A Couple of Space Wolves vs 1ksons Games

So I got a couple of games in with my buddy Dave and his gorgeous Space Wolf army.  We wanted to run up against my 1ksons, and I knew it would be an uphill battle, but I didn't know exactly how uphill!

His list looked something like:

Logan

Rune Pries w/ Lightening & Stormcaller

2 Lone Wolves in Termie Armor w/ 2 Fen Wolves Each

5 Wolf Gaurd in Termie Armor w/ Various Upgrades, 1 PA Wolf Gaurd

4 Wolf Gaurd in Termie Armor w/ Various Upgrades w/ LR, 1 PA Wolf Gaurd

7 Grey Hunters w/ Upgrades in Rhino

7 Grey Hunters w/ Upgrades in Rhino

6 Long Fangs w/ 3 Lascannons and 2 ML

So its got the uber 4+ against Psy powers, a LR, and lots of terminators.  Pretty much a nightmare for my normal 1ksons.  Of course this time I was determined to try my 5 man terminators again but this time adding in the 2x9 horrors.  My plan was to rush as fast as I could up the table and start dropping down death.

We rolled long table edge deployment and killpoints, and Dave won and went first.  His deployment looked like this.

Now at this point I can reflect and say "hey maybe I should have put everything in Reserve" but that might have been a mistake anyway.  Either way I deployed ready to start rushing up my rhinos if they could survive the first onslaught of weapons.

 I manage to not steal turn 1 and the game is on.  My first nasty surprise?  Logan who is attached to the Long Fangs makes them all tank hunters.  All his long range opens fire, and the net result is a exploded rhino, a destroyed rhino, an immobilized rhino, and a destroyed predator.  OUCH.  So much for them blasting up turn 1!

 I start hussling up the board, I think I do some shooting and maybe I take down one of the wolf gaurd but it is pretty sad for me already.  I try to mussle it up and try to make what I can out of the game and advance my troops on foot.

Dave's turn and I think Logan and his Priest jump in the LR to join a squad of Wolf Gaurd.  The LR shoots dead one Oblit.  Eveybody else focus fires on my DP and just manage to kill him off.

My turn 2 and I roll for Deep Strikes and nothing comes in for me.  He's got his Lone Wolves screening his long fangs.  I lay down some fire on one of them and kill the two wolves and manage 1 W on the Lone Wolf.

Turn 3 and he starts jocking the one Lone Wolf around  one squad of sons. 

He then scoots his LR and rhinos around.  He focuses his firepower on my oblits and he does manage to wipe them out with concentrated fire.

My turn 3 and my Terminators and one squad of Horros come down.  The terminators are in good enough position to pop his LR and they do.  I'm now dropping some bolter shots from my two squads on the left on his long fangs and I kill a few.  My Pred takes out another 2 Wolf Gaurd leaving only 1.  My sons assault the lone wolf in front of them.  They kill the wolves and do 1 W to the WG but he's eternal warrior so no use trying to force weapon him (and my Warptime has been shut down also).  I lose two 1ksons.  The horrors charge the Long Fangs and the remaing Wolf Gaurd Terminator.  I think the combat is a push.

If you're following close now you'll note I've got 1 kp to Dave's 5. :p

Dave's turn 4 he shuffles some units around and opens up on my terminatros with combi plasma from one squad of WG and other melta bits from Grey Hunters.  In the end all I have left is one terminator with the Chainfist.  In Combat he charges me with his other Lone wolf but I think I actually manage to kill them both off for a whole 0 KP for me. :( I kill a few more Long Fangs and I think I might actually have won this round of combat.  I want to say somehow Dave's rune priest died to perils this round too...

My Turn 4.  My other squad of horrors come down and I drop them near Logan's Termies.  I manage to immobilize a rhino with my Pred.  My 2 squads of sons keep advancing slowly.  My other squad that had won combat charges in with the Long Fangs and remaining Hive Gaurd.  I think they manage to kill them off, but I'm only left with 2 horrors and 1 son with the sorcerer.  I foolishly charge Logan with my horrors but he and his Gaurd kill them before they can even strike thanks to charging through cover.  I had also assaulted a rhino but totally whiffed with my Terminator armor.

 I don't remember if we played turn 5.  I think we did.  I think he just quickly killed off my horrors, tiny sons squad, and terminator squad.  I think I opened fire and couldn't finish off that Grey Hunter squad.  I think that's right because we rolled a 2 and that was the game.  Just as well.  I was toasted bad early and could never recover.  I think I manage 5 kp to Dave's 9.  OUCH, quite the pounding.

Dave was sporting enough to give it another go.  This time we rolled up Dawn of War and single objectives.  Dave again won roll off but let me deploy first.  I set up two squads of sons with the DP as far up as I could.  Dave left everything to walk in on turn 1.

My turn everything advances.

On Dave's turn we brings everything on the table.  Another surprise for me is Logan making the Long Fangs relentless.  They shoot and pretty much are just able to bring down my DP.  Oh well, that's kind of his job to be shot to bits.

My turn 2 everything comes down.  The terminators are out of range of the LR so they just run, but a Pred get's lucky and blows the LR to pieces.  The horrors come down and just run to get into some cover. The oblits pretty much destroy one Wolf Gaurd squad leaving the Priest by his lonesome.

Logan and company charge my terminators and horrors with one Lone wolf assisting, combat goes poorly for me there.  His other lone wolf gets tied up with my second squad of horrors but that goes ok.  The priest joins the Long Fangs.

My turn 3.  I've got sons up to rapid fire on his long fangs and between them and the preds I only have the cyclone launcher Wolf Gaurd and the Wolf Priest with 1 wound.  Logan and co finally overcome my termies and horrors but there's just one Wolf Gaurd left there.

For some reason I've got no pictures of the front.  I've got a rhino wall blocking off one squad of Grey Hunters and am trying to hold him off my objective where I've got my 3rd squad of sons.

I've also got no other pictures of the end but the game goes all the way to turn 7.  If the game had ended on 5 or 6 I would have the win, but on turn 7 he's finally able to clear everything off his objective (including a rhino a had shoved up there).  On his objective he had basically Logan, a Wolf Gaurd, and one Grey Hunter.  I've still got a pred, oblits, my sons on a squad and I think one rhino.  He was able to pull off a great tie, damn you dice for turn 7!

They were two tough as hell games.  Yes the match up is horrible for me but its still great practice.  I'd like to run the list some more to see how much was a fluke but I can already see the fundamental problem.  Deep strike variability is bad, and 3 rhinos are pretty easy to stop if I'm going second.  I have a feeling the answer to make the list 'more competitive' is going to be about dropping the horrors down to 3x6 and make the termies 2x3.  This would give more flexibility and minimize some of the risk.  The horrors are good for tying things up, but against guys with lots of attacks they just die badly.  So I'm not sure 6 is actually enough.

So some more games with these guys as is before I get too carried away.  Either way I've got a lot to paint on the table.