Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thunderwolf Debate

Now every codex has some of these issues when GW makes a unit with no model and you're never quite sure what it will look like or even what base it will be on. I have seen both sides of this debate and hell i have been on both sides of the debate, but when i called GW customer care and thought i would get an answer to this question i knew it was a longshot.

My question to GW and local players is what size base is correct for the thunder wolf cavalry?

Now to explain in the beginning i used bikes as proxies while i waited for my models from www.mythicast.com to arrive in the mail, but when i did that i felt i was not playing in the spirit of the game. I knew in my heart that the bases of these hit or miss units had to be bigger cause of the other models that seemed to fit the size that i imagined the models.

Back to the question what base to use? well i can tell you after trying bike/cavalry bases and feeling like i was cheating in some way, i then tried 40mm bases and that felt better. It wasn't till i got my models from mythicast.com and assembled and painted them and finally played them on the field did i truly feel that the Thunder wolf cavalry belongs on a 60mm base, i say this cause of my understanding of the fluff and also they need to stand out also.

Here is where i back up and look forward to you're comments, my two primary examples are Bloodcrushers from Chaos Daemons (there a large mount with a rider), and obviously Canis Wolfborn is on a thunder wolf. Canis's special rule to me just says he is not to be placed on another base to abuse his ability, not that i would accually use canis in a game cause i feel he is over priced and with a leadership of 7 is rubbish but i'll cover that topic another day.

To give you an example of what a thunderwolf cavalry assault can do..... they have a base attack of 4, 5 attacks on the assault, increased toughness and strength, 12" assault, and the fleet trait via cavalry trait in addition to a 2 wound model.

So on the charge the unit gets 5 attacks  at WS 4 and Strength 5 with a chance of rending on each model if you don't upgrade there CC wpn. not to mention a 3+ invulnerable save and if you upgrade 1 model with a wpn of you're choice wether it be 2 wolf claws or a thunderhammer w/ storm shield then it's 5 strength 10 attacks.

Now the comparison to the Bloodcrushers

WS (5),BS (0) S (5), T (5), W (2), I (4), A (3), Ld (10), Sv. 4+ (5+i)

So just off the line the Bloodcrusher is at a disadvantage cause the TWC have 1 more base attack better unit upgrades.

Soo in closing if you know of a good reason why Thunderwolf Cavalry should not be on 60mm bases please comment below  i have also linked pictures to my finished TWC unit with my conversion of a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf.



Jason K.

2 comments:

  1. I have to agree with you that over all the thunderwolves are a better unit.

    A few things to remember about the Bloodcrushers.

    your stat line is wrong they have a standard save of 3+5++, You are also paying for Furious Charge and each bloodcrusher comes equipped with a power weapon standard. Meaning if somehow the crushers got the charge on the wolves the curshers would go first and striking at S6,I5. This almost balances the two units out.

    Granted if your wolves are all carrying stormshields the power weapon would not make any difference but it is something to remember.

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  2. Sorry for the double post.

    So off the line:

    Blood Crusher
    5,0,5,5,2,4,3,10,3+5++
    Fearless,Eternal Warrior,Furious Charge, Power Weapon

    Thunderwolf
    4,4,5,5,2,4,4,8,3+
    Counter Attack,Acute Senses,ATSKNF,Cavalry,Rending, 10pts more/unit than bloodcrushers base not including upgrades.

    so over all I think the bloodcrusher is the better value if your looking at only base cost. However if your looking at what you can do with the unit including upgrades well thats another story totally.

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