The War Altar: Thunderwolf Lords at the ETC

So behind closed doors coming up to the submission of lists tonight for the European Team Championships Team Republic of Ireland and Team Northern Ireland have been contemplating a certain Codex Space Wolves list centred on multi Thunderwolf Lords running at the enemy then splitting off and going their seperate ways.

Coupled with the traditional Space Wolf Scout squad, solid mounted scoring options and ranged firepower in the form of Long Fangs it seemed a promising candidate for the ETC where matchups can be tailored somewhat.

Venerable master John Stowe (of the Dublin Games Guild/Northern Wasters/Vice Captain Team Northern Ireland 2011) brought the list to last week's QCon in Belfast, probably in an attempt to persuade his Team Northern Ireland Captain Jonny Fisher to consider it viable for ETC selection. Well Mr. Stowe achieved 7th place with the following list:

I personally don't think the list holds much water on the Irish scene, particularly the Lords are subject to some things which, although rarely faced now, would ruin your day. Lash, psyker battle squads are a couple that spring to mind although 5+ saves against psychic powers and psychic hoods can help with this, on top of which John took a Wolf Priest with Jump Pack and meltabombs to avoid the 'blob' getting escorted off the table.

The list is solid for the ETC though and while I wouldn't take that exact list I would want a slightly modified one to sit on that eight-man ETC squad. While bidding it can be an excellent list to gut certain other ones, apparently it does quite a number on Vendetta Guard but should be kept away from Stealer Shock and Dark Eldar (in fact a venom spam Dark Eldar list 19-1'ed John at QCon in the first round (commanded by none other than Alec 'The Master' Cornelius of the Warheads). It also does well against most medium mech armies but also heavy mech (Land Raider spam isn't uncommon at the ETC).

Possibly more important is the fact that apart from Dark Eldar and Genestealers this list has very few straight up counterlists, something which weighs heavy on a bidding captain's mind. This could also skew the opposing team's bid strategy. While I'm certainly not the expert on this list I trust the views of those who back its taking on to a team, guys like John Stowe who are so convinced by it they'll spend their precious few tournaments trying it out in public just to convince fellow team mates.