Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Wolves(7E)

This is the latest Edition's tactics. 6th Edition Tactics are here. 5th Edition Tactics are here.

Why Play Space Wolves

Why you should play them: Awesome Space Vikings with a thing for wolves. They told both Girlyman and the Inquisition where they can stuff it, value individuality and heroic antics above all, distrust Psykers and their warp-craft and specialize in close combat.

Why people actually play them: They're cheaper Speehs Muhrines with arguably the single most broken psychic power in the game A whole lot of reasons:

• Special Wargear and units unavailable to any other marine variants.
• Awesome looking exclusive models.
• Powerful HQ characters, both special and standard.
• All the close-ranged firepower you expect from marines, backed by excellent h2h ability.
• All the Wolf you could ever wolfy wolf wolf.
• The third army you can make all-Terminator, the other two being Dark Angels and Grey Knights. Probably not anymore you can with the Company of the Great Wolf detachment (Champions of Fenris) now. And you don't even need Logan for it!(Technically you can make any space marine army all terminator now with the edition of unbound lists but these are the only three you can make all termie and still have the advantaged of a FoC list)

The New Codex has also been quite kind to them, but at a price...

• Large price cuts everywhere.
• Blood/Sky/Swiftclaws, Long Fangs, Thunder and Grey Hunters can all upgrade a model to be a Wolf Guard leader as opposed to splitting a squad up, and these leaders can take all the versatility they normally have, including terminator armor for some squads.
• Rune Weapons give AW, which cannot be transferred outside of the Rune Priest's squad. They also lack hoods, but can buy them for 10 points
• Logan's a LoW, and he has the silliest little sled as a chariot.
• Deadly flyers with Helfrost weapons.
• Loss of the Wolftooth Necklace and Talisman. The Mark of the Wulfen is also gone. Goodbye melee specialization.

The Wolves Unleashed

Like the Orks, the Wolves gain a new FOC to semi-compensate for the loss of HQ's reorganizing FOC units. You have 2 mandatory HQ's and 2 Mandatory Troops, with 4 extra HQ slots aside from the standard FOC for Elites, HS, and FA. They have 2 benefits:

• Before deployment, each unit rolls d6, adding +2 to the result if the unit is a troops choice and has an attached IC. On a 6+, they get Outflank. Also, each turn after the first, one unit gets to automatically enter from reserves.
• Re-roll on Codex Warlord Traits.

Wargear

• Frost Blades - These work as +1 Strength Power Swords or Power Axes. It's probably more economical to go with the Frost Swords rather than Axes, as for a few points extra you could have a Power Fist instead, whilst the difference between a Power or Frost Axe have no value when fighting low toughness GEQ like Sisters/Tau/Eldar.
• Helfrost Cannon/Destructor- These were added in 7th edition and are looking to be the newest brand of cheese. Like the Fire Prism's Prism Cannon, they have two different firing modes- a dispersed mode that's 24' S6 AP3 Heavy 1 with Blast (Large Blast for the Destructor) and a focused mode that's 24' S8 AP1 Heavy 1 (with Lance for the Destructor). But the most painful part is the Helfrost's special rule - for each unsaved wound taken from the weapon, the target has to pass a Strength test or be removed from play, even if they have Eternal Warrior. Both flyers, Bjorn and Dreadnoughts are/can be equipped with these. Regardless of who's using them, their potential to fuck with blobs and armored targets alike is all but certain to make them a considerable threat, especially to units reliant on multi-wound models like Nobz, Tyranid Warriors, Obliterators, Paladins or Crisis Suits.
• Rune Weapons - They're pretty much Force Weapons with a bonus Adamantium Will, making Rune Priests a better anti-psyker force.
• Wolf Claws - These weapons can be bought either individually or as a pair with S+1 AP3 Shred and Specialist Weapon. Lightning Claws but wolfier.
• Runic Armor - You grab a 2+/6++ artificer armor. Not much.
• Thunderwolf Mount - Generic mount, increases S,T,A,W by 1 and all attacks made by the wolf in combat have rending. This definitely is a good thing to look into for stock Lords and WGBL.
• Homing Beacon - If you're running a WG Termie Squad, then this is a must-take.
• Wolf Standard - Still offers an additional attack for units within 6" while allowing units within 12" to re-roll Morale, but now those effects last the whole game. Awesome.

Relics of the Fang

• Bite of Fenris - It's a bolter with pseudo-Sternguard-ammo. One mode is S4 AP5 with Helfrost, which is meant for cleaning up lesser mooks. The other mode is more priority-killing with S5 AP4 and Ignores cover.
• Armour of Russ - Armor with 2+/4++. It forces a -5I Penalty on the enemy in a challenge. It's super-Runic armor meant to kill daemons and Eldar, and not much else. Otherwise, you're probably better off taking a Storm Shield to up your Invul. (Or take it on your Wolf Lord, as it's cheaper than giving him Terminator Armour)
• Black Death - S+2 AP2 Frost Axe that gives +3A when outnumbered. On a horde army, this is Rampage incarnate. Best in an all I1 unit, so an not to kill too many dudes before you get to hit.
• Fang Sword of the Ice Wolf - Yeah, this name is fucking ridiculous. It's an S+1 AP3 Frost Sword with Rending and Helfrost. I guess the Rending is nice if your have forces with an S higher than 5.
• Wulfen Stone - Trinket from 2E that gives Furious Charge to the unit and wearer, while the wearer alone gets Rage.
• Helm of Durfast - A Helm from a character from 2E that gives re-rolls to-hit for all weapons (making Saga of the Warrior Born redundant) and Ignores Cover on shooting. Yeah, it'll definitely give you incentive to charge on anything. Works pretty great with a Rune Priest.

Warlord Traits

Despite the new name, these are just new paintjobs on the Sagas of old.

1. Saga of the Warrior Born: Allows the Warlord to re-roll to-hit in challenges. (Very beastly and a gift for any choppy hero build) Ragnar and Krom start with this.
2. Saga of the Wolfkin: Grants all Cavalry and Beast units in the detachment (Mostly Fenrisian Wolves and Thunderwolves) Stubborn and Furious Charge when they're within 12" of the Warlord. Harald and Canis begin with this
3. Saga of the Beast Slayer: Warlord has Monster Hunter. Ulrik starts with this.
4. Saga of the Bear: A strange not-wolf reference that though not-wolfy gives your Warlord and his squad a 6+ FNP. A bit of a step down from EW, but still useful-ish.
5. Saga of the Hunter: Warlord has Stealth and Outflank. When running a Grand Company formation, this will get wasted if you roll a 6 before deployment.
6. Saga of Majesty: Units within 12" of your HQ must re-roll failed morale and pinning tests. Great take for an army that can be lacking in squad level morale, unless Wolf Guard are taken on squads the boost of leadership is a must have. Works especially well with drop pod armies, where units will be in close proximity to each other. Logan, Njal, and Bjorn have this trait by default.

Fighter Aces

In Skies of Death, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to pay 35 points for one of 3 special traits for any Flyer or FMC (FGC is still debatable).

1. Alpha of the Skies - +1 BS. Pretty nice grab.
2. Beast Hunter - Monster Hunter. Considering you have Helfrost, you can definitely make some hurt on an unlucky beast, as this'll make sure you leave a mark.
3. Blessing of the Iron Wolf - IWND. Fukken sweet.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Wolf Lord: This guy is pretty much a Space Marine Captain, but he has an extra attack, and can take better wargear. He can be tooled out to be a total hand-to-hand combat monster, but gets expensive very quickly; be careful not to go overboard. A good rule of thumb is "boys over toys:" take a cheaper HQ and more troops. A good tactic with this lord is to give him twin wolf claws a thunderwolf and you are now the god of destruction. To make him even better at this job, try rolling for Saga of the Warrior Born or taking the Helm of Durfast. All this makes him about 185 points (205 with the Helm). Another thing to consider is to replace one of the wolf claws with a power fist. As they're both specialist weapons, you can attack with the full amount of attacks and can choose each turn whether you need to cut down MEQs or crack open TEQs.

• Wolf Guard Battle Leader: Bog-standard dirt-cheap version of the Wolf Lord with a few less options. He's a fine HQ for low-point games, but Rune/Wolf Priests are almost always better choices. He is slightly better at close combat than the others, with one more attack and one higher initiative. However, the free wargear and squad-enhancing abilities of the Wolf Priest and the psychic abilities and psychic defense provided by the Rune Priest more than make up for that difference.

• Rune Priest: These are your Librarians. They have a few wargear options (A Hood, a Mastery Level, Runic and Terminator armour, which cost the same, more runic weapons), and they have access to fewer disciplines (Only Tempestas, Daemonology, Divination, Biomancy, Telekinesis) than other marines. They also give you access to the Rune Staff, which unlike libby's tinfoil hat increases the priest's own DtW, rather than that of everyone else around him, but he can purchase the hat for that. He also lost Chooser of the Slain, meaning that anyone can sneak up on him now. Turning him into a Divination buffing machine is probably the best way to use him now. Do note though that making him a level 2 psyker now costs half as much, so it is worth considering.
  • Tempestas Discipline: Like the Orks and Grey Knights, the Wolves have had their powers re-shuffled a little.

Primaris. Living Lightning - WC1. 18" Witchfire S7 AP- Assault 3. Any 6s to-hit give 2 extra hits outside of snap-firing.

1. Stormbringer - WC1. Caster and unit gets Shrouded
2. Tempest's Wrath - WC1. 18" Malediction, target gets -1BS and moves as if in Difficult Terrain. Skimmers, jump troops and similar units must take Dangerous Terrain. Watch those Tau suck it when they're tripping all over themselves.
3. Thunderclap - WC1. 12" Nova, S3 AP- Assault 2d6. Meant for clearing out blobs, but S3 means you won't do much higher than GEQs.
4. Murderous Hurricane - WC2. 18" Witchfire, S4 AP- Assault 1, Large Blast, Rending for cleaning key units.
5. Fury of the Wolf Spirits - WC2. A witchfire with two profiles (both can be used in either order on successful cast): 18" S6 AP- Assault 4 and 18" S5 AP2 Assault 2, Precision Shots
6. Jaws of the World Wolf - WC2. 18" Focused Witchfire, target has to pass an I test or be removed. Definitely a step down from the old hax. What's more, Monstrous Creatures ignore it entirely, so you no longer have an easy button for Riptide-killing.

• Wolf Priest: This guy is, for all intents and purposes, a Space Marine Chaplain, with more options. Oath of War isn't as useful as Liturgies of Battle on the charge (it merely gives Preferred Enemy to a single unit type, so you can declare it on all MCs, or all Tanks) but you do get its bonus beyond the first round and a 6+ FNP, so it's about even. In the end, he's not that useful, not being as killy as the Wolf Lord nor providing for the whole army as the Rune Priest, and is far worse stat-wise than the former, losing 1 WS, 1 BS, 1W, 1T, and 2A. If you still want to use him, then put him in 2000 point games where you have more HQ options, and give him a large unit of Blood Claws, You'll lose an extra attack in the charge, but you'll get your shooting back, and it's better to rely on Overwatch+Counter Attack, this makes for a great tarpit unit.

Special characters

• Bjorn the Fell Handed: Poor old Bjorn. On the one hand he's a AV 13/12/10 WS/BS6 Venerable Dreadnought with an Invulnerable Save and the option for a Helfrost Cannon for free (He can also take a Plasma Cannon for free, while the TL Lascannon is 5pts). He also no longer becomes an objective once destroyed. On the other hand he's within a handful of points from the most expensive characters in the game (He's 220 Points for Russ' sake!). At first glance this makes him look like an overcosted dread that's bad at doing a dread's job, but Bjorn's real value is in bolstering/defending a shooty-wolf army. Ancient Tactician means you get a +1 on the Seize, which is huge. Saga of Majesty means he can chill with Long Fangs and fire off a plasma cannon (or better yet, a Helfrost Cannon) while giving them re-rolls on leadership and being in a good position to defend against assault units as a decent tarpit. He can also give a helluva fight in close combat with 4 WS6 hits with his True Claw, which is a Master-Crafted S10 AP2 claw with Shred and a Heavy Flamer. From this player's experience, he is the single most resilient unit in the entire game. He only died once on my watch, from a guard player firing 3 lascannons at him a turn, for SIX TURNS.

• Njal Stormcaller: Cheaper at 180 points, fragile without Terminator Armor (But why wouldn't you take it if you can get it for free?), potentially game-changing with ML3, but he got massively nerfed. He does also comes with the useful Saga of Majesty, and an improved rune staff, which grants him a re-roll on a failed DtW test. As a bonus, he can also re-roll to manifest a Tempestas power. However, he's no longer able to provide protection to the army with the loss of 'Chooser of the Slain' which makes him nothing like the monster he was.

• Ulrik the Slayer: He's a Wolf Priest with a Stat-line slightly better than a Wolf Guard Battle Leader (+1 WS and W), with Fear and Fearless. He allows any friendly unit within 6" of him Preferred Enemy, and friendlies within 12" get Stubborn. Stack him with a killy unit, and watch as they keep on truckin' through hits.

• Canis Wolfborn: Yes, his name really is "Dog Wolfborn". He also dual-wields Wolf claws (a weapon unique to the Space Wolves) while riding a gigantic thunder Wolf. He may also be accompanied by up to 2 Fenrisian Wolves. He is marked with the Saga of the Wolfkin (Notice a pattern yet?) and is responsible for at least 80% of the Space Wolf rage threads on /tg/. He's quite nasty in hand-to-hand combat (for his point cost) and has Rampage and the ability to give all Cavalry and Beasts in his unit the ability to re-roll to-hit when they charge.

• Ragnar Blackmane: The other roughly 200 pts costed character, even counting the price cut the entire codex gave (To point, he's 195 Pts. A stock Wolf Lord is 105). A Wolf Lord who was promoted straight from Blood Claw to Wolf Guard, and the youngest Wolf Lord ever, Ragnar is an all or nothing h2h unit. He boasts an impressive stat-line, has a Frost Sword with S+1 AP3 Master-Crafted and Rending, gives his squad Furious Charge, and has Saga of the Warrior Born, which synchronizes with his Insane Bravado rule which forces him to issue/accept challenges.. In exchange, however, he wears simple Power Armor, and has a built-in 4++ save, and doesn't have Eternal Warrior, and his Incredible Reflexes allow him to re-roll a single failed saving throw in each Assault phase, which makes him more survivable than he used to be. He will also probably be the focus of your opponent's melee assaults, so don't expect him to live very long. He will wipe out shooty units in a single turn, but against lots of power weapons (I'm looking at you, Grey Knights), Ragnar will go down quickly. But he will probably take a few models down with him. Either you love him or hate him. Nice in drop-list with a lot of grey hunters.

• Harald Deathwolf: Another new-ish character from 2E, Harald's kinda like Canis, except with a less retarded name, though he's Canis' direct superior, so there is an extremely fluffy excuse to put them together. He has a frost axe and bolt pistol but you can't claim the extra attack for 2CCW because he also has a Storm Shield, he rides a wolf and any Beasts or Cavalry within 12" of him uses his Ld, making them a much more troubling force. He can even take a retinue of 2 Fenrisian Wolves to help him out. He has outflank, not like the detachment gives you the chance of outflanking, he just has it. But his most shocking ability is his relic, which makes him immune to all flamers and Pyromancy. THE FUCK. Seriously, this would be acceptable if this were He'Stan or Ashmantle, but a Wolf?! Yeah, use him for the cavalry focus, keep the fire immunity for fun.

• Krom Dragongaze (Stormclaw): A relatively cheap character in power armor who's only about 10 Points more than a plain Wolf Lord with a Frost Axe. But his own Frost Axe is master crafted and he also gets Stubborn & Furious Assault added into the deal too. His Saga is probably an indication of things to come in that it is his warlord trait and is no longer counted as an upgrade. Despite how lackluster his wargear selection and special rules compare to the other named special characters that the Wolves get, Dragongaze is a worthy choice if you want to save those points on upgrading other units, particularly if you're playing smaller games. He's also a required special character along with the other Stormclaw units in his unique formation.

• Bran Redmaw (Forgeworld): A new special character added in the latest Imperial Armour book. For 210 points you bring home a common Wolflord with Rune Armor, Wolftooth Necklace, a Belt of Russ and a special +1S power weapon that rerolls to wound. Also, he gives a single Grey Hunters pack Infiltrate and Behind Enemy Lines, and has a special Saga of the Hunter that extends to any Fenrisian Wolves unit he joins, but that's not why you take him. His main selling point is the "Curse of the Redmaw". From turn 2 onwards, before movement, you must roll a d6 and add the number of friendly units locked in combat: on a 6+ (reduced by 1 each turn, until you need only a 3+), he transforms into the big daddy of all Wulfens. He gains a Mephiston-like statline, counts as a Monstrous Creature and keeps the Necklace and all his old special rules, plus Fleet, Eternal Warrior, Feel no Pain and Furious Charge. Yup, you can still Outflank him. Yup, you can stick him in a normal unit to ensure nobody will ever want to charge it. Yup, your opponent will do the impossible to blast him off the board before he goes all werewolfy on his ass. To take full advantage of him you really need to build a list around him, otherwise you're better off with the other characters. Abuse his ability to give Grey Hunters the scouts "Behind Enemy Lines" rule, and make Bran outflank with Fenrisian Wolves later on in the game to make sure he goes werewolfy as safely as possible, this way you get at best a unit that shows up in the side and eats every unit it can come across with (not even terminators can survive the bucket of dice the wolves throw out), and at worse a really fucking hard to break tarpit.

Elites

• Wolf Guard - Your Veterans. They can take all sorts of wargear, from simple power weapons and plasma pistols up to Frost Blades and combi-weapons. You can even stick them on bikes or in Jump Packs. Versatile, powerful, customizable. You can't go wrong. A good squad of these with a wolf lord and wolf priest can take any land raider as a dedicated transport. They can also take combi-weapons and take Drop Pods for dedicated transport providing a vicious alpha strike option.

• Wolf Guard Terminators - Curiously enough, now Termies are their own entry instead of being an upgrade for the WG, but are otherwise identical save for some price cuts for wargear. As a plus, they have Deep Strike, finally allowing them to go somewhere without having to be shoehorned into a Land Raider.
  • The Fierce Eye's Wolf Guard (Stormclaw) - A 5 man squad with pre-selected wargear, costs exactly the same as an equivalent Terminator squad, take only for Dragongaze's Stormclaw formation.

• Arjac Rockfist - Arjac can now be purchased on his own as an independent character like Snikrot and his Kommandoz but doesn't take up a slot if your army already includes unit of wolf guard (power or terminator armoured). He can only join units of Wolf Guard though, so there is essentially no point in taking him on his own. He's a Terminator Wolf Guard with a Storm Shield that gives him EW and HoW and is armed with a S10 Thunder Hammer that he can throw before he charges,. Essentially Lysander with 2 wounds instead of 4. He's great at popping vehicles and mashing Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures, but he's only useful in melee; make sure you stick him in a Land Raider or Stormwolf to make sure he gets into combat safely. Still, he's cheaper than a Wolf Guard Battle Leader with the same wargear.
  • He gets an extra rule: "Grimnar's Champion". This forces him to issue and accept challenges and, in addition, he re-rolls all failed To Hit rolls when taking part in a challenge, which is AWESOME. He does also have one formation of Fearless, +1 WS, +1 Toughess, Hammer of Wrath Terminators, all with TH/SS, in Champions of Fenris.

• Dreadnought - It's a Dreadnought, it's not much different from Dreadnoughts of other Marine armies, though they have an option for a Sx2 AP2 claw with Shred if you really want to take something down, as well as a Helfrost Cannon. A good way to put some mobile heavy weapons on the field, and a close combat monster with its Dreadnought CCW and packs a Multi-Melta for extra pain.
  • Venerable Dreadnought - 25 points more than the normal Dreadnought, has 1 WS/BS more, and forces your enemy to reroll vehicle damage, but is otherwise identical to the standard Dreadnought. Definitely a ton cheaper than before. They can also take an Sx2 AP2 MC Dread-sized axe and an AP2 Shield with a 3++ shield on the front for a big price. If you're planning for more killy, take MURDERFANG, if you want more shooty, take Bjorn.

• MURDERFANG the Curseborn - A brand new character Dreadnought from the new codex who somehow turned into a Wulfen while entombed in the Dread on a planet named Omnicide (relation to MURDER, planet of the giant space spiders, yet to be known), MURDERfang is actually 15 pts more than a Venerable Dread, but packs IWND, Furious Charge, Rage and Rampage alongside two 2 MC S7 AP2 MURDERCLAWS (Relation to the Chaos Marines MURDER SWORD yet to be determined) with Shred and a mounted Storm Bolter and Heavy Flamer. Flat-out, he's a melee MURDER (the joke) machine with immunity to Crew Stunned and Crew Shaken (given by the rule MURDERlust), but is otherwise is not much different than a plain Ven Dread besides a weak BS3, which he's not meant for using a lot. Just beware that he lacks the Venerable rule despite having the statline, so play him like he's a dual-fisted Dread.

• Space Wolves Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought (Forgeworld) - It's a Contemptor, so you know it's awesome already. 13/12/11, Atomantic Shielding, fleet, WS5, S7 - yeah you've seen this before; sadly not as good as the Contemptors from other chapters. You can load this bro with a handful of the Contemptor goodies, but we recommend tooling up for close combat: chainfist all the way and maybe a carapace-mounted cyclone launcher if you have the points to spare. For this small sacrifice in options (no heavy conversion beamer, no targeting upgrades, no graviton guns or plasma blasters either) you get access to either a Wolf Tail Talisman or a Wolf Tooth Necklace for bouncing psychic powers or hitting on 3's always ever, respectively. As we said before, you are tooling up for close combat so you're taking the Necklace. It also costs 10 pts more than other Contermptors, but for that ten point bump you get yourself a single Night Saga:
  • Saga of the Black Call - Used to be Furious Charge, but is now Rage. That extra attack on the charge is awesome and you want it for your CC contemptor.
  • Saga of the Forsaken One - Counter-attack at LD10. Could be useful if you're fighting against stuff that moves faster than the contemptor (as impressive as that is).
  • Saga of the Iron God - +1 on the damage charts against enemy walkers. It's okay but situational at best.

• Lone Wolf - A 20-point non-scoring kamikaze model with Eternal Warrior, Fearless, Monster Hunter, and Feel No Pain that can take pretty much any wargear he wants, as well as some Wolves as a retinue. Great for drawing retarded amounts of fire away from your other units. Load him to bear, send him against the biggest enemy you can find, and pray he goes down swinging. They become free choices for each troop choice or Wolf Guard unit, making fielding a ton of them a very viable tactic. They also don't give over points if they live, so you can now totally field them with impunity. The Space Wolves no longer abhor the idea of teleporting into battle, so the combination of a initial locator beacon equipped drop pod, next turn followed by several Lone Wolves in Terminator armour equipped with combi-weapons could in theory make you able to deal with a wide varity of threats, albeit for a steep price. Just don't expect them to capture any objectives, as they're never scoring.

• Iron Priest - Your Techmarine, with an option for either a Servitor Squad or a Thunderwolf Mount with an option for Cyberwolves. Can be useful on a Thunderwolf running around with Cyberwolves as a mini-Thunderwolf Cavalry squad of sorts and with IC, he can join more wolves or cavalry. Otherwise, skip.
  • Servitors - Gone are the T5 Iron Thralls and in are the generic T3 servitors like everyone else gets, with exactly the same options. One bizarre rules-as-written exploit is the "Thralls" rule, which means that they do not take up a slot if you have "at least one" Iron Priest, so you can legally spam as many units of 1 Heavy Bolter Servitor for 20 points each as you like. Yes they'll all Mindlock 50% of the time, but each one has to be targeted and assaulted individually.

• Wolf Scouts - More expensive than other Marine's scouts and take up an Elite spot instead of Troop, but have WS/BS 4 because they're experienced warriors rather than neophytes. In addition, they can take flamers, meltas, and plasma guns, in addition to plasma pistols and/or power weapons, and the option to take Camo Cloaks to up their survivability. Good for surprise attacks against a vulnerable flank, but they can be overwhelmed easily thanks to their light armor. Also make very good snipers because of the extra BS skill. Give them a meltagun, a Power Fist + Combi-melta Wolf Guard Pack Leader. Keep in mind that you can't charge from reserves anymore, so these guys will go down. Give them a chance, but keep in mind they are pricy.

Troops

• Grey Hunters - Mostly the same as regular Tactical squads, minus a heavy weapon, but so much more nasty in Close Combat. Their basic profile gives them a bolt pistol along with their bolter, losing the CCW. However, they can buy this back for 2 ppm, making them a bit pricier than before. Also they can get one special weapon per 5 members. Now they can also upgrade one member to a Wolf Guard Pack Leader, making it easier to cram in more combi-weapons into your squad.
  • Hengist Ironaxe's Grey Hunters (Stormclaw): A fixed five man unit that comes with a plasma gun, plasma pistol and a power axe. For 10 points more than the cost of a normal Grey Hunters unit but without the CCW + Pistol + Boltgun combination that Grey Hunters have always been famed for. However, the one bright side is that your Power Axe wielder is a character with two base attacks and can accept and issue challenges, the bad side is that Wolf Guard cost 10 points anyway, so you've practically lost out on 1 Leadership point where you could have taken an similarly equipped squad for the same cost. It's also a requirement in Krom Dragongaze's unique formation so that is now the only reason you'll take Hengist's unit.

• Blood Claws - Unlike Grey Hunters, they gain +2 Attacks instead of the usual +1 on the charge. Get a squad of 14, give them a fist and a meltagun. Attach a Wolf Priest. Load them up in your Land Raider Crusader, and then send this neat little package of violence at the nearest enemy. If you don't have a Stormwolf or Land Raider of any kind, don't bother with the Blood Claws. They're not worth using in any other way, and even then, one Land Raider can be easily delayed (just park a Land Speeder in front of it). If you REALLY have points to sink to it, you can also confer the Wolf Guard Leader Termie Armor, which will make him a bigger target, but still surrounded by bodies that will die quickly.
  • Lukas the Trickster - One Blood Claw pack per army can purchase Lukas, who comes equipped with a Wolf Claw and a Plasma Pistol, as a free Troops Choice. Attacks against Lukas in a challenge hit at -3WS, making sure that he'll keep up as a tarpit. He can also suicide-bomb if he is killed in a challenge (sense a trend here?)- both players roll a 1d6, and if the player controlling Lukas rolls higher than the enemy who killed Lukas dies too. Good stats and a nice way to put some more special weapons in your Blood Claws, but his points cost and mandatory use of his Leadership 8 make him a dicey proposition- much like his personality in the fluff, really.
    • Just remember that anyone not running Chaos Marines can just refuse the challenge, ignore almost all his special rules, and bash his face in. Either give him a nice Blood Claw meatshield or take advantage of Champions of Chaos as soon as humanly possible.
  • Egil Redfist's Blood Claws (Stormclaw): Like Ironaxe's Grey Hunters, this squad is also overcosted where you could have had a similar squad for the same price but lose out on the wolf guard. It's a fixed five man squad with a plasma pistol and a power fist, where the fist wielder is Egil Redfist himself and can accept and issue challenges and has +1 base attack, but he's not a Wolf Guard so is only WS/BS3. Again only take this unit if you're going to take the unique formation.
  • Hrothgar Frostborn's Blood Claws (Sanctus Reach): another unique squad, much like Egil Redfist's unit, although this one comes fixed at ten men rather than five. Again, no option for a Wolf Guard pack leader, but you get a unique +1 A & Ld Blood Claw character who must issue & accept challenges with Orks, but he may re-roll fails to-hit and failed armour saves in this challenge. This unit costs exactly the same amount of points as an equally equipped unit with a Wolf Guard leader, so you're fighting against Orks having rerollable hits it might be worth it, though he suffers on the return strike. Furthermore re-rolling saves isn't "that" great as in most Metas, Ork squad leaders will have Power Klaws instead of Big Choppas. Basically you have to know your opponent when considering this squad.

Fast Attack

• Fenrisian Wolf Pack - cheap beasts, but not super-killy compared to other units in the list and can be gunned down easily due to their terrible 6+ save, though you can promote one to be a Cyberwolf, with a 4+ save and +1 A/Ld. They're basically tarpits to use to tie up big units in assault until your Terminators or Thunderwolf Cavalry can get to them.

• Land Speeder squadron - Basically the damn same as the Land Speeders in the Space Marine codex. If you run one, run two, same as other vehicles. The key feature of these is that you can speed 'em around the field fast enough that they always get their 4+ cover save from moving flat out. Jink rules now have you getting the 4+ whether you moved or not, at the cost of snap firing next turn. Get people to waste a turn or two (or three if you're lucky on the jink saves) shooting at these while your real vehicles are unimpeded. Of course, if your enemy ignores them, then you probably get a chance to pop something important with your Multi-meltas or kill some TEQs with volume Heavy Bolter fire (ones happen ppl), so you might tend to win either way. Deepstriking also (sometimes) works, providing there is space for that (which there usually isn't).Of note is giving them two heavy flamers to run around toasting infantry. Gun wise, flamers are now a bad plan, since you can't fire them at all if you jink. Multi-meltas and Heavy Bolters all day here, with an emphasis on the H.B's which tend to do a little damage even while taking snap shots. Everything else (Assault Cannon, Typhoon Missiles, etc.) is too many points to mount on a hull that's going to be on fire if your opponent really wants it to be. I also recommend taking these as one-off vehicles rather than in squadrons. Keep in mind the purpose of these is to draw fire from more important targets. Having multiple units to kill forces your opponent to waste multiple units of fire, especially if he has bullshit guns like Serpent Shields that ignore cover saves and eat light armor for breakfast. If you've got 2 open fast attack slots and 120 points to spend, its hard to go wrong with 2 speeders with 2 H.B. apiece.

• Skyclaw Assault Squad - Blood Claws with jump packs, good for delivering a power fist into the enemy and generally being a damn nuisance. However, their low WS/BS means they could be overwhelmed by more elite assault units; make them go for weaker targets, where their mobility and sheer number of attacks will hurt the most.

• Swiftclaw Biker Squad - Blood Claws on bikes, with all the WS/BS 3 goodness that implies. Because they have a close combat weapon and a bolt pistol, they get +1 Attack compared to other Marine bikers They just have a bolt pistol that can be exchanged for a CCW i.e. worthless, and twin-linked weapons help to offset BS3. An attack bike with a multimelta will help with any tank problems you might have. Like Skyclaws, these guys are great at keeping your enemy distracted and making attacks of opportunity. Just avoid getting them bogged down in melee and they'll be fine.

• Thunderwolf Cavalry - These are probably the best-in-slot for Fast Attack choices, but can also end up being one of the most costly. They're basically Nob Bikers with a potential 19-24" assault threat, with 6 attacks each on the charge (4 basic + 1 for 2CCW + charge) with higher strength attacks than normal MEQ and rending means they will generally be causing considerably more wounds than most fast moving combat squads in other armies, such as bikers or assault marines. You have to buy a minimum of three now but you can expand your squads to six guys now, and storm shields are only half as expensive as they used to be, so take a few! They are also proper Wolf Guard now and have Ld9.

Heavy Support

• Land Raider - Schizophrenic AV14 box. You should take a Crusader instead, and you really don't need two more lascannons anyway, if you think you do, drop the Land Raider entirely, get another pack of Long Fangs, and/or more Razorbacks with Twin-Linked Lascannons, they'll be more spread out (which helps with their survivability) and they're much more cost-effective.
  • Land Raider Crusader - The golden cow of Land Raiders. Pintle-mounted Multi-Melta plus the sheer bullet rape spewed out by this thing will lay a hurt on squishy things in its way, or stupid Guard or Ork drivers who decide to pull up next to it.
  • Land Raider Redeemer - You're better served by a Crusader. While they burn MEQs, this variant suffers from not doing anything before it reaches the frontlines, and it needs to be in melta-range to fire. Melta = death, so take a Crusader instead. Also, it's a pain to use both their flamers simultaneously and devastatingly.

• Long Fangs Pack - Take Devastators, get rid of the regular Bolter Boys and give the heavies Split Fire. Long Fangs are the most popular tank-hunting choice of the Space Wolves Heavy choices, and are easily paired up with the more mobile Dreadnoughts to bash in the METAL BOXES. Running them with Missile Launchers is recommended, with an occasional Lascannon thrown in if you have points to spare. Just beware that the basic Sergeant isn't tooled for heavy weapons for some dumb reason, but can take a plasma pistol or meltagun for some compensation.

• Predator - It's a Predator. Duh. Not worth it in a Space Wolf army, you'd better served with Fangs instead. If you, for some reason, want to use one, keep it cheap and arm it with HB sponsons. Sit back and pound the enemy, or provide AV13 for your bawkses.

• Vindicator - It's a Vindicator. Low side armor, single hull-mounted gun, short range pie plate gun. Due to the Wolves' assault-heavy gameplay (WTF?!), you've got a chance of that plate scattering on your own Wolves. Bad, bad, bad. Which is why you don't shoot where you are assaulting, and the Space Wolves don't have assault heavy gameplay anyway. The vindicator is great for drawing absurd amount of fire from inexperienced players who are too scared of a strength 10 weapon to shoot more useful units like the Long Fangs, regardless of how short the range on its cannon is. What makes it worse than the basic Codex Marines is the fact that they have to purchase the Siege Shield, making fielding them more costly for the same results. Nope.

• Whirlwind - In an army like the Space Wolves, your mileage may vary on how useful the Whirlwind is, it's decently cheap, and allows you to ignore cover, but has really weak armour, one Lascannon shot or better and you can kiss it goodbye. It might be a little more useful if you play Cities of Death a lot, but otherwise you'll probably be better off with Long Fangs who can usually do its job far better anyway.

• Stormfang Gunship: The alternate kit to the Stormwolf flyer that Space Wolves now get. This one still has a transport capacity, though only 6 models and is not an assault vehicle either (but it keeps the Ceramite plating and PotMS), though it has the same weapon upgrade options (although it starts with two hull-mounted Stormstrike missile launchers instead of a twin-linked lascannon, it can swap to the lascannon for 15 points) so can utterly ruin the days of vehicles with S8+ weaponry. In balance to it's reduced transport capacity it has a Helfrost Destructor instead of having a Helfrost Cannon. This has the same range and firing modes, but it's S6 version is the Large Blast marker (and AP 2, vs. 3) (check the errata, its still only ap3. Typos in the codex are so unfortunate, aren't they?) and the S8 version is also a Lance weapon. So the Space Wolves went from having no aircraft or anti-aircraft to essentially having flying Fire Prisms that make a mockery of Eternal Warrior! All for 30 points less than a Land Raider.

• Fire Raptor: Clocking in at 25 points more than a Stormraven this flier sacrifices any notions of being a transport for more guns. It sports a twin-linked str 6, ap 3, heavy 7 chin-gun, two independent firing (can shoot whatever they want) twin-linked quad heavy bolters (6 shots), and 4 S 8 ap 2 missiles. All of which have Strafing Run (which if read carefully applies to flying monstrous creatures as well) which means most things are hitting on 2's, with twin-linked. It can trade its quad heavy bolters for twin-linked autocannons but the rest of your army should have enough anti-tank to allow this amazing gunboat to focus on murdering non-vehicles. Keep in mind that it can shoot 4 targets a turn (normal shoot 1, power of the machine spirit 2, independent fire turret 3, independent fire turret 4) and you begin to realize you can apply the necessary amount of bullet anywhere you need it. Being AV 12 everywhere, having 4 hullpoints, and the large amount of twin-linking means you are nasty to try and kill too (note on the twin-linking because it can help to mitigate jinking). With the Wolves Unleashed detachment you can now guarantee that this baby comes in on Turn 2. Not the right choice for every army, but definitely something to consider.

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino - 35 points for a metal box that keeps your Grey Hunters safe, makes them a lot more mobile, and meltagun tanks out of the top hatch...hell, why not?
  • If is also an awesome bullet screen for your Long Fangs. You can even use move Rhino - shoot with longfangs - flat out Rhino to keep your LFs completelly out of enemy LoS, though beware Rhino being wrecked, as it becomes immovable BLoS terrain, that force your LFs to move in order to regain a line of sight to their targets. It's also possible to use it in this manner to screen Grey Hunters, but their Rhinos usually tend to be blown up before or shortly after they reach rapid fire range.

• Razorback - The best friends of your Long Fangs. LasPlas, while the most expensive, is THE shit, since it has two good guns (so Weapon Destroyed won't cripple it) that punch through medium armor and heavy infantry alike. Take three-four or go the whole cog (aka Razorwolves, famous for fielding 8-10 LasPlases at 2k pts)

• Drop Pod- Drop Pods are your best friend from high school who married your sister and parties with you every weekend. Okay, maybe I blew the point, but Drop Pods and Space Wolves are a classic combo. The Drop Pod Assault Special rule means that half of your pods have to deploy in your first turn (round up if you have an odd number of pods). This has a few different uses: Mess with your enemy's head by Deep Striking Grey Hunters in a place where it's not expected. Deep Strike Long Fangs or Dreadnoughts into prime places for popping enemy vehicles. Deep Strike your HQ, his squad, and several supporting squads to put a heavy hammer somewhere. Buy a Homing Beacon or two and get Logan, Arjac, and some Wolf Guard Termies in on a key juncture. FYI, the other half of your pods come down normally. Make sure you keep this rule in mind when you're writing the army list, so you can figure out how you want to deploy for best effect and capitalize on it when you are at the table. Again, it is better to either mount up all your squads in Pods or none, as one-two Pods can be easily countered and made useless by a good player. (DISCLAIMER: GTFO AND AWAY FROM THE DROP PODS IN A KILL POINTS GAME. DROP PODS CAN EXPLODE WHEN SHOT AT AND DEAL HEAVY DAMAGE TO YOUR INFANTRY IF THEY ARE TOO CLOSE.) Yet they're harder to kill than Rhino's and Razorbacks, don't cause S4 hits to the entire squad on an explodes result if they are embarked (which obviously they are not in a drop pod when it explodes) and aren't basically free kill points like rhino chassis crap is.
  • Look at your codex, now back to the drop pod. Now back to the codex, now back to the drop pod. Sorry, your codex isn't a drop pod, but your infantry could be in that drop pod. Look up, what do you see? That symbol on the entry? That's Fast Attack. You can now provide those as transports for any Battle Brother on the field. Sure, it eats a Fast Attack slot per Drop Pod, but why not allow 4 cover-ignoring meltaguns to plummet upon the enemy and explode their favorite toy. Those infantry aren't Space Wolves, but they can assault like them now. Old Space Wolf Spice.

• Stormwolf: The Space Wolves finally get a flyer so they can quit complaining about facing anything higher than head height! The Stormwolf is one of two new flyers they get and fills a similar role to a Storm Eagle, with a transport capacity of 16 (so it can carry more Terminators than even a Land Raider), AV 12 all around with built-in ceramite plating, and is an assault vehicle with Power of the Machine Spirit, so it makes a good option for bringing large Blood Claw or Terminator units onto the tabletop, it is equipped with a hull-mounted twin-linked Lascannon, two twin-linked heavy bolters (which can be swapped for Skyhammer missiles for free or twin-linked multi-meltas for 20 points) on sponsons, and has its own unique weapon on a turret: a twin-linked Helfrost Cannon which is a 24" range weapon that removes models on failed strength tests if they take a wound (and it ignores Eternal Warrior since it's not technically Instant Death) and can be fired either as S8 AP1 or S6 AP3 (Blast). Expect to see loads of these spamming the table tops, raping high armour vehicles and fucking up squads with multi-wound models, all for 35 points less than a Land Raider.

Lords of War

• Logan Grimnar: OBLIGATORY 200+ PTS NAMED CHARACTER, now taking up the Lord of War slot. He is pretty great. He's lost all his really cool FOC-modding rules for little-to-no benefit besides a fancy new sled mentioned below. However, he's still a pretty nasty h2h fighter, complete with good gear (His axe can either be an S+2 AP3 Frost Blade or an Sx2 AP2 Two-handed Unwieldy weapon to kill big monsters), Eternal Warrior, Stubborn, and his Warlord Trait lets nearby friendly units re-roll failed morale, an ability quite useful to the painfully-average LD units of the Space Wolves. He is quite expensive though, more expensive than two discount characters, and good at little beyond bashing people in the face, so consider him carefully...I've seen Mr.Grimnar take on a Dreadknight AND Kaldor Draigo 1v2. Guess what? He came out victorious with two wounds.
  • Stormrider: 7th Edition has given Logan a baffling new accessory for 70 points: An open-topped hovering chariot, dragged along by wolves. We couldn't make this shit up even if we tried. This Armor 12/12/12 has 3 HP and 3 BS, which is worse than his own, but it comes with a 4++ that makes pens against it into glances, making sure he'll last as long as he can. To make the wolfing thing even worse, it gives Logan a bonus 4 S5 AP- Rending attacks in close combat at I5 and gives him the ability to move up to 12" in the moving phase. Yeah, he's finally getting the ability to go fast without joining with Termies.
    • NOTE: Be careful using Stormrider. A handful of heavy weapons can wreck it, turning pens into glances or no, and a 4++ won't save it. And if it goes, Logan goes with it. So you can still use it just...be careful.

• Fellblade - This is your THIRTEEN BARRELS OF HELL, + 1BS.The Fellblade mounts a turret mounted twin 'accelerator cannon' which can fire either high explosive rounds (100" range, S8 AP3 ord1 7" blast) or armour piercing shells (100" range, heavy 1, S9 AP2, Armourbane, 3" blast). Add to that 2 quad lascannons, a twin heavy bolter and a hull demolisher cannon and you have an absolutely rapetastic monster.

• Thunderhawk Gunship - There is only one reason why you don't already have one, it costs a shitload of cash(£399), apart from this... small price... the Thunderhawk has virtually no downsides, at 700 points it's certainly expensive, and it doesn't have much armour (12,12,10) but it does have 3 structure points and is immune to the 'melta' special rule. It's title of gunship is well deserved, it has a turbo laser (yes a fucking strength D weapon with a 5" blast!!!), four twin-linked heavy Bolters, two Lascannons and 6 weapon pylons, which can contain bombs or Hellstrike missiles. It also has a "modest" transport capacity of 30, so you can hold an entire 10 man squad of Terminators in this thing AND a techmarine and servitors to keep the thing running (they ARE allowed to repair vehicles they're embarked on, awesome). As the most expensive super heavy vehicle in the space marines armoury, you will almost never even see one, let alone field more than one, fortunately, you only need one. The best way to use this vehicle is to get close combat Terminators right into the middle of the enemies most dangerous shooting formation, then use the fearsome weapons on the gunship to destroy enemy vehicles that can insta-kill your guys, allowing your Terminators to destroy the shooty infantry and keep your grunts alive. Used properly this vehicle WILL make your opponent shit bricks, used improperly, it will do nothing but die uselessly as it gets pummeled by 700 points worth of enemy lascannons, rockets, missiles, battle cannon and lances, then it will explode and take the most of the rest of your army with it, because of this NEVER EVER keep it static, it's tempting to just hang back and pummel the enemies vehicles with the turbo laser, but don't.

• Thunderhawk Transporter - Get this if you if you have a burning desire to kneel down and sacrifice your money to the gods of Games Workshop. It costs the same amount of cash as the regular thunderhawk, and you'll probably end up wishing you had one of those instead. It's not that the transporter is awful, the ability to fly in a loaded up land raider and place it where you want is cool, you can even scoop up other vehicles while in hover mode without having to cease your movement. But unless you are playing on REALLY big gaming tables (we're talking the same size of games where Earthshaker guns run out of range.), there's no real need to do this and your Thunderhawk itself doesn't have much else to do with only a few heavybolters for its defense. Just get the regular Thunderhawk and for now and you'll feel less guilty.

• Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer - An odd superheavy tank. Its weapon is S10 AP1, but has no blast, so if you miss there's no consolation prize by accidentally wiping out a nearby unit (it is twin linked, so you're unlikely to miss). However, whatever it hits is raped. It fires D3 shots every time it fires and anything that somehow survives a penetrating hit from it can only snap-fire next turn (including other superheavies... neutering that poor emperor class titan.) but if it fails a penetrate ROLL (glances are fine) or to-wound its target (remember it's a primary weapon, so already gets re-rolls), it instead damages itself by an automatic hull point on a further roll of 1. It can be given the standard predator sponsons or pintle mounted heavy weapons, but you're probably going to want to load up on anti-tank and leave anti infantry to your other units.

• Typhon Heavy Siege Tank - It's a giant vindicator. Cheaper and better armoured than the Fellblade and more reliable than the Cerberus. It fires off a 7" Blast S10 AP1 weapon, which ignores cover, and so will erase entire units on 2s unless they have invulnerable saves. Can also be equipped with sponsons like a predator and pintlemounted options including heavy bolters, or a multi-melta. And unlike the Cerberus, since your main gun doesn't fill an uber specialised role you can choose what you want and split your fire to shoot in all directions and pick your targets by relevance. Also give it armoured ceramite so it can never be killed by melta & lances.

Supplements

Champions of Fenris

It has to be noted that rules from this supplement may only apply to "detachments and formations" taken from the supplement. So no mix-matching relics/buffs with codex FOCs, combined arms detachments or apocalypse formations

• Sagaborn - Characters must issue and accept challenges. Well damn, better kit your characters out for bear.
• First Among Equals - All Wolf Guard characters (Battle Leaders, Pack Leaders, Termie Leaders, and Cavalry Leaders) have Preferred Enemy in Challenges. Rub it in those Chaos Marine asshats' faces because you have some bonuses on them.

Relics of the Great Wolf

• Armour of Asvald Stormwrack - 2+/4++ Termie Armor with IWND. If you need a Tarpit but don't want a named dude, this'll fit nicely.
• Frostfury - A Bolter with Assault 4 and Helfrost. This is everything the Bite of Fenris probably was meant to be, with extra shots. (Doesn't replace any wargear)
• Krakenbone Sword - S+1 AP 2 Frost Sword with MasterCrafted. Fierce but...not much else. Thunderlord with this is scary. (Doesn't replace any wargear)
• Morkai's Claws - Some monstrous Wolf Claws that give d3 attacks instead of 1 for having two specialist weapons. They're totally nightmarish. Also have rending.
• The Pelt of Balewolf - Bearer has Fear that forces beasts, Cavalry or monstrous creatures in base contact auto fail any Fear tests they take...unless Fearless or ATSKNF.
• Fellclaw's Teeth - Bearer rerolls all failed to hit rolls in close combat. Yeah, the WolfTooth Necklace got moved to here.

Warlord Traits

1. Fire in the Blood - Reroll a single failed saving throw every turn. Well...it's better than nothing, I guess. This is great with a 2+ save. Sure AP 2 is still a problem but you usually face high volumes of saves.
2. Thread-Cutter - Re-roll all failed to wound rolls. Not confident in using Morkai's Claws? This'll give you your shred instead.
3. Gatekeeper - One non-relic weapon on the Warlord has MasterCrafted. This is...alright.
4. Blessing of the Wolf - Warlord and any unit he joins during deployment have Outflank. Now this is seriously nice, especially in a pack of Grey Hunters, Blood Claws, or Cavalry.
5. Thane to the King - Warlord is Fearless. Um...woo?
6. Deeds Beyond Counting - Warlord has Preferred Enemy. Not so useful on Battle Leaders, but they still get use from having it on their shooting.

Company of the Great Wolf Detachment

In lieu of Logan's old Wolf Guard Troops rule, this formation now makes 2 Elite units mandatory instead of Troops. In addition, you get 2 more HQ slots, 6 more Elite slots and 3 troops (That's right, 8 units of Wolf Guard! That makes for up to 11 spanking Lone Wolves!). You also get some extra bonuses:

• A re-roll on the Supplement warlord trait.
• All Wolf Guard and Thunderwolf Cavalry units and associated Pack Leaders get +1 WS. AW WOLF YEAH.

Alternatively with the FOC chart restrictions you may have an entire dreadnought army in drop pods + any support elements you wish. Think on that. You're welcome.

Formations

• The Fierce-Eye's Finest (Stormclaw): - Krom Dragongaze along with the named Grey Hunter, Blood Claw and Wolf Guard terminators from the Stormclaw boxed set. All models get Furious assault, which makes the Wolf Guard and Blood Claws a little bit more vicious but the best rule is the "Pack Instincts" which allows you to get re-rolls to hit with the rest of the formation if one unit has already hit the target, or re-rolls to charge distances if one unit has already charged the victim. This is ideal if you are just taking the Wolves as an allied formation as it is nicely self contained and can be dedicated to completely obliterating one chosen unit at a time while the rest of your army does it's normal thing.

• The Great Company (Codex) - A Wolf Lord, Wolf Guard squad with a Battle Leader, 5 Grey Hunter squads with one using a Wolf Banner, A Wolf Scout squad, 2 Long Fang squad, and 3 choices between Blood Claws, Skyclaws, and Swiftclaws.
  • This is better compared to the Apoc formation. Before deployment, each unit rolls d6, adding +2 to the result if the unit is a troops choice and has an attached IC. On a 6+, they get Outflank. Also, each turn after the first, one unit gets to automatically enter from reserves. The Wolf Lord gives everyone Fear and Furious Assault so long as he's alive. As an extra incentive to use this, if the formation is the main detachment, they get a re-roll on the codex Warlord Trait.

• Librarius (Apocalypse) - 5 Rune Priests. If you want, you can replace one of them with Njal.
  • These Librarians form a Warp Charge 4 (!!) power called Force Vortex, a 24" S:D AP1 Heavy 1, Large Blast Vortex. IF they don't recall it before it moves, then it'll scatter off and kill everyone. Before you run with this ask yourself: How confident am I that this won't kill everything your own dudes?

• The Great Company (Apocalypse) - Lots of options here. A Wolf Lord/Ragnar, a Rune Priest, a Wolf Priest, a Wolf Guard pack with a leader, 1 Scout pack, 5+ Grey Hunters, 3+ Blood Claws and/or Sky Claws, 2+ Long Fangs and 3+ Dreads and/or Ven Dreads are mandatory for this formation. Then you can opt to take an Iron Priest, 2 Thunderwolf Cavalry units, 3 Lone Wolves, 3 Swiftclaw Biker packs, and 3 packs of Wolves.
  • This massive WOLFING thing gives you Stubborn and re-rolls on either to-hit on Overwatch or to Charge. The Wolf Lord can also get Furious Charge and Fleet and give it to everyone within 18" of him once per game.

• Brethren of the Great Wolf (Apocalypse) - Ragnar, Ulric, Njal, Bjorn, and a 10-man Wolf guard Pack with Arjac and a Banner Bearer all get to be a character squad.
  • This meeting of greats gives them Fear and everyone gets Stubborn. Everyone within 24" of the banner also get Furious Charge and the squad can all opt to use their Finest Hours/Sons of the Primarch abilities at once.

• Wolfpack Flanking Force (Apocalypse) - A mounted Wolf Lord/mounted Wolf Guard leader/Canis takes 2+ Thunderwolf Cavalry units with 5 men each and 5+ packs of wolves.
  • This is meant to be a quick assault team, with the formation getting Acute Senses, Hit & Run, Outflank, and Rage, as well as the ability to charge out of reserves. Very fast.

Champions of Fenris

• Kingsguard Stormforce - Logan must take his Stormrider, a 5-man pack of Terminators, a Land Raider and the Stormwolf.
  • This pack gives all the bonus rules the supplement works on as a +1 WS to all Wolf Guard units so the Termies get better at combat, as well as FC and a re-roll on the Charge Distance on the turn they disembark from the Land Raider. Logan, on the other hand, only gives the ability to auto-pass or auto-fail the reserves for the Stormwolf as long as he's kicking.

• Brethren of the Fell-Handed - Bjorn must join 2 other Venerable Dreads.
  • By taking this pseudo-dread council, the Bjorn gets to spread his 5++ 6" around him for his fellow Dreads as well as giving them re-rolls to-hit in combat. The Dreads also get auto-challenging and AW. The Venerable Dreads are best served by getting them the axe/shield combo, giving them some extra close-quarters survivability and leaving Bjorn free to shoot shit up.

• Wolf Guard Void Claws - 5 Wolf Guard Termies must take Wolf Claws.
  • This small group grants +1 WS, auto-challenge, and Preferred Enemy when in a challenge. But before you claim them a Footslogging death brigade, they have to begin in reserves, with the ability to DS on the first turn, with a re-roll. And by being on the table, they also get to give you a re-roll on ALL reserves. It's a risky unit, but it's got some great support for it and for not much more than the units would have normally been worth.

• Grimnar's War Council - Ulrik and Njal take a generic Rune Priest and an Iron Priest with them.
• Curiously, despite being a squad of characters, they can't get anyone to join them aside from 2 exceptions: A footslogging Logan and Arjac. Logan's presence will replace the unit's Fearless (which they get alongside the other rules the Supplement centers on) with Zealot. However, the most vital bonus they get is a re-roll on the roll for who goes first and a +2 on the Seize if that fails. It's not much for an attack force, but it's better for a support squad.

• Arjac's Shieldbrothers - Arjac joins his squad of Hammernators in a Land Raider Crusader.
  • This gets Big boosts with the Supplement rules as well as +1 WS and Hammer of Wrath. They additionally get +1 T if they're in Base Contact with each other (Thanks, Imperial Fists!) and a Concussive S8 AP2 strike back if they roll 6 on their save in combat. They also get Fearless if Logan's on field, which is replaced with Zealot if he goes down.

• Wolf Guard Thunderstrike - A Wolf Guard formation with 10 regular men and a squad of termies, with the Wolf Guard dropping in a Drop Pod.
  • In a pseudo-Deathwing style, the entire formation (which deploys as a whole squad) gets TL the turn they arrive, well as their +1 WS and the other challenge rules. Alright for a shooty squad, but their focus seems more to be melee.

• The Champions of Fenris - This is it. The Living Tide, the Strike Force Ultra. Every formation in one.
  • Aside from all the rules every formation normally has, everyone gets Fear and Fearless and 4 key characters give bonus rules while they're standing:
    • Logan allows all non-vehicle units to re-roll to-hit in combat.
    • The Iron Priest gives every vehicle IWND
    • Njal gives everyone AW.
    • Ulrik gives everyone Preferred Enemy.

Sanctus Reach: Hour of the Wolf

• Grimnar's Kingsguard - Logan, Arjac, and 2 squads of Wolf Guard (either form) must load up into 2 Land Raiders. Arjac's stuck with one of the teams, as is Logan if he opts out of Stormrider.
  • Besides Fearless and the +1WS to the Wolf Guard, Grimnar gets back his High King rule, letting him give a unit within 12" of him Furious Charge, Preferred Enemy, Monster Hunters, or Tank Hunters.

• Wolf guard Strike Force - A Battle Leader joins 2 Termie squads into 2 Stormwolves.
  • They'll all come on the same turn, but the only real bonus this has is HoW for Melee and TL for shooting the turn they disembark.

• Ragnar's Claws - Ragnar joins 2 Blood Claw Packs of at least 10, a pack of Skyclaws and a pack of Swiftclaws.
  • This formation's not as great, as they give back that auto-charge rule the Blood Claws had and gives everyone within 12" of Ragnar Zealot.

Building your Army

Start with a Battleforce and a spare box of Space Wolves or Space Wolves Terminators to make your HQ and Wolf Guard. Rune Priests are easily made from plastic parts, and with the new SW stuff, the same goes for Wolf Priests (if you field them, which you shouldn't). If you can, exchange the Drop Pod sprue for a Rhino, as with Gay Knights around Deep Strike is at best unreliable. Better to go with an old-fashioned Metal Bawks. Buy another one when you can, and that will net you 2 mechanized Grey Hunter squads and some support. Taking hold of meltagun and missile launcher bitz is paramount, as the SW Pack box only comes with two Plasmaguns. With these core units, you may then proceed to buy anything else you wanted. A good idea is to buy a Space Marine box (or even a Battleforce) and use your remained bitz to make Marines wolfy. Dem vanillas (speaking Tactical Squad) also have sum good bitz (and more bolters/bolt pistols for your Hunters), and a Missile Launcher/Flamer to boot.

In a short time, you will need armor support. Dreadnoughts are a better and cheaper early investment than Predators, so one or two Dreads to carry your heavy guns (twin Autocannons or Multi-meltas) should do you well until you learn what exactly you want to do with your army. You may skip this part, of course, if you managed to get enough Missile Launchers so you can build a decent number of Fangs.

Alternate Start: Buy the battleforce. It's seriously all you need if your opponent lets you do counts as, which they should because Grey Hunters, Blood Claws, Long Fangs and Wolf Guard all come from the same basic parts (their models just have different guns). It's more than enough to get you an early start at the lower points games while still giving you a fighting chance at winning games, make at least 6 long fangs (You'll have to do counts as since you won't ever have the all of the parts even in the actual kit they're fucking sold in), 10 grey hunters (two squads of 5 since you need two troops), and 3 wolf guard (to buff up units where you think it's appropriate). Use the final remaining model as any generic character you want, playing with this setup should be enough to give you an idea of the armies strengths and weaknesses, how to play them and what you'll need to buy in the future, and spend time experimenting with the drop pod.

Honestly the Space Wolves lucked out pretty hard considering their battleforce is all you really need to play them, unlike some other armies.

Tactics

Space Wolves' strength is not in close combat, but rather in spamming shooty units and using assault defensively; making big expensive CC units is fail. Their Terminators are too expensive when kitted for combat, and while you can easily build an army to use big units of Thunderwolf Cavalry their Ld8 (they have Ld9 now) sucks when it comes to getting Tank Shocked repeatedly and their 3D6 Fall Back move means they're likely to run out of play.

Instead of combat units, bring a few small Grey Hunters packs with a single Meltagun, a Wolf Standard (Can only take 1 per detachment and its more expensive now) and a Rhino to ride in, some Wolf Guard with Combi-Meltaguns to lead them, a Rune Priest HQ to shit on Blood Angels flying Dreadnoughts and Grey Knights' magic tanks, not much a thing anymore, then spend the rest of your points on Missile Launchers, Lascannon/ Plasma Gun Razorbacks, and Land Speeders with Multimeltas. The Meltagun Grey Hunters and Land Speeders go forward, everything else is fire support.

The basic gist; shoot big guns at tanks until infantry falls out, and when infantry falls out use Rapid Fire Boltguns, Frag Missiles, Plasma turrets, Rhino Storm Bolters, and anything and everything else to drop them. Thanks to Counter-Attack your units are as good when defending as they are when attacking, which means where other Space Mehrens need to work out how to get their dumb asses into combat from the back of a Rhino, your Hunters can quite happily roll up to some schmuck, Rapid Fire him with their Boltguns, then sit beside their Metal Bawks and eat the charge next turn, at which point you pop your Yiff Standard and beat face. Unfortunately, this plan begins to fall apart against armies that are even more focused on shooting than you are such as Tau, Necrons and Imperial Guard who can easily wreck your Metal Bawks and mow down your Marines before they can even get in range with their own guns.

In such an increasingly shooty oriented edition, taking Drop Pods instead of Rhinos is a reasonable alternative to assure that you can actually do some devastating damage. Space Wolves make an excellent Drop Pod army. Make your Grey Hunter squads as full as you can with all the normal fixings (two meltas/plasma guns/flamers if you're expecting a charge in retaliation. Load up Wolf Guard with Combi-weapons and send them in with the alpha strike fray as well.

With 7th and our new codex the rhino/razor rush + long fang fire support is still viable, just a bit more expensive and less forgiving. Fielding rhinos and razorbacks is liable to give your opponent first blood (unless you're also fighting paper-armor transport marines) so in deployment consider how best to position your boxes to have cover saves and still be mobile when they get the chance. To this end dozer blades are very useful. That said, xClaw units have become considerably cheaper, and a plethora of new detachments and formations mean we are now spoiled for choice when figuring out how to build our armies. Drop Pod lists benefit from the Wolves Unleashed reserves and access to codex fliers to provide necessary anti-air that old Pod lists lacked. To this end, it is useful to note that long fangs can take flakk now for the rhino rush lists' anti-air. Pod armies can be built relatively the same, though grey hunters' price hikes mean Blood Claw flamer units and taking the Wolf Banner over CCW's are viable options. You will have to finesse numbers around to afford maximum pod delivery on turn one, though the benefits are still amazing. Dreadnoughts have interesting options now. A venerable dread with blizzard shield and fenrisian axe (and perhaps extra armor) in a pod is an amazing distraction unit, because it will cause problems for non-mobile things it lands next to. Rune Priests are much cheaper now and, though they've lost some of their special sauce, are still ace units. A level 2 with the relic helmet can even down wave serpents (if within range).

Tactical Objectives

A new addition to the 7E, the Space Wolves can take new Tactical Objectives for use in the Maelstrom of War missions.

11 - Oath of Vengeance

When taken, the enemy must select an enemy unit. You win a VP if this unit dies during the turn.

12 - Worthy of the Sagas

1 VP for killing a Vehicle or MC. 1d3 VP if it's a Character.

13 - Let Loose the Wolves

1 VP if an enemy is destroyed during your assault phase.

14 - Maintain the Position

When drawn, your enemy must pick an Objective on your side of the board. If it's held by the same unit for 2 turns, you win 2 VP.

15 - Cunning Hunt

Win 1 VP if an enemy unit is destroyed by a unit with Scout, Outflank, or Infiltrate. If the dead unit came from reserves, you win 1d3 VP.

16 - Heroes of Fenris

Win 1 VP if a character issued a challenge or fought during your turn. If 3-5 characters did this, take 1d3 VP. If you have 6+ Characters do this, you get 1d3+3 VP