Space Wolves : HQ Units

Rune Priest
The main stay of most Space Wolves armies out there, I usually run at least one of these guys depending on who I am facing. Runic armour is a must and more often than not the Rune Priest goes to work with the Long Fangs.

For psychic powers, its an almost always a choice between Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Tempests Wrath and Storm Caller. When I take two Rune Priests all four powers are covered, in the one priest lists it entirely depends upon the game plan. Jaws of the World Wolf is only really used against lower initiative armies.

While still a decent prospect in close combat, the Rune Priest excels in a more stand off position, nullifying psychic threats with the rune weapon, while also launching medium to long distance firepower back at the enemy. Chooser of the Slain is helpful in getting extra hits as it increases ballistic skill by 1 and can hold an infiltrators at bay a little while longer.

Wolf Priest
Not much upgrading really needs to be carried out on a Wolf Priest. By exchanging power armour for runic armour this priest will have a 2+/4++ save which is better than the TDA that is also available to the priest. The runic armour also allows for sweeping advance which is pretty handy for a unit that is geared toward close combat.

The Wolf Priests themselves are best used in close combat. Their preferred enemy rule allows for re rolls when attempting to hit the opposition for anyone in his squad. This is particularly useful if he were to be teamed with some Blood Claws and thrown into a Land Raider Crusader and charged toward an enemy position. Depending on the unit composition you could be looking at up to 64 re rollable attacks on the charge, with a few of those being power weapon attacks. It would be a lot of bang, but it is also a lot of bucks to put on the table.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader
A benefit to any army, the WGBL has the same options available to them as the Wolf Lord, for only a one point disadvantage in WS, wounds, attacks and leadership. Equipped as shown and put in a drop pod with some Grey Hunters, he is pretty much guaranteed to be able to take out a tank with the combi-melta on the turn he arrives then, being so close to enemy lines, should be looking to get into close combat in the next turn.

As well as all equipment available he also has access to all the sagas barring Saga of Majesty, meaning it is quite possible to make a beast out of this unit for less than you would pay for a Wolf Lord with the similar equipment.

Wolf Lord
If the Wolf Guard Battle Leader can be a beast, then the Wolf Lord is a monster. Access to all sagas and a better stat line than the WGBL, the Lord needs to be delivered into close combat as quickly as possible. There are only two options for this that I have available - Land Raider of any variant, or drop pod. Both have their positives and negatives, but I prefer using him in a Land Raider, travelling in a style that will allow for assault the second he sets foot on the battlefield.

The Wolf Lord can be pretty hard to kill, especially when equipped with TDA and storm shield as I have, giving him a 2+/3++ save. With Saga of the Bear he becomes an eternal warrior, which also increases his survivability.

Currently this Wolf Lord has a wolf claw as his only weapon, which would allow for 5 power weapon attacks on the charge/counter assault at WS6, with re rolls on either hits or wounds rolls, he has a good chance of carving a few enemies out of opposing units pretty quickly.

The one option I hear and see talked about with the Wolf Lord is putting him on a thunderwolf. I do have a project underway at the moment, and as I make headway on it I shall post up pictures on this blog of my Wolf Lord with Thunderwolf. I will also report back here on the successes and disasters he encounters on the battlefield.

Conclusions
As I only really play 40k for fun, my lists can be pretty varied at times, trying out all units in all situations. Usually I will take one Rune Priest and a Wolf Priest and a further HQ, either a named character or one of the HQs from this post, and split them out across the units that make up the rest of my army.

There is a lot of fun to be had with each unit and alot of punishment to be meted out to all those who oppose the Space Wolves. These units are the heroes who will spearhead that drive.

Space Wolves: HQ Characters

Logan Grimnar, The Great Wolf.
I have only used Logan Grimnar once in a battle against Necrons. He died rather shockingly in an assault against some wraiths, with them only landing three wounds, two failed saves later his game was over.

I am hoping to give him further outings once I have completed the Wolf Guard terminators I am currently working on magnetising and painting. I shall report on here all successes and disasters I have with him as and when they happen.



Bjorn the Fell-handed
The old metal model, from around 1995, is one of the oldest models in my collection, as being one of the 40k universe eldest members.

I have never used Bjorn, instead preferring to use the model as a standard dreadnought, drop podding in to the battle to cause as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible.

As with Logan, I will aim to use Bjorn with the aim of reporting successes and disasters back here so that a tactica of some form can be put together.

Njal Stormcaller
Here is a character I have used occasionally. In the group we have house ruled the Lord of the Tempests rules so they work across player turns rather than game turns which, in my opinion, makes more sense than losing half the effects if you happen to be going second.

I always run Njal in runic power armour, meaning I can get him in rhinos with some Grey Hunters. His runic weapon has been invaluable on many occasions, shutting down enemy psychic powers before they have chance to do any damage. Furthermore, his access to all psychic powers and his ability to cast any two per turn on top of the Lord of the Tempests rule make him a dangerous beast when fielded. Of course, this makes him a fire magnet for everything within his range, but if the focus is on Njal, then that means that other units are being left alone and can cause their own damage.

Ragnar Blackmane
Recently I have started using the young Wolf Lord. I have found that sending him against units where he will have the initiative edge, Ragnar will more than likely wipe the floor with them on his own. Even against power weapons his invulnerable save will keep him out of trouble half of the time. However, his lack of eternal warrior has seen him perish at the hands of more than one C'tan, which I suppose is not bad given the demi-god status the C'tan has.

Ragnars furious charge rule along with Insane Bravado, which gives additional bonus attacks on the charge, can lead to some serious amount of attacks. If you link Ragnar with a Grey Hunter squad equipped with a Wolf Standard and Mark of the Wulfen, the volume of attacks, MOTW attacks being rending as well, that can be meted out at initiative 5 and above give this type of unit a real chance of wiping out entire enemy squads before you have to face any attacks back.

As for the best delivery method for him, I would probably go with a Rhino. Ragnar and his squad on the initial charge get so many attacks that having maxed out squads seems a bit over the top. The rhino can be used to shield Ragnar till the start of the turn you want him to assault on, then all hell can be broken loose. Drop pods tend to leave you sitting around to be shot at alot for a turn and Land Raiders leave you investing a lot of points into 2 models which are both going to attract large amount of fire. But then again, if Ragnar/Land Raider are the focus of the firing, then the rest of your army will be free to do whatever they need to do.

Ulrik the Slayer
Another character I am yet to use, but really want to give him a run out to. The cheapest named character in the HQ section, Ulrik is even cheaper than fielding Arjac Rockfist.

To me his rules are looking good for going monstrous creature hunting, with his 3+/4++ giving him the same survivability as Ragnar, but with one less wound. Unfortunately Ulrik doesn't have any psychic defence, with the lack of wolf tail talisman taking away the chance to nullify psychic powers.

Ulrik does appear to be a close combat monster, but I will again have to play test him a few times before returning to this blog to comment on the best ways I have found to use him.