Logan Grimnar Terminator Army

Can a Space Wolves terminator army beat a Deathwing terminator army? Led by Logan Grimnar, a Space Wolves terminator army has a number of advantages over the Deathwing terminator army from combi-weapons to Counter-Charge and even drop pods, but lacks in the powerfist department.

My friend James insists that the Deathwing cannot be beaten when it comes to terminator armies. Let's see what the Space Wolves can answer with!

Logan Grimnar
Before we get started, I'd better talk about Logan Grimnar, the Space Wolves chapter master and one of the best loved heroes in the galaxy.

Logan Grimnar isn't a cheap character, but he is powerful and you have to take him in order for Wolf Guard units to count as Troops.

But he's certainly worth taking, not only for his excellent stats, but his huge list of equipment, versatile close combat attacks and his High King and Living Legend abilities that allow him to give every friendly unit within 18" +1 attack for the round and bestow any unit he joins either the Fearless, Tank Hunters, Relentless or Preferred Enemy skills.

Wolf Guard Terminators
If there's one distinct difference between a Space Wolves terminator army and a Deathwing terminator army, it's that Wolf Guard have more options, Acute Senses and Counter-Attack.

James's Deathwing terminator squads come with a sergeant with storm bolter and powersword, 2 terminators with storm bolter and powerfist, 1 terminator with a storm bolter and chainfist, and 1 terminator with an assault cannon (or cyclone missile launcher) and powerfist.

That's about 240 - 250 points. So I need to aim for around the same mark with the Wolf Guard units in my Space Wolves terminator army.

Wolf Guard Terminator Squad: 245pts
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and Chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with heavy flamer and power sword.
Drop Pod (carries 5 terminators)

In the Wolf Guard tactics article I talked about my optimum terminator unit and this is it. Put them in a Drop Pod and they come to 245 points.

This means you can take 5 of these as Troops and have just enough points for Logan Grimnar himself.

Just one problem though, because you can only fit 10 models (5 terminators) in a Space Wolf Drop Pod. And you can only have 1 heavy weapon per 5 Wolf Guard, so we have to drop a Wolf Guard in terminator armour with a Heavy Flamer to make way for Logan Grimnar.

That leaves us with 38 points to spare, so you might as well upgrade one of the heavy flamers to an assault cannon or cyclone missile launcher.

Deathwing Terminator Army
Belial +5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist

Librarian +5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist

5 terminators, assault cannon, chain fist

5 terminators, cyclone

5 terminators, cyclone


Space Wolves Terminator Army
Logan Grimnar +
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and Chainfist.
Drop Pod (carries 5 terminators)

(X3) Wolf Guard Terminator Squad:
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and Chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with heavy flamer and power sword.
Drop Pod (carries 5 terminators)

Wolf Guard Terminator Squad:
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and Chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with cyclone missile launcher and power sword.
Drop Pod (carries 5 terminators)


CONCLUSION
The biggest differences in the two terminator armies is quite apparent by their guns and close combat weapons.

The Deathwing have storm bolters, powerfists, assault cannons and cyclone missile launchers while the Space Wolves have combi-weapons, power weapons and heavy flamer and Drop Pods.

So which is better?
Good question. When it comes to getting up close and personal, the Space Wolves have the upper hand, being able to Deepstrike in using their Drop Pods for increased safety, before unloading a torrent of AP2 and AP1 weaponry into the enemy before getting ready for their Counter-Charge.

On the other hand, the Deathwing are able to fight at range with their 24" storm bolters and assault cannons with their 1-shot cyclone missile launchers for anti-tank fire.

In a close combat the Space Wolves will win everytime.
Add Belial or the Librarian and the Deathwing squad will always win.
Add Logan Grimnar to one of the Space Wolves terminator squads and nothing can stand before it!

In a fight between the two terminator armies, the Deathwing have the tactical advantage, because they can deploy normally or make a Deathwing Assault.

If the Deathwing deploy in a phalanx, they'll probably lose a squad to the 3 Space Wolves terminator squads arriving by Drop Pod, then retaliate by shooting and charging. Having done the maths, both armies will pretty much wipe each other out as more Space Wolves arrive by Drop Pod.

If the Space Wolves arrive before the Deathwing, then the Deathwing can simply shoot at them from a distance and continue to move away, using superior long ranged firepower to beat them.

Things are trickier for the Deathwing if they deepstrike in first and come under attack from the Space Wolves as the Dark Angels reinforcements will scatter and cannot deploy as safely in the thick of the fighting. Neither can they charge.

Play them at their own game
To overcome the problem of ranged weaponry, you can play the Deathwing at their own game and tool up with storm bolters and a heavy weapon. Then your only advantage is power weapons and Counter-Attack, which makes you roughly equal in close combat against their powerfists (after casualties of course).

Wolf Guard Terminator Squad 2: 245 points
3 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with storm bolter and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with storm bolter and Chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with assault cannon/cyclone missile launcher and power sword.
Drop Pod (carries 5 terminators)

What about Xenos and Heretics?
In those instances a Space Wolves terminator army is obviously better than the Deathwing with so much plasma, melta, heavy flamers, power weapon, chainfist attacks and let's not forget Logan Grimnar as well!

But once again, you've got to hope that your opponent is dumb enough to deploy his forces for your Drop Pods to arrive and crush him on Turn 1. And if your opponent does make that mistake, he's unlikely to make it a second time.

That leaves the Space Wolves terminators and their mass of combi-weapons trudging across the field without any targets to bring their short ranged firepower to bear.

Alternatively, you could go for the Deathwingesque version of the Space Wolves terminator army list for something all round more forgiving and take nothing by cyclone missile launchers as your heavy weapons to get over the problem that the Deathwing army tends to have when it comes to taking out enemy vehicles with shooting.

So to round up, a Space Wolves terminator army is just as good as a Deathwing terminator army, it just has more weapon options.

Personally, I prefer my Wolf Guard terminators waving their combi-weapons and power weapons around, because as a terminator unit, that makes them different. As a competitive player, I often focus my articles on which units are the best for their points and cause the most damage, but from a background point of view, a Space Wolves terminator army really holds no interest for me. It's just not what the Space Wolves are about. All the same, if you want to give it a try, go for it and see how you get on.

If you're not a fan of Drop Pods, you can get rid of them, recouping 175 points to buy your more Wolfguard, a Dreadnought or a Rune priest and march forward on foot. You'll be slow, but tough!

Alternatively, if you love the idea of an all-terminator Space Marine army, you can order James's Deathwing army from Total Wargamer for just £118! That's got to be the cheapest Warhammer 40K army ever conceived.

Brads 1000 Point Space Wolf Army Update

Hi guys, Bradimus here with an update on my Space Wolves tournament army for Vapnartak 2010.

After a pretty lousy start to the new year due to the family, including myself, taking ill and work taking up most of my time I've made some progress on my Space Wolves.

So far I've completed two 8 strong Grey Hunter packs with a Wolf Guard a piece making the units 9 strong. I've also completed my 6 Missile launcher armed Long Fangs, I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would have liked on these guys but I'm happy with how they have turned out.

To finish off my 1,000 points Space Wolves army, I need to paint my third Grey Hunter pack, a Rune Priest and 3 Rhinos.

Well, to be honest I'm lying about the Rhinos because I've got two painted already that just need a few finishing touches while the third is still in the shrink wrap waiting to be assembled and painted. I think I will finish my Rhinos next as I'm getting a bit sick of painting marines and then the grand finale will be my Rune Priest who I want to spend a little bit more time on. Can I do all this in a few weeks? Lets see!


1000 Point Space Wolves Army List
As Vapnartak looms over me in the not so distance future so does the deadline for my army list submission. Over the past few weeks I have been tossing a few ideas around my heads for potential lists but in the end I always come back to my original list. Its a simple list with three solid troop choices a dash of long range support and plenty of close range punch.

Task Force Jorgmundr

Ulf the Horrible, Rune Priest

3 Wolf Guard:
3 Combi Melta and 3 Powerfist
(Each of these is attached to a Grey Hunter unit

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
8 Grey Hunters, Powerfist, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers


THOUGHTS
To me this is a basic yet solid army list. At the minute Grey Hunters are my favorite unit in the Space Wolves Codex, they are grizzled veterans who have survived the trials of being a Blood Claw and now fight as part of a battle hardened pack. When led by a Wolf Guard this description is so true on the table top, packing plenty of Melta and five powerfist attacks on the charge or counter charge they can take on pretty much anything and come out on top.

These three packs working together are a solid assault force, I throw in my Rune Priest with a bit of Storm Caller giving them cover pretty much all the time. The Long Fangs add some ranged support and can pretty much bring down anything up to Armour Value 14 easily.

What does this list lack? I think speed and range are the obvious candidates but I think the brute force of the packs make up for this.

Task Force Jorgmundr is ready to take anything on! Let's see what Vapnartak throws at me.

Prospero Burns Postponed Until Jan 2011

Horus Heresy Space Wolves novel Prosper Burns has been postponed until January 2011 due to illness.

From Black Library News:
"Due to author Dan Abnett’s health issues, the Horus Heresy novel Prospero Burns will now be published in Jan 2011. This novel chronicles the epic story of the Space Wolves and their dire battle with the Thousand Sons. It provides a counterpoint to A Thousand Sons, which tells the story from the Traitor Legion’s perspective and is published in March 2010."

Statement from Dan Abnett:
"As some of you will know, I became ill in the latter part of last year. The problem was eventually identified as epilepsy, which I am now managing, but it took several rather troubling months to reach that diagnosis. As a consequence, Prospero Burns did not meet its deadline, and the decision’s been made to push back its release. I’d like to say two things: thank you for all the messages of support, and sorry there’s going to be a delay. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that Prospero Burns is worth the wait."

Prospero Burns has been put back twice already. It was rumoured to be released at Games Day in September 2009 to coincide with the new Space Wolves Codex, but was put back to March 2010 and now we're looking at a January 2011 release date.

Although I haven't read many of his books, I'm a huge fan of Dan Abnett's writing from 2000ad and the Eissenhorn trilogy. He is the one man who can write everything from the Mr Men to Sinister Dexter and of course, the Horus Heresy books. He writes concisely, but paints a fantastic picture with his words, his characters are fascinating and he churns out more books than any other writer in history.

I understand and sympathise with what he's going through, because Epilepsy can be a very dangerous and tiring illness to live with. So let's all wish him a speedy recovery so he can get back to what he enjoys writing and what we enjoy reading.

If you can't wait until January 2011 for your Horus Heresy Space Wolves fix, then read our Wolf At The Door review from the Tales of Heresy compilation.

Adam's Other 1000 Points Space Wolves List

I wasn't happy with my first 1000 points Space Wolves army list, so here's another, more straight forward list.

This time I'm collaborated with my regular opponent James for his thoughts.

While James is no master of the mathhammer and has a inane belief in the strength of his units regardless of points or statistics, what he excels at is building forgiving and easy to play army lists.

While my Long Fangs were undisputed as an excellent choice, along with their twin lascannon totting Razorback transport, I felt uncomfortably pouring so many points into my Grey Hunter squads in such a small game.

Similarly, the idea of running my Rune Priests on foot, attached to the Grey Hunter squads put a lot of my eggs in only a few baskets.

If my Rhinos were destroyed early on, all those points would be somewhat stranded and I didn't fancy the chances of my Rune Priests if they got stuck in close combat.

What I wanted was some Troops choices that didn't cost an arm and a leg and an HQ choice that didn't need baby sitting. James made his usual snap decisions, not based on points costs or cost comparisons, but by what simply felt right and struck him as a good idea for a Space Wolves army.

And this is what we came up with:

Erik Bloodaxe's Space Wolves Patrol

Erik Bloodaxe:
Wolfguard Battle Leader armed with frost axe and storm shield, wearing runic armour and riding "Scooby" the Thunderwolf. Erik also has the Saga Of The Beast Slayer.

Wolfguard with combi melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun
Razorback with twin linked heavy bolter

Wolfguard with combi melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun
Razorback with twin linked heavy bolter

Wolfguard with combi melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun
Razorback with twin linked heavy bolter

Long Fang Sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with missile launchers
Razorback with twin linked lascannon

TOTAL: 999pts

CONCLUSION
With three Troops choices with 2 melta guns and a powerfist a peice, plenty of heavy bolters, 5 missile launchers and a twin linked lascannon for those really tough targets, my 1000 points Space Wolves army had the firepower to take on most armies and with a suitably beefy character riding a Thunderwolf to back them up, there's nothing that they couldn't overcome.

Okay, I dropped Mark of the Wulfen and the Wolf Standard from my Grey Hunter squads, but I just couldn't justify the extra costs in a game this small.

It's a fun army, it looks nice and it's simple to play. I can't wait to play some games with it!

Sadly...I'm unable to make it to Vapnartak, because I thought it took place on a Saturday, not a Sunday. I also discovered that it takes 4 hours to drive there! I think I may be sticking to Nottingham for my 40K day trips in the future.

Sorry Brad, you're our Lone Wolf now. Make us proud!

1000 Points Space Wolves Army

I needed a 1000 points Space Wolves army for the Vapnartak tournament in York on the 7th of February. Both Brad and I would be representing the Space Wolves in the once Viking city of Jorvic (now called York), which was once ruled over by the mighty Erik Bloodaxe. Such an epic setting would be more than suitable for our first tournament with the new Space Wolves army.

Monstrous creatures would be slain, foaming ale quaffed by the flaggon and buxom wenches beckoned forth bearing a hearty helping of piping hot steak. Heck, we might even play some Warhammer 40K amidst the whole event!

As you can see, I've just finished painting my first Long Fangs squad and I've been making great progress on my Grey Hunters. The bad news is that I have three weeks to build and paint 3 Rhinos, 1 Razorback, 3 Wulfen, 6 Grey Hunters, 1 Wolfguard and 2 Rune Priests. This is going to be tight, so pack and company markings can wait.

1000 points space wolves army for Vapnartak

Each Rune Priest joins a Grey Hunter squad. I haven't decided what Psychic powers to give them, although Jaws of the World Wolf, Living Lighting and Murderous Hurricane look tasty.

Rune Priest: 115pts
Saga of the Beast Slayer
Wolftail Talisman

Rune Priest: 115pts
Chooser of the Slain
Wolftail Talisman

Grey Hunter Pack: 188 points
Wolf Guard with combi-melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino APC

Grey Hunter Pack: 188 points
Wolf Guard with combi-melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino APC

Grey Hunter Pack: 188 points
Wolf Guard with combi-melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino APC

Long Fangs Pack: 215 points
1 Squad Leader, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback Transport with twin linked lascannon


THE PLAN
Rhinos go forward, Long Fangs sit back, chaos ensues. I think that's a simple strategy.

How defensive, aggressive or even reactive the army is will depend entirely upon my opponents army. I have some ideas about how to play the army, but ultimately my lack of battlefield experience is going to be a problem. I doubt I'll even get a practice game in with this before the 7th of February. I may even be painting through the night and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

But, there's nothing quite like a baptism of fire to teach you how to play your army. With 4 games in 1 day, the fire is going to be particularly hot!

Long Fangs Tactics

Long Fangs are Space Wolves who have survived centuries of war. As the most steady of temperament, Long Fangs are entrusted with heavy weapons to protect their Space Wolf bretheren with covering fire.

To represent their experience and battlefield wisdom, all Long Fangs have an increased Leadership characteristic while the eldest Long Fang is able to direct the squad's fire, allowing Long Fangs to split their firepower between two different targets.

Unlike the Devastator squads of other Space Marine armies, the heavy weapons of the Long Fangs are considerably cheaper. Perhaps this is because no other infantry units in the Space Wolves army are able to carry them? Whatever the case, this makes Long Fangs a very viable and cost effective Heavy Support choice if equipped correctly.

The Long Fangs squad leader also has access to a number of special weapons and every Long Fang has the universal Space Wolves special rules, which are Acute Senses and Counter-Attack.

OPTIONS
Flamer - Unlikely to get to use it
Melta Gun - Unlikely to get to use it
Plasma Gun - Not bad, but expensive
Plasma Pistol - Too expensive
Power Weapon - Unlikely to get to use it
Power Fist - Unlikely to get to use it
Melta Bombs - Unlikely to get to use them

Heavy Bolter - Cheap, but largely ineffective
Missile Launcher - Great value for its points and very versatile
Multimelta - Too short ranged for such a static unit
Plasma Cannon - Expensive and terrifying for an 1 wound infantry model to fire
Lascannon - The king of long ranged tank hunting guns and also the most expensive

Overall, the humble missile launcher really comes to the fore in the Long Fangs pack.

While some people love hordes of heavy bolters, I'm not a fan, especially now that its AP4 shots are somewhat redundant when everything seems to get a 4+ cover save.

The multimelta is a great anti-tank weapon, but it should never be given to a static or slow moving unit.

The plasma cannon can be fantastic, but when you're spending 35 points for a model to be armed with one, it's a big investment, especially when you're likely to get killed firing it.

That leaves the lascannon. Long range, high strength, low AP. Bane of tanks, monstrous creatures and Independant Characters. But at twice the cost of the missile launcher and not nearly as versatile, it's reserved for dedicated tank hunting which the overwhelming number of mobile melta guns in the Space Wolves army should be more than capable of taking care of.

So there we have it. The missile launcher is king of the heavy weapons because of it's versatile use, long range and reasonable points cost.

And with that, here are some Long Fang unit builds:


Long Fangs Pack 1: 115 points
1 Squad Leader, 4 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

Just the essentials. 5 models, 4 missile launchers

Long Fangs Pack 2: 140 points
1 Squad Leader, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

For a few points more, you can max out the squad and get another guy with a missile launcher. Well worth the points, especially when it's an extra only the Space Wolves can have.

Long Fangs Pack 3: 203 points
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour with Storm Bolter, Power Sword and Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Squad Leader, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers

For even more firepower, why not add a Wolf Guard in terminator armour with a cyclone missile launcher and a storm bolter to boot. Costing just 63 points, he's a little more than 2 extra Long Fangs (which you can't field anyway), but with his 2 missile shots, storm bolter, power sword and terminator armour for catching the odd krak missile and other high strength hit and he's well worth his points.

Razorbacks
If there's one thing Long Fangs love, it's Razorbacks. Transport capacity is rarely a problem, so why not pay 5 points more than a Rhino for a pair of twin linked heavy bolters? Although in my personal experience, only a mass of mobile heavy bolters really inflicts any serious damage.

But would you pay a total of 75 points for a razorback with a twin linked lascannon turret? Compare it to the cost of a Landspeeder and you just might.

Because your Long Fangs are never going to use the Razorback, it essentially becomes a free Fast Attack choice bolted onto your already cost effective Long Fangs squad as a Heavy Support choice.

When a single Long Fang with a lascannon costs 40 points, maybe it's not such a bad deal? It's a great way to get some accurate lascannon fire into the army.


Logan Grimnar
One very tempting, but expensive idea is to get Logan Grimnar and attach him to a unit of Long Fangs armed with missile launchers or even lascannons.

His ability to confer the Relentless and Tank Hunter skills to the unit he joins, can make Long Fangs devastating. However, the Chapter Master of the Space Wolves isn't cheap, so he'll have to be especially destructive to make him worth the points.

Long Fangs Pack 4: 553 points
Logan Grimnar
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour with Storm Bolter, Power Sword and Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Squad Leader, 5 Long Fangs with Lascannons

Damn, that's a lot of points! But you can move 6" on from the board edge or move into cover whilst firing those heavy weapons or stand still for the Tank Hunter ability, effectively making the lascannons Strength 10 against vehicles while the cyclone missile launcher goes up to the equivalent of Strength 9 against vehicles.

CONCLUSION
Long Fangs are cheaper than other equivalent Heavy Support choices from the Space Wolves Codex, which makes them an excellent choice for any Space Wolf player from the most competitive tournament player to the player who embraces the background and all its quirks regardless of cost.

As for Logan Grimnar leading a maxed out squad of Long Fangs with all the trimmings. That's a heck of a lot of points and it's going to need some playtesting to see if it's really worth doing.

The razorback with twin linked lascannon seems to be a safe bet though.

Fenrisian Wolves

Are Fenrisian wolves any good? No. But Fenrisian Wolves become a lot better as soon as you give a character the Saga of the Wolfkin.

As soon as you do this, all Fenrisian Wolves in your Space Wolves army get Initiative 5 and Leadership 7. It's certainly worth it for the points of one saga and makes Fenrisian Wolves a great choice if you have a handful of points left over, but don't know what to do with them.

Essentially a Space Wolf without any power armour, slightly higher initiative and slightly lower leadership and the ability to mov 6", fleet of foot and charge 12" -Fenrisian Wolves are an interesting Fast Attack choice in the Space Wolves army that can include 5-15 models and cost from 40 to 120 points.

Their only upgrade is a Cyberwolf to lead them and when you've already paid for an Independant Character to have Saga of the Wolfkin, a Cyberwolf really isn't worth the extra points.

Fenrisian Wolf Pack 1: 80 points
10 Fenrisian Wolves
If you think of Fenrisian Wolves like Kroot or Chaos Daemons in a Chaos Space Marines army, you can see the real value of them. Sadly, they cannot claim objectives, even when taken as Troops under Canis Wolfborn, but this doesn't mean that they can't contest them. Also, with their potential 24" attack range, they can suddenly bound across the battlefield and into close combat, unleashing 30 attacks.

With a healthy number of attacks and high initiative, they should tear apart light infantry with relative ease. Sure, you can take 5 Fenrisian Wolves, but you're giving away an easy kill point and if you take 15 of them, you're investing a lot of points in a relatively squishy unit which would be better spent on more power armoured Space Marines. I think that 10 Fenrisian Wolves is just the right size.

CONCLUSION
There are many Fast Attack choices in the Space Wolves army that will take priority over a unit of Fenrisian Wolves, but they're not a bad choice and like Thunderwolves, they will punish anyone from venturing more than half way across the board when they arrive from reserve.

But, they do tend to die due to their lack of an armour save. This means you either need to keep them in cover as a defensive unit designed to counter attack with their long charge range or only take on enemy units with low armour values.

Fenrisian Wolves are a really characterful unit that sets the Space Wolves apart from regular Space Marine chapters, so if you've got 80 points to spare and don't fancy taking a Land Speeder, why not give the Fenrisian Wolves a try and see how they fit into your battle plan.

They also a great accessory to give to Independent Characters when you're looking to bulk out a squad. If anyone's going to catch a lascannon round in the face, it's going to be an 8pt Fenrisian Wolf, not a 15pt Space Marine.

I'm going to convert mine from Chaos Hounds because they look suitably ferocious!

Sky Claws

Skyclaws are Blood Claws equipped with Jump Packs. It seems that Blood Claws aren't so popular as troops, so the Space Wolves organised them to fill all the Fast Attack choices, which works for me!

Skyclaws take the ferocity of Blood Claws and make it a little more uncontrollable, because no one from the Wolf Guard is will to lead them. So this makes things a little bit awkward due to the Headstrong rules. It also means that Skyclaws cannot enjoy the cheap Powerfist with lots of attacks that Swiftclaw, Blood Claw and Grey Hunter squads can enjoy.

The only answer is to have them led by an Independant Character and when Skyclaws are in fact Blood Claws with jump packs, there's only one man who can get the most out of them and that's a Wolf Priest. Fortunately in the latest Space Wolves Codex, all Characters now have access to jump packs, despite it being very out of character for the Space Marine Chapter.

Skyclaw packs are formed from headstrong trouble makers in the Blood Claws. However, this 'reward' is seen as a rather dubious honour by older Space Wolves, not because membership to the Skyclaws almost certainly guarantees a quick and violent death, but because if fighting on foot was good enough for their Primarch, its good enough for them too!

Many Space Wolves players feel the same, but when you considering that some of the Space Wolves now ride gigantic wolves into battle, wearing jump packs doesn't seem quite so radical.


OPTIONS
Flamer - Not bad, but you don't want to deny yourself a charge
Melta Gun - The best gun in 5th edition
Plasma Gun - Tempting, but expensive
Plasma Pistol - Too expensive!
Power Weapon - Mark of the Wulfen is better
Powerfist - You need it, so take it!
Mark of the Wulfen - Awesome!

Skyclaws Squad 1: 380pts
Wolf Priest with Runic Armour, Melta Bombs, Jump Pack
10 Skyclaws, Powerfist, Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Gun

This is a mirror image of what my friend James runs in his Dark Angels army, which is a chaplain with melta bombs leading a 10-man assault squad led by a veteran sergeant with a Power Fist.

It's an absolutely lethal unit that can take lots of casualties and easily tears apart whatever it charges. It's also great for 'herding' enemy units who want to keep away from it!

The difference between his assault squad and the Space Wolves Skyclaws is that they get to reroll to hit even if they are charged because of Preferred Enemy. Couple that with Counter Attack and you've got an assault unit that doesn't mind being charged as much. There's a lot more attacks and with the rerolls the lower Weapon Skill shouldn't make much of a difference. Plus there's a melta gun thrown in there for good measure to soften up tougher targets before the charge.

His unit comes to 385pts in the Dark Angels Codex.
Although it also comes to 335pts in the Space Marines Codex.

Skyclaws Squad 2: 335pts
Wolf Priest with Melta Bombs, Jump Pack
10 Skyclaws, Powerfist

If you want to match the assault squad from the Space Marine Codex for points, you need to strip this down to the bare essentials. As you can see, for the same points you get a unit with a lower Weapon Skill, but more attacks on the charge, Preffered Enemy and Counter Charge which makes them an all-round more forgiving unit.

CONCLUSION
Maybe Skyclaws aren't that bad after all? When you compare them to other Space Marine assault squads their value for points really stands out. However, like the Blood Claws, you really need to have them led by a Wolf Priest to make the most of their attacks.

Also, if you're trying to compete on points, then it may be worth dropping one of the Skyclaws and giving another the Mark of the Wulfen to see if the extra attacks and Rending can give you even better value for your points.

Swiftclaw Biker Tactics

Swiftclaw Bikers are Blood Claws on bikes. So here's a quick guide to the best builds for Swiftclaws and their typical tactics.

Just like Blood Claws, Swiftclaws, are a close combat unit that rewards the Space Wolves player for charging. Swiftclaw tactics employ using their extra mobility to close with the enemy and achieve that first charge, but let's not forget that Space Marine Bikes are typically small units that must be played with finesse. While they may have an increases Toughness of 5, they're far from invincible.

For once I'm going to favour the Flamer over the Melta Gun for this unit. This is because Swiftclaws are one of the few units in the Space Wolves army that have the mobility to make the most of this short ranged template weapon. Plus, the Ballistic Skill of a Swiftclaw is pretty awful!

Bike squads tend to get bogged down in close combat, which is a shame when Swiftclaw tactics involve being in close combat. So the Flamer is essential for thinning the enemy numbers while the 12" move of the Swiftclaw Bikers will ensure that they should still be in charge range after your opponent has removed any casualties.

OPTIONS
Flamer - Great for thinning enemy numbers before assault
Melta Gun - The essential tank busing assault gun
Plasma Gun - Not suitable for a bike unit
Plasma Pistol - Too expensive
Power Weapon - Not bad
Power Fist - With 3 attacks on the charge, it's not bad
Attack Bike with Heavy Bolter - Always take it for wound allocation and heavy weapon
Multimelta Upgrade - An essential tank busting gun
Melta Bombs - Too expensive for the whole squad

The funny thing about Swiftclaw Bikers is that their greatest strength is being a bike unit, which is also their greatest weakness. They're fast and reasonably tough, but there aren't many of them and they can get stuck in close combat if they don't have enough clout.

Swiftclaws should also be led by a Wolf Guard at all times. Because they're essentially Blood Claws on bikes, they're also subject to the Headstrong rules, which means that they will forgoe their shooting if they are in charge range and as we all know, you need to wittle down the enemy's numbers as much as possible before charging in.

Swiftclaw Biker Pack 1: 253 points
Wolf Guard with Combi-melta, Powerfist, Bike, Melta Bombs
5 Swiftclaw Bikers, Flamer, Powerfist
Attack Bike with Multimelta

As you can see, this squad number 8 models in total, is led by a Wolf Guard for a increase in Leadership, plenty of Powerfist attacks and a combi-melta for some extra firepower, as well as some melta bombs for any really tough vehicles. But if you're tight for points, you can always drop the melta bombs.

I've included a Flamer to thin the numbers of any infantry squads the Swiftclaws may charge as well as another Powerfist. Normally I'd want to take something else, but this is the best close combat weapon Swiftclaws can get and they need as many hard hitting attacks as they can to smash their way out of a close combat.

Finally, you've got the Attack Bike with a Multimelta. An Attack Bike is a great choice for any Space Marine Bike squad because it has 2 wounds, which really helps with your wound allocation, especially when you can take a plasma hit early on to avoid losing a model.

Costing just 5pts more than a regular Swiftclaw biker, it's got an extra wound, an extra attack AND a heavy weapon. You'd be mad not to take it!

I gave it a Multimelta for some extra tank busting. When it costs the same as a melta gun, it's too good to pass up.

CONCLUSION
Tactics for Swiftclaw Biker units are about providing a supporting role for the rest of the Space Wolves army. As an offensive unit, they have to be versatile and hard hitting while being able to absorb a fair amount of damage and the example above certainly does that.

They've got plenty of basic attacks and powerfist attacks to deal with infantry in close combat, as well as a flamer to thin enemy numbers on the way in.
There's a combi-melta, multimelta and 2 powerfists for tanks and monstrous creatures.
Plus, they've got the speed, the Toughness and a 3+ save to bear the brunt of the enemy's firepower.

Before you get hooked on Thunderwolf Cavalry, Skyclaws and Fenrisian Wolf packs, take a squad of Swiftclaw Bikers for a spin, they are without a doubt, the most v Fast Attack choice in the Space Wolves army.

Thunderwolf Cavalry

Thunderwolf Cavalry are a small elite within the ranks of the Wolf Guard who remain conveniently absent from any official Imperial records.

Thunderwolf Cavalry are a new and radical addition to the Space Wolves army. While their inclusion in the game doesn't sit right with many traditionalists, many Space Wolves players have been frantically converting whatever they can find to make Thunderwolf Cavalry from until Games Workshop or Forge World release a set of official Thunderwolf models.

On the tabletop, Thunderwolf Cavalry bring something new and exciting to the Space Wolf army in the form of a small, tough and hard hitting unit that can move, run and charge up to 24" in a single turn.

It's important to note that only 1 model in the Thunderwolf Cavalry unit has access to the special close combat weapons, meanwhile the other riders are restricted to swapping their bolt pistol for a boltgun, plasma pistol or a storm shield.

Also, the Rending ability of the Thunderwolf mount cannot be combined with the rules of a special close combat weapon like a power weapon or thunder hammer.

OPTIONS
Boltgun - Rubbish!
Plasma Pistol - Too expensive!
Storm Shield - Expensive, but good for deflecting low AP guns
Melta Bombs - Great when you don't have to give them to the whole squad
Power Weapon - You've got Rending so why bother?
Wolf Claw - You've got Rending so why bother?
Frost Blade - Boosts your guy up to Strength 6!
Power Fist - 4 S10 attacks is nothing to be sneezed at
Thunder Hammer - Same as a powerfist, but 'stuns' vehicles, infantry and creatures
Mark of the Wulfen - Terrible! Why would you swap 5 attacks for D6+1?

As you can see, many of the upgrades simply aren't worth taking. Or if they are, they're very expensive. So we need to be quite sparing with what we give our Thunderwolf riders. Also, while you can take anything between 1-5 models in the unit, I'd never take less than 3, otherwise you're giving away a very easy Kill Point.

Thunderwolf Cavalry 1: 185 points
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Thunder Hammer, Melta Bomb

This is the basic squad I'd take. It's got three individual models for wound allocation, which is why I gave one of them melta bombs. The lead model has a Thunder Hammer for stunning vehicles, characters and monstrous creatures, which will give the Thunderwolves mass of Rending attacks an advantage in the following round of close combat.

Thunderwolf Cavalry 2: 315 points
5 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Thunder Hammer, Melta Bomb, Boltgun, Storm Shield

This is my Thunderwolf unit with all the trimmings. Maximum number of models and a guy with a Storm Shield to take the hits from plasma guns, melta guns and lascannons and hamrlessly deflect them on a 3+.

You'll notice that one of the riders has a Boltgun. This is for the 5-way wound allocation.

I resent giving him a Boltgun, because it's worthless and he loses an attack because of it, but it's going to increase the survivability of the unit through wound allocation and it's better than paying out 15 points for a plasma pistol.


CONCLUSION
It's important to remember that Thunderwolf Cavalary are not on par with Ork Nob Bikers and similar super units from other armies. They're still a good unit, but they can't absorb quite as much firepower or deal out the same amount of damage.

I think they're a brilliant unit to hold in reserve to punish anyone from daring to venture more than half way across the board. Otherwise, I certainly wouldn't use them for a direct assault. This is because they lack the movement of bikes and with a basic 6"+D6" move, they're not going anywhere fast, unless they're charging something. Don't be fooled by their raised Toughness, 2 wounds and 3+ save, this is quite a small and fragile unit if hit with heavy weapons.

Don't get me wrong, there will be many glorious charges of the Thunderwolf Cavalary. You'll just have to keep them leaping from combat to combat in order to keep them away from the enemy guns. Thankfully their potential 19" to 24" attack range will make this a little easier.

Blood Claws Tactics

Blood Claws are the 'other' Space Wolves troops choice. These Blood Claw tactics are going to explain how to get the best out of your Blood Claws squads and how they can be best used to support the rest of the army while giving you the best value for your points.

Unlike the new initiates of other Space Marine chapters, Blood Claws are given a suit of power armour, a bolt pistol and a chainsword so that they can get stuck into close combat. No sneaking about as scouts for the Space Wolves!

As a result, Blood Claws are renowned for their ferocity, being Headstrong (so they charge anything), Berserk (they get +2 attacks when charging) and having a rather poor Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill. They are initiates after all.

Most competitive players aren't a big fan of Blood Claws because they have always paled in comparison to Grey Hunters, but when led by a Wolf Priest, the close combat potential of the Blood Claws increases dramatically when they charge.

They also need to be led by a Wolf Guard or Independant Character at all times, otherwise they forgoe their shooting if within 6" of an enemy and charge them, regardless of whether they can hurt that enemy or not!

OPTIONS
Flamer - Not necessary for a large close combat unit
Melta Gun - The essential 5th edition tank hunting assault gun
Plasma Gun - Not a great choice for an assault squad
Plasma Pistol - Expensive!
Power Weapon - Expensive for a WS3 model
Power Fist - Expensive for a WS3 model

The whole point behind taking Blood Claws is to do something different to what a Grey Hunter pack can do. Otherwise, you're better off taking Grey Hunters, because they're a far more versatile and cost effective unit.

So what can Blood Claws do that Grey Hunters can't?
Well, they can get +2 attacks on the charge and you can have up to 15 of them.

So to make them worth taking, you want to max out on numbers and do your best to get the charge.

This means either transporting them in a Land Raider Crusdader with its transport capacity of 16 or slogging it on foot as a mighty mob of power armoured Space Marines.

Blood Claws Pack 1: 408 points
Wolf Priest with Runic Armour, Wolf Tail Talisman,
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Chainfist
15 Blood Claws, 2 Melta guns

I've taken a Wolf Priest for his Oath of War ability that gives the unit Preferred Enemy against either 'infantry' or 'monstrous creatures'. Generally, I choose 'infantry', because it encompasses so many different units.

I've give the Wolf Priest Runic Armour so he can catch a few more bullets for the squad with a 2+ save as well as a Wolf Tail Talisman to dispel psychic attacks on the squad on a 5+. Looking at the new Tyranid army, there's a lot of psychic template weapons heading our way and for 5pts, it's too good to pass up for a large squad.

For more options, check out these Wolf Priest Tactics.

I've also included a Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour to catch some bullets for the squad with his 2+ save. He's armed with a combi-melta for extra tank busting/monstrous creature wounding and a chainfist.

It's not very cost effective to give a Blood Claw a powerfist, even if they are rerolling to hit, so this guy is the safest bet. Not only does he get Preferred Enemy, but he has 2 basic attacks and a higher Weapon Skill. For him the chainfist is cheaper and much better at ripping apart vehicles.

For more about the various Wolf Guard builds, read these Wolf Guard Tactics.

Finally, I've chosen to max out on as many Blood Claws as possible and given them a Melta gun, because it's the best assault gun in the game and at 5 points it's a steal. Even better, when you take 15 Blood Claws, you get another one Free!

On the charge, this unit gets 60 basic attacks, 3 chainfist attacks and 4 power weapon attacks, all with Preferred Enemy for those all important rerolls.

When Counter Charging, this unit gets 45 basic attacks, 3 chainfist attacks and 4 power weapon attacks with Preferred Enemy.


Blood Claws Pack 2: 628 points
Wolf Priest with Runic Armour, Wolf Tail Talisman,
Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour, Combi-Melta, Chainfist
13 Blood Claws, 1 Melta gun
Land Raider Crusader Transport

I'm not a fan of the Crusader, especially if you're spending 250 points on a tank purely to deliver this squad into close combat. That's 628 points in one very big basket! Once the Blood Claws have been delivered, the Crusader becomes rather redundant.

If they were mounted in a Land Raider Redeemer, the Redeemer could go off and cause carnage on its own. It was driving towards the enemy anyway, so it may as well give the Blood Claws a ride on its way into the fight. The problem with the Redeemer is that it can only transport 12 models.

So you'd end up reducing the Blood Claws to 10 models, the Wolf Guard to power armour and then the Wolf Priest. Once you're down to 10 models, well, you'd be better off taking Grey Hunters for the equivalent points.

CONCLUSION
Blood Claws are still relatively rubbish and when compared to all the other options in the Space Wolves Codex and they're only worth taking in a large mob of 15 models.

Regardless of who the enemy is, they don't want to get charged by this squad.

What makes this unit different is that it doesn't care about taking damage due to the sheer number of power armoured models. It's tough to put down with shooting and can form an excellent centre for a Space Wolves attack wave.

This unit forces your opponent to make the Catch 22 tactical decision. He can shoot the Blood Claws and get jumped by everything else, or shoot everything else and get jumped by the Blood Claws.

Hopefully with so many units charging straight down your opponent's throat, he'll be unable to put them all down before the Space Wolves crash into his lines, downing his tanks with their melta guns and ripping apart his troops with tooth and chainsword!

Lone Wolf Tactics

A Lone Wolf is the single survivor of a Space Wolves pack destroyed in battle. A Lone Wolf is a warrior who has no pack and has not yet attained a place in the ranks of his Wolf Lord's Wolf Guard.

Left with nothing but the desire for bitter revenge, the Lone Wolf has made an oath to seek a glorious death in battle against the mightiest of foes

Lone Wolves are a popular Elites choice in the new Space Wolves Codex because they don't conceed Kill Points if killed. They only conceed Kill Points if they live. So getting them killed is the name of the game, preferably taking down as many foes with them as possible.

To make cutting down monstrous creatures a little easier, the Lone Wolf has the Saga of the Beastslayer, allowing him to reroll to hit models with a Toughness of 5 or higher in close combat.

As a suicide unit, we don't care about him dying so long as he makes his points back.

Much like a Wolf Guard, a Lone Wolf has a huge choice of weapons options from the armoury, allowing you to equip him as the mightiest of monster hunters or a humble warrior seeking a quick and violent death.

OPTIONS
Power Sword - There are better options
Plasma Pistol - Expensive
Wolf Claw - There are better options
Power Fist - There are better ooptions
Frost Blade - Not bad
Thunder Hammer - There are better options
Storm Shield - Expensive, but increases survivability
Terminator Armour - Expensive, but increases survivability
Combi-Weapon - My money is on the combi-melta
Chainfist - The best high strength, tank busting close combat weapon!
Melta Bombs - for 5pts, why not?
0-2 Fenrisian Wolves - Take 2 to make sure he gets into close combat
Mark of the Wulfen - Better than a power weapon!


There are two approaches to creating Lone Wolf models for your Space Wolves army. One is the cheap and cheerful option who is guaranteed to meet a messy end and he might even kill something along the way. The other is the tooled up monster hunter for taking on Trygons and other horrific beasties!

It's important to remember that a Lone Wolf is Fearless, has Feel No Pain and cannot be Instantly Killed with 2 wounds.

Lone Wolf 1: 55 points
Mark of the Wulfen, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Cheap, cheerful and ferocious!

Mark of the Wulfen allows the Lone Wolf to wound monstrous creatures on a 6 (rending hits) and with D6+1 attacks, he should do alright, especially when he rerolls to hit in close combat.

Okay, he's gonna get splattered unless he's very lucky and rolls 3 6s to wound, but for 55pts, he's not bad and he has 2 Fenrisian Wolves to take some wounds on.

Lone Wolf charges a Carnifex with MATHHAMMER!
He gets 3 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 3 hits and fails to wound
He gets 4 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 3 hits and fails to wound
He gets 5 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 4 hits and wounds with a lucky rending hit
He gets 6 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 5 hits and wounds with a rending hit
He gets 7 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 6 hits and wounds with a rending hit
He gets 8 Attacks+Rerolls, scores 7 hits and wounds with a rending hit

With this many attacks, he's pretty good for charging basic enemy squads as well.

To make him more survivable, for a hefty points boost you can give him a storm shield for a 3+ invulnerable save. It could make all the difference between having another round of combat against a big beasty or being eaten by said beasty. But is it worth the points? Probably not. So let's take our Lone Wolf to the next level and pay a trip to the Space Wolves armoury.


For 85 to 105 points you can take one of the following with a mixture of weapons including a combi-melta, thunder hammer, chainfist, storm shield and terminator armour. You'll notice that I haven't included Wolf Claws. This is because many monstrous creatures are generally Toughness 6 and above, so you will be struggling to wound them or be unable to actually wound them at all!

The nastier creatures in the game tend to strike before your Initiative 4 Space Wolves, so these Lone Wolf builds have been equipped to take the brunt of their attacks before striking back with weapons that not only reroll to hit, but wound monstrous creatures more easily.

Lone Wolf 2: 105 points
Termninator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Lone Wolf 3: 85 points
Termninator Armour, Chainfist, Combi-Melta, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Lone Wolf 4: 105 points
Termninator Armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

Lone Wolf 5: 85 points
Termninator Armour, Thunder Hammer, Combi-Melta, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

As you can see from these examples, the Thunder Hammer configurations are better against Monstrous Creatures while the Chainfist is better against Tanks. Both weapons are equally suited to all manner of opponents. The Storm Shield provides extra protection from shooting and more importantly assault with Monstrous Creatures that strike sooner than the Lone Wolf.

Whether you take the Combi-Melta to inflict a wound monstrous creature or damage a tank before charging over the protection of the Storm Shield is up to you.

Due to the 2+ save, 4+ Feel No Pain and 3+ invulnerable save of the Storm Shield, these Lone Wolf builds are incredibly tough to kill and should be able to get stuck into infantry squads and hold them up for most of the game. The Lone Wolf's measly 2 attacks could be problematic however.


CONCLUSION
Despite their long list of equipment, a Lone Wolf only gets 2 attacks. This means that he's best used in conjunction with another unit who can soften up a monstrous creature for him, although he's pretty much guaranteed to shred a tank up close and personal with a chainfist.

You can get around this problem with Mark fo the Wulfen, but he lacks the punch to really tear apart a monstrous creature unless you're particularly lucky. He's also likely to get splattered in just his power armour, even with 2 Fenrisian Wolves to take a couple of hits for him.

(Of course, he can embark in a transport if no one else is using it. But unless it's a heavy support Land Raider, it's rare that a transport isn't being used by someone in the Space Wolves army.)

A Lone Wolf with the Mark of the Wulfen is nice and affordable, but while a Lone Wolf with the Mark of the Wulfen in Terminator Armour sounds like a cheap idea, you can get a wolf claw, frost blade or chainfist for the same points or less. So you need to experiment to find the best value for your points.

If you tool him up with Terminator Armour, a high strength weapon and a Storm Shield, his lowly 2 attacks are certain to inflict a wound or two on the biggest of beasties, but at the same time, the Lone Wolf becomes far more survivable, especially if you can throw him at an enemy infantry squad. He could probably sit there for the entire game, slowly killing them, holding up his equivalent in points (or more) and merrily contest an objective.

After all, you don't have to kill all the enemy if they can't kill you back!

Grey Hunter Tactics

Grey hunters form the backbone of the Space Wolves army. These Grey Hunter tactics are going to explain the best builds for your Grey Hunter packs and demonstrate how to get the best value for your points.

Grey Hunters are Blood Claws who have tempered their agression with experience. Armed with a bolt pistol, close combat weapon and a bolt gun, they can fulfil a wide range of battlefield roles and are one of the most versatile troop choices in the game.

Not to mention that they get an extra close combat weapon and Counter Attack for the same points as a regular Space Marine.

This is the trade off for being unable to take a heavy weapon on break up into two seperate Combat Squads like regular Space Marines. Space Wolves also do not have Battle Tactics to voluntarily fall back. As a close combat army, this kind of 'tactical thiking' is unheard of!

Core Troops
As the core troops of your Space Wolves army, these units should be able to do anything. They provide the staying power, the anti-troop solution and the anti-tank solution.

It's a difficult role to fulfil, especially when compared to other Space Marines.
My friend James who plays Dark Angels (boo, hiss!) has got this down to a teeby splitting his Tactical Squads into Combat Squads.

One team goes forward with a melta gun in a Razorback and gets stuck in, while the other team sits back in a defensive position with a lascannon.

Grey Hunters don't have that luxury. They take the role of the squad driving forward in the Razorback or Rhino transport. But this suits the up close and in-your-face nature of the Space Wolves. The only question is how many men and how many points you place inside that transport.

OPTIONS
Flamer - rubbish on a foot unit.
Melta Gun - Essential for tank hunting and doesn't prevent charging.
Plasma Gun - Versatile, but cannot fire and charge.
Plasma Pistol - expensive!
Power Weapon - Mark of the Wulfen is better.
Power Fist - expensive, but good.
Wolf Standard - brilliant! Always take one.
Mark of the Wulfen - Better than the Power Weapon.
Rhino Transport - Can transport 10
Razorback Transport - Only carries 6, but has a twin linked heavy bolter

Grey Hunter Pack 1: 168 points
Wolf Guard with combi-melta, powerfist
5 Grey Hunters, melta gun
Razorback Transport armed with twin linked heavy bolters

Based on what other Space Marine armies pack into their transports, this squad has all the basic essentials: a melta gun and a Wolf Guard with combi-melta and powerfist for a boost in Leadership and some extra close combat clout that's more points effective that equiping a Grey Hunter with the same wargear.

For more on this, see Wolf Guard Tactics.

Of course, you can swap the melta gun and combi-melta for a plasma gun and combi-plasma if you like. But when this unit will have to deal with every kind of opponent from light infantry to heavy tanks, the melta gun is the safest bet and considerably cheaper too.

Why the Razorback over a Rhino? Because for 5pts more, you get a twin linked heavy bolter turret. It's too good to pass up if you only need to transport 6 Space Marines.

Grey Hunter Pack 2: 278 points
Wolf Guard with combi-melta, powerfist
9 Grey Hunters, melta gun, powerfist, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard
Rhino Transport

For 110pts more, you can go the whole hog! As a Space Marine Chapter, the Space Wolves love nothing more than good punch up -so this should be the perfect kind of Grey Hunter squad for any player. It drives up, it disembarks, it shoots the hell out of the enemy, then stands there shouting "Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough!"

No one is their right mind is going to charge this, not even Tyranids. Okay, Tyranids probably will and carnage will ensue. But with 2 powerfists, lots of basic attacks, a Grey Hunter with Mark of the Wulfen and a Wolf Standard, the Space Wolves should emerge triumphant.

Why take Mark of the Wulfen over a Power Weapon? Statistically it's better against basic troops and monstrous creatures, and if you roll a lot of 6s it's amazing!

For more on this, see Mark of the Wulfen VS Power Weapon.

Finally, a Wolf Standard has to be my favourite peice of equipment. Use Once Per Game. For the duration of the next Assault Phase, all models in that unit may reroll ANY dice rolls of a 1. So that's rerolls to hit, to wound and pass armour saves. How good is that for just 10pts!

Drop Pods
If you want to put your Grey Hunters in a Drop Pod, simply swap the Rhino or Razorback for a Drop Pod. Simple!

I'd never drop pod my whole army in 5th edition, because any player with a shred of sense will be able to easily counter it.

But a single Grey Hunter squad joined by a Wolf Guard, Arjac Rockfist or an Independant Character in a Drop Pod creates a very dangerous deterrent for an opponent to start the game with most of his units on the board in a defensive formation.

CONCLUSION
It's a big leap from 168 points for a Troop choice up to 278 points. For roughly the same points, you could have 5 squads of the 6-man Grey hunter packs in the Razorbacks or 3 of the 10-man Grey Hunter packs in Rhinos.

Either way, you've still got 30 men. It's just a choice between more fire power in the form of 5 twin linked heavy bolters and more melta guns or more Power Fist attacks, more basic attacks and Wolf Standard rerolls.

All your eggs (Grey Hunter) in 3 baskets (transports) for 6 Kill Points or your eggs in 5 baskets for 10 Kill Points.

My money is on the 10 strong Grey Hunter pack. It can hold its ground, slug it out with the best of the 40K super units and if need be, fight its way through the enemy army, to claim and objective or cause massed carnage.

The huge number of basic attacks are very impressive, as are the powerfist attacks to follow.

Finish it off with a Wolf Standard to reroll any 1s and very few of your Space Wolves should fail their armour saves.

Also, the effects of the Wolf Standard apply to 10 Space Marines, not just 6 and that makes a very big difference!

The other plus about taking big squads like this is that they can merrily footslog it to towards the enemy should their transport be immobilised or destroyed, they can deliver a devastating Counter Charge and by taking 3 of these units instead of 5 of the smaller ones, you are giving away far fewer Kill Points.

Wolf Scout Tactics

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.

Behind Enemy Lines
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.

Infiltrating
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.

CONCLUSION
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.

Tactics Week

This week on the Space Wolves blog it's all about tactics.

Things have been a bit boring lately what with a smattering of painting here, a unit review there and the occasional post about how the new Tyranids are going to rip us all apart...when Games Workshop finally get around the releasing their new Codex.

So this week we're going to blitz through all the Space Wolves unit tactics, get them out of the way and get cracking on building, painting and planning our armies and even play some games and write some Battle Reports as well!

If there's one thing writing Warhammer Tau on a weekly basis taught me, it's that people love to follow someone else's army, enjoy its success and learn from its failures.

So once the sensible stuff like tactics, painting and modelling is out of the way, it's time we moved onto the stuff that we really enjoy, which is throwing down a fully painted army and rolling some dice.

After some cajoling from Neil Kerr, I've also bought a ticket to the Vapnartak tournament in York. So I'll be standing alongside my wolf brother Brad in representing the Space Wolves.

It's also a good kick up the backside for me to get my head down and paint 1000 points, let alone create a suitably vicious army list.

I'd also like to give a quick shout for Solent Wargaming.

I met these guys a few years ago on the Carnage tournament circuit and they proceeded to kick my arse, although I was playing girly Dark Angels at the time.

Either way, they know their stuff and sell everything a wargamer could want with affordable worldwide shipping from the UK.

Space Wolf FAQ/Errata

GW have released a massive Space Wolves FAQ and Errata.

Updated: September 2012

Good stuff so go and grab yourself a copy.

Space Wolf FAQ

The Road to the UK Grand Tournament

Hey guys Brad here with my first post for Space Wolves and my first post of 2010.

Some of you may have guessed from my profile description on the blog that this year I am taking the step from casual 40k gamer to hard nosed tournament player. My goal is to enter the Throne of Skull Warhammer 40K Grand Tournament at the end of the year with my Space Wolf army.

In preparation for the GT heats I plan to get as many tournaments under my belt from now until the heats as practice. Thinking about it that is probably what any other sensible player would do. Tournament practice is not the only thing I need to do -first, I need an army!

So the first step on my road to GT glory is preparing the troops. Obviously I will taking Space Wolves, I just need to decide what my 1500 point army list will be.

I have decided to take this on step by step, a good place to start will be a 1000 point list for the Vapnartak 1000 point tournament in February I have entered. Vapnartak is held in the fantastic city of York, the contest consists of 4 games over one day with pre determined scenarios.

With a tournament looming in the not so distant future it has been a kick up the arse for me to get painting. I have a 1000 point list worked out already with a little help from outside sources. Overall I am happy with how the list has performed in practice games but I will speak about the army list in a future post.

Going back on topic I have come up with a basic step by step plan for collecting and painting my army along with other projects that I have planned for the year:

Step 1) Paint 1000 points in time for Vapnartak in February.

Step 2) Upgrade my 1000 point army to 1500 points then paint the remainding models.

Step 3) Magnetise and paint a 5 man Wolf Guard Terminator unit so they can be fielded with any weapon options in the codex.

I plan to allow a month to complete each step as I have to fit painting in between work and family time leaving me precious little time for gaming, etc.

My head is currently buzzing with grand ideas of building a great company, a mighty Space Wolf bastion and hundreds of other crazy schemes, but I will set myself realistic goals and strive to achieve small goals over a period of time.

So get ready for regular updates as I build, paint and play the great company of wolf lord Erik Morkai.