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I have been, for a while, a hobbyist before a gamer. However, I have recently been spending more time on the gaming scene. Unfortunately, my Space Wolves army is somewhat lacking in rhinos and drop pods... I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas for running a space wolves army on foot that could be fairly competitive? I have tried using a Logan Grimnar WolfGuard army, but I can't get it to work at common points games such as 1500 points, it is just too few models. Any suggestions fellow gamers?
P.S. I hope this is in the right forum, if not, I apologize, I am quite new to DakkaDakka.

For Foot army I would suggest your HQ be a librarian. His powers are pretty far reaching.

Take a scout squad or two so they can penetrate the back of your opponent's deployment zone, you'll have some trouble getting across the board early on.

I would take at least two Long Fangs squads for the reach and and touch some bum effect.

Grey Hunters with plasma, again for their range. Melta is going to be out range for the first couple of turns.

Take one wolf guard to split up with your hunters, combi-weapons to match the Sp. weapons in the squad, and maybe a meltabomb to help counter walkers and tank shock.

When the re-released Space Wolves the White Dwarf had a battle report that was all foot so you can reference that, but they went up against deamons so they were foot as well...

Anyway, luck with it.

Bulk out on Grey Hunters, backed by the cliche 18 Long Fangs, and led by Wolf Guard terminators. A skirmish screen of Fenrisian wolves and thunderwolves serve as a solid vanguard to get into combat early and reduce the fire you take in your second turn as you close.

By the way, when you can't really outmaneuver your opponent, Blood Claws are worse than worthless.

Wouldn't the plasma be just as much range as the melta guns? If my squads are moving every turn to get to the midfield, that brings their rapid fire weapons down to a range of 12", so is it really that much of an advantage?

you're allowed to stand still once you get there

(''); stupid me.. haha good call Sir

Well I have some advice. I'd at least consider it since I've been playing nothing but Foot Wolves since the 5E Codex came out and against a wide variety of opponents.

First, you need Thunderwolf Cavalry. A single unit of 2-3 models with a WGBL or Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf is all you need.

Second, you need Long Fangs. 2-3 units. Depends on the points. At 1500 I wouldn't do more than 2 packs.

Third, you need a pack of Wolf Scouts. I wouldn't bother with more than one. You need some more forward projection.

Fourth, you need Grey Hunters. Lots of them. On foot you'd want as big of squads as you can take, though I've been having some good times with x5 8-man squads at 1750.

Thunderwolf Cavalry: The main reason you need this is that you need a Rapid Response Force. You need something that can react quickly to enemy movements. This may be to rush forward and pin something down in close combat, or it may be to keep back a bit and come at some threat to your Grey Hunters. Heck, often I find I end up reserving them since they have a 19-24" range when they hit the table. The unit does not have to be big and doesn't need a lot of points in it.

I normally take a WGBL on a Thunderwolf with Frost Weapon and Storm Shield and two Thunderwolf Cavalry models (one with Wolf Claw). A Wolf Claw on the WGBL probably would serve better, and a Wolf Lord may be better than a WGBL, but this is what I found I can get away with at 1850 and below. Fully decked out, my WGBL is 220 points and the Thunderwolf Cavalry is 120 points (so 340 points invested here).

Since I use them to support my Grey Hunters, they are generally screened by my Grey Hunters and get a 4+ cover save from enemy shooting. In close combat I'm careful not to throw them at enemies with a lot of Power Weapon attacks at high Initiative. Pretty much anything Imitative 5 I try to avoid unless they are S3 or less. This allows my WGBL to strike hard and lower the number of attacking models before they can strike, and with Saga of the Warrior Born he can end up getting a lot of attacks sometimes.

Of course sometimes I still have to charge something ugly (GK with Halberds comes to mind) but if you support them, or at least don't just blindly charge the first thing you see, you can get away without springing for Storm Shields on every model.

Long Fangs: You need Supressing Fire. This is your ranged anti-tank. Please note this does not mean they are there to blow up tanks, though that is nice. What they are here for is to make sure enemy tanks can't shoot. Secondarily, they are there to even the odds against enemy Infantry.

I generally run one pack with 3 Heavy Bolters and 2 Lascannons and a second pack with 4 Missile Launchers. As you probably already know, its popular (and cost effective point wise) to go all Missile Launchers. But aside from being expensive money wise I find it boring so decided not to. Make your own decision that you'll be happy with.

You need to fire at 3-4 vehicles a turn at range. The Long Fangs can handle that on their own.

Wolf Scouts: You need Force Projection. These guys are the kings of Force Projection. What is Force Projection? Simply being able to affect things from far away. Your Wolf Scouts can Infiltrate within 18" of the enemy (12" if you are lucky), Scout move another 6", then move 6" and charge 6" to get a Turn 1 charge. They can also Outflank and come up on the enemy board edge. Whatever you need, they can do. Since most of your army is stuck in your Deployment Zone and you don't have Transports, you need these capabilities.

5 with a Meltagun and Mark of the Wulfen comes in at 100 points. I give them 2 Power Weapons and 2 Sniper Rifles for 136 points total. All 5 have two Close Combat weapons still (thank you FAQ) so I don't lose any attacks in close combat. 2 are there for ablative wounds (I sometimes bump it to 166 and take 2 more). I also attach a Wolf Guard with Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw, and Meltabomb. They get 9 Power Weapon attacks (3 with re-rolls) and D6+2 Rending attacks when they hit close combat. They also have two Melta shots to pop even a Land Raider 97% of the time. The Sniper Rifles are there for fluff reasons, style reasons, and because its nice to be able to do something if they do come in on the wrong edge (1 in 6 chance).

The amount of havoc they can cause on the enemy back line cannot be understated. Take the 100 point squad minimum, they'll never disappoint.

Grey Hunters: Your work horse. You need them to win you games. Never take less than 8 unless you are in a vehicle. Do give them everything you can. Don't be stingy.

Typically I take 10 with double special gun, Mark of the Wulfen, Power Weapon, and Wolf Standard. For the gun I run 3 packs with Plasmagun and 2 with Meltagun.

A brief aside about Plasma Guns: They are awesome and only cry babies worry about the Get's Hot roll. You get an Armor Save and its a 1/6 chance per dice. Suck it up and live dangerously. Space Wolves love them in the fluff, and I love them in the game. AV11, AV12, sometimes AV13... They all fall to S7. Remember, you don't need your guns to destroy vehicles always. Normally you just need to shake them.


Other useful things:

Rune Priests: 115 points nets you an impressively cheap HQ that is incredibly annoying to the enemy. Keep him in the forefront and give him Living Lightning and Murderous Hurricane (or Storm Caller if you feel you need to bring your own cover). You get D6 S7 shots with unlimited range for more Fire Suppression. Murderous Hurricane gives you a healthy amount of dice to roll for wounds (3D6) and it slows down assault units (they treat all terrain as difficult and dangerous until your next turn).

Even better, 4+ chance to outright nullify any psychic powers the enemy uses. Annoys Eldar no end and can upset just about every other army as well. And there's no limit on the number of powers a turn you can nullify!

Chooser of the Slain makes you BS5 for those happy 2+ to hit with Living Lightning and denies a large area of the table to enemy Infiltrators. Honestly, just the one can outright shut out enemy Infiltrators from setting up on the table. Especially if you Infiltrate with your own Scouts.

And Meltabombs cause any Wolf Guard or HQ that does not have S6 or better should have Meltabombs.

Wolf Priests: 115 points gives you another impressively cheap HQ that is incredibly annoying to the enemy. Give him Saga of the Hunter and Meltabombs. You now have the perfect leader for the Vanguard. The squad he leads is Fearless, so they'll never fall back or get pinned by the enemy and slow down your advance. They have Stealth, for 4+ cover saves in the open when combined with Storm Caller. They have Preferred Enemy, which means more wounds which means more casualties for the enemy once you reach them (and regardless of what people say, you will reach the enemy by Turn 4. Usually Turn 2 or 3, even when on foot.)

Blood Claws: Yes they actually are useful. Take 15 of them. Give them no upgrades. 225 points nets you a screening unit that will hurt when it reaches the enemy. And it will, especially when led by the two above mentiond HQs. Cast Storm Caller at the start of your Turn every Turn and run up the board. 3 turns of concentrated shooting against 18 (cause you are still giving them a Wolf Guard Pack Leader right?) Power Armored bodies with a 4+ or better cover save will leave you with about 3-4 models usually. On the plus side, the rest of your army that was following on their heels is untouched...

Its a threat people just can't ignore. Psychologically or practically.

Wolf Guard: Take 5 no matter what. Give one of the TDA and an Assault Cannon. You have to be aggressive when you are on foot. 30" range (6" movement + 24" on the gun) is enough that you can threaten quite a lot of the board if you deploy centrally. Even better, it can hurt anything in the game.

I tried CML and I'm leaving them in the garbage from now on. 7 games I played, all past 5 turns. Every time they either missed or failed to Glance. The Assault Cannon not only looks great, but consistently is wrecking armor.


There are a lot of ways to play this Codex. This is the way I do. I play mainly against competitive BA and GK as well as a smattering of Eldar, CSM, Tau, IG, and other Space Wolves. Only a few games in against DE or Necrons. Lots of games against Nids but he stopped and started BA as well. Against two opponents I'm fairly even on my wins-loss (BA and CSM surprisingly), but against the rest... Well lets just say even with dice against me at times (8 out of 9 of the last games I've been Seized on!) I manage to win more than 2/3rds of the time.

Wow! That was fantastic you should write an article or something! I hope you don't mind if I shamelessly rip off most of that for my own army lists''); I'm going to Glen Burnie for the 25th this weekend and I'm definitely going to give it more than a few good run throughs. I really like how different this list is from all of the rhino/grey hunter spam lists out there. And I'm definitely in favor of blood claws and being reckless like the fluff says I should! Again, I really appreciate this, thanks!

Agreed! Cowmonaut, I'm going to also take some of this to heart. I've recently been dabbling in infantry lists (power blobs for IG and a foot sisters list) so I'm most definitely going to try it with my favorite army!

Foot Wolves have another advantage. Surprise.

There's a player in my local meta who always does surprising well at tournies simply because no one is expecting foot-slogging marines. It's just an odd thing in 5th that they underestimate how hard that many marines'll be to shift from objectives. Sure, it's a defensive list, but it's one with serious staying power.

Glad to hear my advice is useful to some! Most talk of Foot Wolves degrades into either "it sucks" arguments or arguments on if you have to do Logan's Heroes to do decent in it.

Reading what I said again I was probably a little too strict on saying you had to bring certain things. The "Other Things" section is actually meant to be optional choices and to just highlight some key uses of units. The stuff before that is the core of my foot lists. I tried many a game without Wolf Scouts or without Thunderwolves or without both and found that I just do better by including them.

Be sure to let me know how it works for you guys. If it works bad even!

To degrade this this thread then, footslogging wolves sucks. Just buy a modest number of rhinos.

Last time some playing wolves on foot they frog marched them around the board. yes, it was Hitler, I am not saying if you play them you are a Nazi, just merely the company you will be keeping.

Seriously though wolves are mostly a short ranged army. The enemy can back off to leave a shoot out between longfangs and an entire armies artillery. You shouldn't really win such a a match up.

Foot wolves work just fine, just play the mission and not the opponent and you will be able to do well against almost all enemies.

Grey hunters are great troops, and in units of 10 with a termie wolf guard, they are very resilient for not a lot of pts.

Long fangs are great fire support, and slot perfectly into a foot horde, adding both crippling long range firepower and more bodies. You need these guys. 18ish of them with missile launchers should make their way into pretty much every list you make. There are companies out there making missile launchers that fit power armoured bodies.

Wolf Scouts are great harrassment units, always outflank them. Cowmonaut is wrong about the first turn charge, it is not possible. They have to end their scout move outside 12'', meaning that they can never first turn charge. IMO, cowmonaut is giving them too much stuff. 1 meltagun + 1 combi-melta/powerfist wolf guard makes for an absolutely awesome unit that your opponent just can't ignore. Take one unit at less than 1750pts, two units at 1750+.

Thundercav is also needed as cowmonaut says. I really like my 125pts unit: 2 thundercav, 1 powerfist. Cheap, but still packs a punch. Add one unit as fast as possible, one more at 1750 and probably one more at 2000. Lords tend to get waaaay to expensive, and the battle leader is not any tougher than a normal cav, so just buy more normal cav instead.

Also do not agree on taking an assault cannon wolf guard. Cyclone allows you to reach out much longer and adds another missile threat. I slap the heavy weapon guy in a grey hunter squad, giving me a mobile missile launcher that can seek out side-armour shots etc.


Your biggest enemy are fast and resilient assault units. Assault termies in raiders, thundercav deathstars, dark eldar beasts are all units that will hurt and that will require intelligent play.

Some excellent points!

Illumini wrote:Foot wolves work just fine, just play the mission and not the opponent and you will be able to do well against almost all enemies.

This ^ Most players get too distracted with what the enemy is capable of instead of what the enemy is likely to actually do.

Illumini wrote:Cowmonaut is wrong about the first turn charge, it is not possible. They have to end their scout move outside 12'', meaning that they can never first turn charge. IMO

Hmm, may have to make a thread in YMDC, or search for one. I'm sure this has come up before. I thought the rule was you could not be within 12", so you could be exactly 12" away.

Illumini wrote:cowmonaut is giving them too much stuff. 1 meltagun + 1 combi-melta/powerfist wolf guard makes for an absolutely awesome unit that your opponent just can't ignore.

To each their own. I find sometimes I don't need them for anti-vehicle, I need them to take on some backline unit. Half the time the squad is outnumbered 2 to 1 and with a 4+ armor save they won't last long. So I made them as punchy as possible. You can take them for 85/100 points easy, but I'm more than happy with my 136 point squad. Being able to put out that many power weapon attacks has saved me in the past.

Sometimes the 6 points on the 2 Sniper Rifles is a "waste", but the alternative is a Wolf Tail talisman on my Rune Priest. Not that big of a sacrifice.

Illumini wrote:Thundercav is also needed as cowmonaut says. I really like my 125pts unit: 2 thundercav, 1 powerfist. Cheap, but still packs a punch. Add one unit as fast as possible, one more at 1750 and probably one more at 2000. Lords tend to get waaaay to expensive, and the battle leader is not any tougher than a normal cav, so just buy more normal cav instead.

Agreed on the Lord, but the reason I take a WGBL is for the Initiative 5. Thundercav are only Initiative 4. Striking at the same time as 11 Blood Angels (10 ASM and 1 Priest) doesn't work out too well for you I find. Being able to knock out 4-5 of them ahead of time makes the fight go much smoother. Plus I get a cool HQ so /shrug

Illumini wrote:Also do not agree on taking an assault cannon wolf guard. Cyclone allows you to reach out much longer and adds another missile threat. I slap the heavy weapon guy in a grey hunter squad, giving me a mobile missile launcher that can seek out side-armour shots etc.

This is all true. CML does all that. I just find their performance lackluster than an Assault Cannon. Plus the AC can penetrate Land Raiders, while the CML is only glancing them. Sometimes you need the Hail Mary so I'll keep going against the grain on this one! Plus 4 dice vs 2 dice... more chance to get lucky. Pure math may mean the CML is better but I don't think it'll be by a noticeable margin.

Illumini wrote:Your biggest enemy are fast and resilient assault units. Assault termies in raiders, thundercav deathstars, dark eldar beasts are all units that will hurt and that will require intelligent play.

Seconded on this. You really have to play a bit smarter. Moving incorrectly or getting in combat with the wrong thing can wreck you. The army isn't as forgiving as a mechanized or hybrid list would be.

cowmonaut wrote:Hmm, may have to make a thread in YMDC, or search for one. I'm sure this has come up before. I thought the rule was you could not be within 12", so you could be exactly 12" away.

Exactly. You can't be within 12", which means including exactly 12". I am 100% sure about this, but you are of course welcome to search YMDC, as you say, it is bound to have come up before.

cowmonaut wrote:To each their own. I find sometimes I don't need them for anti-vehicle, I need them to take on some backline unit. Half the time the squad is outnumbered 2 to 1 and with a 4+ armor save they won't last long. So I made them as punchy as possible. You can take them for 85/100 points easy, but I'm more than happy with my 136 point squad. Being able to put out that many power weapon attacks has saved me in the past.

Sometimes the 6 points on the 2 Sniper Rifles is a "waste", but the alternative is a Wolf Tail talisman on my Rune Priest. Not that big of a sacrifice.

The squad ends up at 174pts with the wolf guard compared to my 123pts squad. Power weapons and wulfen are ok buys, but I would wait with those buys until I'm sure I get what I need from the rest of my list.

cowmonaut wrote:Agreed on the Lord, but the reason I take a WGBL is for the Initiative 5. Thundercav are only Initiative 4. Striking at the same time as 11 Blood Angels (10 ASM and 1 Priest) doesn't work out too well for you I find. Being able to knock out 4-5 of them ahead of time makes the fight go much smoother. Plus I get a cool HQ so /shrug

What does he end up costing though? I5 is nice, but how many regular thunderwolf wounds/attacks could you get for the same price?

cowmonaut wrote:
This is all true. CML does all that. I just find their performance lackluster than an Assault Cannon. Plus the AC can penetrate Land Raiders, while the CML is only glancing them. Sometimes you need the Hail Mary so I'll keep going against the grain on this one! Plus 4 dice vs 2 dice... more chance to get lucky. Pure math may mean the CML is better but I don't think it'll be by a noticeable margin.

They have some strengths each, I would say that the cyclone is going to be better most of the time. The assault cannon looks awesome though

Illumini wrote:Exactly. You can't be within 12", which means including exactly 12". I am 100% sure about this, but you are of course welcome to search YMDC, as you say, it is bound to have come up before.

Yes you are correct here. You have to be 12.00..infinity..01" away from the enemy. So no first turn charge. As I usually Outflank them so they don't get shot to death, this is fine by me. My bad on that suggestion!

Illumini wrote:The squad ends up at 174pts with the wolf guard compared to my 123pts squad. Power weapons and wulfen are ok buys, but I would wait with those buys until I'm sure I get what I need from the rest of my list.

Where are you adding points from? The Wolf Scouts I suggested are 136. I don't count Wolf Guard when I'm factoring unit costs as I may end up splitting them up differently, or not at all.

My unit also does things differently than yours. I wouldn't say either one is "better". Don't know how it is in your area, but around here there tend to be a lot of infantry on the backline at times. Long Fangs, Devastators, and so on for the most part. Being able to hit them hard and fast is key. The last thing I want is some lucky dice seeing my scouts stuck in combat for too many turns. I need to be able to move on quickly, the 4+ save won't see a lot left alive and they only see 2-3 turns of play anyways.

/shrug As I said before, to each his own. 85, 100, 130 points... I'd take one of those combinations of wargear.

Illumini wrote:What does he end up costing though? I5 is nice, but how many regular thunderwolf wounds/attacks could you get for the same price?

He's 220 points. 175 when I drop the Saga (which is more of then not lately). With more TWC comes more Wound Allocation you have to deal with. With the TWC unit I take (2 models, 1 with Wolf Claw) you could bump them up to 4, with 1 Storm Shield and 1 Meltabomb. 5 if you take the points from the Saga into account and give one a Boltgun.

The problems? Bigger unit so its harder to hide behind things or get in cover. No Leadership 9+, stuck at Leadership 8. That's bad enough for Grey Hunters, its terrible for TWC. Only one unit in the assault phase instead of two, meaning more attacks are being focused (Hint: this is one reason why Combat Squads are so poweful for GK and BA). Less Power Weapon type attacks. Even worse, no Init 5.

Init 5 is more than "nice". Reasons why its useful:
1) Dealing with Sweeping Advance, either for escape or to chase down.
2) Culling Initiative 4 attacks before they strike. The less Space Marines swinging at your TWC the more likely they are to actually walk away.
3) Wound Allocation isn't as big a factor for your Power Weapons. Your 5 from the WGBL come out first, then you have 5 from the TWC and the Rending TWC attacks.

If you free up 10 points you could replace the WGBL with a 3rd squad of TWC and add a guy with a Meltabomb to the existing one I listed. That may be worth while, though it does mean you need more models. At the same time, there are somethings you just can't deal with in close combat on their own now. If not, you only gain 2-4 wounds, depending on if you are replacing the 175 point or the 220 point WGBL.

Do you run TWC a lot? Some of what you are saying seems weird to me. I could see having just a unit of TWC, but they'd just not be able to deal with as wide a variety as targets as one lead by a WGBL or Wolf Lord.

Illumini wrote:They have some strengths each, I would say that the cyclone is going to be better most of the time. The assault cannon looks awesome though

AV 13 and AV 14 I'd rather have the Assault Cannon. I figure the Long Fangs are bringing enough Missiles for AV12 and less, not to mention any Meltaguns or Plasma Guns. The range is nice I'll grant, but my forward GH squad generally has ample targets for the Assault Cannon available. Same point cost though so I'd say to try them out and see which works better for you.