6th Edition Space Wolves

Space Wolves could rise to the top of the pile in 6th edition if the leaks and rumours are true.

Considering how easy tanks will be to hit and damage thanks to their size and the new multiple-glancing/penetrating hits rule, we could see mechanised armies becoming a thing of the past.

With reduced cover saves and vehicles more susceptible to being shot at, the game could essentially go back to 4th edition when shooting at something actually killed it. But more important than that, our armies consisted of a variety of units, many of which were on foot.

So that leaves one question - who has the best basic troops in the game? Well, we do of course!

Priced at the same points as a regular Space Marine, Grey Hunters have counter-charge, extra close combat weapons and access to the Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, more special weapons, all while being led by a very affordable Wolf Guard.

The only other unit which can even come close are Chaos Space Marines and even they are more expensive once you add on all the upgrades.

Rise of the Plasma Gun
With the rumour that Rapid Fire weapons will allow you to stand still and fire twice at long range, the humble bolter has not only become brilliant, but so has the plasma gun.

I knew Games Workshop had included 2 plasma guns in the Space Wolves box for a reason! We also have access to a plethora of plasma pistols too. But how worthwhile they are will remain to be seen.

But if the game goes back to something similar to 4th edition, then drop podding your Space Wolves right into the thick of the fighting and plasma gunning everything to death could become an excellent option once again.

How Safe is it to Slog Forward on Foot?
We've talked about footslogging Space Wolves in the past, but I'm sure you'll agree that paying 35pts for a Metal Box to hide in has been invaluable throughout 5th edition.

But what would you do if all your Rhinos simply exploded on Turn 1 once we start playing 6th edition? Is it still worth those 35pts?

From personal experience (my Rhinos explode all the time), it tends to be the shooty armies that blast my transports apart and I have to footslog it across the board anyway.

If I'm not fighting a shooty army, then the enemy tends to be faster than my Space Wolves and comes steaming straight towards my lines.

In the first instance, all my Grey Hunters end up running forward en mass to reach the enemy anyway. In the second instance, my Space Wolves army has to play defensively in order to fend off Battlewagon Orks, crazed Blood Angels or Chaos Daemons.

So thinking about my past games, having a mechanised force hasn't really benefited me at all...other than the few times when my transports have simply refused to die. But we can't base our tactics on pure luck alone.

With this in mind, I have taken my current army and tweaked it in anticipation of 6th edition.

5th edition Space Wolves Army

Rune Priest: Jaws/Lightning
Wolf tail talisman

Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, wolf claw
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-melta, chainfist
Wolf Guard Terminator with storm bolter, power sword, cyclone missile launcher
--> Land Raider

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
7 Grey Hunters: melta, wulfen, standard
--> Rhino APC

Landspeeder: Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer
Landspeeder: Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer

5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
--> Razorback APC with Twin Linked Lascannon

5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
--> Razorback APC with Twin Linked Lascannon

6th edition Space Wolves Army
Here you can see that just by dropping the Rhinos and Razorbacks I'm able to boost each Grey Hunter pack from 7 to 10 and purchase another pack of Long Fangs. I was also able to exchange the Land Raider for another pack of Grey Hunters with plasma.

Meanwhile I've chosen to keep the Landspeeders to speed up the flanks and the Wolf Guard Terminators have now been fitted with combi-plasmas. Because if they can get off 2 shots at range 24", they will be an awesome unit for mid ranged fire as well as close combat.

Rune Priest: Jaws/Lightning
Wolf tail talisman

Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, wolf claw
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, chainfist
Wolf Guard Terminator with combi-plasma, power sword, cyclone missile launcher

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
10 Grey Hunters: 2 melta, wulfen, standard

Wolf Guard: Combi Melta, Powerfist
10 Grey Hunters: 2 melta, wulfen, standard

Wolf Guard: Combi Plasma, Powerfist
10 Grey Hunters: plasma melta, wulfen, standard

Wolf Guard: Combi Plasma, Powerfist
10 Grey Hunters: plasma melta, wulfen, standard

Landspeeder: Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer
Landspeeder: Multi Melta and Heavy Flamer

5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers
5 Long Fangs: 4 Missile launchers

CONCLUSION
This is just a 'finger in the air' Space Wolves army list for 6th edition, but with tanks getting toned down and cover saves too, I believe we'll see a lot more footslogging Space Marine lists. This should give us an edge because the Space Wolves are the best counter-defensive Space Marine army in the game.

If we're out gunned, we can run forward and hack the enemy apart in close combat.
If we're out fought, we can play defensively using our guns to whittle down the enemy before counter-charging and using our Wolf Standards to make them wish they'd never reached our lines.

As always, good luck and good hunting!

Wulfen Conversion Tutorial

With the hopefully soon to be released Bran Redmaw model(s) from Forgeworld, I wanted a Wulfen model for the scout rule Grey Hunter s pack. I wanted something a little more aggressive and with a look that showed the miniature charging forward into the enemy as I was sick of looking at my old 13th company Wulfen model, which I believed was a bit dated and static looking. I searched the web for hours looking for Potential models and come up with zip! So, returning back to my work station with a plan in mind I decided to make my own. Here is a quick tutorial how you can make your own. Please forgive the quality of the photographs I never planned on making this a tutorial.

 Step one.

Find the basis for your model.At this point you should hopefully have a good idea in your head of what you want to create, so finding the torso to build your wulfen on should be quite easy. I wanted to try and get a look of the Space Wolf going through the change into the wulfen, charging forward tearing his armour off. For my start point I went for the Vampire count crypt ghoul torso bellow.

As you can see the arms have been cut at the shoulders and the neck flattened so the head sits better.The main reason I chose this torso was that it is small enough at the waist to fit into space marine legs (once they have been hollowed out a bit). Also the fabric on the torso will work as the shredded black carapace under the armour.TOP TIP: It makes it so much easier to handle if you mount your piece on a pin vice

Step 2.: Build up the chest and back.

Build up the chest and back of the torso with green stuff, I find it easier at this point if you push the head into the green stuff (don't glue it just make an impression) to get an eye for where you want it to go. The head is from maxmini.eu you get 5 different heads in a pack and are excellent quality. If you’re struggling at this point to sculpt the body shape you want, build it up in thin layers and smooth them together rather than putting one big clump on and pushing it where you w
ant it to be.

Step 3. Adding the left arm.

Next I took a Terminator power fist I converted holding aChaos SM head, cut it down and hollowed out the gauntlet witha Dremmel to allow a Chaos Marauder horseman arm to fit inside. Idrilled and pinned it to the torso leaving a gap between the arm and bodyso I could build out the shoulder and cover the joint with Green stuff. I alsobuilt up the Traps (back of neck/shoulder) and built the shoulder out on theother side for the space power marine armour arm. Don't worry about making thisside too neat as it will be covered by the shoulder pad.

Step 4.Black Carapace.

build out where the fabric of the original torso was with green stuff, I alsoadded a layer of liquid green stuff to neaten things up. (you don't really needto do this as most of it will be covered in fur.)

Step 5.Adding the right arm and fur.
For the right arm I used a Space wolves power armour arm (upper arm) andthe forearm and hand is from an old GW 13th company Wulfenmodel. I cut the power armour arm just below the elbow pad and cutthe Wulfen arm at the forearm and pinned and glued them together, covering thegap with green stuff. Then I pinned and glued them to the torso and added theshoulder pad. While this was setting I took the Dremmel and hollowed out andthinned down the chest and back armour. I recommend this is added after the armas it is easier to place. once they are hollowed and thinned down, take yourknife and split the chest piece half way down, (ensure you measure where thehand is going to be tearing at the armour before you cut) and glue it in place.I also added a belt with the knife falling out for a little extra touch. Atthis point also glue the head in. Once all glue, arms and Green stuffhave dried (may need to be left over night) add a layer of green stuff whereyou want the fur to be, making it thicker on the shoulders and thinner on thearms. For a tutorial on the fur try this I found on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD-jqdxo1vMThis is also where you can cover and gaps around the head and shoulderpad. 

Step 6. The Legs.

Usinga set of Assault Marine legs (for the desired running effect), hollow out thewaist so the torso will fit in. Cut out the thy section and drill and fixa paper clip in its place.

Fillout the gap with green stuff and repeat the fur effect and fix to the torso.

All that's left is to add it to the baseand paint. Don't forget the rear piece of armour attached to the back pack.

FINAL PRODUCT:

 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, pleasefeel free to leave any comment.

Mike.

Thunderwolf Army List

Fancy a Thunderwolf cavalry army? I know I do! So, now that the new Thunderwolf models are on their way, let's see if we can come up with a fun, themed army for them.

Let's see, we'll need some Thunderwolf Lords, plenty of Thunderwolves, plenty of Fenrisian Wolves and it would probably be sensible to have some firepower to back it all up.

Here's a 1500pts army with nothing but Thunderwolf Cavalary and a two packs of Fenrisian Wolves for Troops.


1500pts Thunderwolf Army

Wolf Lord: 275pts
Thunderwolf, Runic armour, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Saga of the Warrior Born, Wolf tail talisman, 2 Fenrisian wolves.

Wolf Lord: 285pts
Thunderwolf, Runic armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Bear, Wolf tail talisman, 2 Fenrisian wolves.

Wolf Lord: 230pts
Thunderwolf, Runic Armour, Frost blade, Saga of Majesty, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian wolves.

Canis Wolfborn: 205pts
Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, Two Wolf Claws, Thunderwolf, Saga of the Wolfkin, Wrath of the Savage, Lord of the Wolfkin, The Wolf King, 2 Fenrisian Wolves

15 Fenrisian Wolves: 120pts
15 Fenrisian Wolves: 120pts

Thunderwolf Cavalry: 235 points
4 Thunderwolf Cavalry, Thunder Hammer

Strategy
The 4 Thunder Lords and their Fenrisian Wolves join with a pack of 15 Fenrisian Wolves and form the Death Star of the army. The second pack of Fenrisian Wolves goes out in front to give them a cover save. Meanwhile the pack of Thunderwolf Cavalry follow closely behind.

It's not subtle, but it's very pretty to look at!

You can always mix the Thunder Lords about between the Fenrisian Wolf packs and the Thunderwolf Cavalary if you like.

Obviously, the army cannot claim and objectives. But do we really care about that when there's killing to be done?

CONCLUSION
If you like themed armies and love cavalary charges, then no doubt you've already been thinking of a Thunderwolf army. And as we've discovered before, Thunder Lords are where it's at when it comes to the Space Wolves cavalry.

So by minimising troops and maximising our HQ choices, we should be able to wreak absolute carnage once we get into close combat. Obviously, this isn't going to win any Grand Tournaments, but it's themed and good fun. I think it comes to £180 to buy as well, which isn't too bad either.

Good luck out there and happy hunting!

Picturers of the new Thunder / Fenrisian wolves models!

Wolf Brothers!!! The rumors are true! We are getting new models! Someone woke up and realized that one of the most effective units in the Space Wolves arsenal does not have a model. I wish that the same person would have realized that Canis could use a makeover (because he looks like he took a heavy boot to the face and he rides some animal more resembling a giant hamster that a Thunderwolf) but thats for another time. So we are getting a bunch of exciting new models:
Thunderwolves (Plastic, 3 Models) – 43,00 EUR
Fenrisian Wolves (Plastic, 5 Models) – 19,50 EUR
Wolflord on a Thunderwolf (Plastic, 1 Model) – 33,00 EUR Arjac (Finecast, 1 Model) – 21,00 EUR

While I do not have pictures of Arjac, I do have some of the Thunderwolves and the Fenrisian wolves. ENJOY!!!!

Fenrisian Wolves models in the top picture. Two Fenrisian wolves accompany Canis in the bottom. I hope the Fenrisian wolves wont get hungry and eat Canis' hamster!

THUNDERWOLVES ARE GO! I like how Dynamic the Thunderwolves models are! I just wish Games workshop would have invested a bit more and made the riders models different in look than pretty much every other Space Wolves model... what happened to capes? or wolf pelts blowing in the wind? I guess the creativity stopped once they finished the Thunderwolves models. But those are sweet as can be!

These models are VERY exciting. I wish I had pictures of the new Arjac model to share as well.

I also read that additional models are going to be repackaged and released:

Space Wolves Cyberwolf New Resin

Ragnar Blackmane Repackaged Resin
Ulrik the Slayer Repackaged Resin
Njal Stormcaller Repackaged Resin
Space Wolves Iron Priest Repackaged Resin
Space Wolves Rune Priest in Terminator Armour Repackaged Resin
Space Wolves Rune Priest Repackaged Resin
Wolf Guard 1 Fig Clampack 3 Repackaged Resin
Wolf Guard with Wolf Claws Repackaged Resin
Lukas the Trickster Repackaged Resin
Bjorn the Fell-Handed Repackaged Resin

Drop Pod Assault List

I send a warm welcome to my fellow brothers of the Fang. This is my first article for the Space Wolves blog. I am thrilled to share my favorite list to date, the heavy drop pod assault! To be honest, it is a bit of a hybrid monstrosity due to my play style and the overall tactics involved. The game plan consists of using the drop pods as the initial wave, to soften up my opponent. But the real damage comes from the thunderwolf charge led Wolf Lord Beowulf himself! So, I’ll go ahead and provide the list and then give my two ales worth of analysis on what has worked well, what has been meh, and what should not have made it past blood claw for the next ten years:

HQ:

Wolf Lord Beowulf – 245

Thunderwolf mount, storm shield, runic armour, wolf claw, wolf tooth necklace, 2 fenrisian wolves.


Rune priest Agnar – 110

Chooser of the Slain, Living lightning and Jaws of the World Wolf.

Wolf priest Brethel – 130

Runic armour, Saga of the hunter.

Elites:

Wolf guard – 210

5 man pack, combi-melta x3, powerfist, thunderhammer, power weapon, mark of the wulfen, TDA/CML.

Dreadnought Jotun – 165

Assault cannon, extra armor, heavy flamer, Drop Pod.

Wolf Scouts – 100

5 man pack, meltagun, mark of the wulfen.

Troops:

Grey hunter pack – 185

8 man pack, meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, drop pod.

Grey hunter pack – 185

8 man pack, meltagun, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen, drop pod.

Grey hunter pack – 160

10 man pack, 2 plasma guns.

Fast Attack:

Thunder wolf cavalry – 210

3 thunderwolf cavalry, storm shield, thunderhammer.

Heavy Support:

Long fang pack – 150

5 man pack, 4 missile launchers, drop pod.

Long fang pack – 150

5 man pack, 4 missile launchers, drop pod

List total: 2000 points.

First and foremost, Beowulf himself. As a long-time fan of the epic of Beowulf, I figured I’d translocate him into my crazy world of 40k. Armed with a wolf claw, he’s geared towards fighting infantry to heavy infantry, and does so quiet well. He’ll hit anything on a 3+, the option to reroll his to hit or to wound, and wounds MEQ on a 3+, 2+ for everything else. I run him with his group of thunderwolf brothers and blitz them up the field turn one. The advantage of this list configuration is that the drop pods slam down right in your opponent’s deployment zone and, depending on target priority, eliminate the biggest threat to either the drop podded units or the thunderwolfs. Due to points, I don’t give lord Beowulf warrior born, even though it would really shine with his load-out. Personally, I feel that the saga of the bear is not needed because I won’t be putting him against the few things that are S10 (psyker defense is Rune Priest Agnar’s job). Also, the wolf claw is the preferred weapon of choice but I would run him with a frost weapon from time to time, to help change things up. I never run him with a powerfist or thunderhammer, as it is a waste of his I5 attacks. Sadly, the bane to the thunderwolf is mass fire/poison. Of all the armies I face, Dark Eldar lists are the ones I struggle with the most.

Next up is the Agnar, my lightning caller. He travels with one of the grey hunter packs in a drop pod to get where he needs to. Agnar performs a duel role in his pack, first being high strength shooter/sniper with his powers. Second, psykic defense bubble; 24” range negation on 4+ is awesome and will cover most of the opposing deployment zone, as I found people don’t spread out their forces too much. His performance always is positive, with the occasional hate spike from the dice gods. I particularly find the close range JAWWS to be effective as it is an effective sniper shot to remove unwanted models such as the powerfist, MC, or special weapon wielder of “insert weapon here”. Plus, he provides extra force weapon attacks to the packs output when engaged in close combat.

Following Agnar is the stern Brethel. I love this guy! Wolf priests are very underrated for what they do: augment whoever they’re with. PE for the pack against a unit type of your choice, WS 5 power weapon attacks, and fearless are gold in my eyes. The best part about him is the saga of the hunter since the FAQ says that he gives stealth to the whole unit means that you can easily get a 3+ cover save just by how you place your guys around the drop pod. Normally, I have the melta and combi melta poking towards their target and then wrap the rest around behind the drop pod to give the majority cover save.

Moving down the line, the wolf guards are pretty much self-explanatory. I put the CML with the foot slogging grey hunter pack as they are my objective campers. I find that he tends to survive longer that way, rather than putting him with the long fangs. The free model is the Mark of the wulfen guy, who will go with whoever, depending on my mood. Two wulfen units in a 6 man scout pack is pretty devastating to whoever they charge when they come on the board, and goes well with the other packs if I so include.

My Dreadnought, Jotun, is my favorite unit of the list, to be honest. Dreads are just so much fun to play with. After so many games of playing Jotun, I find that the assault cannon does better at penetrating rear armour while having the ability to lower model count of enemy squads.

The scouts are pretty self-explanatory, along with the grey hunter packs. They come on, shoot something, and then charge. They are the meh of the list, as I’ve had them come on the opposite board edge where they were needed to support the drop pod assault wave. If I were to drop someone, they would be the first to go if it weren’t for the random times they redeem themselves with something worthy for the sagas of the Fang. The grey hunters are more of the firebase for up close engagement since I don’t need to get the charge off to be effective.

Lastly, the long fangs are my ranged fire support. Over the years I’ve played 40k, I found that if you are making your list to focus on close combat or more up close and personal, you have to have the ranged support to back it up. So, 8 missiles fulfill that role very nicely. The drop pods help them get in position when playing DoW and as fire lane blockers for normal deployment.

That’s the company in a nutshell! You’ll notice that everything has great synergy because I have a lot of high threat targets for my opponent to deal with, and will still perform amazingly well if one of them is eliminated from the board, which sums up my theology on list building, synergy over death stars. Everything can be considered a death star in its own right because it’s a threat until it’s gone from the board.

I’m always proud of the performance this list puts out and is effective at any army I come up against, it being able to adapt very well to what threats I have to deal with. I just wish I could find the points to put in Arjac into one of the drop pod grey hunter packs. My favorite unit of the codex and I don’t even run him, sad day….

As for the blood claw guys, those freaking melta guns! They do great for one turn, making something blow up in a blaze of glory, and then fail for the rest of the game! I always put wounds on them first now, because I know they’ll let me down in subsequent shooting phases. And we won’t even go into what happens when I decide to put a wound on the 2+ terminator CML. Yeah, full of epic failure. So epic, that I made a new model for him with a huge cut in his chest piece to show where he dies.

FOR RUSS AND THE ALL FATHER,

Wolf Guard, Wookiee Fubu.

Whirlwind - Heavy Support Unit

Unit Name: Whirlwind.

  

Unit Type: Heavy Support Unit Construction: Plastic GW Kit, Rhino Chassis with special mount for missile launcher. (I recommend going with the Razorback, and using the Forge World Hyperios launcher conversion kit, which can be found here and will fit right onto a Razorback weapons mount. – Paul)

  

Unit Deployment: Hidden, Out of any direct line of sight if possible.

Unit in play: 48 inch range, non line of sight. Large blast template, 2d6 plus a scatter dice.

  

Unit is most effective against: Any units on foot, in cover or in the open, with an armor save of 4 or greater. Rank and file Guardsmen, most Eldar or Dark Eldar, Ork Boyz. Not at all effective again Space Marines of ANY KIND.

  

General Discussion: The Space Wolves Codex has some fantastic choices in its Heavy Support category. Obviously everyone, where possible, fields as many Missile Launcher Long Fangs as possible. For a lot of us out there, this just isn’t possible... whether it is money constraints, or you just haven’t been in the game long enough, to just not knowing where to find the darn launchers! (Forge World does make some nice launchers, I use them… you can find them here. They are pretty nice, and you get some Meltaguns too… but I digress… The purpose of this article it to enlighten you as to the WONDERS of a largely overlooked vehicle in our codex… The Whirlwind! (What else would it be?).

                I never used to give Whirlwinds much credit, considering how good Long Fangs are. But once you get a few good hits off of them, you will see just how good they can be! Keep these bad boys hidden, completely if you can. I mean totally out of ANYTHINGS line of sight. Because, get this… Whirlwinds DON’T NEED A LINE OF SIGHT TO FIRE!! Now, the ammunition fired isn’t really much to write home about. But if you’re playing against pesky Eldar with Rangers hiding in cover… you’re good to go. Fire the “Castillian” missile that doesn’t allow cover saves, screwing them out of there advantage! There you go tough guys, hide in your non-existent cover, and make your normal armor saves. Stupid Tau pathfinders trying to rob you of your cover saves? Rob them of theirs right back. It’s brilliant!

                 Do you have tougher enemies that don’t like to cower in cover? Fire the Vengeance missiles. They’re much stronger, and has some armor denial for the rank and file gribblies in various armies. (I’m looking at YOU Orks, Foot Slogging Guard, Tau, Eldar and Dark Eldar). One good shot and you will make quick work of a pile of standard Boyz, or Kabbalite Warriors.

                 With a 48 inch range on either ammunition, there is not a whole lot of room to hide from these beasts. Remember, Whirlwinds are nearly useless against vehicles, unless you are looking at armor 10 DE vehicles or some weedy tau pirhanas or something. Even then, the STR 5, you will need a 6 on the penetration roll to do any wicked damage.

                    If you are facing off against, say, Blood Angels or Grey Knights… leave the Whirlwinds at home. They can’t deny a Space Marine his armor saves and, as stated earlier, they stink at bring down transports.

                    I have, in the past, run a pair of Whirlwinds completely hidden in cover. It was against Biel Tan Eldar, and they absolutely wreak HAVOC on anything standing on the ground. When your opponent can’t even see what he is being shot at with, well, it brings a smile to this old wolf’s face. Until next time my fellow Sons of Russ…

FOR THE WOLFTIME!!

Wolf Lord Paul

Rhino Raffle

$1 ticket buys you a chance to win a Games Workshop, new on sprue, Space Marines Rhino.

Please note: this is a brand new, unpainted, unassembled Rhino. The picture on the left is for illustration purposes only.

This is our First Raffle. We intend to do this once a month (coming up: a pro painted squad of 5 sky claws, a pro painted squad of 5 Wolf Guard Terminators, a landraider upgrade Sprue, a Landraider, Razorback, Drop pod and other goodies). From pro painted units to new on sprue units, every month we will have a different Raffle. Here is how you play: Buy a $1 ticket via the DONATE button (you can buy as many as you wish, the more you buy, the better your chances are), mention in your payment notes that this is for the Rhino (or whatever unit we are raffeling that month) Raffle. For those who donated: if you donated, you are eligible to participate in the monthly raffle for your donation amount (obviously, just for that month’s raffle, so next month you will need to donate again if you wish to participate) a donation of $10 will give you 10 chances to win and so on.

One of the readers (Firnwulf, see in the comments) came up with a good idea: people who submit articles which get published, will automatically be entered into that month's Raffle without having to make a donation (10 entries per article). Obviously, this does not relate to any paid writers for the blog.

We will announce the lucky winner on Friday 2/24/12…

WE HAVE A WINNER: THOMAS FROEHLICH from Germany! Congratulations Thomas! We will ship the item to you on Monday.

Starting up a Space Wolves Army

This post was written with the help of: Christopher A. Bischoff and Paul Misanthrope Packard

             Many beginner Space Wolves players and 40k players in general use the internet to find information or ask questions regarding how to start their armies. Some want ideas, some want exact lists, and some just want encouragement. I believe that my experiences from when I began building my own army will benefit you, my fellow Space Wolves initiate.

            So where should you start? I assume you already got your rulebook, codex, templates and dice. I also assume you have watched a game or two either on youtube or in person. The million dollars question is: What should you buy first? (By the way, if you don’t have any of these items, mentioned above, I would suggest getting them beforehand prior to  your purchase of your first miniatures set.). The answer, unlike other dilemmas in life, is fairly simple. Read on.

            In my opinion, the most important aspect of building your first army is shortening the time it takes to get to actually playing a game. So while optimizing your army’s list is important, I find that “time to your first game” is a much more important consideration. Also, in your early days, I would not be too shy about proxying certain weapons. A good example of such proxy would be the essential, don’t-leave-home-without-it, Melta gun. Unfortunately for us, the Space Wolves Pack set doesn’t come with one. You will soon read that 4 or 5 of these bad boys will be needed in our initial army.

So you read the codex a couple of times. You fell in love with the Space Wolves and now its time to pull the trigger and become a Space Wolves player! Lets go shopping for our first army.  There are several sources for Space Wolves merchandize. I would recommend that you shop at any of the stores advertised on the right (Wayland and Total War Gamer) as they provide 20% discount over Games Workshop’s pricing on its website or, if you got the time (takes about 2 – 3 weeks to get your stuff this way) and you live in the US, you can email me with your shopping list for a 25% discount and free shipping if your order is above $100. Another way to try and get stuff cheap are auction and swap sites like ebay, barter town or dakka dakka. Something to keep in mind though: You will want to get the latest version of the miniatures you’re building. For example Njal has an older (and kind of lame) model going around which pales in comparison to its latest version (in my opinion, Njal is probably the best looking model available for Space Wolves, right now, too bad Njal is not worth the points he costs).

2nd Edition Njal

5th Edition Njal

       The question of what units to buy depends on your budget. For a first army, which has to include units that will eventually serve in your future army lists, I would recommend the following units / Squads / Vehicles:

HQ:
1 x Rune Priest (100 Points)

TROOPS:

2 x 10 men Grey Hunter squads: Mark of the Wulfen, Banner, Power Fist, 2 x Melta Guns. (205 Points each or $410 total)

Vehicles:
2 x Rhinos (35 Points each)

Total points: 580

This unit combination will allow you to play a 500 point game (you will need to play with the equipment on the Grey hunters or let go of some of the upgrades they carry).

Two examples of 500 point lists made with these units alone:

Foot Slogging army list:

1 x Rune Priest (100)
10 x Grey Hunters with 2 x Melta Guns, Power Fist, Mark of the Wulfen (195)
10 x Grey Hunters with 2 x Melta Guns, Power Fist, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard (205)
Total army: 500 points

Armored Vehicle army list:

1 x Rune Priest (100)
2 x Rhinos (70)
7 x Grey Hunters with 1 x Melta Gun, Power Fist, Mark of the Wulfen (150)
10 x Grey Hunters with 2 x Melta Guns, Power Fist (180)
Total army: 500 points

            Please remember, these are two examples out of many lists which can be made from these initial units. These lists are not “optimized” to do anything but get you to play a 500 point game with a friend and get your hands dirty and your heart and mind involved in the game. And that’s the bottom line here: the most important thing for a beginner to do is get involved in playing. Don’t forget that winning is a small part of the war gaming experience. When you start, leave your desire to win (hence, your ego) outside of the gaming room and just play for the experience.

            Now that we know which units we want and where to get them, lets discuss cost. There are two ways to acquire the army mentioned above:

(1)  Buy a package deal like a Space Wolves Battle Force. This option will provide you with a couple of extra units and additional options for your army. For example, the SW Battle Force comes with a drop pod rather than a Rhino and also contains Wolf Scouts.

       (2) Buy each and every unit separately.

                 Something to keep in mind in regards to the Rune Priest: You can buy a Rune Priest model (either with or without Terminator armor) or you can make one. Making a Rune Priest is not as hard as one would think. Look around the web and you will see that most Rune Priest conversions are a Grey Hunter body, Runic weapon (a power sword or Frost axe will do just fine in this role) and a Bolter. Please review the Rune Priests I field. They are just that, a Grey Hunter model with some green stuff work and converted weapons. If you opt to buy a Rune Priest, I find that the older model, the Rune Priest in terminator armour is selling on eBay or through BarterTown or Dakka Dakka for about $8 - $10… look around, you should be able to find those at that price.

This is what I suggest you pay for each of the options I mentioned:

Space Wolves Battle Force: $75 - $80
Space Wolves Pack (you make Grey Hunters from those): $25 - $30
Rune Priest: $8 - $15
Rhino: $25
Melta Guns: $8 (for a pack of 5 metal ones).

Total Cost of your first Army: via Method 1: $116 - $128 (and you get extra units) or via method 2: $116 - $123.

As you can see both methods are fairly similar in cost.

            One final advice on shopping for units: always be on the lookout on the websites I mentioned for someone who is selling a complete army. While you may not get the best optimized army, you will probably get a playable army that could get you started.

            Arming your army: You may want to play around with different weapon options for your first army (what I mentioned above as an option is what I would do if I were to build an army) so lets discuss some of these options: The weapons you will need for Hunters and Scouts are simple but effective. You may choose between: Melta Guns, Flamers, Plasma Guns, Power Fists, Power Weapons, Bolters, Bolt Pistols, and Chain Swords for a more “feral” look. All of these, except for Melta guns which are a Space Wolves staple in my opinion, come in the Battleforce box set or with the Wolf Pack set, and there should be plenty to go around. Follow all Codex rules when assembling. Please note: If you are using the scouts models that come with the Battle Force, some of the weapon options cannot be used by Space Wolves scouts. Also, if you do build a scouts squad, arm one of the with a Melta gun. They can be used for Meltacide missions (as discussed in the blog).

            Common question by beginners is: Wouldn’t the Power Sword be better than a power fist for Hand to Hand Combat? As with most questions in the Warhammer 40K world, the answer is complicated. The power sword will allow you to strike without losing initiative (units with higher initiative strike first and can get first kill before lower initiative units can even respond), but doesn’t give a bonus to Strength, which is necessary for bigger opponents such as enemy HQ’s and vehicles. The Power Fist, on the other hand, doubles your Strength, but makes you strike at Initiative 1 (meaning that the unit armed with a power fist will strike last after all higher initiative units made their move).  However, what power fist lacks in close hand to hand combat, it makes in its armor vehicle destruction ability. While a power sword may scratch the paint of a Rhino, a power fist may damage it or destroy it completely.

            If you get the Battle Force you will also receive a drop pod. My suggestion to you is to get rid of the Drop Pod by either selling it or swapping it for a Rhino. Drop Pods are not the best way to deliver your Grey Hunters, the pods work well with Wolf Guard Terminators but in my experience not so well with Grey Hunters. If you  decide to keep the Drop pod, when you assemble it, I would suggest arming it with the Deathwind Missile Launcher option over the standard Storm Bolter. The Deathwind Missile Launcher can shoot Frag and Krak missiles, which gives it the power it needs against transports and low armor class models as well as infantry units. Given its potential to wreck vehicles the Drop pod armed with a Deathwind Missile Launcher will potentially draw fire from your Grey Hunters as your opponent will realize the danger of letting the pod shoot expensive units, which is a bonus since you need your Hunters alive to win the game. There are pros and cons to any option suggested in this article so make sure you read in the blog about all of them prior to making your decision.

                   The Rune Priest is a Psyker HQ choice with amazing abilities. For its price in points the Rune Priest unit is as badass a unit as you would ever want to have in your army (probably one of the Space Wolves best HQ choices). While Rune Priests may use several options of psychic powers, I have find that Living Lightning and Jaws of the World are the top two options for a Rune Priest. Especially if you are fielding only one Priest. Consider giving your Rune Priest different armor options (Runic or Terminator) but keep in mind their cost in points and also that a unit wearing a terminator armor cannot travel in a Rhino (it can use a drop pod but it takes two places instead of one taken by units in power armor). Very important: never ever give your Rune Priest a fancy shooting weapon ie: a plasma pistol. He will never shoot it, it’s a total waste of points. His strength is in his psychic abilities. His runic weapon can be represented by nearly any number of different weapons, or even make your own! A staff, an axe (this is probably the best choice) or a sword, get creative and see what you can come up with!

As for the arming options on the Rhino, I usually use the Rhinos in their normal, cheap, configuration but sometimes adding a hunter-killer missile upgrade will give it a chance (you can shoot it only once) to kill units at extreme range. You may also want to consider providing your Rhino with extra armor as  It will help keep it moving when it gets a “Crew Shaken” or “Crew Stunned” on the Glancing chart.

WE ARE BACK!!!

I got good news and some more good news:

Dear Space Wolves brothers, the wait is over! The blog is back to life!

Most of you know me as Noam, one of the administrators on the Space Wolves Facebook Page. I now run the Space Wolves blog. Adam, the previous wolf lord in charge of the blog, is going to stay on board as a writer and will provide us with exciting articles starting in early March. He is commissioned to write 6 articles a month which will be very exciting. I have also contacted other writers from our community who will start contributing very shortly!

These are exciting times on Fenris these days! New Models are rumored to be release for our armies, the 6^th edition is looming and as old enemies become new again (with the release of every new codex) the challenges facing the wolves are mounting!

In the coming few months I intend to add a discussion forum which will allow us to exchange ideas, discuss strategies and share war stories and a swap shop forum to allow us all to trade bits and models. I also believe we deserve a proper picture gallery where we can all share ideas about painting models etc… in Short, I intend to improve and add some new functionality to the blog.

Now I know all of you like to get free stuff, who doesn’t? And I know we discussed different ways for you guys to help support the blog. So I am going to leave it up to you, my dear brothers, to decide how much you want to help me keep this blog alive.

To the right of the blog there is a DONATE button. It will take you to PayPal where you could donate any amount you want. I believe that we should each do as much as we can to keep this Blog running and the content flowing. As I mentioned on the Facebook page, those donating above $40 shall receive a T-Shirt (Paul is going to help me with selecting the design and the text on the shirt). We are planning to finalize the design by end of March and have it to you before end of April.

Remember, there is no time like the present to help us get this blog going… DONATE!

We are aiming to have at least one article per week (we plan for more!). We also want you guys to contact us (via the Facebook Page) with questions and ideas for articles you will want to read. If you believe you can help the Space Wolves clan by sharing your experience, battle reports or anything like that, please feel free to send us your content. If we choose to publish it, we will notify you in advance!

FOR RUSS AND THE ALL FATHER!!!

Truly yours,

Wolf Lord, Noam