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I am a new 40k player and I'm looking for some advice and ideas on how to expand my army.  I've played about ten games so far against the same opponent but want some advice before I take my army down to the hobby shop for some battles with other people and different armies.  This list represents every model I own so far, save for one extra scout.

Wolf Lord w/ runic armor, runic charm, frost blade, and plasma pistol.  140 pts.   attached to a 10 man Grey hunter squad: 5 bolter/CCW, 2 bolter/power weapon, 2 plasma pistol/CCW, 1 meltagun.  227 pts.

Rune Priest w/ runic armor, runic charm, frost blade, plasma pistol, and chooser of the slain.  155 pts.  attached to another 10 man Grey Hunter squad outfitted like the one above. 227 pts.

10 man Blood Claws Pack: 7 bolt pistol/CCW, 2 bolt pistol/power weapon, 1 meltagun, frag grenades, and meltabombs.  204 pts.  mounted in Rhino w/ extra armor, hunter-killer missile, pintle mounted storm bolter.  80 pts.

6 Wolf Scouts: 3 bolt pistol/CCW, 2 plasma pistol/CCW, 1 meltagun.  114 pts.

5 man Long Fang Pack: 1 bolt pistol/CCW, 1 heavy bolter, 1 lascannon, 1 multi-melta, 1 plasma cannon.  228 pts.

My first thoughts are to go with a land raider, or some wolf guard in terminator armor, or both but would have to lose some points somewhere to not go above 1850, which is the level the league near me plays at.

 

So nobody around here plays Space Wolves?

A simple way to improve your existing army would be to substitute the the Rune Priests Plasma Pistol with a Bolt Pistol (He casts Stormcaller in the shooting phase) and upgrade as many Power Weapons to fist as possible. Youll find thouse better against other Marines and invaluable against vehicles etc.

To expand the army Id go with a WGPL with fist for the Scouts and one or two Landspeeder with Bolter and AC. Also you need a 3rd HQ, which propably should be a Venerable Dread. For this guy a Plasma Cannon is quite a nice trick since it allows him to stay in the back of your force and snipe around corners. (The Ven Dread is a pointsink to some degree, but its not too bad, when you play him with caution, since hes atleast a scoring unit in an HQ slot.) An AC isnt a bad choice too though.

Thanks for the advice Raider.  Are the power fists really worth it?  The thought of always striking last scares me a little.

From my recent experiene with my SW's army:

It is worth it to take PF's over PW's. The rest of the unit will still strike at initiative 4 so it's not all bad. You just need to try and position your PF/s as best you can to guarantee they will hit, contacting your opponents veteren sergeant or aspiring champ will often guarantee they hit or at least force your opponent to make some tough decisions when removing casualties. You'll often find your PF's will win the combat for you. They're also great for killing off independant characters. I run a 12 man Blood Claw pack with 2 PF's and it's just nasty, 8 PF attacks on the charge does a lot of damage.

I'd also change the configuration of your Long Fangs (especially drop the multimelta, the range is too short) to either 2 lascannons & 2 missile launchers or 2 lasncannons & 2 heavy bolters. This gives you a good mix of anti armour and anti infantry fire and allows you to best utilise the their split fire ability.

I'm not too keen on landraiders theses days as I feel they are too easily destroyed for the amount of points you're shelling out. I advise to purchase more infantry in the form of some Grey Hunter packs as you're a bit low on scoring units and may struggle in objective based missons.

I also run a Venerable Dread with AC and find it very effective. WS & BS 5 are great and the ability to re-roll your die roll for first turn has been invaluable. The trick is to walk him up in cover as best you can for the first few turns, he hits really well arond turn 3 or 4. Don't let him get picked of by long ranged fire.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the ideas.  I am going to switch to power fists over power weapons.  If I go with dreads over land raiders what do you think about doing an all drop pod army?  I've seen alot of people talking about them on the forums.  I'm thinking of adding one more group of grey hunters as well.  Thinking of going with the grey slayers models with the chaos back packs.

Anyway thanks for all the ideas guys.  I'm going to make sure to put it to use.

faithfully serving the true emperor,

augustus5

If at all possible, try toying with the idea of going for a drop pod army.  Of all the space marine armies out there- they look to be the most proficient at it as they can load up on a lot of anti infantry and shooty weapons to take down almost anything that gets within 12" of them.  That combined with counter charge and true grit will mean that getting close to the enemy will mean that you won't sacrifice the extra attack you get if you were charging with your bolter marines.  No Matter the Odds helps if you start losing too many guys before more reinforcements arrive.

I don't use plasma pistols as I don't like paying more for them than other armies, and they don't help you in hand to hand (which is your ultimate goal).

I use 1 fist and 1 power weapon in each squad. I also put wolfguard leaders (w/ power weapons/fists) in all my squads for the extra power weapons. I have over a dozen power weapons in my army and rarely lose to other marine armies (which is good for about an 85% win ratio by itself around here.)  All my wolfguard leaders have meltabombs, but I don't give them to any squads.

I take a Venerable Dread in every army. Assault cannon.

I can't stand Long Fangs due to the fact that every unsaved wound on the squad makes you lose high point model. Adding power fists into the squad will help reduce the need for heavy troops. The odd mix or stuff on your Long Fangs also seems weird. I'd probably drop the plasma cannon and multi-melta for thinking that compliment the other two guns.

As for additions....

I love my Land Raider (and/or Crusader) since it soaks up plenty of fire (it can dish out plenty too) and can deliver an HQ squad right into combat.

Even though Razorbacks are fragile, I use a twin lascannon one with a 6 man squad to bolster a weakened flank when needed or to just beef up a H2H combat I'm losing.

I've also used 3 bikes with an HQ on bike leading them to bolster flanks or help out in H2H. 

Also remember that if you go above 1500 you must add an HQ (Venerable dread). 

I also like speeders for their speed.  They're sacrificial for me.  I rush em' in then use them to get rid of the one piece of artilery I don't want to see anymore (usually battlecannons or basalisks).  After than anything they kill is just icing on the cake.

I'd only take the plasma pistols in a drop pod army as they cannot charge the turn they drop in (deep strike) so you're only left with shooting the first turn.  If you're able to get close to the enemy, the plasma pistols rock as they can help thin the enemy out - it gives you at least 3 shots (4 if you rapid fire the plasma gun).

Yes, I play space wolves along with my valhallan armor company.  I cant give you any points because i'm re-doing the army list for now.  It is an entire pewter army as I recieved it from a departing 40k player who was playing 3rd edition and good friend so I kept going with metal. Anyway, I like to field a Wolf Guard battle leader over a Wolf Lord because A: a lord is overkill in small battles and draws fire and is expensive. B: a wolf guard leader is cheaper and has the same access to wargear as the lord.  Use the lord in battles 2000 pts. or over.  Give the wolf guard leader a power armor retinue, no termie armor unless your really confident.  Cheap stuff maybe a heavy weapon( for the power armor guys).  Then a Grey hunter suad 6 man with fist ( I like razorbacks ),anothe hunter squad with power sword, add stuff to these accordingly they can turn the tide of battle.  A 8-10 man Blood claw squad ( not 15 so you can put them in a rhino,the have a tendancy to get shot up on foot ), go crazy with these as they rock in close combat.  And a longfang squad with sergeant w/any weapon you choose though he shoudnt get into close combat so power weapons are not needed. I give the fand a H/bolter, Plasma cannon, two lascannons.  I hate missile launchers.  Either give all the guys drop pod deep strike and leave vehicles or give everyone wolves and rhinos.  I have yet to get wolf scouts and the Venerable Dread but I know they're awesome and are at the top of my list.  Termis too expensive.  WOW, that was a long reply!

I would definately go with the Venerable Dread as an HQ, his hard to kill ability more than makes up for the point cost, I dont know how many times he would have been dead had it not been for that ability. I would only use plasma pistols with the Grey Hunters since I use mine for shooting mostly. Haven't done anything with drop pods yet but Im going to retool my army to try and use them just for S's&G's. And give your rune priest his runic weapon, in my experience its worth the points for a kick @$$ power weapon that can insta-kill with a psychic leadership test, and do take away the plasma pistol since my rune priest NEVER shoots since I discovered the glory that is Stormcaller.

Go the way of the battle leader over a wolf lord. A far better choice. If you do take a ven dread then give him the ML and assault cannon and put him in a drop pod. Using the pod for terrain, the BS5 really becomes nice.

Drop the long fangs altogether. They really aren't worth the points.

The SW are perhaps the only non raven wing army that can use bikes decently. Something to consider.

Fists are better than Powe weapons. Unless you are I5, take the powerfist. If you are I5 then go for lightning claws.

ender502