My thoughts on the new Space Wolves: HQ's: The Wolf Lord

THE WOLF LORD!!

Now we have the generic, run of the mill Wolf Lord. My interpretation of his role is to mirror that of the Chapter master. This dude can fill any role you want, in my eyes he is the gem in this codex. The Wolf Lord has SO many options. This HQ choice is also amazing in the sense that it has SO much hobbying potential. Space wolves models may generally all look similar or the same; but when it comes to the wolf lord, he is what you want him to be and can look however you want him to look. I have a ton of love for this guy, and have never played a game without him. But if your not careful, he can get expensive SUPER quick. He does start at 105 points, so when you see the options, you'll see how easy it could be to get carried away with him.  Strap in lads and lasses because this will be a long one.



STATS:

His stat line, while not game breaking, is sweet. He's got a nice high WS of 6,  Leadership 10, 3 Wounds, 4 Attacks base and Initiative 5. Other then that he shares the same stat line as your every day Grey Hunter. The Wolf Lord can be a SERIOUS beast in combat, and a threat that your opponent has to deal with. I don't have much more to say here about his stats, so ow were going to talk about the war gear he comes with and the upgrades he can take.

WARGEAR:

The Wolf Lord comes standard with power armour, bolt pistol, chainsword, frag and krak grenades, and a Belt of Russ(woohoo stock 4+ invul). This gear if you want a bare bones HQ just to fill a spot could be fine, but if you want a character just for that you may as well take the toned down Battle Leader which is 50 points cheaper. If you want a character that is seriously fun to play and can add some serious flavour to your army, this is your guy.

So like most HQ's , he can take up to two fenrisian wolves. This is never a bad option, extra wounds after all.
You also have the option to replace his power armour with runic armour. Boom, this is an amazing upgrade. For 20 points you can give him a 2+ armour save, while that doesn't seem impressive yet, you will soon see how this can be combined for a serious beast of a lord.
A wolf lord may take a thunder wolf mount and also may  take items from the melee, ranged, special issue, and relic of the fang lists, this includes :
    - A power weapon
    - Storm Shield (heck yes)
    - Frost Sword and/or Frost Axe
    - Wolf Claw (you may also take a pair)
    - Power Fist
    - Thunder Hammer
    - Storm Bolter
    - Combi-Flamer,Plas, Melta
    - Plasma Pistol
    - Bike, Jump Pack, Digital Weapons, and/or melta bombs
    - Armor of Russ, Bite of Fenris, Black Death, Helm Of Durfast, Wulfen Stone and Fangsword of          
      The Ice Wolf

As you can see, There are literally a plethora of options for the Wolf Lord. While i don't have experience with all of these options, i have experience with a bunch. For example, i have never ran a Wolf Lord on foot. I only run them on thunder wolves, they get really serious when there riding a wolf. It gives them a +1 to pretty much the whole stat line and rending.

Some of the options i like to run on Wolf Lords are as follows:

Power Fist and Wolf Claw: This gives you a nice multi-purposer. He can hit at str 9 when he needs to, but he strikes last, or you can choose to strike at his initiative and get a +1 to strength and the ability to re-roll all failed wounds. I ran this build for a while due to the versatility, until i found the build i really like, but i'll get to that later on under the "HOW I WOULD RUN IT".

Black Death and Storm Shield: This is nice for when your running a wolf lord in a minimum unit of cavalry because you will most likely always be throwing them at units that consist of more models then there unit. This may be unwieldy, but it gives you a 2+ to str and 3 attacks when your outnumbered, oh yea and its at a wicked ap2. How well does it perform in the game, i honestly don't know. I've thought about running it but never have gotten around to it. I'm going to try it next time i play though for sure.

Wolf Claw and Storm Shield: If you want to eat power armour, this is your build. The shield gives a better invul, and your swinging at your initiative, with ap3 , with higher strength and re rolling all failed wounds. Pretty fun lord to run with.


The build i DO NOT recommend on a Wolf Lord is a Storm Shield and Power Fist. With his high initiative, your kind of putting all your eggs in one basket running a fist on the lord. When thunder wolf cavalry can take a fist you may as well keep it off the lord so he can take challenges with the chance of hitting first. Even if you want a fist for challenges, throw it on the cavalry pack leader. In my meta the consensus is; because thunder wolf cavalry enter the game with there stat line in the book at str 5, they are 10 with the fist. The lord only is 9 because of how you upgrade him. I know, it seems confusing but it's an age old RAW, RAI, wording and way things are represented in the book argument that both sides can literally argue in circles for forever and both be valid. So instead of sticking your lord in a challenge where he may not get the chance to hit, you can just stick the pack leader in and if he lives then he's going to hit like a truck.

Now these are just some of the things i like on them. What you want to run is all up to you and how you want your army to field. That's the beauty of the Wolf Lord. Throw whatever gear you want so that he fills the role you need. You can have a ton of fun with the wolf lord.

There will be more at the end, but for now i need to get rolling with the rest of this review.


SPECIAL RULES:

Once again, Acute senses, ATSKNF, and Counter attack. Deja vu......


WARLORD TRAIT:

Unlike the named ones, your not cast into a specific warlord trait, so you can roll for it which is nice. This gives you a bunch of versatility.


HOW I WOULD RUN IT:

While i do not like cheese, or things that are cheesy; My build for my wolf lord could be considered a little cheesy, but its the only thing i have in my army that is like this. I also want him to represent what a Wolf Lord would be like, and this does it best.

I run a Wolf Lord with :

    - Runic Armour
    - Storm Shield
    - Krakenbone Sword
    - 2x Fenrisian Wolves

I know i didn't mention the Krakenbone sword above, but that is due to the fact that it is in the Champions of Fenris Supplement.  What this build does is give the Lord a 2+, 3++ and two wolves to look out sir on to. He's also striking at his initiative with a +2 str, Ap2 , Master Crafted Sword and Rending thanks to the thunder wolf mount.
I then run the lord in the front of the unit with his wolves in front of him to take the initial shots. Anything i don't want to risk on the lord i either look out sir on a wolf or onto a cavalry member with a shield. This pretty much guarantees he makes it to combat. If i want him to take it he's tanking on a 2+, 3++ as mentioned above. It plays awesome and he puts out some serious hurt. I love this build and it does wonders. Only downside is that you need to take the supplement force org which can cast you into a bit of a one trick pony. I'm fine with this though, because it allows me to run only thunder wolves. I believe that space wolves need to be spilling blood and creating there sagas, and this Lord does that.

And for your viewing pleasure; here is my Wolf Lord. With a Saturday night free, a bunch of bits, and some imagination you can give him some flavour. This was actually also the first model i ever used green stuff on. I was motivated to make it look like he was wearing a big pelt draping over his shoulder. He is also sporting one of the fancy secret weapon miniatures runic mountain bases.

Thanks for Reading, Hope you Enjoyed! Leave your questions in the comments!