Wolf Scouts remain one of the most popular Space Wolves units because of their Behind Enemy Lines ability to walk on, right behind the enemy lines with a melta gun and lay waste to their most expensive tank.Alternatively, Wolf Scouts are an excellent assault unit that can cause absolute carnage against heavy weapons teams, especially when equipped with power weapons.
Unlike other Space Marine Scouts, Wolf Scouts are not new recruits, but rather Grey Hunters with a silent, brooding demeanour who are never happy save for when they are hunting their prey across the cold, barren landscape. These Space Wolves are given lighter skirmisher armour and organised into loose packs of Wolf Scouts.
Let's run through the different weapon options available to Wolf Scouts and give some example unit builds. Wolf Scouts come with a bolt pistol and combat knife as standard.
OPTIONS
swap close combat weapon for Bolt Gun - nah
Sniper Rifle - worth taking for whole squad infiltrating
Melta Bombs - expensive for whole squad
Mark of the Wulfen - awesome!
Flamer - better weapons available
Heavy Bolter - rubbish
Melta Gun - essential for tank hunting
Missile Launcher - only worth taking if infiltrating
Plasma Gun - expensive and more likely to kill wolf scouts
Plasma Pistol - expensive
Power Weapon - take mark of the wulfen first
There are two ways to field your Wolf Scouts; either Behind Enemy Lines or Infiltrating. So I'm going to assess both and explain the different combinations that are worth taking.
This ability is what makes Wolf Scouts so special. If outflanking, on a roll of a 1, they arrive from the left table edge, on a roll of a 2, they arrive from the right and on a 3+, the Space Wolf player may bring his Wolf Scouts on from ANY table edge, including his opponent's. The fear factor this causes for many defensive, slow and/or mechanised armies is too good to pass up!
Wolf Scout Pack 1: 85 points
5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun
Cheap, cheerful and ready to die!
If your Behind Enemy Lines roll goes badly, not to worry, because they didn't cost that much. If you get your 3+ roll, they can appear behind an enemy tank and blow it up with their melta gun, or go and hold up a heavy weapons team in close combat.
If you want some extra clout and have the points to spare, you can add a wolfguard armed with a combi-melta, powerfist and melta bombs for an extra 48 points.
Wolf Scout Pack 2: 133 points
Wolf Guard: Combi-Melta, Powerfist, melta bombs
5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun
I'm reluctant to pile on many more upgrades, extra weapons and additional men, because this unit when Behind Enemy Lines is going to die quite horribly after it has killed its intended target.
As much as I'd love to have a 10 man Wolf Scout squad with mark of the wulfen, 2 power weapons and a melta gun led by a Wolf Guard rampaging around at the back of the enemy army, it's a lot of points to gamble on a 3+ Behind Enemy Lines roll.
Deploy the Wolf Scouts after both sides have set up anywhere on the table, but no closer than 18" to an enemy unit if you can be seen, 12" if you can't be seen.
It's also important to mention that the Scout move allows Wolf Scouts to move 6" into position before the game begins. I wouldn't gamble on any first turn charges though.
Wolf Scout Pack 3: 90 points
5 Wolf Scouts all armed with Sniper Rifles
Just like the dreaded Space Marine Sniper Scouts, the Wolf Scouts do it better with their increased Ballistic Skill of 4. They do cost an extra 3 points a head though.
Wolf Scout Pack 4: 180 points
10 Wolf Scouts all armed with Sniper Rifles
If there's one thing the Space Wolves lack, it's long ranged anti-troop firepower that's equally effective at wounding Monstrous Creatures. For a few points more, you could even upgrade one of the sniper rifles to a Missle Launcher to get the job done.
Wolf Scouts are quite a versatile unit for the Space Wolves and are best taken as a small skirmish unit that appears from Behind Enemy Lines or as a mob of highly accurate Snipers.
As a skirmishing unit arriving from the enemy table edge, Wolf Scouts can disrupt the enemy formation and hold up units to aid the advance of the main Space Wolves battle line as it crashes into the foe.
Alternatively, they can provide accurrate 36" firepower from a strategic position to wittle down the enemy's numbers from a distance or soften up monstrous creatures.
Finally, a quick note on the 'Behind Enemy Lines Conga-Line'. I encountered this once in a game with my Tau against a Spacer Wolves player in the last edition. He had 6 Wolf Scouts led by a Wolf Guard.
He was determined to kill my Broadsides and managed to walk on from my board edge in the 3" gap between my Broadsides and Battlesuits.So that's 1" from the Broadsides to the left, 1" for the base of the Wolf Scouts and 1" from the Battlesuits to the right.
However, because he had 7 models, making up 7" in a straight line, he wasn't able to deploy them, because the unit can only move 6" in the movement phase.
So if you're going to sneak in between 2 enemy units from Behind Enemy Lines, always make sure that your Wolf Scouts pack numbers no more than 6 models.
Finally, if you think the official Space Wolves Wolf Scout models suck, check out these Wolf Scout conversions.
15 comments:
January 9, 2010 at 10:52 AM
I've never played space wolves before, but I have a dream-army of them. That would one that includes two 10-man squads of wolf scouts. I just love the fluf, versatility and behind enemy lines rules...
January 9, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Nice article. A friend of mine is going to be starting his Wolf army soon, so reading up how he might use his army is a great help.
January 9, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Just finished building the troops for my 1750 point SW army (2 drop pods done 4 more to build...)
The army includes a scout squad with 6 scouts, 5 w/sniper rifles and 1 w/heavy bolter to give them a little extra bang. I've paired the unit with 6 Fenrisian Wolves to give them a little more bite (pun intended) in CC. What do you reckon?
January 9, 2010 at 2:47 PM
The Fenrisian Wolves aren't a bad back up unit. They're not going to win against tougher units, but they'll give an opponent something to think about if he's got Orks or an equally unarmoured assault unit that could reach your Sniper Scouts.
January 10, 2010 at 12:20 AM
Wolves are a fun army to play OSH, I highly recommend them(well.... maybe just a plain ole recommendation, they are still marines...).
The one thing that bugs me about scouts is that they don't get stealth.... I'm used to my infiltrators getting plus 1 to their save(kroot), and it just gets on me a bit that the scouts wouldn't have them..... I guess that's why they gave them options for meltas and power weapons though!
January 10, 2010 at 4:38 AM
Those scouts are going to die the turn after they pop up and kill something. Scout set up 1 is by far the most effective, if you want to have a bit of CC punch then add a Wolf Guard to the unit with a Special CCW. My favorite set up is Frost Blade and a Meltabomb.
January 10, 2010 at 2:19 PM
I like adding a WG with a melta bomb, Frost blade and a Storm shield; just because he is a pain in the neck to deal with for my opponent in his backfield!
-Jim
January 10, 2010 at 11:06 PM
I've got a pretty mixed squad of them. Power weapons, meltagun and sniper rifles all in the same squad. Keeps them relevant once they've killed their initial target.
January 18, 2010 at 5:33 AM
I've started painting my wolf scouts and I think you should consider another layout- 5 scouts with melta bombs. 100 points for 5 scouts, able to do the same job as your squad one but more effectively IMO. Playing guard-reserve your army, have the scouts come behind a squad of russes or some artillery(or both!) assault or multiple assault if possible and auto hit with melta bombs on rear armor... against armies without many static vehicles you can still tie up the heavy weapons teams for a couple turns
January 18, 2010 at 12:13 PM
Nice guide! I just have one question, why should they not have bolters? I mean... what could 5 scout possible accomplish in close combat?
January 18, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Quite a bit against soft units. They do have Space Marine stats and 3 attacks on the charge.
August 10, 2010 at 3:44 AM
My scouts... At times, they are one of my best units... other times... not so lucky. 120 points for five men. I put two power weapons and Wulfen in the unit, expensive I know, but with a good enough distraction, they get passed up. They have killed several heavy weapon teams, and in two rather awesome cases, HQ squads.
February 24, 2011 at 2:28 AM
Why not give 'em flamer, it's almost S4 template amount of hits against>>>weapon teams & dev squads>>> so my Wolf Scouts #6 (110pts) Flamer, the Mark of the Wulfen
April 7, 2011 at 12:19 AM
expansive, but :
-2 plasma pistols (+30pts)
-1 meltagun (10 pts)
Crossfinger...payback time, Hammerhead !
February 2, 2013 at 11:34 AM
Don't forget the acute senses rule.
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