Results of the third trials

Apposing the blood claws and Ringus today were 25 cultist zombies and 3 chaos spawn. I wanted to try to forge a bit more of a narrative, having Ringus try to force the blood claws into a tactical formation. It worked very well, with the blood claws falling back as the enemy advanced, holding the line. It was only afterwards that I realized each blood claw should have taken a leadership test to see if they followed the orders, or charged in recklessly. I am going to test this in the next 3rd trial. 

In no fancy way or narrative, here are the results!

Ulkoa: Miss wBp / Hit but saved / CC kill / Killed 3 cultists at once via counter attack / Wounded spawn in CC.

Tunridia: Kill wBP / BP miss / Wounded spawn in CC / slain by spawn

Surma: Hit no wound BP / CC kill / miss BP / BP kill / wounded spawn in CC / killed by spawn

Varvus: Miss Bp / 2 hit no wound CC / Miss CC / 2 CC kills, Saved Aartappel

Moordenaar:  Miss BP / Kill BP / CC Kill

Volharding: Miss BP/ kill BP / overwatch kill / CC wound, saved / 2 CC kills / Spawn BP wound

Aartappel: Miss / BP / Saved Varvus with CC kill / Kill CC / Saved Varvus CC kill / CC kill / BP kill
Ringus slew all 3 of the chaos spawn with ease, as well as his fair share of cultsts. 

Ulkoa finally showed some potential! After 5 battles he finally killed something, and a lot of somethings. Again, not dying as he displays his durability. He will remain a bloodclaw. 
Tunridia will no rise from this battle, his wounds from past trials have weakened his body. Dead
Surma fell along side Tunridia, they had a good teamwork going in past battles, it is fitting that they were felled by the same enemy. Dead
Varvus This was the worst Varvus has done in a battle, fumbling in combat until the end. However he has survived ever trial, and in the past two trials he preformed above average. Grey Hunter
Moordenaar was possibly never meant to join the ranks of the space wolves, perhaps the geneseed never rooted properly. In all the trials he preformed poorly, this one being his first, and only kill. In the first two he was felled nearly instantly. Dead
Volharding has done well. The second trial he fell quickly, but the first and third he preformed well. He will be made a Grey Hunter
Aartappel was rewarded with a powersword, and used it to make a mess of chaos forces. In his second trial, like others, he was taken down by the putrid plague drones, however felling a chaos champion and slaying a tally of cultists, Aartappel will become a Grey Hunter. As a grey hunter he will have the option to take a special ranged weapon in exchange for his power sword. 

So with this round of recruits finished, we have 3 grey hunters, Ulkoa is looking to be a career blood claw, and more names to mourn before the ceremonies. 

I will be assembling models for the 3 grey hunters, and begin the next round of trials in the coming week (or two, next week I am swamped)

Fly swatters, the trials continue!

Last few days were stressful, my wife and I got a bit too drunk and late that night I decided to have another set of trials! This time I also wanted to test Plague Drones for a potential kill teams.

The blood claws and Rignus faced 4 plaguedrones with death heads, lead by a plagueridden! Of all the trials, these were arguably the most boring. Everyone but Rignus needed high rolls, and no one was making any of them. I lost track of the turns pretty quickly as well. I did opt to use the warp storm, just for the sake of forging a narrative. The only notable note, was that the plague drones lost 1 to their invul save for a round, however this did not cost them as much as I thought it would.

Ulkoa: Unable to land any hits or wounds, but also able to take some hits from a plague drone.
Krag: (the stag?): Krag has really come out of his shell! Landing a wound with his bolt pistol (that was saved) taking a hammer of wrath to the chest from the Plagueridden, then exchanging wounds 2 for 2, but no damage done. Then shaving a wound of the plagueridden each turn. Right before the killing blow, the plagueridden landed and wounded with all 4 attacks, but Krag was able to make all his saves and slay the plagueridden in the following phase.
Tunrida: Misses with his bolt pistol, and then takes a death head to the face and goes down.
Surma: Was able to hit and wound, but was unable to cause any damage. He was eventually overcome by the weight of attacks and fell in CC with a drone.
Varvus: was able to land his fair share of blows, causing 2 wounds to a plague drone.
Moordenaar: Was unable to land any hits, and while he survived death heads and hammer of wrath, the onslaught of attacks from the drone was too much to bear and he fell.
Volharding: Unable to hit with his bolt pistol, and was felled by the poisonous death heads.
Aartappel: Managed to land a single hit, but couldn't cause any damage before the plague drone laid him to the ground.

Rignus: Rignus moved from one drone to another, felling all but one, the plagueridden, which Krag was able to finish on his own.


Thoughts:
 Krag has really shown himself to be worthy of being a Grey Hunter. Here are some quick stats from his 5 battles as a blood claw:
1: No kills no death
2: Died to necron
3: Killed 1PB no death
4: Killed cultist with PB, CC, 2 more in CC, no death
5: fought plagueridden 1V1, felled him in CC
He started off poorly, and things didn't get much better against the necrons. In his third battle he started to show some potential, by his 4th battle he was proving what he was capable of, and his 5th really sealed the deal. While his fellow blood claws could barely handle a single plague drone 2V1,Krag was able to slay the Plagueridden in single combat. I noticed that Krag has been doing better when on his own. In the past two battles, he found himself surrounded, or away from the pack fighting a challenge of his own. This may bear the potential of a lone wolf in the future, though that all depends on how he functions as a Grey Hunter. So, should krag be the stag? Or is that too... frat house?

Ulkoa, the other 5 battles blood claw, has done very strangely. His 5 battles have been much less interesting than Krags.
1: no kills, died to CSM
2: no kills, survived 3V1
3: No kills, no death
4: No kills, died to CSM in cc
5: No kills, no death.
Ulkoa just doesnt seem to have the killing power a space wolf needs, however he doesn't do half bad at surviving. Even in battles where Ulkoa fell, they were late in the battle, instead of early. Survivability is obviously important, however you must also be able to kill your foe, or you will be overcome. Ulkoa will remain a blood claw until he learns this.

Rignus continues to prove to be a very worthy leader. As for the rest of the claw, it is too early to tell for them. Their final battle is approaching,

A long awaited update

Due to life issues (cat getting sick, holiday stress and so on) I haven't done much with my wolves. However thanks to a few friendly games with a friend, Aythrea my Space Wolves frenzy was renewed. He showed me the raw power of grey hunters, and the ferocious bloodlust of thunderwolf cavalry. Such awesomeness that even daemons can pale in comparison!

So, tonight I joined my bloodclaws, Ulkoa, Krag, Tunrida, Surma, Varvus, Moorden, Volharding, and Aarteppel along with the ever trustworthy Rignus the wolf priest, in both drink and battle. Enough fire water to drown a horse, and enough blood to drown a daemon of the blood god! This battle was fought against Chaos Space Marines, an ever growing thorn in the side of the imperium! What sort of foul debauchery was taking place before the blood claws intervention?... probably daemon summoning, CSM like to do that, but who knows? So without further delay, the results of the battle!

8 blood claws and Rignus fought against 11 chaos cultists and 5 chaos space marines. This was the first mission that I used modified kill team rules for. Basically every model was its own unit. However the army was treated as using highest leadership, for both CSM and SW (not that it mattered much)

Ulkoa: Missed with his bolt pistol, then overcome with blood lust all too familiar to blood claws, failed to dodge an overwatch from a chaos space marine and fell in battle. Ulkoa's next fall may be too much for even the healing powers of Rignus.
Krag (no relation to the grenade...): Felled a chaos cultist with his bolt pistol, slew another in CC, then with lightning reflexes dodged 3 shots from las pistols. Fought and killed 2 of the cultists in CC, Rignus obliterated the 3rd with his mighty blows. Krag proved himself an asset to the space wolves in this battle.
Tunrida: Tunrida has developed a mighty fellowship with Surma! He failed to gun down a cultist, however with a tag team duo with Sruma, filled 3 cultists.
Surma: Was fired upon and stuck by cultists, but his armor saved him. Fighting alongside Tunrida, he felled 3 cultsists.
Varvus: Had an eventful fight, failing to cause damage with his bolt pistol, Varvus assaulted, he saved against the overwatch and killed the cultist who fired upon him. Another cultist attempted to charge, but with quick reflexes was able to gun him down in overwatch. Afterwards he held his own against a chaos space marine for 3 rounds until Rignus felled the chaos scum with his powerful blows.
Moordenaar: A quick fate for Moordenaar, after failing to land a shot with his bolt pistol, he was shot by 6 cultists, falling to one of the many las shots.
Volharding: Laid a chaos marine to rest with his bolt pistol, then after failing to hit another chaos marine, took to overwatch bolter hits to the face and shrugged them off. After a round of combat with a chaos marine, he found himself facing both a marine and a cultist. The cultist found an opening and felled Volharding in CC while the Chaos marine distracted him.
Aartappel: With his powersword proudly held, he fired his bolt pistol directly at a chaos marine, failing to wound him. He was unphased by the overwatch, and managed to fell the chaos space marine leader in CC, however, the tainted marine took Aartappel with him to ground.

Many blood claws proved their worth, while others came up short handed in this battle. In the following battles we will see which blood claws earn the title of Grey Hunter. Also, I will have some picture soon tomorrow.

Sorry for the long delay!

I took a small break from my SW. I also have Necrons and Chaos Daemons that I greatly enjoy, both of them were getting some time in the sun. I finished painting 800pt of necrons for a doubles tournament, and started to re-paint a few of my Daemons. Right now I am working on a little bit of everything.Necron Warriors, Plague Drones, and of course, the Grey Hunters.

With a nameless Lone Wolf behind them, here are the current grey hunters. I am fairly happy with how MoTW came out. I found a Reaper Mini's claw set that I must have picked up for dungeons and dragons. One of the sets was suitable! I originally began to magnetize everything, however that will take forever. I will now only magnetize special weapons. For example, the power fist and power sword are magnetized. The plasma gun is not, though I guess it should be, oh well. 7 are modeled, 3 more for a full squad.


With the new release of Kill Teams, I will be attempting to adopt modified Kill Teams rules for recruitment purposes. I still have a score of blood claws that have a chance to prove themselves.
I am more interested in forging a narrative than following a strict line of rules.

Look forward to some updates in the upcoming days. There may be another downtime soon. I plan on purchasing a Fire Raptor Gunship for my SW. Even if my wolves never hit the table, that is still one sexy flier.

New blood....claws.

Wolf Priest Rignus lead a small group of blood claws across several battles. A proving grounds for both him, and the blood claws. Against the traitor chaos marines, the unliving necrons, and the horrors of the warp. I went through these battles a little faster, taking less detailed notes, which is something I regret doing. Because of this I only have the smallest recaps of the battles.

Across all 3 battles, Rignus preformed amazingly, he has proven himself as a wolf priest, slaying every champion that has attempted to battle him, as well as laying several enemies to rest with his power maul. Sterf chose a power fist, his ambition showing by his choice in weapons.

Chaos space marines - 6 Man CSM and 10 man cultist unit.
Tarka - Able to defend himself against a single marine, but was unable to land any wounds. Perhaps the enemy is more fearsome than Tarka imagines. First battles are always rough.
Lucas - A bolter round is a dangerous thing to be hit by. Lucas fell before he had a chance to prove his worth.
Ulkoa - Fell to the combat abilities of a Chaos Space Marine.
Krag - Alike Tarka, Krag was unable to fell any warriors, he was only able to keep himself alive.
Skutter - Breaking from the trend, Skutter was able to remove a traitors head from his shoulders and survive the battle.
Sterf - With a fist of crackling energy, Sterf felled 2 traitor marines with ease during the battle.
Lone wolf Klargence was nearby slaughtering cultists, and vouches for Rignus's abilities as a warrior and wolf priest.

Necrons - Giant necron blob
Tarka - Fell to a volley of close range Gauss fire.
Lucas - With great accuracy, was able to land a killing shot on a Necron warrior. Once they met in combat, Lucas managed to fell 2 more in close combat.
Ulkoa - Ulkoa was unable to defeat any necrons, however was able to defend from 3 of them for the entire battle.
Krag -  Fell in battle, perhaps caught off guard by the seemingly immortal foe.
Skutter - Used his chainsword to remove a necron from the living realm.
Sterf - Again, demonstrating masterful use of a power fist. Sterf is able to deflect the blows of his enemies while crushing 3 necron warriors.

Chaos Daemons - FNP nurgle blob
Tarka - Fell to the poisonous blades of the plaguebearers.
Lucas - In a fury, Lucas killed 4 plagubearers.
Ulkoa - Ulkoa was unable to make any impact on this battle, serving only as a distraction to the enemy.
Krag - Killed a plaguebearer
Skutter - Killed a plaguebearer
Sterf - Shot down a plagubearer, and killed 3 more with his powerfist.

The following Blood claws will be promoted to Grey Hunter
Sterf, Skutter, Lucas.
The following blood claws will have to prove themselves in later battles.
Krag, Ulkoa.
Tarka's wounds were too great for Rignus to heal, his geneseed was collected and the bloodclaws mourned their fallen brother.

Proving Grounds

The ancient dreadnought consulted with the wolf priests, between them it was decided that Ringus showed the leadership and wisdom of a potential priest, however his berserker wulfen quality would never allow him to become a wolf priest. The great company was in need of a wolf priest to help with the new recruits, and it was decided that Rignus would be tested.
Two wolf priests, Rignus, and the ancient commenced the ceremony. The ancient, being encased in his iron tomb, was unable to participate, and only there as a cautionary measure. For if the ceremony took a turn for the worse, Rignus could forever be taken by the curse of the wulfen. Rignus entered a state of meditation with the help of the wolf priests. There he saw what himself as a wolf priest, what he could become, as well as the wulfen inside of him, what he was now. He must overcome the wulfen within him to begin the rest of his training as a wolf priest. To represent the power of the wulfen in Rignus, the wulfen had an automatic 6 for attacks. To represent the internal clash, both the wolf priest and wulfen within him were counted as successfully charging. The wolf priest within landed 3 blows, while the wulfen, attacking 8 times, only landed 2, one of which was a rend though. Rignus saved against the normal blow, as well as against the rending attack, using his invulerable. The wulfen only saved one of the two crushing blows, and was defeated, allowing Rignus to begin his training as a wolf priest, as well as oversee all matters relating to new recruits.

Meanwhile, of the blood claws were rewarded with the rank of Grey Hunter.
Hafgrim, with his power sword.
Knut
Ketil, with a special ranged weapon.
Kari, with Mark of the Wulfen.
Regin, with a Wolf Standard instead of a special weapon.

While, Knud, Vegard, Fafnir and Garin were held back, some were close, and just needed to prove themselves a little more. Their opportunity was closer than they though. The taint of chaos was detected on Fenris, it touched a pack of Fenrisian Wolves. The wolves battled their chaos tainted brethren, and only 5 chaos hounds were remaining by the time Rignus arrived with the remaining 4 blood claws.

Knud, managed to only do well enough to remain a blood claw.
Vegard fell, and Rignus was only able to retrieve his geneseed from his torn remains.
Fafnir and Garin also only faired well enough to remain blood claws, they would have to prove themselves along the next group of blood claws.

Skirmish 3: Necrons!

The final skirmish for the blood claws was against Necrons, here are the lists!

Necrons
Overlord: Scythe,  res orb
12 warriors
4 scarabs

 Space Wolves
WGBL Rignus with MotW
9 blood claws (power sword, plasma pistol)

Dreadnought

An ancient dreadnought accompanied Rignus and his blood claws on this mission as an observer. Supporting the unit with additional firepower and observing Rignus as a potential for training future blood claws.

This match was quick, and the blood claws excelled where they should, brutal charges.
In the first round of shooting, the dreadnought felled 2 scarab bases and caused a wound on another. Rignus fired his bolter and dropped a necron, who would  later rise back up. On the necrons turn, they move within rapid fire range and unleash a hellish blue gauss stream into the blood claws. Fafner, Vegard and Knud fell to the ground. The scarabs advanced on the ancient dreadnought, but failed a very short charge, losing another wound to overwatch.

Now it is time for the space wolves to assault. Unleashing a volley of bolt pistol fire, Garin and Ketil both score kills.  The ancient dread chooses not to fire, instead allowing the blood claws full glory. It is within charge distance, and can still support them in a different way. The dreadnought assaults, taunting the warriors, who fire overwatch and cause a hull point to be removed. The dreadnought fails his charge as assumed he would. This allowed for Rignus and the blood claws to assault unmolested by another volley of fire!
On the assault:
Rignus challenges the overlord and they exchange wounds.
Hafgrim cuts down 2 warriors.
Garin also pummels 2 warriors to the ground.
Kari slays one warrior.
Knut lands some blows, but they do not penetrate the ancient necron carapace.
Regin fight off 2 necrons, only managing to defend himself from them.

The Necron retaliation causes no casualties, they have lost combat. The overlord decides it is time to flee and the blood claws make quick work of them in a sweeping advance. The overlord fails to return to the field though everliving.

Meanwhile, the two scarabs assault the dreadnough, who kills them both in overwatch. Assault cannons are pretty dang spiffy.

This skirmish was very quick, the fastest of the bunch. I decided to see what would happen if the necrons and the space wolves both had the "fearless" special rule. This caused the combat to last a very long time. Both sides rolled poorly, and often. Instead of a recount of the battle, I will only post some of the notes I have of it.

Hafgrim - One of the necrons he felled with his power sword reanimates, causing a lapse in judgement. He fights with desperation against a foe he is unsure if he can kill for 4 rounds, finally killing it, only after watching his brothers lay the necrons to rest.
Knut - Again, only manages to glance the necrons, falls to the bladed tip of the gauss weaponry.
Ketil - Showing true space wolf strength, lands two perfect blows, killing one necron, then another in a later round.
Kari - fumbles as Hafgrim did when his foe stood up from death. Managed to regain himself and kill 2 necrons, one of which got up. This necron would not die, as it too the combined efforts of Kari, Ketil and Garin to finally kill it.
Garin -  Killed a necron in single combat and moved to assist his bretheren.
Regin - Regin was the MvP in this match. Deciding to leave his meltagun behind was a good choice for him, though could have been terrible for the unit. Regin was matched against 2 warriors from the start. Here is a quick summary.
Kills 2, 1 gets up
Kills that 1, it gets back up.
Kills that 1 again and it stays dead.
Overlord slays Rignus, Regin moves to overlord
Rignus takes the last wound from the overlord, who then gets up
Regin kills the overlord again, who then gets back up again
At this point there are multiple blood claws fighting the overlord, while a necron warrior is still going in single combat with Kari.
The ancient dreadnought assaults the Overlord, seeing Rignus fall, misses with everything.
The overlord slays the ancient dreadnough.
Kari finally kills the necron warrior, and Ketil lands a killing blow on the overlord. The unit is wiped out and can no longer revive.

Now I will take the data from the 3 fights and decide which Blood claws will move up to Grey Hunter, as well as if they will keep their wargear, or have it replaced. It will be a very tough call on some of the accounts.