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Thoughts on Space Wolves
So I wen't into BFG and waded through all the dirty WFB players (JWolf and Goatboy included) and got my dirty mits on the Space Wolf book.
Well the first half of the book is fluff (which is probably 50% of why I want it, and why I am trying to get my hands on the 2nd ed SW codex) which looks fantastic. A bit about how SWs are initiated differently from "vanilla" marines.
Troops
Grey Hunters are essentially badder-assed CSM troops. They have Bolter, BP and CC weapon. They get Acute Senses, Counter Attack and ATSKNF. All for 15 points a piece (17th in the 3rd ed book). If you take a full squad of 10, you can take 2 special weapons. The downside is that there is no, internal, sergeant upgrade, so if you take a basic squad of 10, you are looking at LD8 dudes.
Blood Claws are 15 points a piece just like GHs (14 points in the old book) and they are still crazy. They have 3 WS and 3 BS like they did in the 3rd ed book, which makes perfect sense to me, because they are about as experiance as scouts in other chapters. They are still "headstrong" meaning they must charge the nearest unit if they are in range, unless they have an IC with them. They still get Berserk Charge which gives them +2 attacks on the charge instead of +1, but they do not get the 2 attack on a counter attack. Lastly, they have a rule that says that if they are within 6 inches of a unit, they cannot shoot that unit, as they are too busy getting ready to choppity chippity. BCs can take two special weapons if you take a full squad of 15, and they have not internal sergeant upgrades just like the GHs.
Both GHs and BCs have fewer power fists than they used to. It used to be 1 PF for every 5 dudes (or fraction of 5 dudes, so 11 BCs, meant 3 PFs). Now its just 1 per squad. I'm a little sad it went down to just 1 per squad, but I do agree that 3 was too many. I would have liked to have seen 2 in a full squad of 15 BCs.
Elites
Wolf Scouts seemed to be the same as before. The only MAJOR change I saw was a tweak on Operate Behind Enemy Lines. It used to be they came in on your opponents board edge, now if they roll a 1, they end up on one short board edge, a 2 and its the other, and 3-6 its players choice.
Dreadnoughts didn't look too different, although our Ven Dred doesnt allow re-rolls on who goes first anymore (thats saved for Bjorn, and I'll get to him later). I believe the Dread and the Ven Dread are pretty similar to Vanilla marines now. We lost the Ironclad Dread, but I'm not that upset about it. I am more upset because I was kit bashing a ironclad, but that will just turn into a Dread with extra armor.
The Iron Priest looks more like a tech marine, although I do not think he has the bolster defense which is a little disappointing, but makes sense I guess, the SWs aren't much for defense, they are all about offense. I'm just thinking that there isn't much reason to take one.
The new elite choice is called a Lone Wolf. This is a dude that last lost all of his pack members, and is shamed because he lived while they have all died in glorius combat, and he is eger to join them. He is a one dude squad that starts out at 20 points, and has a WS of 5, an invulnerable save, eternal warrior and I was talking to Bigred (who oddly enough is neither red, nor that big) and he said he played a test list and the dude blew up a Land Raider with a master crafter Meltabomb. It sounds like this guys pops up on the board similarly to a Lictor or Sly Marbo. Seems very fun! I know I'm going to have to play at least one game with 3 of these dudes!
Lastly, the Wolf Guard. These guys can be bought in groups of 3-10 for 18 points a piece, and they can be broken up and tossed in other units to act as sergeants. They can be outfitted in Termie armor for like 15-20 points and the points cost from there goes up rapidly. You can buy at TH for like 15 points and a SS for 15 more points. Very easy to get one of these guys to cost 70+ points.
Fast Attack
Blood Claw Bikers and Jump Packs are still in the roster, but I believe they are cheaper, although they are still BS3, WS3. Not much to say.
SWs only have the regular Land Speeder, not Storms.
The two new units are the Wolf Cavalry, and the Wolf Packs, before the only way you could field wolves were as retinues, they they can be taken as their own units. Not too bad, but LD 6, or LD7 if you take a Cyberwolf as a leader. The Cavalry seems a bit dumb to me, they are pretty expensive, and you can only take 1-5, but they are S5 T5 W2 models. I think that if I every use them, I will use bikes, and call them Grey Hunters on bikes.
Heavy Support
Most of the vehicles are the same as regular Marines. Pred, Razorback, Vindicator, Whirlwind, even the Land Raider Redeemer and Crusader.
The regular Land Raider has a transport capacity of 10 dudes. I don't like this because it is yet another LR variant to keep track of along with the DA, BT, BA, GK and whatnot. I do understand why this was put into place. If you take a squad of 10 GHs with two special weapons, and two ICs, that is a pretty nutty fuckin unit. I believe they've done this to force people to take something else. The LRC or LRR. The LRR still has the 12 troop capacity, but that means you drop the Lascannons, and thats a lot of the anti-vehicle capacity of a SW army. They are they are telling the SW players, "you can't have you cake and eat it too," which I can really understand, and I'm not too upset with.
The Drop Pod (which I know isn't a heavy support choice, but deal with it) has a transport capacity of 10, which annoys me and makes complete sense to me for the exact same reasons. One of the things I noticed was that it didnt look like the drop pod had the locator beacon. Which really would suck for a DP army.
HQ
One of the things they did was to update the SW ICs and bring them on par with the ICs of the other chapters. But they brough the prices up as well. A Rune Priest used to be 80 points in the 3rd ed codex, but is now 100 points, BUT they Rune Priest used to have one psycic ability that created a 5+ "smoke" and thats it. Now there are like 7 and some of them are pretty nutty. The one you will see EVERYONE us is "The Maw of the World Wolf" which draws a straight line 24" from the rune priest (ignoring terrain) and any model it touches takes an initiative test. If it fails, the model is removed from the game. It doesn't "die" so eternal warrior and the tyranid rules that stops instant death don't help. "poof"
Bigred said the Rune Priest is the single best unit in the codex.
Wolf Guard Battle Leaders and Lords looked a lot like Captains and Chapter Masters.
Special Characters
These guys are pretty crazy. Ragnar gives himself and any unit he joins d3 attacks on the charge, which is pretty crazy. He can also give them... furious charge? (the one that adds one to WS and one to T) once per game.
Logan Grimnar is back as the great wolf and he can confer a number of special rules. He can make units relentless, he can make Wolf Guard troops choices (which means it would be possible to create an all termie SW army) and some other nifty stuff.
Ulrik the Slayer is pretty bad ass. He gives any unit he joins the "prefered enemy" rule and makes them fearless. He can also bump one dude in the army's WS and BS (i think) up +1 to a max of 6.
Njal Stormcaller is the Rune Priest SC. He is in terminator armor and knows all the psycic powers and can cast 2 a turn. Pretty bad ass.
Lukas Somethingorother is a BC dude that is pretty crazy. He is the one that had his heart ripped out by a DE, and he replaced it with a stasis bomb. When his secondary heart stops beating, the bomb goes off. The way this works is if he dies, the SW player and the opponent roll a die. If the SW player wins, all enemy models in base combat with Lukas are removed from the game.
The is the RA Salvator rip-off dude in Termie armor with TH and SS that can throw his TH, because it has a TPer in it. I guess the SWs dont like to use TPs on anything other than weapons.
There is also the Wolf Riding dude. I didn't really read him because I don't like the model, and I don't like the idea of Power Armored SWs riding wolves.
Lastly, the HQ choice I think I would use the most is Bjor the Fellhanded. The super-Ven Dread that used to go to pick up chicks with Russ and the Emporer back in the day. He is 13/12/10 with a 5+ invulnerable save to any glancing or pen hits. He is S7, so I'm assuming he penetrates a LR any time he hits it. He can have a Plasma Cannon for free (which is wierd there arent many SCs that you can change wargear on). I believe he gives everyone within 6" of him chance to reroll misses in combat (dont remember if its ranged or CC or both). Lastly if he is destroyed, he becomes an object, and I believe he counts as 2 objectives.
All in all, it looks like a very fluffy, interesting, tought codex. I do not think it is one of the signs of the end of times like a lot of people on the interwebs are complaining about. I think it will be like the SM and IG codices were, they will take people by surprise the first couple times, but after that, business as usual. I think the developers did a good job giving the Wolves more options (All Termie Army, Mech Army, "Hoard" Army, Wolves as troops army, etc etc etc.
I think they'll be a lot of fun, and I like their wolf cavalry. I hope they come out with some plastic giant wolves, because taking a unit made up of 1 $50 model repeated five times would be both unattractive and too pricey.
Bah! I still think the idea of power armored Space Marines on wolves is a bit silly, but I agree with you about the single $50 mini. Avatars of War do a really cool looking wolf I was going to use a Fenrisian Wolves, but I'm not sure if they'll be big enough for a Space Marine to sit on.
Well, I still think the model of the Guy on the Wolf looks awesome. I've already placed an order for the two rune priests and 4 sets of shoulder pads. I really like wolves and even though it might not be a competitive list, I plan on building a list with several wolves (not sure about the Wolf Riders).
Yeah, but how long before you dip em in simple green and paint em smurf blue? :)