Be careful what you wish for....

After the release of Battle for the Abyss, I was thoroughly disgusted with Black Library. Some of the Horus Heresy books that had been produced just seemed sacrilege. Somewhere Dan Abnett and I understand each other because none of those authors made return trips to the 30th milena.

Now I am kicking myself. I am still happy with the decision mind you, but I am just pining for some more 40k books. It's going to be 7 months between Fallen Angels and Prospero Burns, I'm starting to DT..........

Rix

Pack Mentality

Before I delved into my Space Wolves Army list I wanted to give a rundown of the different wolf packs and how I think they are best used. The following are the organization of the packs that most space wolves will spend their entire lives in.

Blood Claws

For those unfamiliar with the fluff, as soon as a group of initiates can wear power armor they are sent out with the main army as assault troops. The blood claw pack represents the marines they will be with until they die or individuals are selected for special assignments. Blood claws can have pack sizes up to 15 marines to represent the large size of initiate units before they start to take casualties.

I like to take one unit of blood claws as my main assault force. I figure no matter what I do with the rest of my army their is always going to be one unit who hits a line, even on defense. Yes they are easier to hit, yes they shoot like crap, but I am getting an extra 10 hits if I charge. I want to front load as much damage as possible.

I always put mine in a land raider so you can pretty much guarantee the charge. I like the power fist over the power weapon, I figure 3 str 8 hits on the charge are better than 4 str 4 hits. I also give one a flamer, mostly because its free, but its a good way to thin out infantry if I am against a horde army.

Grey Hunters

After a good amount of campaigns under their belt, and some character building casualties, the blood claws pack will graduate to be grey hunters. They are blessed with the holy bolter, and are the main maneuver force for the Wolf Lord. Usually they number 5-10 marines at this point

For my army they are my objective takers, fire support, and decent assault support. Without combat squads I rely on they to be the versatile part of my army. As such they are all essentially armed the same and any one squad can fulfill any number of roles.

I think a good commander needs at least 3 grey hunter squads. I like mine at 5 marines in a razorback, so I can add a wolf guard veteran. My standard load out is power weapon, melta gun, and mark of the wolfen. I do switch out the melta for a flamer every other grey hunter squad. I figure if I am holding objectives they are cheaper, but it can be invaluable against horde armies. I also usually upgrade to the twin-linked lascannon...its so expensive, but its usually the only long range firepower I have.

Long Fangs

As the pack grows older and more experienced, they are eventually entrusted with the company's heavy weapons. They understand the ebb and flow of battle and are expected to be resolute under all battle conditions. At this time the pack is usually down to 2-5 members.

I don't usually use long fangs, I think they are to static and my Space Wolves are based on mobility. If I did I would either go for the cheap 2-3 man tank killing squad (ML or LC), or the bulky 5 man split fire squad. Then I would probably mix lascannons and plasma cannons.

Lone Wolves

This is a new edition in the Space Wolf codex. The lone wolf represents the last man of a pack that was either whittled down by attrition or decimated by casualties. Since a pack never gets new recruits it is on the lone wolf to find a glorious end.

Most of the net traffic has lone wolves in terminator armour with thunder hammer and storm shields. From a fluff perspective I don't like the idea of a non-wolf guard taking terminator armor. I equip mine with nothing but a melta bomb, because it makes them cheap as hell. The idea is simple, he is going to wade into battle and force your opponent to direct some attention to them.

Rix

Space Wolf Review

I will admit that I haven't played with my space wolves very much. The two games I played I won handedly, even prompted the ever elusive RC post. I will focus this post on fluff and what seems to be general playability.

Overall

I like the codex. I think it is a step in the right direction from the no fluff, bland codices of yesteryear. I know everyone is in the OMFG mode right now, but I think they will generally fit in line power wise with the last three codices.

Army Organization

I think they are a good trade off between the tactical flexibility of the codex marines and the strong assault forces you see in other codices. In my mind you trade:

• Combat tactics for counter charge
• Combat squads for either a close combat weapon or a +2 charge bonus
• A heavy weapon for a power weapon

As I build my lists I kept on getting the feeling that I had to rely on assault to make my marks. Assault is a funny thing. If you do it well you can have great success...till you meet someone who does it better than you. Then you have a lot of points sitting in transports. Or worse, someone who is good at taking out vehicles. Then you have a lot of points sitting in the middle of the board trying to leg it to make up their points.

I don't think that they can go pound for pound in a shooting war. Granted I can make a Grey Hunter/Long Fangs/vehicle list that is arguably more cost effective than Codex Space Marines, but the lack of tactical heavy weapons really hurts. I miss being able to add a combat squad of marines to the list of shots from the backfield, while maneuvering a Sgt and 4 other marines under fire to snatch objectives.

Favorite Things from the Codex

Lone Wolf - I think it is a really cool idea, and fits the fluff nicely. I wish they didn't have terminator armour, I don't think it really fits the idea that they come from a non-wolf guard pack

Wolf Scouts - They were always a favorite, I like how they made it fit with the current scout rules.

Sagas/Oaths - Most people like the sagas and hate the oaths. I like having a player a player be somewhat accountable to the fluff without having it be a huge detriment to the game. Rules come and go, we play lots of games, but your damn strait I still make fun of RC for running his Khorne Bezerkers away from Ragnar 8 years ago.

Fenrisian Wolves - Purely from a play perspective I think a cheap outrider choice that can get into close combat is exactly what any space marine army needs.

Dislikes

Thunderwolf Cavalry - I think they are a cool idea, I like the fact that the fluff says they are mythical, but I dislike the fact that they are just a normal unit in the army. In fact, most of the Internet buzz I am hearing right now involves using them. I think they should have been a unique or 0-1 choice. I think they should have been a strong unit but maybe a little less tactical (e.g. less weapon options, headstrong, or maybe some sort of injure yourself roll that has to be passed).

Pack Fluff - There seems to be some inconsistencies on the way they describe the packs in the fluff. Sometimes they talk about packs staying together for life (the way it was in the old codex), sometimes they mention things like individuals getting promoted to Grey Hunter. Its a little annoying, but I am a fluff whore, I make no apologies for it.

No Wolves - There are no less than 6 unit choices that can have or are wolves. There is not one acceptable wolf model in the GW lineup right now. I guess I will have to look cooler because I actually still have two old school dire wolves.

Next post, my sample army list,

Rix

The Emperor's Long Walk

While reading the Horus Heresy novels, I often finding myself speculating about the nature of the 40k universe. What would have happened if Ferrus Manus killed Fulgrim? What was the true goal of the great crusade? Why did the Emperor choose Horus to be the Warmaster. One of the questions that keeps coming up, and seems to be necessary for any true speculation, is the nature of the Emperor's divinity. Did the Emperor see the coming of the Heresy and the fall of his civilization? Did he become blinded by another task, and simply miss what was happening?

Here are some thoughts:

The Emperor is a great man, but is still just a man.

There is certainly enough in the stories to back this up. His Great Crusade centered around the Imperial Truth, which denounced the idea of religions and mysticism. What possible benefit is gained from this if he knows it to be false (because there are in fact gods.....bad ones, but whatever). Arguably he could have avoided the whole Heresy if he wouldn't have been a bad critic to Lorgar's first published book.

Emperor on the Lectitio Divinitatus:
Don't quit your day job Lorgar

Lastly, the Emperor seems to suffer from something very human: a time management issue. He leaves the crusade in a hurry to work on his special project. Why not see the crusade through? From all of the fluff it seems that Malcador the Sigillite's sole responsibility was to pester the Emperor on all the other shit he was supposed to do (e.g. maintain the Astronimican, protect the imperial palace, etc.). At the end I get this vision of the Emperor being annoyed having to go up to kill Horus because he needs to get back to work.

So where does that leave us? It means the Emperor chose Horus because he thought he was the greatest warrior he had. He probably underestimated the jealousy a primarch can feel, even being subservient to some like the Emperor. He pretty much got pwnd by the chaos gods, and his empire is on a long slow decline till it breaks. YAY humanity.

"...and I for one, welcome our new Chaos masters."

The Emperor is Truly Divine

How to diafy a man who expressly forbids it? Well we can certainly try. So the seeds of this is planeted in couple of places. First of all lets throw out all the stuff from the 40k universe, his divinity is taken as fact then, and there are countless stories in the canon about how "the Emperor Protects." But even in the 30k universe:

• He seems to be immortal
• He beat a C'Tan, which are basically living gods.
• His psychic power is so great to look at him is to be cowed and he single-handedly powers the Astronomican

There is also one story in Tales of Heresy which point directly at it. In The Last Church the Emperor has a religious discussion with a man on earth. It is set right before the time of the Great Crusade. During the conversation he describes the long narrow path humanity must walk to survive, and how he above any other human knew the path. It certainly is different from the very deliberate tasks he sets about completing over the next two plus centuries (conquer the galaxy, fix that stupid warp business, live happily ever after). In fact the path that the empire is following right now seems like more of a long narrow path. By this logic it seems like the Great Crusade was more of means to an end than the road to humanities greatness.

What if the emperor wanted the Heresy to happen, what if it was all part of the plan.? Does that mean he planned on being interned in the golden throne? Is there a rise again scenario? It is certainly the light at the end of the tunnel explanation, it also gives humanity something to look forward to besides endless toil before an eventual defeat.

A slightly happier ending

So what do I believe.....unfortunately this is a tough one. From a fluff perspective it is nice to believe that the current state of the empire is all part of a great plan. Unfortunately this does not allow much insight into the rest of the universe. Any questions about how or why something happened can only be chalked up to divine presence.

I guess I would have to say that the emperor is indeed divine. But in a universe where there are multiple divine entities he is fighting a hard fight against the other gods (specifically the chaos gods). So in my mind he planned the Heresy to happen, but could not really see past the point where he was basically in direct confrontation with the Chaos Gods (i.e. fighting Horus). This was a "Shadow Point" where he could not plan past it, but things may or may not have gone the way he wanted them to.

One very interesting thought spawns off of this, what if he planned to die? What if the inquisition is fouling his plans by sustaining him. Beings with psychic presence can maintain their sentience in the warp, that's why the Eldar are scared shitless of dieing without a soulstone. The Emperor's psychic presence would certainly put any eldar's to shame. What if his real rebirth was to be in the Warp as a truly divine being. Its an interesting thought.

Rix

Heavy Weapons

Over the years GW has slowly guided the imperial heavy weapons so that they each have a very specific role. This wasn't always the case but the change to melta weapons and the blast template rules have really leveled the playing field. The following are the weapons and their specific uses:

Multi-Melta - The best vehicle killer period. This will tear through vehicles even at max range but get to within 12" and you can pretty much kill any vehicle goodbye. The +1 to the damage roll allows even glancing hits to be scary. Usually they have a pretty minimal cost. It is hampered by its limited range.

Lascannon - Prioir to 5th it was the king of the battlefield. Long range and a Str 9 hit. They are pretty expensive in most codices. The Melta edged them out for pure killing power in 5th but I for one would rather be facing a tank at range and not while its barreling up on me (but of course I am not a superhuman killing machine in power armor)

Missile Launcher - Easily the most tactically flexible weapon, it can at least glance every vehicle on the battlefield. Rips through transports. And if you need some street sweeping switch over to frag and start using it to make light armored troops disappear. One of my favorites.

Plasma Cannon - Wow this got vicious in 5th edition. I remember being pissed after I modeled a devastator squad with two of them and then realized how much they sucked. Now that the blast templates hit everything they touch, it is just a monster. Emperor help a terminator squad that deepstrikes in line of site of one of these. IMO they are the best infantry killers in the game right now cause they are great for hoard but also murder space marine equivalents which is pretty hard to do.

Autocannons - Often overlooked, while not fan favorites they do have their uses. They really shine against very light armor and skimmers. Often are good when rolling hits are harder than rolling penetration (i.e. Imperial Guard). I wouldn't be racing to use them, but opening up with a couple of these on a skimmer and you are very likely to be bringing it down. Doubles as decent infantry killers in a pinch but I certainly wouldn't buy them for that.

Heavy Bolters - Ah my black sheep. Without a doubt the worst heavy weapon in the Imperium right now. You are much more likely to get three hits with a frag missile than with three shots. If your squads have them, pack them up or rip them off, cause there is absolutely no point to having them on.

The problem is that I really like the heavy bolter as a concept. Modern armies all use a squad automatic weapon (in fact in the army that's the exact name of the one we use). As an army team leader my M249 SAW was great, it put rounds downrange off the shoulder and set into a position it had a higher rate of fire than my heavy machine gun. You can bet I didn't ever let my SAW gunner get to far away from me.

So I propose a change to the Heavy Bolter. Make it the only move and shoot heavy weapon in the imperial force, but give it some punch if dug in. it would have two modes:
Shoulder Fire - 12" Str 4 Ap 5 Assault 2
Sustained Fire - 24" Str 4 Ap 5 Heavy 5

To counterbalance the obvious increase in usefulness I have reduced the range and gone back to a standard power bolt (I never believed that they were really stronger than regular bolt guns). I can be honest I would have a tough time passing this new bolt gun up. It would allow tac squads the flexibility to run and gun, and also allow for some serious kick in a gun line.

Well that's my two cents.

Rix

On Codex Astartes

So lets start this post of right and say Roboute Guilliman was an idiot. But to be fair, it wasn't really him, just that the fine people of GW have never organized a combat force. But fear not good peoples, I have. I sit here as a veteran infantryman with combat experience, and I want to talk a little about my problems with Codex Astartes.

The Codex sounds interesting, and is an attempt to give order to the idea that a Chapter is an organization of 1000 marines. But, the flaw is that it doesn't disperse its support elements correctly. Before I go down this path lets have a short discussion on warfare.

Up to World War I it was an accepted fact that wars were won and lost by the intellect of a command structure. Therefore it was necessary to place all of the capabilities at a command level. Commanders looking on to a battle from a hilltop or other vantage point would pit their intellects against other commanders and the winner was decided based on attrition. All very grand, as long as you were the commander. The problem was that wars ground to a halt as no momentum could really be gained because all orders had to be routed through a singular man.

World War II changed all that (at least in America) because it was the first time the military ever embraced the chaos of war. The theory is simple but elegant, if uncertainty and chaos is a constant in battle (and it is) then distribute your available resources at the lowest level feasible and give those commanders the authority to exploit them.

By doing this the low level commander can bring more force to bear immediately because he is the most likely to make sense of the chaos, because he is staring right at it. By doing this the high level commanders allow momentum to be gained and can focus their time on directing more resources to maintain that momentum. The trick to it is to give the low level commanders enough support elements that he can utilize them efficiently while not straining the logistics train (i.e. giving a tank to infantry company who can't carry the tools needed to maintain it).

The next important thing to discuss is the common engagement level. This is really about how your commanders send you out to fight. Typically when you deploy to an area to conduct combat operations you have a unit in reserve, a unit in defense and a maneuver unit. In today's army this is realistically a company (although an argument could be made for a platoon). The three elements described above are platoons and the commander has heavy weapons in reserve, typically mortars and tank busters for light infantry. The important thing is that the commander of the common engagement level force has the capability to conduct operations for an extended period of time and deal with all likely enemies.

So how is the Codex Astartes organized? Well it is organized like the whole chapter is the common engagement level. All of its heavy support (predators, vindicators, whirlwinds, and land raiders) are in the armory, all of its siege specialists (veterans and terminators are in the first company), and all of its reserves (the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th companies) are organized into training companies. Well this is great, but the reality is that chapters rarely go to battle together. So more often than not, if a lower level commander can use a special weapon or unit....its all the way back with the chapter commander.

I submit to you that the proper way to organize your force is by the battle companies. Every battle company should deploy as a single unit and have all of the tools needed at their disposal. If it were up to me a company would be organized as such:

1 Commander
1 Librarian
1 Chaplain
1 HQ squad
1 Veteran Squad
1 Scout Squad
2 Devastator Squads
2 Assault Squads
4 Tactical Squads
2 Dreadnoughts
3 Predators
1 Vindicator
1 Whirlwind
1 Land Raider

There would be ten of them in a chapter and they would deploy as a single unit.

If you look at that the funny part is that it conforms much closer to what you expect to see if you go up against a sizable force. Lets be honest you would never expect to go up against a company and not see some of the heavier vehicles and some terminators. It is also a much more tactically flexible army, you can actually use scouts as scouts, and not some weird training company that never sees any action.

So some counters to some obvious questions you might have:

1. Yes, it might have made more sense when they were fighting as a legion, but when the Codex Astartes was written it was meant to be a guide on how to break up the legions into Chapters
2. Yes I do totally buy into the idea that marines are actually more badass in the fluff than in the game and therefore operate at the squad level instead of the company level (e.g. Legion and Brotherhood of the Snake). This is geared the game.
3. Is there anyone who actually does this right? In all their wisdom the only ones I have seen are the Space Wolves. Take that Ultramarines...trying to tell me what to do.

OK I think that's enough for now. For tomorrow, either I break out my camera and start showing you my armies or I talk about how I would organize a tactical squad.

Rix