Let me just say that this is probably the part of the book that gets used the least, and i can see why people tend not to take too much from it. The rest of the book offers up more interesting things at a first glance than the fast attack section, like Long Fangs, Lone Wolves, Vindicators, Wolf Guard, Dreadnoughts and last but not least, a ton of unique characters with tons of wargear and fancy stuff and fur.
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| Picture Taken from Tartan Paint Studios |
Skyclaws:
These guys here are sort of the black sheep in amongst the space wolves chapter, the biggest troublemakers among the bloodclaws. You basically get a man in power armour, prone to frothing and rampaging, a man who is anarchic and semi-uncontrollable... And somewhow the wisest decision you can come up with; you give him a Jump Pack... Is it me or does it smell like carnage and destruction already?
They are subject to all the rules a bloodclaw unit have, the only difference is that they count as Jump Infantry and get the rules stated in the warhammer 40k rulebook that are associated with it's unit type. So if you haven't used your jump pack in the movement phase, you can re-roll your charge distance, and also get hammer of wrath on the charge. That means that all models that are in base contact at initiative step 10 gets an attack at their unmodified strength characteristic at AP-. It's not much, but i could very well thin down some units before the actual combat starts.
I happen to enjoy the way skyclaws play, not that they are extremely good at at what they do for their points, but beacuse i like models with Jump Packs. There is one thing these guys do pretty well, and that is infantry hunting. You can kit them out with some shooting weapons as well, but they only have BS 3. Of course they aren't badass in close combat since they have only WS 3 as well, but it's something that can be mitigated by adding in a Wolf Priest which gives them Fearless and Preferred enemy.
There are some builds that i think are better than others, and so i think i might as well list up one of them and describe how i could see it used.
RAAAGE! GRRRR!
10 Skyclaws w/ Mark Of the Wulfen, Powerfist 220 Pts.
Alright, so these guys can dish out 32 normal attacks, up to 9 Rending attacks(d6+1,+2 from Berserk Charge) and 3 Str 8, AP 2 attacks on a charge.
As i mentioned above a Wolf Priest would actually make quite a good addition for this unit to help them make the most out of their charges. I'd strongly recommend that at least some sort of Independant character to lead them into battle so they don't go attacking what seems to be the best, and with the best i mean the closest target.
Independent Character Builds:
Wolf Priest w/ Jump Pack, Melta Bomb 130 Pts.
Notes: A simple way of dealing with most things on the table, all in all it's not a bad build.
Rune Priest w/ Jump Pack, Melta Bomb 130 Pts.
Notes: With Divination you could get re-rolls from the Primaris Power, re-roll to hit/to wound and saving throws with "Precognition", make the opponent re-roll all successful saving throws with "Misfortune", or perhaps a 4+ Invulnerable save for the whole unit with "Forewarning".
This unit also has the potential to be a fairly durable Linebreaker unit as well. I also think that using the deep strike rule with these guys could put you at a disadvantage, more so than just letting them walk over the board since you have to stand and wait for 1 round and do nothing before you can actually do anything after deep striking. But hey! if you are already fielding Skyclaws, then winning the match most likely isn't your top priority.
Swiftclaw Bikers:
Okay, so bikers in my book are all about the mobility and the possibility to be tank hunters. The greatest strength of the swiftclaw bikers however, are their bikes. It Sounds pretty obvious to you as you read it, but if you compare it to other armies bikes, the swiftclaws have some disadvantages. First of all they are WS 3 and BS 3, which makes them less than good at both shooting and close combat due to the unit not being very big in addition to being less skilled. The other fact that buggers me about them is that they can't be troops like in the Space marine codex. That way they are left to only function as a support role for the rest of the army and looses out to other choice in the army in my book.If i were to take Bikers in a space wolf army i think it would have to be a versatile unit that can support just about any other part of my army. Let's say the long fangs can't take down that land raider fast enough! Swiftclaws comes up the flank with a multi-melta and a meltagun, led by a wolf guard on a bike with a combi-melta. Pew Pew, there goes the durable land raider into pieces. Let's say that a swarm of Orkz/Nids are running straight towards your lines ready to decimate some of your more valuable units, the swiftclaws comes in and cuts them off before they can reach their destination. Again, Support.
If you get my point, that is how i would play them when it comes to space wolves bikers. In other Armies i'd use them as scoring units that can hold their ground much better due to T5 and mobility as well as being a harassing unit chocked with meltaguns to take out tanks and TEQ units with shooting, and assaulting mostly when i know i'll be coming out of the combat with minor casualties.
I don't really have any Preferred Builds when it comes to Swiftclaw bikers, other than having a wolf guard on a bike with them, but they are most likely the only unit i would kit out to be a "Jack Of All Trades".
Fenrisian Wolves:
I like Fenrisian wolves, but only when taken with a character that has Saga of The Wolfkin. That way they are I5 and Ld 7 instead of their usual profile. It also helps if you have a powerhouse HQ on a Thunderwolf that you wish to deliver into close combat. They are beasts, so they can easily move through terrain and they can be used to bog down other units, and best of all, they only cost 8 points a piece.
"WLDS"
10-15 Fenrisian Wolves 80-120 Pts
I like to call this unit a "WLDS", A Wolf Lord Delivery System. That's basically what I have taken them for in previous lists that i have played, but since i don't use thunderwolves too much because of the meta shift with flyers and all, i can't really say they go as a competitive solution anymore.
However, analyze your meta first before you write them of, because they can put out quite an amount of attacks, and as numbers and dices go, with pure weight of numbers, something is bound to go down.
Thunderwolf Cavalry:
Alright! We have gone through this unit so many times in discussions all over the internet, and i honestly don't feel like saying too much about it since Declan has written up quite the analysis of them a little while back. Sorry, it's my lazyness kicking in :P
However, i will not leave them totally untouched, here's a build that has worked well for me earlier although it does cost alot of points.
Team Jacob
3 Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ 3x Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer 270 Pts.
Alright, so the idea here is that they can hunt anything! There are two guys with S5 and rending and a S10 Thunder hammer guy. You can Instant death some stuff and have a fair chance of getting rending on some of the attacks. With 4 attacks in the profile and 5 attacks on the charge, you can wreck just about anything that doesn't fly. They are also quite durable due to their storm shields that grants them 3+ Invulnerable saves. Add in a badass Thunder-Wolf-Lord and you have your very own deathstar that actually works.
Land Speeders:
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| Picture Taken From Spellscape Miniatures |
I like Land speeders. I've liked them since i saw star wars back when i was a kid, and i don't really see how people can hate speeders at all. So what do land speeders do? well, they can do quite a lot of cool things actually. I thought i might as well list up a few reasons why you should take speeders.
No.1 Land Speeders Are Cool
No.2 Land Speeders Are Versatile
No.3 Land Speeders Are Fast
No.4 Land Speeders Are Fairly Cheap
No.5 If you have some points left, why not?
There Are of course some reasons that might compel you not to take them, like, you don't have the points for them, they are only AV 10 all around and only have 2 Hullpoints, or they don't fit your style. But most of all, i think if you are going to take something from the fast attack section of the FoC, it might as well be Land Speeders. You can fit them to take out most things effectively at a budget rated price tag when it comes to points, maybe not so much when it comes to your wallet.
With the choices between Heavy flamers, Heavy Bolters, Multi-Meltas, Assault Cannons and Typhoon Missile Launchers, you can basically arm yourself for just about anything.
Missile Speeders:
1 Land Speeder w/ Typhoon Missile Launchers 90 Pts.
1 Land Speeder w/ Typhoon Missile Launchers 90 Pts.
If you are going first in a game, then deply these guys to help taking out units for First Blood and removing threats that can take them down very fast. In most cases, they should be able to do something that first round unless night fighting is happening. But if you can't shoot your enemy, then your enemy most likely can't shoot you either.
If you happen to go second, you could deploy them in reserves or simply hide them behind terrain or use range limitations of your enemy to negate them giving first blood.
Melta-Speeders:
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| Picture Taken From Spellscape Miniatures |
1x Land Speeder w/ Multi Melta 60 Pts.
These are some sort of suicide units that can, with the right rolls really mess up your enemy formation and to top it of, it's not that many points that gets blown up should they happen to accomplish very little. They can work as tank hunters and transportation disruptors and the like. I however like the missile variant better despite it's point costs. The difference though is that you could have 3 land speeders with the melta loadout and only 2 with the missiles for the same amount of points.
If you Would like it to hunt transports, i might suggest adding a heavy flamer to the melta variant for some infantry killing power. It could also be a very nice way to kit them out in a TAC-List kind of way.
With that out of the way i think that i've gotten through most of the units in this book, except for the Special Characters.
As usual, I really enjoy hearing of your exploits with the units we all have to work with. How do you play them? how well do they play? What Builds do you find optimal?
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your time.
-Rune
