This is an article written by Frankie about his tournament winning Space Wolf list. It will also cover his progress creating the army (this is the second iteration of the mighty force!).
Unless you’ve been living in a cave with Osama for the past few years, I’m sure you’ve heard of the mighty Thunderwolf Cavalry from the space wolf codex. This article will focus on my Space Wolf list that is based around toughness five cavalry that hits harder than most units in the game. These lists are often referred to as “Wolfstar” lists, my list, however, is (jokingly) called “The Thunderdome” and is based around three decked out, two hundred and seventy-five point HQ’s riding thunder wolves, with a two up armor save and a three up invulnerable save along with two little Fenresian Wolves also known as cannon fodder. They ride with a unit of three thunder wolves all with storm shields, wound allocated out so that the lords can join into a diversified unit to maximize their durability. The unit is beastly: toughness five base, multi-wound models with predominantly four strength five base rending attacks. If that weren’t enough, I am extra mean and take Thunder Hammers on three of the guys in the unit. STRENGTH 10!!!! The unit has ten wounds, six of which are reserved for strength ten shots that would otherwise cause instant death to my space puppies. The Cannon Fodder wolves and Saga of the Bear lord, along with plenty of 2+/3++ characters means that no matter what comes into the unit, I can disperse wounds to keep the Thunderdome alive and kicking for as long as it takes to get them into combat, where they smash most anything.
I also am trying a new unit in the army because I found that the thunder wolves can only take so much flak fire before they start falling apart (and loads of small arms fire is their Achilles heal). I added Logan Grimnar in a Drop Pod with six long fangs, five of which have Multi-Meltas. The reason is I drop that unit in the opponent’s face first turn, is to kill a couple tanks (with Logan’s ability to grant relentless and the Long Fang’s Splitting Fire) or go after one of those pesky units that hide on the top floor of a building. It will usually buy my thunder wolves one or two turns of free movement while the opponent has to deal with that expensive throw away unit. The rest of the army is very small with two five man Grey Hunters as my troops, one in a rhino just bare bones with flamers because flamers are free for Grey Hunters, and one unit of five missile Long Fangs to hopefully kill one or two transports before the Thunderdome gets across the field to tear up whatever is still alive to stand in their way.
So far the list is standing its own against most army’s and tearing apart a lot of others. I will follow up this blog with a couple of reviews of how I fight against certain armies with this list, along with a hobby blog of my progress making the list.
SO WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME!
The Thunderdome: 1850pts
Logan Grimnar 275points
275pts of awesome
Wolf Lord 280points
100pts
-storm shield 30pts
-runic armor 20pts
-thunderhammer 30pts
-thunderwolf mount 45pts
-fenrisian wolvesX2 20pts
-saga of the bear 35pts
Wolf Lord 265points
100pts
-storm shield 30pts
-runic armor 20pts
-thunderhammer 30pts
-wolf tail talisman 5pts
-thunderwolf mount 45pts
-fenrisian wolvesX2 20pts
-saga of the majesty 15pts
Wolf Lord 235points
100pts
-storm shield 30pts
-runic armor 20pts
-Wolf Claw 20pts
-thunderwolf mount 45pts
-fenrisian wolvesX2 20pts
Grey Hunter Pack 75points
15ptsX5 75pts
-flamer free
Grey Hunter Pack 130points
15ptsX6 90pts
-flamer free
-razorback 40pts
Long Fang Pack 140points
15ptsX6 90pts
-missile launcherX5 50pts
Long Fang Pack 175points
15ptsX6 90pts
-multi-meltasX5 50pts
-droppod 35pts
Thunderwolf Cavalry 275points
50ptsX3 150pts
-storm shieldX3 90pts
-melta bomb 5pts
-thunderhammer 30pts
What do you guys think about the list? See any flaws or weaknesses?
I knew a guy who played a version close to this list at 1750 and it was rough. best I ever managed was a tie against him with old necrons. he never had the entire deathstar unit die until he played me (they survived 6 ard boys games). The difference in his list and yours is he maxed missle long fangs and kept 2 5 mans in transport. it was a nasty list. out of curiosity, what do you plan to do against light transport spam? also, how do you deal with the death star bieng unwieldy and getting those big characters into combat? (the only time I ever beat them in combat was when I managed to get only 2 thunder wolf in combat with the deciever)
Thank you for responding i will for sure be going over my tactics and such more in depth in the following article. I used to run a list with maxed long fang missile squads but i was finding that the wolf star would draw to much attention and get widdled down before it made it up field, which is why i added logan which cut down on my missile launcher squads. But my main tactic against light armor is basically the same as against most armies drop in logan and and kill a couple tanks and hope they can survive a couple turns being a nuisance while my wolves move up the field and my missiles kill a couple things. And as for my guys being on big bases it is kinda difficult to get them all into combat but it is all about model placement which i have learned to be pretty good at with this army. Well hope you enjoy the article and hope you keep reading the next few articles.
if it wins tournaments ,then I have no place to quest, but the multimelta squad doesnt really intimidate that much. if I ran something in a nice expensive vehicle, then it would be rough, but unless the have a land raider, most people can usually bale away from such a unit or bubble rap. What worries me is that you could have another longfang for grinmar and 2 tw calv. him and his squad is 7 models costing 450. for that, you can have 3 more wolves, 2 long fangs with missles and a thunder hammer (almost)
I see your point maidval. 450 is kind of a waste for a distraction unit. However, Logan is no pushover. By himself he is pretty beasty and can be a nuisance. Plus, 5 multimeltas splitting fire being able to take out two different targets is nothing to sniff at. I’m sure it would take two rounds of some lucky shooting to make their points back. Look at the batrep of this list vs the new crons. The crons held their entire force in reserve to avoid the DP fangs which allowed the TWC to get into position.
It is a hard unit to justify, but when it is in the right hands and placed carefully it can be deadly and waaaay too hard to ignore.