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Ok so after the holidays I acquired part of my friend's space wolves army that he was parting with (long fangs, skyclaws, blood claws, drop pods, Ulrik, and a few grey hunters). Now I have 2 Wolves Starter Boxes on preorder so ill be looking to develop a fully playable stand alone army. I have seen my friend's army in action and seen the strengths and shortcomings on a good deal of the units. So I request some advice on some areas that my knowledge is limited or lacking practical experience.

1. Wolf Lord vs Battle Leader. I thinking I want a thunder wolf mounted HQ to roll with my Thunder Cav but im unsure which would be the better option. Battle leader has the cheaper price and can take a SS + Black Death, and 2+ armor for roughly 160 points while similar loadout for a Wolf Lord is 200+. Not sure if 1 more WS, Wound, Attack, and Leadership is worth roughly 50 more points. Wolf Lord seems appealing with 2x claws as he has 4+ invuln by default and can take advantage of his high number of attacks, rending, and shred to mow through infantry while still being relatively protected.

2. Thunder Cav loadouts, my friend only had 3 with some questionable loadouts (ebay purchase). SS + Fist is to my understanding generally the best AP2 option while a power axe is a cheaper points option. Wolf Claw (either 2x or with SS) also seems good with shred and rending having nice synergy. How many stock thunderwolves do you include in a unit or just chainsword + SS?

3. Iron Priest on Wolf seem like they are incredibly good along with their 4 cyberwolves. Do you run them just as a single unit or have the Iron Priest join a unit of Thunder Cav or Fenrisian Wolves?

4. Rune Priests, how do you guys run them? Personally Biomancy seems like the best discipline to make a melee killing machine, For a biomancy build do you recommend a Runic Stave or an Axe? Divination seems to me the minimum points "babysit long fangs" option. Any other ways to run them effectively?

5. Allies: Who do you think would make the best allies between Grey Knights, Inquisition, or a Skyhammer Space Marines formation (Ignoring the fluff reasons for not wanting to take Inq or GK).

I'm probably going to be running a good amount of Grey Hunters with 2 plasmas + combi plas in pods and/or Blood Claws/Skyclaws. While not the optimal Thunderstar net list I enjoy using them and hopefully the new wolfcurion will have some good synergy with infantry wolves (Skyclaws seem to me to be the best assault marines in the game, Bloodclaws are basically "ard boyz" but with even better armor). Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

The lord/ bl is entirely up to you, if going to be warlord. I would go with the lord since technically more surviveable. Also look into champions of fenris book, then can give lord a ss and an AP 2 sword at initiative to be a challenge champion.

From that champions you can also run list of all TWC, which is the space wolves best unit and borderline only useable. Also I usually recommend just running them with SS only, maybe meltabombs, or single thunderhammer. But if you attach an Iron priest that fills that niche for the unit.

Rune priests are just not good, this is also going to tie in with next point call a regular librarian and bring regular marine allies. Either skyhammer or librarius conclave, maybe even cad of all bikes.

You can also save points by not purchasing a SS on your Wolf Lord. As well as all the difference between what you listed, Wolf Lords come with a 4++ naturally where as the Battle Leader comes with no invuln, or a 6++ if you get the 2+ Runic Armor.

I'm leaning towards the Axe + SS build so it seems the cheaper points cost of the BL is the way to go.

Still not sure about a 4 man + HQ thunder cav unit. 1 Power Fist seems like a must take as well as a cheap model or two to soak up shots in the front. So I'm thinking HQ with Black Death and SS, Pack Leader with Claw + SS (tank challenges if needed), PF + Pistol, SS + Pistol (the LoS fodder), and a pistol + chainsword. Probably take 2 little wolves with the HQ to add some cheap wounds and extra attacks.

1: People will run Wolf Lord TWC; the extra wound and attack means a lot to them (cuz it's cool). IMO you'll be facing the most serious stuff with this unit, so -do- give him some points. However, I too load out a WGBL instead, and spend the points elsewhere.

2: I would run Wolf Claws. Absolutely. Two of them, each. Go SS but honestly don't put it on more than a third of your guys. Have Iron Priests w/ Cyberwolves run in the TWC unit, along with your WGBL/Lord, and just 2+ Look-Out-Sir the shots around the unit, depending on the type of weapons (2+ Iron Priests (now with an additional wound, making them 3W each), 3+ SS against difficult weapons, or just letting a cyberwolf die when it's S10 (to deny Instant Death)). Having this go on means you'll likely not lose a TWC at all before reaching CC, though you may have a bunch of Single Wounds left haha

3: They are Independent Characters, which is OP. These guys win tournaments. Run at least 3 (IMO 3+ via other detachments/formations; HQ + 2 elites formation from Champions of Fenris book, or our new Wulfen book) and put them in another squad of wolves (whether it be TWC, Fenrisian Wolves, or the new Wulfen) with more than enough T5 models to make the squad count as T5. Then, run them up in front of the others army in a big blob, models placed tactically to deny their weapons as best as you can (see #2). Ever play chess, when your opponent pushes the board, and it leaves you feeling like you can barely move? Yeah, that. keep them in their deployment zone, spread out against them, and on your next assault phase - charge EVERYTHING in multi-assault. I personally enjoy throwing them in a scout squad, so i get to move them 12" forwards scout move, then 12" normal move (leaving scouts behind), then run d6" which pretty much goes tip-toe; however no-one runs this in meta, I enjoy it immensely (100pts for 5 snipes and a missile, with camo - gr8 unit IMO).

4: I enjoy Rune Priests for their runic AXE's. Have them run against monstrous creatures, casting Force in that psychic phase, and they'll eliminate whatever they touch. Keep them cheap tho, IMO don't go lvl2, 60pts is great where it's at. Simply have them in another unit instead (say, Iron Priests w/ Servitors coming out of the StormWolf?) Just make sure they reach combat - and yes, Bio is awesome, however after playing MANY games you just can't rely on them rolling well on the table. Tempastus is a solid pick, you can always use it, and psychic powers can target any unit regardless what your squad is doing. the new Formation via the Wulfen book allows 2-5 runepriests, and you get a ridiculous Assault 2d6 tempastus power (plus more shots for fielding more Runepriests), i like it much =)

I personally run Drop Pods with Grey Hunters, yea with plasma. I -personally- go with a Terminator pack leader w/ SS and a combi-plas; running a squad of 5 to shave points and a Missile launcher on the pod. ObjSec is important, but more bolters is personally not my thing. I use a plasma pistol, too.

Have you considered getting the new wulfen models? Would they be useful in your list?

MekLeN wrote:

Spoiler:

1: People will run Wolf Lord TWC; the extra wound and attack means a lot to them (cuz it's cool). IMO you'll be facing the most serious stuff with this unit, so -do- give him some points. However, I too load out a WGBL instead, and spend the points elsewhere.

2: I would run Wolf Claws. Absolutely. Two of them, each. Go SS but honestly don't put it on more than a third of your guys. Have Iron Priests w/ Cyberwolves run in the TWC unit, along with your WGBL/Lord, and just 2+ Look-Out-Sir the shots around the unit, depending on the type of weapons (2+ Iron Priests (now with an additional wound, making them 3W each), 3+ SS against difficult weapons, or just letting a cyberwolf die when it's S10 (to deny Instant Death)). Having this go on means you'll likely not lose a TWC at all before reaching CC, though you may have a bunch of Single Wounds left haha

3: They are Independent Characters, which is OP. These guys win tournaments. Run at least 3 (IMO 3+ via other detachments/formations; HQ + 2 elites formation from Champions of Fenris book, or our new Wulfen book) and put them in another squad of wolves (whether it be TWC, Fenrisian Wolves, or the new Wulfen) with more than enough T5 models to make the squad count as T5. Then, run them up in front of the others army in a big blob, models placed tactically to deny their weapons as best as you can (see #2). Ever play chess, when your opponent pushes the board, and it leaves you feeling like you can barely move? Yeah, that. keep them in their deployment zone, spread out against them, and on your next assault phase - charge EVERYTHING in multi-assault. I personally enjoy throwing them in a scout squad, so i get to move them 12" forwards scout move, then 12" normal move (leaving scouts behind), then run d6" which pretty much goes tip-toe; however no-one runs this in meta, I enjoy it immensely (100pts for 5 snipes and a missile, with camo - gr8 unit IMO).

4: I enjoy Rune Priests for their runic AXE's. Have them run against monstrous creatures, casting Force in that psychic phase, and they'll eliminate whatever they touch. Keep them cheap tho, IMO don't go lvl2, 60pts is great where it's at. Simply have them in another unit instead (say, Iron Priests w/ Servitors coming out of the StormWolf?) Just make sure they reach combat - and yes, Bio is awesome, however after playing MANY games you just can't rely on them rolling well on the table. Tempastus is a solid pick, you can always use it, and psychic powers can target any unit regardless what your squad is doing. the new Formation via the Wulfen book allows 2-5 runepriests, and you get a ridiculous Assault 2d6 tempastus power (plus more shots for fielding more Runepriests), i like it much =)

I personally run Drop Pods with Grey Hunters, yea with plasma. I -personally- go with a Terminator pack leader w/ SS and a combi-plas; running a squad of 5 to shave points and a Missile launcher on the pod. ObjSec is important, but more bolters is personally not my thing. I use a plasma pistol, too.

 Vankraken wrote:

 Lord Scythican wrote:
Have you considered getting the new wulfen models? Would they be useful in your list?

The Wulfen sound really good to use with Blood/Skyclaws which is a unit I am a really big fan of. SW infantry in general are really cool and I find them far more interesting than thunderwolf spam. Wulfen are probably something ill incorporate further down the line after I get my current model load finished and I look into using kitbashing to extend the value of a wulfen box to make maybe 10 wulfen (love me some kitbash and "saving" money).

Sounds like a plan. I got two boxes of the wulfen and I am hoping to kit bash some other models with spare parts to make more.