Reecius here with some ideas for a fun Space Wolves list that might actually catch some folks with their pants down! For more great tactics and list ideas, check out the Tactics Corner.
This is a list idea I have been toying with for a while now. It is not a serious list at all, but it would be a lot of fun, play fast, and would really do well in certain match-ups. It would also have massive weaknesses, too, so hey!
The list concept revolves around Nazis on the moon invading earth…wait, no, no, that is the movie Iron Sky, not the list. But, check out the movie, it is surprisingly good! This list features Dreadnaughts…9 of them! Using the Champions of Fenris book, you can take an all Dreadnaught Space Wolves list through the Company of the Great Wolf Detachment. You then fill in the 2-8 Elites slots with all Dreadnaughts! Now, you could mix in all kinds of cool weapon options for strategic reasons, but this is a balls out list, so we’re doing it right: 7 Dreads are taking the venerable upgrade and the axe and shield! And, of course, you take Murderface to fill the 8th slot because, why not. Every Dread rides in a Lucius pattern drop pod. You also have 30pts to play with for extra armor and such.
| Iron Sky | 1850pts | ||
| Unit | Description | Size | Cost |
| HQ | |||
| Bjorn | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 270 |
| Elites | |||
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Dreadnaught | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 195 |
| Murderfang | Lucius Drop Pod | 2 | 185 |
| Troops | |||
| Fast Attack | |||
| Heavy Support | |||
| Totals | 18 | 1820 |
So, you have 9 assault dreads coming in hot! 5 drop in turn 1, the other 4 come in after. The first wave charges turn 2, the rest come in to support thereafter.
The cool part about the Lucious pod is that you can stay in it the turn you arrive, protecting you from fire. It also has shrouding that turn, making it pretty resilient. That means each Dread is really well protected. The next turn, you pop out and assault with a lot of heavy hitters. As the shield gives you 3++ in the front arc, they are really resilient. Combined with Venerable, you can actually get in there and fight with almost anything and do quite well. As you force them to reroll the damage roll if you want, and you usually only get blown up on a 6, it makes you much harder to one shot. Some units can simply overpower your defenses, but, hey, this list is a win big/lost big type of play-style.
With WS5 and master crafted on the strength 10 axe, you get 4 attacks on the charge (the shield is a melee weapon, also) with a high probability of hitting with 3-4 of the attacks.
A lot of armies will actually really struggle with this as all you give them is AV12 targets, often with a 3++. When you hit, you will wade through a lot of units in melee with your powerful assault. However, you have pretty much no AA, and fast armies will be able to dance away from you unless you drop your pods in really intelligent patterns around the table to create overlapping assault bubbles to cover most of the table.
Obviously, this is a for fun list that plays for the tabling! You can drop pods onto objectives to earn some points as you go, but in general terms you’re going in expecting to have a laugh and smash some stuff or get smashed.
Now, if you really wanted to make this list a bit more serious, you should mix and match shooting units in there to give you some versatility. You can pop out of the Lucius and get and shoot, and are still shrouded. It gives you a lot of options and flexibility.
Of course, this is a for fun list, but, it would be a ton of fun. And, it would play really fast. You almost always want to go second, let your opponent waste their first turn, drop down and try to waste as many things in assault as possible. Death or glory!
When the Champions of Fenris book came up my friend thought this right away and I can tell you there will be a version of this list at LVO. I’m thinking of using the book just so I can have some dreads and then a few packs of Thunderwolves running around. Once again just kicks more than anything else.
Yeah, it is good fun!
A few of us had tried a similar sort of list but on a smaller scale and with regular Dpods. safe to say it didn’t do that well, I’m excited about the lucius pattern style though. Very Interested to see how it does – do a batrep, si vous plait?
If we had the models, we’d do it for sure! Would have to proxy. I only have 1 Lucius
I’ve got a list that can drop 6 dreads[2DC dreads 4 furisos dreads with frag canons and melta+magna] turn one.. all in lucius and assuming the cost of libbies and marines are put on the same level as regular marines.
Man…. can’t wait for that darn codex to drop:)
That is brutal, actually.
I would love to play against this list. I love Dreadnoughts would have such a fun time trying to beat this with my all comers list.
Right?! It’s awesome.
So one dread has to be deployed?
Reece made a mistake. Although he said 5 will drop in on Turn 2, what he actually meant was that 5 will drop in on Turn 1. So no, no dreads are deployed.
I was thinking of a wolf list using the regular CAD with 2 stormwolfs and a crusader to make my opponent deal with armor. Maybe I’ll post it in the forums
Haha! Awesome! Ally with salamanders to bring Bry’arth Ashmantle and just laugh it out!
Awesome, Reece! Love your crazy lists! And I always end up trying them out!
Thanks, glad you like them =)
The Lucius are 65 points now, aren’t they? Or did another IA book come out to replace the bump in points and nerf to rules to bring it back down to 50?
IA2 2nd edition has them at 15 pts less than 65. :]
Why not take them as contemptor dreads
contempt ors are very expensive, and only have a 5++ for shooting and 6++ in melee, a v13 is cool but it’s probably not as good as a 3++ and venerable
Yeah butt they get AV13, a 5++, and have seriously better shooting attack options
Never mind I just checked IA2 and wolves and blood angels don’t get contempt it’s any more
that book doesn’t negate the stuff in the apoc book, which includes SW and BA dreads.
Could be worth emailing FW about though
You actually dont have to come out of the pod if you want to shoot within the pods – they are open topped vehicles.
Oh wow, good catch!
What about dropping one of the Dreads/Lucius Pods and replace with a single Grey Hunter pack in a Pod… equip them with a Wolf Banner and then all Dreads within 6″ have +1A (so 5A on the charge for Blizz Shield/Great Axe Dreads).
How about this, thanks to Renegades and Traitors:
Helfist Murderpack….purchase dedicated Dreadclaws for all 5…..watch TO’s have a stroke trying to figure out how a vehicle squadron works when each member can purchase their own dedicated transport.
1-3 standard brutes from CAD, also with Dreadclaws, depending on point level.
PFist, Heavy Flamer for everybody.
Go Black Legion and add Melta/Plas Chosen with their own Objective Secured Dreadclaws to taste.
If it indeed does work, that’s a lot of crazy assault skimmers coming in and dropping off some mean cargo.
As Kevin Rogers pointed out on Daemons40k, you can do a safe DS into hover mode far enough away to avoid scatter, then flat out 18 to hide before flying in and assaulting with the frag launchers next turn….and Brutes should be pretty likely to survive the pods getting shot down while hovering anyway if it comes to that.
The problem with the formation is that even though each model can take a transport the unit can’t be split up and is there for to large to ever be placed in side any of the pods
You’re correct. I just double-checked and the main rulebook specifically states that units cannot be split among multiple transports.
It also says that vehicle squadrons follow all rules for units, except where mentioned and there’s no exception to the above for vehicle squadrons.
Therefore, it’s pretty specifically forbidden.
Oh well, just 3 Brutes and 3 Squads of Chosen. Maybe with an allied Mayhem Pack for lulz.
Y’know…
I’m tempted to do this in 30k with Contemptors since you can take up to 3 per elites slot in a Talon with 4 Elites slots base using the Age of Darkness FoC.
With a DCCW capable of taking either a Plasma Blasters (assault 2 18″ plasma guns, essentially), Heavy Flamers, Graviton Guns or TL Bolters and being able to double up on them, you could adequately gear them to be able to deal with a variety of threats.
Other weapon options include : Heavy Conversion Beamers, Kheres Assault Cannons, Multi-Meltas, Plasma Cannon, Volkite Culverin (deflagrate is nasty!), TL Autocannon or a TL Lascannon.
So pure non-Mortis Contemptors, you can stuff up to 12 in a list and if you’re a Salamanders Player can use their HQ dreadnought. Or take Iron Hands and make them even tougher.
If you take a Contemptor-Mortis, however, you can only take 1 per slot :\
This, however, clocks in at 2100 points before any upgrades or any other units taken as part of the force.
What about using some seige assault vanguard dreads as well for flamestorm cannons
For sure, I love Siege Dreads.
Being able to stay in the Lucius Pod sounds great, but can turn into a death trap really quickly. That Pod is so easy to surround and destroy in close combat.
Hope they explode it!