Space Wolves 6th edition Tactics

[Mandragola]

This is my idea for a very aggressive 2k army. Wolves with guard allies. I'm going with various drafts and not fixed on anything yet.


Rune Priest
Bike
Runic Armour

Rune Priest
Bike
Runic Armour
Melta Bombs

10 Grey Hunters
2 Plasma Guns
Standard

Rhino

10 Grey Hunters
2 Plasma Guns
Standard

Rhino

9 Swiftclaw Bikers
Melta Bombs

9 Swiftclaw Bikers
Melta Bombs

Primaris Psyker

Infantry Command Squad
4 Flamers

3 Infantry Squads
3 Lascannons
3 Flamers

Valkyrie Vendetta

Manticore

Aegis Defence Line
Quad Gun

I'm not sure on the powers for the rune priests. The plan had been to go for divination, basically because prescience is so amazing. Thing is, hammer of wrath auto-hits and their guns are already twin-linked so it's not so significant. I'm looking more seriously at just getting standard powers and giving both of them jaws. It's fantastic against necrons in particular, now that it hits wraiths and destroyer lords (and other destroyers, if they exist), but riding a bike should allow me to line it up against loads of targets either way. Then probably give one of them murderous hurricane and the other something else - not sure what. I think I'll give them force axes and I expect they will use them on MCs from time to time.

The guard blob's job is to stand behind the defence line on my home objective. Irritating that the Primaris isn't allowed divination because Prescience is clearly what they want and none of the other powers is all that interesting. Might actually trade him for a Lord Commissar, who makes the squad all but unbreakable and can fire the quad gun at BS5.

I think mass swiftclaws have the potential to do very well. They are actually a very versatile unit that, unlike TWC, have the option of shooting as well as combat. They get Jink. If they get amongst a bunch of tanks with their melta bombs they will end the game in one assault phase.

The rest of the army is just fairly solid uncontroversial stuff I think. The vendetta usually carries the infantry HQ, hopefully to an objective or some flammable enemy unit. The manticore needs no explanation. Grey hunters are great and I'm a bit sorry I don't have more of them.

[althathir]

Sturguard I went with SM bikes for three reasons,

1) they're scoring, most armies troops don't add a lot these guys let us steal objectives

2) 3 melta weapons, the mobile fire power the unit can put out is impressive (and something I've found space wolves needing cause landspeeders haven't worked well for me at all this edition)

3) they don't need a babysitter, headstrong can be pain and without a special weapon or two swiftclaws can get bogged down, the second you add that character in they're more expensive than vanilla marines (main reason vanilla bikes are more expensive is that you purchase the sarge with the first group of 3)

[steevn]

hi

what are your thoughts on this disruptive outflanking elements tied together in an army list with greyhunter and longfangsupport, maybe thunderwolflord and cav also

5 scouts, meltagun, meltabomb
5 scouts, 2 plasmapistols, plasma gun + 1 wolfguard combiplasma/powersword
10 greyhunters, 2 plasmaguns, wolf standard + 1 wolfguard combimelta/powerfist + wolf priest plasmapistol with saga of the hunter

[sturguard]

Honestly I think scouts were okay in 5th and have gotten worse in 6th (which is unfortunate, as many of our borderline units seem to have gotten worse). Scouts cost as much as a GH with worse armor saves, have no camo cloaks, can't assault in 6th when they outflank, so my thoughts would be they have to be large squads (so your special weapons dont get killed easily). Against a tank heavy army they can obviously pay dividens as most tanks cost more than 100 pts, but all of a sudden you have lost their utlity against Dev squads, Lootas, Necron Warriors etc- scouts used to do a good job in simply tying up units for a turn or two, even if they all died in the process, now they move on, take a few pot shots, then get killed. Its almost like Phil Kelly missed the 6th edition army book meeting- Wards books (Necrons, GKs of late) have really benefitted from 6th edition rules, while Dark Eldar and SW (Kelly's recent books) really haven't done very much. Yes we have GH, LF and Rune Priest (and those models arent crap) but the majority of the book simply isn't used, whereas there are few bad choices in either a GK book or Necron book.

[sturguard]

Althathir, did you consider using Khan for his hit and run?

[Mandragola]

Marine bikes seem too easy to tar pit. They are considerably more expensive than swiftclaws and don't have 2 ccws, berzerk charge or counter attack. Rune priests on bikes are amazing so the baby sitter problem isn't really a problem at all.

I don't really mind that swiftclaws aren't scoring. They are designed for charging at the baddies and making a mess. If they live it's because I've won anyway!

[Chapters Unwritten]

Yes, T5 doesn't realy need Eternal Warrior.

But I'm wondering what to do with my Wolf Lord. I don't like the concept of marines riding on wolves, so TWC is a no-go for me. I'm considering a Bear Lord with Runic Armor, Belt of Russ, Frost Axe and Power Maul. I don't like the Fist(or hammer)/Claws combo on a power amor model as it doesn't look good. I could do it on a termi, but then I would lose my last shooting option with the grenades and with termis I always don't know how to deploy them. Raiders are too overpriced and pods only hold 5.

I generally agree with you. I like the idea of the power maul on an I5 model with a lot of attacks, as he can knock some enemies down to I1 and then finish them off with his I1 axe in his other hand during the enemy turn.

It's too bad about allies. While I wouldn't mind the flexibility of the list it really goes against the Space Wolves' fluff to bring along friends to help them out. Pretty depressing, for example, that my Wolf Scouts would be better off as allied SM scouts.

[Laser guided fanatic]

So how are people using wolf scouts in 6th edition. I played a 750 point match as part of an escalation league which included a 5 man wolf scout pack with a meltagun, it was mainly there to destroy expensive armour but in the game I played against orks there was none, the squad was wiped completley by an orc nob squad so I'm thinking now of running a 10 man pack with a meltagun and 2 plasma pistols, the idea being that you let them have it when you arrive then overwatch and counter attack hopefully tipping the assault in the wolf scouts favour. The only issue is that 85 points was a nice price to pay for a melta shot or two in the back, at 190 points the unit is no longer disposable so I'll have to rethink what to do with it

[Mandragola]

Find a shoebox for them. Sad to say but wolf scouts now belong in a box under your bed. They only ever existed for their alpha strike and they lost it.

Allies don't go against space wolf fluff at all. They are one of the "friendliest" marine chapters (after the smurfs, obviously). There are lots of examples of them fighting alongside other forces in the fluff. They aren't asking for help, they are showing up to help others.

[Joshwow1]

How are Logan Wing lists doing? And how are people usually running them? I have a few extra land raiders and extra terminator models that I don't want going to waste.

I was thinking something like this to start. I know vehicles aren't that great anymore, but with the meta switching from melta --> plasma, maybe Land Raiders will last a bit longer.

HQ
Logan Grimnar

Rune Priest
-Terminator Armor
-Force Axe
-Jaws
-Murderous Hurricane

Troops
Wolf Guard x3
-5 Man
-Terminator Armor
-3 Power swords 2 Power axes
-CML

Wolf Guard
-5 man
-Terminator Armor
-5 Power swords
-5 Storm Shields

Long Fang Pack x2
-5 Missile Launchers

Land Raider Crusader

*Aegis Defense Line +Quad Gun*

I am left with 50 points.

*Options*
-Scrap the Land Raider, foot slog the CC termies+Logan Grimnar up field with 3 Terminator Lone Wolves.
- Ditch a squad of shooty termies for an extra CC squad + second land raider
- Ditch Long fangs completely and get more shooty terminators.

I don't like the idea of spending points in things like wolf claws and power fists when we get similar cc weapons built in to the terminator costume. Logan with the CC terminators will have plenty of High strength Initiative 1 attacks to pick up the slack. Also, the models look pretty sweet .

I realize that my Land Raider is a big lonely target, but again, with the smaller amount of melta..it may survive?

I was also thinking of taking SM allies. I'd scrap my RP and take a Librarian in termie armor, a scouts squad, and a storm talon.

So those are all my immediate ideas, let me know if you guys have others or potentially know a better strat completely with Logan.

[GraemePaul]

If I were you I would drop the LRC, Shuffle the storm shields between your wolf Guard Units instead of keeping them all in one unit, Add some Combi Plasma/Melta, Drop the CML (they are 30 pts each, thats more than a Long Fang with a ML), Add some basic wolf Guard to the Terminator Units (e.g. 3 Terminators and 4 power armour with boltguns), take a terminator lonewolf or two with SS/CF, maybe replace a missile launcher or two with lascannons, Leave the Rune Priest in Power armour and get the Divination Primaris power (to boost the Long Fangs) and if you can fit them a rifleman dread or two. Something Like this:

Logan Grimnar

Rune Priest
Divination Pirmaris + 1 extra (Goes with Long Fangs)

Rune Priest
Divination Pirmaris + 1 extra (Goes with Long Fangs)

Lone Wolf (CH/SS)

Rifleman Dread

Rifleman Dread

Wolf Guard (7)
4x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta
3x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Sword Storm Bolter, 1x Power Axe Storm Bolter, 1x Power Maul Storm Shield
Drop Pod

Wolf Guard (7)
4x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta
3x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Sword Storm Bolter, 1x Power Axe Storm Bolter, 1x Power Maul Storm Shield
Drop Pod

Wolf Guard (10) (Logan Goes Here)
5x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta, 1 boltgun
5x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Maul Storm Bolter, 2x Power Sword Storm Shield, 2x Power Axe Storm Bolter CML

Long Fangs (6)
3xML 2xLC

Long Fangs (6)
3xML 2xLC

Ageis Defence Line with Quad Gun

Aim of the Build is to be like a slightly sucked Gob stopper that had dropped on the floor. Hairy and well hard! Logan goes into the blob and leads from the front (thus Benefiting from a 2+ LoS he passes AP2 hits onto the Storm Shield Boys.

Rune Priests go into the Long Fang Units and Give their heavy weapons the ability to re roll to hit.

Drop Pods are used to put a unit right in your opponents face Use the Combi wepons asap for max damage and then LoS AP2 Hits onto the Power Armour (use them as wound counters in effect).

Lone Wolf Charges up the middle and smashes stuff/tarpits scary units

Rifileman dreads/Agies Defence line on Anti Flier duties and light vehicle smashing.

comes to 1997 pts in total.

[steevn]

So how are people using wolf scouts in 6th edition. I played a 750 point match as part of an escalation league which included a 5 man wolf scout pack with a meltagun, it was mainly there to destroy expensive armour but in the game I played against orks there was none, the squad was wiped completley by an orc nob squad so I'm thinking now of running a 10 man pack with a meltagun and 2 plasma pistols, the idea being that you let them have it when you arrive then overwatch and counter attack hopefully tipping the assault in the wolf scouts favour. The only issue is that 85 points was a nice price to pay for a melta shot or two in the back, at 190 points the unit is no longer disposable so I'll have to rethink what to do with it

maybe we should no longer outflank them but scoutmove them ?

[althathir]

Althathir, did you consider using Khan for his hit and run?

I did but to really take advantage of it would involve taking a much bigger detachment (which is true for all the vanilla SCs IMO), so I would rather save the points.

Marine bikes seem too easy to tar pit. They are considerably more expensive than swiftclaws and don't have 2 ccws, berzerk charge or counter attack. Rune priests on bikes are amazing so the baby sitter problem isn't really a problem at all.

I don't really mind that swiftclaws aren't scoring. They are designed for charging at the baddies and making a mess. If they live it's because I've won anyway!

Swiftclaws aren't really any harder to tar pit your opponent just have to get the charge off. In addition they're not that much more expensive, the difference is basically 15 pts for a sarge, and their attack bikes cost ten pts more... thats it which in my list I basically get back because SM captains get Iron halo's (belt of russ) for free.

I haven't messed with rune priests on bikes, granted a lot of that its I play againist guard alot and str8 large blasts were a bit of problem in 5th.

Thats what my thunderwolves are for

[Chapters Unwritten]

Do Swiftclaws really accomplish all that much in the new edition? I see a lot of people bringing them up but there are other avenues of getting 10 T5 wounds that are more generally popular in our army.

[Joshwow1]

If I were you I would drop the LRC, Shuffle the storm shields between your wolf Guard Units instead of keeping them all in one unit, Add some Combi Plasma/Melta, Drop the CML (they are 30 pts each, thats more than a Long Fang with a ML), Add some basic wolf Guard to the Terminator Units (e.g. 3 Terminators and 4 power armour with boltguns), take a terminator lonewolf or two with SS/CF, maybe replace a missile launcher or two with lascannons, Leave the Rune Priest in Power armour and get the Divination Primaris power (to boost the Long Fangs) and if you can fit them a rifleman dread or two. Something Like this:

Logan Grimnar

Rune Priest
Divination Pirmaris + 1 extra (Goes with Long Fangs)

Rune Priest
Divination Pirmaris + 1 extra (Goes with Long Fangs)

Lone Wolf (CH/SS)

Rifleman Dread

Rifleman Dread

Wolf Guard (7)
4x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta
3x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Sword Storm Bolter, 1x Power Axe Storm Bolter, 1x Power Maul Storm Shield
Drop Pod

Wolf Guard (7)
4x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta
3x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Sword Storm Bolter, 1x Power Axe Storm Bolter, 1x Power Maul Storm Shield
Drop Pod

Wolf Guard (10) (Logan Goes Here)
5x Power Armour, 2 Combi Plasma, 2 Combi Melta, 1 boltgun
5x Terminator Armour, 1x Power Maul Storm Bolter, 2x Power Sword Storm Shield, 2x Power Axe Storm Bolter CML

Long Fangs (6)
3xML 2xLC

Long Fangs (6)
3xML 2xLC

Ageis Defence Line with Quad Gun

Aim of the Build is to be like a slightly sucked Gob stopper that had dropped on the floor. Hairy and well hard! Logan goes into the blob and leads from the front (thus Benefiting from a 2+ LoS he passes AP2 hits onto the Storm Shield Boys.

Rune Priests go into the Long Fang Units and Give their heavy weapons the ability to re roll to hit.

Drop Pods are used to put a unit right in your opponents face Use the Combi wepons asap for max damage and then LoS AP2 Hits onto the Power Armour (use them as wound counters in effect).

Lone Wolf Charges up the middle and smashes stuff/tarpits scary units

Rifileman dreads/Agies Defence line on Anti Flier duties and light vehicle smashing.

comes to 1997 pts in total.

Is there any real benefit to taking PA WG now with the changes to power weapons? Wouldn't it be better to just take all TDA now? And with the change to armor Rifleman dreads may not be that great? The points could go into CML's which I think are still great. And it's survive longer at the back of a TDA pack.

[sturguard]

Do Swiftclaws really accomplish all that much in the new edition? I see a lot of people bringing them up but there are other avenues of getting 10 T5 wounds that are more generally popular in our army.

I like them as a shooting unit. 10 Bikers plus a WP so 22 rapid fire shots, 11 hit, reroll, 6 more. 17 hits, 8-9 wounds. I am not a big fan of TWC as they dont shoot. I would consider a TWC Lord just for the str 10 attacks, but I would be more inclined to put him in a unit of wolves, just as a delivery method.

[Chapters Unwritten]

10 Bikers seems like a significant investment, though. The Wolf Priest adds some big utility to them with Preferred Enemy, though. Hmm.

[GraemePaul]

Is there any real benefit to taking PA WG now with the changes to power weapons? Wouldn't it be better to just take all TDA now? And with the change to armor Rifleman dreads may not be that great? The points could go into CML's which I think are still great. And it's survive longer at the back of a TDA pack.

I think so yes. My reasons are as follows.

1. With the new wound allocation rules TDA WG can go in front to take any shooting
2. They act as cheap combi weapon platforms for vapeing a unit the turn they arrive.
3. Once the combi weapon has been used up LoS can be used to allocate hits on them if needed (until gw clarifies that wg units do not all count as characters).
4. 6th is more about shooting than previous versions of the game, extra bodies mean more shooting.
5. Space wolves are not a full on assault army. they are a close range shooting and counter assault arMy. The unit builds reflect that

And rifleman dreads

1. Cover is easier to get in this edition so you should always have a 5+ save.
2. Two twin linked auto cannon put out a respectable amount of fire and can be used for anti flier duties.
3. Although hull points mean they are more vunerable to fire they continue to fire more consistantly due to the changes to glances
4. Pre measuring and true los means you can better predict which weapons can shoot the dreads, minimising incoming fire.
5. You are still immune to Str5 and less weapons which can be used against a wh in TDA.

[steevn]

I think so yes. My reasons are as follows.

1. With the new wound allocation rules TDA WG can go in front to take any shooting
2. They act as cheap combi weapon platforms for vapeing a unit the turn they arrive.
3. Once the combi weapon has been used up LoS can be used to allocate hits on them if needed (until gw clarifies that wg units do not all count as characters).
4. 6th is more about shooting than previous versions of the game, extra bodies mean more shooting.
5. Space wolves are not a full on assault army. they are a close range shooting and counter assault arMy. The unit builds reflect that

1. stormshields or no ?
2. mix or all combiplasma?
5. hear hear

And rifleman dreads

1. Cover is easier to get in this edition so you should always have a 5+ save.
2. Two twin linked auto cannon put out a respectable amount of fire and can be used for anti flier duties.
3. Although hull points mean they are more vunerable to fire they continue to fire more consistantly due to the changes to glances
4. Pre measuring and true los means you can better predict which weapons can shoot the dreads, minimising incoming fire.
5. You are still immune to Str5 and less weapons which can be used against a wh in TDA.

1. keeping them in the back is also safer because less players will use outflankers
3. we now have auto-fortitude on alle vehicles
4. put rhinos in the way of enemy antidread fire
5. beware of the grenades and assaults

[althathir]

I like them as a shooting unit. 10 Bikers plus a WP so 22 rapid fire shots, 11 hit, reroll, 6 more. 17 hits, 8-9 wounds. I am not a big fan of TWC as they dont shoot. I would consider a TWC Lord just for the str 10 attacks, but I would be more inclined to put him in a unit of wolves, just as a delivery method.

Thats part of my problem with them tbh, they're a half way decent shooting unit, they're also great during first turn of an assault that they got the charge off..... but thats it. I mean ten out flanking GHs with 2 PGs, a priest w/ pp, and wg with cbp & fist, cost less and shooting wise are more impressive.

I'd rather take the CC specialist that can win a grindout fight againist alot of the other high threat units, and has access to a ton of str 10 attacks (right now during the first turn of combat my twc squad has 11 str 10 ap 2 attacks whether I charge or not most of the time).

10 Bikers seems like a significant investment, though. The Wolf Priest adds some big utility to them with Preferred Enemy, though. Hmm.

It is honestly both fast attack choices are a large investment, in my 1500 point games my TWC make up a little less than a third of my army, and bike unit with a wolf priest would be in the same ballpark (assuming wf priest w/ bike & melta bombs, & ten SWCs w/ a fist). So either unit pretty much has to be successful in order for you to have a shot at winning. That said I don't think the priest actually adds utility so much as consistency, swiftclaws are more of an anti-infantry unit than anything. There are also a few ways to take advantage of wound allocation with twc that swiftclaws miss out on due to only having one wound apiece.

I think swiftclaws are lot better in this edition, but I don't see them as better than TWC or to be quite honest some of our allies bike option.