13th Company Tactica

[Serpent]

Just as with the old Tactica, this could be the thread where we discuss tactics using the 13th Company. Please add your thoughts.

I'm up for a tournament the coming weekend and believe myself to have got a few things right, at least. I usually go for large units nowadays. Even my fire-decoy Wulfen Unit have been beefed up to eight models, to be able to weather the fire.

The idea is to sprint up in the middle with the Wulfen (or up a flank if it's too flat ground in the middle of the field), getting the opponent to either split his fire between lots of units (I'll have about four units halfway across the table after the first turn), or only concentrate on one, thus giving the other units a worry-free ride into combat.

I always use a Fenrisian Wolf unit at least 10 wolves strong. Their job is to run into whatever screens the enemy firepower units may have. (Last game they ran into a Nurgling horde, and then blocked half the Death Guard army from shooting altogether.) After running straight into the enemy wall, they will usually hold anything up for at least a turn or two.

Serpent

[Wolflord Bloodangel]

Ive had some success with my 13th Company (as theyre a WIP), and oddly enough I dont have a single unit of Wulfen (didnt wanna buy any models for the army, just got converting).

I too have 2 units of wolves (only 8 strong) whose job it is to block line of sight with their first turn charge. However to ensure these guys pack more than a little punch Ive got a tooled up Wolf Lord mounted on a bike. With his turbo boost and Runic Armour he has a 2+ invulnerable save for the first turn of the game (with a Runic Charm reroll too). After that hes plunged into the enemy's most threatening squad (preferably something like a Devestator Squad) and generally makes a good show of things.

Trudging forwards is a large, hurty, unit of Storm Claws to finish any assaults, or pockets of resistance. My two mobile support squads are medium sized grey slayer packs (one with meltas, one with plasmas) who are either used to support the advance, or gated around to go tank or character hunting.

After that theres only room for a Las/Missile Long Fang pack as Fire Support, and thats 1500p.


For 2000p I can only see points enough for a Wolf Priest (to trudge along with my Storm Claws) and more men for each squad.



13th Company have struck me as an exceptionally fun army. Due to their small numbers theyre always threatening to be blown off the board, but it only takes one guy to enter combat and you can carve your way through half their army (as a pack leader can pack up to 8 attacks on the charge..)

[Inquisitor DreaxIV]

Ive only played about three games with the 13th Company and won two of them. The games were 1000 points each and the main tactic i used was gating some wulfen right behind their havoc squads or heavy weapon platoons.
Once the wulfen tore through most of them, he had to redeploy his army to counter his threat which gave me the time to speed my bikers and stormclaws right nto his army.
It kinda failed when my rune preist got kiled by a barrage of 2 havoc squads so i had to trudge it out after my bikers were the next target of his entire army. I need to learn to not depend on one tactic for them if im going to start an army of them.

[Wolflord Bloodangel]

Unfortunately thats extremely risky, as youve gotta weather an entire turn of shooting before your Wulfen can assault

Thats why I use my Gaters to put good shooting power near to a vulnerable target (preferably on a flank), and then move back to the main combat the turn after. I pack both special weapons, and a combiweapon of the same type into my Grey Slayers.

My last game was against an Armoured Company at 1500p, 2 Demolishers and 4 Russes..... somehow I only lost on table quarters... Quite interesting game, as my Long Fangs did NOTHING, while my wolves spent the time hunting the rear armour of Russes and actually kille one! I gated my melta squad into a forest in the middle of his army (and rolled a hit on the scatter) but failed to destroy the target, and was summarily shot to *****.

[Rabid Bunny 666]

last game with 13th co, 1 year ago, really good army, i use a long fang rocket launcher pack, 20 grey slayers with plasma/melta combos, a wolflord in the centre to hold the line and 3 power weapon bikers to spedbump against the opponent, they normally munched through 2 or 3 units, sometimes the rocket pack is swapped for meltaguns for an assault army

[Serpent]

Sorry for dredging this thread up again, but I had to point something out...

Ive only played about three games with the 13th Company and won two of them. The games were 1000 points each and the main tactic i used was gating some wulfen right behind their havoc squads or heavy weapon platoons.

As you can't Gate the Wulfen (or any character apart from the Rune Priest), that tactic is not viable. Unfortunately...

I entered my 13th Company into the tournie I mentioned above, and had a few fun games with them. As has been said, you're always in danger of being blown off the board. My bikers almost never paid for themselves, though.

Serpent

[Mars]

I'm currently working on my 13th Company army. Here are a few tactics I plan on using:

- Lots of Grey Slayers. I have 40+, including 3 plasma guns, 3 melta guns, a flamer and 2 Wolf Guard with power fists and bolt pistols.

I prefere Grey Slayers over the other units: they're cheap (for what they can do anyway), flexible (close combat and shooting power), relatively mobile (Scout move + 6" with Move Through Cover gets you within rapid fire range quickly). I think their biggest problem is their lack of power fists (to deal with Dreads, Carnies,... stuff you can't handle with chainswords), wich is why I include Wolf Guard Pack Leaders.

One tactic I wanna try is a pack of 10, with a Pack Leader with Mark of the Wulfen. These guys are my front liners: they're a fearless hardcore close combat unit heading straigth for the enemy line, wich would force the enemy to shoot them. Wich is good, because than he's not shooting the rest of my army, wich is not fearless and I hate the idea of a unit falling back.

I'm also going for two units with plasma and melta gun: they'll be my second wave, giving fire support to my front line units, acting as a reserve, as well as a making a good Gate unit to accompany my Rune Priest (a decent scatter roll and that's up to 6 plasma gun shots at the enemy rear, plus bolter shots).

A word on Pack Leaders, I think they're great: with wolf cloak they give you 5 power fist attacks, plus re-rolls/hitting on 3+/extra attacks for 10 to 20 points extra. I also like to give them a Runic Charm, great stuff for 5 points.

- Storm Claws: I have one unit of these, with 2 plasma pistols and 2 power fists. In smaller games I drop the 2 with plasma pistols, giving me a fairly cheap unit that can hunt down heavies (Dreads etc) and take them out in close combat.
In bigger games I keep the plasma pistols, giving me extra bodies and the ability to hurt the heavies even at range.

- Wulfen: I'm yet to get some of these for my army (preferebly 2nd hand, they're rather expensive). If I do they'll be used in 1500+ point games, as a bodyguard for my Wolf Priest. I love the idea of using a unit of 15, but since 13th Company is limited to games below 2250is points, that leaves me little room for other toys (bikes, long fangs).

Word on the Wolf Priest: Healing Potions and Balms is great (one saved Wulfen and it'll have earned it's points back), he gets to fleet of foot (to bad he doesn't have a power fist, just in case), and gives the unit that little extra ("little" being 6 S4 power weapon attacks at WS and I 5...). With the Space Marine codex update, it's also worth now taking the Fang of Morkhai: for 5 extra points you basicly make the unit he joins fearless against shooting .

- Wolf Lord: not sure about this guy. I like the idea of him running around with a plasma pistol (extra BS5 S7 AP2 shot), frost axe and maybe Mark of the Wulfen, joining a pack of Storm Claws, but
A) he's slow, and thus an easy target for enemy shooting
B) I already have plenty of close combat models in my army
C) he's vulnerable to hidden power fists/heavies (dreads etc)

This is why I'm working on a conversion with a bike and a thunder hammer, maybe a storm shield. For 150ish points you have a model that's fast, though to kill and is great for taking out vehicles (I hate Preds and stuff: the rest of my army can't really kill them) and easily engage infantry units (preferebly Devestators etc, but if he smacks around a unit or two of Marines he'll earn back his points as well, and even against a hidden power fist they still strike at the same time and he gets a 4+ Inv Save).

- Storm Claw Bikers: definitly want plenty of these, as they add speed and manouvrability to the army, something the rest lacks. With all their weapon options, they're also very good at killing their chosen prey. The main problem is their point cost (wich means small-sized units, wich means they won't live very long) and I need the Fast Attack choices for my Wolves.

- Wolves: brilliant unit. In 4th Edition they can basicly charge 30" by the end of turn one, engaging pretty much any unit in close combat before they can fire. And even if they don't get the first turn, you can easily move them behind cover and charge guaranteed on turn 2.

They're pretty cheap at 10 points (remember, they hit as a hard as an assault marine), and though too (T4 and Marine Morale is pretty hard to break, plus potential cover saves). The more the better (I have 10 already, and am currently looking into getting another 30... ).

- Long Fangs: last unit on my list, probably the most tricky. Their main problem is the price tag (and my lack of painting abilities): for a unit of 5 with some decent guns you easily pay more than 200 points, that's about a full pack of Grey Slayers.

But still, I do believe they have their use. A few guidelines:
- Make full use of their Scout move. Move in or out of preferable Line of Sight.
- Keep them in cover. T4, 3+ save/cover save, Ld9 and "And They Shall Know No Fear" makes this a hard unit to kill.
- Use them for psychological warfare. Even if they don't fire a single shot, they still force the enemy to deal with them because of the threat they pose: he'll have to choose between shooting the close combat maniacs at close range, or the shooting maniacs at long range.

Mars, studying.

[Keravin]

Very happy to see this thread back. The main addition to my 13th Company has been about 20 wolves, but I've not painted them yet so not had a chance to be used. They're in line to be painted before the bikers though after reading comments on here and elsewhere.

[grave digger]

Hello fellow Wolf Brothers.

I've been collecting figures for a 13th Company for some time (over a year). Been reading Tactic threads (ala old PORTENT) and discussing with friends. Plus I've been reading, reading, reading the Codex. My goal this summer is to finally build my army.

Any case, I would like to ask some Long Fangs to give me a hand. I'll tell you the small theme I have and what I've got knocking about, any you can build my 1500pt list. How's that grab ya?

So, here is the Theme: Heavy RT era. Almost all of the figures are RT or Second Edition. This is to be the 13th shortly after they went into the Eye. No mish-mash of Chaos armour for me (not too fond of the look).

I have:
*~40 plastic Beakie Marines (only 10 are assembled)

*~30 metal RT marines (various mix of figures, enough to make one 10 man squad of Strom Claws, various Wolf Guard and such)

*Enough special and heavy weapons to make whatever is needed (shark fin launchers, shoulder and hip slung las cannons, old plastic flamers. Hell, I even have Conversion Beamers)

*5 Bikes

*25 Wolves

*10 Wulfen

*1 limited run Wolf Priest
*1 new Rune Priest and 1 in Terminator armour
*1 Wolf Head Commander (not sure if I want him for the Wolf Lord or as a Mark of the Wulfen Wolf Guard).

There ya go. What competive army would you make with the above mentioned figures?

Come on, help a brother out.

Diggs

[Keravin]

To be able to realistically assemble a 13th company army I'd need to know whether the Beakies are just Bolter armed (which I assume they are).

From my own experiences of building what are basically two 13th Company forces you need a fair number of chainswords.

[grave digger]

The plastic Beakies are the old (30 to a box) bolter beakies.

The metal figures have a mix of bolters, special weapons, heavy weapons and Close Combat weapons. I can make at least one squad of Storm Claws (Chain Swords, Power fists, Power Weapons). I might be able to squeeze in one more squad with some conversions.

I also have some new plastics and SW sprues so all of my Wolf Guard could be from these figures.

Diggs

[Keravin]

I figured it was the really old ones (Mine have gone into mixed squads of my normal Marine Chapter). Well your core unit (unless you go for the Wulfen army) is the Grey Slayers who are all armed with Bolter and Close combat weapons.

Grey Slayers are worth their weight in gold in my opinion.

Storm Claws - I tend to use them as a bodyguard for my Wolf Lord.

[grave digger]

I do know that I need two or more Grey Slayer squads. I'm thinking 3-4 in all. They appear on paper to be fantastic Core troops (three attacks at all times is very nice).

I also know that in 1500pts I really should not go with both a Wulfen and Storm Claw squad. Just too much.

What I'm looking for are peoples ideas on what would make a balanced all-comers list.

Diggs

[Rabid Bunny 666]

i used to go for 2 squads of 10, my wolflord, a longfang pack and a power weapon equipped bike squad

worked really well, it could advance with covering fire or just go for a firing line/counter attack tactic

[Keravin]

From my perspective (which is mostly based on 500 point games at the moment as I've been painting the army) your core army should be:

Obviously a Wolf Lord 75 points

At 1500 you'll have one other character. If you're not going Wolfen crazy to start with then go for a Rune Priest as they are lots of fun and the gate is great against opponents who aren't expecting it. 80 points

3 Grey Slayers - I tend to go for 2 melta guns in each to deal with tanks. With 6 figures in each minimum that's 146 per squad. So for 3 = 378 pts

Wolves - Probably 10 = 100 pts.

Before any other kit or units that's 633.

I'd go for the Storm Claws as a bodyguard on the Wolf Lord, Mark of wulfen on him and they become a fearsome combat unit (even in this quite mad army).

[Xhalax]

Yes, Chainswords aplenty for the 13th Co. Or at least for mine as I use lots of Storm Claws as I find they seem to perform better than my Grey Slayers, who always seem to get stomped on pretty early in the game.
What can I say, I'm an elitist snob!
But a Storm Claw bodyguard to a Wolf Lord with Mark of the Wulfen is so much fun to fight with. Talk about hard-core!

Grave Digger....You idea sounds good and goes along with the fluff better than the current models as they all should be in old mark armour as they've been out of the loop for quite a while.
I'm not overly fond of the chaos bits either, mainly coz i can't paint them very well (not that my painting is all tat brilliant anyway). But i understand why they're included with the 13th Co, as 10,000 years is a long time to keep armoour in servicable condition.
Can't really comment on the special and heavy weapons since I'm a n00b to this sort of thing so anything not 3rd and 4th edition is lost on me
*hangs her head in shame*

Your Rune Priest in Terminator Armour, if you're going to have him Gating around the place, then it'll be ok to attatch him to a squad. But I'd advise against attaching him to a squad if you're just going to walk him around as Termie armour doesn't really do 13th Co any favours as a whole. It slows down the squad and speed is the 13th Co's best asset.

But you're list sounds alright

[Keravin]

Special weapons I use:

As I said two meltas in my core squads.

I also have a squad (maybe two) with two flamers though I haven't used those yet. Might use them for a very risky gate.

Long Fangs wise - two squads
One with 2 Lascannons and 2 Missile Launchers
The other with 2 Missile Launchers and 2 heavy Bolters.


I like the idea of using the old marks. You not going to show any chaos effect?

You seen the recent pre heresy armour gallery on GW's website?

[Xhalax]

I'm trying a special weapons (2 meltas and 2 plasma guns) Long Fang pack as an alternative to heavy weapons....as they tend to get squashed just as quickly as the Grey Slayer.
Plus it gives me a tank busting squad....which can take out a couple of tanks at once as long as the pack leader is still alive.
I love 13th Co special rules.

[Rabid Bunny 666]

i liked the 4 melta combo, 20 grey hunters walking alongside with a wolflord and the bikes proved a killer combo if they all hit within 2 turns of each other, the bikes charging really hard things, such as termies and cutting them down with 10 power weapon attacks, the wolflord teaching characters a lesson and the grey slayers duffing over everything else

the best moment was tricking a leman russ to turn round, exposing its rear armour to a rocket longfang squad so he could fire 9 heavy bolter shots into my wolflord and grey slayers (i had meltagunned the battlecannon off)

then the rest of the game was hunting down the 40 or so mutants and 60 or so guard with a chaos lord, fun stuff when you charge into a unit of 20 muties and let them surround your 10 men, then fork out a healthy 20 attacks back, a morale draining tactic thet often annoyed my opponents

i may start using them again, thank you Serpent!

[grave digger]

Thanx for the tips guys. I'll work up a list tonight/tomorrow morning and post it for your all to tear apart.

I was thinking of giving the Wolf Lord a bike and running him with a large pack of Wolves. If the Lord stays withing 6" he should be immune to incoming shots and that should tick off many individuals.

I like the meltas (all around goodness) but think I'll take one squad with plasma. A smaller squad that offers fire support while the others advance.

Let you know later,

Diggs