Redmaw and Tactical Marines...

So, Bran Redmaw…  With the addition of “Monstrous Creature” to his Werewolf form, he might just be a bit overpowered…  Well, ASSUMING you can get him to HtH.  Looking at typically 6 Attacks, all hitting on a 3+, Str 6 AP 2, and he CAN go to Str 10 if he needs to crack open a Vehicle.  Still an IC, so he can join up with a squad of Grey Hunters or whatever, Fearless and FnP are nice, etc…  Had him run up against a DA force last night and he singlehandedly offed 2 Deathwing Squads with that insane number of AP 2 attacks at I6.

Did lead me to an odd Rule question, and I hadn’t found anything preventing a Monstrous Creature who is also an IC from joining an Infantry unit…  Seemed a bit odd with the giant Werewolf in the Squad of Grey Hunters, but hey, they have damn Wolf Cavalry these days, so really, how odd is it?  Not too familiar with the Tyranids, guessing they are the only other army with MC/IC interactions like this though…

Have to say, I was impressed by the Bastion with the Void Shield.  The Long Fangs being protected in the battlements being able to REALLY split fire and do a lot of damage was quite nice.  Well, the turns the Shield was up…  It got knocked down on Turn 2, I think came back on Turn 5…  Still, for the extra 25 points or so?  Was awesome…

Even so, I am not convinced that the Wolves can face one of the top tier armies.  Well, face and have more than a trivial chance of winning…  Yes, I can do some deployment tricks and have up to half of my army Flank or Behind Enemy Lines, but with Interceptor so cheap and the loss of the ability to Assault out of Reserve, I come in, shoot with the handful of short ranged Special Weapons and the bolters I have, then hope NOT to simply get shot off the table.  Killing 10-12 Marines in Powered Armor is not I think a challenge for the armies I am concerned about facing.  The Wolves senses are a relic of the old rule set, and so mostly useless in Sixth.  The Rune Priest’s weapon is the ONLY real Psychic defense left in the game really at this point other than perhaps the GK Aegis, but even that does nothing to stop boosting powers, etc.  So, yes, having the perhaps slightly overcosted RP is a good thing.  One of the VERY few Wolf things worth still taking I think, and that mostly due to the favorable loophole left with the Psychic powers.  Still no fliers, the Grey Hunters are still good for what they are, but really, they are still just basic Marines.

Was discussing some of the issues with an actual Ultramarine player last night…  He feels that his basic Tactical Marines are more or less useless, and I have to agree.  Even in my Crimson Fist army, I field Troops only because I have to, but Scouts for the most part, Powered Armor tends to be on Sternguard…  The Bolter is just complete crap as a basic weapon.  Yes, it is really good against IG type troops, but when every other race has a much better basic weapon?  Necron Gauss glances Vehicles, Eldar Shuriken Rends against “living” targets, DE have poison, Tau have higher Str AND Range, etc…  To be honest I have yet to see a Tyranid force on the field and haven’t really read over their stuff, so the Marines MAY have an advantage in basic weapons over at least one new army.  Of course, games are rarely won by the Infantry’s basic weapon, but it does provide a good idea of what the Army can do I think.  Necrons can wipe the Vehicles off the field trivially, Eldar can kill off any Living army, etc…  Marines with Bolters are fairly mediocre against everything.  And you HAVE to field at least 2 Squads of Troops of some kind.  For the Marines, it is Scouts or a tax to be paid as they will likely do very little good in the game on their own.  Even Scouts with their craptastic stats are a tax in and of themselves, but at least they are cheap and have the POTENTIAL to actually wound say, a Riptide or Wraithlord…  Doesn’t happen often of course, but…  So, Marine armies by and large fight at something of a disadvantage if they use basic Troops.  Yes, some things like the Centurions have the potential to be amazing, but really they have to in order to overcome the inertia/tax/whatever you want to call the Marine’s now completely outclassed basic weapon.  Sternguard with their different ammo types are great, and at least some of that should be more of a “General Issue” sort of thing for all of the Marine Bolters I think.  Something, hell, ANYTHING to make the Bolters a bit better to keep up with the stuff that has by and large passed them…

Eh, painting a LOT of Grey things these days, might have to actually paint up a few of the Fleshtearer things just as a break from the “All Grey All the Time” Wolf Legion/Chapter theme I have going on my paint desk…

Never WAS a Bran Redmaw model?

I remembered seeing something online when IA 11 came out, but then never really saw the mini...  Turns out they had one as a WiP and then discarded it.  So, no official models...  I guess I'll be fine using a "Standard" Wolf Lord mit axe and one of my ancient Rackham Wolfen to represent him in Lupine form...  Neat I guess :-)...  Am a bit curious what sized base is recommended for the "Monstrous Creature" form...  Not wanting to be unfair, and as he more or less is ONLY a HtH creature, the larger base would be an advantage I think...  As it happens I have a few...

Have to put a kilt on the "Wolflord" form as well I guess...

6th Ed Wolves clarification, minor Tau Rant

It occurred to me after I posted last that I sounded a lot like I was just complaining and did not intend to actually run the Wolves in sixth edition…  Not true at all.  It is just looking to be more of a “challenge” than I had anticipated…  Frankly I am considering them and my Fleshtearers at this point.  The FT I think can compete more readily simply because they HAVE a flier and at least initially, the fast moving Deep Strike based force can surprise a lot of folks.  Wolves?  I guess I’ll see. 

The one thing I am far less sure that I can deal with is the Tau and the apparently completely legal ability to add an IC to a “unit” consisting of a Riptide and its wargear.  Because the “wargear” consists of drones and thus “models”, this means that the MC is no longer a “unit of one” and thus is apparently eligible to have IC(s) join it.  So, back to the 5^th Ed wound juggling and attendant stupidity.  And of course, there is the new Void Shield that may or may not confuse this situation…  This is putting me in a difficult situation as the League Organizer…  It is technically legal, just REALLY stupid.  Causing more arguments and more than one player just quit the game rather than argue the stupidity.  It would be one thing if this were something that were equally applied and EVERY army could do something of the sort, but right now there is really only one army that can do this effectively…  TECHNICALLY, the Wolves could do this with a Lone Wolf, his wolf buddies and then adding their uber-characters to the mix…  “Eh” at best there.  Most people shrug and ignore that…  The new MCs with ICs that would grant amazing bonuses that were CLEARLY never playtested correctly or accounted for in terms of the cost?  This is a game breaking problem.  The simple fix is that if a unit begins as a single model unit, it is ALWAYS a single model unit, wargear being a model or no has no effect on this designation.  Or declare that ICs cannot join MCs, no matter what.  Or alternately, let everyone do it.  I’m sure Wraithlords or Wraith Knights joined by Farseers or Grey Knight Dreadknights being joined by any number of their ICs wouldn’t be an issue J…  Or Tyranid MCs?  Yeah, so making it equal and closing the loophole being exploited seems the best case all around.  Will GW do it?  I doubt it.  I’m going to look at what the major TOs come up with and I guess our local group will use that as an official FAQ to house rule the game…  OK, I guess I was a bit sidetracked by a short rant there..

Got in an actual game last night with my Wolf Legion list…  How different than the 40K Wolves?  Not really sure…  My list was:

Praetor (Paragon Blade, etc., “Pride of the Legion”)

Forge Lord (Rad Grenades)

Primus Medacae (SP?  Centurion upgraded to Medic, AA and PS)

Cataphractii (10, Plasma Blaster and Reaper, various other weapons)

  Spartan (Cataphractii Transport, Ceremite upgrade)

Veteran Tactical Squad (HB, ML, SGT w/AA and PS)

  Rhino (Havoc Launcher)

Mortis DN (2 * TL LC)

Facing an old friend returning to the game after a long time away…  He brought an Iron Hands list with loads of DNs…  His Tac Squads were his Troops and they mostly stayed behind in Terrain camping objectives.  He had a Librarian in Terminator Armor with a Terminator Assault Squad (TH/SS) who combined with one of the DNs wrecked the Spartan…  Then the Cataphractii led out by the 3 ICs hidden in came out to deal with the new Terminators…  The Terminator suits were all remarkably resilient as I had one even survive to the end of the game.  I need to put more “real” weapons in the mix as the loadout with too many Power Swords and even Axes simply did not do well against an enemy DN.  We were locked in combat for a long time until the Chain Fist finally tore it apart.

Somehow we wound up drawing with him getting First Blood (my Spartan), both of our Warlords dying and I had Line Breaker.  We each camped one Objective and one was contested after 7 turns…  Good game, and glad his first 6^th ed game was against my friendly Legion list as opposed to a Tau or Eldar death list…

Did I learn anything useful for my 40K Wolves?  Yes, I think so…  Logan might be leading my forces out or Bran Redmaw with a load of Wolf Guard…  Logan makes them Troops, and the Special Rules he grants might be amusing.  The DNs are actually fairly good these days…  At least the ones with enough shots.  The 2*TL LC Mortis was amazing, coming in on turn 4, but killing a DN each turn until time ran out.  I cannot field that with the Wolves unfortunately, but it has me thinking…  If the Tau stupidity continues, allied Grey Knights with a Vindicare Assassin and the GK Rifleman might be amusing…  Or maybe someday soon my Wolves will be allowed to field a competitive list using the stuff the rest of the Imperium gets…

Wolves in Sixth?

So, looking at the Wolves codex again...  I do not think that I have ever really given it a long enough look in the Sixth Edition.  Probably not the best way to write this, but overall it is just bad. 

I'll start with what works...  At least until they get FAQ'd off the table.  The only things I see people bringing Wolves for are the Rune Priests.  Getting 2 for each HQ slot, they are the ONLY thing left in the game to stop Psychics and they still have non "book" powers that might be somewhat overly powerful against some things...  So, the Rune Priest is good...  And...

No real way around the basic facts and reality of the current game.  I will dig a bit deeper in a bit, but this was clearly written for a very different game.  Lots of things are too expensive and a lot simply do not work.

For instance the army wide rule for acute senses?  Neat when it worked against Night Fighting...  Which was itself rare, but now it only works for outflanking units...  Which I can have up to two if I take a specific HQ and buy the upgrade.  Yes, the Scouts still have the uber flanking.  But they have FAQ killed the ability to bring along a Wolf Guard to lead them.  Also the removal of the ability to Assault on entry from Reserve means they HAVE to be a shooting unit.  In 4+ armor.  With every army getting access to Interceptor, most with Twin Linked doubled up Auto Cannons...  Shooting 4 shots at Str 7 and AP 4 to effectively wipe out the 5 man Scout squad when it does show up.  Yea.  Not even touching the Tau with all of their Intercept.

So, Claw...  It seems to translate to "Craptastic" for this entire Codex.  Wolf Claw?  An overpriced Lightning Claw.  Blood Claw?  Craptastic Assault troops who despite being Marines are WORSE than the IG I see.  BS/WS 3 with restrictive rules making them act stupidity.  Oh, they can also have Jump Packs or Bikes...  Jump Packs are expensive and even more stupid.  There was a brief period where I could lead them out with a Wolf Guard a mitigate their stupidity, but that FAQ change was reversed long ago...  Bikes don't suck, but with Heldrakes even White Scar and DA bikes are unusable and cheaper/better...  So, there it is really...

Grey Hunters are still OK, but overpriced Basic Marines really.  Too many things are too good at killing Marines these days.  MSU was where the Jaegers were their best I think, and with First Blood being simple with just killing a Rhino Hull...  Not really viable.  I have had some success running a maxed out squad as a Flanker...  But really it is a single use trick that doesn't even work against Tau.  If I could shoot then Assault it might, but...  So, overall they have some useless special rules that are relics from the old editions unlike the Vanilla Marines who have a load of good and free updates.  More importantly they have no real way to survive the modern environment.  Too many Str 6+ massed shots, and too many things that ignore 3+ armor and/or cover.  The pendulum has swung too far away from the Marines as far as the game is concerned...

Experimenting with Imperial Armor a bit...  Bran Redmaw from IA 11 is expensive but allows me to do a bit more with a Squad of Grey Hunters gaining the Scouts rule for "Behind Enemy Lines" and Bran himself having the "Mark of the Hunter" which should allow him to flank and lead another unit in a regular Flank move...  Problem was until the Stronghold Assault rules hit, there was simply no way to keep the stuff I HAVE to deploy onto the field alive long enough.  Now I get to play with the Void Shields and the Defense Networks...  Probably NOT the way I had thought to run the army...  The AAA weapons are another thing out of the IA books that are a possibility and I HAVE a bunch of ancient resin missile turrets...  So, lacking ANYTHING in the AAA or Aircraft native in the Codex IA is pretty much the only option.  The Spartan class tank (I REALLY still want to call them Land Raiders) is one option...  Bringing Logan is another option with a lot of Drop Pods I guess...  Just so few viable options.  MAYBE a pack of actual Wolves as beasts to actually GET to HtH and the Wolf Cavalry?  Eh...  I just don't see it happening...  But, hey, maybe I missed something?

Tyranids and the Local Group

So, the new Tyranid book hit...  While I AM happy for the two local players who actually played the army, I am less sure overall.  Of course, I haven't seen it in action yet as both local players have extremely busy work schedules and have little time for gaming at the moment.  Some things look pretty good and it seems like it is a fairly well written book...  Despite the massive cut/paste from the previous book and the obvious missing models that got cut rather than allow a third party model take the place of the non-existent GW model.  So, no Tyranid drop pods for the players. 

Psychics look good, and losing the crutch of Biomancy is probably a good thing...  AA is going to be an issue, but they have fliers of their own to dogfight.  No Allies is a problem.  The ability to break the Force Org chart is now REALLY unequally applied.  And the Tyranids are not I think powerful enough to stand against the current top tier uber lists...  Hive Guard might be able to deal with Serpent Spam, but I am just not seeing the answer to the Tau silliness.  Even the Eldar answer is by no means a guarantee against a competent opponent.  Now, it does seem very well balanced again say, Marines or anything else...  Just nothing to threaten the top tier.

Wound up picking up a Land Raider Crusader from one of the locals paring down their collection…  One of the original ones with the metal sponson guns, etc…  I’ll need to order more Grey paint I think as I have finally decided that all 5 of my LRs will be Wolves…  Or at least 4 of them with the last Spartan Class (Original, MK I) probably staying black for Fleshtearers Death Company/Consecrators (DA) use…  And since no one EVER expects Deep Striking Land Raiders J  Might be hilarious to drop on a Tau army…  So, back to painting and assembling my stuff I guess.  No clue what the real order of releases will be, but I’m pretty happy to be back working on my original Wolves again.  Found a number of truly ancient Rhino track parts and need to manufacture the internal hull parts to get myself another 4-6 Rhinos.  I have some “cash” in the form of a pre-paid Amex card that I’m going to be spending at the Gopher…  Guessing I will have no problem finding enough to spend it all between the one thing I’d like to order and maybe some Magic or Star Trek stuff…  Maggie (My Amazing Wife) has started playing MtG with me again, so perhaps we’ll make it to one of the casual events soon…  I still have a bunch of ancient cards and glancing over the costs of some of them, am frankly amazed J…  Not “I can sell this and retire now amazed mind, just way more than I had dreamed these things would be worth…

Looking at the local group I am surprised to see (NOT including my own armies in this):

2 Eldar players, one Iyanden and one more old school Craftworld/Ghost…  Neither really playing the uber lists, more interested in playing a fun game than a win at all cost sort of thing…  I have a huge collection of ancient Eldar, so could probably play most of the lists….  Just that I got sick of playing the now massively overpowered (IMO) army and feeling like no one really has much a chance against me…

2 Tau players…  One with the Riptides of doom, one more Broadsides.  Powerful armies, good players, so…  Well, I try to steer newcomers away from that J.  But the armies ARE beatable and not really the insanely overly optimized tournament forces you might see as a big event.

One IG tread head…  He is THRILLED to have the Baneblade legal now and loads of LR tanks make up the basis of his normal army.  A few other IG players, one who just found the store last night and with this on the short list for the next book out…

Tyranids…  2 I know of, but neither of them is playing much.  One works for the Public Works Dept, so drives a snow plaw…  Overtime is good I guess J…  Hoping they both get back at some point, good games are had against them…

Marines?  One ACTUAL Ultra Marine player with his stuff fully painted in the colors…  Honestly, other than my brother painting up a squad or so of them I have NEVER actually seen anyone play Marines as Smurfs J…  Is kind of nice to see though, was beginning to think they were a myth.  3-4 others who have various vanilla or at least Codex Marines lists.  Even Ted getting back in with his Iron Hands… 

One other guy playing BA…  Mostly Death Company…  So, pretty close to my Flesh Tearers.  ‘course, he is one of the Eldar players now, so this is being built/painted now.  Another guy now playing Tau who used to play BA, so potentially he could come back J…  But pretty much not an army you see on the table anymore.

Wolves?  One guy who sometimes plays them…  2 of us also HAVE the army and I intend to bring mine back to the table despite it being pretty much hopeless in the modern environment.

Chaos of all sorts…  One Demon player, 4-5 Chaos Marine players…  Pretty mellow group overall.  Mostly themed lists, etc., so more fun than win at all costs…

Necrons…  One, playing a Croissant heavy force.  Tough army, really good player, but always a good game against him in my experience.  Another old time player who no longer gets out, and his Tyranids I think will see the table first…

Grey Knights?  2-3 who at times do play…  One who plays mostly Inquisition, but he works in the local theater group who have a production going now, so have not seen him much recently.  But a LOT of nice conversions in his force…  Again, more themed than focused overall for this group as well…

DA?  Well, I have mine…  One other guy who played, but his job takes him on the road frequently.  Another person was building an army, but has not yet played in a League locally…  Looking forward to seeing more Terminators though J….

So, yeah, not really counting my: VI Legion, Wolves, Consecrators (DA), Flesh Tearers (BA), Crimson Fists, IG (Praetorians), Eldar or Grey Knights in that count :-)...  As my wife says I have too many armies...

So overall now that I have actually written it all in all we have a VERY diverse group of armies being played locally.  Most of us are actually pretty happy with 6^th edition and the expansions…  NOT being a very high stress/competitive place, we are actually growing with more people showing up and actually buying stuff ever week it seems…  May not be seeing the wider picture, but if there is a summer campaign, I would expect that we could get a fair number of folks in to play it…

1500 Wolf Legion list

So, getting the core of my force ready, playing locally against 30K and 40K forces…  Mostly 40K, but most of the locals are just fine with me running my weird ancient Marine lists.  So, VI Legion (Wolves) but pretty much just a generic setup.

Legion Praetor (Cataphractii Armor, Combi Plasma, Paragon Blade, Pride of the Legion)

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (10, HB, ML w/Flak, SGT in Artificer)

  Rhino

Legion terminator Squad (10 Cataphractii, Reaper, Plasma Blaster, mix of weapons with a CF and LC)

  Spartan (Ceremite)

Mortis DN (2 * TL Las Cannon)

And…

 I had been running the Forge Lord with the Rad Grenades in my 1850 lists, usually with the Siege Breachers, but seems like it makes the Spartan nigh un killable at times.  I like the Apothecary (Medic) in the big squad, so would love to have one in the Cataphractii, so perhaps a Primus Medicae?  Honestly I’m not really sure what else to do with the 200 or so points…  Any thoughts?  Thinking that 1850+ is the place to play Legion lists…

Finally some model work...

Finally got in a bit of work on my armies...  5 Siege Breachers and 5 Cataphractii Terminator suits assembled tonight...  No pictures or anything, but getting used to using the wine corks Maggie gave me to hold the figures as I paint them.  The Spartan is getting cleaned up, next to assemble it.

Snowed in, so no League tomorrow.