Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Space Wolves

This is the 8th Edition's Space Wolves tactics. Their current tactics can be found here.

Why Play Space Wolves

Just like their legendary progenitor, the Primarch Leman Russ, Space Wolves are fierce and aggressive warriors. Though they are not berserkers or madmen (well, OK, maybe some of them are a little crazy) their headstrong personalities and inherent sense of justice means that the Space Wolves are forever waging a war against the evils of the galaxy, fighting with the cunning of a hunting pack rather than the frenzy of a rabid dog. Space Wolves like red meat, strong ale, bawdy songs and good old-fashioned brawls, but most of all, they like to hunt glory upon the battlefield. They see death in battle as a fitting end for a true warrior, and if they leave a long and exciting saga of heroic deeds as their legacy, so much the better.

The Space Wolves are a truly different and unique Space Marine army built around a core of charismatic champions. Each of the Space Wolves is a hero in his own right, and though this means that Space Wolves armies are typically few in number, their individual prowess more than makes up for it. Space Wolves are master of the ferocious assault and their bombastic leaders are amongst the most feared and respected warriors in the 41st Millennium.

Pros

• You like any of these things: assault, Vikings, runes, wolves, werewolves, wolves, snow, ice, honor, beards, Nordic names, repeating words, wolves, and not wearing helmets.
• Your troops units reliably pull their weight. Blood Claws hit impressively hard on the charge, and your Grey Hunters can be more mobile and choppy than Tactical Squads.
• The Space Wolves have access to unique wargear that is generally slightly better than what Codex Astartes Space Marines use.
• Awesome looking exclusive models. Space Wolves are covered in pelts, teeth, talismans, and runes which gives them a Viking-inspired, savage appearance.
  • Consequently, an added benefit of playing Space Wolves is that you'll piss off PETA
• Not only are the models awesome looking, but they're cheaper than vanilla marines, depending on which units you buy. Specifically their devastator, tactical and assault squad equivalents all go for 37 US bucks each. And that unique flyer ~6 points down goes for a dollar less than a Storm Raven gunship (really saving up for that Nuln Oil).
• Powerful HQ characters, both special and standard.
• The Tempestas discipline is good for helping you survive shooting long enough to get into combat.
• All the Wolf you could ever wolf. If you like Wolves, look no further. We also have legitimate Werewolves in the army now.
• Unique access to Thunderwolf Cavalry and Wulfen means that few armies come close to being as good at assault as the Space Wolves.
• Between strong troops and strong HQs, you can take bigger detachments for more command points without feeling like you're being taxed.
• A unique flyer in the Stormwolf which is essentially a flying Land Raider. Packs a 16 troop capacity and half a dozen heavy weapons to back it up.
• Between Prospero Burns, Leman Russ: The Great Wolf, and Horus Heresy Inferno, the fluff is being overhauled to make the Wolves both more serious and more likable.
• Grey Hunters, Blood Claws and Long Fangs can take Wolf Guard who are able to upgrade to Terminator armor. It might not seem like much at first. However an extra heavy or power weapon can't be understated. Cyclone Missile Launchers have strength comparable to a Plasma gun with more range and doesn't have to exchange his Storm Bolter.
• Confirmed to be getting the next Codex with a handful of new units, as well as the goodies from the vanilla Codex that the Wolves didn't have access to. Can you say "Wulfen Dreadnought"?
• A certain HQ can be painted as a killer Santa

Cons

• No ability to Combat Squad. Not necessarily a bad thing but all other Space Marine Chapters can do it.
• With the elimination of USRs we've lost Counter-Attack, and now that Decurions don't exist anymore we don't have Counter-Charge either. This takes a lot of flavor and versatility away from our army- gone are the days of being able to Rapid Fire into a dedicated melee unit, overwatch them when they charge you, fight like you had gotten the charge, and have one of your nasty CC specialists Counter-Charge them in their assault phase.
• All the Wolf you could ever wolf. If you have a thing for cats, or varied naming conventions, the sons of Fenris don't want you. We also have legitimate Werewolves in the army now.
• No heavy weapons in Grey Hunter or Blood Claw squads (which is compensated by adding Wolf Guard, but not wholly). Blood Angels players will rub it in by mentioning their access to Heavy Flamers.
• No access to Grav weaponry without allied Space Marines. With the nerf to grav weaponry this isn't as bad as it used to be.
• You won't be able to play Space Wolves without people constantly reminding you to Wolf your wolf... seriously its fucking ridiculous on /tg/. With Fenris being in the middle of the Great Rift , "Yiff in Hell" jokes now hit pretty hard. A vocal minority of neckbeards and salty nerds consider Wolves Mary Sues worse than the Ultramarines. Thus the hate is widespread.
• Santa Grimnar jokes will never end. Thanks Games Workshop
• Grumpy old man Bjorn jokes are funny at first, then become annoying after the first ten minutes.
• PETA
• Also helmets seem to be a precious commodity to the space wolves, so be prepared to rage paint bare bearded space marine heads or buy some off the secondary market.
• While the extra bling looks nice when well painted and can alleviate some of the boredom of painting 30+ troops by focusing on making each one look individual, it also makes things more time consuming. Consider purchasing a few codex marine kits to mix in to reduce the sheer quantities of wolf bling you have to paint. As an added benefit, this is also your best way to get ahold of meltaguns, flamers, one-handed power axes, and combi-weapons.
• Wolfing Wolves
• Getting murdered by a Killer Santa
• Every problem that plagues Space Marines applies to the Space Wolves. They are a (mostly) melee army in a shooty edition. Bring out the Plasma, Flamers and the big guns because your going to need it. Remember, Only a noob charges a full strength unit. Primaris Marines and allies act as a temporary patch for said problems.

Special Rules

• Hunters Unleashed: If a unit with this ability charged, was charged, or made a Heroic Intervention this turn, it gains +1 to hit rolls in the Fight Phase. In addition, Characters with this ability can perform Heroic Interventions from 6" away.
  • Similar to the Red Thirst ability that the Blood Angels have, and makes the Wolves nearly as potent in melee, with the caveat that +1 to hit is usually not nearly as good as +1 to wound. It acts as a useful way of discouraging opponents from charging your gunlines, especially if a melee-focused character is nearby to perform a Heroic Intervention. Compared to the red thirst, it is both better and worse. More hits is always good, since that influences the number of to-wound rolls. However, since you're hitting on 3+ all the time anyway, a +1 to wound is more impactful, especially against toughness 4+. The 6" heroic intervention for all characters, instead of being a warlord trait, is probably what makes 'Hunters Unleashed' competitive with the Red Thirst, what with how character-packed astartes lists tend to be.
  • Obviously of course, this makes the cheap 16 point Thunder Hammers on some 3 attack models very powerful. Also makes spammable powerfists all the better (aggressors, pack leaders, wolf guard, etc.)
• And They Shall Know No Fear: You have it just like every other loyalist Space Marine. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that careless re-rolls can increase your casualties if you don't consider the odds.
• Combat Doctrine: Feel like it's 7th edition all over again. Each of the three Combat Doctrines gives an AP-1 buff to different weapon types in your armies (non-cumulative with buffs from other sources). You have to use each Doctrine in order, starting with the Devastator Doctrine, and once you switch there's no going back, so pay attention to the rhythm of the game. Your army gains this if all units in it have this rule, meaning taking a Guardsman Battalion or even a single Assassin CP'd in right before the battle would prevent the detachment from getting this rule, but allied SM detachments are ok even from a different chapter.
  • These nifty rules will make your marines more efficient killers, but their rotation makes them predictable - devastate -> advance -> assault. Savvy opponents may try to break LoS to force movement penalties on your heavy weapons, rush for melee while you're still under the ranged doctrines, then fall back when you're finally under the assault one, scale buildings, etc. As such, don't be predictable yourself. Remember, you don't need to switch doctrines on the same turn they become available: surprise drop pod a target turn one or advance your infantry under cover of Devastation while your enemy remains confined to their hiding spots turn 3, what have you. The doctrines are as follows:
  1. On Turn 1, your army will always start with the Devastator Doctrine turned on, giving all your Heavy and Grenade weapons the extra -1 AP so that you can soften entrenched infantry and cripple enemy vehicles from afar in preparation for your advance. Remember the first points of AP are the most important ones: AP-2 Heavy Bolters and Assault Cannons are more noticeable than AP-4 Lascannons. Do keep in mind the plethora of sniper rifles and Heavy Flamers (Incendium/Inferno/Flamestorm cannons) are Heavy Weapons too. The boost to Grenades matters only to Intercessors for the most part.
  2. On the 2nd turn you switch to Tactical Doctrine, shifting the boost to your Rapid Fire and Assault weapons. Be it to close the distance to the enemy or because your vehicles are about to give their last, this mostly passes the ranged baton to your infantry. And a bolt rifle going from AP-1 to AP-2 is more noticeable than a lascannon going from AP-3 to AP-4. Storm bolters and auto bolt rifles work wonders here.
  3. On the 3rd or 4th turn you shift to Assault Doctrine (you MUST change to assault on the 4th turn) giving the extra AP to your Pistol and Melee attacks. Don't. Forget. Your. Pistol. The first point of AP is the most important one - chainsword/CCWs benefit the most, while AP-4 on a sword can become excessive.
  • As of the 02/27/20 FAQ, you MUST change from Devastator to Tactical on turn 2, and then change to Assault on turn 3 or 4. This will force you to keep at least a few units that are capable of fighting in CQC, as you can no longer just bum around in Devastator or Tactical doctrine and persist on blasting things from across the map.

• Savage Fury: While the Assault Doctrine is active, an unmodified roll of 6 to hit in melee will grant an additional hit.

Stratagems

Codex Marines Copypastes

• Armour of Contempt (1 CP): When one of your vehicles takes a mortal wound, for the rest of the phase, you get a 5+ to ignore mortal wounds, and can use it on the one you just took. Doesn't work on regular wounds.
• Orbital Bombardment (3 CP): One use only. If your warlord is a Space Wolf and didn't move, you can use this stratagem in the shooting phase instead of having him shoot any weapons. Pick any spot on the battlefield that the warlord can see, and roll a D6 for every unit within 6" of it (subtract 1 if it's rolling for a Character). On a 4+, it takes D3 mortal wounds.
  • While it costs three times as much as Linebreaker and seemingly does 1/3 of the damage, this one needs no Vindicators in position and affects 4 times more area. Still expensive, and might still not hit enough units to replace Linebreaker, but can supplement it.
• Linebreaker Bombardment (1 CP): Use in the shooting phase if you have a Vindicator within 6" of two other Vindicators from the same Chapter. Instead of shooting their Demolisher Cannons, pick a spot within 24" of all three and roll a d6 for each unit within 3" of it (+1 if the unit has 10+ models, -1 if it's a Character). On a 4+, the unit takes 3d3 mortal wounds.
  • Averaging 3-4 wounds per unit (three Vindicators average 4.86) irrespective of BS (meaning you can advance those Vindicators into position), reminding an entire edition that pack armies around aura-generating characters what templates used to be, and allowing you to snipe characters using heavy ordnance instead of faggy snipers, the only reason not to use this stratagem is due to a lack of either Vindicators or CP. Be sure to keep your own units at a safe distance, though- they can be hit too if they're too close!
  • Its a little like killshot, in that your opponent needs to kill one tank to negate the stratagem. Its wise to keep your vindicators safe turn one, then advance into a shooting position as soon as its all clear while ignoring any penalties for moving.
• Killshot (1 CP): Use in the shooting phase if you have a Predator within 6" of two other Predators from the same Chapter. Add 1 to the wound and damage for all of its attacks against Monsters and Vehicles. Unlike the Vindicator stratagem, while the boost depens on BS and thus on movement & HP, it doesn't restrict your targets to a single spot on the table. So Split fire those 12 Lascannons away, and remember to buy those Hunter Killer missiles.
  • Now only effects baseline Predators, not Deimos patterns. Apparently the crews are too full of themselves to coordinate fire anymore.
• Hellfire Shells (1 CP): Instead of shooting normally with a heavy bolter, the Space Marine model rolls only once to hit. If it hits, it does D3 mortal wounds. Even if it's a tank.
• Flakk Missile (1 CP): When an Infantry model shoots a missile launcher at a unit with Fly, make a single hit roll with +1 to hit. If you hit, do D3 mortal wounds instead of rolling to wound. RAW, the strategem doesn't say that it replaces the normal shot, it just causes Mortal Wounds on a hit - You still theoretically get the regular Krak Missile hit as well. However, the tournaments have ruled against this interpretation, so don't get used to exploiting it.
• Honour the Chapter (3 CP): At the end of the fight phase, pick an Infantry, Cavalry or Biker unit to fight a second time. The usual "fight twice" stratagem, best on characters and units with good weapons to delete someone.
• Only in Death Does Duty End (2 CP): When one of your Characters dies, it can shoot or fight again. Doesn't combo with the Banner abilities on Ancients. Makes your characters too dangerous to deal with in melee, as not even killing them prevents them from hitting back, and most of them have melee boosts on top of being already good fighters. Overcharge their plasma pistol if they were killed at range.
• Datalink Telemetry (1 CP): When shooting with a Whirlwind, if you have a Land Speeder within 12" of the target, the Whirlwind's shots automatically hit. +2.3 Castellan / +1.33 Vengeance hits, plus the HK missile, with proportionally bigger benefits for damaged Whirlwinds.
• Wisdom of the Ancients (1 CP): At the start of any phase, pick a Dreadnought to turn into a 1-phase Wolf Lord. Any same Chapter units within 6" can reroll hits of 1 that phase, including itself. Note that this cannot be used with Wulfen Dreadnoughts or Murderfang.
• Duty Eternal (1 CP): When a Space Wolves Dreadnought is under attack, they reduce any damage they take by 1 to a minimum of 1. Pretty effective at mitigating damage from a mob, not so much for high-powered weaponry.
• Boltstorm (2 CP): Select one Intercessor unit during your shooting phase. Their Auto Bolt Rifles will automatically hit any enemies within half-range. This is especially helpful if you're softening them up for another squad to clean up your mess.
• Rapid Fire 2 CP): Select one Intercessor unit during your shooting phase. Their bolt rifles all have Rapid Fire 2 now. You're trading off Boltstorm's guaranteed hits for a weight of fire at the same range.
• Big Guns Never Tire (1 CP): Select one Vehicle during your shooting phase. They won't suffer any penalties for moving and firing with heavy weapons.
• Veteran Intercessors (1/2 CP): Select one Intercessor unit with 5 or fewer models (or 6+ models for an additional CP) at the start of the game. This unit gains an additional attack and point in Ld, which is quite useful for a melee-focused chapter.
• Hammer of Wrath (1 CP): When a unit with a Jump Pack charges, they can roll a d6 for an enemy within 1" of the unit. They suffer a mortal wound on a 5+, which makes this more of a topping than anything useful.
• Hero of the Chapter (1 CP): One generic character who isn't your warlord gains a Warlord Trait.
• Fury of the Champions (1 CP): Select one Terminator unit during any phase. The termies gain +1 to their hit rolls for that phase, which gives a bit of flexibility.
• Gene-Wrought Might (1 CP): Suring the Fight phase, one Primaris Infantry unit will automatically hit and wound on a natural 6 to hit. This benefit still stacks with your chapter trait, meaning that you score two automatic wounds when using the Assault Doctrine.
• Target Sighted (3 CP): During the shooting phase, one Intercessor unit with Stalker Bolt Rifles can target characters regardless of range and deal a MW on a nat 6 to hit.
• Hunter-Slayer Missile (1 CP): During the shooting phase, one Impulsor can fire a special missile at an enemy Vehicle or Monster within 48" and 1" away from any friendlies. Roll a d6 - it deals D3 MWs if it beats the enemy's BS.
• Skilled Riders (2 CP): During the movement phase, one unit of Bikers or Land Speeders gains a 4++ save against shooting for the turn, upping to 3++ if the unit advances.
• Steady Advance (1 CP): You can make one Infantry unit act as if they didn't move for the purpose of Bolter Discipline. More useful for Stalkers and classic rifles.
• Transhuman Physiology (1 CP): When a friendly unit that isn't a Servitor or Vehicle is attacked, they will never be wounded on a 3 or lower. This is your answer against plasma and lascannons. This is how you screw with poison. Expect to use it.
• Skyfire (1 CP): Select a Hunter or Stalker unit during the shooting phase. They will only target flyers, adding +1 to hit and wound and dealing double damage on a nat 6 to wound.
• Vengeance of the Machine Spirit (2 CP): Select a dying Land Raider, Repulsor, Storm Raven, Stormwolf or Stormfang model - They can choose to automatically explode, or immediately make one last shot or swing at their top wounds bracket.

Space Wolves Exclusives

• True Grit (1 CP): Use in the Shooting phase. Select a Space Wolves Infantry within 1" of an enemy. Their bolters, bolt rifles, auto bolt rifles, and bolt carbines can fire as if they had Pistol 2. They can't fire any other Pistols they might have this phase, however. You'll be getting up close a lot, so this means you'll always get in two bolter shots in melee range instead of one bolt pistol shot. Especially nice on Intercessors because of their extra attack and the Bolt Rifle's AP.
• Cunning of the Wolf (1 CP):You select one INFANTRY unit to be 'On the Hunt' during the deployment phase ( and can do this for more than 1 unit, as the deployment part of the game is not subject to the 1 use of a stratagem rule), and at the end of your movement phase you can set them up 6" from the side of the board but more than 9" away from an enemy unit. Congratulations, you got Outflanking back. Enjoy watching your opponent's backline melt. For only a single command point to spend on each unit you do that for. Hell yeah! Shenanigans will ensue for armies with similar abilities (aka. Eldar, Blood Angels, Raven Guard etc.), prepare for hilarity.
• Overwhelming Impetuosity (1 CP): Use in the Fight Phase. Use this on a blood claw unit that successfully charges a unit with a HIGHER power rating; re-roll all failed hit rolls when attacking the target.
  • Blood claw specific, and more focus on power ratings of units.
  • Again, it's good, but what you really need are more ways to enhance wounding.
• Cloaked by the Storm (3 CP): In the psychic phase, when a Rune Priest manifests a power it imposes a -1 penalty for all ranged attacks made against Space Wolves- units within 6" of it until the next psychic phase. Expensive, but now you can buff your army without ever using a buffing power.
• Tokens of Fenris (1 CP/ 3CP): Extra Relics. 1cp for 1 extra, 3 cps for 2 extra
• Mentor's Guidance (1 CP): Use in the shooting phase, or fight phase, choose a space wolves character other than a wolf priest within 6" of a wolf priest, reroll failed wound rolls for that character in this phase.
  • Need to give Bjorn or any character reroll wounds? With many characters (I'm betting) sporting brand new thunder hammers, chances are you will wound anyway. Saying that, there is always those times you roll low in a sticky situation.
• Chooser of the Slain (2 CP): Use this stratagem immediately after an opponent sets up a unit on the battlefield as reinforcements and is visible to a Rune Priest from the army, a single Space Wolves unit within 6" of the Rune Priest can immediately shoot at the enemy unit as if it were the shooting phase, at -1 BS from the shooting
  • NOTE: this could be anywhere on the table, as long as you can see them you can use this stratagem. (Be aware, the SW unit firing at the reinforcements must still be within range of the SW's shooting weapons) A single Space Wolves unit within 6" of the rune priest can immediately shoot at the enemy unit as it it were the shooting phase but you must subtract 1 from the hit roll.
  • NOTE: According to FAQ it must be Space Wolves. It didn't say shoot a single weapon. So if you were to, say, have a Imperial knight within 6" of the rune priest at all times, any unit coming in gets splattered by the Knight in a free shot. It does say a Unit, so whole squads, not single models. Could be VERY powerful.
• Laugh in the Face of Death (1 CP): Use in the fight phase. Choose a SW Infantry, Biker, or cavalry unit from your army that is affected by an enemy units ability that modifies their leadership (harlequins lol), you can re-roll all failed hit rolls for that unit in this phase.
  • Again, its good, but what you really need are more ways to enhance wounding.
• Overwhelming Savagery (1 CP): Use in the fight phase, Choose a unit of thunder wolf cavalry, you may re-roll wound rolls of 1 for this unit in this phase. Pretty good because with 2 attacks you don't want to be wasting bad wound rolls, especially if you're sporting thunder hammers. No effect if you have claws.
• Howl of the Great Pack (2 CP): Use at the beginning of the morale phase, choose a wolf lord, models in your army within 12" autopass morale tests in this phase, and your opponent within 12" must add 1 to their LD rolls in this phase
• Seeking a Saga (1 CP): Use in the fight phase, Choose a SW character that is within 1" of an enemy unit with a greater power rating, you may re roll failed wound rolls made by that character
• Keen Senses (1 CP): Use this stratagem in shooting phase. Choose a SW unit from your army; they suffer NO penalties to hit this phase. Those Alaitoc Shadow Specters will hate your guts. Time to break out the BIG guns. Use this broke-ass stratagem on leviathans, fellblades and tank destroyers. The more guns the better.
  • This stratagem lets you turn your Long Fangs into Dark Reapers, meaning you can have move without suffering any minuses to hit. This makes any unit you wish had Power of the Machine Spirits that much faster.
• The Wolf's Eye (1 CP): In the shooting phase, a selected unit of Long Fangs can either re-roll all failed hit rolls or all failed wound rolls for the duration of the phase.
  • NOTE: It does say 'OR'; this means it's not reroll hits AND wounds. You must choose 1.
  • Most of the time you should re-roll the wounds and keep using the innate re-roll 1s to hit, making Long Fangs truly masters of ranged warfare and quite reliable.
• Lone Wolf (1 CP): At the end of any phase, select a Space Wolf Infantry unit (that isn't a Servitor, Wulfen, or Character) that has been reduced to a single model. That model gains two extra wounds, the Character keyword, and can re-roll failed hits and wounds for the rest of the game.
  • Note: THIS IS GREAT. Sadly it might have been wished that we could still purchase lone wolves, however how many games would you have a 150 point lone wolf (tooled up)?
  • Note: Because you get to choose slain models, let's face it, the wolf guard unit or sergeant with the power fist will be the last model standing usually. Very Very fluffy narrative which means you could have lone wolves every game. You always make the coolest thing left alive to turn into a lone wolf. Now your terminator wolf guard with the thunder hammer storm shield has 2 more wounds (to 4) and re-rolls to hit and wound rolls for the rest of the game (and now they are a character, they can pile in 6"). Special mention to Agressors and Inceptors Lone Wolves, too.
  • Note: You could make an army with heaps of 5 man units to take advantage of this rule to 'make' lone wolves. How many 6 man units can you make to charge the enemy?
• Talismanic Shield (1 CP): At the start of the opponent's Psychic Phase, select a Character. That Character can now deny one power as if it was a psyker.
• Living Storm (1 CP): If you have a Rune Priest within 6" of 2 other Rune Priests and that Rune Priest manifests Living Lightning, it deals d6 damage instead of d3 damage(every time! Whenever the power would inflict D3 mortal wounds, it instead inflicts D6 mortal wounds.). More wounds means more chances for Living Lightning's effect to spread beyond its original target. It may change game resolve in just few rolls. Wisely used against already wounded units it may destroy many squads and characters in one phase.
• The Emperor's Executioners (1 CP): In the Fight Phase, if a Space Wolves unit makes a hit roll of 4+ against a Thousand Sons unit, it gets an extra attack with that weapon. More situational than other exploding attack stratagems, but you get the extra attack more frequently when you do benefit from it.
• Knowledge of the Foe (0 CP): Gain a free CP whenever you kill an enemy character in the fight phase.
• Counter-Charge (1 CP): This allows one unit to perform a Heroic Intervention against an enemy charge, letting them move 6" to do so. This little gem is useful in protecting more vulnerable forces by throwing more durable (or disposable) forces against the enemy.
• Crushing Assault (1 CP): The buffed-up version of Hammer of Wrath. When one Thunderwolf Cavalry unit charges an enemy, they can any enemy unit within 1" of the unit and roll a d6 - unlike HoW, this deals mortal wounds on a 2+, a big step up.
• Touch of the Wild (1 CP): In the Fight phase, pick a character. He now gets an extra attack on a 4+ to hit, which is pretty hefty.
• Vicious Executioners (1 CP): One Wolf Guard unit during the fight phase gets to deal a MW on top of any normal damage when they roll a natural 6 to hit.
• Pack Hunters (1 CP): Select a pack of Fenrisian Wolves or Cyberwolves during the Fight phase. Any models in the unit within 3" of a friendly Infantry or Cavalry unit can re-roll to hit.
• Storm Strike (1 CP): During the shooting phase, your Stormfang adds +1 to all rolls regarding the Helfrost Destructor.
• Death Grip Bite (1 CP): One Thunderwolf Cavalry unit gets to double the damage their puppers inflict during the fight phase.

Special

• The Lion and the Wolf (1CP): Use before the battle begins if your army contains any Dark Angels units. These must be taken in a different detachment, or else you can't use Space Wolves stratagems. Choose one Dark Angels Infantry model and one Space Wolves Infantry model, and roll 1D6 for each, individually. On a 4+, those models take a mortal wound. Each model that survives then receives +1 Weapon Skill, Strength, Attack, and Leadership for the duration of the battle. This is simultaneously considered one of the best and one of the worst Stratagems out there, as most Space Wolves players don't field Dark Angels, but it's also easy to abuse:
  • Gives you a crunchy excuse to field these two famous rivals together. The combinations are phenomenal, particularly since there seems to be no limit on who can be your champions. HQ choices and named characters can comfortably soak a 50% chance of a wound before the battle begins if it means getting extra attacks and strength for the whole battle. Get a Wolf Priest on the job and restore that wound so it barely even matters.
  • This works well for librarians, who start off hitting on 3s.
  • Also turns Primaris captains of all types into pretty stout beat sticks, considering that they were already fairly stout.
    • You could take a patrol detachment, load it up with various types of plasma and/or a lascannon in the single tactical squad, then take some form of melee HQ. Wont set you back that much really, and the Dangels provide potent dakka to cover your advance.

Tactical Objectives

11 - Oath of Vengeance

The opponent picks a unit in their army (which must be a Character if one is present). 1 VP for destroying it.

12 - The Stuff of Sagas

1 VP if an enemy vehicle or monster was destroyed, upped to 1d3 VP if the last wound was caused by a Space Wolves character.

13 - Unleash the Wolves

1 VP if you make at least 2 successful charges.

14 - Counter-Attack

1 VP if you made a Heroic Intervention. Effortless thanks to Hunters Unleashed.

15 - Hunt with Cunning

1 VP if you completely destroy an enemy unit, 1d3 if it was done by a unit that arrived during your turn.

16 - The Heroes of Fenris

1 VP if at least 1 friendly Character is in melee range of an enemy at the start of the fight phase. Increased to d3 VP if 2-4 characters are in melee range of an enemy, and d3+3 VP for more than 5.

Warlord Traits

Space Wolves' Sagas each have a secondary effect that expands their self-only buff into a 6" aura, which is activated by successfully performing a Deed of Legend (DoL). What this entails depends on the Saga in question.

• Saga of the Warrior Born: Warlord always fights first in the Fight Phase, even if they were charged. Deed of Legend is to slay an enemy Character with your Warlord. Ragnar Blackmane and Krom Dragongaze have this trait.
  • Don't let the ability to buff multiple units fool you - this is still the same hot garbage Always Strike First is everywhere else in 8th, because to be relevant, a buffed unit has to be charged by two or more units - otherwise, the ability never gets a chance to trigger, as your opponent can just choose the lone charging unit first. Besides, you should always be agreeing to charge, you're the Space Wolves.
• Saga of the Wolfkin: Gain an extra attack in the fight phase if you charged, were the target of a charge, or performed a Heroic Intervention (i.e. more or less 100% of the time). Deed of Legend is to slay a total of 5 models with the Warlord in the fight phase (cumulative for the entire game). Harald Deathwolf and Canis Wolfborn have this, and it's one of the better choices, provided your Warlord is a melee beatstick.
  • One of the easier ways to fulfill this is to ram your Warlord into something cheap and flimsy you'd normally ignore, just to spike his body count - make sure he's very mobile if you do this, so he can catch up to the real action after he's done, or a canny opponent will kite him out of position.
• Saga of Majesty: The Warlord auto-passes Morale tests and gains an extra 3" to all aura-based abilities. Deed of Legend is to slay the enemy Warlord with your Warlord. Logan Grimnar, Bjorn, and Njall Stormcaller have this.
  • Sadly, it's just unnecessarily difficult fulfilling the Deed of Legend on this - you don't want to have to commit early to your Warlord being the one to land the finishing blow.
    • Some Warlords may also be beyond your ability to slay. Your furry fuck won't stand a chance against the walking blue GW hard-on that is Guilliman, or the walking black hard-on that is Abbadon, flying green genital wart that is Mortarion, or rainbow hard-on that is Magnus. Then we have the Coldstar battlesuit Commander can jump 30" away at a moments notice while carving 'fuck balance' into your forehead with plasma. Of course Grimnar is enough to give most characters a run for their money, but is it really worth staking the entire game on him suceeding?
• Saga of the Beastslayer: Add 1 to wound rolls made against monsters and vehicles. Deed of Legend is to use the Warlord to slay a Monster or Vehicle. This also applies to ranged weapons, so laugh as your wolfy gunline outshoots Tau, Guard, and Tyranids. Also one of the best ways to trigger this is with a ranged optimized chaplain dreadnought. Ulrik the Slayer has this. Absolutely fabulous. If you're going with The Land Raider Excelsior take this trait. With four laz cannons, a grav cannon, hunter killer missiles and various small arms you can basically just pick a vehicle to erase from the backfield. Put some other big guns nearby to get that sweet +1 wound the very first time you shoot.
• Saga of the Hunter: Warlord can charge after Advancing. Deed of Legend is to successfully charge an enemy.
  • Not the most flashy ability, but the Deed of Legend is easy to trigger, and charging after an advance gives you more opportunities to activate Hunters Unleashed.
• Saga of the Bear: Gain a FnP on a 6+. Deed of Legend is to make a successful save. Arjac Rockfist has this.
  • Better than the usual incarnation of this Warlord trait because of its ability to spread to other units. Feel No Pain is always useful.

As flashy and fluffy our Warlord Traits are, they are garbage compared to other armies' traits. Before completing the DoL, two of the WTs are literally the same as the ones from the Basic Rule Book. And some DoLs are ridiculously hard to complete therefore you pretty much always assume the saga will only affect your warlord.

• An alternative way of playing Space Wolves is to bring a Phobos character and take the Vanguard WTs from the main SM Codex instead, Master of the Vanguard (+1' to Move, Advance and Charge for friendlies within 6") is really nice for us if you are bring a generic list.

Wargear

Space Wolves Ranged Weapons

• Assault Bolter A Primaris Inceptor come stock with two of these things. 18" S5 AP-1 Assault 3. Hand-held Heavy Bolters that don't suffer a -1 to hit penalty unless you advanced? Hell yes. The range isn't usually an issue because you either set the Inceptors in reserve, or took advantage of their 10" move.
• Boltgun You know it, you love it. A 24" S4 Rapid Fire 1 standard issue small arm. The lack of AP hurts but with what you should be targeting Bolters with (light infantry) it shouldn't matter too much. These things can be fired into CC with the True Grit stratagem.
• Bolt Rifle A 30" Bolter with -1AP. Primaris Intercessors come stock with these.
• Boltstorm Gauntlet Wolf Lords in Gravis armour come with these. It's their only gun, and being Pistol 3, S4 AP0 D1 with only 12" range, this can be annoying. Is made up for by the fact that the Wolf Lord in Gravis armour can destroy in CC.
• Combi-Weapon You know it, you still love it. A bolter with a special weapon slapped on top. You can now choose to either fire the bolter or special weapon on their own, or shoot both with a -1 to hit penalty.
• Storm Bolter DO NOT underestimate what a Storm Bolter can do in 8th. Now that they are rapid-fire 2, each of these suckers puts out 4 shots when at 12" range. For 2 points per gun and a huge variety of different ways to spam special weapons in space wolves, these can get crazy. (See Wolf Guard)
• Bolt Pistol The standard Space Marine pistol. With S4 AP0 and D1 it's nothing spectacular, but at least it's ubiquitous and free. Don't forget they can be fired in CC now, too.
• Plasma Pistol High strength, good AP and with no risk of overload unless you choose so. Space Wolves can get a lot of these, and at only 7 points they're hard to say no to.
• Plasma Exterminator Replaces the Inceptor's Assault bolters. It's an 18" Assault d3 Plasma (P̶i̶s̶t̶o̶l̶ no it is not pistol just assault weapon). How awesome is that?
• Helfrost Pistol While not quite as absurdly powerful as it used to be, this Iron Priest-exclusive pistol still packs quite a punch, at double the range of an Inferno pistol.

Space Wolves Melee Weapons

• Chainsword Has taken over the old '2CCW' trick of giving units an extra attack in close combat. Can be given to almost everyone in a Space Wolf army.
• Power Fist Sx2 User AP-3, D3 damage, -1 to hit. Having a few of these will make up for your lack of heavy weapons. Fortunately, the effect of Hunters Unleashed cancels the hit penalty, so your fists will hit much more often.
• Power Sword S User AP-3. The dedicated anti-infantry power weapon. Definitely has its uses on pack leaders, but for only 3 pts more characters can get a Frost Sword which is simply better.
• Power Axe S+1 AP-2. The 'balanced' power weapon option, probably one of the better pack leader options. Characters can get a Frost Axe for only 5 pts more.
• Power Maul S+2, AP-1. Has a niche in the vanilla Space Marine arsenal but here there are better alternatives for getting to S6 in close combat.
• Lightning Claw S User AP-2, with re-roll to wound and +1 attack if you've got two. Anyone who can get these can get Wolf Claws instead, which are straight-up better at 1 extra point, whether you take one or two. Never get these.
• Thunder Hammer Like a Power Fist, but deals 3 damage instead of d3. All the strengths (and the -1 to hit modifier) of the Power Fist, with none of the random damage. Costs the same as a Power Fist on non-Characters, so it's a flat better choice than a Fist for Sergeants. 5 points more than a fist for Characters. The extra reliability could mean the difference between one-shotting a Centurion or get an Assault Drill in the face, so consider that 5 points investment over a Fist. Again, Hunters Unleashed helps a lot with its reliability.
  • As at CA2019, these things cost 40 points on Character models, so make sure you pair it with Wulfen Stone and Saga of the Wolfkin to make the most out of it.
• Tempest Hammer A Thunder Hammer that deals a Mortal Wound on a 6. (Nerfed in the FAQ to still have a penalty to hit.) Only available to the Iron Priest.
• Frost Sword S+1 User AP-3. These are why you play Space Wolves. Combine the best qualities of the Power Sword and Power Axe for a minimal increase in points.
• Frost Axe S+2 AP-2. A great way of getting to S6 in close combat. They are a bit less cost-effective than frost swords, though.
• Wolf Claw S+1 AP-2, with re-roll to wound and +1 attack if you've got two. Costs 1 point more than Lightning Claws for either one (7 points) or two claws (11 points) as of Chapter Approved 2019.

Relics

• The Krakenbone Sword: S+1 AP-4 re-rolls to wound. It replaces the bearer's frost sword. For a mighty beatstick this one is great: it has the special properties of a Wolf Claw without needing to sacrifice your shooting, the boosted strength of a power axe, and the AP of a meltagun. What's not to like?
• Frostfury: Replaces a Storm Bolter. Loses Rapid Fire, but with Assault 4 it has as many shots as a Storm Bolter in RF range anyway and gains a little extra mobility for good measure. AP-1 and 2 D make it more useful against multi-wound models, and as an added bonus it causes a mortal wound on a 4+ on anything that's wounded by it but not slain (like a Helfrost weapon).
• Armor of Russ: Grants a 4+ invulnerable save and forces an enemy within melee range of the wearer to fight last in the Fight phase. No restrictions on who can take it, so give it to a Primaris since they don't normally have a way of improving their invulnerable saves. It's a good item to play on a Land Raider Excelsior. This would also be tasty on all flavors of Battle Leaders as it would grant them a much needed invulnerable save.
• Black Death: Frost Axe extraordinaire and replaces one. S+2 AP -2 D1, and each time the bearer fights, he makes additional d3 attacks. Makes your character a decent GEQ/MEQ eraser.
  • If you're giving this to anyone, make sure they're on a Thunderwolf. The pups additional teeth and claw attacks mean they'll have similar targets.
• Helm of Durfast: Re-roll failed hit rolls for this model's ranged attacks, and no bonus to saving throws from being in cover for those. Good on shooty characters, but those aren't exactly common in the Space Wolves. Cough: Land Raider Excelsior. Give a Rune Priest or Wolf Guard Battle leader on a bike a Storm Bolter, and benefit from the new Bolter Discipline rules. 8 shots at 24 inches, rerolling all hits, and ignoring cover. You will be the bane of the Loyal 32 every game!
• The Wulfen Stone: 1 additional attack for friendly SPACE WOLVES INFANTRY, CAVALRY, and BIKER models in friendly units that are within 3" of the bearer. Wulfen units are not affected, and does not stack with Curse of the Wulfen (Kill/Hunt). Still pretty great, and possibly the best buff available for your character.
  • Take a Wolf Lord as your Warlord With Wolfkin trait, give him the stone, take a WGBL make him field commander with saga of the savage and THATS A LOT OF EXTRA ATTACKS!!!!!...well only 3, but for a squad of 10 grey hunters with chainswords is total of 50 attacks...
  • Give this one to a Thunderwolf Character for the biggest base.
  • Both Rob from SpikeyBits and Reece from Frontline Gaming, in their reviews for the Codex, view this as working for the whole unit, not just individual models. It just comes down to poor wording and no FAQ on the matter from GW. The ability states models in a unit within 3" of (etc). So, even though it started with saying models, it's models within the unit that's within range, so if the unit's within range all the models within the unit are within range. See also the discussion of the Cadre Fireblade's Volley Fire ability.

• Mountain-Breaker Helm: Infantry only. After the bearer finishes attacking but before consolidating, you can roll a d6 on an enemy within 3". You deal d3 MWs on a 2+, and if you kill an opposing Character with this helm, you'll have fulfilled a deed of legend!
• Talisman of Storms: Rune Priest only. After using your first power in a Psychic Phase, roll a d6 for every enemy unit within 12". They take a mortal wound on a 4+.
• Wyrmsplitter: Replaces a power axe. S+1 AP-2 2 D, and attacks against vehicles and monsters do double damage.
• Stormsong: Replaces a master-crafted stalker bolt rifle. It becomes S6 AP-3 D3 and can hit a Character even if they aren't the closest.
• Wyrdbane: Replaces a runic sword. S+1 AP-4 Dd3 with a re-roll to wound and inflicts max damage on Psykers.

Tempestas Discipline

Tempestas

Number	Name	Range	Target	Description	Charge
1	Living Lightning	18	Enemy Unit	Deals 1d3 mortal wounds to the nearest visible enemy unit. If the targeted unit is destroyed by this power, the closest enemy unit within 18" of the last enemy model to be removed by the power also takes 1d3 mortal wounds. This repeats until either a unit is not destroyed by the power or when there are no units close enough to a destroyed unit for it to spread. A tad weaker than Smite, but if used correctly it can wipe out several weakened units in a single casting. The Living Storm Stratagem can help with that. You can bounce the lightning onto characters.	6
2	Tempest's Wrath	24	Enemy Unit	Until the start of your next Psychic phase, target unit has -1 to hit. Copied and pasted from Aversion from the Interromancy discipline, but because they have different names, the two powers stack.	6
3	Murderous Hurricane	18	Visible Enemy Unit	Roll 1d6 for each model in the target; target suffers 1 mortal wound for each roll of a 6. Not overly reliable, but it's rare that anything scales with unit size in 8e.	5
4	Fury of the Wolf Spirits	0	Self	Until the next psychic phase, the user gains a bonus 6(!) melee attacks with S5 AP-3 D1. It's a shame that you can't use this on other units, but by the Allfather this is amazing against melee hordes.	7
5	Storm Caller	Aura 6	Psyker and Friendly Space Wolves Units	Until the start of your next Psychic phase, targets gain the benefit of being in cover. A strong buff for an assault army that's particularly valuable because you can get multiple units under the bubble. Don't forget to add the Cloaked by the Storm Stratagem to buff them further!	8
6	Jaws of the World Wolf	18	Enemy Non-Vehicle Unit	Roll 2D6. Target unit suffers a mortal wound for each point rolled above its Move. Random compared to smite, but potentially more powerful, and you can pick a target including characters trying to hide. Becomes pretty useless above M6. Average mortal wounds inflicted, accounting for casting with 2D6 and no denial, caster has 4+ wounds remaining. Move 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12+ Mortal Wounds 3.50 2.92 2.35 1.81 1.33 0.91 0.57 0.32 0.16 0.06 0.02 0.00	7

Litanies of Battle

Now litanies are like the Dark Apostle's prayers, going off on a 3+. Before the game starts, generate the litanies your wolf priest (except Ulric) knows and start with Litany of Hate + Chapter Litany. Like psychic powers, you cannot spam the same litany even if several chaplains know it, but they are chanted at the beginning of the battle round and remain active until the end of it. This also means a Wolf Priest won't have an active litany on the turn he deepstrikes, as he can't chant while not on the table. The same rules apply if he rides a transport, so you'll need to come up with other ways to make him fast, like putting him on a bike. (If your oppenent is okay with legends.)

• Litany of Hate: Default prayer, 6" aura of re-rolling all melee hit rolls (not just misses) for your chapter.
• Tale of the Wolf King and the Lord of the Deeps: The chapter-exclusive litany. Pick a Space Wolves unit within 6”. When you make an attack by a melee weapon with a model in that unit against a vehicle or monster, it does one more point of damage. Try pairing with Wyrmsplitter to really dunk on the Nidzilla lists.

1. Litany of Faith: 6" aura of FnP 5+++ vs mortal wounds for friendly Space Wolves units. Not cumulative with other rules, as per usual (but stated regardless).
   • Extra protection vs witchery. Will help with whatever goes through the Librarian. Also makes your plasma vehicles more durable when firing plasma, and your company vets more durable when bodyguarding. A 2/3 chance of a 1/3 chance to ignore damage is equal to 2/9, so this is slightly (4/3) better than a 6+++ FnP, with the caveat that it only works on Mortal Wounds.
2. Catechism of Fire: Select a friendly Space Wolves unit within 6". +1 to the wound roll when "resolving a shooting attack" against the closest enemy unit, meaning it affects Overwatch, too.
   • Nasty with flamer Vets/Aggressors - generally better the less the gun relies on S or range to get work done. "Of Fire", get it? Deepstrike/transport them next to a chaplain who was already on the field.
3. Exhortation of Rage: Select a friendly Space Wolves unit within 6". Their unmodified 6s to hit in melee generate another attack with that weapon, which cannot proc extra attacks itself. Good when you already have a Captain/CM/second Chaplain giving you a re-roll and their aura would overlap with the Chaplain's.
   • If you're already betting on exploding 6s, use it alongside Death to the Traitors or even Gene-wrought Might.
4. Mantra of Strength: He'll show you how it's done. +1A +1S to the Chaplain, and +1D to his melee weapons. D3 Crozius!
5. Recitation of Focus: Select a friendly chapter unit within 6". +1 to their hit rolls when shooting. Even during overwatch, meaning you should answer enemy charges with supercharges. Safe plasma!
   • If you don't have a special interaction with getting +1 to hit, this generally makes your Chaplain a worse Captain: a 2/3 chance to improve BS3+ to BS2+ is mathematically identical to (and will stack with) re-rolling 1 to hit, but this Litany only hits 1 target, so even ignoring all the other caveats (inactive when you ride a transport/deep strike, doesn't work on both shooting and melee, etc) this alone will make your Chaplain a waste of points. He'll only earn his keep when you have a deathstar unit going that cares about +1 to hit beyond improving BS by 1. This is good for a plasma unit; if you want to support a gunline bring a Lieutenant instead.
6. Canticle of Hate: Non-cumulative 6" aura of +2 to charge rolls, as well as +3" to pile in and consolidation moves. In all cases, the friendly <chapter> unit in question has to be within the aura at the time the move is made - the consolidate move especially will often not happen unless the Chaplain also made his charge.
   • Do keep in mind the chaplain has to be on the field at the beginning of the battle round. Not even the Impulsor's broken disembark rules would help here, only a Jump Pack / Turboboosting Biker Manlet would have a chance.

Specialist Detachments

Specialist Detachments are an upcoming type of Detachment that will be added starting in the Vigilus Defiant campaign supplement by use of stratagems that costs CP. These Detachments are custom made for specific sub-factions which grant them access to a new key word as well as additional Stratagems, Warlord Traits, and Artifacts.

General stratagems

• Field Commander (1 CP):' This stratagem bears special mention. For one command point, you can designate a character with a Specialist Detachment keyword and they gain the warlord trait associated with that detachment. Can't be used on named characters or to give your warlord a second warlord trait. Usefulness may vary.

Stalker Pack

Upgrade Battle Leaders, Blood Claws and Reivers with STALKER PACK keyword

Stratagems:

• Blood Scent (2 CP): use it on a monster or infantry unit that is wounded or is missing models. Stalker units gain +1 to wound against them. Shoot a single book before the charge and begin the carnage
• Pack Killers (1 CP): after a STALKER PACK successfully charged, Pick another STALKER PACK unit, they roll 3D6 for charge and discard lowest. Time this well and your Reivers will have a much better chance of charging after they drop in with their fall speed retarding equipment

Warlord Trait - Saga of the Savage: +1 attack for warlord when he successfully charges. To complete the saga, the model must inflict 5 wounds in a single phase. This would actually be fairly difficult, unless they are referring to unsaved wounds, in that case, take a hammer and wound away

Artifact - Ironfang of Ammagrimgul: Replaces a Power-Axe. S+1, AP-2, D:D3. If the wound roll for an attack made by this weapon is an unmodified 6, the target model suffers D3 MORTAL wounds instead of normal damage.

Unit Analysis

HQ

The average SM HQ is a heroic model that can do fairly well in melee and, being the poster faction, we have a lot of choices when building our guys. Listed here are some common builds so that you don't have to read "Captain, Captain with Jump Pack, Librarian, Librarian with Jump Pack" and so on.

1. Jump pack: Mobility is the name of the game. The model gains 12" movement, fly and can deepstrike, so he can appear anywhere and ignore terrain, jump over the enemy's bubblewrap alongside your Vanguard Vets and even punch a damn airplane to death.
2. Bike: High speed, high drag. The character becomes a battering ram, gaining a speedy bike that can turbo boot to M20", T5, +W1, and an additional 4 bolter shots. Sadly, all but Captain on the bike were relegated to the Index, which makes the whole bunch overpriced and without the new rules like Shock Assault or Doctrines. SQUATTED.
3. Terminator: The heavy armour. +1W 2+/5++ and Deep Strike but only 5" movement and a slightly reduced wargear selection. Not meant to move around much, positioning is often determined by a Deep strike or the Land Raider that is carrying him around. Provides a lot of protection for your character. A Character's Iron Halo or Rosarius' 4++ has prevalence ofc.
4. Primaris: Extra beef for a relatively low cost. +1W +1A, but usually restricted customization options. Segregated to their hover transports; that used to mean restricted, but now they're more of a separate-but-equal kind of deal.
5. Phobos: Operator Primaris with stealth training, Concealed Positions let them keep up with infiltrators.

• Wolf Lord: The Captain-equivalent is the no-frills infantry HQ choice. While his aura can prevent your Space Wolves plasma from blowing themselves up (and also affects Vehicles) and he's got a nifty Master-crafted Bolter he can swap for Combis, his stats make him really shine when wielding a Power Fist/Thunder Hammer; don't do this without a credible plan for delivering him into melee. If his job is babysitting your backline only, give him your favorite ranged weapon of a bolt pistol (minimum cost, and gives him 2 shots, since he has another one), a storm bolter (best cost efficiency against GEQ/MEQ), or his original gun (best cost efficiency against TEQ), and keep other options off him to keep him cheap. Otherwise, see the Jump Pack section for how to equip a mobile Lord, even if your solution is going to be a transport instead.
  • Jump Pack: What it says on the tin, your Captain can now Fly. Deep strike, 12" movement, jump over units, punch a damn airplane to death. Key above all is that he can jump over the enemy's bubblewrap alongside your Van-Wolf Guard and Skyclaws, and get his aura or his melee murderin' to where you need it most. For wargear choices, if you take the Power Fist/Thunder Hammer you ought to, while the Storm Shield no longer hinders him in melee, he's already got the protection of being a Character and a 4++, but 3++ can be crucial against strong enough Overwatch, since you'll probably be charging things a lot. It's an option if you absolutely need it; other reasonable choices for his non-melee-weapon hand include his footslotting ranged choices, a combi-flamer for hordes/overwatch, or a combi-melta if you really want even more anti-tank punch, since he can't take a regular melta.
  • Wolf Lord in Terminator Armour: Essentially +1W, a 2+ save, and deep strike, at the cost of -1" movement, 31 points, and taking up more transport capacity. Terminator weapon options are more restricted than the regular ones, but he can mount a grenade launcher on his power fist. There's no good reason to take this guy - the points cost is brutal relative to the lackluster benefits, particularly since after showing up, he's so lacking in mobility.
  • Wolf Lord in Cataphractii Armour: +1W, a 2+ save, 3++ without taking up his arm, and deep strike, at the cost of -2" movement, 1/2 distance Advances, 52 points, and taking up more transport capacity. Shares most of the problems as the Lord in Terminator Armour; the 21 point cost to get the 3++ without needing a Storm Shield is a bit steep, since the Shield only costs 15 - even without the Cataphractii suit's movement penalties, it would be like taking the Terminator Lord with a Storm Shield, and paying 6 points extra for a second weapon. With the movement penalties, it means it's a poor choice for the same reason as the Terminator Lord: not nearly enough mobility for the cost.
  • Primaris Wolf Lord: Regular foot Wolf Lord, but Primaris: for when you want a bigger Wolf Lord but you aren't buying him a motorcycle, termie suit, or decent melee weapon. As with most Primaris units, even with +1W +1A, he's geared for ranged combat first, melee second (lest he invalidate the regular Wolf Lord). Decent personal guns to do stuff while he buffs your backline dakka, can buy a regular Power Sword as a deterrent, and that's it. Can only mount a Repulsor, but he's not in a hurry to get anywhere anyway. Not really worth the cost; he hasn't got more attacks than your regular Lord would with a chainsword, and the +1W and better output past 12" isn't worth the 11 point cost, given you're paying for a babysitter, not a murder monster.
  • Primaris Wolf Lord in Gravis Armor: He's an up-armoured melee-focused Primaris Wolf Lord, with T5 (as opposed to 2+) providing protection against S4/S5 hits (does nothing against lasguns). You'll only use his Master-crafted Power sword against T2 W2, because his Boltstorm Gauntlet has Power Fist stats, meaning the only benefit of the sword is the flat D2, offering a slight boost when murdering targets with exactly 2 wounds left in exchange for half strength, on top of having a Pistol 3 Boltpistol strapped on. 5" movement but no deepstrike means this guy NEEDS to outflank or a Repulsor to get anywhere, but being built for murder, you need to deliver him or he'll waste his points. Clever GW. Still cannot compete with a non-Primaris Wolf Lord deliberately built for murder, since A5 D1d3 is worse than A4 D3 in general, and likewise his other benefits can't compete with the choices available to a standard Lord - his primary benefit is that if you're taking a Repulsor anyway, he can legally ride it.
  • Primaris Wolf Lord in Phobos Armour: A Primaris Captain with a combat knife (+1A), and a sniper rifle equivalent (30", Heavy 1, S4, AP-2, D2, can target characters, but does NOT cause mortal wounds on a wound roll of 6). Also has a camo-cloak (+2 to saves when in cover instead of +1), an omni-scrambler (no enemy deepstrikes within 12"), and concealed positions (deep strike, but before first turn). You'll want him to give his re-rolls to your Eliminator teams or Infiltrator squads. Like the Lieutenant, this guy is really nothing more than an old, cranky primaris marine...and overcosted to boot.
  • Wolf Lord on Bike (Legends): It took Cawl 10,000 years of work to still come short of what this guy becomes by just riding a bike. He's not only the fastest Wolf Lord at 14" movement (barring deep strikes), but can also become one of most resilient ones by virtue of combining his T5 with a Storm Shield, something a Gravis can't do. He's also the shootiest, as the bike has a Twin Boltgun, and he can swap his Master-Crafted Bolter for a Storm Bolter. The thing he does that nobody else can, however, is being a fast T5 W6 TH/SS dude. Resilient, Fast, Strong, and he's not even the most expensive Wolf Lord! It's a steal at only 98 points base.
    • Make him your warlord with Saga of the Hunter which allows him to advance AND charge in the same turn. Give him Wolf Guard on Bikes as an escort with storm shields and a melee weapon each, along with the bike's gun, and you have a very dangerous distraction carnifex. Reminder that the Deed of Legend for this warlord trait is simply making a charge, so you have a whole bike squadron moving 20" AND charging. If you don't advance, then you have 20 shots from the 5 man guard unit alone, or 40 if you give them storm bolters. Very fun.
  • Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf: Fast, tough, and deadly. 20 points more than riding a Bike, and you lose 4 inches of movement, automatically fast Advances, the (mandatory) storm bolter, and the choice of a master-crafted bolter, in exchange for +1W, the ability to take a normal bolter, and 3 additional attacks at S5 AP-1 D1. Those last are the real reason to take him over the Bike choice; they only hit as hard as basic Wulfen claws do, but they do it with the Lord's WS (2+, re-rolling 1s). Note that if your primary desire is combining mobility with number of attacks, Harald Deathwolf does this better, not least due to having Outflank.

• Wolf Guard Battle Leader: While the Wolf Lord lets you reroll 1s to hit, his subordinate lets you reroll 1s to wound, which is better for anything that automatically hits, like flamers. Have them babysit mobs of Blood Claws or Skyclaws along with Wolf Lords/Priests. This approach makes the newbies surprisingly deadly on the charge, while letting you shoot for detachments that give you more command points. A really useful unit, seeing as how prevalent hit bonuses are in this codex. Improving wound rolls is key.
  • Jump pack: If you were thinking of footslogging this guy in power armor for 60 points, he makes for a very cheap HQ. However, it costs a mere 18 points to give this man a jump pack, letting you get both his buff and his combat output where you need it; it's pretty much an auto-include if you take him this way. Start him in low orbit, and then bring him down at the end of the movement phase wherever you want to get the perfect 12" bubble, and from then onward he can jump around getting wherever he is needed.
  • Wolf Guard Battle Leader in Terminator Armour: Don't bother and just take Arjac.
  • Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Bike (Legends): Absolutely amazing, at only 7 points more than the Jump Pack option, since both his melee and his ranged are worse than the Lord's, meaning you care even more about his mobility, to get his buff into position. Can't Deep Strike or traverse intervening models, but 20" is a lot more than 13.5" average.
  • Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf: Goes along with his Wolf Lord counterpart very well. These guys together babysitting Thunderwolf Cavalry make them something like the rape machines they once were. Costs 19 points more than the Bike version does, but at BS3+, the inferior guns matter slightly less than the same choice for your Lord.
  • Primaris Battle Leader: Wolf Guard Battle Leaders with an extra wound and (much) more limited weapons options for 10 points more. They also have a different starting loadout than the vanilla Primaris Lieutenants, with a power axe and a bolt carbine as their standard weapons.
  • Battle Leader in Phobos Armor: Another Primaris variant, with the same Tactical Precision ability as the others, but this one has a master-crafted D2 version of the cover-ignoring Occulus Bolt Carbine that Incursors get, along with their paired combat blades. However, instead of Concealed Positions, he takes a grav-chute for deep striking.
    • He can swap his normal loadout for a heavy bolt pistol and single combat knife, just like a Reiver. He even gains the REIVER keyword, and therefore the Terror Troops capacity (scary). But, ironically, he then has to sacrifice his grav-chute (not that scary), instead taking the same smoke grenade that Incursors get. Technically, he becomes a good leader for other Reivers, but because he loses his capacity to deep strike, you have to put him in a transport. Since deep striking is an essential part of the use Reivers squad (grav-chute or grapnel), if you really want to babysit them, you should stick to the "normal" Lieutenant in Phobos Armour.
    • Yes, the Incursor-like Lieutenant is forced to take a Reiver-like grav-chute that would only let him join concealed Incursor squads a full turn late, while the Reiver-like Lieutenant is forced to replace his grav-chute with Incursor-like smoke grenades making him useless for accompanying Reivers. Cross your fingers that this will be corrected in errata, otherwise accept that whatever loadout you use will be awkward and unoptimized for the role you use it in.

• Rune Priest: Mobile cover is still useful, and with the Cloaked By the Storm Stratagem he can buff allies even without Storm Caller; his wargear is pretty good, and he's cheaper off the bat than a vanilla Librarian on top of having a -1 improvement to WS, since you can field him without a Psychic Hood, so he's a cheaper Smite source. Go ahead and take him. Particularly good with a jump pack, for making sure Smite happens where you want it to. A decent melee weapon is optional, but goes nicely with Fury of the Wolf Spirits to make a melee beatstick.
  • Rune Priest in Terminator Armour: If you give him the Storm Caller power, he can make a nice escort for Wolf Guard Terminators, keeping them alive long enough for them to get into close combat. With wargear and a psychic hood they come to 164 points, though, which is only 3 points less than Terminator Njal, who is far superior at pretty much everything. Keep them cheap and mobile or just take Njal.
  • Rune Priest on Bike (Legends): Having a 14" move on a caster is really useful, and so is having a T5 HQ. Taking this guy as your warlord will go a long way to deny your opponent Slay The Warlord unless you peril (This is what command points are for.) Give him a Storm Bolter to stack with his Twin Boltgun and the classic Runic Axe and this guy becomes pretty good at everything, especially CHARACTER killing.
  • Primaris Rune Priest: +1W, +1A, and more limited wargear - his psychic hood is mandatory, and he can't take runic armour, a jump pack, or a combi-weapon - but costs a point less than a Rune Priest with identical wargear (a bolt pistol and force/runic sword), and he hits harder than Rune Priest, too. Take if and only if you want to footslog him, as he's nigh-impossible to deliver anywhere quickly, unlike a Rune Priest.
  • Rune Priest in Phobos Armour: Primaris Rune Priest with a camo-cloak (+2 to saves when in cover instead of +1) that makes him extra durable in cover, and concealed positions lets him deploy with your other sneaky marines. Has access to a special psychic discipline focusing on stealth, of which he knows two and can cast two. (Including one that's basically Warptime!) Comes stock with psychic hood, force sword, and bolt pistol.
    • Frankly, this option seems to be the only Vanguard HQ worth the points. The others look cool, but neither has a single melee attack with an AP value, and the captain has a single bolter shot at AP-2!?! This guy can genuinely hurt people with smite and his force weapon while providing tactical viability.

• Wolf Priest: The lovechild of an Apothecary and Chaplain, he makes you deadlier in combat (re-roll ALL failed to-hit rolls in the fight phase) and braver (friendly Space Wolves within 6" use his Ld9), but can also heal wounded models. Makes a natural companion to Wolf Guard Battle Leaders, as their buffs are complementary, and the priest can keep the youngster alive. Remember to keep in mind that he can't return slain models back to a unit, unlike our apothecary brethren. Can't swap his gun for a powerfist unlike the codex version, instead letting you take a powerfist outright, which allows him to keep his pistol.
  • Wolf Priest with jump pack: You know it, you love it. Deep strike next to a wounded character, heal d3 lost wounds, then make them turn around and punch the nearest unit with their buff.
  • Wolf Priest in Terminator Armour: +1W 2+ armour, at the cost of 5" movement, but can deep strike. Take this when you want resilience over damage after deepstriking.
  • Wolf Priest on Bike: If you're looking for both survivability and the mobility then this is for you. Bikes got a massive buff as they move farther than before, giving the rider an extra wound and a toughness bonus. Lacks the Jump Pack's Fly & deepstrike shenanigans, but can still cover massive amounts of distance per turn.
  • Primaris Wolf Priest: Functionally identical to the Primaris Chaplain, albeit with the Wolf Priest's healing abilities added. Comes with the standard Primaris buffs, along with the better pistol.
• Chaplain Dreadnought ^Forgeworld .It shares Bjorn's awesomesauce "ability" of being a 5++,6+++ dread that can't be shot at(apart from snipers). It also buffs the strength of friendly models fighting the same unit as the dreadnought. It's also reasonably priced considering it's many advantages, 204 points vanilla but can be cheaper or more expensive depending on wargear choices (taking an assault cannon makes it cost 183 as an example). Despite it's strengths ultimately it's buff is weak; more a bonus than something your army can rely on, if you want a HQ that buffs than the Chaplain Dreadnought is a bad choice, however, if you were planning to bring a dreadnought and/or want a tough and killy HQ then the Chaplain is a fantastic option that also saves you an elite or heavy support slot.
  • Disagree on that last point; Bjorn provides additional CP, his buff is active much more of the time, and hits much harder in assault, with Trueclaw being S12, AP-4, Dd6, re-rolling failed to-wounds. Take BOTH.

• Iron Priest: Like a standard Techmarine, but with swapped WS and BS(better WS, worse BS), and comes stock with a Thunder Hammer, that can be swapped for a Tempest Hammer that for +5 points.(Swapped in the Codex) Sadly has a -1 to hit from the FAQ but inflicts a Mortal Wound on a 6 if it fails to kill its target (it's alright). Also gets the option to take a Helfrost pistol(stock in the Codex), which is equivalent to a pistol Meltagun with Mortal-on-6 instead of Melta at a 2 pt discount (may have some value if you keep the Priest close to the front lines). As of CA 2018 Servo arms are now free making this unit a far more compelling choice. As your cheapest HQ he acts as an excellent relic holder or warlord for smaller point games. An Iron Piest with servitors following can seriously break some stuff in CQC for an exceedingly low cost. Iron Priests have no options to take a Servo-Harness or Conversion Beamer, bummer. Looks like the Alpha Legion and Thousand Sons did some ransacking before they left.
  • Iron Priest on Bike: The Biker Priest is the option you'll want to go for - that 20" move will allow you to zip round the battlefield healing your tanks where required for only 7 points more than a regular priest. Note, though, that an Iron Priest on bike can't repair if he moved more than 6", so his move is for getting him ready to repair - he can't just zip over and repair now, and his repair mobility is actually worse than on foot, since the foot version can Advance for a total of 7-12" and still repair. Also, of course, the bike comes with a storm bolter.
  • Iron Priest on Thunderwolf:These guys used to be really good in 7th edition, but they've fallen hard. 6 wounds and a 2+ is nice but without a decent invuln save, he's very susceptible to anti-TEQ shooting. And he can't take Cyberwolves to eat wounds anymore! He's okay-ish in melee with the Thunder/Tempest Hammer, but with only a few attacks plus the mount's attacks, he doesn't do all that much in melee. Unfortunately, there really isn't much reason to take him anymore.

• Rhino Primaris (Legends): One half of the Command Tank duo, the Rhino Primaris distinguishes itself from the basic Rhino by 3 things: its twin Plasma Gun, the ability to call an orbital bombardment (a 72" range monster with S10 AP-4 Heavy D3 D6 damage that becomes Heavy D6 when used on a unit with 10 or more models and doesn't need line of sight, but can only be fired once per game), and its servo-skull hub. The hub allows the Rhino Primaris to buff allies within 12" with either a +1 to hit, a -1 to morale tests, or healing a wound (for vehicles only). It only has room to transport 6 units, though that's just enough for a Character and Wolf Guard Pack.
  • Never fire the plasma gun on overcharged mode; the risk of destroying the Rhino Primaris isn't worth the extra damage. Unless you use the Servo-skull hubs +1 to hit on the Rhino, in which case you can overheat without risk. Probably better spent on those Hellblasters or plasma Long Fangs though.
  • Positioning is important, but it's even more important with the Rhino Primaris. Rhinos are tougher now, but you don't want your light APC in harm's way. But if you camp it behind a ruin that's somewhat central, flying units and other assets fighting in the vicinity all become viable options for the servo-skull hub. Imagine an overhead Caestus flying in, getting tagged by the Rhino, and then vomiting its weapons onto an enemy. Hitting enemy targets with BS 2+ anti-tank weaponry from nowhere? That's the value of positioning.
  • Worst case, have the Rhino Primaris pick itself on Turn 1 with its servo-skull hub, and fire the orbital relay (which can now be fired on turn one, a significant boost from 7th). Hitting on 2+ with a weapon this powerful is amazing, whether it's D3 or D6 shots. Add some way to reroll ones/hits and you can really lay a beating on something. A footslogging Wolf Lord may be better here than the Excelsior, but each scenario is different. If the Rhino is far enough back, a Primaris Wolf Lord with a stalker bolt rifle babysitting some Hellblasters anyway could help.
  • If you're looking for a good base for a conversion, the Damocles Rhino from Forge World is a good start.
• Land Raider Excelsior (Legends): The other half of the Command Tank duo, which comes with a 5+ invulnerable save, the Wolf Lords ability to grant re-rolls for hit results of 1 for units within 6" of it, a pair of twin lascannons, a combi-plasma, and a grav-cannon/grav-amp combo. If you take it, take the Rhino Primaris too - it'll gain a +1 to hit for all shooting attacks if it stays within 24" of the Rhino Primaris. Apart from that, it's fairly similar to the vanilla LR, albeit better able to take on heavy infantry thanks to the grav-cannon.
  • As is the case for the Rhino Primaris, do not overcharge the plasma gun part of the combi-plasma. Your lascannons do everything that an overcharged plasma gun shot can do, without the risk of killing yourself in the process! Unless you're close to the Rhino Primaris, in which case, you might as well, since your rolls of 1 will become 2.
  • Often overlooked, this thing is a Character. While it has too many wounds to 'hide,' you can make this thing your Warlord. May not be a terrible choice in spite of its size, being the toughest vanilla Character in the book. It's expensive, but its sheer size adds a fair distance to its Jarl of Fenris special rule, meaning that a Wolf Priest-led melee squad disembarking from this thing can do a tremendous amount of damage while denying your opponent an easy Slay the Warlord. Avoid getting stuck in melee, however; you're a tank and you still suck in the fight phase. You want this thing shooting at medium/heavy infantry and vehicles.

Special characters

• Arjac Rockfist: "Mjolnir Foehammer to me!"*cough* The Anvil of Fenris has received a big promotion this edition and is now a fully fledged Wolf Guard Battle Leader in the HQ section. Has the standard re-roll 1's to wound aura like normal Battle Leaders but combines it with an amazing +1 attack buff to Wolf Guard of all varieties around him (including Thunderwolves and himself) as well. In combat he's an absolute beast with 5 Strength 10 thunder hammer attacks due to his sheer size without the usual -1 to hit penalty (although, as a Space Wolf with WS2+, he would normally ignore the penalty anyhow). As a trade off it only does 1d3 damage; however, this is bumped back up to 3 damage against characters and monsters. In addition to this, he is able to re-roll all missed hits against characters and monsters, which, combined with his re-roll 1's to wound, makes him a supreme duelist, and all for only 8 points more than a similarly equipped terminator battle leader. Still gets to throw his hammer and the Anvil Shield now also reduces all wounds suffered by 1. An absolute auto-include if you're running an army with Terminators, Thunderwolves, or Wolf Guard bikers (just remember he can't keep up with the latter two, so he'll have to deep strike in to provide his buff).
• Bjorn the Fell Handed: With the buffs to Dreads in 8th Bjorn may well be the most powerful non-Lord of War unit in the game right now. To start with he grants all Space Wolves units within 9 re-rolls of 1's to hit (thanks to Saga of the Majesty buffing his aura) and gives you a command point just for being on the table. Damn near unkillable due to his T8, W8, 5+ ignore all wounds save combined with the character rule so he can't even be targeted if near another unit. He packs 5 strength 12, AP -4, D1d6 attacks with re-rolls to hit and wound in combat so there's very little that won't just get splattered upon contact. With movement 8 he doesn't get around too badly either, spraying heavy weapon shots with re-rolls as he does so. The main drawback for all this awesome is high points cost ranging from 216 pts for basic assault cannon/heavy flamer setup to 234 pts for twin lascannons. But it doesn't take a lot to get your points back with him and he'll easily clean out enemy monsters/vehicles that cost way more than he does while buffing your army in the process. Just point him towards the enemy and have fun.
  • Bjorn is more or less a discount Leviathan dread. Leviathan is slightly tougher, Bjorn hits much better in CC. He moves quicker, and will remain full power no matter how much damage he takes. Though the Leviathan brings ridiculous dakka to the table, in a comparison of shooting ability Bjorn looses out. Key in the comparison is the fact that Bjorn is a character and has 8 very tough wounds. This helps ensure that he will brutalize his opponents in CC, whereas the leviathan though equally powerful, will usually absorb a lot of enemy firepower before he gets stuck in resulting in significantly reducing damage output. Basically, if you want to kill a swarm lord in CC, Bjorn will usually be the optimal and cheaper option; whereas if you prefer bug zapping at a more comfortable 18" (a smart idea since your opponent will try and tarpit the heavies) take the Leviathan.
  • He's a good addition, especially for a non-deepstrike/outflanking army, and while he's tough, he's certainly not tough enough for this level of raving about. T8, 3+ armour, 5+ ignores lost wounds isn't too high up there. If it you're taking a detachment centered on Bjorn, do yourself a favour and take Bray'arth Ashmantle instead; T9, 2+ armour, 5+ invulnerable, and 4+ ignores lost wounds. Less damage output in close combat, but with 2d6 S6 AP-2 D3 autohitting attacks, it will even out either during overwatch or before charging.
• Canis Wolfborn: Dog Wolfborn has returned as a standard yet pretty overpriced Thunderwolf Battle Leader with Wolf Claws. 40pts extra gets you a +1 attack aura for Thunderwolves, Fenrisian Wolves and Cyberowolves teeth and claw attacks, a re-roll on his (and only his) charge rolls and a BS of 5+. With no invulnerable save he will get melted at the first sight of multiple wounds so you'll find a Battle Leader with TH/SS a lot more effective. In short unless you're running a bucket load of Fenrisian Wolves leave him at home.
• Harald Deathwolf: This guy, right here, cheap as chips with a captain buff, Thunderwolf, storm shield, and pretty nice melee. He can deploy 9" from enemies through pseudo-outflank to threaten a charge. What really makes this guy nuts is that he receives a +1 to armour saves against shooting attacks. So survivable, this is an 8th edition attempt at Chapter Master Smashfucker. His frost axe deals 2 wounds a pop as well and deals an extra mortal wound on a wound roll of 6, so even heavy infantry wont be safe. A few Wolf Scouts deploying behind enemy lines will protect him as well, whilst he lets them spray supercharged plasma around with his hit re-rolls. Gives extra buffs to Thunderwolf cavalry
• Krom Dragongaze: A fairly inexpensive but fluffy alternative to a regular footslogging Wolf Lord/Captain. At 90 pts he boasts an extra attack, his frost axe deals D1d3, and he reduces enemy units' morale within 3" by 1. Awesome model, and offers something different from the usual Wolf theme. Cheaper than similarly equipped Wolf Lord, making him the budget choice.
• Logan Grimnar: Everybody's favourite Santa returns once more to the HQ slot but he's no less a killing machine than before. He comes equipped with terminator armour, a 4++ save, a storm bolter and a big ol' axe, and is a venerable mountain of wounds, attacks and MANLINESS. His axe has two profiles, though neither are particularly special, being essentially a +2S force sword or a thunder hammer. Lastly, he gives an aura of rerolls to hit to all Space Wolves and Wolf Guard don't take morale within 6" of him. He's still great for teleporting in to buff a big unit of deep-striking terminators, as they benefit from both of his auras.
  • Logan Grimnar on Stormrider: For 190 points now, the sled bumps his toughness to 6 and wounds to 12. With only a 10" move that degrades and the ability to re-roll charges without needing the rule from elsewhere (like Wulfen), this basically means he'll be staring down the barrels of your opponent's heavy weapons with no protection for a couple of turns, as he can't hide near other units; on the bright side, he does get to keep his old 2+/4++. The extra attacks from the wolves aren't going to do much to anything that isn't light infantry, but they help. He also gains the ability to re-roll failed charges, which helps to compensate for his speed.
    • While on Stormrider, he no longer qualifies for his own Chapter Tactics, making him less accurate than on foot with the Thunder Hammer profile of the Axe Morkai (and don't forget, he can't re-roll hit rolls of 2 with it, even though they are misses), and reducing his Heroic Intervention distance. That said, because he is a vehicle, he is repairable by an (overcosted) Iron Priest.
      • The latest errata makes him cavalry which should qualify him for the chapter tactic again.
    • Alternative Take: Jolly Old Saint Logan can be a fairly cheap murder machine that fills out any list. Conferring a re-rolls to-hit aura to your Thunderwolves or Predator gunline, he is one of the few characters you want riding in front of your army. He soaks a decent amount of firepower with a 4++ invulnerable on 12 wounds and has a man-sized fight phase. He requires good Dakka to bring down and protects the rest of your list for at least a turn from most of the enemy's multi-wound shots. Great as a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX and provides good aura buffs to boot.
• Njal Stormcaller: See below. You will be generally be better off giving him Runic Terminator Armour for maximum effectiveness, only take him if will be tranported and you wanto save some points.
  • Njal Stormcaller in Runic Terminator Armour: Sticking the Tempest that Walks inside a suit of Runic Terminator Armour is a no brainer. At 153 pts he's 15pts more than normal Njal but with an extra wound, 4++ and the ability to deep strike. Also only 13 pts more than a similarly equipped Terminator Rune Priest but with a lot more benefits. Along with his improved stat line Njal knows 3 Tempestas powers along with Smite so he can pick and choose which 2 he wants to cast with +1 on he psychic tests. He can also deny 2 enemy powers per turn with a re-roll on one of the attempts, combined with his psychic hood this gives you a damn good chance of denying an opponents powers which really matters with all the Smite spam out there this edition. Nightwing is still underwhelming but Assault D6 strength 3 shots are better than nothing. Play aggressively and drop him with another deep striking unit so he can support them, throw out Powers and shut down enemy casters.
• Ragnar Blackmane: Got Primarised in the Space Wolves codex, so according to the rules, his non-Primaris version is no longer legal. Since you can play any way you like, his original entry is preserved below, followed by his "real" entry.
  • Comes in at 100 points, which is starting to hit the pricey side for a footslogging Lord. He's got an extra attack but has lost his Furious/Berserk charge bonuses of previous editions so isn't quite the whirlwind of charging death he used to be. His War Howl now grants all units within 6" re-rolls to failed charge rolls, Insane Bravado doubles his heroic intervention range and his Frost Sword hits at S5 AP-4 D2, chewing through anything without a decent Invulnerable save. If you're using a number of deep striking units Ragnar's a decent bet to support them in a pod, allowing anyone around him a better chance of hitting that first turn charge with his re-rolls. More expensive than a Smash Lord, and re-rolling charges is something Wulfen give.
  • Ragnar Blackmane (Primaris): As expected he gets the extra wound and attack that all Primaris have, but more conspicuously he replaces Shock Assault with his old Berserker Rage, giving him 3 attacks when Shock Assault would trigger instead of one. Additionally, he lets nearby Space Wolves within 6" make a consolidation move of 6" instead of the usual 3". Get this guy in an Impulsor with either Incursors, Reivers or Veteran Intercessors (Give the Sarge something tasty) and then RIP AND TEAR, UNTIL IT IS DONE!
  • This guy is the beast... but being a primaris you will find so much trouble to pair him with other assaulting units that might be better to leave him home. No mire drop pod for him, no landraider or stormwolf with wulfens,wolf guard termies or blood claws. Only footslog or different transport. Option the would be reivers, kinda meh!
• Ulrik the Slayer: Ulrik's a souped-up pseudo-Wolf Priest with +1 to BS, W, and A, +3" to his Leadership-boosting ability, and the Slayer's Oath, which greatly improves his support ability provided he's managed to kill a Character or Monster (which isn't terribly likely, especially with his low mobility) to also add +1 to melee wound rolls. Either way, he's not a real Wolf Priest - he has the keyword, but he doesn't have the Priest rule, or any Litanies - instead, Slayer's Oath gives him the re-roll melee hits ability at all times without praying, and he can't pray for anything else.
  • Ulrik's not quite as good as he used to be, but at only 8 points over a regular similarly equipped Wolf Priest not a terrible choice. Still, you're honestly usually better off with a regular wolf priest or a Primaris one, depending on what you wanted - Ulrik's aura has terrible synergy with your Chapter Tactic, so the other Prayers are usually better, even though they can fail.

Troops

• Grey Hunters They're less tactical than they used to be after the loss of Counter-Attack. But the Wolf Standard now lets you reroll run and charge rolls of 1, significantly improving their mobility, while their chainswords make them a cut above standard Tacticals in assault. Like most of your units, cowards at Ld 7 unless you pay to add a Wolf Guard Pack Leader - the stock sergeant they come with has +1A, but no +1Ld. Consider Terminator Armor on the Wolf Guard Pack Leader - it's unique, if nothing else - but leave it off if you want the unit to fit in a Razorback. They now cost the same as Tacticals and Blood Claws.
  • Something important to note is that the Wolf Guard Pack Leader is no longer an upgrade for the Grey Hunter Pack Leader; instead, you have to take him separately. You'll need at least 6 models in the squad if you want a combi-weapon in the unit, unlike codex Space Marines that only need 5. Thankfully that's just enough to stuff a combi and a special weapon inside of a Razorback MSU-style, but you'll be paying a few more points to do this than regular Marines would.
  • The reason to take this unit is their Wolf Standard, but you can't fill them up with flamers or good melee weapons to synergize with their sped-up Advancing and Charging.
  • The Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour has no discount, but a base one comes at 2 points less than you'd pay for one in the actual, full unit.
  • One of the more popular and effective ways of running these guys is a 6-man unit that includes a Wolf Guard Pack Leader with a Combi-Plasma, a marine with a Plasma Pistol, and a marine with a Plasma Gun. That's 5 Plasma shots and 6 Bolter shots on a 119 pt troops choice. Stick them in a Razorback (Assault Cannons are fun) and run them next to a Wolf Lord or Bjorn to confidently overcharge your Plasma shots. This setup allows Grey Hunters to reliably hunt MEQs, TEQs, charge weak models with Chainswords, and sit on objectives, making them one of the most versatile troop choices in the game.

• Blood Claws Brutal on the charge with an additional attack. They've gotten their "must charge if able" rule back too, and their WS is better than their BS. All this means is that you want these guys in melee ASAP, and should consider HQs and Wulfen to buff their melee game. Unfortunately costs the same per model as codex Marines despite being worse (debatably) base, so you'll want to buff them to fix the issue. With the Chapter Approved update, Grey Hunters are now the same price as these. The ability to get one more attack on the charge is a trap for people who can't count (or people that can and can also read the rules that give them +1 to hit on all their melee attacks, of which they get more than the Grey Hunters, making them slightly better in melee in an army that focuses on melee. 3 melee attacks vs. 2 bolter shots and 1 melee attack is 15/18 vs 13/18 chance of causing a wound against MEQs, so they are actually SLIGHTLY better, more buffs can widen that gap, not to mention the Specialist Detachment that can give every Blood Claw on the field +1 to wound vs a specific target for only 2 CP). Assuming you are going to shoot the same unit that you are charging, having a boltgun rapid fire rather than shooting a pistol once does the same thing, except the bolt pistol hits on 4's and you can lose a model in overwatch that would have gained the +1 attack. Basically, having +1 on the charge is straight-up worse than having a bolt gun, unless your opponent is in cover and/or has other protection from ranged attacks.
  • Remember, the whole unit is a Blood Claws unit, so buffs like Lukas or Wulfen resolve against the Wolf Guard model, too.
  • You can stuff three 5 man squads (no Wolf Guard) with wolf priest into a land raider crusader. Solves troops requirements for battalions, takes up 1 model for deployment rather than 5, and altogether serves as a top-notch horde/chaff removal tool allowing other units to move about more freely. Excellent place to make use of a stalker pack if you have the CP.
  • The only edge Blood Claws have over Grey Hunters is the ability to be taken in squads of 16 (15 + Wolf Guard Pack Leader). This allows for more effective use of stratagems such as Cunning of the Wolf (16 MEQs wreaking havoc in the enemies backline can be a real thorn in the enemies side and serve as an excellent DISTRACTION CARNIFEX) and the Stalker Pack's stratagem for +1 to wound.

• Intercessor Squad The Primaris counterpart to the Tactical Squad is a 5 to 10-man force with an extra attack and wound per model and packs Bolt Rifles with longer range and better AP than the standard Bolter, allowing to be more effective against infantry and tougher opponents, and Auto Bolt Rifles are assault 3 bolters.
  • The Intercessor Pack Leader can bring a Power Fist, which Space Wolves loves. Take multiple MSU INtercessors, all with a Power Fist for their respective Pack Leaders. Now you have multiple potential targets for your Lone Wolf Stratagem.

• Infiltrator Squad: Same statline as Intercessors, but with +1Ld. Standard unit of one Sergeant and four Bodies, and an optional five extra, but unique in that it can replace one with either an Apothecary-Cadet (that can only heal a model from this unit, or revive one on a 5+), or a comms specialist who will let your whole unit benefits from the auras of any Phobos Captains or Lieutenants currently in play no matter where they are on the board. Marksman bolt carbines are exactly the same as boltguns, but unmodified hit rolls of 6 automatically hits and wounds, but your opponent still gets a save. They are affected by the Bolter Discipline rule, so double tap out to 24" when stationary. Their smoke grenades work exactly as vehicle smoke launchers; sacrifice a round of shooting for a -1 hit modifier against opponents shooting attacks (Raven Guard chapter tactics anyone?). They can deploy when setting up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" from an enemy unit or your opponent’s own deployment zone: this is during set-up only, not during any of your other turns. Finally, enemy units cannot arrive as reinforcements within 12" of this unit, making them excellent at area denial.
  • Sadly, at 22 points a model (and 32 points for the Helix Adept or Comms), much of this needs to be judged against the flexibility of the Tactical Squad, the solidity of firepower from an Intercessor squad, and the cheapness of the Scout Squad. Bad? Maybe not. Overcosted? The jury is still out...but the verdict is likely yes.
  • While they do cost as much as Reivers with grapple guns and grav shutes, they do deny deep strikes within 12" of them meaning the majority of Rapid-Fire weapons can't upon arriving and more importantly enemy units can't charge you out of deepstrike (crippling to armies and players that rely on it and makes their ability much more valuable against Orks, 1K Sons & GSC). Spread them about to maximize that bubble and watch them draw fire from your opponent (assuming their army relies on this tactic) possibly saving other key units. So weigh this against their staggering cost (230 for 9 plus a Hellix Adept) for a troops choice, although thankfully now you at least don’t have to take the full 10 man squad to include a specialist.
  • Arguably the best use of Infiltrator squads in the new codex is as a universal "Anti Everything" troop choice. By combining the use of a few key buffs, Captain, Phobos Lieutenant, and Chaplain, infiltrators can cause extreme damage to any target. With Storm of Fire from the captain(plus rerolls), Target Priority from the Phobos lieutenant, and catechism of fire from the chaplain, they can bring forth a withering hail of bolts that can outright destroy even hard targets such as dreadnoughts.

• Incursor Squad: Cheaper infiltrators that trade their auto-wounding on 6 rifles for ignores cover. Also trade their fancy electronic warfare kit for sensors that can ignore hit penalties, and carry knives to get an extra hit on 6s. They can set a single haywire mine per game and... that's about it. They lose the ability to take a Helix Adept or comm array, which I guess makes them the jocks to the Infiltrators nerds, complete with explosive football to toss. In Space wolves they actually serve as excellent combat troops, their knives stacking with their assault doctrine buffs meaning each 6 to hit is two additional hits, so now knives act exactly like Tesla! Honestly would deeply consider these as a premier Space wolf troop choice, especially with how quickly they can get stuck in without a transport.
  • The mine bears a little discussion. When a unit gets within 3" it deals d3 mortal wounds, plus an extra 1 if it's a vehicle. If you aren't willing to blow points on infiltrators you don't have much excuse to take these over the now-improved Intercessors. Against certain hard to hit armies they may be worth it, but they are still simply scout troopers with a d3 MW trick.

Elites

• Servitors With Chapter Approved 2018 Servitors got a huge buff in that servo-arms are now free. While they are still not viable for ranged combat, naked they are the same price as a guardsman, except each one comes with a free thunder hammer equivalent. For less cost than you'd pay for a thunderhammer on a character you get four bodies with servo arms hitting on 4+'s on the charge(Servitors do not benefit from Hunters Unleashed) hitting on 5+ (assuming you have a techmarine nearby). They have the spacewolf keyword as well, so all the buff auras affect them as well as gaining +1 on the charge(again, no Hunters Unleashed). Give them a Iron Priest with the wolf stone and perhaps even the saga of the wolf, and you'd have a neat little deathstar for under 90 points.
• Wolf Guard: The Space Wolf equivalent of the various types of Veterans, Wolf Guard lack any sort of bodyguard ability or special weapons (with only combi options). Instead, they have a wider array of excellent melee weapons options. With chainswords being a free upgrade, Wolf Guard are more points-effective than Grey Hunters. Wolf Guard are very versatile, but be careful with going overboard; they're still 1-wound save 3+ models.
  • Wolf Guard on Bikes: Still as versatile as the footslogging version; you can outfit them for ranged fire with combi-weapons or gear them for close combat. A very cheap but effective option is to give them storm bolters and chainswords, doubling their firepower and making use of their higher BS compared to Swiftclaws. 5 of them will set you back 190 points (after both storm bolters) but will chug out 40 bolter shots at rapid fire range, with 16 attacks in melee (or more if Arjac/Wulfen/Wulfenstone/Saga of the Wolfkin are nearby). Large, cheap infantry blobs are going to be common in 8th, and these guys are your best answer for them. At 34 points a dude, the comparison to Thunderwolf Cavalry (which is essentially these same guys on wolves, only as a Fast Attack choice, with the minimum unit size dropped to 3 and all ranged choices removed) at 40 per dude invites itself; the bikes easily win on mobility and ranged output, but the cavalry is far more wounds per point (albeit they'll die faster to multidamage weapons, such as lascannons), even after paying double for their Storm Shields. Melee wise, the bikes will get you more landed hammer hits per point, but the cavalry will pull ahead once you consider their mounts nibbling. The tl;dr is that the Bikes will deal with hordes better at range and heavies better in melee, while the Wolves will deal with hordes better in melee, and can take significantly bigger punches, e.g. during particularly nasty Overwatch.
    • The potential for these guys is incredible. The storm shield lets them eat up big hits, while shooting 20 bolt rounds at infantry, followed by beating down heavy units with fists or hammers. Do note that the new Legends datasheet only lets them take 2 wargear options now (i.e. one gun with one melee) instead of the three options that the index gave them.
  • Wolf Guard Terminators: Wolf Guard Terminators are interesting in that they can mix-and-match close combat and ranged loadouts, and can equip each Terminator with combi-weapons (much like Chaos Terminators). Also, they get access to all the various frost weapons, giving them an edge over their equivalents. Mixing and matching means you can protect your assault cannon Wolf Guard with a few storm shield-wearing Wolf Guard. An alternate way to look at the Terminator Wolf guard is as an exceedingly tough dakka squad. Equip each one with a storm shield and combi-weapon, and you've got a 2+/3++, 2 wounds deepstriking unit for 4ppm less than a sternguard group in a pod. Other good choices include thunder hammer and combi-weapon (for better combined melee and ranged output than other chapters can possibly field in their terminators), power sword and combi-weapon (for more cost-efficient dakka than they can field), and frost sword and combi-weapon (for a compromise between the two). Note that with proper support these guys can become one of the nastiest melee units in 40k. Load them up with either wolfclaws or TH/SS then deep strike them with Arjac, Logan and a character with saga of the wolfkin and the wulfen stone then grab a lawnchair and watch them put Berzerkers to shame. Yes this is a huge points sink for a relatively unreliable deathstar but god damn if it isn’t satisfying to watch a tau players face as your hyper buffed termies shred through their entire gunline at record speed.
  • Wolf Guard Cataphractii Terminators: Drastically curtailed weapon choices and movement, and 4 points more per model base, in return for a 4++ without needing a Storm Shield; effectively a waste of your time, because you are locked into power fists, chainfists, or lightning claws for your melee choices, and combi-bolter for your ranged choices, while your mobility is cut out from under you, further emphasizing the need to bring good guns. You can do test combats yourself with double lightning claw cataphractii versus double wolf claw base terminators yourself to watch the latter win every fight readily, even though the latter costs 2 points fewer per model. You're far better off tailoring the base unit to your needs than trying to tailor your needs to this unit.
    • For 180 pts, you get a grenade harness, four combi-bolters, a heavy flamer, four lighting claws and a power sword, plus a 2+/4++ model with T4 and 2A. These guys can be deepstruck onto a midfield objective, and with bolter drill, combined with mid-tier AP and wound rerolls in melee means that they can hold against anything short of a Maulerfiend rampaging into them. In games with more casual players, thier statline can make them a nice DISTRACTION CARNIFEX.
  • Wolf Guard Tartaros Terminators: Better than the Cataphractii, because they get +1" of movement versus the base unit without a points cost increase; a similar downside of curtailed weapons choices, which is significant - Power Fists aren't nearly as efficient as Thunder Hammers, and you can't fit the unit with Power Swords to drop their total cost - but if you were considering Power Fists and Storm Bolters or twin Lightning Claws for some reason, this unit will be better, for the same cost. One in five also have the option of taking a Reaper Autocannon or a Grenade Harness. Only the Sergeant can take either a Plasma Blaster or a Volkite Charger. But if you choose your load out correctly. Tartaros become excellent chaff killers. Consider Deep Striking a full squad or loading them into Storm Eagle to make the most of their firepower. Freeing up other units equipped with Specialist and Heavy weapons to take on higher priority targets.
    • Honestly though, if you want terminators to hold points and kill chaff, use the base unit. Give them all storm shields and storm bolters and drop them on a point for a near unshiftable unit that spits out 20 bolt shots at 24" for the same cost of 2 min sized tactical squads. Except they're 2+/3++.
• Dreadnought: Dreadnoughts are excellent now since they can be set up to deal with a wide variety of enemies, are very tough like other vehicles, while not degrading if they take damage. Being a Space Wolf means that they generally want to be getting in the thick of it.
• Venerable Dreadnought: 20pts more than a regular Dreadnought to gain WS2+, BS2+, and 6+++FNP. It gets all of the same weapon options as a regular dread, in addition to a blazzard shield and Fenrisian great axe option. Notably, the 2+ BS lets you move and still shoot heavy weapons with a better than 50/50 chance to hit.
  • Combat Arm vs. Great Wolf Claw: S12, AP-3, D3 vs S10 AP-2, D3 but re-rolling to-wound rolls.
  • Fenrisian Great Axe: Venerable Dreadnought only. For when you really want to clear out those swarming 'Gaunts and then slice a Carnifex in half the next turn. Has two killing modes: Scythe, which doubles their number of attacks that hit at S6, AP-3, D1, or Cleave, which causes -1 to their to-hit rolls, but hits at S10, AP-3, Dd6. Always taken with a Dreadnought-sized storm shield known as a blizzard shield that gives a 4+ invulnerable save, and removes all ranged options.
  • Assault Cannon: You know it, you love it. Heavy 6, S6, AP-1, D1. Used to erase infantry.
  • Twin Heavy Bolter ^{Index Option}: Still has its uses compared to the assault cannon. At S5, you're still wounding MEQ's on a 3+, you're still getting six shots, you're still getting -1AP, but you get an extra 12" of range.
  • Twin Heavy Flamer ^{Index Option}: Now we're cookin' laddie. Heavy 2d6 autohitting S5 AP-1. Combine with the heavy flamer on the combat arm and ensure no-one will ever want to charge you.
  • Twin Lascannon: You also know it, you also love it. Heavy 2, S9, AP-4, Dd6. Used to damage vehicles, monsters, and paste poorly positioned characters.
  • Missile Launcher ^{Index Option}: No
  • Twin Autocannon ^{Index Option}: Can replace either arm, but is a waste of the Space Wolf "chapter tactic" if you replace the fist. The best "all-rounder" option, with 48" range, S7, AP-1, and the golden D2. Heavy infantry and light vehicles preferred, but it can take its pick against most things, however a tad bit wasted against W1 models.
  • Multi-Melta: Meh, take the lascannon. Half the range, half the firepower, -1S (and considering a lot of battle tanks are T8, this is significant), for the same damage unless you're within 12". By the time you get to that range however, you could've killed it with the lascannon.
  • Heavy Plasma Cannon: It's just a plasma cannon with the wording changed to that it only deals one mortal wound instead of killing the bearer if it overheats. Heavy d3, S7, AP-3, D1, +1S and D but take a wound on a to-hit roll of 1. Just take the autocannons instead.
  • Helfrost Cannon: HARD PASS. Dispersed, it's worse than the plasma cannon. Focused, it's worse than the lascannon. Just take one or the other, and you'll have a much better life.
• Contemptor Dreadnought: For just a modest points increase over a standard Dreadnought, the Contemptor packs 3 extra inches of movement, 2 extra wounds, +1 strength, the same WS/BS as the Venerable Dreadnought, and a 3+/5++ (it also costs more than a Venerable). All of this, unfortunately, comes with a small consequence. The Contemptor and the Redemptor are the only non-FW dreadnought variants currently that suffer from a Damage Table. Generally speaking, the Contemptor is a goddamn steal for what he costs now. The extra-fast movement speed means he can get into any position he needs to be in very short order, and reach melee combat with almost complete certainty. It's limited to a melee weapon and either a multi-melta or Kheres-pattern Assault Cannon (which has one more point of S compared to the normal AC, in exchange for costing 4 points more - not that S7 vs S6 is a compelling jump) and lacks smoke launchers, but its wargear is still more than enough to take out most enemies.
• Wulfen Dreadnought: The Furioso Dreadnoughts aren't the only melee specialist dreads now. Only has a single storm bolter or heavy flamer as standard, but its paired axe and wolf claw make it a death machine in melee and it can re-roll failed charges. Going for single-wound infantry? Flamer and axe, since he gets to swing eight times with it. Going for anything else? Flamer and claw, since you re-roll failed to-wounds and always deal 3 damage in assault. Be careful about which armies you pit him against. He's not that good compared to the Forgeworld Dreadnoughts. While the axe is a more expensive Power Fist. His save isn't that great either. Save points for Murderfang or a Chaplain Dread if you want a melee monster.
  • If you take the claw and shield combination, you actually end up with two storm bolters, any of which can be swapped for a heavy flamer. If you decide on the storm bolters, remember he's only BS5+.
• Invictor Tactical Warsuit: Dreadnought Lite—all the bulk, half the calories points. T6 and W13 helps keep it on the board, and it doesn’t degrade until it’s down to 6 wounds. For firepower, it can take either an Incendium Cannon that’s basically a souped up Heavy Flamer (12” Heavy 2d6 auto-hit S5 AP-1 D1), or a Twin Ironhail Autocannon (48” Heavy 6 S7 AP-1 D2) for shooting up heavy infantry. Backup weapons are a standard Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, a pair of Heavy Stubbers, and a Heavy Bolter that switches to Pistol 3 when enemies are within 1”. The only real way to take on vehicles (or, say, the occasional Bloodthirster) is with its Power Fist, which does 4 attacks at S14, AP-3, and D3. Finally, to get in position, it has the same Concealed Positions ability as Infiltrators and Incursors.
  • Best use of this is probably to give it the flamer option and use Concealed Positions to start it within 12” of some enemy infantry. Further, this unit packs 5 S14 Ap-3 D3 hits on the charge or when charged, and careful positioning will hamper monsters and vehicles running towards your infantry, which is just another reason to get it as close to the enemy as possible.
  • You could also give it the Autocannons and either leave it in your backfield for long-range fire support or use Concealed Positions to put it where it can pop shots off at targets who tried to hide and block line of sight. However, the rest of its weapons are oriented towards close-range infantry mulching, leading to the same issues as with the laser version of the Repulsor Executioner.
• Lone Wolf ^{Index only} He's now more expensive than a Primaris Lieutenant, with a worse statline and zero buffing ability. He DOES have better wargear, and rerolls 1s against monsters and characters, but is awkward to transport, expensive when geared up, and he takes up one of the most crowded parts of your FoC. In the past, his utility was found in being cheap enough to be disposable while still being a credible threat to lone characters and monsters, and now with 3 attacks at 75+ points, he's neither. Hard skip. His one redeeming factor could be his one chucklesome ability to ignore the loss of his last wound, rolled per hit, which makes him acceptably good at tying up high damage, low attack volume models.
  • Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour (Index only) With the buffs to terminator armor, charging after deep strikes, and the removal of scattering, he's less terrible than his PA equivalent, but now costs more than a wolf lord. Teleport this bad boy next to the enemy and hope he gets his charge off. If not, your opponent will have to dump a fair bit of firepower into bringing him down, and as a character, that's only if he's the closest unit to them.
  • Take a blizzvendread instead for 1 more point.
• Company Ancient A Grey Hunter stat line with 4 wounds and 3 attacks. Come with bolt pistol base but may be given a bolter, a plasma pistol, a special melee weapon or a combi-weapon instead. Gives an aura of +1Ld for all Space Wolves within 6". When any SW dies within 6", they can make one CC attack or shoot with one weapon on a 4+. Good combo is to put him with Long Fangs so you get the most from their shooting, especially if you lose them to supercharged plasma.
• Primaris Ancient Upgraded Company Ancient. Comes with added durability and a better gun; park behind a melee and plink away at enemy counter chargers.
• Wolf Scouts Wolf Scouts have more weapons options than vanilla Scouts, and at no additional cost; exchange Concealed Positions for Behind Enemy Lines, allowing you to set up Wolf Scouts near any table edge. A small unit packing maximum plasma (Scout = plasma pistol, Scout = plasma gun, Pack Leader = plasma pistol, Wolf Guard = combi-plasma or twin plasma pistols) will only set you back around 110pts and can cause your opponent plenty of grief deploying behind their expensive heavy support units.
• Wulfen: One of the best melee units in 8th, kit them out with the giant axes and a couple of Stormshields & Thunderhammers. These guys are your choice against elites and enemy beatsticks as these guys wreck them, just don't charge hordes. Their Death Frenzy rule is insanely powerful; giving them a 5+ ignore all wounds save after armour and Invulnerable have failed them and also allows them to instantly attack again if they die in combat. They also buff your units, giving them either charge re-rolls or an extra attack. Bounding Lope allows them to advance & charge with re-rolls to failed charges as well, combined with their 7" move you'll find them getting around the board quicker than Thunderwolves a lot of the time. Combine with a Wolf Priest for an absolutely murderous unit that will molest anything and can take a bit of punishment as well.
  • Use Dark Angels stratagem the Lion and the Wolf to see what +1 WS, attack, strength and leadership can help the wulfen leader.
• Reivers: Something between Wolf Scouts and Wulfen, Reviers are something of a 'jack of all trades, master of none' kind of unit in Space Wolves. They have the deployment capability of the Scouts, but non of the special weapons. They have better armor then Wulfen, but none of the special melee weapons or strength that the Wulfen have. What makes Reivers truly special is their shock grenades and terror troops rule. Set these guys up to throw a shock grenade to neutralize overwatch, and then set in a second unit to just butcher the target. As for terror, set these guys up near a target, and then use a second unit to shoot up the target and force a morale check. The point is that Reivers are a force multiplier for the Space Wolves. Also, remember to give these guys grav-chutes and grapnel launchers. The ability to deploy anywhere and ignore vertical height means that no one is safe from the Reivers.
  • Weaponwise, you're probably better off with combat blades. The Hunters Unleashed rule with the added attack that combat blades give to Reivers make them a powerful MEQ close combat unit. That being said, Bolt Carbines do mesh nicely with Grapnel Launchers, allowing Reivers to shoot and advance.
• Great Company Champion: Basically a battle leader armed with only a bolt pistol and master-crafted power sword. He does get a reroll against characters. All in all a poor choice, since he doesn't really offer much that you already have. Ok if you don't want to spend much on points, but honestly there are better options.
  • Now gets different war gear, including a combat shield. Check the FAQ page on Warhammer Community.
• Aggressors: Primaris Marines who really hate hordes. Since 8th is the horde edition you need them. Can take either Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets with Fragstrom Grenade launchers or Flamestorm Gauntlets. They have to be close to the enemy to do their jobs. So make sure you have points left over for a Repulsor. Relentless Advance removes firing penalties on their hit rolls. If they remain stationary during their turn. Aggressors are allowed to fire twice. Their Gauntlets double as free Power Fists. Making them much better Cataphractii.
  • Space Wolves have the unique ability to outflank Aggressors (now that the Raven Guard strat was nerfed). This means we're the only ones who can reliably get these bad boys right where we need them, and still have a chance to charge. The best way to run them is 1-3 max squads with boltstorm gauntlets, running with an ancient. When they die, on a 4+ they get to shoot twice (since they didn't move in your opponent's movement phase). If your opponent is dumb enough to let them live, 6 aggressors shooting twice conservatively pumps out 100 shots. Not bad for 222 points...

Special Characters

• Lukas the Trickster: Makes everyone around him less disciplined, friend or foe, including himself, not that single-model units care much about that. He has a +1D Wolf Claw and a Plasma Pistol, paired with a fairly incredible WS2+/BS3+/W4/A4, and opponents who Fight him get a -1 to hit penalty. If he's slain while Fighting, he rolls off with his opponent, and if he wins, the unit that killed him takes 1d6 mortal wounds. His best ability, and the reason to take him, is that he's like a lite version of a Wolf Guard Battle Leader - friendly Blood Claw units within 6" (once again including himself) reroll ones to wound (which his claw already does, but his pistol won't - just remember to avoid overcharging the pistol without a very good reason, as it will tend to kill him right when you need it not to). He has no great way to keep up with the bike or jump infantry versions of his buddies, so he's probably best taken with the basic footslogging troops choice, and remember, he will stack with abilities that re-roll misses, like a Wolf Lord.
  • Points: Lukas costs 110, while a footslogging Wolf Guard Battle Leader costs 60 and has a more versatile aura (and comes stock with worse gear). This means Lukas' points are paying for his personal beatstickery (the claw, the pistol, the additional Wound he has over the leader, both of his Fight phase buffs, and his universal leadership debuff, if there's a good way to assign a cost to it), which is not an efficient way to get shit done - you should be investing points in making a good murder unit and then using your buffers to apply to it. You'll usually be better off with a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, as a result - roughly half the cost, and mostly better wargear choices, like a power fist and storm bolter. And, of course, you're not constrained to footslogging one.
• MURDERFANG: As a Character with fewer than 10 wounds, Murderfang can only be targeted with ranged weapons if he's the closest enemy. With a decent screen of infantry and good use of his Murderlust ability, getting him into close combat unharmed is almost too easy. Just don't do something stupid like charging Relic/Hellforged Contemptor or Leviathan Dreads. Graviton weaponry and their Automatic Shielding/Hellfire Reactor invul saves will give Murderfang a nice buttfucking. However, he does make a decent meat shield for your own Forge World Dreadnoughts, or Bjorn. Having both of them with a Chaplain Dread so Murderfang can run interference for the two HQs is a viable strategy.
  • After playing several games with this guy, I think he makes a very good defensive anchor for your army. If your opponent is running an alpha-strike type army, hide him near an important unit and charge deep striking heavy infantry. I guarantee if your opponent hasn't seen him on the table before, they'll underestimate him. I've had him completely wipe tough beatstick units in a single round of combat on multiple occasions, and he usually makes back his points and then some. Just be careful on where you deploy him so he doesn't get caught without a screen to protect him.

Forge World

• Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts: 37 points (around 38%) more naked than a naked normal Contemptor. Two more wounds compared to the standard Contemptor, ignores wounds received on a 6+ AND has a 2+ save, but Attacks also degrade with damage now (rather than Movement). You also get access to way more options than any other Dreadnought. For your convenience, they're all listed below; you can take any two you like, unlike the base Contemptor, which is forced into 1 melee option and has only a Kheres and a Multi-melta to choose from for its main gun. Unfortunately is a Relic, so each one of these forces you to take a non-Relic Elite. If you really just want a Contemptor but better (i.e. filling the same role against the same targets), take 1 chainfist with a heavy flamer and 1 Kheres. You'll get into position for the Kheres faster since your Movement doesn't cripple, it'll take way more work to cripple your statline, and your fist's output in both melee and ranged will be incredible.
  • Cyclone Missile Launcher: FAQ'd, 50 points for two 36" range missile launchers; two actual missile launchers cost the same, but with 48" range and the ability to split fire. Pass.
  • Powerfist: AP-3 and D3. Pay 6 points and get the chainfist.
  • Chainfist: Contemptor Chainfists gain -1 AP and +1 damage over a normal DCCW. Overall a solid upgrade that lets them do terrible damage to both vehicles and monsters. It's a must-take for all purposes. Don't take 2, though - 1 chainfist + 1 powerfist will give you identical performance while saving you 6 shiny points.
  • Combat Arm Gun Options: Built-in Storm Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Plasma Blastgun (an assault 2 plasma gun at a steep price hike), or Graviton Blaster (an assault 2 grav-gun without paying a point more, which is sadly not nearly enough to make it worthwhile). Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts have the Unstoppable Fury rule, allowing them to reroll 1s to-hit if they are armed with two melee weapons, but doesn't specify in which phase. So you have less concern about overcharging your plasma weapons now that you hit on a rerollable 2+, but any main gun will be more effective than four overcharged plasma gun shots. Movement no longer cripples, meaning the Heavy Flamer is a really solid choice, allowing you to easily get into range while ignoring the decreasing BS.
    • Re-rolling hit rolls of 1 is hardly worth the cost of the second melee weapon, which is quite steep, with even a DCCW running you 40; your best bet if you want melee is a single chainfist and heavy flamer.
  • C-Beam Cannon: The new Heavy Conversion Beamer is a single shot weapon that starts at S6 AP-3 that does D3 damage. It also gains +2 points of strength and +D3 damage after each 24" bracket of distance, totalling S10 AP-3 3d3 Damage at anything over 48" range. If a model is removed from play as a result of wounds caused then it automatically trigger 2d6 extra auto-hits on the target unit at S6 AP0 D1. Generally speaking, this weapon suffers the exact same problem as the Vindicare Assassin, with a crippling downside that the Contemptor MUST remain stationary for the entire turn in order to use it. It cannot be stressed enough that this thing really NEEDS the range, though firing it at infantry squads has a good chance of killing a random mook and triggering an average of seven further S6 hits, which is still better than a twin heavy bolter. At full range, the initial hit will likely knock the crap out of any target, wounding it on a 2+ or 3+ depending on its toughness and generally reducing its save to 5+ or worse but those additional hits will likely be wasted.
    • Against the infantry targets you have a serious chance at one-shotting, the C-Beam Cannon suffers from costing so much. Against GEQs, you'll do a lot of damage even at short range, but not enough to outperform the Kheres, and you'll face similar scaling problems at any range, largely because as your ability to guarantee the "splatter" improves, your splatter's actual value gets worse. This weapon actually becomes the best when used against hard targets at range - at 48" or more away, the only 6+ wounds target it's not your best choice against is T5 or T6, where the twin autocannons take over - but without the range, it's just not going to earn its keep.
  • Kheres Assault Cannon: Take this against GEQs and T5+ enemies; it gets the valuable 2+ to-wound against the small stuff, and the S7 helps it more effectively threaten things like Tyranid Warriors, Crisis Battlesuits, Astartes Bikers, and light vehicles.
  • Twin Heavy Bolters: Take this against MEQs; both this and the Kheres wound on a 3+ against T4 targets, but this is cheaper and has an extra 12" range.
  • Twin Autocannons: Best suited for two-wound infantry (Terminators, Stealth Battlesuits, Bikers of all flavors), and light vehicles/monsters (War Walkers, Sentinels, Tyranid Warriors). However, it also finds its use against most medium/heavy targets but is wasted against single-wound models since the above two guns spit out more shots for less points. Due to the range and price, this is much more effective on the Contemptor Mortis, where you won't be hit by the -1 to-hit from moving.
  • Twin Lascannons: Has fantastic range and anti-tank effectiveness, but is crippled by its staggering cost; in order to earn its keep you have to shoot things with the wounds to notice that 1d6 damage rating. Due to the range and price, this is much more effective on the Contemptor Mortis, where you won't be hit by the -1 to-hit from moving.
  • Multi-Melta: Half the shots and half the range (or one-quarter of the range for the melta effect) than twin lascannons. Pass.
  • Heavy Plasma Cannon: The Kheres or bolters are better against infantry, and the autocannons are better against anything you'd normally overcharge this for. Pass.
• Relic Deredeo Dreadnought: The end-all solution to your dakka-Dread needs, for when even the Contemptor Mortis won't cut it. Its armor save is slightly worse than the Contemptor's at only a 3+, but to compensate it has 2 more wounds and its invulnerable save rises to 4+ in the Fight phase (but why are you in melee in the first place?) on top of the built-in smoke launchers. For guns, you have the Anvilus Autocannons (8 36" autocannon shots with +1 S) for mulching infantry, the Hellfire Plasma Carronade (5 overcharged plasma gunshots which deal 3 damage each but cause mortal wounds on a 1) as the generalist option, and the Arachnus Lascannon Battery (2 S10 AP-4 D6 Damage shots that deal an extra mortal wound on 6s) for taking out vehicles, and also chest-mounted heavy bolters/heavy flamers. Don't bother upgrading to heavy flamers. While auto-hits are good, the Deredeo should be as far away as possible. It should be shooting things, not tied up in melee. It can supplement the main weapon with either an Aiolos Missile Launcher for extra fire support or an Atomantic Pavaise to give everyone within 6" of itself a 5+ invulnerable save. The latter works great with Devastators or other long-ranged units that can help support the Deredeo's firepower.
  • 8th edition is kind of a mixed bag for the Deredeo. While 8 shots at BS2+/3+ on the move with the Anvillus sure are are great, the 12" range reduction is very painful, especially for the plasma carronade. 24" max means it will be in range of most weapons in addition to the risk of losing wounds which is very probable at 5 shots per turn. So it is advised to have a reroll/repair character nearby should you go for the plasma option.
• Deimos Pattern Relic Predator: Take a Predator, give it an extra wound, and slap a Plasma Destroyer on it as its turret weapon, and you have one of these tanks. The Plasma Destroyer itself can't be overcharged, but with the same number of shots as the basic Predator Autocannon and 2 Damage it doesn't really need to be. While it can swap out the plasma destroyer for the standard Predator guns, that's a waste of its options. Instead, you should use its unique options: the Conversion Beam cannon to make it a hard-hitting artillery unit, the Magna-Melta for close-range anti-vehicle firepower, and the Infernus cannon for a double dose of heavy flamer goodness.
• Relic Javelin Attack Speeder: The poor Deodorant Tanks got a huge nerf in 8th edition. For the most part these fulfill the same role as before, that of a Heavy Land Speeder. But they lost the twin-linked rule on their Missile Launchers(WTF). They even lost their trademark Outflank ability. Overall this turned what was already a mediocre relic slot item, at best, into a shitty tool that's worse off than a generic land speeder.
• Relic Sicaran Tank: The Sicaran has transitioned smoothly into 8th ed, retaining its status a high-speed menace. With a big 14" move, T7, 14 wounds, and 3+ Save it falls in between a Predator and a Land Raider in terms of size and durability. It's armed with a single Heavy Bolter and can grab 2 sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters or 2 sponson-mounted Lascannons, a hunter-killer missile, and a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter if you crave more dakka.
  • Sicaran Battle Tank:Armed with a nasty twin accelerator autocannon which has a couple of neat tricks. It fires at 48" Assault 8 S7 AP-1 D2, suffers no penalties to its hit rolls when attacking flyers, and a to-wound roll of 6 increases the AP of that hit to -3. This Sicaran is a useful anti-air unit in a pinch and is well known for its ability to counter skimmers. Make good use of the Assault rule on its main gun by zipping around and firing while advancing.
  • Venator Tank Destroyer: The Venator trades the regular Sicaran's quantity of anti-skimmer shots for vehicle annihilation; even if a tank survives the Neutron Pulse Cannon's S12 AP-4 D6 damage hits (all 3 of them), it'll have all its shooting rolls reduced by 1 for the turn, which can make life very difficult for vehicles like Executioners or Tau vehicles with Ion Cannons. Additionally, it doesn't get penalties for moving and firing its heavy weapons.
  • Punisher Assault Tank: A new flavor of Sicaran, its draw is the Punisher Rotary Cannon - 18 Heavy Bolter shots guaranteed to make any hordes within 36" hate life. And if you don't move that turn, it re-rolls all to-hit rolls of 1. Enjoy making Orks and Tyranids cry.
  • Arcus Strike Tank: Another Sicaran variant, this one is armed with a rotary missile launcher. Though 24" is a bit short-ranged for a vehicle weapon, it's still Heavy 2d6 with S5 AP-2 D1. And not only does it negate cover saves, but it also deals an extra mortal wound to INFANTRY units on a 6+ to wound. If you're forced to fight an extra-large horde, it can switch its weapon profile to Heavy 4d6 at the expense of not being able to fire its missiles until after the end of the next turn. As a result, taking the heavy bolters/lascannons and the storm bolter is a good idea to ensure it doesn't render itself defenseless after a missile massacre.
  • Omega Tank Destroyer: Yes, it's datasheet really describes it as a "tank destroyer". A really shit plasma variant; 24", heavy 6, S7, AP-3, D1, or 24", heavy 3, S9, AP-3, D3. The overcharged version inflicts a mortal wound on the target on a to-wound roll of 6 but inflicts d3 mortal wounds on itself on a to-hit roll of 1. If it had twice the shots (which would make sense as it has two guns, in a similar way to the regular Sicarian), it would be fine, but it doesn't.
• Relic Whirlwind Scorpius: The Scorpius is set apart from the basic Whirlwind by its Scorpius Launcher (and its occupation of an Elites slot, not a Heavy one) - while it has only half the range of either of the Whirlwind's rocket types, 3d3 S6 AP-2 D2 shots is still plenty to threaten hordes and light vehicles alike. And as an added bonus, it can fire twice in a shooting phase if the Scorpius hasn't moved in the movement phase.

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino: 10 Wounds and a 3+ make them harder to crack open than ever before and can restore a lost wound on a 6+ each turn . It might not seem like much, but it can make the difference between moving 12" and 6" if it moves you back a step on the damage table. Grab 2 storm bolters and play ultra aggressively when they drop off their cargo. Charge, disrupt and distract the enemy to protect your small elite units.
• Razorback: Transports that produce offensive output, like a Razorback, are likely to be very strong this edition. Optimum setup is 114pts for a Razorback with twin Assault Cannons which can move forward aggressively and hose the opponent with 12 Assault Cannon shots before dropping a 6 man grey hunter squad to spray plasma around or grab objectives.
• Land Speeder Storm: Remember all the plasma weapons on the wolf scout unit? This transport improves both their mobility and survival, at the cost of the wolf guard battle leader and its options like combi-plasma. This makes scouts good at alpha strike and harassing MEQ and slow TEQ with rapid fire plasma and gives them a chance to avoid being wiped out as soon as firepower is thrown their way unlike their footslogging counterpart, especially if there are more terrifying targets around to draw fire. The transport costs as much as the squad though, so perhaps you'd rather rely on the scout's built-in deepstrike from any table edge.
• Drop Pod: Now only 63 points a model, as of Space Marines 2.0 in 2019. Drop pods now completely ignore the Tactical Reserves rule in matched play. This can be fantastic if you want to drop some Blood Claws up close for harassment while letting the pod itself deny space. You can even fill them with Wolf Guard with combis, or with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields escorted by a Wolf Priest with a Wulfen Stone for 21 hammer swings from a 5 man unit of WG (Thanks, Shock Assault!) all hitting on 3+ on a charge with rerolls from the Priest.
  • As an alternate take, Wolf Guard can drop with Storm Bolters and Frost axes for some anti-horde frontal assault.
• Repulsor: Holds 10 Primaris Marines (models with Gravis armor count as 2) and carries a fair number of anti-tank or anti-horde weapons to protect its passengers. While it can be built to be a veritable battle tank in its own right, it is a heavy point sink and requires support to get the most out of its statline. As most of its anti-tank damage comes from having the potential to equip the equivalent of four lascannons, it might be best to aim for a mixed build to capitalize on its potential to melt hordes and severely damage vehicles. However, its costs can rack up quickly, so unless you plan to field a lot of Primaris Marines you're probably better off taking a Land Raider variant. It also has FLY, with all of its (dis)advantages.
  • If you're just looking for lots of lascannons or horde-clearing weaponry, there are probably cheaper - if somewhat slower - means of getting them on the table, like Long Fangs or Redemptor Dreadnought. Anti-armor setups in particular have the issue that the las-talon has only half the range of the twin lascannons, which means it'll only be able to unleash half its anti-armor firepower at its farthest range. At that matter, most of it's other weapons struggle with an equally short range compared to most vehicle-mounted weapons, so it will likely need support when dealing with long-ranged attackers.
  • Defensively, it's nearly identical to a Land Raider; although its armor is only a 3+, it has the same number of wounds as a LR and does a good job at discouraging charges with its Repulsor Field rule (-2 from any charge rolls). The optional Auto Launchers supplement this with an extra -1 to hit on opponent shooting rolls if the Repulsor doesn't shoot.
  • Three Aggressors with Auto-Boltstorm Gauntlets, a Captain in Gravis armor, and a Primaris Lieutenant and another Primaris all fit snugly in this beast, hit like a brick and protect otherwise slower models. Outfit the Repulsor with Heavy/Onslaught Gatling Canons and say goodbye to any infantry in 18". If you take a regular primaris captain instead of one in Gravis armor, you can also toss a primaris ancient into the floating death-bawks so that the aggressors have a chance to fire when they die as well.

• Impulsor: The inbred spawn of a Razorback and a Repulsor. Has 1 more wound than a Rhino and can be upgraded with a 4++, but lacks Self-Repair and Smoke Launchers. Comes stock with two Storm Bolters with the option of taking Ironhail Heavy Stubber and swapping the storm bolters for fragstorm grenade launchers. 14" movement and FLY, combined with the ability to disembark a unit after moving and the penalty to enemy charges that the Repulsor also inflicts makes the Impulsor one of the better transports... in theory. In practice:
  • It has a transport capacity of 6 but can't carry JUMP PACK or GRAVIS models, so it's only good for moving MSU squads.
  • Passengers can't charge after it's special disembark, so it's no help for assault armies.
  • So, what is it good for? Hellblasters. Whack 5 of them and a Captain into this Primaris pick up and enjoy your 38" rapid-fire threat range.
    • Also good for Intercessors, especially if the pack leader has a Power Fist.
  • It can take the following upgrades:
    • Shield Dome: A 4++ invulnerable save. Generally, this is the one you want.
    • Ironhail Skytalon Array: The cheapest addon. Two more heavy stubbers that get +1 to hit and to wound if they target a flyer, and -1 if they target anything else, which probably translates to BS5 since it lacks Power of the Machine Spirit. Only use if you expect to be up to your armpits in flying enemies or to spend that last 5 points.
    • Bellicatus Missile Launcher: Yep, it's a missile launcher with the addition of Anti-air. Could technically work as an adaptable weapon, but taking other weapon teams and tanks would be better.
    • Orbital Comms Array: The orbital bombardment you know and love from the Damocles Rhino and the Stratagem. One use only, but being able to crap out mortal wounds wherever you like is still nice. As long as you can keep it alive to use it, of course.

Forge World

• Lucius Pattern Dreadnought Drop Pod: It's a drop pod...for dreadnoughts. Good for delivering dreads right into multi-melta range, a shield and axe dread where it matters or putting Murderfang or Leviathans into a good position for a charge.
• Infernum Pattern Razorback: A Razorback with a Multi-Melta. Might be tricky to get it into melta range in one piece, but on the other hand it's a Dedicated Transport with a Multi-Melta.

Flyers

• Stormwolf: The Stormwolf is the Space Wolves equivalent of a Stormraven Gunship, only it's a bit more expensive, holds 16 models and no dreadnoughts, and has better guns. The flying refrigerator (wolf snout?) looks a bit doofy, but don't be fooled: this thing rocks. With the default lascannons/helfrost/heavy bolter loadout, the Stormwolf can handle a variety of threats with ease, and you have the option of dropping the heavy bolters for skyhammer missiles to deal with flyers or two twin multi meltas to kill the bigger stuff (although this option will cost you a whole lot of points). With no -1 to hit on the big guns thanks to POTMS though and with it's Flyer mobility you can feel a lot more comfortable sinking points into it though as it can essentially deliver 2 Long Fang squads worth of Heavy Weapons exactly where you want on turn 1. Build you heavy support around this beast and equip it to your needs. The Stormwolf works fairly well on its own, and it might even be preferable to not put infantry inside because it's already going to be a massive target on the table, but the option is there should you want to stuff a bunch of Blood Claws or Terminators inside.
• Stormfang Gunship: The Stormfang is extremely similar to the Stormwolf and fills pretty much the same role but with a few minor differences. The Stormfang sacrifices most of its transport capacity for a bigger version of the Helfrost Cannon, which lets it shoot once more on Focused mode and D3 more times on Dispersed mode. Dispersed mode is also D 2, unlike regular Helfrost Cannons which gives it huge wound potential against heavier infantry. Additionally, it comes with two Stormstrike missile launchers base, but it can upgrade to two lascannons instead, which you should always do so you can wound basically every vehicle in the game on a 3+. Otherwise, it's the exact same as the Stormwolf but a measly 2-10 pts more expensive depending on whether or not you took the lascannons. If you weren't planning on stuffing infantry inside then it might be worth the upgrade if you have the spare points, the extra hits can be very valuable.
• Stormhawk Interceptor: The Anti-Flying Flyer. Gets a +1 to hit any target with the Fly keyword, to mitigate the penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons. Comes stock with 2 Assault Cannons, 2 Heavy Bolters, and an Icarus Stormcannon. The bolters can be swapped with Skyhammers for more anti-flying or a Typhoon against ground targets, while the Icarus can be swapped for an anti-vehicle laser. Cannot hover unfortunately, but does get to re-roll any 1's for saves and has the normal Hard to Hit.
  • A good choice if you are going up against Tau or Dark Eldar, due to the prevalence of Fly. Especially the icarus/skyhammer combo as it lets you hit anything with Fly on a 2+; with the drawback of hitting everything else only on a 5+.

Forge World

• Fire Raptor: The unholy flying death machine got even better this edition. With T7, 16 wounds and 3+ SV it's almost as tough as a Land Raider. The avenger bolt cannon now packs 10 shots at S6 AP-2 2D, enough to drop a whole Primaris squad if you're lucky. In addition, each quad bolter packs 12 heavy bolter shots. Hellstrike missiles are no longer one use only and you can, in fact, fire 4 missiles at S8 AP-3 3D a turn now. It can take 2 double lascannons instead of the missiles for +1S and the chance to deal more than 3 points (D6) of damage per shot. It can also move and shoot heavy weapons without penalty. You can also swap the heavy bolters for autocannons if you wish for more S/D but only a third of the shots.
  • Note: The latest FAQ reduced its points enormously; it is currently 240 points before wargear, which is 10 points cheaper than it was when 8e started! Yes, it’s still expensive, but it is undoubtably one of the best anti-horde units in the game (barring titanic units, of course), and arguably flat-out the best anti horde unit you have access to. You can also give it the 4 lascannons to help it against other flyers and vehicles.
• Storm Eagle Attack Gunship: This elongated flying brick boasts a transport capacity of 20 and some increased firepower along with some additional wounds. It can transport jump infantry and terminators, but not bikes or primaris marines.
• Caestus Assault Ram: A hover-flyer designed to ram starships/buildings and disgorge Space Marines into the breach, the Caestus Assault Ram is armed with a slew of powerful weapons and abilities. The Caestus is quite survivable with T7, 14 wounds, and a 2+ save. It's armed with a Caestus Ram - a melee weapon that hits at S User(8) AP-3, D6D, and increases to a +3 to hit (from its usual 5+) in melee against buildings when it charges. It's Airborne Ram ability restricts it to declaring charges against and being charged and attacked in melee by units with FLY, but only while it's in not in hover mode. It is also armed with 2 Firefury Missile Batteries, each Heavy 4 S6 AP-1 1D. It is further armed with a Twin Magna-Melta - Heavy 2D3 S10 AP-4 D6D (with the Melta rule), meaning this thing can lay the hurt on medium enemy infantry and enemy armor alike. With its 50" movement (70" if you advance) and PotMS, it can reach out and touch people on turn one. For 340 points (for the hull and the Melta; missile batteries are free) it's pricey, but given Hard to Hit, its toughness, its wounds, and a 2+ save, it will deliver its cargo. It's unique troop bays can carry 10 infantry models in terminator armor or power armor, as well as scouts, with terminators taking up a single space instead of the usual 2.
• Xiphon pattern interceptor: A high-speed interceptor, the Xiphon is a heavily armed flyer that channels a strong Battlestar Galactica vibe. It sports a respectable BS3+, T7, 11 wounds and a 3+ save. It's armed with 2 Twin Lascannons as well as a Xiphon Missile Battery - Heavy 3 S6 AP-2 D3. It also adds 1 to all hit rolls when targeting units with the "FLY" keyword thus negating the effects of "Hard to Hit" and since a lot of units with "FLY" don't have the "Hard to Hit" bonus it will hit them on a 2+. With a huge 50" move and 4 lascannon and 3 missile shots, it'll put some major hurt on flyers and ground targets alike.

Fast Attack

• Cyberwolves: Like Fenrisian Wolves, only cheaper since you only need 1 model. They've lost their T5 but in exchange have two wounds. Buffing the 4+ armour save with cover would make them surprisingly durable on their trip up the table.
  • These guys are the cheapest Fast Attack option in the game, and an absolutely phenomenal choice of anchor for your drops, and/or hiding in LOW-blocking cover on an objective in small games.
• Fenrisian Wolves: Fast and do some damage now that they fight at AP-1, but still die to a stiff breeze. Very cheap FA slot filler, although not as cheap as a Cyberwolf. They gain more leadership the more wolves you have in a unit, but it's still pretty crappy. If you want them to get into combat and do some damage you'll need a wolf priest to shepherd them, otherwise leave them as fodder.
  • These guys are basically our only good screening option if you don't want to ally with another Imperium faction. A unit of 10 or 15 dogs is cheap and make for a fairly decent screen to help us against smite and mortal wound spam. Consider taking them if you have a hole to fill in your list. These guys have AWFUL leadership though, and you are very likely to lose just as many models to moral as you are to shooting, which is not what you want from a screen. Don't expect these to be as effective as a conscript conga.
• Inceptor Squad: The Deadly offspring of a Devastator Squad and a Seraphim Squad that can be taken in squads of 3-6. The mortal wound caused by their pseudo-HoW might look good on paper (on a 6+ does it though?) but when you only have a few models in the unit and no melee weapons CC may not be the most efficient use of them. Instead, take a page from the Seraphim's book and use your improved manoeuvrability to fire off strafing runs, courtesy of your Assault Bolters- effectively Assault 3 Heavy Bolters. They can also take 18" assault plasma cannons to wipe out MEQs/TEQS and put more hurt on vehicles now, because that shit was easy to make into two hand-held guns apparently. Like Assault Marines with Jump Packs, Inceptors have the FLY keyword, with all the strengths and weaknesses that entails. (On the other hand, that does mean you can be a very good distraction if you force an enemy flyer into melee...)
  • Conversely, assaulting with this unit can be a strategic choice. Charging a unit that is weak in CC will allow the Inceptors to avoid getting shot or to tie up the enemy unit for the next turn. Since the Inceptors have the Fly keyword, they can disengage next turn with no penalty and resume shooting. This is a tactical decision and will vary greatly depending on the enemy army.
  • A note on their melee capability: because their squad size is so small, the fact that their sergeant does not pay additional points for his +1A has a great opportunity to shine. More importantly, mortal wounds can be used to bypass otherwise durable targets. Nine min-sized Assault Squads with Jump Packs cost as much as five Inceptor Squads; the number of attacks in each is 99 and 35 + 2.5 mortal wounds (when charging), respectively. Doing the math for you, that means the Inceptors deal more damage per point on the charge against any target which is either T8+ and Sv 2 or Sv 3 (such as a Land Raider), or T5+ and Sv2+. Neither unit will do well in those situations, so you should avoid it, but it's worth noting. Against anything in the game, you're way better off with the Inceptor's guns.

• Suppressor Squad: Three-man squad only, functionally a long-ranged version of an Inceptor since they come with AP-2 autocannons. Can FLY and Deep Strike but lack the Inceptor's T5 or mortal-wounds-when-charging. They can, however, chuck out smoke grenades, and if they make a kill in the shooting phase, that unit cannot fire overwatch in your charge phase. This unit is all but purpose built to wreck Tau face, allowing you to shut down their obnoxious For the Greater Good rule and flood their gunlines with Assault Marines, Terminators and melee Dreads, as the Emperor fully fucking intended.
• Land Speeders: Land speeders are now, for all intents and purposes, slightly bigger, faster, and more heavily armed attack bikes. The key difference here is that land speeders have the FLY keyword, which means if they do manage to survive the combat they'll occasionally find themselves in, they can just move on and shoot as normal (albeit with the penalty for moving with heavy weapons). Missile launchers got great (although overcosted) in this edition, which makes them a very solid option, but be cautious as these are also expensive, and whilst the land speeder is very resilient to small arms fire, a good shot from a dedicated anti-tank weapon will see it explode rather swiftly.

• Skyclaws: Skyclaws are essentially Blood Claws with jump packs; their shooting is sub-par (if you're going to give them special weapons, go with flamers) but their extra attack when charging gives them an edge over other versions of Assault Marines. This means they might just be worth it, especially if babysat by a jump-pack Character.
  • Skyclaws also pay the least "taxes" on getting special weapons into the squad - 2 every 5, as opposed to 1 every 3 with Swiftclaws. They should ideally be given flamers, since they're not affected by their BS, and their movement stat means they'll get in range to use them.
  • The sergeant can also take a special weapon, and the wolfgaurd can take a combi. That's four flamers on a deepstriking unit that ignores cover movement penalties for 125 points. Watch your opponent kiss their GEQ blobs goodbye on turn one.
• Swiftclaws: Blood Claws on bikes. In 8E bikes are very fast and quite durable. With BS 4+, using them as special weapon delivery systems is a bad idea, except for flamers, which is a great idea. Replace their bolt pistols with chainswords and get 3 attacks per model on the charge for cheap (by bike standards); otherwise, get Wolf Guard bikers instead.
  • Swiftclaw Attack Bikes If these move, they hit on a 5+, while paying full price for the bike and weapons. Always avoid, even as filler.

• Thunderwolf Cavalry: Don't really have the punch they used to, and slower than bikes to boot, with fewer weapon options. The 3 extra S5, AP-1 attacks per model from the mount does help clear out light infantry, but to really bring the pain like they used to they need to be in proximity to Arjac and/or Wulfen for the bonus attacks. Having to pay 10pts per model for Storm Shields really hurts as well, on top of an already pricey unit, but if you give them a personal Wolf Priest with Jump Pack, they become a lot more survivable. Wolf Claws are an excellent way to give them very good melee output without breaking the bank like some of their other choices. The 8th codex has basically left these guys in the dust, no longer starting at STR 5, losing 2 inches of base movement, and worst of all, the rider himself (which is where all your war gear is going) only comes with 2 attacks, so your points spent are WAY less efficient than in 7th. Also, these infamous "fast" charging units are no longer fleet, so good luck getting into combat without Wulfen around. Basically, GW doesn't like people buying this model anymore for some reason. butt hurt much?

• Scout Bikes: Stuffed to the gills with weapons; twin boltgun, astartes shotgun, bolt pistol, combat knife, and grenades. Up to three can replace their twin boltguns with grenade launchers. They have the same outflank ability as their walking brethren, but have more damage output, damage resistance, and manoeuvrability. Makes a good escort for Harald Deathwolf, since they can keep up after screening him once they arrive.

Forge World

• Tarantula Sentry Guns: Whoooo boy, these suckers got a huge buff in 8th edition. They ended up gaining a whopping +1 BS, along with Toughness 5 and 4 wounds, which makes them fairly sturdy for a 10 point model. The only really significant downside is that they're M0 and can't deep strike, so they'll sit in your deployment zone the entire game. Tarantulas can be equipped with the following loadouts:
  • Twin Heavy Bolters: These are the default weapons. Good against infantry, but comes with the caveat that it MUST target the nearest INFANTRY model, or else the nearest non-INFANTRY. A steal at 17 points, but restrictive.
  • Twin Assault Cannons: Hands down the best option. Tarantulas with dual assault cannons lose their targeting restrictions entirely and gain a whopping 12 shots each. These can be a goddamn steal for what they do and can be considered practically mandatory. Like the THB option, cheaper than two of the base gun at only 35 points.
    • Mathhammer: It costs 27 points to field 6 shots at S5 AP-1 D1 restricted and 45 points to field 12 shots at S6 AP-1 D1 unrestricted, which means the latter would be the better choice even if you didn't also gain the benefit of lifting the restriction. This is so good you even beat the AM version of these things, which cost 24 points for the THB variant.
  • Twin Lascannons: The other default, good against tanks. Also comes with a restriction that it MUST target the nearest enemy non-INFANTRY, or else the nearest INFANTRY. Notably not a steal, since you pay the same cost two lascannons would cost (50 points), but still good.
  • Multi-melta: Same deal as the lascannons, but mathematically worse (carrying two guns is better than carrying one). However, it does unlock your targeting restrictions, so a multi-melta equipped tarantula can fire at anything you want.. Very expensive at 27 points.
    • Mathhammer: The Twin Lascannons have twice the rate of fire and twice the range as the Multimelta, at 60 points rather than 47, with similar performance against the same targets for the rest of the statline, but the targeting restrictions on them can be quite aggravating, since they will happily target things like BEASTS or SWARMS that you don't care about. As for the Multi-Melta, 47 points is two points more than the Assault Cannon variant and you generally won't get into Melta range since you'd have to rely on the enemy to do it for you, so it's only better against medium and heavy vehicles, who are generally fast and/or well-armed enough to deal with turrets handily, which is why neither heavy option is remotely as compelling as the twin assault cannons.
• Tarantula Air Defense Battery: As above, but stuck with S8 AP-2 D3 D anti-air missiles that get +1 to hit against flyers and -1 against everything else. MUST target the nearest enemy flyer, and otherwise the nearest enemy non-flyer, but you were probably already planning to do that when you took this unit.
• Land Speeder Tempest: A tiny drop in movement (well, sort of; see below) from the vanilla type, but has better T and Ld (not that the latter usually matters). Each one is equipped with an Assault Cannon and two Tempest Salvo Launchers (36" Heavy 1d3 S6 AP-3 D2; at only 10 points each, drastically better as a pair than a Typhoon Missile Launcher against anything at all, but the Tempest itself is a good deal more expensive than a vanilla). When Advancing, they must move between 20" and 35"; they also impose a -1 to hit against them in the next Shooting phase and prevents units without the FLY keyword from charging (or being charged by) them.
  • Relative movement: These guys don't have Anti-grav Upwash, so a unit of 3 of them is 5" slower than a unit of 3 vanillas, rather than 1", when not Advancing. When Advancing, they are much faster, regardless of unit size, since they can go their choice of 20-35" (no need to roll), instead of 16-21 for a small unit or 21-26 for a large unit of vanillas. Unfortunately, there's no option to take Assault weapons on them of any stripe.
• Deathstorm Drop Pod: A Drop Pod full of automated guns; it can choose either an 18" 2-shot gun with S8 AP-2 D3 D or a 12" 6-shot S6 AP-1 1 D gun. In either case, it must make 1 full shooting attack against anything in range (except for CHARACTERS, who still can only be shot at if they're the closest unit in range).

Heavy Support

• Long Fangs: The Space Wolves version of Devastators, only older, wiser, and able to shoot better. 2 points a model more expensive, can't take the extra meat shield bolter marines, and don't have access to the Signum or Armorium Cherub. However, they're Ld 8 across the entire squad, and re-roll 1s to hit when they shoot (only one target unit per firing unit can be re-rolled against, but you weren't going to split their fire anyway); re-rolling 1s is more accurate overall (assuming 4 or more models are shooting) and you can add The Wolf's Eye for further reliability, but unlike with a Signum, the buff in no way stacks with a nearby Wolf Lord/Grimnar. They can also take a 5th heavy weapon toter. Their sergeant is inexplicably incompetent, and has to drop both his pistol and his bolter in order to carry a special weapon, but it can be a good excuse to give him something nice. When it comes to spending your points efficiently however, you probably don't want to waste 13 points for a plasma gun that is going to sit 48" away from everything else beside 4 Lascannons. Really, the ancient is just a wound for you to take off when the unit gets shot at. The Wolf Guard Pack Leader, if you take him, is easily at his most cost efficient without a terminator suit (which more than doubles his cost), but with or without one, he'll share the Long Fang re-rolling. On the other hand, If you give him Terminator armor he MAY take a storm shield (FAQ added it) in ADDITION to a combi weapon or heavy weapon. He's a 2 wound 2+/3++ tank that can dakka with the best of them. Triples the cost of the battle leader, but that 3++ can go a long way. For best results, stick these guys somewhere out of the way (since they're harder to buff anyway) with good sight lanes so they can spend every turn shooting.
  • It may actually be worth bringing a WGPL in Terminator Armor if, and only if, you were going to max out the units size for meatshields to protect your 4 big hitters; 4 Long Fangs with heavy weapons + sergeant with default loadout + WGPL in Terminator Armor, Storm Bolter and Storm Shield (the cheapest way to field him with a 3++) is 7 wounds, with two of those wounds being in a 2+/3++ meatshield - essentially 3 ablative wounds before you start losing heavy weapon LFs - *and* costs exactly the same as if you were to run 4 Long Fangs with heavy weapons + 1 LF default loadout + 1 sergeant default loadout + 1 WGPL, Bolt Pistol and Storm Shield, which has the same amount of wounds (7), however, only one of those wounds have a 3++, making it a little awkward to use. Considering the fact that it’s typical to run 2 separate LF units, not maxing our the unit size (thus lacking ablative wounds) isn’t the absolute end of the world if you’ve built your list with enough redundancy.
  • However, do not underestimate a 7W LF unit with 4 Lascannons, sitting on top of Ruins, unchargeable if they spread out over the edges (thanks, Chapter Approved!), having 3 ablative wounds, 2 of those wounds having a 1+ cover save, essentially acting as a buffer for Armor Penetration, forcing AP3 weapons to be wasted on a storm shield, and AP2 or worse to do nothing at all. All of this while your units are being babysat by a 60 point barebones WGPL, so both units reroll 1s to hit and wound, can’t be charged in Ruins/ tops of buildings if set up right, and you’ve gotta throw a metric shitton of shots to kill even one of the heavy weapon Long Fangs thanks to all the extra defence. A small premium in price compared to running a 5 man LF unit, but thanks to the CA fuckery, the only way your opponent is challenging these guys parked in backfield terrain is through dakka, so maxing out at least your anti-tank LFs is advisable if your list is lacking redundancy in that department. Plus you get to field a Terminator without it being cripplingly bad.
  • Hell, If you want to REALLY go all out with thees dudes remember you can give the battle leader a shield/bolter and a CYCLONE MISSILE LAUNCHER. Yes, It's expensive. but with the aforementioned buffs it's another 2 D d6 heavy weapons added to your already dakka laden squad. This brings a single heavy weapon squad up to a potential of 7d6 damage long range shots, or just a fuckton of heavy/storm bolter and frag missile fire if you want to waste guardsmen.
  • One model can be equipped with a heavy bolter, even if the rest have lascannons, and this will let you use the strategem of firing one shot for D3 mortal wounds, without having to roll to wound. This is nice because you can still use the unit's ability to reroll 1s. Mortal wounds on a vehicle will help nicely.
  • Always outflank them via Cunning of the Wolf, given them Keen Senses and The Wolf's Eye when they arrive and shoot anything with innate reroll 1s to hit, ignoring penalty to hit, and rerolling all failed wounds. If you don't outflank them, they won't live past turn one.

• Hellblaster Squad: If you want long-range plasma weaponry, stick with Long Fangs with plasma cannons; they cost only slightly more than Hellblasters do (assuming the sergeant carries a plasma gun, which he should - the cost difference will become slightly more noticeable with a 5th Plasma Cannon), while re-rolling their own 1s. If you do take Hellblasters, ignore the Heavy variant entirely, and only take the Assault variant if you're certain you'll spend most of the fight more than 21" from the enemy, as it's only better at more than 21" out but less than 30", after accounting for Movement. The Rapid Fire variant will outperform a Plasma Cannon out to 21", since they don't mind moving, and underperform (due to the rate of fire going down) from 21" to 36", on top of which you need a Wolf Lord along to provide the re-rolling 1s trick. This variant is also the cheapest, clocking in at 3 points less than a Long Fang with Plasma Cannon, or 5 more than the Sergeant with a Plasma Gun, meaning a 6-man squad of each has a 10 point gap in favor of the Hellblasters, but again, they need a Wolf Lord to shine.

• Eliminator Squad: The Primaris scalpel compared to the Primaris sledgehammer that is the Hellblasters. They have the same +2-for-being-in-cover camo-cloaks that Scouts get, and they can take either an anti-tank las fusil or a bolt sniper rifle that gets three different ammo options to use: Executioners for standard character sniping, Mortis because fuck your stealth units (ignores line of sight and cover), and Hyperfrag for overwatch (AP0, D1, but are Heavy D3). All ammo types can target characters without them needing to be the closest units. Alternatively, gear them up with 36" Heavy 1 S8 AP-3 D3 las fusils, and let them harass enemy armor from cover.
  • Sniper: At only 72 points for the unit, this is one of the cheapest and most effective Heavy Support choices in the Marine range. Psykers and buffing characters are ubiquitous, so this unit will be useful in almost any game while cheaply filling out a Spearhead Detachment or serving as a useful Relic Tax for units like the Leviathan Dreadnought.
    • The Mortis Rounds allow for Eliminators to effectively shoot through all-terrain much like Tyranid Hive Guard. Eliminators can be completely within cover and simply fire through the battlefield to effectively threaten and kill enemy characters and other units. While this disallows the use of the more damaging Executioner Rounds, it does allow Eliminators to engage from cover and out of LoS with essentially no risk to the unit.
    • Comparing these to Scout Marines equipped with sniper rifles is really an apples vs. oranges debate as one is a troop choice and the other is a dedicated anti-character support unit.
  • Anti tank: The las fusil is a relatively cheap way to get almost-lascannons on the field, but note that of all their weapon options, this is the one conspicuously lacking the ability to target Characters who aren't the closest unit. Taking this really does convert them from being a Scout Sniper replacement to being a Devastator replacement.
  • The optional Instigator Bolt Carbine for your Sergeant trades heavier firepower for the ability to scoot out of charge range immediately after firing Overwatch (which is to say, before the enemy can actually get their melee attacks in), letting you kite melee units across the board when your sniper perch eventually get overrun. And, unlike a regular Fall Back maneuver, they'll still be able to attack without penalty in their next shooting phase since they're not technically in combat yet. Also, despite the relatively limited range and firepower (24" Assault 1 S4 AP-1 D2), it can still freely target characters just like the Sniper Bolt Rifle, for what it's worth.

• Land Raider Now that the vanilla Land Raider isn't forced to fire all its guns at the same target, it's gone from schizophrenic to an effective all-rounder. For example, you can use its lascannons to pop a vehicle and then follow up with the heavy bolters to wipe out an infantry squad. This is assisted further by the new Power of the Machine Spirit, which lets it ignore the normal penalties for moving and firing heavy weapons. It's a good metal box for ferrying your Wulfen or Terminators so they can get straight into combat but it lacks the little extra kick for your assaulting units without assault launchers. With T8, 16 wounds, and a 2+ armor save it'll be a tough nut to crack even with anti-armor weaponry.
  • Land Raider Crusader As ever, the Hurricane Bolters will shred any infantry within 12"(24" thanks to the beta bolter rule) - you have twenty-four bolter shots supplemented by another 12 assault cannon shots. The Frag Assault Launchers also help in regards to transporting and supporting its cargo, since it causes d3 mortal wounds on a 4+ if it finishes a charge within 1" of an opponent. But whatever you do, take the multi-melta. Neither the assault cannons nor the hurricane bolters have enough AP to significantly reduce a MEQ's armor save, and anything with T7 or more (e.g. other vehicles) won't even get their paint scratched. It carries 16 models, so it's still arguably your best choice for transporting Terminators, Wulfen and big mobs of Blood Claws (or You can just use a Stormwolf instead).
  • Land Raider Redeemer Similar to the Crusader, but trades off the hurricane bolters' volume of shots for the flamestorm cannon's greater strength, higher AP, and improved damage per shot. While you'll have to get in close to make the most of it, the Frag Assault Launchers let you use this to your advantage as you burn down the heavier infantry. Though the flamestorm cannons can threaten lighter vehicles, you should still add the multi-melta to be on the safe side. Carries 12 models. Can easily cockblock a charging unit with 2d6 automatic Flamestorm shots.
  • The flamestorm cannon can, because of flamer autohits, crisp some flyers if you are close enough. Consider if it is worth to put your Land Raider in the open.

• Predator Predators now get their own special autocannon profile; it seems like the predator can turn into a monster. For 10 fewer points than a pair of lascannons, you drop to 2 less strength and AP for 2 more shots on average, and guaranteed 3 damage, rather than rolling with an average of 3.5. I don't know how an autocannon can paste Nobs easier than a demolisher cannon but we'll just have to take it. Roll it with an Autocannon and side mounted lascannons for a versatile (but expensive) fuck machine.
  • The Dakka predator has become good again, being able to chuck out 2D3 Autocannon and 6 Heavy Bolter shots per turn. Consider further augmenting its firepower with a Storm Bolter or a Hunter-killer missile too.

• Vindicator With the pie plate replaced with 6 hits at the most and MEQs and TEQs now allowed at least some kind of save, the vindicator took a huge nerf. However, with the changes to the wound formula, S10 became very important, and chucking out what are effectively D3 lascannon shots onto an enemy tank isn't something to look down on. With T8 it's bound to shrug off a lot of fire it might soak, but now it suffers from the same schizophrenia the vanilla Land Raider used to. It is an assault gun that's meant to take down buildings, according to the fluff, but it is unlikely to harm one much in the game. The Demolisher cannon is a heavy weapon, so your paltry D3 shots are going to be hitting on 4s if you move (buildings can be very hard to hit, apparently). Getting only 1d3 attacks against a single unit is unreliable and not too scary, as is getting d6 attacks against infantry blobs. The best use of it is probably taking on groups of elite units or vehicles, such as large squads of terminators. But there are other models that do the job better.

• Whirlwind The Whirlwind has two gun options, Castellan at 2D6 (average: 7) shots of S6, and Vengeance at 2D3 (average: 4) S7, AP-1, and D2. With the higher strength of this weapon, the hits you do get will make short work of most infantry, but the ideal purpose of wiping out cheap blob units remains out of reach. You have to choose which gun to take when you build the list, so the latter choice results in a 9% more expensive tank overall while dealing more damage to anything with at least 2 wounds or 2+ saves.
  • The Vengeance launcher is functionally a twin autocannon that paid 1 point for both +24" (*1.5) range and the ability to fire outside of LOS; the Castellan launcher is more like an assault cannon that paid 4 points for +1 shot but +1 AP and lots more range, with non-LOS targeting. The net result is that which is better is strictly a question of wounds - Castellan is better against 1-wound models, while Vengeance is better against 2+.

• Hunter: No longer explicitly AA, this weapon delivers a high strength hit equal to a lascannon, re-rolling missed hits whether the model is flying or not. While not an efficient damage dealer, this model is a steal for its points. Exact same base cost as a Predator while making the leap from T7 to T8, and getting a free 5' range lascannon that can reroll hits. Won't spit out as much damage as your other Heavy Support options, but incredibly reliable.

• Stalker: Now a very flexible gun, it gets +1 to hit against flying things, while suffering a -1 to hit versus non-fliers. For a Stalker to be worth taking, it likely needs to be buffed by an HQ to make it more accurate, otherwise, other weapon systems on other vehicles are more productive. Fliers are very popular early in 8th and this is a good anti-air vehicle. It is fairly productive in other roles as well, providing a 48" range and 2 Damage with 6 shots at plasma strength and a Heavy Bolter's AP. The poor AP is mitigated by the Damage done per shot. The tank is tougher than its own weapon, a rare T8 Rhino chassis.

• Repulsor Executioner: Jury's out on this on. 6 Capacity with some big guns. 284/293 Base depending on the gun, +12 points with the two options. Steep price, but it fires the main gun twice (when you move 0-under half current M Value). One is a Heavy 2 72" Monster at S10 AP -4 3-6 damage on a D6 cannon and the other is what you'd expect from plasma, but with D6 shots and starts at S8 AP -4 (pumping up to S9). This baby also gets a heavy onslaught Gatling cannon stock as well as a few other guns you sometimes forget to fire (seriously, there are a lot), including a Twin Heavy Bolter. It can also be upgraded with an Ironhail Heavy Stubber and Icarus Launcher if you feel inclined to do so. It has 18 S5 AP-1 shots and a metric ton of various S4 shots, some S7 as well, allowing it to reliable mulch opposing infantry. The Heavy Laser Destroyer can tear through enemy armour reliably and the Macro Plasma can remove medium and heavy infantry.
  • Properly supported, this thing can annihilate swathes of the enemy army. A Captain (better yet, a Chapter Master) and Lieutenant will never be a bad idea. And if you bring two of them, they can quickly turn the tides of conflict. However, it is a major investment in points and dollars. You need to maximize your opportunities to get the most out of it. If you can, then an Executioner or two is the sort of heavy fire support the army craves. If you can't... Well, Marines are used to losing in 8th anyway-Don't be stupid, get the Lieutenant and bring a Techmarine!!!!
  • Whenever you make such an investment on big units, you must consider everything you are paying for. While the Heavy Laser Destroyer is a very potent weapon which will serve you well, this particular weapon loadout will require a play style that ignores most of the other benefits of the unit by hanging back and remaining fairly static. Taking the Plasma loadout, however, saves points and requires closer positioning of the tank. That may seem foolhardy, but this vehicle is loaded with close/mid-range weaponry that complements the plasma very well, while still being able to deliver a 6 man Primaris infantry unit on top of repulsor fields. Thus, this writer regards the Executioner as a very gun laden Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), not a true battle tank. You can take a battle tank's weapons loadout, and certainly, that may be necessary at times, but this tanks true calling is in direct support of infantry. The executioner is really just a beefed standard repulsor and really should be used in a similar fashion. Its slow-moving double shooting rule is perfect for sitting behind a wall of aggressors marching up the board as both units extract maximum firepower potential from hardy buffing characters.

Forge World

• Whirlwind Hyperios: While it's still best used against aircraft because of it's +1 to hit against flyers (and -1 against everything else), Heavy 2d3 S8 AP-2 D3 D isn't something to take lightly.
• Rapier Carrier: A dirt-cheap source of heavy bolter fire, which can also be used as a cheap counter to "light" super heavies like Knights if taken with Laser Destroyers or act as artillery if you use the Quad Launchers (added in the FAQ). Now coming stock with a 12-shot quad bolter at 3/4 of what you pay for a devastator squad armed with same, on a fairly sturdy chassis. Fills out the heavy support requirements of a Spearhead detachment real nice, but keep the gunners safe or it gets auto-removed just like the Thunderfire Cannon.
  • Quad Heavy Bolters are terrible, costing more than 2 twin heavy bolters for the same guns.
  • The average damage from a laser destroyer is less than its weight in lascannons - 183.33% of the damage for 240% of the price; the difference in strength will never matter against practical targets, while the improvement to AP will come up and won't make up the difference.
  • As a result, hands down your best bet is always going to be the Quad Launcher.
    • In Shatter mode this will, for 45 points, outdo two lascannons for 50 points, as losing a point each in strength and AP is more than made up for in doubling its attacks, and the difference in damage is not only slight, it also deals predictable damage, making it invaluable in many contexts, such as shooting Quantum Shielding.
  • In Thunderfire mode, this will shoot what amounts to 8 heavy bolter shots, losing a point of AP in exchange for indirect targeting and improved range. This is inferior to the Quad Heavy Bolter option, so you should regard it as a bonus to the Shatter mode, rather than a good gun in its own right, and take this gun for the purpose of killing off enemy heavies, not massacring enemy lights.
• Mortis Dreadnought: Your go-to dakka dread. It costs 5 points more than a standard dreadnought, with the exact same profile, but it brings the option to double up on weapons the regular dread can't. You can take a pair of twin bolters, autocannons, or lascannons, or a pair of regular missile launchers, assault cannons, multi-meltas, or heavy plasma cannons. All good choices for laying down firepower, with the best guns depending on what you plan to shoot and how many points you can spare.
  • For the classic twin autocannon rifleman setup, you're usually better off with a regular dread. They have the same stats for a few points less, and it's the only gun the normal dread can double up on. Only take an autocannon Mortis if you really need a heavy support instead of an elite.
• Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought: Better than the standard Mortis in every way, from the BS 2+ to the 5++. Apart from that, it can do everything the regular Mortis can, only better.
• Siege Dreadnought: This Dread specializes in short-range firepower, coming stock with an Inferno Cannon that acts as a souped up heavy flamer (but costs more than a twin heavy flamer, for reasons) and a seismic hammer with built-in meltagun that suffers from a -1 to hit but will wreck anything that gets hit. With the ability to re-roll all to wound rolls of 1 in the Fight phase when targeting a BUILDING or a unit with a movement stat of 0", its niche as a building killer should be obvious.
• Relic Leviathan Dreadnought: I AM THE DESTROYER OF ALL THAT EXISTS, THE ANATHEMA OF LIFE, HATRED, AND WRATH GIVEN PHYSICAL FORM, I AM THE FUCKING LEVIATHAN DREADNOUGHT. POINT ME AT ANYTHING, AND IT WILL DIE, FROM THE LOWEST OF GUARDSMEN, TO THE BIGGEST OF TITANS. Ahem, enough of that nonsense! But Mr. Leviathan does have a few good points. The Leviathan Dreadnought is easily one of the deadliest single models in the entire game, barring actual Titans, packing a series of quite frighteningly powerful weapons that can make short work of virtually anything. It packs a Strength and Toughness of 8, with a 2+/4++ saves line, and a whopping 14 wounds. In addition, it actually received a fairly decent points decrease in 8th edition, having dropped in cost by 50 whole points even after all wargear is accounted for. A few things were lost though, as the Leviathan no longer has his frag-launchers (but it did get its hunter-killer missiles back in the FAQ) but in exchange his whole loadout has gotten huge buffs.
  • It has two Heavy Flamers which can't be swapped out for anything, and two Leviathan Siege Claws (Sx2 AP-3 D3 Re-roll failed wounds against Infantry) with in-built meltaguns stock.
    • The Claws can be swapped out (without losing the meltaguns) for Drills, which up the AP and D to -4 and 4, but you stop re-rolling failed wounds against Infantry.
    • The Claws can also be swapped out along with their meltaguns for:
      • Cyclonic Melta Lance: Capable of destroying a Land Raider in a single volley, while being able to shave off 15 wounds from a Knight (leaving it sufficiently weakened that it will no doubt then die to being slammed with 15 additional wounds in melee).
        • Note that this actually has worse AP than the Bombard (although it will usually only matter against Land Raiders and the like, as against any Invuln save at all or a 3+ save or worse they'll tend to equal out), with better rate of fire against 4 or fewer model units and worse damage against Monster/Vehicle/Titanic models but better damage otherwise. A Leviathan with 2x Bombards costs 275, while 2x Lances costs 325, which means that against a Land Raider, the Lances are only better inside melta range. The Lance will do better against vehicles where the difference in AP doesn't matter, regardless of range (such as any 3+ vehicle, or a 2+ vehicle with an invuln), provided the target unit has 4 or fewer models. It will also do better against infantry units of 4 or fewer models, but as soon as the target unit has 5 or more models in it, the Bombard will simply take over.
      • Storm Cannon Array: Has a whopping 10 shots, which do 2 damage each. While not quite as horrifyingly deadly against vehicles as the Cyclone Melta, it exchanges sheer output for more reliability. This can be useful since 2-wound weapons occupy a fair niche in the current meta, for their ability to 1-shot the numerous amount of multi-wound models, without suffering from overkill. This makes it the perfect weapon for dealing with models like Terminators.
        • This is basically a seriously up-gunned heavy plasma cannon, with quintuple the usual shot volume and one worse AP in exchange for one better D, and an inability to Overcharge. Costs 5/6 the amount two of the cannons would cost you, though. It is far and away the most efficient gun you can take against most targets of 4 models or less - it will actually outdamage both the Bombard and the Lance against anything T6 or less and T7 Sv 4+ or worse, and that's assuming the target has enough wounds left that no damage gets wasted.
        • For serious, take this gun seriously. It is far and away the most generally useful of the lot; a pair of them will murder most anything foolish enough to get in your way.
      • Grav-Flux Bombard: Now your dedicated horde killer. It deals 1d3 shots, and gains an additional 1d3 shots for every 5 models present in the target unit, which means the Leviathan can get a whopping 11d3 shots when targeting a mob of Conscripts, or 22d3 if equipped with two of these. This essentially means that the grav bombard is your designated weapon loadout if you expect to go up against Infantry Blobs, as it can fry an entire 50 man squad each and every turn. It also does more damage (5, rather than 2) against Vehicles, Buildings, and Titanics, making it more useful than the Lance in many cases.
        • A pair of these is the way to go for horde scrubbing - 2d3 shots every 5 models in the target means you average 4 shots for every 5 targets. The gun is only 18" and you'll take a BS penalty (typically down to 3+) for moving and shooting with it, taking you to 3 1/3 and 2 2/3 hits for every 5 targets, respectively. At S9 AP-5 D2, usually one wound per target is all it will take; assuming you're up against T4 or less without an invuln save, you're looking at 2 7/9 or 2 2/9 (after moving) dead for every 5 models in the target, or around 50% casualties. Hopefully Morale will do the rest of the work for you, or you can just bring two of these things.
• Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer: This thing brings to the battlefield the unique Laser Volley Cannon, which is a 2 shot Lascannon with a few twists: they only have a range of 36" instead of 48, they do a fixed 3 damage (so a little less than the average you do with 1D6) and can be overcharged to go to S10 AP-5 with a fixed 6 damage. The Trade-off being that if they shoot with this profile, they take 3 mortal wounds on each rolls of 1. If it does not move, however, it can shoot twice, but not in overcharged mode. Also note that it gets +1T and +1 wound compared to a predator, but moves 2" less. All in one, this tank is kind of odd. It costs roughly the same as a classic predator with a full lascannon setup, and can pump 4 shoots if it stands still, for an average amount of wounds slightly lower. Its overcharged mode might give you an edge on T5/T9-10 opponents or target with extremely high armor saves, so what you lose in range you get it back in versatility, at price: 2 shots against 4 and the risk of wounding yourself. Between increased durability, shorter range and movement, and varying fire modes, it is hard to draw a clear line between the Predator Annihilator and the Vindicator Laser destroyer in term of battlefield role, but the later being clearly less efficient while on the move, you might want to invest your money in other Forge World models.
• Relic Land Raider Proteus: The Proteus has two twin Lascannons like the vanilla LR, but it can choose to take a multi-melta or twin heavy flamer instead of a twin heavy bolter. (There's also an option for a single heavy bolter, but why would you even use that?) But its main draw is the Explorator Augury Web; taking it reduces the Proteus' transport Capacity to 6, but it prevents anyone from deep striking within 12" of the Proteus. Conveniently enough, that happens to be melta range for the multi-melta so suicide melta squads won't be able to get near it. For a more aggressively inclined Proteus, you can take the Heavy Armor instead to give it a 5+ invulnerable save, though it too reduces the Proteus' transport capacity.
• Land Raider Helios: Also has twin lascannons, but it brings along a Helios Launcher- a Heavy weapon that fires 2d6 autocannon-equivalent shots (albeit only 1 damage) that can fire without LoS. A decent combo of the Whirlwind's different missile types, and it can transport 6 models too.
• Land Raider Prometheus: A fun toy for your Warlord - if he's embarked within it, one of the Stratagems played on your turn costs 1 less CP to use. It doesn't reduce the cost below 1, but it helps. As an added bonus, its attacks all ignore cover saves, which make its 12 heavy bolter shots absolutely terrifying to light infantry. Carries 10 models.
• Land Raider Achilles: The rage-inducing and expensive Achilles is back in a big way in 8th ed. T8 with 19 wounds, a 2+ save, and a 4++ Invuln save for good measure makes this raider insanely tough. The Achilles is armed with a hull-mounted Quad Launcher and 2 sponson-mounted TWIN Multi-Meltas (Heavy 2). The Quad Launcher can fire Shatter shells at Heavy 4 S8 AP-2 3 Damage, or Thunderfire shells at Heavy 4D3 S5 AP0 1 Damage (and can target units not visible to the Achilles). It can also grab a hunter-killer missile and a Storm Bolter for a little extra dakka. This weirdness is compounded by a transport capacity of 6, including terminators and jump pack models. Seriously, go look up a picture of this thing.

Fortifications

• Castellum Stronghold: In case you want to play an army comprised of buildings instead of tanks and soldiers. 3 bunkers and a bigger bunker, with T9 and a total of 56 wounds (3x12 and 20). This realm of battle tile (yes, its 2' by 2') is fairly indestructible and can pack up to 5 heavy weapons, from anti-tank guns to AA or troop mulchers. The tacticus bunker has transport space for 30 guys, and the bunkers for 12 each. Up to 15 and 10 models can shoot out of each of the bunkers. If your army doesn't fit inside completely, they can man the battlements for a cover save. And untill the big bunker is destroyed all infantry, bike and dreadnoughts get a 4++ against shooting attacks while inside the stronghold. Oh, and one stratagem per turn costs 1 less CP if your warlord is embarked. At 550 points without guns this is something of an apocalypse thing.

Lords of War

• Wrath of Mjalnar (Open Play Only): The Wolves' unique take on the Raider drops the Twin Heavy Bolters for a Twin Helfrost Cannon. Offers an excellent source of flexible firepower, as it can mow down infantry of all sorts with 2D3 S6 AP-2 Dispersed Beam shots, or hit like a Twin Multi-melta with the Focused Beam. It can only haul 5 models around, sadly, but if you're in an Open Play game, it is definitely something you should keep in mind.
• Land Raider Terminus Ultra (Open Play only): For 600 pts it will do a spectacular job of wrecking vehicles thanks to its 8 (!) lascannon shots per turn. 3 to hit rolls of 1 in one turn will cause you to take 6 mortal wounds, but the chances of that are so small that it's unlikely to be an issue. Even if it does happen, it won't be enough to decrease your base stats until you drop to 8 wounds or below, and with the toughness and armor save that comes with being a Land Raider variant that's probably not going to be an issue. Just be sure to watch out for massed infantry- for this reason you should probably take a storm bolter over the multi-melta since any vehicle close enough to be in melta range is going to become a smoldering wreck either way.

Forge World

Forgeworld FAQ[1] updates the relic rule for LoW, effectively you can get one with no pre-requisites but further ones will still require the 'non-relic' tax. On the other hand, who would even need to bring 4 Lords of War into a game?

• Relic Spartan Assault Tank: The Spartan has always been a bigger nastier Land Raider at heart, and this edition just makes it even meaner. A relic from the Legion days, it boasts an impressive BS3+, S8, T8, W20, a 2+ Save, and PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it. Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It comes stock with hull-mounted Twin heavy bolters (which can be replaced with Twin heavy flamers), 2 sponson-mounted Quad lascannons (that's a total of 8(!) lascannons), and anything trying to attack it in melee will have to deal with its Crushing tracks, which are S8 AP-2 DD3. And with a WS5+ and 8 attacks, it has a better chance than most tanks of actually hitting with them. If 8 lascannons don't do the trick, they can be swapped for Laser Destroyers to give it the role of blowing superheavies to pieces; its basic profile of S12 AP-4 DD6 is nasty enough as it is, but any time it inflicts damage, you roll a d6. On a 3-5, its damage rises to 2d6, and on a 6 it becomes a staggering 3d6 damage! If you crave even more dakka you can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta. Finally, the Spartan has an enormous 25 transport capacity, including Terminators, & Jump Pack Infantry (but not Primaris). If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.
• Relic Typhon Heavy Siege Tank: The Vindicator's big brother on steroids is a fierce siege engine, boasting BS3+, S8, T9(!), W22, and a 2+ Save. The Dreadhammer siege cannon taking up the entirety of the vehicle drops Heavy 2D6 S10 AP-5 3D shots at 24" or 48" if it holds still. Losing the enormous blast template from the previous edition, the Dreadhammer can now put serious hurt on vehicles and monsters with it's 2D6 high strength high AP shots. In addition to the main gun it can grab 2 sponson-mounted Lascannons or Heavy bolters, and can also take a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Heavy flamer, Multi-melta, or Storm bolter for extra dakka. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it (except for it's Dreadhammer siege cannon, which must target other units). Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It has PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty, and it makes a respectable 8 attacks with it's Crushing tracks (decreasing to 6, and then D3 as it takes damage) at WS5+ S8 AP-2 DD3 in melee. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.
• Relic Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer: An insane Titan-class laser weapon mounted on a Spartan chassis, boasting BS3+, S8, T9, W22, and a 2+ Save. The Heavy neutron pulse array kicks out Heavy 3 S14 AP-4 3+D6D shots at 72", and causes a -1 to-hit penalty to the shooting attacks of vehicles wounded by this weapon. In addition to the main gun it can grab 2 sponson-mounted Lascannons or Heavy bolters, and can also take a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Heavy flamer, Multi-melta, or Storm bolter for extra dakka. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it (except for it's Heavy neutron pulse array which must target other units). Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It has PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty, and it makes a respectable 8 attacks with it's Crushing tracks (decreasing to 6, and then D3 as it takes damage) at WS5+ S8 AP-2 DD3 in melee. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 5+ thanks to its Unstable Reactor), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.
• Relic Fellblade Superheavy Tank: The Baneblade's exponentially meaner cousin. Absolutely bristling with guns, it has a massively impressive statline of BS3+, S9, T9, W26, a 2+ Save, and PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty. It's enormous and versatile Fellblade accelerator cannon sports two shell types: HE shells are Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-3 2D shots and allow rerolls for the number of shots when targeting a unit with more than 5 models. AE shells are Heavy 2 S14 AP-4 6D shots that work wonders on tanks. It comes stock with a hull-mounted Twin heavy bolter (which can be replaced with a Twin heavy flamer) and 2 sponson-mounted Quad lascannons (which can be swapped for the amazing Laser destroyers like the Spartan). Like the Baneblade it also has a hull-mounted Demolisher cannon. If you crave even more dakka you can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta. Finally, anything trying to attack it in melee will have to deal with 9 WS5+ attacks from its Crushing tracks, which are S9 AP-2 DD3. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it. Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. If you need a LOT of dakka on a tough as nails platform, you can't go wrong with the Fellblade.
• Relic Falchion Superheavy Tank Destroyer: A Fellblade variant which shares the same statline and special rules but mounts the unbelievably deadly Twin volcano cannon in place of the Fellblade cannon and Demolisher cannon. The Twin volcano cannon can annihilate targets 120" away with Heavy 2D6 S16 AP-5 D2D6 (re-rolling wounds against Titanic units) NOTE: Can be argued to be 6D3 shots instead, since the single vulcano cannon got changed to 3D3 in the AM codex. Just like the Fellblade it comes stock with two Quad lascannon sponsons which can be replaced with Laser destroyers. Given its ability to take the laser destroyers, it's objectively better at destroying superheavies than its Shadowsword counterpart in practically every way. It also sports a hull-mounted Twin heavy bolter which can be replaced with Twin heavy flamers, and you can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta if you crave even more dakka.
• Relic Mastodon Super-heavy Siege Transport: Have you ever wanted to transport 40 Marines at once while trashing flyers and generally being nigh-indestructible? Then the Mastodon is the LoW for you! With 30 wounds and a 5+ void shield, the Mastodon is a fucking tough nut to crack, made even more so if it somehow gets into the 6" range for its siege melta array's reroll to kick in.
• Thunderhawk Assault Gunship: The standard air support and transportation workhouse of the Space Marines. This monstrous flyer will cost you an arm and a leg (in both points and real $) but has some seriously impressive rules. It has a big 20-50" move in Supersonic mode and can hover. Its has BS2+, S10, T9, 30W, a 3+ Save and PoTMS so it can shoot on the move. Its Void-hardened Hull grants it a 5++ save for extra durability. The Thunderhawk Assault Gunship is armed with a Thunderhawk heavy cannon - 48" Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-2 D6D, which can be swapped for the monstrously powerful Turbo-laser destructor - 96" Heavy D3 S16 AP-4 2D6D (6's to wound inflict an additional D3 Mortal Wounds). For secondary weapons it sports 4 Twin heavy bolters and 2 Lascannons at various points on the hull, as well as a choice of Thunderhawk Cluster Bombs or a Hellstrike missile battery. The Cluster bombs can drop once per game on a single unit you flew over, rolling up to 12D6 times (3D6 for ever VEHICLE or MONSTER and 1D6 for other models). Each 5+ result deals a Mortal Wound to the unit, though units consisting only of characters cannot be targeted. The Hellstrike battery is 72" Heavy 4 S8 AP-3 D3. It's Colossal Flyer rule forces your opponent to -1 from shooting attacks against the Thunderhawk, but also forces them to measure from where it's hull wound be if it was at ground level and add 12" to that measurement (which is an attempt to account for the custom flying bases you need to hold this heavy ass brick of resin up). It also means that a lot of guns flat out cannot shoot at it while it's Supersonic. Finally, the Thunderhawk has an impressive transport capacity of 30, including TERMINATORS, JUMP PACK models, AND BIKERS. It is also one of the only vehicles that can transport PRIMARIS models, with each counting for 2 spaces, although you cannot mix them with non-PRIMARIS units.
• Thunderhawk Transporter: A Thunderhawk variant designed for airlifting tanks, this unusual vehicle shares the statline of the Thunderhawk (with the exception of 26W - 4 fewer than the Gunship). In addition to 15 models including TERMINATORS, JUMP PACK models, CENTURIONS, and BIKES, it can hoist vehicles into battle in one of the following configurations:
  • 1 model with the LAND RAIDER or SPARTAN ASSAULT TANK keyword.
  • Up to 2 of the following: RHINO, RAZORBACK, INFERNUM RAZORBACK, PREDATOR, DEIMOS PREDATOR, WHIRLWIND, WHIRLWIND HYPERIOS, HUNTER, STALKER, DAMOCLES, VINDICATOR, VINDICATOR DESTROYER, WHIRLWIND SCORPIUS.
    • These vehicles act exactly like other passengers and are subject to the usual restrictions for embarking and disembarking, meaning they can detach while in Supersonic mode at the end of the movement phase. Transported vehicles can carry units at no additional transport cost to the Thunderhawk, so feel free to deep strike 25 dudes in a Spartan PLUS 15 dudes in the Thunderhawk itself. The cost of this unusual ability is the loss of ranged firepower - the Thunderhawk Transporter is armed with 'only' 4 Twin heavy bolters and a Hellstrike missile battery. It's much cheaper than the Thunderhawk Gunship, but its usefulness is somewhat questionable, cool as it may be.
• Sokar Pattern Stormbird: Pretty much the largest flyer/transport/model Forge World offers next to titans. Damn expensive in points (651... not to bad) and tangible money alike, it can ferry entire demi companies onto the battlefield. Has like 8 lascannons, a host of various missiles and bombs, void shields, and a few heavy bolters here and there for flavor. The void shields can extend and overlap nearby troops 8" away that jumped out if it has hovered. Has 40 wounds, T9, a 5++ after the void shields.
• Astraeus Super Heavy Tank: This tank is a beast, 24 wounds, Toughness 8, 2+ Armour, Power of the Machine Spirit and Steel Behemoth are already bad enough, but then you look at its gear. Firstly, the Void Shield. Just like the titans, it's a degenerating shield that can block off any wound, mortal or not, and does not care about AP value. However, it cannot protect you from overheating Plasma Eradicators or melee attacks, so watch out for Knight Gallants and other heavy-hitting melee units that somehow get by the Enhanced Repulsor Fields. Said Enhanced Repulsor Fields not only reduce enemy charge rolls by 3", but are also its form of close combat attack. Considering the fields give -2 AP and deals D3 damage per wound, this is surprisingly vicious, especially considering the 8 Strength 9 attacks the tank gets (albeit only at WS 5+, although it still benefits from auras like Litanies of Hate and Rites of Battle which implies that the tank HATES its enemy so much that it somehow gains sentience). Obviously, however, you're here for the guns and... oh boy. Its twin macro-accelerator cannon is a vicious Heavy 12, S8, AP-2, Damage 3 that ignores all abilities that impose negative hit modifiers when targeting anything with the FLY keyword. Its other default weapons don't seem that threatening at first, however. The two las-rippers are slightly weaker las-talons with a new name, the twin heavy bolter is somewhat useful against infantry, and the storm bolter and ironhail heavy stubber can be augmented with another ironhail heavy stubber. However, the twin heavy bolter can be replaced by a twin Lascannon, and the las-rippers can be replaced by the new Plasma Eradicator, a +1 Strength, AP-4 Plasma Cannon that uniquely only causes one mortal wound per 1 to hit on Supercharge. 90% of the time the Eradicators are the better choice. Not only are they cheaper than Las-Rippers, but they have more range. Being within 24" will put the Astraeus in danger of being chopped up by enemy Knights and makes it a prime target for most Plasma weapons. The lone Storm Bolter won't be doing much of anything regardless.
  • Compared to the Fellblade, its main gun is lacking in terms of pure power but has a more reliable number of shots which will be more effective against light to medium vehicles (especially flyers), as well as 3-wound infantry such as Tyranid Warriors, Grey Knight Paladins, and Custodes. The secondary armament is clearly inferior with the eight Lascannons and Demolisher Cannon of the Fellblade outgunning the Accelerator Cannon itself. In melee it is a mixed picture, the Enhanced Repulsor Fields make the Astraeus harder to engage and hit but it lacks the option to mount any flamer for point defense; the Fellblade can mount up to 3 heavy flamers which will inflict significant overwatch casualties on attacking infantry. The Void Shield gives it an important defensive tool that the Fellblade and most superheavy tanks lack, albeit on a more fragile (T8 not 9), less durable (2 wounds less at 24W) chassis. Most importantly, it's much cheaper than the Fellblade, and since it's not a Relic you can use it as a "non-Relic" tax in the unlikely chance you really want a full Super-Heavy Detachment as a Space Marine army.

Building your Army

• The UPGRADE HAMMER AND ANVIL: This build simply takes leverage on increasing the number of attacks available to your units. Built around a character (probably a Wolf Lord) with wulfenstone and saga of the wolfkin, along with Arjac Rockfist and 3 units of Wolfguard. They could be outflanked, etc, or deep strike in, if terminator variant (this is the easiest to build, because Arjac is in a termi suit). This will give them +3 attacks on the charge. 15 wolf guard with 5 attacks each (8 on the Pack Leaders) with thunder hammer and storm shields will make your opponent sit up and take notice. You can add a unit of Wulfen for the saga's less aggressive cousin, giving you the same +1A it grants on the very rare turns where you neither charged nor were charged but are in melee; without the saga, the Wulfen also supply the +1A on turns you were charged. For bonus spice, take along a rune priest with the Armor of Russ; Always Strikes Last will usually let you delete anything you're in melee with before it gets to swing, even if you didn't get the charge off, and between Tempest's Wrath and Storm Caller, you should be incredibly durable.
  • Note: This can be done in a variety of combinations, too. You have about 300 points left to play with for as many dogs as you can fit in. You can have 5 units of 10-12 Fenrisian wolves, 3 thunderwolf cavalry, all with an extra attack, hammers and bites, and still have room for 4 x 5 man wolf guard units with frost axes storm shields with arjac and wolf lord all with Jet packs with 4 attacks EACH! What does the opponent shoot. The 70 wolves and cavalry running toward them using cover etc, or the turn 2 deep strike into cover of 4 units of wolf guard.
  • If you swap out Saga of the Wolfkin for Saga of the Hunter, and swap Arjac for a Wolf Guard Battle Leader on a bike, along with a Wolf Lord on a bike and a Rune Priest on a bike, you'll be able to make White Scars drool. Take along plenty of Wolf Guard on Bikes with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields; a minimum unit of them will have 16 attacks within range of the Wulfenstone, and the Saga of the Hunter (just charge with your Warlord first, to turn his trait into an aura buff) will let the entire deathstar (provided it's within 6" of the Warlord when it charges) charge after advancing, for 20" of sweet, sweet melee threat. Of course, you can keep Saga of the Wolfkin - it's harder to activate, but once it's up, you've traded threat range for quantity of attacks, which is usually going to be better, once you're in the thick of things.
• Razor Wolves: This is an old classic, and it's now better than ever. Take a battalion with AT LEAST 4 min Grey Hunter squads and shove them all in assault cannon razorbacks. This is your core, now you can do what you want.

You're probably thinking that's a lot of dakka, and you're right! that's why for our HQ slots we are gonna take both a Wolf Lord and a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, put them both on bikes, take storm bolters, and run them up with your Razorbacks to re-roll ALL THE ONES. This is all going to set you back around 900pts.

• -The Support- : This is your empty Stormwolf. Don't bother using it as a transport, it's just a gunship with some empty seats, and you don't want to park this thing to let guys out. The most efficient way to take this is with the Skyhammer missiles, which are actually cheaper than the Heavy Bolters (We have assault cannons, we don't need HB's) which give us all the anti vehicle we need at a MUCH lower price than the multi-meltas. They ARE worth the points, but your opponent WILL shoot their entire army at this thing until it goes down if you take them. Don't expect this vehicle to live to see turn 3 if you take the melta's. With the points we saved on the flyer, we can safely take a squad of Longfangs with 4 Lascannons without feeling stripped of cash. these 2 units should be all the heavy support you need and this altogether leaves you just under 180 points for a 1500 list. Anything else you add to this list pretty much depends on what points you are playing, if it's a 1500 point game, just upgrade your everything with plasma's and power weapons.
• Fluffy List: If you prefer to goof around with big doggies than tanks and bolters, this is the list for you. Take an outrider detatchment, take Logan on his sled as your warlord, take 2 4-5 man units of thunderwolf cavalry and run them up opposite sides of the board with a group of 15 Fenrisian wolves each and then either ally with Astra Militarum or take a load of heavy support. You could take a spearhead for this with a wolf guard on thunderwolf to add to Logans aura buff or a rune priest on bike as your hq, and spam preds, long fangs, dakka dreadnaughts, stormwolfs etc. If you can bear with the awful models, Wulfen would add some value to this list. Not very competitive, but way more fun than it should be.
• Ally with Guard: The 8th ed codex has made Astra militarum REALLY strong, and with the ability to take just heavy supports and a HQ, you can pull off some really gross stuff as allies. Take a Cadian spearhead and 3 heavy support squads with 3 lascannons each, and a company commander as your hq to order them to reroll stuff. This is gonna give you a command point and 9 lascannons for a total of 246 points. You can pretty much put this in any list and get away with it. Feel free to take a few Basilisks or a Manticore while you are at it, or buy 50 conscripts and a commissar to hold your side of the board while all your furries run into the enemy deployment.
• Parking Lot - Wolf Edition: Same principle as the Dark Angels parking lot, but instead using Bjorn and Murderfang as your staple units, basically you take the following Characters and just hide them behind a wall of Razorbacks and Wolf Guard/Grey Hunters for high value ranged damage output and having high melee damage potential while also giving everything some great buffs: Bjorn, Murderfang, Wolf Guard Battle Leader, Rune Priest with Storm Caller, Primaris Ancient. Combine this with one or two distraction units on the flanks and target priory becomes very hard for your opponent while you are able to capitalize on a very strong ranged early game which can in theory protect your two Character Dreadnaughts long enough to get stuck into something big together and easily take down the largest of foes, even if they do go down you should hopefully be able to make very effective use of ONLY IN DEATH DOES DUTY END to take down something with you.
• Cunning of the Wolf: Chapter Approved has given us outflanking, in the form of the 'Cunning of the Wolf' stratagem. Grey Hunters can arrive uncomfortably close to your opponents units, pour plasma into them, and then get stuck in close combat. If you get your angles right, you may even be able to target characters. 1 or 2 squads arriving in this fashion is a decent (and fluffy) addition to most armies, but it can also be good bant to build entire lists around this stratagem. Bring 3 or 4 full plasma squads like this, along with chainswords and power/frost weapons, and watch your opponent's back line melt. Use the rest of the points to compensate for your lack of anti-armour and tougher units - Stormwolfs/fangs, terminator squads, and jump-pack WGBLs synergizes well.
• The Air Pack: Bring 3 Stormwolf's or Stormfang's, a Lord w/ Jump Pack, Battle Leader w/ Jump Pack, and Rune Priest w/ Jump pack. The Rune Priest needs to know Storm Caller and you need to spend 3 CP on Cloaked by the Storm. Advance the characters so that they can keep up with the gunships for 1-2 turns. Then move the gunships out of range or put them in hover depending on the opponent. Put some Bloodclaws or Wulfen in those Gunships to help with the assault. This requires positioning, but you can have 3 gunships with re-rolling 1's to hit and wound, with Cover and -2 to be hit. It is expensive, both in points and CP, but it is a pretty fun list, and your opponents will despair at hitting those -2 and in Cover gunships.

Tactics

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (10th Edition)

General Tactics	General Weapons Terrain
Imperium	Space Marines (Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Deathwatch, Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Imperial Agents (Inquisition, Rogue Traders, etc.)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Chaos Titans
Eldar	Eldar (Craftworlds, Corsairs, Harlequins, Ynnari) Dark Eldar
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (9th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Tactical Terrain Weapons Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines (Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Space Wolves) Grey Knights
	Adeptus Mechanicus Adeptus Titanicus Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Sisters of Battle
	Adeptus Custodes & Sisters of Silence Inquisition Officio Assassinorum Rogue Traders
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons World Eaters)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Craftworld Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Ynnari
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults
Votann	Leagues of Votann

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (8th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications Apocalypse
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) Adeptus Mechanicus
	Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) Adeptus Titanicus
	Imperial Knights Imperial Guard Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard Thousand Sons)
	Chaos Daemons Chaos Knights Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (7th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines (Siege Assault Vanguard) Blood Angels Dark Angels Deathwatch Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Custodes Cult Mechanicus Skitarii Adeptus Sororitas
	Imperial Knights Inquisition Officio Assassinorum
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops D-99)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Khorne Daemonkin Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Harlequins Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids Genestealer Cults

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (6th Edition)

General Tactics	General Movement Psychic Fortifications
Imperium	Space Marines Blood Angels Dark Angels Grey Knights Space Wolves
	Adeptus Sororitas Inquisition
	Imperial Guard (Armoured Battlegroup Death Korps of Krieg Assault Brigade Death Korps of Krieg Siege Regiment Elysian Drop Troops) Militarum Tempestus
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines Chaos Daemons Renegades and Heretics
Eldar	Eldar Dark Eldar Corsairs
Necrons	Necrons
Orks	Orks Ork Dred Mob
Tau	Tau
Tyranids	Tyranids

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Warhammer 40,000 Tactics Articles (All)

General Tactics	General (8th) Movement (8th 7th) Psychic (8th 7th 2nd) Fortifications (8th 7th) Tactical Terrain Apocalypse (8th)
Imperium (8th)	Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd) Blood Angels (8th 7th) Dark Angels (8th 7th) Deathwatch (8th 7th) Grey Knights (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd, AKA Daemonhunters) Space Wolves (8th 7th 6th 5th)
	Talons of the Emperor (Custodes and Sisters of Silence) (8th 7th) Adeptus Mechanicus (8th 7th) Adeptus Ministorum (Sisters of Battle and minor factions) (8th 7th 6th 3rd, AKA Witch Hunters) Adeptus Titanicus (8th)
	Imperial Knights (8th 7th) Imperial Guard (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Inquisition (8th 7th 6th) Officio Assassinorum (8th 7th)
Chaos	Chaos Space Marines (8th 7th 6th 5th) Death Guard (8th) Khorne Daemonkin - 7th Edition Thousand Sons (8th) Chaos Daemons (8th 7th) Chaos Knights (8th) Renegades and Heretics (8th 7th 6th)
Eldar	Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th) Dark Eldar (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd Revised) Harlequins (8th 7th)
Necrons	Necrons (8th 7th 6th 5th 4th)
Orks	Orks (8th 7th 6th 5th 3rd) Ork Dred Mob - 7th edition (6th 5th) Ork Kult of Speed - 3rd edition Feral Orks - 3rd edition
Tau	Tau (8th 7th 6th 5th)
Tyranids	Tyranids (8th 7th 6th 5th) Genestealer Cults (8th 7th)

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