Unit Name: Thunderwolves Unit Type: Fast attack, 1-5 model squads of cavalry.
Construction: Using the thunderwolves pack box.
Unit Deployment: In partial cover to screen line of sight.
Unit in play: Rapid strike assault squad.
Unit is most effective against: Low initiative or horde squads.
General Discussion:
Do you like space wolves riding wolves from space into battle? If so, Thunderwolf Cavalry. These guys are the secret wing of the wolf guard; nobody talks about them outside of the chapter. Only the strongest of the warriors can tame the monstrous wolves that roam the Asaheim plains, to even attempt this feat you need to be inducted into the wolf guard. I love the models and they bring a proper combat edge to your army. I took a look at these beasts again as I am currently playing around with a juggernaut lord for my chaos army.What do you get for your investment?
Thunderwolves come with power armour, bolt pistol, combat weapon, frag and krak grenades. They also come on a large beast that increases their combat efficacy by lending them the rending, fleet and hammer of wrath special rules. The cavalry come with the stat-line of a Grey Hunter with a few changes. An extra point in strength and toughness as well as baseline 4 attacks makes these beasts something to fear.If you don’t know how cavalry play yet, there are a few quick things that they do. They move 12” and have the fleet rule. Fleet means that they can re-roll their run or charge distance. These beasts can cover on average 15.5” a turn and up to 24” the turn they charge. At the end of turn two they should be anywhere you want them to be on the board. While they aren’t slowed by difficult terrain and because of frag grenades don’t take an initiative penalty, there is an issue of difficult terrain. Cavalry take a dangerous terrain test when they go through difficult terran. It’s not very likely but it can be problematic when you take a wound on the charge after having to weather overwatch.
When the beasts get to charge into combat they can rip units in two. Firstly hammer of wrath will soften the targets up, it doesn’t get any of the benefits from weapons or rending but it’s a free attack. Following that you have six attacks at initiative 4 with rending. If you run a large pack it can be quite a devastating unit.
What upgrades should be considered?
The weapons choices for the unit can be interesting. Firstly the idea of choosing mark of the wolfen is out of the question. You reduce a baseline 4 to D6+1, this averages to 4.5 attacks a turn. While the ability to get 7 attacks a turn sounds great, the truth of it is that you will also have to weather those turns you get 2 attacks. The cost of the upgrade is equal to a power weapon which can do a lot better than rending.Thunderhammers and powerfists are a solid choice for an anti-armour or monster killing. Unfortunately they are expensive and ensure you strike last. The upside is that you are almost guaranteed a penetrating hit on all vehicles but the downside is that most units will be striking ahead of you. Concussive on the thunderhammer is no longer as good as it used to be, while it does mean that anything you wound will strike at initiative 1, it no longer effects vehicles. If you are stripping wounds off of a monster with the thunderhammer then it is unlikely that you care when it hits as you’ll not get an armour save and if the monster smashes you’ll still be instant killed. In general I think the power fist is a better buy as it does what you need without the extra points wasted.
Power weapons offer different choices, sword, axe, maul and lance do something interesting. This is the only unit on which the lance is not a waste of time. The strength bonus can really be brought to bear since Thunderwolves have the attacks to make use of the first round benefits but unless you can wipe out the enemy in one round you are down to ap4. Power swords are the balanced power weapon, no bonuses to strength but ap 3 and striking at initiative. They can power through marine equivalents and do a decent job of killing most hq units. Mauls are great for monster hunting as they bump you up to strength 7 but hitting with ap4 really limits how effective they can be at cleaving through units. Finally the axe, I think in this squad an axe is not a good choice. The extra ten points buys you a 2+ to wound in almost every situation and a real anti-armour boost.
Frost blades are rather expensive and the added strength is of less impact due to the increased strength of a Thunderwolf. I fail to see why it is worth ten points more than a power weapon. A frost axe on the other hand is completely superfluous as every benefit it offers is matched and/or surpassed by a power fist. Strength is lower than a fist, its ap is the same and you still strike at initiative 1. If you want to use a frost axe buy a power fist.
I like the wolf claw just because it gives you the re-rolls. It is twenty points and you do drop an attack over a power weapon but it actually is more effective and will cause more wounds.
All in all I think you need to maximise what the unit can do, a powerfist seems to fit this better than any of the other options. The fist is a few points cheaper than a thunderhammer and while you strike last you get to ignore armour and instant kill most units that you will face. When compared to power weapons extra ten points also ensures that you are going to get more wounds from your hits, wounding on 2’s is always going to be better than 3’s or 4’s and the added ability to explode vehicles is a better investment. The fist allows you to make a much better job of an all-round assault unit.
So how would I arm the rest of the squad?
Quite simply either put storm shields on the models or nothing at all. 5th edition’s wound shenanigans are long gone and I am happy for it. Never again will a Thunderwolf be armed with a bolter or a stray meltabomb.. The level of ap2 and 3 weapons that can be found in most armies these days is quite a problem for such an expensive unit. If you are not looking to have these models blasted apart by every single heavy gun the enemy has then you might be best off springing for this upgrade. Yes you will have fewer attacks in combat but the squad’s survival will be increased. For the remainder of the options the only one worth talking about is the melta bomb. I don’t think this is a necessity but it can be useful to help power through heavy armour.
How to play the unit?
Multiple targets always works better than a single unit to aim at. Having one unit of Thunderwolves crossing the board is great but when you force your opponent to either split fire or sacrifice a flank you’ll get a lot more out of your cavalry. Two units of three wolves rather than one unit of five will do far more on the board and you can tie up two units at once in combat and when you’ve got a really dangerous threat you can focus on that.At leadership 8 they cannot afford to be taking too many leadership checks. Screening them from fire is a priority. Using tanks is a good option, since most people haven’t seen the swing back to light transports that others have just trust me it works. 35 points buys your Grey Hunters a quick jaunt across the board and unless you are unlucky they’ll just be kicked out of the Rhino after a turn or two’s movement. During this time you’ll be able to keep a 3 or 4+ cover save on your more expensive cavalry units. Another option is to run a unit of Fenrisian Wolves, they'll not be making many armour saves but they are only to soak wounds.
I've been mostly looking at how to run a cavalry unit as a character delivery system for the last week and while this works well it is a bit different to Thunderwolves. You cannot really afford to throw away these guys. They are not cheap and they have some weaknesses, if you want to make the most of them you need to screen them from fire. Heavy fire can severely impact the unit’s combat efficacy but a bolter line or even a lasgun line can actually be a problem. If you run a Thunderwolf lord it might be an idea to give him runic armour and try to have him eat through the wound pool.
Since they have only WS 4, it could be of great benefit to cast prescience on them, the turn they charge you’ll almost double you’re tally of wounds. If you do this for a unit with an attacked Battle Leader or Wolf Lord the number of wounds that will be inflicted will be quite high.
The only unit I foresee being an issue for Thunderwolves is terminator equivalents. The number of attacks the unit can pump out is impressive but even they will find it difficult to cut through a 2+ save. The real power of Thunderwolves is harriers, they should be able to break or wipe out any normal troop choice in a turn. The way I would play them is to cut down scoring and fire support units, take out the problem units first before moving on to the tough combat targets.
In conclusion:
I love these models. For a combat edge to a space wolves army Thunderwolves are a great option, they are the strongest unit in the fast attack section. They are fast, hard hitting and tough. They pump out a high number of attacks, have some good upgrades and can have an invulnerable save on every model. A harder unit in combat you won’t find in the codex. If you play them right they can hammer the enemy into submission. If you hug cover while minimising line of sight and make the most of their speed they shall make you proud. When you count up the kills at the end of the battle be assured that these monsters will have taken an immense tally.