 - Big Squads

I've talked before about the possibility of taking smaller squads instead of these big ones. I was thinking about it again as Andy's Land Raider Redeemer was rumbling towards me. I would have had no problem sending a 6-man squad as a suicide Melta unit against it. However, I was a bit loath to risk 9 guys. Especially 9 tooled-up guys.


AV13 is a PITA

Andy was running his Dreads 'n' Preads list last night and those Predators are an absolute pain to deal with. Normally Krak Missiles are the answer to all of your armour troubles but I was really struggling to even scratch Andy's Preads.

I do really like Andy's army concept though, it really plays to the strengths of the Marine codex - I'm going to sit here and shoot you. I'm not a huge fan of the TFC although I know that Andy loves it and I don't really think that the Land Raider fits in. Personally, I think that the TH/SS Terminators would work better as a counter-assault unit. Then you've got 250 points to spend on something else. Maybe more shooting? Land Speeder Typhoons for example.

Good game, good game

We did have a really good game though, a proper back-and-forth struggle. I was on top for the first couple of turns and then Andy took the lead before I edged ahead near the end. My Scouts did really well; having that second unit makes them less of a gamble. Andy's Scouts even did pretty well, tying up my 5-man Grey Hunter unit for 3 full turns. My Long Fangs were a bit underwhelming tho. Andy had first turn and he reaped a terrible toll on my heavy weapon guys (the lack of terrain in my deployment area didn't really help) After that, I didn't really have the quantity of firepower to match Andy in a table-wide gun duel.