I should also mention that if you love the background, stories and artwork, Champions of Fenris is an excellent book. But if you only want it for the rules you may not be too happy about the £30 price tag.
The book contains new Warlord Traits, new Relics, a new detachment, new formations and some new (fun!) missions to play.
Because we're looking to get the best from our Space Wolves armies, we only care about the Warlord Traits, new Relics and the free buffs for taking this new "Company of the Great Wolf" detachment.
Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
If you choose to take this detachment, your Troop Choices lose the "Objective Secured" special rule from the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook. Because that's the special rule for the Standard Detachment.
But, in exchange, you get Sagaborn, First Among Equals, Grimnar's Right Hand and Kingsguard special rules, as well as new Warlord Traits and new Relics.
Is it worth it? Well, we'll figure that out by the end of this blog post.
Sagaborn: Characters part of a Detachment or Formation from Champions of Fenris Must always issue and accept challenges.
First Among Equals: All Wolfguard Battle Leaders, Wolfguard Pack Leaders, Wolfguard Terminator Leaders and Thunderwolf Cavalry Leaders have the Preferred Enemy special rule in Challenges.
Grimnar's Right Hand: Re-Roll on the Champions of Fenris Warlord Traits chart (which is totally awesome!).
Kingsguard: The following units receive +1 WS: Wolfguard, Wolfguard Pack Leaders, Wolfguard Terminators, Wolfguard Terminator Leaders, Thunderwolf Cavalry and Thunderwolf Cavalry Leaders.
SUMMARY
Would you choose "Objective Secured" for your Troops, or take Preferred Enemy for Wolfguard Characters and Thunderwolf Cavalry in challenges, a better Warlord Traits chart and +1 WS for all Wolfguard and Thunderwolf Cavalry?
I guess it depends on what kind of army you're running and how important those objectives are to your overall strategy. More on this after...
Relics of the Great Wolf:
Please note that you cannot mix and match these with the Relics from the Space Wolves Codex.
Armour of Asvald Stormwrack: Terminator armour with a 2+ save, 4+ invulnerable and It Will Not Die. Probably not worth it for the extra 15pts on top of regular Terminator armour cost.
Frostfury: A 4 Assault Storm Bolter with Helfrost!
Krakenborne Sword: AP2 Frost Sword. Not bad at all. Especially for a Character riding a Thunderwolf.
Morkai's Claws: Rending Wolf Claws with +D3 attacks. Really good!
The Pelt of Balewolf: Beasts, Cavalry or Monstrous Creature unit types in base contact automatically fail a Fear test. Unless Fearless or And They Shall Know No Fear. Considering Monstrous Creatures are they only thing you would worry about and they tend to be Fearless, I wouldn't bother taing this.
Fellclaw's Teeth: Reroll all failed to hit rolls in close combat. Totally worth it.
SUMMARY
All the Relics here just seem so much better than the ones in Codex Space Wolves. The only thing Codex Space Wolves has that's really good is the Armour of Russ. But when you're likely to be striking first with the Krakenborne Sword or Morkai's Claws and Fellclaw's Teeth, not to mention a badass Warlord Trait, is the Armour of Russ such an essential requirement for an Independent Character, especially when you can buy a Belt of Russ or Storm Shield?
Warlord Traits:
Fire in the Blood: Reroll single failed saving throw every turn.
Thread-Cutter: Reroll all failed to wound rolls.
Gatekeeper: Nominate one weapon carried by warlord, becomes Master Crafted cannot be used on Relics.
Blessing of the Wolf: Warlord and any unit he joins during deployment have Outflank.
Thane to the King: Warlord is Fearless.
Deeds Beyond Counting: Warlord has Preferred Enemy.
SUMMARY
Best Warlord Traits in the game? Maybe...
My Warlord always has Runic or Terminator armour for a 2+ save, so Fire in the Blood is brilliant.
Space Wolves always get stuck into combat, so Thread-Cutter is awesome.
A single re-roll to hit with Gatekeeper? Sure, I'll take that if I haven't already taken Fellclaw's Teeth.
Blessing of the Wolf is very situational. I'm personally not a fan of Outflanking because it's unreliable.
Fearless is ok. Preferred Enemy is nice to have unless I've already taken Fellclaw's Teeth.
Oh but wait, "Grimnar's Right Hand" rule says I can reroll if I don't like the first result.
Well, I'm going to take Fellclaw's Teeth, so I have a 50/50 chance of rolling something good the first time round. But if I don't get Fire in the Blood, Thread-Cutter or Gatekeeper, I may as well roll again.
CONCLUSION
Ok, some let's bring this together.
I can swap the Relics and Warlord Traits from Codex Space Wolves for some far better ones in Champions of Fenris.
To do that, my Troops Choices lose "Objective Secured".
But in return, I also gain +1WS for for Wolfguard and Thunderwolves, Preferred Enemy for Wolfguard and Thunderwolves Characters a reroll on the new Warlord Traits. The only snag is that I must accept and issue Challenges with all Characters.
But all my Characters are totally awesome close combat nutters!
Ok, they might get killed by Eldar, Daemons or Tyranids who strike before they do. But I suppose that's an incentive to not take Wolfguard Pack Leaders unless absolutely necessary. Although I don't really want my Rune Priests challenging all and sundry. It's okay for Wolf Lords to do it with their Terminator/Runic Armour and Storm Shields.
But, to make the most of the free buffs in Champions of Fenris, you'll want to take as many Wolfguard and Thunderwolves as possible. Not forgetting some badass Wolf Lords, armed with the best Relics (and a tasty Warlord Trait!) to slaughter the enemy in close combat.
This is the Space Wolves Detachment that's out to kill - and kill well!
The only question is how you're going to get it across the board. Going "Unbound" with a Thunderwolf Cavalry army is an obvious choice. +1 WS all round and you're going to be taking a badass Wolf Lord (or two) on Thunderwolves. Time to get your Morkai's Claws out with Fellclaw's Teeth!
The army I'm currently building is a Drop Pod themed force. And that caused me a dilemma, because I actually do what to secure objectives, but I also need to make a strong foothold in my first Drop Pod wave and kick some ass when the Space Wolves get stuck in to close combat. So I'll be switching between the regular Space Wolves Codex and the Champions of Fenris supplement until I find what works best.
I imagine that most Space Wolves players will be doing the same.
Formations
Finally, a quick word on the Formations in the book.
I don't feel that any of them are worth building your army around. Unless you were going to take that combination of units anyway. But chances are that you probably weren't going to.
Arjac leading Wolfguard Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields in a Land Raider Crusader is something you'd be likely to take. And their formation special rules are awesome. So they're totally worth it, if that's what you were planning to field anyway.
Similarly, the Wolfguard Thunderstrike looks awesome for someone like me who wants to field a Drop Pod army because they re-roll all their shooting attacks on the Turn they arrive from Reserve. But wait! It says I MUST field 10 Wolfguard. Now that's a big pointsink when I was only planning on taking 5 with Combi-Meltas. So I need to give this some thought. But not giving them enough Combi-Weapons makes the re-rolls rather pointless. The only problem is that the Combi-Weapons are 10pts each. Owch!
Is it worth the investment? That depends on the Meta and how many Imperial Knights or Super Heavies I'm likely to encounter...