The Wolveses

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted here, and though I haven't finished FFIX yet, I've been rearing to get back into 40k stuff, so I guess I'll just dive in.  Today I want to talk about the army I'm about to start- and indeed, have already started.

I'm starting Space Wolves.  I've wanted to play them for a while now, and I finally discovered a list that I like, that I think will give me a reasonable chance to take all comers.  Here's the list (2000 points):

Rune Priest w/ JotWW, Murderous Hurricane
Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Bear, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Wolftooth Necklace, Runic Armor
Wolf Lord w/ Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Warrior Born, Wolf Claw, Storm Shield, Runic Armor

3 Wolf Guard w/ Power Fists, Combi-Meltas (these go with each of the Grey Hunter squads)

9 Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Standard, Rhino
9 Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Stardard, Rhino
8 Grey Hunters w/ Melta Gun, Wolf Standard, Rhino (Rune Priest goes here)

4 Thunderwolf Mounts w/ Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer

6 Longfangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers
6 Longfangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers
6 Longfangs w/ 5 Missile Launchers

So, lots of missile launchers to mess with armor and open transports, lots of durable assault guys, and a lot of scoring dudes, as well as psychic defense.  I have 6 melta weapons, which is likely an all-time low for a list of mine, but this is somewhat mitigated by two S10 hammers, with a ton of attacks (combined 11 S10 hits on the charge).

I think the thing I like most about this list though, is it's tactical diversity.  I can split my lords into 3 different groups, and they all have the ability to do nasty things to a wide variety of units.  The 15 missile launchers adds to my diversity, with their ability to own monsterous creatures, stun-lock tanks, and frag missile bunched up infantry (or krak, if they're marines outside of cover).

It's a good standoff army, with my wolves almost always ensuring that they'll get the charge, and able to threaten my opponent from somewhat obnoxious distances away.  My Saga of the Bear lord is there to take on enemy dreadnoughts, characters, nob-like units, monsterous creatures, or even other thunderwolf cavalry.

Putting the 2+ runic armor on the wolf lords adds quite a bit to the thunderwolf 'deathstar' as well, since S8 AP3 weapons can be allocated to them, and I'll get a 2+ save without fear of being insta-deathed.

The troops are all pretty solid.  I was originally running the Mark of the Wulfen on them, but it never really did anything, ever.  Instead, it just took up 45 points that didn't end up being worth it.  The Runic Armor + Wolftooth necklace on the wolflord is much more cost-efficient I think.  They still have the Wolf Standard, which is far more worth it than the Wulfen.

I still can't get over how weird it is to get out and rapid-fire with them.  It adds a whole new range of threat to my army, since instead of my rhinos having to be 14" or closer to your models to be able to charge, I instead have another 10" of threat, and if you don't deal with them by charging, they'll just charge you.  And clearly, it's never any fun to charge space wolves.  Of course, the rapid-firing is situational, and big pie-plates are always scary for them, but it's still an option I never really used, since I'm mostly assault-based in most of my armies (and just about any game that my guard are reduced to rapid-firing, I tend to be in a terrible situation anyways).

My Warrior-borne lord is there to kill infantry, plain and simple.  Mathematically it makes more sense to give him a claw than a Frost Blade, since he has more options (being able to choose to re-roll hits OR wounds is huge, since against higher Toughness I re-roll wounds, and lower toughness I re-roll hits).  Plus, I'd much rather have a 3+ invuln than 4+, for about the same price.  As long as I have a shield (that makes sure I can never get the bonus attack for 2 CCW's), I might as well have the Claw.  FNP gaunts?  Horde orks?  Any marine squad?  He's there for those, though he'll also hurt termies, if I need him to.

So, what do you think?  I'm pretty sure I won't have much trouble against horde lists.  I actually see my biggest threat coming in the form of multiple land-raider lists, since AV14 and 3+ invulns are tough for my army to deal with in large numbers.  Maybe a good guard list, with a ton of S10 blast weapons might also do well, I really don't know.  Let me know what you think though, I want feedback :)

As a sidenote, I've played 6 games with them so far.  I played against: 

-Ork horde w/ dread/can spam (3 dreads, 6 kans, 130 boys (30 lootas), 2 KFF Meks)
-Ork horde w/ huge complex nob squad and 3 wagons (over 130 boyz)
-Blood Angel Drop Dread spam (7 dreads, 1 stormraven, 10 death company)
-2 nidzilla lists (different players)
-Mech space marines w/ 3 dreads, 3 vindicators, 30 tactical marines, Pedro

I ended up beating them all somewhat soundly, despite my inexperience with manouvering my Cavalry or deploying my Long Fangs.  Now I just need a few games against a competitive guard army, as well as games vs. Land Raiders w/ TH/SS spam to see how overall competitive I'll be.