Updating the Old Army

[Valerian]

Alright folks, another new topic on updating my army for the new codex, and I am looking for your input.

For obvious reasons, one of the things that I am trying to do is to create a fun yet effective list, while at the same time minimizing the amount of new models that I'll have to add. I've got several thousand points worth of models for my Space Wolves already, and I want to get the most out of what I've already got. I don't have unlimited time or resources to make wholesale changes, so I am not looking for a complete revision to the army or my playstyle. The army is primarily a footslogging force, however I do have 3 Drop Pods that I need to get painted up that I could use as transports.

Edit: I've been thinking things over some more, and have been moving models around in the cabinet. Based on some new insight, I've edited several of the units below, and have added points costs. It looks like the army is currently sitting at 2250 points total. I could certainly go over that if I included more units/models that I currently have, but wasn't planning on taking. I am still looking forward to any feedback that y'all may have.

Below, I will show you what I've got, describe what I am planning with each unit, then see what feedback you've got for me. I am looking forward to a good discussion on how to best make changes to update my army.

HQ:

Ragnar Blackmane, The Young King 240 Points

Ragnar has been my Wolf Lord of choice since he first came out with rules at the end of the Rogue Trader era. When building my army, I modeled all of the army with the metal shoulder pads for his Great Company. Although the model is rather static and could use an update, I intend to keep Ragnar in the force and will use him for most games just because I think that I should, even if he is rather expensive. Ragnar is 1st in priority for inclusion in the army.

Rune Priest Alaric 170 Points

Rune Priest Alaric is my next "support" character, and I would say that he is probably 2nd in order of priority for inclusion in the army. I am likely to chose JotWW and Murderous Hurricane as his two psychic powers, and will not likely take one of the Sagas for him. I am still debating on the Chooser of the Slain (right now his points reflect no Chooser); that upgrade would be helpful if I were taking, say, Living Lightning or were worried about enemy Infiltrators. I was going to keep him with a bodyguard of Wolf Guard Terminators, but I've decided to break them up and use them to lead the other packs; I'm not sure who he should attach to now (maybe I need to buy some of the new Terminators?).

Wolf Priest Halfdan, The Black Hunter 105 Points

Since I have decided to just keep the old Blood Claws as Blood Claws (instead of changing them to Sky Claws, Wolf Guard in Power Armour, or Grey Hunters) I am probably going to take Wolf Priest Halfdan in the army and attach him to the footslogging Claws. His Oath of War ability will help make them even more effective when they finally get to assault. I currently do not plan on taking any of one of the available Sagas for Halfdan, with the only upgrade being the addition of Melta Bombs. Halfdan is now 3rd in order of priority for inclusion in the army, as the Blood Claws could certainly do fine without him (as long as they get their Wolf Guard Leader escort).

Elites:

Bjorn the Fell-Handed 175 Points

Bjorn the Fell-Handed has always been a favorite, and I would love to include him, but again his points and the other choices make this one difficult. He is currently 4th in order of priority for inclusion in an army list. The points above reflect that I am taking him as a "standard" Venerable Dreadnought, and not as the actual Special Character. I would love to be able to take the "true" Bjorn, but I cannot justify the additional 95 points in the current list.

Wolf Scouts 135 Points + 48 Points (WGL)

I love my Wolf Scouts and any army that I build will include them. Right now the only upgrades that I have in the Pack are two Power Weapons, so I intend on adding a Mark of the Wulfen Scout, and adding a Scout with a Melta Gun. I should have added the Melta Gun model years ago, but never got around to it; I've been relying on Melta-Bombs and the Power Fist weilding Wolf Guard Leader (immediately below) for any anti-Tank requirements. The primary use for my Scouts has not been to act as a suicide squad against enemy tanks, but rather to get stuck into close combat with enemy units to render them ineffective/kill them to provide the rest of my force with some freedom to maneuver. The points cost above reflects 6 Scouts with two Power Weapons and a Mark of the Wulfen upgrade. The Wolf Guard Leader that I intend to assign to the Wolf Scouts will have a Plasma Pistol and Power Fist as his weapons choices.

Wolf Guard Leader for Wolf Scouts

For the last several years, I have been using this model as the Wolf Guard Leader for my Scouts. I have now decided to move him into the Blood Claws Pack to be the model with a Power Fist in that unit, and replace him with another model that has a Plasma Pistol and Power Fist to lead the Scouts. The new model has not yet been painted, so I'm not yet going to bother posting a picture of him.

Wolf Guard Hrothgar 63 Points

This model has been used variously as either a Wolf Guard or a Wolf Guard Battle Leader in the past. I had considered using him as my Arjac Rockfist, but for now am going to just keep him as a regular Wolf Guard and assign him to lead the Blood Claws.

Wolf Guard Ranulf 43 Points

This model was my old Wolf Guard Ranulf from 2nd Edition. I've decided to assign him to lead one of the Grey Hunter packs. I already had a WGL in Power Armour with a Power Fist for those Hunters, but for only 5 points more I might as well take the Terminator Armour and use this guy instead.

Wolf Guard Olaf 73 Points

One of my trusty Assault Cannon models. Seriously considering swapping his special close combat weapon arm with Haegr (just below), to give Olaf the Assault Cannon and Chain Fist, although I risk losing two important weapons at the same time if Olaf bites it. Either way, Olaf is going to now lead a second Grey Hunter pack. Also, I'm calling his weapon a Frost Blade for now.

Wolf Guard Haegr 48 Points

Will consider swapping weapons with Olaf (just above) and taking his Power Weapon. For now, he is keeping his Chain Fist and leading a 3rd pack of Grey Hunters.

Wolf Guard Karl

Since all of my packs have been assigned Wolf Guard Leaders, Karl didn't make the team and will be left in the cabinet.

Wolf Guard Sven

Same with Sven; for now he stays in the cabinet.

Dreadnought Snorri

Unfortunately, it looks like I won't have room for old Snorri anymore. After taking my Wolf Scouts and Wolf Guard, the 3rd Elite slot is going to a non-special character version of my Bjorn Model.

Troops:

Grey Hunters Pack 1 205 Points

Grey Hunters Pack 1 has a total of 10 models, including a Hunter with a Power Weapon, and another Hunter with a Plasma Gun. The only change that I'm making to this pack is to add a model with a Plasma Pistol and Mark of the Wulfen. This pack will be led by Ranulf, above, instead of the original WGL with a Power Fist in Power Armour.

Grey Hunters Packs 2 and 3 170 Points and 180 Points

This Pack has had a total of 11 models, including a Wolf Guard Leader with a Power Weapon. There were no other weapon upgrades in this pack. I've decided to make major changes with this pack. I'm going to set the WGL aside and split the 10 regular Hunters in half, creating two packs where there once was just one. I will leave one half with the Wolf Tail shoulder pad markings as they currently are (black) and will paint the others red; this should be a very easy way to distinguish the two units.

Starting now with 5 models in each of the new packs, I intend to add a Hunter with a Melta Gun, a Hunter with a Plasma Pistol and Mark of the Wulfen, and a Hunter with a Power Weapon to one of the packs, bringing me up to 8 Hunters. This pack will be lead by Haegr, the Terminator with Chain Fist, and can fit into one of my 3 Drop Pods (points not yet included for Pod above).

For the second pack, I intend to add a Hunter with a Melta Gun, a Hunter with a Plasma Pistol and Mark of the Wulfen, and a Hunter with Power Fist, bringing me up to 8 Hunters. This pack will be lead by Olaf, the Terminator with an Assault Cannon and Frost Blade, and can fit into one of my 3 Drop Pods (points not yet included for Pod above).

Blood Claws Pack 205 Points

Big change in thinking here. I was going to transition this pack to something else (Sky Claws, Wolf Guard in Power Armour, or another Grey Hunter pack), but I've now decided just to keep them as they are. With addition of the third Grey Hunter pack, and the epiphany that I can just use the 2 Power Axes as normal CCWs (especially as they are not painted in any special way), I might as well keep using them as a big footslogging unit.

The Blood Claw pack now has 12 models, all ready to go, including one Claw with a Flamer, and another with a Power Fist. This pack will be led by Hrothgar, the Terminator with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, and probably also Wolf Priest Halfdan.

Fast Attack:

Swift Claws Bike Packs 115 Points and 168 Points (including WGL)

My old army included this 6+1 Blood Claws (now Swift Claws) Biker pack with 2 Power Fists, a Plasma Gun and attached Wolf Guard Leader with Power Weapon. The new Swift Claws can now only take one Power Fist as an upgrade option, so I now have two choices. The first option is to keep a larger single pack of 5+1, dropping one of the Power Fist models. The second option is to split the unit into two smaller packs, giving me one pack of 3 Swift Claws with a single Power Fist and the Plasma Gun and a second pack of 3+1, with a single Power Fist and the attached Wolf Guard Leader. If I go this route it would probably be wise to add a new Wolf Guard Leader on a Bike to go with the first pack. I know littlebitz has used multiple 3+1 Biker packs with a good deal of success in his army lists, so I am leaning in this direction.

The great thing about this plan is that I now only have to get 8 models painted (they are already built) to get to my 2250 point, fully painted and ready to go army (not including the 3 Drop Pods, that I also have to assemble).

Anyway, I am looking forward to your feedback,

Best Regards,

Valerian

[Maximus-92]

If you were to use the blood claws as grey hunters then i would mix them up throughout the squads to make it more obvious to my opponent that they are grey hunters.

[Bonham1963]

Nice looking army. When you have so many figures, I guess, what to use, becomes an issue.

 

Would help if you could post, what point level, you plan on playing. Other than putting Ragnar in the army, as your focal point, it is hard to judge what would work well with him.

 

I would get painting the drop pods, as they are great deployment option. Dropping a dread or WG termie squad, into the enemy, is usually a great tactic.

 

Scouts in your force is a good plan. That Behind Enemy Lines is an awesome special and I expect to see it in many SW armies, soon enough.

[Valerian]

If you were to use the blood claws as grey hunters then i would mix them up throughout the squads to make it more obvious to my opponent that they are grey hunters.

 

Well, I would do that except for the fact that the old Blood Claws all have those unique shoulder pads denoting that they are their own unit. I don't want to scramble up the packs as all of them have the unit specific pads. With whichever option I go with, I intend to keep them all together. Thanks for the input though, as if it weren't for this limitation that would have been a good plan.

 

Would help if you could post, what point level, you plan on playing. Other than putting Ragnar in the army, as your focal point, it is hard to judge what would work well with him.

 

Good point. I didn't want to get too points specific initially, although I can add in the prices for the units later. Original intent is just to see if folks thought that my initial plans for each unit inidividually were generally accepted as good, thus ensuring that the units would be effective. From there I would then select from those available units that have been fixed/updated as I create army lists at various points levels.

 

Thanks again for the input.

 

V

[rodgers37]

I really like your pics there :D

[Valerian]

I really like your pics there :)

 

 

Thank you very much! I've made some significant changes to my original plans and have edited them in to the original post above. I'm still looking forward to any feedback, especially from those with primarily footslogging forces.

 

V

[Natanael]

Alright. I've been reading trough your post twice, and I'll try to give some advice, or at least my opinions. Since I've decided to run a foot-slogging list as well w/ the new dex, we're in the same seat.

 

HQs:

 

Nice collection, and I can see the use of them all, except maybe Ragnar. I mean, sure, he's a good CC-guy, and yes, he does give his squad some nasty stuff, but in your army, were are you going to put him? You got 3 pods, that is better of containing shooty stuff, a large BC pack already led by a WG and a WP, and (if I got ir right) one foot-slogging GH pack, that really dont need him. I'd say that you should save yourself some points here. Also, since you're foot-slogging, you could get a whole new GH pack and a lot of upgrades to your other packs by dropping him. The more bodies you put on the table, the better.

 

Elites:

 

Great. I am running something similar, even tough I run a more kitted out scout pack (at least a melta added) and a dread w/ TLLC, ML instead.

 

Troops:

 

As I said about Ragnar, you really could put more bodies on the table. Another GH pack w/ 2x Plasma guns would be great, or some more BCs to bring your pack up to 15+WG+WP (very very nasty unit, right here).

 

Other than that I think you're good. Maybe should think about adding some combiwweapons to you terminators, for the pods. That extra melta/plasma shot when your pods land is very nice to have.

 

Fast Attack

 

Go with the two packs. I've been debating this with myself since I was thinking of investing in some bikes, and I really think it is the better option. If ppl dedicate shooting towards them, sure, one pack will die, but at least the other one wont run away beacuse of it. Also, you have a lot more options w/ two packs, since you can go for different targets or do combined assaults. Much better. Consider putting a WL och WGBL on a bike tough, as support for them.

 

Heavy Support:

 

You don't seem to have any, and that is a big mistake in my opinion. I realise that you have pods to get your troops were you want them, but if you're gonna run true foot-sloggy, you will need the long range fire support. The enemy needs the extra encouragement to come to you, as well as you need you firebase to knock out that vindicator och defiler thats gonna throw pie plates at you otherwise.

 

Just a few thoughts. I'd be happy to start some kind of discussion about foot-slogging army lists, since I am really new to the whole concept, and os trying out lots of different stuff w/ proxy, while I figure out what to buy. Even so, I have to decide soon, since we've got an upcoming tournament and I'd like to take my wolves there w/ a list that is at least somewhat competitive.

 

- Natanael

[Valerian]

Alright. I've been reading trough your post twice, and I'll try to give some advice, or at least my opinions. Since I've decided to run a foot-slogging list as well w/ the new dex, we're in the same seat.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll offer my responses below. Best of luck in developing your own footslogging force.

 

HQs:

 

Nice collection, and I can see the use of them all, except maybe Ragnar. I mean, sure, he's a good CC-guy, and yes, he does give his squad some nasty stuff, but in your army, were are you going to put him? You got 3 pods, that is better of containing shooty stuff, a large BC pack already led by a WG and a WP, and (if I got ir right) one foot-slogging GH pack, that really dont need him. I'd say that you should save yourself some points here. Also, since you're foot-slogging, you could get a whole new GH pack and a lot of upgrades to your other packs by dropping him. The more bodies you put on the table, the better.

 

You are absolutely right about Ragnar. Right now, there isn't really a good place for him to go. To be honest, the only reason that I want to include him is the sense of obligation owing to the fact that it is his Great Company, after all. I would probably be best served by just dropping him altogether, and find 10 more points worth to cut, leaving me with an even 2,000 Points, and no additional models or work required. Perhaps I will later add another unit for him to join that would be a better fit. The smart move is to drop him, but the sentimental move is to try to include him, when possible.

 

Troops:

 

As I said about Ragnar, you really could put more bodies on the table. Another GH pack w/ 2x Plasma guns would be great, or some more BCs to bring your pack up to 15+WG+WP (very very nasty unit, right here).

 

Other than that I think you're good. Maybe should think about adding some combiwweapons to you terminators, for the pods. That extra melta/plasma shot when your pods land is very nice to have.

 

One day I might get around to adding the 3 models to bring the Blood Claws up to 15, but for now I'll probably leave them alone. Based on the Ragnar discussion above, 4 large scoring units, plus the Scouts and 2 Packs of Swift Claws ought to be enough bodies on the table for my purposes (we shall see).

 

As for the Combi-Weapons, I might do that with a Power Armored version of the Wolf Guard Leaders for those Drop Pod packs, but I don't feel like messing with the Storm Bolter arms of the already painted Wolf Guard Terminators. Definitely would be a smart move though, if I were up to the extra work.

 

Fast Attack

 

Go with the two packs. I've been debating this with myself since I was thinking of investing in some bikes, and I really think it is the better option. If ppl dedicate shooting towards them, sure, one pack will die, but at least the other one wont run away beacuse of it. Also, you have a lot more options w/ two packs, since you can go for different targets or do combined assaults. Much better. Consider putting a WL och WGBL on a bike tough, as support for them.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely going with the 2 Pack route on the Swift Claws. They might not be devastating, but can still have a decent impact on the enemy. As I said earlier, I've been following littlebitz lists for a while now, and he's had good success with his two 3+1 packs (although he also attaches Wolf Lords to the packs and I won't be doing that).

 

Heavy Support:

 

You don't seem to have any, and that is a big mistake in my opinion. I realise that you have pods to get your troops were you want them, but if you're gonna run true foot-sloggy, you will need the long range fire support. The enemy needs the extra encouragement to come to you, as well as you need you firebase to knock out that vindicator och defiler thats gonna throw pie plates at you otherwise.

 

I know I will be somewhat handicapped in this regard, but I am trying my best to avoid any vehicles at all (other than Dreadnoughts and Bikes) to fit my army theme. I'm just going to have to rely on the anti-Tank weapons distributed throughout the rest of the list to do it for me. Might be painful, but I'll give it a try for a while at least. Chalk this up to another move that probably isn't smart, but makes me enjoy the army better.

 

 

Just a few thoughts. I'd be happy to start some kind of discussion about foot-slogging army lists, since I am really new to the whole concept, and os trying out lots of different stuff w/ proxy, while I figure out what to buy. Even so, I have to decide soon, since we've got an upcoming tournament and I'd like to take my wolves there w/ a list that is at least somewhat competitive.

 

- Natanael

 

Sounds great, thanks again for the input.

 

V

[Natanael]

Heavy Support:

 

You don't seem to have any, and that is a big mistake in my opinion. I realise that you have pods to get your troops were you want them, but if you're gonna run true foot-sloggy, you will need the long range fire support. The enemy needs the extra encouragement to come to you, as well as you need you firebase to knock out that vindicator och defiler thats gonna throw pie plates at you otherwise.

 

I know I will be somewhat handicapped in this regard, but I am trying my best to avoid any vehicles at all (other than Dreadnoughts and Bikes) to fit my army theme. I'm just going to have to rely on the anti-Tank weapons distributed throughout the rest of the list to do it for me. Might be painful, but I'll give it a try for a while at least. Chalk this up to another move that probably isn't smart, but makes me enjoy the army better.

 

I'd say you should get a few long fangs in here. Cheap, effective and able to split fire? Yes, please. If you drop ragnar (I understand that you want to keep him, but still) you could get 2 of those packs in, with a little tweaking. I'm planning on 2x5 w/ 2x LC, 2x HB. That is 135p each (if i remember correctly), all foot-slogging, and great for anything. Tanks go *boom* and infantry go *blood splatter*.

 

Also, about your WGs - go get some of the new terminators if you can afford it. They look great + you can make them combi-weapons.