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Hey guys so i've just got a box of these bad boys, im building my army to the 1500 pt mark and wanted to know the best way to build them, to shoot or to hit things in the face?

Im going to be running 4 of them to accompany my wolf lord (hence why there is only 4).

I only play for fun, so im not looking for the best optimised, but i want to know if the squad just wont work.

Here are my ideas, and im not worrying about points as im writing this at work and dont have the codex to hand, and this is just about weapons, so dont worry if i dont list sagas and stuff.

OPTION A:

Wolf Lord in terminator armour, Wolf claws x2
Wolf guard in terminator armour, storm shield, thunder hammer
Wolf guard in terminator armour, storm shield, frost weapon
Wolf guard in terminator armour, power first, storm bolter (swap fist with wolf claw maybe)
Wolf guard in terminator armour, chain fist, storm bolter (swap fist with wolf claw maybe)

OPTION B:

Wolf Lord in terminator armour, thunder hammer, stormshield
x3 Wolf guard in terminator armour, power fist, combi-melta
x1Wolf guard in terminator armour, assault cannon, powerfist

As you can tell Option A is more assault and B is more shooting, any improvements let me know,

I tend to think WG (like Wolves in general) are better for shooting and playing counter-attack than just trying to ram them down your opponent's throat. That said, option B is waaaay too expensive for what it does. I'd suggest 3 dudes with WC/SB, one with combi-melta/chainfist and the last with a CML. That unit is pretty hard to shift when it's in cover and it can still advance to be a threat to non-CC units.

Replace all storm bolters with combi melta or combi plasma, unless its for a guy w a missile launcher. For 5 points its always worth it. At 30 points apiece the heavy weapons usually aren't worth it. The heavy flamer is too hard to get into range so even at 5 points you're better off with a combi weapon.

Dont run thunder hammer storm shield terminators. The storm shield is worth it but it doesnt make sense to spend an extra 15 points on a guy who is already 48 points and whose whole job is to take hits for the squad. Keep that guy cheap so you dont lose as many points when he dies. Which he will.

Try to make every guy in the squad unique to take advantage of the wound allocation rules. But dont go crazy with the wargear. Even though you're wearing terminator armor, the army is actually somewhat fragile, because you have so few wounds. Try to work around that by spending points on more terminators instead of unnecessary wargear. Every 2 chainfists is almost another terminator, for instance. Other than that, happy hunting. Slay them all.

For Wolf Guard, load up on shooting. WG kitted out as assault terminators are heinously overpriced for what they do. Instead, bulk them out for shooting and keep one guy in the squad in power armor so that the squad still has access to assault grenades.

WG terms kitted out for pure assault tend to be pricey, with TH/SS coming out at 63ppm vs vanilla marines 40. I've gotten my best use of WGT as "tactical" terminators. It's similar to CSM- You pay less points for a base terminator, but you don't have a fist. You can choose to kit out a squad with fists for the same/comparable price (CSM/SW). So for 300p I can get 5 CSM terms with combibolters and power weapons, for 400 they can have 4 fists and one power weapon can be upgraded to a champion, an traitor version of a Tactical Terminator squad - 4 fists and a power weapon (of course you have no option of assault cannon or Cyclone ML and your stormbolters are combibolters- but thats a different point about CSM codex sucking). The point is you don't have to kit them out the same.

I kit WG squads out like:
Combimelta/Claw
Combimelta/Claw
(Cyclone/AC)/PW
SB/C.fist
SB/C.fist
245

So instead of kitting out the first terms with the "tac" loadout of SB/fist, I've given the first two combimeltas to deal with close range armor threats (less chance of a DCCW swinging the better) or open transports to assault the contents. You can't get an extra attack from 2 CCW's unless your going twin LC, so the wolf claws help out the squads CC ability, they are cheap and flexible rerolling hits or wounds. The obligatory HW is there, I prefer Cyclones and AC's over heavy flamers because they mesh better with the bolters, and the cyclone can reach out and touch faraway armor if there are no good targets around. He has a PW just to save points on extras. The last two guard are for walker insurance, CCing vehicles and generally fisting infantry/multiple wound models.

This isn't a well thought out squad, but its just to get the idea across. You don't need to tool everyone up with fancy toys. One of the downsides of tac terms in CC is that everyone swings last except sarge. Do you need lots of fists/TH etc? Everyones already packing weapons ignoring armor in CC. You could go full combi weapons, but you lose on your 12+" bolter fire. How many combi weapons do you really need? Frost blades give you +1 to your strength for 10 points since your ignoring armor anyway, but a single claw gives you reroll hits or wounds for 5. You aren't going to get an extra attack in CC from 2 weapons, so not having twin claws isn't such a problem for 5p. Even on the above squad I could downgrade a chainfist or two into just powerfists to save some points, if you think your local meta is light on assault walkers. Like greatgunz said, making every squad member unique for wound allocation is a good idea, but don't go crazy on the wargear. A plain terminator with a powerweapon and storm bolter still helps the squad by adding more shots vs inf, more armor ignoring swings in CC, and has a 2+ 5++ pair of boots to add to your army.

The other thing you might want to look up is Stelek's blog. He had a nifty little idea of using Saga of the hunter on a WGBL in a squad of terms to give them +1 to their cover save and make it a shooty orientated squad. To save points he had power armor WG with stormbolters adding to the fire, and he had fenrisian wolves on the WGBL for wound allocation (as well as decking the squad out fairly uniquely), a nice mix of CC weaps. It sits in the bushes shooting lots of rounds at you with a (mostly) 2+ 3++ cover save, and if you charged it would counter attack with a bunch of wolf claw and PW attacks plus the PA guys and the fenrisian wolves. Quite a fun little trick to use from time to time, if you could be bothered looking it up

DaddyWarcrimes wrote:For Wolf Guard, load up on shooting. WG kitted out as assault terminators are heinously overpriced for what they do. Instead, bulk them out for shooting and keep one guy in the squad in power armor so that the squad still has access to assault grenades.

Is that RAW?

Jihallah wrote:

DaddyWarcrimes wrote:For Wolf Guard, load up on shooting. WG kitted out as assault terminators are heinously overpriced for what they do. Instead, bulk them out for shooting and keep one guy in the squad in power armor so that the squad still has access to assault grenades.

Is that RAW?

I thought that only the model with grenades benefited from them?

i.e only the one guy in power armour would get the grenades?

Iranna.

Only he has them, but grenades have unit wide effects.

rigeld2 wrote:Only he has them, but grenades have unit wide effects.

Are we 100% sure about that? If so, that's a deplorable, unsporting move & I can't wait to try it.

rigeld2 wrote:Only he has them, but grenades have unit wide effects.

This is only partially correct. Defensive grenades have unit wide effects. Assault grenades (frag grenades) don't have unit wide effects.

GK special grenades, like psychotrope, rad and psyk-out do have unit wide effects though, but we're talking about WG here.

BRB, pg 36
Models equipped with assault grenades don't suffer the penalty to their Initiative for assaulting enemies through cover, but fight as normal.

Right, sorry. I mis-remembered.

I built this unit with an all-comers attitude in mind.

WG#1
-TDA, CF, combi-melta
WG#2
-TDA, Combi-melta, power sword, MB
WG#3
-TDA, Combi-plas, WC
WG#4
-TDA, combi-plas, power sword
WG#5
-TDA, HF, power sword

Total: 215pts

I add a drop pod and drop them turn one with a GH pack that has a WG in PA with PF and combi-melta in there with them. It's a spearhead type of list, but I found that the rest of my army can move up ignored for a turn or two.

It can deal with any other unit in the game, and every upgrade except the CF is only 5 pts.

drop the heavy flamer for a third combi-melta. It's too hard to get close enough to use it, and your armor will be proof against most of the horde style units that heavy flamers are good at killing. They'll end up taking so many no retreat wounds that the squad will basically bounce off the terminators. The other thing you can do vs. hordes is buy a deathwind missile launcher for your drop pod. On the other hand, 2 melta shots will not reliably kill an armored target. You need 3 to be reasonably certain of that. You should also have atleast one storm shield in there for when you get hit with plasmaguns and such, which you will.

MayorDaley wrote:I built this unit with an all-comers attitude in mind.

WG#1
-TDA, CF, combi-melta
WG#2
-TDA, Combi-melta, power sword, MB
WG#3
-TDA, Combi-plas, WC
WG#4
-TDA, combi-plas, power sword
WG#5
-TDA, HF, power sword

Total: 215pts

This is the idea I was trying to get across. Your Vanilla terms have 4 fists 1 pw 1 stormbolter for 200p. These WG have C.fist, 2 power weapons, a wolf claw and a meltabomb, and for shooting they have 2 combimeltas 2 combiplasmas and a HF, and for only 15p more. The downside of the vanilla terms is everyone swings last, with WG you only have to pay for fists that you feel you need. The idea of buying this squad a pod is also a great idea for WGT. Think outside the Codex marine box

Hey guys thanks for the suggestions, i've gone with this in the end, not sure if its the best, but hey they look awesome!

WG 1:
TDA, Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw

WG 2:
TDA, Combi-Melta, Chainfist

WG 3:
TDA, Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw

WG 4:
TDA, Assault Cannon, power fist

WG 5:
Power armour, bolt pistol, wolf claw (will break off and lead my blood claws)

Then my wolf lord will accompany the wolf guard with:

TDA, Storm bolter, wolf claw

If you haven't put them together yet-

I'd put the a combimelta on the wolf lord, and the storm bolter on a wolf guard. The lord is BS5 so more reliable hits, and is probably going to last the longest in the squad so is more likely to be around.

Otherwise, she be lookin' good the only other suggestion/question I have is if you've thought about going double LC's on the PA wolf guard? I've found bloodclaws flurry of attacks good but the flurry looses some of its oomph vs MEQ's and moreso vs TEQ's, so armor ignoring weapons on the WG/character leader helps greatly.

Jihallah wrote:If you haven't put them together yet-

I'd put the a combimelta on the wolf lord, and the storm bolter on a wolf guard. The lord is BS5 so more reliable hits, and is probably going to last the longest in the squad so is more likely to be around.

Otherwise, she be lookin' good the only other suggestion/question I have is if you've thought about going double LC's on the PA wolf guard? I've found bloodclaws flurry of attacks good but the flurry looses some of its oomph vs MEQ's and moreso vs TEQ's, so armor ignoring weapons on the WG/character leader helps greatly.

I haven't stuck any together but the style my wolf lords storm bolter is in will make it hard to adapt it into a combi-melta (pic below)



Also my wolf guard has double claws, and i was going to convert him to give him a bolt pistol, make it a bit cheaper, but i'll probably leave him with dual claws now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a powerfist? With a stormbolter attached?

Jihallah wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that a powerfist? With a stormbolter attached?

No your correct, i just wanted something different for my wolf lord. Obs im going to run it as a storm bolter, not a storm bolter and powerfist.