Battle Report - Chaos vs Angels of Death - 3000pt Doubles

You might remember that last month Dan, Jamie, Matt and I had a big doubles game which saw the Imperium of Man take on the Tyranid horde. The teams were shuffled around this time with Jamie and I fielding the Angels of Death (BA/DA) against Dan and Matt's forces of Nurgle (CD/CSM). In the spirit of a friendly, fluffier game, I'd be fielding a pile of ravenwing bikes but without the somewhat obligatory darkshroud and banner. My list consisted of Sammael, three units of bikes, two attack bikes, a land speeder, a big unit of black knights with an allied SM detachment featuring a libby on a bike, tactical squad in a rhino and a stormtalon (represented by a nephilim). It's a real shame I can't justify the real Nephilim but with the 40pt price difference and lack of Hover there really isn't any contest with the talon.

Jamie's half of our army consisted of a reclusiarch, sanguinary priests, jump pack assault squad, 5-man assault squad in a razorback, tactical squad in a rhino, death company and DC dread in a stormtalon, attack bike and a baal predator. The chaos forces consisted of two flying princes, plague drones, plaguebearers with heralds, great unclean one, Cypher with a big squad of CSM, plague marines, bikes, Typhus, soul grinder, obliterator and a defiler.

We were playing the Scouring with Dawn of War deployment. Jamie and I got the first turn so we deployed our bikes spread out with the theory being that if our opponents tried a refused flank deployment we'd have the speed to cover the ground. We also combat squaded everything we could. Whilst bigger squads would be better at tieing up enemy combat units we'd lose less when being shot at. Additionally there'd be less chance of our firepower being wasted on smaller units. Well all that and the fact that we'd got to try and cover as many objectives as possible to spread out the Chaos forces and hopefully weaken them.

Our opponents didn't try the refused flank and instead deployed their forces to match ours. Cypher and his large unit of nurgle CSM infiltrated near the centre of the board. They'd need to be dealt with early on. This was obvious bait but we couldn't afford to ignore them. Similarly the defiler and soul grinder would be a big problem for our foot troops. We were able to get a melta in range straight away thanks to scout moves but despite penetrating it's armour the daemonic invulnerable save prevented any damage. The bikes holding the melta would now surely feel the wrath of the great unclean one. Pretty much everything else focussed on Cypher and his unit. Sadly Cypher was giving his unit a 3+ cover save which was often 2+ with Night Fighting. Still, the combination of black knights (who helped out with their rad grenades) and ravenwing bikers the squad was cut down to size. We'd failed to kill anything for First Blood though.

Looking across the board we were concerned we'd over commited our bikes too early as we were well within range of everything in the Chaos horde. Unsurprisingly the GUO killed off the small squad of bikes who'd failed to destroy the defiler. The plague drones and daemon princes shot forwards with the drones engaging a squad of bikes in combat whilst the princes used their breath of chaos (I think) to kill off a pile of bikes. Meanwhile the chaos bikes, defiler and soul grinder cut swathes of bikes down. The bikes then charged their opposite numbers and caused them to fall back. I can't recall the exact number but I think we lost something like 18 bikes in the first turn alone!

Luckily both of our flyers arrived but thanks to classic cheesy play from Matt the flying daemon prince claimed a cover save from touching area terrain which was then boosted by Shrouded. The daemon prince was at least grounded but it still had a couple of wounds left. Meanwhile the BA attack bike and assault squads from the rhino and razorback tried to destroy the chaos rhino but failed. The jump pack squad tried the same with the baal predator lined up to flame the occupants. Once again the meltaguns failed to destroy their target. The predator had now nicely lined itself up as the GUO's next victim and the assault squad was forced to charge the rhino to destroy it. Meanwhile one of the DA attack bikes came on behind the defiler and penetrated it's armour with it's multimelta. Once again the defiler made it's 5+ save. Another ravenwing combat squad tried the same with a melta to the face of the soul grinder and once again the 5+ save was made. After an abysmal turn of shooting out only hope of causing any damage was the black knights charging Cypher and his unit and catching the DP in a multi-charge.

Sammael decided to take on the DP on his own whilst the Cypher challenged the black knight huntmaster. The prince struck out at Sammael but luckily he survived on a single would and was even more lucky when he managed to wound twice and kill off the prince! Meanwhile the knights killed off the remaining CSM in Cypher's squad. It was all down to the huntmaster now who miraculously managed to kill off Cypher too giving us 3 VP into the bargain. I wasn't convinced this was enough to turn the game around but it was certainly a big blow to our enemies. Even better when they realised they'd forgotten to the deploy the portalglyph (that Dan had converted up from some false teeth!).

Now we were in trouble as the Heldrake arrived. The combination of Heldrake and Daemon Prince saw off the black knights, librarian and Sammael with just their vector strikes and flamers. At least this left the DP out of combat and on the ground. The drones finished off their bikes and moved to take on the DA tactical squad who were tucked up in their rhino. The GUO easily smashed his way through the baal predator. The plague marines in the rhinos now targetted the blood angels. The bikers helped them by charging the jump packers. The defiler had forgotten all about the attack bike behind it but fortunately for our opponents the nearby squad of plaguebearers was able to get into combat with the bike.

Another attack bike was able to outflank right behind his comrade but suffered the same issue with defiler AGAIN making it's invulnerable save. The flyers teamed up to try and down the heldrake but failed. The stormraven disgorged it's occupants with the death company charging the daemon prince and the DC dread taking on some plaguebearers.

The chaos forces struck back with the soul grinder charging the DC dread. The drones weren't able to destroy the DA rhino but stripped two hull points from it. Our right flank had pretty much completely folded and things weren't getting better as Typhus arrived from deep strike to wade in to the combats in the centre of the board. The obliterator came in too and destroyed the BA rhino.

Victory seemed nearly impossible at this point but we still had some hope as thanks to the Scouring the land speeder and stormtalon would be scoring. The DA tac squad hopped out of their rhino to try and cut down the drones but could only kill one and suffered a charge from them as punishment. Luckily they were able to win out though and cling to their objective. That was until the heldrake came into contest it.

In the last turn we tried some desperation tactics and used the speeder and talon to contest our opponents' objectives whilst we tried to destroy the heldrake to reclaim our objective. It was too little too late though as the soul grinder took down the speeder (having dispatched the DC dread. Still the game finished 14-9 which was a lot closer than it felt.

Conclusion

To me our defeat game down to our inability to destroy vehicles even with half range melta. The soul grinder and defiler passed five or six 5+ invulnerable saves so they kept on shooting and whittling down our forces. Neither rhino fell to melta preventing us from charging the occupants. Not destroying these vehicles was huge but made more so by the fact that it left us exposed to reprisals.

Both Typhus (who was deep striking) and the GUO are pretty easily avoided with an army as mobile as ours but thanks to getting bogged down a lot of the time they were able to get stuck in. The other key factor was the widespread high toughness. Our army wasn't high on numbers due to the relative expense of bikes but their weaponry was better at dealing with high toughness than ours.

There could be a debate about whether we should've taken first turn or not. Being able to directly counter the powerhouses of the chaos forces would've been useful and we'd have been able to use our speed to dictate the terms of the battle. Not only that but we'd have been able to cover the objectives in the later turns with less chance of reprisal. Trouble is, with a bike army you really feel like you need to go first to make the most of the scout moves and ensure those Jink saves are available.

I can't say I especially enjoyed this game at the time. There were several instances of our tactics falling flat thanks to poor dice on our part or jammy dice on theirs. If we'd even killed one of their vehicles in that fateful turn 2 then things may have been very different. I must apologise to the group though as I was pretty mardy towards the end of the game.

Anyway, hopefully things will be much more fun in our next big game for which we'll be upping the ante to 4,000 points to see the Imperium (Matt/Jamie) face off against the Greenskins (Me/Dan). The Orks will be fielding a couple of stompas and our scouts report they'll be facing off against a baneblade, warhound and imperial knight. I'm (for the most part) enjoying these big games, not only because I love doubles but also because we're trying to minimise the amount of dirt/cheese in use.

6th Edition 40K - You're Doing It Wrong! (maybe) - Characters

We've all done it. When you play a game with your mates you either both assume a rule stayed the same in 6th or else one of you is sure you've read it and the other doesn't question it. Not such a big deal in friendly games but can lead to problems at tournaments. You end up making your battle plans based on those assumed rules and it's only when you execute your strategy that your opponent goes "hang on, you can't do that". This is partly why I like going to tournaments. I can't remember a time when I got through an entire tournament without having to look something up.

One point that's worth making here is that some things are FAQ'd and people aren't up-to-date with them. Keeping abreast of the rules is key to tournament play. Before any tournament I always read through the latest FAQs of the rulebook and my army's codex. I also do my best to keep an eye on all the other FAQs, which comes in handy when I referee at Blog Wars. Anyway, here's a list of rules you might be doing wrong. I'm hoping to make this a regular segment so feel free to send in any you've come across. Remember, I'm not saying everyone else is doing it wrong and I'm not. As ever if you think I've got something wrong then please tell me.

Characters are huge in 6th edition 40K. I don't think people are actually making them as significant as they ought to be either. Every army has characters in there somewhere. Here's a few things that I think people (myself included) are doing wrong when it comes to using characters.

Knowing They Even Exist

Whilst the new codexes (CSM, DA and now Daemons) will list out all the units and whether they're characters or not, the old ones still rely on the summary in the back of the rulebook. Take some time now to actually look at your army and see what characters you have.

Most of the time it's pretty intuitive. We'd expect squad leaders (e.g. Exarches, Nobs, Wolf Guard, Sergeants) to be characters but there are some surprises too. For example, at the recent doubles we took great pleasure in pointing out that Dreadknights are characters and hence they can challenge out some of those enemy characters and kick their teeth in. Similarly Lone Wolves, Daemon Princes, Warlocks, Wraithlords, etc are all characters so make the most of them.

Precision Shots/Strikes

I'm as guilty of this as anyone but how often do you remember to use your Precision Shots? It just isn't part of the routine yet and I don't find myself rolling different coloured dice. Even if the character has different WS/BS and I do roll different colour dice, I often don't pay any attention to the 6s I roll. This is a HUGE mechanic in 6th edition and I think it's probably the most underused. 

Think of the numerous situations where a Precision Shot could change the entire game. Taking out an apothecary to remove FNP or killing a sergeant to lower the leadership of a unit. Now these types of shots can be countered with Look Out Sir! rolls (more on them in a bit) but there are other significant examples such as killing the guy with a special weapon such as a power fist, meltagun etc or how about the guy with a banner. Your opponent can't stop you killing things that aren't characters themselves. If you aren't using the Precision Shot you're letting your opponent decide when to remove that model. Combine the precision shot with a special weapon of your own and it can be really deadly. 

Precision Strikes are also overlooked a lot. Now if you're getting into challenges then they aren't going to make a difference but once you win the challenge do you remember to keep track of them again? Anyway, I don't want to go down the route of tactics as that's more of a subject for a different post but the point is if you aren't using Precision Shots/Strikes you aren't getting the most from your army.

Challenges

Challenges can change the course of the combat in a big way but people often forget to issue them at all.  Don't forget that although the charging player gets to challenge first, you can still issue one if they don't. When you've been issued a challenge remember you don't have to accept it with the character it was directed at. In fact challenges shouldn't technically be directed at anyone. If you have a flimsy but useful Independent Character in your squad then maybe a sergeant would be better accepting the challenge, leaving the IC safe and able to assault the rest of the unit. 

Another thing that's often done wrong is that if you choose to refuse a challenge (and often it's the best call even if it feels cowardly) with a character, they can't strike but can still be struck if they're the last guy left or you simply want to put attacks on them. However, "spare" wounds left after a challenger is slain can't then be applied to models which weren't part of the challenge and similarly "spare" wounds from the rest of the combat can't be put on the challengers.

Moral Support gets forgotten about a lot and is key when you're fighting a single enemy model. If you've got bystanders it's worth checking if you get a re-roll because that could keep your character alive or help him kill his opponent.

Look Out Sir!

Most people have got used to this mechanic now but there are still some that are forgetting to do it. Sometimes it's better not to of course but most of the time a character has something about him worth saving! The key thing here is that LOS got FAQ'd fairly early on to clear up the confusion that the wording of the rule had created.

The model making the LOS attempt must be the closest model to the character. You can't just pick a random model in 6" to take the hit. Also, the attempt must be made when the wound is allocated to the model and not once you've failed the saving throw and panicked! I'll cover wound allocation in another post and talk about LOS more then as this is something a lot of people seem to be doing wrong or are making more complicated than necessary. 

Independent Characters

Most things about ICs have stayed the same in the transition to 6th edition but there are a couple of minor things. Firstly, a lot of the Special Rules have a line which says "if one or models in a unit has this rule" which means, for example, that Fearless characters now make a whole unit Fearless automatically. 

Just like in 5th, ICs can only join/leave units in the Movement Phase. I'm always amazed at how often people think they can do so in the Assault Phase. 

The only other thing that springs to mind is Heroic Morale whereby units that contain an Independent Character can regroup on normal Leadership even if they've dropped below 25%. Might help prevent your IC from running off the board (if you aren't lucky enough to have ATSKNF anyway!).

Conclusion

Most of this stuff people know about but simply forget. I'm definitely guilty of forgetting Precision Shots about 99% of the time. When I do remember I seem to fail to wound anyway!! I have no idea how to make myself start remembering but I know I'll do better if I do. It's a question of making it part of the routine when rolling to hit.

Characters are a big part of 6th edition and, as I've said, I think their potential is being wasted by most players. 

Special Characters Summary

As promised I'm going to summarise the pros & cons of all the special characters then in a few subsequent posts I'll give some sample army lists to try and get people using more interesting armies!

A full list of the articles in this series is on the right of the blog and if you're considering using any of the special characters I suggest reading them. This list of pros and cons is just to give you a guide. Some characters look like they have far more of one than another but that doesn't necessarily mean you should use them (or not). Bear in mind you need to pick a character that suits your army style. 

Njal Stormcaller 
Pros: Powerful psyker, can use two powers per turn plus powerful Lord of Tempests. Possibly the best anti-psychic in the game (nullifies on 3+, 24" range). Durable 2+/4+ save.

Cons: Not great in combat, only two wounds and not eternal makes him vulnerable for the points. High points cost particularly with terminator armour. Minimal army benefits.

Best uses: Terminator bodyguard sat on an objective or with long fangs blasting away with lightning. 

Logan Grimnar 
Pros: Eternal warrior, 3 wounds, 2+/4+ save and stubborn will keep him alive. Living legend can make an assault phase pretty lethal. High King makes a unit either great at combat or shooting. Can strike at I5 but option of power fist. Wolf Guard become troops, freeing up elite slots. Lethal in combat.

Cons: At higher points can limit army as WG must be troops. Extremely high points cost can put him out of contention in 2000pts or less. High King makes his use a tricky choice.

Best uses: Large, well equipped unit of terminators in a land raider or drop pod. Alternatively, gives long fangs relentless or tank hunters but wastes his CC prowess. 

Ragnar Blackmane 
Pros: Cheaper option than Logan. Ablative wounds from fen wolves. Furious charge for a unit gives I5 for them and I6 for him. Once per game gives it to more units. Insane amount of attacks on the charge (possibly) if used in a large unit. Saga can give him even more attacks. High strength thanks for FC and frost blade. Invulnerable save.

Cons: Relies on getting the charge. Only gets a 3+ basic save and no eternal warrior makes him vulnerable to power fists and high strength shots. High cost for someone that can be killed so easily.

Best uses: Stick him in a rhino or drop pod with a full strength unit of grey hunters and pile him into a crucial enemy unit. Pop a standard and you're almost guaranteed to annihilate them (should you get the charge). 

Bjorn the Fell-Handed 
Pros: Venerable, AV13 and 5+ save makes him durable. Ability to dreadlock a unit. Bonus objective which can come in handy. High strength even in CC weapon destroyed. Gives you option to re-roll for deployment. Can soak up a lot of fire which gives a good distraction to protect the rest of your force.

Cons: Must die to make rest of army fearless. Additional objective can back-fire badly and loses D3 KP if not held in annihilation games. No drop pod means he'll have a long walk to get into combat and one lucky shot could potentially cost you 270pts. High cost over a standard dread without significant improvements.

Best uses: Counter charge on an objective/protect long fangs. Hug cover and try and dread-lock an opponent. 

Ulrik the Slayer 
Pros: Low points cost above a standard wolf priest makes him easier to include. Awesome against high toughness such as daemons/big tyranids. Army wide benefit from Wolf-Helm plus difficult for an IC to hit in combat. Makes his unit fearless. Plasma pistol can come in handy.

Cons: Vanilla wolf priest gives a lot of the same benefits but more flexibility with the preferred enemy. Only two wounds, no eternal warrior and T4 makes him vulnerable to power fists etc.

Best uses: Large unit of GH or BC. Almost a must against Tyranids/Daemons. Use Mentor to boost a dreadnought, lone wolf or PF model. 

Canis Wolfborn
Pros: Big target to distract your opponent away from the rest of your army. S5 and ablative wounds make him durable. Fen wolves can be taken as troops and will have better stats thanks to Saga. High strength, rending, wolf claws and potential for a lot of attacks makes him deadly in combat. Potential to engage a unit 24" away in combat (12" charge range). Low points cost makes him easy to include.

Cons: No invulnerable save - railguns and S10 characters are not your friends. Needs a change in army style to be really effective.

Best uses: Give him a TWC bodyguard (with a storm shield) and get him in on a horde of orks/nids. Solo with fen wolves could be tricky but worth a go. 

Arjac Rockfist 
Pros: Good against ICs or MCs. Pretty cheap to include and can be split from WG squad to lead another unit. Throw the hammer to de-mech your target first. Storm shield without the downside. Eternal warrior and terminator armour make him sturdy. Large number of thunder hammer attacks will make him scary to your opponents.

Cons: Not an independent character so some benefits are wasted. No model available (but easy to convert). No unit or army-wide benefits (since he's just an upgrade character).

Best uses: Upgrade a terminator squad and go on the hunt for high toughness stuff. Drop pod him in near some juicy tanks or heavy weapons teams. 

Lukas the Trickster 
Pros: Last Laugh has the potential to make him more than pay for himself. Good number of attacks and re-roll from claw will make a mess of a lot of things in combat. Cheapest of all the characters listed here so not going to break the bank to include him.

Cons: Have to get him killed to make the most of him. Doesn't really benefit his unit. Pelt is pretty useless since he needs to be alone and at that point you probably want him to die. Must include Blood Claws to use him, relies on charge. Limits leadership of his unit.

Best uses: Upgrade a 15 man blood claw squad and give them a wolf priest. If you've got the points stick that little lot in an LR Crusader and ensure you get the charge. Find something juicy for him to trap in stasis forever and watch your opponent scrabble to find some reason why his valuable model isn't removed from the table!

Final thoughts
I hope this series will have at least encouraged people to give the special characters a go. I know they're a lot of points but if you pick a couple and give them a go I'm sure you won't be disappointed. We showed at the tournament that sometimes an SC can be lethal when used right. Don't expect them to win games for you but sometimes the result of a crucial combat can be changed by their presence.

The alternative is to create your own characters with their own backstory and benefits. This can either be using the rules from an SC with a different name or by tooling up a wolf lord or battle leader. The codex gives you some great options for them and the Sagas give them a bit more flavour. 

Let me know if you try any of them or have problems finding a role for them in your army. If nothing else they're (mostly) fantastic looking models to have on the table and people will respect you more for using them than boring stats lists. Remember 40K doesn't always have to be super competitive!

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 7: Arjac Rockfist & Lukas the Trickster

We've come to the final part of this series and it's a double header of "upgrade" characters. These guys can't be taken on their own so they aren't the usual special characters. However, they're pretty potent in their own right. The other main difference between them and the HQ choices is that they don't enhance the unit they're tied to (in fact Lukas makes them worse if anything!). Let's start with Arjac.

Arjac Rockfist, The Anvil of Fenris

Arjac Rockfist can be taken in a squad of Wolf Guard but it doesn't have to be a terminator squad. He costs 170pts plus 18pts for the WG he upgrades from. This makes him the same basic cost as Ulrik or Canis. Bear in mind that like other WG he can go off to lead other squads such as Grey Hunters but not Scouts because of his terminator armour. This means you could include him along with the usual WG that you put with your Grey Hunters and have him attach in the same way they do. The advantage of this over conventional ICs is that he can't be targeted separately in CC and he doesn't have to charge first like ICs do whilst still getting the protection of being in a squad. 

His basic statline is quite nice. The most noticeable things are the S5 and 3 attacks, couple this with his thunder hammer and that's strength 10 and a couple of bonus attacks on the charge (1 for charging and 1 from his shield, which even works when he's been charged). So that's a whopping 5 S10 attacks which combined with the obligatory Wolftooth necklace means bad times for anything he comes across. The rest of his stat line isn't so exciting. BS and WS 5 are nice but since he has a necklace anyway and he only gets one shooting attack (I'll come to that later) he doesn't really need either. His toughness 4, 2 wounds and terminator armour make him just as difficult to kill as two terminators with storm shields. Saga of the Bear ensures he's not at risk from instant death which is handy to protect him from pesky lascannons and meltaguns.

His special rules are the standard Acute Senses, ATSKNF, Counter-Attack but with the addition of Stubborn which doesn't take effect until he's on his own. Grimnar's Champion gives him a nice re-roll to hit against ICs and MCs. It does however, mean that he has to direct attacks to ICs which you'd probably do anyway. The Anvil Shield is just a storm shield but as I've mentioned you get an extra attack in the first round of combat. The foehammer can be thrown 6" with S10 and AP1 making it the world's shortest ranged railgun! This might not sound brilliant but it does give a combat heavy terminator squad chance to de-mech a target before clobbering the occupants. 

I'd use him with 4 terminator buddies in a drop pod. Perhaps something like Arjac, 3 wolf claw terminators and a cyclone/PF combo. The wolf claws give you some I4 attacks and then Arjac and the fist can wreak havoc last. It may be worth swapping out a claw terminator for another hammer and shield to give you added protection. That or put him in a drop pod with an 8 man grey hunter squad and see what you can get to fight you! The other more obvious alternative is to put him with a squad in a land raider and pile into your enemies strongest unit. I'd even consider a redeemer so he's gets 7 friends to ride alongside.

PS Thanks to Cathexis on DakkaDakka for the inspiring Arjac conversion that I'm working to emulate with a few differences (I'll post about this when he's done).

Lukas the Trickster

The first and most obvious thing to notice about Lukas, and the reason he doesn't get used, is that he's an upgrade to a squad of blood claws. I think the problem people have with Blood Claws is that they cost the same as grey hunters and don't offer enough to compensate for the loss of those bolters. Anyway, let's look at Lukas and I'll come back to this issue.

Lukas costs 140pts plus 15pts for the BC he replaces, at 155pts he's the cheapest "special character". He's pretty tooled up for the points too. He gets a necklace, talisman, wolf claw, a plasma pistol and his pelt (which we'll come to later). His statline is quite nice, he gets 2 extra points in WS & BS over his squad mates, an extra wound, 3 attacks and that all important I5. His leadership is a measly 8 but it also can't be increased by adding a IC to the squad which also applies to the rest of the squad. This can easily be mitigated by adding a Wolf Priest to his squad which gives them all Fearless and Preferred Enemy. Speaking of which preferred enemy is pretty vital with Blood Claws given their low WS.

Anyway, his special rules are what make him, well... special. The most infamous of these is his Last Laugh ability. Should Lukas find himself in combat and your opponent lands a killing blow then you roll off to see if you can remove all the models that were in base contact with him! This affects both friend and foe so be careful who you put next to him but the possibilities of this rule are endless. Charge him into a land raider and let the occupants get out and attack you. Should they kill you and you win the roll off then it's bye bye land raider! His pelt on the other hand has been a little bit screwed by the FAQ. Since he isn't an IC you can't allocate attacks to him separately so you opponent is unlikely to have to re-roll many hits. In practice this means that he has to be on his own for it to do anything at all and to be honest once he's alone you almost want him to die so that he can play his final trick.

For me Lukas is best in a full strength squad of blood claws (15 including him) and a vanilla wolf priest. For them to be truly effective they need a land raider crusader to get them into a (nearly) guaranteed charge position. Throw in a power weapon for one of the claws and a multi-melta for the crusader and it's over 600 points for this unit. Can't see many people finding space for them in their lists but in high points games (at least 2500) he'd be a fun little addition. This unit will have about 66 attacks on the charge with a good chunk of them as power weapons. Add in the preferred enemy and you've got a good chance of annihilating a large squad. The Wolf Priest also gets rid of the annoying Headstrong. In my post yesterday I talked about distraction units and he's certainly that. Anyone who knows about him will be understandably cautious about getting into combat with him which you can play to your advantage. 

The alternative is a smaller bodyguard for Lukas and stick him in either a razorback or rhino and pile them forward as quick as possible. Park up, hope not to get de-meched them charge out and make a mess of someone. Either way I doubt you'll see anyone using him at a tournament. I have to agree that BCs aren't as good as GHs but they're certainly more fun!

Right, that's it then. The next post in this series will be the last and it'll be a handy summary of the pros and cons of each character so you can choose which, if any, you'd like to try out!

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 6: Canis Wolfborn

In this, the penultimate part of this series I'm going to talk about Canis Wolfborn. Along with Bjorn he's pretty unique. Unlike all the other characters he has no interest in shooting, in fact he's pretty awful at it! His goal is to get up close nice and quick and smash your teeth in.

His stats reflect this combat focus. He has WS of 5 but a lowly BS of 2, not that it matters since he doesn't carry a gun! Thanks to his wolf mount Fangir he was S5, T5, 5 attacks and a decent 3 wounds. Importantly he also has I5. His high toughness, couple with a power armour save, makes him pretty resilient. Terminator armour may have a better save but most weapons will have to roll high to wound him in the first place.

He gets the standard batch of skills: Acute Senses, ATSKNF & Counter Attack and also thanks to Fangir he has Rending. Not that is makes much difference since he has power weapons but it will give him a better chance of wrecking vehicles even being able to glance upto AV14. However, if you're putting him up against vehicles you're probably wasting his talents. His special rules mean that to make the most of him you need to have some fen wolves in your army as any within 12" can use Canis' leadership. It may only be 8 but that means the creatures will have the same Ld as a Space Marine making them harder to shift.

Wrath of the Savage is an interesting one, if you're in base contact with more than 5 models (i.e. his base attacks) then you can swap this characteristic for the number of models in base contact. GW does stipulate that you can't mount him on a bigger base but the one he comes with is a decent size. Not sure what the maximum is but I'm pretty convinced it wouldn't be much more than 8. Mind you that'll mean he has 10 attacks on the charge! To be honest this is only really going to be useful against Orks, Nids, etc. little else is likely to end up that densely packed around him.

This sort of highlights the problem with him. Against most opponents he's unlikely to wind up being any better than Logan or Ragnar. However, the obvious advantage though is that he only costs 185pts. I think that's actually a bargain for what you get. Equipment wise he comes with a Wolftooth necklace, Wolf tail talisman and a pair of wolf claws. Against most things then he'll be hitting and wounding on 3s (wounds on 2 against T3) and then he'll re-roll either set. Saga of the Wolfkin is also nice as it means any fen wolves have I5 and Ld 7 and the Wolf King ability makes them Troops (although remember they can't claim objectives). Speaking of which you can give him a pair of fen wolves as some handy ablative wounds. This can go some way to compensating for his lack of an invulnerable save.

So how should you use him? He could used solo with a pair of fen wolves. Launch him at a mob of orks or a suitably hefty target and let him cleave through them. Bear in mind thanks to him being cavalry he can charge a maximum of 24" (minimum 19") so you shouldn't struggle to get him in close. He's a pretty big model so he's sure to draw some attention. This might mean that your opponent unloads a lot of fire his way which can go some way to protecting your transports.

To me a better idea would be to have him in a squad of TWC. If you're short on points they could be just a couple but make sure one of them has a storm shield to give them an invuln save. This will make a very nasty proposition for any enemy to deal with. Give them a squad of fen wolves as a screening cover save and you're almost guaranteed to get them in. Any opponent is going to worry about that little lot coming towards his lines and distraction is always handy in 40K.

Writing this makes me want to use the model in my next battle. I've had the box for a while now but I've never found any motivation to build him up. This is partly because large metal models never seem to fit together right but also because I'm waiting until I've got some TWC to make the most of him. He certainly seems like fun though!

Right, one last post in this series to go and it's a double on with both Arjac and Lukas. Once they're done I'll summarise all this stuff so you can make your decision about with SC will accompany your army. We demonstrated at Freebootaz that SCs are underused and can be really powerful. Mind you I'll be surprised if many have the guts to use them instead of the bog standard Rune Priests. Hopefully I've inspired someone though....

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 5: Ulrik the Slayer

Unlike his special character counterparts Ulrik isn't that expensive when compared to the non-special equivalent, the wolf priest. A standard priest with no equipment is 100pts and Ulrik is 180pts. So why should you spend those extra points? 

In terms of basic stats he isn't a huge improvement but there are some key benefits. He's got better WS and BS, an extra wound and higher initiative. The WS/BS aren't really significant as you aren't going to be doing much shooting and you're still probably hitting on 3+ in combat against most things. However, the extra wound is handy and I5 means you'll get those power weapon hits in before most things out there get to hit back. Bear in mind you're still vulnerable to instant death but since he's always going to be in a squad you can assign the hits elsewhere. 

As I've mentioned he's got a nice power weapon hitting at I5 and a plasma pistol which isn't essential (I'd never give one to a wolf priest for example) but it does mean you might soften up marine squads or maybe blow up a transport before charging it's occupants. Uniquely Ulrik doesn't have a saga like the other characters but since there's only a couple of decent ones it isn't really an issue. Essentially his special rules are equivalent to saga of the beastslayer. As with the other special characters the main benefits come when you put them into a squad.

Ulrik and his squad can re-roll to hit AND to wound when in combat with a model with toughness 5 or more. This really comes into it's own against monstrous creatures such as Nids and Daemons. In my recent battle report Ulrik and his squad of grey hunters made mincemeat of a trygon prime without breaking a sweat. This rule also applies to models which are toughness 5 thanks to a bonus (such as being on a bike) so it isn't as limited as you might think. In practice, however, you'll be lucky if you get to make use of this rule as anyone who knows about it will try and keep their creatures/characters away from him. I actually prefer the standard wolf priest's ability to pick which unit type he gets Preferred Enemy for, even though this doesn't allow wounds to be re-rolled.

The mentor special rule is a nice touch. At first it may not seem all that useful but I like to use it on Lone Wolves, Dreadnoughts and even on power fist Wolf Guard in order to make the most of their limited attacks. Ulrik's other special rule, Wolf Helm of Russ is like Saga of Majesty but works for any units with line of sight to him. In addition, it means ICs wishing to assign attacks to him in combat will need to take a leadership test. This situation is pretty rare though and with most ICs having high leadership it's rarely useful. The morale re-roll is the real benefit here.

Finally, like other Wolf Priests, Ulrik get's a 4+ invulnerable save and makes his unit fearless which can be useful since Space Wolves don't have a brilliant Ld value for the most part. Speaking of Wolf Priests let's compare the points. To get a similarly equipped Wolf Priest with Plasma Pistol, Wolftooth Necklace and a Saga you're looking at 145pts. Granted you'd rarely take the pistol but the rest is reasonable so let's say 135pts. That extra 45 could buy you three grey hunters or a transport but I'd say spend it on Ulrik. He brings a bit of interest to your lists. Use him in a transport with some grey hunters and charge him towards something juicy. Ragnar probably does the job better but at 240pts you're losing something else in your list to take him. I also quite like the Ulrik model even though it's an original model thats been around a long time.

We're nearing the end of this series but there's one character left and he's a totally different prospect to any of the others. Next time it's Canis!

PS I'm going to cover Lukas and Arjac in a post together as they're upgrade characters rather than fully fledged special HQ choices.

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 4: Bjorn the Fell-Handed

It's artwork like this picture that really makes me want to like dreadnoughts. The idea of an ancient behemoth who has seen more battles than you've had hot dinners. Therefore it was one of the first models I bought when I started buying my Space Wolves army. I bought the standard plastic Space Marine dread and added a couple of little conversions so that I could use him as either a standard dread or as the subject of this post; Bjorn.

Sadly I've rarely used my dreadnought as it seems to have difficulty competing with other units for my valuable elite slots. Taking one as an HQ would certainly mean I didn't lose out on terminators, scouts and lone wolves.

As I've said before, Bjorn is perhaps the most unique special character in 40K being a vehicle. He has an impressive statline with significantly improvements over a standard dread. Both BS and WS are 6 so he'll have little difficulty scoring hits in combat or at range. Strength 7 means that even if he loses his left arm he'll still give people something to think about in CC, especially since he has 5 attacks on the charge! The only slight downside is that he's initiative 3 which means he'll struggle against squads of marines. Bear in mind however that with AV13 on the front they'll have to have a power fist or meltabombs to trouble him, in fact anything with less than S7 won't touch him in combat. Couple this with a permanent 5+ save to anything that gets past his armour and a talisman to give him psychic protection and he's pretty resilient. 

So far he seems like a good choice right? Well this is where he starts to go downhill. At a whopping 275pts he's far from cheap. You'd probably have difficulty convincing yourself that he's more worthwhile than Ragnar, Logan and Njal. Not to mention you could nearly have 3 vanilla rune priests for that price. Also, aside from the invulnerable save the other special rules don't really excite me. Re-rolling for deployment can be crucial sometimes but if you rely on it then you probably should rethink your list. If you manage to get him destroyed he makes all of his wolfy friends fearless but you've then got to defend him like an objective and if not at least have someone in contact with his wreck so you don't concede a pile of KPs.

You can swap his assault cannon for a plasma cannon at no extra cost which gives him some flexibility but the AC is pretty solid. Either way it's only really secondary to his CC skills. Ideally I'd like to put him in a drop pod and deep strike him in near some units which you know you can dread lock. However, the listing doesn't say he can take one as a transport. As far as I can tell from reading on the net it's a case of your opponent allowing you to use one or not. Sadly without one he has the same problem as other walkers in that it takes you a long time to make it into combat. I guess you could walk him behind one of your transports in the hopes of using him for counter assault.

I'd very much like to use him more but every time I think about including him I think what I could spend the points on better. As I said he's always going to have to try and pick units which aren't packed with power fists or melta bombs and to do so whilst crawling along at 6" a turn (assuming you don't run) will be difficult. 

I think special characters will always have to fight for there place against their less "special" equivalents and whislt Bjorn is undoubtedly better than a standard dread he doesn't really compete with the other HQ choices out there. I think I'll stick to using the model as just a vanilla dread. Next time it's Ulrik the Slayer who's actually not that expensive!

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 3: Ragnar Blackmane

Ragnar may not seem like an obvious choice for most Space Wolf players as they'd prefer to use Logan. However, In my recent battles I've found Ragnar to be far more useful.

I'll start as I have with the other SCs and look at his statline. It's a pretty similar story to Logan's apart from he's one attack short and comes with a 3+ power armour save. You might think he loses out but in fact since he gets a +D3 attacks bonus on the charge it isn't normally an issue. The lack of terminator armour means his unit can make sweeping advances which always helps! He comes with the standard Wolftooth necklace and Wolf tail talisman combo. His frost blade means he'll be hitting with an S5 power weapon (S6 on the charge) and melta bombs are thrown in for those opportunist vehicle kills. I doubt many people would upgrade him to have a couple of fenrisian wolves but the option is there and they are slightly better than the standard ones. He gets an invulnerable 4+ save too.

So what makes him worth your valuable points? Well his special rules are, in my opinion, better than Logan's. Insane Bravado gives you +D3 attacks on the charge and this applies to the whole unit. Imagine coupling this with a Wulfen grey hunter and you can see the potential. Further to this his War Howl gives the unit Furious Charge which once per game he can give to any units in 12". Now according to the FAQ this can even be used on the counter charge. So you get some BA charging you thinking they'll be hitting first and instead you all strike at the same time. Against most other enemies you'll go first and with the sheer volume of attacks you can dish out they'll stand little chance of hitting back. A full squad of 9 grey hunters with a Wulfen and Wolf Guard could dish out a maximum of 60+ attacks at S5 (or above)! Add in a Wolf standard and for one phase you'll hit with most of them, potentially you'll have wiped out a mob of 30 boyz after sweeping advance. Oh and Ragnar's saga means he gets bonus attacks if he kills a lot of things. Assuming he gets 8 attacks on the charge, he'll hit with 5/6, wound with 4/5 so that's a hefty bonus if there's anything left after the initial round!

I'd always put him in a decent sized squad and mount him in a transport. A rhino is the obvious choice for grey hunters. Let your opponent de-mech you then charge in and wipe them out. My preference however, would be a drop pod. Aim for one of his valuable squads or for that lonely troop unit sat on an objective right at the back. Obviously you can't charge straight away but if you rapid fire a squad nearby you're sure to attract attention. When your opponent comes into charge you can probably make short work of most things on a counter charge and then you're free to roam round the back of his lines. Obviously, you'll be attracting a lot of fire but with a decent sized squad you'll be fine. Remember if your enemy is firing everything he has at that one squad then the rest of your army can do what it wants! Finally, you could stick him and his squad in a land raider but just Ragnar and the LR comes to 490pts so it's hardly a cheap option!

I think it's probably clear from this post that I'm a big fan of Ragnar but there's still quite a few special characters left to discuss. Next I'll talk about the most unique of them: Bjorn the Fell-Handed.

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 2: Logan Grimnar

In the last bit of this series I talked about Njal. His main limitation is that he has limited use in combat. Logan on the other hand, does not have that problem. Let's start with his statline, the highlights are his high weapon skill, three wounds and an impressive 5 attacks striking (potentially) at initiative 5.

Terminator armour obviously makes him pretty resilient and if that wasn't enough he has a 4+ save instead of the standard 5+. He's also one of the very few characters to get Eternal Warrior. Like other SW special chars he has a Wolftooth Necklace so he's got a good chance of getting his attacks through. His High King special rule means that if he's put into a unit of Wolf Guard Terminators he's giving them Preferred Enemy and once per game he gives everything in 18" +1A thanks to Living Legend. Not to mention he's made the Terminators a troops choice freeing up those precious elite slots.

His Axe Morkai can split it's attacks between a S8 power fist or a S5 frost axe. So he has the flexibility of assigning some heavy attacks to a special character but also thinning out the supporting unit with those S5 power weapon hits. On the charge (and counter attack, likely at Ld10) he's getting 6 attacks. On average he should hit with 4 straight off and with re-rolls you'd expect a minimum of 5 hits. Against most targets he's wounding on 2s or 3s (depending on the axe mode chosen) so he should average around 4 wounds per turn. Given that both modes are power weapons that's 4 dead enemies or 4 wounds on an IC.

So you're obviously going to stick him in a land raider with a squad of terminators with wolf claws (who'll re-roll to hit AND wound) and go hunting some heavy enemy units right? Well not necessarily. High King also allows him to give Tank Hunters or Relentless. Imagine if you put him with some Long Fangs then. Heavy weapons moving 6" per turn or getting a +1 penetration bonus when stationary. Sounds pretty good to me.

Well he's versatile, hard as nails and improves a good chunk of your army. Where's the downside? The most obvious is his hefty 275pt price tag. In smaller points games he's not gonna be an option and you've got to have a decent plan for him to make him a safe choice in higher points games. You could easily buy an entire terminator or GH unit for the same price. That or have two tooled up Rune Priests. You can understand where his high cost comes from though and I think used to his full potential he's well worth it. He gives you options when taking down high toughness opponents in close combat and with a terminator unit including a couple of storm shields he's near impossible to shift from an objective.

My personal choice would be the most obvious, a unit of 4 terminators with either wolf claws or TH/SS in a land raider (or 5 in a redeemer/crusader). Roll him right up to the frontline, charge out and see what's left standing after the first round of combat.

Next up for discussion is his would-be successor Ragnar Blackmane. Not quite as tough but he provides a different set of bonuses of his own.

Thoughts on Special Characters - Part 1: Njal Stormcaller

I don't know about anyone else but when I first saw the Space Wolves special character models I just had to have them. In fact they're probably what made me want to play Space Wolves in the first place. I have fond memories of watching my friends Wolves army led by Ragnar Blackmane tearing into Tyranids.

Therefore when I was planning what to buy for my army I got a bit carried away and bought all of them! Ragnar and Ulrik I managed to pick up pretty cheaply from eBay but the rest came from Dark Sphere.

The problem I've found with them is that due to their cost it's hard to work one of them into a list (nevermind two, three or even four!). As I've mentioned before we don't play stat-crunching games so I've managed to get them in a couple of times. Ulrik is pretty easy to justify since he's only about 50 points more than a normal Wolf Priest. However, I still struggle when I think I could have two rune priests for the same cost as Njal or a whole terminator squad instead of Logan.

I play 40K to have interesting battles. This means that special characters crop up pretty often. Obviously in lower points games I don't use them much since not only do they eat up a huge chunk but from a fluff point of view it doesn't make much sense. You wouldn't really expect Logan Grimnar the leader of the entire chapter to show up to a minor skirmish.

Anyway, here's my thoughts on Njal Stormcaller (or Nigel as we tend to call him). Since I've got the terminator model I'm going to ignore the option of not putting him in terminator armour. To be honest considering he's 245 points without it you're putting a lot of points into something that a lascannon can take out in one shot. The power armour thing was, in my opinion, only really included for those who had the old Njal model. 

For starters let's consider what you're getting for your points. For a rune priest in terminator armour with master psyker, wolftooth necklace and a chooser you're already spending 200 pts. For the additional 70 points you're getting what is essentially a third psychic power, a 3+ nullification of enemy psychic attacks, 4+ invulnerable save, nightwing (who isn't a lot of use) and Saga of Majesty. Oh and you aren't forced to pick which psychic powers you want to use before the game, feel free to use which ever you fancy at the time. This means that Njal is pretty flexible. You can sit him at the back with your Long Fangs and blast out Living Lightning or put him up from with some Grey Hunters (obviously without a rhino) and get him in nice and close for his Lord of Tempests to have maximum effect.

When we look at his statline you aren't really getting a lot more than a standard rune priest except for an extra attack. It does, however, mean he's a bit more likely to survive in the midst of close combat. The main issue I have with him is that whilst he may have a 4+ invulnerable save, he still only has 2 wounds and isn't immune to instant death. It'd only take a nob with a power klaw directing attacks to him for those saving throws to be crucial.

That won't stop me taking him though because I think Lord of Tempests adds an interesting element to the game. Granted the FAQ has, in some people's eyes, nerfed the power a little, but if your opponent is a little more open minded you can still use it when you get second turn and just let the power run until your next go.

Tournament players are never going to include him since two Rune Priests can provide a similar performance for the same points and have a little bit less of the eggs in one basket risk. Those of us who enjoy more casual games will still find a use for him. The problem then becomes; is he better than the other special characters for the same price? I'll be reviewing his main competition, in the form of the Great Wolf himself, in the next of this little series.

Let me know what you think.