Space Wolves Tactics

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

I've been playing many 7th edition games lately with my Space Wolves and I'm wondering if any of my fellow pack-brothers have any tactics & army lists they might want to share?

 

For Russ and the All-Father!

[Frater Cornelius]

If you are looking SW army lists, you will find them here.

[CatSmasher]

This whole forum is filled with them. I find you will get much better responses if you have a specific question about a unit, or an "in game" scenario. Always start with your own thoughts on the issue so people have a sense of where you're coming from.

[Rift Blade]

There are some tactica threads in the resource section. Well worth reading even if they are for older versions of the rules.

[Valerian]

There are some tactica threads in the resource section. Well worth reading even if they are for older versions of the rules.

 

I really need to update my old guide, but just don't know when I'll actually have the time to dedicate to that.  As far as I can tell, though, the vast majority of it is still relevant, as I tried to focus on big concepts, vice specifics on individual units.

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

Ok, here's the scenario from a tournament that I played recently:

 

There is a lot of terrain and cover (about 50%-60% of the board is covered) 

The army is 800 points of Orks

The Ork army consists of about 90 boyz and a warboss, my army that I had at the time was:

5 x Grey Hunters (1x plasma gun),

5x Wolf Guard Terminators (2x chain fists, 1x powerfist, 1x wolf claw, 1x frost blade, 4x storm bolters and 1x assault cannon) and 3x Thunderwolf Cavalry (3x storm shields, 1x thunderhammer, 1x chain sword, 1x powerfist) and my warlord

Njal Stormcaller in terminator armour, he was with the terminators all through the battle.

 

I lost the battle and they swarmed me

What I did (which in hindsight was a bad idea) was I kept my hunters near the back and my terminators close to the thunderwolf cav for support. I then sent forward my cav and took out a good fifteen of them before dying horribly haha

 

So what should I have done in this situation and what would be a good build for future reference?

 

And I have completely forgot to mention that I'm new to 40k and I have only been at it since 7th edition came out, so any other tips a young Claw would be great, haha

 

[Frater Cornelius]

Terminators in a 800 point game is pretty terrible from a competitive point of view. At that point level you either want to exploit a cheap and powerful unit like TWC or spam cheap models like Fenrisian Wolves or Bloodclaws. Bonus points for combining both tactics.

[MithrilForge]

As immerstrum stated you had the wrong kit out for competitive play,it looks like too many toys and not enough boys!

just imagine how that game would have changed had you had a couple of units of grey hunters with double flamers !!

and the TWC should have only really had 1x SS and 1x P/Fist( if your going 1500 or more then i'd add more TWC and goodies to em)

and i dont know the price off the top of my head of the termie squad but gee you could nearly get a couple vehicles for the price of them maybe..

800 pts in a comp is a tough build cause your either going to own someone or (in this case)get mobbed by em

as others said, browse the forum ( i know sometimes its a bit tedious and you want some answers now,but search around and find some tactical gems hiding here and there)

good luck with your future games!!

cheers Mithril

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

I appreciate the feedback guys, cheers! 

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

So what would you guys recommend for future buys then? My current army is as follows:

 

Type (Infantry) 8x Grey Hunters (Unit):

5x Grey Hunters + 3x Grey Hunters, 8 x Close Quarter Weapons for each Grey Hunter, +1 Plasma Gun,Wolf Standard

 

Sub Total= 163pts

 

Type (Infantry, Character)+1 Pack Leader: Pack Leader Upgrade, Melta Bomb, Thunder Hammer

(ELITE)

Sub Total= 59pts

 

Unit Total= 222pts

 

Type (Infantry) 9x Blood Claws (Unit):

5x Blood Claws + 4x Blood Claws = Plasma Pistol

 

Sub Total= 143pts

 

Type (Infantry, Character)+1 Pack Leader: Pack Leader, Melta Bomb, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

(ELITE)

Sub Total= 60pts

 

Unit Total= 203pts

 

 

Type (Infantry) 4x Wolf Guard Terminators (Unit):

2x Wolf Guard Terminators, + 2x Wolf Guard Terminators, 1x Assault Cannon, 1x Wolf Claw, 1x Power Fists, 2x Chain Fist

 

Sub Total (Wolf Guard Terminators)= 197pts

 

Type (Infantry, Character) +1 Wolf Guard Terminator Leader

1x Frost Sword

 

Sub Total= 38pts

 

Unit Total= 250pts

 

 

Type (Cavalry) 2x Thunder Wolf Cavalry (Unit):

2x Thunder Wolf Cavalry = Melta Bombs, 2x Storm Shields, 1x Power fist, 1x Chainsword

 

Sub Total = 145pts

 

Type (Cavalry, Character) 1x Thunder Wolf Cavalry Pack Leader (Unit):

1x Thunder Wolf Cavalry Pack Leader = Melta Bomb, Storm Shield, 1x Thunder Hammer 

 

Sub Total = 90pts

 

Unit Total = 235pts

 

 

Type (Infantry, Character) Njal the Stormcaller (Unit, Single Character, Psycher Mastery Level 3):

1x Character = Terminator Armour (free)

 

Type (Infantry, Character) Krom Dragongaze (Infantry, Character)

1x Character = 135pts

 

Total = 1205pts

[Frater Cornelius]

I'll answer the same thing I always do with this question:

What direction do you want to take your army? What strategy do you pursue? What purpose does that army have? It is supposed to be competitive or fluffy (or both)?

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

I'm considering taking my army in the direction of close combat but also with some heavy armour piercing support, a competitive vanguard army, like the Space Wolves truly are . So predominantly close combat. 

[Hear da Lamentation]

OK, just a couple of pointers for future reference (please dont take this as a negative .. we all need to learn)

The way you are putting the list up makes it hard to see quickly what you are having.  There is too much detail.  And don't include the points for each part - a total will do. (We all know the points).

 

That said . . .

 

You dont want things like plasma pistols on bloodclaws.  They have BS3 so this is a waste of points (IMO)

 

Thunderhammers and storm shields on your pack leaders are an expensive option (see below) 

 

The main thing I am seeing though is a complete lack of transports / drop pods.  I really think you need these.  Footslogging your troops is not the best idea.  If you ARE going down that route, then definitely make the pack leaders termies - and maximise the number in the units.

 

There is more to be said - but this is all the time I have at the mo.

HDL

[Valerian]

+++Bjorn, please go back and edit out points for individual models, weapons, and upgrades from your list.  Only include total points for the unit.+++

 

 

Thanks,

 

V

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

+++Bjorn, please go back and edit out points for individual models, weapons, and upgrades from your list.  Only include total points for the unit.+++

 

 

Thanks,

 

V

Done

[Valerian]

 

+++Bjorn, please go back and edit out points for individual models, weapons, and upgrades from your list.  Only include total points for the unit.+++

 

 

Thanks,

 

V

Done

 

 

Thanks, and welcome to The Fang.  Please scan through the Resources thread, that is pinned to the top of the sub-forum for a wealth of excellent threads and links to get you started.

[Rift Blade]

Just a quick couple of suggestions based on what I've read. A rough guide is 1 troop choice for every 500 pts of army. Now I've only played a couple games of 7th but I've noticed that this still seems like a really good guide line, especially if you're playing with the objective table. Save yourself some pts with your pack Ldrs  who have TH's & drop the MB's. Both weapons will do the same thing IMO. Get a WP for your Blood Claws or better yet Ulrik. The buff is worth it to me. Get a transport of some kind for one of your troops to help the TWC. TWC are great(I use them all the time) but if you let them go it alone, sooner or later you're going to be disappointed. Based on your army & what you have posted, my suggestion is a Dread of some kind in the future for your army. Either Murder Fang or the Ven w/Blizzard Shield & axe but a shooty dread might suit you as well. Play some more games & see what works for you. Hope this helps & good luck.

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

I appreciate it guys, thanks

 

Bjorn

[Wolf Guard Dan]

For 800 points Njal takes too many points.  Running him as a regular rune priest is the way to go.

 

The biggest thing is you need more bodies.  Especially against orks.  They can drag you down with their numbers.

 

90 boys is a lot to deal with.  You want to try and mitigate their numbers as best as you can.  Deal with them piece by piece.

[FenrisWolf]

For horde armies you need dual flamers in CC Grey Hunter squads.  Templates wreak havoc and overwatch with them is brutal.  If you know you're going to face Marines or Marine Equiv, take plasma.  Lots of tanks? Meltas.

[DanPesci]

Been toying about with adding in a pack of 8 skyclaws with dual flamers. Relatively cheap, mobile, and the flamers negate their BS3. 

 

For a small points game, i think youve invested too many points in both terminators and njal, its often a very tempting thing to do, but at this points level you'll mostly find yourself getting outnumbered (and not just by hordes).

 

What id do 

- take all the 'special' weapons off your TDA, run them with just the PW/SB combo they come with. (remember, you can choose which power weapon you take - i tend to find a mix of swords and axes works well). This gives you a cheaper unit, that puts out 10 SB shots a turn, and can still lay down then hurt against elite units (AP3/2) in close combat. If you have the points after filling out other units, then maybe add a chainfist in..as this helps with vehicles.

 

- An alternate route with these guys is to swap all the power weapons for storm shields (free to do). This gives you a great objective sitting unit, that is hard to kill, but if the theme of your army is assault, then probably avoid this.

 

- drop njal, he's just too many points at this level, take a regular rune priest if you want some psychic

 

- Again, strip down the equipment on your thunderwolves. Id drop either the TH or PF (what i do is put a thunder hammer on a non-leader, as this hides it in the squad so it cant be challenged out in a combat). Drop the meltabombs too - your going into combat with 5 thunder hammer (or power fist) hits, and then a load of rending S5 hits - against most vehicles at this points level (remember most vehicles you hit on rear armour), they are going to tear through them. Dropping one of your special weapons and the melta bombs gets you on the way to adding a 4th thunderwolf...whcih i think is a good number for packs.

 

- Grey hunters, try get them up to 10 guys to get the second plasma gun, I wouldn't invest too many points in the pack leader, maybe just give him a combi plasma.

 

- Blood claws, as mentioned, plasma pistol isnt great on a BS3 model, would swap for a flamer.

 

- Invest in some trasnports for your BC and GH packs

 

- Although the model for krom is cool, i think at this level you're better investing the points in more bodies/guns

 

 

hope that helps! Welcome to the fang!

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

They helped a lot man, thanks!

[DanPesci]

No worries, 

 

the thing with space wolves is they're a very tempting force to throw lots of points into fluffy characters and elites units...which is great fun...i did this a lot when i got back into the game a few years ago.....its just not that competitive to do so at lower points levels.

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

That's why I've kited by TWC out the way they are now because I intend on getting more in the future, maybe end up getting six or eight; some with power weapons and some with standard weapons but I want them to be my charging force, the shock force. Then, as said above, bring in a supporting squad in a dedicated transport, probably GH. But that's just one of a few tactics, I mean come one, 5 attacks on charge is gorgeous

 

Bjorn

[Frater Cornelius]

That's why I've kited by TWC out the way they are now because I intend on getting more in the future, maybe end up getting six or eight; some with power weapons and some with standard weapons but I want them to be my charging force, the shock force. Then, as said above, bring in a supporting squad in a dedicated transport, probably GH. But that's just one of a few tactics, I mean come one, 5 attacks on charge is gorgeous

 

Bjorn

 

 

maybe end up getting six or eight; some with power weapons and some with standard weapons

 

 

 

six or eight

 

http://assets.diylol.com/hfs/b1b/f4e/c1f/resized/creeper-canine-meme-generator-not-enough-3ad619.jpg

 

 

...

 

 

I'm going back to my kennel :)