Space Wolves: How best to use HQ / IC Choices?

[geneticdeviant]

Hey guys, im not looking for an army list as such but ideas on how best to use some HQ choices and IC's that i have in my collection.

I am in favour of using a hero heavy army as i like to field as many nasty characters as possible (purely for fun factor - which is why i like to play).

The way i see my space wolves army (depending on army points value) is to have different "packs" led by a HQ or an IC choice. As the codex allows up to 4 HQ choices this lends well to this philosophy. (Looking to get some 4k poInt games going using standard 40k rules utilizing all four HQ choices).

Anyway, back to the point, i have the following HQ's/IC's in my collection, so please advise on best ways to use them, what units/unit composition should they accompany / what tactics to use? I want to get the very best out of each HQ/IC choice.

NB: I'm not going to use them all at same time lol

1/ ULRIK THE SLAYER
2/ RAGNAR BLACKMANE
3/ RUNE PRIEST
4/ NJAL STORMCALLER
5/ LOGAN GRIMNAR
6/ BJORN THE FELL-HANDED
7/ CANIS WOLFBORN
8/ LUKAS THE TRICKSTER
9/ ARJAC ROCKFIST

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Unholy_Martyr]

I'm pretty sure this would be better posted in the tactics section of the forum, but I guess I can give it a shot.

1) Ulrik: Let me start by saying this: His whole goal in life is to DIE. With that said, you want him in a unit you're willing to throw at Monstrous Creatures or high toughness folks all day long. He gets slighted by his rules as they almost make him less effective than a standard Wolf Priest. I would put him either in a squad of Blood Claws or Wolf Guard. They would gain the most from his Slayer's Oath. On to the Mentor rule: This is pretty sweet especially if you want to make a Champion out of a chump. I would either give the +1 WS to Arjac or Canis to make them more survivable, particularly Arjac as he's going to want to face Independent Characters or Monstrous Creatures. Better still, you could have Arjac in the unit Ulrik is in and bring the pain. Also, you want Ulrik to be at the front of any assault as his ability to allow failed re-rolls for Leadership is really handy.

2) Ragnar: Two words: Attack Dog. Throw him in a Land Raider with either a Grey Hunter Pack or Wolf Guard, kit them out for Close Combat and watch the carnage ensue. Wolf Standard is a must with this fellow as well as Mark of the Wulfen. If you get him with a full up Wolf Guard Squad packed with Lightning Claws and a few Thunder Hammers, you will wipe entire units off of the table per turn. In addition, with Saga of the Warrior Born, you will achieve the ability of Ragnar being able to detach and take on whole squads by himself. Again, you want him leading from the front in an assault as he can let out his War Howl for an initial slam into the lines of your enemy or a final push to crush the remains.

3) Rune Priest: If you're going to have any type of rear echelon group, place him with them. You can run him with Living Lightning and Tempest Wrath. Put Master of Runes and you have a Deep Strike Denying, infinite ranged autocannon that affords you a 24" bubble. Out side of that...no real use for him.

4) Njal: Arguably one of the coolest Special's for the Wolves, this man is effectively a one man army. In knowing all of the powers, as well as having the ability to do 2 a turn, he is a force to be reckoned with. Now the hardest part is deciding where to place the old man. Looking over his powers, his average range is that of a Bolter, so in order to capitalize on this he has to be close. I usually put him in a drop pod with a Wolf Guard retinue in Terminator Armor. Drop him in the enemy rear and cause some major pain. Here, you maximize all of his Lord of Tempest powers as well as sniping Monstrous Creatures and other low initiative folks. Additionally, you can land several pods around him and build a heavy fire base in the enemy's flank.

5) Logan: Ah, the man that gives the ability of Space Wolves to pretend they are Deathwing. He has many more uses than that. He can make any unit twice as effective. Attaching him to which type of unit is up to you. Some say attach with Long Fangs and drop them in the enemies face for fun (Viable but dangerous, you may as well kiss the unit goodbye) while others say pack him with some Wolf Guard and let him truly shine. I personally would go for the latter, in a Drop Pod and place him next to his old pal Njal. This way, Njal has additional support and a buffer for enemy counter attack. Plus, after the second turn, when these folks attack, they can assault in with the Living Legend ability.

6) Bjorn: The dreanought that everyone wishes they could be. This old man is one of my favorites just because of his fluff and his unwillingness to die. As with the Rune Priest, I would place him in the backfield as part of a larger fire base. Probably load him with a Plasma Cannon as it seems for fitting for him and let the death rain down. Also, his saga of Majesty helps out especially when the units around him begin to take return fire.

7) Canis: Everything I said about Ragnar except attaching him to a unit. You want this blood crazed psycho on his own destroying units, which he is entirely capable of. As I said, you could use Mentor on him to increase his survivability in close combat making him harder to hit. Have him near Ragnar and watch the masters of Death at there finest (i.e. Canis engages 8 Orks, his base attack is now 8, +1 for charging and +1 for 2 close combat weapons, he has 10 attacks, if Ragnar uses War Howl, Canis becomes Initiative 6, Strength 6 and hits on a 3+ no matter what with Re-Rolls to wound...you get the point), shield him with some Fenrisian wolves who become Initiative 5 and well...you'll be hardpressed to find a unit that survives that.

8) Lukas: Quite possibly my least favored character of them all...Throw him in with some Blood Claws and let them do what Blood Claws do best...die.

9) Arjac: I gotta say, one of the most brutal Specials for the Wolves. This man demands respect in every way possible. Capable of killing a Land Raider in the shooting phase and demolishing the contents in the assault phase, gotta love it. Seriously though, if you give this man Mentor, he will find ANY Independent Character or Monstrous Creature and HE WILL kill them. Hitting on a 3+ with re-rolls to hit? Yeah, you're going down whoever you are (5 attacks on the charge that hit on a 3+ that re-roll at Strength 10, you better believe something is dying.). In terms of where to put him, it is a tough call, I mentioned earlier placing him with Ulrik, but you could just as well place him with Ragnar. That would be determined by what you're facing. (Nidzilla, put him with Ulrik. Horde, put him with Ragnar.) After all is said and done, he can go anywhere and do almost anything you ask of him.

That's my input to this, hope it helps out.

[Duke Rich]

Nice post! Think I might have to use some ideas from this for my SW army.

One thing that stood out, you don't need to use Mentor on Arjac, he's got a wolftooth necklace so hit's on a 3+ no matter :) I'm thinking I might replace Ulrik for him, sounds like a beast.

[Unholy_Martyr]

I only mention using Mentor on Arjac as having a WS 6 helps when facing off aganst high WS opponents. If he's facing off against say a Space Marine Chapter Master or any Special Character, they have either a WS 5 or 6. Wouldn't you prefer he get hit on a 4 or 5 as supposed to a 3 or 4, especially when it is free?

[Duke Rich]

I see where you're coming from now, I didn't think about things coming from the other direction, it's something to consider, although personally, I won't be using both just for the +1 WS, maybe later when I beef up my list.

[geneticdeviant]

great advice there, thanks

just wondering what size wolf guard squads would you use for all the above sugestions and exactly how would you kit out these squads?

Also for Ragnar and wolf guard squad would you choose a land raider redeemer or crusader?

[geneticdeviant]

also you mention lightning claws and thunder hammers on a wolf guard squad - did you mean wolf claws?

[Unholy_Martyr]

In terms of what gear to give to your Wolf Guard, I would follow something similar to this:

A) Power Armor: Full up squads of 10, try and give a good diversity of weapons (i.e. 2 Guard with a pair of Wolf Claws, 2 with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, 2 with a Combi-Melta and Power Fist, 2 with Combi-Flamer and Power Weapon...you get the point). You want the ability for these guys to be tactically flexible as you will always be outnumbered and everywhere you go you will have to deal wtih armor in some form.

B) Terminator Armor: More often then not I Drop Pod these fellows in for their general survivability; therefore, I tend to keep the squads at 4-5 men. The same trend follows as above with a few caveats. First off, if you're dropping in with a firepower base in mind, keep them as shooty as possible (i.e. 1 Storm Bolter Power Weapon, 1 Power Fist Assault Cannon, 2 Combi-Weapons and Close Combat Weapons of your choice, at this point I would suggest giving one member the mark of the Wulfen). If you intend on making them a buffer, tend them towards a hitty base (i.e. Wolf Claws, Thunder Hammer Storm Shield, etc.)

And about the lighning claws, you got it right.

Land Raiders are a matter of play style, I prefer the Crusader but the Redeemer works wonders against Hordes, so see what you like.

[geneticdeviant]

thanks for that.

been reading through the new space wolves codex and it posed the following issue with your suggested way of using Ulriks Mentor ability.

In the codex it says on his page that he cant use Mentor on a unique character, and Ragnar, Arjac, etc are listed as unique characters i believe?????


Does this mean that using Mentor on Arjac etc is infact illegal?

Be a shame if that is the case. As far as i can tell that was the only plus point in Ulriks favour that warranted his selection in an army list.

[Unholy_Martyr]

Eh, I missed that point. You are right; however, don't forget if you take any Wolf Guard Battle Leaders you can give it to them. Sadly, Games Workshop must have had a bad taste in their mouth when they started thinking of Ulrik. He got hosed when it came to his rules. In all honesty...he's just not good at all...a standard Wolf Priest would actually suffice in his case.

[Denzark]

Unholy thanks for this its a brilliant summary. I think Ulric is fluffy but the utility of a Wolf Priest giving preferred enemy is more useful. I have a hankering for a 14 man Bloodclaw with powerfist, with Wolf Guard and Frost Blade, With Wolf Priest and his Crozius, preferred enemy infantry - means mathhammer says with the re-roll 75% (42?) of your 56 (on the charge) bloodclaw rolls to hit are going to hit - not including the higher initiative power weapon hits. In a Crusader to get on time, on target.

[Unholy_Martyr]

Haha, sir, you have just described every Blood Claws wet dream at that point. I remember the days when I could fit in a 14 man Blood Claw squad with two power weapons, a Wolf Guard with Bolt Pistol and Power Fist with Wolf Tooth Necklace and Wolf Priest with Wolf Tooth Necklace in a Land Raider Crusader. That was around 600 points of absolute slaughter! But I digress, in all honesty Ulrik just has a place in arenas where you have alot of bodies taking large amounts of Leadership Tests or hunting Monstrous Creatures.