To the Kantian Side once more: Examples of Consequentialist and Non consequentialist armies

For this article I will be creating and explaining "consequentialist and non-consequentialist" lists in 40k. For this purpose I will be using the Space Wolf Codex for it is the codex that I know best.

Army 1 "The Consequentialist"

HQ
Thunder Wolf Lord - 295
- TH/SS
- WTN/WTT
- Saga of the Bear
- 2x Fen wolves

Rune Priest - 100

Troops

(3x) 5x Grey Hunters - 450
- Flamer
-Razorback (Assault Cannon)

 5x Grey Hunters - 155
- Meltagun
-Razorback (Assault Cannon)

Fast Attack
5x Thunder Wolves - 370
- TH/SS
- 2x SS

15x Fen Wolves - 120

Heavy Support

6x Long Fangs - 140
- 5x Missile Launchers

Predator - 120
- Las Sponsons

Total: 1750

Here the Consequentialist (which is me, if you look at the list and than look at my spocon list) would use his Fen Wolves as a  throw-away, to be thrown at units to provoke counter assaults and lead the way for the Thunder Wolf Cav. The Fen Wolves themselves are not important, merely what they can do for my cavalry is.

Also the Grey Hunters are at their bare minimum, the only reasons for them is to hold objectives and to get me assault cannons. I do not expect them to do any heavy lifting themselves.

Consequentialist armies are often heavily pointed in areas other than in troops. The exception of course being armies like nids and orks. They use their troops as relative throwaways in order to gain advantages for their more hard hitting units.

List 2: Non Consequentialist Armies

HQ

Rune Priest - 115
- Living Lightning
- Storm caller
- Chooser
- Melta-bomb

Rune Priest - 110
- Living Lightning
- Tempests Wrath
- Chooser

Wolf Priest - 105
- Meltabomb

Wolf Priest - 100

Elites
5x Wolf Guard - 170
- 4x Powerfist

Troops
8x Grey Hunters - 210
- Meltagun
- Power Weapon
- Mark of the Wulfen
- Rhino (EA, DB)

8x Grey Hunters - 210

- Meltagun

- Power Weapon

- Mark of the Wulfen

- Rhino (EA, DB)

8x Grey Hunters - 210

- Meltagun

- Power Weapon

- Mark of the Wulfen

- Rhino (EA, DB)

8x Grey Hunters - 210

- Meltagun

- Power Weapon

- Mark of the Wulfen

- Rhino (EA, DB)

Fast Attack

Land Speeder Typhoon - 90

Land Speeder Typhoon - 90

Heavy Support

6x Long Fangs - 140

- 5x Missile Launchers

6x Long Fangs - 140

- 5x Missile Launchers

A Non-consequentialist list can be very spammy. This is fora simple reason, every unit has to be able to do the same purpose. While the squads with RPs will be slightly better at range and vice versa for the ones with wolf priests in close combat they can both do both jobs relatively well. Everything here is meant to try and survive, and every slot of the Force org is used. There are no "Throwaway" units.

1750 point Space Wolf List for the SpoCon Grand Tournament.

1750 Space Wolves

For the Rout!

For the Aett!

For the Vlka Fenryka!

For Russ!

For the Allfather!

HQ

Wolf Lord - 295

-          Thunder Wolf

-          Thunder Hammer’

-          Storm Shield

-          Wolf Tooth Necklace

-          Wolf Tail Talisman

-          Runic Armor

-          2x Fenrisian Wolves

-          Saga of the Bear

“And when he rode into battle upon trust Icetooth all knew they had woken a wolf that was a bear, and that none would stand before him!” From the Saga of Harald Deathwolf

Rune Priest - 100

-          Living Lightning

-          Storm Caller

“Lightning roared with the storm, blinding flashes rended, the foes of the Emperor.” From the Saga of Urnger Lightningson

Troops

(2x) 5x Grey Hunters - 310

-          Flamer

-          Razorback (Assault Cannon, Dozer Blade)

“They think themselves men, these pups newly raised to the grey,” derided Wolf Guard Urmek, but as he smelled the smell of burnt ork flesh he looked back and said “Huh maybe they are right at that.”

(2x) 5x Grey Hunters -320

-          Meltagun

-          Razorback (Assault Cannon, Dozer Blade)

“Ride with me brothers, ride with me on your mounts of steel, and join the murder-make!!!” – Canis Wolfborn.

Fast Attack

5x Thunderwolf Cavalry - 370

-          1x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

-          2x Storm Shield

“They are our teeth, those who embody the spirit and soul of the Rout, they are our greatest and most secret of weapons, used only at the most dire of times. Mark well that I unleash them now.” – Logan Grimnar, attributed.

Heavy Support

5x Long Fangs - 95

-          4x Heavy Bolter

“Fear the thunder we make as we defend our Aett, and look frightfully on the remains of your kin, for soon that is all that will be left of you.” – Attributed to Long Fang Pack Leader from the Great Company of Gunnar Red Moon.

6x Long Fangs - 140

-          5x Missile Launchers

“Huh and I thought they were supposed to be tough.” – A Long Fang after shooting a Tyranid Bio-form.

Predator - 120

-          Lascannon Sponsons

“Let the Growl of its Engines match the growl in the throat of every member of the Vlka Fenryka!” – Iron Priest Myurn Steelrider.

Total:  1750

“You scare me wolf-brothers. You scare everything.” – Skjald Kasper Howser.

Kant: Non-Consequentialist Gameplay

Immanual Kant is one of the most influential of all philosophers. He is also famous for being one of the hardest to read and incredibly convoluted. However he set the ethical standards which we still hold strong in many cases. Kant was a deontologist, one who believed all ethics were rooted in duty. This led him to being heavily against consequentialist thinkers such as the Utilitarians in England. I want to take a view of non-consequentialist gameplay.

First I believe I should state what I mean by "non-consequentialist gameplay." Quite simply this idea is to not view units and actions as means to an end, but the actual action as an end to itself. What makes a non-Consequentialist player different from a consequentialist one? Quite simply a non-consequentialist takes the actions that they take into more consideration than the result of those actions. A consequentialist would say, "I am going to have unit X, charge unit Y, in order to hold it off for a turn so Unit Z can join in and kill then next turn." A non-consequentialist would disagree, he would take each move on an individual basis and not try to waste energy, he will hide when it seems hiding is appropriate, attack when attacking is appropriate. He will worry about the effects of his actions when it is time to take action again, but not before. That does not mean he completely ignores the possibilities inherent in his actions, but views them as that one of a myriad of possibilities that are acceptable so long as he makes a reasonable choice.

It is hard to say if I support this type of strategy or not. It may seem nebulous but it really affects standard as to which we play. A consequentialist army will likely have a number of throwaway units and position itself to take advantages of openings it will try to create with these units. A non-consequentialist list will generally have a large number of well rounded units, all of which can perform multiple roles individually, and the player will play each unit as an individual with a loose overall strategy.

Long Time no Blog

Yeah I am bad with blogs, I will admit it. However I will try to start be better in the future. I have come up with some really cool philosophical point to make in relation to 40k. So soon I will be testing your minds as well as your dice with some new posts!

Until than here is what I have been up too:
Painted a 1500 point Iron Warriors Army
Painted and built many more Space Wolves
Started working on a Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons army.
Actually am playing a game or two of Fantasy a month.
Kicking butt and coming in 4th at many a local tournament.

Kierkegaard and List Building: YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!!

Time for another philosophical post about your favorite game! Today I will be discussing the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard and how it relates to the building of ones list. The two parts of Kierkegaard's philosophy I will discuss are "The leap of Faith" and "You will regret every decision you make." This guy sounded like a real optimist huh?

Anyways on with the slaughter. For the sake of this I am going to go through my list building process for an upcoming GT. I know the basics of what I want to bring. The core of this army is something I have had a lot of experience with. However I have been working on rotating in new units to fill out my last few points. Here is the Core of the list:

HQ
Rune Priest - 100
- LL + Tempest Storm

Wolf Lord - 255
-T-wolf, TH, SS, SotBear, WTN, WTT

Troops
(3x) 10x Grey Hunters - 615
- 2x Meltagun
- Mark of the Wulfen
- Rhino

Fast Attack

4x Thunder Wolf Cav -255
- 1x SS 1x PF
4x Thunder wolf cav - 250
- 1x SS 1x WC

Heavy Support
6x Long Fangs- 140
- 5x Missile Launchers

The total for the core of this list is 1615. Normally I would add another Wolf Lord, with a Frost Blade, Belt of Russ, Thunder Wolf, and Saga of the Beast slayer for 220 points (he also has WTN and WTT). Now I am up too 1835. After this I will usually add one of two things. Either I will add another Long Fang Squad to increase my ranged firepower or I will add an Iron Priest on a thunder wolf with 4 cyberwolves and a Wolf tooth Necklace. Simple, easy and nasty. However recently I decided to try something different for the upcoming GT.

First after listening to a podcast (I believe Imperial Voxcast) I heard the idea of putting a Wolf Guard Battle leader on a Thunderwolf and giving him Saga of the Hunter so he can outlflank. This trick just sounded all sorts of fun and fits the fluff of my army better. So where does Kierkegaard come in? Well I have played with the Frost Blade Lord at least 2 dozen times. I know what he is capable of. If I switch him out, albeit for a similar unit, I still have to get used to the new unit. I am sure that 2 things will happen because i have read Kierkegaard. For one thing I have to make a leap of faith in the new unit. I have never used it before but I BELIEVE that it will work. That belief, according to Kierkegaard has to override my sense of tradition in the old wolf lord for me to accept the WGBL into my list over the lord. Well I firmly believe that it is going to be fun and effective to have the wolf guard battle leader. So therefore I believe I will take the leap of faith and choose the WGBL. Now that I have made a decision I have to realize something about it: I will regret it.. Eventually I will run into a scenario where I would have preferred to use the Wolf Lord over the Battle Leader. I have to accept this regret, because the reverse would also have been true. Remember: No matter what action you take in list building (and possibly in all aspects of the game and hobby) you will have a regret.

"What About MEEEEEE??????" Leadership 8 bitch...go run off a board edge.

Now lets look at my list with the wolf guard battle leader:

HQ

Rune Priest - 100

- LL + Tempest Storm

Wolf Lord - 255

-T-wolf, TH, SS, SotBear, WTN, WTT

Wolf Guard Battle leader - 160

- T-wolf, Frost Blade, WTT, Saga of the Hunter, Meltabombs

Troops

(3x) 10x Grey Hunters - 615

- 2x Meltagun

- Mark of the Wulfen

- Rhino

Fast Attack

4x Thunder Wolf Cav -255

- 1x SS 1x PF

4x Thunder wolf cav - 250

- 1x SS 1x WC

Heavy Support 

6x Long Fangs- 140

- 5x Missile Launchers 

Now the points cost is 1775. As you can see an added benefit of changing to the Battle Leader is that I have gained 60 more points than if I had used the lord. Now I am already regretting the decision. That is because I have 60 points with no idea what to do with. After thinking I decide to take a leap of faith and not use the long fangs or Iron priest i normally would. Instead I decide to go after more troops. I recently found the parts to make an Assault cannon turret for a Razorback. I love assault cannons. Therefore I make another leap of faith and decide to use the old fall back of a grey hunter squad in a razor back. While I am sure to regret the loss of sheer firepower the long fangs would have given me, or the combat prowess of the Iron priest I will be better off  in multiple objective games. 

So the final list looks like this:

HQ

Rune Priest - 100

- LL + Tempest Storm

Wolf Lord - 255

-T-wolf, TH, SS, SotBear, WTN, WTT

Wolf Guard Battle leader - 160

- T-wolf, Frost Blade, WTT, Saga of the Hunter, Meltabombs

Troops

(3x) 10x Grey Hunters - 615

- 2x Meltagun

- Mark of the Wulfen

- Rhino

6x Grey Hunters - 225

- 1x Plasma pistol, 1x Melta, 1x Wolf Standard, 1x Mark of the Wulfen, 1x Power weapon

- Razorback (TL -asscan)

Fast Attack

4x Thunder Wolf Cav -255

- 1x SS 1x PF

4x Thunder wolf cav - 250

- 1x SS 1x WC

Heavy Support 

6x Long Fangs- 140

- 5x Missile Launchers 

Total points cost: 2000

First miniatures painted for my next 2 armies!!!

So my next two armies are both pre-heresy. Pre- Heresy White Scars and Pre-heresy T-suns

First the White Scars. Pretty much current White Scars sans Aquilas. As only the EC could don those on their armor at the time.

Next is a model for my Pre-Heresy T-suns

HULK SMASH!!! "Cheesy" Characters and why I love them.

As somebody who primarily plays Space Wolves I have found that the biggest draw of them is their focus on characters. The rune priest, wolf lords, and of course Special Characters are what make Space Wolves such a fun army to play. However this does get me some...less than kind...glances and comments from my fellow players. Nobody wants to face 2 200+ point Wolf Lords on Thunder Wolves...which is the basis for my 2000 point list. That being said you have to take a lot of trade-offs when you make list choices like mine. For reference in this article here is a common 2k list for me:

Wolf Lord (Morkai) - 255
- Thunder Wolf
- TH+SS
- Saga of the Bear
- WTT + WTN

Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf
- Frostblade
- Belt of Russ
-Thunderwolf
- Saga of the Beastslayer
- WTT + WTN + MB

Rune Priest - 115
- Living Lightning + Tempests Wrath
- WTT + Chooser

Troops

(3x) 10x Grey Hunters - 615
- 2x Meltaguns
- 1x MotW
-Rhino

Fast Attack
4x Thunder wolf cav - 260
- 1x SS
- 1x Powerfist
- 1x MB
- 1x Normal

4x Thunder wolf cav - 255
- 1x SS
- 1x Wolf Claw
- 1x MB
- 1x Normal

Heavy Support

(2x) 5x Long Fangs - 250
- 3x Missile Launchers
- 1x Multi-Melta

Imagine this...but 3 times the size...with armor. Would you really like to have to fight two of those?

The trade offs are simple:

1. I have to build my army around my Characters. If I am investing a fourth of my points into ICs than I better damn well be using the rest of my list to support them. If I have Thunder Wolf lords...I HAVE to have Thunder Wolf Cavalry. One could make the argument for having fenris wolves...but really what would you rather have hurtling at your opponent. Similarly if I have Logan Grimnar it only makes sense to support him with Wolfguard...which is the unit he most aids in a game. The same is true for other armies. If I am playing Orks with Ghaz than a Fast moving Truck army benefits less from his rules than a Green Tide or battlewagon list.

2. They take up a lot of points. Well no duh. These are points that could easily be spent diversifying your army. Instead of 2 lords I could have 2 more grey hunter squads and a group of Wolf Guard. However I don't have my two hulking lords that I love so much. Taking 500+ points in the HQ slot automatically means the rest of your army is going to be smaller. That means your opponent will have less targets and you lose the advantage of target saturation.

3. They are targets. One of my lords can easily wipe out an entire squad and one can kill most any tank. This makes a powerful, threatening combo. That means that my opponent is going to be using massive amounts of their power to bring them down. Normally this is not too big of a deal, the lords and the units they are with are made to take fire. However against some armies (Guard) there is simply too much fire being pushed down range. If they can eliminate a 500 point unit before it does anything than what was that units point?

4. They are a morale boost...and when they die you take a morale hit. I am not speaking about the morale rule mechanic in 40k. I am talking about my personal fighting spirit. In my mind if my lords are doing well then the game is going well. However if my lords die without doing anything....than I am screwed. This is not always the case but it is a morale hit to see the lords go down.

Good Night, Good Hunting, and a HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!