Space Wolves tournament report: Shooty Wolves go 3-0!

Hey everyone, Reecius here to share my tournament report from the recent Game Empire March ITC RTT. First of all, I have to say that the event was a blast! It is run by the TFG Radio gang (same crew that were the head judges for the LVO) and held at an awesome store, Game Empire Pasadena, which you should go check out if in the area!

Be sure to check the Tactics Corner for more great bat reps.

So, here’s my list:

Space Wolves CAD 1850 Pts

HQ

Battle Leader T.Wolf, Armor of Russ, Fist, Claw, Wolves x 2 1 201

Ulrik (Warlord) 1 145

Troops

Blood Claws – 5 60

Stormwolf M.Meltas 1 235

Blood Claws – 5 60

Elites

Siege Dread – 1 120

Dreadnaught Drop Pod – 1 50

Lone Wolf T.Armor, TH/SS 1 75

Fast Attack

Rhino Dozer 1 40

Fenresian Wolves Cyberwolf 15 130

Heavy Support

Sicaran Schism of Mars, Las Cannons 1 200

Long Fangs P.Cannons x 5 6 165

Rapiers x 3 Quad Mortars 9 180

Assassin Detachment

Culexsus – 1 140

Inquisition Detachment

Inquisitor Liber, Skulls x 3 1 49

Totals – 50 1850

So a goofy list, and one that had all of my opponents scratching their heads over. None of them knew what to make of it, which is a strength, IMO. When your opponent feels that they are in uncharted waters, they’re more likely to make a mistake.

Essentially though, the list functions as such: Ulrik is the Warlord and hangs out in the back with the guns. He grants them a Preferred Enemy and Stubborn bubble and additionally gives his unit Zealot, a 6+ FnP, and Monster Hunter in addition to being much harder to kill, protecting me from giving up Slay the Warlord.

The Battle Leader rolls with the Fenresian Wolves as my free safety unit, going where needed for some assault punch. The Lone Wolf and Siege Dread run interference in the enemy backfield as does the Culexus, unless there’s an enemy Psyker around, in which case he rides in the Rhino, positioning to take them out.

Lastly, the Blood Claws keep their heads down till late game, where they jump onto important objectives. If the Rhino isn’t being used by the Culexus, one unit rides in it, or goes on foot for an objective near by board edge. The other rides in the ObSec Stormwolf, and goes for vulnerable objectives in the backfield.

The Inquisitor was there to defend against Scout and Infiltration moves and to give the Quad Mortars SPlit Fire if needed.

So far in practice, this list or a close variation of it has performed very well for me in tournament play. In fact, I’ve only lost 1 game in 3 tournaments with it, so far. It is deceptively good I have found.

Round 1: Necron Decurion

Mission: ITC Scenario 1

My first opponent had a solid list but was just getting back into tournament play, so his skills were a little rusty. We approached it as a fun game to help him get his tournament chops back. That said, had the game ended on turn 5, I would have lost! Necrons are mega resilient, as we all know, and despite my opponent’s ring rust, was still a tough match.

His list from memory:

Reclamation Legion

• Overlord: Res Orb, Warscythe, Veil
• Lychguard: Sword and Board
• Warriors
• Ghost Ark
• warriors
• Ghost Ark
• Immortals
• Tomb Blades
• Tomb Blades

Judicator Battalion

• Triarch Stalker
• Praetorians: Staff
• Praetorians: Void Blades

Flayed Ones

• Flayed Ones
• Flayed Ones

A solid list and similar to my Necrons. It has mobility, hitting power and resilience. My opponent gave me first turn which I think was a mistake, as my list hits quite hard in the shooting phase (but, most folks don’t expect Space Wolves to shoot well, to be fair). I opened up and did quite a bit of damage. The Plasma Fangs incinerated a big chunk of Immortals, but never got to fire again as there was a giant piece of terrain blocking LoS and my opponent took advantage of that quite well. Preferred Enemy on them makes them 100x better though, I must admit.

My Siege Dread dropped down in his pod and fired from within it, immolating a unit of Tomb Blades for First Blood. He then went on to be the absolute man of the match! I have very good luck with this unit and he gives so much for the points. After nabbing First Blood, his pod (which has shrouding first game turn) survived the counter fire, and he then jumped out and took out a Ghost Ark and the Warriors inside, and stayed alive and in combat to also nab Line Breaker. Stud! He would be a champ in every game, and typically does great for me. The Dreadnought Drop Pod really makes all the difference in the world for the poor Dreadnoughts who can otherwise struggle.

The Sicaran is a dead eyed killer, and with the Schism of Mars legacy, he gains a 4+ vs. Haywire and Tank Hunter, which is beast mode. He wrecks other vehicles, and was dropping Tomb Blades (his main gun ignores jink saves) and a Ghost Ark with relative ease.

The Lone Wolf performed poorly, as he did every game. I took him for fun but won’t be using him again, unfortunately. In this game, he dropped down and then got butchered by Praetorians. To think of it, he never survived to even swing his hammer in any of the 3 games, lol.

As the game unfolded, I took the right flank with the Culexus and massed firepower from my backfield but my forces largely bounced off the left flank. A big surprise was my Wolf Guard Battle Leader got eaten by a unit of 5 Praetorians! He and his Wolves got rocked in melee and then ran away, lol, that was unexpected as he usually wrecks face in melee. But some hot saves on the Necron player’s part and I got owned! He rallied in the next turn, but was unfortunately in perfect position to then get murdered by the Lychguard. Le sigh!

I felt largely in control of the game until turn 5, where deep striking units of Flayed Ones and a unit of Praetorians threatened my backfield. Ulrik and the Quad Mortars had been punishing Necron Infantry with 12, strength 5, preferred enemy blasts a turn! However, Flayed Ones and Praetorians in the backfield were no joke and their presence their was a serious threat, even with Ulrik swinging an AP4 maul. Luckily though, the game went on to turn 6, as had it not, I would have lost on 5 due to my Battle Leader getting unceremoniously ran out of dodge when he was supposed to take an enemy objective for me.

Turn 6, I was able to recover, charged a unit of Flayed Ones with my Long Fangs who kept them occupied, and my Blood Claws in the Rhino were able to secure a mid-field objective! My Culexus had been holding up several units on the objective most of the game but did die eventually. He had lasted long enough for the Blood Claws to swoop on the objective where their ObSec ensured that I had it.

My Blood Claws in the Stormwolf didn’t do much damage to the tough Necrons, but were also able to fly onto an objective on the last turn, taking it away from some Praetorians thanks again, to ObSec.

So I won it, but only just. ObSec was the difference in this game and my opponent had a fun time as he said the game brought back a lot of what he had forgotten about tournament play, so that was awesome.

Space Wolves narrow victory.

Round 2: Cult Mechanicus & Skitarii

Mission: ITC Scenario 3

I drew a super cool army and opponent, this round! An AdMech army featuring the Cohort Cybernetica and the Sicarian Killkaide. Awesome!

List from memory:

Cohort Cybernetica

• Dominus
• Kastellan Robots x 6: Phosphor
• Datasmith x 3

Sicarian Killkaide

• Rust Stalkers
• Rust Stalkers
• Rust Stalkers
• Infiltrators

Such an interesting list, I loved it! However, this was not at all a favorable match-up for my army as I had a lot of KPs to his 5, and that Robo-Star could easily control the board. This would be a challenging game for me but my opponent made a considerable error: he deployed all of the squishy units on the table when he should have hidden them all and given me only his Robo-star to shoot at, essentially ensuring he did not give up First Strike or Slay the Warlord.

As he did deploy them though, it gave me the opportunity to pick up First Strike and nab some easier Kill Points which is exactly what hapenned. I used the Quad Rapiers, Plasma Fangs and again, my man the Siege Dread to jump in and swoop up all of those KP. The Siege Dread’s Inferno cannon and Heavy Flamer were murder on the poor T3 Rust Stalkers. He then hid behind a building with the Culexus to farm Malestrom points. The Wolf Guard Battle Leader redeemed himself this game, taking out a unit of Rust Stalkers solo due to that brutal Str6 Wolf Claw, which mowed the unit down like grass.

Once I had destroyed the vulnerable units, I played keep away with the rest of my army, fading away out of his charge distance and trying to stay out of LoS (made a lot easier thanks to a Fortress of Redemption on the table. lol!). The game then boiled down to the Maelstrom as I had Kill Points locked down. We each tried to grab as many points as we could, and in the end, tied on Maelstrom. However, I had First Strike and Kill Points, where my opponent only had King of the Hill, giving me the victory in a close game.

The Cohort Cybernetic is no joke. The unit can fire on multiple targets, is brutal in melee, regenerates itself, and has a bunch of cool tricks. It is slow, though, which is the biggest weakness, IMO. Frankie watched part of my game and noted that I should have been trying to snipe the Datasmiths out of the unit with the Quad Mortars which would have been a good idea as I had simply not bothered shooting the unit once I was up on KP as the Robots can bounce shoots back at you and I stood to do more damage to myself than I would to my opponent.

Space Wolves narrow victory.

 

Round 3: CSM, Renegades and Tau

ITC Scenario 4

Round 3 I drew Alan Dehesa, ITC top ranked Chaos player form last year! So, I knew this would be a tough game…and a fun game as Alan is a real pleasure to play.

His list from memory:

CSM CAD

• Level 3 Sorcerer: Bike, Familiar
• Cultists
• Cultists
• Spawn: MoN
• VSG: 3 Shields
• Chaos Knight of Tzeentch

Renegades CAD

• Command Squad
• Renegades
• Renegades
• Quad Mortars x 4

Riptide Wing

• Riptide: FnP
• Riptide: FnP
• Riptide: FnP

So, a weird but very powerful list. He had lots of ObSec units, some very fast, hard bitting units and melee threats, too. Not bad!

My opponent took first turn, and I deployed mostly in hiding, looking to weather the storm. His opening shooting wasn’t too painful, and I was able to survive largely intact. I went for Big Game Hunter on the Knight which even with the 3++ Ion Shield and the VSG, felt I could do it. The Quad Mortars fired directly at the beast and dropped the VS with just 4 shots (of 12! yikes) thanks to Sunder, and then managed to do 2 HP to the Knight. My Sicaran opened up with its Tank Hunting power, but Alan made all his saves. Drat! I then sent the Battle Leader into melee, hoping to peel that last HP off in melee, but again, every save was made! Rats! I did however, keep him locked in melee.

Meanwhile, my Siege Dread dropped down on the vulnerable Quad Mortars, setting several of them on fire but they passed their morale check, a trend to be repeated several times to my consternation! The pod ate some interceptor fire from the Riptides, but thanks to Shrouding, shrugged off any damage. The Dread was now was in position to sweep the backfield!

Alan then sent in a fully buffed up Sorcerer into the Knight Melee, who with Iron Arm just ran right through the little Wolves, but were unable to kill the Battle Leader as he was too far away to be hit by the Spawn. The Battle Leader took a single HP off the Knight, but that was it.

My Culexus had been sneakily making his way towards the Knight Melee in his Rhino and was able to get into range of his debuffing aura that turn, turning off Iron Arm and Force. This was critically important as I then took the Sorcerer’s challenge with the Battle Leader whose armor of Russ reduced the Sorcerer to I1, and he then obliterated him with his Wolf Claw before being killed by the Knight, himself. He went out like a boss, though, earning me Slay the Warlord!

Meanwhile, the Riptides had been going blow for blow with my shooting units! We were mauling each other as the Sicaran, Plasma Fangs and Rapiers were trading broadsides with the Riptides. Now that the Knight and Spawn were free to roam, I was in trouble without something going my way. Luckily, the Sicaran went hot and blasted the Knight with a single volley, stripping it’s last Hull Points but not before the Knight had in turn killed the Culexus assassin to avenge the Sorcerer!

In his backfield, my Siege Dread has bogged down on the Quad Mortar crew as they kept making their leadership checks after losing combat! Argh! I needed him to break free to kill the Cultists and Renegades that had come out of reserves and were holding his back field 3pt objective. As the game began to wind down, this was actually a big problem for me as the Dread was invincible to the chaff units and would easily plow through them to take my opponent’s other backfield objective as the Lucious Drop Pod was holding one, securely. As my Stormwolf didn’t come on until turn 4, I was actually sweating bullets that I wouldn’t have time to secure enough objectives before end game!

To make maters worse, Alan’s Spawn made it into melee with my Quad Mortars and Ulrik. This turned out to be an incredibly epic battle, as the Spawn Chewed through the crew and Inquisitor, and the fight came down to 2 Spawn, each with a single wound, and Ulrik, also with only a single wound left! Ulrik proved his boss status though, as he swung and killed both the remaining spawn to save himself from almost certain death at their hands, earning a Fast Attack kill, and securing my backfield objective! Whew!

My Dread finally broke out of melee but too late to do anything as Alan made so many dang morale checks! My Lone Wolf dropped into the backfield to hopefully threaten the Cultists, but died like a punk to massed Spit Balls and Sling Shots, lol.

Luck had gone my way, but I wasn’t out of the fire yet as Alan still had more objectives than me. Turn 5, I had to snag several objectives to tie the Scouring mission. My Stormwolf dropped into hover mode over an objective, and the Blood Claws inside hopped out. They had to make their charge, kill the Cultist unit in melee, and then consolidate onto Alan’s objective or I lose the game! I rolled the bones and the made their assault, butchered the Cultists and then consolidated 3″ to contest his objective…victory!

So, we tied the Scouring mission, tied the Maelstrom (Alan had gone for 3 earlier in the game, which had proved to be a smart play!) I had all 3 Bonus Points to Alan’s Linebreaker, giving me a narrow victory. Great game! So many epic moments: had Ulrik biffed the Spawn combat and died, Alan wins. Had my Battle Leader + Culexus not killed the Sorcerer, Alan wins. Had the Knight lived one more turn, Alan wins. Had the Blood Claws not made their charge and been ObSec, Alan wins. Whew! Those are the best games, with those really fun moments. Great way to end the tournament.

Closing Thoughts:

Fun event, and my list performed well. It has tools for everything and I really enjoyed playing it and my opponents enjoyed playing against it. I went 3-0, but ended up in 3rd place overall as Frankie went a perfect 33/33 with his Tau and a Space Marine Battle Company had also gone 3-0 with more battle points than me.

I will be making some changes to the list. The Lone Wolf was a stinker, every game. Not worth it, IMO. The Inquisitor was cool, but not necessary. The Plasma Fangs were a solid addition to the list and with Preferred Enemy packed a mean punch, but I found their limited range held them back and they did so much damage that my opponent’s would maul them quickly, meaning they rarely fired more than once per game.

The Stormwolf didn’t do a ton of damage, but, a durable, mobile ObSec unit was awesome and won me the game, twice. The firepower will help a lot vs. armies like Battle Company though, so I want to keep it. The power of ObSec in my list can’t be understated, it was critical several times.

The Siege Dread was beefcake, every game, and had a huge impact. I love that the Dread is viable! So far in 3 tournaments with him, he’s been a stud every time. I have never regretted taking him.

The Quad Rapier Mortars were brutal, so dang good. A unit of 3 is a bit overkill, though, and I will instead swap to two units of two. They rock vs. the VSG, vehicles, infantry, you name it. The Sicaran, likewise, was an ass kicker, particularly with Preferred Enemy from Ulrik.

The White Scars Chaplain will come in to give Zealot to the Little Wolves +Battle Leader as their Ld9 leaves them quite vulnerable. Plus, Hit and Run is stupid good, as we all know. If he needs to, he can also join a unit of Rapiers to give them Ignores Cover to help destroy pesky units. The Hunter’s Eye…lol, what a crazy piece of wargear, haha. It is criminally under costed.

My new list will look like so:

Space Wolves CAD 1850 Pts

HQ

Battle Leader T.Wolf, Armor of Russ, Fist, Claw 1 185

Ulrik (Warlord) 1 145

Troops

Blood Claws – 5 60

Stormwolf M.Meltas 1 235

Blood Claws – 6 72

Elites

Seige Dread – 1 120

Dreadnaught Drop Pod – 1 50

Fast Attack

Rhino Dozer 1 40

Fenresian Wolves Cyberwolf 21 178

Heavy Support

Sicaran Schism of Mars, Las Cannons 1 200

Rapiers x 2 Quad Mortars 6 120

Rapiers x 2 Quad Mortars 6 120

Assassin Detachment

Culexus – 1 140

Space Marines Allies White Scars

Chaplain Bike, Hunter’s Eye 1 130

Scouts – 5 55

Totals – 58 1850

I will continue to play and enjoy this list and will post more reports of its performance! Thanks for reading.

Reecius