Curse of the Wulfen - New Rules and Codex

Hi,

We now have an onslaught of information about the new Space Wolves rules in the Curse of the Wulfen supplement, due to a teaser video which allows us to see the rules of the new formtions, plus confirmation on a new codex, which is a digital only.  Also here I'm going to touch on two of the new entries; the Iron Priest's updated rules and the Wolfkin (a new formation for fenrusian wolves).

The teaser video can be seen here, and someone has kindly freeze framed and captured the images on Imgur here, which makes it possible to click on each image and zoom in slightly to read the rules.

Other information that has come out yesterday is a pre-order on Black Library for the Space Wolf Codex: Wulfen Edition (link here).  This codex is a digital only exclusive, and takes the existing Space wolf codex and adds the new Curse of the Wulfen Space Wolf rules, including all the new dataslates and formations.

This would make this the cheapest way to get access to the new Space Wolf rules, with the tablet (android) edition being £22.

All this information gives us a very good idea of what the Space Wolves are getting rules wise:

• 7 New Formations
• 4 New Dataslates, for Wulfen, Wolf Lord Krom, plus updated rules for Ulrik and the Iron Priest
• 6 New Great Company Formations
• A "Decirion" style detachment called the Wolf Claw's Strike Force

The Great Company formations are a bit big, requiring a large number of units, however they do not require the specific Wolf Lord, and can instead be run by a Wolf Guard Battle Leader.  Some of the benefits are quite good (eg. units get free drop pods and they all come in turn 1, or units can disembark after a vehicle has moved 12"), but I'll have to look at them more closely to see if they are worth the heafty points investment, and can compare them to the straight forward but very nice +1 WS for Wolf Guard and Thunderwolf Cav from the Champions of Fenris' detachment (Company of the Great Wolf).

I now want to look at two of the updates close to my heart, first up the Iron Priest.


Iron Priest Update

The first thing you notice is that he has gone up 20 points, but then you notice that he has moved from Elites to HQ, and that his stats have improved.  As well as his WS increasing to 5 he also has doubled in wounds to 2 and gained a point of leadership.  The extra wound is huge, plus the extra WS will come into effect often, overall very much worth the 20 point increase.  His change also puts the Iron Priest in even more direct competition with the Wolf Guard Battle Leader.  The Iron Priest is 25 points more, but comes with a Thunderhammer and Servo arm for weapons, plus having Runic armour, while having one less Initiative (nearly irrelevant when using a Thunderhammer).

A Wolf Guard Battle Leader with a Powerfist and Runic Armour is 100 points.  Both Strike at Initiative 1 with their weapons, the Wolf Guard Battle Leader, and they have the same attacks in combat because although the Wolf Guard Battle Leader has one extra attack on his profile the Iron Priest's Thunderhammer and Servo Arm are both specialist weapons so can be used together to get +1 attack.

The move from Elites to HQ is an issue for people using the Company of the Great Wolf detachment from the Champions of Fenris supplement which requires 2 Elite units.  Previously the Iron Priest was the go to option.  Luckily the new Wulfen unit is an Elites slot to help here.

The other big changes to the Iron Priest is the cost of Cyberwolves.  Previously they were 15 points each, but now they have significantly increased to 25 points stayed the same.

As pointed out by aracersss in the comments section Cyberwolves have not changed in cost - I looked to quickly at a slightly blurred number :(  So every thing is as usual and I think cyberwolves will still be joining Iron Priests in battle

One of the main uses for an Iron Priest was to mount him on a thunderwolf, give him 4 cyberwolves and join him to a thunderwolf cavalry unit, giving them a 2+ save tanker with some ablative wounds to Look Out Sir any nasty hits to.  Now I've been correctly informed that cycberwolves are still 15 points this tactic will be sure to continue :)

It's quite ironic when my painting table has 4 (high elf) lions for cyberwolves, which will quickly be reassigned as leaders of fenrusian wolf packs or character fenrusian wolves:

Wolfkin Formation

One of the unintended ways that formations are great is that they gets units out of a CAD's (or simular detachment's) limit on particluar slots, eg. in my necron army I use a Havest and Destroyer Cult formations, effectively using 5 Fast Attack slots which would not be possible in a normal CAD (Combined Arms Detachment).

At the moment I use Thunderwolf Cav, Fenrusian Wolves & Skyclaws (I know, but I like them) as my 3 Fast Attack units, this formation would free up a Fast Attack slot to allow me the option of putting in a second Thunderwolf Cav unit (or splitting up the existing one into two units).  So how good is the formation ?

It consists of 2-5 Fenrusian Wolf units, which is quite flexible as they can come in units of anywhere from 5 to 15.  They gain Monster Hunter, which is ok, but their low strength will make them struggle against most monstrous creatures.  They gain Outflank, I've never been too much of a fan, but 5 wolves to gain line breaker might be useful.

The big benefit is that the units can all join together to form an Alpha Pack, and additionally when they do they all get +1 attack if the units if 20 models or more.  Now keeping this unit over 20 models will be hard if the enemy fires at them, as they only have a 6+ save, but it will force the enemy to choose between them and the thunderwolves.

I already use a max size unit of fenrusian wolves with Canis, who boosts the fenrusian wolves in two ways already.  When he's with them they reroll to hit in the first round of combat, plus (because of his warlord trait) he gives them furious charge if he's within 12" at the start of the assault phase).  I was thinking Canis with 5 units of 5 wolves, which would give 100 attacks, rerolling to hit, at Str5.  Now this will rarely happen, what opponent wouldn't put some fire into such a large unit ?  Killing 7 models would reduce all the remaining models attacks by 1 each.  However a swarm of 8 point models can be underestimated in both their hitting power and speed compared with other threats like a drop podded Murderfang, Thunderwolf Cavalry, and even Assault Marines accompanied by a Iron Priest on a Thunderwolf.  I just have to paint up some more fenrusian wolves, and unfotunately I use old Khorne hound models for mine, but I think I have a few more lying around.

[My "Fenrusian Wolves" can be seem on the right of the pic]

So overall there's lots to take in with the new information about the Space Wolves release, and I'm looking forward to having a more in depth look at all the other formations.

What part of the Space Wolf release is most exciting for you ?  Which models are looking forward to getting on the battlefield ?

Rathstar


Post Edited 8th Feb to correct the cost of the cyberwolves for the Iron Priest

Curse of the Wulfen Campaign Book [Space Wolves] - To Buy or Not to Buy ?

Hi,

As more and more information comes out about the Curse of the Wulfen campaign book, the less I feel like shelling out the cash for it.  Like most gamers I have other game systems crying out for my hobby money, which is ever shrinking due to family commitments.

The limited edition Curse of the Wulfen camaign book (pictured above) looks absolutely stunning, however the actual contents is a bit disappointing from the point of view of a player.

I'm more than happy to shell out £35 for a box of 5 Wulfen, even through I think that price is a bit excessive, but what will I get for shelling out another £45 on the standard campaign book.  I will get:

[Includes background, so spoiler alert, don't click on the pic to make it bigger and (just about) readable
if you don't want to see the Wulfen background from White Dwarf]

• The rules for the Wulfen - which I can get from White Dwarf
• Some nice background, that probably the equivalent of any 40k novel
• Some extra Echo of War missions, that I have never seen anybody play, and would rather play any number of alternative missions I already have
• Some new formations "based on the Great Companies"
• Lots of Daemon rules, formations & background that I am not that concerned about

For me, who's into playing with my Space Wolves, and not interested in Daemons, I don't think I get much over the £4 cost a White Dwarf for the Wulfen rules.

Unless the formations are very good that I want to put them in my army I won't be buying this £45 campaign book.  I was tempted with the Tau one, but this was has so little content that I probably won't get it even if one of the formations is very good, because £45 for a formation is more than my hobby budget can justify, when then is so much more that I can get for £45.  That £45 may still get spent in GW (eg. it's half way towards a Stormsurge, it's a second Ghostkeel, or second unit of Wulfen with change to spare for other games), but is this campaign book the best way to spend £45 on the hobby.

I just can't see that I'll get much enjoyment out of this campaign book for £45.

On the other hand if I had a Daemon army I would be tempted with their limited edition box set, which comes with a small format codex, all the daemon rules from Curse of the Wulfen (6 Dataslates and 10 formations), plus all the tokens, Warlord Traits and Tactical cards:

So will you be buying the Curse of the Wulfen campagn book, and why ?

I think the Wulfen themselves will sell well, but I'm not so sure about the campaign book, what's your thoughts ?

Rathstar

New [Space Wolf] Wulfen First Impressions (Updated with Curse of the Wulfen & Weapon Option Rules)

[Click on pic to see it large to make out the Wulfen stats]

Rumours of new Space Wolves have been doing the rounds the last few weeks, which have coalesced into the rumour of a new campaign book featuring the Space Wolves and Daemons.  However more concrete evidence was light on the ground until this morning when I came across the pic above courtesy of the Space Wolves Blog Facebook page (link here).

The pic is from the German White Dwarf, and the Space Wolves Facebook page gives the following translation:

"Special rules:

Berserker

Know no Fear

Curse of the Wulfen

Counterattack

Sharp senses

Feel no Pain

Bulky

Todesraserei/Deathfrenzy: If a model in this unit is killed it can move up and attack at the end of the current initiative step. This even applies if the model already has attacked.”

Weite Sprünge/Leaping Bounds: This unit can run and attack. It also reroll failed charge rolls.

Options:

May contain up to 5 more Wulfen…. 30p/m

Each model may take a salvo grenade launcher 2p/m

Each model may take one of the following:

Two Handed Frost Axe 8p/m

Two Wolf Claws 12p/m

Thunderhammer and Stormshield 20p/m

One Wulfen can be upgraded to Wulfen-Pack Leader with two Frost Claws 20p

This unit may take a stormwolf as a dedicated transport"

Initial Impression

For this initial impression I'm going to assume the unit has rending (maybe it's part of the Curse of the Wulfen rule), so my view may change if they don't have that.

Update:  It appears that the Wulfen do not have rending, but for 30 points they still have a nice number of str5 attacks.  However the rules for the weapon options, which I think combined with the Death Frenzy rule (see above) gives them a nice boost, see below, with the icing on the cake being the buff to nearby units in the Curse of the Wulfen rule (see below).

The obvious comparison is to Thunderwolf Cavalry, our go to assault unit.  Both are 2 wounds, and are designed to kill things in assault.  The Wulfen come off significantly cheaper to start with 30pts vs 40pts), however the Thunderwolves win when it comes to natural speed and toughness.

The T4, 4+ save & Feel No Pain is not as good as T5 and 3+ save.  The Feel No Pain is nice, but I believe it doesn't make up for the worse toughness and save.  The Thunderwolves also get the option to pick stormshields on their own.

Thunderwolves move 12" in the movement phase compared to the Wulfen's 6".  The Wulfen ability to run and charge is nice, but they need to roll a 6 for the run to be as fast as the Thunderwolves, and outside of charging the Thunderwolves are on average 7" faster a turn (being fleet the Thunderwolves normally get a inch further with their run moves on average).

The Thunderwolves also do well when in comes to attacks getting 6 attacks on the charge compared to the Wulfen's 4, plus there's the warlord trait (that 2 special characters come with) that makes the Thunderwolves even better on the charge.

The weapon options are nice on the Wulfen, and are comparable to the Thunderwolf options, however they are slightly cheaper meaning a tooled up wulfen unit will be much cheaper than a simularly tooled up Thunderwolf unit.  Another bonus is that the smaller size will make the Wulfen easier to hide around terrain.

Overall I don't think the Wulfen top Thunderwolves (if the rules for the Thunderwolves do not get worse in the update).  The Wulfen are stunning models, and they would be good as a second assault unit after thunderwolves, as they are cheaper and occupy an Elites slot.

As they occupy an elites slot you could take other Fast Attack slots (eg. flyers, Swiftclaws etc.) rather than a second thunderwolf unit, or more likely you could split your thunderwolves into smaller units, eg. instead of having a thunderwolf unit, a fenrisian wolves unit and a skyclaw unit in fast attack, you could drop the skyclaws for wulfen allowing the thunderwolves to be split into 2.

My last concern with the wulfen is how to transport them to get them across the battlefield fast enough.  They can take a Stormwolf as a dedicated transport and another option would be the landraider.  A Landraider crusader with 8 wulfen coming out would be a scary opponent, and I think that will be the best way to use them.  The Stormwolf is nice, but it has one turn zooming (after it comes on) where it is a sitting duck for enemy anti air, which would be a tempting target as the enemy would kill around 500 points if they killed the flyer.  The flyer itself; is around 250 points and then each model inside takes a str10 (and I beleive ap2) hit which would instant kill the Wulfen allowing no save or Feel No Pain.

I do think the comparison to Thundrwolves is a bit harsh, as Thunderwolves are undoubtedly a very good unit.  Now the Wulfen are good, it's just in my mind they don't top the Thunderwolves for the 1st choice for an assault unit, however they should be in the running for a second assault unit to put into your army.  After all, after a landraider has moved them 18" closer to the enemy on the first turn, they are ready for a turn 2 charge, and they epitomise Space Wolves in assault.

I'm seen people take large bloodclaw units in Landraider Crusaders, and I think Wulfen would be perfect to replace them.  I'll definitely be picking up this unit to add to my Space Wolves, will you ?  A great excuse to finish off painting my landraider crusader.

Update: The weapon options include the following:

"Weapon Rules:

Salvo Grenade Launcher: 12", S4, AP5, Assault D3, assault grenades in close combat

Frost Claws: +1S, AP2, Shred

Stormhammer: X2 S, Concussive, Helfrost

Two-Handed Frost Axe: +3S, AP2, Unwieldy, Merciless Swing (Strike at normal Initiative when charging)"

What immediately jumps out is the Two Handed Frost Axe, which is Str8 Ap2 and keeps Initiative 5 on the charge.  The Pack Leader with 2 Frost Claws is also a steal at 20 pts.  Next we have the buffs from the Curse of the Wulfen rules:

"Curse of the Wulfen:

ALL non vehicle models within 6" affected.

Blood Claws, Skyclaws, Swift Claws affected within 12"

Long Fangs affected with 3"

Wulfen, Servitors and units that start in transports are not affected.

At the start of the player turn, roll a dice for ALL units. The affect lasts until your next player round.

Units outside of combat roll on the Hunt Table.

Units in combat roll on the Kill Table.

Hunt

1-3: re-roll failed charges and get Hammer of Wrath

4-5: +3" when you move, run or charge.

6: Furious Charge and +D3 attacks when charging, unless they have Rage

Kill:

1-3: +1 Initiative

4-5: Re-roll to wound

6: Death Frenzy (see Wulfen rules)"

The rules for the Curse of the Wulfen makes the Wulfen a good force multiplier as well, if you have other assault units nearby the Wulfen they can give them some nice buffs, and as a Space Wolf player you're bound to have some extra assault units.  Wolves and Cav units would benefit tremendously from the extra movement making them almost fly across the board (giving them an extra 6" of movement, from move and run or move and charge). plus the additional initiative would make them strike before other marines.  However the gravy would be the possibility of a models gaining an extra D3 attacks each and Rage on the charge.  Cav and Wolves would turn into complete blenders.

Overall these extra rules (weapons and Curse of the Wulfen) have lefted the Wulfen in my eyes into a very nice unit.  I'd still take Thunderwolf Cav first, but the Wulfen look like a very good choice for 2nd assault unit.  I think they'll be replacing my Assault marines in my current list, which frees up a Fast Attack slot for a Drop for 5 of them to deepstrike in (another option for a small unit of them).  It may be a small unit of 5 but it's still 10 wounds with Feel No Pain

I'm looking forwards to what else this Space Wolves update will bring, hopefully some formations will get leaked soon.

Rathstar

Facing The Grey Tide: Painting Challenge - Part 03 - January (Wolves Progress & lists for 1k Highlander event )

Hi,

Well it's been a quick 2 weeks since my last update, where my progress was less than stellar.  I had only started my Dec month challenge, but I had made changes to my painting area, if you can call it that:

[how it was - just a bit of a blocker to getting anything done]

and I had made the following progress by late Jan:

In the last 2 weeks I had a painting & catch-up evening with a mate, and I got a bit of painting done one evening this week (the only evening I didn't bring my work laptop home).


My 2 weeks of  progress

I have painted the silver on the belt feed, plasma cables & weapon nozzles, I've done the blue on the smaller power cables, I've done the shoulder pad edges, and, so I could show the final colour scheme, I painted light grey on the leader's weapons and one of the long fangs heavy bolter.

Still lots to do such as touching up the lighter colours (light blue & light grey), detailing, some washes, highlighting all the colours I have done so far etc., but here's he progress so far:

and you can just see 4 undercoated trueborn (part of the January challenge) in the background.

As I started the challenge in mid December, it's been 6 weeks for this progress - man I paint slow, but I suppose any progress is good.  I'll have to give the Wolves another game when I get these models painted.



Highlander

For the 1000 point Highlander event I looked myself into I know I won't get enough of the new Dark Eldar models painted in time, plus I just couldn't see a Dark Eldar Highlander list doing at all well with the restriction of only 1 of each transport.  Therefore for that tournament I will be taking my Tau and I was think of something like:

Ethereal
Riptide
10 Fire Warriors
17 Kroot (with Sniper rounds)
3 Broadsides with 6 Drones
3 Marksmen with 9 Sniper Drones
Skyray

Let me know your thoughts on the Tau list, and for comparison here's the Dark Eldar list I was tempted to try out:

Archon (Agoniser)
1 Lharmaean & 4 Sslyths
  Venom (2 Splinter Cannons)
4 Grotesques
  Raider (Disintegrator Cannon)
Beastpack: 1 Beastmaster, 5 Clawed Fiends, 4 Krymarae
5 Warriors
5 Warriors
Ravager (3 Dark Lances)
Razorwing Jetfighter (2 Dark Lances)


Hoping for more painting progress over the next few weeks to catch-up.  I have the half term week off work, so I'm hoping once the kids are asleep I can do some painting each night, however the other half wants me to watch Supernatural with her, and there is that Game of Thrones boxset that my friend lent me...

Rathstar

Facing The Grey Tide: Painting Challenge - Part 02 - December (Progress and Quick Wolves vs Nids battle report)

So we are getting towards the end of January, and the blog has been depressingly silent.

That has mainly been because of my embarrassment from completely FAILing so bad at the December portion of the Challenge.

Apart from finishing off models not being the most exciting thing in the world, my painting work space was, to put it bluntly, not really helping:

Way too many projects on the go at once, and if the desk was bad enough the area in front of the desk made it harder:

As I mentioned in my last post I was due to have a have a game over the xmas break against a mate with his Nids with my Space Wolves.  It's nearly an xmas tradition that my mate's Nids give my Wolves a good kicking, but I was determined to change that !  Deciding on my list I thought it would be better to have a 2nd squad of long fangs rather than a Predator.  So effectively I changed my December challenge, and having to have the models all assembled gave me more of an incentive to get them ready.  As well as assembling the long fangs I got the last two thunderwolf riders assembled.

Although the battle was short and sweet I leant about my army and had a fun game.

A quick recap of the list I took was:

Canis with 17 Fenrusian Wolves
6 Thunderwolf Cav
Iron Priest on Thunderwolf,with 10 Skyclaws
5 Scouts
10 Bloodclaws in a Drop Pod
10 Grey Hunters in a Drop Pod
6 Long Fangs with 5 Missile Launcher in a Drop Pod
6 Long Fangs with 2 Heavy Bolters & 3 Plasma Cannons
Whirlwind

The Wolves set-up

The Nids set-up.  The nearest MC is being an Exocrine, and I drop podded on the far right of the pic]

Turn 1 started well with the 2 units of 15 gaunts that had moved a bit forwards to allow the 24" range exorcrines to fire was charged by the Wolves, Cav & Assault Marines, while the Bloodclaws and Grey Hunters came down on a flank next to the Nids.

The assault was brutal and all 30 gaunts died in the assault.

However the whole Nid army was at optimal firing ranges, and the Wolves were wiped out, and the Cav was bought down to 2 models (I had lost a few Wolves, and 1 thunderwolf on the Nids first turn shooting from an Exocrine and a Hive Tyrant).  Canis and the remaining thunderwolves were then charged by a big gaunt unit with a Prime.  Although Canis put up a brave fight slicing gaunts left, right and centre (he had 18 attacks over 2 combat phases due to counter attack and rampage) he was eventually dragged down, and the Prime finished of the thunderwolves easily.

On the flank the Iron Priest and Assault marines were just about to kill an exocrine (before we called the game), however the Bloodclaws were tied up in combat by Hive Guard.

The number of very accurate (twin-linked from a formation) large blasts from the Nids took it's toll, not to mention the low AP shots from the exocrines.  As well as being a bit over confident, I attacked along a wide front (although to be fair I had to set-up first and then was seized on), which meant all of the Nids could fire back at optimal range.  Also I was too cautious (as always) with the drop pods meaning the units did not have much effect on the game, they should have been placed more in the middle so they could help assault the middle of the nid lines on the following turn.  Even if they had disrupted the charges and only two of the three assault units had got in on turn 1 it would have be better because with the gaunts being fearless both sides would have been locked in combat (safe from any Nid shooting).

I like the list through.  The only thing I'd like to change would be the scouts, they did nothing before we called the game, and they were only taken to give me a 2nd Elite so I could run the Suppliment detachment which gives thunderwolves and wolf guard WS5.  By dropping the Long Fangs Drop Pod (although it means one of my troops has come in via normal reserves) I can upgarde the scouts to 5 Wolf Guard with Jump packs (only upgrade is melta bombs on one member).  A 2nd Iron priest would probably be more effective, but I don't want too many duplicates.

and maybe not face Exocrines, let alone where one is twin-linked :)

[to see more of my mates wonderful models, his blog is: https://riseofrlyeh.wordpress.com/]

So getting back to my painting progress, below is the poor progress on the Long Fangs:

So you can see 3 weeks after the deadline I'm not even near half way through.  At least I have cleared up my painting area, and the army cases around it, plus I have assembled all I need to put 1750 points on the field.

What I'm going to do is keep my Month's tasks the same, apart from switching December to the Heavy Bolter / Plasma Cannon Long Fangs squad, and adding the last Missile launcher & 2 Thunderwolf Riders.into January (to replace touching up the drop pods).

This will mean that they there is no way I can finish the January challenge on time, but I'm hoping that I will catch up over Jan & Feb.

Other news is that I've played a couple of games with my Dark Eldar, particularly trying out the new units in the painting challenge (ie. Grotesques, Court of the Archon & Clawed Fiends) and they performed very well.

To give me more of an incentive to paint I've also signed myself up to a few tournaments.  I can always take my Tau, but it will give me an incentive to try to get the Dark Eldar ready.

The events I'll be attending are:

• a 1000 point Highlander tournament at my local GW - March
• the A Small Matter of Honour tournament (2 games @ 1250, 2 @ 1750) at the Aldershot Game Shop - May
• a 1750 point tournament at my local GW - May

Here's hoping more hobby progress over the next month :)

Rathstar


NB: With the change to December, not focusing on completing half painted models, and being reasonable and ignoring stretch goals, my Challenge Schedule is:

December:  2nd Long Fang Squad (Ancient & 6 Long Fangs with Heavy Weapons) - Late :(

January: Last Long Fang, 2 Thunderwolf Riders, 4 Trueborn - Will be Late :(

February (Double Month): Court of the Archon (4 Lhamaens, 5 Ssylths)

March: 5 Clawed Fiends (Corrupted Wraithguard)

April: 4 Grotesques (Converted from Rat Ogres and Talos parts)

May: 5 Scourges (Converted from Raider Crew with Blood Angel wings)

Facing The Grey Tide: Painting Challenge - Part 01

Painting wise since I painted up 4 Grotesques for my last tournament, my painting has ground to a halt.

Being able to play in my local GW which allows some unpainted models (not that I've done much of that either) and having no tournament on the horizon has really zapped my enthusiasm.  What's worse is that I also have quite a few Space Wolves sitting on my desk in various states, from just assembled, uncoated, needing a repaint to nearly finished,

Then from out of the blogshere Evan over at Facing the Grey Tide threw down a painting challenge inspired by the old White Dwarf series Tale of Four Gamers:

The goal is very open, you set your own spending limit a month that you aim to get painted each month, they suggest $75, but it's up to the individual (eg. because I paint slow I've given myself the lower limit of £35).

You also do not need to buy more models if you have (like most of us) I heap of grey plastic/resin sitting around the house.  You can use the spending limit to purchase from yourself so to speak, once you aim to paint up models to the value of your spending limit.

You can have double the budget for one month, if you want to go crazy one month (or just need to buy a big kit), and the challenge runs from 1st Dec '14 to 1st June '15.

What sets this painting challenge apart is the organisation and the community.  Here are some links:

The Rules
The FAQ
and most importantly the Facebook page

With new enthusiasm I looked at my models from my 3 main 40k armies and tried to decide what I wanted my goal to be:

My Tau are fully operational and competitive, they only thing I really wanted to do was a Tau Knight.  I'm sure some of you may have seen the model below from a few years ago that I recent came across:

[It's from the very talented people at Master Minis, and you can follow the link to see more stunning pics of the model]

I would also like a Ra'Varna for my Tau, but my other two 40k armies are in need of more attention.

My Dark Eldar army got affected badly by the new codex; my Wyches, Hellions & Razorwing Flocks will rarely see the gaming table, and to a lesser extent Wracks and the Voidraven Bomber may see the same fate.  I have been considering some of the big melee units, so would like a Court, another Beastmaster unit (with Clawed Fiends) and a 2nd Grot unit (using GW models so I could use them in my local GW).

My Space Wolves progress grounded to a halt when I made the decision to take my Dark Eldar rather than the Space Wolves to the last tournament.  They need a few units finished to make it to 1500 points, however I would like them to get over 2000 points, so I have lots of choice when it comes to making a 1500 or 1750 point list.

I listed all I wanted to paint, but quickly realised that at my normal pace I wouldn't get everything done, so I had to leave out Space Marine Allies (Bike Captain, Bikes & Centurions).

So without further ado, here's my schedule (for models which were part painted I reduced their value for the budget challenge (HV=half value, QV=quarter value):

December
Space Wolves: Complete Canis (QV)
Space Wolves: 3 Fenrusian Wolves
Space Wolves: Update old Bloodclaws, ie. weapons painting, should pad rims & basing (QV)
Space Wolves: Complete 2 Thunderwolves (HV)
Space Wolves: 2 Extra Riders (Leader with Shield, Wolf Claw)

January

Space Wolves: Iron Priest Conversion

Space Wolves: Squeese In Completing Drop Pods

Dark Eldar: 4 Trueborn, 2 of which with Blasters (to flesh out 2 units of 3 to 2 units of 5)

Dark Eldar: Repair 6th Venom & 3rd Ravager

and then start 3 months of monster mash...

February (Double Month)

Dark Eldar: Court of the Archon (4 Lhamaens, 5 Ssylths)

March

Dark Eldar: 5 Clawed Fiends (Corrupted Wraithguard)

April

Dark Eldar: 4 Grotesques (Converted from Rat Ogres and Talos parts)

and to finish off...

May

Dark Eldar: 5 Scourges (Converted from Raider Crew with Blood Angel wings)

and in case I get ahead of schedule...

Stretch Goals

Space Wolves: Void Claws (Converted with Robes)

Space Wolves: 4 Iron Priest Cyberwolves (using Ogre Sabertusks)

Space Wolves: Arjack Conversion (Robed)

and finally a sneak peek of two of the monster mash months:

Happy Gaming :)

Rathstar

Space Wolves - New Codex Winners & Losers

Hi,

The Space Wolves codex has been out for a few weeks, and I've had a chance to go through the codex quite a few times tweaking my old list to see what would be better now, and playing a few games.

Here are my top winners and losers.  There are quite a few winners in the new book, so these are my top 3:

Winners

[These models are from the Spears of Russ blog, click to check out his excellent blog, here, with other stunning models]

1st - Thunderwolves / Thunderwolf Mount:  From the 20% drop in the base cost of thunderwolves, to the increase in their maximum unit size, to all their attacks counting as rending (not just the basic attacks), to the extra wound it gives characters now (not only the wolf lord but the wolf guard battle leader and iron priest really benefit from this) to all thunderwolves being allowed special melee weapons.  This is alos not counting the warlord trait that Canis and Harald come with (that all warlords have a chance of getting) that makes thunderwolves stubbon and furious charge if they are within 12" at the start of the assault phase.

2nd - Wolf Claws:  These changed from Lighning claws that could reroll to hit or to wound to +1 Str Shred.  The +1 Str combined with the reiability of rerolling to wound make these excellent weapons.  Especially when you can combine it with a 2nd specialist weapon to gain the extra attack.  A powerfirst or thunderhammer would be a good choice to give the option of Str10 attacks against vehicles and monstrous creatures.

3rd - Bloodclaws & Skyclaws:  With a 3 point drop these can much better compete in their respective FOC slots.  I think a cheap 10 man bloodclaw unit in a drop pod for only 155 pts is a real contender for one of your troop choices.  Skyclaws get very stiff completeion from thunderwolf cavalry, but if you have the models and don't fancy buying more thunderwolves there's nothing wrong with putting them in your army.  Although swiftclaws also got reduced in cost I don't think they quite compete within a very tough fast attack selection.

Honourable mention must to rune priest with their significant points drop (even if the Wolves magic lore is poor).


Losers

1st - Power Armoured Wolf Guard:  Although these guys start out at the same base cost as they had before, their downfall is all about the cost of their upgrades and their cost when added to units.   When added to units wolf guard are a 10 point upgrade on a basic model in the unit, making them  more expensive in infantry squads such as Bloodclaws & Grey Hunters (although significantly cheaper in Skyclaws and Swiftclaws).  Next the Wolf Guard previously had cheaper weapon upgrades, now they choose from the generic weapon upgrades list, which means many of the weapon options are more expensive, the chief among them the combi weapon which doubled in cost.  The typical aggressive unit wolf guard upgrades were powerfist and combi weapon, this set-up has increased from 43 pts before to 59 pts for a unit of Grey Hunters (or 53 points in a unit of power armoured wolf guard).

When you add in the fact that Space Marines in general do not suffer too much from morale issues (due to And they shall know no fear), so they don't need the leadership buff as much, I think you will see less wolf guard in power armour in armies

[Taken from Aruboyz page on CMON, see here for more of his pics]

2nd - Long Fangs:  The split fire rule changes to the same as the main rulebook rule so you can only split off one shot rather than as many as you like into the 2nd target.  The weapon cost got increased to the same as Space Marine Devastators, so a full missile launcher unit went up from 140 to 165 points.  I used to use a 5 man squad with 4 missile launchers which went from 115 to 135.

Now Devastators are rarely seen in competitive lists in any great number, and if I was going to use them it would be in a Imperial Fists detachment where they get tank hunter (an excellent USR), so 5 points more for Counter Attack and Split Fire vs Tank Hunters seems like a poor comparison.  Next the competition got slightly better.

7th edition vehicle tables made vehciles harder to one-shot kill, plus the Whirlwind came down to the cheap 65 pts, and the predator with sponsons went down in cost.  A predator with Autocannon turret and Lascannon sponsons is now 115 pts, 2 Str7 and 2 Str9 shots for 20 pts cheaper than 5 Long Fangs with 4 Missile Launchers.

On the plus side for Long Fangs, Plasma Cannons & Lascannons came down in points in line with the Space Marine codex, and the points increase is not that drastic.  Putting them on the table would not seem strange, but if you have other heavy support choices you may look elsewhere, and I think the days of double and triple long fangs squads are gone.

3rd - Scouts:  With the lose of Behind Enemy lines, these are just scouts from the marine codex with WS & BS 4 for the same cost as Grey Hunters.  They do get the option to take a special weapon instead of the heavy weapon in the Marine codex, but at the same cost as Grey Hunters and not being troops I don't see you will see many of them on the board apart from Sniper Scouts to hold a back field objective.  Even the option to get a second melta shot the turn they turn up from reserves (a Wolf Guard pack leader with a combi-melta) has gone up from 23 pts to 34 pts.

Even the option to do a close combat scout unit is not as good as the vanilla marine book because they do not have a landspeeder storm as an option.  For the same cost a Grey Hunter unit in a drop pod will do better.

The only saving grace I can see is that they are the 2nd cheapest elite slot (after Lone Wolves) if you need a 2nd Elite slot to fulfil the detachment requirements in the Space Wolves suppliment.  However even then a few points more gets you a dreadnaught or a tooled up Lone Wolf.


Honourable mention goes to the Cyberwolf which lost T5, however they are all characters, even the ones accompanying the Iron Priest, so they can accept challenges.  Oddly enough the Rune Priest gets an honourable mention in the losers section as well for the nerf of the great psychic powers Living Lightning and Jaws :(


Those are my top 3 winners and losers.  What units do you think got the best buff or nerf with the new codex ?

Rathstar

I leave you with parting shots of my Dark Eldar who are in transit to their new realm in Commorragh (a new storage case) to house some new additions (Hellions) and make room for more Coven members (Grotesques).

The rumours of the new codex means I may use less wracks (as I'll have too many Elites) but will keep my 6 Venoms (with only a possible slight increase in cost, the likelihood that I can take them as separate Fast Attack slots, and the specific Dark Eldar detachment allowing 6 Fast Attack slots).

Rather than leaving the battles to his Wych Cult & Coven allies, Archon Rathstar may return to the battlefield :)

and it will be interesting to see which Flyer makes my army list (or maybe both as I can still have 2 Ravagers and both fliers):

 VS

Only a few days left to the codex now...

First Voidraven Pics and Codex is close [Dark Eldar]

Hi,

It's been an agonising wait, but titbits from the new Dark Eldar release is starting to come out.  Last weekend there was the new Wracks, and today there is pictures of the new Voidraven.  I really like the model, and I'm happy that it looks similar to the model I've comverted and have been using for the last year or so:

I really like the fins either side of the pilot on the new official model, as it sets off the thin neck of the flier (I may add that to my conversion).  Another difference is the official model has a large central fin (like the razorwing), while mine has a much smaller central fin (to make room for the Void Bomb):

If I did not already have a converted Voidraven I would definitely be getting the new model.  My only hope now is that they move the fliers to Fast Attack slots in the new codex.

Which leads me onto the codex.  Most recent rumours is that the codex will be up for pre-orders this weekend, being released on the 4th October along with the Voidraven and the Data Cards.

Last week White Dwarfs mentioned that Wracks are Toughness 4 and have Feel No Pain, and the latest rumours point says the battle report in White Dwarf next week "indicates that pain tokens are now a static effect with different effects automatically gained at the start of the turn depending on what turn number it is. My source says that army wide FnP, for example, is gained at the start of Turn 3".

I'm not sure what to make of this.  Dark Eldar has always been an alpha strike army, it hits hard and fast.  Feel No Pain on wracks, or wyches with the help of a haemonculus, was very useful for getting the assault troops to their target on turn 1 and 2.  Turn 3 Feel No Pain might be bit too late, but it's too early to worry, best to see what other information comes out.

I can't wait to see what the new codex brings.

Rathstar

PS. What's been keeping me away from blogging is a demanding work schedule, and painting up my Space Wolves for a tournament in two weeks.  I've converted Archeon's horse with Tyranid armour plates to be the mount for my new Iron Priest:

and I have to paint up Canis, increase my thunderwolves from 4 to 6, upgrade the painting on my bloodclaws and skyclaws to my latest army colout scheme, and various bits and bobs.

For my last tournament I painted up my 6th (and last for some time) Broadside, to replace a converted model I had.  Now my Tau thoughts turn to more mobility and increasing the long range anti tank against AV14 after an Imperial Knight and 2 summoned Bloodthirsters pinned me in allowing Pask and Wyverns to pound my army unmolested (but more on that in a later post).