The Howl of Brothers - 1850 List idea

Brothers, today I bring to you an idea that requires the aid of our brothers from other chapters. Today I request that you keep your mind open to the idea of asking for assistance from those outside of the pack and keep your mind open to those who follow much more closely to the Codex Astartes than we have deemed necessary. Today we call in the aid of those who do not draw their power from Fenris but from much more unnatural sources.

                I present to you the idea of requesting the aid of Sevrin Loth and a retinue of his Centurions and Tactical Marines. Sevrin is a powerful Librarian capable of many feats that defy the rationality of men and has been a great boon to the Imperium of Man for many years. I have witnessed him turn entire squads of Terminators and Centurions invisible before my very eyes and have also witnessed him shrug off Lascannon and Demolisher shell fire as if it were merely shots from a crude stubber. Nothing takes an enemy off their guard quite like being suppressed with gravitational fields from an invisible source. We request that Sevrin bring a full detachment of Devastator Centurions armed with Grav-cannon and Grav-amp weaponry to crush the enemies of mankind. Of course, while Magister Loth is our brother in arms, we will of course post a Rune Priest of considerable power to accompany him and his men into combat, lest the powers of the warp become too great for the Magister to deal with and the assistances of our Priest are necessary. May the Priest’s presence guide the group’s shots truly to their intended target.

·         Sevrin Loth

·         6 Centurions

o   Grav-cannon and Grav-Amp

o   Omniscope

·         Rune Priest Level 2

All-in-all this setup will require us to spend ~750-760 points of our army; what we get out of it though is a nice bubble of Deny the Witch, Invisibility, Prescience, and an obscene amount of shots from the squad. What we must do is add another leader to our group and troops.

Space Marine Allies 

·         5 Red Scorpions Tactical Marines w/ Apothocary

o   Meltagun

o   Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

Space Wolves 

·         Ulrik the Slayer 

·         5 Bloodclaws

o   Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

·         5 Bloodclaws

o   Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

·         5 Bloodclaws

o   Stormwolf Gunship w/ 2 Twin-Linked Multimelta 

·         Sicaran Battle Tank

o   Lascannon Sponsons

o   Ceramite Shielding

o   Schism of Mars

               

This setup of units is capable of pumping out 6 strength 6 and strength 7 twin-linked shots each turn for light tank hunting and the clearing of units and also provides 8 objective secured units. The Stormwolf pulls double duty as an objective holder and mobile weapons platform for flyer hunting. Not much will survive the storm of melta and lascannon shots provided by the Stormwolf. This list avoids the traditional drop pod tactics and assault variants that many Space Wolf players are accustomed to. The hail of devastating fire that is twin-linked is almost to the point of ridiculous, and if you have your units close to Ulrik’s Razorback then they also are treated to his Preferred Enemy aura, which makes the force just that much more devastating.

           So go forth brothers and howl at the lamentation of our foes, for when brothers work together and fight the foes of man in unison then there is little in the universe that can stand up to our fury. Till next time brothers and, as always: For Russ, for the Allfather, for the Wolftime.

Tactica - Stormfang Gunship

This edition of the Space Wolves Codex brings to us, brothers, a gift from above. No, seriously, it comes from above. We were given the gift of flight by the Iron Priests, no doubt inspired by Russ himself and the All-Father, to bring death to our foes from the skies. The two aircraft that were bequeathed to us are the Stormfang Gunship and the Stormwolf Transport. Today we will begin talking about the tactics of the Stormfang Gunship and its uses on the battlefield.

                To me there are mainly only two ways to take the Stormfang Gunship: tank hunting and headhunting. The first use, tank hunting, will require the replacement of the ship’s hunter-killer missiles and heavy bolters in favor of twin-linked Lascannons and twin-linked Multimeltas. I affectionately call this variant the Lightning Bolt Pattern as it will fry almost any vehicle quickly and efficiently upon its arrival to the tabletop. Coming in at little over a Land Raider’s cost, the Lightning Bolt Pattern Stormfang is capable of destroying tanks with its twin Mulitmeltas and Lascannon while the use of the Helfrost Destructor can be reserved for clearing out hordes or attacking monstrous creatures. It is a simple variant, but highly efficient at its job. I have yet to be unhappy with adding one to my list as the fire power that it brings to the field is deadly to a wide variety of enemy models. Even if you are fighting an opponent who utilizes large groups of models, the Stormfang is still capable of laying down large blast templates with good strength and ap which have the Helfrost rule. The second variant, which I have dubbed the Hail Storm Pattern, takes no upgrades save for the possible replacement of the Stormstrike Missiles for the twin-linked Lascannon. I feel like this pattern, while having 6 strength 5 shots, is far inferior to the Lightning Bolt Pattern simply because it is outclassed in its role not only by the other Stormfang but also by other units in general. Why take a Hail Storm Pattern when you could take a group of Thunderwolf Cavalry to take out hordes? But, if you need the air support it will do alright at killing ground units with its large blast template and 6 twin-linked strength 5 shots; I feel that if I could replace the Stormstrike Missiles with even a twin-linked Autocannon or another twin-linked Heavy Bolter I would consider this a semi-competitive threat for horde hunting, but as it stands your points are better invested in the Lightning Bolt Pattern.

                Interesting to note about the Stormfang is it has a transport capacity of 6. While this seems like it is too low to be of any concern at first glance, there is one unit that screams “take me” when considering transported units: Iron Priest and Servitors. The Iron Priest and Servitors can be taken to give the Stormfang a pseudo It Will Not Die that is near obscene. For an additional 105 points you can have hull points repaired, weapons repaired, or repair an immobilized result on your Stormfang. This creates a highly defensive and offensive vehicle that is hard to take down unless the enemy has a high number of their own fliers brought to the table or has an abundance of Skyfire units to take it down.

                All-in-all I highly enjoy the Stormfang Gunship and have yet to regret bringing one to the battlefield. When it enters the tabletop I have always had something blown up with its sheer weight of fire and it can consistently place wounds on some of the game’s toughest and most elusive foes. I will later post an idea that I have for the use of a flier-heavy army for your perusal brothers. Till next time brothers and, as always: For Russ, for the Allfather, for the Wolftime.

List Idea - 1850 Dreadnoughts revisited (Champions of Fenris)

 

HQ – Bjorn the Fell Handed with Helfrost Cannon 

                Drop Pod 

Elite – Murderfang 

                Drop Pod 

Elite – Venerable Dreadnought with Blizzard Shield and Fenrisian Great Axe 

                Drop Pod 

Elite – Venerable Dreadnought with Blizzard Shield and Fenrisian Great Axe

                Drop Pod 

Elite – Contemptor Dreadnought with Chain Fist, 2 Heavy Flamers, Mark of the Black Cull 

Heavy Support – Sicaran Battle Tank with Lascannon Sponsons, Ceramite Shielding, Schism of Mars

Heavy Support – Stormfang Gunship with 2 Twin-linked Multimeltas and Twin-linked Lascannon 

Fast Attack – Drop Pod 

Fast Attack – 6 Thunderwolf Cavalry with 2 Power Fists, Power Maul/Sword, 2 Storm Shields

I apologize brothers for the lack of communication; the warp works in mysterious ways and I have just been able to get back to my creation of data slates to benefit the chapter. I bring to you today, my valued brothers of the fang and the sisters of battle, a new means of doing war that is an improvement on the old list. Earlier last year I brought to you my ideas on a Dreadnought heavy list in which we employed our ancient tacticians and warriors to bring death to the foes of the Imperium of Man. Today I bring you a new version of this list.

                Led by none other than Bjorn the Fell Handed, this list sports 5 Dreadnoughts to annihilate the enemy’s army. All of the aforementioned Dreadnoughts are meant to crush the enemy in close combat by sporting either superior defenses (the shield brothers), superior assault capabilities (Murderfang), or a combination of the two (Bjorn and the Contemptor). To bring the mechanical behemoths into close combat, I have selected Drop Pods for each and every one of the Dreadnoughts, the contemptor’s having been purchased in the Fast Attack slot.

 Finally, our Dreadnoughts are supported by a Sicaran Battle Tank, Stormfang Gunship, and a pack of Thunderwolves. The Sicaran Battle Tank pulls double duty with its twin-linked accelerator autocannon that can rip light tanks apart and has a fair shot at downing enemy fliers while having more punch with its dual lascannon sponsons. The best part of this beast of a tank is with this loadout it is resistant to both Haywire and Melta attacks and has the Tank Hunter special rule, allowing it a better chance of demolishing enemy vehicles with its hard hitting lascannons and accurate autocannon shots. The Stormfang Gunship is capable of hunting vehicles (both grounded and flying), Monstrous Creatures (both grounded and flying), and elite troops with its loadout. The Thunderwolf Cavalry are a general purpose hole-puncher. With the combination of Fists, claws, and either a sword or mace depending on your choice of loadout, the group comes in at a whopping 34 attacks on the charge, 10 of which are strength 10 AP 2, and 6 hammer of wrath attacks all while having an improved weapon skill stat due to the Champions of Fenris supplement that we are using for the list. The only question at that point is whether you will bring the sword or the maul to the fight. Swords are able to destroy TEC more efficiently while the maul will place wounds easier across the board and has an easier time removing hull points from vehicles.

This is a simple yet effect list against many opponents, but as with anything can be improved upon. If you have any ideas on how to improve on this list leave me some comments below. If you have an idea of what will work better for the Fang’s war efforts also leave me a comment below and it will be the next list in the making. Till next time brothers and, as always : For Russ, for the Allfather, for the Wolftime.