How to Beat Space Marines with Space Wolves

Beating regular Space Marines with Space Wolves should be easy right? Well, you might be surprised!

What with all those Assault Terminators wielding Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields marching up the field while bombarding you with Thunderfire Cannon salvos, the basic Space Marine Codex can be quite tricky to deal with -and that's before you throw in all those special characters.

So while you may be able to outfight Space Marines with Grey Hunters, there are a number of units in any Space Marine army that can cause problems for the Space Wolves. Least of all, the greater number of heavy weapons and units.

Yes, you may come across a Space Marine Biker arny, but Ravenwing do that so much better. You are likely ot come across a Salamander's themed list led by Vulkan. But that's not so different either, you can just expect all melta and flame weapons to be far more accurate, as well as Thunder Hammers.

Anyway, based on my gaming experience, I'm going to explain how to beat a typical Space marine army with Space Wolves while explaining what to look out for and how to best utilise your units to deal with each threat.


SPACE MARINE ARMY STRENGTHS

MSU: Many Small Units
Due to combat squadding, a Space Marine army will usually have a high number of units. Plus, because they're all wearing power armour, they tend to be tough to kill too. Or you end up wasting huge excesses of firepower simply to wipe out a 5-man squad that's sitting at the back with a lascannon.

With 5 man squads and Razorbacks dotted about, all shooting at you, it can be difficult to focus your attack, especially if all these little units are well spread out.

Of course, you may be playing an MSU style Space Wolves army, if which case you can probably go toe to toe with each unit without a worry. But for a regular Space Wolves army, this can be quite a bother.

Battle Tactics
Becuase Space Marines can make a voluntary fall back move whenever they take a morale check, they can deny your Grey Hunters those valuable charges or even break off from a losing combat, leaving your Grey Hunters stranded in the open to get shot atif you cannot catch them.

There's not much you can do about the latter, but be aware of how many casualties you have to inflict from shooting before forcing a moral check.

After all, there's nothing worse than killing a couple of Marines with your bolt pistols only to see the squad fall back out of charge range, leaving your cluster of Grey Hunters out in the open and in line of sight of a Thunder Fire Cannon!

SPACE MARINE ARMY WEAKNESSES

Close Combat
The only real weakness that regular Space Marines have compared to Space Wolves is close combat. Aside from Assault Terminators swinging Thudner Hammers and deflecting blows with their Storm Shields, Space Wolves will tear through anything in a Space Marine army.

So while Space Wolves will dominate Space Marines in close combat, a Space Marine army will have a superior edge over Space Wolves when it comes to long ranged firepower.


TYPICAL SPACE MARINE ARMY LIST
I could have used something really dirty, like an army led by Shrike with 3 squads of 10 Assault Terminators and 2 sqauds of 5 Marines in Razorbacks backed up by 3 Thunderfire Cannons and 3 squadrons of Landspeeder Tornados. But I felt that James' standard Space Marine army was something you'd be far more likely to face. It's a deceptively tough army and plays very well too.

Chaplain with jump pack
10 Assault Marines: Sgt with power fist, flamer

5 Scouts: sniper rifles

1 Dreadnought: plasma cannon and extra armour

5 Marines: Sgt with power fist, melta gun
Razorback APC: extra armour
5 Marines: lascannon

5 Marines: Sgt with power weapon, plasma gun
Razorback APC: extra armour
5 Marines: lascannon

5 Marines: Sgt with power weapon, plasma gun
Razorback APC: extra armour
5 Marines: lascannon

1 Thunder Fire Cannon

1 Vindicator: siege shield and extra armour

5 Devastators: 4 missile launchers


Space Marine Strategy VS Space Wolves
Considering that they can't beat Space Wolves in close combat easily, they're going to go straight for your transports to slow you down.

Anything that falls out of transports (or ends up clustered together in an exploded wreck) is going to get hit by the Thunderfire Cannon.

Then it's down to the Razorbacks and all those heavy bolters to wittle down one Grey Hunter pack at a time.

Finally, the Assault Squad led by the Chaplain and the Dreadnought are nasty counter units that will go in and finish off or simply jump on and pound any Space Wolf squad which gets too close. The same goes for the Vindicator, which will also 'clear up' after any lost close combats.

This army is very mobile and mechanised, so moving forward to do all this isn't an issue either. The 5 man squads with lascannons simply sit back and pick their targets, as does the Devastator squad with missile launchers.

Space Wolves Strategy VS Space Marines
In the same way that the Space Marine army will pick its targets and use long ranged firepower to eliminate key threats, the Space Wolves army will be doing exactly the same.

The only real difference is the Grey Hunters who will need to go forward in their Rhinos with the intention of giving the enemy a good kicking. And that's what keeps this kind of game exciting!

In my last game against this kind of army I had a squad of Wolf Guard Terminators with combi weapons riding in a Land Raider too. So I was able to closely match the Space Marines in terms of firepower, but I was coming for them!

There was no way I could win a shoot out, so I did my best to turn the game into one huge brawl. Meanwhile my Long Fangs and Razorbacks took out the key threats to my Grey Hunters turn by turn, whether it was the Dreadnought (which my Grey Hunters cannot easily beat in close combat) or the Vindicator and Thunderfire Cannon which could cripple a Space Wolves squad after they've won a close combat, or simply the Assault Squad led by the Chaplain.

While identifying key threats, it's important to target the units which are the biggest threats to your Grey Hunters. Because ultimately, it's always the Grey Hunters which will cause the most carnage and win you your games.


CONCLUSION
With armies like Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Grey Knights, the Space Marine Codex gets looked over by many players, but don't be fooled, because a savvy Space Marine player still has plenty of tricks up his sleeves.

Whether it's the most numerous MSU army you've ever seen or simply has 3 Thunderfire Cannons, bog standard Space Marines have more guns than Space Wolves and can certainly give you a tough time.

As for dealing with big squads of Assault Terminators, the usual strategies still apply. And that's to just hit them with absolutely everything, all at once and pray that your opponent makes the statistical average number of failed saves (that's 1 in 6 for a 2+ save, and 1 in 3 for a 3+ invulnerable save). In this game, when all looks lost, mathhammer can really be your friend.