Da Wulf Boyz

The Counts As Experiment Continues...



So, a couple of things. I have been testing the waters a bit with Da Wulf Boyz. The first major tournament that is coming up that I could test the waters with my army is the NOVA open. So I got in touch with Mike Brandt through e-mail. I sent him the smae 8 page treatment that I sent to the Warmaster Challenge gang here. I wanted to see if this army would pass the test for a counts as army for the NOVA open.



So I sent off the e-mail and got a reply the same day from Mike at the NOVA. He was perfestly fine with the army and even offered me some advice, following is a quote directly from his e-mail to me.

"Thanks for sending me your pdf - you have a gorgeously converted and creatively thought-up army. I think the best advice I can give you to ensure this flies with all your opponents is to create a copy of your "guide" to attach to each of your army lists for your opponents and event organizers. It really is a fantastic tool for your army, and I think it helps clarify any additional questions that might arise."

With Mike`s advice I got to work and before the last tournament I went to I made up a 3 page army list for every opponent. It would list something followed by a detailed picture of the model. So I would have the Wolf Lord listed, list all his wargear then there would be a picture with every piece of wargear listed on the picture.

I also have a gallery of this army on the 11th Company's web forum. The 11th Company if anyone isn't aware is a Podcast that I enjoy a lot. I keep up on their forums and keep a gallery of my Wulf Boyz there and mentioned that the army was denied access to the Warmaster tournament and one of the hosts Pat got in touch with me and wanted to interview me on the army.



11th Company Podcast

Not sure when the interview will be posted I will let you guys know. But check out the podcast it is one of my favorites. The interview basically centered on the fact that Counts As armies have to jump through hoops that other standard armies that are just as confusing or more confusing get a free pass. I had a great time talking to Pat. The interview might be slpit up because I think we talked for 45 minutes or something like that.

While talking to Pat and through the forum with Neil the main host of the 11th company they both also said that the Wulf Boyz would be let into thier tournament that they were holding later in the year.

Lastly the only other tournament thus far that I have been told this army would be fine for is Astronomicon-Toronto. A friend of the orginizers is a follower of this blog and was looking forward to seeing the army next year at the event letting me know that armies like this are encouraged.

We`ll keep this experiment going all year if possible. Now Wargames Con was going on the weekend I started this project so I wasn`t able to e-mail them about the army but I did see this army that was there...







So next year I will e-mail them but from some of the shots I have seen from their event I don't think Da Wulf Boyz would have a problem getting through the door.

Till the next events...

20 Games With Tomb Kings - Sumary Pt1

General Overview of the journey:

(1).vs Empire 2200 - loss
This was the first game with the TK that I played. It was quite a blast. Although my opponent ran an illegal 4 cannon empire list. This meant that my colossus did not stand a chance. Here was 42 White wolf knights that had a priest and Karl Franz for a commander... this 1500pt unit rolled up my entire army. I learned a few things this first game.
- The tomb king spells are NOT RIP... they are augments. I was casting them and then he was dispelling them in his turn... not something that should have happened but I did not forget after that.
- The Horse Archers were awesome, they took out all 4 cannon. And finished off the stank. (getting me all the points that i go that game.
- The value of a large skeleton block with a prince. They held up the huge death-star for a long time. I jumped the gun and ran my tomb guard in too early instead of moving them to a flank arc. Having done that the game would have worked very differently.

(2).vs Lizardmen 2200- loss
This game was quick and brutal. We did not finish the game, but there was no point. His slaan was devastating and I was unable to make any headway against this very competitive list. A few things that I learned.
- Lv 2's were not the best, with the new magic I was now suffering from things like becalming and cupped hands.
- 5 Light horse did not hold up to a unit of 10 skinks... needed more.
- Large skeleton tar-pit was great! Again... quickly became a staple in every one of my lists.

(3).vs O&G 1500 - win
At this point value no one can really have anything that is stupidly strong and the game becomes quite balanced as if you do take a maxed out lord you have to begin to cut other things out. I decided to try the chariots in a large unit with a prince this game but they ended up not doing anything as the unit that they were up against ran into a building.
Things that did work:
- Large skeleton unit, once again.
- Was still tinkering with the wargear on my princes.

(4).vs Lizardmen 2200 (win)
This was a rematch against the lizardmen list of game 2. I did a lot better, this ime taking a King with a deathmask (its debut) it was awesome, I tar-pitted the slaan with the skeletons and prince, and then ran a saurus unit to the flank down with the TG and king. We had to call it but had the game continued I would have been able to flank the temple guard with the tomb guard for the win in blood and glory.
- I realized the value of the "boosted" spells, and I did take 10 horse archers, who this time beat the skins and then were boosted by a boosted spell.
- All this time the casket has been in every one of my lists and it is staying!

1- vs WoC 2200 - win
Tower battle, placed my unit of TG in the building and won rather easily as he was unable to dislodge them. IMO this mission is awesome for Unbreakable armies.
- Used carrion, were great for redirecting charges.

Anyway this is a short overview of all the battles. The rest will come soon.

Cheers!

20 Games With Tomb Kings - The Recap

I have not posted all 20 (24) games on this blog. But the original thread can be found here: http://tomb-kings.net/index.php?showtopic=7838&st=0

That makes 21 Games(well 4 for the prologue and 21 games). For all, here is a recap:

(1).vs Empire 2200 - loss
(2).vs Lizardmen 2200- loss
(3).vs O&G 1500 - win
(4).vs Lizardmen 2200 (win)
1- vs WoC 2200 - win
2- vs Skaven 2000 - Win
3- vs Skaven 2000 - Win
4- vs O&G 1500 - win
5- vs HE 2000 - win
6- vs Skaven 1200 - loss
7- vs Skaven 1200 - win
8- vs Skaven 2000 - loss
9- vs VC 2200 - loss
10- vs Dwarfs 2200 - loss
11- vs Lizardmen 2200 - win
12- vs Tomb Kings 2200 - win
13- vs Dwarfs 2500 - loss
14- vs Skaven 1500 - win
15- vs Lizardmen 2500 - win
16- vs Empire 2500 - win
17- vs OnG 1000 - loss
18- vs WoC 1000 - loss
19- vs Bretonnia 2500 - win
20- vs High Elves 1500 win
21- vs Empire 2500 - win

Each game has been a learning experience. Up until now I have only tried and tested the old units of the Tomb King book (basically everything that I already owned), things like characters, the necro knights and the big monsters have all been on the sidelines. GW is expensive and I have been working on my Dark Eldar for 40K so I had to make due. I think it is fair to say that even a basic list can do moderately well at Fantasy with the Tomb Kings, I am by no means a saavy of the game and most of the uber combos or items of other books still surprise me. But I never forget, that is for sure (very tomb-kingy of me don't you think?) and this has made every other game more of an experience.

Anyway. I shall be posting a short summary of each game in turn, as well as some tactical notes and learning brain notes. The next leg of the "journey" has only just begun as I dive deeper into buiding not only more agressive TK lists, but also ones that incorporate the newer models. As a treat here is what I am working on at the moment, the thunderpurrer kitty monster:


I did some converting to the main body so that it looks more catlike overall and greenstuffed some flames into the mouth to wysiwyg the breathweapon. I have also been thinking of painting it black marble, like a panther and one of the howdah riders will be holding onto some reins.

Well my fellow journeymen! For the sands of Khemri!

Cheers!

Da Wulf Boyz

     So, the first day of the experiment is over. I took my Wulf Boyz to my first tournament today. It was a four game tournament at 1500 points. So I took my 1850 point list and trimmed it down to 1500 points. It made for an ugly list but I wanted to take it to start the year long test.

     So the first thing I did was talk to the tournament orginizer about the army. I brought two armies just in case there was an issue with the army I would have a back up army. The tournament orginizer had no issue with me bringing the army so the first hurdle was passed. Though this was a local tournament so I didn't fear the rejection.



     So random pairing put me up against the store ringer army played by the tournament orginizer. So already knowing he had no issues with the army we didn't go into the army to much. He made fun of me a little just to bust my chops but said he personally had no issues with the army.

     I massacured the ringer army and that put me up against a fellow Stratford Gaming Union member Bob. Bob has a big Nid army. Now he has seen pictures of the army just like everyone but he hadn't seen the army in person or on the table. He mentioned he really wanted to see the army in person. Bob is a Stratford Gaming Union member that is very much into the painting and conversion side of the game and his opinion on the models would mean a lot to me. He was very impressed with them. He has faced another players Space Wolf army enough that without me telling him anything about the army he was able to tell what everything was. I tied that game and so far 2 games, two people that had no issues. However both of these people have seen the army at least in pictures before hand so it was to early to tell.



     So, game three. After lunch I played a player Simon, local to the store we were playing in. However this would be the first true test. Simon has never seen a picture of the army nor has he seen anything about it till it hit the table. So Simon plays a very Raider/Venom heavy army. So I tried to hold out as best I could but the weight of fire just was to much and a few key failed saves ment he won the game.

     So onto his thoughts on the army. Now I will say I have played Simon before in a few games at tournaments but he is not part of my local group. But he does know me. I didn't describe anything about the army to him to start. I put the models on the table and without having to answer any questions other then Space Wolf rules questions he never asked me what each model was. The only model he didn't totally know was my Arjac. He knew it was a Wolf Guard in terminator armor, so when he asked I let him know it was Arjac, not just a no named Wolf Guard.



     So game four would finally be a total test. I played against a Player by the name of Shawn. Shawn is a player I know of but I have never met him nor have I every played against him. So finally a player I don't know and doesn't know me and has never seen the army or heard of me. Lets see how this goes? Not to go into to many deatails, Arjac and my Wolf Lord ate most of his army but at the end of the day he never asked me anything about the army, he knew what everything was. In fact when he was going to charge his librarian into a grey hunter squad he knew to move around the squad because the closest model to him at the time was the power fist model and the power weapon model. He never asked me where those models were, just knew to look for them and avoid them. He really liked the look of the army and said he would have been happy to play against it if it wasn't the second time he had to play against a Thunder Wolf list (Sorry Shawn).

Da Wulf Boyz

All Dresses Up With No Where To Go!

The Full 1850 Point Army and Display Board

     Well Last night I finally did it...I planned out an 1850 list that while not being a very competitive list would let me showcase a lot of very cool conversion ideas for my Counts As Wulf Boyz. Last night I painted the last model for the list. I included a lot of HQ models and a lot of different units. So this list was far from the usual redundancy lists that work so well in tournaments. Now I didn't care because this was a labor of love for me. Last year I went to the Warmasters Challenge, a 100+ person tournament in our area and while there I saw a lot of cool ideas and conversions. The coolest to me anyway was a Nid army that was based on a Zombie theme. So there were Corpse Carts, zombies, ogres and giants to represent various units. It was beautifully painted and I thought it was a very cool idea. So when I went home from the event last year I started planning my own Counts As army. Now I knew that the term 'Counts As' it seams is more and more becoming a dirty word in our hobby as far as tournaments go. It seems as tournaments get bigger and competition in these becomes more contested, and prize pools build that it seemed to me that taking a 'Counts As' army to an event would be like walking in with the plague.

Wolf Lord and Fenrisian Wolves

     So I went about planning my army out to mitigate as many problems as I thought I might have. One of the biggest issues usually with 'Counts As' tends to be a models size and footprint on the table. People are worried that others are modeling for advantage. So I made sure that every model I used was the same size or slightly bigger then what it was to represent. For my Rhino and Razorback I actually just ork'ified up the Rhino and Razorback models so they keep the same table presence. Each of my infantry is the same size as a space marine (although wider). My models are all on the bases they should be including the Thunder wolves. My Thunder Wolf Lord is the same size as Cainis who at the moment is the only Thunder wolf model to compare.

Arjak, Rune Priest and Wolf Priest

     For my troop, to keep confusion down, only models with special weapons look different. Meaning, if a Grey Hunter has a power weapon, it is a two handed weapon he has over his head and it has a blue tint to it. Where as every other Grey Hunter only has one handed weapons. The Melta Gunner is the only model in the Grey Hunter units with a two handed gun, as well his Melta Gun has a bright yellow 'danger' tank on it. The Banner guy sticks out and my Mark of the Wulven guys all have Cybok body parts. My Blood Claws all have Swords, No Helmets and yellow and red markings, all the Grey Hunters have helmets, axes and red and black markings. As well each Wolf Guard has Yellow and Black markings (all these marking colors are right out of the Space Wolf Codex for those units). So I matched everything to the Space Wolf codex where possible. My Long Fangs all have Rokkit Launchers in place of Missile Launchers and they have White and Black shoulders. The whole army is painted in a Shadow Grey, just like a Space Wolf army.

Long Fangs

     This being said, I made an 1850 list, painted to it and submitted it to the Warmaster Council for approval to bring my Counts As army to their event. Seeing some of the stuff last year I had no worries when I submitted my request. Little did I know there was a lot of back lash from last years events over 'Counts As' armies being confusing. So Da Wulf Boyz were judged to confusing for the event. The Council's request was that the Slugga's aren't Bolt Pistols and request that I change out about half of them per squad, along with any Shoota's to Bolters and the Rokkits to Missile Launchers. If I did these and a few other things I could bring the army.

Grey Hunter Pack and Rhino

     This brought a question to me, is my army that confusing, or have tournaments moved so far from the hobby aspect of the hobby we are in that counts as is dead in the tournament world. I decided I won't be making any changes to the army, I won't be attending this event I built the army for. I will however be conducting an experiment with the army. I am going to spend the next year, July to July, taking this army to as many events locally as I can. As well I am going to shop the army around to various big tournaments. I am going to e-mail the army to the various TO's of the big events (Adepticon, Nova Open, Astronomicon, ect...) and see if the army as it stands would be let into these events. I want to know is counts as dead to the tournament world? Along with this any event I go to I am going to speak to each of my opponents before and after each game with the Wolves and record their reactions to the army. I want to know is it as confusing as I have been told it is, did I spend a lot of money and time building a cool army that won't be able to see the light of day on a major event table?

Thunder Wolf Cavalry Lead The Charge

     Follow me on this Blog this year as I try to find out if Counts As is truly dead in the tournament world. I'll be updating this blog with my progress over the year. First stops, talking to the Nova Open guys as well as a tournament on the 9th here in a local store.

Da Wulf Boyz

DA WULF BOYZ IZ DED!



Well that statement isn't totally true. I have been working on this army for a long time now. This army has been a labor of love and at times pain. It is a counts as army but I had been doing everything in my power to see to it that everything was not confusing for people. For those that don't know I have been planning and building this army almost for a year and the reason for building it was to attend one of the largest events in the country. Here in Ontario there is an event called the Warmasters Challenge. It is a two day event with a double tournament on the Saturday and a Singles event on the Sunday.

Warmasters Challenge Web Site

Last year the doubles had 104 people for 52 teams involved. My Partner and I managed to get Best General in the event losing Best Overall by two points.



After seeing all the people and the events, the singles had over 100 people as well I was inspired by some armies I saw to work on a cool conversion army to take to the event this year. So over the past year I have spent a lot of money and time working on Da Wulf Boyz which you have seen here. I submitted a package to the staff of the Warmaster event letting them know what I am bringing and what everything is. With pictures of everything it ended up being an 8 page document detailing everything from why I started the army, to what I used to convert everything as well as reasons I chose different things.

However after sending that in I have received word that the army will not be aloud into the event. Reasons being it would be to confusing. The main points of contention are that I used Sluggas instead of Bolt Pistols (both of which have the same profile in game terms). The fact that I used Rokkit Launchas instead of Missile Launchers (Again both have the same profile in game terms). My one bolter that I have in the army is a Shoota (admittedly these do have different game profiles). And my Wolf Priest has a Maul for his Crozius. Now I have 3 power weapons in my army, all three look totally different then the other weapons because they have a blue color on them that sets them apart so anyone looking can see which is powered and which are not. As well the Wolf Priest is the only one in Black Armor so he is easy to pick out. Lastly were my two Meltaguns which are converted and I will provid pictures they are the only weapons built from scratch but they are the only two models carrying a two handed weapon. As well as their weapons have big yellow 'danger' tanks on them to signal them as Melta.









Now the council for the Warmaster event have said that if I converted some of these things over I would be able to bring the army. I will admit I was toying with the idea but time would be a factor as the event is 5 weeks away and in those 5 weeks I have 2 other 2500point tournaments I need to get armies ready for as well as a two week vacation with my family to put in there. However a comment I was sent about the army really put me off my want to change anything. One of the Comments I got back was and I quote from an e-mail "That is proxied, power-gamed shenanigans" Now lower you will be able to see my list which includes 13 Blood Claws on FOOT. only one, yes you read that right, one Long Fang Pack. As well as only two tanks, one Rhino and one Razorback. So for those counting my only anti-mech is one Lascannon and five Missiles in 1850. If this army list I post is considered power gaming I'll eat the whole army with salt. I was told this is a competitive event and they didn't want anyone confused by the army and complaining, later to be told that this was power gaming? As well I have provided a size comparison picture here you can see my stuff is the same size if not bigger then what they are representing.

1850 Pts - Space Wolves Roster

Total Roster Cost: 1849

HQ: Wolf Lord in Power Armour (3#, 270 pts)
1 Wolf Lord in Power Armour, 250 pts = (base cost 100 + Storm Shield x1 30) + Wolf Tail Talisman 5 + Wolftooth Necklace 10 + Thunderwolf Mount 45 + Frost Weapon x1 25 + Saga of the Bear 35
2 Fenrisian Wolf, 20 pts = 2 * 10

HQ: Wolf Priest in Power Armour (1#, 115 pts)
1 Wolf Priest in Power Armour, 115 pts = (base cost 100) + Wolf Tail Talisman 5 + Saga of the Hunter 10

HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (1#, 100 pts)
1 Rune Priest in Power Armour, 100 pts

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (3#, 264 pts)
1 Wolf Guard Pack, 0 pts
1 Wolf Guard in Power Armour, 38 pts = (base cost 18 + Power Fist x1 20)
1 Wolf Guard in Power Armour, 38 pts = (base cost 18 + Power Fist x1 20)
1 Arjac Rockfist, The Anvil of Fenris, 188 pts

Troops: Blood Claws Pack (13#, 195 pts)
13 Blood Claws Pack, 195 pts = 13 * 15

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (9#, 200 pts)
7 Grey Hunters Pack, 150 pts = 7 * 15 (base cost 15) + Mark of the Wulfen 30 + Wolf Standard 10 + Meltagun 5 + Power Weapon 15
1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen, 15 pts
1 Rhino, 35 pts

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 195 pts)
4 Grey Hunters Pack, 105 pts = 4 * 15 (base cost 15) + Mark of the Wulfen 30 + Wolf Standard 10 + Meltagun 5 + Power Weapon 15
1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen, 15 pts
1 Razorback, 75 pts = (base cost 40 + Twin Linked Lascannon 35)

Fast Attack: Thunderwolf Cavalry (5#, 370 pts)
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 0 pts
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 85 pts = (base cost 50 + Melta Bombs 5 + Storm Shield 30)
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 80 pts = (base cost 50 + Storm Shield 30)
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 105 pts = (base cost 50 + Storm Shield 30 + Power Fist 25)
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 50 pts
1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 50 pts

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (6#, 140 pts)
5 Long Fangs Pack, 125 pts = 5 * 15 (base cost 15) + Missile Launcher x5 50
1 Squad Leader, 15 pts

Validation Report:
c-1. File Version: 1.20 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Special Characters; a-1. Scenario: Normal Mission; 1. Chapter: Space Wolves
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules

Composition Report:
HQ: 2 (1 - 2)
Elite: 1 (0 - 3)
Troops: 3 (2 - 6)
Fast: 1 (0 - 3)
Heavy: 1 (0 - 3)

Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com


















Needless to say I will not be converting the army for this event nor will I be attending the event. I will be taking a 1500 point version of the army to a local tournament this weekend and just having fun with it.

Lastly a little preview of the second banner (wolf standard) I am making for the second Grey Hunter squad.