ESCALATION

by | Dec 2, 2013

Escalation is here

I had promised a battle report against an ICT winner and his Tau, but ‘Escalation’ came out. I must make a review on ‘Escalation’ and on the Space Wolves point of view. The Escalation units can change a game in one turn; but at the cost of limiting your other listed units. If this unit fails to do the job, the rest won’t be of much use.

The biggest threat you can face from a Super-Heavy is neither the apocalyptic blast nor the massive blast. The real threat is the D-Weapon. When you wound an enemy with a D-Weapon you roll a dice:
  • On 1; if the target is a vehicle or a building it suffers a penetrating hit. If it’s a non-vehicle as expected nothing happens.
  • On 2-5; if the target is a vehicle or a building it suffers an explode. If it’s a non-vehicle it suffers a D3+1 wounds. If it’s a Super-Heavy it loses D3+1 HP.
  • On 6; if it’s a Super-Heavy it loses D6+6 HP. If it’s a non-vehicle it suffers a D6+6 wounds. If the target is a vehicle or a building it suffers the same us before.
Most importantly, D-Weapons don’t allow saving throws of any kind, not even Feel no pain or Reanimation Protocols (ouch!!!!!!) 
Space Marines and Space Wolves got the famous Thunderhawk. The Super-Heavy Flyer that can carry 30 models; even bikes and jump packs. Is an assault vehicle, which, of course, can go to hover mode. Meltas don’t bother it, as it has Ceramite Plating. It has the power of the Machine Spirit and the same stats of a Stormraven, except of the rear armour that is 10 and the HP that are 9.

Let’s talk about the really fun parts, the Thunderhawk’s WEAPONS. Like every true marine vehicle it has Bolter shell weapons and to be more precise 4 twin-linked Heavy Bolters! It also has 2 Lascannons. Two pretty darn good choices, but not good enough for the mighty Thunderhawk. Thus 2 more weapons have been added. The first one being a 6 Hellstrike missiles (Range 72", S8, AP 3, Ordnance 1, one use only) or you can swap it for 60p with 6 Thunderhawk cluster bombs (Range -, S6, AP4, Heavy 6, Bomb, Apocalyptic Barrage, one use only). The most powerful weapon the Thunderhawk has to offer is Thunderhawk cannon (Range 72", S8, AP3, Primary Weapon 1, (roll 2 dice for armour penetration), Massive Blast) which you can change for 90p with the Turbo-laser destructor (Range96", S D, AP2, Primary Weapon 1, Large Blast).

Overall a nice but pricy (in money and points as it starts at 685p) vehicle. A welcomed addition given the lack of flyers in the Codex.
 Would I put it in my list? If I had the model and I wanted to play a fun game, surely yes. In a competitive game, there might be matches where it may come in handy to have a D-weapon to clean the way.

The Escalation has in total 17 "new" units; viz. 8 for the IG, 3 for the Necrons, and 1 for the SM, CSM, TAU, Ork, Tyranids and Eldar/Dark Eldar. 2 Gargantuan Creatures, 3 Super-heavy Walkers, 2 Super-heavy Flyers and 8 Super-heavy vehicles. All of them different; some very powerful and some just to fill the pages.







Can my list, Steel Rain, battle against the Apocalyptic/Escalation titans and win? The answer, as in any game; escalation or not, lies in the composition of the enemy’s list. What Escalation unit has he/she chosen?

Has he/she included a Super-Heavy vehicle or Walker? Then definitely my Steel rain can win it with a barrage of melta weapons on its face.
Is there in the list a Gargantuan Creature or Super-Heavy Flyer? Then I don't think that any Space Wolves list can beat it. Perhaps this is where the Thunderhawk can truly help take down the enemy. So, except for 3 units (not counting our Thunderhawk), Steel rain can manage against Escalation units.

The real questions are “Can Escalation unit play in tournaments? and “Will it change the game in a bad way?” My answer is: let’s first try it in tournaments and then make up our minds. I, as the majority of 40k players, have yet to play against a Super-heavy. But, in the near future, I will try and see how powerful or not they are.

Until next time remember Prospero , Happy New Year  and…

VLKA FENRIKA