This year at Adepticon, the Gladiator tournament has a very interesting set of rules. Follow along to see my nefarious plans…
You start with a 1750 list, and you make two 500 point sideboards. Opponents share their 1750 list, and then select a sideboard after the 1750 is seen. Some superheavies are also allowed. I decided to take the trusty Space Wolves since this is a “Gloves off” type of tournament. My list is provided below.
Core 1750 List Logan Grimnar Rune Priest w/ Living lightning, JoTWW Rune Priest w/ Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane
Lone Wolf Terminator armor, combi-plas, chain fist, 2 wolves
Wolf Guard Pack 7x with BP CC 2x w/ terminator armor, Assault Cannon, Power fist 1x w/ Terminator Armor , Chain Fist
Wolf Guard Pack 7x with BP CC 2x w/ terminator armor, Cyclone, 1 power fist, 1 power weapon 1x w/ Terminator Armor , Chain Fist
Grey Hunter Pack 10 hunters, 2x meltaguns, mark of the wolfen, Wolf Standard, Rhino
Grey Hunter Pack 10 hunters, 2x meltaguns, mark of the wolfen, Rhino
Long Fangs: 5 x m. launchers 1750
Normal List sideboard: Long Fangs Pack: 2x m. launcher 3x Lascannons
Wolf Scouts: 5x w Flamer
Wolf Guard Pack 1 w combi-melta, power fist 3 w/ bp cc 1 w/ T.armor, Power Fist, Cyclone 1 w/ T.armor, Wolf Claw total 498
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Titan Sideboard: Long fangs: 5x lascannons
Wolf Guard 8x w/ combi melta 1x w/ combi melta and power weapon 1x w/ mark of the wolfen drop pod
total 500
The Cunning Plan When I play against most armies, I will use the first side board. I think this will fare very well against the meta of tournaments like this. I expect to face a large number of mech armies. I will deploy Logan and both Rune Priests in a Long Fangs unit. Logan’s Tank Hunters ability will be devastating in that unit, buffing the Lascannons to S10, the Missile launchers to S9, and the Living Lightning to S8. They will probably be able to nuke two tanks a turn. The rest of the shooting from the other Long Fangs and the Wolf Guard units should knock out two tanks a round as well. Mech forces will just not have an answer to this. The other major advantage to this list is the lack of vehicles. Lots of people build their lists to beat mech, so they will have a hard time dealing with foot lists.
If I face an enemy superheavy or Landraider Spam, then I will use the other sideboard. It’s somewhat of a cat and mouse game with enemy superheavies. Ideally, I want my drop pod full of meltas to come down and melt the enemy superheavy before it gets to fire. A canny opponent won’t allow that to happen and will reserve the superheavy so the first turn pod can’t get at it. This isn’t the worst thing in the world, because that leaves my opponent vulnerable to the vagaries of the reserve roll. This is actually a really good example of 40k mind games in a tournament environment. If I win the turn choice roll off, do I take first turn and hope that my opponent is foolish enough to deploy his superheavy? In the first round this may be wise, but as the cream rises to the top there is less of a chance of this happening. Do I take second turn and reserve my army except for the drop pod? It would certainly allow me to get the jump on an un-bubblewrapped superheavy. The good thing about the meltapod is that it forces the superheavy opponent to make a hard choice, which is the opportunity for him/her to make a mistake.
When playing against superheavies the type of deployment must be carefully considered, Dawn of War especially. If I win turn choice roll off on Dawn of War, I will always go second. I can pray that my opponent makes the mistake of walking the superheavy on in his first turn rather than reserving it. If the superheavy is reserved, I deploy the pod either empty, or away from the enemies’ front line. I could even have the melta wolf guard steal a grey hunter rhino, and speed up to mid field, waiting for the superheavy to come on before speeding over to melt it. Due to Logan’s ability of relentless, I can be walking on in Dawn of war and not lose very much fire power at all.
All in all, I am pretty confident that this list has the tools needed to make it to the top. Warhound Titan lists are going to have trouble with me, Leafblower will get blown away, and I will skunk almost anyone in shooting and melee. The only list I really don’t have an answer to is foot guard. I honestly think that the best list in this format would be 1750 of foot IG and a 500 point superheavy as sideboard. Hopefully I don’t get matched with such a beast.
