Now, I know that these Dreadnoughts are for light tank hunting, not anti-infantry duty, but when faced with a wall of infantry they just don't cut the proverbial mustard. Get them tied up in close combat and they're done for the game. When I look at the 250 points the two of them combined suck out of my force I just can't rationalize leaving them in the army. The only possible reason to keep them is to add two more armored targets to my army, and I find that to be a somewhat questionable argument. I can add other armored threats to the army for an equal or lesser amount.
As for hunting enemy armor, I have plenty of Lascannons, Missile Launchers, and Meltaguns to take up the slack.
I also learned a bit about Thunderwolf Cavalry in my last two games. They're very good at being funneled into very narrow lanes and being tied up in close combat, if not being beaten outright. They are very good at what they do (butchering light to medium infantry) but when faced with any substantial threat (Plague Marines or Terminators) it's best to leave the heavy lifting to the Wolf Lord. He's still a pimp, even if he does have to steer clear of Librarians and their ilk.
My Rune Priest does not disappoint. Having toned him down from Njal Stormcaller to Bob the generic Rune Priest has saved me a ton of points, which can be more usefully invested elsewhere. I've decided that Murderous Hurricane and Living Lightning are the way to go, given that their range is good and they have utilitarian uses. Living Lightning is the ultimate "reach out and touch someone" ability as it's Assault D6 and has an unlimited range. It's Strength of 7 allows it to crack open tanks as well as insta-gib Toughness 3 characters. Then there's Murderous Hurricane. The attack power may not be impressive against anything tougher than Imperial Guard, but the fact that it hits 3d6 times helps make up for its mediocre strength. The main purpose behind this power though is its after-effect. The unit struck by the power treats all terrain, even open ground, as both difficult and dangerous. That's sure to cramp the style of anything trying to close on me, especially big swarms of troops.
Mobility, or lack thereof has been an issue for me. I've been too afraid to move forward and attack my foe. Not only does this go against the whole "Space Wolves feel", it's counter productive in objective based games. Sitting there blasting away is fine in the early game, but in later turns it just means you're not securing the key points on the battlefield.
This is not okay.
To that end I have enlisted the help of one of my friends. I'm raiding his bits box to obtain random parts in order to turn the stuff I have into another Grey Hunter squad. This one will be ten strong, have two Meltaguns, and will be trucking around in a Rhino. This will give me a large, aggressive squad to go for the throat assisted by my fire support, Thunderwolves (for breaking up assaults), and the short range firepower of my other Grey Hunter packs and their Las-Plas Razorbacks. Unfortunately, while the ten man size of the Grey Hunter squad does give it access to a second (free) Meltagun, it prevents the squad from having a Wolf Guard model attached to it. Those Power Fist attacks will be sorely missed. To that end, this squad will be getting a Wolf Standard. Re-rolling every 1 in a single close combat phase (that's to hit, to wound, and armor saves!) once per game is pretty sweet.
Then there are the Long Fangs. I'm adding two squads of five, each with four missile launchers. These suckers are great for cracking light to medium armor, and they kill Space Marines (especially those with multiple wounds and / or Feel no Pain) dead. They're a real bargain at 10 points each, making for a paltry 115 point squad. It's unfortunate that they're only AP 3, as they're just not intimidating to Terminators. I guess I'll have to rely on volume of fire to down them. You can only pass those 2+ armor saves for so long...
In the end my army list is undergoing a change, and hopefully for the better. Having only four small scoring units out there was just a touch too nerve wracking. Here's the result:
HQ
Rune Priest w/ Runic Armor, Chooser of the Slain, Wolftooth Necklace, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane- 140 points
Wolf Lord w/ Belt of Russ, Runic Armor, Wolftooth Necklace, Thunderwolf Mount, Frost Weapon, Saga of the Warrior Born- 260 points
ELITES
Wolf Guard Pack
4 Wolf Guard in Power Armor with Power Fists- 152 points
5 Wolf Scouts w/ Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Bombs, Meltagun- 125 points
TROOPS
5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun- 155 points
5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun- 155 points
5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannon- 155 points
5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannon- 155 points
10 Grey Hunters w/ 2x Meltagun, Wolf Standard; Rhino- 200 points
FAST ATTACK
Thunderwolf Cavalry
1 w/ Storm Shield, Power Fist
1 w/ Storm Shield, Meltabombs
1 w/ Storm Shield- 270 points
HEAVY SUPPORT
Pack Leader
4 Long Fangs w/ Missile Launchers- 115 points
Long Fangs
Pack Leader
4 Long Fangs w/ Missile Launchers- 115 points
TOTAL- 1,997 points.
Yeah, it's a 2,000 point army when I usually write up 1,850 point armies, but it's what all the cool kids (read: gamers at my local GW) are doing.
The Wolf Guard would of course be split up to accompany squads- one with the Wolf Scouts, and one with each of three Grey Hunter packs (leaving one pack for the Rune Priest to join).
I'm looking at this army and wondering if the Rune Priest really needs Runic Armor (most stuff that swings at him will ignore his armor save any way) and do the Wolf Scouts really need Meltabombs? That's 45 more points I'd have laying around, but where to put it? A Lone Wolf? In order to be effective he needs to have quite a bit of gear, so he'd be too expensive. Fenrisian Wolves for my Wolf Lord? They'd be pretty good for absorbing dangerous wounds when he gets shot at. More Long Fangs? I'm short two Missile Launcher Marines. This will require some playtesting and tweaking for sure.
Pondering abounds for sure.
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