Hello everyone the greatest 40k player in the world here to discuss my Thunderdome list version 2.0. Check out the Tactics Corner for more great articles!
If you have played games against me in 5th edition I was most likely playing with the Thunderdome. I used to shake my opponents’ hand and say, “welcome to the Thunderdome!” haha! It was a strong list that was based around heavy hitting Space Wolf HQ’s on Thunder Wolves. They gave my speed, hitting power and the fun of playing hero hammer. The weakness was in only having two 5 man troops in razorbacks! Back when only Troops scored, this list didn’t win all that often. Especially against the Maticore spam and Psyker Battle sSquad heavy IG lists we saw all over the place back then. But, that’s besides the point. Lets talk about version two!
So with the new Space Wolves codex the Thunder Wolf Lords got cheaper. They went up five points as did the Thunderwolf mount. But, you gain one wound now from the Thunderwolf taking them up to 4 AND they come stock with a 4++. The extra wound is what the Thunderwolves were really missing in the last codex. You were paying way too many points for a character with only three wounds. So after everything is said and done the Wolf Lords are around 10 points cheaper with the same kit as before but with one more wound. Huge upgrade. You can also forgo the Storm Shield if you want, and save an additional 15pts, going for say, Wolf Claws to make a Lord an infantry lawn mower.
Another of the problems that the first version of the list faced was not being able to pop open vehicles for the wolves to charge. The fix for this problem is taking a Stormwolf, which automatically comes in on turn two if you use the Space Wolf detachment. No rolls needed in the unleashed detachment! The Stormwolf is an armor 12 flyer with three hull points that has one twin linked lascannon, two twin-linked multi-meltas, and one twin-linked hellfrost cannon. With all these twin-linked weapons that are low AP it is quite easy to pop open transports and they also give you a pretty good anti air vehicle.  As you know this is coming in on turn 2, that usually means it can pop a transport right before your wolves charge. The second issue which was the main problem before is the troops: the two five man squads didn’t cut it before. A good player just focused on killing them off and ensured I couldn’t take objectives. Now since everything is scoring, the two five man squads don’t matter much at all.
Here is my current version of the list!
| Â Thunderdome! | |||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Wolf Lord | Thunderwolf, runic armor, Storm Shield, Power Fist | ||
| Blood Claw x 5 | |||
| Blood Claw x 5 | |||
| Storm Wolf | Multi Melta | ||
| Fenrisian Wolves x13 | |||
| Fenrisian Wolves x12 |
So the way the list plays is pretty straight forward. It charges up-field turn one. It takes a beating from the opponent’s shooting and then charges with the close combat bad asses on turn two while the Stormwolf pops transports to get to the juicy insides. Each lord has six strength ten powerfist attacks. The army is incredibly fast as well since it moves twelve inches, ignoring terrain and has fleet. Practically a guaranteed turn two charge and can kill just about anything in close combat. The Thunderwolves are extremely resilient as well since each unit has twelve Fenrisian Wolves to soak wounds and the lords have a 2+, 3++. Since it is a low model count army, I need my flyer to survive and carry that little troop towards the objectives while the lords clear the table.
So, after three games I think the list has made it to its final form! I believe it will be able to win some tournaments or at least have a pretty fair showing. I am loving the new wolves and I will get you guys a tournament report as soon as I take it to an event. Let me know what you guys think the list will have problems with and if you are willing to get into the ring with the Thunderdome!
Honestly…this list sounds awesome. I don’t even care if it actually works well or not. I just want to see it in battle reps ASAP!
Yeah I’d like to see this too.
Sounds pretty fun! Impress me!!
It DOES work, haha, Frankie demolished my Nids with it (although in fairness I set up for an Alpha Strike and got seized on, womp womp!), and so far has only lost 1 game. He’s beaten some really good tournament armies.
My Astra Militarum tabled them, though. He had some crap armor saves on turn 2, and that was all she wrote. Once this list starts to lose steam, it REALLY falls apart.
Plus that was before I added the extra 2 wolf lords haha!!
THUNDER…..THUNDER…..THUNDER WOLVES HO!!!!!!!
List version 3 the thunder down under
Awesome list!!
Can u comment on following? 😉
Dropping the Lords to Heroes, ad in some Ironpriest?
The iron priests are fun and were not very good before with only 1 wound but now with two might work better. Ill give it a shot.
Have you thought about swapping the lords for WGBLs? Saves you a whole pile of points and only really lose 1 wound and 1 attack per model. You’re getting 3++ from the shield anyway so the belt of russ isn’t a loss. Gives you 390 more points to play with!
Yeah ill have to look into that. The biggest down side is the losing of the wound. it is a big difference but with the 390 points might be able to fit in a bunch of other stuff.
well for a start, 3/4 iron priests on thunder wolfs with thier s10 ap1 attacks.!! so you can have 6 lords of 24 wounds or 24/26 wounds split up into more attack vectors.
the servo harnes fist is ap1 so they are better at ripping up obsec pods and things i found
That’s actually what I’ve been toying with. I wanted to so badly resurrect my 5th ED Thunderlord but I’m thinking going for a Thunder Battle Leader may be more cost effective. Gives more points for other things. Plus the WGBL will join a pack of 3 TWC anyway so he can effectively hide out a bit and have wounds passed off.
Bring it to BitF!! Fun list
Hmmmm….seems like Frankie finally has an army that can maybe beat me. Just maybe, as in a 1 in 100 chance. Muahahahaha…..
Wonder how that list would do against a Tyranid army with 3 dimachaerons (even if proxied)? That’ll be interesting indeed.
Haha Jim I believe it is time that I show you why they call me the worlds greatest 40k player
Ok, Frankie, I will give your wolves a chance for redemption the next time I am in town.
Destroy him Jim!!!!!
Thunderdomination!
Not a bad army.. almost beat me with it even! 😉
I am a little confused about Fenrisian Wolves. People keep saying they are bad in reviews, but they always seem to be included in sample lists.
I would love to hear Frankie’s thoughts, he’s great at 40k. He’s not too great at spelling two letter words, but he probably is when he chooses to.
They are not bad, at all, lol, they are amazing for their points! They need support, on their own not an all-star, but they are amazing with a character.
How does it do against Wraithknights?
Well, just soak the attacks on the little wolves, and then smash the WK with Strength 10 attacks. Should be a very easy fight.
I really want to see them fight GK pallies. Just for funsies.
If only Eldar players had access to and ran some sort of unit that could pump out a lot of firepower to wipe the 6+ wolves out first…
Haha mass fire power really does kill those little wolves quick.
I would swap lords for battle leaders AND ad a white scar chapter master with bike and shield eternal. That way you get H&R, orbital bombardment, a better wraithknight proof and when you feel you need fleet you can simply detach the CM and turbo boost him on his own.
*Thunder Struck by ACDC plays non-stop in the background as Frankie plays*
What we need is a thunderdome vs techmarine and chapter master bikestar (white scars chapter master with th and shield eternal, clan r chapter master with th and gorgon’s chains, max no. of masters of forge with servo harnesses and lightning claw, max no. of techmarines with servo harnesses and lightning claw, all on bikes with scouts for troops). HERO HAMMER TIME!
I hate you frankie.
Cool list but theres a 10 pt item that causes all beasts and cavalry to fail fear automagically so your gonna need fearless.
What’s that?
ATSKNF takes care of that on the TWC. FW get hosed I suppose.
Wonderful list! I tested it playing 2000 points but with some changes. 6 wolf guard battle leaders (wolf lords are too expensive to spam them in mu opinion) with runic armour, stormshield.
1 Iron priest with thunderwolf, 3 ssrvitors (to capture objectives) and 2×5 bloodclaws with 2 stormwolf. Also 2×12 fenrisian wolvesand a unit of 3 thunderwolves with ice axe The results were wonderful and I think it’s a competutive kind of list.
I’m planning to change the fenrisian wolves for swiftclaws, because they play as the scout of 2 of the wolf lords and the fenrisian wolves fall very fast….swiftclaws have more T and better salvation, 2×5 swiftclaws can replace both units of fenrisian wolves. What do you think?