Monday, September 6, 2010

Decisions decisions.

I've been looking to change the list around for a while now as there was something nagging me for a while but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I think I've found out what it is: Melta. With 5th ed being the Mech is king edition anything that gives you a boost to damaging vehicles when you direct fire at them has got to be swarming all over the place. Its absence is one of the reasons why Orks are seen by many as crap.

My main problem has been how to get over Melta weaponry's relatively short range with the Wolves as people are already fairly hesitant to get into that short-to-mid ranges where the Sons of Fenris excel. There's also the issue of them not having the reliability that Marines with Vulkan do so I'll just have to get more of them to make up for this. So in short, I need to get them across the board quickly and have lots of them to wreck tanks so my men can either rush the occupants or get away.
After emailing Kirby and a few others I've come to the following other conclusions:

1. The pair of Lords wasn't doing enough to justify their cost.
2. The blob was hard to handle and the wolves were a liability if the unit got caught in assault on my opponent's terms as happened against Eldar and another Wolves list, both of which had solid combat units that weren't afraid of them.
3. Needs more melta. Explained above.
4. Speed: The army needs to have units capable of crossing the battlefield faster than the Rhinos can, especially if I want to stand a decent chance of saving all the people on the bus. By which I mean winning the Draw mission.
5. The Lasbacks aren't cutting it like I thought they would. 2 Lascannon shots isn't worth 150 points, even if they're linked. I'm not pushing them up with the Rhinos to allow other units to hop into them either. The 5 man Flamer unit is part of the problem as they simply sit on objectives and contribute nothing in kills which I need every unit to do if push comes to shove.

So my options are:
Scouts - *Very* random. They might be suspect but there's still a 4/6 to a 5/6 chance they'll come in on the edge I want them in games and since they can choose any table edge on a 3+ I can choose to target something or simply hide them late game, assuming I have used OBEL and not Infiltrated them at the start of the game. There's also the fact that they won't scatter onto something and mishap...

MeltaPod - It's got the melta that I want where I want it and the Pod's rule that stops my guys dying if they land on top of an enemy is a BIG plus. The only major downside is that its forced to come down on Turn 1 which can be a good or a bad thing. Still, at under 130 points its a cheap throwaway unit.

Speeders - Random, but not as random as the Scouts. Their speed is a major asset but they're pretty fragile and I'm not likely to deep strike them without the failsafe provided by the Pod as my scattering is usually terrible. I'd also have to give them extra weapons to make them more flexible/durable adding to their cost. I can't afford every thing, although I'd like to try things out before I settle on something.

Rune Priest - I can add another one of these with Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Bolter and Meltabombs but I'd rather not as I already have psychic defence and I don't want to risk my offensive stuff getting stopped by psyker shenanigans. I can buff the Grey Hunters with extra models for less points anyway.

Grey Hunters - Shit hot but they don't have the reach that I need.

Long Fangs - More reliable firepower but static. I'm also worried that I'll run out of places to deploy them if I take a 3rd squad. It might be better to add to the existing squads.

I had other options open to me like Lone Wolves and Dreads but dismissed them as too slow, too expensive or too easy to kill without adding significantly to my anti-tank potential.

I'm going to run with the Scouts and Meltapod so that I have Melta threats on Turn 1 and later in the game starting turn 2. The Pod reduces inaccurate drops so my guns are more likely to get where I want them to while the Scouts can emerge on the other side of the table so both units are giving me great reach and greater flexibility in the army's anti-tank role.

While I am worried about DoW missions I can choose to put the Meltacide in a Rhino instead by moving them on turn 1 and dropping the Pod empty. I'm quite happy about their ability to get across the board quickly instead of having players rush them, shoot them or simply drive away from them.

In order to get these squads ready I've tried to strip the paint on them. The end result was that I've had to throw away a full squad of Marines as they melted. Fuck acetone-free nail varnish remover. I'm following the Dettol method next.

Savlon only cleaned the metal models - it did almost nothing for the plastics, Caolán. Jackass.

12 comments:

  1. Well for once my opinionated gob is shut. I simply don't know enough about wolves to contribute well here. But let's have a go since I advise better than I play (yay!).

    Wolf Scouts: As far as I can see you take 2 units or none. They are inexpensive even with the WG but 2 units means 1 will (usually) reliably show up somewhere good. The clear advantage here is not only the ability to pop something important and give some troops a good pucking but you place pressure on your opponent to move forward if he simply can't afford to feed you a unit (think Necrons). However if he can afford it (guard) it can be even cheaper to neutralise them.

    Rune Priest: I think you already said yourself that 2 would probably be too much. the worry would not be people like Eldar shutting you down since you're more concerned with stopping him, but more with other marinses with their libbies in raiders. This puts pressure on your Long Fangs to get the job done if the priests can't shoot. As we learned from your game against Ivan that can really hurt your army.

    Speeders: All signs would normally point to yes but then you're not regular marinses are you? Had to be awkward baldy. I would add them in if your Long Fangs are drawing a lot of fire. Another thing is that they do increase your forward momentum by taking out big threats early. Not everyone plays a Land Raider but nearly all marine players do and marines take up half the numbers; right now you're restricted to going toe to toe with those AV14 Terminator cribs and that's not really helping. Why? Because you have to spend a few turns manoeuvring until it's time to strike instead of being able to go for the jugular. These would distract very nicely from the rest of your bag of goodies.

    Pod Squad: Wouldn't know enough about these to really comment on them but surely it's not that hard to keep one's important vehicles alive leaving you feed on an insignificant transport (now empty due to impending melta. On Dawn of War they won't really do that much and spearhead is naturally opposed to deep strikers. But you're the one using them so if they work they work.

    You still suck a fine pair of lemons.

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  3. it was huge. Stupendous and earth-shattering in it's advice. Ah well.

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  4. Feel free to try again. How much melta is too much? Am I better adding more missiles instead? Should I add to the Fangs units or would a 3rd unit be a better idea? Would buffing GH at the expense of a pair of Speeders be the way to go? Voulez vous couchez avec moi ce soir?

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  5. Je veux coucher avec toi.....demain soir.

    I'll be smart and copy paste tonight!

    Right first part. I don't know wolves that well. But I know I advise better than I play so here are my thoughts with added salt.

    Scouts: 2 units or none I think. that way barring catastrophe/Fleet Officer you can reliably show up somewhere useful. Even Guard only have 1 in 6 results in their favour there. they rock at stopping the other guy from leaving one unit on his objective because they simply will die horribly. Also handy against other wolves it must be said. Weak to armies with bubblewrap like guard and Tau simply because they decide what you get and where you get it. Good overall though. Against non mech 2 units with fists and melta goodness take down a terv relatively easily. And you laugh at Necrons already.

    Meltacide: I can't comment on these guys too much since I don't know enough about how they play. I'll point out the drawbacks I see anyway. Dawn of War can bone their tactic up nicely and give you the same aul headache of maybe having too much short range mech-killiness. Spearhead is anathema to Deep Strikers. Shouldn't be hard for an army to stop you hitting something big. And then Pitched battle you need to go second really. They seem fickle to me but maybe they work, I dunno.

    Rune priest: I don't think 2 Rune priests would do it. Against Eldar they're wasted since you only use em for psychic cockblock (1 being enough). You said yourself you wouldn't like your anti-tank being dependent on the other guy's psychic defence and I think that's the problem. Blood Angels and Marines would make you suffer when you need to be Spooging S7 all over them fecking transports/Speeders.

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  6. Part deux monsieur.

    Hunters: Everyone's favorite troop choice. They're great for what they do but you need more reach as you said. You have a few squads of 7 and tbh that should see you through.

    Speeders: my vote goes here if my nerdy sense is correct. With blob and co taking a hike I'm noticing one thing about your army. I'd be scared shitless of land raiders. Barring lucky Lasback shots (that should be elsewhere) you can't stop them from arriving, merely blow them up after they get there. Now not everyone plays a land raider. But most marine players do. And marines are a strong majority of the armies. So you have to take something these days to do the deed on those fuckers, it's mandatory.
    With the heavy flamer loadout on top of the lovely multimelta you get nice options (think clearing gaunt swarm to put Hive guard in the open. Or Horde Orks. YAY!
    Whether or not you take 1x2, 2x2 or 3x1 I don't know. But I feel you will need mid range melta because of this. If the current load encounters raider goodness it's all up to podding meltas to win you the game. Speeders give you an option to reserve, deploy and hide AND give you control zones over the other fucker. and if they do the nasty on Mr. Raider your approach changes rapidly. Suddenly instead of working out a way to get it in midfield which bogs down the game you are now flying at Mr. marine with all your mobile troopses and he's well on the back foot.
    When not playing marines, other armies have difficulty bring the bastards down. Go bird hunting with guard reliably since it's 12" range, go hammerhead hunting with tau, holo-field hunting with Eldar (seriously scares me when I see Meltas on the way) you get the idea.

    Food for thought.


    I'm probably just talking out my arse.

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  7. I don't think he wanted the Savlon for his dick Caolán. The doctor gave him antibiotics for that

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  8. @Caolán: That's why your mam loves me - I make her feel dirty.

    @PW: Speeders, Pod and Scouts if I can fit them in. I reckon that I'll get 2 out of 3. It's playtest time.

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  9. Simple Green for stripping paint of plastics. I dunno if you can get it over yonder, but it won't melt your dudes, but it might take more than one soak to get 'em thoroughly clean

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  10. We don't have it over here afaik. I've seen so many people recommend it too. Pity.

    I'll have to use the long way and go with dettol and vinegar/hot water.

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