Sunday Smackdown: T-Wolves (part two)

Space Wolves, Thunder Wolf
I was asked what would happen if the Wolf Lord was with his unit when they were fighting the Xenomorphs. Now my first thought was that they would just get slaughtered. Since (when I started typing this) my daughter is just running up and down the room I thought I would roll some more dice...

In the Green corner, weighing in at 426 points we have a Broodlord and 19 Genestealers all with sything Talons and toxic sacs. The Broodlord gives the bugs the chance to soak a few extra wounds before loosing combat efficiency and with higher strength he gets a re-roll to wound against the T-Wolves. He also has hypnotic gaze which help reduce incoming attacks.

In the Red corner, weighting in at 440 points we have the same three Thunderwolf Cavalry now joined by a 230 points Lord. All decked out with magic necklace; shiny runic armour; Frost Blade; Mount; Storm Shield. He could take more bling but I do not think he need it. WS 6 makes it 4+ for the regular stealer to hurt him and Necklace and Str 6 he is hitting on 3's and slaying bugs on 2's anyway.
Burst, Genestealer, Space Hulk
I mocked up three battles. Just like before the Wolves got the charge. I was amazed at the difference the re-rolls made to the bugs. The Cavalry were dead turn two every time! The Lord lasted until turn 4-5 taking one wound a round once the cavalry were dead. The bugs do loose the first round of combat by 2-3 points so with out synapse it would be possible for them to get swept. Mostly though they just just take the 'no retreat' hit and carry on clawing the wolves eyes out...
Image Credits: Pictures from www.dakkadakka.com

Comments

  1. Ghostin8 March 2011 at 17:05

    I've wondered what kind of a difference a broodlord would make to the big 'stealer squads that Hyv3mynd uses - thanks for posting this! 400+ points though.. but imagine if backed up by Swarmy's or a tyrant's Preferred Enemy rerolls..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lyracian8 March 2011 at 23:05

    I used the Sything Talons to simulate the Preferred Enemy without having to use a second unit.

    As an upgrade character I could always drop a wound and a 'No Retreat' wound on the Broodlord and the dice kept rolling 4's. While some games you will take the wounds the unit is not loosing attacks.

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  3. SinSynn9 March 2011 at 09:40

    I'm curious as to what the Broodlord contributed to the fight, Lyracian.
    You mention his potential prior to the clash, so I'm wondering how he fared.
    Did Hypnotic Gaze help at all?

    Toxin Sacs seem to have made the difference here.
    If your daughter allows you time, could I hassle you for more details about the combat?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lyracian9 March 2011 at 12:58

    Sure. While the difference between a 4+ and 5+ save is not always going to matter I found it helped to reduce incoming damage as he saved either a wound from the Cavalry or a No Retreat wound in the first round. Even if he did not that was still four more attacks in round two than it would have been. (often crucial for killing the Cavalry)

    As an upgrade character he can not be singled out, but I can always allocate wounds onto him. In one battle he saved three wounds before he became too injured to risk allocating any more.

    Hypnotic gaze was ok. The problem would be getting him into base contact with the Lord and the fact he can only use it during the Tyranid Turn. Math-hammer says he can stop the Lord attacking 53% of the time; In my battles he managed to stop the Lord 2 out of 4 times.

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