Thoughts on an insane Space Wolf army list?

[MaltonNecromancer]

Hello all.

So I've been mulling over a Space Wolves army that's pure, insane fluff. It's literally Wolf Guard and nothing else – the idea is it's the Space Wolf equivalent of Leonidas and his men "Going For A Walk" because the Rune Priests have decreed no war during a religious celebration.

Ignoring the fluff, it's entirely because I don't want to spend a lot of money on what is essentially a side army.

Do we think it will work?

HQ –
Logan Grimnar –

Troops -
Wolf Guard Squad Alpha:
Led by Arjac Rockfist. 9 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour. 3 have Wolf Claws. 1 has Wolf Claws and Mark of Wulfen. 3 have Storm Bolters and Storm Shields . 2 have Assault Cannons and Storm Shields.

Wolf Guard Squad Beta:
10 Wolf Guard . 7 have Power Weapons;1 has Power Weapon and Mark of Wulfen. 2 have Power Fists and Storm Bolters.

Wolf Guard Squad Gamma:
10 Wolf Guard; 10 have Storm Bolters.

Army Value = 1498 pts.

[somerandomdude]

The biggest problem is your lack of anti-tank in the army. Cyclone Missile Launchers are very handy, and the ability to take two in a squad helps a lot. Also, one of the key advantages of Wolf Guard is the ability to mix armor types to save points. You can have 8 Power Armor and 2 TDA (with Cyclones) for example. You can also give the Power Armor guys Storm Shields to increase their survivability (and it's 17 points cheaper than a Terminator with Shield/Bolter who comes with his own invulnerable already). Also, combi-meltas would be fantastic, but you'd have to convert those (I believe the Wolf Pack box comes with two meltaguns you can chop in half).

Also, Mark of the Wulfen does not stack with Power Weapons. You can give a model both, but when it comes time to swing you can't benefit from the power sword (or any other weapon for that matter). Mark of the Wulfen models are perfect for Storm Shields and Storm Bolters, however, because they never benefit from bonus hand weapons anyway.

[Necron_Lord]

I agree. You need more anti-mech in your list. Long Fangs come to mind, of course. Wolf Guard Termies with cyclone (?) missile launchers are also good with Logan. Land Speeders with ML are also decent. SW termies can't teleport, so you'll need rides for them.

If that list has to footslog to get into CC or claim objectives, lists with a lot of AP 2 weaponry could really kill them off easily at range. I am thinking of DE in particular.

[maddoc]

More AT, each squad should have CML's.
The AssCans are not needed because you already have stormbolters.
Each squad should have something(chain fists) to not get stuck in close combat with dreads.
5 Man squads should also be better. as right now for example your 10 man squad of stormbolters can shoot only one target a round, which can be a huge waste of points.

Also be warned without any way of getting closer to your opponent besides walking you will be in at a HUGE disadvantage against everyone who has a box of metal to drive/fly around. Losing combat is one thing, losing because you can't get into is another.

[MaltonNecromancer]

I quite like the fact it laughs in tha face of anti-mech. The plan was to Deep Strike the Terminators, rend the hell out of light tanks with the two Assault Cannons, then use the power fists and go tank punching.

Also, I don't want to buy much more than two boxes of Space Wolves, and use up a few Marines I have going spare. Converting combi-Meltas is a doddle, but I'd probably go combi-flamer if anything. My local meta-game tends towards horde armies (which is to say a lot of people gave up on tanks in the face of a 60 Genestealer outflanking rend-fest. The Land Raiders get eaten by Carnifex and Trygons).

[somerandomdude]

Oh. Oh boy. Um... I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but... well...

Space Wolf Terminators can not deep strike.

Also, if you don't want to include melta/CML, then that's fine. Does this mean you never have to face landraiders? Or any armor 13 vehicles?

[MaltonNecromancer]

No, never.

60+ Genestealers, yes. Nidzilla, yes. Ork hordes, yes. Tidal waves of Guardsmen, yes.

Our local metagame is very horde heavy (with the occasional Leman Russ dotting the battlefield - the outflakers usually nobble them in assault, though. I've tried melta vets in Chimeras. They're pretty good, but the second a 20+ 'Stealer brood has them, well, it's just not funny; you're going to get Rended, and then those three meltas don't do a damn thing to save you. You're better off with a standard Guard blob kitted out with Flamers right at the front), and most Marine players don't like to use Land Raiders - they're somewhat looked down upon as "unsporting" (humourously, I should add; that said, if you did field one the "compensating for something" jokes would be merciless and hound you to your grave.)

You can't really field too many tanks in 1500 pts, and the ones you do field are significantly more precious. It's good fun.

Hadn't noticed the no Deep Strike. That's quite exciting. Makes the Wolves a little more different than the Blood Angels. Possibly run Storm Bolter/ Power Weapons then...

[maddoc]

You have a strange meta game over there.

Also why are you giving a model with mark of the wulfen a wolf claw?

If you really want to run the Logan Wing i would go with something like this:

Logan
4* 5 WG , 1 in TDA with CML and chainfist sprinkle in some stormbolters
2-3 Close Combat squads with at least two Chainfists, two wolfclaws and also a CML

If you go only for 2 CC squads make them bigger then 5 guys and maybe even pack some power armored guys as ablative wounds.


BTW:

"You can't really field too many tanks in 1500 pts"

Arround 8-10 depending on the army

Land Raider unsporting?

I allways thank my opponent when i see one, Melta > LR.

What to do against 60 outflanking genestealer?

Put your whole guard army in one corner, block the whole side with tanks(or more troops) and a blob squad(small enough so it will die when being attacked by GS. Wait for the Tyranid player to come on board, either on the wrong side or forced to attack your sacrifice squad which will die and leave the genestealer in the open to be roasted by your Chimera's HF and the inside of said tank.

T is where your tanks are parking.
|
|
|
|Blob blob
|T T T
|T T T
|T T T
|T_______ -> 40+ inches to the other side where half of the stealers will appear.

Basically make sure the tyranid player is only able to attack one of your squads, by blocking the side up to a specific point.

[MaltonNecromancer]

We really do have a very different metagame; not really sure why - it's not like we're not reading the online blogs! :)

Like the blocking strategy. I might give it a go, and see what happens.

Also, hadn't considered matching up Terminators with Power Armour marines. Might look the list over and see how that works out. I definitely want a 10 man Power Armour + Storm Bolter squad. You just can't argue with that many shots at 24" against a horde :)

[maddoc]

I run/ran a popular version of the logan wing a couple of times:
Logan
Rune Priest
4 Squads of 5WG, 1 in TDA with CML/Chainfist
3 Squads of long Fangs with RL's
and now the fun part
add Lone Wolves in TDA with Shields/Chainfist, Thunderwolves in any form and scouts, make a squad 10 men strong for Logan as bodyguard, Arac "Hammer Time" Rockfist.

[somerandomdude]

I completely forgot to suggest Lone Wolves. I second that idea.

Assume for a moment that your army consists of Logan, Arjac, 6 Terminators with heavy weapons, and the rest power armor Wolf Guard. That means that you will have made 7 TDA marines (assuming you used the real Logan model) which would leave you 3 left over if you had a set of 10 originally.

Turn those 3 into Lone Wolves and have a lot of fun with them. They're pretty cost effective for what they can do, give you more units to control (which will give you a greater area of effect) and they are so much fun to play because their fluff matches their rules so well. Run them straight towards the enemy screaming and see if he dies in glory.

Also, you're free to give more character to them as they are single models who deserve special treatment.

This is all assuming that you have spare Terminators left over, of course. No need for you to go out and get any extras just for this, since that's not what you're wanting this army for.

Considering your current play environment, why are you not taking Heavy Flamers? They're cheaper (allowing you to buy almost two extra Storm Shields) and they are stronger against hordes than an Assault Cannon up close. Maybe try for a mix of the two?

[MaltonNecromancer]

It's true that in our local meta, Heavy Flamer is a Prince among weapons; however, it's a close run thing between Heavy Flamers and Assault Cannon. I'd go for Assault Cannon because they hit harder against those Monstrous Creatures, plus they Rend vehicles. Thus, they have a tactical flexibility not dissimilar to the Missile Launcher. Granted, not the range, but they work for me.

I'd obviously prefer Cyclones, but I have about six spare Assault Cannon, and Cyclones are annoyingly hard to buy as Bitz in the UK. I'd scratch-build them, but I can't be bothered - this is primarily a side project I'm doing for giggles (and the school's wargaming club).

I like the Lone Wolves idea. I might give that a look.

I've also been considering running two squads of ten power armour Wolf Guards equipped with Storm Bolters; I haven't costed it yet, but once I do, I'll see how the spare points can be used...

[plawolf]

Sticking two hunter killer missiles together makes a passable typhoon stand-in with a minimum of effort and the missile launchers should be pretty easy to get hold of on the cheap.

[MaltonNecromancer]

So, I've been working on it. Here's the revised list:

Revised List

HQ –
Logan Grimnar

Troops –
Wolf Guard Squad Alpha:
Led by Arjac Rockfist; 9 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour; 4 have Wolf Claws; 3 have Storm Bolters and Storm Shields; 2 have Assault Cannons and Storm Shields.

Wolf Guard Squad Beta:
10 Wolf Guard with Storm Bolters.

Wolf Guard Squad Gamma:
5 Wolf Guard with Storm Bolters.

Wolf Guard Squad Delta:
5 Wolf Guard with Power Weapons.

Heavy Support –
Long Fang Pack Epsilon:
Squad Leader and 3 Wolf Guard with Missile Launchers.

Army Value = 1497

I'm not too sure about the efficacy of the Wolf Guard with Power Weapons. I have been considering replacing them with:

Elites -
2 Lone Wolves with Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Bombs and Storm Shield.