Your guidance with configuration of an army

[Marshal Varas Mortez]

Greetings brothers, I have travelled many light years.... aw hell it was from the black templar sub forum, my mate has recently got into the hobby I half tried to talk him out of it so I could say I had tried when accused of dragging another down with me, iv just been doing it longer.

I have never played as space wolves, although played against them in their old edition.

He posted this on another forum he is a member of but thought you guys would be well equiped to guide him.

 

Now I hand you over to my newbie :D

 

 

Greetings

As my intro post recently said I’m just starting to get into Warhammer. I have just bought a bunch of things to make a space wolves army. I was wondering if any of you wise people have any tips as I start the daunting task of creating my first army list so I know how to configure my men as I build them. I’ll give a list of what I have below (if there is one or two things you feel I might need to add feel free to say so as well).

 

I have:

1 x Space Wolves Battleforce: contains [20 figures that can be made into Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and/ or Wolf Guard] + [5 scouts] + [Drop Pod]

3 x Wolf Pack: each contains 10 figures that can be made into Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and/ or Wolf Guard

2 x SW Terminator Pack: each contains 5 terminators

1 x Land raider

1x Vindicator

I also have one of each: Njal Stormcaller, Space Wolf Rune Priest, Wolf Lord Logan Grimnar, and Space Wolf Lord Ragnar Blackmane

 

Thanks very much

Jonny

 

 

(Thanks for looking at this for him guys, hope you can be of help.)

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

Welcome to the Fang! I think you'll find that nearly everyone hear is not only well-versed in 40K combat from the perspective of the Sons of Russ, but also very friendly and willing to offer advice.

 

You have quite a good starting point with what you have there. As far as what I believe you may need to supplement, I would say probably 5 or 10 more scouts, and a couple of rhinos to transport all the grey hunters around. 10 terminators should be enough heavily armored wolf guard to last you for a while.

 

You've got 50 marines there to split between blood claws, grey hunters, and wolf guard in any combination. My personal suggestion to get the most out of those 50 is to do 30 of them as grey hunters, 10 as blood claws, and 10 as wolf guard in power armor. If you see yourself as more often wanting to have your wolf guard as terminators, then I would say to do 30 grey hunters and 20 blood claws. In such a case I would say to invest in jump packs for 10 of the blood claws and perhaps get an Ulrik blister.

 

One other thing I nearly forgot to mention is Long Fangs. You're most certainly going to want them. To get them you can either search all over ebay for the old metal ones, or buy vanilla marine devastator boxes and add wolfy bits from your wolf packs. As far as what to equip them with, myself and many others favor either having all 5 heavy weapons be missile launchers, or a mixture of missile launchers and lascannons. The thing to keep in mind when choosing their weaponry is the difference in range. Missiles and lascannons are reaching out to 48", while heavy bolters and plasma cannons have a range of 36", while the multi-melta has the shortest range of heavy weaponry with 24". Our ability to have them split their fire can somewhat counteract the problem with short and long ranged weapons in the same squad, but I personally wouldn't put multi-meltas in the same squad with missile launchers and lascannons.

 

Out of those 30 grey hunters, you'll probably want to model the majority of them in much the same way as a regular tactical marine. Several of them should probably be kitted out with melta guns, plasma guns, power fists, a power weaon or two, etc. Depending on the opponent, you may want to run them as cheap and plain as possible, or kit them out to take on transports with meltas or tough stuff with plasma.

 

That's my two cents for now, but if I think of anything else I'll be sure to post it.

 

Again, Welcome!....and have a few big flagons of ale on me!

[Uncooked]

Welcome your friend to the game :blink:

 

He has bought a lot of expensive point units such as Wolf Guard Terminators, Characters and Land Raider - But below may be a list he may be able to use with some decent amount with what he has;

 

Pts

 

275 - Logan Grimmnar

192 - 4 Wolf Guard Terminators with Two Wolf Claws Each

275 - Land Raider, Extra Armour, Pintle Mounted Multi-Melta

 

100 - Rune Priest with Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf

175 - 10 Grey Hunters, Mark of the Wulfen, 2 Plasma Guns

 

35 - Drop Pod

155 - 9 Grey Hunters, Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Gun

43 - Wolf Guard, Powerfist, Combi-Melta

 

130 - Vindicator, Extra Armour

 

120 - 5 Wolf Scouts, 2 Power Weapons, Melta-Gun

 

1500Points

 

Army is a very specific push hard army and should be able to deal with a lot of armies out there, as long as he focuses killing a unit at a time he should do fine with this list! :)

 

I would advise that he should forget about using the special characters if he wants a force that he wants to win with as there are much better cheaper options in the Space Wolf HQ section which do better jobs in small games.

 

List also needs at least a Rhino Transport to get your units around, and if he does drop Logan From the List he should be able to afford a Rhino, Unit of Grey Hunters and a Wolf Guard to accompany them into the fray.

 

If you friend wants me to try and come up with a higher point list just post up and I'm sure it can be achieved.

 

Happy Winning and welcome to the forums he he reads this :)

[Marshal Varas Mortez]

Have sent him a link, hope he arrives here soon :RTBBB:

 

I agree it looks not bad. I dont ever go for characters with my templars but I realise they are nice and fluffy.

 

Also i worked out ragnar in a unit can make the unit get something like 50 attacks. thats nuts!

[wolf363839]

If you have 50 Space Wolves in power armor, I HIGHLY recommend magnetizing their arms with 1/8" rare earth magnets. It will allow you to experiment with any weapon combination you like, and will lead you towards how you want to play the game.

 

As far as what you have bought thus far, it looks almost identical to what I use in most games. I think you may want to add 3 or 4 Razorbacks to your force (you can swap top hatches to make them Rhinos). Having a mechanized option really increases the variety of your force.

 

Good luck, have fun, kick ass!

[Jonny]

Hey guys, I’m the newbie Varas is talking about.

 

Thanks for the welcomes as well as the tips! Magnetizing is great idea, I’ll do that on a good few of them and it’s not too far out of my way as I had already decided to do that with vehicles. The 30-grey hunters, 10-blood claws, and 10-wolf guard split seems a good idea too, I’ll go with that.

 

I’ll keep a note to buy a couple Space Marine Devastator Squad packs and convert them with the multitude of spares in the SW packs when I next get paid. I’ll also pick up some Razorbacks, Scouts and I’m contemplating adding a predator.

 

I bought the named characters (apart from Ragnar) because I really liked how the looked and I’m going to try some converting them a little and using them as a normal Wolf Lord/Rune Priest. Ragnar I got as I thought he might be useful to add in some games due to some of his benefits.

 

Also do any of you if SW scouts can use a shotgun? I’ve seen some lists on the internet with scouts using them but can’t see it as an option in the codex.

 

Thanks again folks! You’re helping a lot!

[Wolf Lord Hallbjorn]

SW scouts can't be equipped with shotguns. That's a piece of wargear that the codex marines get. I'm not really complaining, though. I like our scouts much better.

[Grey Mage]

I have:

1 x Space Wolves Battleforce: contains [20 figures that can be made into Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and/ or Wolf Guard] + [5 scouts] + [Drop Pod]

3 x Wolf Pack: each contains 10 figures that can be made into Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and/ or Wolf Guard

2 x SW Terminator Pack: each contains 5 terminators

1 x Land raider

1x Vindicator

I also have one of each: Njal Stormcaller, Space Wolf Rune Priest, Wolf Lord Logan Grimnar, and Space Wolf Lord Ragnar Blackmane

Ello Jonny.

 

I note a few things....

 

1) You have two transports, and that they dont mesh well.

2) You have alot of marines..

3) Unless your friend here Varas is going to help you with bitz, you only have Plasmarifles for special weapons.

 

So Im going to reccommend the following foryour first list:

 

Rune Priest- Runic Armor, Plasma Pistol, Meltabombs- 140pts. Living Lightning and Stormcaller.

 

5 Wolf Scouts- Power Weapon, Meltagun- 100pts.

 

10 Grey Hunters- 2x Plasmarifle, Powerfist, Wolf Totem- 195pts.

10 Grey Hunters- 2x Plasmarifle, Powerfist, Wolf Totem- 195pts.

 

Vindicator- Dozer Blade- 120pts.

 

750pts.

 

This will let you get a handle on all the basic rules, including vehicles and psychic powers, and give you some solid squads that I know youll end up wanting to reuse at a later date no matter if you decide you like footslogging or drop podding or rhino-mounted escapades.

 

That being said, I suggest you proxy a few rhinos or DPs soon, and when you decide what you like get 3 of them. If you like Rhinos though, buy razorbacks instead- the back plate is fully interchangeable, meaning for 5 bucks you get the option of fielding either a rhino or a razorback... same goes with whirlwind kits.

 

I also suggest picking up a Dreadnaught. These guys are amazing... providing excellant fire support combined with a potent CC weapon. No matter what style of army you choose its likely that youll want atleast one of these bad-boys. A box or two of Devastators would not go amiss for long fangs either.

 

Lastly, if you end up footslogging or mechanizing youll want a whirlwind unless every foe you face is power armored. Theyre good against power armored enemies... but theyre amazing against anything less. Oh, and avoid predators... there is nothing they can do that a long fang squad cant do better for cheaper.

 

Edit: And no, scouts cant have shotguns. They used to be able to, in the previous codex... your probly seeing about 10 years worth or scouts using shotguns from our last book.

[Jonny]

Thanks Grey Mage, some useful stuff there!

 

3) Unless your friend here Varas is going to help you with bitz, you only have Plasmarifles for special weapons.

 

I ordered a pack of 5 meltagun bitz and a pack of 5 plasma gun bitz which should be arriving soon to help with that a little as I start.

 

That being said, I suggest you proxy a few rhinos or DP's soon, and when you decide what you like get 3 of them. If you like Rhinos though, buy razorbacks instead- the back plate is fully interchangeable, meaning for 5 bucks you get the option of fielding either a rhino or a razorback... same goes with whirlwind kits.

 

I'll have to wait a little bit (next pay day) before I can afford any more DP's or pick up any razorback/ whirlwind kits. Though it might time in well with how long it'll take me to build/ paint and start to get an idea of what kind of transport I prefer.

 

I also suggest picking up a Dreadnaught. These guys are amazing... providing excellent fire support combined with a potent CC weapon. No matter what style of army you choose its likely that youll want atleast one of these bad-boys. A box or two of Devastators would not go amiss for long fangs either.

 

I've been spending a good amount of time staring at the Forge World SW dreadnaught, it is definitely on my want list.

 

there is nothing they can do that a long fang squad cant do better for cheaper.

 

noted

 

---

 

so needed additions according to you and other folks:

 

- Couple devastator packs for Long Fangs

- Transports: DP’s or Razorbacks/ Whirlwind (for Rhino’s or normal use)

- Dreadnaught

 

not as bad as it could of been B)

[Marshal Varas Mortez]

I would have helped with spares but you have some already, so thats all dandy ;)

[CainTheHunter]

Forge World dreadnoughts are sold initially with no weapon arms - so You'll have to figure out early which combinations You want. From the outset I'd suggest to magnetise his arms. I've been toying with MM/HF dread, coming out from drop pod, but I'm slowly swinging towards footslogging support dread with plasma cannon.

[Karack Blackstone]

The role of your Dreads is a bit decided with what you want them to hunt. Light vehicles and infantry are good for Auto Cannons, which you can get two of.

 

The other options, Assault Cannons, Plasma Cannons and Multi-Meltas vary. AC's (this line's wpn) are good against most things, but not great. PC's are great for hunting troops as they don't get an armor save. MM's are good for anti vehicle, but being a non-twin-linked weapon you face missing.

 

If you have the bits for a Regular Dread (or get) And one AoBR set (You can trade the orks with another if you both get it) you pick up a bit more GH's and won't have to spend too much from Forge World for arms on Dreads, specifically the MM arm.

 

I would recommend Plasma Cannons for anti-troop as you deny the armor save, but it's not always so accurate. A Ven Dread with one may prove most helpful. And please remember that vehicles ignore overheats on any form of Plasma. Some may not be so nice as to point that out.

 

Lascannons are good at anti-tank if you want to stay back; if not, maybe save your pod for a Ven Dread with a MM? You have a 5 in 6 chance of hitting, which would prove deadly dropped in close. Remember as well that Meltas of all types get 2d6 for pen value at half range or less. There's a few tacticas scattered around the site if you search, that you may want to read.

 

In closing, the Dread box for Space Marines includes the DCCW (s10 pwr wpn), ML, AC, and a TLLC arm. It's a good buy if you plan on using them (If you don't glue the arms on, you can even swap out the arms on one dread).

[Requiem of the Wolf]

And if you are going to use scouts,I REALLY recommend kitting most of them out with sniper rifles and tossing a heavy bolter into the mix. Add to that either melta bombs for the squad or a wolf guard leader with power fist and combi melta if you want to use them for anti-vehicle purposes as well. The behind enemy lines ability of the scouts is an amazing benefit if you want to bushwhack a long range unit or to annihilate vehicles like the whirlwind or excorcist. you can also use it to clear out an objective if the troops are hiding there behind cover.