Where are the Space Wolves?

It seems like Space Wolves had been the new face of 40k for what seems like forever. Tony even did amazing with them on the tourney scene which seemed to only add fuel to the fire that they seemed to be the top dog around still. It’s a solid balanced book and while the haters are going to hate away the reality is the book has still stood the test of time IMO. It is a very valid and top contender still. Yet.. perhaps it’s just me but it seems like they are MIA lately. Even when I read about events around the country the Wolves seem to be hibernating someplace.

Were the majority of Space wolf player’s power players that jumped to the GK’s as the new power player on the block? This would line up with the timing I suppose and explain the LARGE number of GK players I see at events or did the release of Necrons make wolf players feel like it was time to go in a different direction?

Necron’s has been a sleeper army it appears. On paper the codex looks like it is lacking or missing something, yet I keep seeing them perform well. Like Skynet they seem to be the unexpected element that catches us by surprise. They are doing well at events which surprises me personally. Not because I don’t like the book, but more so that I expected the normal builds to be about turn and board control. They would be a play the mission army and try to win by one objective using trickery. However they seem to be doing much better than that. Necrons are winning and showing on top tables and being more of a force than I originally predicted them to be.

The current state of meta brings up several interesting questions I think.

Are the Necrons doing well because they are a top tier codex, will they stand the test of time or are they getting that extra power from being a newer book, while the meta adjusts and people get used to playing the new kids on the block?

Are GK’s falling short? I see that people appear to be playing them more and more, but they aren’t pulling out the strong wins or victories I see them still only being on par with IG and Crons lately. Will people get aggravated and move back to SW’s? I also see people who have been doing amazing with them backing off of them because they want to play something different. Could this again see a rise in Wolf players?

I think, like any other army, they ran their course. Some last a little longer than others, but each codex has that "newness" that eventually fades out. Some have a shorter "newness".... Tyranids or DE anyone? But like the article says, many may have moved to GK.

There are also those players that play the current "flavor", whether it's a list or codex. The flavor for a long time was Wolves. Players had gotten bored with the taste of k9...

Well if people are band wagon jumpers then you would think as Necrons continue to do well that we would see less and less GK's?

I personally think whatever the next release is will be a big meta shift as people are biting at the bit to jump to several of the options that could be next.

If the trend continues... we'll see a jump.

I think what's happening is we are at the end of 5th edition. Most of the armies out there have been updated. Most have been tweaked in a good way to make them alot more playable. Even the Dark Angel's/Black Templar update brought competitive builds to the table.

Necrons are as top tier as anyone else can claim to be at this point. I think they'll win a few, lose a few, and generally make people "play honest". You better concider them in the meta because they are not going away in any fashion. They may even herald in a few more people since they are new. I really think they are a one trick pony but that's just me. I enjoy one trick pony codex'. Who doesn't get a sense of comfort out of making a complete muck of the middle of the board?

This brings me to Grey Knights...they love hanging out in the middle of the board. They really like to bully people in the middle of the board. Necrons aren't bullied too much by GKs in CC and Reanimation Protocals makes a mockery out of a crappy shooting phase (if GKs roll poorly of course, as they have very nice shooting). I think Grey Knights were definitely a bandwagon CODEX. People liked buying $300 bucks worth of paladins and wrecking face. Then people caught on...so then people chipped in a bit more money and played Crowe/Purifiers...then people caught on...now people have see enough ingenuity and playtesting done that MSU builds with Coteaz are becoming "the List". well, money runs out and so does having to play 3 different armies out of one book. Necrons came along and gave flavor-ites something new to build instead of yet another GK army.

Were they once Wolf players? Don't know. Wolf players like the shooting phase too much IMO to jump shit to Necrons. Wolf players might be looking for a change of pace and going for Necrons though. Rush the enemy and then mop up whatever is left is the new necron moto. Wolves used to be suppress everything into the ground and mop up whatever makes it to your own board edge. Makes sense to switch if looking for something new.

painnen wrote:

Quote :

are as top tier as anyone else can claim to be at this point. I think they'll win a few, lose a few, and generally make people "play honest". You better concider them in the meta because they are not going away in any fashion.

Agreed

Quote :

I really think they are a one trick pony but that's just me. I enjoy one trick pony codex'.

How so? I don't really see it that way. Multiple builds that work, with options.

Quote :

Who doesn't get a sense of comfort out of making a complete muck of the middle of the board

I sure know I do!

the idea of a one trick pony is that they bulk up, jump out, and bog you down for the next 4 turns in and out of CC. They don't want to get into a shooting match because DE, Guard, and SW do it better. They don't want to overcommit to CC because GK, 'nids, and BA do it better.

Their troops in most games are nothing but grot squads with nob equivalents attached to them to give them some kind of flavor. (not to mention 1in3 of them get a second life even after being wiped out with the cryptek attached).

They are unique though. Through and through. There is enough variety in the codex to give off the venir that their are multiple builds with multiple strategies but to me they all play under the same premise...Bulk up (spawn scarabs, reposition with veil, gate in with monolith from reserves), jump into close combat as soon as possible with about 1/2 of your army, the other half jockeys for postion on objectives or counter assaults, and finally just don't die! Reanimation protocals, Everliving, 3-4+saves, and LD10 goes a long way at making min sized "grot" squads unoptimal to kill early and downright mandatory late under the right scenerios.

I really think that's a mass summarization of the Necron codex and not what constitutes different Necron builds. Some builds may incorporate some of those things but that's the tools we have been given to work with. It's kind of like saying Space Marine codex' are all the same with only one build that incorporates combat squading, Razorback spam and Terminators. While other stuff is used, they are only minor variations of the generality.

Some people just can't afford 10 Razorbacks. I had to go there.

Wayno wrote:

Quote :

Some people just can't afford 10 Razorbacks. I had to go there.

This coming from the guy that just bought a whole Grey Knight army!

Warmonger wrote:

Wayno wrote:

Quote :

Some people just can't afford 10 Razorbacks. I had to go there.

This coming from the guy that just bought a whole Grey Knight army!

WHAT??!!!?!?

I can explain.

I have a huge SOB army with a ton of Inquisitors and Henchmen/Assassins and Storm Troopers and Chimeras. I can't use this stuff anymore with SOBs. I didn't want to sell all this stuff because they are cool models. I need very few GKs to make a competitive army out of what I still have. So there you have it. All of these Dreads and Razors will help out as well.

I almost feel dirty about this one. Almost!!!

As well you should...