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Hey guys,

I see a lot of posts that say "if you take varghulf, take 2". But there isn't often much discussion beyond that. I have 2 painted in my army and am wondering: should they both go up one flank together? Separate flanks? 1 in the middle? Curious what people have found to be most effective.

They're flanking units for sure, being flyers and all, other than that splitting them up or putting e'm together depends a great deal on what you're facing.

They are flanking units... you generally have 2 flanks .
But ignore me, I don't play WFB. :-(

Sanctjud wrote:They are flanking units... you generally have 2 flanks .
But ignore me, I don't play WFB. :-(

You might be lost, this is the WFB tactics forum

j/k - yeah I realize they are flanking units, Im wondering if it's better to double down on one flank. I typically face "super slaan" lizardmen.

Its also probably because if your relying on 1 they might not make it as most will target them 1st as there a big threat, so taking two is safer.

HoverBoy wrote:They're flanking units for sure, being flyers and all, other than that splitting them up or putting e'm together depends a great deal on what you're facing.

Despite the face they have wings, Varghulf's do not fly.

1 varghulf cant really make much impact on the game. They are good for killing warmachines and small harrassing units, but they will quickly get bogged down in larger units and cant hold their own against elite units by themselves. So either they do their job on one side of the battlefield and them have little effect on the rest of the game or they get stuck against a large block of infantry or something harder then them, and you lose 175pts.

So either you can run one on each flank against armies that have small units that will annoy you, but aren't really worth commiting your grave guard against, such as marauder horsemen/dark rides/skinks and the like, or you can run two on one flank, which gives you enough punch on that flat to cause some serious damage. Remember that even if you cant break units that easily any more, two varghulfs with thunderstomp will much their way through all but the most elite on infantry.

Not much of a WHFB player, but they seem to have a pretty basic use.


due to being flyers they are for flanking (bet you wouldnt have guessed that )

Simply hunt down warmachines with them (1 up each flank)

Hunt down lone characters or small units of skirmishers.
If the unit is slightly larger then throw both at them.
Last thing you want is you evil vamp bats stuck in combat for too long, so its worth using both to keep them free.

Keep well clear of large infantry units.
Doesent matter if they are black orks or clanrats, they will beat you mainly due to the extra points they get.
If you do want to use them again units, gold them in place 1st with a solid unit, capable of doing damage. (Grave guard charge them, both vargs charge the back, or side if back isnt possible)

Also, remember you have thunder stomp.
That ability alone makes them 10x better at clearing up small units.


If you want to take risks, you can also use them to attack small units of monsterous infantry.
Just make sure you know what you are charging.
Things like dragon ogres are a big no as they really do hit hard, so look out for the weaker ones. (basic ogres etc)


also, depending on your confidence it may be worth hunting down cavalry with them.
Throw both at a unit and try and bring them down through sheer weight of attacks.
Again though, avoid the real heavy hitters (blood knights, knights of chaos etc)


Generally though they arent bad.
They pay for themselves when facing warmachine heavy armies.

Man I wish my vargulfs could fly! That'd be awesome!

Why does everyone think it can fly? People at my old flgs were playing it as though it had flying with out ever actually checking the rules on it.

0_o
I assumed that a large bat monster with wings would be able to fly.
Has it atleast got decent movement?

On that note, ignore most of my last post lol

I think it has M8. My book is in my car, but I'm pretty sure it's M8, if it is, that's not too worse off in this edition.

M8 which isn't half bad.
BTW i also thought the huge winged bat should be able to fly

Next thing we'll know, Orc Wyverns will have a breath weapon!

Its good its good but believe me that thing would cost a lot more if it could fly! If not it would have been the must have (wait it still sorta is!)

That and M8 isn't all that worse that the 10 for flyin, altho not bein able to jump over things is a definite hinder.

as one who faces Vhargulfs alot i can say this.


they are tough to put down. Regeneration on T5 is pretty tough. if you play Infantry you also get Tstomped. they make good Tarpits for big infantry blobs that really can't put a ton of wounds back on it.

Lords and heros can take them down, but it takes a couple of turns(if you have Flaming attacks that changes)


i can't imagine facing 2 Vargulfs at once. scary stuff

Varghulf are extremely powerful creatures. I think they are overpriced, however. They are almost as expensive as 4 chaos Trolls, who I'd rather unscientifically state, are at least twice as powerful. That regenerate is really nice though for a giant-like creature.

Vaghulf = 175 points, 5 attacks at S5 base with hatred

Hydra = 175 points, 7 attacks at S5 base, 6 attacks at S3 base all with hatred

Hydra gets breath weapon, M6, 4+ AS/4+ regen

Varghulf gets no flanks/rear M8, 4+ regen


Either increase the price of one, or decrease the price of the other (you guys figure it out)

I think they learned their lesson on Monster Pricing after DE All the Beastmen cost 100 more or so

Actually single models do have flanks in 8th.

The Varghulf has a special rule which means it doesn't have a flank or rear.

Aye, not a very useful special rule imho. Still, two varghulfs is nothing to sneeze at, can cause plenty of havoc on flanks, getting into comabt asap with M8.

Two of them do 10 Attacks at WS5 S5 with hatred and then 2D6 S5 in thunderstomps. I'd say that on something that can easily charge second turn that is plenty to wreck a ranked unit in 2-3 turns and then turn and charge something in the rear/flank to help out sometime turn 4-5.

Or you can charge a small flank unit wipe it in one turn and overrun into the enemy's back lines, this does require the enemy to have small units that can't do vanguard moves and so advance on the side of his forces.

You forgot that the Vargulf is unbreakable but crumbles, while the hydra can be broken in cc (though the hydra is still underpriced).

I've had a lot of success with my Vargulf in two ways:

1) Taking down small units of missile troops, warmachines, even small units of elite troops.

2) Combing charges with other units to take down larger, more powerful units. In my last game against WoC, my ghouls were charged by a big unit of Chaos Warriors. They survivedthe first round, then I counter charged with my Vargulf and Black Coach and pretty much wiped out the Chaos Warrior unit.

I haven't used 2 yet as I'm liking the Black Coach instead but I want to give it a try. I think the trick will be to keep them together for double thunderstomp.