Prospective Space wolf army for 8th ed

[MegaVolt87]

I am looking to get some advice on a 2,000 point space wolf army that is competitive for 8th edition. I wish to leverage the firepower that primaris units offer with the dedicated assault units that the Space wolves are known for. Forgeworld stuff is ok, though I have no interest in knights to add to this force, maybe loyal 32 if I need to for the current meta. I have the new space wolves codex. This should be a self contained army, I am not looking to exceed what is needed for 2,000 points. Any and all advice is much appreciated. 

 

 

[TiguriusX]

how competitive and what environment are you in?

 

ITC rules?

 

basic answer without more details is a space wolf leviathan can shred things with dual storm cannons and keen senses if someone relies on BS modifiers

 

paired with a RP for chooser of the slain strat you present a significant no fly zone

[MegaVolt87]

Had a flick through the ITC rules, they seem much same as standard matched play minus the alt missions/scoring/ factions table. Since I am not interested in knights, do SW really need the CP from loyal 32? Didn't really get the faction table with multi detachments. So ITC comp- maybe? Rule of three I guess as well regardless, seems a staple for matched play anyway? RP and storm levi sound nice. 

[Karhedron]

Space Wolves are not as CP-hungry as some armies like Blood Angels. A lot of our solid stratagems cost 1CP such as "Keen Senses" and "Wolf's Eye". I would suggest that you can probably manage with 2 Battalion Detachments or a Brigade Detachment as this will give you either 13 or 15 CPs which should be adequate at 2000 points.

Either way, you will need to aim for 6 Troop units. We have 4 options to choose from for our Troops.

Grey Hunters: Solid and dependable. I normally run 3 packs at least. They are best in the mid-range. I normally kit them out with as much plasma as possible ans possibly a power weapon or fist on the pack leader.
 

Blood Claws: I am not sold on these pups in 8th edition. To get the most out of them, you normally need a big blob led by a Wolf Priest in a Land Raider Crusader but that is a lot of points in one target. Fun if you are a fan of glorious charges but probably our least competitive option.
 

Intercessors: Excellent Troops for holding objectives. Our longest range makes them great for parking in cover and plinking away all game. The new "Bolter Discipline" rule really helps these guys. Give them an Auxilary Grenade launcher and a chainsword on the pack leader and even a 5-man squad will be a pain for the enemy to remove for just 85 points.
 

Infiltrators: These are the new boys from the Shadowspear box set and I have not had a chance to play them yet. On paper they look at bit expensive at 22 points per model. But their abilities to infiltrate and block enemy Reserves from deploying might make them useful. My feeling is that they would be worth it if they came down to under 20 points per model. Keep an eye on these guys but possibly don't get them as part of your first wave.

[Karhedron]

You will need 3 or 4 HQ choices depending on whether you go for a Brigade or dual-Battalion. Fortunately Space Wolves have some excellent HQ choices.
 
Wolf Lord: Solid HQ choice and great for buffing nearby units. If you want to run lots of shooty units, a cheap Wolf Lord will buff your firebase (particularly valuable for plasma). If running melee-centric units then Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield is the optimum combo, possibly with the Wulfen Stone relic.
 
Bjorn: A cross between a Wolf Lord and a Dreadnought. Bjorn is a beast in combat and one of our best units.

Rune Priest: Probably a must-take unit in my opinion. The Tempestus Discipline is OK but he also provides psychic defense and grants access to 2 of our important Stratagems, "Chooser of the Slain" and "Cloaked by the Storm". My choice would be either to take a Jump Pack Priest for mobility or take Njal Stormcaller. He gets quite a few bonuses over a regular Rune Priest for just a few extra points.

 

Wolf Priest: A chaplain crossed with an Apothecary. Works best with multi-wound melee units, especially Wulfen. Probably not worth it for other units. Again, a Jump Pack is valuable.

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader: Flexible, cheap and cheerful. Treat him like a cheaper version of the Wolf Lord. Cheap firebase buffer or TH/SS and Jump Pack to support melee units.

 

Iron Priest: Works well if you are taking some of our expensive Dreadnoughts like Bjorn or a Leviathan or expensive tanks like a Land Raider or Repulsor. Similar melee capability to a Battle Leader so only worth taking if you have expensive vehicles to repair. Worth giving this chap the Armour of Russ relic and running him as an attendant to Bjorn.

[Loshkins]

Depends entirely on how you want to play. Check 1d4chan for a quick and basic run down of whats what.

Generally speaking our WL & RP are great. Bjorn is good, but not as good as people make him out to be, use him carefully or he is a point sink - most posted lists that have him don't actually benefit from him.

Either type of shield dread is great, trade off between the wulfen dread and the ven dread. Wulfen themselves are like Bjorn, can be good but you have to then build the list around them in a way. 

Intercessors are the only real good troop choice we have, infiltrators can also be nice. Leave the rest at home. 

TWC aren't what they used to be, so our fast attack is kinda meh. While not FA, WG on bikes and with SB/SS are great. 

Lots of goodies in heavy support, too many to list. 

Get an assassin. CP is a trap for our army, max you'll ever need is a battalion, any more than that and you're wasting your resources. 

I play in a highly competitive ITC environment and have been winning games with wolves recently, and any losses have been very tight game, so wolves can be very competitive, we just only have a couple lists that can compete at that level. Just make sure you focus on a theme, as we have the standard SM drawbacks. 

[TiguriusX]

To add to the general advice.

 

I always look for what makes a codex unique.

 

Space wolves have the 6 inch heroic intervention. To benefit from this you need more HQs. A melee focus army might make a unit of 3 HQs instead of a regular elite choice.

 

Mixed units. We can put a terminator and/or SS in almost every unit thanks to WGPL flexibility. Makes for some tricky wound allocation games if you roll decent. My best so far was a WGTDA PL for LF who passed all mortar and basilisk artillery saves in a tournament game to keep my heavy weapons firing. Like 30+ saves with many 3s included.

 

Finally we have some powerful stratagems. Keen senses with the leviathan i mentioned above is insane

 

Chooser of the slain has no arbitrary range limit like many others

[MegaVolt87]

Cheers guys, that should get me started.