Here are our team's four army lists:
BBF's Iron Wolves
Wolf Lord Wulfen MacWulfestron
Bike - Runic armor - Stormshield - Wolf tooth necklace - Thunderhammer - Saga of the Bear
Rune Priest Runic McRunestar
Bike - Runic armor - Chooser of the Slain
7x Grey Hunter
Plasmagun - Plasma pistol - Power axe - Wolf Standard
Drop pod
7x Grey Hunter
Plasmagun - Plasma pistol - Power axe - Wolf Standard
Drop pod
7x Grey Hunter
Plasmagun - Plasma pistol - Power axe - Wolf Standard
Drop pod
Note - The Space Wolf list was specifically designed to synergize with White Scars, Iron Hands and Tau. I designed three of the lists prior to online registration for Adepticon (Tau and White Scars). Brad Bitler designed his Iron Hands list and was acting as captain of the team on Sunday.
Kurt William's White Scars
Khan - Moondrakken
Command squad - bikes
Apothecary
4x grav gun, 4x stormshield
5x biker Marine
2x grav gun
5x biker Marine
2x grav gun
Stormtalon
Twin linked assault cannon, twin linked lascannon
5x Scout
5x shotgun
Storm - heavy flamer
In our second to last game the Scouts proved their worth, shooting then assaulting a six man Guardian jetbike squad... They broke and fled off the table. Kurt played his list well each game.
Brad Bitler's Iron Hands (Clan supplement)
Captain
Bike - thunderhammer - artificer armor - Gorgon's Chain - Tempered Helm
Command squad - bikes
Apothecary
4x grav gun - 4x stormshield
6x Biker Marine
Veteran sergeant - Power Axe
2x grav gun
Attack bike - Multi-melta
6x Biker Marine
Veteran sergeant - Power Axe
2x grav gun
Attack bike - Multi-melta
Stalker
The Iron Hands supplement is really good for biker armies and Brad put together a great list. For instance the tempered helm gives you a 24" Ld 10 bubble which really helps to keep Ld8 biker squads from breaking off the table. The Iron Hands matched up perfectly with the White Scars and they won their two games together handily... The last round the combined weight of fire from the two command squads destroyed a Jetseer council during the first turn... Over 800 points of dead space elves right off the bat !
Chris Anderson's Tau
Commander
Fusion blaster - missile pod - Blacksun filter - multi tracker - Early Warning Override - vectored retro thrusters - command and control node - Puretide engram neuro chip - multi spectrum sensor suite - XV8-02 Iridium suit
10x Kroot
Kroot hound
10x Kroot
Kroot hound
Riptide
Ion accelerator - twin linked fusion blaster - Blacksun filter - multi tracker - Early Warning Override - velocity tracker
Riptide
Heavy burst cannon - twin linked fusion blaster - Blacksun filter - multi tracker - stimulant injector
XV88 Broadside Team
3x twin linked high yield missile pod - twin linked smart missile system - Blacksun filter - multi tracker - Early Warning Override
The Tau always performed well as should be expected - the fish were definitely a big ace up our sleeves. Chris did them proud.
List Building Concepts
Here are some thoughts behind our overall team concept. The two central tenants were as follows:
• Strong synergy between the three Space Marine armies
• Tau would fill our weaknesses such as being able to handle enemy fliers
We didn't run across any Heldrakes (which was my prediction) but the first game versus Grey Knights and Space Marines was a tough one as they had two Stormravens - I was paired up with White Scars and we had no real dedicated anti air.
Space Marines
Space Marines are really good this edition while also being a very balanced codex. Some of the best units are the Chapter Master and grav gun biker command squad. Unfortunately it wasn't feasible to bring a Chapter Master since he doesn't have access to the command squad. The Iron Hands Captain was a great stand in though and was only destroyed one game out of five. Khan unlocks a lot of good things for White Scars so we felt he was mandatory. A lot of armies have no dedicated melee units so while Khan is by no means a beast he can do fairly well in combat versus most eldar and Tau units. I have found there are currently lots of players who don't have good tactics for close combat - they rely solely upon shooting and mobility to win their games.
Space Wolves
I really like drop pods this edition and they are strong in the current meta. Grey Hunters are still one of the best troops in the game and they are cheap for what you get. They have access to lots of solid options plus not having a champion is much more of an advantage than a disadvantage. My Grey Hunters definitely won a couple games such as wiping out two Kroot squads via sweeping advance towards the end of a very hard fought game against one of the better teams. The combination of bikers and drop pods is highly synergistic - the pods come down the first turn aggressively deployed which draws the heat off the bikes.
While the Rune Priest really struggled with casting Jaws of the World Wolf (JotWW) he did fantastic whenever I chose the Divination lore. The main philosophy for choosing psychic powers was to select JotWW and Living Lightning versus Necrons and Tau or Divination versus eldar. The Rune Priest was our sole Psyker and generally he buffed the other armies quite well for our team. The Runic staff was always a problem for our opponent's eldar armies.
The Wolf Lord significantly helped win two games and he filled the role of the missing Chapter Master. He operated as a solo unit in the final game dispatching two Riptides and demolished Farsight and friends. He is both fast and durable which allowed him to function as such when needed. The first game versus Grey Knights and Space Marines saw the Wolf Lord and Khan combined - they wiped out several key enemy units with ease, which kept us in the game.
Tau
Like I said above the Tau were our ace up the sleeve and functioned like a utility belt covering the weaknesses in our other armies. This was a cherry picker list and overall it got the job done.
Conclusion - Inside the Box and Outside the Box
None of this is a secret but I think our combinations were very unique and gave us an edge. One common strategy for Adepticon is to field three identical armies and select a fourth one fill in the gaps... We were thinking along those lines.
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