Kirby,
I have been slowly building up my Wolves and am looking to find a nice all-comer 1850 list. At the moment, I am enamored with 3 units in the codex: grey hunters, long fangs and wolf lords with a cavalry bodyguard.
I guess that is 4 units... Here is what I currently am leaning towards but am worried about my inability to deal with av 14 without sacrificing my troops. Please let me know if you have suggestions.
HQ
- Wolf Lord (250pts): 2x Fenrisian Wolf, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Thunderwolf Mount, Wolf Claw, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolf Tooth Talisman
Troops
- Grey Hunters Pack (230pts): 10x Grey Hunter, Mark of the Wulfen, 2 Meltagun, Power Weapon, Rhino, Wolf Standard
- Grey Hunters Pack (230pts): 10x Grey Hunter, Mark of the Wulfen, 2 Meltagun, Power Weapon, Rhino, Wolf Standard
- Grey Hunters Pack (230pts): 10x Grey Hunter, Mark of the Wulfen, 2 Meltagun, Power Weapon, Rhino, Wolf Standard
Fast Attack
- Thunderwolf Cavalry (265pts)
- Thunderwolf with Thunderhammer
- Thunderwolf with Storm Shield
- Thunderwolf with Melta Bomb
- Thunderwolf
Heavy Support
- Long Fangs Pack (215pts): 5 missile launchers, Las/Plas Razorback
- Long Fangs Pack (215pts): 5 missile launchers, Las/Plas Razorback
- Long Fangs Pack (215pts): 5 missile launchers, Las/Plas Razorback
Thanks, Jason
Hi Jason, thanks for your email. Loving the idea behind your Space Wolves, I think that Thunderwolf Cavalry is one of the biggest drawcard units for the SW Codex, I love the imagery behind enhanced warriors riding massive puppies... of doom. On to your list! The only real issue I can see with your current build is that you don't really have a lot of units for your opponent to focus on. That can be a bit of an issue, considering the amount of anti-mech that people pack into their lists these days, it would be a minimal amount of effort for any gunline, or even razorspam list to wreck your vehicles in short order, then use that anti-tank weaponry to torrent your heavy hitters (the thunderpuppies!).
What I would probably suggest is simply a redistribution of wealth. We can start by dropping simple things like wolf tail talisman on the Wolf Lord - Runic armor already gives you a psychic save. Lets dump some of those grey hunters out of their rhinos, and put them into razorbacks happily provided by the long fangs. Thats not increasing our number of tanks, but it is giving you some razorbacks that are loaded with a double threat. I think we need some wolfguard with combi's to go in here as well, so they are double melta when you need them. The power weapons don't need to be here, as they are suicide melta, so we can dump them as well, if needed. So 3 x Wolfguard with Combimeltas. So we have lost 2 Rhinos, 5 grey hunters, and gained 3 suicide melta units that you can afford to lose, and put the razorbacks in the midfield where they need to be.
The 10 man squad gets changed to Power Weapon, Mark of the Wulfen, and double flamers, as we now have plenty of suicide melta from other sources. Gives them a bit more punch in CC, as well as some cover busting action, which your army currently lacks.
Next on the agenda is your hammer units, ie the TWC. The Lord gets a swift change, instead of going with a TWC unit, he gets a 5 dog unit of fenrisian wolves (chaos hounds are cheap replacements!). He has enough pew pew on his own to threaten most units, so just 5 will do to catch bullets. Id suggest Saga of the Bear here as well, as noone likes instant death. Now we come to the TWC units themselves. We have two options here. The first is to change them to 2 x 2 man TWC units with Power Fist/Storm Shield. Effective, but pricey per model. Option b) (Dan's approved!) is to change them to 2 x 3 man units with Power Fist, Bolt Pistol Guy/Melta bomb Guy. Wound allocation, check. Cover saves? Well considering they either run behind your wolf lord, or behind your razorbacks, check. Ability to damage armour? Check. Lets go with 2 x 3.
So at 1850 pts, my revised version of your list looks like this:
Lord, TWC, Stormshield/Wolf Claw, Runic Armor, Saga of the Bear, 1 x Wolves.
3 x Wolfguard, Combi Meltas
10 Grey Hunters, Double Flamer/Power Weapon/Mark of the Wulfen/Wolf Standard, Rhino
3 x 5 Man Grey Hunter Squads, Melta Gun, Razorback with Lascannon/TL Plas
5 x Fenrisian Wolves (Aka "The bullet-catch crew!)
2 x 3 TWC units with Power Fist, Melta Bomb, Bolt Pistol Guy
3 x 5 Long Fangs with 4 x ML in each.
We now have 3 x Wolfstars to throw at our opponent, and lots of midfield presence to distract him with until you get there. You now have reliable suicide melta if required, as well as a decent scoring unit with reasonable CC prowess. Your Longfangs are still able to pop transports or enemy armour, as required, and will probably get left well alone to continue to do that all game. If someone smashes your long fangs, thats cool, you have midfield las/plas and melta. Someones railing your las/plas? No worries, Str10 TWC to the rescue! Torrenting your TWC? See Long fangs peppering, as stated above. Lots of threats, lots of chompy bitey wolves, while still staying true to what you originally posted as much as possible.
Hope this helps, and may the fur fly!
