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So after I picked up the starter set as well as a second squad of Grey Hunters and a group of Skyclaws I'm not sure where to go forward in regards to HQ and other future purchases.

Welcome to the rout, for HQ consider njal stormcaller psychic powers for us are great for getting close with minimal casualties.

Wulfen are good at buffing the army ensuring you get the charge off and hit harder.

Thunder wolves are a favorite fast and hard hitting team them with a priest on bike they are hard to shift.

Honestly there's no terrible choices since they've buffed blood claws.

I have a 3 squad of TWC would you recommend more?

I would advise a mixed approach. The new Index looks good an well balanced but if you fixate on one or two unit types and build around them, you may find yourself in an awkward position if GW change them when we get our proper codex.

Blood Claws led by Lukas and a priest in a Land Raider look pretty solid. Grey Hunters are good but you could consider running them as Wolf Guard as they get an extra attack for just a few extra points and loads of extra weapon options.

Long Fangs love their plasma. Razorbacks with assault cannons look solid as for other Marines. Our Character dreadnoughts now benefit from being hard to shoot unless they are the closest target and our psychic discipline is solid.

I would say wolves are in a good position at the start of 8th.

9 TWC is a lot, and you'll want other things around since you can't assault things on 2nd floors. But i think an assault oriented SW list is definitely viable. A unit of wulfen and a couple of blood claw units in rhinos seems like a good addittion. Maybe make some of the TWC into HQs if you really want to use that many. And get some las cannon long fangs or predators for long range anti tank.

Oh by that I mean I have a squad of 3 not that I have 9 of them.

Start Collecting! Box will get you enough Thunderwolves for a full size unit and a squad of troopers, either Blood Claws or Grey Hunters.

You need an HQ, which can be all manner of things, selected out of the book. Bjorn the dreadnought is amazing, rune priest gives good psychic defense and utility, iron priest can fix your vehicles and is pretty spooky in melee, wolf guard, wolf priest, and wolf lord give aura benefits, most of these have the option to take bikes or thunderwolves, the latter being better in melee and the former being faster and slightly more shooty. Pick your poison, but I recommend doing these last.

You'll want a second trooper unit, so pick up a space wolves pack or two. These have 10 trooper models and build into most of the basic space wolves troopers. Specialist kit like heavy weapons, jump packs, or the like aren't found in here, but these boxes do build into either the Grey Hunters, Blood Claws or even Wolf Guard, depending on their equipment.

You'll want to give some thought on how to get your footslogging troopers up the table. Rhino transports are the cheapest point wise, land raiders are the most expensive, and stormwolf transports are basically flying land raiders.

Ultimately, you'll want to sit down with your Index, write up an army of appropriate size, then determine what model kits you need to build that army. I have my eyes on an air cav list running three stormwolves and troopers to fill them, with thunderwolves for melee punch. That means I needed two Start Collecting! boxes and three Stormwolf kits. I also have my eyes on a 12 dreadnought list that uses none of the aforementioned stuff.

Plan an army with your index, buy the kits you need for your list, expand based on your play experience.

Arjac and Wulfen are great, id also recommend Venerable stormshield dreds.

What do you guys think of this as a 1000pt starting concept.


Bjorn 210
-Twin Lascannon 50

Wolf Lord with Jumppack 93


3x Thunderwolf Cav 135
-1x Thunder Hammer 30
-3x Storm Shield 45

10x Grey Hunters 140
-8x Chainswords 0
-2x Meltas 34

10x Grey Hunters 140
-8x Chainswords 0
-2x Flamer 18

5x Skyclaws 80
-2x Flamers 18

As a start that looks solid to me but I'd consider plasma over flamers on grey hunters you are a bit low on high str weapons you may struggle against nids for example.

1) Do not maximize unit sizes, new morale system will punish you for that. Take 5-man size units whenewer it possible, 10 man squad gives you zero benefits.

2)Cavalry is too nerfed right now. Better pick wulfguards on bikes with the same loadout. They ate cheaper, have the same A:2 and the same S:4, and they have M:14 with extra 6 turboboost, while TWC lose its mobility and has no charge/run bonus at all.
Sure, TWC had its S:5 extra attack, but your main targets are tough multiwound units and this extra s:5 do not worth its points against priority targets like knights or big tanks/mosters. This S:5 attack good against infantry, but you have other units to deal with it, this is not the cavalry job.
Also bikes has its double bolters and free extra bolter or you can buy combi weapon in addition to your hammer+shield.
And belive me, being able to move 10+1d6 per round, or 14+flat6 to 20 overall has a huge difference.

TWC are a still a great unit, IMHO, the best unit in the SW codex. Thunder hammers are cheaper than before and quite deadly against high T values. A unit of six with 4-6 shields and two hammer is a solid squad. You can run 5 TWC and a wolf lord/battle leader on thunderwolf mount, who is better than the jump pack one.

Take no flamers, they don't worth it anymore, especially in grey hunters squads. Plasma guns are nice, but 5 man squads can be fielded even with no upgrades.

 Blackie wrote:
TWC are a still a great unit, IMHO, the best unit in the SW codex. Thunder hammers are cheaper than before and quite deadly against high T values. A unit of six with 4-6 shields and two hammer is a solid squad. You can run 5 TWC and a wolf lord/battle leader on thunderwolf mount, who is better than the jump pack one.

Take no flamers, they don't worth it anymore, especially in grey hunters squads. Plasma guns are nice, but 5 man squads can be fielded even with no upgrades.

Or you just take wulfguards on bikes with the same shields+hammer (mb a couple combi-flamer to clear the path), and they are plain better, than TWC.

Wolf Guard of all flavours do look particularly strong, especially since you can run an army of them using the Vanguard Deatchment (return of Loganwing!).

For 2 points more than Grey Hunters you can get +1A and many more upgrade options. Similarly, WG with jump packs or bikes look better than Skyclaws or Swiftclaws for just a small premium.

6-man Wolf guard with a couple of plasma guns and a couple of frost swords in an assault cannon Razoraback are pretty cheap and very deadly.

Hey look, an advice thread with contradictory advice. Who knew?

You have a solid starter list. More nutcracker weapons would be nice, but flamers are very useful in this edition, especially for flyers. TWC and bikes are both good. The wolf attacks are a rough balance to the ranged attacks of the bikes. The bikes getting shields for 5 instead of 15 might slightly favor them, but wolves perform really well. They also look good on the table, very thematic.

Once you decide on the units, add the characters that give you synergy, that's when the army will really shine. Wolves with the wolf characters are a real juggernaut. Arjac and Bjorn make Wolf Guard very nasty. Storm Bolters for 2 points makes WG the best multipurpose infantry choice.

xmbk wrote:
TWC and bikes are both good.

Sorry, but no, they don't.

In case you didn't open the wolf pages, TWC has no S:5 anymore. It has S:4, the same as the bike. And it has A:2. Again, the same as the bike.
AND it is twice slower, than the bike: M:10+1d6 against M:14+6. And it cost more, to add more insult. There are literally zero reasons to take TWC while the bike is still an option.

TWC also come with the start collecting box and the bikes do not and I don't want to necessarily buy to replace what I do have I'd rather get things I don't to move forward so the bikes which may or may not be better aren't too likely.

Silver144 wrote:

xmbk wrote:
TWC and bikes are both good.

Sorry, but no, they don't.

In case you didn't open the wolf pages, TWC has no S:5 anymore. It has S:4, the same as the bike. And it has A:2. Again, the same as the bike.
AND it is twice slower, than the bike: M:10+1d6 against M:14+6. And it cost more, to add more insult. There are literally zero reasons to take TWC while the bike is still an option.

Easy there, soldier: TWC get 3 wolf attacks, at S5/-1AP. If you open to the wolf pages, you'll see that bikes don't get any attacks from their mounts. TWC also have an extra wound. It's pretty balanced, which I know is unexpected from GW.

Besides, it's never a good idea to build an army by exploiting something that could easily be changed in the next codex.

TWC are still solid, their extra S5 attacks chew through hords easily. Granted, WG bikers with Stormbolters can kill hordes with shooting. But modelling an expensive squad on some unfluffy rules-option could end in rage and/or tears when that option is removed.

Nothing is really bad now, just pick the models you like the most.

What's always paid out so far are 5 Wulfen with mainly hammers, Fenrisian Wolves to shield them from unwanted charges and a Wolfpriest (bike or jump) to buf them. This could also be expanded with some TWC or jump troops or bikes.

xmbk wrote:

Silver144 wrote:

xmbk wrote:
TWC and bikes are both good.

Sorry, but no, they don't.

In case you didn't open the wolf pages, TWC has no S:5 anymore. It has S:4, the same as the bike. And it has A:2. Again, the same as the bike.
AND it is twice slower, than the bike: M:10+1d6 against M:14+6. And it cost more, to add more insult. There are literally zero reasons to take TWC while the bike is still an option.

Easy there, soldier: TWC get 3 wolf attacks, at S5/-1AP. If you open to the wolf pages, you'll see that bikes don't get any attacks from their mounts. TWC also have an extra wound. It's pretty balanced, which I know is unexpected from GW.

Oh my, looks like I have to repeat myself:

"Sure, TWC had its S:5 extra attack, but your main targets are tough multiwound units and this extra s:5 do not worth its points against priority targets like knights or big tanks/mosters. This S:5 attack good against infantry, but you have other units to deal with it, this is not the cavalry job."

Your extra S:5 attack will not help you against your priority target. But what will totally help you - M:20 across the board AND being able to hide. That's right, it is impossible to hide 3 dreadnought-based models behind the LOS block, and forget to ever receive cover with your cavalry. And what about bikes? Bike base is 3x time smaller than the single cavalry one. You can easily get cover in any ruin AND it is not a problem to find a los block, especially with that sweet M:20.

And there is more: you like that low str attacks? Fine. Let's give every wulfguard a combi-flamer. You move up to 20 to your enemy and make 5d6 S4 attacks. On the next turn you move again and look at this: every biker has THREE bolter (2 on bike and one in hand. that's right, you can take it in addition to your hammer+shield. Sweet, right?) So we have 6 rapid-fire bolter shots per biker, in totall of 30 (!) per squad. And then we shoot flamers, again. A lot of dakka, isn't it? I think this is much better, that those S:5 attacks. Especially when you can hide, receive cover and move across the board.

Less caffeine, my friend.

xmbk wrote:
Less caffeine, my friend.

I play SW since the 4 ed and every new edition make it literally worse. :с
I thought the wolfing wolves ridind the wolves with marine libby conclave will be the pinnacle of absurd, but now we were transfored in some kind on white scars.

Silver144 wrote:

xmbk wrote:
Less caffeine, my friend.

I play SW since the 4 ed and every new edition make it literally worse. :с
I thought the wolfing wolves ridind the wolves with marine libby conclave will be the pinnacle of absurd, but now we were transfored in some kind on white scars.

Really more a brown-grey scar.

Silver144 wrote:

xmbk wrote:
Less caffeine, my friend.

I play SW since the 4 ed and every new edition make it literally worse. :с
I thought the wolfing wolves ridind the wolves with marine libby conclave will be the pinnacle of absurd, but now we were transfored in some kind on white scars.

Been playing since 2nd, started dabbling during Rogue Trader. I like this edition better than the last couple, and it has the potential to be the best, imo.

Playing since 2nd as well so I've been through this before with third.

6&7 ed were terrible I won't miss them at all, things are basic now but if it leads to a better more balanced game in the future that's fine.

I run Guard Bikes for the twin purposes of bearing Shields and seeing the TWC make melee.
Thunderwolves aren't the world beaters they were in the last edition but they sure as hell aren't pushovers, they're the unit you launch at enemy units that can't leave combat without losing a round of shooting, or charging, or both. Load them up with pairs of Claws, back them up with Wulfen or a Standard or both and cut anything that gets in the way to shreds.

I dig mixed - pack a bit of everything and figure out what unit busts up what enemy unit.