Thinking Sectoral...

Wulver fireteams are ridiculous in close combat, but they're a bit short on firepower compared to the other options for core fireteams in CHA, and at double the price(or more) of a 4 volunteer +hmg grey setup you're really going to have to move them very carefully to make best use of them. However once you're in cc, you have a b4 ph17 attack that is hitting on an 18 for an assault move,or automatically a success(higher rolls can still beat you but chances are low given your higher burst) , with the options to make it a normal roll critting on 13+ with berserk or do 18 dmg in a face to face while critting on a 16+ with natural born warrior.

You can ad Wallace to a 4 wulver core for the 5 model team bonus, but is a burst 4 bs15 attack worth a fireteam that takes half of your points and carries around a huge "shoot me I'm the LT" flag? Again that fireteam is going to be best in close combat, and the NBW bonus can't be applied to that exp ccw Wallace is lugging around, and if you're not attacking something on a 40mm base or bigger, you can only get 4 models in the fight anyway, so basically you can ignore this option entirely, and if you want Wallace striking at b4 ph18 you can give him some highlanders like the gods intended...

Wulver fireteams come into their own as a harris, they still get their burst bonus for shooting, but they are still devastating in close combat, very few single models will survive more than an order or two engaged with them striking at b3 ph16(17nbw) and the ones that could are going to have their own cc abilities switched off, and will be making one attack per order and taking 3 back. Now not many models are worth the 100 points required to get the Harris out there, but not many will be able to do significant damage to the fireteam either, so potentially you can chop up or bog down multiple models in a turn, while the core fireteam is doing it's own thing. As a last note you have the option to add Wallace to a wulver Harris, but you probably don't really want to, for all the same reasons that you don't want to ad him to the wulver core.

 

Adding Wallace to the wulvers is the way to go, you are adding a smoke dispenser, in a full core are 2 smoke grenades at 20's, you can create safe paths easy to move arround with your wulvers and reach the good spot for your wulvers to shoot or CC as needed (just try to keep wallace away from the line of shoot, let the wulvers eat the shoots).

Even in a Haris is a great add, just remember that you don't need to enter in combat with all of the team if you are trying the Natural Born Bonus or if you want to go berserk.

Wallace can also help you do a combined especulative fire with grenades with his Lt. order (3 grenades and 1 smoke in a voley, at 11's, no retaliation, no TO/ODD/cover. Just remember to spend a comand token to reform the Link team after that, and then jump in the smoked area to CC the survivors, for example.

4 Wulvers in the middle (with wallace and his flamethrower covering the back) are a very tought block for the enemy to pass by, you just need to reach there and remember the climbing plus that could help in a lot of ways.

 

Iirc, smoke at b2 is still effectively one template, since they have to have the same target, you just roll twice, and if either or both is a success the template is down.
I'm not convinced Wallace is worth putting in the fireteam, he doesn't have a great synergy with the wulvers, being as he can't do climbing plus, he can't use natural born warrior, and he is of far better use elsewhere.

There's also another overlooked part of natural born warrior that Wallace doesn't have, Stealth. An all wulver team can move around on top of a building/behind cover etc in enemy zone of control, potentially getting behind them before engaging, limiting the ARO options, ad Wallace to that, they use more orders getting into position, and zone of control AROs will be used so their victims can see them coming, you can mitigate it with smoke but you'll often have to spend more orders dropping smoke, moving in, dropping smoke, moving in etc than you would by going the long way around using climbing plus.

As a 5th man for the Wulvers , Wallace isn't just the best option he's the only option, but as a fireteam for Wallace their are better choices, and as your core team in general, their are better options than wulvers. As a Harris team, 2 wulvers and Wallace is a lot of eggs in one basket that you're going to have to throw into danger to get the best out of, and they make a very tempting target for your opponent, being able to take out a third of your points, and your LT in the same place,potentially with the same order with the right circumstances and some luck.

 

I Ussualy work with wulvers on a Haris, but the question was about using them as "the fireteam" so i put the effort on that option, that i used less, because the cost of that. And if you need specialist your list is going to get hurt by that.

Wallace has a cost similar to the wulvers, and because using smoke to move is a better option than climbing plus most of the time... but you can let wallace behind if you need to, or send just one wulver on the task if is a better option.
I don't think that anything need a 4 or 3 man wulver on CC to be killed, that is just.. extreme to me, but having the options, the tools to overcome the most necesary task, reach mid-close range with all of them, and then spread the havoc.

And if the enemy wants to kill the Wulvers (with or without Wallace, Haris or Core) they'll need a lot of effort to do so (in comparison with the rest of the Caledonian options of course) but is all about the game and the mission. Don't you think?

The question is, are the Wulvers a solid option? Yes.
Wallace adds something necesary? Yes. But they can go alone.
They are a lot of points for a core, but with limited insertion and kill kill misions they are still a good option.
Could other options be more versatile? Of course, but that's not the point.

 

Wallace adds to the wulvers, but the wulvers don't add anything to Wallace that can't be done cheaper without removing the main utility of the wulvers mobility.

Wich is really a microcosm of the problem with running a wulver core, in that getting the best out of the wulvers as a core means you're going to be losing utility from the rest of the list, and you're stuck with them, and pretty much only them, as your offense. You might have enough other models around to form a new fireteam but if you lost Wallace by having him tag along with the wulvers, that is not an option for the next turn,unless you're lucky enough to have brought a spec ops with chain of command (if there was ever a wulver spec ops or character etc , then they would be the core fireteam of choice in killy missions...) limited insertion compounds the problem, but I think probably you just have to suck it up in limited insertion as Ariadna in general and more so as CHA, but that's a whole other thing...

Regardless, the question didn't specify either limited insertion or core fireteam, but if it had, then as I said, Wallace is the best(only) option for the wulvers, even though the wulvers aren't the best option for Wallace...

 

Remember that one of the Wallace's strong points is an ability to issue additional Coordinated Orders. That option doesn't always work great with the notion of being linked.

Honestly, he feels so unwieldy to use - no matter what you do with him, you will feel you're not utilizing half of his powers (or break something for linkmates... or put him in a vulnerable position as an Lt... or pay anyway for what he was supposed to bring discount for...) most of the time. Even his ability to turn people Regular doesn't look that ridiculous despite this being faction with good cheap irregulars, simply because of AVA: Total 6 pts regulars in the same army.

Which is not a bad thing, mind you. I may sound like a broken record, but optimized profiles are too easy to break the diversity (which is, after all, the reason balance is what we care about) with.

Anyway, I have a related question, since we are talking about sectorials - people here talk about CC so much, and Caledonia is probably one of those factions you can build as a "CC faction", but is it something truly worth building around and sinking 150 pts into in Infinity, known as "game about shooting"?

 

I use to play Wulver core. And i love it. But it's not a fireteam for normal lists. Better if you are playing LI or 400 points, or playing specific mission like biotecvore. Haris is more usual and practical. But you still can use a full fireteam in a normal 300 match, with 12/13 orders lists. (Last year at Interplanetario, I played 3 of the 5 rounds with a full wulver core and only lose against a f*****g Tohaa)

Including a single wulver in your list it's not a bad idea. He can hunt mid table enemies and push a flank if necesary. They are great for assault.

The fireteam is like a swiss knife. Great shooting, great resistance, can go CC without problem, can throw spec grenades to enemies with too powerful modifiers, climbing plus for great mobility.... You have mk12 for medium range true power, T2 ammo, one of the most feared ammos in the whole game and a heavy shotgun for really close range (where you can roll for 21s). And you have some fexibility in CC thanks to Natural Born Warrior and berserk.

"But having Wallace in the fireteam it's too risky and not worth."
Learn how to hide while moving the fireteam and how to cover him with other members. The times my enemy killed Wallace (a very low % of all the matches i played) its because he killed all my army.

The enemy usually centre all his efforts at shooting down this fireteam, allowing you to play with other units like skirmishers and warbands.

I think it's a mistake consider wulvers only as a CC unit. Thay can go CC, of course, and they are extremely effective. But I see this only like an extra. You still can shoot solidly and well positioned, you can negate a whole sector of the table to the enemy. Back up them with some long range shooter like snipers or missiles and see how the enemy try to take down those hybrids bastards.

 

You can have 4 wulvers in the list, but only 3 at a time in the fireteam. The 4th can be used to restore the fireteam to 3 if one of them drops.

 

That's only in ARO. You can put them in different positions in the active turn.

I like the Wulver Haris team over the Core link, even if you don't get smoke with them.

 

I would like to know more about covering a model in a link like that, especially considering there are things in the game like HD folks. I guess it'll be useful in general, not just in Caledonia.

 

Well, the only way hackers can attack you is with Spotlight Program. And i rarely see guided ammo in the matches.

 

Last time I tried Wulvers+Wallace Core was a bloodbath...in my opponent's favour - cos of the points sink & mission, (IIRC quadrant control), I had to be aggressive with the link & he concentrated everything on them, as they were key to me achieving the objectives. Admittedly, Wallace was the last to die as I was able to protect him fairly well.

So, I almost always use the Wulver Haris as great flankers; with Stealth & their medium-to-short ranged weapons, plus CC skills, they can take on most things in the game, and require a decent effort to clear out.
I've had my Wulvers achieve everything from [ab]using grenades in ARO to take out pesky TO/ODD models cos someone else ran past; double-critting a HI with their T2 Rifle; standing on an objective, pointing heavy shotguns at choke points; running over buildings to charge an enemy & cut them down with Berserk.

Covering models is basically; (i) spread them out to avoid multiple being caught under templates, ideally have them unable to see each other, (e.g. round different corners), so there's no LoF between each one; (ii) make sure each one is covering a different direction; (iii) have the link leader be protected, either by the other members, or by being somewhere your opponent can't reach.

 

Wallace + 45th basically means placing a massive "shoot me, I'm the Lt" sign over Wallace's head :- and you probably won't want to be too aggressive with them. [You also lose out on Wallace's free coordinated order, through Inspiring Leadership].

IMO, the Mormaer Haris sounds like a good back-up "shooty" fireteam on paper, but requires a lot of SWC to run and thus can't take as many big guns; plus, they don't compare well to the Grey HMG cos they don't get the extra +3BS from the 5-man core.

Personally, I love the Scots Guard Core: include 2-3 with MLs, and you can lock down a lot of the board; plus, you have template options to get in the way if your opponent does try to take them on. (I've even seen a 3-man link of them blow stuff up in their active turn with B2).

 

Let's be honest, putting him on the table in whatever position already does that. It's just a matter of whether he will try to run up to you himself.

 

99% of the time, yes, but you can tweak your list so it's not obvious, (avoiding Irregular & not linking him); something that I have done before, but it's usually a big waste of Wallace if you don't make full use of his Inspiring Leadership.
Admittedly, the moment you do that Coordinated Order then your deception becomes apparent, but until then...

 

That's pretty much the problem. Without his main selling point he's terrible unit when you consider what you can take instead for the points (since lol ava total 6 pts models that are actually good... or something else, perhaps).