Wolves for the Wolf King here again - this time to take a look at the use of Allies while keeping your Space Wolf Force as Primary.
Something people may have taken too much at face value is that Imperial armies have been Lumped together under "Armies of the Imperium". The point that I'm getting at is that 7th edition has given us a whopping 12 battle brother allies and with the new force organisation charts and various formations floating about we can pick and choose what we want to use as we wish and gives us access to nearly every rule imaginable and, if you're smart about where you're getting it from, at reasonable point cost.
The best thing about formations and new funky force org charts is that in most cases they allow you to pick up some pretty cool models outside of your normal range without needing to splash out on a full army. A few new models and formations have caught my eye over recent weeks and I've been wracking my brains as to how we as Space Wolf players can incorporate them into our lists to create a good Synergy.
Obvious starting point is the new kids on the block: Adeptus Mechanicus
Codex: Skitarii
With army wide Docterina Imperatives you can swing from gaining a super high Ballistic skill to weapon skill and with their funky new weapons, have a good chance at adding a little extra spice to your lists.
Skitarii battle maniple:
A HQ-less Force organisation chart, however with 2 mandatory troop choices means potential for minimal buy in.
Obvious choice here is two squads of vanguard or Rangers depending on what unit takes your fancy and fits your play style.
For vehicle hunting In a generic Drop podding Space wolf list, I’d consider dropping your meltagun units in favour of some Skitarii Vanguard in fast attack drop pods kitted out with arc rifles, Arc Pistols and omnispex. Reduce your opponents cover save and blast away with all that Haywire and if there's no vehicles to shoot, you still have multi-shot S6 weaponry to fall back on and use. If you want to go hunting for more elite units, swap out the Arc rifles for the Plasma Calivers - essentially: a three shot Plasma gun. The stock Vanguard troopers Radium Carbines are no snooze either – S3 Assault 3 weapons that on the roll of a 6 cause 2 wounds on the target unit regardless of toughness (eat that Space elves) you could even max out the unit and run them with just an omnispex. While in an ideal situation these guys wouldn't see combat, the Rad-saturation special rule increases their chances by reducing the opponents toughness by 1 – also great if your opponent is crying that Thunderwolves are S9 instead of S10!
Unfortunately, aside from going Unbound, the Battle Maniple is the only way to get Dunecrawlers into your list. These hefty crab lookin’ walkers boast a all round av12 3hull points, a war gear option to gain the ‘It will not Die’ USR and a invulnerable save that increases to a 4++ when in a squadron of 3. Needless to say real reason you're going to adding these to your Space wolf list is for the Iccarus Array, being one of the best weapons in Anti-air & Anti Skimmer around at the moment. Alternatively the Neutron laser & cognis heavy stubber with an extra pintle mounted cognis heavy stubber allows you to drop some S10 ap1 blast templates on your opponents head whilst boasting a BS2 Snapshot - great for overwatch - providing a better chance of upsetting some of those pesky Av10 flyers. These models also boast the biggest bases in 40k at the minute and with then 4” vehicle squadron coherency you can also play some area denial games. The only down side to the Dunecrawlers is that they can start to become very expensive very quickly with certain war gear options especially when squadroned.
Skitarii Formations
Skitarii Ironstrider Cavaliers formation:
One of the biggest issues I find when playing a full Thunderwolf list is despite the speed, having to slog all the way across the board to catch my opponents units. I have often wished for a cheap non-drop pod way to get into my opponents backlines early in the game to heard them towards my Thunderwolves, whilst retaining the speed and combat ability similar to the rest of my list.
Enter the Ironstrider Cavaliers.
At a base cost of 145 points, again, this formation is a relatively inexpensive buy-in for what it brings. This formation consists of three units; one unit of ironstriders and two units of Sydonian Dragoons, allowing them to roll for reserves from Turn 1 and outflank with acute senses.
This is absolute gold if you're running a Thunderwolf heavy list. The early arrival coupled with the fact its straight in your opponents face with a 9” dunestrider move forces them to make some quick decisions, distracting them away from the looming masses of Thunderwolves.
The Dragoons Taser Lance charge is brutal despite lacking AP, hitting at I6 S8 on the charge and causes an extra TWO automatic hits when you roll 6’s to hit. The ironstrider itself is best to sit back and keep obscured, maybe even use it vs flyers, snapping with a twin-linked BS2.
The Formation also allows you to field some bully boy tactics and pick an enemy character at the beginning of the game, following which, all units in this formation can reroll to wounds against this character and his unit.
In my view the best way to run this formation is x2 squads of x3 Sydonian Dragoons to X1 unit of x2 Ironstriders. Don't forget to make use of the Doctorina Imperatives to boost that WS & BS!!!!
Sicarian Killcade Formation:
Ok so with 3 units of Ruststalkers and a unit of Infiltrators this one is a bit more of an expensive formation and as much as I hate to admit it, I do have a bit of a soft spot for the Mushroom-headed Bastards… But with regard to their inclusion as allies within a Space Wolf army I can see these working well along side either a Thunderwolf or Rhino-rush style list.
Again they're another pair of units with Speed on their side owing to Dunestrider. The Ruststalkers are your more combat orientated unit, boasting a incredible amount of Haywire and a crapload of attacks with Transonic Weapons that essentially rend in the first round of combat, before dropping to a flat ap2 with 6’s wounding regardless of toughness there after. The chordclaws shouldn't be overlooked either. They boast the same transonic rule along with one attack gaining Fleshbane.
The Slaughter Sprint ability in this formation allows the Ruststalkers to make a Run move and assault in the same turn. Coupled with how Dunestrider affects their movement, that's potentially up to a whopping 33” charge threat range per unit.
The infiltrators play a different game, their Nuerostatic Aura debuffs your opponent hideously forcing units within their threat range to subtract 1 from their Weapon Skill, Balistic Skill, Initiative and Leadership. The formations rule ‘Malignant Susurrations’ increases this threat bubble from within 6” to 12” of the unit. Weapon-wise I'm a fan of the Fletchette Blasters and Taser Goads. Don't let the S2 of the Fletchette Blasters put you off. They are bust pistols shooting 5 shots instead of 1, can wound up to T5 with rerolls thanks to Shred and double up as an extra close combat weapon granting that extra attack.
The downside to this formation is that all types of Sicarian are very Squishy at T3. Sicarian Battle armour grants them a 4+/6++ along and they have FNP as a stock USR. The two wounds per model helps a bit but anything S6 or better is instant killing them. The best way to play these guys is to make use of their speed and keep them out of line of sight, hogging cover until the time is right to unleash their slaughter sprint.
Codex: Cult Mechanicus
Similar to Skitarii, the Cult Mech have Armywide buff in the form of Cantacles of the Ommnisiah. These can increase and decrease in effectiveness depending on the number of Cult Mech units you have on the table but used correctly they can really give you a good advantage.
Tech Priest Dominius:
Great looking model and at 105points stock he's a steal for what he can bring. Chuck him the Autocadues of Arkhan Land and stick him into a unit of your finest Thunderwolves to give them all ‘it will not die’. Sure he’ll slow them down a tad but the look on your opponents face when your entire unit of Thunderpuppies regrow wounds they've fought so hard to take off is priceless.
He can also be used in place of an Iron Priest to repair hull points/ weapon destroyed / immobilised results on friendly vehicles which he can do instead of firing one of his weapons on a 2+ a without the need for servitors. His ranged weapons are pretty solid too boasting the only access to Volkite Weaponry in 40k (at the minute). Always give him the Conversion Field for a 2+/4++ and a chance to cause blind.
To include the Tech Priest Dominius you can either use the Allied force org or take the cult mech force org depending on what points you have spare. The recommended troop slot is the Kataphron Destoryers. Load them up with the 30” range Salvo 3/6 Heavy Grav cannons and throw them in a drop pod. At 165 points per three man squad with 18 Grav shots per unit, there's no reason to take Centurions ever again and the best thing is, the more you take of them, the stronger Canticles of the Ommisiah becomes.
Holy Requisitioner Formation:
X1 Tech Priest Dominus and x2-x3 units of Kataphron Breachers. The whole formation has the ability to deepstrike without scatter and the Breachers get some nice buffs if camped within 6” of an objective. This formation really helps you gain some area control.
The Arc cannons are beauties for bringing plenty of decent ranged haywire to the table and the torsion cannons are pseudo D weapons - every Wound or Hull point caused by this weapon causes D3 instead. Both weapons are great if you're facing Super heavies or Gargatuan Monsterous Creatures regularly. Taking the full 4 units in this formation puts you in the middle range effects of Cantacles of the Ommnisiah allowing for some decent abilities too so plan what ones you're going to use and make use of them!!!
These guys are great. If your planning on taking a list similar to my ‘Lone Wolves’ Wolf Guard Terminator MSU list as discussed in my Previous Article or generally any list where you need some decent size models to control your back field objectives and get your enemy out of their vehicles and footslogging into the blaze of your guns, then you should consider this formation.
So yeah, those are just a few ideas I wanted to share. I've deliberately avoided the War Convocation as every man and his dog has heard about what that can do. Yawn.
In my view, both Ad mech Codexes allow for reasonably cheap buy-in and are guaranteed to make your opponent let out a little bit of wee as the robo-men from Mars descend to aid the Sons of Russ in making a mess of their toys.
Has anyone else been allying any Adeptus Mechanicus with their Space Wolves? Care to share your experiences in the comments?
That's it for now from me,
Wolves for the Wolf King