I've played a lot more in the last month than I have so far in this year. This is very exciting for me. I partially credit the release of 7th edition for my renewed enthusiasm. But the NOVA Open is also quickly approaching and I need to get some practice in.

Thunderous footfalls.
 Next weekend, one of my local stores is running their monthly tournament and I think I've come up with a solid list to take. I've been running something similar, tweaking it here and there as I go along.

1850 pts NOVA Open Test List
  • Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf, w/ Frost Axe and Storm Shield, a Fenrisian Wolf, and Saga of the Beast Slayer
  • Rune Priest, level 2 w/ Runic Armor and Melta Bombs
  • Rune Priest, level 2 w/ Runic Armor and Chooser of the Slain
  • Lone Wolf w/ Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Bombs, and a Fenrisian Wolf 
  • 9 Grey Hunters in Drop Pod w/ a melta gun
  • 9 Grey Hunters in Drop Pod w/ a plasma gun
  • 10 Grey Hunters in Drop Pod w/ 2 melta guns
  • 3 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 1 w/ Storm Shield, 1 w/ Thunderhammer, 1 w/ metla bombs
  • 5 Long Fangs w/ missile launchers and squad leader w/ melta bomb
  • Imperial Knight, Errant

The big changes from the list I ran at NOVA last year are: adding a second Rune Priest, dropping the 4th squad of Grey Hunters, dropping the Aegis Defense line, and adding the Imperial Knight.

 As with last year, I've been dropping one Rune Priest into each of the Grey Hunter squads of 9. I'm pretty aggressive with where I land the drop pods, so they get right into the thick of the action as soon as they land. Sometimes this is more effective than others. I am reconsidering making my Wolf Lord my Warlord again, as he's a little bit tougher. I considered swapping his storm shield for runic armor, but he's modeled with the storm shield so I'm going to stick with it as-is for now.

The addition of the Imperial Knight has been really great, he gives a lot of heavy fire power that the army otherwise lacks. He also is a good distraction, if people are shooting at him, they aren't shooting at my Thunderwolves.

I'm looking forward to trying it out next weekend. 

The only downside is that the models that I ordered for my second rune priest have yet to arrive. I've been using a proxy. I was trying to do a conversion project with him, but neither of the models I want to kit bash together have arrived. This is Really Annoying. They're part of the "web exclusive" nonsense but I couldn't get them from GW's site because they were out of stock. Only one of the two was readily available on eBay, and it hasn't arrived yet either. 

Conversely, the upside is that he and my Imperial Knight are my only converting and painting projects leading up to NOVA. So I will be able to take it nice and easy with both of them, assuming I can get the models in the next week or so. Although, the painting on the Knight is 85% finished, so there won't be any rush on him.