close combat wolf guard need hvy wpn yay or nay?

[Lord Squidar]

Hi Guys,

 

I am fairly new to space wolves (December 25th was when I started) and still learning things. I know how to equip grey hunters etc, but I am wondering about my wolf guard.

 

I went for a very expensive build, but purely because the models look awesome. I am not super keen on winning at all costs, but just wondering if I should slap a heavy weapon on to this. Currently I have

 

1 dude with frost axe, storm shield and the big cloak cos he looks wicked

2 guys with wolf claws

2 guys with thunder hammer storm shield

 

currently they all ride around in a drop pod and drop right into the belly of the beast. I've only played two games with them, first game a single salvo of bolter fire took them all out. The second they took two full chaos tactical squads down and only the frost axe guy died.

 

Anyways do I slap on a heavy flamer to one of the wolf claw dudes, same points for a str 6 gout of death before the charge. Same thing with an assault cannon or cyclone missile launcher?

 

thanks for the advice!

 

p.s. I know powerfist and combimelta is a far better combo =)

[postal105]

well you can always give one a cyclone missile launcher and attach them the your long fangs.

[skeletoro]

OK, I know you say you're into rule of cool and not into winning at all costs, but you are asking for advice on the loadout for your wolfguard, right?

 

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but the question of whether to include a heavy weapon pales in comparison to the question of whether your wolf guard currently have sensible loadouts. I know you weren't asking for help on this, but it has to be said: they really don't. Just a couple of pointers:

 

1) Frost axes are a waste of points - either take a power fist or a power axe.

2) Storm shields are very expensive and not really worth it for the most part - but if you are going to take one, don't take more than about 1 or 2. And you certainly shouldn't upgrade that model's weapon - leave it as an axe or sword.

3) WC+PF is equal to, or better than, WC+WC in every respect, including points cost.

 

Let's put this in perspective. For the same points as you've spent on these wolf guard (285 points by my quick calc?) You could get about 9 wolf guard with power axes and storm bolters. I know smacking things with shields and axes is fun and all that, but... you could have twice the axes! :D

[greysquigg]

OK, I know you say you're into rule of cool and not into winning at all costs, but you are asking for advice on the loadout for your wolfguard, right?

 

 

No he's asking about heavy weapons.

 

The double wolf claws do look awesome, and does work provided you really don't care about killing other terminators or anything with a 2+ save with the squad.

 

I would say, put that heavy flamer in there definitely. BBQ + Cut them up + Tenderise them before you eat them ;)

 

 

GS

[skeletoro]

No he's asking about heavy weapons.

He's asking for advice regarding his wolf guard. Yes, specifically about his wolf guard's heavy weapons, but as I said already, there are clearly much more pressing weapons than heavy weapon choice here. ANY of the heavy weapons options would be OK. Or none. May as well take the flamer if nothing else, as it's only 5 points (and it's not a good idea to equip TDA WG units with no ranged weapons - all of the melee-only weapons combos are too expensive to spam).

 

The double wolf claws do look awesome, and does work provided you really don't care about killing other terminators or anything with a 2+ save with the squad.

He's coming here for advice on loadouts - do you really feel the need to prioritize making him feel good about his choices? I don't like being the meanie here, but he's come here for advice, and the BEST advice we can collectively give him is:

 

1) Frost axes are not worth it.

2) WC+PF &--#62; WC+WC for the same points.

3) TH+SS is too expensive. Let's stop and think about this. *63 points!* That's getting quite close to 3* the price of a vanilla TDA WG. If you're worried about ensuring that your big hitter survives, consider this. A TDA WG with a power fist is only 43 points, brings twice as many str 8 AP2 attacks to the table, and is twice as durable against everything other than AP2 (and not much less durable against that).

 

Personally, I'd downgrade the unit to something like this - keeping approximately the same, thematically, but shaving off ~50 points from the unit.

 

1) Change frost axe and thunder hammers to power axes. Switch one storm shield for a heavy flamer.

2) Trade in a WC for a PF or CF for both of those guys.

 

Again, I don't come here to be a dick to people, but he's putting time into modelling these guys and clearly cares at least somewhat about his equipment loadout, or he wouldn't be here (comment about not prioritizing winning at all costs noted, however). We wouldn't be doing him any favors by telling him dual wolf claws are a good choice for that particular unit.

[spafe]

One loadout a mate was trying against me was to have an assult cannon (although can sub for heavy flamer), a storm shield and mark of the wulfen. means still awesome in combat, and has other useful bits.

 

Although the rest of his squad was very different (so was his army!). all members had stormshields, then there was 2 with claws, 1 with chainfist and 1 with hammer. meant all his shooting was in assult cannon. he backed unit up with a dred with cannon too. It is scary when thats coming down a flank!

[skeletoro]

That model sounds really good in theory, but if you distributed those upgrades across more models it might work a tad better? If you put the SS on the AC guy, it means it will never be worth it to allocate attacks to that model because even though he has a storm shield, he's 78 points, even before taking MOTW into acccount (93 points!!!) Almost 3x the price of a TDA WG, but only 2x as durable vs lascannons etc.

[Squark]

Ultimately, It's Lord Squidar's choice, but I have to agree with skeletro that it's worth considering changing the loadout a bit- It's pretty easy to turn thunder hammers into power axes (Just swap the weapon heads, and you should have extra axe heads from the power armor box), and you can turn one of the wolf claws into a powerfist with a bit of knife-work. Shouldn't be that difficult, I imagine. AS to a heavy weapon, I'd reccomend saving those points and waiting until you have more terminators, and giving the heavy weapons guy to Long Fangs for a Cyclone Missile Launcher, or perhaps a heavy flamer or assault cannon in grey hunters if you don't want to bother converting/digging for the CMC. Sure, Assault terminators with a Cyclone Missile Launcher were a big draw to 5th edition Deathwing... But Deathwing Assault Terminators were also much cheaper than Space Wolves Terminators end up being if you try to make assault terminators, and Deathwing didn't have Long Fangs packing 5 Missile Launchers.