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Greetings folks,
Will be starting a progressive campaign and wanted to start a new army. Picked up a starter box, codex, and supplement.

Need to fill 500 points that can compete with the likes of Tau and other Marines. Don't want to be overly cheesy, but I don't want to fight an uphill battle either. We have initial restrictions to keep balance, such as, no MC, armor, fliers, and named characters. Have to use the one of the two cheapest HQ's. We will be able to unlock things as we go on!

I was thinking;

Battle Master (possibly with Thunderwolf)
2 Squads of Grey Hunters
Thunder wolf Cavalry with SS and Claws.

Any experienced Wolves out there want to help a newbie out?

Thanks all!

From what I've seen... it's all about the thunderwolves and spamming little wolves... seems cheesy to me but I guess it's "fluffly" ..? and I know it's powerful.

Personally, I think the Wulfen look amazing... and I think there's a formation where you can just take a crap-load of them... I'd do that.

Yeah, was hoping for some specific load outs.

I was thinking Battle Master with Thunderwolf and SS.
2 Squads of Grey Hunters, minimal gear so I can juice up the wolves.
Thunderwolf Cavalry, SS's and some claws I think.
Deciding if claws vs frost swords. Anyone?

What are the typical load outs for each of these units? I see thunderhammers are popular, but unwieldy, meh.

Not a bad start at 500 eh?

Are you still playing on a 4x6 board, or has it been shrunk down due to the low points? Objective based or kill points?

If you're not limited to a CAD, I would give the supplement detachments a try. Here's 2 lists

Wolves unleashed detachment
HQ
WGBL - 50 points
WGBL - 50 points

Troops
Grey Hunters - 70
Grey Hunters - 70

Fast Attack
Thunderwolf cavalry - 120

Total: 395

With this list you have almost exactly what you originally proposed, but by attaching your battle leaders to the grey hunters you can outflank (with reroll for acute senses) on a 4+ thanks to the detachment bonus, which can get your footslogging troops a little help with their lack of mobility. Use the extra 105 points to add bodies or upgrade units as you see fit.

The second list is pretty close to what I normally run for Wolves at 500 points:

Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
HQ
WGBL with runic armor on thunderwolf, shield and claw - 155 points

Elite
Iron Priest on thunderwolf - 105
Wolf Guard 5+sergeant on bikes - 150

Fast Attack
Skyclaws x5 2 with flamers -85

Total: 500

It might seem like a low body count, but everything in this list can cover a lot of ground quickly and put out some good damage. At 500 points if you join the iron priest and WGBL together there's not a lot that can stand against them in assault, especially with no MCs allowed, or if you are facing a lot of low powered MSU you can split them off and have them each hunt vulnerable targets. The wolf guard get boosts from bikes as well as +1 WS from the detachment, I find in my meta that through sheer weight of S5 attacks I can overwhelm most things I throw them at but if you feel the need for some special weapons you could drop the extra marine to get the points. The skyclaws are essentially a mobile objective grabber, normally I run them with meltas and try to suicide pop a tank if I get the chance but since you don't have to worry about armor the flamers can provide some good anti-horde and bypass the BS3 with their templates.

Dreadnought fun!!!

Company of the Great Wolf

HQ -
Bjorn the Fell Handed 220
Elites -
Dreadnought, venerable, axe and shield 145
Dreadnought, smoke launcher 100
Fast Attack -
Drop Pod 35

Only works on the 500pt small board so disregard this if you're playing on an 8x4 table.
Choose a Dread to drop in your opponent's ranks to either draw fire or kill as much as possible while the other Dreads foot slog up the field and join the killing.

Standard board. Again, no formations or armor starting off! Has to be a cad!!