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So i'm pretty new to 40k, really new actually, I only have about 5 games under my belt. Most of them ending in ties and a couple of losses. Up until this point i've really only had experience fighting mostly orcs and a game against the dark eldar.. Anyways all that changes tomorrow where I'm supposed to play my friend and his new space wolves army. Just looking over the units for the space wolves i feel like it's going to be a hard won fight for me.

Anyways, i'm just looking for some useful strategies to use against these guys. I'm mostly concerned with letting the bloodclaws get too close to my fire warriors and doing some serious damage. Also the fact that he just bought a drop pod makes me pretty sure that he is going to try to use it in the game tomorrow.

we're playing 500 point armies, and I know that he doesn't really have any vehicles so I can expect lots of infantry.

So far these are the units I have available to me.

24 fire warriors
12 kroot
1 devilfish
6 stealth suits
1crisis battlesuit
8 gun drones
2 marker drones
( we're playing casual so in all reality the drones can be played as any type of drone)

Right now i'm thinking about fielding my devilfish and all my stealth suits and working the rest of my army around that. I feel that the fact that the space wolves will have to assault through cover when attacking my stealth suits will help keep them alive, as well as the fact that they can use retro thrusters to escape being locked in assault.

So what are my best strategies when going up against the space wolves? Like I said i'm pretty new to all of this so I don't know if building my army around my stealth suits and devilfish is a good idea or not. I have also never had a chance to use my kroot yet, so i'm thinking about throwing them into my army as well to give me a troop choice that can actually survive in a assault.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I really want to get a win under my belt instead of another tie or loss.

if it helps, I know his army mostly consists of the basic space wolves battleforce.

Do you know what style space wolves he plays? I.e shooting or assault or a mix of both? And to get retro thrusters on stealth suites if very expensive, As there special issue. And building a list around them is kinda meh, but since it's a smaller game I can see a slight use for them. Only problem is 18 inch range guns. And if he has long fangs you devil fish won't survive to long and niether will the lone suite unless he has a few drones. I would defiantly get more crisis suites as there the ones to base a list around. Maby post your list so we can see what your thoughts are and we can lead you the right way.

If you are playing casual then i'd suggest some shield drones on your crisis suit to take a few hits and maybe twinlinked plasma rifles. For the third option maybe a shield generator or iridium armor, the latter being less favourable due to the movement issue. The stealth team with the marker drones would be handy to up the bs of your fire warriors. I'd forgo the kroot and split up your fire warriors in to smaller groups of 6. Would mean your marker lights make less of an impact, but then you can spread them out a bit to prevent the majority of your units being tied up in assault. You will prolly be over 500 points in that case so i'd maybe reduce the squad size of your stealth suits

Pinning attacks. As many as you can generate. At 500 points he might have 3 5 man squads in Rhinos. You just need:
70 Proxy a Broadside
160 5 Pathfinders (Shas'ui has Target lock) + Devilfish (disruption). Use FW's as Pathfinders
100 Shasel (TL Missile Pod, Fusion, 1 Gun Drone)
180 3 x 6 Fire Warriors (ALL Carbines)

You can probably stand him in place all game long.

A shame you dont have Sniper Drones. Would be perfect.

Well he usually plays more of a melee army, and i'm expecting that in the fight today.

so this is what i was thinking for my army

3 stealth suits with 4 marker drones - 210 points

Battlesuit with twin linked plasma rifles, shield generator and 2 shield drones - 90 points

6 fire warriors with photon grenades - 66 points
6 fw with photon grenades - 66 points
6 fw with photon grenades - 66 points

a grand total of 498 points.

Do you guys think i should scrap the stealth suits and bring in more fire warriors and some kroot? or keep things as they are?



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Ah so i want to go with pinning attacks? I've tried that against orcs in the past and it didn't help too much. mostly just bad rolls.

Though i've heard people say not to use carbines in armies lower than 1000 points.

Also he doesn't have any vehicles, just a drop pod. so im not worried about rhinos. i'm more worried about meeting his space wolves in a assault.

I posted a list (just now). However with this list you just put up, couple things:

Skip the Grenades. they wont save you.

Your command suit price is off. should be 105 I think.

aside from that, here are truths you must do something about:

1. He can be fast moving in Rhinos etc. You gotta slow him down.

2. He does not shoot as much as you do but he might get sparky and get some long fangs. One lucky salvod could ruin the stealthunits day. Ad thats a lot of points.

3. His LD isn't very much better than yours as a rule and at these points costs, definitely not. Attack HIS weakness (LD) not his strength (endurance).

So I think with a Devilfish, it will draw Long fang fire and give you mobility. Its main function is to block for you and slow him for just one round and Tank Shocking attacks his weakness (LD) directly. win win.

A Pinning strategy where you stay on the move and just out of his melee reach.

Well I'd say take the marker drones off the stealth suits. Those suits need to be pretty close to shoot and will almost always be moving. And since the markerlight is considered a Heavy 1 then it won't do you much good. I'd put a marker on each FW platoon. I'd also change the loadout on the suit to a plasma and a missle pod (this is what I usually run and I love it). If you can I'd drop a fw platoon and if possible also the stealth suit team for a bodyguard suit with the same load out as the HQ. I'm doing this all without my codex though. I'll check points (unless someone corrects me) when I get home.



Also: Agreed with Jancoran ^^^^^

I would make the suite a commander shas o and as a fire knife with 2 shield drones. Lose the marker drones and just upgrade the suites to carry marker lights and Maby one drone. Increase fw squads to 8 man. I'll have a better recommendations when I have my codex in front of me.

Shas'O is just too much for a 500 point game. it is probably too much for a 2000 point game, honestly. But at 500 it's positively overkill. He is so strapped for points that he needs to really support his overall strategy with everything he has.

Yes shas'vre is enough, if youreally want the bs5 add a targetting array


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Benamint wrote:Those suits need to be pretty close to shoot and will almost always be moving. And since the markerlight is considered a Heavy 1 then it won't do you much good.

jet pack units count as relentless so the marker drones can move and shoot

Id try and put 10 kroot in there, at 70 points there not to shabby in smaller games. Ditch the marker drones and take shield drones on ur hq. a pretty enduring shas'el is iridium armour and stimulant injections youll be suprised how long he will survive unless he gets power weaponed

My 2 cents, if he's infantry and they don't have ap3 weapons you need volume of fire. Id suguest something more like this:

Shasel plasma missile Mt, 2 shield drones and stim 77pts+whatever a shasel is
6x firewarriors 60
10 Kroot 70
3 teams of 3x stealthsuits w team leader w bonding knife 100x3=300

Should be close, sry don't have the dex on me to double check

Infultrate the stealth teams at 24 in if you go first or 30 if you go second to maximize stealth gens. Try to make sure they jump to 18in, shoot and run away.
Infultrate Kroot on a forest objective, otherwise most likely outflank.
Keep the fw on an Obj and in cover the whole game
jsj with ur Hq, as long as there are no ap2 weps or power weps he will most likely be fine
focuse fire. 3 stealth suits wont kill much, but 9 and a fireknife shadeless will


Also, markerlights at less than 1500 is a bad idea...and even then they're a point sink that dies t1 if ur opponent is any good

Edit for auto correct on this dang kindle

I play space wolves and I would probly hit you with a drop pod, a razorback, and maybe scouts or long fangs. Your looking at a Rune Priest, 15 or more grey hunters and some ML hits coming your way.

your tank will be destroyed after my first turn one way or another and your troops inside would either be assalted next turn, already dead or pinned. If I'm skillful my drop pod guys would be sitting pretty in cover. you might be able to assualt that squad IF you shoot the heck out of it then hit it with the Kroot. Either way your focus should be all towards that drop pod unit you have to wipe it out on the first turn and move on.

You must use most if not all of your units working together in concert. It is the only way. Otherwise I eat you up piecemeal, as the Tau are inferior to Space Wolves in most if not all aspects. Nothing in the Tau arsenal is really threatening to Space Wolves except Ion Cannon and Seeker Missiles so you need some of those.

womprat49 wrote:I play space wolves and I would probly hit you with a drop pod, a razorback, and maybe scouts or long fangs. Your looking at a Rune Priest, 15 or more grey hunters and some ML hits coming your way.

your tank will be destroyed after my first turn one way or another and your troops inside would either be assalted next turn, already dead or pinned. If I'm skillful my drop pod guys would be sitting pretty in cover. you might be able to assualt that squad IF you shoot the heck out of it then hit it with the Kroot. Either way your focus should be all towards that drop pod unit you have to wipe it out on the first turn and move on.

You must use most if not all of your units working together in concert. It is the only way. Otherwise I eat you up piecemeal, as the Tau are inferior to Space Wolves in most if not all aspects. Nothing in the Tau arsenal is really threatening to Space Wolves except Ion Cannon and Seeker Missiles so you need some of those.

Thats why I said he needs a Broadside. And pinning. So you're wolves can just stand and blink at the Tau funny. Hehehe