Wolf Lord

[madcooie]

Hey lads,

 

As some of you will know i recently started a Space Wolf army. I have Njal Stormcaller as one of my HQ, and I read somewhere that he is only truly useful in larger scale battles. So, got to thinking that a Wolf Lord would be a nice choice for an HQ.

 

What are my options, bearing in mind i'm a noob.

 

• Terminator Armour - worth it?
  
• Runic Armour, where or how do i represent this? And is it worth it?
  
• What options weaponry wise should i be looking for?
  
• Fenrisian wolves (riding one and companions) worth it?
  

 

I hope you can answer some of the questions for me.

 

All the best,

 

madcooie

[winternight]

Terminator Armour - worth it?

Personally I am not a big fan. No sweeping people is crap. Cheap way to get 2+/5++ but meh on the 5++. Looks cool IMO.

 

Runic Armour, where or how do i represent this? And is it worth it?

You could just paint some runes on the armour. It is ok, but only useful against a torrent of crappy attacks.

 

What options weaponry wise should i be looking for?

I am a big fan of a thunderhammer cos it looks cool and smashes things good. Powerfist does the same but is cheaper. Wolf Claw is the best if you want to carve troops. Get a Storm Shield IMO.

 

Fenrisian wolves (riding one and companions) worth it?

Riding a Thunderwolf is awesome, so long as you have some other Thunderwolves to go with the Lord. Getting a normal wolf or two can be handy to eat some lascannon/melta shots.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Wolf Lords are death dealing machines, but a machine is no use if it never gets to fight.

 

There are four forms of mobility available to him.

 

Transport

Jump pack

Bike

Thunder Wolf

 

Transport, by putting your Wolf Lord in a squad that has a transport he can move across the battlefield with them. He is protected by the armour of the vehicle and the number of models in the unit. However unless it is a Land Raider he's limited in the ways in which he can charge an enemy. If it is a Land Raider then that's 250+ points.

 

Jump pack, slap this on his back and he gains a 12 inch movement and the ability to deep strike. He can jump over terrain reducing the number of ways in which the enemy can avoid him.

 

Bike, riding his hog the Wolf Lord gains 12 inch movement, 24 inch with turbo-boost, twin-linked bolters, and toughness 5(4). His limitations are found in his reduced ability to assault into cover, and of course moving through cover is fraught with peril.

 

Thunder Wolf, with a +1 boost to S, T and A this is a melee boosting mount, and with the ability of Cavalry to fleet and charge 12 inches he can cover ground very quickly. Against that his limitation of wolves or thunder wolves as accompanying squads means that you're left with either very soft, or very expensive escorts.

 

For my money, a Jump Pack accompanied by some Skyclaws, or a bike accompanied by some Swiftclaws, provides the best combination. However you might decide that building a Thunder Wolf Lord is worth the time and money.

 

Equipment is pretty simple, unless you're on a Thunder Wolf, take a frost blade and bolt pistol. Being strength 5 means you can wound anything up to toughness 8, and it's nearly half the price of twin wolf claws. The belt of Russ should go here too. Wolf Lord, belt of Russ, frost blade, and jump pack runs 175 points. Slap a beefy saga on him (if you really want to) maybe some meltabombs and away you go. Alternatively load him for bear with thunder hammer, storm shield and saga of the bear. He may strike last, but most often he will strike "last".

[Zhukov]

Terminator Armour - worth it?

Not really. That way he can only travel in Land Raiders. Also its pretty expensive for what it gives you. A 5+ invulnerable save is still pretty crappy you still probably want to pay for Belt or Storm Shield which makes Termi armour pretty overpriced in my opinion.

 

Runic Armour, where or how do i represent this? And is it worth it?

Depends, if you make your lord very expensive already; its worth it. (for example when you put him on a Wolf its worth it). If you want to keep him cheap; then its a luxary and I wouldnt take it.

 

What options weaponry wise should i be looking for?

When you go for a Belt of russ, a Frost Blade is pretty nice. Quite some attacks at S5 I5 which isnt too bad. When you go for a storm shield a sing Wolf claw or Thunder hammer are nice options. It depends on what you want him to do.

 

Fenrisian wolves (riding one and companions) worth it?

Yes very much in my opinion. This way the biggest problems of the Marine Captain equivalants get overcome: T4 > T5, no more getting instakilled by S8 Powerfist/Klaws, which is very nice. S4 > S5, awesome of course, means you would more easily huh? Extra attack is nice and the biggest thing: Mobility! Max 24" charge range is awesome really. Yes his initial movement of 6" + d6" isnt great, but the charge range makes up for this.

 

My choice if I would field a Wolf Lord is:

 

-Wolf

-Storm shield

-Wolf claw

-Runic armour

-Wolf necklace

-Wolf talisman

-Saga of the Beastslayer

-2x Fenrisian wolf

 

Comes in at an unhealthy 260 points of awesomeness. Yes, thats the same as 4 Thunder wolves; equiped with 1x SS; 1x PF and 1x MB. Worth it? Maybe, probably not. But then again: this goes for every Wolf Lord setup: you are ussually better off with taking more troops or just cheap Rune Priests. Wolf Lords doesnt give you much which you need; or well they are just too expensive for what they do. I would personally never field a Wolf Lord without Wolf mount tbh, he just cant handle enough units; too much stuff out there which handle him easily.

[Stormshrug]

I'm a big fan of double CCW for that extra attack, be it in the form of Plasma Pistol and Frost Blade (my personal favorite) or double Wolf Claws. The Belt of Russ is there to cover invul save needs even if you can't get a Storm Shield.

 

Of course, it's hard to go wrong with the Storm Shield's 3++, and if you're going to do a Thunder Hammer (and hence can't strategize around killing them BEFORE they hit back), definitely grab one.

 

I tend to send my Wolf Lord or WGBL against infantry, though, matching my Rune Priest against other HQs and tough Elites (Force Weapon, JotWW). For killing HQs, probably either double Wolf Claw or TH/SS (depending on what you're fighting and whether or not it has Eternal Warrior/T5). And, as mentioned above, Saga of the Beastslayer is great for this build.

 

-Stormshrug

[sazzer]

I'm planning on my wolf lord being twin Wolf Claws and Belt of Russ, riding on Thunderwolf with a retinue of 5 Thunderwolf Cavalry. Add some melta bombs into the mix and they should be able to take out most things, and get around fast enough to catch them...

[madcooie]

Thanks for your responses, I will make this a WIP tonight! Along with a few other bits and bobs!

[Aeddon]

At the lower point levels the Wolf Guard Battle Leader is really a better buy. Regardless, options are pretty much the same.

 

•Terminator Armour - worth it?

meh, if you're looking for a cheap HQ with a PW it's hard to go wrong with bare TDA.

 

•Runic Armour, where or how do i represent this? And is it worth it?

make it prettier than everyone elses?

 

•What options weaponry wise should i be looking for?

I would never field a WL or WGBL with anything that reduces his initiative to 1 which means no thunder hammers, no power fists and no chainfists. The best options for him that I have found is a Wolf Claw and a Storm Shield on a thunderwolf mount.

 

•Fenrisian wolves (riding one and companions) worth it?

You definately pay for it but yes, very much worth it!

[Stormshrug]

Wolf companions are an absolutely essential buy; for barely more than your standard space marine (to buy 2), you get 4 extra attacks every round (6 on the charge) and, far more importantly, the ability to divert the first two shooting attacks that would insta-gibb your expensive HQ choice to another model. They also do NOT prevent him from joining other squads, since they are considered "wargear" (though this also means they can't take CC attacks for him). The only situation where I would pass on them is if I were planning to have my Wolf Lord or WGBL accompany a squad of troops in a transport, since they take up two spaces each there.

 

Thunderwolf Mounts are definitely a more situational thing. They're good, but they're a big investment; they cost more than half as much as a WGBL, and almost half as much as a full-fledged Wolf Lord. They're nasty under the right circumstances, but the cost is something to consider.

 

-Stormshurg