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The tournament will be 6 games with essentially 1 of each BRB mission. There will be pre-set terrain and pre-set objectives, evenly spaced in almost all cases.

As you'll see below, I am hell-bent on an all drop-pods army.

Rune Priest
Terminator armor, runic weapon, storm bolter, melta bombs, Jaws of the World Wolf, Murderous Hurricane

Dreadnought
Assault cannon, heavy flamer
Drop Pod
Deathwind Launcher

Dreadnought
Assault cannon, heavy flamer
Drop Pod
Deathwind Launcher

10 Wolf Guard
10x terminator armor, 2x Cyclone Missile Launcher, combi-melta, 2x combi-flamer, 5x combi-plasma, 2x storm bolter, 2x wolf claw, power fist, 4x power axe, 3x power sword
Drop Pod

7 Grey Hunters
Flamer, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod

7 Grey Hunters
Flamer, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod

6 Grey Hunters
Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod

6 Grey Hunters
Meltagun, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod

5 Grey Hunters
Plasmagun, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod

5 Grey Hunters
Plasmagun, Wolf Standard
Drop Pod


Each Grey Hunter squad gets a wolf guard attached, the two CML WG joining the plasmagun squads. Depending on the opponent, deployment, etc. The flamers or meltagun squads drop in the first wave along with the dreads and wolf guard. Plasmagun squads occupy more distant objectives when they arrive to provide supporting fire. Ideally, the initial units are deployed aggressively enough to collapse a flank or trap the opponent in their (likely castled) deployment.

11 TEQ, 36 MEQ, 2 dreads, 9 pods, going for a fairly MSU approach. The major downside (IMO) is that with 19 discrete 'units', I am almost guaranteed a loss in the kill points mission unless I table my opponent. My fears are facing something like 'cron-air or interceptor-heavy Tau, against nids/orks I'll rain empty pods and possibly send a couple disruption units to try and speed-bump their approach, but have some general concerns about the low number of bodies I'm bringing with this list.
I'm ignoring flyers completely (with pure space wolves, not a lot of good options to deal with them anyhow), relying on getting into melee fairly quickly to hide my units from the inevitable hellturkey.

All input/feedback/(constructive)-criticism is appreciated.

________________________________________________________________
EDIT: Added codex psychic powers, altered runic staff listing to runic weapon (staff)
EDIT 2: Moved deathwind launchers to the dreadnought pods, changed rune priest's weapon to runic weapon per unusual force weapon rules determining profile rather than model.

You'll have fun with this list. I don't have much to suggest, but a few things pop to mind:

1. Just to be clear, its a Runic Weapon. Runic Weapons are special Force Weapons and are always striking at the Strength and Initiative of the wielder and AP 3. Not sure if "Runic Staff" was put down for style or if you thought it worked like normal Force/Power Weapons and can actually have different profiles. Please feel free to ignore this if it was just for style, just mentioning it for the benefit of others.

2. Your Rune Priest still needs Space Wolves Psyker powers on your list, even if you plan on ditching them for BRB powers. YMMV, but I've run into minor problems with some TO and PUG opponents before about that. I'd recommend Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane; JotWW possibly instead of LL.

3. I would keep the 2 CML TDA Wolf Guard in the same pack, and keep them in the 5 man WG Drop Pod. This gives you another unit to fire at things with, and you can use your Rune Priest to give them Prescience for re-rolls to hit. It will help with the inevitable Flyers and Flying MC (especially the latter, since they can still fire their Storm Bolters. You only need to hit a Flying MC to potentially ground it...).

4. Expect your Rune Priest to die and for you to give up Warlord as a secondary objective. Lack of a 3++/4++ is just brutal.

5. Don't forget your Drop Pods can Snap Fire their Storm Bolter on the initial landing. Especially if their are Flying MCs around...


'Cron-Air is 'Cron-Air. Play the mission (Objectives!) and not the opponent and you'll probably be okay however. Tau.... It depends, but not every Tau list/unit has Interceptor. Keep your Drop Pods between your unit and the unit with Interceptor, as they still need Line of Sight (usually). You may be able to deal with a single turn of Interceptor (and they won't be shooting you on their own turn if they do that).

Expect heavy casualties though. I find that Packs of 5-6 Grey Hunters are just too small myself. I need to fill up my Drop Pods to the brim in order to have the unit last more than 2 turns on the board, but then I'm super-aggressive sometimes. Throws the enemy off balance, but the casualty rate can be high if things don't go well.

bosco wrote:

10 Wolf Guard
10x terminator armor, 2x Cyclone Missile Launcher, combi-melta, 2x combi-flamer, 5x combi-plasma, 2x storm bolter, 2x wolf claw, power fist, 4x power axe, 3x power sword
Drop Pod

I dont believe that models in TDA can be in a drop pod, even if they could they are bulky and would take up 2 slots therefore you could only put 6 in there.

Other then that i love the mass pods but i see a lack of anything that can take on av14 that wont immediately get killed

I think you don't fully grasp what the list is doing.

 namiel wrote:
I dont believe that models in TDA can be in a drop pod, even if they could they are bulky and would take up 2 slots therefore you could only put 6 in there.

Uh, yea. Terminators can go in a Drop Pod and are Bulky so take up 2 slots so you can only fit five in the Drop Pod. These are Wolf Guard, so he is splitting off numerous models to lead his Grey Hunters (which number 6-8 models) so there are only going to be 4 Wolf Guard + a Rune Priest in the Drop Pod.

 namiel wrote:
Other then that i love the mass pods but i see a lack of anything that can take on av14 that wont immediately get killed

He has 2 Meltaguns coming out of Drop Pods, so if AV 14 is on the table they will almost always getting their 2D6" Armor Penetration against the AV 14. Tack on the Combi-Melta, 2 CML (with a total of 4 S8 shots) and the two Assault Cannons (hello Rending) and he's going to be able to take on AV 14 with no real issue, barring 3 Land Raider lists (which are rare). On subsequent turns he has Meltabombs on his Rune Priest and two Dreadnoughts (S10 in close combat) if the shooting wasn't enough.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for the input.

I'm trying to find the bit about the runic weapons stat-lines/effects and striking out, any chance you could point me in the right direction? I was under the impression that they had form-specific modifications, but if they don't it isn't a significant issue.

One thought I had was about moving the deathwind launchers to the dreadnought pods. I know they aren't a particularly popular option, but since the dreads will almost always be in the initial wave it would guarantee that I'd have them on the field at the earliest chance every game and also likely be ignored the turn of arrival while my opponent pounds the dreads instead, leaving the deathwind launchers to fire the following turn. Sound reasonable?

Runic Weapons count as Unusual Force Weapons (BRB Page 60) because they wound Daemons on a 2+ in close combat.

If you insist on taking the Deathwind Missile Launcher, definitely put it with the Dreadnoughts. Space Marines of all flavors generally have enough anti-infantry present that you don't really need them though, and they are too weak to use against vehicles. At least your list doesn't have much of what I would consider fat. And in your list the Deathwind Launchers make more sense than in others.

 cowmonaut wrote:
Runic Weapons count as Unusual Force Weapons (BRB Page 60) because they wound Daemons on a 2+ in close combat.

Wow, literally an inch down from where I was checking before my last post, awesome job, Bosco! Seriously though, thank you. Guessing I'll see you at the Guardian Cup in a couple weeks.

I like the idea of a couple deathwind launchers, particularly in the event of orks/nids where I can drop them in mid-field for 2-3 turns of having targets within range.. Sure, they're over-costed and will likely disappoint more often than not, but being able to surprise a castled opponent on turn two with some pie-plate lovin' would be great just for the expression on their face. Also, combined with the dreads' heavy flamers and assault cannons, they might help better punish an opponent for excessively thorough bubble-wrapping of their armor. Sad reality is that most opponents realize their nuisance potential and pop them in their shooting phase following their arrival, but if that means one less unit blasting my units, I'm ok with that.

One feature with the list I have to admit liking is being able to adjust the wolf guard allocation on a game-by-game basis. I agree that there are definitely times where I'll want those CML wolf guard in the same unit, but more so I like being able to shuffle the combi-flamers/melta to create either generalist or specialist grey hunter packs based on need/opponent. If only the nature of the list didn't set it up to hemorrhage kill points.

bosco wrote:
Wow, literally an inch down from where I was checking before my last post, awesome job, Bosco! Seriously though, thank you. Guessing I'll see you at the Guardian Cup in a couple weeks.

No problem, and hope to see you there! It's kind of a ? if I'm going to be able to attend. I have to buy and build the Allied detachment I end up using. Wish I had time to finish painting my main army too... Hate using unfinished armies.

bosco wrote:
One feature with the list I have to admit liking is being able to adjust the wolf guard allocation on a game-by-game basis. I agree that there are definitely times where I'll want those CML wolf guard in the same unit, but more so I like being able to shuffle the combi-flamers/melta to create either generalist or specialist grey hunter packs based on need/opponent. If only the nature of the list didn't set it up to hemorrhage kill points.

Tis my favorite part about Wolf Guard. The tactical flexibility is very nice.

Runic Weapon can be, dependent on modelling:

Runic Sword: User Str, AP3, strikes at I
Runic Stave: Str+2, AP4, strikes at I
Runic Axe: Str+1, AP2, I1

I'm usually going for Runic Stave.
As all 3 of my Rune Priest models have a staff and not swords.

Im pretty sure according to the FAQ you can have different runic weapons. I am currently at work so I cant download it. Otherwise nice list, drop wolves serve as a nice anti-meta list and should do well the more tau you play.

Overall, I like your list a lot! I would only offer criticism in two units: the Dreadnoughts, and the Wolf Guard. 1st off, dreads are bad. Like, horror bad. They bring nothing to the table that you can't get cheaper abs better elsewhere. I'd drop them.

Overall, the WG look good. I just think you've got a few too many upgrades. Terminators are also pretty weaksauce in 6th ed. That said at 33pts SW termies are kinda worth it, but you have to keep them cheap. I'd keep the Combis and the CMLs but drop everything else.

Tyrpak wrote:Runic Weapon can be, dependent on modelling:

Runic Sword: User Str, AP3, strikes at I
Runic Stave: Str+2, AP4, strikes at I
Runic Axe: Str+1, AP2, I1

I'm usually going for Runic Stave.
As all 3 of my Rune Priest models have a staff and not swords.

Naugatan wrote:Im pretty sure according to the FAQ you can have different runic weapons.

You are both very much in the wrong. The FAQ is right here, so look for yourself. They only added weapon profiles for Frost Blades/Axes and Iron Priest Servo-Arms.

The rules for Unusual Power Weapons can be found on Page 61 of the BRB. For Unusual Force Weapons they are on page 60. Here's what the rules say:

If a Force weapon has its own unique close combat rules, treat it as an AP3 Melee weapon with the additional rules and characteristics presented in its entry.

Look at the rules for the Runic Weapon. Because of the wonderfully useless ability to wound Daemons on a 2+ in close combat, the Runic Weapon is now an Unusual Force Weapon. So its Strength is the user's and its AP is 3. You don't get a choice, and modelling it as something else doesn't make it so.

cowmonaut wrote:...The rules for Unusual Power Weapons can be found on Page 61 of the BRB. For Unusual Force Weapons they are on page 60. Here's what the rules say:

If a Force weapon has its own unique close combat rules, treat it as an AP3 Melee weapon with the additional rules and characteristics presented in its entry.

Look at the rules for the Runic Weapon. Because of the wonderfully useless ability to wound Daemons on a 2+ in close combat, the Runic Weapon is now an Unusual Force Weapon. So its Strength is the user's and its AP is 3. You don't get a choice, and modelling it as something else doesn't make it so. ...

Cowmonaut helped correct my making the same mistakes with his earlier reference to the unusual force weapons rule. Thankfully, my recent opponents have been just as mistaken as I was.

blackarmchair wrote:Overall, I like your list a lot! I would only offer criticism in two units: the Dreadnoughts, and the Wolf Guard. 1st off, dreads are bad. Like, horror bad. They bring nothing to the table that you can't get cheaper abs better elsewhere. I'd drop them.

Overall, the WG look good. I just think you've got a few too many upgrades. Terminators are also pretty weaksauce in 6th ed. That said at 33pts SW termies are kinda worth it, but you have to keep them cheap. I'd keep the Combis and the CMLs but drop everything else.

I appreciate the input on the dreads and wolf guard.

I already expect my dreads to land and die the following turn if not to interceptor on arrival, but I like them, they fit the theme of my wolves collection and add a bit of variety to the units in the list. That said, if they can survive past the following shooting phase, or draw ID firepower off my small infantry squads, then I'm tickled. Plus I'm guessing my average opponent dumps any available anti-tank into the dread, ignoring their deathwind launcher equipped pods for a turn, so the consolation prize of getting to fire a 5" pie plate the following turn will help I'm sure.

The wolf guard are equipped like they are partially due to the limits of my available weapons. I agree that I would like to keep them as cheap as possible, but I simply ran out of power weapons to swap on the models so I had to keep a couple wolf claws and threw in a fist for versatility. I'm planning on deploying them as the closest model in most cases to soak wounds for the unit with their 2+ save to try and add a bit of survivability for those small grey hunter squads.

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