After a very calculus-heavy last post, I decided I could use some levity. My mind has been on designing Space Wolves lists recently, as I’ll be playing them in the LVO Narrative track this year and, far away as that seems now, it’s time to get started.
Of course, immediately my mind came up with lists based on Wolf-related puns, and I’m definitely not doing these, but I thought I’d share these random 1850-point lists.
A Fatal Case of Lupus
This was inspired by my wife when we were talking about my brother and his propensity to make disastrously poor, but nicely themed lists. I mentioned something about the Space Wolves and their actual wolves, and she asked if you could make an army of all wolves. Of course you could with unbound, but I decided to try to make a legitimate, battle forged army with as many wolves as I could pack in.
Note this largely hinges on Elite-slot Iron Priests still being a thing, which according to the draft FAQ they are, but we’ll see.
- HQ:
- Canis Wolfborn with 2x Fenrisian Wolves
- Iron Priest with Thunderwolf Mount, 4x Cyberwolves
- Elites:
- Iron Priest with Thunderwolf Mount, 4x Cyberwolves
- Iron Priest with Thunderwolf Mount, 4x Cyberwolves
- Iron Priest with Thunderwolf Mount, 4x Cyberwolves
- Iron Priest with Thunderwolf Mount, 1x Cyberwolf
- Fast Attack:
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Wolfkin Formation
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
- Fenrisian Wolves x 15 with Cyberwolf
Tactics? With a 23.167 Wolf:Space Marine ratio, and 139 wolves generally, the only tactic you have is pretty much to run forward, absorb massive lupine casualties, and get stuck into combat. I never promised these were good lists. On the other hand, watching this throw down with a proper Green Tide, Conscript Horde or Tyranid Gaunt list would be the stuff of legend. And probably result in rampant accusations of slowplay.
For extra hilarity, turn the Wolfkin formation into a single Alpha Pack of 75 Wolves. That’s 155 attacks, 230 on the charge or the first turn they’re charged. Now join Canis to that formation…and they re-roll failed To Hit rolls the turn they charged into combat.
Alpha Wolves
This is closer to a legitimate list. I’m in love with the Blackmanes formation in Curse of the Wolfen. It has some serious unit tax to it, but I love the idea of a full-on first turn Drop Pod list, because null deploy armies are near and dear to my heart. Here’s the framework of an army – not fully thought out, but definitely headed toward functional.
The question is, how could you make it even more alpha-strikey?
Add Space Marines! Here, I took an Imperial Fists Skyhammer Annihilation Force. Why the Fists? Honestly, because they seem to be the ones where the loss of their Chapter Tactics if a Space Wolf character joins them will sting the least, but Bolter Drill will also do really nice things for maximizing that anti-infantry punch of the initial arrival of the formation.
- HQ:
- Wolf Guard Battle Leader with Runic Armor and Black Death
- Elites:
- 5x Wolf Guard with 2x Combi-Plasma, 3x Power Weapons. Drop Pod.
- Troops:
- 5x Blood Claws. Drop Pod.
- 5x Blood Claws. Drop Pod.
- 5x Blood Claws. Drop Pod.
- 5x Grey Hunters with Meltagun. Drop Pod.
- 5x Grey Hunters with Meltagun. Drop Pod.
- 5x Grey Hunters with Meltagun. Drop Pod.
- 5x Grey Hunters with Meltagun. Drop Pod.
- Wolf Scouts with Sniper Rifles and Camo Cloaks
- 4x Long Fangs with a Plasma Gun, 3x Lascannons. Drop Pod.
- Allied Imperial Fist Skyhammer Annihilation Force
- 10x Assault Marines with Jump Packs, 2x Flamers, Vet. Sarge w/Thunderhammer
- 10x Assault Marines with Jump Packs, 2x Flamers, Vet. Sarge w/Thunderhammer
- 10x Devastator Marines with 4 Heavy Bolters. Drop Pod.
- 10x Devastator Marines with 4 Heavy Bolters. Drop Pod.
Again, this isn’t a brilliant list. It is however 10 Drop Pods, 8 of which were free (280 pts. worth) all coming down on Turn 1. 85 Marines in your face, some of which can charge out of Deep Strike, and will be reinforced by more bodies the next turn. There’s something appealing about that. If nothing else, it would be disruptive to whatever your enemy was planning.
In reality, what I’d probably do is flesh out the Space Wolves part more, especially the somewhat sad Grey Hunter and Blood Claw units, and then take a small allied detachment to work in non-WGBL HQs and some Dreadnoughts or the like.
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