Wolf Guard Termies w/ FW's and SS's

[Wraithwing]

Greetings Wolf-brothers,

 

I'm in the process of putting together a Space Wolves army, and need some feedback on one of the key units I'm going to be fielding. I've had a quick search through existing topics, but my search fu is weak.

 

Having seen how monsterously effective an Assault Termie Squad with TH and SS's is, I though I'd try and do something similar for my Wolves. I'm thinking about running a unit of 5 Wolf Guard Terminators, all with Frost Weapons and Storm Shields in a Land Raider Redeemer. These guys will be accompanied by a Wolf Lord in Terminator Armour, with a Frost Weapon and Storm Shield and Saga of the Bear.

 

This one unit clocks in at a hefty 530 pts. The question I have is, am I wasting points on what could be a unit of epic fail, or do you think they are worth it? These guys will be as hard as nails, and able to dish out quite a bit of death with 20 str 5 attacks on the charge, with a 3++ save.

 

Am I barking (groan) up the wrong tree and putting too many eggs in one basket?

 

The rest of the force consists of three ten man GH squads in Rhinos and a six man LF squad with five ML's and Razorback.

 

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

WW

[Xtee]

My personal opinion is that you are putting to many eggs in one basket. They are going to be over kill. Example. you charge your opponent , and defeat him almost instantly leaving your termies to be shot at with bolter fire and other painful flashlights. And with each of your Termies identically equiped there is no wound allocation you can do other then roll a fist full of dice and remove 1 termie for every 1 or 2 you will roll. so for every 3 wounds scored you lose a termie. Also from all the math I've seen, and my own experiences wolf claws are superior to a frost blade unless you have a bolt/plasma pistol to grant +1A.

[Sarapham]

Also from all the math I've seen, and my own experiences wolf claws are superior to a frost blade unless you have a bolt/plasma pistol to grant +1A.

 

Agreeing with this, Frost blade is mostly useful on PA since you can get +1 for cheaper than 2 wolf claws, but since that is not possible with TDA and you have SS, go with claws.

[Beef]

From a modelling point (as i cant give good advice when it comes to rules or games) frost blades and SS would look awsome, much better than Lightning claw and SS, Perhaps do them with power frost blades but counts as Wolf Claws,

[Stormshrug]

From a modelling point (as i cant give good advice when it comes to rules or games) frost blades and SS would look awsome, much better than Lightning claw and SS, Perhaps do them with power frost blades but counts as Wolf Claws,

 

Lightning Blades? That'd be pretty sweet.

 

-Stormshrug

[Wraithwing]

From a modelling point (as i cant give good advice when it comes to rules or games) frost blades and SS would look awsome, much better than Lightning claw and SS, Perhaps do them with power frost blades but counts as Wolf Claws,

 

This is what I was thinking. Hulking space vikings with massive axes and shields :)

 

Hmmm, what to do, what to do...

[08ak1]

Frost Blades are kind of a let down in most "what is most effective" situations, they are very cool and fluffy though and by no means are they total crap. The problem is their cost, if they were the same as Wolf claws it would be better but getting a +1 to wound rolls wont be as good in the long run as being able to choose to re-roll hits or wounds...and for 5 points less. The only place i actually really like the frost blade is on a ThunderWolf Lord, but even then its debatable if its better then wolf claws.

 

Ideally you would want as much variance in your units as possible to allow for some cool wound allocation, on top of that its never a bad thing to have a decent mix of weapons to ensure best results in all situations. For example a good unit would consist of:

 

Mostly: Normal effective cheap troopers, to put wounds on first, minimal upgrades

 

Few: Anti Armor/High toughness guys, power fists/Thunder hammers/Melta bombs, these guys get you the last few kills in Assault but are expensive

 

Some: Mildly upgraded units, Wolf Claws, Power weapons, Combi-Weapons, these guys cost more then the first group but not outrageously so. They cause wounds in Initiative order to maybe cut down some of the masses before they strike and allow you to wound these guys before your heavy hitters to ensure the heavy hitters survive to strike.

 

so for a 10 man wolf guard unit, you might take

5 normal guys, 1 W/combi melta, 1 W/Melta Bombs, 1 W/Storm Shield

3 upgraded guys, 1 W/Wolf Claw/Combi-Melta, 1 W/Power Weapon, 1 W/Wolf Claw/Storm Shield

2 Heavy hitters, 1 W/Thunder hammer/Storm Shield, 1 W/Power Fist/Combi-Melta

 

With this setup you can easily pick and choose who lives and who dies based on what your squad needs to keep and can afford to lose, and you have redundancy within it as well, if the melta bombs normal guy dies you have a Thunder hammer and Power fist still usable against heavy heavy armor. Take 1 nasty low AP attack, put it on the regular guy with a storm shield, if he dies oh well at least he didn't have any other gear as well. In most games the Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield guy should be the last person to ever take a save on something as he is the most expensive.

 

hope that makes sense, please dont be discouraged to do it if it appeals to you though it can be very effective your way, it just may not be the "Most" effective way to win. =)

[Wraithwing]

Thanks for the well thought out reply, 08ak1. While I agree that taking the above Terminators is not the most effective way, it will scare the poo out of most opponents, and I always tend to go with what I think looks or plays cool over winning power (I don't win that much!).

 

However, I've been thinking about the eggs in one basket point of view, so have been playing round with some alternate lists that don't inlcude the above unit.

 

I'll get there eventually, I'm sure!

[Xtee]

Thanks for the well thought out reply, 08ak1. While I agree that taking the above Terminators is not the most effective way, it will scare the poo out of most opponents, and I always tend to go with what I think looks or plays cool over winning power (I don't win that much!).

 

However, I've been thinking about the eggs in one basket point of view, so have been playing round with some alternate lists that don't inlcude the above unit.

 

I'll get there eventually, I'm sure!

 

 

an easy way to lower it, and get the same affect is droppod. you only get 5 termies.

 

so you take a pack of 10. Split 5 off into GH squads, in power armor, other 5 with Stormshield and frost blade. oh and 2 of the five get heavy weapons....so 5 Termies, with SS and Frostblade, 2 with cyclone missle launchers, or w/e. I would be scared of that 10 24' S4 Shots, PLUS S8 shots. or the pie plates.

[Natanael]

I am thinking of doing an Iron Hands force, using the SW dex, and the FB & SS setup has some great potential for looking great. But, as said, the wolf claw is better against most opponents.

[TiguriusX]

If you are looking at an expensive hammer unit consider Ragnar with PA WG and your choice of PW/WC/FB/PF/TH etc in a LRC/LRR

 

He grants D3 attacks on the charge and has a one time use of furious charge (gives your unit S5 and I5 on the charge...enough to obliterate MEQ units)