Six Elite Choices but only 3 Slots?! (Lone Wolf)

As rare is it may be, the space wolves do not ALWAYS come through each fight victorious. As campaigns continue over time the packs of wolves sometimes dwindle down to one. A man without his brother at arms has but one wish: To bring glory back to his fallen pack members and fall in battle to join them!

The fluff surrounding the Lone Wolf is fantastically expressed in the game rules. As the final elite choice to look at we find the Lone Wolf with a large amount of upgrades to choose from and some fun rules.

At 20 points you get:

2 Wounds

CCW

Pistol

Nades

Eternal Warrior

Feel no Pain

Beastslayer

Counter-Attack

Fearless

WS5

Already we have a bargain beast who's downsides include:

May never join a squad

May not take a transport dedicated

Concedes a kill-point in kill-point games when he survives

Looking at the Lone Wolf this means: He is a close combat monster who needs to get the the enemy. Without transports or the ability to hide in a squad that means hes foot slogging up the field alone. With FnP and Eternal Warrior, he can make it, given you roll decently and the enemy ignores him.

Upgrade for him include:

Power Sword: Cheap, but not the best option

Wolf Claw: A bit more expensive than other claws and best in pairs. Still a good choice

Powerfist: Good for tank hunting or Monster Hunting

Thunder Hammer: Expensive but good

Frost Blade: Good choice over a power weapon

Storm Shield: 3+ Inv = This guy will take a TON of fire

Terminator: 2+/5+, power weap, storm bolter, FnP, Eternal, 45 Points Total. Thats a steal

Other upgrades become cheaper and he gains access to combi weapons which are a decent little thing for him to take.

Good thing to note is that Combi-Melta will have a re-roll vs. any vehicle he shoots at.

He may also take melta-bombs: good + reroll to hit

Up to 2 wolves: Good for wound allocation on that run towards the enemy

Mark of Wulfen: Better choices unless you are JUST taking a power weapon

Lone Wolf Setups:

The "Just try and kill me" Lone Wolf:

Terminator

Storm Shield

Chainfist

2 Wolves

105 Points

First point to make here: This guy is NOT going down. If you are playing annihilation against anything less than orkz or horde nyds, or possibly infantry guard, where you are taking 30 wounds to roll against then you simply will shrug off almost 90% of all wounds taken. With two wolves that first salvo may as well be cut in half as you will be taking 1/3 of the total wounds shot at him. On average we are looking at roughly 24 wounds before this guy goes down (not counting the wolf allocation).

That said: In all games THROW THIS AT THE LARGEST THING ON THE TABLE. What? Gazgull is coming? Here, have a lone wolf to tie him up for 2 turns. Huh? 3 Leman Russ tanks? Good luck getting through that 3+ inv twice before the Chainfist kills 1 or 2.

This is a Lone Wolf variant that if used properly will draw a lot of fire and MAY kill something large in the process. Just make sure you maneuver him properly or he will be sitting off on his lonesome and theres 105 points waisted.

The "throwaway" Lone Wolf

Frost Blade

Melta Bombs

2 Wolves

70 Points

Yes this variant will strike far less fear than the previous version, however it can be equally destructive with S5 and a large number of attacks. If you have 70 Points then throwing one in may be just the thing to take. He can easily tie up something that is 300 points bigger than him (cough Seer Council cough) for a couple turns, and who knows, he may even throw a couple wounds off a Carnifex before the Fex even has a chance to hit him. The wolves are there for allocation as he walks up the field.

Other variations on the Lone Wolf have been seen, double wolf claws, combi-melta + Chainfist, Thunder Hammer / Storm Shield Terminator, etc.. These are all variants on the same thing. Run this guy to the enemy as fast as possible and get him killed. He will in all likelihood bring something down with him, and that is what is important. If he is not drawing fire or tying up an Avatar (I had a THammer/SShield one take down an avatar in CC, it was epic) then he isnt doing his job.

I personally love the Lone Wolf and, given the opportunity, love to field him in my smaller games of 40k. I have yet to test him on a larger field (and now I have something to try next weekend :D) but I suspect he will do well given the wide range of other threats one will likely be fielding.

Lone Wolves just wanna go down in a blaze of glory! I say we let him!

Six Elite Choices but only 3 Slots?! (Iron Priests)

In the great halls of the Fang dwell the mysterious servants of the Adeptus Mechanicus. All tools of war used by the Space Wolfs is maintained and created by the Iron Priests of the halls. It is the Iron Priest that keeps the chapter running just as much as the scores of pups and wolves that go to war.

Techpriests have always been an interesting part of the 40k universe, and the Iron Priests of Fenris are no exception to this rule. As another Elite Choice one may beg to question the usefulness of this entry into the codex. At 50 points, packed with Runic Armor, a Thunder Hammer, and the ability to repair vehicles, the Iron Priest can be seen as a bit of a bargain points-wise. This usefulness of these abilities, however, is questionable.

The Iron Priests have an interesting slew of upgrades available for them:

Up to Four Cyberwolves: Good bodyguards with a lot of attacks and high toughness

Up to Three Thrall-Servitors: Good for making those pesky repairs even easier

Bike: Not if you plan to take wolves

Thunderwolf Mount: Great addition if you plan to take wolves, Pricey

Wolftail Neclace: Decent at only WS3

Wolftail Talisman: Shouldn't need it

Saga of the Iron Wolf: Extra D3 movement in a vehicle = FAIL if you can't be in a squad or take a dedicated transport

Thralls can take a Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta, or a Heavy Bolter.

Setups I have seen so far:

Iron Priest of the Wolf ----- 150 points

4 Cyberwolves

Thunderwolf Mount

Wolftail Necklace

This variant has 16 wolf attacks + 5 (total with the servo arm) S8/10 attacks on the charge and a 12" charge range. Great for rushing a Rhino full of guy or catching something unaware. A bit of a point sink at 150 points, but it has a high survival rate and capable of some unexpected havoc. For those of you who wish to make that all wolf list, this is a great addition as a skirmish thunderwolf unit.

Iron Priest of Iron ----- 95 Points

3 Thrall Servitors

Saga of the Iron Wolf

As odd as it may seem, this unit could find its place into some fluffy lists, however competitively will likely never be seen. This unit could accompany a Land Raider into the front lines and after it has dropped off its men the Iron Priest could jump inside and keep the thing running around, possibly contesting objectives or causing some damage.

Iron Priest/Firebase ----- 120 Points

3 Thrall Servitors

2 Plasma Cannons

No I do not believe this is a good choice for your 120 points, just saying I have seen it done and it is a possibility. Iron Priest sat back on an objective with a razorback and kept its lascannon going while servitors blasted away with plasma at incoming troops. Was 1/2 way effective until the razorback got destroyed and a couple of bolt pistols killed the servitors.

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Overall the Iron Priest is an interesting choice for an Elite Slot, and with exception to the Wolf variant, the priest seems more like a conversion unit than a competitive unit. I suspect people will try their hand at the Iron Priest, but quickly switch to a Dreadnought or another squad of wolf guard before committing themselves to the Omnisiah

Six Elite Choices but only 3 Slots?! (Dreadnoughts)

"When the Space Wolves go to war, the do so in the company of giants" Space Wolves Codex.

Oh the much loved walking behemoths of the 40K universe. Some people love them so much that they will field 6 of them on the board at the same time (I've seen it!). The question in everyone's mind is whether the Space Wolf Dreadnought is worth those all important elite slots of if their 105+ points are more important spent on Wolf Guard, Scouts, or Lone Wolves.

Diving right in:

The Space Wolf Dread gets a free Assault Cannon built in. A nice little touch. Add a CCW, Storm Bolter, and AV 12/12/10 and for 105 points you get a pretty decent starting point.

Unique to Space Wolf Dreads are the ability to take 3 upgrades:

Wolftooth Necklace: Useful on the basic dread, less on the Venerable at WS5

Wolftail Talisman: Kinda spiffy, but most Psychic powers don't target vehicles anyway

Venerable may take: Saga of Majesty - re-rollable Ld tests within 6 inches is nice.... but in all likely-hood people are going to be Dropping the Dreadnought in, which is too far away from troops, or hanging him back which is too far away from forward troops. Sitting him near some Long Fangs might save them, but isn't that 15 points better spent elsewhere?

Now Dreadnought tactics have been done countless times on the web. Overall we find three variants of the same monster:

Close Combat

Mid-Ranged

Long-Ranged Tank Killer

As a Close Combat machine, a Space Wolf dread would replace his SB with a Heavy Flamer, take a multi-melta, extra armor, and possibly a Wolftooth necklace for good measure. Drop Pod this guy in and destroy something big. Hopefully bigger than the 140 points you just spent on him. If nothing else it is a good "OMG" distraction, however he is likely to go down from melta-fire or even plasma.

Without the ability to take an Ironclad (Ironclad?! Space Wolves don't need to Ironclad!), Close Ranged falls to the Venerable. It will likely survive, but now your adding 60 more points to a suicide unit.

So Close Ranged Drop may be useful, but it is situational at best. If you believe you can survive a round of shooting to get to the assault then by all means drop him right in to cause some havoc!

Moving on to Mid-Ranged we have the setup of taking that heavy flamer and keeping that assault cannon or a multi-melta. Extra armor is nice as always. The goal here is to march this guy to the front while dodging from cover to cover keeping him alive to get into assault with something big.

Venerable as always will survive longer getting there, has a higher WS, and is likely to make it, given that you don't have a firestorm on you every turn.

For Long Range you can take that twin-linked Lascannon, and pick whichever you like between the auto-cannon and missle launcher. Stick the guy in cover, pick off tanks. if something gets close stomp on it, pretty simple.

Overall the dreadnought is a useful and fairly priced addition to any Space Wolf army, as more armor can never really hurt. However the inability to take these guys as a Heavy Support does beg to question if they are worth the Elite Slot with the need for Wolf Guard. As a distraction/suicide unit they certainly are able to perform admirably, and if you have a spare Elite slot when all is said and done then, hey, maybe a dreadnought is for you!

2000 Point League List

Looking for opinions on this 2000 point League List.

HQ:

Njal Stormcall (Blood Claws)

- Runic Terminator

Wolf Priest (Terminators)

- Wolftooth necklace

-Storm Bolter

Wolf Priest (Long Fangs)

- Wolf Tail Talisman

Rune Priest (Pod)

- Jaws of the World Wolf

- Living Lightning

- Chooser of the Slain

Elite

Wolf Guard x 4

- Terminators x 4

- Wolf Claws x 6

- Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield

- Land Raider Dedicated

-- Extra Armor

Heavy Support

Long Fang Pack x 6

- Lascannon x 2

- Plasma Cannon x 3

Troops

Grey Hunter x 6

- Melta Gun

- Razorback

-- Lascannon

-- Extra Armor

Grey Hunter x 6

- Melta Gun

- Razorback

-- Lascannon

-- Extra Armor

Grey Hunter x 8

- Plasma Gun

- Wolf Standard

- Drop Pod

Blood Claws x 9

There are many Space Marine and Tyranid (Nidzilla) players at the club and I am trying to create a list that clearly covers both of those armies

Questions and Comments Welcome!