Tactical Squads

Of the Tactical Space Marine, bedrock of his Chapter and paragon to his brothers, I shall tell thee. He shall be steeped in the lore of battle and schooled in all manner of weapon and strategy. With combat blade, boltgun and grenade he shall assail the foe. But these are mere tools: a Tactical Marine's true weapons are his courage, his wits, and his dedication to his brothers.

He will bring his foe to battle in a manner and time of his choosing, never himself caught unready or ill-repared for the task at hand. In defence he shall be stalwart as the mountain, a bulwark stood firm against the enemies of Man. In attack he shall strike with the wrath of the Immortal Emperor, felling the foe without mercy, remorse, or fear.

+++ Roboute Guilliman, quoted in the Apocrypha of Skaros +++

(stolen from Lexicanum)

Tactical squads are my main troop choice. As part of my half company I have created three squads: the 1st, 2nd, and 6th squads.

1st Squad

Led by Sergeant Quintus Decius Natta

1st Squad is a ten man tactical squad with a meltagun and a multi-melta. The Sgt is armed with a power weapon, a pistol, and meltabombs. They are my run and gun squad, meant to take the fight to the enemy. I designed them specifically to not combat squad, so I didn't want my heavy weapon choice to weigh down the rest of the squad. As such, I took the cheapest close range option. I like them in close combat, but facing a big heavy vehicle I have no problem planting them and unleashing some multi-melta terror. This is my most aggressive tactical squad.

2nd Squad

Led by Sergeant Titus Decius Calidus

2nd Squad is a ten man tactical squad with a melta-gun and a missile launcher. The Sgt has a power fist and a bolt pistol. This is my mid range tactical squad. The missile launcher is a great option to keep back in a combat squad and direct firepower toward a transport. The power fist meltagun combat squad is a great hunter killer team. I use them as a do everything squad, as they have no problem pushing toward the enemy or staying back and shooting.

You may notice a slightly muted hue of yellow compared to the 1st squad. This was one of my origianl two squads and my basecoating technique changed.

6th Squad

Led by Sergeant Aulus Decius Severus.

6th Squad is a ten man tactical squad with a plasma gun and a lascannon. The Sgt is armed with a power weapon, bolt pistol, and meltabombs. This is my fire support tactical squad. They are typically combat squadded, with the weapons held back. I honestly don'e like the power weapon on the Sgt, but I was trying to save points as this is my most expensive of my three tactical squads. This is my most defensive squad.

Like 2nd Squad, this has a muted yellow hue that I improved later (this actually was my first Imperial Fist squad ever).

Tactics

I typically run with two tactical squads in a 1500-1850 army. They allow me to have at a minimum 2-4 troop choices for objective games. Depending on my army list I use them to shore up where I think the rest of my army is weak. In one army list I have deep striking terminators and drop podding dreadnoughts, so I use 2nd squad and 6th squad to provide covering fire. In one list I use devastator and sternguard in a firing line so I use 1st and 2nd squads as a light counter-charge unit.

For Dorn, For Glory..... Again!!!!

It's been almost a year since I have posted. but fear not all of my (imaginary) readers, I have not been idle. I have finished my Imperial Fist half-company. In doing so realized Guilliman doesn't know how to organize companies for shit, so I have expanded out to get a more workable army list. I have even taken the time to put together some decent pictures. I'll be posting my army over the next couple of days.

Rix

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

Bad Assery 101

www.redknuckle.com

So over Thanksgiving I was having a conversation with RC about Lysander. RC raved about how powerful he was and how he was really at the pinnacle of his power. His assertions were: Eternal Warrior and four wounds is unheard of, thunder hammer and storm shield are undercosted in SM codex and they tear shit up, and he works awesome with one of the strongest units around: assault terminator squads. I decided to give him some more thought for my Fist army.

My first concern was that I didn't want to break my fluff goals with the army. The army was made to be a half-company, and would not include any attachments. So I was not going to be adding a terminator squad. The only model I could see having some terminator armor was the Captain. Well the good news is that Lysander counts as a captain, so I can even keep my command squad.

So, I started to weigh the benefits of Lysander compared to the added cost. First off we know he is a bad ass stat wise, but being in a squad it gets watered down a lot. Compared to another commander the biggest difference is the strength 10 thunder hammer. Bolter Drill will be useful since my command squad all have bolt pistols. Bolster Defenses is another surprising good one with this army as I always have one squad in cover in the backfield (devastators or at least a combat squad). Lastly I was very interested in using Chapter Tactics, since I was relatively underwhelmed with Combat Tactics (at least for my style of play).

He seemed like a winner so I wrote up my list. I had to change out my command squad razorback because of Lysanders terminator armor, so I went with a drop pod. I also had to lose the devastators rhino to make up some points. No real bother as they are usually stationary anyway.

So after one game I was floored with how much of an improvement it was. The first thing that was apparent was how much better the drop pod was than the razorback. My command squad is meant to be very survivable (storm shields and an apothecary) but they weren't as big of an impact after my razorback got immobilized at half field. Now, turn one they are a factor. As survivable as they are I was not scared to unload in front of some pretty heavy firepower. The enemy was forced to deal with them. My rhinos zipped across the field at record speed. There was a lot of synergy going on there (yes I work a desk job). I will venture to say that I like the drop podding command squad more than I would like a deep striking assault terminator squad. The drop pod comes in first turn and doesn't have to worry so much about mishaps. So I don't need so much stand off distance.

The other big takeaway from the battle is how much more I like Stubborn than Combat Tactics. I know Combat Tactics can be very useful. Woe be the player who shoots at a combat squad before assaulting. I am just not the kind of player who dances around a board like that. I find that I am much more likely to go where I want to go and plant my squads. Seems like it falls in line with a certain chapter I know about. Every time I got into combat and had to roll leadership I was reminded how much more I like Stubborn. My army definitely feels more like Sons of Dorn.

And with that one game, I shelved my space wolves and started getting back to painting my Fists. I am actually in pretty good shape with my to-do list:

• Since I am not tweaking my space wolves anymore, I don't have anything on them to do (I'll chalk that one up as a painting win, since the codex came out a month ago)
• I only need to paint a drop pod, Lysander, and finish my assault marines to finish the 1500 points
• I only need to paint up one more tactical squad, their rhino, and five bolter wielding devastators to finish off the half-company

I think I will be set for a Jan tyranid release :D

Rix

Meh

So after a month of living, breathing, tweaking, and playing my space wolves I am officially bored with them. I have struggled to figure out why. Here are my best reasons:

• I always thought I loved Assault lists (my first love), but after playing all different types of armies I finally figured out that assault armies are pretty one dimensional.
• I settled very quickly into what I believe is the best list possible (given my already painted units)
• Allocating ICs and Wolf Guard between a mech list is confusing and annoying
• Lysander drop podded into my heart

More on the last later. But overall I have been very pleased with the way my wolves performed, very content with the viability of my list, and very bored playing it. I used to love setting up my Space Wolves for battle, they sat on my side of the table mocking my opponents "Do what you want, but my wolves are coming across to whop your ass!!" Now when I set up I feel like I am on the losing side of a battle of wits. My opponent has all kinds of tools at his disposal (reserve forces, combat squading, deep striking) and I am just looking to meet him in the middle without losing to many transports.

On another positive note, I like my list. I have a healthy number troops and some real punch in close combat without having to spend 750 points in HQ choices. The units all fit into my great company scheme (one of these days I'll get around to finishing that). But that cut out one of my favorite parts of the game, critically thinking about the list and doing some hard core tweaking.

Lastly, I do really like the ability to attach wolf guard. It's a poor man's combat squad. But trying to figure out between 4 squads which 3 should get a leader, which of those should get the special weapons, and then try and figure out which should get ICs, oh and also some are in razorbacks and some are in rhinos.....it all gets pretty confusing. I always end up just throwing some units together and deploying them haphazardly, which in turn I feel like I am always screwing up deployment.

For all of these reasons, I am Meh on my puppies and have shelved them for now.

Rix

The Burning of Prospero

Had my second round of matches with my Space Wolf force. This time I think my force was pretty close to final form. I am liking the direction it is heading.

My first two matches (a month or so ago) were strictly trial forces. I wanted to get the feel for the different units and characters. Both times I played against RC's Thousand Son force. The first was a two Land Raider army that hit you like a truck using The Great Wolf. I packed Blood Claws in one LR and Wolf Guard termies into the second. It was effective but very one dimensional and very light on the troops. My second was more of a medium infantry force with Grey Hunters in Razorbacks, some Blood Claw assaulters, and Njal. Best result from the game....making RC cry as Njal wtfpwnd Ahriman. While I learned I like the medium infantry army, I did admit that Njal is a little overpowered if he can beat Tzeentch's Champion so handedly.

I took the month to work on the list and update some of the painting on my older units. My list looked like this going into this weekend:

Rune Priest (Chooser of the Slain, Saga of the Beastslayer, Living Lightning, Wolf Spirits)
Wolf Guard Battle Leader (Wolf Claws, Saga of the hunter, wolves x2)
Wolf Guard x4 (Thunder Hammer x2, Combi-meltas x2, Power Weapons x2)
Lone Wolf (Melta bomb)
Wolf Scouts x5 (Meltgun, Plasma Pistol x2)
Blood Claws x10 (Power Fist, Flamer)
Grey Hunters x5 (Power Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Razorback w/ TL Las)
Grey Hunters x5 (Power Weapon, Flamer, Mark of the Wulfen, Razorback w/ TL Las)
Grey Hunters x5 (Power Weapon, Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino)
Land Raider Crusader (Meltagun)

First Game was an annihilation against the Thousand Sons. RC was attempting to move away from the heavy weapon prevalence in his army and add some more troops. We both felt that it did little to help him, as he had less capability to deal with transports and the massed troops was no match for the incoming of the Space Wolf fury. He called it after he had killed my Battle Leader, Scouts, Lone Wolf, a squad of Grey Hunters, and 3 vehicles. I had the advantage as I had killed most of his force and was wading around with about two turns to dish out some more punishment.

Lessons for the Game: Battle Leader with scouts moving behind enemy lines is cool, but you are not going to make up the points of losing your character after a turn or two. Also, the Lone Wolf seemed to suck.

Second Game was take and hold against a mech Dark Angel force. We rolled dawn of war. Night fighting came in handy....but I really sucked it up on my deployment. It was the first time in 10 years I didn't deploy my Space Wolves all together to charge the field. It threw off the rest of my game as I could never amass enough forces to push in his territory. I ended up fighting a tactically loosing battle as I couldn't even come close to his objective and he was all over mine. Good news was that my army was able to assault its way into re-securing my objective.

Lessons for the Game: My Lone Wolf sucks (and shall be removed). Living Lightning is an amazing vehicle killer. I could use a tinny bit more stand off firepower.

I am working on updating the list now. I am looking at dropping the Lone Wolf, Swapping the LR Crusader for a regular LR, somehow adding a three man Long Fang squad.

Cheers,

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