Back Into It; Thunder Wolves

The 40k Universe is a strange place to me lately, I have been out of the loop for a few months and have a lot of catching up to do. I guess it is not much of a surprise that upon falling in unfamiliar territory I look back to where I first started; Space Wolves, the sons of Russ. I'll admit that I don't have much of a clue as what is competitive or effective in this new edition of huge walkers making regular appearances on the table along side lords of war, and more objectives than I can count on two hands. I thought about what I was going to do for quite a while; would I quit playing, would I just keep what I currently have, would I go all in and start buying Titans? I decided that I would just play something that is fun, that hopefully will provide a challenge for my opponents and not get me tabled by turn three. What I plan on doing is bringing in the ultimate hunters that the Son's of Russ bring to the battlefield, Thunderwolves!

I'm going to start small and probably keep it like that. A 500 point pack of Thunderwolves that I will bring alongside my main force of Blood Angels. I want to use this pack as an avenging tidal wave of doom. Led by Harald Death Wolf (190 points) he brings a ferocity that is unmatched even with a unit packed with natural killers. He will lead a pack of 6 other wolves that will either bolster the main Blood Angel assault, or by out flanking allow them to strike at the heart of the enemy while the Blood Angels secure the tactical objectives. Either way I like that it continues my streak of an all assault based force that can help me make it into combat and potentially win a game.

Thunderwolves come stacked with special rules such as rending, hammer of wrath, and being a natural toughness 5 with 2 wounds. I am not 100% sure on what wargear I am going to stick on them, I don't like striking at initiative 1, but a strength 10 thunderhammer really has me thinking twice on the subject. On the charge Harald will be hitting at strength 8 with his frost axe thanks to furious charge and everyone else will be strength 6, even with rending I am not sure it will be enough to crack vehicles. Sliding two frost blades into the equation brings 12 strength 7 ap3 attacks which is nothing to sniff at. As of right now I have two frost blades and two storm shields for survivability reasons in with my pack of 6 wolves.

Having an allied force that can keep up with the rapid pace of my Blood Angels was something that was key in looking at something new and fun to add to my collection. Hopefully they will be something fun to play as well. In a 1500 point game I think they will either replace my bikes or my terminators depending on how I am feeling that day. I am really looking forward to painting the models, they are great sculpts with very animated poses. They are going to be a great challenge to be the first things I paint after not touching a brush for a few months. I already ordered a box of them along with a few new brushes. I will be doing progress reports as the first box comes along; assembly, painting, and then how they work on the field of battle.

In other news my Blood Angels should arrive some time this week which just might get me motivated to play a game this weekend, Emperor willing. Thanks for reading, I am excited to get back into the swing of things and getting content back up on this blog.