The Allfather has spoken, the Space Wolves are back with their very own Codex Supplement alongside a raft of brand new miniatures, and a pretty sweet army set. 

The brand new Space Wolf Army Box is up for preorder right now! You can nab a copy from our affiliates over at Element Games and get yourself a bit of a saving Vs RRP whilst you are at it. Oh, and you’ll also be helping us out massively too! Make sure you check out our Crusade Armageddon Review this morning too!

Before we delve into this article properly, a big thank you to Games Workshop for sending us the Army Set to unbox and review for you folks. 

This article will be broken down into three segments. In the first one we’ll tackle the big new Army Box, get it unboxed, check out the sprues and of course see some of the minis painted ready for the battlefield. 

In the second section we will take a deep dive into the full Codex to find out which Space Wolf models have made the cut, and which haven’t, as well as checking out all the Detachments.

Finally we’ll wrap up with an overall Summary.

You can use the table of contents below to quickly find the section you are looking through, should you not wish to read everything!

With all the introduction stuff done, it’s time to pelt-up (see what I did there?) and get stuck in! Awwwooooo!!!

Space Wolves Army Set | Unboxed

First and foremost, this is a fairly hefty box. To recap, it includes the following items:

• The brand new Codex Supplement: Space Wolves, in it’s Limited Edition form
• Datacards for all the Space Wolf units
• A brand new transfer sheet
• New Battle Leader model
• New Wolf Priest
• New Blood Claws (10 of them)
• New Grey Hunters (again, 10 strong)
• 3 x Headtakers, with 3 accompanying Fenrisian Wolves

You can watch us unbox this in the video below, which also features a full runthrough of the book:

Want to have a closer look at those sprues? Of course you do! Check out the slideshow below:

These models are gorgeous. They really encompass all that is awesome about the Space Wolves, with intricate gems, pelts and a whole bunch of heads. Seriously, there are so many head variants across all the models in this box. Lots of helmeted and unhelmeted heads. At times I struggled to decide which heads to glue on!

They were a joy to assemble. The recent Warhammer kits have just been a dream to assemble, with less guess work and way more forgiving connection points.

I managed to build the unit of Grey Hunters, which you can see below:

As well as the Wolf Priest…

But the models I really want to crack on with is the new Battle Leader and the unit of Headtakers. I set myself a hobby challenge with this force. I’m not very good at painting faces, but the detailed heads in these kits could not be ignored, so I’m aiming to improve my face painting on this faction.

You can see how I got on below:

I had a lot of fun painting these guys, including the Wolves. With every model I’m trying to push myself more to hopefully improve my painting.

Another aspect I wanted to improve on with the bases, of which I turned to Siege Scenics in this instance, taking advantage of their basing kits and tufts. Can highly recommend!

The datacards that are included are really nice, and feature gold edging. The new transfer sheet is seriously rocking some new transfers, as well as returning iconography.

You of course also get the Limited Edition Codex, of which is also gorgeous, but we’ll check that out in more detail next.

You also get a brand new set of transfers for the Space Wolves, depicting the major Great Companies as well as Vehicle Markings.

Codex Supplement: Space Wolves

Now we move on to the Codex itself.

The first thing I had to remind myself of was this is a Codex Supplement, so is smaller than the last few Codexes I’ve had in my hands. It is fully compatible with Codex Space Marines (might as well get this part out of the way immediately), so if you want to take the likes of Blade Guard, Intercessors, Repulsors, etc, then you absolutely can. 

The only models that you cannot take are any Chapter-specific minis, such as special characters or units from other Chapters. For example, Death Company or Marneus Calgar.

As previously mentioned, you get the Limited Edition version of the book in the Army book, and it is glorious glossy and ‘feels’ premium. The gold edge pages and handy bookmark are fab additions. Limited Edition Codexes in my eyes are a little too expensive, but I do really like this one.

There are lots of new pieces of artwork scattered around this book, along with, as you would imagine with so many new kits (including the not yet up for preorder Logan, Njal and Wolf Guard Terminators) lots of new army shots showing off the glorious new models in amongst Space Wolf painted general Space Marine units. Disappointedly, their is only a small boxout showing a couple of examples of the different Companies, to show variant shoulder pad colours. 

Lore lovers and long time fans of the Wolves will enjoy the new lore within this book, whilst newcomers (and returners TBH) will enjoy reading in detail about each of the specific Wolf units, such as Wulfen and all of the named characters. Interestingly, Wolf Scouts and Long Fangs are given the spotlight, even though (spoiler alert, I guess?) they are no longer units in this Codex. A nod to future kits, maybe?

Combat Patrol

The first major section of the gameplay elements of the book is Combat Patrol, which for those unaware is a small scale version of 40k.

You buy the Combat Patrol. You build them to match the loadouts in your Combat Patrol datacards, and you play a smaller version of 40k. They are fast paced and quite a lot of fun to be honest!

In this book you’ll find unique enhancements and stratagems to use on your Space Wolves, and of course you have the Combat Patrol version of the datacards.

The new Combat Patrol box is pretty good to be honest, which is amazing, as some have been a little hit and miss. 

Inside the Space Wolves Combat Patrol is…

• A Battle Leader
• 10 x Blood Claws
• 5 x Wolf Guard Terminators
• 5 x Wulfen

It gives you a great starting army that you can expand on, with three very different units led by a solid character. 

Within this section of the book is a very handy painting guide, which covers everything from the armour to the trinkets that Space Wolves have. 

Army Rules

Now we are starting to get stuck in to the real meat and potatoes of the book.

Firstly, let’s take a moment to check out the overall Army Rules.

Like the generic Marines, you get access to Oath of Moment (at least the reroll Hits part anyway).

Curse of the Wulfen is the only other special army rule (they have Sagas as a third, but really that’s just part of the Detachments, which we’ll come to shortly). It grants 1 extra OC to units within 12” of a Space Wolves Character or Wolf Priest if they are Infantry, or +3 if it’s a vehicle. Wulfen are excluded though, and the unit must also not be battle-shocked. 

I mean, it’s…fine? Extra OC is nice when battling over a contested objective, however I personally find it a little underwhelming. 

This section also goes on to explain the aforementioned ability to use generic Marine units.

Detachments

Within this book there are three unique detachments, which considering the limit number of datasheets is pretty good. As always, each one is home to a list of unique Enhancements, and Stratagems, as well as a Detachment rule. 

What makes the Space Wolves a little different is that the Detachment rules come in two parts. One is an ‘always on’ sort of rule. The second only kicks in when you have completed your Saga for the Detachment. I do like this mechanic, but I’m not sure if I prefer it to the original Saga mechanic from the Index if I’m being honest.

Let’s check out the three detachments:

Saga of the Hunter

The first, IMO, is the most rounded. A sort of all comers detachment. 

Pack’s Quarry is the Detachment Rule. It kicks in when your Space Wolves are attacking in melee with an enemy unit that has one or more other Adeptus Astartes unit in combat with it, or if the attacking unit has more models than the enemy unit. In short, when you outnumber the enemy. 

If you meet the above requirements you gain +1 to Hit. If you complete your Saga, then you also get +1 to Wound, which is very good. 

To complete your Saga you need key enemy units. In Incursion (1,000pt games) you need to kill 2 enemy units. In Strike Force (2,000pts) you need to kill 3. Finally in Onslaught games (3,000pts you need to kill 4). Very straightforward, and a great ability. 

The Enhancements are pretty good, for example:

• Fenrisian Grit: Grants the bearer a 4+ Feel No Pain
• Wolf Master: Grants any Fenrisian Wolf attacks (including Logan’s pups) the Lethal Hits keyword.

Strat-wise, again a few tasty options. Chosen Pray, for example, grants the unit the ability to Charge after Falling Back, and Territorial Advantage grants you sticky objective (albeit you can only use in after killing an enemy unit in combat, whilst in range of said objective marker, which is a little more limiting than other similar abilities).

Saga of the Bold

This particular detachment takes full advantage of the mass of characters available to the Space Wolves. 

The Detachment rule, the aptly name Heroes All allows your characters to reroll either a Hit, Wound or Damage roll, so basically a free reroll on each of your characters which is nice! Complete your Saga and every model in your army gets a free reroll.

So how does one complete the Saga in this detachment? Well, let me tell you. You have to complete three of five different Boasts, with the caveat that it must be a character or his unit that completes the Boasts. The list is as follows:

• Your Hide as a Trophy:That unit kills the Oath of Moment target
• Slay Them All: Kill a second Oath of Moment target
• Overrun Their Position: At the end of either players turn, this unit is in the enemy deployment zone
• Hold The Line: From the second battle round, the unit is contesting an objective wholly within no mans land.

 Who doesn’t love a reroll, right?

Again, some very tasty Enhancements here, starting with my favourite, Braggart’s Steel, which grants the bearer +2 Strength of melee weapons, and if they have completed a Boast they get an extra pip of damage too. 

Hordeslayer grants 2 extra attacks, or 3 extra attacks if the model or it’s unit has completed a Boast. 

Every single one of the strats can only target a Space Wolf Character (and their unit), so they are somewhat limiting. However, they are pretty nifty:

• Inspiring Presence: Grants the unit Lethal Hits
• Alpha Strike: The chosen unit can charge in a turn that they advanced
• Champion’s Grace: Full rerolls to Hit. Can be used in the Shooting or Fight phase.

This Detachment has really grown on me, as naturally you are probably going to take a number of characters, Special or Normal, and this detachment really powers them up, as well as their bodyguards. 

Saga of the Beastslayer

Moving on to the third Detachment, which really helps with dealing with high Toughness targets. 

The detachment rule is called Legendary Slayers. Everytime a unit in your army targets a Character, Monster or Vehicle they gain Lethal Hits. If you complete your Saga, then you get Lethal Hits on everything. 

To complete the Saga you count up the number of Characters, Vehicles and Monsters in your opponent’s army, then halve it (rounding up). Once you have killed that figure of those keywords, then you complete your Saga.

For example if your opponent has 2 Characters and 3 Vehicles, then you need to kill 3 of those combined (so say, 2 Characters and a Vehicle) 

They again, have a nice selection of Enhancements, such as:

• Elder’s Guidance: Once per Battle, the bearer (and also his unit of Blood Claws, if he is leading a unit of Blood Claws that is)  gain an extra pip of AP, which is really good.
• Wolf-Touched: The bearer can join Wulfen (either of the datasheets, which we’ll come to soon)

The Stratagems are varied, with one unique to Thunderwolves, 2 for Space Wolf keyworded units, 2 for any Adeptus Astartes units and one for Wulfen/Blood Claws. 

Impetuosity can only target Wulfen or Blood Claws, and in short grants them an extra D6 move should you lose a model in the enemy shooting phase. Think Blood Surge. 

Unbridled Ferocity is my favourite, simply giving a Space Wolves unit +1 to Wound (only usable in the Fight phase). Coordinated Strike is a close second, and allows you to remove a Space Wolves unit from the battlefield at the end of your opponent’s turn and put them in to Strategic Reserve. The only thing is said unit needs to be within 9” of a battlefield edge. 

Datasheets

Time to move on to the all important datasheets!

The following datasheets, sadly, have not made the transition from the Index to the Codex: 

• Krom Dragonglaze
• Harald Deathwolf
• Canis Wolfborn
• Wolf Guard Battle Leader in Terminator Armour
• Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf
• Wolf Guard Battle Leader on Thunderwolf
• Lukas the Trickster
• Hounds of Morkai (however don’t forget you can take Reivers from the generic Marine Codex)
• Skyclaws (again, you can take Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs)
• Long Fangs
• Stormfang Gunship
• Stormwolf
• Wolf Guard Pack Leader
• Cyberwolf
• Wolf Scouts

That is….a very long list of now retired datasheets. A lot of them are characters which haven’t yet made the jump to plastic. The biggest shock is the loss of the two fliers, and maybe the Hounds. 

Before we move on, a quick note. All the characters in this Codex Supplement can only lead Space Wolf units. For example, Logan used to be able to join a plethora of Terminator units, but now can only join Wolf Guard Terminators. 

Also, to save time, the Space Wolves have gained an extra inch of movement. So Power Armoured Wolves have a 7” movement, whilst anything in Terminator armour has a 6” move. 

So let’s see what’s changed on the units that HAVE made the move:

• Logan Grimnar: Well, straight off the bat, his sleigh has gone. Instead two of his wolves now sit on his base giving him additional attacks. He’s gained a couple of wounds and his abilities have now changed. The High King of Fenris now allows you to bring one friendly unit in from Strategic Reserve in Turn one, whilst Guile of the Wolf is a 12” aura of forcing your opponent to spend an extra CP if they want to use a strat on a unit close enough to Logan. 
• Njal Stormcaller: He’s traded his Terminator armour in, and slipped back into his Power Armour, meaning he can lead Blood Claws, Grey Hunters or Headtakers. With that in mind he has lost a wound, and now has a 3+ save, as you’d imagine. His abilities have completely changed. His unit gains Assuault on their guns, and when the unit advances it auto runs 6”. He also reduces the range of ranged weapons on an enemy unit hit by his Living Lightning Psychic power by 6”.
• Bjorn the Fell-Handed: He’s small compared to other Dreads stomping round the 41st Millenium, however he is still packing a punch. Legendary Tenacity now subtracts 1 from the Wound roll should his Toughness be lower than an incoming attack that has a higher Strength than his Toughness
• Arjac Rockfist: My favourite Space Wolf character (and I love his new model too) has had a glow up. Foehammer now has Precision and Anti-Vehicle 3+, whilst his Anti-Character has dropped to going off on a 3+ also. Anvil of Endurance now gives him the chance to come back to life, whilst Champion of the Kings Guard grants him full rerolls to Hit and Wound rolls, so long as he is targeting a character (him only, his unit does not gain these.
• Ragnar Blackmane: Can lead Blood Claws or Headhunters. His Wolf Howl ability changes depending on who he is leading. If he is leading Headhunters he gets Advance and Charge, whilst Blood Claws get to reroll Wounds. Battle-lust has had a minor change, having lost the strength bonus.
• Blood Claws: Berserk Charge has completely changed. Now gives Blood Claws Advance and Charge. 
• Grey Hunters: Now have Bolt Carbines! Equally cool is that Cunning Hunters now give them reroll 1s to Wound, or full rerolls to Wound if the enemy unit is by an objective.
• Headtakers: These guys are, of course, new. The Wolves in the unit break off at the start of the game, becoming their own unit. 
• Wulfen: These guys/gals now have two datasheets. The first has options, whilst the second is locked to Thunder Hammers and Shields. 
• Murderfang: See Bjorn, needs to be bigger to keep up with the ever increasi=g scale. His ability Murder-maker now gives nearby Wolfen a chance to fight on death, which is very handy. 
• Thunderwolf Cavalry:I was a little shocked to see these had made it. Now have -2 AP instead -1 on the rider’s melee attacks.

Crusade

The last part of the book focuses on Crusade. 

Now I LOVE Crusade and there is a fair bit here to satisfy the taste buds, with unique and very flavourful Enhancements, Agendas, and Battle Traits. 

The coolest Crusade mechanic in here is the return of Lone Wolves. You gain a Lone Wolf when a Space Wolves Infantry or Mounted unit dies, you can replace them with a Battle Leader model (representing a now Lone Wolf. He gains a Battle Scar and is basically another character to roam around with. 

Plenty to get at here if you are planning a narrative campaign. 

Summary

First and foremost, the new models (at least the ones I have my hands on right now) are amazing. The Space Wolves have been given a fantastic refresh.

However, this only feels like half a refresh. 

When planning my first 2,000pt army to go at as a goal, I disregarded the Wolves’ Dreads. Why? Because I just feel they look too small compared to everything else now, and I just can’t get over the feeling that these are going to be replaced at some point. Will it be this edition? Probably not. 

The mass cull of units means that, unless you want to run around with named characters, you are limited when it comes to HQ units. I’d have liked to have seen one more generic HQ unit.

The Thunderwolves and Wulfen are both still great kits, but again, I feel like these will be replaced one day soon. The Iron Priest too. It just makes me feel a little hesitant to buy these older kits. 

The book is almost a 50/50 split of awesome new models and dated older models. 

Online reaction to the Leaders only being able to lead Space Wolf specific units is big, however I think it’s a move which works. It makes balancing rules easier (by not having to think about all the different combinations of them leading a list of different units) and it’s flavoursome.  

I wouldn’t mind trying all three detachments, which is testament to how good they are. Whilst I do miss the old ‘Saga’ mechanics, I do like how they now work. I’m still underwhelmed by the general army rule, though.

I really like the datasheets, and my mind is flowing when it comes to Crusade content (in particular seeing as we will be starting one soon).

The rumours are circling that the Primarch of the Space Wolves, Lemon Russ, is going to be returning between now and the arrival of 11th Edition, and that Space Wolves will be the main Imperium force that will adore the marketing for 3rd edition. With what we’ve had refreshed so far, and with what is left, it does feel like we need to have another big reveal session. I’m not sure if I fully believe either of these things, but we’ll see.

I’m looking forward to playing with the Space Wolves again, as the models and datasheets are great, but I cannot shake the feeling that I shouldn’t delve too deep into the army just yet. 

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings