Building a strong 8th edition list...

[Bat33.1]

I am looking to build a new army for 8th and what better place to start than my first 40k army.

 

From the information I have gathered in the webway we appear to have popped out into reality with 8th edition Wolves somewhere close to 5th edition. Razorbacks and 5 man Grey Hunter squads are back, no mention of Jaws dropping enemies off the table though ;)

 

So what works for Wolves in 8th? What units are auto take and what needs to be left in the Fang guarding the hearth rather than venturing forth?

 

I don't mind using FW if that is required, so we are probably talking Leviathan dreads, etc but the lack of a model for dreadnought drop pod is a problem I guess?

 

So let's hear your views and experience, good, bad or mediocre. Thanks.

Edited October 30, 2017 by PJ1933

[Karhedron]

Hunters are very solid and Long Fangs are pretty good too for support. Razorbacks with assault cannons are good for every flavour of Marines.

 

Several of our HQs are very tasty, Bjorn and Njal in particular have done very for me in 8th edition. If you can stomach Guilliman's creations then a squad of Primaris Hellblasters work very well alongside Hunters on foot.

 

Several people have commented favourably on our flyers but I haven't tried them myself. TWC seem rather weaker in this edition although they were arguable too good in 7th. Wulfen still seem very good but you need an appropriate vehicle as delivery mechanism (Storm Wolf is a good choice here).

 

Wolf Guard bikers seem to have been the surprise hit. Storm Shields for 5 points makes them T5 2 wounds with 3++ and then you can either cheap Storm bolters for massed dakka or a smattering of Wolf claws and frost weapons for chopping stuff up in CC (A Wolf Priest on bike might be good if you go down this route).

 

Terminators seem underwhelming. Dreads are great, particularly Bjorn, Murderfang and the Axe/Shieled Dread. Take all 3 and the shield Dread can go at the front to tank shooting for the other 2 since they are characters. You can even have an Iron Priest nearby to keep them topped up if you want. The fear on your opponent's face as 3 kick-ass killing machines stomp towards his lines behind a 3++ save can be great fun.

[Brother Hellion]

Hunters are very solid and Long Fangs are pretty good too for support. Razorbacks with assault cannons are good for every flavour of Marines.

 

Several of our HQs are very tasty, Bjorn and Njal in particular have done very for me in 8th edition. If you can stomach Guilliman's creations then a squad of Primaris Hellblasters work very well alongside Hunters on foot.

 

Several people have commented favourably on our flyers but I haven't tried them myself. TWC seem rather weaker in this edition although they were arguable too good in 7th. Wulfen still seem very good but you need an appropriate vehicle as delivery mechanism (Storm Wolf is a good choice here).

 

Wolf Guard bikers seem to have been the surprise hit. Storm Shields for 5 points makes them T5 2 wounds with 3++ and then you can either cheap Storm bolters for massed dakka or a smattering of Wolf claws and frost weapons for chopping stuff up in CC (A Wolf Priest on bike might be good if you go down this route).

 

Terminators seem underwhelming. Dreads are great, particularly Bjorn, Murderfang and the Axe/Shieled Dread. Take all 3 and the shield Dread can go at the front to tank shooting for the other 2 since they are characters. You can even have an Iron Priest nearby to keep them topped up if you want. The fear on your opponent's face as 3 kick-ass killing machines stomp towards his lines behind a 3++ save can be great fun.

I've tried about half of these units. Loving putting dreads with long fangs together for a 2 hit combo and love assault cannons now. My crusader land raider is a great party wagon even though it only goes 10 inches. 

 

TWC are taking a hiatus till I can figure out how to make them useful. Terminators are hardy but being so slow makes them easy to shoot at. Whereas WG jump packers tend to die easier from volleys of fire even with SS. 

 

The wolf guard on bikes seems like a splendid idea but the total cost goes into the 250 point area. Hmm, probably drop one of the dreads to bring in these beauties. 

[lonewolf81]

Spacewolves Top units in 8th

 

Bjorn with twin lascannon, one of the best characters in the game and also super fun to play

 

Njal is pretty good though i use two runepriests insted of him

 

Harald with his 2++ against range attacks

 

arjack 

 

Razorbacks with twin las and twin assault cannons ( a mix of them in the list )

 

Wolfguard bikers with stormshields and a mix of storm bolters and one or two thunderhammers (better than termies, better than thunderwolves)

 

wulfen (they are better then assault termies any day of the week and pretty devastating if you cen deliver them in to combat )

 

Stormwolf/ stormfang (with twin las, helfrost weaponry and twin heavy bolters, multi meltas are too expensive )

 

Longfangs with lascannons

 

predators with quad lascannons

 

5 man grey hunter squads with one plasma to take the battalion and also board the razorbacks (additional wolfguard sergeants with combi plasma is also good if you spare the points)

Edited October 30, 2017 by lonewolf81

[Bat33.1]

Long Fangs, Grey Humters, Razorbacks, this is so 5th edition core Wolf llist material. I missed the dreads being so good which is cool as I like building and painting dreads plus they seem to have been mediocre for such a long time with the odd exception, BA dreads with frag launchers I always thought worked well. Bjorn is super cool too.

 

Wolf Guard bikes are not something I would have spotted either so thanks again. What unit size do you take the WG bikes? Five? More?

 

So the only Primaris that would add anything are Hellblasters? I like the bigger models idea, not keen on the fluff mind, but they seem distinctly average on the table top. Are any of the Primaris HQ's worth adding for rerolls and babysitting Hellblasters or Long Fangs?

[wilkco]

I am not a great fan of the Primaris stuff however one I do use is the Primaris Lieutenant as it gives rerolls of 1 on wounds and if you sit him need to bjorn when shooting his twin lascannon is a great bonus.

[Karhedron]

A Primaris Lieutenant gives rerolls of 1s to wound but so does a Wolf Guard Battle Leader and the WGBL is 10 points cheaper so if you are just looking for a cheap buffing character, he may be better.

 

I do like my Hellblasters, I normally walk them up the field with Bjorn who allows them to reroll 1s to hit. This allows them to overcharge every turn which is really the key to getting value out of this unit. 10 S8 AP-4 D2 shots on the move at up to 15" range or 5 at 30" is pretty powerful for just 165 points, I have seen them destroy a Hellbrute with a single volley. Having said that, they cannot ride in normal transports so they are not a great fit for fully mechanised lists unless you buy an expensive (albeit good) Repulsor.

 

Of the other Primaris units, Intercessors are adequate but given that Grey Hunters are really good in this edition, I cannot see myself needing them. Reivers are quite good as a backfield harassment unit, they work rather like super-Wolf Scouts. Aggressors are quite nice but are expensive and short ranged. They also really only work well with the UM Chapter Trait which is a bit of a shame. Inceptors are massively over-priced for what they bring to the table IMHO, if you want dakka, Assault Cannon Razorbacks are cheaper, tougher, almost as mobile, are S6 instead of S5 and can transport a squad for you. I like the concept of Inceptors but I honestly cannot understand why they are so expensive, I can't think of any Chapter that could make these work well for the points.

 

The Repulsor is quite nice but very expensive. Only take it if you have a Primaris unit you really want to transport. Otherwise, Land Raiders or flyers are probably better for us. The Redemptor Dreadnought is a lovely model but has a degrading profile unlike our regular Dreads which fight at full effect until they are destroyed. Also, it does not bring any weapons that we cannot get elsewhere as we can get dakka from Razorbacks or plasma from Hunters, Fangs or Hellblasters.

 

So I would say that Hellblasters are worth taking if you are running Bjorn or a Wolf Lord on foot. Reivers can be useful if you enjoy backfield shenanigans. Most other Primaris units are probably not worth the effort for Wolves.

Edited October 31, 2017 by Karhedronuk

[Bat33.1]

Long Fangs with lascannons are strong but is there any use for the other options, missiles, plasma cannon?

 

Razorbacks with Asscans will do the job of a heavy bolter against chaff or even strip wounds off heavier targets due to weight of fire so I doubt I will build any of those. So far I have put together one squad of Long Fangs with 4 lascannons and a Razorback with Assault cannon. I would need to buy more parts for extra lacannons but I have plenty of missile launchers and plasma cannons any use building those or should I just get another 4 lascannons?

[jerrys]

One of the guys I play has started playing an "all boyz" ork army. I changed one of my 2 lascannon squads to a missile squad so that when I fight him it's less useless, but I can still have the krak missiles for when I fight a more normal army. In that kind of situation, maybe missiles are OK?

(they're mediocre at everything. Frag missiles are pretty bad, too, but they're slightly better than lascnanons against boyz. Awful expensive for what you get, though -- like a wyvern that doesn't ignore LoS and doesn't reroll wounds, for twice the cost.)

 

I like about lascannons and missiles that they have the 48" range. Every time I've tried to use a shorter range weapon on the long fangs (e.g. plasma cannons), they get wiped out fast. You wouldn't think the 12" would make such a difference, but it seems to do so when I play. (It might be that I deploy them further forward than I need to? I guess if you know that the bad guy is coming to you, you can still put them way back.)

[Brother Hellion]

Oh, update on the new list i'm building. Turns out I miscalculated some of the points on the stormshields so now I can run a five man melee pack under 220 points. Yay me. Mostly costing of chainswords for general melee with some frost axes to take on heavy armored stuff.

[Gherrick]

Our flyers are both solid, although the Stormfang is better than Stormwolf unless you need the transport. I only run them with twin-multimelta, and let the focus on the big threats.

 

Vs hordes, the Primaris flamer dudes look shiny, but I don't know if they will live long enough to get into effective range.

 

Don't underestimate fortifications. Throwing long fangs into a bunker or even bastion can greatly improve their LoS and survivability.

[Karhedron]

Long Fangs with lascannons are strong but is there any use for the other options, missiles, plasma cannon?

 

I am quite fond of Plasma Cannons. With the built-in ability to reroll 1s if they Focus Fire, I find they can overcharge with minimal risk (provided they don't move of course). If you already have a lascannon squad then a Plasma Cannon squad or a Las/Plas mix would be good the second.

[Blackcadian]

Good compilation so far, good to know and fun to read!

 

In regards to Forgeworld units I heard plenty of good things about the Sicaran, Tarantulas, Rapier Bolters and the Scorpius.

 

Anything else?

[Nharvey89]

I have been rolling with a castle, Bjorn and a chaplain dread with twin lass sitting behind a shield dread and some cyber wolves to protect from deep strike. Stick a rune priest, wgbl and any other toys with big guns. Our buffs stack really nicely especially throwing the cover spell on top. It won be a small tournament at my FLGS a month or so back.

[Karhedron]

In regards to Forgeworld units I heard plenty of good things about the Sicaran, Tarantulas, Rapier Bolters and the Scorpius.

The Leviathan Dreanought is very nice with either twin Grav-flux Bombards or 1 Grav and one Storm Cannon. It really is the perfect answer for horde control.

[Arentius]

The List i'm having the most fun with at the moment at 1500 is:

Bjorn with helfrost cannon

Wolf lord in gravis armour

Iron priest on Thunderwolf with helfrost pistol and tempest hammer

Murderfang

Venerable dread with axe and shield x2

Venerable dread with Assault cannon, storm bolter and power fist x1

Venerable dread with twin lascannon and missile launcher x 2

 

It sucks for objectives but Having Bjorns legion storming down the field is just beautiful

Edited November 24, 2017 by Arentius

[Karhedron]

The enemy can't hold objectives if they have been ripped to pieces by angry Dreadnoughts. Edited November 24, 2017 by Karhedronuk

[Arentius]

So very true, especially if the CA leak on the second stratagem is true...Deepstriking dreads from board edges? please!