Over to Reg to explain how his Firehowlers army plays and why it works so well in a competitive environment:
Having finished 5/24 overall in ANZAC Cup, I took a similar list to a GW event this weekend.
However, noting the way the army played, combined with having that experience in my pocket, I'm hoping to play tactically and have a good result.
Terrain isn't a significant factor for movement for me due to mostly jump packs. Wulfen are great value but need support (generally). This army works best when kept together and moved/charge as one great wolf pack.
Counter charge is very effective for board control and sling shotting units as well.
The fear and howling fury are very good against non fearless units and those without ATSKNF.
Firehowlers 1600pts Army List
Wolf Strike Force
Firehowlers Legendary Greatpack
Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Jump pack, Fangsword of the Ice Wolf
7 Wolf Guard with jump packs, pack leader with claw/shield, 2 with wolf claws.
9 sky claws, flamer
9 sky claws, flamer
9 sky claws, flamer
9 Grey hunters with pack leader, Drop Pod, wolf standard, 2 melta guns, plasma pistol, 5 combat weapons (pack leader with combi melta and melta bombs)
Land Speeder with 2 multi meltas
Wulfen Murderpack
5 Wulfen with pack leader, pair claws and frag launcher, 2 hammer/shield combo and frag launcher, great frost axe
5 Wulfen with pack leader, pair claws and frag launcher, 2 hammer/shield combo and frag launcher, great frost axe
Thoughts:
Wow...my first ever GW event. It was a mixed crowd. I'd say 1/3 of newbie's looking for games, 1/3 hobbyists enjoying there social aspect of competitive gaming and 1/3 power gamers looking for quick easy ways to exploit rules to the best of their ability.
The event used 4 standard missions with additional secondary and tertiary missions that varied (more units in opponents table half, destroy opponent completely, destroy unit in first game turn, destroy unit most valuable in points). It also had sportsmanship (player enjoyment) and player's choice awards.
I had two major victories and two minor losses, resulting in 11th overall from a final field of 23. I did receive the player’s choice award which was fantastic and I am grateful for those that voted for me.
All tables had good coverage of terrain and were GW game boards.
Game 1: Firehowlers VS Necrons
Mission: 3 objectives per turn - I forget the nameDeployment: Dawn of war
Terrain: Orkish table with a lot of line of sight blocking terrain of varying size.
Necron lord with scythe
C'tan
4 x 10 warriors
1 x 5 destroyers
Stalker/walker thing
Annihilation Barge (I think)
Doomsday arc (didn't arrive)
I won roll to setup and elect to go first, he failed to seize.
I setup with Sky claws on left, then wulfen, sky claws, wolf guard, sky claws with WGBL, landspeeder, wulfen on far right. Hunters were drop podding turn one.
Opposite me from my left was warriors, warriors, warriors, warriors with lord, walker, destroyers, barge.
My plan was simple, take the middle ground, then assault his army and roll along from the left flank (his right).
Turn 1 - +3" move and charge from wulfen. Drop pod on left with slight scatter. Everyone move forward and capture a few objectives. Hunters unleashed on necrons on flank followed by an assault by sky claws destroying squad easily.
Necrons move little and fire little. I think I lost 2-3 troops on flank and passed other saves. Speeder was destroyed also.
Turn 2 - move forward and charge with sky claws on flank (grey hunters fired but failed charge due to terrain and pod location), claws in centre charged squad and wolf guard charged lords squad.
Necrons annihilated in combat. Lord and a few warriors remain. Wulfen and claws with WGBL charge destroyers and destroy them.
Necrons shoot and destroy speeder and a few troops, one wulfen also I think (centre squad). Combat resulted in more necrons dropping and the walker charging into the centre melee.
We started turn 3 but ran out of time. I had charged the claws from left flank into the walker to allow lords squad to break in a later turn. The C'tan had failed it's charge against the wulfen and I was prepared to roll for charge - but game over.
Necrons had one objective, keep character alive. I had about 6.
My tactics were sound and worked well against this force. No secondary or tertiary objectives were gained due to time. Unfortunately, this was against a very slow opponent so I am glad I hit hard and fast to start with.
Game 2: Firehowlers VS Sisters of Battle
Mission: The ScouringDeployment: Hammer and anvil
Terrain: Generic ruins up to 4 levels high. Objectives were reasonably even with 2/2/2.
Saint Celestine
Command squad? with melta and flamers (various) jump packs
2 x FA squads with Immolator (twin multi melta) and melta in squad
2 x Troops with heavy flamer and melta (immolator with twin multi melta)
2 x Heavy support 4 x melta and immolator (twin multi melta)
3 Penitent Engines
Imperial knight with Melta cannon
I won the deployment roll and setup using cover. Speeder on flank, Wulfen on left, claws, claws, claws/commander, wulfen, wolf guard. Sisters setup central and surround knight. Fairly even with Saint and squad on my right behind a building.
Revealing OBJ value put me in advantageous position with a 2 and 4 in my deployment zone and a 3 nearby, with a 1 and 3 in opponent’s zone and the remaining 2 in centre.
Turn 1 - I dropped the pod onto the 4 and held the hunters nearby (I won't mention these units again as the pod sat and held the objective all game and the hunters scrambled for the 3 one turn too late. Neither unit was shot or involved in combat at anytime). My speeder moved up my left flank and took two poorly aimed shots at the Penitent Engines. The other units moved forward and hid behind or inside terrain in preparation of the melta barrage.
Opponent shuffled around and moved forward in the centre. The Penitent Engines and knight moved to my left and one vehicle moved right. Shooting killed one or two marines. I opted for cover and went to ground with wolf guard to avoid the knight’s blast.
Turn 2 - With +3" move/charge I jumped all claws forward and the wulfen loped forward as well. The wulfen ran but failed their charges, even with rerolls. The claws destroyed 3 immolators and stood in a tightly packed formation in the centre of the board (2 squads) and the other on the right flank.
The Penitent Engines flamed the claws in the centre and all died. One wulfen died to the knight and on the flank, a few claws were killed from the command squad resulting in them breaking. Several wulfen on the right died to melta shots. The saint charged the claws and the wulfen counter charged, killing the saint and the entire squad single handed after the saint failed to wound. (She got up next turn).
Turn 3 - The Wulfen central, charged the Penitent Engines and destroyed all in one round. On my right, the wulfen and commander charged the disembarked squad from wrecked vehicle and claws charged another disembarked squad. Both combats were short one sided affairs.
Sisters shot claws with melta and killed all but 2. Commander was safe but wulfen died also. Wulfen in centre was shot by knight then charged, resulting in one dead and 2 hull points taken from knight.
Turn 4 - Wolf guard had gone to ground again due to melta from knight so commander leapt at another squad, killing them and claws failed charge. Wulfen lost another but stripped another 2 HP from knight.
Saint fired at wolf guard and charged them killing 2. Commander and claws died from shooting.
Knight lost 1 HP.
Turn 5 - Final turn. Wulfen and knight tied. Saint broke from combat with hit and run going for objective.
Saint jumped onto objective (3) and one squad of sisters held another (1). Knight killed wulfen and wulfen destroyed knight with death frenzy. Explosion scattered but failed to impact any units.
End Game resulted in Sisters winning by 2. This was the best game of the day for me. I'd played this guy at ANZAC Cup and he'd changed up his army, so we're 1-1.
Game 3: Firehowlers VS Blood Angels
Mission: VanguardDeployment: Escalation
Terrain: Lots of ruins
Blood Angels:
Termie captain
Librarian
5 termies
5 death company
tactical squad (combat squad)
Death Company Dreadnought
Storm Raven
5 Sanguinary Guard
Drop pod
I had the Initiative and he failed to seize. I lined up along my edge from left, claws, wolf guard, wulfen, speeder, claws/commander, wulfen, claws.
He deployed his tactical squad/s on my left next to some ruins and his death coy central behind ruins.
His commander was between the two. The raven had the libby, termies and dread. The sang guard were using the pod.
Turn 1 - Pod landed between tac squads and proceeded to kill 4 marines. Claws on the left jumped forward and ran just behind hunters. Speeder moved central and killed on tac trooper. Everyone else jumped forward toward death company, then ran a bit further.
Sang guard dropped in my rear and fired at rear wulfen killing one. Death Company jumped toward his own commander. Tac marines moved back and fired at hunters.
Turn 2 - Wulfen turned around and killed sang guard. Claws and hunters moved forward killing tac troops easily. Only one charge reached the death company but still killed 4/5.
Flier arrived (with reroll) and shot up some claws. Termie capt ran for cover, but really just put himself in the centre of my whole army. Death Coy died. Speeder blew up from flier (POTMS).
Turn 3 - Everyone moved around commander or grabbed objectives. Commander died to gunfire.
Wulfen destroyed pod.
Flier flew and shot some wulfen.
Turn 4 - Everyone moved around commander or grabbed objectives.
Flier hovers, dread charges claws with commander and termies/libby charge wulfen. All termies die, libby survives, all wulfen (in that combat die) with one remaining elsewhere.
Turn 5 - Destroy Dread, assault raven leaving it on one HP, wulfen charges libby but fails.
Raven flies off board....libby assaults wulfen and dies.
Game over. 13-0 - Total annihilation. Extra VPs for secondary and tertiary.
CONCLUSION
The Firehowlers Great Pack backed up by the Wulfen Murder Pack for that much needed movement boost is a fast and furious force to be reckoned with - especially if they get the first turn.
However, because the army mostly consists of power armoured bodies, they do suffer against armies tailored to take on Space Marines.
They are also somewhat predictable, due to the lack of long ranged (or any real) firepower.
Not much will be able to stand up to this rapidly advancing wall of Wolves. Especially when Counter-Charge ensures that other units will quickly pile into close combat. Meanwhile the Wulfen make this special rule even more effective thanks to their bubble of movement boosts to an already very fast army.
So if you fancy fielding a different kind of infantry heavy force, why not give the Firehowlers a go?
Your opponent probably won't be able to cope with the sheer volume of Space Wolves speeding across the board, towards their lines.