Of Thunderwolves and Knights

It’s been awhile since I last posted.

I’ve been active, socially, but not competitively with both 40k and X – Wing.

I find that playing both games allows me to maintain my enthusiasm for both systems. Over the last year I’ve been so busy with developing my career and with developing my home that I’ve struggled to get up the will to post or to attend tournaments; I’ve been knackered.

I’m now finding that as certain responsibilities at work, certain plans, come to fruition that I am once again thinking more and more about competitive game play – whether it be 40k or X-Wing.

So let’s look at 40k – Caledonian  2014 was my last tournament – I placed OK,  16^th/17^th from 116, and won Best Sportsman/Most Sporting. A pretty good result and left me feeling pretty good with my 40k. But then I knew I had a break coming… and a break I have had.

I've been reinspired by 2 things - 1 the multiple boxes of Thunderwolves I got at Christmas and Cally 2015 - which I, of course, totally regret not getting a ticket for. To be honest, I've been too busy...but still.. it has a great buzz about it and it's the first time I've missed it in years.

It’s just been Caledonian 2015, congratulations to the winner – James Ramsey and to Nathan Roberts, ever the bridesmaid never the bride, in 2^nd place.. Congrats Rob Madeley in 4th a well.. Props to all the England ETC squad.

James’ list was an interesting one – on paper not looking that dangerous with the 3 x 5 Wraith units, deck chair Warrior units and then … 3 Focussed Death Ray pylons from FW. Interceptor and Skyfire, each Death Ray counting as hitting twice at 24”. Behind an aggressive defence line this is a PITA. A literal “no-fly” zone and forcing cagey play coming in from reserve with Flyrants, Demon Princes, Storm Ravens etc. A very decent shot at smashing Knights as well as deathstars. Interesting hey.. A meta-built list perhaps, but isn’t that we all do at tournaments if we want a shot?

Since I last played at competitive tournaments the game has moved on and evolved. Or rather, winning the game has evolved and the lists required to do so have. Beaststar is gone, O’vesa Star is gone, Seer Council is gone, Farsight Bomb is gone .. sad panda all round! Deathstars are still solid in the meta as long as they are mobile enough. Centstar with Gating Draigo for example is still popular, however not as much in the UK as in the US. Wolf Lords (thanks to the Champions of Fenris codex) and Iron Priests can be run very effectively as an ally to the already potent Space Marines, Blood Angels (Looked at Sanguinary Guard/Dante/FNP Priest + Wolves anyone?) or even the minimal use of the much maligned Dark Angels…

Something I like is (John Holland inspiration, credit where it is due, but an obvious list):

1850 Champions of Fenris with DA Allies

Wolf Lord, TWolf, Powerfist, Storm Shield, 2+ save, Fellclaw’s Teeth

Wolf Lord, TWolf, Powerfist, Storm Shield, 2+ save

Wolf Lord, TWolf, Powerfist, Storm Shield, 2+ save

Wolf Lord, TWolf, Powerfist, Storm Shield, 2+ save

4 x Thunder Priest – TWolf, T Hammer

Librarian – Level 2, Bike (Powerfield if the points are there)

Ravenwing Company Command, 2 additional knights, 5 Plasma Talons, Apothecary, Ravenwing Banner

5 Scouts – Bolters

This hits hard! Crazy number of S10 attacks on a highly mobile and durable platform that control the board and will always be charging Turn 2. A bevvy of 2+ saves and 3++ combined with FNP and potentially Invisibility or Shrouding from the Libbie makes for an utterly lethal unit.

This can break up at the end of the game (or to be honest after turn 3 or 4 when the damage is done) and go after maelstrom missions, or simply control the board to the extent that the opponent cannot get a maelstrom.

What are the flaws then?

No Ob Sec.

No anti-air

Knight vulnerability

Let’s deal with that. Ob Sec is not as much as issue here as this army has serious reach, speed and hitting power. The deathstar can very easily fragment into smaller components to quell whatever uprising the opponent has on an objective and can control the board through footprint.

Anit air is a big deal – look at the Cally 2015 lists and the internet and you will see that FMC Nids through Leviathan and Formations can create real problems. 7 Nid fliers is a pain in the arse as they’ll not likely be grounded and will vector strike and then dakka the shit out of the Deathstar. In your typical Nid list now, there is also very little to slaughter on the ground. Even though the plasma talons are twin linked, it’s still going to be very problematic to get a grounding ona an FMC. Even if the magic happens on the dice, that’s only 1 FMC per turn and there are simply not enough turns in the game!

Anti Knight – This deathstar has a stupid number of S10 hits in close combat. A ridiculous amount.. like 40! Hitting on 3’s. But the Knight gets to swing his big D Slapper and on that lucky roll…boom, the whole unit gets removed from the board by the frustration of ‘D’ Weapons. Joy.

So you can chance it? Smash the Knight and pray that the D doesn’t bend you over?

Yeah, viable enough.. But not reliable enough.

Chuck a load of plasma after having split the unit up entirely and then charge piecemeal with a calculated display of force to get the job done. If that’s not clear, I’m hoping to strip a hull point or 2 on the way in with the Black Knights, then charge one or two Wolf Lords or 2 or 3 Thunder Priests in as separate units.

Not great choices and against an Adamantium Lance list.. the prospects are not great.

So how to we deal with these issues?

Perhaps this Total Deathstar is not …the.. Total Deathstar.

 

If we move over to Space Marines, we can get in Scout through Khan (expensive but similar enough to the Libbie), then change to a SM Command Biker unit with Grav for greater range.

We could even dilute the Wolf Death star element of the list by chucking in SM Bike Troops with 2 Grav and Combi Grav or Melta. This helps us as we can throw some lethal shots down range.

Perhaps the Champions of Fenris (at its most competitive, is best through Drop Pods etc) is better as an Allied group.

It depends how dependant we think SCOUT is. The White Scars biker builds got counter incredibly swiftly by the Inquisition book, but looking at the Cally 2015 (160 odd players – biggest tourney in the UK) and the lists presented there…how many of them had Servo Skulls? Sweet FA!

Add the back up from these Wolf Lords (2) and Iron Priests (2) and we could have a nice build. So..are Wolf Lords better than Chapter Masters?

Probably not. CM has a better range, has Hammer of Wrath as well, has a S8 powerfist, S9 on the Charge through Furious Charge on Khan, is an Eternal Warrior (pretty bloody important) and has the Orbital Bombardment. Significantly better. 

Perhaps we could play with both..

3 Wolf Lords, 5 Twolves, Chapter Master, Khan and then as many troop bikes as possible.. not many sure!

Drop to 2 Wolf Lords, 5 TWolves, CM, Khan and then grab a Sm Biker Command Squad with Grav and FNP for a secondary threat. There are still no points for Troops after this though and actually this is a diluted version of the first list which would probably do a little better against MOST lists.

Grav Centurions are another option too I suppose.. in a Fenris Pod and coming down to really help put the hurt on Knights.

Whilst this discussion has been useful for the Deathstar vs Knights, what about vs the Nid Flying Circus? Or any other FMC heavy or Flier heavy list – Necrons are strong in the air (have to wait for new codex) and the Storm talon formation thing from Ultra’s can be an interesting combo…also Dark Eldar – the 6 FA option is potent.

So let’s consider Fliers next time hey… What have been your experiences of using/against Deathstars and with/vs Knights?