Big Blokes on Massive Wolves

So my Thunderwolf Cavalry arrived last week. And of course one of them (Canis Wolfborn) had to be taken back to Games Workshop due to poor casting - he looked like someone off the serious burns unit. Finecast - what a total misnomer...

Anyway, this aside, the other Finecast stuff was great - the Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf and Arjac look incredible and I can't wait to find time to paint them. But now of course I ought to have a little peep in the codex before I crack out the Chaos Black (sorry Sev, I'll buy Poundland own brand next time!).

So, looking at the entry for the Thunderwolves, I'm pondering as to what to tool them up with. As I'm likely to base my army around the Thunderwolves and Bran Redmaw, I feel fairly happy in tooling them up.

I cannot see any reason not to equip all the riders with Storm Shields - 3++ saves on such a savage close combat unit really does make these guys incredibly durable.

There seems little point in changing the standard bolt pistol side arm for the riders - most likely whatever is being charged is in trouble anyway, and bolts are usually enough to damage those races who have high Initiative values anyway, so from a unit of 4 riders charging, say, a unit of Wyches, you can happily expect a Wych to go down to bolt gun fire, maybe even two. Perhaps I will consider it if going up against Chaos Marines. But mainly I'm going to be taking the Storm Shields, so it's all a bit moot really.

Melta bombs will certainly give the riders a vehicle-striking capability - their speed allows them to close with vehicles quickly, ensuring that turn Two could see your opponent wafting the smoke away from his trashed Monolith/Land Raider. However, in fairness the Thunderwolves are much more likely to be seen ploughing through infantry. Perhaps meltabomb duty is best left to Scouts and Skyclaws.

One of the riders in a squad may take a special weapon - power weapon, Wolfclaw (power weapon with rerolls for 5 points more than a standard power weapon), Frost Blade/Axe or power fist and Thunder Hammer. Seeing as these chaps are so survivable, it may be worth giving a Thunder Hammer to one member of the squad, depending on opponents. Although it means he strikes last, it doubles his strength to top whack, and can really spell doom for big, multi-wound creatures, especially Daemons who get invulnerable saves. This is because of the secondary effect of the Thunder Hammer, which stuns the opponent, meaning it may only strike at Initiative 1 next round (if it still lives). This will be fantastic against high Initiative gribblies, perhaps like Tyranids or Greater Daemons (other than Nurgle, naturally).

Otherwise, I'm thinking that the Frost Blade/Axe is likely to be most useful. It is a +1 Strength power weapon which is always going to come in handy, especially when pitched against a tasty character - 5 Strength 6 attacks with no armour saves on a charge? You can bank on serious damage...

Of course, the prospect of a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf is positively lip-smacking. He's going to be expensive, so let's see what I'm going to do to turn this chap into an absolute close combat mentalist.

Runic Armour means 2+ saves - so that's in. Storm Shield for the 3+ Invulnerable? Yes please.

This guy has Initiative 5 and we need to take advantage of this, so no Thunder Hammer or Power Fist, but a Frost Axe will keep him on the right side of nasty. He's unlikely to need rerolls to hit much, as we're giving him the Wolftooth Necklace, which means he'll always hit on 3+. We might give him a couple of Fenrisian Wolves as pets - they can soak up a few shots to get him into combat unscathed.

Where it gets really nasty is when we add a Saga. Do we want him to be indestructible (Saga of the Bear gifts Eternal Warrior) or completely savage (Saga of the Warrior born, add same amount of attacks as wounds caused in last round of combat) or a monster hunter (Saga of the Beastslayer, reroll to hit against Toughness 5 and up opponents)? Or even Saga of the Hunter to allow a formidable sneak attack (Outflank rule, plus Stealth)?

Of course it is likely to be tailored by who your opponent is - are there a lot of Strength 10 weapons kicking about? Saga of the Bear probably wise then. Tyranids or Nurgle opponents? Beastslayer required.

But the standard 'go to' Saga for a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf is always going to be Warrior Born. Who doesn't want the likelihood of adding 5 attacks to their already formidable 5, building turn upon turn (as long as there are bodies to swing an axe through!)? You can taste the glory already, can't you?

I can - and I think I am ready to start shaking that can and getting these beasts primed for carnage...