New FAQs: What's happened to the Wolves?

Logan's fine. What about the rest of us now?

Well it finally happened that GW realised that their their rulebook is quite sloppily written as they've released a slew of responses via FAQs to questions that were raised by gamers post-Dark Vengeance release. Here's the main rulebook and the Wolf FAQs respectively. So how have the Vylka Fenryka been affected by GW correcting their mistakes?

First up is that Njal's Lord of Tempest table doesn't affect Flyers and that he's also armed with a Stave (+2 S, AP 4 and Concussive).

Q: How do maelstroms, novas and beams – or indeed any weapon that doesn’t need to roll To Hit or hits automatically – interact with Zooming and Flyers and Gliding Monsters? (p13)A: Only Snap Shots can hit Zooming Flyers and Gliding Flying Monstrous Creatures. Therefore, any attacks that use blast markers, templates, create a line of/area of effect or otherwise don’t roll to hit cannot target them. This includes weapons such as the Necron Doom Scythe’s death ray or the Deathstrike missile of the Imperial Guard, and psychic powers that follow the rule for maelstroms, beams, and novas.

Clearly the head-honchos in Nottingham reckon they haven't sold enough Flyers yet so people are now pretty much forced to buy anti-Flyer units/Forts in order to get their Anti-Air on: the Wolves especially as they have so little of it in their army.


So how else has the beat-stick been wielded on the Wolves?

More on Njal and Rune Priests:

Q: If the Blood Lance or Jaws of the World Wolf psychic power (or any power for that matter) passes through more than one enemy unit, does my opponent get to make a  Deny the Witch roll for each unit affected?A: No. The first unit affected by the psychic power can attempt to Deny the Witch, but if that test is failed, every enemy unit is affected as normal.

Nice - enemy units have just the one attempt to stop Jaws from dealing damage to them and if that's failed (84% chance it fails) then they start taking Initiative tests. Class.

Page 53 – Njal Stormcaller, Staff of the Stormcaller.

Change the entry to read “Njal’s staff acts as a runic weapon (stave) that nullifies enemy psychic powers on the roll of a 3+ (see page 36).

So Njal has a stave (Maul) while normal Rune Priests have a choice? Seems that way as Rune Priests haven't been hit by the nerf bat in the same way that Wolf Priests have.

Q: Can I attempt to use a Rune Priest’s runic weapon, a Wolf Tail Talisman and make a Deny the Witch roll to nullify an enemy psychic power?A: No. You can only make a single attempt to prevent an enemy psychic power, so choose your method carefully.

So there's no Deny the Witch and Talisman and Rune Staff stacking to stop enemy powers now so we'll have to rely on the Shaky Stick to do the business. I'm not complaining much there though as its still better than a Hood and arguably as good as Runes of Warding.

Page 26 – Assault phase, Look Out, Sir. Change the fourth sentence of the first paragraph to:“Determine which model in the unit is closest to the character, and resolve the Wound against that model instead. 

So this affects Njal, and other characters obviously, as it prevents him from sharing out too much pain to guys nearby as it the Look Out, Sir hit is allocated to the nearest model, not just any model within 6" so positioning is even more important for big units (e.g. Guard blobs) to ensure you don't take a Special Weapon or Character down in his stead.

Q: Can a Rune Priest’s Chooser of the Slain modify the BS1 of a Snap Shot? (p36)A: No.

So you can still dick Infiltrators/Scouts over but you don't get a buff when shooting against Flyers? At least they're consistent by forcing enemies sans Skyfire to roll 6's to hit when shooting Zooming Flyers for everybody. Except for other Flyers and Flying Monsters (the latter now have Skyfire).

Q: Does the Tempest’s Wrath psychic power affect Flyers? (p37)A: No.

No they really don't want their precious Flyers being hurt by shenanigans, do they?

Q: Do embarked passengers with ‘area of effect wargear' such as the Big Mek’s Kustom Force Field, measure the range of such items from the hull of the transport they are embarked upon? (p78)
A: Yes

So Rune Staffs extend out from a Rhino hull just like in 5th ed? Grand.

Q: Can use a Transport’s  (s) to manifest powersthat require line of sight whilst still embarked? (p78)A: No. Note, however, that witchfire powers specifically allow
you to do so and are the one exception to this rule.

Ugh. You can't use a Fire Point to throw Divination powers around and buff the units nearby whilst inside a Rhino. It looks like they really want you to get out and footslog across the board now. Coupled with the new LO,S rules it makes putting the Rune Priest into a Guard blob much more attractive seeing as you're able to throw buff powers around and you've got plenty of warm bodies to soak up LO,S hits and spare Sarges to take up challenges - if given an Axe even a Guard Sarge has a decent chance of dealing damage in a challenge before they keel over.

Q: Are the  listed in the Codexes all assumed to be Warp Charge 1? (var)A: Yes

No surprises there, really.

Lone Wolves come to mind now:

 Q: If a model has the Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain special rules, can it still make Feel No Pain rolls against Wounds that inflict Instant Death (Eternal Warrior states that the model is immune to the effects of Instant Death, after all)? (p35)

A: No

So Lone Wolves no longer get FNP against Wounds from Melta, Lascannons and the like. That's a bit disappointing but they're still tough as nails to get through if given TDA and a Storm Shield plus a pet or tow to soak up damage before they get stuck in. It does mean their job against tough targets (Characters, Dreads etc) is that much harder to accomplish in combat though. Whether its enough to leave them at home I'm not sure yet. Pet wolves might be needed more from now on. Bear in mind this caveat:

Q: If a Space Wolf character is involved in a challenge, can anyFenrisian Wolves they have strike blows, have Wounds allocated tothem, or offer Moral Support? (p31)A: No.

So pets are not able to get stuck into a challenge and potentially soak up Mindshackle Scarabs in a challenge? Pity. It now means that the Loner has to rely on his on wits and armour/invul saves to get him through a fight and use the Wolves solely as expensive cannon fodder. At least he's got re-rolls against the tougher stuff thanks to Saga of the Beastslayer.

Wolf Priests
So they've been forced into bringing Mauls with them when they march to war like the other lesser Marine chapters? It was bound to happen especially when the Ulrik entry says he's armed with a Crozius already.

Page 83 – Ulrik the Slayer, Wargear.

Replace “Power weapon” entry with “Crozius arcanum (power maul).”

 Page 85 – Wolf Priest, Wargear.Replace “Crozius arcanum (power weapon)” entry with“Crozius arcanum (power maul).”

 Bjorn the Fell-Handed

Page 83 – HQ, Bjorn the Fell-handed, Unit Type.Change unit type to Walker (Character).Page 83 – HQ, Bjorn the Fell-handed, Hull Points.Add a Hull Points value of 3.

He's still a bit crap. 3 Hull Points means that he really is just a fancy Dread and no 5+ Invul and Venerable rules are going to save him, nor are Challenges or Precision Strikes even it allows him to tie up and potentially snipe guys out of units. There are much cheaper and reliable tarpits available and he's so expensive that it makes little sense to not take a Rune Priest with his anti-psyker abilities and unit-buffing qualities for a fraction of the price instead even if you don't get 1st turn all the time.

Wolf Scouts

Q: Can a Wolf Guard Pack Leader or Independent Character join asquad of Wolf Scouts and benefit from the Outflank special rulebecause at least one model has the ability? (p27) 

A: Yes

Q: Does a character with Saga of the Hunter pass on his Outflank andStealth special rules to a unit he joins before deployment? (p64)

A: Yes. 

Q: Can a unit with both the and special rules deploy as Infiltrators and then make a Scout redeployment before the gamebegins? (p38)A: Yes.

 Q: The rulebook states "A unit that makes a Scout redeployment cannot charge in the first turn." Does this mean that if your opponent has the first turn and you go second, your Scouting unit
can charge? (p41)
A: Yes. 

So Scouts and characters with Saga of the Hunter that join a unit can still turn up on a flank? How quaint. It's still crap as the unit can't assault and will most likely be gang-banged by anything nearby and if it doesn't get blown away in a single round of shooting/assault then the odds are you've probably spent too many points on the unit in the first place. You can also scout closer? Whoop-dee-doo. All the closer to bite you with, my dear. Ironically these Wolves want to be kept far away from any combat unit until they can get stuck into an existing fight and tip the balance.

Wolf Guard

Page 411 – Reference, Profile, Codex: Space Wolves, Wolf Guard.

Change unit type to Infantry. 

Designers Note: Wolf Guard, Nobz, Nobz Warbikers, and CrisisShas’vre that lead a unit (for example an Ork Nob leading OrkBoyz, a Wolf Guard leading Grey Hunters) have the unit typeInfantry (Character). 

So they finally clarify that unit leaders are the only ones to get the Character type so only WG leading plebs get Precision strikes and LO,S. At least Pallies and Nob Warbikers don't get FNP and LO,S shenanigans anymore while WG leading a unit are that much better than keeping WG in a unit of his peers. When combined with Wolf Banners they get much better in combat especially when kitted out in Terminator Armour.

Wolf Banners

Q: Does the Wolf Standard’s ability to re-roll any dice rolls of a 1 apply for the duration of the entire Assault phase, and thus allow 1's to be rerolled on Overwatch To Hit and To Wound rolls as well as in the Fight sub-phase? (p62)
A: Yes.

So this just confirms that they are the best 10 points you can spend in the army? Nice one. It now means that you've got to be incredibly unlucky to lose a guy to an overheating shot on Overwatch if you've popped the banner i.e. this item is mandatory.

Grey Hunters 

Q: If passengers disembark from a that has suffered a or result, do they still suffer these effects in their next Shooting phase? (p80)A: Yes

So not only do units dumped out of their rides get prevented from assaulting but if that same vehicle gets Stunned or Shaken then the unit is going to be firing Snap Shots if they disembark. At least they can shoot at nearby Flyers to full effect i.e. BS 1 Snap Shots. Sadly there's no re-rolls for Wolf Banners to help them here but you can't have everything, I suppose.

Long Fangs

Q: Which missile launchers have access to Flakk Missiles ? (p57/415)
A: Only those that specifically have an option to take them as an upgrade in their army list.

Long Fangs can't get Flakks. In other words - Buy Flyers!


There's a whole pile of stuff for us to get our teeth into in the next while that should keep us busy and make us think about what to include in our armies in order to combat the new builds that have emerged in 6th (Flyers) and what units we can take to mitigate these. Hopefully the above will be of some use to you in your games. If you have any thoughts related to the Wolves then feel free to jot them down here as I reckon I can keep other armies effects to another post.

Have at it.