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[b] So I'm trying to be competitive without running too much cheese. Not sure if my play style is bad or I'm just missing the mark with this army..


What I have available:

Wolf Lord
Bjorn (can be Murderfang/ dreadnought)

Two squads of Grey Hunters (5 ea)
5 skyclaws
3 TWC. looking to buy 3 more.
1 dreadnought.
1 unit of long fangs.
Land raider
1 stormfang gunship
1 unit of scouts.
1 unit of wolf guard terminators.

I have about $100 for a budget to add whatever to make me competitive.

Usually I play DE. Which is quite different than wolves or at least I think? Maybe thatsome what's stopping me from being successful. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Local Meta is:
Crons.
Nids.
Tau.
Imperial Guard.
Chaos.

Just about everything.

First off, that's a tough meta to put wolves in. If you're running against. IG, tau and crons can outshoot you if you aren't careful. Still, I'll impart some wisdom to you on space wolves.

#1, TWC are arguably the best units in SW armies. However, in order to run them effectively you should put a WGBL or WL in runic armor with a SS or some such to lead out the pack. With him in front soaking hits your TWC will be very hard to stop. Even with this, tau will destroy you on overwatch so be cautious.

#2 WG termintors are less effective than Wulfen with TH/SS kits for roughly the same price. I highly suggest looking into Wulfen as an elite for your list if you're expecting to use the terminators. I hate to say it, but terminators are one of the worst units in all of 40k. Wulfen on the other hand are far superior and will make your skyclaws and other units a little better as a bonus.

#3 I like the dreadnoughts with shields and axes. Also murderfang is frightening to everyone you go against. In order to maximize their effect you'll need a dreadnought droppod from FW but even without it they are a force to be reckoned with (except against Necrons who will glance you to death in 2 seconds flat)

#4 Stormfangs are neat. I don't think they're necessarily great but they can be pretty fun to field at times. Definitely kit it with multimeltas and lascannons.

#5 Grey hunters are surprisingly effective. Decent points cost for a troops choice and if you toss a rune priest into the lead (like your wolf lord on a thunder wolf I suggested earlier) they'll soak hits and be rather mean. Keep in mind that you can kit out grey hunters to effectively be custom rune priests (just have to mod them and paint them sexy)

#6 Look into landspeeders with meltas. They're frightening and cannot be ignored without serious consequences. I don't know how they'll fare against tau or necrons but they'll nuke IG and Chaos pretty fast.

As always, have fun and make the wolf gods proud.

Wow thank you so much. A lot to consider. The only reason I don't have wulfen is a really don't care for the models themselves lol.

Jaydee216 wrote:
Wow thank you so much. A lot to consider. The only reason I don't have wulfen is a really don't care for the models themselves lol.

Yeah some of them are posed a little silly but they actually look nice painted up right. I have one picture in my gallery that I've painted and I think it looks a helluva lot better than the old models for it.

Anyways, Cheers! Do lots of face stomping!

This is where people go so wrong. While yes: terminators are not the most cost efficient choice or the best in slot they are not terrible. And unless you are only running into ITC lists running lots of AP2 and D-weapons they are still very effective.

I had huge problems when i came back to this hobby this summer after a 13 year hiatus because I was fixated on 'what was best'. And forums like this tend to encourage that line of thought. The sad reality is: unless you run a ITC competition circuit, what you take matters relatively little compared to how you apply it. It took me months to come to the conclusion that if Im going to drop £600 on this it had better be fun and full of models I like.

The best advice on the forms i found after months of searching is this: 'the meta changes'.

I also chose space wolves and so far ive had great success with my army (im happy to share it if you'd like). But more importantly I feel that even if I lost it would be worthwhile. I have a thematic (and rather bombastic) army which is fun to play. Is it perfect? No. Does it have glaring weaknesses? Yes. But damn does it make me smile when it comes together.

I agree with everything you said. But I do want to be semi competitive while having fun. ( who doesn't like winning.?) I have several other armies that I like but the Nordic draw of the wolves has always been there for me.

So I ask, of the units I listed and around 100 usd to invest. How would you play it?

Thanks for the great words BTW

I personally like playing thematic and rounded. Space wolves have so many wolf related units that it's actually rather amusing to just make superwolf lists and go TWC and wulfen and just act silly while trying to chase down enemies...

With 100 you could potentially pick up some Wulfen if you wanted or another set of TWC (which is probably the better of the two if you had to choose)

I have 6 TWC (1 IP on TW, 1 WL/WGBL on a wolf and 4 other TWC) and that tends to cover most battles for me. Fenrisian wolf allies with the leaders are fairly useful but not amazing.
10 Wulfen (because when I wolf I want to wolf harder)
3 squads of Grey hunters (cuz eventually I'll wanna capture an objective)
3 drop pods (for my grey hunters)
2 Rune Priests (just grey hunters painted special with modified weapons)
1 stormfang/stormwolf (convertable with magnetic pieces)
2 land raiders
5 long fangs
10 WG terminators (5ss/th 5wc)
Njal in termie armor
Arjac

Of all of that... I use the grey hunters, TWC, Wulfen and rune priests the most. I think I've used my terminators twice... and my longfangs once...?

Anyways... it would seem you have some of the better wolf units already. I'd invest in more TWC and maybe Wulfen if you feel like it. Other than that... just test stuff out and get a feel for what works best for you. All players have different styles.

Cheers!

Thanks again. I think I'll stretch my budget and scoop both TWC and Wulfen to see where that takes me.


Everyone I aprreciate everything.

There is one incentive for terminators for Space Wolves is that they can be pack leaders for Grey Hunters and Blood Claws. Grey Hutners with a TAC pack leader with a combi melta and a regular melta on a Grey Hunter in a drop pod make for great alpha strike/backfield distraction.

o.0 I like that. I'm looking at drop pods from santa. Lol

i would say, go for the Lucius Drop Pod if you are looking to field Dreadnought(s) and want them to drop back dooring.
The very same book that has them in it (Imperial Armour 2: 2nd Ed) has the "Legacy of Glory" upgrade, 1 per list, which for 20pts can make that Drop Pod not scatter, ever.

TWC are nice, however I like Iron Priests on TW mounts better, with 4 Cyber Wolves (which I custom'd off of normal Fenrisian Wolves), that can join any unit, able to take out Knights and MC's, and adds way more beatstick to any unit they join (like say, the 3 TWC you already have?)
Company of the Great Wolf, lol, is funny in this regard - as you can go 3 Iron Priests and 1 TWC and it meets all requirements (as the Wulfen book introduced an HQ version of the Iron Priest). I personally go with like 2 Iron Priests which join a unit of 5 Wulfen, for a really mean and super fast unit.

Grey Hunters are arguably one of the best "tac squads" in 40k, but in my own personal playtesting and enjooyment, have found them lackluster. That's just in my hands tho... I hear great things

The Wyrdstorm Brotherhood formation IS WAY AWESOME!
Add Jump Packs to Rune Priests, and they do SO MUCH! Especially with Fulmination, there isn't one bad choice on that whole selection of Psyker powers.
Runic (Force) Axes, 3+ Tempastus Successes for Manifesting Warp Charges, super awesome Formation Psyker Witchfire power...

I'm playing around with the Wulfkin formation right now, which is Fenrisian Wolves (2-5 units, of 5-15 pupps each).
Have a Jump Pack Rune Priest join each wolf squad, and have them run around the map or outflank... soo much to handle, and for only a handful of points! Runepriests are my primary Knight killers, even against Wraithknights all I need is a single 6 to wound and the MC is bye-bye (mathhammering 2 RP's do the trick).

My best advice, from my decent but yet still limited experience, Pack Up. Get solid squads, get them either fast or where they need to be, and let Space Wolves drown the opponents in at least decent numbers... Elitist Wolves just don't have what they need - like say how Grey Knights have Invis psykers and such, that's how they survive.
We at best get cover saves sigh

Favorite in my Army

Wulfen
(so badass and fun, allergic to str 8 pieplates tho )

Murderfang + Lusius Droppod (i proxy a normal pod tho) = AWSOME!

Arjac Shield Brothers formation, T5 termies + other awsome rules, perhaps with a Sanguinary priest or a rune priest that gives FNP) Best melee terminators out there.

TWC - Effective, awsome, perhaps abit mainstream, but they do good work for sure. (They love working together with Wulfen)

Stormfang seriously good flyer, a must have in my oppinion (big pie of hellfrost, necron needs to take a strength test before making his "animation protocol")

Sicaran Tank (FW) really nice to support the army with aswell.

 Brutallica wrote:
Favorite in my Army


Stormfang seriously good flyer, a must have in my oppinion (big pie of hellfrost, necron needs to take a strength test before making his "animation protocol")

Unfortunately this is only true on the gun versions. The new hammer the IP has was FAQ'd recently and now the player who's turn it is decides which order those "end of combat" things happen. I think stormfangs are neat though still... Just not sold on the must have part. Big points sink to only have a chance of coming in by round 2.