How will 6th Edition effect my Space Wolves?

Nick speaking,

As many of you already know, my Space Wolves are based on the 13th Company chapter from the Eye of Terror Codex. They were lost for so long that their Vehicles no longer functioned. A full foot army, except for a very small elite group of Storm Claw Bikers. As soon as I heard about the new Hull Point rules in 6th Edition, making it much easier to Wreck a Rhino, my initial thought was that my 13th Company Space Wolves would finally go back to their original Eye of Terror status, of having no tanks.

When the latest edition of the Space Wolves Codex hit, making my Eye of Terror Wolves defunct. I spent a lot of time trying to go down the foot list route, and to be fair, I had quite a bit of success, especially with the Loganwing variant, but lets face it, a Loganwing army is a Loganwing army, it's not really 13th Company Space Wolves! I ended up making my own bit of fluff up for the army, allowing them to have vehicles. I made my Space Wolves have a few expert engineers who could keep the tanks rolling, and If they were able to loot Chaos armour to adorn, why couldn't they loot a few Rhinos as well? So that's what I did, a 75/25% ratio of Space Wolves and Chaos vehicles, allowing me to MSU or Rhino Rush depending on how I felt.

So what is the current situation for Rhinos and Razorbacks in 6th? It is pretty obvious that the 6th Edition rules and mission objectives have been designed to change things up from what they were in 5th. Vehicles, and Vehicles with troops in, can no longer hold or contest objectives. I think the days of Razorback MSU have been numbered, making way for the Rhino to excel. Good job I magnetised my Razorbacks then! Even with all the problems the Rhino has of being easy to kill in 6th Edition, I still think it has a place in my army. The Rhino only has to stay up long enough to get you to where you need to be, which in theory, should be easier to do than if you were on foot. I am not saying foot Wolves are a total no no, as I am definitely going to have a go at making them work in the future, but I am going to have to give the Rhino a fair trial before I get my walking boots out.
 
I had already decided that I found MSU Razorback Spam to be a bit boring to play, so I was already playing larger units of Grey Hunters in Rhino's anyway. The only change will be to switch from Melta to Plasma for obvious reasons. As for the Wolf Guard pack leader, I am thinking the Combi-Melta/Power Fist combo has to go, no point being initiative one in a Challenge is there? I can see my Long Fangs also getting a switch up, with a few Missile Launchers being switched out for Lascannons to help bring down any AP2 dudes. Not sure if we still need three groups of them either yet, maybe only time will tell on that one. I also can't really see me using Wolf Scouts anymore in great quantities either, they still have a place mind you, but nothing like they were before!

I think it's very early days for me and the Wolves, but overall, I don't believe 6th Edition is going to have a massive impact on my army. There will be some changes of course, but being Marines, it's going to be nothing like the changes I will have to make for my Xenos armies, in particular my Nids, which I am going to have to have a look at next...

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Lukas the Trickster Tactics

Nick speaking,

Now that I have my Lukas the Trickster mini painted up for me by PaintingXoan, it's time to look at getting him on the table. I am aware that you will not find this dirty fighter in most competitive lists, or indeed even his Blood Claw brothers, but even so, for casual fun games, he surely can bring something to the table. So how are we going to use him?

Lukas has a few things going for him, he is not an IC so he generally cannot be targeted out. When he is left standing by himself and can be hit in CC, your enemy will have to re-roll all of their successful hits against him, and then when he finally dies, he has a chance to have the last laugh and kill all the models in base contact with him! He comes with a Plasma pistol and Power Claw, and with his Tooth Necklace will always hit on a three, sounds like fun to me!

The way I see it you have four ways of using the Trickster...

Lukas Mini Bomb

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

5 x Blood Claws (75)

1 x Rhino/Extra Armour (50)

(280 Points)

The Mini bomb is totally based around Lukas and his Last Laugh, and is something you should be able to add into your normal styled list. Five basic Blood Claws and a Rhino with extra armour to help get him to your target. We will be aiming for the most annoying unit your enemy has and sending him into it to die. With a lucky roll off, hopefully you will be able to take out the majority of that unit as he dies. 

Lukas Mod Bomb

1 x Wolf Priest/Runic Armour/Tooth Necklace/Saga of the Hunter (140)

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

8 x Blood Claws/Meltagun/Power Fist (150)

1 x Rhino/Extra Armour (50)

(495 Points)

The Mod bomb is similar to the Mini bomb, but has a moderate amount of bodies to go with the Trickster. The much needed Wolf Priest is there to give the unit preferred enemy and and a plus one to it's cover save. He will also make the unit fearless and help with the Tricksters Rebellious rule. The end result and mission of this unit is still to try and use the Last Laugh as best as possible, but it should have a better survival rate if the Rhino gets taken out before you get to your target. If your transport gets you into the heart of your enemy safely, you should have enough bodies to do a reasonable amount of damage before you roll off for the Last Laugh. 

Lukas Mob Bomb

1 x Wolf Priest/Runic Armour/Tooth Necklace/Hunter (140)

1 x Wolf Guard Terminator/Combi-Melta/Chain fist (53)

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

14 x Blood Claws/2x Meltagun/1x Power Fist (240)

(588 Points)

The Mob bomb is a foot based unit maxed out as best as possible, so that it can slug across the board and take a few casualties along the way. The Wolf Guard is added to the unit to take on those AP3 shots along with the Priest, but don't forget not to allocate any instant death shots on the Priest when doing so. 

Lukas Mega Bomb

1 x Wolf Priest/Runic Armour/Tooth Necklace/Hunter (140)

1 x Lukas the Trickster (155)

14 x Blood Claws/2x Meltagun/1x Power Fist (240)

1 x Land Raider Crusader/Storm Bolter/Hunter-Killer/Extra Armour (285)

(820 Points)

The Mega bomb is taking Lukas the Trickster and building a Death Star type unit around him. Forget about slugging the unit across the board on foot, lets put them in a Landraider Crusader and charge at our enemy with all guns blazing!

Supporting the different bombs is going to be the next step. The Mini bomb should fit right into any list with maxed out Grey Hunters in Rhinos. Whereas the points of the Mod bomb would probably mean replacing a Thunderwolf pack to get them in! The Mob and Mega bombs are a totally different story with their points values. You would be much better off building a list from the ground up, rather than fitting them into your current list, and that's where I am going to start my first list for a bit of fun, the Lukas Mega Bomb!

More to come...

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Real 13th Company Space Wolves?

Nick speaking,

Necrons were my first army, they were very shooty, very durable with their WWB rolls, rubbish in the assault and with hardly any upgrades, easy to play. When it came time to select my second army, I really wanted to get something totally different. I nearly went into Eldar Saim Hann, they were fast and fragile, but I was put off by the vast amount of flying bases which I already had with all my Destroyers, and that was in a time when I new nothing about magnetising.

It was at about this time when GW released the 3rd Edition Eye of Terror Codex, ready for the Eye of Terror 2003 summer campaign. In that said Codex was the Space Wolves 13th Company, found after being missing for 10,000 years! The 13th Company had the dark grey Pre-Heresy colour scheme of the Space Wolves, but much of their armour and weaponry has been replaced with material scavenged from their fallen Chaos foes. Not surprisingly, their Company has almost no heavy equipment such as tanks, Terminators or Dreadnoughts.

The one thing that stuck out for me with these wolf brothers, was the converting potential. They were furious Space Marines with bits of Chaos armour and weapons, and having done no conversions for my Necrons except for my Destroyer Lord, I started to get drawn to these guys. It was in a time when you could buy any bits you needed direct from GW, so I started collecting Space Marine, Space Wolves and Chaos bits ready to make my second army...

There was also one other thing that made me want to do 13th Company other than having an in your face, elite close combat army, that was totally different from my C'rons, Fenrisian Wolves. Not just a couple here and there as body guards, but whole units of up to fifteen of them, which you couldn't get in the normal Space Wolves Codex at that time! I currently own thirty Fenrisians, and I figured if they were lost in the EoT for 10,000 years, a few of them would have been bitten by Chaos...

In the begining I had a lot of fun with my wolf brothers, but after a while things started to change. Then, when the latest Space Wolves Codex hit, and I realised that there was no 13th Company provisions in it, or at least what I expected there to be in it, I was a little disappointed to say the least. Since then I have built up a small collection of vehicles, and have been experimented around with various list ideas, but now I am starting to think about taking all that experience I have gained and actually looking at making a real 13th company army again.

First I wanted to take a look at the units that I had available to me, and work out what special things they had about them that I could translate into the new Codex. I suppose I want to set myself units that I can/want to use to make the army as fluffy as I can, but sort of adding in my own fluff that matches up, to cope with some of the newer units and rules of the current Codex...

I have a feeling this is going to be a long post, so please bear with me as I sort through it all as best as I can. I want to look at each force organisation slot I originally had, along with the special rules they brought, and try to translate them over to the new Codex as best as I can...

HQ: 
Wolf Lord

Wolf Priest

Rune Priest 

There was only three HQ choices to choose from compared to the current ten. There was no Thunderwolf mount back in those days, so the Wolf Lord was either on foot or on a bike, which were the only vehicles available to them. I always found the Lord on a bike was the best options, especially when put with some Storm Claw bikers, but that's for later in the post. Taking a Wolf Lord would also unlock the Elites choice of Wulfen as a troops choice as well

Next was a Wolf Priest, and if your were taking Wulfen, he was pretty essential to have as he would control there 'Animal Rage' rule and stop them from always moving to the nearest target. The last HQ choice, was a Rune Priest that had a nifty psychic power called 'The Gate' where he could teleport himself and a unit around the board.

Now I don't know the full history of all the current HQ choices, but I figured that apart from Bjorn the fell handed, I should be able to take most of the current HQ slots, including any Thunderwolf mounted ones, for reasons I will explain later. I would be happy of course for someone to let me know if there is any fluff reason why I shouldn't choose one of them, as any input on this project would be most welcome.

Next is the Elites section...

ELITES: 
Wulfen 
Storm Claws

The Wulfen were unique to 13th company, full blooded assault nastiness with WS/S and I five and four attacks on the charge. They also had 'Animal Rage' which was pretty much the equivalent of fleet. I suppose Wolf Guard are the nearest unit in the current Codex to Wulven, who can also be unlocked to be a troops choice by Logan, just like the Wulven could be. 13th Co. do have Terminator armour, but in limited quantities, and I think three Terminators in a unit of ten would be about right.

Storm Claws are the equivalent of Blood Claws, except these guy's were good. They were WS four and had loads of options including a power weapon, powerfist, two plasma pistols and a Wolf Guard. Kind of sounds like the current Grey Hunters doesn't it?

The current Dex also includes Lone Wolves, which I think would be ideal for a 13th Co. army, along with Arjac, especially if I am going to have Wolf Guard in there anyway. Obviously being vehicles of a sort, the Dreads are out, and I would also say no to Wolf Guard on Jump Packs. Last thing would be an Iron Priest, and to be honest, I have no experience with him one way or the other. I think he probably shouldn't be there as there are no vehicles for him to repair?

Wait there, haven't I missed out Scouts? More on Scouts later in the post!

TROOPS: 
Grey Slayers

Just one option without unlocking Wulven for troops, and that was the Grey Slayer, 13th Companies Grey Hunter equivalent. Grey slayers were leadership nine as standard and had two attacks each with true grit with same usual options for a Wolf Guard upgrade.

The 13th Company were supposed to be overtaken more by the Mark of Wulven than normal Space Wolves, and unlike there unlost brothers, the MoW benefited the whole unit, this was a huge special rule for them to have making the whole unit stubborn and always hitting on three's. They of course, like most 13th Co. units, were more expensive points wise, coming in at 21pts a model!

The only extra thing I would add at this stage about troops, is that I think Lucas the Trickster would be great in a 13th Co. army, he just seems to be crazy enough to be there!

HEAVY SUPPORT: 
Long Fangs

Only one Heavy choice, Long Fangs! Sounds good doesn't it? But these Long Fangs were expensive compared to the current Dex, coming in at just under 200pts for four missiles and a pack leader with fire control. I think with the current game as it is, only having Long Fangs is no problem, especially with the new points drop and with all the other Heavy options being vehicles, what choice do I have?

FAST ATTACK:
Fenrisian Wolf 
Storm Claw Bikers

Last, but not least, fast attack. Two choices were available, starting with Fenrisian Wolves. I love these guys and they weren't much different than now except they were ten points instead of eight, and had a leadership of eight instead of five! There were no Cyberwolves back then, but I figured my Chaos bitten Wolves would make a nice Cyberwolf model.

Storm Claw Bikers, are basically Swiftclaw Bikers, but they are a whole lot better, so great in fact that they were the main delivery system for by bike mounted Wolf Lord. You could only take five bikers in a pack, but with a powerfist, power weapon and a Wolf Guard, they were deadly in the assault. The basic guy's were WS4 with three attacks on the charge, and when coupled with a Wolf Guard and Wolf Lord, they really could do some damage.

The current Swiftclaw Bikers would be a pretty lame equivalent, and that is where the Thunderwolf Cavalry come in. According to Lexicanum, Thunderwolves are a species of Fenrisian wolves, so I think they would fit into a 13th Company army very well and probably would take the place of my Storm Claw Biker role on the battlefield.

The Skyclaw packs and land speeders would be out for obvious reasons, so that pretty much sums up all the units. Other things to consider are, that the 13th Company had army wide 'Scouts' rule, allowing your entire army to deploy regardless of the mission scenario, and a free move to all units at the beginning of the game, except for bikes. This was there to help get across the field quickly with no vehicles. In those days the Scouts special rule did not allow you to infiltrate or indeed, to flank! This is a shame as this single rule would be awesome for army wide flanking under certain circumstances, but sadly that is not the case, and this brings me onto 13th Company Scouts...

I left them out of the Elites section to join them to the last paragraph, but yes in view of not having my army wide Scouts rule, I think I should be allowed Scouts in a 13th Company army. Actually, I think I will have three units of them, just out of principle lol.

I would love to have have army wide 'Move through cover' as before, again to make up for no vehicles but with all the points reductions throughout I can't have everything, and at least they will keep 'Counter Assault' and have a useful Standard bearer!

So now that I have all that laid down, I think it's time for me to start working on a real 13th Company army list. Hopefully someone has found this interesting enough to read all of it, and any comments, thoughts and suggestions are most welcome.

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MSU Boredom?

Nick speaking,

Just something I have recently decided...

Muliple units of five Grey Hunters in a Razorback is BORING!

A few less units of eight to ten Grey Hunters in Rhino's are FUN...

OK, I know it's not rocket science, but when I first started rewriting my 13th Company fluff so that they could have tanks, I fell straight into the trap of MSU, after all everyone else seemed to be doing it and with Wolves being an 'auto win' army, why not?

I played a fair few games with various Razorback based lists, not too spammy either, as I don't own that many Razors anyway. As I played more and more games, I got more and more bored, even with Thunderwolves in the list. I just ended up feeling like there had to be more to my Wolves than making a Lascannon tank scoring?

It wasn't until a few games ago though, that I realised how some other armies do MSU better than my Wolves! My Blood Angels opponent mainly plays with Razorbacks, but I didn't realise how cheap his Razors are before? I don't know what the rule is exactly, but apparently if you do (or don't) take something you get the Razorback for thirty five points cheaper, or something like that anyway? I always wondered how he managed to get extra armour and Hurricane Missiles on his Razors, and then have Powerfists and stuff on the five guy's inside, and then have enough points left over for all the other toys in his army!

Maybe I should have known this already, but I am not the type of person that buys and reads all of the Codex's. Finding this out though, made me re-evaluate my Wolves and made me make the switch from Razors to Rhino's. With bigger units of Grey Hunters all geared up, and a Wolf Guard to boot, now I actually feel like a Space Wolves player, lots of wolf brothers charging forward to get into the thick of things. After the switch, I am finding I'm still enjoying a good amount of success, but more importantly, I am having a lot more fun!

 MSU does work, and I am not debating weather or not MSU is competitive or not, all I am saying is that I have personally found them boring to play, give me the Rhino rush any day! I would go as far as to say that I have now been thinking about going back to my 13th Company routes and fielding an army without tanks at all, maybe it's time for my Fenrisian Wolves to be unleashed again?

 

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Space Wolves, Keeping Canis Wolfborn?

Nick speaking,

I have recently purched Canis Wolfborn for my Space Wolves 13th Company. After playing just one game with him joined to a Thunderwolf Cavalry, I am already considering getting my metal cutters out to convert him into a Wolf Lord instead! Kitting out a Thunderwolf Lord with Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield and Saga of the Bear will cost 240pts compared to only 160pts for Canis. So is Canis worthwhile?

Maybe it depends on your Thunderwolf Cavalry build? I usually give my calvary storm sheilds and use them as my main attack/distract unit, simular to how I would use my Eldar Seer Council. The storm shields mean that I can easily soak up some shots before I make it into combat, and gives me the option to be able to assault anything that comes my way.

This is where Canis fails! With no invulnarable save, one round of combat against something with a power weapon/fist etc. and he is done! Maybe if I had a different attack/distract unit like Terminators in a Landraider and used a cheap Thunderwolf Cavalry as more of a support role, then Canis would fit in? Or maybe I should drop the Cavalry altogether?

So I put it to my fellow Space Wolves players. How are you using Canis? Is he worth the points? Or should I get my cutters out?

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