Update - ETC Space Wolves & Grey Knights

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been exceptionally busy. First working full time is a drag and having responsibilities afterwards has left me with very little time on the computer. This mixed with visiting the GF for a week has left very little hobby time so appologies for that.

So, the UKGT isn’t too far ahead (It's on Saturday! lol Ed.). I have to send in my list tomorrow so much deliberation has been made into what I will take. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to bring, and only recently have I decided on what I am taking. This could mainly be because I have about 2 weeks to get the army ready (not going to happen) and the deadline for lists is tomorrow.



Now the one thing which spurred me to my decision was a recent invitation. This invitation is fairly uncommon and certainly came unexpected. Every must have heard about the national tournament, the ETC. If not, it is basically one of the largest 40k & Fantasy events in the world, held at different countries every year where teams from countries around the world come over to compete for the title of European Champions (quite controversial seeing as there are non-European countries now competing so may as well call it World Champions). To some, the event is poorly ran and have stupid rules (no special characters, although expected to change next year). To others, its one of the most prestigious tourney in the world. Whether people like the rule set or agree with the system, it is safe to say it is one of the largest tourneys in the world, if perhaps the hardest. It is a team event, something which is rarely seen in the tourney circuit. It does not take into consideration one player’s capability or skill, but the whole team. Taking the very best of your country and strong army builds is only 1 of the stages to winning. This mixed with only being able to take 1 army per codex makes for hard choices, and match ups which may help or not help your players win their games. I won’t go into too much detail but either way, with over 800 players in 1 hall it tends to be rather big.

So what has that to do with my choice in an army? Well I have the luxurious opportunity to represent England in the championships. This was something I have always been ambitious about. I only found out the existence of the ETC this time last year, and I straight away put my name down for consideration. Over the past year I have met some great players from the England, Wales & Scotland squads.
All of them have been fantastic players and great chaps to boot, who could ask for more? I was fairly sure that my chances to join were slim after the England captain decided to play. Reason for this was I applied as the Space wolf player, and Alex West (captain) plays Wolves himself. After a chat with him, I decided to drop out and let Alex play as it would have been fairly pointless for him to travel to this years event (held in Switzerland) only to watch over his team play games.

Recently I found out Alex West had to drop out due to real life commitments, and so the captaincy was passed on to a great player, Josh Roberts. I was then promptly contacted to replace Alex as England’s Wolf player. I was certainly shocked but at the same time overwhelmed with joy to be offered the position.

I promptly accepted, as to me this was possibly a once in a lifetime position.

This makes me the England Wolf player...awsome! So I decided it would be a good chance to test out a wolf list at the GT this week ( even though I may have a lot of multi-coloured marines being borrowed left right & centre, it should be good lol).

I spoke with the captian, and he was happy for me to take something of an MSU based list with a few changes. One being the drop of Wolf scouts. This was because the armies I was to be put up against weren't necessarily gun line lists, so I needed to write a list which could hold its own midfield. We ended up with this:

Rune priest: 110pts
Chooser, Living lightning, Jaws.

Lone Wolf: 85pts
Chainfist & storm shield.

Lone Wolf: 85pts
Chainfist & storm shield.

5 Wolf Guard: 195pts
2 Power fists & combi meltas.
2 combi meltas.
1 termie armour & cyclone.

7 Grey Hunters: 160pts
Meltagun, banner, Rhino with dozer blades.

7 Grey Hunters: 160pts
Meltagun, banner, Rhino with dozer blades.

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun, Las plas razorback.

5 Grey Hunters: 155pts
Meltagun, Las plas razorback.

5 Grey Hunters: 75pts
Flamer.

6 Long Fangs: 215pts
5 Rockets, Las plas razorback

6 Long Fangs: 215pts
5 Rockets, Las plas razorback

6 Long Fangs: 140pts
5 Rockets

Total: 1750pts.

Pretty shooty and plenty of punch to boot. I am really happy with this list, and although its still open to debate, I can only see one or two possible changes. So thats where I am on the GT & ETC front. What about my next army? Well as some of you know, I have shown a huge interest in grey Knights. Their codex is promising and I love the models and fluff, so to hell with it, I'm will be one of the band wagon jumpers.

I played around with Vassal, playing a few different pts ranges and playtesting a few different variations of a core list I have made. So far I have enjoyed it and it has been pumping out good results. One thing I want from this army is a large punch, which is something my previous guard & wolves lacked. I see a lot of MSU lists around and it bores me. I want to go for something solid yet effective, and I have. To the disbelief of many people, I have tried out Land raiders & Storm ravens to transport a deadly cargo around the board. This has questioned a lot of players, but after seeing it's use and the way I play my army, it has been churning out some great success.

After much deliberation, here is my 1750pt list of Grey Knights:

Grand master: 220pts
Psych & Rad grenades. 2 Servo Skulls. MC Nemesis Force sword.

10 Purifiers: 300pts
2 Psycannons, 5 Halberds, 1 MC Hammer. Psy-bolts

10 Grey Knights: 295pts
2 Psycannons, Hammer, Psy-bolts. Rhino with Dozer blades.

10 Grey Knights: 295pts
2 Psycannons, Hammer, Psy-bolts. Rhino with Dozer blades.

Storm Raven: 235pts
Twin-linked Lascannon, Twin-linked Multi-melta & Sponsor Huricane Bolters.

Dreadnought: 135pts
2 Twin-Autocannons, Psy-bolts.

Dreadnought: 135pts
2 Twin-Autocannons, Psy-bolts.

Dreadnought: 135pts
2 Twin-Autocannons, Psy-bolts.

1750pts

Why the Hurricane bolters? I had 30pts spare and had no idea where to put it + Gives me the option in using the raven as a Gunboat which is nice. I could drop 1 servo skull for 2 extra halberds on the purifiers but no big deal.

So how does it work you ask? Pretty simple. If I am going second against a fairly shooty army, I can use the Grand masters nifty ability and give my Rhino squads outflank. Storm raven goes reserve and turboe’s midfield. If I’m going 1st, rhinos move forward and the raven gets in my opponents face. Its pretty simple, yet effective. Purifiers have proven their worth, killing Logan and an entire unit of 10 in combat before they could even hit me (rolled a 2 with the psych grenades so i auto-hit which was awesome).

The army is only sporting 10 Killpoints which is something I also like. The raven attracts a lot of firepower which tends to mean my psy-fleman tend to be left alone so keep shooting most of the game. Squads of 10 arn’t easy to get rid of either which is something I’m loving at the moment instead of boring 5 man MSu units.

Objective missions, my Grand master can make the Purifiers scoring, so I potentially have 30 scoring bodies, which I feel is plenty in a 1750 list. I really enjoy using the list as well as it’s fairly compact and manouverable with only a few hulls floating around. I’m not too bothered about the low saturation, as once I’m midfield; I am where I want to be. The Masters abilities can also help me such as scouting the rhino scouts up 12 before the game starts, or outflank them. This alone is huge and means I rarely have the need to use the Rhinos more than once.

Upping this list to 2k is fairly simple. I add another Grey knight squad in Rhino, drop the dozer blades & the hurricane bolters. Haven't thought about 1500 yet, but I personally wont be playing GK's at lower than 1750. They just can't get what they need to become efficient at low pt levels.

If anyone fancies a vassal game, email me on alexflyf@hotmail.co.uk and we can arrange a time.

Killswitch