Space Wolves Combat Patrol

[Castigator]

Greetings warriors of Fenris!

 

With 10th just around the corner, I've decided that the time is right for me to try out 40k again. I haven't played since 7th edition so my knowledge is seriously lacking.
My old gaming buddies have come up with an idea for each of us to buy a Combat Patrol box to build and paint for a 10th edition get together in August which we're naming 'A tale of nine gamers' 

 

With that said I've chosen the Space Wolves.

I've always had a soft spot for Space Wolves but despite playing from Rogue Trader to the start of 8th I never got around to playing Imperial Marines....or the Emperor's Lapdogs as I've always called them  ...However that's about to change, now is the perfect time to scratch that itch.

 

The Combat Patrol box contains the following:

The set includes the following multipart plastic units:

- 1 Primaris Lieutenant (supplied with a Citadel 40mm Round Base)
- 1 Invictor Tactical Warsuit (supplied with a Citadel 90mm Round Base)
- 10 Primaris Intercessors (10 miniatures, each supplied with a Citadel 32mm Round Base)
- 5 Primaris Reivers (5 miniatures, each supplied with a Citadel 32mm Round Base. Can instead be assembled as Hounds of Morkai.)
- 2 Space Wolves Primaris Upgrade Frames

 

Now I realise it's impossible to say with any certainty what the Combat Patrol rules will be in 10th until we actually get the rules so any advice will be based on your experience alone and may be subject to change but I'm hoping you Long Fangs can guide an aspiring Blood Claw.

 

Invictor Tactical Warsuit - Fortunately this has only two options in the box. A heavy Flamer and what looks like a slimmed down Autocannon? I can magnetise these easily enough so this thing isn't such an issue. It will definitely be called Ripley though.

 

Intercessors - These didn't exist the last time I played...Hmm...come to think of it none of these Combat Patrol units existed! There seems to be a lot of options in the box. A couple of Chainswords and a Bolt Rifle with what looks like a Grenade Launcher.

What would be the most likely load out for these guys? Nine Bolt Rifles and a Sergeant with a Chainsword, is it the Sergeant that has access to the combi-Grenade Launcher or can an Intercessor take the Combi-Weapon?

Whatever you help me decide I think I'll use a small spot of Super Glue on the arms for the champion so they can be removed easily. Any help would be appreciated here.

 

Reivers - I'm guessing these are Primaris Scouts? These appear to have an awful lot of options.

Pistol and CCW, Bolt Rifle and what looks like Grapnel Launcher loaded pistols? Any advice is greatly received for these guys.

 

My journey begins, the woftime is almost upon us, for the Allfather!

 

 

[Karhedron]

Welcome to the Fang young Wolf. Help yourself to some mjod and take a seat by the fire while this old Long Fang grumbles about how much better things were when I was a pup.  Now bear in mind that we have relatively little information about how our units will play in 10th so this contains a lot of speculation.

 

Intercessors are our basic infantry and we do know how they will look in 10th edition. In 8th/9th they had 3 different flavours of bolt rifle which made choosing which version to run a bit fiddly. These have now been squashed together and they get bolt rifles with 2 firing modes. They can either make them Assault 2 and fire from the hip while Advancing or Heavy 2 which allows them to hunker down and take aim, hitting on a 2+.  You can choose from turn to turn how they shoot making them nice and flexible. I would build 2 squads and give each one an Auxiliary Grenade Launcher. The AGL is not a combi-weapon as such so normally goes on a regular trooper in the same way as older squads would take a flamer or melta. The Seargent can take a chainsword but also has access to heavier melee weapons like Power Fist or Thunder Hammer (although these are not included on the sprue).

 

The Lieutenant is a nice model and suitably Wolfy. He can also be run as a Wolf Lord is you prefer and want to give him a promotion.

 

The Invictor was a bit weak in 9th edition and people generally preferred to run Dreadnoughts. We will have to wait and see what they are like in 10th edition but  magnetising the main weapons is definitely a good idea.

 

Reivers are actually terror troops rather than Scouts so have a full-fat Marine profile including proper power armour. They have been consistently awful in 8th and 9th editions as they are built for melee but have only knives and pistols. I am hopeful that they will get a buff in 10th edition but it might be worth holding off building these guys until we find out how the different options will work in 10th edition. Space Wolves did get a special version of Reivers in 9th edition called Hounds of Morkai. These had restricted loadouts but got bonuses when fighting psykers. Whether they continue to exist in 10th edition remains to be seen. Another reason to hold off building these guys for a month or so.

 

I realise this may raise more questions than it answers so feel free to shout if you want more information.

[Karhedron]

Here are a couple of Intercessor squads I made using the accessory sprue. I also borrowed a couple of Thunder Hammers from the Grey Hunter box.

 

 

[Castigator]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Karhedron, it is much appreciated.

So 2 squads of 5 Intercessors with a sergeant in each (it's really weird calling them Sergeants and not Champions ). I think I'll just use a spot of super glue on the Sergeants so I can change their weapons easily later on.

From what I can gather the Combat Patrol boxes will be reasonably fixed because of how GW plans to balance the rules for them (yeah, I know, GW and balance aren't the best of buddies ). The only options in the box for the Sergeants are a Chainsword or a Bolt Rifle. It has to be the Chainsword for cool alone but I imagine once I get into the game 'proper' I will switch them out for something more tasty.

 

The Reivers have two main options in the box, CCW and Bolt Pistol or Bolt Guns (I think they're Bolt Guns because they look a bit shorter than the Rifle). They actually have another option of a Grapnel launcher pistol but this is 40k not Necromunda so I can't see a lot of use for them. I didn't realise that Reivers are fully fledged marines so thank you very much for educating me. I'm leaning towards CCW and pistol just to add a minimum amount of close combat ability. I'll take your advice and build and paint them last though.

 

Thank you once again for your advice and I hope my Intercessors look as good as yours 

[Starlight_Wolf]

The rifles with the Reivers are Bolt Carbines (think an SMG to the Bolt Rifles 'assualt rifle' in it's current state). Currently the wolf specific Hounds of Morkai can't run those, but with a new edition could come new options :)

 

The Grapnel Launcher is a decent option (if retained going forwards) as it eliminates vertical movement when moving, so for example if you were charging a unit on the first floor of a ruin and your unit were on ground level, you discount the vertical distance and effectively charge/move as if on the same level (Poorly worded, but I hope you catch my drift), quite useful for mobility on tables with more vertical terrain and catching tricky units hiding away. 

 

If you like to be more 'in your face' Assault Intercessors are a good option for wolves (they all swap their rifles for pistol and sword, with Sgt getting additional PF/TH options).

 

Look forward to seeing more of your wolves as the pack grows :)

[Castigator]

Thanks for the clarification on the Bolt Carbines....shuffles off to see what in the name of Russ they do....I really appreciate the info 

I think I'll definitely concentrate on the rest of the models and come back to them when the army lists are released.