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So as the title clearly states, I am starting Space Wolves and would just like to know the basic tips and tricks of the army, please keep in mind however, that I will NOT be running named characters in this army.

If you want no named characters, your best bet for HQ is probably rune priests.

After that you should decide if you want wolf cavalry, infantry, terminators, mech/razorbacks, etc.

One tip that applies to a lot of army list versions is to remember Wolf Guard. You can use them as a sergeant for infantry, but then they can't take a 2nd special weapon and fit in a rhino at the same time. You can use them to put cyclone missile launchers in your long fang squads.

bloodclaws with a drop pod coudt hurt

The best advice I can give is TROOPS, troops and more troops. IMO Grey Hunters are arguably the best troops choice in the game. A 10 man squad in a Rhino with 2 Meltaguns Wolf Standard Mark of the Wulfen and Possibly a Power Fist means a lot of hurt for your opponents. Blood Claws are also good especially in a Land Raider Crusader as a pack of 14 + a Wolf Priest (or 13 if you want to add a WG).

Wolf Guard are expensive in Terminator Armour and I still need convincing that they are worth the points but then my army has Ragnar as it's close combat Monster so I don't need them.

Out of interest why no special characters.

@Ed_Bodger: No characters because i don't want to get on the Grimnar/Stormcaller wagon...
I was thinking primarily of an army comprised of Blood Claws, mainly as a stark contrast to the shootyness of my Tau

If you take blood claws, always take a wolf guard with them to make sure they get that extra pistol shot when charging in. Without the pistol shot, replacing pistol shot with an additional +1 charge attack is somewhat of a downgrade. With the pistol shot and +2 attacks, they can be quite brutal.

15 Blood claws + Wolf Priest in a crusader is they only real way to mitigate their WS issue. It also allows them to fire their pistols before the charge.

Grey Hunters are all around better; I currently run 6 Grey hunters squads @ 5 men each with power fist, standard, Mark, and either a Plasma or a Melta(50/50 split) in razorbacks with attached Wolf guard.

I use 4 Wolf guard, each with Thunder hammer and storm bolter, 3 of them have meltabombs.

I then field a Wolf Lord with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, saga of the bear, talisman and necklace.

And a Battle leader with Mark and Storm Shield, saga of the warrior, tail and necklace and melta bombs.

The sheer number of attacks my units put out on any given turn/phase makes them all priority targets and my saturation means most of them are fairly unmolested by the time they get in range.

Kommisar Kel has a fantastic Army List

Yeah.. Blood claws are only great in mass and I wouldn't bring more then a squad of them. Grey hunters are better. But bloodclaws have there place. In a land raider crusader with your leader would be a fitting place. Thats a ton of attacks you will get on a charge. I am a fan of taking max squads of grey hunters with 2 special weapons per squad. I will also bring a grey hunter squad sometimes as well and round out my special weapons in the squads. 2 Powerfists are pretty nasty in a space marine squad.

I have also become a Fan of the wolf guard terminator squad in a drop pod. people sure do waste valuabel assets trying to kill off that squad before I do anything cool with them.

I have stayed away from thunderwolves for now. To conversion heavy for me. I am going to wait a while before I invest in those bad boys.

1 unit you should always bring is scouts. They are really worth the points and have surprised me on occasion.

I agree wholeheartedly about the scouts. I was able to take a five man squad of scouts with 4 boltguns and a heavy bolter, scout moved them into a bunker before turn one. They were able to annihilate the entire command structure of my friend's IG army.

Well, when I have a look at the book and models in the coming days, I will be sure to keep this all in mind. Thanks.

Krellnus wrote:@Ed_Bodger: No characters because i don't want to get on the Grimnar/Stormcaller wagon...
I was thinking primarily of an army comprised of Blood Claws, mainly as a stark contrast to the shootyness of my Tau

If you are new to wolves and want to some good advice look here. Capture and Control: What I like about Wolves I agree with pretty much everything written in this article on CNC. I can understand not wanting to use named characters even though they are awesome. I like rune priests, wolf priests, and sometimes even a wolf lord. Currently my favorite load out is a squad of skyclaws with a Wolf Lord w/ Frost Blade SS jump pack and a Wolf Priest with jump pack. This unit advances behind either a Rhino wall or a LR wall, they then jump out and put serious hurt on something.