10 Week Challenge - Week 2: 99 Problems

Jason Zed

So, this week I'm facing off against Graham's million man march with my MSU Rhino Rush. Now, this is the first time in a long time where I've known exactly what I'll be facing before a game so let's use the knowledge to think through a few tactics.


First things first, killing 99 Space Marines is not an easy task. Hence, I'm not going to do it. However, I am going to try and take advantage of the Space Wolves' most glaring weakness - Leadership. Basic Ld 8 on Grey Hunters makes a big difference compared with normal Marines Ld 9 and Chaos Space Marines Ld 10. How am I going to use this information to my advantage? Tank Shock! With a lot of troops on foot, it's possible that I'll be able to Tank Shock 2 or maybe even 3 units. The lack of Melta in the GH squads mean that I don't even have to worry about Death or Glory attacks back.

I also need to try and take advantage of space and mobility. With nearly 100 miniatures to put down, Graham will have to spread out. This gives me the opportunity to deploy in a refused flank style and prevent him bringing too many men to bear at the same time. With my 6 Rhinos, I should be able to out-maneuver Graham's foot based troops.

However, those Rhinos aren't going to last long with 3 packs of Long Fangs around so I really need to do something about them. Hopefully, I can deploy in such a way that all three packs don't have good fire lanes. Then, I can try and use my "alpha striking" Drop Pod to block off their LoS even more. If they have to spend a turn shooting my Drop Pod, it's a turn that they're not shooting everything else. Meanwhile, they'll be target number 1 for my BEL Wolf Scouts.

I'm also got some Wolfy tips and tricks to use. My Choosers of the Slain will be able to prevent Graham's Scouts from Infiltrating too close (although they could then BEL which is a whole different kettle of fish compared to 2 Melta shots at Rhinos) I'm also going to try and cast Murderous Hurricane on the lead unit of Grey Hunters as early as possible. Not so much for the potential kills from Dangerous Terrain tests but just to slow them down and hence, slow everything else down behind them as well.

One final thought, and it's one I had while thinking about Frag Missiles probably being more useful that Krak in this match up as Graham's troops will be clumped up so I should hit a lot of them with each missile and even if a missile misses, it should still hit something. Now, this is quite a risky thought - Drop Podding the Rune Priest who has Jaws of the World Wolf. Normally, Jaws isn't that hot against MEQ armies but if they're all lined up then the potential for lots of initiative tests would be difficult to ignore.

I think this is going to be a tough game, especially if it ends up being Kill Points. At least we might get an answer to Mick's question.

Hordes are one of the things Wolves don't deal with that well. A Marine horde is even tougher. All hints & advice greatly received...

10 Week Challenge - Week 1: After Action Review

Gav celebrates his win in Week 1

Well, that went remarkable well. When the worst thing that happens in a game is that your squad don't get wiped out by a Dreadnought so that you can shoot it to death you know you've had a good one. Usually in these articles I'd be beating myself up about small tactical mistakes but I'm actually feeling pretty good about myself and here's why

Deployment

I'm usually rubbish at deployment. However, I seemed to have an epiphany last week where I actually thought about where all of my vehicles were going to move in the first 2 turns. Normally, I'd stick my Rune Priest Rhinos at the front so that I can shoot unimpeded out of the top hatch. This time I realised that if I stuck them behind two of my suicide Melta Rhinos then not only could they not be blown up if I had the initiative seized but I be able to move the two front vehicles out of the way on turn 1 and still be able to shoot with the Priests. I did all of the simple things right - set up pretty centrally opposite from the enemy Objective and didn't spread my army too thinly. I was able to have a vanguard of three Rhinos backed up with shooting from the Rune Priests and Long Fangs while the other Rhino protected by right flank.

The one thing I didn't think about was the Space Marine Scouts. In the end I was out of charge range because they couldn't roll a 5 on their assault through cover. Obviously, I didn't know that they would be outflanking when I deployed but I should have given it some consideration.

Attack Vectors

This is the thing I really love about this army. The Wolf Scouts and the turn 1 mini alpha strike from the Drop Pod, backed up by 3/4 Rhinos of disposable guys means that I will have something in my opponent's face by turn 2 at the latest. The fact that Dave had to turn his Terminators around to take care of the 1st squad of Scouts meant that they never had a chance of getting near my Objective.

Small Squads

I was a little unsure about these and, in many ways, I still am. However, I do love the 5-man squads who sit with the Priests since I feel that I can have them sit on an Objective all game without thinking that they're a huge point-sink that I should really be sending at the enemy.

Focus Fire

As I've said before, a useful mantra is "Play the Mission"  and for once I actually lived up to this Golden Rule. Usually, with my Long Fangs, I'd be quite haphazard with my shooting. In this game I decided early on that I was going to focus my fire on one Tactical Squad until it was destroyed and then I'd start on the second. With 14 Missiles per turn, I knew I could do enough damage to both squads so that my Scouts could finish them off in assault. Plus, I knew that if I concentrated on them then I couldn't lose the game since they were never going to be able to get to my Objective in sufficient strength to hold it.

Army List

One final point, more about Dave than myself. We arranged the game pretty late and I only informed him that it would be 1750 points after we got to Warhammer World. I assumed that he'd used the same list he used the other week against Keith but instead he took his tried and tested 1500 point list and added a Land Raider. This gave me a big juicy target for my Drop Pod Combi-Meltas. This meant that his Termies had very little impact in the game and I was able to ignore them for nearly all of the game. Normally, they Deep Strike in and that could have worked out much better for Dave. As it was, he had nothing that could really get anywhere near my Objective.

Is thinking about deployment cheating? Ever had a near-perfect game? Did you get the subtle Frankie Coccozza reference?

10 Week Challenge - Week 1: Battle Report Space Wolves vs Space Marines

Svengril Icefang sat in the center of the circle, the Wolf Guard all intently watching him. He cast the Runes and then he cast them again. He cast them for a third time and then looked up at the chosen troops of his Wolf Lord, Rangnar Blackmane. "The Runes have spoken. I see the enemy arrayed in their splendour and I see where and when we must strike them" The Wolf Guard nodded as one and left to make preparation for the coming battle.

This is a 1750 point battle report between my Space Wolves and Dave's Marines which comprised a Captain, 2 10-man Tactical Squads, a 5-Man Scout Squad, 5 TH/SS Terminators in a Land Raider, a Venerable Dreadnought, a Dreadnought and 3 Vindicators. We were playing Capture & Control with Pitched Battle deployment. Dave won the roll off but passed first turn to me.

Deployment

Turn 1

With an ear-splitting roar, the Space Wolf Drop Pod descended through the atmosphere, landing right in front of the Marine Land Raider. The 4 Wolf Guard stepped out ready to try and turn the vehicle into molten slag. At the front of the Space Wolf lines the two lead Rhinos headed forward at full speed before popping smoke. Behind them, the transports containing the Rune Priests moved forward as well, but slower so that their passengers could shoot out of the top hatch. The shooting began with one of the Rune Priests using Living Lightning to wreck the Venerable Dreadnought. The second Priest and the two Long Fang Packs both opened fire on the Tactical Squad in the ruins nearest to the Marine Objective but they made good use of cover and only two died. On the far side of the battlefield the Wolf Guard hit the Land Raider 4 times and caused 3 penetrating hits, one of which caused the vehicle to explode. The 5 Terminators emerged from the wreckage looking very unimpressed.

In reply, most of the Space Marine remained stationery so that they could fire their heavy weapons. The only exceptions being the Dreadnought who moved to get a shot around cover and the Terminators who prepared to gain some revenge for the destruction of their vehicle. A Lascannon shot immobilised the Rhino on the Space Wolf right flank and an Assault Cannon shot meant that the leading left Rhino couldn't shoot but a combination of smoke and inaccuracy meant that the Demolisher shell and second Lascannon shot had no effect. The Terminators charged into the Wolf Guard and their Drop Pod transport, easily wiping out the 4 Space Wolves and causing the Pod to explode.


End of turn 1

Turn 2

The first pack of Wolf Scouts arrived on the Space Wolf right flank targeting one of the Vindicators behind the ruins. At the front of the Space Wolf column the Rhinos again moved at full speed before disgorging their occupants. On the right the pack got out of their immobilised vehicle, fearing a charge from the Terminators. One of the Grey Hunter packs targeted the Vindicator blowing off its Demolisher Cannon with a Meltagun shot. The second open fire at the Tactical Squad and along with the Long Fang packs managed to kill 7 Marines. The two Rune Priests turned their attention to the second Tactical Squad and managed to kill 2 more with Living Lightning. The Scouts charged in against the nearest Vindicator and managed to wreck it with Krak Grenades.

The Scouts victory would be shot lived however as the Terminators about turned to face them. Meanwhile on the Space Wolves' left flank the Space Marine Scouts arrived. The Captain left what was left of his squad and prepared to take on the nearest Grey Hunters while the Dreadnought moved around to take on the other squad. The surviving Tactical Marine managed to immobilised another Rhino with hit Lascannon while the Scouts were unable to harm the Long Fangs with their pistols. The Dreadnought killed the Wolf Guard attached to the Grey Hunter pack with its Assault Cannon and then charged into melee. The Space Marine Captain did likewise against the other disembarked squad of Grey Hunters as did the Terminators against the Wolf Scouts. However, the Marine Scouts were just short with their attempted assault through cover against the Long Fangs. The Dreadnought killed a Grey Hunter but the combat remained locked. The Captain merrily cut down Grey Hunters and managed to finish the squad off as he caught them in a sweeping advance. The Terminators also easily wiped out the Scouts for the loss of a single man.



End of turn 2

 
Turn 3

The second Wolf Scout pack turn up at the back of the Space Marine line. The squad in the third vanguard Rhino disembarked ready to try and take on the Space Marine Captain. Behind them, one of the Long Fang packs split their fire, killing 2 Scouts and the final Tactical Marine. The other pack, the 2 Priests and the Wolf Scouts opened fire at the Tactical Squad killing 2 Marines. The Grey Hunters in the centre opened fire at the Captain but couldn't wound him at all. He smiled as he planed to cut them down. The Wolf Scouts charged in, killing 2 Tactical Marines but losing 2 of their own number leaving the combat deadlocked. The Dreadnought killed another Grey Hunter but they managed to Stun the walker, leaving that combat locked as well.

The two remaining Vindicators were both on the move. The weaponless one rammed the immobilised Rhino, destroying the Rhino's Storm Bolter in the process. The other moved to get a shot at the Grey Hunters who had failed to kill the Captain. Meanwhile, the Terminators began their long march toward enemy lines. The Vindicator lined up its shot but it managed to deviate and catch the Captain as well as three Grey Hunters. 2 of the Space Wolves died and they made a tactical withdrawal and the Captain was instantly killed by the force of the blast, his Iron Halo not saving him this time. At the rear of the Space Wolf lines, the Scouts charged into the Long Fangs. The veteran Wolves killed two Scouts but lost one of their number in return and the combat stayed locked. The Dreadnought killed another Grey Hunter but they stayed in combat. The Wolf Scouts killed 2 more Tactical Marines for the loss of another Scout but that combat remained locked as well.

End of turn 3

Turn 4

On the Space Wolf right the Grey Hunter back disembarked again and prepared to fire at the Terminators. Unfortunately they were unable to get through the combination of Storm Shields and Tactical Dreadnought armour. In the centre the unengaged Long Fang Pack blew up the Vindicator that had killed its own Captain in the previous turn. In combat, the Long Fangs killed the Scout Sergeant before he could swing with his Power Fist and the Wolf Scouts finished off the Tactical Squad. The Dreadnought killed 2 more Grey Hunters, leaving just one, who remained steadfast and would not leave the combat.

The remaining Vindicator, having performed a successful ram, tried to do it again but couldn't build up the speed and so caused no damage. The Thunder Hammer Terminators charged into the impetuous Grey Hunters and killed 2 for no loss but couldn't sweeping advance when they fled from combat. The Dreadnought was unable to finish off the last Grey Hunter as he ducked under the swing of his Dreadnought close combat weapon.



End of turn 4

Turn 5

The Grey Hunters who had been sent scurrying by the Vindicator blast earlier took the opportunity to claim the Space Wolf Objective. Meanwhile the left Long Fang Pack fired into the rear of the Vindicator, blowing it up. The other pack and the Rune Priest who could see, fired at the Terminators, killing one and forcing them to flee. The Dreadnought once again failed to finish off the last Grey Hunter.

The Terminators sensing the end was near charged into the immobilised Rhino, wrecking it. Meanwhile the Dreadnought could still not kill the last Grey Hunter.


End of turn 5

He woke up from a nightmare of a metal monster towering over him, his pack brother dead at its feet. Even though he had been genetically altered to feel no fear, he could feel the cold sweat on his skin. And that was the thing; it wasn't from fear, it was from shame. The thing had badly injured him before it had fled the battlefield but he had lived where the rest of his pack had died. Erik the Red, the company's Wolf Priest had tended to his wounds and had praised his bravery for standing up to it alone. And yet, he still felt shame. The battle had been won with ease. And yet, he still felt shame. The chapter's skalds had sang his saga, about how close he had come to besting it in combat. And yet, he still felt shame. His closest friends were now in the Halls of Russ, where they would fight with the Allfather at the end of time. There was only one thing to do - he would have to petition Lord Blackmane for the chance to avenge his dead brothers. He would have to become a Lone Wolf...

10 Week Challenge - Week 0.5: Tactics

Punderful

This post is just intended as a bit of a mind-dump of thoughts I've been having around my new list, especially with regard to the Wolf Guard. These are all just generalisations rather than hard and fast rules - a jumping off point that can change depending on opponent/mission.

Kill Points

Split off all of the Wolf Guard and then Deep Strike the Drop Pod somewhere out of the way in order to try and deny KPs. Obviously subject to change if there is an enemy vehicle that must die.

Single Rock list

eg Land Raider with TH/SS Terminators or anything that is difficult to take out at range with Missile Launchers such as Obliterators or Leman Russes.

Keep 3/4 Combi-Melta Wolf Guard in the Drop Pod and Deep Strike into Melta range to (hopefully) take out the threat. The best thing with this is that even if you don't blow up the vehicle, the Drop Pod is still sat right in front of it so it has to waste a turn of movement going around it.

There are some shades of grey with this though - for example what about Predators? They're a pain to take out at long range (with this list) but would it be worth suiciding the WG just to take one out? Would it be better to drop the two Cyclone Missile Launchers in about 48" away to get side shots?

Shooty lists

For gunline armies the Wolf Scouts will go BEL with the 2 Power Fist WG to walk on and take out as much as possible.

Assaulty lists

For these, I'm thinking about infiltrating the Scouts and using them as roadblock. Whether they get a Powerfist or just a Combi-Melta guy would be dependent on exactly what's coming their way.

BEL

Actually, speaking of BEL, would there be any mileage in putting the CMLs with the Wolf Scout packs? Then if they came on the "wrong" board edge, they'd still have some ranged shooting.

Flexibility

Argh! My head hurts and I've barely even started! I think my list might have too many deployment options. I've never been great at deployment so I'm hoping that having to think about it more will make me better (that's a "glass half full" line if I ever saw one) 

I guess that the big question will be, "is there something that absolutely must be stopped on Turn 1?" If so, get podding and try and kill it otherwise deploy normally.

Even writing this conclusion, I've started thinking about Drop Podding in CMLs for Dawn of War(!) At least we'll see how the list fares with its first outing tomorrow. Until then, does anyone have any tips?

10 Week Challenge - Week 0: The List

A week's a long time in politics

Go Small or Go Home

I've been thinking a lot lately about running small squads. I've also been bemoaning the lack of tactical flexibility of larger squads.  So, for the next 10 games, I'm going to stick with an MSU Rhino list...

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


Elites
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun
10 Wolf Guard, 2 Terminator Armour, 2 Cyclone Missile Launchers, 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

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

All of that comes to 1600 points. Now, there was a time where I'd take two Multimelta/Heavy Flamer Land Speeders and 10 points of wargear and call it good for 1750. However, my question would be; what would I use the Speeders for? Blocking and suicide Melta. Well, I already have that in spades. Instead, what I want to do is leverage the flexibility of the Wolf Guard.

So, normally, the Combi-Melta/Power Fist guys go with the Scouts and either go behind enemy lines or infiltrate. The Combi-Melta guys go with the Grey Hunters and the CMLs each go with a Long Fang pack. However, if I give their pack a Drop Pod, I have the option to drop in a 3/4-man Melta-cide unit on Turn 1 or a 4 Krak Missile firing unit for side armour fun. In fact it gives a lot of potential deployment options.

Well, that leaves 115 points to play with.

I could stick 5 Power Fists and a Wolf Claw on the Wolf Guard to make them better in combat but that takes away their throwaway nature in the list. Similarly, I don't want to give Mark of the Wulfen to the GH packs. I could add in a Wolf Priest or a Wolf Guard Battle Leader to give some counter-attacking punch or I could take some Thunderwolves for the same effect (if I had any!) A shooty Predator is also an option as it would give some much needed anti-infantry firepower (although getting LOS around 6 Rhino hulls could be an issue)

However, there are two options that come to exactly 115 points:

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Wolf Tail Talisman
5 Long Fangs, 4 Missile Launchers

I've always been loath to take a third Long Fang pack as I've always found it hard to find good fire-lanes for two units. Also, with 6 Rhinos in front, it could be very easy to block your own shooting. So, for now, I'll go with the 2 Rune Priests but I think the switch for the third Long Fang pack could be the first tweak after the 10 weeks is up.

So then, the list in full:

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

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

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 Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers

So, there we have it - the list for my next 10 games. Stay tuned to see how it gets on...

10 Week Challenge - Week 1: Step 1

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a game in last week, so I am yet to test out my new list. In the meantime, I thought I talk about why I've set myself the "10 week challenge" to stick with an army list for 10 games.

Firstly, I'm not a very good Warhammer 40,000 player. Yes, I probably win as many games as I lose but most of that is down to the resilience of the Space Wolves. So, how do I get better? Well, I'm going to take a tip from David Brailsford. He is Great Britain's cycling performance director and he speaks of the aggregation of small gains. That is, instead of making big improvements, you make lots of small improvements.

What does that have to do with me and my 10 week programme? Well, by keeping the list the same, I can focus on the areas where I struggle, namely Objective placement, Deployment and movement in the first turns - what in chess would be called the opening.

I also want to take this opportunity to finally decide what kind of player I am. Now, broadly there are two kinds - proactive and reactive. I intend to do a more in depth post about this in the future but for now I shall just say, I feel like more of a reactive player.

Step 1 - Objectives

We always talk at work about the 70/20/10 model. Now, I think it will be hard to get the 10% formal training but fortunately, there has been a post his week which I would consider to be role model. Dash makes some really good points but the thing I think the thing I took away is that there really isn't any had and fast rules. You need to know how your army behaves (which I get from sticking with it for 10 weeks) and you need to have an idea how your opponent's army behaves (broadly - fast, slow, do they need cover or not?)

Are you proactive or reactive? Do you have any hard and fast rules when it comes to Objective placement?

10 Week Challenge - Week 1: The List

The other day I set myself a challenge to pick an army list and stick with it for 10 games. I was pretty happy with the core that I posted there and there were some really good comments as to where to go next. Brad and Andy really described the dichotomy I was having with the hobby (probably caused by swallowing that dictionary) - if I'm paying good money to enter tournaments then I want to do as well as I can but I also want to include some units that might be considered to be "sub-optimal" I also like Bryce's army which only had three scoring units but had lots of "killy" things to back them up. I was very tempted to borrow Mick's Thunderwolves and run something similar and I have to admit the only thing that stopped me was the fact that all 3 missions at Open War are Objective missions and part of the point of this challenge is to prepare for that tournament.

Enough talking, let's get down to the nitty gritty of the list...

HQ

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

Elites

4 Wolf Guard, 4 Combi-Meltas, 4 Power Fists
5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen
Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield

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  
5 Grey Hunters, Flamer, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun
5 Grey Hunters, Flamer, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun 

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


As you can see I went for a mix of the effective (Razorbacks) and "fun" (Lone Wolf, Scouts) Will it work? I'm not sure, for example I still have reservations about the Lone Wolf running around all game failing to catch anything. Would a real tournament player take such random things as Scouts and MotW? Well, I'm locked in to use this bad boy for my next 10 games so we'll see how we get on...

What do you think of my initial list? Will it last the 10 weeks or will it get battered so badly in the first 2 that I start making changes? Can any list really be effective yet truly different?