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Hello everyone,

I just recently bought the space wolves codex and I'm looking for some help from all SW players.

I'm waiting to buy models as 1.) I still need to sell my guard army and 2.) I want to have a decent 1000 point list before I buy all the cool models

Right now what I have written up as my core army is 1 Rune Priest, 3 eight man Grey Hunter squads w/meltagun, MoW, and Wolf Standard, and 3 Wolf Guards w/combi melta & PF.


What are all the unit that look nice and shiny on paper but really aren't worth their weight in gold?

Also I'm seeing almost every SW taking rhino/razorbacks & land raiders. Are pod pods competitive at all?

The problem with pods is that half of them have to stay in reserves and gives the enemy an opportunity to single out models when they come out. a hybrid pod mech list works better that pods but a pure mech list will have the advantage of movement and maneuvering as a whole. A 1-3 pods is a good way to go because 1 or 2 come out and then only one is in reserves. I've come to the conclusion that mobility is key to in game strategy and overwhelming your opponent. I cant help you to much with making a SW list as I play BA but the pod/transport tactic carries over with the two. BTW I know Logan is an amazing special character and that he kicks bottom in CC.

You're missing the required 3x5 long fangs with missile launchers.

yeah if you want pods go 3 at least. I drop 2 dreads with AC's and HF (so just the basic dread with a H.F) and a GH squad, usually with plasmaguns, sometimes i mix it up by going melta or flamer and throwing in a runepriest, and he will usually have more of the closer range psychic powers, like MH, JotWW, i cant remember its name the one that screws with skimmers jump infantry and jetbikes, that kind of jazz. The GH usually pod to either a) a midfield objective or b) where i need their firepower, and the 2 dreads drop together up in the opponents grill- kind of a "deal with this" style of thing, or "I want you to send forces here so come get my dreads!", or "you've left a pocket in your deployment that lacks in numerous anti dread weaponry, hows it going".

I think you can't go wrong with a pair of speeders, configured how you want them (I like typhoons), a pack of longfangs, a pair of dreads and a bunch of GH. Roll up to them and start brawling whilst the typhoons and the longfangs plink into the battle.

Thanks for the feedback.

The two dreads in drop pods sounds like a very fun idea.

What upgrades are worth it for Rune Priests? I currently only have terminator armor and wolf tail talisman. The only other upgrades that look decent are the wolf tooth necklace, chooser of the slain, and saga of the beastslayer but are they worth it or just more fat that can be trimmed?

For land speeders I'm stuck between two formats 1.) multi-melta & heavy flamer or 2.) multi-melta and Typhoon missile launcher.

Also I've decided to give my one 8 man strong GH squad a drop pod with the others are going to have a rhino, increase the unit to 9 models, and replace the meltagun with a plasma gun.

ishanmaster wrote:Thanks for the feedback.

The two dreads in drop pods sounds like a very fun idea.

Oh it is the more you use it, the better eye you develop for where to drop them

ishanmaster wrote:What upgrades are worth it for Rune Priests? I currently only have terminator armor and wolf tail talisman. The only other upgrades that look decent are the wolf tooth necklace, chooser of the slain, and saga of the beastslayer but are they worth it or just more fat that can be trimmed?

up...grades...?

bugger that, cheap and cheerful. CotS is usually all I put on him, to help with Living lightning. He pretty much fills an obligatory HQ slot. I usually have 1 pack of long fangs sitting at the back and pop him in there. If he's going with some GH, I usually don't even give him the CotS, as I give him MH or JotWW or Stormcaller, so I don't need to roll to hit. for 100p I get psychic defence and Jaws If I have points left over at the end...I'm always tempted to give him a combiweapon...but then i remember he's going to be using psychic powers, so I tend to just leave him basic. Of course, local meta would affect this- if more people around here (my local) used things like infiltrators, I would be probably have more to say on the chooser. But again, with powers that don't need to roll to hit like jaws and stormcaller (which is something I like using vs my friends Nid's, screwing with his gargoyles and flyrant etc whilst scaring away carnifex's and hive guard other low I things), I just don't feel the need to have him. I love my basic HQ though, thats my style

ishanmaster wrote:For land speeders I'm stuck between two formats 1.) multi-melta & heavy flamer or 2.) multi-melta and Typhoon missile launcher.

Also I've decided to give my one 8 man strong GH squad a drop pod with the others are going to have a rhino, increase the unit to 9 models, and replace the meltagun with a plasma gun.

woah woah, remember the Typhoon is a single choice, so its a HB and a typhoon ML- ye cannot swap the HB out. If you could, I would scream to the heavens about why Typhoons are the best

Honestly, try both. There's been threads before about it and will be threads in the future about it, and its totally up to the players choice. I will pose a question to you- would you be happy vs a landraider? Not would you be "I can deal with this", but would you be "ahhh you have a landraider. No problem."?

-edit- Minnesota rules. Except for Minneapolis airport. Whoever designed that of a place (It made me miss my next flight to Canada and I had to stay the night lol. Plus my old American History teacher was from Minnesota, and he was the Boss an old American hippy biker as a history teacher was awesome )

Oh so the Land Speeder and Land Speeder Typhoon are two seperate units. Well in that case I'll probably run with the multi-melta/heavy flamer combo as all the SM players run with one land raider in their 1000 point list.

Now with GH and their wargear, it lists bolter, bolt pistol, and close combat weapon. Does that mean during my shooting phase I can use the bolter and in my assault phase use BP/CC?

Instead of having a rune priest attached to my drop pod GH squad, should I instead take a battle leader wolf guard?

jihallah + OP: you can in fact buy a MM for a typhoon.

But you can only upgrade 1 land Speeder/Squadron to a Typhoon.

You can do this buy upgrading the Heavy bolter on the land Speeder to a MM, and then Upgrading said land Speeder to a Typhoon. the upgrade from Land Speeder to typhoon is worded in exactly the same way as upgrading a land Speeder to a tornado.

Any other reading would mean that a typhoon only has the typhoon missile launcher(since that is all it says it is armed with a TML).

Kommissar Kel wrote:jihallah + OP: you can in fact buy a MM for a typhoon.

But you can only upgrade 1 land Speeder/Squadron to a Typhoon.

You can do this buy upgrading the Heavy bolter on the land Speeder to a MM, and then Upgrading said land Speeder to a Typhoon. the upgrade from Land Speeder to typhoon is worded in exactly the same way as upgrading a land Speeder to a tornado.

Any other reading would mean that a typhoon only has the typhoon missile launcher(since that is all it says it is armed with a TML).

oh ho I see what you done thar my bad lol. Interesting. Is it worth 100p though?

I go a rune priest because he's cheap and effective. 100p= a power/force weapon, psychic defense and offense, including shenanigans like JotWW, and my HQ slot gets filled. You need to spend some points to give the battle leader some equipment to get some oomph out of him I find, plus he lacks in psychic defense, and can't do things like shoot d6 str7 shots with unlimited range.

Not putting down the ol' Brattle leader, he's got his place for sure. But for the drop pod, i prefer the rune priest.

Jihallah wrote:

oh ho I see what you done thar my bad lol. Interesting. Is it worth 100p though?

Absolutely not.

There is only 1 situation where you want to move 6" to fire a MM +2 krak missiles, and that is against an AV12 or Less vehicle(against any higher AV and you want to make sure you are in melta range more-so than firing 2 extra S8 shots); and even that it is more preferable if said AV12 or less vehicle is also open Topped.

There is Never a situation where you would want to fire 2 Frag missiles and 1 MM shot rather than the 3 HB and 2 Frags.

In this game if a unit's options are cheaper and more effective in a given role; than you want to take it in that Role. The dual-role MM/HF speeder is so effective because it is also dirt Cheap. Ever notice how you rarely see any MM/MM Tornadoes, nor HF/HF ones?they have some difficulty getting into a position to fire both their weapons; at least the HB/AC has some range(and are effective at the 24" max range of the ACs on all targets), points cost just kill them as a field-able unit.

ishanmaster
Now with GH and their wargear, it lists bolter, bolt pistol, and close combat weapon. Does that mean during my shooting phase I can use the bolter and in my assault phase use BP/CC?

Yes and No. The GH is perhaps the most versatile troop choice in the game, and having these three weapons is one reason why. Now, if you know that you have no chance of getting close enough to assault, then use the bolter till your hearts content. However.....If you think you have a chance of launching an assault, it is best not to use the bolter. GH are not relentless, so they cannot shoot the rapid fire bolter and then assault. So, if an assault is eminent, shoot at your target with bolt pistols, which will in turn allow the assault. Get the +1 attack for initiating the assault, and the +1 attack for two CC weapons. Got to love it!

ishanmaster
Instead of having a rune priest attached to my drop pod GH squad, should I instead take a battle leader wolf guard?

To me taking a wolf guard battle leader is not points effective. A wolf guard battle leader is 70 points base, and a wold guard pack leader is 18 points base. See what I mean. Those HQ slots would be better served with more ruin priest, or the often over looked wolf priest. Also nothing says you cannot but a WG pack leader and a RP in the same unit of GH. Food for thought.

Right I get that you can't assault after you rapid fire, I guess what I was trying to say is that if I rapid fire with bolters during my shooting phase and then I get assaulted next turn can I have my GH use the BP/CC to get the extra +1 to attack or not since I use bolters last during my turn?

For my land speeders I'm just going to go with the multi-melta & heavy flamer combo as its much cheap plus they will be my main units to destory those land raiders that everyone has at my LGS.

I see what you mean about the wolf guard battle leader compared to the normal wolf guards.

How are wolf priests as they kinda seem like they are overlooked by the rune priests?

Also I really want to know are how are the special characters? Grimnar looks like a beast, Ragnar looks meh, Bjorn looks meh, not sure about Urik, Lukas looks like a bad joke, and the wolf guard champion looks like he's way over-priced?

ishanmaster wrote:Right I get that you can't assault after you rapid fire, I guess what I was trying to say is that if I rapid fire with bolters during my shooting phase and then I get assaulted next turn can I have my GH use the BP/CC to get the extra +1 to attack or not since I use bolters last during my turn?

Absolutely, also do not forget that they have Counter attack, so you may still be getting the bonus for Charging as well as the 2 CCW bonus. Also fight the temptation to give any Grey Hunters a power fist, you completely lose one of your attacks and the Wolf guard gets one fairly cheap and has an extra base attack

ishanmaster wrote:For my land speeders I'm just going to go with the multi-melta & heavy flamer combo as its much cheap plus they will be my main units to destory those land raiders that everyone has at my LGS.

That should serve you fairly well.

ishanmaster wrote:I see what you mean about the wolf guard battle leader compared to the normal wolf guards.

That is somewhat misleading; I still mostly agree with merlin about the Wolfguard pack leading vs a WGBL, but not if you only plan to take 1 Pack leader(or only need 1). Wolf Guard come in min units of 3, that means for 1 pack leader you are paying a minimum of 54 points, also you now need to outfit all 3 of those WG with equipment(This is fine if you are adding several leaders to several squads) WGBL are also +1 WS, BS, and I.

ishanmaster wrote:How are wolf priests as they kinda seem like they are overlooked by the rune priests?

Basically they are just SW Chaplains; depending on your opponent Oath of war can be better than Liturgies of battle, other than that they are exactly alike.

ishanmaster wrote:Also I really want to know are how are the special characters? Grimnar looks like a beast, Ragnar looks meh, Bjorn looks meh, not sure about Urik, Lukas looks like a bad joke, and the wolf guard champion looks like he's way over-priced?

Lukas is just a bad joke, Pelt of the Doppelganger only works if he is the last surviving member of the unit; and rebellious is the most garbage rule ever. Also due to the Assault movement and Pile in rules it will be rare that you do not have any friendly models in Base contact with him when he gets killed(therefore there is a 50% chance that killing lukas may lose you the combat as his 1-2 wounds will suddenly turn in to 2-4)

Bjorn is actually a monster, BS6 when you upgrade him to the free Plasma cannon means you are basically only rolling 1d6 for scatter and 74.999% of the time you will be hitting exactly what you shoot at(1/3 hits on Scatter + 41.666666% chance to score a 6 or lower on 2d6) Add to that 4 Base attacks in CC, and a 13 FAV and you have a ridiculous beastie.

For ulrik; the change in Oath is the only real weakness from him; that and his cost. Re-rollable morale for unit that can draw LOS to him is nice, as is his personally trained champion... but 50 points for those 2 small benefits is a bit much.

Ragnar Is another beastie; he has between 6 and 8 S6 power weapon attacks at I6 any time he charges, and with his WTN he always hits on a 3+... thats generally between 4 and 5 Dead marines from Ragnar alone.

Canis is also pretty much garbage; he must have 7 or more models in base contact with him in order for him to make use of Wrath of the Savage(max attacks are 12, 10 models + paired LCs + Charging). Most of the rest of his special rules also do not even work(or are debateable).

Logan and Njal are both just awesome.

Arjac is debateable; he is cool as can be, but he is waaay too darn expensive.