Looking at starting 40k again with 11th

[Megalodon]

Just browsing through things as I ponder getting back into 40k with 11th, it seems all my firstborn Wolves are completely gone from the codex. 

Well there are Blood Claws and Grey Hunters, but there is no customization left apparently. Long Fangs are gone too, wow.

So do we have to use units from the Space Marine codex for special and heavy weapons punch?

 

At a glance army building looks confusing, any help or advice for and old wolf would be appreciated. 

Thanks

 

[SvenIronhand]

1 hour ago, Megalodon said:

So do we have to use units from the Space Marine codex for special and heavy weapons punch?

Yes.

[Karhedron]

Welcome back to the Fang brother. Pour yourself a flagon of mjod and take a seat by the fire while we discuss strategy.

 

You are broadly correct. Space Wolves get most of the units that regular Space Marines do and sprinkle in a selection of bespoke units. Blood Claws and Grey Hunters broadly resemble their old incarnations but have fewer options. Also they are limited to 10 or 20 man squads. For this reason you might also want to include some Intercessors in your army as they can be taken in 5-man squads which makes them handy for taking Objectives or performing actions.

 

On the other hand, some of our units are very good. Wolf Guard Headtakers are a definite upgrade on Bladeguard and combine very well with a Wolf Priest or Wolf Guard Battleleader. Wolf Guard Terminators are more of a side-grade to regular Terminators but can be led by Arjac or Logan Grimnar who both have very good rules. We also have our custom Dreadnoughts and Bjorn in particular is a popular choice due to the fact that he generates an extra CP each turn.

 

Space Wolves have always had most of the same tanks are regular Marines and this is still broadly true. I favour things like Vindicators for anti-everything firepower and a Land Raiders for a mix of anti-tank and Transport capacity. Gladiator Lancers and Ballistus Dreadnoughts are also popular for fire support.

 

Building armies in 10th edition is actually much easier than in previous editions as the old Force Organisation chart is gone. You just need 1 Character to be your Warlord. You can then buy as many units as you like, there is no longer a restriction of 3 Heavy Support as those categories are gone. The only restrictions are no more than 1 of any Epic Hero (named characters), no more than 6 of each type of Battleline Unit (Troops in old money) and no more than 3 of any other type of unit. This makes it very easy to build themed armies. If you want to build and Iron Wolves armoured company, it is easy to load up on tanks and transports. You cannot field more than 3 of each data sheet, so no more than 3 Vindicators for example. But you are perfectly free to have 3 Vindicators and 3 Land Raiders and 3 Repulsors.

 

The last step for your army is to pick your Detachment. This is what adds the "flavour" to your army. Each Detachment lists a special rule for the army, 4 Enhancements and 6 Stratagems. The army rule may apply to all units or only a subset. Some apply a simple buff, some provide a set of one-off boosts you can choose from at the start of a Turn and some provide ways to unlock bonuses.

 

Space Wolves are free to use any of the standard Astartes Detachments as well as the custom Space Wolves Detachments. One popular option is the Stormlance Detachment. This is a fast-attack themed Detachment and is based on the White Scars favoured approach to mobile warfare. However it also works very well with Thunderwolf Cavalry. I quite like Space Wolves "Beastslayer" detachment as it is nice and simple to use. All units in your army get Lethal Hits when targeting Vehicles or Monsters. If you kill more than 50% of your opponents Vehicles and/or Monsters, you army then get Lethal Hits against all targets. I like this Detachment as the rule is a simple but useful buff that helps to kill tough targets. It allows me to go a little light on anti-tank firepower while giving my infantry a chance to drag down even big targets by weight of numbers.

 

The final caveat is that a lot of things could be changing with 11th edition so you might want to avoid buying too much stuff until we get a better idea of how the new edition works. Pick some units that look fun and or have good rules in the codex as these are likely to remain for the time being.

[Megalodon]

Thanks for the reply Karhedron, I appreciate the info. It definitely gives me some stuff to mull over while I wait on 11th. 

 

 

 

[SvenIronhand]

Yeah, Karhedron basically gave the best response you're going to get here.

[Wolf Guard Dan]

If you have the firstborn blood claws and grey hunters (and old terminators) you can probably use them with their current datasheet as long as the wargear and base size is correct.

Space Marines will likely have a new codex in the next 6 months. Anything not released after primaris appeared is at risk of refresh (or going away). Rhino chassis and land raiders could get redone at some point. You’re safer getting the primaris floating vehicles if you’re worried about further scale changes. Space wolves supplement probably won’t get updated early. I suspect we will get updated bespoke dreadnoughts at that point. And maybe Ulrik updated. *fingers crossed* Maybe even a helfrost long fang unit. I’m trying really hard to put that one into the universe. Oh and potentially updated wolf cavalry. Those units (minus long fangs) weren’t phased out in the most recent codex but could be upscaled. 

 

I’d recommend getting the new characters assembled and painted while you wait for the new edition. The nice thing is GW has made an effort to make everything playable. So if there’s a unit you love you should be able to play with it. 

 

Welcome back.