New to Space Wolves.

[-Devil-]

good day,

 

having recently picked 40k back up (played for a short bit back in 4th edition before most people in my area lost interest) and now having a LGS that is trying to start an escilation league.

 

I have decided on Space Wolves for my army for it (i do also play orks, but yeah painting all those for a league would be a pain!) none of the others that are going to be in the league will be playing SW, and no one around here plays them either so haven't seen them in action to much (mostly tau, dark eldar, dark angels and a few ork players, oh and that one sisters of battle person)

 

i have had very little experience with them though other then reading some books and the codex several times, i just really like the story behind them and that i will have a little more freedom on the actual mini's to customize them.

 

for most of my purchases i will be using places like ebay and such over buying new unopened boxes ... so i am looking for some direction on where to start and what i should read up on more ...

 

what mini's i have gathered so far is as follows

 

40 Space Marines (20 of them are from space wolf boxes, the other are generics.. most still on sprue with a few having the legs glued to bases already but not much else)

6 Bikes (3 from dark vengeance box, 3 from older box still on sprue)

 

in the next few weeks they will be working out the points for the league, but most likely will start around 500...

 

i do also have access to most of the other minis from the dark vengeance box .. but most of the rest of them have a lot of iconigraphy to try to remove off to use them as space wolves ...

 

 

[Mammon]

Welcome to the Aett, brother!

 

Well, you actually have quite a lot you can work with. Many of my Bikers were taken from the Dark Vengeance Box. I like them way more than the regular kits even with the limited poses. The Librarian is a good figure too.

 

At 500 points focus on your Grey Hunters. Every bit as good as Codex Astartes Assault marines and are a very versatile unit. They lack the utility of Codex Marines because they don't have access to combat squads or heavy weapons but your Grey Hunters still rank as one of the best Troop options in 40k. Most folks in these parts take them with the Wolf Standard and Mark of the Wulfen as the basic "must have" upgrades. With the new Challenge rules having a "hidden" Power Weapon or Fist is recommended if you can squeeze it in. 

 

Special Weapons are debatable. Meltaguns are short ranged but assault weapons and AP1 while Plasmas have the same reach as the bolter and AP2 but have the risk of killing your marine. Flamers have become an interesting option since they are good both offensively and defensively thanks to the Wall of Flame Overwatch. 

 

A this points level you can also get some good mileage out of the Librarian which comes with the Dark Vengeance box (or kitbash a stand-in from the Space Wolves Box). Psykers can be frightfully potent and our infantry can gain some fantastic benefits from a Psyker joined with the unit. While ours are more expensive than the 6th Edition average we currently possess the best Psychic defense with our 24" denial radius. 

 

Bikes...are...awesome. Blood Claws on bikes is a different animal (eeer, wolf) completely. 500 points is a hard level to effectively use bikes at as you cannot afford to give them the upgrades they really need to be effective. Their lower leadership and poor BS/WS means it is very easy for them to fold without a WG or IC to bolster them. I field them often around 1000 points when I can attach a Character and an Attack Bike to give them a focus towards wither Harassment and interdiction or Vehicle Assassination.

 

Long Fangs should be your next investment. I say "should" because they are just too rudding good at what they do to not take them. Ld9 Devastators which can split their fire however you see fit between two targets. If you can I would try to work them in to the 500 list. Three Long Fangs with two Missile Launchers is the budget method of gaining Heavy Weapons for your Space Wolves and more than one match has been decided by a lucky Rocket! 

[-Devil-]

thanks for the suggestions! :)

 

i put together a quick list for 500pts to see what could be done .... one run priest, 2 6 man gray hunters, and a 3 man long fang. with about 80 or so points to spare ... have never tried a psyker before going to have to read up on that more ...

 

have looked over the librarian several times in the box ... don't see how i could convert him to easily ... esp the robed parts ... may just build one out of the parts i already have ...

 

i do also happen to have two rocket launchers in my box-o-sprues that i have been gathering up for this army ...

 

the bikes i will likely add at a later time. but having them now just means less money later on hah!

 

for my 'to watch' for items ... should i look for transports? .. terminators? or just more troops and such to build up all the different kinds i can take...

[Logan230]

thanks for the suggestions!

i put together a quick list for 500pts to see what could be done .... one run priest, 2 6 man gray hunters, and a 3 man long fang. with about 80 or so points to spare ... have never tried a psyker before going to have to read up on that more ...

have looked over the librarian several times in the box ... don't see how i could convert him to easily ... esp the robed parts ... may just build one out of the parts i already have ...

i do also happen to have two rocket launchers in my box-o-sprues that i have been gathering up for this army ...

the bikes i will likely add at a later time. but having them now just means less money later on hah!

for my 'to watch' for items ... should i look for transports? .. terminators? or just more troops and such to build up all the different kinds i can take...

For the Priest, Wolves have a specific model. Mine is metal, but he exists. See:http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440279a&prodId=prod1460199a

As far as using him, Divination w/ the Master of Runes upgrade can be really brutal, or using the traditional Jaws/Living Lightning combonation. I've been taking Jaws lately since theres a Tau player in my area who deserves a good arse-whooping.

Long Fangs are, of course, staples. The full stack rocket squad is the traditional build, but I have been using a 2/3 split with las/rockets and enjoying it.

As far as transports go, it really depends on your meta. I've been running a hybrid mech/ drop pod list lately w/ a smattering of TWC at 2000 points that has been seeing some good luck lately.

For what you should look for, get your hands on as many Grey Hunter and rocket armed Long Fangs as you can. They will form your core. After that, salt and spice to your delight. Scouts are not as cool as they use to be, but can be dirty. TWC are deathstars that soak up so much fire its silly, and blow through squads even better. Speeders are flimsy in this edition. Terminators are nasty, I prefer fielding them with a Lord in a Redeemer. I have never had luck with bikes, but to each their own.

Until next winter

[-Devil-]

thanks for the response! ... yeah i like that mini ... i just wish it was full plastic so i could adjust the pose a little bit more ... have came up with a couple of options that will come close to him though .... (one being the librarian from DV box ... been practicing on making wolf fur from GS and it isn't to hard)

 

waiting on the final word, but i think this link shows the basic rules that the group is going to be following for the escilation.

 

http://sci-fi-city.com/_orlando_files/escalation40k.htm

 

minus the forge world allowance though.

 

i am up to 4 rocket launcher arm sets so far .. so doing good on that for later on ... really wanting some more wolf specific bits though ... have a bunch of the transfers i can use, but never had good luck with them in the past...

[JimmyGuyy]

Also, if you can get your hands on some terminators with PWs, they're a great 100pt addition in escalation leagues.  3 WG termies is an even 99, and its a great budget choice to throw them into your existing squads for more durability and punch if you're footslogging early on

[-Devil-]

the escalation league has been delayed by one month because of several other people that have shown interest ... to give them time to buy up some miniatures .... my LGS owner also just gave me a SW battleforce box, Codex and SW Thunderwolf calvary box for painting up the wall of martyrs stuff he bought to have on hand for gaming tables ... was not expecting that, was figuring maybe a discount off of some stuff at the most in return ... so i do beleive i am set on troops for a while ... (80ish) (6 bikes) (3 thunderwolf) (5 scouts) (1 drop pod) ... still going to be on the look out later on for some razorbacks / rhinos ... and terminators ...

 

this saturday going to play a 500 point game against some others to figure out how everything works more.

[Karack Blackstone]

Hello, welcome to the Aett, the Fang to most.

 

You have a heady task before you.  Might I just point out, that, if you should need a Wolf Priest in your forces, building one PA mini model from the following bits makes the task of getting a WP on the field greatly easier overall.

 

- Wolf Head Helm

- Wolf Pelt Rear Torso Piece

- Wolf Skull Front Torso Piece

- Thunder Hammer Right Arm (Cut this off so that the Power Weapon Plate on the haft remains, and the rest is a flat removal)

- The Winged Wolf Back Banner (Becomes the Crozius Arcanum (Lupus) top piece, glue/pin to the top of the TH)

- Left Arm Bolt Pistol or Plasma Pistol (Your choice)

- Wolf Pelt Front Legs

 

- This being just a guide, it's a rather well done model for those of us that don't have the time to hunt high and low for the actual model, and should help you immensely in terms of HQ options for your lists.

 

Otherwise, mead's over there, food's that way, and the brawl I guess is an old thing to have.  Ah well.

[MaveriK]

Welcome to the Fang!

[-Devil-]

Hello, welcome to the Aett, the Fang to most.

 

You have a heady task before you.  Might I just point out, that, if you should need a Wolf Priest in your forces, building one PA mini model from the following bits makes the task of getting a WP on the field greatly easier overall.

 

- Wolf Head Helm

- Wolf Pelt Rear Torso Piece

- Wolf Skull Front Torso Piece

- Thunder Hammer Right Arm (Cut this off so that the Power Weapon Plate on the haft remains, and the rest is a flat removal)

- The Winged Wolf Back Banner (Becomes the Crozius Arcanum (Lupus) top piece, glue/pin to the top of the TH)

- Left Arm Bolt Pistol or Plasma Pistol (Your choice)

- Wolf Pelt Front Legs

 

- This being just a guide, it's a rather well done model for those of us that don't have the time to hunt high and low for the actual model, and should help you immensely in terms of HQ options for your lists.

 

Otherwise, mead's over there, food's that way, and the brawl I guess is an old thing to have.  Ah well.

 those are most of the parts i was already thinking about using ... i have a few options ... first off i was going to convert the librarian from Dark Vengence over to a rune priest by sculpting some green stuff into wolf fur and changing out his weapon ... still may do that but not rush as much ...

 

as for the parts you listed, only thing i was thinking of doing differently was using a pair of the normal running space marine legs with some icons and such on them .. to try to give it a little more dynamic pose ...

 

but i can't decide if i want to do all the bases with slate and snow ... or just rocky and dry grass ... maybe a combo of each.

[Karack Blackstone]

 

Hello, welcome to the Aett, the Fang to most.

 

You have a heady task before you.  Might I just point out, that, if you should need a Wolf Priest in your forces, building one PA mini model from the following bits makes the task of getting a WP on the field greatly easier overall.

 

- Wolf Head Helm

- Wolf Pelt Rear Torso Piece

- Wolf Skull Front Torso Piece

- Thunder Hammer Right Arm (Cut this off so that the Power Weapon Plate on the haft remains, and the rest is a flat removal)

- The Winged Wolf Back Banner (Becomes the Crozius Arcanum (Lupus) top piece, glue/pin to the top of the TH)

- Left Arm Bolt Pistol or Plasma Pistol (Your choice)

- Wolf Pelt Front Legs

 

- This being just a guide, it's a rather well done model for those of us that don't have the time to hunt high and low for the actual model, and should help you immensely in terms of HQ options for your lists.

 

Otherwise, mead's over there, food's that way, and the brawl I guess is an old thing to have.  Ah well.

 those are most of the parts i was already thinking about using ... i have a few options ... first off i was going to convert the librarian from Dark Vengence over to a rune priest by sculpting some green stuff into wolf fur and changing out his weapon ... still may do that but not rush as much ...

 

as for the parts you listed, only thing i was thinking of doing differently was using a pair of the normal running space marine legs with some icons and such on them .. to try to give it a little more dynamic pose ...

 

but i can't decide if i want to do all the bases with slate and snow ... or just rocky and dry grass ... maybe a combo of each.

 

Do whatever speaks to your heart upon the bases you choose to go with in this case.

 

As for the running legs, that's fine, and even better, if you ever get jump packs, or a SM Assault Squad, this will result in a WP with running legs, a normal back torso, and if you choose, the rest can easily become SkyClaws.

 

The GW Site has a Rune Priest model, and making one from our bits is likely possible, just not one I am familiar with right now.  What I'd try, and this might not work, would be any bits one likes, so long as the two handed power axe ends up with a different head from the SW PA bits sprues; looking through them all, the best would likely be to put two of the wolf skulls, one on each side.