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Viability of Fenrisian Wolves


Logain the Ranger

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Well I was talking with some one about the new Wolf codex and the topic of Fenrisian Wolves came up. Eventually we came to the conclusion that the can be useful especially in a all footslogging army. Against weaker close combat armies the could rush the lines quickly and tie up troops and throw enemy game plans off, and against armies who are better in cc the could rush into an ongoing assault and tip it in your favor, or even outflank the enemy. If I was going to I myself would have to take a Rune Priest with Storm Caller to protect them until they make their move. I was wondering what others thought of using wolves.
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Well, I'm considering it...

 

They are so cheap inpoints, for a unit thats pretty tough in combat, thats it hard to ignore them, plus having counter attack means they can be used as a speed bump very effectively, especially in smaller games.

 

Also, combined with a wolflord/battle leader it provides a nice bit of extra punch.

 

The bigger issue really, is 'how many' - 5 is tempting (low point unit, with 10 attacks?!) but is too vulnerable to shooting.

10 is better, but then starts making its point presence known, but has 20 attacks!

 

The reason they are so tempting for me, is that in my army list so far, I've used up just one FA slot (sky claws) and have had no desire to fill out any more.....

i tried a unit of 10 against orks and kept them around my pred to prevent snikrot from being able to sneak up and take it out straight away, and they were in a prime postition to counter attack any units that tried to flank my postion. for the 80 odd points that they cost they are very worth it. they killed 2 deffkoptas and forced my opponent to charge them with his stormboys to save his remaining deffkopta (he wanted the buzzsaw to damage my vehicles). thye made there points back easily.

 

dont expect them to ever make their counter atatck test though, they are only what ld 5 or something.... but for 8pts they are certainly worth it if you need a unit to stay at your firebase while your important troops units advance, just dont let them get shot ;)

I found them to be very useful for delaying tactics and bogging up enemy units. They are susceptible to ranged fire and wouldn't last long in front of a LR Punisher, but they are sacrificial and it depends on how they are deployed and what you are using them for. I find that giving my Wolf Priest Saga of Wolfkin helps a lot by bolstering their Ld. My only problem is that I find them more useful in unit pairs but this takes up two slots. I'm a big fan of Fast troops especially SwifC and I like to field two small units of bikers. In larger games I might just take Canis and use 2 Fen Wolves packs as troops for harassing and delaying enemy units, and add a squadron of Speeders to my SwiftC (It's a pity we can't field bikers as troops like the vanilla marines). Otherwise I see no reason to use Canis.
I brought this up earlier, but haven't tried it yet. If you put a squad of wolves (With Canis on the board) with Ragnar, they would become S5 I6 A2 +D3 on the charge. To get that out of a cheap model is pretty decent....getting them to their target is the tough part.

Fenrisian Wolves as a unit are rubbish. As wagear they are awesome.

 

You're literally tied into taking Wolfkin *somewhere* else to actually use them, which sucks up more points, and isn't available to all the ICs. And wihtout it they are so fragile it's not worth spending the points on them in the first place.

 

With it, they're still 6+ Save, Ld7 troops without ATSKNF.

 

It's going to nearly always better to use thier points elsewhere.

Perhaps (as mentioned in another post) our interpretation of 'screen' may be different.

 

I use them only as a 4+ cover save for everything behind them.

 

If my enemy wants to waste shots shooting at Fenrisian Wolves go ahead, or if he wants to shoot whats behind them, I'll use the 4+ cover they provide.

 

Hope that makes more sense? :P (Too much ale in me last night, perhaps, lol)

I don't think using them as a meat screen is a sensible tactic. This is not warhammer fantasy. I think you should use them as a unit with an 'objective', with 'purpose'. If you look at them not as wolves, but as troops they are not so different from a footslogging Orc unit. Just faster. Make no mistake; next to marines they are worthless, but used intelligently, putting their strengths to good use as a harassing force does pay off.

 

Don't forget that a unit of Tau won’t last long if a pack of fen wolves engages them. They will use up fire power on them. This will by you some time that can put your more valuable troops in positions of strength. They can also be used to support GH or BC when charging larger close combat units like Orcs and tryranids.

 

Personally, I have used them in two units of 10 or 15 models, and to good effect. I cannot claim that they won the day but all things considered they did the job I set them out to do with reasonable success.

It seems it boils down to what you need in the list. I also love them as wargear, but bleh as an actual squad selection. I'm of the mindset that i'd take a RP with stormcaller for the 5+ coversave and use the points that i would have spent on the wolves for upgrades on more durable units. Plus I like lots of stuff from the FA slot and would have to actually make room for the wolves anyways.
I don't think using them as a meat screen is a sensible tactic. This is not warhammer fantasy. I think you should use them as a unit with an 'objective', with 'purpose'. If you look at them not as wolves, but as troops they are not so different from a footslogging Orc unit. Just faster. Make no mistake; next to marines they are worthless, but used intelligently, putting their strengths to good use as a harassing force does pay off.

 

Screen units have a completely legit place in a 40k army, of a certain type, ask anybody who has used kroot properly in their Tau army. Wolves essentially do the same thing (but better). Given how points efficient Canis is, if you're considering using them at all I'd take him and free up your FA slots (for things like Thunderwolves).

I don't think using them as a meat screen is a sensible tactic. This is not warhammer fantasy. I think you should use them as a unit with an 'objective', with 'purpose'. If you look at them not as wolves, but as troops they are not so different from a footslogging Orc unit. Just faster. Make no mistake; next to marines they are worthless, but used intelligently, putting their strengths to good use as a harassing force does pay off.

 

Screen units have a completely legit place in a 40k army, of a certain type, ask anybody who has used kroot properly in their Tau army. Wolves essentially do the same thing (but better). Given how points efficient Canis is, if you're considering using them at all I'd take him and free up your FA slots (for things like Thunderwolves).

 

I can't argue with you there. Of course screening units have a place in 40K, I have seen such tactics put to good effect with Tyrnids. But using fen. wolves like that doesn't suit me at all and this is just my personal opinion not dogma. I think, IMHO, that a SW army is better served using them as harassing units that are used sacrificailly to buy time while doing the most damage possible, rather than using them as a screen in order to bring your more valuable troops into combat. It just doesn't seem very Space marine like. Once again, my opinion, and I certainly won't look down on anyone who uses them as a screen.

 

Edit: If you look at my first post in this thread I did mention using Canis in larger games to free up FA slots and use fen.wolves as troop choices. :tu:

i took 2x 10 wolf squads of them in my first game with the new codex, with canis wolf born leading one squad and Arjac the other.

 

Sadly canis got taken out with mind war first turn :( and then the wolves were shot to peices and ran away

so i didnt really get to see how they would have faired against the 10 howling banshees and eldrad

 

the second squad though acted as a meat sheild for Arjac and did fantastically for that! three or four turns in they had all died leaving arjac full strength but he had managed to take down 2 wraithlords in that time too!! so a very fair trade imo, arjac then charged a wraithguard squad and then the game ended and arjac still had 1 wound left but thats another story

 

so basically you can't complain they are very cheap its like giving a character an extra 15 wounds for 120 points! easily worth it :tu:

but the wolves didnt face anything they could kill so i never got to see them shine against infantry but hey i dont care i won the game by quite a bit.

Well...on a good roll they can charge something that is 24 away...that is pretty good. With I5 and 3 attacks per unit, I do not think that is bad for 8 point. I am plaing on using a DP list with them as a hidden threath. (Note, DP as in I shall not drop them on the enemy, but I shall claim the battlefield, and then he must come to me.)

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