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Hello,

I have the Space Wolves codex and have been reading the history/fluff and come to realise that they are pretty damn cool!

I am going to start collecting them and do want to 'collect' them (i will buy most units if nothing else to paint) but i dont have the greatest amount of money at the moment and want to start playing asap.

In regards to playstyle, i want it to be assault themed (I have a necron army for shooting) but was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a 600 point list and what to get first.

Thanks in advance!

You should buy
1x wolf lord
2x grey hunter packs
2x rhinos
1x wolf gaurd
that should be about 600 maybe a bit more

Rhinos not worth it, runepriest is better. Termies are okay
Put them im droppod

yep Dpods instead of rhinos

Agreed. 1 dev squad, 2 GH squads, pods, Rune Priest, maybe WG for a termi lonewolf, that can tear stuff apart low point games

You should buy a battleforce. For about $100 you get 20 space wolves a drop pod and 5 scouts. You can sell the scout sprues on ebay (you won't need them probably) and make a few bucks back.

Then to expand your force, you want to buy either another box of space wolves or a box of tactical marines.

You do NOT need to buy rune priests or wolf lords separately unless you want them in Terminator armor or on a thunderwolf. You can very easily convert rune priests, wolf priests and wolf lords from the standard space wolf box. Seriously - don't waste your money on buying a fine-cast runepriest unless you really like the sculpt.

Obviously, conversions can be very simple or very complex depending on your skill level and what you want to achieve. But trust me when I say that making a rune priest is as simple as cutting the head off of a thunder hammer and replacing it with the blade of the rune sword. Voila, runic weapon + Librarian staff in one. If you have the talent, you can do other stuff too. For example, the guy who made these

http://sigur.tabletopgeeks.com/space-marines/?nggpage=4&pid=239

is obviously talented, but except for the chooser of the slain and some greenstuff he didn't need anything that didn't come from the standard Space Wolves box.

thanks for all the replies people.

i think the battleforce would be a pretty good place to start, i want to put a lot of time into painting and modelling so creating my own HQ's should get pretty good fun!

i havent played any games with wolves but i thought that people may have suggested blood claws instead of grey hunters for the extra attack. I know they are WS 3 but thats not going to impact on much other than enemy characters or MC's. Are grey hunters just as good in combat?

Cheers

IMHO, Grey Hunters are the best troop choice in the game. They come stock with a bolter, a bolt pistol AND a CCW. So that means they have a bolter for shooting of course, but they still get 2 attacks in close combat (1 base + 1 for BP&CCW). They also have the Counterattack special rule, so they happen to be really good at letting the enemy come to them in close combat. They have access to Melta weaponry, Plasma weaponry AND power weaponry and of course they know no fear.

But all of that is true for both BC's and GH's. What makes GH's better than blood claws is that the grey hunters have better weapon skill, better ballistic skiil and access to the Wolf Standard and the Mark of the Wulfen. Just having the better ballistic skill combined with the bolters is enough to decide the issue for me. Hitting on 3+ instead of 4+ is a 16% increase in your odds! But the two wargear items greatly magnify the close combat ability of the unit and the Blood Claws can't have them.

So to answer your question, Grey hunters are BETTER than blood claws in combat and they are far superior as shooters. The only reason to take blood claws at all is if you're going to take 15 of them lead by a character and transported in a land raider crusader.

Fair enough, that has pretty much spelled it out to me, Grey Hunters it is!

Had a first attempt at writing a list at 600 points; im at work at the moment so may not be completely accurate but here it goes

HQ - Rune Priest

Elite - Lone Wolf in Terminator armour with combi-melta and frost axe

Troops - 2 x 10 Grey Hunters with mark of wulfen (1 with 2 plasma, 1 with 2 melta)
Squad with 2 melta are in a drop pod

Fast Attack - land speeder with 2 x heavy bolter

Vague idea is that the Grey hunters with melta are anti-tank, the rest is anti infantry.

cheers!

Don't forget how boss it is getting the 2nd special weapon free on the Grey Hunters!

I'd actually lose the land speeder.

Put both your hunter squads in pods, dip whichever squad you're putting your RP in to 9 man (it unfortunately loses the free special weapon) and give your Lone Wolf two fenrisian wolfs to help him soak up wounds as you go across the board.

At 600 points you really shouldn't be looking at a TON of armor that you can't crack with those plasma or even the frost axe.

I'd like the idea of putting a Long Fangs pack in there because at 600 you'll still run up against Necron transports with that living metal rule that gives them AV 13 until you hit them because then you can have something to dedicate fire against it.

But overall, fun list! Welcome to the Rout!

600 points? Why not go ahead and plan no 1000?

HQ
Rune Priest (100)

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Melta-Gun x2 (5) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)

That's pretty much my standard 1000 point list...

For 600 points I'd try

HQ
Rune Priest

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missila Launcher x5 (50)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
That's about all you can pull off at that point level. remember that the average game size is increasing and the point cost of models has been decreasing. Years ago, the average game was 1500 points. Now, I'd say that 1750 to 2000 points is average (in tournament & league play anyways). I'd go ahead and plan on making at LEAST a 1500 point force.

The box set is nice, but not the greatest. Pretty much, you get the Wolf Scouts free, but tehre is no real reason to run Wolf Scouts right now. I'd say it's ebtter to start off with an Ebay army, or buy locally to support your local FLGS.

The only reason I was planning on a 00 point army is that a friend of mine will probably have 600 points of grey knights ready about the same time that I have 600 ready and our FLGS runs games at 600, 1200 and 1850.

I like the look of the 100 points below, what would you add to boost it up to 1200? I like the look of the Wolf Guard in terminator armour but I also want some thunderwolf cavalry. I guess i could get 3 souped up TC to bring me up to 1200


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, is it common for people just to take a single rune priest for HQ (or multiple in bigger games?) or do people take Wolf Lords, Wolf Priests etc?

Not that I want to encourage over-meta gaming, but if your boy is going to be using GK, you're gonna need some AP2 or Rending weapons, so that MOTW and Plasma is going to be a necessity. I'd almost opt to take all plas instead of melta and MAYBE even take some plasma cannons with your long fangs. I had a helluva time dealing with GK Termies in my match this weekend with a larger list not too dissimilar than this.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Because youre a space wolf, you have access to a ton of HQ options. Taking two Rune Priests isn't unheard of at all. When I take Thunderwolves, I always mount a lord on a T-Wolf, but you wont do that until larger games.

I also find that the Wolf Priests can be pretty darn effective with Blood Claws.

Lose the speeder and lone wolf. Add Wolf Guard so that you can lead each squad with Ld9.

1 x Rune Priest 100
3 x Wolf Guard (1 w Mk of Wulfen) 69
10 x GH (2x Plasma, Mk of Wulfen, Standard) 190
10 x GH (2x MG) 160
6 x LF (5x ML) 140
1 x Drop Pod

I know this comes out to around 700 points but $$ wise it should come out about the same. Attach the Mk of Wulfen Wolf Guard to the plasma Grey Hunters and you have your one pain in the butt HTH unit. The only question with this is Plasma is Rapid Fire so if you want to charge rather than counter attack perhaps flamers or more Meltaguns would be better.

Yeah. I'd shoot for 3 packs of Grey Hunters, 1 pack of TWC (since you want them [I modeled mine with horses instead of wolves]), 1 Rune Priest, & a pack of Wolf Guard Terminators. I'd try to get a but load of missile launchers from ebay or battlewagon bits or something. I'd also try to convert or buy a bunch of combi-weapons and 3 extra axes for the wolf guard. Maybe even a Cyclone Missile Launcher!!!

I'd magnetize the arms on the Wolf Guard Terminators so you can swap between combi-melta, plasma and maybe even combi-flamers on the right arm. For the left arm, I'd get Power Axes, Swords and Maybe a Power Fist or 2. The Wolf Guard Terminator Pack will come with maybe 2 axes and a sword, so I'd get 3 more axes and maybe another sword. It comes with plenty of Power Fists, but I rarely use them on squad leaders. It just doesn't work out well in a challenge. I think, it's not worth the extra points over the Power Axe most of the time. I only use Power Swords and Power Fists if I'm running a full squad (5 guys or 4+hero in drop pod) of Wolf Guard Terminators.

After I had this covered, I'd try to get 3 Drop Pods, 2 more Grey Hunter packs, maybe another HQ (Thunderwolf Lord, or another Rune Priest) and another pack of Terminators. Land Speeders with 2 Multi-Meltas can provide some much needed mobile anti-tank. An Aegis Defense Line with Rune Priest manning a Quad-Gun and providing Divination rolls for a pack of Long Fangs is just about Space Wolves only reasonable anti-air option. That's something worth owning.

After all this, I'd just get more Long Fangs. Most people run at least one pack with missile launchers. A lot of lists are running 15 Long Fangs with missiile launchers + the 3 squad leaders. I would honestly try to get all of that eventually. Sometimes it's nice to throw a couple lascannons in the mix. I take 2 on the squad with the Rune Priest almost all the time. Like I said earlier, that's just about the easiet way to drop some tanks, without taking some sort of ally.

Really, the order in which you get any of the ladder recommendations doesn't matter. Whatever seems to be working out for you, or whatever you like. I am currently running a list with 6 Thunderwolf Cavalry on the table. It's very fun, but I would never really recommend running more than that.

Also, if you are Hell-bent on running Thunderwolf Cavalry, remember that they fall to small arms fire pretty easily. They need those Storm Shields to survive heavy incoming fire. Basically, to use them in an offensive effectively, you ned to escort them into combat with some sort of mobile cover. That is usually Rhinos (and a predator) in my case. I also always try to drop my drop pods where they give me soem advancing cover. With this loadout, you can get them across the board quickly.

The other way to run them is in a defensive roll. Just marching them behind a wall of Grey Hunters. When a Grey Hunter pack encounters a scary Monsterous Creature, or a deadly swarm of Tyranids, those Thunderwolf Cavalry really come in handy.

I'd consider allying with Imperial Guard as well. Right now, there are some disguisting combinations, using those 2 factions...

Sorry for rambling. Have a great day everyone!

This would be my 600pts list


Hq-Rune Priest=100

Troop-10 Grey Hunters=150=190
w/pod,2melta=40

Troop-10Grey Hunters=150=165
w/standard,2melta=15

Elite-Lone Wolf=20=75
w/term armour,M.O.T.W,storm shield=55

Elite-Lone Wolf=20
w/term armour,M.O.T.W,fenrasian wolf

TOTAL=595





If you want to be all assault


Hq-Wolf Lord=100=220
w/runic armour,thunderwolf,power fist,storm shield=120

Troop-10 Grey Hunters=150=190
w/Pod,2melta=40

Troop-5Grey Hunters

Heavy support-vindicator=115


TOTAL=600



This list has more assault, some nice large blast goodness and it can be cheap if you shop right.

Erik the Red wrote:
600 points? Why not go ahead and plan no 1000?

HQ
Rune Priest (100)

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Melta-Gun x2 (5) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)

That's pretty much my standard 1000 point list...

For 600 points I'd try

HQ
Rune Priest

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missila Launcher x5 (50)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
That's about all you can pull off at that point level. remember that the average game size is increasing and the point cost of models has been decreasing. Years ago, the average game was 1500 points. Now, I'd say that 1750 to 2000 points is average (in tournament & league play anyways). I'd go ahead and plan on making at LEAST a 1500 point force.

The box set is nice, but not the greatest. Pretty much, you get the Wolf Scouts free, but tehre is no real reason to run Wolf Scouts right now. I'd say it's ebtter to start off with an Ebay army, or buy locally to support your local FLGS.

Exalted. Except for the battleforce part. If you want to paint / convert your own mini's don't buy pre-painted crap on ebay. It's very rare to find decently painted stuff that is also affordable. If you don't want to do the modelling yourself, then you should look to find an ebay army that is complete. You'll pay more if you buy them one unit at a time and their paint schemes won't match.

That said, since you don't have models yet the most important piece of advice I can give is to build your Grey Hunters first, Long Fangs and Rune Priest second. Nearly every SW army has all three of those. Build at least 20 Grey Hunters before moving on to something else. As a bonus, you can make the Grey Hunters and the Rune priest with standard Space Wolves box. Long Fangs with Missiles are going to be expensive (you'll probably have to pay through the nose for the missile launchers), but in the long run you'll be glad you bought them.

Once you have 20 GH's a Rune Priest and 6 Long Fangs, you can pretty much add whatever you want and have a solid list - in fact just about every army you build afterward will use these first 26 models. It's the best investment you can make.

I still recommend the battle force. Just do the math. Here's one for $100 with shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Space-Wolves-Battleforce-Warhammer-40k-Army-/200843676680?pt=Games_US&hash=item2ec3374c08

You'll get 20 Space Wolves a Drop Pod and 5 scouts. Sell the scout sprues online for $10 - $20. Now check the retail for 20 Space Wolves and a Drop Pod - it's MSRP is like $120. You've already saved $30 - $40 for stuff you need to buy anyway.

Awe, so much hate for the poor wolf scouts

When I run a TW pack, it typically consists of 4 dudes, 2 SS, and a thunderhammer. I'll then embed a Wolf Lord with SS/Frost Axe in the middle and run them up. They are going to take a LOT of fire. I typically survive long enough to get them into CC, all the while they're taking fire and my other units aren't.

I wish I could mount a Rune Priest on a Thunderwolf... :-/ .

 Grugknuckle wrote:

Erik the Red wrote:
600 points? Why not go ahead and plan no 1000?

HQ
Rune Priest (100)

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Melta-Gun x2 (5) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15) Drop Pod (35)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missile Launcher x5 (50)

That's pretty much my standard 1000 point list...

For 600 points I'd try

HQ
Rune Priest

TROOPS
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) Wolf Standard (10) MOTW (15)
Grey Hunters x10 (150) Plasma-Gun x2 (10) MOTW (15)

HEAVY SUPPORT
Long Fangs x6 (90) Missila Launcher x5 (50)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
That's about all you can pull off at that point level. remember that the average game size is increasing and the point cost of models has been decreasing. Years ago, the average game was 1500 points. Now, I'd say that 1750 to 2000 points is average (in tournament & league play anyways). I'd go ahead and plan on making at LEAST a 1500 point force.

The box set is nice, but not the greatest. Pretty much, you get the Wolf Scouts free, but tehre is no real reason to run Wolf Scouts right now. I'd say it's ebtter to start off with an Ebay army, or buy locally to support your local FLGS.

Exalted. Except for the battleforce part. If you want to paint / convert your own mini's don't buy pre-painted crap on ebay. It's very rare to find decently painted stuff that is also affordable. If you don't want to do the modelling yourself, then you should look to find an ebay army that is complete. You'll pay more if you buy them one unit at a time and their paint schemes won't match.

That said, since you don't have models yet the most important piece of advice I can give is to build your Grey Hunters first, Long Fangs and Rune Priest second. Nearly every SW army has all three of those. Build at least 20 Grey Hunters before moving on to something else. As a bonus, you can make the Grey Hunters and the Rune priest with standard Space Wolves box. Long Fangs with Missiles are going to be expensive (you'll probably have to pay through the nose for the missile launchers), but in the long run you'll be glad you bought them.

Once you have 20 GH's a Rune Priest and 6 Long Fangs, you can pretty much add whatever you want and have a solid list - in fact just about every army you build afterward will use these first 26 models. It's the best investment you can make.

I still recommend the battle force. Just do the math. Here's one for $100 with shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Space-Wolves-Battleforce-Warhammer-40k-Army-/200843676680?pt=Games_US&hash=item2ec3374c08

You'll get 20 Space Wolves a Drop Pod and 5 scouts. Sell the scout sprues online for $10 - $20. Now check the retail for 20 Space Wolves and a Drop Pod - it's MSRP is like $120. You've already saved $30 - $40 for stuff you need to buy anyway.

He is correct in terms of buying the battle force, i was just recomending a list.

I just think you can get a goo start if you shop around. There are cheap slightly used, mostly un-painted armies out there. Most of those are marine armies. I'll be the first to admit, when I wanted to play Apocolypse, I had to buy a bunch of "Assault on Black Reach" box set marine tac squads on Ebay. That was the cheapest way to get more easy Grey Hunters and Missile Launchers! Ebay can be your friend. You just gotta shop around.

Just be glad you aren't collecting Imperial Guard. That's super expensive!