Wolf Scout Shenanigans

I wonder if my disguise will work?

I've been messing around with Wolf Scouts a fair bit lately, mainly to try out an old favourite. I used to like these guys despite their randomness although this has worked against them in the new Wolf book as there are more reliable units available.

Having seen how popular they were at the Nova Open I was willing to give them a run-out to see how they would perform. I played 2 games using them, this one being the 2nd against Ivan's Guard in Spearhead/Annihilation.

He was using:

Company Command Squad with 4 Plasma in Chimera

Choir Boys in Chimera

4 Vet Squads in Chimeras with 3 x Melta, 1 x Flamers

3 x Vendettas

Hydra Squad
2 Manticores

My list was:
Wolf Lord on TWC with Bear Saga, 2 Pets and Trimmings


Rune Priest with Jaws, LL

4 x Combi-Melta/Fist WG, 1 with Combi-Melta, Power Weapon and Meltabombs
2 x 5 Scouts with Meltagun

3 x Grey Hunter squads in Rhinos
1 Grey Hunter squad in Lasback

2 x 5 Long Fangs with Rockets
Lasback

8 Fenris Wolves

Well, I'll keep this one short and sweet. Here's the side shot of deployment. You'll notice that there's assloads of terrain on the board. In fact, there's too much and I'll be sure not to use that much again. I don't think its a good idea to force one player to move through difficult terrain every turn...

Here's my deployment:

From L to R:
Wolfblob, GH and RP in Rhino, Empty Lasback in front of GH Lasback, GH in Rhino beside them in the centre, both Long Fangs in Ruins.

The Guard deployment from L to R was:
Vendetta, Vendetta, Manticore, Hydra at the back, Manticore beside it, Chimeras at the front with Choir Boys and CCS in the middle.

My biggest mistake was to take the first turn and deploy normally. I should have reserved everything and packed down one flank before swinging wide to grab objectives. The Long Fangs needed to be pushed forward to be in range of stuff everything and should have squashed into the Ruins on the bottom left of the pic and the squad should have been in the ruins in the centre of the pic. As it was the Vendettas just pulled away out of range and the rest of the Guard long-ranged stuff opened up safely away from retribution.

I made a very bad mistake in my first turn and stayed still to get more shots at the Guard army instead of closing to get the Grey Hunters stuck in and sent the Lord forward on his own. I shot both Fangs squads, both Lasbacks and the Rune Priests Living Lightning at various targets: the Choir Boy's Chimera was Immobilised. That was it.


The Guard shooting phase was more destructive - they bagged a Lascannon on a Razorback, destroyed the other Razor forcing the squad hiding inside to disembark and the Choir Boys forced the Wolf Lord and co to fall back but thankfully they didn't run right off the board.

My turn 2 saw the Lord rally and push forward and rush toward the nearest Chimera, but he couldn't reach and the Wolves were left to scratch and paw at the tank, stunning it. The army opened up again at a Vendetta that had pulled to my far left and did...nothing. Not even a fecking glancing hit.

The Guard's 2nd turn saw them kill off the rest of my Rhinos and leave me with no mobility. I would have to tough it out for the next 3 turns and hope that I could grab or contest objectives. That's not likely against an army as shooty as the Guard. To drive the point home the Wolf Lord and pets were wiped out by the combined fire of the Guard units on my left.

In my 3rd turn the Rhino squad arrived on my left and popped smoke while moving 6" so the Meltas inside could shoot out. The Scouts also arrived: one ended up uselessly on my right, miles away from anything and the other ended up in the Guard backfield with nowhere to go as Ivan had lined a pair of Guard squads along my left table edge and cock-blocked them with a Vendetta so that I couldn't get through. I wanted to go after the Hydras but had to settle for a Manticore which duly died.

The Grey Hunter's Meltas opened fire and hit once and did nothing. I stopped rolling dice after that as it just wasn't my day.

I went to make a sandwich and I found this in the fridge:

I think it looks like an STD-riddled vagina.

I think it succinctly summed up my day.

I was going to do a write up about the Scouts but I think it'll be best to add the other batrep and then give an appraisal and see whether I'll bother to include them in my future lists.