Space Wolves: HQ Characters

Logan Grimnar, The Great Wolf.
I have only used Logan Grimnar once in a battle against Necrons. He died rather shockingly in an assault against some wraiths, with them only landing three wounds, two failed saves later his game was over.

I am hoping to give him further outings once I have completed the Wolf Guard terminators I am currently working on magnetising and painting. I shall report on here all successes and disasters I have with him as and when they happen.



Bjorn the Fell-handed
The old metal model, from around 1995, is one of the oldest models in my collection, as being one of the 40k universe eldest members.

I have never used Bjorn, instead preferring to use the model as a standard dreadnought, drop podding in to the battle to cause as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible.

As with Logan, I will aim to use Bjorn with the aim of reporting successes and disasters back here so that a tactica of some form can be put together.

Njal Stormcaller
Here is a character I have used occasionally. In the group we have house ruled the Lord of the Tempests rules so they work across player turns rather than game turns which, in my opinion, makes more sense than losing half the effects if you happen to be going second.

I always run Njal in runic power armour, meaning I can get him in rhinos with some Grey Hunters. His runic weapon has been invaluable on many occasions, shutting down enemy psychic powers before they have chance to do any damage. Furthermore, his access to all psychic powers and his ability to cast any two per turn on top of the Lord of the Tempests rule make him a dangerous beast when fielded. Of course, this makes him a fire magnet for everything within his range, but if the focus is on Njal, then that means that other units are being left alone and can cause their own damage.

Ragnar Blackmane
Recently I have started using the young Wolf Lord. I have found that sending him against units where he will have the initiative edge, Ragnar will more than likely wipe the floor with them on his own. Even against power weapons his invulnerable save will keep him out of trouble half of the time. However, his lack of eternal warrior has seen him perish at the hands of more than one C'tan, which I suppose is not bad given the demi-god status the C'tan has.

Ragnars furious charge rule along with Insane Bravado, which gives additional bonus attacks on the charge, can lead to some serious amount of attacks. If you link Ragnar with a Grey Hunter squad equipped with a Wolf Standard and Mark of the Wulfen, the volume of attacks, MOTW attacks being rending as well, that can be meted out at initiative 5 and above give this type of unit a real chance of wiping out entire enemy squads before you have to face any attacks back.

As for the best delivery method for him, I would probably go with a Rhino. Ragnar and his squad on the initial charge get so many attacks that having maxed out squads seems a bit over the top. The rhino can be used to shield Ragnar till the start of the turn you want him to assault on, then all hell can be broken loose. Drop pods tend to leave you sitting around to be shot at alot for a turn and Land Raiders leave you investing a lot of points into 2 models which are both going to attract large amount of fire. But then again, if Ragnar/Land Raider are the focus of the firing, then the rest of your army will be free to do whatever they need to do.

Ulrik the Slayer
Another character I am yet to use, but really want to give him a run out to. The cheapest named character in the HQ section, Ulrik is even cheaper than fielding Arjac Rockfist.

To me his rules are looking good for going monstrous creature hunting, with his 3+/4++ giving him the same survivability as Ragnar, but with one less wound. Unfortunately Ulrik doesn't have any psychic defence, with the lack of wolf tail talisman taking away the chance to nullify psychic powers.

Ulrik does appear to be a close combat monster, but I will again have to play test him a few times before returning to this blog to comment on the best ways I have found to use him.

Space Wolves vs Blood Angels. Report 1.

So here it is, my first ever battle report. Ill get my apologies out of the way first. As this is my first attempt some details will be sketchy and it wont be a turn by turn account as I didn't keep anything written down. My army list will be largely accurate, whereas the Blood Angels list will be as close to the actual list as I can remember. Next time I will try and get some action shots as well!

This battle was a 2,500pt battle between Space Wolves (mine) and Blood Angels (my friend Ian). It was a straight pitched battle, annihilation was the aim, bloodshed was pretty much guaranteed. 


Space Wolves List - 2500pts
Ragnar Blackmane.
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane.
Rune Priest - Runic Armour, Boltgun, Tempests Wrath, Living Lightning.


7xWolf Guard - 1xTDA, Cyclone Missile Launcher
                        4xCombi-melta, 1xCombi-plasma, 2xWolf Claw, 1xPower Weapon, 1xPower Fist
                         1xSpace Marine Bike with Combi-melta and power fist.
Dreadnought - Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, DCCW
Lone Wolf - TDA, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield


8xGrey Hunters - Standard, Meltagun, Rhino (Attached to Rune Priest and Wolf Guard)
10xGrey Hunters - Standard, 2xMeltagun (Attached Wolf Guard)
8xGrey Hunters - Standard, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino (Attached to Ragnar and Wolf Guard)
10xGrey Hunters - Standard, 2xMeltagun, (Attached to Wolf Guard)
10xGrey Hunters - Standard, 2xPlasmagun, (Attached to Wolf Guard)

6xSwiftclaws - Meltagun, Power Fist, Attack Bike (Attached to Wolf Guard Bike)

6xLong Fangs - 3xMissile Launchers, 2xLascannons
6xLong Fangs - 3xPlasma Cannons, 2xHeavy Bolters
Vindicator - Storm Bolter


Blood Angels List- 2500pts

The Sanguinor
Commander Dante

Librarian Dreadnought
Furioso Dreadnought - 2xBlood Talons, Heavy Flamer
5xAssault Terminators - 5xThunder Hammer, 5xStorm Shields

Lemartes
5xDeath Company
9xTactical Squad - 1xMissile Launcher
9xTactical Squad - 1xMissile Launcher, Meltagun
5xAssault Squad (Attached to Dante)

Storm Raven - Twin-linked Multi-Melta, Blood Strike Missiles, Twin-linked lascannons

Deployment and the Beginning

Having won the roll for deployment, the Space Wolves deploy with both sets of Long Fangs in cover. The missile launchers, lascannons and wolf guard with cyclone missile launcher deploying centrally. The other Long Fangs set up in the woods on their left flank. The Vindicator starts between the central building and Ragnars Rhino.

The two rhinos roll out either side of a central building, with the remaining Grey Hunters set up to defend the Long Fangs for as long as possible. On the right flank the Dreadnought, Swiftclaws and Lone Wolf prepare to take on anything coming that way.

The Blood Angels deploy with the Librarian, Sanguinor, Assault Squad and Dante going against the Space Wolves left flank, the Storm Raven centrally behind a building in which the two tactical squads are located. In the Storm Raven are the remaining dreadnought and the assault terminators.

Both the Sanguinor and Dante use their special rules against Ragnar, leaving the Space Wolf Lord with a handicap of -1 to Weapon Skill, Wounds, Initiative and base attacks.

Before both armies got in to full swing, the dice were rolled for stealing of the initiative, in which the Blood Angels were successful and would be going first.

The Blood Angel right flank moved forward, putting the assault squad,  and Dante within sight of the Space Wolves Long Fangs, while the Sanguinor and Librarian Dreadnought hung a little further back. On the opposing flank the Storm Raven cruised forward to nestle into a good shooting position while the Death Company charged up their left flank.

The shooting of the round came from the tactical squads and the Storm Raven, which claimed one Swiftclaw and wrecked the Dreadnought before it even had time to do anything.

The reply from the Space Wolves saw the Swiftclaws moving round in to position to shoot the Death Company, with the Lone Wolf following behind, the Vindicator moving up to get a clear shot of the Librarian Dreadnought. The rest of the force remained stationary, preparing for the next turn. In the shooting a combination of the Vindicator and Long Fangs destroyed the Librarian Dreadnought, with further Long Fang fire permanently halting the Storm Ravens movements and taking a few lives from the assault squad approaching with Dante.

The Blood Angels left flank assault however wasn't halted at that, with both Dante and co and the Sanguinor swooping down and into position to assault the first Long Fangs, from which there would be no Long Fang survivors. A similar situation was developing on the right hand flank as the Death Company ripped through the Swiftclaws. The Lone Wolf however did hold them up for a turn while taking three Death Company members down before falling to the remaining power weapon attacks.

The terminator squad disembarked from the Storm Raven along with last remaining dreadnought and began their movement toward a rhino and two squads of Grey Hunters, the fire from which could not halt the progress of the two Blood Angels units. Once in close combat the Furioso chewed through an entire Grey Hunter pack, leaving only Wolf Guard and Rune Priest from one squad intact. The Wolf Guard responded by knocking an arm off the dreadnought, while the Rune Priest dispatched of one thunder hammer storm shield terminators. The remaining combat saw one more terminator fall before the two Space Wolves units were dispatched from the table.

With the Space Wolves right flank collapsed, the left flank fared slightly better. Following the Sanguinors and Dantes assault on the Long Fangs, the Sanguinor was felled by massed bolter and plasma fire, while Dantes squad were almost entirely cut down by bolter and melta gun fire. Dante assaulted the Grey Hunter squad, causing a few casualties, at which point Ragnar charged into the combat, granting a maximum number of bonus attacks, but getting destroyed by Dante before he could swing his frost blade in anger. This however didn't spare Dante as the Wolf Guard and the Grey Hunter with Mark of the Wulfen, while benefiting from Ragnars furious charge, sliced the remaining assault squad member down along with Dante.

The full squad of Long Fangs with the cyclone missile launcher terminator remaining in the central building were then left to try to maintain the right flank. In their shooting they wrecked the furioso dreadnought, but could do nothing to halt the advance of the terminators. With the terminators in assault range, the Blood Angels threw themselves forward. The counter assault from the Long Fangs was vicious, leaving all three assaulting terminators dead and only the remaining Death Company near enough to worry about. The Long Fangs then took careful aim, before blasting Lemartes and his two Death Company companions apart with combined missile and lascannon shots.

At this point the remnants of both armies were at opposite sides of the table, with neither side likely to get close enough to finish the battle once and for all. On the roll of the dice it was decided that the game was ended and the battle drawn.

In the other battle of the evening, Necrons took on Tyranids in an objective based game. I only caught the end of the battle, but the hordes of the Tyranids had pushed the Necrons right back against their table edge and controlled 3 of the 4 objectives. Time available called an end to this fight, but even with the Deceiver hunting in the middle of the table, the Necrons were only a few models short of their phase out total and most probably would have succumbed to the superior numbers of the Tyranids that still swamped the board.

Thanks for reading this, let me know if you have any suggested improvements to the report style. I haven't got a game lined up for next week, so it will be a couple of weeks till the next report. I will however be returning shortly to start a look at my Space Wolves and the units I have available for them.

The Grand Plan

It has been a few days since the first entry of this blog and in that time I have had a good think about how I am going to progress this blog. I have a few ideas and the rest will have to follow as we go.

I will aim to update as regularly as I can, depending on the time constraints placed on me by work and real life. The main focus of this blog will be, as stated earlier, quick battle reports and the modelling, conversions and painting of the various armies that get used each week.

Battle Reports
The reports will all be relatively short as I wont be able to record all details of each battle, except maybe the battles my Space Wolves are in. Generally I will give a run down on the lists used, the key points of each battle and who the victorious army is.

Focus On Armies

I will also provide, where possible,  pictures of a particular army, looking at possible conversions for the army, and any modelling, conversions and paint jobs that the guys from our group don't mind me putting up on here.

I will start with my own Space Wolves as they will give me plenty of content to get going with, both with modelling, conversions and painting as well as a recent battle with the Blood Angels to report on.

Hopefully all this will begin very soon, so please feel free to drop by again!

Introduction

Just a quick introduction to kick things off. My name is Ian and I have been playing with this group for the last year. I am currently in the process of painting up my Space Wolves army before I move on to doing a Slaaneshi/Emperors Children army.

We have a whole range of armies in action in the club including Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Nurgle Chaos Marines, Ultramarines, Tyranids, Necrons and Grey Knights. Hopefully we can attract more people to join us and the army numbers will grow further.

There is certainly always a challenge when going up against any of these armies and, for me at least, this challenge makes this game fun.

So, if you're in Cardiff and fancy dropping by, please feel free to comment or drop me an email. If you're not in Cardiff but you are still interested I will aim to update this blog with quick battle reports as well as any modelling, conversions or paintjobs of any of the armies that are playing each week.