Codex Review: Space Wolf Heavies

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

We have finally made it to the other end of the force organization chart.  Again, Space Wolves are really spoilt for choices in this slot like their others (aside from the troops slot).  We are looking at land raiders, predators, whirlwinds, vindicators, and long fangs.  Of the selections, four are universal across all of the marine codexes and one is unique.  Hmmm.....which one do most people take, I wonder?

Let's blaze through the vehicles.  To start with we have the 3 land raider variants.  You have a regular land raider (godhammer), crusader, and redeemer.  The only reason I see people take a land raider is if they need a sizeable transport to transport a deathstar or terminators (sometimes termiantors are the deathstars). They are rarely if ever taken as just ranged support options.  That said, I think in Space Wolf armies, like in other armies, the godhammer is passed over for more aggressive variants that will deliver combat units into the heart of the enemy. 

from eldaraddict.blogspot.com

That said, I rarely see deathstar units in a Space Wolf army that aren't Thunderwolves (who don't need a transport).  If I do, they are almost always running around in a crusader or redeemer.  I personally prefer the crusader as it can lay down heaps of fire when it is in close.  (1 multi-melta, 4 TL assault cannon shots, and 12-24 TL bolter shots).  This is the perfect tank for delivering a hammer unit into an opponent's lines, then using it's guns to blast supporting units outside of tanks. 

I feel the redeemer is less useful if only because you can rarely get both flame templates onto the same unit.  The way around this is to PotMS the second flamestorm cannon into a second unit. 

All things considered, I think until we get better vehicle damage rules protecting more heavily armored vehicles, land raiders will continue to see little to no action in a Space Wolf army.  Our army is better suited for light mech and drop pod transports if not just walking across the table. 

Next we will look at the true long range support vehicles: predators, vindicators, and whirlwinds.

If you have read any of my past posts, you will know that I don't prefer whirlwinds.  Ranged support with only AV11 has a huge target on it's head.  That said, being able to drop a large blast template via barrage for 85 points is pretty sweet.  Especially since one of the templates a whirlwind can fire ignores cover and is S4 AP5.  That can really mess over a unit of kroot or other lightly armored units that rely on cover saves.  Though, for 85 points you can also get a dakka pred that has front AV13. 

So, let's talk about predators.  Generally, you see 3 variants.   All bullets (dakka pred= autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons), all lascannons (trilas-TL lascannon, lascannon sponsons), and autolas (autocannon, lascannon sponsons).  For some reason you just don't see TL lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons.  Probably because it doesn't truly make sense.  The lascannon has low rate of fire and an extremely long range while the heavy bolters have higher rate of fire and shorter range.  They also have less S and thus can't pen armor like a lascannon.  The other variants seem to be better pairings of weapons. 

from tabletop-archetype.blogspot.com

When I first started playing 40k, I quickly learned a rule called, "1 is none, 2 is one."  Basically, it means that if you take only one of a unit, it becomes a target and is easily dealt with.  If you take two or more, it is harder to eliminate the overall threat.  This principle is huge when it comes to ranged support in the form of a tank.  If you are going to take one, you have to take two just to insure that they can fire. A single tank is easily dealt with.  Predators are a great example of this.  So, if you want to take one, you need at least two.  This eats into your important heavy slots.  I am also of the opinion that if you take one, you might as well go ahead and fill all of the slots with the same thing.  It builds in redundancy and it spreads the threat even more so.  One of the reasons taking whirlwinds isn't great is because you generally only want 1 which makes it a target.  Preds are viable in triplets.  At 85pt. for a dakka pred, they don't take up too much space in your army either.  However, they can be shaken and stunned or just outright destroyed with a lucky shot. 

Moving on brings us to the next and last tank, the vindicator.  Vindicators are hilarious in that they have a nasty reputation for the very little they do.  With a max range of 24" they are hard pressed as they have to come into range of most guns to be effective.  Again this is where taking triplets or at least two other AV13 tanks helps a lot.  That said, when a vindicator is on target and nasty, it causes horrendous casualties and can even do a good job of popping tanks due to it's S10 shot and ordinance rules.  It's big weakness is that it is useless if you roll on the damage chart most times.  Any turn it is shaken or stunned it is useless.  If it is immobilized outside of range it is useless.  If it suffers a weapon destroyed result it is useless and of course if it is wrecked or explodes it is useless.  So, I would consider vindicators a big risk, big reward vehicles.  I generally only see them taken in threes in armies as they are too easily dealt with on their own. 
That leaves us with Long Fangs, the one unique unit of the Space Wolf heavy slots.  Long Fangs have the reputation for being one of the best heavy support options in the game.  Why?  Diversity, added abilities, and cost efficiency to name a few reasons. I have gone over this before, but Long Fangs are devestators, but run cheaper, can do more and defend themselves better than most devestator units.  Of interest, Long Fangs can be taken in units as small as 1 heavy weapon and 1 pack leader.  What makes them cool though is that they can take a maximum of 5 heavy weapons, which isn't repeated anywhere.  The majority of devestator type units can only take 4 max heavy weapons.  Long Fangs are also cheap.  They can take a unit of 5 with 4 missile launchers for a cheap 115 points.  This is amazing as you can fit 12 missile launchers that can fire on 6 targets into your army for 345 points.  That is solid.  Finally, Long Fangs have counter attack so they aren't too shabby in a fight against light squads.  Don't expect them to do wonders though.  If you couple them with a Wolf Guard pack leader in terminator armor with a cyclone missile launcher, they put out even more ranged punch and are scarier in combat.  The beauty I find in Long Fangs as well as other devestator units is that they can better use terrain for cover and can't be stunned or shaken like a tank. 

courtesy of GW

Now you will notice that I only mentioned missile launcher Long Fangs due to their cost efficiency.  The beauty of Long fangs is that they can fire at two targets when they have a pack leader (which they come with).  This means that you can take two sets of weapons and split them to provide a more diverse threat. 

The bottom line is that Long Fangs are a bit more versatile and cheaper for the type of arsenal they carry.  They don't suffer the pitfalls that tanks do such as being shaken or stunned.  They can spread their fire across multiple targets as well which ultimately makes them scary to mech armies.  I love taking three units to fill my heavy slots. 

There are your heavy slots.  The vehicles are all the same as your standard marine fare.  Land Raiders are not currently making the rounds with the overall metagame being what it is.  However, when they are fielded, they are generally a means to get a meaty combat unit across the board and into your opponents' lines.  Whirlwinds suffer from low AV, but can hide and shoot barrage, large blast templates around the table of which one style of template can ignore cover with AP5.  They are also cheap, but you generally only want to take a single one and that makes it an easy target.  Preds and vindicators are the more commonly taken tank and they generally need to fill up your heavy slots in order to be useful as if you take just a single tank, it will be prioritized and dealt with quickly.  Of these tanks, you generally only see the dakka pred, trilas, or vindicators on the fields.  They can put up a nice AV13 wall for transports and infantry though your preds generally don't want to move to make full use of their armament.  Finally, we have Long Fangs.  The hands-down, most used choice in the Space Wolf heavy slots.  They can fire at multiple targets, take cheap heavy weapons and take one more heavy weapon max that most other heavy weapon units in the game. They generally are a better form of devestator.  Most Space Wolf armies you see take three units of Long Fangs in their armies. 

That wraps up our Codex Review for the Space Wolf codex.  I hope I touched on everything, at least a little bit.  Thanks for all of the great comments.  They have provided me with a lot of thought and really helped to refine how I look at Space Wolves.  Feel free to look back over the articles and comments and add your own as well.

Other Space Wolf articles:
Codex Review: Space Wolf Wolf Lord and Battle Leader
Wolves take on the greater good
Puppy Pics
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Fast Selections

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

Well well, back to the codex review grind.  In my last article, Codex Review: Space Wolf Troops, I talked about the two troop selections and why you are more often better off just taking Grey Hunters.  This week, I am going to take a look at yet another packed force org slot that has a lot of fluffy and appealing options. 

To get started, I am going to lump together the Swiftclaw Biker packs and the Skyclaw Assault packs.  Both are essentially Blood Claws with either jump packs or bikes.  As such, they suffer from most of the same issues that regular Blood Claws suffer from. Ultimately, they are easily exploited by a canny opponent and thus less reliable. 

Before I go too far into detail, I wanted to point something interesting out about the Skyclaw Assault Packs.  I actually discovered this from reading Student Teacher's blog, Three Color Minimum.  Basically, Skyclaws alone of the infantry squads, cannot take a Wolf Guard pack leader to lead them.  This makes them severely unreliable and even though they can take melta, for the ability to pop tanks, they can't shoot if they get into melta range (6") because then they have to succumb to their berserk charge rule.  It really is sad. 

Another interesting thing that I noticed about both Swiftclaws and Skyclaws is that they can take a plasmagun for 15pt. or a plasma pistol for 15pt.  I think the point costing of some of their weaponry is poorly done. 

Swiftclaws are essentially biker squads that can take 3-10 bikes and can add a single attack bike to the squad with either heavy bolter or mutli-melta.  They can take all of the special ranged weaponry and a power weapon or power fist.  Again though, if they get into range to use most of their special weapons they will have to charge and not shoot per berserk charge.  Thus, if you want them to be a melta platform you either need to just use the multi-melta attack bike and get in that 7-12" range or take a Wolf Guard pack leader, which is pretty expensive (53pt base) just to babysit the unit.  These guys are pretty fluffy, but not all that useful on the battlefield as a fast melta platform.  Their best use would be to tie up units using their T5 and 4 attacks on the assault to keep them from shooting or something else. 

Skyclaws really are a wreck.  They come in units of 5-10.  They have the same weapons options as the Swiftclaws (without the attack bike options of course) and the ability to take mark of the wulfen.  However, I just can't envision using them since they can't have a Wolf Guard pack leader and taking an IC just to babsit them is ridiculous and a waste of points.  Leave these guys at home unless you are playing an apocalypse game and have no other options. 

courtesy of Table Top Geeks

Next on the chopping block would be our speeder squadrons.  These are your typical choices. They are generally taken in two varieties, the typhoon with heavy bolter or the tornado with multi-melta/heavy flamer setup.  On occasion you might see a double heavy bolter speeder.  This particular speeder is usually deployed outright and fulfills two purposes.  First it is used to lay down 6 S5 AP4 shots per turn.  Second, it is used to block lanes of advance for various mech.  With a 3+ dodge save, they are hard to ram and can block something like a land raider from moving into position.  All of this for 60pt. 

The other two options, though, are more prevalent.  The Typhoon is deployed normally and supplies additional missile support.  This speeder is an integral part of the missile spam list that Space Wolves are infamous for.  It comes in at 90pt. and delivers 2 frag or krak missiles along with 3 heavy bolter shots.  It is ideal for cracking open mech and then shooting the content to pieces at range.

The final option is the tornado with multi-melta/heavy flamer.  For 70pt. you get a fast melta platform that can also barbecue annoying infantry squads.  It is great at taking out light infantry that has a 4+ or less save.  Generally, it is deepstruck onto the board to protect it from enemy fire and works very well in tandem with wolf scouts.  Together, they can grind an opponent to a halt in anticipation of the melta threat they will bring to the board. 

I like the idea of Landspeeders, but I have never had good success with them.  I simply can't manage to protect my AV10 speeders for long and more often than not, my luck causes them to miss on the turn they deepstrike and need to make something happen which ultimately means they are 70pt. targets for my opponents in the next turn.  Otherwise, I think they are a good use for their points no matter how you use them.

Finally, on to the two fairly useful AND fluffy Space Wolf fast choices.  I will start with fenrisian wolves as they generally have a single purpose.  Bodyguard duty.  Fenrisian wolf packs are great in groups of 10 when you add a Thunderwolf lord or two to them.  That is often how I see them used.  Put together 2 scary Thunderwolf Lords and join them to a unit of 10 fenrisians to get them across the table and into combat.  You can further beef the unit up by adding 2 fenrisians per IC as equipment. 

Fenrisians are beasts per the BRB.  They come with WS, S, and T4.  They have 2 attacks apiece and a 6+ save.  Their LD is an abysmal 5, but they should usually have LD10 Wolf Lord riding with them.  They do have a rule, called Supernumerary which states that they cannot hold objectives under any circumstances (Canis makes them troops.).  They have an interesting upgrade of being able to take one cyberwolf for an additional 8 pt.  The Cyberwolf gets T5, 3 attacks, and a 4+ save coupled with LD6, but this generally isn't a good choice.  Just leave them plain.  The only time you want to take cyberwolves is when you can take 4 with an Iron Priest on Thunderwolf.  That makes a fairly decent harassment unit. 

The bottom line here is that fenrisians are ablative wounds and only should be taken as a fast slot when they have 2+ Thunderwolf Lords to go with them.  They then become a Wolf Lord delivery system. 

Thunderhooves, Ho!

Lastly, we have the big bad.  Thunderwolf Cav are perhaps one of the most heinous units in all of 40k.  Essentially you have Marine cavalry with a natural S and T 5, 4 attacks, two wounds, and rending.  It is the two wounds that makes them really killer as you can kit out each individual TWC to make a completely differentiated unit of 5 that can take copious amounts of damage and still not lose any models.  Considering that they are a natural T5 (unlike bikers), they can handle high strength heavy weapons fairly well being able to take everything S9 and down on the chin and still pound faces in.  To top it off, TWC count as cavalry, so they can cover a maximum of 24" in a single turn including an assault move, due to fleet and cavalry charge range.  6" move, D6" fleet, 12" assault range.  This means they put out a large threat bubble which ultimately can shape the battlefield for you. 

TWC are 50pt base, but worth every point.  Aside from an awesome stat line, they have access to a nasty array of close combat implements such as storm shields, power fists, wolf claws, frost blade, and thunder hammers, though only one model per unit may take a special combat weapon.  That's fine because TWC have rending regularly.  Also because they are naturally S5, you have S10 power fists and thunder hammers that can pop even AV14 more regularly. 

I personally am a fan of either the minimalist approach or going full on.  I regularly take single thunderwolf cav with fist/storm shield or thunder hammer/storm shield.  These cost 105pt and 110pt respectively, but are great units to run in tandem with a Grey Hunter pack.  They can hide behind a razorback or rhino and come out during the assault phase. That said, if I had the models, I would be tempted to run a couple of 5 model units led by Wolf Lords that are fully differentiated. These would then go across the board killing anything in their way. 

Here's the deal.  People either seem to rate TWC and love them or not really care for them.  I love them.  I think they make Space Wolves unique and are an excellent assault unit.  They can take punishment and stay combat viable.  They can handle combat after combat and keep munching through unit after unit.  They provide a lot of wonderful combat potential for the army and relieve a lot of the pressure that Grey Hunters take on as our generlist unit.  Bottom line, if you want a good combat threat that can soak wounds and keep going, take ThunderWolf Cav.  They are great. 

Those are the fast selections.  I think Swiftclaws and Skyclaws are worthless for the most part, unless played for theme.  Speeders are fairly solid and good all arounders.  Nothing new there.  Fenrisians are great bodyguard units for Thunderwolf Lords.  TWC are where it's at.  These are the most heinous combat unit Space Wolves can produce and chomp most things up with relative ease. 

Next article will wrap up this review with a look at our Heavy choices. 

Other Space Wolf articles:
Go Lone Ranger or Take the Whole Posse?
That's no moon...that's a space station! Part 2
The Templar Wolves Ride Again: The Severe Beating of A Blood Angel Army
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Troops

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

You may be surprised that I am doing back-to-back publishing days with my blog.  Luckily, I am able to take a few weeks of paternity leave to help the wife as she transitions back to work.  Thus, I have quite a bit more free time on my plate, which I am loving.  Hopefully, this will translate into a denser content publishing schedule.

So, today we talk about Space Wolf troops.  There are two, which is fairly standard throughout most of the codexes these days with only a few notable exceptions.  The choices a Space Wolf general has to select from are Blood Claws and Grey Hunters.  Let's dive in and see what we have here.

Blood Claws are an interesting unit.  A Blood Claw costs 15pt and for that you get a sub-optimal marine.  I say this because Blood Claws have standard marine stats with WS and BS 3.  Yep.  That's right.  So in many, if not all cases, they will be hitting on 4's and be hit on 3's.  Not too fun.  A Blood Claw model comes with power armor, close combat weapon, bolt pistol, and frags and kraks.  Essentially they are assault marines without jump packs (yet). Blood Claws may take a flamer, meltagun, or plasmagun, and if the unit is 15 models strong, it can take a second one of these weapons for free. This brings up an interesting point.  Blood Claws are one of the only marine units in the game that can be taken in units of more than 10.  I think of Black Templar Crusader Squads and Blood Angel Death Company as other examples. Aside from the special weapons, another Blood Claw can pay to take a plasma pistol and another may purchase a power weapon or power fist.  Also, as mentioned in my Named Characters review, one squad can take Lukas the Trickster.

Blood Claws have two unique rules that may or may not be a blessing.  The rules are Berzerk Charge and Headstrong.  Berzerk Charge makes Blood Claws look better than they are.  It gives them +2 attacks on a turn that they assault (but not counter attack) instead of +1.  Again, this looks good, but since they are WS3, it isn't as flash as it sounds. 

Headstrong is the rule that can get them in trouble.   If Blood Claws are within 6" of an enemy model, during the shooting phase, they must forgo shooting, and have to assault in the assault phase, if they are able.  This negates their ability to plink off extra wounds in the shooting phase befoer assaulting in, which I think definitely hurts them.  The underlined portion of the rule is the only loophole.  Either keep them just out of 6" from units you don't want to assault or run them in the shooting phase.  Otherwise, a canny opponent may call you out and you will be forced to assault into a unit of halberd toting paladins or hammernators.  Another way to counteract this rule is to add in a Wolf Guard pack leader or IC.  If you have one, this rule is voided. Unfortunately, having a required babysitter for the unit also makes it more expensive.

I have never run Blood Claws.  I simply don't like them.  They seem too risky and inefficient.  That said, I have seen them used before and heard of other uses for them and this is what I have seen.  In most cases, they are run in units of 15 and also have either a Wolf Priest(for rerolls and fearless), Ragnar (for a possible +3 attacks and furious charge on the assault), or both.  They are placed in a Landraider Crusader or Redeemer and hope to get off devestating assaults where they torrent close combat wounds. This will run you anywhere from 615 to 855 points and is, in my opinion, a crappy excuse for a deathstar unit. That said, Blood Claws are fluffy and seem amusing to play with, but are simply too unpredictable and inefficient for competitive gaming.

One of my Grey Hunter Squads with Wolf Guard pack leader

On the other hand, you have Grey Hunters who are the accepted bread and butter of Space Wolf armies.  They cost the same amount per model as Blood Claws (15pt.).  Yet another reason not to take Blood Claws.  Another thing that makes Grey Hunters shine is that they come with not only a close combat weapon and bolt pistol, but also a bolter for the base cost.  They also have power armor and frags and kraks.  Units have access to special weapons, and at 10 models can get an additional special weapon for free.  Grey Hunters also have access to power weapons, power fists, and plasma pistols.  Additionally, a model can take a Wolf Standard which allows the unit to reroll all 1's in close combat for a single turn.  This can be game altering.  I recommend the wolf standard when you start taking units of 8 or more Grey Hunters. Small units won't benefit from it as much.  Finally, a model can take a Mark of the Wulfen which gives the model D6 attack and rending. 

Like most other Space Wolf units, Grey Hunters are only LD8 and will want that Wolf Guard pack leader or an IC to bolster their leadership. 

Oddly enough, Grey Hunters have no unique rules.  What sets them apart besides cost and the dual special weapons is their combination of counterattack and bolters.  Essentially, Grey Hunters are wonderful counterattack units.  They allow you to whittle down units throughout the game, let the unit get into range and then shoot it with rapid fire bolter shots, only to get counter attack when they are assaulted in the next assault phase yielding them 3 attacks apiece with ccw and bolt pistol.  Grey Hunters don't care if they are charged and in fact in most cases benefit from being charged as that allows them to rapid fire their bolters first and then handle the reminents of a unit afterward. 

Grey Hunters generally appear in one of three ways, though again, I am sure variations occur.  These are just the ones I have noted. 

1) Minimum size in a razorback with a pack leader.  This unit is 5 marines strong and totes a special weapon, usually a melta or flamer.  It gives the 6th seat in the razorback to a Wolf Guard pack leader who usually bolsters the shooting by taking a combi-melta or combi-flamer and a power fist to aid in combat.  I see alot of these taken in Las/Plas razorbacks. This setup will run you a measly 198pt and is fairly useful in most situations. This unit is often the mainstay of the razorspam army.

2) Almost max size for guard duty in a rhino. This unit is 8 strong and takes the first special weapon, but also takes a possible special close combat weapon, wolf standard, and mark of the wulfen, or any combination of those.  It leaves two spaces open for a Wolf Guard pack leader and an IC, usually a Rune Priest.  This entire crew travels around in a rhino and is generally used fairly agressively.  The larger squad size makes it far better in close combat.  The squad plus pack leader runs around 228pt. (with melta, power weapon, and wolf standard).

3) Full on stand alone squad. This squad is like the one above, but forgoes all outside help to be a 10 man squad with two special weapons, generally two of the same kind, a special close combat weapon, a wolf standard, and possibly a mark of the wulfen.  This yields maximum wound allocation.  They unit rides in a rhino.  This will yield you a unit that is very viable in combat and can reliably take out mech or damage infantry based on the special weapon loadout.  This costs around 240pt fully kitted out (taking 2 meltas, powerfist, mark of the wulfen, and wolf standard). 

Grey Hunters are more reliable, better at counterattack, and generally less risky than Blood Claws.  Thus, you will see them taken the vast majority of the time. 

That wraps up my thoughts on troop choices.  Again though, these are based on my experiences and thoughts, so feel free to add in what you can via the comments section.  Next up are our fast slots.  Again, there appear to be some clear front runners in this section of the codex. Stay tuned to find out what they are (as if you don't already know). 

Other Space Wolf articles:
Space Wolf Stealth Cheese Part Deux
Wolves vs. IG
Light Mech Space Wolves and 'Ardboyz
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Elites Part 2

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

Alrighty, today we are wrapping up the elite section of the Space Wolf codex.  Last time, I talked about Lone Wolves, Dreadnoughts, and Iron Priests.  Today, I am going to talk about the two more widely used and perhaps more tactically sound elite selections, Wolf Guard and Wolf Scouts.

We will start with Wolf Guard and man, let me tell you.  They are wicked!  This unit is the ultimate Warhammer 40k swiss army knife, but I will get to that in a minute.  Wolf Guard start at 18pt. base and have all the marine sargeant stats, chiefly 2A and LD9. They come stock with a close combat weapon, bolt pistol, power armor, and frags and kraks.  The two things that make Wolf Guard utterly amazing is their access to equipment and the allocation of that equipment per model and their Pack Leaders rule.

Let's start with equipment. No single unit in the entirety of 40k can choose from a selection bigger than Wolf Guard. They have access to almost every type of weapon with the exception of true special weapons (meltagun, plasmagun, flamer) and heavy weapons.  Everything else is on the table. 

Kind of like this, but with more weapons.

Wolf Guard are also amazing because each individual model can take a unique set of equipment, even to the point of having a mixed unit of power armor and terminator armor models.  There are very few restrictions, one being that you can only take a single terminator heavy weapon per 5 models.

courtesy of GW

But wait there's more!  The Pack Leaders rule allows any single Wolf Guard model to be split from his original unit and placed as the sargeant of another unit (the unit must be blood claws, swiftclaws, grey hunters, wolf scouts, or long fangs).  This provides two key things for the unit he joins.  1) He improves the leadership of most of these units as the majority of Space Wolf units are LD8.  That is huge as if you play Space Wolves much, you will quickly realize that you will fail some morale tests.  Get those Wolf Guard in the units to up their leadership! 2) They bring additional combat and ranged weapons to the unit they join.  A very common Wolf Guard pack leader setup for combat units is a powerfist and combi-melta.  This provides some nice combat and mech popping ability.  Remember, the sky is the limit with equipment and you can easily tailor your wolf guard to shore up weaknesses in a unit.

I generally see Wolf Guard units taken 1 of 2 ways, which is pretty obvious.  One unit is taken for the army and the entire unit is split up to give squad leaders to various units.  This generally consists of the powerfist/combi-melta Wolf Guard and will often also include at least one Cyclone Missile launcher terminator to bolster shots in a Long Fangs squad.  Another great recipient of a Wolf Guard pack leader would be Wolf Scouts, but I will get to them in a minute.  The other set up would be to take your Wolf Guard as a stand alone unit.  When you take Logan, they become troop choices and you will often see tricked out units of Wolf Guard.  I also hear a lot about people putting Wolf Guard into drop pods and using them to suicide melta mech early in the game.  If I were to run a stand alone unit of Wolf Guard, I would go the dirty route and add in a WGBL with Saga of the Hunter to give them stealth.  Then add a smattering of terminators and power armored Wolf Guard with storm bolters and various combat implements.  This yields a scary midfield unit that is hard to shift and puts out quite a few wounds in either shooting or combat.

Here's the bottom line.  Wolf Guard are almost essential to a Space Wolf army.  They provide a critical leadership boost and they shore up weaknesses in units such as lack of melta or horde control.  They are also relatively cheap for what they provide your army.  Take them. Always take them.

courtesy of Student Teacher at Three Color Minimum*

Next we have Wolf Scouts. Wolf Scouts are essentially Space Marine scouts on steroids.  They are better than other scouts in every way.  First, they cost 15pt.  as opposed to 13pt. for vanilla scouts.  However, for an extra two points, they are infinitely better! First, they are WS and BS 4 instead of 3 and they can take a special weapon on a regular scout.  Aside from that, they can take all of the normal scout upgrades like bolters, sniper rifles and heavy weapons.  Also of interest is the fact that up to two Wolf Scouts can take either a plasma pistol or a power weapon in addition to the one that can take a special or heavy weapon.

Where Wolf Scouts shine though is their rule Behind Enemy Lines.  It is very similar to outflank only so much better.  First, the table edge randomization is far better.  Instead of the 1-2,3-4,5-6 system used by vanilla scouts, Wolf Scouts come up on your left edge on a 1 and your right edge on a 2.  If you roll a 3+ you can bring them on any table edge you want, even your opponents' board edge!  This unit strikes fear into the hearts of static gunline armies. Knowing that melta toting combat scouts are going to come in behind your mech is a huge psychological hit.  It can even completely change how your opponent deploys and plays their army.  Add to this the fact that the scouts can also be led by a Wolf Guard pack leader (who can't wear terminator armor, a jet pack, or ride a bike) who gets to go behind enemy lines with them and you have the possibility of having two melta shots on the turn you arrive on the table edge or a plethora of any other combinations to make this unit simply scary.

I generally keep my scouts cheap and effective by only taking a unit of 5 with meltagun and a Wolf Guard pack leader with combi-melta and sometimes a combat implement.  This yields a unit that can pop transports and even take on things like tactical marine squad and anything weaker.  A lot of players also take melta bombs, but at 5 points per model, the additional 25pt. is sometimes prohibitive and a canny opponent will simply move his vehicles making it harder to stick a meltabomb to his tanks.

The bottom line for Wolf Scouts is that they are plain scary.  They are a great unit on the table and more importantly are a great way for you to take a psychological advantage over your opponent.  I almost always take mine with a pack leader as he really does give them the extra oomph needed to make them a truly scary unit to have in the backfield.

There are your Space Wolf elites.  All of them are fairly cool, many of them are viable on the tabletop, and a few of them are almost auto-includes.  I routinely fill out my 3 elite slots quickly and the beauty of the Space Wolf codex is that you can fill out the slots for relatively few points compared to other codexes. When I think of the word elite and its meaning, I think of Space Wolf elites.

Next time, I will start in on the Troop choices: Grey Hunters and Blood Claws.  I have enjoyed the comments and questions you are leaving, so please keep them coming.

*Check out more of Student Teacher's Space Wolf models at his blog Three Color Minimum.

Other Space Wolf articles:
Space Wolf Stealth Cheese
Why Long fangs are just that Good.
That's no moon...that's a space station!
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Codex Review: Space Wolves

I have finally gotten enough articles written on the Space Wolf Codex that I think I need to have some sort of centralized page to collect all of the articles to serve as a table of contents. Thus, we have your Codex Review: Space Wolves Table o' Space Wolfy Contents!!

courtesy of Warhammer 40k Wikia

Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The ehh...

Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the Decent

Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The Awesome

Codex Review: Space Wolf Wolf Lord and Battle Leader

Codex Review: Space Wolf Rune Priests and Wolf Priests

Codex Review: Space Wolf Elites Part 1

Codex Review: Space Wolf Elites Part 2

Codex Review: Space Wolf Troops

Codex Review: Space Wolf Fast Selections

Codex Review: Space Wolf Heavies

Check out these articles.  We have had some really interesting discussions via the comments.  Also, feel free to leave your own thoughts via the comments section of any given blog post. 


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Codex Review: Space Wolf Elites Part1

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

Ahh....I survived the first week of school. Exhausted.  I finally have a bit of time to blog and I am really excited.  It's about time we move on to the Elite section of the Space Wolves codex.  When I look at it, the Space Wolf Elites are so well stocked (though not necessarily wise decisions) that it's going to take me two articles to get through them.  I'm not really going take them in any order, just the order that seems cool to me. 

Let's start with Lone Wolves.  These guys are sweet.  They remind of Dwarf Slayers from Warhammer Fantasy.  The idea of guys who are the lone survivors of their packs, seeking a glorious death, and doing their best to achieve that death in the bloodiest manner is simply cool.  It also kind of reminds me of the movie Last of the Mohicans for some reason. 



Anyway, enough that tangent.  These guys are simply beasts.  There rules even make to where you want to throw them into your enemies' faces just to watch the carnage.  Lone Wolves take on quite a few appearances, but the base Lone Wolf rings in at 20 points and comes with WS5, 2W, and 2A. That is pretty sweet for this guy.  Unfortunately, a Lone Wolf is just that, a lone model.  He can take a pair of fenrisian buddies, but that's it. The Lone Wolf comes with a smattering of fun rules too.  He is fearless, has the glorious death rule, and the beastslayer saga. 

Skeld, the Lone Wolf

The glorious death rule is pretty cool.  It basically portrays the Lone Wolf as an unstoppable force trying to die by killing the biggest, baddest enemies out there.  This rule gives him feel no pain and eternal warrior.  On top of that, the Lone Wolf never gives up a kill point when he dies.  Instead, he gives up a kill point if he lives.  Beastslayer allows him to reroll to-hit rolls for walkers, MCs, and anything T5 or higher. 

He comes equipped with power armor, a close combat weapon, a bolt pistol, and frags and kraks.  His power armor equipment options are somewhat limited as he can only get a plasma pistol and any of the close combat weapons.  On the other hand, if you give him terminator armor (which you should), he gets the whole gamut of terminator armor options excluding the heavy weapons like assault cannons, cyclone launchers, and heavy flamers.  Otherwise, you get the run. 

The popular way to run a Lone Wolf is as a mini-MC.  Equip him with terminator armor, a storm shield, a chainfist, and some fenrisians as wound soaks and you have a monsters.  This makes him a 105 pt model, but feel free to sling him forward and do as much damage to your opponents' tanks and units as you can before he gets taken down.  I don't know that I have heard of any other loadouts for him.  Perhaps you can give him terminator armor and 2 wolf claws for some infantry shredding. 

The downside to this guy, besides he cost of making him efficient at something is that he is walking.  He has no transport options and unless you are willing to drop a squad and let him bum a ride, he will be walking.  Otherwise, he is definitely a characterful model to add to the army.  Taking Lone Wolves can be taken in a Wolfzilla list which is essentially a minimum of models but the models you do have are like mini-MCs, things such a thunderwolves, lone wolves and wolf lords. 

Next up we have dreadnoughts.  I am going to be brief with Space Wolf dreadnought as they are just your bog standard dreadnoughts.  Coming in a 105pt. for a regular dread and 165pt. for a venerable.  They have all of the marine weapon upgrades.  I personally think you best options are a MM/DCCW/heavy flamer dread and the rifleman.  These are the two most efficient dreads points-wise and also do a good job at fulfilling their roles well.  It is interesting to add that a difference between SW dreads and other dreads is that Space Wolf dreads have access to wolf tail talismans and wolftooth necklaces which make them a bit more sturdy.  The venerable can also take Saga of Majesty to boost your leadership ability a bit.  Unfortunately, by time you get a venerable dread with wolf tail talisman, wolftooth necklace, and saga of majesty, you might as well get Bjorn. 

That's it for dreads.  You either love them and make a concerted effort to get them into your list or you realize that there are simply better options in the elite section of the Space Wolf codex.

courtesy of GW

The final unit entry for this article is the Iron Priest.  This is the Space Wolf techmarine.  He rings in at 50 points base, but he comes runic armor, a servo arm (+1 powerfist attack), a bolt pistol or bolter, frags and kraks, and a thunder hammer.  This basically means that this guy is a glass hammer on his own.  If you can't get through the 2+ armor save, he will powerfist and thunder hammer you into submission.  If you can, he dies.  He has typical marine stats including a disappointing 1 wound and leadership 8.  He does have 2 attacks plus a servo arm for three attacks base. 

The battlesmith rule is simply the repair rule that all techmarines have. 

I think what makes an Iron Priest cool are two equipment additions.  First, you can put your Iron Priest on a thunderwolf.  This is cool as it really buffs him up.  However, he is still a single wound model with no invul, so it is a costly upgrade that probably won't pay off.  The other cool upgrade is that he can take up to 4 cyberwolves.  Cyberwolves are fenrisians on steroids.  They have T5 and an additional attack (3 base) over fenrisians.  They also have a 4+ armor save instead of 6+.  Other than these upgrades, the Iron Priest doesn't stand out much.  He has no weapons upgrades.  None.  He is stuck with his hammer and bolter/pistol. He can take a retinue of servitors and those servitors take the normal array of long range weapons or servo arms.   He can take up to 3 servitors.   Additionally, he can take a bike, wolftooth necklace, wolf tail talisman, and/or Saga of the Iron Wolf.  This saga let's you reroll unsuccessful repair rolls. 

While a fun looking model, I just don't see an Iron Wolf making any appearances in a Space Wolf army.  The cost of making useful (via a bike, thunderwolf, or servitor squad)  just can't overcome his single T4 wound with no invul save possible.  So, while fluffy and "neat", he won't be appearing in any armies I take. 

In the next article, I will talk about what I believe to be the two most useful elite choices Space Wolves have.  Stay tuned.

other interesting articles:
Wacky Warhammer Gifts!!
How to Paint White Part 1: Bright White
Staving Off Hobby Burnout
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Rune Priests and Wolf Priests

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

Wow.  I realized that I haven't had an opportunity to write a new post in 5 days.  That's a bummer.  I miss getting to write as consistently as I did all summer, but work and the new school year has hit like a ton of bricks.  Nonetheless, blogging is therapeutic for me right now, so I am more than glad to spend time blogging when I should be working on lesson plans or something else important.

With that said, I really want to knock out this last article on Space Wolf HQs.  It is my opinion that we will touch on both the best and worst of our HQ slots all in one post.  While the Thunderwolf Lord is awesome for killing, I think the humble Rune Priest is perhaps are most versatile and reliable HQ slot while the Wolf Priest doesn't have enought positives to make him a candidate for inclusion over the other choices.

My scratch built Rune Priest

The Rune Priest really is a sweet guy, even though recent FAQs have cause many of his powers to be less reliable.  For 100pt. you get a psyker with WS5, 2A, 2W, and LD10.  He comes with power armor, a runic weapon, bolt pistol, and frags and kraks.  What makes this guy sweet is his runic weapon.  It is both a force weapon with added abilities and a pretty stellar pyschic hood. It acts as a standard issue force weapon, but just as an added bonus, it gets to wound Daemons on a 2+.  Then, if a psychic power is successfully cast within 24" of the Rune Priest, you can nullify it on a roll of 4+.  This is quite handy in many situations as you have a straight 50% of stopping any psychic power.  Unfortunately, it is slightly worse at nullifying pyschic powers against models with LD lower than 10 than a standard issue psychic hood.  The rune priest has access to most of the weapons and equipment from the armory though I prefer to keep mine cheap.  I occasionally will give him a wolf tail talisman for additional psychic defense, but only if I have the extra 5 points laying around. 

As mentioned above, the FAQ really made quite a few psychic shooting abilities less reliable since they all now have to be rolled to-hit.  No problem for a Rune Priest.  For 10pt. you can take a chooser of the slain.  This is essentially a marker on the field that fulfills two cool roles.  First, if it can draw a line of sight to the target of a Rune Priest's shooting attack, it increases his BS by 1 point.  BS5 is quite reliable and makes some of his psychic powers awesome to take.  It's second rule is that it prevents any enemy unit from infiltrating within 18" of it's location.  This is quite a fantastic use of 10 points in my opinion. 

The Rune Priest has quite a good list of psychic powers with almost every one being useful, though some standing out more than others. First is thunderclap.  It is not so hot really, which is funny because I just mentioned that most of the powers are great and then the first one mentioned isn't.  Anyway, you touch the large blast template to the edge of the Rune Priest's base and anything under it takes a S3, AP5 hit. I like the large blast part, but S3 AP5 just won't kill much.  On top of that, you have to roll to-hit in order to even lay the blast template because this power is a shooting attack. 

Second, we have living lightning which is my personal favorite.  It is also a psychic shooting attack and is a S7, AP5, assault D6 attack.  This power combined with a chooser of the slain essentially turns your Rune Priest into a rifleman dread in regards to shooting.  On average he will get 3-4 shots and hit 3-4 times.  This is a great power for taking out light mech freeing your long fangs and other heavy weapons to shoot down heavier armor. Again, this power is almost an auto-include in my mind, especially if you take the chooser of the slain.

Third, we have storm caller.  This gives every friendly unit within 6" of the Rune Priest a 5+ cover save.  This power is sort of meh.  It would have been cool if he could take the Hunter Saga as he would give the unit he accompanied a 4+ cover, but he can't.  Also, you generally can get better cover from most terrain. This could really come in handy if you want to keep a mech spam list tightly packed to provide a 5+ cover to your tanks, but the 6" bubble isn't all that big. 

Fourth, we have tempest's wrath.  This power makes all terrain, even open terrain, within 24" of the Rune Priest difficult and dangerous to skimmers, jetbikes, jump infantry, and unit deploying via deepstrike.  This again is meh simply because it is so situational.  It could hose a Blood Angel DoA army of a Daemon army, but do nothing to a mech army.  If you play a lot of BA or Daemons and want to tick off your friends, you could take this.

Fifth, we have fury of the wolf spirits.  While not especially powerful, the S5, AP-, assault 3 mode isn't too bad for shooting at high toughness models and the S4, AP2, assault 2 mode will definitely kill things, especially terminators.  Additionally, any unit taking a wound has to take a morale test.  I rate this power higher than tempest's wrath, and thunderclap, that's for sure. 

Sixth is murderous hurricane.  This is a fun power that can be a real nuisance, especially to an army that needs to cross the board to get to grips with you.  It is a psychic shooting attack that does 3D6 S3 hits at AP-.  This is okay, but then for the next turn, that unit affected treats all terrain, even clear, as both difficult and dangerous.  You want to watch a Ork Nob squad stop in it's tracks?  Drop this on it.  You may not cause many wounds directly (though with 3D6 attacks you should get a few), but then combine it with the damage of moving through dangerous terrain, this starts to pile up wounds.  On top of that, it has the psychological effect on a player that will force them to simply not move a unit at all.  This is a wonderful advantage to have. I really like murderous hurricane.

Last, we have jaws of the world wolf.  This is yet another shooting attack that draws a line out from the Rune Priest for 24".  Any model hit by the line takes an initiative test or dies, completely.  This makes Tyranid carnifexes cry like little school girls.  A few interesting things to note about this power are that: 1) It can be passed through terrain, so no hiding from it.  2) the "models touched" means you can't hide IC's, powerfists, etc. from it.  If the model is hit, it takes the test, not the model of your opponent's choosing from the unit.  This makes jaws a great sniper power.  Monstrous creatures affected by the rule can subtract 1 from their roll due to their size and strength, but they still are going to be hard pressed to pass an initiative test.  This power is also a favorite, though it's range is short.  It actually meshed best with murderous hurricane, in my opinion.

In the end, I keep my Rune Priests cheap.  I generally only add the chooser of the slain for the additional 10 points making this guy come out to 110pt.  He usually take living lightning and jaws when I play him.  If I take more than one priest, I generally take living lightning on both and give the second one murderous hurricane since they aren't allowed to take the same power and equipment loadout*.

This guy is perhaps the most points efficient HQ we have.  He can output a lot of damage via psychic powers and is far cheaper than Wolf Lords or WGBLs will be.

courtesy of Stuff of Legends

Our final HQ choice is the Wolf Priest. This is the Space Wolf chaplain.  I am not a huge fan of the guy as his abilities generally only help out his own unit and he doesn't have the killing ability of the other HQ choices.  That said, with a little imagination, he can provide the odd gimmicky role that might take your opponent by surprise. 

The Wolf Priest comes in at 100 points.  He has power armor, a power weapon, the fang of morkai, a wolf amulet, a bolt pistol, and frags and kraks.  He has the same stats as a Rune Priest with an additional 4+ invul due to the wolf amulet.  The Wolf Priest brings utility to the table via his rules and I think they are slightly less potent than a standard chaplain. 

First, the Wolf Priest grants the fearless USR to his squad.  This is essentially the same as a chaplain.  His other rule, oath of war, is where he falls short of the vanilla chaplain, in my opinion.  Where a standard chaplain allows rerolls to-hit against all units with a weapon skill, the Wolf Priest grants preferred enemy against a single type of unit.  You simply pick "infantry" or "monstrous creatures" as your unit type and the Wolf Priest allows his unit preferred enemy against that type of unit.  The unit type has to be made at the beginning of the game.  I don't think this is weaker as a vanilla chaplain offers rerolls against multiple unit types.  I guess an interesting use for this though, would be to nominate the unit type "mech" and put him in a drop pod with a bunch of power fist wolf guard/terminators. That could really do some damage.

That said, I don't think the Wolf Priest is very worthwhile, but I do see a possible use for him.  He is the only other HQ beside a WGBL that can take Saga of the Hunter.  This means that you can have a fearless unit that has a 3+ cover save at all times.  Good luck trying to move that unit off of an objective.  He might also be a good model to include in a large unit of blood claws with Ragnar.  That would make one especially hitty unit depending on what unit type you chose to give preferred enemy to.  Otherwise, I think this guy's main use is keeping a valuable unit from fleeing due to failed morale. Space Wolves have notoriously low LD for a marine variant and a Wolf Priest is one way to mitigate this. 

Other Space Wolf articles:
Codex Review: Space Wolf Wolf Lord and Battle Leader
Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The ehh...
Space Wolf Razorspam vs. Horde Orks- a Vassal Report
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Wolf Lord and Battle Leader

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

courtesy of the BOLS Lounge

Ugh! Work is kicking my butt and I have only been back for 3 days!  Depressing.  Sorry for the long delay in getting an article out to you, folks.  Because of the crazy work schedule, I am going to break the generic HQs down further and cover the Wolf Lord and Battle Leader in this article and the Rune Priest and Wolf Priest in the next.

Essentially, a Wolf Lord and a Wolf Guard Battle Leader are the same model, however, the Battle Leader is your poor man's version.  Where the Wolf Lord costs 100pt. base, the Battle Leader only costs 70pt. base.  For the 30pt. price reduction you get -1 WS, -1 attack, -1 W, and -1 LD.  This means that the Battle Leader is still a fairly decent character for his points, but if given the choice, go for the Wolf Lord.  As such, I am going to speak mainly about the Wolf Lord and then I will cover the few things that the Battle Leader alone does. 

The Wolf Lord as mentioned, runs you 100 points base.  He has WS6, BS5, marine strength and toughness, 3W, 4 attacks, I5, and LD 10.  He comes with a combat weapon, bolt pistol, frags and kraks, and power armor.  Pretty basic really.  What makes a Wolf Lord so great is the sheer weight of upgrades you can give him.  Entwined throughout the entire Space Wolf codex is the idea of epic warriors with big personalities and long lists of heroic deeds. With the equipment upgrades you can give a Wolf Lord, it is easy to make this happen.  I could literally write an entire article's worth of typing on just the equipment.  However, I won't.  I don't have the time or energy for that.  Thus, I will talk about the two basic Wolf Lord types I have seen used most often.  They are the Thunderwolf Lord and the Utility Lord. 

The Utility Lord is a cheap-ish Wolf Lord who is built to be survivable, but also to play multiple roles on the battlefield.  Generally, a utility Lord is going to have a dualistic, useful ranged weapon, a decent combat weapon, and fairly good defense.  He also will pack some sort of skill that will benefit the army.  A utility Lord that I see often is:

Wolf Lord- combi-melta, frost weapon, wolftooth necklace, runic armor, belt of russ (may be substituted with terminator armor), saga of majesty.  This guy has a melta shot, a power weapon with +1 strength, always hits on 3+ against models with a WS, a 2+/4++ save, and allow all units within 6" to reroll failed morale tests. 

I see this particular setup used most often in a podding army or to provide a reroll bubble from a rhino.  I don't think this particular character is a very fantastic option for Space Wolf armies though as there are much better option out there for fewer points and more utility (hmm.hmm.. Rune Priest...hmm.hmm..).

Before I move on to the much heralded Thunderwolf Lord, I want to take a moment to talk about the Wolf Guard Battle Leader in this setup.  The WGBL has gained a bit of prevalence of late due to the interesting FAQ/errata document for the BRB that states that an model with the stealth rule bestows that benefit onto the squad he joins.  This has given rise to the Space Wolf stealth bomb.  I have even written an article or two about it.  Basically, the WGBL takes the Saga of the Hunter instead of Majesty and give his unit stealth.  This combined with normal cover saves means that you can give a unit of power armored marines a 3+ cover save in most cases.  Combine this with a unit of mixed Wolf Guard and you have an insanely hard to beat unit that you can't shoot down and wouldn't want to risk trying to assault.  This is perhaps where a WGBL shines and only he and a Wolf Priest can take Saga of the Hunter.

Now, my favorite.  On to the Thunderwolf Lord.  This takes me back to the old days of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.  Take thunderwolf cav and give them steroids on steroids and you get a Thunderwolf Lord.  He takes all of the utility mentioned above via equipment and combines it with the enchanced abilities that a thunderwolf provides (+1 S, T, A, and cavalry movement) to make a heinous IC.  Most Thunderwolf Lord are kitted to be, as a friend of mine and long time Wolfenstein 3D fan would put it, death incarnate.  Generally, a Thunderwolf Lord comes with runic armor and a storm shield for a solid 2+/3++ save.  Then you see a few variations.  The popular ones I have noticed are a powerfist or thunderhammer and Saga of the Bear (eternal warrior) for MC and Dreadnought killing power, or wolf claw or frost weapon and Saga of the Warrior Born (additional attack on the assault equal to number of kills from previous assault) for infantry killy.  Either way this guy is nasty.  As mentioned with either, he has 6 attacks on the assault (more if Warrior Born kicks in), Is wounding just about everything on 2's or 3's and has T5 and a 2+/3++ to keep him safe. Now, this guy does come in at a hefty price tag, generally around 250 pt., but the amount of raw killiness is worth it.  This really is the best way to run him in my opinion.  Again, this is due to the fact that for generic HQ choices, you can go both cheaper and for better utility. 

The final thing I want to talk about with Wolf Lords and WGBL is their ability to take up to 2 fenrisian wolves for 10pt a piece as wargear. These are awesome because they effectively are wound soaks. This effectively boosts a Lord to 5 wounds and a WGBL to 4 wounds.  Should a wound be vicious enough to cause ID to your Lord (S10 or just outright ID) don't risk it, kill a dog.  I especially recommend these models on a Thunderwolf Lord as they mesh well with the large movement of the thunderwolf. 

Bottom line:  I don't see Wolf Lord on foot much at all.  When they are taken as such, they usually are taken for some sort of gimmick or niche role for the army be it the Majesty bubble, beefing up a drop pod unit, or bringing stealth to a midfield harassment unit.  On the other hand, when Lords and WGBL are taken they usually come in the form of Thunderwolf Lords.  These guys are just plain nasty with the ability to take on most things and come out with nary a scratch on them.  But, we careful.  Thunderwolf Lords are expensive and quickly become cost prohibitive in an army that is seeking to take an all comers approach. 

Other articles from this article series:
Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The ehh...
Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the Decent
Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The Awesome

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Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, The Awesome

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

We've made it.  Here lie before us the most awesome (in my opinion) characters in the Space Wolf codex.  They may even be some of the best there are in any codex.  If you missed my previous two articles, you can check them out in my Archives section or simply by clicking the following links:

Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the ehh...
Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the Decent

As per the template of the last two articles, I am going to start with the character that I believe to be on the lower end of the scale and end with the uber character. So, let's start, shall we.

FTW Ron's Ragnar Conversion.  Simply Brilliant.

Up first we have Ragnar Blackmane.  Ragnar comes in at 240pt. base.  He has power armor, a frostblade, bolt pistol, meltabombs, frags and kraks, saga of the warrior born, wolftooth necklace, and wolf tail talisman.  Ragnar has fairly normal stats for a captain-ish model.  He has WS6, BS5, 3W, 4A, and I5. His frostblade does boost his strength stat to 5.  Saga of the warrior born is one of my favorites.  It allows a model an additional number of attacks on the assault equal to the number of wounds dealt in the previous assault phase.  So, when you wind this guy up, you want him to bounce from combat to combat in which he can feasibly have double digit attacks!

What makes (and possibly breaks) Ragnar are his special rules. Let's talk about the one with a negative side first. Insane Bravado looks really cool at first, bestowing +D3 attacks on the assault instead of +1 for the unit that Ragnar joins.  However, there is a downside being that the unit has to assault if possible.  This creates a weakness for any unit he joins as a simple rhino moving 12" can waste a lot of this unit's potential.  Luckily this is probably the only downside to taking Ragnar.

Next, we have Incredible Reflexes. This one is pretty simple, really.  It gives Ragnar a 4+ invul save which really helps his survivability.

Finally, we have War Howl.  This gives furious charge to Ragnar and his unit. In addition, once per game, Ragnar can give furious charge to every unit within 12" at the beginning of the assault phase.

This guy is the definition of a beater.  Let's look at it.  Just taken with a unit of 8 grey hunters with standard, power weapon, and wolf guard with powerfist, we are looking at Ragnar getting on average 6 attacks at S6, I6.  Then, at S5 and I5 you get 4 power weapon attacks and 28 regular attacks.  Finally, round that out with 4 S9 powerfist attacks.  Then, if he assaults into a new combat on your next turn, Ragnar stands a chance of getting even more attacks! 

The real issue with Ragnar as is with most characters made for pure assault in the Space Wolf codex is that, generally speaking, I don't think Space Wolves make a very good points effective hammer unit unless it's thunderwolf cav.  As such, you have to dedicate loads of points to Ragnar and his unit and usually a ride for them in order to get his full potential.  So, while not hugely awesome, the buffs he brings to the army and his unit make him pretty stinking cool. 

courtesy of lexicanum

Next, we have the rune priest on steroids, Njal Stormcaller.  Njal costs you a mint 245pt.  For that you get a rune priest with a 2+ save, special force weapon, wolftooth necklace, bolt pistol, frags and kraks, and saga of majesty.  He has pretty mediocre stats, notable of which are his WS5, 2W, and 3A.  Luckily, you don't want Njal for his combat prowess.  Njal's runic staff negates pyschic abilities on a 3+, straight up.  No roll off.  You have a 66% chance of ending any psychic ability.  That is dirty.  Also, he has a chooser of the slain that does D3 S3 hits on a model of your choice in base contact with Njal at I5. 

In addition to this, you can give Njal a suit of runic terminator armor for 25pts that obviously gives a 2+ save, but also bears a 4+ invul.  I think this may just be worth it, especially if you think Njal might end up getting mixed up in some combats. 

Master psyker is the first of his rules. Njal knows all of the Space Wolf psychic abilities and he can cast two of them per turn.  You heard me right.  That is plain nasty.  Casting Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane come to mind.

Njal's most interesting rule is called Lord of the Tempest.  In every turn, you roll a D3 and add the turn number to it (i.e. in turn 2 you would roll D3+2, turn 3 D3+3).  You then look at the result on his handy-dandy Tempest Chart o' Doom.  on a result of 2 nothing happens, but starting on a result of 3 on, you can have such things as making enemies within 24" -1BS to making all enemy units within 18" take a morale test.  One of my personal favorites is a result of 6.  Njal picks a target within 18" and does D3 S9 attacks to it. Vehicles are always hit on their side armor.  The best thing about this ability is that there is no recourse.  You can't stop it unless you kill Njal. 

Uber psyker with psychic ability lockdown, Njal is simply beastly. He can really ruin your day. 

A crappy picture of my Logan conversion, still to be painted.

Last on the list of the awesome is the High King himself, Logan Grimnar.  Grimnar weighs in at a hefty 275pt.  The High King has pretty nice stats for the price tag, though. WS6, BS5, 3W, 5A, I5.  Logan wears terminator armor and has a belt of russ giving him a 4+ invul.  He has a storm bolter, a wolftooth necklace, a wolf tail talisman, the axe morkai, and saga of majesty. 

The axe is pretty cool.  You can choose extra slicey mode utilizing the axe as a frostblade, or tenderizer mode which allows the axe to be used as a powerfist.  Even better, you can split his attacks between the two types of attacks, meaning Logan becomes very versatile in the assault.

Grimnar comes with a whole bucket load of special rules including eternal warrior and stubborn.  As the Great Wolf, Logan takes Wolf Guard squads as troops.  This leads to some very customizable troop choices for your army. 

Living Legend allows Logan to grant +1 attack to every model within 18" for a turn.  This is great for a mass assault. 

Logan's High King is what makes him really dangerous.  For each player turn, Logan can choose to bestow a USR on the unit he has joining.  He can give fearless, tank hunter, relentless, and preferred enemy.  Tank Hunter long fangs are fan favorites.  In the next turn, when they are shot at, Logan can make them fearless.  Should he join a unit of fighty Wolf Guard, he can give them preferred enemy.  Again, Logan becomes a really versatile character bringing buffs to the army in a variety of situations. 

As stated by some comments in my previous posts, Arjac becomes really nice in a Logan army as well.  A unit of long fangs bringing Logan and Arjac is a real deterent to most units that might try to assault it away. 

There you have it.  The best of the best of the Space Wolf Codex Named Characters.  In the next few days, I will begin to tear apart the generic HQ choices.  Which ones work well and which ones are better left at home. 

Other useful links:
The Templar Wolves Ride Again: The Severe Beating of A Blood Angel Army
A Rose of a different color
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Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the Decent

[This article is part of the Codex Review: Space Wolves article series.]

In my last article, Codex Review: Space Wolf Named Characters, the ehh...,  I described Lukas the Trickster, Ulrik the Slayer, and Canis Wolfborn and why you probably could better spend your points elsewhere. 

In this second article, I am going to describe the decent named characters that may or may not be worth their points, but are generally decent. 

Let's start at the bottom of the list again with the Trueclaw, Bjorn the Fellhanded.  Bjorn is available to you for the price of 270pt.  He is a venerable dreadnought for all intents and purposes with a few extras in his stat line.  He has a front AV of 13 and as such is fairly resilient combined with the venerable upgrade.  He also comes with a WS and BS of 6 and S7 (which is irrelevant unless you lose your DCCW). The BS is really what makes him attractive in my opinion.  He comes stock with an assault cannon but can trade it, for free, for a plasma cannon, or a TL lascannon for +20pt.  His DCCW has a heavy flamer.  I would actually keep Bjorn with the assault cannon or plasma cannon as they benefit the most from his stellar BS.  The plasma cannon essentially only scatters D6" instead of 2D6" due to his BS 6.  This makes his infantry killing ability extremely good. 

Above that, Bjorn comes with Saga of Majesty and wolf tail talisman.  This means that he can help keep your models from failing morale if they are within 6" of him. 

Bjorn also has a few interesting special rules.  Ward of the Primarch gives Bjorn a 5+ invul save.  Combined with venerable status and AV13, this guy can be incredibly hard to take down.  Ancient Tactician is the rule that really can benefit Space Wolves.  This rule gives the player the ability to reroll for the chance to choose who deploys (and consequently who goes first).  I think this rule meshes really well with a razorspam list as it gives you a chance to take the first turn and shoot down mech before it has a chance to do the same thing.  Of course, this can be countered by an opponent who reserves their army much in the same way drop pod assault is negated. 

Bjorn's final rule is also interesting and provides both pros and cons for the player.  Living Relic states that should Bjorn die in a game, he makes the entire army fearless.  This can be good or bad, but I tend to look at it as good since I play Space Wolves as a counterattack army that whittles down opponents with hails of fire before going in for the kill in combat. It can be bad if you end up having to tkae fearless saves due to lost combats. 

Now the quirky part of Living Relic is that Bjorn stays on the table after he dies as an objective in objective games while in kill point games he yields D3 additional kill points unless a Space Wolf model is in contact with him.  So, this isn't so fun, but hopefully a smart player will advance Bjorn with the army and be somewhat easy to capture. 

So, the big question is whether or not Bjorn is worth his 270pt.  This is also why I have listed him as decent.  If you build an army around Bjorn and use his advantages to your benefit, then you he can make a pretty mean army.  As I mentioned earlier, I think Bjorn meshes really well with a razorspam army with some good counter attack units.  However, he costs as much as two riflemen dreads.  Also, if you lose him under the wrong circumstances, you are facing an uphill battle.  Thus, Bjorn, in my mind, is decent, but not a named character that you want to take all the time or at small points levels.

Our second and last decent named character is Arjac Rockfist.  This guy alone is pretty amazing.  If he were an HQ choices and not a unit upgrade, I would like him so much better.  He might even be considered an auto-include if you want a good beater character. 

Arjac is a unit upgrade of a unit of Wolf Guard.  He rings in at 170pt.  Arjac comes with a significantly improved statline including WS and BS 5, S5, 2W, and 3 attacks base. He wears terminator armor and carried a thunder hammer, the foehammer, and the anvil shield.  The foehammer is a thunder hammer that Arjac can throw with a 6" range at S10, AP1, assault 1.  The anvil shield is a storm shield that grants Arjac another attack when he assaults.  This means that Arjac is walking around with a 2+/3++ save, a S10 hammer and 5 attacks on the assault.  Additionally, he is a unit upgrade and so he can't be targetted. 

Arjac's is stubborn, has saga of the bear, and has the Grimnar's Champion rule.  Saga is great meaning that he can eat one high strength Ap2 or 3 shot without dying due to eternal warrior.  Stubborn is also nice for whichever unit he joins. I am not necessarily a fan of Grimnar's Champion, but the guy is tooled out to use it well.  If an IC or Mosntrous Creature is in contact with Arjac he has to allocate his attacks at that model.  Seeing as how he will usually pulp whatever he hits, it isn't such a big deal, but a canny opponent could use this to hamper his ability to drive up combat res. 

Here's the thing about Arjac.  This is why he is decent and not awesome.  He is the definition of an offensive character.  He needs to be in a unit that is making it's way to beat face.  This is where the problem occurs.  Since Arjac is wearing terminator armor, he is either pedestrian, riding in a land raider, or in a drop pod. This means that additional points have to be allocated in order to make him more efficient.  You also have to consider which units he is best utilized with.  In my opinion, you want him in either grey hunters or wolf guard.  Again, in order to provide a decent beater unit to place him in, you need to invest points.  Ultimately, taking Arjac leads to creating a deathstar unit which will wreck many armies, but be totally negated by others. 

Arjac has great stats and absolutely beats face in combat, but the costs of taking him efficiently means you have to invest a lot of points in one unit.  Ultimately this means that Arjac is decent instead of awesome. 

In my next article, I am going to go over the big three.  The most awesome named characters in the Space Wolf army.  Stay tuned.  If you haven't read my previous article, take a look at the link at the top of the page. 

Other useful articles:
Codex Review: Black Templar Named HQs
Codex Review: Blood Angel Sanguinary Guard
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Pictures provided thanks to Warhammer 40k Wikia.