Deathwing vs Wolfwing Part 2

 know that there have been many, many comparisons done between the Deathwing and the Wolfwing. The pros and cons of each. I have even talked about some of them in an earlier post detailing why I chose DW over WW. There is a very good over all comparision between Deathwing and Wolfwing done by Ron at FTW and can be read HERE

This however will be a direct comparison between my current Deathwing list and the closest I can get to it using the Wolfwing.

THE LISTS:

My Death Wing - 1750

~Belial

~Interogator Chaplain in Termie armour

~Squad 1

3 x Lightning Claws

Apothocary with Stormbolter / Powerfist

Banner Bearer with Stormbolter / Power fist

~Squad 2

Power Weapon / Storm Bolter

Heavy Flamer with Chainfist

2 x Powerfist / Storm Bolter

Lightning Claws

~Squad 3

Power Weapon / Storm Bolter

Stormbolter / Chainfist

2 x Powerfist / Storm Bolter

Lightning Claws

~Squad 4

2 x TH/SS

Assault Cannon / Powerfist

2 x Powerfist / Stormbolter

~Dreadnought with Assault Cannon

~Dreadnought with Plasma Cannon

~Land Raider with Extra Armour

This gives me 2 IC, 20 terminators, 2 Dreads and a Land Raider.

Belial and the chaplain run with Squad 1. This gives them a total of 6 LC and 5 PW I5 WS5 attacks, 15 LC I4 W4 attacks and 8 I1 W4 Powerfist attacks on the charge. Rerolling to hit. Its pretty devastating when it hits. These chaps either DS or walk across the field. The apothecary gives them the ability to shrug off 1 non-instant death wound per turn as long as they are not in CC.

Squad 3 Rolls in the Raider. This means that they generally sit in the backfield  protecting an objective while the raider snipes at vehicles.

Squad 2 and 4 walk across the field, each supported by a dreadnought.

This seems to work. I have not lost a 1v1 game yet using this configuration.

Now lets have a look at as close a list as I can come up with using WW

Wolf Wing – 1805 points

~Logan Grimnar

~Wolf Priest in Termie Armour

~Squad 1

3 x Wolf Claw

2 x Powerfist / Stormbolter

~Squad 2

Power Weapon/Storm Bolter

Heavy Flamer/Chain F ist

Wolf Claws

2 x Stormbolter/PowerFist

~Squad 3

Power Weapon/Storm Bolter

Wolf Claws

Stormbolter / Chainfist

2 x Stormbolter/PowerFist

~Squad 4

2 x TH/SS

Assault Cannon / Powerfist

2 x Powerfist / Stormbolter

~Dreadnought with Plasma Cannon

~Dreadnought with Assault Cannon

~Land Raider with extra armour

This is an exact model count duplicate.

My tactics would be slightly different here. I would run Grimnar with Squad 1 and the Wolf priest with Squad 4. This way, both of the squads would get preferred enemy.

Assuming he does not use his Living Legend rule, Grimnar gets 6 attacks on the charge, the Wolf Claw chaps would get 12 I4, WS4 attacks and I would choose for them to re-roll “to wound” and the Powerfists get 6 I1 WS4 attacks. Getting charged or charging this unit would be a very painful experience.

Squad 2 and 4 would be supported by a dreadnought each

Squad 3 would sit in the Raider, same as the Deathwing and Squad 4 would be walking.

COMPARISON:

The Wolfwing comes in at 55 points more costly. This can be solved by removing a single TH/SS termie from the list. This of course drops your unit count by 1.

Belial vs Grimnar is a no brainer. Grimnar utterly outclasses Belial in every way possible except price. He is more than double the cost of Belial.

Chaplain vs Wolf Priest. This one is a little more tough to call. The Wolf priest is 25 points cheaper and gives preferred enemy. However I would have to go with the Chaplain. He retains the old chaplain stats i.e. higher Initiative, more wounds and attacks and also allows you to re-roll hits on the charge. I think that is worth the 25 points.

Squad 1. The WW squad is cheaper but is missing out on the extra attack from the banner as well as the ignored wound from the apothecary. Do I think that makes a difference. Well, if Grimnar is attached I don’t think the extra attack matters but I think that being able to shrug off a wound is well worth the extra points. A Deathwing termie costs 53 points, the apothecary upgrade is 30. Save 1 wound and it has paid for itself. I think the Deathwing Squad comes out on top.

Squad 2 and 3 are almost identical in price so no real differences.

Squad 4. The WW squad is more expensive but overall is the better pick. You get the upgraded Storm shields so its more survivable and if you attach the Wolfpriest its going to be quite nasty in combat.

Dreadnoughts – roughly the same price so no real difference there. However the old style smoke makes them more survivable so I would choose the DW dreads.

Land Raider. Also a hard one to choose between. They cost the same but the WW version comes with the new POTMS. For a raider that is being used as a firebase I think this may be the better bet as it allows you to shoot with BS4 and split fire. However for a moving LR you really need the extra armour to stay mobile. While you can afford this in the DW list you won’t be able to get it in the WW list. In fact, with the old POTMS you can still go 6 inches without the extra armour if you are stunned plus shoot a weapon at BS2.

This, coupled with the old style smoke makes me choose the DW raider.

A few other army wide differences are the smoke launchers and the fact that Deathwing armies are all fearless. The smoke is an important issue. With the plethora of Melta around, the ability to make all penetrating hits glancing for a round is invaluable and has saved my bacon more than once. The pros and cons of fearless units are well documented so I wont rehash that except to say that I really like it.

CONCLUSION:

Its odd, when I started this I fully expected for the Wolfwing to come out on top. However, looking at it I would hazard that the Deathwing sneaks out in front. Now granted that this is a direct comparision and I doubt that a Wolfwing player would have a unit set up like this and is unlikely to have the same play style or tactics usage but I think the principles are sound. This is especially true since to get an army comparable to mine the Wolfwing has to compromise on number of models or wargear choices. It cant have both as it is just too pricey.