List-Fu: 1850pts Space Wolves and Grey Knights - Diffusion and Precision

40kUK GT Heat 2 Army

One of mine this time. This is an evolution of the list I took to the 40kUK GT, which I'll start with first to explain some of the thinking. The list below is really a slightly modified version to the one I actually took due to not completing two missile Fangs in time, but hey, you get the idea!

1850pts Space Wolves and Grey Knights, 40kUK GT Heat 2 (Slightly modified)

Rune Priest, Jaws, Storm Caller
Inquisitor

Dreadnought, 2xTwin-linked Autocannons
Dreadnought, 2xTwin-linked Autocannons
Dreadnought, 2xTwin-linked Autocannons

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Knight Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback with Psybolt Ammo
5 Grey Knight Strike Squad, Psycannon, Razorback with Psybolt Ammo

6 Long Fangs, 5x Missile Launchers
6 Long Fangs, 5x Missile Launchers

1850pts

I still like this list a lot, but it has room for improvement. At first glance you might agree with Pete's pre-tournament passing comment of 'a bit 5th edition', but 3 games later I was on table 4 of 23, and then table 5 for the next game, so I think I did pretty well for my first competitive event!

Strengths for me are multiple mobile troops and cheap transports with guns, and psychic defense if I can roll more than a 4. What I knew I needed was better flier defense and more troops. It's also weak against long range AV13-14, particularly with decent side armour.

Whilst I love mobile flanking fire support units (the dreads), as these can take advantage of lines of sight and cover as the battle develops, with the advent of fliers and the change in vehicle rules these guys simply do not get a chance to fulfill their primary purpose against a flier army - i.e. shoot the fliers. Added to this, considering the maths, they are really inefficient at it, even with twin-linking (no surprise there). Put simply, they die before they get a chance to do much/any damage and are big expensive easy targets. Until I work out a better way of using them (even on a skyshield landing pad with a 4++ they won't last that much longer and this cripples their mobility), they're staying in the case. = (

I'd have never thought it, but next up on the chopping block are the Long Fangs. I will discuss this more in a dedicated post, but a big question I'm constantly asking myself when I write lists is 'can this role be fulfilled by a troop choice?'. I also found that at least once per game I was wasting a turn of shooting with one unit by blocking my own line of sight, but that's my fault entirely. Long range fire support is still required, but can be found through other means so we'll revisit this later. Fangs are out to make space for...

More troops. I have found that when playing 6th, especially with a MSU style army where your scoring troops are expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting, you get through a lot of them! In go 10 more GK SS with 2 more psycannons, taking the possible total of MSU units to 10, with the option to keep the GK SS in two larger squads if needed. I will also add in 6 Wolf Guard with combi-plasma's and melta bombs for land raider and bastion duties (and MCs as a last resort, although I don't intend to be getting into combat with these deliberately).

At this point I run into a dilemma. I think both Space Wolves and Grey Knights can struggle against fliers. Grey Knights do have access to the (weaker?) Storm Raven, personally I currently think that taking one of these with no reliable reserve manipulation can potentially be a bit of an expensive option. I've considered taking Coteaz and putting a minimum unit of henchmen in (in place of a unit of Strikes), but I'm not sure that this is a great option, especially when a vendetta or two can relatively easily ruin your day. Making the most of the GK upgrade options (psybolt ammo, hurricane bolters, keep the twin-linked assault cannons) gets pricey very quickly. That's a lot of points sitting off the board that might come on before the opponents fliers and get blown to bits before getting into a dogfight.

So what are the alternatives?

Although I don't like it, I think with this ally combination, the best I can do is build to the strengths of each codex, focus on the win conditions and consider the weaknesses of fliers.

In reverse order, the top-tier fliers (IMHO the vendetta, night-scythe, storm-raven, hell-drake) generally have limited access to weapons that can reliably and quickly take out AV14. Enter the bastion. Enough lascannons or twin-linked multi-meltas will do it, but at 75pts a pop, thats a price I'm willing to consider. Stormteks will also get nasty quickly, but that means they've taken the bait and disembarked with their troops ready for return fire next turn, and that's assuming that they can get close enough in the first place.

So how to use this ivory tower? I think it will fit quite well with my typical MSU strategy - By deploying everybody ready to push into midfield, it makes target priority harder for my opponent. With 10 similar units going forward with no obvious targets, some will survive to from my offensive wave. Any reduced units typically fall back to form my backfield objective sitters, and having a handy AV14 bunker with fire points, heavy bolters and a keg seems like a handy place to have.

Add to this that in some missions I will want to be protecting my warlord, and being able to cast powers from the relative safety of the tower seems like another good choice.

Having spent the points on the bastion, I'm going to drop another 35pts for the icarus lascannon. I have some decent mid-strength firepower spread throughout the list (plasma and psycannons), but a long range high strength shot with skyfire and interceptor is a reasonable choice in this context. And that's without the secret weapon...

I've been thinking a lot (I do a lot of thinking, I'd really like to do a lot more playing!) about how a lot of the stronger HQ choices are taken as force multipliers or tanks to greatly enhance their armies (e.g. buffed blobs, Fateweaver, destroyer lords, etc.). The common strategy is to hide or LoS! any overly threatening attack into the unit, then carry on buffing/tanking.

CNON - leprechaun studio

The previous GK FAQ introduced a note confirming that the vindicare assassin's player can always assign wounds. Add to this the usual spacial ammo (particularly the strip invulnerable saves one - I wonder how this interacts with the Dark Angel power fields?), AP1 and BS8 and things get interesting. I know that there will be others who will have used the combination of the vindicare in the bastion before (interested to hear from you if you have!), but I think the flexibility of the exodus rifle, emplaced heavy bolter and icarus lascannon, all the while with the AV14 or cover (with stealth) from the battlements seems worth a shot.

A few minor tweaks and there are enough points left over to bump the inquisitor up to a psyker to get divination (re-rolls to hit on a squad of strikes or perhaps the ignores cover for the vindicare?), leaving the rough list looking like this:

1850pts Space Wolves and Grey Knights 'Diffusion and Precision' (WIP)

Rune Priest, Jaws, Storm Caller
Inquisitor, Psyker

6 Wolf Guard, 6x Combi-Plasma, 4x Melta Bombs
Vindicare Assassin

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Razorback
10 Grey Knight Strike Squad, 2x Psycannon, Razorback with Psybolt Ammo
10 Grey Knight Strike Squad, 2x Psycannon, Razorback with Psybolt Ammo

Bastion, Icarus Lascannon

1848pts

Still vulnerable to fliers and later game objective grabs, but much better scoring presence, improved high AV threat and the sniper in the tower. Need to think about how I might move the units around the tower and make sure I'm not cancelling my own powers. Pesky allies of convenience.

Diffusion and precision. Something to work on I think.

Any comments welcome!