Pack of Jarls

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Firstly, I understand that this goes against all things good and fluffy. That being said, I want to complete the achievement off the Space Wolves achievement list that states, "Dog Pile - Get 4 of your HQ choices in the same close combat." So I got to thinking how I could accomplish that while still having some sort of combat effectiveness for the rest of the army. The best thing I came up with was drop podding four Wolf Lords with a Wolf Guard, the rest of whom's pack was split off to join other packs. 

 

All would be in TDA (Probably). Each Wolf Lord has to have a different set of gear, however. I figure that four of the models would have 3 wounds each, with 2+ armor and at least a 4+ invulnerable. Each guy has around 4 attacks, based on his load out. Seems like a pretty tough nut to crack, right? What are your thoughts on the matter? Have I gone mad with power, or have I stumbled across the most deadly drop pod ever? 

[Khine]

You could go three Wolf Lords in TDA, WG (maybe arjac) and a Runepriest in TDA / or a Wolf priest + another powerarmour WG.

Runepriest would probably go Divination signature power + either another Divination power or Biomancy. Hopefully Misfortune/forewarning (on the first roll) or pretty much any of the biomancy powers.

You might be better off purchasing a Landraider for the wolf guard, picking the Wolfpriest with Saga of the Hunter and outflank them. True you might not get them on the table until turn three but it's better this unit doesn't get shot to pieces before it gets into combat.

[Bulweih]

Hyá brother,

your idea sounds tempting. But not what I think is all too beneficial for the rest of the army, apart from of course dismembering what you hit.

In the last apoc game our group had back in 5th ed, 40k per side-warpfilth,orks and traitors of all strides against our cousins the IF and my wolves, I had in deed 4 HQ's in one (loose term) fight and it benefitted the troops around them to great effect.

In the centre of a wide square before the imp. basilica the fractions crashed in an almost straight line, as our Land Raiders matched the foot advance. The reduced ranks of bloodclaws, lone wolves, scouts and fenrisian wolves were joined by their brothers in the Land Raiders rushing up from behind cover.

Lefthand Logan Grimnar charged out his tank trailing Arjac and his retinue (High King kicking in +1A), on the right flank WGBL of Bran Redmaws GC descends from his LR transport alongside 30 Grey Hunters (having the Hate USR in the 1st round of CC)* and in the centre Ragnar Blackmane charges howling his Battlecry (+1A, stacking with High King).

They charged Plague Marines, "normal" CSM and warp filth of every god.

It was glorious.

First time I used the FW datasheed, nice touch. In all that was my best attempt for an organized assault with benefits for the troops around. As Bottlenecks go the square was big but not endless and hemmed in at the sides. So Logans and Ragnars attack bubble overlapped over some models, which was awesome. Grey Hunters with Hate and Banners were devastating. With this big fight the troops pushed over the equatorial line with the objectives and was able to hold until the game ended. My opponent carried trays(!) of figures away after the first round of CC, good day for my wolves.

Maybe that gets you some more ideas on a beneficial deathstar like way to use more than 1 HQ in the same fight. Sorry if the ramble was too long .

[Jarl Deathwolf]

That sounds absurdly awesome, and absurdly expensive. I haven't really thought of using the High King and Young King together, though it would make for the most one-sided close combat since I assaulted tau with a Thunder Lord.

I first thought of Wolf Lords because I wanted a 2+, 3++ model with multiple wounds crashing into the enemy. After fighting Lysander I've gained more respect for that kind of warrior, though I would have to be wary about S8-10 weaponry. Arjac's S10, A Rune Priest's divination and maybe even Grimnar himself would make a fierce deathstar indeed... insanely expensive, though, as I have, at most 2,000 points to work with (no apoc at my area, I'm afraid :( ).

Perhaps, two wolf lords, Njal (his mid-range powers would excel here, despite his huge point cost), Wolf Guard TDA (or, if not Njal, then Arjac) and a Wolf Priest? Re-rolls, two cc kings, a random wolf guard, and psychic might. For about... 700 points? Not sure, don't have the codex handy. Regardless, I want to keep the drop pod for psychological terror: The idea of that much immovable object, unstoppable force will make almost everyone think twice when moving their warriors around the board.

Sorry if the ramble was too long .

It is no ramble if it was worthy of Saga!

[Auretious Taak]

4 Thunderwolf Lords with 2 Fenrisian Wolves each attached to a unit of 15 Fenrisian Wolves, the unit numbers a cool 27 models, bubble wrap it with other fenrisian wolves and have some fun with it.

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

Auretious makes a good point, especially if one of the lords is canis. This would allow cheap troop choices and free up some points for the lords. In if I were ever crazy enough to get all the wolf models for it I might run the following just to freak people out

 

HQ- 995

Canis- 2 wolves, 205

 

Wolf lord A- twolf, RA 2 wolves, storm shield, frost blade, talisman, necklace, saga of majesty 260

 

Wolf lord B- twolf, RA, 2 wolves, storm shield, power fist, talisman, necklace, saga of beast slayer 255

 

Wolf lord C- twolf, RA, 2 wolves, stormshield, wolf claw, talisman, necklace, saga of bear 275

 

Troops 720

6x 15 fenrisian wolves

 

Fast attack 130

2 twolf calvary with a storm shield

 

Total 1845

 

That is 6 guys on wolves and 98 wolves for some crazy insanity of space wolf nom nom.

[Grey Mage]

Its not unfluffy:

 

*In the high vaults of the Fang, Logan and his wolf lords meet in hidden council*

 

Bjorn: Im telling you Bragi, youre getting old and senile theres no way I can let you take point on this drop. *toothy grin*

 

*Bragi responds in kind, followed by his long time friend Esvulf as Loxar eventually informs them all that theyre downright crazy and if they cant stop bickering HE will lead the assault, personally and they can stay home and eat goat cheese*

 

Logan hides a smile, and slams the table "No. I am the Great Wolf here, and I say that the four of you shall go down together- my finest warriors will fight back to back. Bragi, your strike cruiser will supply the opening salvo of Deathstorms and field the third wave. Loxar and Esvulf, your Great Companies will land in the initial assault followed by the men of the Deathwolf and the Stormwolves. And by the all father if that fortress isnt leveled by the morning I will be there personally to teach you damn puppies the meaning of warfare."

*the assembled council takes a moment to recover and as they take in breath to comment or perhaps agree to his plans logan quietly chuckles*

Oh, and make sure to bring plenty of Brans Special Reserve- its not every day you get to drink in the halls of an imperial governor.

 

 

.... next thing you know theres 4 wolf lords in one DZ, about ready to crush some skulls or die trying.

[Squark]

I'd thought about using another wolf Lord or a Wolf Guard Battle Leader to take challenges for a Saga of the Warrior Born Wolf Lord on a thunderwolf. Frankly, 4 Wolf lords on Thunderwolves is overkill... At least, outside of Apoc. I could see that being a pretty cool Apoc unit, actually.

[Jarl Deathwolf]

If I made a unit of ThunderLords, that would be absurdly expensive... but that would be 12 wounds at T5, and if they all had runic armor and storm shields they would all have 2+, 3++ saves. By the gods of Fenris... 24 attacks on the charge! All with at least S5, and WS6! Now I want to try that out... I wonder how many tears I can induce with that madness.

 

A shame I'm two weeks away from my next game... 

 

@jbickb: I've wanted to field that kind of a list, but I only have 20 Fenrisian Wolves out of the nearly 100 needed. Still... I want to see the look on some poor sap's face when they fight a true space wolf army - that is an army composed of wolves in space. 

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

I agree that it is sadly a financial nightmare to make the list because its like 400 us dollars in fenrisian wolves. But it would be a sight to see.

[Bulweih]

Hyá brother,

thanks for the kind words.

With 2k you shouldn't dump 900ish pts. in the HQ slot, no matter the amount of attacks .

I did use 3 Thunderwolflords together to field-test the pack possibilities, also random choices of TWC as in size and gear. Yes 3 TWL do nasty stuff.

But then I was up against the demon bulk (14k incl. every named demon FW or codex) plus the Biotitan and the horde of Bugs, after I crossed the equatorial line solomio.

My IF battlebrother held his line but could't advance against the chitinious tide, at least not that far that fast, which was entirely due to our differently deployed foes. The steadfast sons of Dorn made their father proud that day, their deeds echoed in the Greatcompany's sagas.

This is why I deemed it totally within my rights to playtest powerhouses like those mentioned above, but I get off topic.

The mentioned list containing that much wolves sounds hilarious , though after building 35 of those I wouldn't want to build the rest .

With 2k I'd settle for a TDA Lord in Pod +2WG in TDA, CC-kitted+1 heavy, the rest PA WG with combiplasma/melta why not -more bodies less pts. intense, plus a good flexibility.

Maybe 2 more Pods with GH, some heavy support and a TWL with a pack of wolves as screen. Then you can always pack a cheap RP for backhanging and casting away. Just made myself a list, looks good, if you like sth. like that- on paper it seems not to be too uncompetitive either.

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

@Bulweih keep in mind the op is looking to get 4 hqs into cc. I think the lists being proposed here r in answer to that one and only desire. And if you want 4 hqs in a list its gunna cost a fair few points to do it.

 

@OP where can I find this achievement list you speak of?

[Jarl Deathwolf]

http://wolvesforthewolfgod.blogspot.com/2011/12/space-wolves-achievements.html

 

I printed it off so I could check achievements for each game. Recently, I got "Raise the Banners High!"  by smashing Dark Angel faces, and I've gotten the "HOW many HQs do you Have?!" achievement easily (since I often field 2 Rune Priests, a Saga of the Hunter Wolf Priest and a ThunderLord). I have done a lot of others, but now I'm working on the Dog Pile one as it seemed the most... insanely awesome.

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

Thanks for that link. That is a really cool list of achievements and I plan to see both what I have achieved and make lists to achieve the others. This sounds super fun. I too have Definatly gotten the 4hq one, though mine was due to the fact that I didn't have 1500 pts without doing so ;)

[Jarl Deathwolf]

Its really good incentive for building wild lists worthy of the Sons of Russ.

[WolfLordSam]

This is the one of the lists I'm putting together. I think it'll be fun. ;)

 

2000pts:

 

WL on TW, RA, SS, WC, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, 2x FW, Saga of the Warrior Born: 285

 

WGBL on TW, RA, SS, TH, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman, 2x FW, Saga of the Beastslayer: 240

 

WGBL on TW, RA, SS, Frost Axe, Wolftooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman: 205

 

Canis Wolfborn: 185

 

5x TWC, 5x SS, TH: 430

 

5x TWC, 5x SS, TH: 430

 

12x FW, Cyberwolf upgrade: 112

 

12x FW, Cyberwolf upgrade: 112

 

Total: 1999

[ErikThunderclaws]

Hi brothers.

WolfLordSam, would you mind to take the Saga of the Wolves on one of the WGBL (the one of 205p) and leave the Cyberwolves? It's 10 points but the Cyberwolves are 8 each, so you'll have 6 points to take anything else.

Also, I like the list a lot, bro!! Go for that achievement! Make us proud!

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

He doesn't need saga of the wolf kin be side canis has it already.

[Marshall Bretton]

i ran an insane tw unit in an appoc game, it tore stuff to pieces in cc, wiped about 30 black templar/dark angels, 2 predators and a stormlord with ease and it was only 8 models

 

the one i went for was cannis with 2 fenris wolves, a wgbl with 2 fenris wolves, a shield and 6 twc with mixtures of shields and basic gear and a fist hidden for killing nasty stuff. if i had more models available i would have gone for more twc and hq's in this unit, but i didn't unfortunately

 

the great thing about this unit is the majority toughness rules. if you had 4 hq's in there then thats a possible 8 fenrisian wolves, make sure you have 9 thunderwolves overall and thats 8 t5 wounds you can run in front of the pack to soak up fire. plus if you have cannis they get a nice stat buff anyway. this unit would be insanely expensive, definitely an appoc only unit, but on the other hand i think you would struggle to find many other deathstars that can match it

 

i did do a play test with this unit in a 1k game and i could only afford 2 bare bones 5man hunter squads as my troops choice. they charged a unit of gretchins which it took them 2 turns to wipe (they were part of a store campaign with 2 wounds, t4 and eternal warrior, and there were about 40 of them) but it was a really fun unit to play