Round 2: Playing Space Wolves
Welcome back Rangers! Today we are going to read about my second round of my first tournament of 10th. After reading the first match up against Blood Angels, you have found yourself alokg with me facing a ferocious Space Wolves list! This is my second time facing this opponent, and last time he claimed victory for the warriors of Russ, could I claim victory in Vects name?
Space Wolves List
Oh man it’s so great to see land raiders out in battlefields again! I really enjoy where the game is at, it reminds a lot of fifth edition, and that’s where I grew my love hate relationship with land raiders. I was curious to understand why the redeemer, I found out in my match, you’ll have to read about that! It looks like a solid list, apply pressure early, hope to disrupt enough to run the score up, stall out until the match ends. My opponent played this list very well, and I believe with a little more anti tank he would have had better results.
Land raid (1000 Points)
Space Marines
Space Wolves
Champions of Russ
Incursion (1000 Points)
CHARACTERS
Lieutenant (80 Points)
• 1x Bolt Pistol
1x Master-crafted boltgun
1x Power fist
Murderfang (190 Points)
• 1x Heavy flamer
1x Storm bolter
1x The Murderclaws
Ragnar Blackmane (105 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Bolt Pistol
1x Frostfang
BATTLELINE
Blood Claws (140 Points)
• 1x Blood Claw Pack Leader
• 1x Plasma pistol
1x Power fist
• 9x Blood Claw
• 9x Astartes chainsword
9x Bolt pistol
Intercessor Squad (95 Points)
• 1x Intercessor Sergeant
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Bolt rifle
1x Power fist
• 4x Intercessor
• 4x Bolt pistol
4x Bolt rifle
4x Close combat weapon
Intercessor Squad (95 Points)
• 1x Intercessor Sergeant
• 1x Bolt pistol
1x Bolt rifle
1x Power fist
• 4x Intercessor
• 4x Bolt pistol
4x Bolt rifle
4x Close combat weapon
OTHER DATASHEETS
Land Raider Redeemer (295 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
2x Flamestorm cannon
1x Hunter-killer missile
1x Multi-melta
1x Storm bolter
1x Twin assault cannon
Deployment
I knew going into this he had a huge threat range with his charges, so I’d just have to skirt around like I did last match. For some reason I had to deploy my venoms as far up as possible, this was my biggest blunder of the day, and it almost cost me dearly. I knew the ravagers needed to not show they were going mid board, so when my opponent put both his vehicles in a clear firing lane, I knew I could capitalize.
Here is our deployment, I’m confident with mine, I think that venom is too far up, Space Wolves will take the initiative!
Turn One
Starting the game with Bring it Down and Investigate signals, my opponent mobilizes into a corner with one squad of marines. The other squad is heading to an objective, good thing for sticky objectives! Just as I expected, the land raider and murderfang run to the middle, to line up shots on that damn venom.
The land raider and murderfang unload into venoms and kill the venom, boom 2 points down. This was a saving grace however, when he killed it I deployed outside of any crazy charge, effectively leaving his blood claws open to be shot at.
He scored low on two secondaries, and is set up for a good turn two. I’ve got to try and deny him points or he is just going to stall me out of the game!
Passing turn to me, I draw into Cleanse and Investigate signals. This wasn’t idea but I usually deploy to get at least two corners if I need it. I didn’t want to try and cleanse since I’d have to make my squads exposed, so if I could just match my opponent then I would be happy. Movement saw me take the nice long firing lane in the center of the board, and move wracks who died to overwatch and then getting Lilith into assault.
In the shooting phase we took down Murderfang and started doing damage to the land raider, killed a couple of marines with excess shots.
In melee Lilith charged the large squad of blood claws and barley made a scratch, this was too many points to be invested in for this low rate of dead marines. She has plenty of attacks and wounds easy, just they don’t get damage through and she doesn’t have the damage output. I’m really considering Drazhar for this roll, and perhaps an upgraded succubus.
I squeaked out two corners with my mandrakes and Cronos. Couldn’t have done much without them.
Turn Two
Space wolves draw Capture Enemy Outpost and Behind Enemy Lines, scoring 10 points on primary. I do apologize as I missed this turn with a picture. He moves up with Ragnar and the land raider, cleans up the wracks and venoms. At this point we have beaten each other up in the first turn, that from here on out we’re running on empty.
On my turn I draw Behind Enemy Lines and Overwhelming force, and only a 5 point score on primary. He left me in a tight spot, but I just needed to secure my side of the board and I could just clean up with the bomber. It comes in via rapid ingress in my opponents turn 2, moves up and drops the squad on enemy home objective. Mandrakes pop in the back to do their thing. We have another good turn, having so many units to do actions really helps.
Turn Three
Assassinate and Storm Hostile Objective, along with 10 more points! This was going to be a really strong turn for Space Wolves, as it’s really close and he got two easy secondaries. I believe I had a ravager on the second objective with wounds and he cleared it with his remaining intercessor squad. Maxing assassinate because all my characters were dead, so maybe you need at least two characters.
Picking up Area Denial and Extend Battlelines, I had another two secondaries I could achieve. On this turn I just had to focus on cleaning up the objectives and getting rid of the last squad of intercessors. The void raven with the two dark scythes are amazing at dealing with marines. With all his models defeated I am left to score the game out.
Summary
Sailing into the sunset with another win under my belt. This match was tough and him being in my face turn one was something I hadn’t taken serious enough. I am very lucky to have not been outright punished for this blunder, and I need to respect the center more. We are a highly mobile army and we do get better firing lanes from the center of the board, however we are in constant threat range from all angles. If we keep to the flanks we can minimize threats with our backs against the wall.
Maximizing the range of the Dark Lances is the key factor in our new index. We need to buy at least two turns to make the board safe for our smaller units to start working their magic. I believe to achieve this we need to have decent mid board threats, just to hold them at bay while we pelt them with lances.
Conclusion
Emotions are high as I brace myself for a possible wraithknight matchup. I want to play against it, but I am sure I will just be eaten alive by it. As it would be I get paired up with a very unique Dark Angels list, and it was a real nail biter! Make sure you catch it later when it drops! I hope you enjoyed the read, and I greatly appreciate any time you spend here.
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As always, stay classy rangers
Derek
Scrubs Against the Meta 