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I have an opportunity to pick up some Space Wolves for cheap to ally with my Grey Knights and Imperial Guard. I've heard Thunderwolf Cavalry are really good, and I like the idea of having a tough dedicated assault unit to defend my IG backfield or help distract some fire from my Dreadknights (I'm also just tired of the GK mono-build).

Would this be a useful addition to IG or GK, and if so what's the best way to add some Thunderwolves as allies for ~500 pts?

Thanks!

Ok so the main problem with this is thunderwolf Cav are expensive additions to any army. Depending on who you ask and your local meta Stormshields are either on half or all because anyone who has gone up against them in combat knows one thing, they'll chew through anything they touch while being stupid resiliant.

As and addition to an army I don't reccommend them at all it's either the focus or they exist to soak the majority of the First turn of fire.

If you want SW Allies I'd suggest grabbing a single guy making him a WGBL and Running two units of Wulfen, but like the TWC the Wulfen can get expensive extremely quickly.

Start Collecting Space Wolves box is basically a formation of a Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolves, and Grey Hunters. Add another box of TWC, take one to model your Lord on it, add a drop pod for the Grey Hunters, and you got yourself a nice hammer blow unit which can potentially assault turn 1 and a fairly good plasma gun delivery system. A 10 man unit can bring 2 plasma guns and a combi plasma that are rerolling 1s if near the wolf lord.

At times I have used my Space Wolves with my Grey Knights and Inquisition and they do ok with them but don't really have a ton of synergy together (other than giving a drop pod to purifiers). IG and Wolves sound like a winning combination as the Wolves lack good shooting while the Guard lacks good punching power. Slapping a biomancy or divination Rune Priest on a guard blob is fun as it gives them ATSKNF and Counter Attack plus whatever powers you roll. Also Guard + Space Marines of whatever flavor is always a good narrative combination.

 Vankraken wrote:
Start Collecting Space Wolves box is basically a formation of a Wolf Lord, Thunder Wolves, and Grey Hunters. Add another box of TWC, take one to model your Lord on it, add a drop pod for the Grey Hunters, and you got yourself a nice hammer blow unit which can potentially assault turn 1 and a fairly good plasma gun delivery system. A 10 man unit can bring 2 plasma guns and a combi plasma that are rerolling 1s if near the wolf lord.

At times I have used my Space Wolves with my Grey Knights and Inquisition and they do ok with them but don't really have a ton of synergy together (other than giving a drop pod to purifiers). IG and Wolves sound like a winning combination as the Wolves lack good shooting while the Guard lacks good punching power. Slapping a biomancy or divination Rune Priest on a guard blob is fun as it gives them ATSKNF and Counter Attack plus whatever powers you roll. Also Guard + Space Marines of whatever flavor is always a good narrative combination.

Thanks, I may try out the Rune Priest + Guard blob with a 5 strong Thunderwolf Cav unit to protect them along with my typical mech guard list. I'm hoping it will let me be a little bit more aggressive and the Thundercav will draw fire away from Pask, who can basically just erase one unit per turn in a punisher. I'm just always out of range if I hang back, and too close to things that can kill me in assault if I move up, so I think this would mitigate the assault problem.

I haven't been playing Guard at all lately because of the sad state that they're in (my meta is pretty competitive, we have a lot of Tau, Eldar, and Necrons), so I'm hoping a dedicated assault unit and some divination powers might help at least make them playable. I may try them out in GK as well if I get the models, it's either that or a 4th NDK (which for some reason just feels far cheesier than allied Thundercav).

I've played them with Guard, thunderwolves are good but useful, bjorn is good in a drop pod and the cheapest wolves are a nice fast attack/ Tarpit. I personally use.

Krom Dragonglaze,

10 Grey Hunters/scouts

Thunderwolves.

All the long range stuff should come from the Guardsmen, flyers also.

Gonna pick up some stuff from a friend tomorrow, he has Grey Hunters, wolf guard, scouts, dreadnoughts, blood claws, rhinos, a drop pod or two, and the Codex. I don't necessarily need to get everything, so what would be the best to grab out of that stuff?

I'm gonna start by using the Wolves as allies for my Guard until I expand a bit more, so in the meantime (aside from the start collecting set) what should I get next?

I wouldn't get the Scouts. They're the worst Scout in the game at the moment.

the new Formation, "Death Pack", is actually quite nice.

Do a SS on each character, and utilize LoS rolls to mitigate shots as you choose. (giving the WGBL a TWC Mount).

Wolf Claws on each, so brutal - don't pay for dual claws tho.

I'd roll with plasma on the Grey Hunters, in a pod. if you can move the TWC unit within range of where they drop, reroll 1's to avoid burning your men.

the TWC are great for absorbing shots, tho they'll get whittled under enough pressure. that first turn charge tho, will likely get them safe for a turn.
A MEAN strategy is to 'congo line' them, so that only 1 or 2 make CC's 3" strike zone, be sure to math out the initiative pile-in too, so that they don't eliminate the other unit and also don't get killed themselves. This'll ensure that you stay in CC on their turn, wipe them in their combat, and be free to charge on yours.

my typical two stories with them:
1) they run to and fro, eliminating sneaky units looking to drop into my lines or zooming up in transports. all game, man. all game.
2) Focus All Firepower On The Super Star Destroyer. run them down their throat, congo-style, and watch as the opponent can't help but over-exaggerate under their knuckles-in-the-face attitude.

However, if you're into more a traditional roster/ally, roll with some wulfen. even 1 unit is AMAZING. and an Allied CAD allows for ObSec, which with a Pod and some Grey Hunters is quite a Bang for your Buck. hehe the Legacy of Glory found in the Imperial Armour 2: 2nd Ed allows for 20pts an upgrade to any one vehicle to deepstrike without scattering, something I employ to cap any objective i please hehehehe

one more note:
Rune priests on bike, pushing Tempastus for the Living Lightning. Absolutely amazing, granting 4+ deny-the-witch and a force axe/sword, able to move the 12" then blast some fire during psyker phase, then turbo back out of sight in the shooting phase. AMAZING. and all for 80pts. Company of the Great Wolf detachment allows you to go one of these, and two servitors as elites - 100pts and you paid for all required options, freeing you up for any choice you want - which includes Fast Attack Pods. (or a unit of Wulfen??? 2SS + 3GA if ya ask me).

even more brutal:
Wyrdstorm Brotherhood. 420pts gets you 5 bikers, a total of 24d6 S7 shots, 9d6 of which are ignore cover and twinlinked, all at BS4 - and succeed the warp charge dice on 3+'s. ALL Independent Characters, with Force weapons. if you are fortunate to roll a '2' on the psyker powers within the Tempastus tree, you get Shroud - aka 2+ jinks, my good sir.

So:
- TWC
- Wulfen
- Pod'd GH's
- Runepriest bikers

there's more to the SW's of course, than this, but if you're looking for a cost effective way to bring some Pupp's, this'd be what I say.

Awesome! Thanks for the write up, that's exactly what I was looking for. I picked up some grey hunters, a couple drop pods, a few blood claws and a few wolf guard from my friend for cheap earlier today, and grabbed a starter box along with some Thunder Cav. Wulfen are next on the list when I sell my grey Knights