Hello everyone Frankie here to talk to you about my new “Thunderdome” Space Wolves list. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great tactics articles!
In fifth edition I ran Thunderdome a lot and won quite a few RTT’s with it. Since then the Thunder Wolves have gotten a lot better and I have been seeing some people using them at events. A lot of people run them with bike armies for a little punch or run a couple characters in a Thunderwolf unit. My view on Thunderdome has always been not to waste points on the Thunderwolf units and only take the Characters since they do all the hard hitting anyways. I have also seen some cool combos where the units get a 2+ invulnerable save due to Sanctic psychic powers. I’m not all about those tricks when I play my Thunderdome, I like my opponent to know exactly what I am going to do and see if he can stop me :). Welcome to the Thunderdome.
Here is the list I am thinking about for this ITC season: Champions of Fenris
| HQ | ||
| Wolf Guard Battle Leader | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | 1 |
| Wolf Guard Battle Leader | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | 1 |
| Wolf Guard Battle Leader | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | 1 |
| Wolf Guard Battle Leader | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | 1 |
| Elites | ||
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Iron Priest | thunder wolf | 1 |
| Fast Attack | ||
| Fenrisian Wolves | 14 | |
| Fenrisian Wolves | 13 | |
| Fenrisian Wolves | 13 | |
| Heavy Support | ||
| Fire Raptor | 2xAuto Cannons | 1 |
Alright so here is how the list works in case you cant tell already. I have the three different Fenrisian Wolf units which are the delivery systems for my Thunderwolf Characters. Once I make it up the field into charge range I can break all the characters of so that I can charge a bunch of different units or keep them together until late game depending on what army I’m facing of course. The Fire Raptor is in the list for some AA plus the model is amazing, haha. Not really a Thunderdome unit but would look cool painted up like a Space Wolf A-10.
This army is a lot of fun to play with because model positioning is very important. You need to make sure you have a tanking Character near low AP weapons but away from strength 10… Dont want to lose one to a lucky wound. This list hits like a truck in close combat, the only problem is trying to get there, haha. I used to have troubles against Tau due to the amount of shooting they had but since I broke the units into three they havent been a big issue.
My thought with this list is that the meta right now is to either have a lot of little units scattered around the board grabbing points or one big scary unit bringing the pain. I believe this list can take on both. What are your guys thoughts? and what armies do you think I will have trouble with? See you guys at the next tournament and maybe you will get welcomed to the Thunderdome!
Looks fun to play!
Jeezus Frankie, Cant you get Beyond Thunderdrome?
Never!!
Furry Road???
Is that like Fury Road but all char replaced by furries?
Always a fan of just direct brutal lists. Though simple on paper, knowing who, where, and when to attack and split those guys up is going to be where all the strategy is!
Yeah I agree
Would a wraithknight have a field day against this?
The Thunderwolves would destroy a wraithknight as long as some of there blades of wounds make it to combat as well.
Wraithknights and Knights are definitely gonna be serious problems for this list- unlike a “proper” TWC Deathstar, you don’t have the weight of Rending attacks to drag them down and those S10/D hits are gonna wreck your guys pretty quickly. As your own Power Fists are “only” S9, you’re at a bit of a disadvantage there as well.
I also feel like Scatter Bikes are gonna be problematic. You have essentially zero shooting and they’re fast enough to avoid your charges in the early turns of the game; being majority T4 also removes one of the Thunderwolves’ other advantages, although that’s not really the list’s fault per se. But with the units folding up pretty quick to massed shots and no real way to protect your guys, I’d be pretty worried.
Similarly, Tyranids will just kinda fly around and whittle your guys down; you could likely tear up a Heirodule in a fight if it came down to it, but that’s probably not a major blow to their strategy. Maelstrom would make it less of a toss than it might otherwise be, but relying on maelstrom is always a chancy prospect- and getting First Blood on them to win is even more so.
All in all I wouldn’t call it a _weak_ list, but it’s very one-dimensional, and that’s gonna hurt you in a lot of matchups. You don’t really have a plan other than “run forward, get charges” and anything you can’t easily melee to death is gonna give you severe problems. Hammer/Anvil and Vanguard Strike deployments will both be awkward for you. All in all, it’s really just a fairly standard deathstar army, albeit one with slightly more flexible charge options.
The thunderwolves are actually strength 10 so they should eat through the knights as long as the little wolves make it which is why model placement is so important.
The Iron Priests are S10- the WGBLs are only S9.
Order of operations in 40K. You always multiply, then add, then set values. Same reason an Ork Nob with a Power Klaw is only S9.
Except that the ITC ruled that they become base str 5 because regular Thunderwolved are str 5 unmodified
😐
Goddamnit Reece, quit changing the rules because you don’t like them.
Yeah thunderwolves change there base strength to 5 which is different than furious charge
The base str thing is made up. thats not a real rule. by the BRB they are str9
While that’s true, it doesn’t make much sense for TWC to swing at S10, while characters upgraded to ride wolves only get S9.
thats because they would also be str9 by the BRB
Really the S10 thing about TWolves again? For the love of poop a Twolf rider’s st,w,a and t values are included in the model profile, not added like an upgrade. The rider literally becomes one with the wolf (once they sniff each other’s butts). Also, why would the IP be st10 by your interpretation?
All the hammers should easy bring down a wraithknight. I have faced a similar så list with my ad lance, and the wolves had no problem.
By the way. I think a wolfstar is much better with white scar ally. Take the usual chapter master on bike with etarnal warrior, some scouts for back scoring, and the thunder fire cannon. From sw special detachment fill up with IC lords and iron priest on thunderwolfs. Then join all the IC to the thunder fire cannon. A huge blob with T7, guys up front who tank on 2+/3++, look out sir to cheap wolves, and the importert hit and run.
“Scouts for backfield scoring and a join a thunderfire”
If you join the scouts pre-game, then all the characters can take advantage of the scout move. If you buy the TFC a drop pod, the characters can all join the cannon after it arrives by drop pod in the middle of the board on turn 1! Then you can start to cause legitimate issues for people, and only have to survive 1 turn before you break apart and charge!
With 3 sources, a sanguinary priest is your friend too! Because T7 2+ 3++ FNP is great.
That list sounds hilarious!
I can only judge from my list which is green tide. I think it’d be pretty brutal match up for me. I run green tide, bikes, and gretchen.
Thunderwolf cavalry can be weird to play. I won’t be able to kill you but there’s a decent chance you won’t be able to kill me either, so hopefully just tie you up with 100 orks while my bikes score points and hope the game ends before you kill 100 orks.
Also I have lots of gretchen to make sure I can get the charge/ delay engagement with the green tide till turn 3.
How does the fire raptor have auto cannons? Thats only for the heresy version
FaQ
wow, totally overlooked that… Thanks
I play Space Wolves, and I see this list falling prey to almost every army it has to face. I don’t see it being all that strong. I don’t like it, but to each his own poison.
Well I dont like you then.. haha just kidding yeah its just a fun list and will be really tough to play since it has a lot of weaknesses.
You should play a live game with this list vs Skitarii or the new Eldar 🙂
Yeah I will need to slap some paint on my wolves so I can play a game with them. Maybe this week.
That’s the real problem with this list – having to buy & paint 50 wolves…
Otherwise it looks awesome fun to play. 10 grizzled veterans with fists & hammers running rampant riding massive wolves, supported by packs of wolves. With bruttaly & efficient fire support screaming overhead.
For Russ and the Allfather!
It’s a funny list.. Frankie and I have played a few times with a list similar to this. Has a tough time scoring and with the maelstrom in ITC now being worth as much as the primary that could be a pretty big issue.. outside of that it will have bad matchups sure but that is all lists really. The funny thing about this list is it is a SUPER bad matchup for the other guy in many matchups.
Not sure why anyone is saying a knight or wraith knight would give this problems they would kill a bunch of wolves while the characters tear them down in 1 combat. Worst thing that could happen is the iKnight exploding on them.
Yeah I hate your dumb pinning psychic power haha bane of my thunderwolves.
Since the hammers go at I1, so super heavies. GMCs stl get there stomps. Could be bad if a character or two gets stomped out early
Dark Angels are your friend. Chaplain for Zealot, Command Biker unit for Scout and FnP. Then replace the wolf units with Cyberdogs and character wolves. That should remove a lot of problems the wolfstar generally has.
The problem would be that the Knight/WK will get to kill a ton of the woofs with Stomps (and possibly nuke out characters as well)- if it’s facing the full blob it’ll likely die, to be sure, but losing nearly all of the ablative wounds can put the characters in a bad position. Now that you can LOS! the Stomp wounds and Knight Warlords challenging you will be less common it’s a bit less problematic, though.
Hey Frankie, I missed your Thunderwolves! Can’t wait to destroy them again. Heh heh….
This is why I have d scythes
Boo this man!