Space Wolves: Fenrisian Wolf Packs

Have you ever wanted to be the leader of the pack? Do you have what it takes to run with the Wolves? I'm sure there's some other cliche I could abuse, but I've always tried to be a lone wolf...

Okay, enough of that, let's look at Fenrisian Wolves. What do they have going for them? They're cheap, they have the basic stats of a Marine and they are Cavalry. Against them? They're never scoring, they don't have power armour and they don't have power armour.

Why that last twice? Because even though they're about 1/2 the cost of a basic Marine, they will only save 1/4 as many shots... presuming they get a save in the first place. This means that unit attrition will be a LOT higher. This can be mitigated by running them through cover, but even that is only a temporary solution.

With no guns, there's no reason not to Fleet. With no guns, there's no reason not to charge. With no Frag Grenades, you probably want to avoid charging enemy in cover.

Still doesn't seem really favorable for the Wolves, does it? Well, it's not. They're a large, cheap, mobile meat shield. That's it. There's nothing really tactical or strategical about them. Simply point at the enemy lines and fire. They're just fast, furry Orks.

But wait! A character can get Saga of the Wolfkin and upgrade them all to Initiative 5 and Leadership 7! Yeah, that's real great, now you'll still be going at Initiative 1 if you have to charge into cover. Anyone worth their salt is going to use this against you. Remember, that effect happens even if you're charging OUT of cover. It's any time that difficult terrain roll is made. So if your normal move and Fleet don't get you clear of the cover, you're going last.

But wait! Add in Canis and you can take them as Troops! The still can't score, it's just as worthle... er... wait... you mean they won't waste those Fast Attack slots? I can fill those up with Thunderwolf Cavalry or something instead? Hunh. We might have something here...

The plan: Operation Furshield. Take 10-45 Fenrisian Wolves. Screen your lines. Charge. Fight. Win! No capes...
Cheap, simple and easy, this is how I see most Wolves getting used. A nice distraction, alpha-strike, speed bump... whatever you want to call it. They run at the enemy and muck up their lines to give the rest of your time to army close.

The second plan: Operation Fuzzy SABOT. See above. Slap on an Independent Character or two on Thunderwolves. Point at enemy. Let furballs eat bolters. Let character wreak havoc. Enjoy.
At 120 points for a unit of Wolves and 200 or so for a decent character, this plan is still pretty cheap. If nothing else, the potential havoc it can cause is one heck of a "shoot here" sign. With a 19-24" move, you're not going to have to worry much about being Rapid Fired to death... at least not until after the first charge.

Fenrisian Wolves are a cute and fluffy idea that make a nice, cheap horde option for supporting your Marines. They're a great way to get a bunch of bodies in front of your more expensive units and screw up the enemy lines with close combat. With a shooting force, they can distract or delay a flank. But they're going to mesh best in a heavily close-combat oriented army that needs a fast shock troop out front. Run them at the from to Screen a Cavalry or Infantry list and be your initial line of impact. Even a mechanized force could probably find a use for them, though they don't fit quite as nicely.

In the final analysis: A single unit isn't critical but might make a nice addition to most any force. I wouldn't bother with multiple units unless you were taking Canis and running a heavy Infantry or Cavalry army.

Cheers and see you next time! (Hey, one week and change left to enter my contest...)

***Image grabbed from this shirt site...***

A small update

Hey there boys and girls! For a change there's no mega-post today, but instead a series of small items.

1. The "Design me a new banner" contest is off and running, with 12 days left. Nothing says it has to be all custom art and super slick design... enter something! (Yes, I do have entries already, but I'd like to see more.)

2. I recently did a guest article for "The Wraith Gate" on "Eldar & the 5th Edition Tyranid Menace". Head over and tell me I'm wrong!

3. A recent bit of humour from the net... Hitler learns about the Doom of Malan'tai debate:

Amusing enough, I'm willing to forgive the editing gaffe.
Truth told, I think Robin Cruddace did a decent job overall. Plus, I'm happy having Phil Kelly working on other things, like my spiffy new Wolves 'dex. Having Codexes regularly release makes me hopeful that we'll see new stuff soon for those needing a new or updated Codex. (=I=, Dark Eldar, and Eldar, I'm looking at you...)
Still, that item could have been better written.

4. Just for something else, here's a bad pic of some Genestealers I'm painting. This was taken with my phone camera with no attempt to proper lighting. Deal. Also, the colors were not my choice but ended up looking good anyways. The guy in the middle on the round base was the original sample. Current progress is 6 done and sealed, 8 basecoated, 8 assembled and primed. I'd love to do more, but have vacation stuff to do. Expect to see these guys again. (Yes, with "good" pics.)

5. Pet Peeve: When people add an image to the top of their post but don't remove the carriage return. This causes their post to start a line down from being even with the image top. Keep it professional! Keep it OCD! Keep it consistent!

Okay, that almost looks like a real post... Off to take some more cold meds. "I don't have TIME to be sick."

CONTEST: New banner

Win Stuff! That's right folks, I've decided I want to make this little blog look nicer and figured I might as well have some fun with the process. So I'm hosting a little two-part contest. The first stage will be to design a new banner/logo for Maunderings and the second simply to vote on your favorite. Prizes will be awarded for both.

Stage One, "Design a new banner"

The prize: One custom character model sculpted/converted to specifications.
I'll provide model concept sketches, base model and bitz (up to $50), shipping, and sculpt work. I will work with you exactly as I would a professional commission to make this a worthy centerpiece for your army or display case. (ie It will be done to the best of my ability and OCD tendencies.) I'll even paint it up if you want. Regular progress updates will be blogged.

The rules to play:
a. Entries must be sent to my e-mail (dweomer at hotmail.com) by 12pm (noon) MST Tuesday, February 16th, 2010.
b. No more than three (3) entries per person.
c. The banner should be formatted to no more than 900px wide and 400px tall.
d. No profanity, pornography, abuse of my basic tenets nor blatant IP violations will be allowed.
e. I will have full rights to use the final image for my blog and blog related stuff.
f. Entries must be kept anonymous until voting is done. (I expect a bit of cajoling of friends, but don't leverage your blogs, okay?)
g. All entries will be posted on Wednesday, February 17th and voting will be open for one week. The top voted wins.

Equal fun for me? I'm headed on vacation for most of this contest time. So the submissions (or any lack thereof) should be just as much a surprise to me.



Stage Two "Vote the Winner"

The prize: A set of three sculpting tools. I've had an extra set I've been meaning to give away for a while now. There's also possibly more/bigger prizes depending on how many people participate and what I can find in my bitz drawer.

The rules to play:
a. Simply vote in the poll for your favorite banner(s) and post a comment in the thread. Winner will be chosen randomly from the commenters one week later.
b. Yes, you can vote for your own entry(s). (If you think it's a contender.)
c. Yes, you can vote for multiple entries.

There's no requirement to Follow my blog or anything. I see no reason to have you do so and then drop right after. Simply show up, give your opinion and say hi. (Though if you decide to take a look around and like what you see, even better.)

This should be an interesting experiment at the very least... Cheers!

***Image snagged from Clker***