Space Wolves Armies, building by bits

[Kanaellars]

So I have recently come up with a strange idea. See, I often play games of many sizes, from 1500, to 2000, to 4000.

Im finding with the new codex, that I dont want to go through and work out every single list type for every points level, so I have had an idea.

From now on, I am going to build my armies in "bits" of 500 points each. That way, at any points level I will be ok.

Thinking on it, I feel like every "bit" should include:

1 HQ, 1 Wolf Guard, 1 Troop, and anything else (Heavy or FA, etc)

There are a few reasons for this.

1) 1 HQ per 500 points makes sense for the wolves, we get max 4 in 1500-2000 points games... over that my group uses apoc so there is no more FOC.

2) 1 WG per 500 points means even at 1500 points I always have the minimum 3 required by the codex.

3) 1 Troop per 500 points always gives me enough scoring units for my games.


I will post some "bits" as I finish them.... but what does everyone think of the idea itself?

[Chumbalaya]

If you build like that you may not have enough points for fun stuff like Thunderwolves, Wolf Guard, or Land Raiders. It's an interesting idea, but don't limit yourself too much.

[Kanaellars]

I might not do exactly that with every bit.... maybe 4 or 5 like that, and then work on a few special bits, like a 500 point chunk of thunderwolves, or a 500 point chunk of tanks, or etc.

Just an idea to start with.

[Herald of Nurgle]

Sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately it MIGHT not work in practice (unless you use 500 for themes, and so on so forth)

I might try it myself with my own SW army...

[DarkLink]

Grey Knights do this in 250pt chunks. Start with your troops and hq, then by a Land Raider. Then another. Then a 250pt squad, then another land raider.

We don't have a whole lot of variability in our competitive lists.


Another thing I've hear of an Ultramarines player doing was operating his army in 500pt blocks. He'd have a tactical squad, a landspeeder, a dreadnought or predator in each block (or something similar to that). Each block would operate independantly of each other, and each had decent anti-tank, anti-infantry and close combat. Because of the flexibility he'd whittle down his opponent from a distance, manuver around them, then when they were weak enough he'd assault them and finish them off.

[PhoenixFlame]

This is what I've done for my army pretty much from the word 'go' and it works out rather well.
I have not yet done it for the new codex but plan to start tinkering with it soon(ish).
A couple of things I've learned to keep in mind (esp for Wolves)

Can each block (specifically your first) handle a bit of everything?

Allow yourself the flexibility to think of blocks after the first as "extensions" or specializations of the first. This both means that not every Block has to be as balanced as the first, and that sometimes its better to upgrade certain units than to add new ones when you start a new block. (ex: have a unit of assault Wolf Guard to mix it up in close? In a later Block you might throw some points their way and 'upgrade' them to Thunderwolf Cav. )


I usually use the following priority/order when doing this (due to area/play-style/table type etc. you will of course want to tweak as called for ;) )


Block one = Well Rounded Total: 500pts
Scoring and Infantry killing focused additions Total: 1000pts
Ranged and Anti-Armor focused additions Total: 1500pts
Monstrous Creature, Independent Character, & Psyker killers Total: 2000pts



Now the beauty of this method, especially for Wolves is that many units can reliably do more than one thing so you have options for build style and emphasis. Also since HQs can really shine in a given role but are no longer required like they used to be you've got a quick way to patch any hurt you're feeling at any point level. Finally a 'grain of salt', I lean towards use of more small numbered (and often durable units) than large numbers of figs per unit or more swarmy tactics. It works for me but you may want to do it differently.

As I say I haven't tried this out yet for the new Codex (first tournament on Sat) but with the old Dex I played:
Necrons
Tau
Chaos (both Marines and Daemons)
Nis
Orks
Eldar

And maintained just a bit better than a 2/3 win ratio in 5th ed (with both "Standard" and 13th Co. SW lists)
so AFAIK its quite workable as a method.