Wolf Priests

[Ominous Anonymous]

Newborn pup here, if that gives you an idea of the length of my experience with the Space Wolves, and I have a question about the Wolf Priest...after looking through the codex, I'm wondering if there's any real point in fielding one. For about thirty five points more than a Wolf Guard Battle Leader we get what is essentially the same statline sans the Priest's extra point of Leadership and the 4+ invulnerable save, which leads me to my question: what exactly is the point of the Wolf Priest?

 

The only real reason I could think of to take one would be to fill a mandatory HQ slot for an army with a points limit higher than 2250 (seeing as the first HQ choices would obviously be filled by a Wolf Lord, Rune Priest, and Ven. Dread, respectively), but even then you could only field one and the WGBL doesn't have such a restriction. Is there something I've overlooked?

 

In the event that my question is answered swiftly and simply (which I suspect it will be ;) ), I also wanted to ask if it's considered more effective in a squad of 9 Blood Claws lead by a WGPL to have two Power Weapons and a Power Fist on the PL or three Power Fists? Again, the answer seems obvious here but I wanted some opinions considering that the former would give me more attacks overall while the former would be good for taking out walkers (which seem to plague me relentlessly at my FLGS) but might be considered cheesy outside of a tournament setting.

 

Thoughts?

[Grey Mage]

For thirtyfive points you get about 41pts of wargear... belt of russ is 25 alone after all. Hes cheap, at under 100 pts and already having his equipment allows you to field a cheap survivable HQ without the temptation to run him over 100pts. Id field him ages and ages before Id ever touch a rune priest.

 

WGBLs are cheaper starting, but the equipment adds up quickly. As noted I run wolf priests at 100pts in smaller games, large games he really never goes over 120. A WGBL starts for me at 125pts and goes up to 150ish. It might not seem like much but with our Grey Hunters costing more than the codex boys Tac marines by about 20% every savings counts.

 

But his shining accomplishment is his survivability. You get a discount on the invulnerable save. This 4++ that doesnt take up a weapon option is one of two we can have in our army... its useful and its attractive enough for me to take him and throw him where I expect to see marinestyle HQs and veteran units to give that extra punch.

 

Now personally with the packyouve outlined Id actually go with two powerfists on the bloodclaws and a pair of ligtningclaws on the pack leader. It gives him 3-5 attacks rerolling wounds at initiative wich will make a dent against armored hordes like Templars and Necrons... the powerfists will add to the bloodclaws power as shock troops and help against vehicles... including walkers as noted. Its not cheesy at all, this unit comes out to be... 210pts. With really no ranged attack... half arsed boltpistols not withstanding. Compare that to a 10 man assault squad and youll see what I mean... the points line up pretty well.

 

Personally this is actually one of those times Id go for a wolfpriest. Hes a fluffy way to lead bloodclaws, has an impressive five attacks with a powerweapon, and keeps them from becoming "headstrong".

 

I really prefer Grey Hunters, especially in small squads.

[Yeti]

Grey Mage hit the essential about the Wolf Priest. It's also the only way to get Healing Potions into your army, which is a nice little piece of wargear that'll increase the survivability of a pack.

 

As for the BC pack, get the power weapon the the pack leader. Alternativemy, get an IC (Rune priest or Battle leaders are my preferences) and give them a Frost Weapon. Aside from keeping the pack under control, it'll clear out a few models at I5. This is a huge difference when fighting other SM because they hit BCs on 3+ and do it at the same Init as the BCs themselves.

[hendrik]

+ it's a nice fluffy model;)

[Ominous Anonymous]

For thirtyfive points you get about 41pts of wargear... belt of russ is 25 alone after all. Hes cheap, at under 100 pts and already having his equipment allows you to field a cheap survivable HQ without the temptation to run him over 100pts. Id field him ages and ages before Id ever touch a rune priest.

 

WGBLs are cheaper starting, but the equipment adds up quickly. As noted I run wolf priests at 100pts in smaller games, large games he really never goes over 120. A WGBL starts for me at 125pts and goes up to 150ish. It might not seem like much but with our Grey Hunters costing more than the codex boys Tac marines by about 20% every savings counts.

 

But his shining accomplishment is his survivability. You get a discount on the invulnerable save. This 4++ that doesnt take up a weapon option is one of two we can have in our army... its useful and its attractive enough for me to take him and throw him where I expect to see marinestyle HQs and veteran units to give that extra punch.

 

Makes sense to me, and I had forgotten about the potions and balms he can take (for 25 points? Ouch.), and I had looked over the fact that he comes standard with a Power weapon and bolt pistol, thinking he just had access to the armory. In addition to that increase in Leadership, he's much better than I thought he was, hmm...

 

Now personally with the packyouve outlined Id actually go with two powerfists on the bloodclaws and a pair of ligtningclaws on the pack leader. It gives him 3-5 attacks rerolling wounds at initiative wich will make a dent against armored hordes like Templars and Necrons... the powerfists will add to the bloodclaws power as shock troops and help against vehicles... including walkers as noted. Its not cheesy at all, this unit comes out to be... 210pts. With really no ranged attack... half arsed boltpistols not withstanding. Compare that to a 10 man assault squad and youll see what I mean... the points line up pretty well.

 

Personally this is actually one of those times Id go for a wolfpriest. Hes a fluffy way to lead bloodclaws, has an impressive five attacks with a powerweapon, and keeps them from becoming "headstrong".

 

I really prefer Grey Hunters, especially in small squads.

 

I had actually considered running a Rune Priest for Stormcaller, but a Wolf Priest might work as well now, and let me use the model I just painted as a test scheme that's equipped with a Power Fist and Wolfskin Cape ^_^

 

Thanks for the replies.

[JEFF4i]

I absolutely love my Wolf Priest, almost always field him. With the potions and balms he does quite well, and with his high leadership taking control of 15 Blood Claws in an LRC=Drool.

[OnlyInDeath]

One of the most potent models I have in any list is a WP on a bike w/ a frost blade and healing pots and balms. If you throw him in with a blood claw biker pack, you have a very very survivable unit that has a 3+ invuln save after turbo boosting, and you can ignore the first failed invuln (note: HP&B says to ingore the first failed SAVE, not armor save. Runic charms are for the ol armor save). With the amount of power weapons/fists in a unit like that makes it something to truly be feared.

[Grey Mage]

Indeed, as noted the HP+B are rather expensive at 25pts, but they are worth it. Even in a pack of bloodclaws if the enemy gets two turns of shooting at you before you hit their lines your going to lose *most likely* atleast one bloodclaw each turn if not more. 2x Bloodclaw= 28pts. Thus even with bare bones no frills bloodclaws the Potions should make back their points in saved models every single game.

 

Throw him in with a terminator bodygaurd and watch as he "saves" a 70pt model each turn... etc.

[Didacsoy]

A Wolf Priest is the very first HQ I'd field (usually with only a wolf pelt and maybe frag grenades). If it is a small points game (up to 750), at his basic cost this dude is a lot of bang for your buck. If it is a medium sized game (1500 points) his low cost means you can go to town with your other HQ or keep things simple and help cushioning the 1-HQ-for-every-750-points-rule's impact. At bigger games (2250+) you just don't have the option not to field him.

 

As most people here, my favourite use for him is with my primary BC unit, either in a Rhino, a Drop Pod or a Land Rider Crusader, again depending on the game's size. Not only it is fluffy to the bone, it lets me go overboard with power fists mix-wise, which is always a good thing in my book ;)

 

Edit: Just as a side note, I converted mine from the SW "captain" model (guy with wolf-head helm, not skull). He was given a double-edged power axe, and will be painted black for his armour and some metallic -brass, silver?- for the wolf helm (or bone, jury is still out on this). A really simple conversion job, but he looks utterly mean.

[Maximus-92]

Makes sense to me, and I had forgotten about the potions and balms he can take (for 25 points? Ouch.)

 

25 points is pretty cheap, all you have to do is save is two blood claws and you've more than paid of it's cost and trust me you'll atleast have to use it twice, especially for a foot slogger force. also if you put him in termie armour and give him a runic charm then under the 5th edition rules you can allocate atleast one armour save on him every time the squad has to take them and be almost assured he won't even take a wound and perhaps saves another one of your claws. I use this tactic on all my hq's, the only disadvantage is that you cant sweeping advance because of his termie armour but this is a small sacrifice in my opinion