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Heresy, I know.

I have always had a RP in my list. Always. Also added my Wolf Lord which is awesome. Planning my list out I have one LRC, with a unit of GH. while my other GH squad is in a Rhino. Seems goofy maybe? Anyway, I thought if I have two LRC instead, I could put a WGPL in TDA with one, and my TDA RP with the other. I've never used WGPL before so thought it'd be interesting. Then I thought of swapping my RP for a WGBL. That would certainly change things up, but I think it would fit with my CC oriented list. So many good HQ options, and while everyone knows the benefits of a RP, I can't imagine they're the only smart or viable option.

Generally speaking, what do you guys think of going sans RP? Have you done what I'm thinking of or something similar? What were your results?

You've never used Wolf Guard as pack leaders? They're great, I'd say they're worth it for the extra point of leadership.

As for Rune Priests, they're good, but they're only critical if you're fighting someone who is actually using psykers. I personally wouldn't make it a habit in my lists, but running without one isn't going to cause you to auto-lose by any means. Plus Space Wolves are all about the fun.

I've only had a few games thus far so not much chance. Seems TDA is almost required with only 1 wound, maybe even a SS. How do you run them?

More than one opponent had been surprised that I didn't have a sargeant equivalent.

My latest list has no Rune Priest.

I am facing the new Tau tonight.

Tell you tomorrow how it went. If I was list tailoring I would put my Rune Priest back in there Pronto. But I do not tailor my list against a particular opponent, it's bad sportsmanship.

My list is
Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf
Runic Armor
Power Fist
Storm Shield

5 Wolf Guard in Terminator in a drop pod
Heavy Flamer/PF
SB/CF
CM/SS
CM/SS
PA/SS
This squad gives me a good mix of anti-armor (2 Meltas,1 Chain Fist, 1 power Fist), Good shooting (1 SB and 2 Combis), Decent melee (1 Power Fist, 1 Chain Fist, 1 Power Axe all AP2) and the heavy flamer allows me to drop pod near an Aegie Line and fire up the BBQ.

3 squads of tooled up GH
10 GH
PF
WB
MotW
Melta/Plasma

(I know people keep telling that mixing weapons is bad BUT with Wolves it is more cost-efficient and it means my anti-armor/anti-personal squa cannot be isolated since they all come prepared to deal with ANYTHING).

3 Thunderwolf
PF/SS
CCW/SS
CCW/SS

2 squads of Long Fangs with the same loadout
2 Lascannons
2 Missile Launchers
1 Plasma Cannon

That way they can deal with pretty much anything.

My only weakness? Flyers but what the hell I am going to have a blast anyway.

Whatever the Thunderwolves charge wil eat 11 S10 Power Fist to the face along with 10 S5 potentially Rending attacks.

imo it is stupid to play withour a rune priest or eldar farseer. there is too many MC using biomancy and too many very powerful psychic powers which can just be game changing . invisibility on bikes , psychic shriek they can cost someone the game . The rune priest also brings a bird that stops infilration and buffs his BS , which makes stuff like lightning or jaws better. a lord can be as killy as he wants to be , but he is still a melee HQ . 2-3 RP can help kill tons of models against tau/nid/orcs using jaws.

While I'd never leave home without my RP I have to say leave the WGBL alone. If you want something new use a wolf priest. They're a fantastic HQ that's rather overshadowed by the tune priest. Outflanking plasma that rerolls ones is amazing. I usually give him a combi plasma 10 ghs and a TDAWG with combo plasma. The turn they come in, they really do a ton of damage.

Makumba wrote:
imo it is stupid to play withour a rune priest or eldar farseer. there is too many MC using biomancy and too many very powerful psychic powers which can just be game changing . invisibility on bikes , psychic shriek they can cost someone the game . The rune priest also brings a bird that stops infilration and buffs his BS , which makes stuff like lightning or jaws better. a lord can be as killy as he wants to be , but he is still a melee HQ . 2-3 RP can help kill tons of models against tau/nid/orcs using jaws.

Maybe living lightning but how does it make jaws better? I dont recall you having to roll for bs? dont you just do psychic test and then throw a line down. First guy in the line takes deny the witch and thats it right?

Also I am thinking about trying the priest myself.

You're correct, it doesn't. It only gives a +1 to BS so only affects shooting attacks that roll to hit, which JotWW doesn't. +1 BS is nice, and it does apply to non-psyker shooting as well, but I don't think it necessarily makes other HQ options useless. I've become a solid fan of Wolf Priests, even over WGBL. Their stat lines are similar and the buffs a Wolf Priest gets are awesome.

Im planning on trying one out but im unsure if I want to outflank him or put him in a pod, with the pod I could probably get closer to make good use of the plasma shots and preferred enemies rerolls.

Wolf priests are my personal favorite Space Wolf HQ. Best/most versatile/most points effective? Perhaps not, but the doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love them. I love the buffs they give their unit, and their statline is really quite decent. I've only tried a couple ways to play them (I'm new to the game and don't get tons of chances to play), but my favorite way to get them in the fray thus far is in a drop pod, with a 7 man GH squad, with banner, MotW with plasma, TDA WGPL with combi-plas and SS, and the WP. Gives them the chance to come in, do some damage shooting, absorb the counter shots, and still get into combat with some decent clout left. Of course I also generally play a full DP list so it just makes sense that way. I've tried outflanking with Saga of the Hunter as well, which is always fun, just doesn't fit as well with my lists. Either way you decide to run them, I'm just a huge fan of the Wolf Priest as an HQ.

Chynook wrote:
Wolf priests are my personal favorite Space Wolf HQ. Best/most versatile/most points effective? Perhaps not, but the doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love them. I love the buffs they give their unit, and their statline is really quite decent. I've only tried a couple ways to play them (I'm new to the game and don't get tons of chances to play), but my favorite way to get them in the fray thus far is in a drop pod, with a 7 man GH squad, with banner, MotW with plasma, TDA WGPL with combi-plas and SS, and the WP. Gives them the chance to come in, do some damage shooting, absorb the counter shots, and still get into combat with some decent clout left. Of course I also generally play a full DP list so it just makes sense that way. I've tried outflanking with Saga of the Hunter as well, which is always fun, just doesn't fit as well with my lists. Either way you decide to run them, I'm just a huge fan of the Wolf Priest as an HQ.

Don't forget that Saga of the Hunter gives Stealth too. With the changes to Preferred Enemy and conferring Stealth on their unit, Wolf Priests are pretty awesome now. In fact, Wolf Lords, Rune Priests and Wolf Priests are all fairly viable at the moment.

 tankboy145 wrote:
Im planning on trying one out but im unsure if I want to outflank him or put him in a pod, with the pod I could probably get closer to make good use of the plasma shots and preferred enemies rerolls.

I suppose it depends on the unit he's attached to, and the rest of your list. I may try outflanking just to test it out though. So far, at least at 1200 pts and below, my list gets a little fragile if spread too thinly so I would have to have reinforcements come quickly to support them after they outflank. I think a LRC will get them there pretty quickly too, though with outflank there's the potential to sandwich your opponent between a rock and a hard place.

If you come in from a board edge you may not be in effective firing range if your opponent moves away from it and you may not be close to cover which might make you move further away so your not in the open. With a pod you can drop it close to cover and your squad can hop out into cover and get good use of that save if they get shot up.

It's quite true that if your opponent is expecting an outflank they can deploy 13" away from the edge. Any more than that is ludicrous though. Even 13" is rather a lot on some tables, especially when you take into account terrain.
The reason I prefer the outflank is because you can have 2 plasma guns and 2 combi-plasmas. That's a potential of 8 plasma shots in one shooting phase. plus 8 bolters. When you're rerolling ones, that's deadly. The pod can't do that.

Also giving the whole unit stealth is awesome.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Andilus Greatsword wrote:

In fact, Wolf Lords, Rune Priests and Wolf Priests are all fairly viable at the moment.

I agree. Although I'd rank the Wolf Lord at the bottom of the (still very good) list. The SW codex has weathered the change to 6th extremely well even with all the "oh noes! fliers!" scaremongering.

The large base on the TWL is a great boon. Pens count as two wounds I hear you say, better not put any tanks near your blobs with a Str:10 character on the loose.

HQ's


Logan=boss
Ragnar=no
Ulrik=no
Bjorn=depends
Njal=good
Canis-depends
Wolf priests=no(100pts why)
Rune=good
Lord=great
leader=good for points


IMHO take Logan or a wolf lord.

Well that did not go well but a Rune Priest would not have changed anything against the Tau. Waaayyy too much AP2.

Terminators performed awesomely

Thunderwolf and Wolf Lord fell to MASS fire (Close to 100 shots to bring the unit down)

Short of going Loganwing with loads of Storm Shields everywhere I don't see myself pulling this off.

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
Well that did not go well but a Rune Priest would not have changed anything against the Tau. Waaayyy too much AP2.

Terminators performed awesomely

Thunderwolf and Wolf Lord fell to MASS fire (Close to 100 shots to bring the unit down)

Short of going Loganwing with loads of Storm Shields everywhere I don't see myself pulling this off.

Well with SS termies against tau that will not help you because they will just kill you with weight of fire.

Rune priest is actually a boss against Tau, hello jaws I like how your army is pretty much I2... I used a rune priest in a pod with a hunter unit against tau and my opponent had 6 battle suits in a perfect line. Needless to say 4 of them were dead, the squad finished off the first squad and got me first blood. I would say jaws(i mean rune preist) is a must.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 strybjorn Grimskull wrote:
HQ's


Logan=boss
Ragnar=no
Ulrik=no
Bjorn=depends
Njal=good
Canis-depends
Wolf priests=no(100pts why)
Rune=good
Lord=great
leader=good for points


IMHO take Logan or a wolf lord.

Apparently you didnt just read the last posts about the wolf priest.