Hello everyone,
Jason here to talk about a Space Wolves list that is sure to cause some rage quit table flips in the near future.
This list is brought to us by long-time listener, part time stalker, and all night lover Shayne Rucki. I recently tried my Adepticon list against Shayne and was completely awestruck by the shear troll-i-ness of his list. My first turn I dropped 8 Wyvern blasts, 20 Autocannon shots, 30 Vulcan Mega Bolter shots, 2 Lascannons and 3 twin linked Heavy Bolter shots at his main Deathstar unit and only managed to kill two Fenrisian Wolves. OUCH!
Shayne’s list, coined ‘Furry Road’ consists of the following.
Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
Wolf Guard Battle Leader [2x Fenrisian Wolf, Thunderwolf]
··Power Armour [Power Fist, Storm Shield]
Wolf Guard Battle Leader [2x Fenrisian Wolf, Thunderwolf]
··Power Armour [Power Fist, Storm Shield]
Servitors
Servitors
Thunderwolf Cavalry
··Thunderwolf Cavalry [Power Fist, Storm Shield]
··Thunderwolf Cavalry [Power Fist, Storm Shield]
··Thunderwolf Cavalry [Storm Shield, Wolf Claw]
··Thunderwolf Cavalry [Storm Shield, Wolf Claw]
··Thunderwolf Cavalry Pack Leader [Power Fist, Storm Shield]
Heralds of the Great Wolf
- ·Iron Priest [Bolter, 3x Cyberwolf, Tempest Hammer, Thunderwolf, Warlord]
··Rune Priest [Bike, Psyker Mastery Level 2, Rune Sword]
····Runic Armour [Bolt Pistol]
··Wolf Priest [Bike]
····Runic Armour [Bolt Pistol]
Wulfen Murderpack
- ·Wulfen
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Great Frost Axe, Stormfrag Auto-Launcher]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
··Wulfen
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Great Frost Axe, Stormfrag Auto-Launcher]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
··Wulfen
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield]
····Wulfen [Great Frost Axe, Stormfrag Auto-Launcher]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
····Wulfen [Dual Frost Claws]
Let’s take a look at the different components of Shayne’s list and what makes it come together like the beautiful troll banana split it is.
Heralds of the Great Wolf
- Gives the army a +1 to seize the initiative.
- Can re-roll the die to go first.
- Wolf Priest himself has It Will Not Die and confers Preferred Enemy to the unit as well as Healing Balms, which gives the unit a 6+ Feel No Pain.
- Rune Priest makes any unit shooting the Wolfstar -1 BS (this killed my poor Astra Militarum) and can roll on Biomancy for additional buffing powers such as Endurance.
- Iron Priest allows each Herald the ignore the first wound they take in ANY phase. He also packs a punch in combat and takes the Cyberwolves that take wounds.
- The Heralds stick close to the Wolf Guard Battle Leader with Storm Shield in the front of the Wolfstar and take Look Out Sir wounds with their 2+ armor save and 6+ Feel No Pain. If they fail their first wound they ignore it due to the Formation’s special rule, including wounds from a D slap.
Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
- Gives the Wolfstar it’s close combat bite. Two Wolf Guard Battle Leaders on Thunderwolves with Storm Shields and Power Fists not only provide a serious amount of S10 attacks but also provide the 4 Fenrisian Wolves give the unit the majority armor save 6+ which is great anti-grav weaponry defense. One of these bad boys hangs in the back of the Herald unit to tank wounds from Drop Pod melta the other hangs in the front to either Look Out Sir to the wound ignoring 2+ armor saved Heralds or tank wounds with his Storm Shield.
- Provides another nut crusher unit in the Thunderwolf Cavalry that provide another hard hitting, tough to take out unit that will quickly crush said nuts while you crap your pants and fire your entire army at the Herald unit that you ultimately will fail to wound.
Wulfen Murderpack
- Allows you to say ‘Wulfen Murderpack’ several times in an otherwise normal day.
- Other than being complete murder machines in their own right, they bring their ‘Hunt and Kill’ tables into play for the Herald Wolfstar and the Thunderwolf unit. This means they can each potentially move twice and assault you turn 1 and definitely turn 2.
So what we have here is a Deathstar that is INCREDIBLY hard to wound that is INCREDIBLY fast on the tabletop and will also beat the living hell out of anything you put down on the table. Yes, you can attempt to ignore them but let’s not forget the equally fast Thunderwolf Cavalry unit barreling towards you or the three units of Wulfin looking for a snack. Now, there are certainly some downsides to this list, such as holding and securing backfield objectives but honestly Shayne can leave a unit of Wulfen in cover on an objective with 10 3+/5+FNP and any unit that comes back there to try to forcefully remove the unit will get torn to shreds. Hordes can be an issue for this army but in our game his Thunderwolf unit hit my fearless 30 man infantry squad and chewed threw them in two turns. Each Wulfen squad will do the same. As for the Deathstar itself, I can attest to how absolutely frustrated I was with each look out sir that was given to a 2+/6+ FNP Herald only to have them ignore the first wound that came in each shooting phase, which could be 3 D weapon shots.
So what do you think of this list? How do you counter something like this? Let me know in the comments section.