Hello again fellow wargamers, it's Wolf Lord Rune here again with some new yet old stuff. Continuing with the update of our units for 6th Edition.I was thinking that today, I was gonna take a look at a section that seems to be often neglected by many players. At least based on my firsthand experience with other marine playing armies. Kind of Funny how that is so, considering that the units presented here are quite good. I'm talking about the "Elites" section.
The Elites And What They Bring To The Table:
Unlike many other Marine armies, ours looks quite different. There is nothing that is called sternguard and Vanguard veterans for example. When we look at the elites section it's often a specialized unit designed to fulfill a specific purpose in an armylist. I guess that might be why there isn't always that many elite units fielded, considering there might be units that can do the same job at almost the same success rate while doing other things like scoring objectives and such. Moving on to the units included in this section of our book then.
These guys are often said to be a compulsory choice for adding a character/sergeant to a squad of Grey Hunters, but you always have the choice of not taking the Leader of the pack with them for the extra free special weapon from having 10 Grey hunters and still be able to fit them in a Rhino or Drop Pod. When taking less than 10 men of any kind of squad that you wish to fit in a transport i think the wolf guard pack leader is a great choice since it can add a sergeant to take challenges and some special weapons for dealing with armoured units.
If you are on foot with a maxed out squad then i think the Terminator armour option is needed so you can take some 2+ saves for the team due to model placement. Also you can Look Out Sir the wound if it's something that would kill him anyway, just make sure the closest guy is not one with a special weapon/upgrade.
These guys also have the option to take terminator armor and the versatility seldom seen in any unit and can therefore be tailored to do just about anything. With that said, it also can be one of the most expensive unit in the codex as well.
A cool thing with Wolf Guard is that if you take Logan Grimnar as your HQ choice, these guys counts as Troop Choices, which in itself isn't to be taken lightly.
Also, Wolf guard have a unique character upgrade which is Arjac Rockfist, which costs the price of a wolf guard model and another 170 pts on top of that. What you'e looking at for these points is aWolf Guard Terminator with 2 wounds, a Storm Shield which grants an extra attack in the first round of any assaults he makes, a Thunder Hammer which he can throw 6", Saga of the Bear(Eternal Warrior). In addition his special rules like Grimnars Champion: Arjac has to allocate his attacks against an indepenent character if it is possible, in addition it let's him re-roll all failed to-hit rolls against Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures. He also has the Stubborn special rule which let's his entire unit ignore any negative modifiers when you have to take a leadership test.
So Arjac is one hell of a close combat monster, but don't expect him to make his points value back on the tabletop. My number one issue with him is that he costs so many points, and he only has 2 wounds. That being said, he is really cool, the model that came out last year is also very cool, and running him in a fluffy list with Logan Grimnar is guess what... very cool.
Leaders of The Pack:
3(or more) Wolf Guard Armed with Combi-Weapons according to the special weapons in the squads each wolf guard model joins.
Each wolf guard model cost 23 Points with just a combi weapon and nothing else, nice leadership boost and some more shooting output than a regualr marine. If you want him to be able to kill stuff in close combat add in a Power Sword or a Power Axe for 10 cheap well spent points.
These guys are nice to add in to grey hunter squads to add some punch and firepower and just seems like a very nice addition to just about any army. I don't really care much for footslogging Space Wolves armies since it takes a damn long time to walk across the table, meet something that ignores cover while shooting at you and your squads won't be lasting all too long. Yes CSM, i am looking at you and your annoying noise marines and blastmasters.
Distracterrific Mk1:
5 Wolf Guard Terminators w/ 3 Combi-Plasma, 2 Combi-Melta, Drop Pod 225 Pts.
Alright, so things that i think Wolf guard do well is using Combi-Weapons at a fairly cheap price tag, dropping them in with a Drop Pod is a nice way of greeting your enemy on the tabletop. With a Setup like this you can cause quite some disarray in the turn you come in and have some staying power as well while letting other units in your army advance without taking too much fire, Nobody wants 5 terminators walking around their own deployment zone causing havoc for multiple turns.
They are good for taking out MEQ units such as Devastator Squads, combat squads, Xenos, and with a bit of luck you can even take out some TEQ units if your rolls in the shooting phase aren't half-bad. You can also take out tanks if your roll decently on the dice with the combi weapons if that is the most threatening unit your opponenet has brought. Think of how much you'd love having your Long Fangs Removed early in the game because of a unit armed like this came in on turn 1 and shot you to pieces.
Assault Guard:
5 Wolf Guard Terminators w/ 3x Double Wolf Claws, 2x Powerfist/Storm Shield. 260 Pts
Dedicated Transport: Land Raider Redeemer w/ Multi-Melta. 250 Pts.
These Guys are really cool and bring one heck of a punch to the party with the land raider adding a bit of shooting to soften up targets before you charge in and mop up the rest of the gang.
With this setup you have a little room to mix it up a bit as well since the land raider redeemer can carry up to twelve models or sic models with the bulky rule. In any case i would urge you to add a nice HQ or something to give even more punch to this squad.
Possible Candidates for this would often be a Wolf Lord, Wolf Priest, Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Logan Grimnar, Arjac Rockfist and such. Actually, a Rune Priest is not too shabby either with the right powers.
If i were to take a Rune Priest with me, i think i would take the powers from the Space Wolves Codex, like Living Lightning and JotWW or Biomancy Powers to make him a bit more Awesome.
The biomancy Primaris power Smite isn't half-bad when you think of it( S4, AP2, Assault 4) and the other powers like Life Leech, Iron Arm and Warp Speed can really enhance the output of your Rune Priest, to top it off, a Rune Priest with Terminator armor and a Wolftooth Necklace is only 130 Points and also adds psychic protection to most of your army with the insane reach the runic staff has, for an extra overkill upgrade you could take Master of Runes to be able to cast 2 Psychic Powers each turn, your Rune Priest now costs 180 pts. Like a true Deathstar in points value i'd say.
Divination has misfortune of course, which means that any saving throws made by your opponent that were successful must be re-rolled, and Forewarning gives you 4+ invulnerable save which is pretty darn good as well, but that would depend on how many Storm Shields your unit has.
Telekinesis doesn't seem to fit all to well with this group so i usually wouldn't be using that.
Well, i guess that would cover the Wolf Guard unit for my sake, feel free to add in some cents in the comment field :)
Dreadnoughts:
Dreadnoughts, i've always loved dreadnoughts... Actually Walkers in general i think. If there is something that screams Fire Support it must be the dreadnought in our codex. The main reason for that is that they cannot have 2 Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons while many other Space marine armies can. I would like them to be able to have it, but then again, most people would probably end up using a shooty rifleman dread in 6th Edition anyway. It's basically a tank that walks instead of rolls and has an Armour Value of F12, S12, R10 and has 3 Hull Points which makes it quite Durable. Then there is the bigger brother, the Venerable Dreadnought. What you pay for in general is BS and WS 5 and you can make your opponent re-roll a dice on the Vehicle Damage Chart should you not like the result he got. But for 60 points extra, i think i'd rather take those point into another Dread or something entirely different.
So now that we all agree that Dreadnoughts are very stylish looking i think it is safe to proceed with the roles a dreadnought can fulfill in deeper detail.
Autocannon Rifleman:
Dreadnought w/ 2x (T)win Linked Autocannons 125 Pts.
With 4 S7, Ap4 shots a turn at 48" range with re-rolls to hit, i'd say it's a fair price to pay for an excellent, durable weapons Platform. A thing i like with it is that you can place it on the field and the enemy will often overlook it for a while since it doesn't scream SHOOT ME FIRST! That leaves it with some room to perform it's role of support fire admirably. It can take out Fliers if need be, it can take out transports and it can instakill Xenos/Guardsmen if there isn't much else to shoot at. In any case i think that the Rifleman Dread is really worth a look at if you are going for a gunline army or simply just need something to support your advancing troops. It can also easily help you get first blood by just popping a transport.
Standard Template Dreadnought:
Dreadnought w/ Nakedness and a Drop Pod 140 Pts.
Options: Replace Assault Cannon with Twin Linked Multi-Melta For tank busting.
It's kind of a 5th Edition trick that you put a Dread with a Multi-Melta in a pod and blow stuff up only to get blasted next turn, but hey, it still works against some armies. Actually, with a twin linked Multi melta, that Terminator unit riding in a Land Raider might nit even get across the board if you get to blow it up early in the game. The exchange of a Dreadnought vs a land raider and some delayed models inside the land raider is quite a good bargain. Another example is the Dark Eldar. They Do not like to be surprised by a Dreadnought Dropping in and firing an Assault Cannon/Multi-Melta into their Raiders/Venoms early in the game causeing things to explode killing little space elves by the second, causing them to flee of the board. Maybe not something to rely upon, but it is known to work.
Anyways, i like Dreadnoughts, i think they are worth their salt, and i'd like to hear your opinions on how you work them out or how you think they are bad should that be the case.
I'm not gonna lie, i haven't got much experience with the Iron Priest... There simply is no room for him in a list that i feel would work out nicely on the tabletop. Why? well, you have so much other stuff that is ten times better points spent. He is fragile once he fails his armour save(2+) beacuse of ony 1 wound, of course the cyberwolves are cool and all, quite cheap for what they do, but this unit really isn't going to make your army better and is not a very forgiving unit should you play it unwisely. Although i would say that your first mistake is made the moment you decide to put these guys into your army for other than cool looking models.
Sure, he has a thunder hammer, a servo arm, Runic armor, can be mounted on a Thunderwolf, can add in cyberwolves and servitors... But he just doesn't fit the playstyle of the space wolves in my most sincerely honest opinion.
On a side note, i would love to be proven wrong if anyone has had any success fielding this fella here with his little minions and creations.
Wolf Scouts:
I actually like wolf scouts quite alot. They can outflank nicely behind enemy lines and you could rely on them to appear mostly where you want them to come in due to Their "Behind Enemy Lines" and "Acute Senses" special Rules.
Their role as i see it is basically to pop some armour in the enemy deployment zone and then move along to the next target. My biggest beef however with the Scouts in the Space Wolves Codex is that they are Elites Choices instead of being Troops Choices like in the Space Marine Codex.
Wolf Scout Tank Hunters:
5 Wolf Scouts w/ 1x Melta Bomb, Meltagun. 90 Pts.
Other Options: Adding in more melta bombs to make things blow up in assault, although you would have to survive that first turn where you are stuck with only shooting.
Basically outflank these guys and start blowing stuff up. It's not the best option in the book due to less vehicles in 6th ed. But against Imperial Guard with tanks and stuff, these guys can make holes in the static formation that IG tends to have.
if you'd like you could also have sniper rifles to make wolf scouts have a different role, but surely you can think of other things that can fulfill those roles equally good or better.
Any other thoughts on this unit would a make me happy as with all the other units :)
Okay guys. The lone wolves are quite the weird unit i must say. I don't think i will go too much into their effectiveness as they can perform very well for some, and only be a points sink for others. What i do like is the concept of the unit. The last man remaining of a wolf pack... I am a bit at a loss since i don't really enjoy fielding these guys. There are some well known build for these that have been stated earlier which i think is a bit over the top and some that i think are plain cool.
Lone Wolf #1:
Lone Wolf w/ Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Storm Shield, 2 Fenrisian Wolves 105 Pts.
Hmmm, running these guys around the table can be quite effective considering that they will either take fire from other units, or simply be ignored until they hit the frontlines and starts to kill something. The funny thing about the lone wolves is that you want them to die. Kamikaze for the win however absurd it sounds. a way of keeping out of too much fire would be running up the field behind a transport or something that blocks line of sight would work if you want him to keep alive for as long as possible.
Lone Wolf #2:
Lone Wolf w/ Storm Shield, Mark Of the Wulfen. 65 Pts.
Optional Upgrades: 2 Fenrisian Wolves. +20 Pts.
With Mark Of the Wulfen, you get 1+d6 attacks and those attacks my friend are Rending! Add in the Storm Shield for some survivability and if you feel like it, add in some extra bodies in form of fenrisian wolves to protect from shooting and you've got yourself a mad as hatters furry friend that only wishes to die in battle(while taking some xenos scum down with him). I like this option the best since it's a bit cheaper, i don't want to throw in the equivalent of a Dreadnought in points for a suicidal little mongrel that might get something done or nothing at all.
Looking at what these two builds presents, then it is clear that the top one is more dedicated to deal with vehicles and armoured units, while the second one is more of an infantry hunter. Either way, as for points efficiency i don't think that these guys are the best of choices.
Conclusion:
With that wall of text out of the way, I would say that there are many options that are good, some that are alright and at least one option which i think is a bad choice altogether. If i were to state my favorite units from the elites sections it would be as follows:
Dreadnought w/ 2x Twin-Linked Autocannons
Wolf Guard Pack Leaders w/ Power Axes/Combi-Weapons
Wolf Guard Terminator w/ Combi-Weapons
Wolf Guard Assault Terminators
As a last note, The pack Leaders can also be part of the same squad as the terminators. That means that you get a nice and tough unit while you also get some boosting effects to your Troop choices, all from only 1 Force Organisation Slot, which is pretty nifty i'd say.
Again, Thanks to all who keep on reading the Space Wolves Blog! It is for you that we write, well... and a little bit for ourselves that we keep on writing. It helps to catalogue our own thoughts as well as getting new thoughts from all of your helpful comments. We all have different minds, and that is what makes this hobby so great!
If you have anything to add, or want to ask about, just put it in the comment section below! Sharing is Caring, right?
