Mark of the Wulfen VS Power Weapon

In most Space Wolves squads you can give a guy Mark of the Wulfen or a power weapon. Both Mark of the Wulfen and the Power Weapon cost 15 points, but which is best and what are each of them designed to do? We put them both to the test with a little Mathhammer!

We've already established that there's no point giving Characters or anyone riding a Thunderwolf the Mark of the Wulfen, because it replaces a models Attacks characteristic with D6+1 Attacks. But this means it's great for Grey Hunters, Skyclaws, lone wolves, wolf scouts and maybe even wolfguard.

But let's focus on the basic Space Wolves stat line and equipment that Grey Hunters have for our example.

For all intents and purposes, a Grey Hunter is a Space Marine with a bolter, bolt pistol, close combat weapon and the Counter Attack rule.
So he's typically going to get 3 attacks in close combat.

POWER WEAPON
Let's put a power weapon in his hand!

To start with, our Grey Hunter is going to fight some Imperial Guard, followed by some Orks, then some Chaos Space Marines and finally a Tyranid Carnifex.

The obvious benefit of wielding a power weapon is that it ignores armour saves. When so many armies rely on their 4+, 3+ or even 2+ armour saves in close combat, even a single power weapon can make a massive difference.

Power weapons are particularly effective against those players who seem to pass every armour save under the sun.

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Imperial Guardsmen.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 1 kill.

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Orks.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits (rounding up) and achieves 1 kill.

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Chaos Space Marines.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits (rounding up) and achieves 1 kill.

Grey Hunter charges a Carnifex.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and needs a 6 to wound. He's probably going to fail.

MARK OF THE WULFEN
Now let's give him the Mark of the Wulfen and turn him into a foaming loony!

Just like before, our Grey Hunter is going to fight some Imperial Guard, followed by some Orks, then some Chaos Space Marines and finally a Tyranid Carnifex. We just need to do this 6 times because his attacks are random. These numbers have been rounded up or down to make things simpler.

The appeal of Mark of the Wulfen is pretty simple and appeals to a lot of players. You can get lots of attacks and your attacks become rending. Plus, the idea of a Space Wolf embracing his bestial self and tearing your enemies limb from limb is just too good to resist!

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Imperial Guardsmen.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 1 kill
He gets 4 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 2 kills
He gets 5 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 2 kills
He gets 6 Attacks, scores 4 hits and achieves 2 kills after 1 Guardsman saves
He gets 7 Attacks, scores 5 hits and achieves 2 kills after 1 Guardsman saves
He gets 8 Attacks, scores 6 hits and achieves 4 kills after 1 Guardsman saves

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Orks.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 1 kill
He gets 4 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 1 kill
He gets 5 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 1 kill
He gets 6 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 2 kills
He gets 7 Attacks, scores 4 hits and achieves 2 kills
He gets 8 Attacks, scores 4 hits and achieves 2 kills

Grey Hunter charges a squad of Chaos Space Marines.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 0 kill after Chaos Marine saves
He gets 4 Attacks, scores 2 hits and achieves 0 kill after Chaos Marine saves
He gets 5 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 0 kill after Chaos Marine saves
He gets 6 Attacks, scores 3 hits and achieves 0 kill after Chaos Marine saves
He gets 7 Attacks, scores 4 hits and achieves 1 kill after Chaos Marine saves
He gets 8 Attacks, scores 4 hits and achieves 1 kill after Chaos Marine saves

Grey Hunter charges a Carnifex.
He gets 3 Attacks, scores 2 hits and fails to wound
He gets 4 Attacks, scores 3 hits and fails to wound
He gets 5 Attacks, scores 3 hits and fails to wound
He gets 6 Attacks, scores 4 hits and wounds with a lucky rending hit
He gets 7 Attacks, scores 5 hits and wounds with a rending hit
He gets 8 Attacks, scores 6 hits and wounds with a rending hit


CONCLUSION
On average the Grey Hunter with the Mark of the Wulfen will get 5-6 attacks while the Grey Hunter with the Power Weapon will always get 3. Now in this comparison, it's quite difficult to factor in the probability of rolling a 6 for rending. Actually, I could factor it in, but no one is going to read page upon page of probability. So I've rounded things up and down to give a general impression.

But what the results here do show is that a Grey Hunter with the Mark of the Wulfen will, on average, achieve more kills against Imperial Guard and Orks than a Grey Hunter armed with a Power Weapon. He also stands a better chance of wounding a monstrous creature. However, on average there is a reduced chance of killing a Chaos Space Marine due to the 3+ armour save of his opponent.

So there you have it. The Mark of the Wulfen is for generalised use while the Power Weapon is better suited to armoured targets.

All the same, I'm tempted to take Mark of the Wulfen over a Power Weapon as a prefer a list designed to take on all-comers and hope my luck holds out, giving me lots of attacks and a couple of rending hits! But as ever, the choice is yours.