“Dance with Wolfstar” Starring TFO. A Saga of Beast and Half-Beast

Bonjour a vous, mes petits fans, I am the prodigal French [insert blasphemous nether region reference] and I want to bring to you another list concept I think deserve some exploring as no one wants to be shocked when they showed to the table expecting it to be something they are used to and it turns out its something completely different and be sure to check the Tactics Corner for more great articles.

In this case, some of you will see this list as another “Thunderdome” list but we here at Team 0Comp have decided to call it “Dance with Wolfvestar”. The army comprises of the following two core Formations: The new Curse of the Wulfen “Murderpack” and the new Start Collecting Space Wolves “Deathpack”.

For those of you who aren’t keeping up to date with the regular speed in which 40k material comes out and live under a metaphorical “rock” (of which I mean you are living a profoundly acceptable lifestyle and only us crazy 40k fanatics keep up to date at this rate with the speed in which GW releases content ala Sherman Tank production at the end of WWII; look it up, its fast. Get Educated Fils!).

The “Murderpack” formation consist of 2 to 5 Wulfen Units which unlocks bonus to the D6 rolls for Space Wolf units within 6” of them on the Hunt/Kill table. Additionally it adds a result for rolls of a D6 beyond just a 6 result on both the Hunt/Kill Table. The Formation also grants the Wulfen a rule I will call exploding sixes in rolls to hit in combat; which is to say for every 6 they roll to hit they gain an additional attack which can also trigger another attack on a 6. The Hunt/Kill Table with the Murderpack’s extra results is 8 outcomes but depending in the SW unit is combat or not you will on either the Kill or Hunt table. If not in Close Combat and within 6” of a Wulfen unit, the SW unit must roll on the Hunt table which is 1-3: Unit gains Hammer of Wrath and Reroll Charges, 4-5: Unit gains +3” to Move, Run and Charge (Dunestrider effectively), 6: +1d3 Attacks on the charge (unless they have Rage) plus Furious Charge and 7+: Units move exactly like it was the movement phase (They get to move twice in 1 movement phase). If the SW unit is in Close Combat and within 6” of a Wulfen unit, the roll change to the following table: 1-3: +1 Initiative, 4-5: Re-roll to wound, 6: If Killed, you mat attack before getting removed from play even you already attacked in a previous initiative step and 7+: Units gain +1 attack. (Also additionally the Wulfen Bubble is only 3” for Long Fangs and 12” for Skyclaws, Blood Claws and the Claws of Bike)

The “Deathpack” formation consists of 1 Wolf Lord, 1 Unit of Thunderwolves and 1 Unit of Grey Hunters. Their Formation rule is that the Wolf Lord grants a bubble effect during the shooting phase of 12” that can apply two different results and each can be allocated to any of the units in the formation. The first being a unit can re-roll rolls of 1 to hit in the Shooting phase and the second being a unit can run and retain the ability to charge that turn.

Now we have covered the formation rules, lets go into what the list I am referring to looks like:

• “Murderpack”: 3 Units of 5 Wulfen: 1 Wulfen Pack Leader with Dual Frost Claws and Stormfrag Auto-Launcher, 2 Wulfen with Great Frost Axe with Stormfrag Auto-Launcher and 2 Wulfen with Stormshield and Thunderhammer. (696 Points)
• “Deathpack”: Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf Mount with Powerfist, Stormshield, Helm of Durfast (Reroll to Hits). 1 Unit of 6 Thunderwolf Calvary with 3 Powerfist and 6 Stormshields. 1 Unit of 5 Grey Hunters. (710 Points)

What we are looking to do here is leverage the mechanic of both the Deathpack and Murderpack to literally catapult the Thunderwolf Calvary unit and the Wolf Lord. With 3 Units of Wulfen from the Murderpack on the table, you gain +2 to the roll on the Hunt/Kill table which means you have 1/6 chance of getting Hammer of Wrath and Reroll charge (does nothing since TWC have fleet and HoW stock), 2/6 chances of getting pseudo Dunestrider, 1/6 chance of getting +1d3 Attacks on charge and furious charge and finally 2/6 chances to get to move twice in that same movement phase. With the Deathpack formation rule you can then choose to run and still charge in the same turn for the Thunderwolf Calv. Let me break that down numerically for you. On Dunestider that is 15” move, Fleet 1d6+3” run, Fleet 2d6+3” charge (24” to 39” Charge Threatrange). On the moving twice per movement phase that is 24” move, Fleet 1D6” run, Fleet 2d6” charge (27” to 42” Charge Threatrange). This is for the low low price of 1,406 Points and the scary part is that this isn’t a Single Unit Deathstar, the Wulfen are scary in combat. Let me give you a breakdown of Wulfens: WS4, BS2, Str5, T4, Ini5, W2, A3, LD8 and 4+ Sv (the Packmaster has +1Attack and +1LD), Rage, Counterattack, Bounding Lope (Can run and charge and reroll charge distance), FNP, ATSKNF, Death Frenzy (Can attack after being removed from play even if they swung previously.) The Packmaster has 5 Str 6 Ap2 Shred attacks, the Great Frost Axe Wulfen has 3 Str 8 Ap 2 attacks (on the charge he swings at Ini5). The Packmaster on the charge will have 7 attacks and each Wulfen will have 5 due to Rage and the Murderpack rule allows them to get extra attacks for each 6 to hit roll. They can seriously bring in the pain in melee, are fairly fast with 6” Move, 1d6” Run and 2D6” Rerollable Charge and are no chumps either in durability. T4 can be insta killed for sure but 4+ or 3++ with FNP and 2W can soak up a lot of small to heavy arm firepower.

The last of the points I would throw into the list was for a 4 White Scar Librarian Libby Conclave on Bikes with Force Axes. The goal here is to get Endurance for the TWC (cause Eternal Warrior and 4+ FNP makes them fairly hard to remove) and Warp Speed. The reason behind this that I would spread the Librarian across the Wulfen Unit and TWC for Hit & Run (and Skilled Rider for the TWC and LD 10 for the Wulfen). The Libby with the TWC needs Warp Speed so the TWC doesn’t lose out Fleet and since I have to keep the Wulfen 6” of the TWC the odds are the Libby on Bikes will be close enough to each other for the Psychic Link. I would probably recommend for rolling on Malefic for Summoning in case there is an objective need and you already get Endurance / Warp Speed and second best would be Shrouding to beef up the Wulfen in cover durability. Warlord Trait wise, I think the stock Space Wolves warlord traits are just fine for a TWC unit as there is some good ones in there like Furious Charge for TWC, Monster Hunter and so forth but honestly Command trait might be an option because the Reroll 1 in Combat Bubble or the +1” to Run and Charge bubble are fairly strong contenders as well.

Overall in my first practice game against JY2 Super Duper Centstar in which I did not get Endurance or any Defensive Powers and faced a Gating 5man Centstar unit, the army actually performed well, the Wulfen were able to catch his small units as he tried to whittle them down over trying to kill the Thunderwolf star itself. While the army looks small on paper, it’s fairly resilient and nimble. Those Wulfen are serious troublemakers. In case your opponent thinks (as he should) that having non-SW models in your SW units should not benefit from Curse of the Wulfen (which I think RAW wise is not in the rules but RAI I can see argue from fluff reasons), you really dont need the Librarian in the TWC unit to make it work as Endurance is a Blessing and honestly also prevents you from having to worry about losing Fleet. Finally I want to remind everyone that if you are on Bikes, you cannot Turboboost if you want your TWC to charge since the rule is pretty adamant about charging after running and Turboboost / flat out is not a Run move.

A plus tard mes petits obsedes!