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Well starting Space Wolves and thinking about what elites to take. HQ of a rune priest with living lightning + jaws with a chooser of the slain, troops grey hunters in rhinos/razors and heavies long fangs in razors is pretty much set but elite selection has a lot of choices to offer.

Wolf Guard - these seem like an auto include to take one pack for sarges with combi melta and power fist for your grey hunters + scouts if you run scouts. Combi meltas since you can't just take meltas to have more melta in your troops in a mech enviroment and a powerfist for if you get in close combat you can bang on rear armor or it gets you a kill or 2 vs infantry.

Wolf Scouts - Avariel really likes these running 2 squads. 5 scouts w melta with wolfguard with combi melta and power fist coming on your back edge really have given my manticores, hydras and vets camping my objectives a hard time. If you roll well they can be really nasty but sometimes they come on the totally wrong table edge or really late and cost a decent amount so dunno if I want two of them but two might be better for law of averages it is a nice chunk in reserves. Its like with my guard and alrahem thats a big chunk in reserves and Wolves don't get any reserve bonuses or reroll to where you come on.

Dreadnoughts - Reecius runs tl las cannon dread along with Bjorn which has merit with the grey knight fortitude higher strength more likely to get a penetrating hit but worse if they have cover because only one shot. This dread also keeps its cc weapon for strength 10 power weapon goodness. This seems to be a different list with Bjorn + 2 tl las cannon dreads as shooters/counter assault. Brookie runs riflemen with twin linked auto cannons which seem like a solid choice for anti transport firepower but these dreads are poor in assault.

Lone wolves - Saw a list at a local RTT that ran a couple of these in terminator armor with cyclone missle and stormshield. This provides high strength ranged shots while being decent in combat they just might not last very long if targeted.

I'm thinking wolfguard for sarges, one unit of scouts and a maybe a dread of some sort or lone wolf with cyclone for some more ranged firepower.

What are your choices for Space Wolf Elites and how good are they?

I like Wolf Scouts...
Take them cheap and use them as opportunistic harassment and they will shine brightly...
Wolf Guard Pack Leaders are a great choice.
Lone Wolves are usually pretty good.

I've been running two dreads with twin linked lascannons and heavy flamers along with a wolf guard squad to buff up my grey hunters.

The dreads provide more target saturation in a mech army and I really like the reliability that the twin linked lascannons give you. If you are running las/plas razorbacks then the twin las is a nice insurance. Str 10 counter charge is nice as well. I haven't played too many games with my wolves yet, but there have already been several occasions where locking a unit that lacks a powerfist/melta bombs has been a game changer. Nothing beats taking a 5 man unit of GK terminators out of the game (I had JOTWW'd his Daemonhammer).

The Wolf Guard are essential unless you are spamming 5 man grey hunter squads. They provide so much to a Grey Hunter unit. The already mentioned combi + powerfist is nice, but I really like the LD boost as well. LD 8 is very vulnerable to breaking at inopportune moments.

I usually run my pack leaders with powerfist/combi-melta if I'm running a large squad of Grey Hunters. My Razorback squads of Grey Hunters get a wolf guard with combi-flamer and power sword to compliment their flamer + mark of the wulfen loadout. Sprinkle in melta bombs to taste.

An interesting thought is that you can take a razorback for just 3 wolf guard - even if you plan on splitting them up. If you were going for over-the-top razor spam that could be a good way to get more hulls on the table.

Kirika wrote:Dreadnoughts - Reecius runs tl las cannon dread along with Bjorn which has merit with the grey knight fortitude higher strength more likely to get a penetrating hit but worse if they have cover because only one shot. This dread also keeps its cc weapon for strength 10 power weapon goodness. This seems to be a different list with Bjorn + 2 tl las cannon dreads as shooters/counter assault. Brookie runs riflemen with twin linked auto cannons which seem like a solid choice for anti transport firepower but these dreads are poor in assault.

Actually, the way to counter Fortitude is with AP 1. A Lascannon that penetrates still has a 1/3 chance of causing damage that can be ignored by Fortitude.

Kirika wrote:Lone wolves - Saw a list at a local RTT that ran a couple of these in terminator armor with cyclone missle and stormshield. This provides high strength ranged shots while being decent in combat they just might not last very long if targeted.

This is impossible. Lone Wolves do not have the ability to take a Cyclone Missile Launcher. Either:

A) The list was illegal.
B) They were actually running squads of Wolf Guard, and every model except the CML was leading a squad, making the CML run alone.

somerandomdude wrote:

Kirika wrote:Dreadnoughts - Reecius runs tl las cannon dread along with Bjorn which has merit with the grey knight fortitude higher strength more likely to get a penetrating hit but worse if they have cover because only one shot. This dread also keeps its cc weapon for strength 10 power weapon goodness. This seems to be a different list with Bjorn + 2 tl las cannon dreads as shooters/counter assault. Brookie runs riflemen with twin linked auto cannons which seem like a solid choice for anti transport firepower but these dreads are poor in assault.

Actually, the way to counter Fortitude is with AP 1. A Lascannon that penetrates still has a 1/3 chance of causing damage that can be ignored by Fortitude.

Kirika wrote:Lone wolves - Saw a list at a local RTT that ran a couple of these in terminator armor with cyclone missle and stormshield. This provides high strength ranged shots while being decent in combat they just might not last very long if targeted.

This is impossible. Lone Wolves do not have the ability to take a Cyclone Missile Launcher. Either:

A) The list was illegal.
B) They were actually running squads of Wolf Guard, and every model except the CML was leading a squad, making the CML run alone.

Yeah, Somerandomdude speaks truth. Lone Wolves can't take CMLs. Wolf Guard CAN take CMLs and work well in Long Fang squads (unless you are running a Loganwing army where they are good as well). I had a long fang loadout that had 4 heavy bolters and a missile launcher dude led by a Wolf Guard with CML. The split fire ability allowed me to target three missiles at tanks while still pouring out 12 heavy bolter shots at infantry. Good times.

Lone Wolves are deffinately a strong choice, so annoying.

The only SW elites that have really affected games I've played in have been Lonewolves or Wolf Scouts. I guess Wolf Guard do too, but I usually don't notice them because they're all spread out.

In my experience, against me, Wolf Scouts have been hit or miss. Sometimes they just come in and die, other times they cause some grief.

I hate Lonewolves though. They're basically mini Dreadnaughts. Termie armor, Chainfist, Storm Shield. Against me, they've been even harder to take down than Dreads, they have better saves, and always require more than one shot to take out (6-12 wounds depending on weapon AP). You can cripple/wreck a dread with one melta/rail... no such luck against a Lonewolf.

I will throw in with Wolf Guard for (PF/CombiM) in squads. The LD bump is nice too.

Wolf Scouts are great as well. Especially when you throw a Wolf Guard in with them.

Lone Wolves can be really effective, especially with a couple of doggies for ablative wounds. They get really annoying in KP missions.

Thanks for the replies.

Somerandomdude
I didn't actually see the guys list I just saw the guy with the stormshield and cyclone on the table by himself and assumed it was a lonewolf.

Can you run a single wolfguard by himself like that? Have to check the codex.

Sgt_Scuffy
I'll have to try out the tl las dread. I was thinking a riflemen would be cheaper but the tl las/cc weapon dread sounds good as well.

Dunno about running wolfguard termies with cyclone with long fangs. It is a bit pricey and then you can't load the long fangs into a las/plas razor for dow.

Kirika wrote:Thanks for the replies.

Somerandomdude
I didn't actually see the guys list I just saw the guy with the stormshield and cyclone on the table by himself and assumed it was a lonewolf.

Can you run a single wolfguard by himself like that? Have to check the codex.

Sgt_Scuffy
I'll have to try out the tl las dread. I was thinking a riflemen would be cheaper but the tl las/cc weapon dread sounds good as well.

Dunno about running wolfguard termies with cyclone with long fangs. It is a bit pricey and then you can't load the long fangs into a las/plas razor for dow.

You can run a single wolf guard on the table. The only time that running a WG Termie by himself would be a liability is in DoW Annihilation missions.

Dreads with CCW and twin las are good. It's a toss up really between that and riflemen, but I find that my light-mech is pretty well taken care of between land speeder, long fangs, razors, living lightning etc. No one rates lascannons and Str. 10 CCWs until they run up against Monoliths. Also, the sheer joy of sniping a PK Nob out of an Ork mob and charging it with a dread cannot be underestimated. You can safely tie up 20-29 orks for as long as you want until you get around to charging them with multiple squads.

I been running wolfguard and 2 units of wolf scouts in wolves for quite some time.

Wolf scouts are invaluable because they give you an element of surprise and ability to get at your enemy's back field which no other unit grants you. 2 units is good because it evens out the randomness of not arriving soon enough or arriving in the wrong place.

Wolf scouts give you an answer to that Manticore thats hiding behind a building, that godhammer land raider sitting on the backfield objective, combat squaded tacticals with las cannons or small units of lootas or long fangs sitting in the back firing away. Wolf scouts play well to objective missions as well being able to get at your opponents scoring units.

I been considering running a dreadnought with Grey Knights fortitude requiring intensifying firepower but wolf scouts answer grey knights fairly well by firing meltas into their dreadnoughts rear armor.

I don't know if you have been to this blog, but it is a must for any Son of Russ. http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.com

Here you will find detailed brake downs of each unit choice, weapons cost and what the blog contributors have found to work the best. There is a wealth of Wolf knowledge and battle reports to see what may work for you.

I am still trying to find what works for me so I do not have a go to list yet. If you can spare the points (1500 and over game) try and play test Arjac. He is a MC, IC and vehicle killer. If you decide to take WG in terminator armour, mix the gear up, this maximized wound allocation. Also think about taking the CML or assault cannon along with the GH as the pack leader. Like I said, my army is still doing battle drills and learning. Still need to try the Lone Wolf, sounds like a win win.

But you MUST go to that blog!!!

Space wolves have lots of good elite choices, you really cant go wrong with any of the above mentioned.

Having said that, I personally love Lone Wolfs,

Lone Wolf in Power Armor with Thunderhammer, Storm Shield, and 2 wolf pets has been the best for me, and here is why....

Wolf pets allow you to allocate wounds, if someone shoots you with a set of high AP shots, you can effectively ignore 2/3rds of them. If they shoot you with a massive volume of lower strength/ap shots then a single wolf can take a huge chunk of shots with them off the table.

Power Armor allows you to run down opponents in melee. I have regularly dropped 30 strong boyz mobs with powerklaw nobs with this ~100 point lone wolf setup just by winning combat by a few wounds each turn, eventually they break and you get to hack them all to bits with a single guy. run the math, the lone wolf has the advantage as long as he gets the charge. Its amazing to see the look on an ork players face with a single space wolf massacres a mob of 30.

The Thunderhammer makes him a viable MC hunter, drop their initiative to 1 and trade blows all day long. I can't count how many bloodthirsters I've killed with lone wolves in apocalypse.


when considering power armor vs terminator armor, you must think about the big trade off of being able to run down your opponent. generally speaking a lone wolf will win most combats by 1, forcing leadership tests every turn. If you are in termy armor then when they fail your lone wolf will get annihilated in the following shooting phase and the opponent can just regroup. If you are in power armor you have a chance at taking out entire units and really spoiling your opponents plan.

Avariel
I will be running 1 unit of wolf scouts definitely dunno about the second exploring some options there.

merlin96
Thanks thats a nice blog but I noticed they haven't tested Arjac and some of the hq choices like Bjorn, Njal. Coming from playing mech msu IG, I dunno about expensive HQs.

Demogerg
What you use for the wolf pets? I considering getting the really huge bitspudlo wolves for thunderwolves and just using the smaller wolves I have now for the wolf pets.