JStove here, and the Games Workshop teasers for Vigilus have me thinking about the dog pound and what they’re going to bring to 40k.
And what do I think they’re going to bring? Well, I don’t think a lot.
Primaris ain’t that hot without plasma
We know right now that the wolves will be getting the full spread of Primaris units added to their codex. Just like every other Chapter before them. There’s just one issue with that- the only Chapter that Primaris marines really helped out were the plasma-happy Dark Angels.
They have the toys and bubbles to make the best use of a bunch of plasma gun toting infantry. The Hellblasters remain the best thing that Primaris marines have going for them and while they’re a welcome addition, it’s not enough by itself to put a whole army of wolves on the table.
There is Look Out Sir on Fenris
One of the things that made Space Wolves strong in the last edition was the ability of independent characters to join units and tank wounds on their storm shields and 2+ saves when they wanted to. Let a chump take a lascannon shot when they didn’t. Space Wolves have always been a character-focused army with free access to lots of beaters.
But now that the character rules can’t be abused to leverage wound allocation anymore, (the most important tool that Space Wolves used to give their armies an artificial extra level of resilience) is out of the window. Now all the Space wolvesCharacters are going to really do all the heavy lifting.
A slam captain is not an army
Space Wolf characters have a pretty good shot at being mighty badasses at least on the level of Blood Angels. That’s assuming they get the right wargear and stratagems that make Slamguinius such a beast in Imperial soup. Even then, only the true believers of the Blood Angel faithful are actually running Blood Angels.
Everyone in the imperial soup is just pulling out Slammers and Scouts. Will Space Wolves suffer a similar fate, relegated to cherrypicking a few Slam Captains or Psykers with a unique spell?
Thunder Wolves Die in 8E
Thunder Wolf Cavalry is not the unstoppable force that it was in the last codex and any Wolf player that leans on that old Thunder Wolf death star in 8E is going to get hosed.
First of all, there’s a way to get past that storm shield now and it’s called mortal wounds. Second, attacks that deal multiple damage are going to shred them as well. 5th edition through 7th edition were the Space Wolf heart of hammer-and-anvil 40k.
You could win a game by having the toughest models on the table, removing the only things your opponents had that threatened them, and then simply outlast and grind them off the table for six turns.
Warhammer 40k: Are Space Wolves in For a Ruff Time?
8th edition is a damage race where even a Knight Titan can be swept off the table on first turn. (That’s the minimum requirement for an army to be competitive.) So don’t expect a handful of pound puppies with storm shields to make it to turn 6. At least they aren’t another chaos codex. If there is one thing going for Space Wolves, it’s that they’re not closet traitors.
