Space Wolves Apocalypse Formation: The Spear of Russ

The Spear of Russ                                                              Points:  100 + MODELS

No one truly knows remembers why the Imperial Guard's mainstay tank was named after the Primarch of the Space Wolves. Some say that it was Leman Russ' Crusade that discovered the STC for the tank, others insist that it was the Space Wolves which started using Leman Russ Battle Tanks en masse. Although they are usually seen as detachments in Imperial Guard infantry companies or seen fighting as part of an "Emperor's Fist" or "Emperor's Lance" armored regiment, the Leman Russ Battle Tanks are also sometimes fielded by the Space Wolves Chapter. The most commonly used variant in such rare instances is the Leman Russ Exterminator. 
Armed with a pair of twin-linked autocannons and usually a few heavy bolters, the Leman Russ fulfills a role similar to that of a Predator Destructor. Its simple design, durability and efficiency on the field of battle are literally unmatched by any other Astartes vehicle - whether tasked with obliterating hordes or dealing with light vehicles or flyers, the adaptable as a wolf Exterminator always succeeds.


At first manned by skilled Imperial Guard aces, the few Leman Russ Exterminators in the possession of the Space Wolves were used on many planets and campaigns in and beyond the Imperium of Man. 
It was Egil Iron Wolf's idea to allow Space Wolf veterans to man the vehicles instead. Egil, who was the Wolf Lord in charge of the Leman Russes decided that the few Exterminators in the Chapter should be driven by more deserving men - men with centuries of experience on the battle field. Instead of trusting mortal men with his few battle tanks, Egil decided to give the honor of manning a vehicle bearing his Primarch's name to some of the best Long Fangs his Great Company had ever known.
Thus, "The Spear of Russ" armored regiment was created. The honor of going to battle inside the ferro-steel plating is given to some of the older Long Fangs - Space Wolves with centuries of experience, nerves of steel and an extremely reliable and stable demeanor. When a Long Fang's pack becomes too small or too precious to be on the battlefield unprotected it is given the privilege of dispensing indiscriminate justice from the inside of a Leman Russ Battle Tank. Ideally the remnants of a pack receive a dedicated vehicle, with the Squad Leader in control of the vehicle and the rest of his Long Fang pack manning the various turrets and sponsons. "The Spear of Russ" is composed of at least three similar vehicles and one of them, usually the tank with the oldest Squad Leader, is chosen to be the command tank. Although uneasy at first, the different Long Fang packs eventually adapt to the situation and learn to function as one with the rest of the Exterminators.

FORMATION:
3+ Leman Russ Exterminator Tanks (from Codex: Imperial Guard)
One tank must be marked as the command tank.

TANK SQUADRON SPECIAL RULES: 
Astartes Crew - To represent the Long Fangs operating the Leman Russ Exterminator tanks, every tank in The Spear of Russ formation gains +1 BS. The extra cost of this upgrade is already included in the points value of the formation.

Auto-targeting System - The Leman Russ Exterminators have the Anti-Aircraft Mount special rule.

Fire Control - If a tank from The Spear of Russ formation is within 12'' of the command vehicle (or is the command vehicle itself) it can shoot each of its weapon at different targets.

Strike Force:  All units in The Spear of Russ must be deployed within 6" of the command tank, or, if coming on from reserve they must enter the table within 6" of the point entered by the command tank.

Where's Waldo?: Fenris Edition

... all right. You can give up now. Waldo, an obvious Chaos Space Marine Chosen and a heretic, was killed on sight the very moment his curious arse set foot on Fenris. His corpse (or what's left of it) is now kraken bait. What can I say, Skarvald needs some more kraken teeth for his frost blade collection.

This is just a quick camera shot of some of our Space Wolves that was taken a few weeks ago during our Adepticon hobby night. They are all missing the golden and bone details that are currently adorning their power armors. Progress is slow but fulfilling and every minute spent on these bad boys is paying off.

Early Space Wolves Tactica against the rumored Dark Goth Chaos Space Elf Perverts (Dark Eldar)!

Like a angry swarm of hornets the Warhammer community is getting even more impatient and nervous now that the Dark Eldar rumors turned out to be a fact and not fiction. Congratulations, long-time Dark Eldar players, this is an update well-deserved.

Coolness factor: Bred with Daemons!

I am also salivating at the beautiful new models, but the unit that I really want to see the most are the new Mandrakes. They probably won't have the same cool rules as they do in their current (as of right now) codex, but I can picture them having a rule similar to the one Ymgarl Genestealers have. Except, hopefully you'll be able to run more than 1 unit of them. Also, needless to say - THEY LOOK SO COOL.This sketch also proves that the Mandrakes are also on the cover of the new Dark Eldar codex. What is known so far is that they apparently "have a shooting attack that gets stronger with every kill they make".

But enough with all the rumor jibba-jabba. I am not the person to talk to about their new codex or tactics. This post is supposed to quickly jot down the various ways that we, the Space Wolves, can deal with the new wave of Dark Goth Chaos Space Elf Perverts. This post need to be taken with a grain of salt, since we don't know about all of their special units and upgrades. This is a basic guide that will give you some helpful tips and tricks against the essence of the Dark Eldar. Once the codex is available I will revisit this post and add new ways to sink your teeth into their pale throats. So if you'd rather fight and kick the Dark Eldar's ass than pray they don't take you alive make sure you read the Early Space Wolves Tactica against the rumoured Dark Goth Chaos Space Elf Perverts (Dark Eldar)!  

KRAKATOOM!

Man, I need to find a guide on how to properly photograph miniatures. You'd think that a guy like me who enjoys taking pictures for battle reports and army progression would know more about the tools of the trade but I guess I'm just lazy and stubborn.

Brother Orkan Stromnar

So anyway, today I finally built my Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator. He has his handy-dandy Storm Bolter candy and a chain-fist for good measure in case I'm playing a game without Kill Points. No one would target a single guy like him, right? Not when there are tons of Thunderwolves and Grey Hunters in your back yard. I guess he'd do well against those Bastions in Planetstrike, huh? Deep Strike close to it and shoot for a bit, maybe gunning down squads that have been hurt by the Firestorm strike and then next turn charge and shred that building like it's nothing! :)


Otherwise he's going to hang out with the Long Fangs and that squad is going to be firing 7 missiles a turn.

A Cyclone Missile Launcher bit is hard to come by. It only comes in one box and everyone seems to be using it in some shape or form. It also doesn't help that I cannot find the sprue that I bought a long time ago.. so I had to trade for it. But it was a nice trade from a fellow Wolf Brother. Not sure if you can see some of the battle damage that I went for on this model. There are several cuts and bullet holes on his left shoulder and some gashes in the missile launcher itself. I like the grimy, messy look on models. I guess you can tell that I also play Orkz, huh?

New Puppies!

Just a quick post about what I've been doing these past few days. I opened a new boxed set of Grey Hunters and finally built them. This time I took my time picking their gear, poses and carefully cleaning any imperfections, since from the two previous boxes I have half a dozen models with gear that I don't plan or using or equipment that was just plain.. plain wrong (Yes, I was dumb enough to give a Grey Hunter a storm bolter... Okay. I gave it to TWO models.)

I even played around and made two Wolf Guard models equipped with a Power Fist and a combi-melta (which apparently comes only if a few boxes, but I was lucky to find a metal and a plastic one).
Notice the wolf tail on the combi-melta to the left.
43 pts. for a model that gives my Grey Hunter pack +1 LD and TWO ways to deal with vehicles and other nasty things, especially when they can dish out 3 S8 attacks even when charged? Deal.

Finished assembling my Long Fangs pack. Not very happy with the sergeant guy, but they look cool. It was kind of nice that so many people decided to give me so many missile launchers for free. They go for like $9 on bits order websites and Games Workshop does not sell them separately. Go figure. They kind of look intimidating.

I also worked on the rest of the packs.. and here's what pissed me off. There are no melta guns. NONE. They don't come in the box. I guess GW was too busy stuffing the box with plasma guns and plasma pistols. Oh, also.. no flamers. ; ( I had to order the blisters containing melta guns and even then they were a pain in the butt to put. Whatever. Melta weapons are so awesome they deserve the hassle. I also decided to be silly and for my Mark of the Wulfen guy decided to try a double-sided, double-edged chainsword... just because. Will make sure to give him orange and black face paint. ;P

That's right. He's gonna pop a melta cap in your heretical ass.