Monday 21 March 2011

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

18 comments:

  1. Congrats on the ETC bud!!! Hope u do us proud ;) Wolf List looks pretty solid nothing really to add there. Liking the GK list although the Dreads aren't very original they are just too good to pass up for their cost! Always loved the idea of GKs riding to battle in the Storm Ravens. Have you thought about 3? :p

    Yeh generally looks good to me bud but I'm sure a more "competitive" 40k player will be along in a bit to give some more in depth analysis (Please dont beat me Ven! :p)

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  2. Liking both lists KS.

    The scouts would clearly be the better choice for an "all comers" list - but I like the Lone Wolves for lists where you know what your getting, actually one of my favourite units in that book, I just think they are damn funky.

    As for the GK List - once again the scary thing of you coming up with very similar lists to my thoughts. I was originally going with GK Terms in the Stormraven but I figured 8 to 10 purifiers with a GM would be as effective, if not more so, and have a bit more diverse options. I think that list is v.strong - for some of the reasons you state - its very hard to shift imo, despite its low saturation, because it really doesnt need to get far, it has both a good midfield presence and combat punch.

    Good luck with EC brother, I am sure you will blitz it.

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  3. Hey Alex,
    Wolf list. Should this not have been in over 2 weeks ago? deadline was ages ago!

    Anyway, with regard to the ETC. Whats the thinking behind no scouts? small number of gunline guard and marines? shift in the more recent codices to a more mobile force that does not just hang in its DZ?

    Do you not feel they would be a good shout and they don't have to OBEL, they could infiltrate...spread out with meltabombs and go into blocking mode? just thoughts

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  4. Oh yeh haha oops ;) I sent in my list the other day when I was typing this up, forgot to edit it LOL!

    No scouts is because I feel I have enough anti-tank and need more mid-board control. The lone wolves are very useful in facing off any enemy and so far playtests have braught back some fairly solid results. The ETC tend to have a lot of wacky lists and some serious death stars and builds. Lone wolves tend to assist me in dealing with such lists.

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  5. i wonder if taking one dread with autocannon and a single cc weapon might not be a bad idea. it could tag along in the stormraven and multiassault certain targets if needed.

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  6. Andy I am thinking that - losing the 2 S8 shots is a hit - but with so few units on the table having the ability to be a bit more flexible is great - also having a big unit of purifiers + a DCCW will frighten hordes something rotten!

    I was working to 1500 with something like;

    GKM - Same setup

    8xPurifiers (lose the combat squad ability which is a hit, but really they will be in the SR and are the midfield / advancing unit, so I doubt I'd combat squad at 1500 all that much)

    10x GKSS + Rhino
    10x GKSS + Rhino

    StormRaven - No upgrades

    Dread w/ TLACx2 + Psybolts
    Dread w/ TLACx2 + Psybolts (or DCCW)

    So basically from the above list dropping a couple of purifiers, 1 dread, the hurricane bolters, and the "extra's" on the GKSS - most of this is off memory from the codex.

    Think at 1500 it has a bit of a sting.

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  7. Taking a bit of your advice and played 2 vassal games. The Ven dread was a bit of a shock to both players and did really well. Opened up transports and held up units left right n center. Also drew a lot of firepower to kill which left my purifiers rampaging through their armies.

    Purifiers and GM took a charge from 5 BA fnp termies with reclusiarch and bitch slapped them all with 1 loss lol.

    Grand master: 210pts
    Psych & Rad grenades. Blind Nades.

    Venerable Dread: 175pts
    Multimelta & DCCW.

    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: 205pts
    Twin-linked Lascannon, Twin-linked Multi-melta

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

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

    1750pts

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  8. glad to help, though i didnt consider making it venerable. nasty :) overall, that list looks great now.

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  9. Plan is pound forward, scout rhinos forward if i get a good roll for GM, if not make the purifiers scoring in objective mission. If going second against a shooty list, go reserve and hope for the best. KP missions so far have proven...fairly easy. Everything is a hard KP and needs to actually die cus of fortitude.

    The purifier deathstar is godly..even against mech bcus str 5 on rear is still decent & the hammer gives me a nice str 10 if I need.

    Meph may aswell cry when facing this list, as any death star type army. So far killed thunderlord with 5 thunderwolves in 1 round of combat, logan and buddies, meph, ba termies with reclusiarch and 8 TH/SS termies (killed 6 bfore they swung lol)

    Alex

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  10. I like the ven dread addition - that re-roll (on the damage table) + access to the multimelta off the storm raven is handy.

    I am really impressed by what I hear about the Purifiers, how are you using them, I am assuming I6 "power" weap's rather than the flame attack vs units with not that many models? How much are the grenades doing? Sounds like the gren's are swinging combats massivily.

    Had any problems with the storm raven? since you can garantee that gets scout, you know (except in DoW) it will be in the 30 to 36" region from the edge of your board - so pretty much a 1st turn charge unless the army repositions.

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  11. Raven can't be given Scout by a GM.

    Grats on the ETC thing Alex, and good luck...I won't denigrate the thread by reiterating my views on the system etc. :P

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  12. Thats crap. Alot of peeps over the blogosphere will be disappointed. How has this error come about? Its not just some of us that think it...

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  13. Is it not the unit that is sitting in the SR that is given scout and that is transposed onto the SR itself, or does that only work on Dedicated Transports?

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  14. dedicated only. as long as it works on dreadknights i don't mind :)

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  16. Its always been like that guys, states in the entry you can only scout Troops, jump troops, walkers and MC's :) I've never used it for my raven in play tests, you don't really need it. If you could, it would be ridiculously OP lol!

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  17. Ridiculously OP? A fast, scouting, av12 skimmer capable of carrying pretty lethal troops? I think Ive seen that one before somewhere...not sure about OP though... lol.

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  18. Yes IG can do it, but without lethal combat units like my death star :)!

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