Hey everyone, Reecius here to talk about a space wolf list I want to love! Check out the Tactics Corner for more great tactics articles!
But, like any abusive relationship, will probably end up with me bleeding and broken yet again. Assault Marines, why can’t I quit you!?
I have always loved jump marines, ever since 2nd ed when my Dark Angels Assault Marines (with every one of them having at least 1 power weapon!) were one of the first units I fully assembled and painted. Something about Space Marines with jump packs, chain saw swords and mini grenade launcher pistols was just too cool!
Unfortunately though, Assault Marines have been on the decline in power since 4th ed when they were still scary. Now, they tend to die horribly before doing too much. Not to say they are terrible at all, they do have their moments where they rock, but in general terms they are inconsistent as a MEQ statline simply does not cut the mustard in melee.
So what’s a guy to do with his 45 assault Marines?! Buy 15 more, that’s what!
What am I talking about? Well, the Champions of Fenris supplement, of course. That book provides SO many different ways to play Wolves that it is crazy. One of the builds that jumped out at me as really cool, was to take 6 units of Wolf Guard with Jump Packs as your Elites requirements in the Company of the Great Wolf Detachment. As this Detachment essentially swaps Elites and Troops, you can do this! What this gives you is some actually decently powered assault units with tons of flexibility on an MEQ chassis. You get a veteran model (2 attacks, Ld9) with WS5! And at only 21ppm, that is pretty reasonable.
Each unit can be kitted out with a plethora of melee weapons and special kit, but the key to making this work is to add only as much kit as you need to get them to do what you want them to do, and no more to avoid bloat and wasted points.
For me, a good load-out would be 10 jumpers, and 2 Power Fists. This gives you a ton of attacks, Counter Attack, WS5, speed and 2 hidden Power Fists that make you a threat to pretty much anything on the table. You could go Axes for more attacks, but, that strength 8 is brutal. To save points, you could swap a first for a few Melta Bombs in the unit, too, which helps a lot vs. things like Knights and Monstrous Creatures.
So, for roughly 260pts, you get a pretty dang powerful unit! Not bad. As everything counts in large amounts, you need volume to ensure some of them survive crossing the table. 6 units of these weighs in at 1560pts. Yikes! That leaves few points for support. So, consider swapping out a few units for Skyclaws, which are significantly cheaper and still hit fairly hard. You run these units as mobile screens and first wave units to absorb enemy fire and overwatch as expendables, allowing your vets to get in there and do work. A unit of Skyclaws with an Axe and 2 Flamers is only 175pts, saving you 85pts per substitution. So, if we swap out 1 units of Wolfguard for Skyclaws, we get a total of 1475pts. Much nicer!
We now need support. As we’re sticking to our aerial theme, let’s take a Wolf Priest with Jump Pack to boost any unit he goes with. Lastly, a Stormwolf with Multi-Meltas to help out with mobile firepower! That leaves you with a few points to play around with for wargear options.
Is that a list that will win a tournament? Probably not. Is it a fun, themed list that actually packs a good punch with Assault Marines? Yup! I want to try it out for fun games as I think that much mobility would be a lot of fun.
The skyclaws also look like and underrated unit in their own right as they have rage (i think??)and still hit meq units on a 4+, meaning that unit of 10 will put out 40 attacks on the charge, plus 10 automatic HoW attacks beforehand. My black templars are so jealous of being able to make an assault army btw!
Yeah, I think Skyclaws look great!
I really like the idea of massive amounts of assault marines 🙂 Would love to see that on a table!
Yeah, might have to make this happen! I have a ton of Jumpers, now.
The Champions of Fenris really look like an interesting addition to mix things up!
Mark
Yeah, it’s crazy how many ways it allows you to play Wolves.
I hope your space wolf jumps remember their standard issue imperial hair nets to keep their manly braids and mohawks out of the jump pack intakes
I think my hair’s caught in something Logan!
BOOM
Lol!
Reece,
It’s good to know I’m not the only one who holds onto assault marines as tight as I can. My poor black templars. You can do it guys! For the emprah!
We will find a way to make them work!
I really like it Reecius… I would make sure to take some bolters in each squad.
Thanks, and yeah, that is something to consider, just don’t want to lose out on being able to assault.
30k has the Reaver assault squad for Sons of Horus and you can take them as a troop choice… they are pretty amazing and the boltgun is part of the equation. You should check it… same concept as yours. : )
http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com/2013/12/30k-tactical-review-reaver-assault.html
I look at the new Draigo with automatic Gate of Infinity and imagine him joined to Tigurius with Perfect Timing and five Grav Centurions in about every other army I face in a tournament, and then scoff at your idea!
Or Pallies joined by a couple priests for 2+ rerollable with Draigo in front and FNP from the new 20 pt apothecary.
Hey, hey, who let the East Coast in this thread with all this Deathstar stuff?!?! =P
I love this idea. Pretty much every idea i’ve come up with from the Wolf codex and supplement has been super fun, maybe not super amazing, but fun.
Blood Claws and sky claws are my favourite units in the new dex for sure!
I totally agree, the Blood Claws got the points reduction they needed, and the Champions of Fenris book opens up so many awesome lists that it is crazy.
I’m sure you also wish that GW had done a better job with Ravenguard! Is it too late to try and do a BAO/LVO errata that says “go with the back of the book that doesn’t include the “bulky” caveat”? Like, seriously? Would it REALLY change the meta that much? Not much, but having the potential of 30 scouting vanguard vets that are pretty much guaranteed to assault on turn 2 is pretty cool.
I still remember the glorious days when I had the rumors in hand, but not the dex and was furiously calculating how much it would cost to buy up my Ravenguard army.
*sigh*
Yeah, poor Ravenguard. They got owned this edition. Stealth turn 1 is lame now that Night Fight changed.
If they had a slight buff, they’d be awesome. And, why in the blazes can’t they take jumpers as troops?
Hold out hope for a supplement that gives them what we all hope they get.
Yeah, that’s what I’m REALLY hoping for. Something like, stealth/scout doesn’t work for dedicated transports, but works for models with jump packs.
I dislike that the RG CT is used to make a very unfluffy RG style list (rhino rush). GW makes me crazy.
Also, I love the 30k version of their rules that all their bolters get precision shots (same limitations as Imp Fists).
Also, I’d love to errata night fight that it gives +1 to cover saves, so that it stacks with stealth.
Yeah, I agree, anything to help them! They are such a cool chapter, too.
I dont know about the jumpers , but the bikes sure look interesting…(with white scar allies ofc 😛 )
I’m not saying it’s the most powerful list, but that it would be good enough and fun!
Bikers are cool too, but at that point, why not just use T-Wolves, you know?
Now that you can use Korvydae, Blood Angels, Unbound, OR Company of the Great Wolf, it looks like I’m running out of reasons to not buy those extra jump marines I’ve always wanted.
=)