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Monday 12 March 2012

Branching out: Fantasy + Blood Claw Tactica

Greetings. I am going to branch out into fantasy as well, and acquire some dedicated fantasy authors. I understand this will be ...interesting... for a "40k blog" but I am sure we can pull it off; however I would like your opinion on whether I should. Anyway, the meat of this post will focus on Blood Claws, so lets crack on!



Now, the main downside to Blood Claws is the "Space Marine Scout in Power Armour" statline, however the extra attack on the charge is supposed to mitigate that; the trick is securing the charge. Any competent general with a good eye will attempt to avoid coming within 12 inches to deny you the charge; as much as this lets you rapid fire bolters without an IC or Wolf Guard in the squad, it is not a good plan. For the same points as a Grey Hunter, you lose out on quality of firepower; you need numbers, and rapid firing bolters gives you no more attacks on a blood claw squad as an equal size unit of grey hunters, and indeed less hits.

A good plan on securing the charge is to get a wolf priest, a 15 man squad, and a Land Raider Crusader; this WILL eat up a good portion of your force, which is one reason why Blood Claws are often considered non-competitive. Give the wolf priest and his squad Preferred Enemy: Infantry, drive the crusader forwards, disembark and charge, and proceed to eat face in assault. If you get charged, think of yourself as weaker Grey Hunter, and prepare to die for not much gain, even with the priest; WS 3 means most opposing forces hit on 3s, and while most enemies will still be wounding on 4s, that is 1/6th more chances to eat you, while you struggle to strike back because of lack of attacks. Yes 3 attacks each is good, but not anywhere near as good as 4. Mark of the Wulfen helps, but will not win a combat for you.

If you wish to footslog, or have few other mech sections to your forces, then Skyclaws or Swiftclaws are better for the 18" charge range; however more expense, less numbers and a lack of armour to protect them means that they will die much easier than the Land Raider, thus is the points invested worth it? Probably better to go full mech and plop them in a Land Raider as mentioned; this will be more expensive, but just as fast, and much, much more durable. This however is a discussion for another time.

In summary, put them in a Crusader with a Wolf Priest and they are mildly useful. Any other use and they will probably die or get charged then die.

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