For Russ and the Allfather! Space Wolves Tactica: (Codex Edition)

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**Bago**

Bago wrote:
Pretty quiet here. :/

I am going to my first tournament ever. Its gonna be a 12 person 2k tourney and I will bring my Wolves. Its in 4 weeks, so I have a bit of time to adjust and tweak here and there. As I only had 2 or 3 games due to Corona so far, I ask for your help, if you see little stuff to optimize or something, that worked well for you.

My List:

Ragnar
Primaris Chaplain on Bike (MoS, Hunter, Imperiums Sword, Benediction of Fury, Extortion of Rage, Mantra of Strength)
Librarian with Jump Pack (Chief Librarian, Plasma Pistol, Storm Caller, Tempests Wrath)

5x Incursor
5x Infiltrator
5x Infiltrator

3 Bladeguard
Invictor Tactical Warsuit (Ironhail Autocannon)
Redemptor (Plasma, Storm Bolter, Onslaugth Gatling Cannon)
Jump Pack Wolfguard (Sergeant with Frostclaw+Shield; 4x Claw+Shield, 1x Stormbolter + Shield)

Outrider
TWC (Sergeant with Hammer+Shield, 3x Chainsword+Shield)

Eradicator

Impulsor + Dome

I am completely unsure about my troops. I have in general some stuff I could change. I have another squad of Incursors and I have Assault and normal Intercessors. I also have Wolf Guard Termis with Hammer and Shield, Primaris Librarian, Chaplain with Jump Pack.

What are your opinions on the list?

I have written down my experiences of the tournament over here if anyone is curious:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/800498.page#11204026

**Niiai**

I asked on the SM list, but got no responce. Perhaps the people here are more alive.

How unique are the space wolf small units? I am thinking 1 man cyberwolf units for 15 points and the 5 squad fenrisian wolves for 35 points. Both are in fast attacks.

There are some benefits of small units. Screening and holding objectives. Are those good in currenth 9th edition? Whenever I play SW I always flood my fast attack slots. But they seem good. Should I be taking them more?

In my mind they remind me a bit of 8th edition ork boys.

**leerm02**

The only reason I haven't flooded my lists with Cyberwolves is the monetary cost of the models. Heck, even proxies cost a lot!

As far as usefulness though: Ive heard nothing but good things. Mind you, I've never actually run them so I'm going off second hand info, but the amount of utility you can get from a 15pt/35pt unit is a real steal.

**MrStressy**

I have used small units of fenrisian wolves which have been great and have heard nothing but good things about cyberwolves as cheap fast units which can be easily hidden and will often be ignored in favour of more obviously dangerous units. My next space wolf project will be a pair of them in fact

**Niiai**

So none think that the fenirsian wolves are good for close combat?

**Blackie**

Well they have 2A at S4 AP-1 with WS3+, but also T4 1W 6+ and bad Ld which makes them very fragile.

They're cheap and fast but they don't do much damage, that's not their role. The max unit of 15 wolves (105 points), assuming it gets the charge at full strenght and strikes first, will kill 7 orks (63 points) or 5 MEQs (90 points). Being extremely fragile you can't count on them for being melee specialists, any damage they manage to do is a bonus.

**Niiai**

Ork boys where 3 attack (4 if a big group) T4, 6+ wound, same points. You trade one attack for 5+ movement pluss run and charge. They seem quite comparable. And green tide was good. 8th edition ork codex that is.

I understand that the loss of one attack is bad. But getting the ability to get of a charge from further away should weight up for that. Orks dies to a stiff Breese. But who charges as long as some make it into melee.

But I want to know if anybody has tried this before starting putting such a unit together.

**Jimbobbyish**

I used 3 min squads of wolves and 2 lone cyber wolves in 8th regularly (haven't played 9th yet). The cyber wolves are awesome for the price and small footprint. I used the squads of wolves purely as meat shields, They work well at absorbing mortal wounds from smite and other spells for the first round.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
The wolves work best if you use them just to draw fire/smite away from your vanguard and Thunderwolves.

**Blackie**

Niiai wrote:
Ork boys where 3 attack (4 if a big group) T4, 6+ wound, same points. You trade one attack for 5+ movement pluss run and charge. They seem quite comparable. And green tide was good. 8th edition ork codex that is.

I understand that the loss of one attack is bad. But getting the ability to get of a charge from further away should weight up for that. Orks dies to a stiff Breese. But who charges as long as some make it into melee.

But I want to know if anybody has tried this before starting putting such a unit together.

Green tide was good because boyz got a ton of buffs by auras, klan traits, psychic powers and stratagems in 8th, including the full respawn of 30 man squads. Now that all those combos have been removed they're asbolute trash, even with T5, in terms of damage output.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Jimbobbyish wrote:
I used 3 min squads of wolves and 2 lone cyber wolves in 8th regularly (haven't played 9th yet). The cyber wolves are awesome for the price and small footprint. I used the squads of wolves purely as meat shields, They work well at absorbing mortal wounds from smite and other spells for the first round.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
The wolves work best if you use them just to draw fire/smite away from your vanguard and Thunderwolves.

That's their role. They can also mess enemy deepstrikers or go after enemies sitting on objectives that don't have obj sec or are pure shooting infantry units.

**Niiai**

Yeah that might be true. Garanteed da jump with 30 boys that I need to kill or they spawn and attack again certanly put me on the backfoot.

I do not know if the rest of the auras and stuff helped that much. Against the old ork codex I usualy had problem moving onto the board.

**Niiai**

I saw a rundown of the Wolfspears on youtube.

While I do not have the wording in front of me, it seemed a warlord trait made the shooting attack hit and woud on 2 when shooting at non vehicle and non monsters. If it works like that, it can be very good on a combi flamer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNc6akNrBNA&t=411s

Edit: I got the white drawrf and looked at the rules for Wolfspears. Yeah, they are really sweet. Not overly strong, but I really liked the stratagems, warord traits and relics. The fact that they look you in on the stealth and +1 to charge traits shoud hold them back from beeing over powered. But I liked them. A fun alternative to running wolves.

**Niiai**

Converted up an Akira inspiered bike chaplain. Felt like sharing:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/801142.page

**leerm02**

Russ would be proud!

**leerm02**

Hey gang, quick question:

For your Invictor Tactical Warsuits, do you run the super-flamer or the autocannon? I'm planning on trying out a tripple drop of these bad boys, probably dropping them on a flank in the beginning and concentrating the rest of my forces elsewhere.

I don't expect them to "win" necessarily, but three are a threat that will require a substantial amount of firepower to bring down and seems like it will tie up the flank nicely.

So, what armament do you think would work best?

**Niiai**

That is a very good question. The awnser depends upon how much support you give them, what the rest of your list looks like, and how flexile you want them.

The autocannon gives good support, and high S shots and it makes them very flexible. If your opponent will kill them turn one you can start further back and shoot with the autocannons.

If you have good fire support (drop pod with melta, or other long range high power weapons) the flamers qre quite good. Anything that is nit high thoughness will die to the flamer. More elite less horde targets will die to the fist.

Persoally I really like the flamer option. Provided that you have othe ranged support. You can always do 2 flamers and 1 autocannon as it can be hard to go to wide.

**Crafter91**

Do people rate Ragnar?

I've played 3 games with him so far and he's been nothing short of disappointing on every occasion.

What do people use him for?

**Niiai**

I do not use him. I suppose he is actually quite good.

I would like a shield on him. But the fundamental proble is that he is a primaris on foot. I do not have any primaris transports. So delivery is the problem.

Also, who does his auraboost? Dreadnoughts standing at home? The Wolf Guards with jumppacks?

He probably has some homes. But that is not with me. (I am currently babysitting som terminators. But a jump pack with armour of russ will be better.)

**Crafter91**

Before I got Ragnar I was using a Captain in Terminator armour with a master crafted Thunder Hammer and he hit like a monster.

At only 115 points, with wolfkin he had 4 + D3 attacks at S8, AP2, D4.

I feel like unless Ragnar is taking on a unit of infantry, he isn't particularly effective. Even then, if he doesn't charge, he fails to impress on most occasions.

Doesn't help that every man and his dog has a 4+ invun save in 9th edition

**Blackie**

Ragnar is very good in rull primaris armies. Typically you don't need transports, just let 10-20 run on foot with him. Lots of other primaris/gravis dudes are mostly played on foot so he and the unit(s) that joins him would have all the target redundancy they need to avoid being prioritized by enemy firepower.

The easy access to deep strike that jump packs and terminators have limits his use quite a bit for those who rely on a significant portion of firstborn models as none of them would like to walk.

I also play full firstborn with nothing starting on foot so I don't see any reason to run Ragnar or even a generic character on foot.

**ZergSmasher**

Ragnar is good. Certainly in more casual lists. The problem is that in competitive play there are other things in the SW book that do his job better, mainly a generic Captain with a Jump Pack. I may try to run him anyways though whenever I get around to playing Wolves competitively; his model is too damn cool to be a shelf warmer.

**Niiai**

What do you people think about deep striking terminators?

I am trying to consider having some that can land and then treaten objectives. I can not deside if I want combi flamers and a heavy flamer. They can land and just flame anything of an objective.

4 combi falmers, 1 heavy flamer, 5 power axes is 190 points. That is a lot of points for sweeping objectives. But they are also very hard to shift.

But if I give them 5 combi meltas they have more things they can treathen. 5 melta shots with fury of the first born has them hit on 2+. Is that something that can be good? Or on that case should I just take more multi-melta long fangs since they perform that job better?

I am also considering having a chaplain with wulfen stone so they can charge the same turn they land. Perhaps combined with other deep striking units.

**RaptorusRex**

So. Eradicators and how to use them. It felt like they were the boogeymen of 9th, but that was ages ago. I feel as if they're a bit of an unusual use case now. I ask the following question. How do you use Eradicators?

My main quibble is their range - a measly 24'' inches, max. They want to get even closer to do maximum damage. So if you want to be aggressive, that calls for either transporting them or advancing them with Melta Rifles, the latter imposing a -1 penalty to their Melta Rifles and robbing them of the double-shoot.

A possible use case could be defensive usage, but again, their range means they'll have to be carefully positioned.

**ZergSmasher**

RaptorusRex wrote:
So. Eradicators and how to use them. It felt like they were the boogeymen of 9th, but that was ages ago. I feel as if they're a bit of an unusual use case now. I ask the following question. How do you use Eradicators?

My main quibble is their range - a measly 24'' inches, max. They want to get even closer to do maximum damage. So if you want to be aggressive, that calls for either transporting them or advancing them with Melta Rifles, the latter imposing a -1 penalty to their Melta Rifles and robbing them of the double-shoot.

A possible use case could be defensive usage, but again, their range means they'll have to be carefully positioned.

Not sure they are that great as Wolves, but they are a solid unit. You definitely need good positioning, but don't forget you can outflank them with On the Hunt or the regular outflanking rules (for CP depending on how much stuff you outflank). This could be good to make sure they get at least one shot at something, and their range may seem short but it is enough to make them tricky to screen out.

Playing them defensively could be a viable tactic too, but I personally think it's a waste of their points to do so. YMMV, of course.

**Blackie**

RaptorusRex wrote:
So. Eradicators and how to use them. It felt like they were the boogeymen of 9th, but that was ages ago. I feel as if they're a bit of an unusual use case now. I ask the following question. How do you use Eradicators?

My main quibble is their range - a measly 24'' inches, max. They want to get even closer to do maximum damage. So if you want to be aggressive, that calls for either transporting them or advancing them with Melta Rifles, the latter imposing a -1 penalty to their Melta Rifles and robbing them of the double-shoot.

A possible use case could be defensive usage, but again, their range means they'll have to be carefully positioned.

They still are boogeymen, just not in the tournament scene where the most competitive lists don't bring many appropriate targets for melta weapons. In fact you don't see melta weapons in general in solid numbers at tournaments, not just eradicators. They are still very undercosted for what they do, and at least 3 of them are pretty much autoinclude. Don't waste points on a transport, outflank them. They'll be in melta range and at full strenght then.

**Niiai**

Well there was a 3rd place SW list that ran 11 melta/combi melta and 4 multi meltas. (With Master Artisan so that you can hit with them.) (Link bellow.))

Most SM lists have often included some units of longfans/devestators in a drop pod. With some maount of multimelta and armoured cheerub so you get one good turn of shooting before they die.

I guess as the meta whipped up the anti tak shot had to be delivered fast. Including paying 70 points for a drop pod. Even if you outflank the eradiactors they don't get the shoot twice because they moved.

https://www.goonhammer.com/competitive-innovations-in-9th-liminal-state/

**ZergSmasher**

Niiai wrote:
Even if you outflank the eradiactors they don't get the shoot twice because they moved.

Pretty sure you can still shoot twice if you move. You do lose it if you Advance though.

**Niiai**

Jah, true that.

**RaptorusRex**

I've quite the saga, brothers. Godwyn Bullroarer of the Greymanes chapter managed to do 8 damage in a turn to a Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer on his lonesome and merced a Dreadnought in a single turn of combat, with naught but a Master-crafted Frost Sword. How could this be? Our Beastslayer warlord trait might be situational, but it is deadly in combination with Imperium's Sword against VEHICLE units.

**Niiai**

How are you people finding phobos units? I like that they start up on the board, witch is where I want my troops to be. The fact that they are ready for action early on is good.

Incursors is where the money is. Small dagger for more AP. 'only' 21 points

Infiltrators lack the dagger and are more expensive. But if you want to go all in on buffing shooting they seems better. The gun can deal mortal wounds. The deep strike deny is cute.

Many lists take deepstriking, outflanking or drop pods. Having some close backup can be good. The psyker is quite descent if you take SW powers.

**Niiai**

Thunderwolf cavalery are down by 5 points! Awooooo!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/01/20/four-of-the-biggest-points-changes-from-chapter-approved-2022/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=warhammer-40,000&utm_content=fieldmanualupdates200122