New Wolves... yea?

So far, the most enthusiasm I can muster is "Eh".  Looking at the leaked pages we have a so so flier that costs more than the Storm Raven, some DNs, a new "it's not Plasma" weapon....  So, looking like more of the same.

The Wolves were my first 40K army back in the late 80's, before they became space vikings who were afraid of "magic" like teleporters and other things that might make their role as a planetary assault Legion a bit easier...  Though, ironically, they never had a problem with actual magic per their extensive use of Rune Priests (Librarians).  So, I'm pretty disappointed that they seem to be looking like regular Marines with a few different options and without access to much of what makes the Marine Codex actually pretty good.  Seeing some reviews of "Murderfang" being so awesome, then reading the stats...  Well, obviously none of them play or play against Blood Angels where this is simply a named, unique Death Company DN...  More expensive and not as good...  And let's be honest the DNs are simply not good.  3 Hull Points to kill them instead of the 3-6 Wounds at a high T that the Tau/Eldar GK get with their MCs?  Just have to glance AV 12, really not that hard when you have say, a flying tank that shoots 4 twin linked S6 shots followed by d6 + 1 Str 7 twin linked (assuming at least one of the scatter laser shots hit) shots...  So, the DN's time on the field is limited at best.  The game as it stands now has passed the paradigm that the Marines as a whole are based on...

What exactly do I mean here...  Well, mulling it over the last few days/weeks it seems that 40K has become the game of Monstrous Creatures, Fliers and/or Super Heavies.  Not bringing or having a really good way to deal with the above means you are going to have a short and frustrating game...  Been assembling my Imperial Knight, have to admit I think it is going to be pretty darn powerful locally, probably on par with the Eldar Knights.  But with the new "unbound" ability to simply pick and choose whatever you want, all of it being scoring, it almost punishes you for bringing the frankly sub standard "Troops" to the field.  OK, not "almost", it really does punish you.  Marines specifically have expensive basic Troops.  Most of whom cannot even begin to harm the things that are hitting the field.  Sure, they can really hold Objectives, but only while they are alive.  Cover rules tightened up and there are so many things out there that either throw out so much firepower or simply ignore the 3+ save the Marine has...  A lot of armies frankly can do both.  The basic Marine Codex has the new Grav weapons that do a decent job dealing with the MCs and Vehicles overall, but of course, the Wolves do not get them...  They get a "cold" weapon that forces a STR test if you caused a Wound, else it dies...  Eh...  Maybe, but most of the things I am concerned about have Str 6+, T7+, so a long chain of things followed by a 6 (auto fail Str Test) on their part to remove a single MC...  Frankly, I'd rather have the Marine Centurion's uber Grav weapons and just shoot them off the table myself.  So, we have a nice new $50 book for the Wolves that completely fails to address the issues making any Marine based army sub standard, or at least as far as we can see before the book is fully released :-)...  Maybe I'll be surprised, but I am very much doubting it at this point...

So, found what I think are all of my old Warmachine minis...  Will try to wander out to at least observe some games...  Need to get updated cards for the things I know...  But given the amount of metal I found in the "Basement of Doom" I am fairly sure I could field a very sizable force immediately.  Now, not having played since last edition, not likely to be an effective one mind, but...