Best way to Arm a WGBL on foot

[ironbear]

My gaming club are doing a tale of X gamers typ of thing,

 

I want to do a splinter force ( as i have ragnars great company)

 

Lead by a wisened old wolf guard......

thing is how to arm him?

 

any advice is welcomed

[Squark]

Wolf Guard Battle Leaders are... kind of odd in their role. They're not support HQs, but they're not capable of being true Combat HQs like a proper Wolf Lord. To be honest, the only real use I've thought of for them is as a Company Champion for a Thunderwolf Lord (That is, Group the Thunderwolf lord and the Thunderwolf-mounted Battle Leader in a unit by themselves or perhaps with 1-2 regular TWC, and the Battle Leader can take challenges for the Wolf Lord. Downside is you really want eternal warrior and Saga of the Warrior born in the same squad, honestly, and that'd require two wolf lords instead of the battle leader).

 

If your heart is set on the Battle leader, though, I'd go with Runic Armor+Storm Shield+Powerfist.

[skeletoro]

I think what you'll hear quite a lot is "use a wolf lord: 30 points is a small price to pay for +1 WS, +1 A, +1 W." I tend to agree.

 

Of course, that might not be what you want to hear, and I can totally empathize with the desire to have a small force NOT lead by your wolf lord! I am planning on playing Bran Redmaw's great company, but have bought the lovely finecast Thunderlord model. Sometimes I'll want to use that one as my wolf lord. I don't want to run him as Harald Dealthwolf, and I like the idea of treating him as one of Bran's most trusted wolf guard.

 

Personally, I think the solution is just to pay the 30 points, treat him as a wolf lord mechanically (that's what he is), but that doesn't stop you from describing him - story wise - as a wolf guard battle leader.

 

THAT ASIDE...

 

You want him to be on foot? Well, I'd probably recommend you tool for melee and put him in a melee-capable (preferably melee-focused) unit. Even if you're foot slogging. Wolf lords are *only* useful in melee. That's their forte. Every extra round you stay out of assault is a round where your ~200 point investment pays no dividends (and provides your opponents with another chance to kill him outright before he even closes to assault). So I'd recommend putting your WGBL in a drop pod, land raider, storm eagle or caestus assault ramp (or even thunderhawk) or mount him on a bike or thunderwolf.

 

Weapons-wise? I'd say you have 2 serious options. Either give him both an AP3 and AP2 weapon (generally this means wolf claw + power fist or hammer) OR an AP2 weapon plus a storm shield. I'd lean towards the latter, personally.

 

In terms of armour, I'd suggest Runic, with a belt of russ (if you didn't already take a storm shield). Most of the sagas aren't great. Warrior born is a great example of a saga that looks AMAZING, but the reality is that you're likely to "drop your stack" - that is, fail to make use of the extra attacks because you're not in melee the next assault phase. It also doesn't grant you many extra attacks if you find yourself stuck in challenges constantly (you can only kill one opponent that assault). Beastslayer might be worth it. Normally, Bear is a very good choice. 35 points is a LOT to spend, but unless you specifically know that you're not going to be facing instant death attacks (e.g. your lord is on a thunderwolf and all your opponents lack str 10 attacks), you can't really afford not to get it.

 

Wolf lords are hard. Personally, I think the sweet spot is to spend lots of points. At lower (<200) points costs, they're flat-out outclassed by wolf priests and rune priests, IMO. That goes for WGBLs too.

 

TLDR: What Squark said, but with more waffle.

[Valerian]

Personal opinion, but they might as well just drop Battle Leaders from the next codex; they don't add any value to our Headquarters selections. All they are is a cheaper, less capable, version of Wolf Lords, so everybody that wants to play a melee character just finds the extra points for a WL. Otherwise folks choose Wolf and/or Rune Priests.

[Ghostwolfalpha]

For a wise old wolf I would say Runic Armour, Power Fist, Storm Bolter or combi, Belt of Russ, and two wolves. Put him with some grey hunters intended for the front lines. Terminator armour makes sense as well since he has been around for a while, but that limits his versatility.

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Put him in TDA with a Wolf Claw and a Storm Shield. Add him to a pack of four Wolf Guard TDA with mainly Power Axes and/or Power Fists, and plenty of combi melta/plasma. Put in drop pod. Land behind enemy lines, and KILL ALL WHO STAND BEFORE YOU, TURNING RED THE SNOW AND PIERCING THE NIGHT WITH THE CRIES OF THE DYING.

 

Its what I usually do with the WGBL, as he has more attacks than the common Wolf Guard, so he can have the Wolf Claw, killing a bunch of the enemy before they trade blows (he is essentially worth 2 Wolf Guard with a Wolf Claw each, at least in my mind, due to striking first AND the extra attack), leaving the WGTDA to focus on Axes and murdering whatever remains. Works well, and usually at least takes a bunch of fire before dying. He is in front, and LO,S!s any normal shots, but takes the AP2 or lower due to having 2 wounds AND the Storm Shield. Be wary of S8 and higher, though. 

[Cowmonaut]

WGBL are weird, being weaker Wolf Lords effectively.  Even weirder is if you take a WGBL and a Priest your WGBL (who fluff-wise would be leading the detachment most likely) can't be your Warlord because he's only Ld 9!

 

There are only two ways I liked to run WGBL:

 

WGBL w/ Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw, Meltabombs, Saga of the Hunter

WGBL w/ Frost Weapon, Storm Shield, Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Warrior

 

Note that I said liked.  Past tense.  The first WGBL would normally go with an outflanking Wolf Scout unit, especially in lower point (sub-1000) games.  Was wicked in 500-750 point games.  Can't OBEL if you have a non-Wolf Scout model in the unit now though, so this is less useful and I doubt I'll ever do it again.

 

The second one, well I'll be dropping Saga of the Warrior if I ever actually take him in 6th edition for the reasons already given in this thread.  Unfortunately I had built him in an epic pose with a Frost Axe, and I don't use magnets.  Wasn't a problem in 5th edition, but now I'm a bit upset by it as I only took him because I found I needed the higher initiative for my TWC to be able to handle some units.  Now, for the same points I should be rocking a Frost Blade; or Power Fist if I cared more about AP2 than I5 (for the same points! Argh!) ...

 

I may consider Runic Armor.  20 points is expensive, and the only reason to take a WGBL is because you are too cheap to take a Wolf Lord.  If it were for fluff reasons, you could just say your WGBL is such a bad butt he has to use the Wolf Lord stat line (and given some Wolf Lords are older/younger than some Wolf Guard, it makes as much sense as anything).  But the real reason to do it is as a vehicle for Saga of the Hunter (cough, Wolf Priest) or to save points.

[Auretious Taak]

 

WGBL are weird, being weaker Wolf Lords effectively.  Even weirder is if you take a WGBL and a Priest your WGBL (who fluff-wise would be leading the detachment most likely) can't be your Warlord because he's only Ld 9!

 

There are only two ways I liked to run WGBL:

 

WGBL w/ Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw, Meltabombs, Saga of the Hunter

 

The  WGBL would normally go with an outflanking Wolf Scout unit, especially in lower point (sub-1000) games.  Was wicked in 500-750 point games.  Can't OBEL if you have a non-Wolf Scout model in the unit now though, so this is less useful and I doubt I'll ever do it again.

 

Saga of the Hunter+CbMelta is the way to rock him, you don't necessarily have to outflank him though, he does make a nice addition to a pod but outflanking also works and whilst he can't do the special outflank with the Wolf Scouts you can outflank him and have him deploy within 2" of the Wolf Scouts so as he counts as part of the unit at the end of the movement phase for some added protection. In any case, he is a Combi-melta caddy with some small utility, don't go overboard with th options he isn't worth it otherwise as a Wolf Priest or Rune Priest is worth it far quicker if yoiu do start spending up and normal TWC are better then a TWWGBL for points, the IC rules for the WGBL are nice but not at the expense of 2 or 3 TWC to make him viable with the same amount of survivability. As a TWM'ed guy he does come inc heaper if youw ant to add some survivability to a Iron Priest on TWM with Cyberwolf protection though, but that's rare to see also.

[Ulv]

For my 500 point army I run a WGBL like this:

 

WGBL (100 Points)

-Power Armour

-Dual Plasma Pistol

-Saga of the Hunter

 

I drop him in a dual plasma Grey Hunter squad with Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard and maybe a power weapon / fist.