Lone Wolves

[Brother Darklight]

Hail Battle Cousins, a Black Templar here!

 

A friend of mine has started building up a Space Wolves force, and he's relatively new to the game so I've been reading through his codex and helping him figure things out.

 

I'm curious about the role of Lone Wolves... From the perspective of another Marine Codex, I can't wrap my head around a single Marine model that isn't an HQ being fitted into an Elite slot (at least I think it's an Elite). How well do they fare at what they do, what uses do they serve, Etc.?

[dswanick]

First, yes, Lone Wolves are an Elites slot choice.

 

Second, Lone Wolves fill a disruptive roll in a Space Wolves army. They can be incredibly hard to kill for a sub-100pt model and they almost demand that ones opponent deal with them. They can be equipped to deal with infantry and armor equally and can deal out a surprising amount of distruction if left alone.

 

A common favorite build is :

Elite: Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour (1#, 85 pts)

1 Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour, 85 pts (Infantry; Terminator Armour; Storm Shield; Thunder Hammer; A Glorious Death; Acute Senses; Beastslayer; Counter-attack; Eternal Warrior; Fearless; Feel No Pain; Pack of One)

 

Two of my more favored builds are :

Elite: Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour (3#, 95 pts)

1 Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour, 95 pts (Infantry; Terminator Armour; Wolf Claw; Chainfist; A Glorious Death; Acute Senses; Beastslayer; Counter-attack; Eternal Warrior; Fearless; Feel No Pain; Pack of One)

2 Fenrisian Wolf (Beasts; Vicious claws and fangs; Counter-attack)

 

Elite: Lone Wolf w/ Mark of the Wulfen (3#, 85 pts)

1 Lone Wolf w/ Mark of the Wulfen, 85 pts (Infantry; Assault Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Mark of the Wulfen; Plasma Pistol x2; A Glorious Death; Acute Senses; Beastslayer; Counter-attack; Eternal Warrior; Fearless; Feel No Pain; Pack of One)

2 Fenrisian Wolf (Beasts; Vicious claws and fangs; Counter-attack)

[Elazar The Glorified]

As dswanick says, they excel at disrupting your opponents plans, running interference and making a nuisance of themselves as they refuse to go down easily. Psychological warfare is their strongpoint though!

 

There's not much strategy required to them beyond point them at things your opponent won't want getting mangled with a Chainfist and running as fast as they can towards them. They'll die. You'll want them to die in some games for the vp. But they'll force squads or heavy weapons to focus their fire on them whilst your Grey Hunters etc are getting into position to finish the job off.

 

They work best if you recite the sagas of how invincible they are throughout deployment because when the first volley bounces off them suddenly your opponent will start making suspect decisions as they try all the harder to neutralise them. I never play an opponent without telling them the tale of my Lone Wolf that kept 4 Venoms and a Raider full of Wracks, Trueborn and Wyches busy for a whole game as they didn't want to risk being caught it assault with him and for all the firepower that went his way (which for that many Venoms and Trueborn is a lot!) I got insanely lucky on my dice rolls and he held on until Turn 5 allowing the rest of my army to scrape enough points to finish second at a tournament instead of 5th as had looked likely by the end of turn 2!

 

They'll rarely be that lucky but they only need to do it once and then you can exaggerate the rest! :devil:

[Ullr Direfang]

I haven't used one this edition (I haven't played a 6th game). But it goes with out saying that they are their to make your opponent think twice. The "Oh wait, what can that do again..... and you put it near the unit/model...... hmmm..... that has to die......" can change the game from someone just shooting up Longfangs, Grey Hunters, the Land Raider with Termies inside. And if they don't think twice, they will probably wish they had a little later.

[Sutr]

he's a characters also. just move/run him to the opponents deathstar, big unit, anything you want stoped on it's tracks and chalenge. he's a wall almost everything will have serious trouble destroying and a game changer.

 

i use 2 on my 1750 list

one with TH and one with chainfist

[spoontongue]

Lone wolves are designed to force choices. If you shove a large amount of targets at the enemy, then it goes without saying that at least one will break the line and and cause damage. This just presents another juicy target, which draws fire away from GH, LF and WGT that are all just as devastating if left unchecked. Just load it up and send it out to do what it does best, kill or be killed. FOR RUSS!

[captain fabian]

Is the challenge thing covered in the FAQ? I must have missed something.

[Lord Ragnarok]

Is the challenge thing covered in the FAQ? I must have missed something.

 

Lone Wolves are listed as characters in the reference section of the 6th edition rule book.

 

One thing I didn't see mentioned with respect to lone wolves is that they a SW player typically wants them to die. If the lone wolf lives by the end of the game they give your opponent a victory point. If they die, he does not get a victory point. So not only are they a distraction from other threats there is alos the conundrum if they want to leave it alive to get the points. However, it makes it hard to keep something alive which may be snacking on your valuable units.

 

So the trick is to make lone wolves survivable enough to be considered a serous threat but not nigh unkillable because you don't want to give VP's to your opponent.

[Ullr Direfang]

Is the challenge thing covered in the FAQ? I must have missed something.

 

Lone Wolves are listed as characters in the reference section of the 6th edition rule book.

 

One thing I didn't see mentioned with respect to lone wolves is that they a SW player typically wants them to die. If the lone wolf lives by the end of the game they give your opponent a victory point. If they die, he does not get a victory point. So not only are they a distraction from other threats there is alos the conundrum if they want to leave it alive to get the points. However, it makes it hard to keep something alive which may be snacking on your valuable units.

 

So the trick is to make lone wolves survivable enough to be considered a serous threat but not nigh unkillable because you don't want to give VP's to your opponent.

 

 

Which is why I never understood giving them a SS. I know a guy who says you have to give them on to make your opponent throw a lot of weapons at it to make it die. I asked him how well it did and he said it never died ( :D ) in the 14 games he used it in.... I kind of took that as one of the biggest facepalms of the month.

[Brom MKIV]

So the trick is to make lone wolves survivable enough to be considered a serous threat but not nigh unkillable because you don't want to give VP's to your opponent.

This is where im torn. Right now my buddies are on the plasma spamwagon so I think shields are warranted. Once this dies down and they return to isolated melta squads ill likely switch their wargear to simply tda + cf/sb, maybe add a combi weapon.

[Hannibal.Lictor]

Its only a VP in annihilate games. Other wise dont worry about it. Mine typically get 2-3 kill points so if they dont die I still get mine back. I always run them with pets this edition. You get a nine inch move before a charge (two wolves run out in front of the LW) and they help get the distance on the charge. You basically run them of in front of everything and run torwards the biggest nastiest thing you enemy has. I font leave home without 2. In fact, I was thinking of using double FOC cheese and having 6.

[Brom MKIV]

That made me Lolz! 6 lone wolves would be the coolest thing ever. Not sure what you mean by 9 inch move but it feels like stretching a rule, would you mind elaborating?

[Hannibal.Lictor]

Sure, he has 2 fen wolves as pet doggies, they are beasts and can move 12 inches. In 6th ed each unit can move to its maximum distance provided it stays in unit cohesion. With that in mind, you move the wolves 2 inches forward of the LW (they have so stay within 2 inches due to wargear) and the base is about an inch in diameter. So right before teh charge you set up the slingshot. The one issue is a 6 up save vs overwatch, but thats why I have 2 wolves...that and look out sir cheese. I love the look on someones face when they suddenly realize that their rifleman dred IS in range of a charge. If only they had fleet...

 

And ya 6 LWs would be lulz.

[Brom MKIV]

Thanks, I missed the significance of that when I read the rules but now ive reread it. Sweet! Its even better for hunter priests that join beasts.

[skrikspya]

In my 1500 foot list I run TDA, SS, CF.

 

Since the list is quite slow, SS has been needed to shake off as many hits as possible. In a more balanced (at least speed wise) list you might not have the need for the SS.