Battle Report 166- Dark Angels vs Space Wolves

This week's battle report sees two ancient adversaries take to the battlefield, as my Dark Angels take on Ben's Space Wolves in a 2000 pts maelstrom of war game. 

This game was played just after the new FAQ dropped, so we didn't use the new rules as we hadn't had a chance to go through them in detail. We played the Race to Victory maelstrom mission. This is where the game ends when the first player reaches 10 cards scored. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Primaris Master- Power Sword, Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle, Brilliant Strategist (M)

Ravenwing Talonmaster- Twin Assault Cannon, Twin Heavy Bolter, Heavenfall Blade (T)

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles (I)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Sergeant has Chainsword (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Sergeant has Chainsword (S2)

5 Devastators- Heavy Bolter, Armorium Cherub (D)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (L1)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (L2)

Outrider Detachment

Sammael (S)

8 Black Knights- Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers (BK)

Ravenwing Ancient (An)

Ravenwing Apothecary (Ap)

Darkshroud- Heavy Bolter (DS)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- Twin Bolters, 2 Meltaguns (RB)

A bit of a different force for me to try out with my Dark Angels. I decided not to take Azrael and the Hellblasters (my favourite 80s prog rock band), they are pretty much an auto-include, but I wanted to try out something different.
I thought I would go with a heavy Ravenwing contingent, backed up by some Scouts and Primaris Marines. I made the Primaris Master my warlord, he would go to the back and buff the nearby squads, while trying to keep safe from the enemy army. I took a big unit of Intercessors. The -1 AP on their weapons should help against other power armour. Big squads don't worry the Dark Angels, as they can't lose more than one to a failed morale test. I also added a couple of units of Scouts and a unit of Devastators for the Hellfire Shells stratagem.

For the Ravenwing contingent, the force was led by Sammael and a Talonmaster. Sammael is great for buffing the nearby Ravenwing units, as well as being pretty good in combat, which should be handy against the Space Wolves.

I haven't really used the Talonmaster much, so wanted to see how he would perform in the list. His Twin Heavy Bolter and Twin Assault Cannon should be of use, I also gave him the Heavenfall Blade to help him out in combat too.

I decided to take a big unit of Black Knights, backed up by a Ravenwing Apothecary and Ravenwing Ancient. I was hoping the Plasma could take care of any Space Wolves, while using the Apothecary and Ancient to buff the unit in combat and keep them alive for longer.

I wanted to try out some Landspeeders too. I had heard some good things about them, so wanted to see if their mobility and firepower was worth taking in my army.


Ben's army consisted of:
Battalion Detachment
Bjorn the Fell-Handed- Heavy Flamer, Helfrost Cannon (B)
Iron Priest- Helfrost Pistol, Tempest Hammer, Servo-arm (IP)
Rune Priest- Runic Armour, Bolt Pistol, Runic Axe, Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath (RP)
5 Blood Claws- Bolt Pistols and Chainswords (BC)
5 Grey Hunters- Bolters, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Meltagun (GH1)
5 Grey Hunters- Bolters, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Meltagun (GH2)
Cyberwolf (C)
6 Long Fangs- 2 Heavy Bolters, 2 Lascannons, Missile Launcher (LF)
Razorback- Twin Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter (Rz)
Rhino- 2 Storm Bolters (R)

Vanguard Detachment
Wolf Guard Battle Leader- Jump Pack, Power Fist, Storm Shield, The Armour of Russ (BL)
Wolf Lord- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Wolfkin, The Wulfen Stone (WL)
Venerable Dreadnought- Blizzard Shield, Fenrisian Great Axe (VD)
7 Wolf Guard- 2 with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, 1 with Frost Axe and Storm Shield, 4 with Pair of Frost Claws (WG)
5 Wolf Guard Terminators- Storm Bolters, Assault Cannons, 2 Power Fists, 2 Wolf Claws, Power Sword (T)
Wulfen Dreadnought- Fenrisian Great Axe, Blizzard Shield, Heavy Flamer (W)

This is my first time playing the Space Wolves with the new codex, so I was interested to see how they functioned.
The army had a lot of characters and three Dreadnoughts! There was some good firepower with the Long Fangs, but the army seemed geared for combat. Hopefully, I could use the speed of my army to stay out of the way, while firing with my own squads to reduce the size of the Space Wolves units coming to me.

We set up the objectives as shown below and rolled up and got Dawn of War deployment.

We then deployed our forces.

On the left flank, I put my Intercessors, the Primaris Master and the Ravenwing Bike Squad. On the right flank, I put the Devastators on the tower and a Landspeeder behind it.
Ben set up his Long Fangs in the centre, so I used the large church to block line of sight on most of my Ravenwing. I put all units but one Landspeeder in the centre, ready to move out to target any threat and stay out of the way of the Long Fangs. The two Scout squads went in the ruins on either flank.

Ben set up the Long Fangs on the ruins in the centre, with the Cyberwolf beneath them. One unit of Grey Hunters wet on the right, supported by the Rhino (with Wolf Guard inside) and the Razorback. The three Dreadnoughts and four Characters went to the right of the Long Fangs. On the left flank, a lone unit of Blood Claws were set up opposite my Scouts.

Even though I finished deploying first, Ben won the roll off for first turn and chose to go first. I failed to seize the initiative, so the Space Wolves were ready to start.

TURN 1- SPACE WOLVES
In his first turn, Ben drew Secure Objective 1, Advance and Counter-Attack (make a heroic intervention). Not a great draw, as he would be unlikely to achieve any of them this turn.

On the left flank, the Blood Claws broke cover, advancing towards the Scouts in the ruins. On the right flank, the Grey Hunters disembarked from the Razorback, moving up on the Scouts, the Wolf Lord and Battle Leader moving to support them.

The Venerable and Wulfen Dreadnought advanced towards the central building, while Bjorn, the Iron Priest and Rune Priest took a more measured approach.

In the psychic phase, the Rune Priest cast Smite, killing one of the Scouts in the ruins. He then cast Living Lightning, killing off two more.

In the shooting phase, the Grey Hunters on the right opened fire on the Scouts, killing them and scoring Ben first blood. The Razorback fired at the Black Knights, getting only four hits (he was on -2 to hit for moving and the Darkshroud) and four wounds. I failed three of my armour saves and one Knight perished.

Bjorn fired at the Intercessors, doing three wounds, but only one got through. The Long Fangs added their firepower, killing one and wounding another.

At the end of his turn, Ben scored no cards, but did get First Blood. He discarded Advance.

TURN 1- DARK ANGELS 
In my first turn, I drew Witch Hunter, Defend Objective 2 and Behind Enemy Lines. I used two command points to discard Witch Hunter and drew Secure Objective 5. Objective 5 was achievable, but I had no shot of getting objective 2 and Behind Enemy Lines would need to wait for next turn.

On the right flank, the Scouts moved down to secure the objective, while the Landspeeder moved up to support them.

In the centre, the Black Knights advanced to the left flank, and I used Speed of the Raven to allow them to shoot and assault. The Ravenwing Characters and Darkshroud moved up to support them, the Apothecary healing the wounded Black Knight. On the left flank, the Bikers moved up towards the enemy Rhino.

In the shooting phase, the Bikers fired their Meltaguns at the Rhino, hitting once but failing to wound. The Bolters fired at the Grey Hunters, killing one of the squad.

On the other flank, the Devastators fired the Long Fangs with the Helfire Shells stratagem (I got to keep the command point), doing one mortal wound. I used a command point re-roll, but got another single wound. Using the Armorium cherub, they fired again, doing two more mortal wounds.

The nearby Landspeeder fired at the Blood Claws, killing one. The Scouts added their firepower, killing two more with their Bolters. The second Landspeeder fired at the last surviving Blood Claw, wounding him three times, but Ben made all three armour saves. The Assault Cannon of the Speeder fired at the Razorback, wounding it once.

The Talonmaster fired on the Long Fangs, firing the Twin Heavy Bolter at the Long Fangs and Twin Assault Cannon at the Razorback (it was the only model in range). The Heavy Bolters did three wounds that were all saved, while the Razorback did four wounds, all of which got through its armour.

Sammael fired at the Razorback and was able to destroy it with his Plasma Cannon. The Intercessors fired at the Grey Hunters, killing two of the squad in front of them. The Darkshroud fired at the Long Fangs, killing one more.

I then used Weapons of the Dark Age on the Black Knights. Two fired at the Dreadnought, while the rest targeted the Rhino. The Dreadnought took three wounds, while the rest of the squad destroyed the Rhino and it exploded, killing the rest of the nearby Grey Hunters. One of the Wolf Guard was slain in the wreck.

I decided not to charge the Wolf Guard with the Bikers or Black Knights. They are not actually all that great in combat and there were a lot of Storm Shields and good combat weapons in the squad.

At the end of my turn, I scored Secure Objective 5 and discarded Defend Objective 2.

VICTORY POINTS:
Space Wolves- 1 (0 cards)
Dark Angels- 1 (1 card)

A decent first turn all round. My firepower had done a fair bit of damage to the Space Wolves, killing both vehicles and a unit of Grey Hunters, as well as damaging two other units. However, the Space Wolves were in position to assault now and could do a lot of damage themselves.

TURN 2- SPACE WOLVES
In his second turn, Ben drew Defend Objective 2 to go with Secure Objective 1 and Counter Attack. He was in a good position to score this, as I had very little that could get there or target the unit.

The Wolf Guard moved up on the Ravenwing Bikers, the Wolf Lord and Battle Leader using their Jump Packs to move over and aid them. The Wulfen Dreadnought went to the left of the ruins, while Bjorn and the Venerable went to the right, supported by the Iron Priest and Rune Priest. On the other flank, the lone Blood Claw moved up on the Scouts. At the end of the phase, the Terminators arrived, landing behind the Ravenwing Bikers. I decided not to use Auspex Scan on the Intercessors, as only a couple could see the Terminators.

The Iron Priest healed two wounds on the Dreadnought.

In the psychic phase, the Rune Priest cast Smite, doing three mortal wounds on the Black Knights. He then cast Living Lightning, doing another three mortal wounds and leaving only 2 alive!

The Long Fangs then turned their attention on the Darkshroud, using the Wolf's Eye and Keen Senses stratagem to allow them to ignore negative modifiers to hit and re-roll failed to hit and to wound rolls, a powerful combination. I had forgot to advance the Darkshroud to get the invulnerable save as well.

The two surviving Lascannons both hit and wounded, doing 9 damage on 2D6, just enough to kill it! The Darkshroud exploded, forcing me to use a command point re-roll to stop it, as I simply had too many units around it to risk it.

With the Darkshroud gone, Bjorn fired at the Black Knights, hitting but failing to wound. The Terminators fired at the Bikers in front of them, hitting and wounding four times with the Storm Bolters. I failed three of my armour saves and one Biker died. The Assault Cannon wounded four times, but I made all my saves for once.

The Wulfen and Venerable Dreadnought both used their Smoke Launchers, hoping to shield their advance from the enemy guns.

In the charge phase, the Terminators assaulted the Bikers, taking one wound in overwatch. The squad made it in with the help of a command point re-roll, quickly followed by the Wolf Guard and Wolf Lord. The Wolf Guard Battle Leader failed to make the charge. On the other flank, the lone Blood Claw Sergeant charged the Scouts.

The Wolf Lord struck at the Bikers, easily dispatching them all with his Thunder Hammer. The Blood Claw and Scouts struck at one another, but neither managed to do any damage.

At the end of his turn, Ben scored no maelstrom cards and discarded Counter-Attack.

TURN 2- DARK ANGELS
In my turn, I drew Priority Orders Received (Assassinate) and Secure Objective 2. I also had Behind Enemy Lines. Once more, I used two command points to discard Priority Orders and drew Secure Objective 1, that was more like it.

On the left flank, the Landspeeder advanced into the enemy deployment zone. On the left flank, the Ravenwing retreated from the Space Wolves. The Primaris Master advanced to join them. I decided I would leave the Intercessors to hold the objective and slow down the Space Wolves. The Dreadnoughts were getting too close on the left flank and I wanted to make it more difficult for them to charge me.

The Apothecary managed to revive one Black Knight, giving me more Plasma fire.

The Scouts fired their pistols at the Blood Claw, but failed to do any damage. The Devastators fired their Heavy Bolter at the Long Fangs using the Helfire shells, killing the last two in the squad.

On the left flank, the Intercessors opened fire on the Wolf Guard, wounding them 8 times. Ben failed all three Storm Shield saves straight off and four of the unit succumbed. The Master fired at the squad, killing one more. The Landspeeder fired at the unit, killing the last of the Wolf Guard.

I used the Weapons of the Dark Age stratagem on the Black Knights and fired at the Wulfen Dreadnought with overcharging Plasma Talons. This was risky as he was at -1 to hit, but I needed to deal with him.
I managed three hits and three wounds with no loss to overheating. However, the Dreadnought made all his invulnerable saves.

The Apothecary, Ancient and Sammael fired at the Dreadnought, but only managed to do a single wound. The Talonmaster fired at Dreadnought, doing one more wound. The Smoke Launchers had been very effective in blocking my efforts with the Plasma Talons.

In the Fight phase, the Scouts were able to kill the Blood Claw.

At the end of my turn, I scored Behind Enemy Lines and Secure Objective 1. I discarded Secure Objective 2. Ben also scored Defend Objective 2.

VICTORY POINTS:
Space Wolves- 3 (1 card)
Dark Angels- 3 (3 cards)

At the end of turn 2, the score was even, but I was ahead on the number of cards scored. Things were also pretty enough on the tabletop, as both armies had been hit hard. However, I had three Dreadnoughts bearing down on me and little firepower left to deal with them.

TURN 3- SPACE WOLVES
In his third turn, Ben drew Defend Objective 5, Secure Objective 1 and Oath of Vengeance (kill a character that your opponent selects, I chose the Talonmaster).

The Wulfen Dreadnought moved towards the Scouts holding Objective 5, while the other two Dreadnoughts moved up on the Black Knights. The Terminators, Wolf Lord and Battle Leader moved to engage the Intercessors. The remaining Grey Knights advanced out of the ruins towards the Landspeeder.

In the psychic phase, the Rune Priest cast Smite, killing a Black Knight. He then cast Living Lighting, targeting the Intercessors who were now the closest unit and doing three mortal wounds to kill two.

The Wulfen Dreadnought fired its Heavy Flamer at the Scouts, wounding them three times. I failed all three 4+ armour saves (thanks to cover).
Bjorn fired at the Landspeeder, doing four wounds on it with a command point re-roll. The Terminators split their fire between the wounded Landspeeder and Intercessors, taking the Landspeeder down to one wound and killing one Primaris Marine.

In the charge phase, the Wulfen Dreadnought tried to charge the Scouts, but failed to make the distance. The Terminators charged the Intercessors, taking no damage in overwatch and making it in. The Wolf Lord and Wolf Guard Battle Leader also made it in.

The Venerable Dreadnought attempted to charge the Black Knights, failing the 10" charge with a command point re-roll.

In the Fight phase, the Wolf Lord killed 5 Intercessors, activating his Saga bubble. I removed the casualties to stop the Terminators attacking, but the Battle Leader was able to finish off the last survivor in the squad.

At the end of his turn, Ben scored Secure Objective 1 and discarded Oath of Vengeance.

TURN 3- DARK ANGELS
In my third turn, I drew Kingslayer, Scour the Skies and Secure Objective 3. This was an interesting draw. If I committed my Ravenwing forces left and kill the enemy Wolf Lord, I would score Kingslayer, Warlord and Scour the Skies. However, I would probably lost much of my army in reply. Did I have enough forces left to survive to the end of the game?

After much consideration I decided to go for it. Sammael, the Apothecary, Ancient, Talonmaster and Black Knights moved to the left flank to target the Space Wolves. On the right flank, the Scouts moved up to the first level of the ruins to stop the Dreadnought from charging them, while the Landspeeder moved up on the Grey Hunters.

The Apothecary tried to resurrect a Black Knight, but failed to do so, even with a command point re-roll (but I got to keep the command point).

I used the Weapons of the Dark Age stratagem on the Black Knights (keeping the command point once more) and fired at the Wolf Lord, putting four wounds on him. Ben failed one invulnerable save with one CP re-roll. Sammael then fired at him, doing one wound with his Plasma Cannon. His Storm Bolters did one more wound, leaving him on one.

The Ancient fired at the Wolf Lord and was finally able to slay him with his Plasma Talons.

With the Lord dead, the Ravenwing turned their attention to the Terminators. The Talonmaster fired at the squad, killing one of them. The Landspeeder managed to kill one more and wound another. The Devastators fired their Helfire Shells at the Terminators, doing three mortal wounds and leaving one surviving member of the squad.

The other Landspeeder fired on the Grey Hunters, killing one. The Scouts fired at the Cyberwolf, wounding him once but failing to get past his armour save.

At the end of the phase, Ben used the Lone Wolf stratagem on the Terminator, powering him up.

In the charge phase, the Black Knights assaulted the Terminator, while Sammael, the Primaris Master and Ancient charged the Battle Leader.

Ben used the Armour of Russ to force Sammael to strike last. The Black Knights struck at the Terminator, wounding him once. He then used two command points to interrupt with the Battle Leader. The Space Wolves character attacked the Primaris Master, taking three wounds from him.

The Master and Ancient attacked the Wolf Leader, taking one wound from him. The Terminator struck at the Black Knights, killing both of them. Sammael then got to strike, killing the Wolf Guard Battle Leader.

At the end of my turn, I scored three points for Kingslayer, Scour the Skies, Secure Objective 3 and Slay the Warlord.

VICTORY POINTS:
Space Wolves- 4 (2 cards)
Dark Angels- 9 (6 cards)

A very good turn for me had seen me go ahead in victory points and number of cards scored. However, the Space Wolves counter attack could be devastating to my units.

TURN 4- SPACE WOLVES
In his fourth turn, Ben drew Master the Warp and Stuff of Sagas (kill an enemy vehicle or monster) and had Defend Objective 5.

On the left flank, the Wulfen Dreadnought and Cyberwolf moved up on the objective, while the Grey Hunters moved towards the Ravenwing Landspeeder.

Bjorn, the Venerable Dreadnought and Iron Priest moved up on the Dark Angels characters on the ruins, the Rune Priest manoeuvring to target the enemy warlord.

In the psychic phase, the Rune Priest cast Smite, killing the Primaris Master. He then cast Living Lightning, putting one mortal wound on the Ravewing Ancient.

Bjorn fired his Cannon at the Landspeeder, destroying it. There may have been more powerful targets, but the destruction of the vehicle by a character would mean D3 victory points for the maelstrom card. He fired his flamer at the Ancient, scoring 5 hits but not a single wound.

The Iron Priest fired his Frost Pistol at the Talonmaster, taking two wounds from him. On the other flank, the Dreadnought fired its Heavy Flamer at the two Scouts, hitting twice but failing to wound.

In the charge phase, Bjorn assaulted Sammael, taking one wound from overwatch fire in the process. The Venerable Dreadnought charged the Ravenwing Apothecary and Ancient, taking two wounds from overwatch fire.

Bjorn struck at Sammael, wounding him five times. I only took a single wound thanks to a command point re-roll. Ben rolled for the damage, hoping to get a 6 on the D6 and kill him outright, but Sammael only took 3 wounds.

The Venerable Dreadnought split his attacks between the two Ravenwing characters, killing both with its powerful attacks. The lone Terminator attacked Sammael, wounding him twice, but could not get past his invulnerable save.

In reply, the Ravenwing Master cut down the Lone Wolf Terminator.

At the end of  his turn, Ben scored Master the Warp and Stuff of Saga (though only rolled a 1 on the D3 roll), as well as slay the Warlord.

TURN 4- DARK ANGELS
In my fourth turn, I drew Secure Objective 4, No Prisoners and Supremacy.

Sammael fell back from combat towards the nearby objective, while the Talonmaster moved over to target the troublesome Rune Priest. The Scouts on the other flank moved over to secure the objective.

In the shooting phase, the Devastators fired at the Cyberwolf, doing one wound with the Heavy Bolter, but the Wolf survived. The Scouts fired their Bolters at the Wolf, but did no damage as well! I thought that would be my easy kill for No Prisoners.

The Ravenwing Landspeeder fired at the Grey Hunters, killing one of the squad.

The Talonmaster opened fire on the Rune Priest at point blank range, doing 13 wounds on the enemy psyker and slaying him outright. Sammael fired his Plasma Cannon at Bjorn, wounding him once. The Storm Bolters fired at the Iron Priest, wounding him once as well.

At the end of my turn, I scored 3 pts for Supremacy, Secure Objective 4 and No Prisoners.

VICTORY POINTS:
Space Wolves- 7 (4 cards)
Dark Angels- 14 (9 cards)

At the end of turn 4, things were looking good for the Dark Angels. I was winning by double and only had one card left to finish the game. However, I had very few models left on the board and three enemy Dreadnoughts running around to cause carnage.

TURN 5- SPACE WOLVES
In his fifth turn, Ben drew Secure Objective 4 and Unleash the Wolves (charge with two units), to go with Defend Objective 5.

Bjorn moved up on the Talonmaster, while the Iron Priest went to target Sammael. On the other flank, the Grey Hunters moved to engage the Landspeeder, while the Wulfen Dreadnought closed on the Scouts.

Bjorn fired at Sammael, wounding him once, but he made his invulnerable save. The Iron Priest fired his Frost Pistol at Sammael, hitting and wounding. However, Ben only rolled a 1 for the damage, needing a 2 to kill him off!

The Grey Hunters fired their Meltagun at the Landspeeder, hitting and taking 5 wounds from it to leave it on one. The squad's Bolters fired, doing a single wound. I failed my armour save and the vehicle was destroyed.

In the charge phase, the Wulfen Dreadnought and Cyberwolf charged the two Scouts. Bjorn and the Venerable Dreadnought charged the Talonmaster. The Iron Priest attempted to charge Sammael, taking two wounds in overwatch to leave him on a single wound. Ben then made the 11" charge to get into combat with the Ravenwing Master!

The Iron Priest struck at Sammael, hitting and wounding twice. One of the wounds got through and the Tempest Hammer finished off Sammael.

Bjorn easily dispatched the Talonmaster, while the Wulfen Dreadnought killed the Scouts.

At the end of his turn, Ben scored Secure Objective 4 and Unleash the Wolves. I had only 5 models left. I had to hope for a good set of cards to be able to win the game.

TURN 5- DARK ANGELS
In my fifth turn, I drew Secure Objective 3, Defend Objective 3 and Defend Objective 1.

The Devastators fired at the Cyberwolf, killing it before they retired from the field of battle.

At the end of my turn, I scored Secure Objective 3, taking me to 10 cards and ending the game (as well as giving me the bonus points). Ben also scored Defend Objective 5.

VICTORY POINTS:
Space Wolves- 11 (7 cards)
Dark Angels- 18 (10 cards)

A win for the Dark Angels.

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS
Thanks to Ben for another great game against his Space Wolves, the new codex has done a great job with them and I look forward to getting many more games in against them.

The first two turns were incredibly close, with the score equal (but with me ahead on more cards). I was actually quite worried by my card draw on turn 3, as Kingslayer is something I normally try and avoid (too difficult in most cases).

My original plan was to retreat with my Ravenwing forces further towards the right flank to escape the Dreadnoughts and Rune Priest. However, it was actually Ben that convinced me I would be better to go for it with my firepower and combat ability, scoring 5 points if I could kill his warlord. I decided to just go for it, figuring it would make for a more exciting battle report (this can affect my gameplay a fair bit, to be honest!).

As it was, the tactic worked out well and I was able to score all three cards on my turn, giving me a good lead and pointing me towards victory.

I was lucky the game ended when it did, as I think there was a real possibility of being tabled had the game gone on for another couple of turns, as I had little left on the board.

The new FAQ would not have had too much of an effect on this game, I think. The one big change is the command point regeneration. My rolling for my warlord trait was hot in this game, and I got back a ton of command points over the course of the game. This will no longer be an issue, as I will be restricted to one per battle round.

I was actually quite pleased with how the army performed.

The big unit of Black Knights was pretty good. It really helped that I was able to hide them from the Long Fangs on turn one. This allowed them to survive a lot of the enemy firepower. The Apothecary was quite useful in this regard too. This is one of the few times where the unit has survived long enough to make use of him, so I would probably take him again if I was using a big unit.

The Ancient was a bit useless to be honest. If he had the "shoot back" ability that other ancients had, he would be great, but the +1 attack isn't such a big deal for the Black Knights, as I don't really want them in combat. He was useful for getting extra attacks for Sammael though.

I was really surprised with the Talonmaster and Landspeeders. The Talonmaster can put out a ton of mid-strength firepower, with 18 shots hitting on a 3+ (when moving) and wounding on a 3+ (with re-rolls of 1). At AP-1 and ignoring cover, it is actually pretty good for taking down Marines thanks to the volume of shots.

The Landspeeders were also pretty good for their firepower. On the move, they only hit on a 4+, but the Heavy Bolter and Assault Cannon combination gives them 9 shots, so the ability to do a fair bit of damage. With Sammael nearby or not moving them, you can actually get a fair bit of damage on an enemy unit. Their high move of 16" is also great for grabbing objectives and getting into position. They are also a bit more durable than Bikers with a higher toughness making them less vulnerable to small arms fire.

I also liked the big unit of Intercessors. In rapid fire range they are really strong, putting out a large number of AP-1 shots. The Chapter Tactics also benefit them greatly, allowing you to re-roll half your misses in most cases, as well as ensuring you won't lose too many to a failed morale test.

I was also impressed with the Space Wolves army.

The Dreadnoughts are pretty solid. I think the invulnerable save is what really makes them so powerful. They were able to block a lot of Plasma damage that would have easily destroyed a normal Dreadnought. They were also beasts in combat, destroying pretty much anything they touch. Ben also used the Smoke Launchers very well to protect them in the key second turn where the broke cover to get to my units. Had he made some long range charges on turn 3, I would have been in big trouble.

I think giving all Dreadnoughts a 5+ (or even 4+) invulnerable save would be a great boost for them and allow you to see them a lot more on the tabletop.

The Rune Priest was also very scary. The combination of Smite and Living Lightning doing 2D3 wounds to mostly the same unit is killer. He was a big factor in taking out the Black Knights so easily. It also doesn't help that Ben was rolling great on the number of mortal wounds for both.

Overall, a great game. Hopefully, I'll get Ben along to film a game with his Space Wolves at some point in the near future.