Greetings all. Its been a busy month here so I haven’t had too much time to post here, so lets get cracking. Today we are going to talk about the venerable Wolf Lord. Leader of his company, the Wolf Lord is a warrior without compare, capable of cutting massive swaths through your opponents forces.

Lets take a look at the Wolf Lord’s stat line. With a WS of 6, the Wolf Lord immediately establishes himself as a preeminent hand to hand combatant. Add in a hefty number of attacks (4 base) and the Wolf Lord quickly establishes himself as one of the more powerful close combat models in any force. Additionally your Wolf Lord comes with BS5, W3, and LD10, making him a formidable model, and that is before you equip him. Finally, don’t forget that your Wolf Lord comes with Acute Sense, and Counter Attack, like other Space Wolf infantry models.

Equipment

Your Wolf Lord can be equipped in a huge variety of ways with almost any piece of gear that can be found on a another squad. In addition to his power armor, he may be equipped with Terminator armor. Additionally he may be mounted on either a Space Marine Bike or a Thunderwolf Mount.

Equipment (items with two costs denote wargear that may be used with Terminator Armor)

Armor:
Runic Armor: 20pts
Terminator Armor(includes Storm Bolter and Power Weapon): 40pts

Pretty straightforward choices here. Runic armor confers 2+ save with a 5+ invuln save against psychic powers but otherwise fits the transport profile for a Power Armored marine. Terminator armor is the standard 2+/5+ with all the other benefits and limitations of being in TDA. No wrong choices (including not upgrading armor)

Ranged Weapons:

Bolt Pistol: Free
Boltgun: Free
Storm Bolter: 3pts/Free
Plasma Pistol: 15pts
Combi weapons (melta, plasma, or flamer): 10pts/5pts

Your Wolf Lord comes standard with a Bolt Pistol. This is perfectly serviceable as a second close combat weapon and many players won’t feel the need to upgrade this weapon. The Storm Bolter doesn’t really add any value and should be reserved for use with Terminator Armor as its a two handed weapon. The plasma pistol can enhance your shooting firepower without compromising close combat ability. Combi weapons will boost your shooting at the cost of your second close combat attack, but again can augment your shooting firepower significantly.

Close Combat Gear (will note terminator costs separately here as its dependent on which weapon you replace):

Power Armor/Runic Armor

Close Combat Weapon: Free
Power Weapon: 15pts
Wolf Claw: 20pts Pair: 40pts
Frost Blade: 25pts
Power Fist: 25pts
Thunder Hammer: 30pts
Storm Shield: 30pts

Terminator Armor (first price is for replacing the free stormbolter, 2nd for replacing the power weapon)

Wolf Claw: 15pts/5pts
Power Fist: 20pts/10pts
Frostblade: n/a/10pts
Thunder Hammer: 25pts/15pts
Chain Fist: 25pts/15pts
Storm Shield: 25pts/15pts

Wolf Lords have access to all close combat weapons and can be built out in a variety of ways. The biggest item I will stress here is to not be cheap. Your Wolf Lord is a close combat beast and he should be equipped as such. To that end, you will almost certainly be upgrading your close combat weapon to one of the above options. I would personally avoid getting a generic power weapon. For 5 more points you can get a Wolf Claw with significantly greater overall utility. A pair of Wolf Claws or a Frost Blade also remain excellent choices. I would avoid the powerfist (due to loss of initiative) but will recommend the Thunder Hammer for a specific configuration in part two of this article. The Storm Shield of course grants a superb 3+ invulnerable save.

Wargear:

Wargear that can’t be taken by models in TDA:
Jump Pack: 25pts
Space Marine Bike: 35pts
Thunderwolf mount: 45pts

Unless you are running your Wolf Lord with Skyclaws or Swiftclaws there is no real reason to take the first two options here. The Thunderwolf mount on the other hand is a whole different ballgame that could generate its own article. Suffice it to say the natural modification of your Wolf Lords Str and Toughness stats can be a game changer even before considering that he would then count as Cavalry. This will get greater discussion in part 2.

Everything else
Melta Bombs: 5pts
Wolftooth Necklace: 10pts
Wolf Tail Talisman: 5pts
Up to 2 Fenrisian wolves: 10pts each
Mark of the Wulfen: 15pts
Belt of Russ: 25pts

The Wolftooth necklace is a gimme and should almost always be taken (hit any model with a WS on 3+ in CC regardless of their WS). Melta bombs or the Wolf Tail Talisman aren’t needed choices but are good places to spend leftover points. This goes for the Fenrisian wolves as well though this will require a more specific build. Belt of Russ is almost mandatory for models not taking a Storm Shield. Mark of the Wulfen is a waste of points that is more likely to cost you attacks than gain you attacks and can’t be used with a special close combat weapon.

Sagas:
Saga of the Beastslayer: 10pts
Saga of Majesty: 15pts
Saga of the Wolfkin: 15pts
Saga of the Warrior Born: 35pts
Saga of the Bear: 35pts

Please see the above linked article. ‘Nuff said.

Stay tuned to part 2 coming sometime soon.