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!
