Space Wolf 1500 point lists.

[Erazoender]

Well, the question that begs asking is:

“What constitutes a “Wolfy” flavour to you?”

Rune Priest, Chooser, Terminator Armour
Probably Living Lightning and Tempest’ Wrath –
Lightning is self-explanatory.

Tempest’ Wrath, because its the ability with the best odds of stopping the usual Turn 5 Skimmer Bum Rush. Also useful for slowing down all those pesky fast units buzzing around your Rune Priest, helping compensate for your relative lack of anti-skimmer guns
...


Pack 1 – 5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, Razorback
Pack 2 – 5 Grey Hunters, melta gun, Razorback
Pack 3 – 5 Grey Hunters, flamer, Razorback, t/l lascannon
Pack 4 – 10 Grey Hunters, Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, power weapon, 2 plasma guns


10 Wolf Guard –
Terminator, combi-melta (drop pod)
Terminator, combi-melta, chain fist (drop pod)
Terminator, cyclone (drop pod)
Terminator, cyclone launcher, wolf claw (drop pod)
Wolf Guard, combi-melta, pistol (drop pod)
Wolf Guard, combi-melta, ccw (drop pod)
Wolf Guard, power weapon (joins pack 1)
Wolf Guard, power weapon (joins pack 2)
Wolf Guard, combi-flamer (joins pack 3)
Terminator, chain fist (joins pack 4)


Dreadnought, assault cannon/ccw, Wolftooth necklace

Dreadnought, assault cannon/ccw, Wolftooth necklace


Land Speeder, multi-melta

Land Speeder, multi-melta

See this kind of thing isn't that special. What I'm wanting is a more unique army build; this is similar to the Standard Space Marine build.... I'm wanting something more exotic.

Maybe the Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf combo, if not then certainly a Rune priest or two. I'm quite liking Long Fangs, and I've always been a fan of Vindicators (My previous edition list had two). I'm really interested in trying out Wolf Scouts... but I hear they're not too useful unless you use them properly. I also like going overboard on anti-tank, as I play quite a few tank-heavy lists in my LGW.

[Chumbalaya]

Well, what's unique to Space Wolves?

Fenrisian Wolves, Thunderwolf mounts, Lone Wolves, Wolf Scouts, Wolf Guard, and Rune Priests. You can build an army out of that, make it look unique and still perform well.

[Erazoender]

Exactly; I'm wanting an Army that has nice Space Wolf units.

I would certainly want:
- Rune Priest/s
- Long Fangs
- Wolf Scouts

I would love to have:
- Thunderwolf Calvary
- Wolf Lord with Thunderwolf Calvary
- Wolf guard Terminators
- Special Characters

And I don't care about:
- Wolves
- Lone Wolves (well I do, it's just the Elite slot is rarely available)

I do realize I'm asking for too much when I'm so limited... but bare with me here.

What I'm trying to get is an army built around a Grey Hunter core with some hard hitting combat units (Wolf Lord, Thunderwolves, Wolf Guard, Dreadnoughts, etc.) supported by just a bit of heavy firepower so I wont get raped by vehicle lists (Long Fangs, Predators,) and just a graze of exotic things (Wolf Scouts, Rune Priests)

I'm not trying to fit all that in a single 1500 point list, god forbid. I'm just giving examples of each type of unit. But I'm wanting to be a mainly combat list that wont DIE against Vehicle lists.

And no, I don't like Land Speeders.

[Confuddled]

Ah. Well then, that certainly clears things up a fair bit.

You’d probably do better to concentrate on the Wolf Guard, Fenrisian Wolves (can’t get more Wolfy than that!) and maybe one or two special characters, though.


Trouble with Long Fangs and Wolf Scouts is that they’re fairly specialised units – its not so much how YOU use them as what the other guy brings to the table. For them to work well, you require that the other player field a certain type of army. This is especially so for Wolf Scouts.


So:


1) Trim back on the Grey Hunters – 2-3 5-man Razorback squads should do just fine for your troop choices. Gives you place to put some spare Wolf Guard, maybe packing combi-flamers.

Or stick with 2 back-up squads in Razorbacks, whilst the 3rd full-strength squad gets all the bells and whistles and a Rhino. Trying to field 3 nearly-full-strength squads will REALLY cut into the rest of your army.


2) Canis might be a fun HQ to take – he gives you some Thunderwolf action without breaking the bank (or driving you insane trying to find a convincing Thunderwolf model), but more importantly, he unlocks Fenrisian Wolves as a troop choice.

OR you could just take a Battle Leader on a Wolf – he might not be immune to instant death, but he’s almost as good as a Wolf Lord when it comes to clearing regular infantry, and he’s (relatively!) cheap ,especially compared to aWolf Lord.


3) After that, feel free to spend your points on stuff that can beat the *** out of the other guy.



Off the top of my head, something like this, perhaps?

180-200 point HQ on Thunderwolf (Battle Leader or Canis, your call)

5 Grey Hunters, flamer, Razorback
5 Grey Hunters, flamer, Razorback
10 Grey Hunters, 2 plasma, all the usual upgrades, Rhino,

Dreadnought, Wolftooth Necklace, pod
Dreadnought, Wolftooth Necklace, pod

10 Wolf Guard (at least 6 in Terminator armour , 2 cyclone launchers, 1 chainfist, 2 with combi-flamers attached to the Grey Hunter packs), Drop Pod

9 Fenrisian Wolves with Cyberwolf
9 Fenrisian Wolves with Cyberwolf

Depending on the exact composition of the Wolf Guard squad and your choice of HQ, you’re going to have anywhere from 5 to 100 points to mess around. Could scratch the Battle Leader for a Rune Priest, for instance – he can hang with the Terminators.

Dreadnoughts deploy by pod and either rush to pop smoke or shoot up anything in the vicinity.

Wolf Guard Terminators start on the table and stroll along behind the fast units, lobbing the odd krak missile at any juicy targets on the way. Their pod will come down empty.

Big Grey Hunter pack rushes up in support, accompanied by the Wolves and Wolf Guard.

Smaller Grey Hunter packs bring up the rear (or stay in reserve) and police up the leakers.


Adjust to taste.

[Erazoender]

I'm not fond of wolves; they're not too great and they don't have readily available models.

As well, it looks like it lacks significant Anti-Tank, or any ranged weapon that can actually help me against a tank heavy list.

[Confuddled]

As well, it looks like it lacks significant Anti-Tank, or any ranged weapon that can actually help me against a tank heavy list.

Eh?

1) Dreads drop in and shoot up key vehicles and/or run, pop smoke and threaten to smash them up depending on the opponent. Pods also help clutter up his deployment zone, making allowances for scattering.
If he holds his tanks in reserve, so much the better, since he’s going to be coming in dribs and drabs.

2) Wolf Guard get 4 krak missile shots per turn, and they can move and fire, so no wasted shots in the event that you’re playing a Dawn of War mission or you’re forced to displace the unit.

3) The Wolf Guard attached to the “garrison” units have access to combi-meltas if you so choose.

Granted, you don’t really have anything that can threaten a Hammerhead or Fire Prism that comes into play on turn 4 from the opposite end of the table, but if you want an “exotic” list (Thunderwolves) and dislike Landspeeders, you’ve got precious few options when it comes to ranged anti-tank anyway.

Scouts aren’t going to do jack diddly squat to those tanks either (or any tank that actually moves 6”-12” a turn for that matter!). And Living Lightning aside, even Njal is going to have a hard time dealing with that AV12/AV13 skimmer flitting back and forth 40” away…

As for the Fenrisian Wolves, by all means, give them the chop, but there’s not much else you could get for the 160 points, especially if you want a Thunderwolf HQ (for the exotic value) – they’re pretty hardcore, but even Wolf Lords and Battle Leaders need a few ablative wounds tacked on.

The alternative would basically involve a Rune Priest and more Marines of one flavour or another, leaning back in the direction of a standard Marine template (Rhinos and Razorbacks and Rune Priests, oh my!)

[Erazoender]

I'm seeing your points.

I'm just asking for too much in a list, and I'm aware of that... but anyways. I'm thinking I'll just go with a build similar to the competitive list, and mod it from there.

Damn, I miss the old codex.

[Confuddled]

No kidding – I feel your pain, since I started out with 1500-point games (mostly based around old models) whilst the rest of the army got redone…

That being said, now that the shock has worn off, I find I actually do prefer the current army book – gives me more options.


Trick is balancing that with competitiveness, flavour AND a limited point value – it’s a LOT easier once you hit the 1750-point threshold.


Something else you might want to consider –

Wolf Lord, Thunderwolf, Frost Blade, Belt of Russ, Saga of the Bear
Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain

3 Wolf Guard
Guard 1 - bike, thunder hammer, combi-melta (a mere 83 points!!)
Guard 2 – combi-melta, power fist, attached to Pack 1
Guard 3 – combi-melta, power fist, attached to Pack 2

Dreadnought, Wolftooth Necklace, Drop Pod

Iron Priest, Thunderwolf, Wolftooth Necklace, 4 cyberwolves

Pack 1: 5 Grey Hunters, melta, power weapon, Razorback

Pack 2: 5 Grey Hunters, melta, power weapon, Razorback

Pack 3: 10 Grey Hunters, 2 plasma, Wolf Standard, Mark of the Wulfen, Rhino

6 bikers, 1 attack bike

Wolf Lord runs with the Iron Priest, splitting up to engage separate targets if necessary.

The horrendously over-priced Wolf Guard rides with the Swiftclaws – their sole purpose is to deliver the Wolf Guard into combat!

Would Thunderwolves be cheaper and more effective? Most probably, but the bikers DO have a few things going for them.
- Consistently faster once you factor in turbo-boosting.
- Possibly as resilient, especially on the first turn.
- No need to worry about being slowed by difficult terrain, though DANGEROUS terrain tests could be an issue

Dreadnought does the drop-shoot/smoke thing.

Packs 1 and 2 move and shoot
Pack 3 camps and shoots (Rune Priest goes here, does his thing with the thunder and lightning…)


Sure, you’re going to suffer a little from the lack of long-ranged anti-tank, but:

a) You get a few more Wolfy units to play with.

b) You get access to some FAST S8/S10 units (the biker Wolf Guard and Iron Priest) who can potentially crack any enemy armour that gets away from the Dreadnought and somehow wanders into range.

Yes yes, he can always move 12”, but:
- If he’s moving 12”, that limits the number of guns the tank can shoot.
- You still have access to SOME ranged anti-tank (3 combi-meltas, 2 meltas on the Grey Hunter packs, Living Lightning, a multi-melta or assault cannon for the Dread).

In a pinch, you could also go with Tempest’s Wrath for the Rune Priest – a 16.7% chance of immobilising any skimmer that stops within range of your Rune Priest (ie an objective) isn’t all that bad…

Granted, getting the power off in the face of Runes of Warding might be tricky, but it works fine against any other skimmers, and its definitely better odds for dealing with pesky tank-shocking Devilfish than shooting at the damn things would be!