Forging My First Great Company

[Brother Scorpirus]

Hail Brothers of Fenris!

 

I'm entirely new to the idea of list building, but have been a long time lore enthusiast, and shorter term painter all things considered. I've been shifting back and forth between what I've wanted to paint my primaris force as for a long time now. I've painted and tested many models, most recent of which were some lovely Doom Eagles, but with all the fuss regarding the new Psychic Awakening I've been reminded of the reason I got into 40k in the first place: the Space Wolves. The first 40k book I read was Spacewolf by William King, and instantly fell in love with the setting (and Ragnar, in no small manner).

 

So, with that boring lore out of the way, I would like to ask you Wolves of Fenris how you would recommend I build my army going forward. I'm a huge fan of the primaris range, and have a lot of the models unbuilt and unpainted, so I would like to primarily keep it within the range, but anything other than the original marines would be fine by me (Wolfen, Older Dreads because Bjorn is the best, thunderwolf cavalry in a small dose). I also don't want the spotlight here, and would love to hear how the rest of you have built your armies, and the stories you've forged over the years!

 

Model List:

2x Gravis Captains

1x Primaris Captain

2x Primaris Lieutenants (One is Haldor)

1x Primaris Librarian

1x Primaris Ancient

30x Intercessers

3x Aggressors

5x Hellblasters

3x Inceptors

1x Scout Squad

1x Redemptor Dreadnought

1x Repulsor

Edited March 9, 2020 by Brother Scorpirus

[Krakendoomcool]

Hail Brother!

 

Box sets seem to be a good way of adding to a Primaris force.

 

You really couldnt pick a better time to be doing Primaris Blackmanes. In a few hours Primaris Ragnar will be released in a box set with Primaris marines. So wait and see what that's like. So the rumours goes.

[Brother Scorpirus]

Hail Brother!

 

Box sets seem to be a good way of adding to a Primaris force.

 

You really couldnt pick a better time to be doing Primaris Blackmanes. In a few hours Primaris Ragnar will be released in a box set with Primaris marines. So wait and see what that's like. So the rumours goes.

Good shout! Super excited to see what comes in that glorious box with Ragnar! To the point of primaris: are primaris actually an alright avenue to go with Space Wolves? Would I be gimping my army using them as opposed to their firstborn brethren?

[Karhedron]

That looks a really solid start to a Great Company. You have 30 Intercessors so running them in 5-man packs means you can easily run a dual Battalion list with just Primaris if you wish.

 

It might be worth waiting a few weeks until our Psychic Awakening book (Saga of the Beast) is released. Blood Angels and Dark Angels got a significant boost when theirs came out so with luck we can hope for a similar boost.

 

Our +1 to-Hit in the first round of melee is a handy bonus (as is the 6" Heroic Intervention for Characters) so it is worth building your army with these bonuses in mind. I am currently planning to build 2 5-man packs of Intercessors with Auto Bolt Rifles and a Thunder hammer on the pack leader (assuming we get the option in PA6, otherwise I will have to settle for Power Fists). I also plan to give them the Veteran Intercessor strat. This means the Pack Leader will get 5 Thunder Hammer attacks in the first round of combat, hitting on 3s. The rest of the squad get 4 attacks each hitting on 2s. Each of these packs can clear light infantry with ease and pose a serious threat to heavier targets. Mount them up in a Repulsor for protection Turn 1 and get them into the middle of the table.

 

The one obvious shortcoming in your list is long-ranged firepower. You have 2 options here, the more flexible option is to go old-school and get a couple of packs of Long Fangs. Lascannons are a good choice for anti-tank but their built-in rerolls means Long Fangs can work well with Plasma Cannons too. Alternatively, Eliminators with Las Fussils are a decent choice if you wish to stick to teh Primaris theme. I prefer to give the seargent a bolt carbine and use him to buff the other squad members as this is the most cost-effective way of getting firepower. The ability to fall back 6" when charged can really mess up assault-based opponents.

[Cpt.Danjou]

Welcome ti the Fang.

 

My first advice is to wait for our PA book, things can change with that book, we will probably not get much for veteran Wolf models. With a change in Stratagems, relics and rules the primaris can get boosts where needed. For me, and it is my opinion, the primaris lack a bit in the heavy hitter department. Sure the Hellblasters, Repulsor and Redemptor can make high armour multi wound models sweat a bit, but most often not. 

The wulven thunder hammer and Storm shield squads are good taking care of tough models, but the problem is getting them to were they are effective, either they need a transport or they walk in from the side with our stratagems. A player who have seen those tricks makes them priority targets. All the heavy hitters carry around big signs, saying "shoot me now!". So I would consider getting more Hellblasters, they will take a beating so more wounds is always good, maybe take a look at Long fangs, who are awesome as they have re-rolls of 1s, and in no need of a character babysitting them. You can always incorporate them in the fluff as advisers from Logan. Same goes for the old dreads, Bjorn is one of the best dreads in the game, with his character, FnP and that he hits on +2 both in shooting and close combat. The Ven dreads are ok, I use mine as fire support, but you can always make them close combat dreads with axes and shields making them more durable. The wulven dreads are also good on close combat, and fairly cheap point-wise. 

I do like my Aggressors, they have very seldom disappointed me, they clear chaff as nothing else I have seen before, and if they survive into close combat with a high toughness target they do have power fists. Chaff is not our biggest problem at the moment, in my last game, by round two my opponent had extremely little troops left, one half squad, but he had sadly daemon princes, vehicles and a knight left, which I had problems getting down, a nurgle Dp is not fun in Close combat.

 

When I build a list i always consider their first objective for every squad I get, will they be chaff clearing, heavy hitters, close combat and if cc how will they get to the combat.  

 

I would ditch the scouts and go Phiobos instead, but do take this advice with a grain of salt, as I myself do not use phobos yet, my backlog of unpainted minis is a bit large atm. 

 

But I would still wait a bit getting more things, as the PA will most likely change things for us.hopefully to the better.  :)

[UniWolf]

I would say that at the moment there isn't really anything Space Wolfish about the primaris range at the moment IMHO. All of our flavour comes from the firstborn line. BUT that could very well change with whatever is released in saga of the beast!

[Karhedron]

I would ditch the scouts and go Phobos instead, but do take this advice with a grain of salt, as I myself do not use phobos yet, my backlog of unpainted minis is a bit large atm.

I would agree with this. Our Scouts are far worse than the standard codex option since they are not Troops. Infiltrators or Incursors work well for wolves as they perform a similar role to bolter or melee Scouts while still be Troops. Eliminators work better than Sniper Scouts.

[Brother Scorpirus]

That looks a really solid start to a Great Company. You have 30 Intercessors so running them in 5-man packs means you can easily run a dual Battalion list with just Primaris if you wish.

 

It might be worth waiting a few weeks until our Psychic Awakening book (Saga of the Beast) is released. Blood Angels and Dark Angels got a significant boost when theirs came out so with luck we can hope for a similar boost.

...

...

Amazing response, and exactly the kind of info I'm looking for! I'm thinking of grabbing 5 additional Hellblasters and some Eliminators to tack in and round off at least 1000 points for some games to relearn how to play haha. Would you say that having a pack of vet intercessors is always a good idea, regardless of match up? 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Brother Scorpirus

[Brother Scorpirus]

Welcome ti the Fang.

 

My first advice is to wait for our PA book, things can change with that book, we will probably not get much for veteran Wolf models. With a change in Stratagems, relics and rules the primaris can get boosts where needed. For me, and it is my opinion, the primaris lack a bit in the heavy hitter department. Sure the Hellblasters, Repulsor and Redemptor can make high armour multi wound models sweat a bit, but most often not

...

...

Yet another great response! With regard to fielding more firepower for those scarier units, would a heavy blob of hellblasters reinforce that weakness? And on topic of the various primaris units; what's the general consensus on Inceptors? Do they cross over too heavily into the "chaff clearing" department to simply be a worse version of our aggressors?

[Karhedron]

Amazing response, and exactly the kind of info I'm looking for! I'm thinking of grabbing 5 additional Hellblasters and some Eliminators to tack in and round off at least 1000 points for some games to relearn how to play haha. Would you say that having a pack of vet intercessors is always a good idea, regardless of match up?

Hellblasters are nice but really need a Wolf Lord (or Bjorn) to provide rerolls of 1s to hit. Otherwise they risk blowing themselves up when they overcharge. My preffered setup would be a squad (or two) with the Rapid Fire variant of the gun with a Wolf Lord in an Impulsor with Shield Dome for a 4++ Invulnerable save. Turn 1, race them up the battle field and blow something important away. If you enemy shoots at the Impulsor, the 4++ allows it to soak a lot of damage and it will distract attention from any other vehicles (like Repulsors). If you opponent ignores it, it can make a real nuisance by blocking charges, soaking overwatch or interfering with your opponent targeting your characters.

 

I think that a pack or 2 of Veteran Intercessors with Auto Bolt rifles and a heavy melee weapon is solid in any Marine army but works particularly well for us due to our Chapter Trait.

[Cpt.Danjou]

 

Welcome ti the Fang.

 

My first advice is to wait for our PA book, things can change with that book, we will probably not get much for veteran Wolf models. With a change in Stratagems, relics and rules the primaris can get boosts where needed. For me, and it is my opinion, the primaris lack a bit in the heavy hitter department. Sure the Hellblasters, Repulsor and Redemptor can make high armour multi wound models sweat a bit, but most often not

...

...

Yet another great response! With regard to fielding more firepower for those scarier units, would a heavy blob of hellblasters reinforce that weakness? And on topic of the various primaris units; what's the general consensus on Inceptors? Do they cross over too heavily into the "chaff clearing" department to simply be a worse version of our aggressors?

 

 

When it comes to Hellblasters against high toughness targets, is that they usually have to overcharge, scary without a booster character. Leman Russes and Knights have been my main target when it comes to high toughness targets and Hellblasters only wound 50% of the time on those, slightly better if they have a WGBL also boosting them.

 

I do have inceptors, but I have never used them as they have the bolter kind and not the plasma kind, the bolter variant is for "chaff" clearing, and the plasma kind gets very expensive, in my opinion, for what they do, and they rarely will have booster character around so the chances of dying is to a high risk for me. The upside with them are that they are fast compared to Aggressor, and can get on the board a bit easier, don't cost cp as they don't use the "Cunning of the wolf" stratagem if you want them to come in later in the game. A good opponent can block the entry points for your Aggressors if they are "on the hunt" forcing you enter on a less optimal spot. But my main issue with plasma Inceptors are that they so expensive, around 180 points for three, that might die if you roll that pesky 1.

[Brother Scorpirus]

 

Amazing response, and exactly the kind of info I'm looking for! I'm thinking of grabbing 5 additional Hellblasters and some Eliminators to tack in and round off at least 1000 points for some games to relearn how to play haha. Would you say that having a pack of vet intercessors is always a good idea, regardless of match up?

Hellblasters are nice but really need a Wolf Lord (or Bjorn) to provide rerolls of 1s to hit. Otherwise they risk blowing themselves up when they overcharge. My preffered setup would be a squad (or two) with the Rapid Fire variant of the gun...

...

 

How do you kit out your intercessors? Are you more in favor of auto bolt rifles or the plain bolt rifles?

[Karhedron]

How do you kit out your intercessors? Are you more in favor of auto bolt rifles or the plain bolt rifles?

I think all 3 weapons are viable now, which one you choose depends on the role. Heavy and Rapid Fire versions are great for units that you set up in your deployment zone to guard your home objectives or screen your firebase.

 

The Auto Bolt Rifle is best on units that you plan to move up to contest mid-field objectives. That is why I favour giving these guys a more hitty melee weapon. They are more likely to get close to the enemy and so benefit from having something to whack them with. They are also likely to be in the vicinity of a buffing character or two which will help to get the mileage out of weapons.

 

I have a couple of packs of RF Intercessors with Chainswords on the Pack Leaders (because they are free ). These are my objective campers. Their job is find something important to guard and then plink away at targets of opportunity.