Detachment Focus: Champions of Fenris

Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.

The Space Wolves have been one of the most potent flavors of Space Marine for the bulk of tenth edition, leaning on a suite of powerful datasheets combined with the Stormlance Task Force to overwhelm opponents early and trap them in “Wolf Jail,” a dense, furry realm of snarling teeth and 4+ invulnerable saves. Over the last six months they’ve endured a series of nerfs which have blunted their effectiveness but seen them varying their approach, with more successful lists branching out into non-Thunderwolf units and the Champions of Russ Detachment. Longtime Space Wolves players have been hoping for an alternative way to play the faction for some time now – on that doesn’t lean on Thunderwolf Cavalry – and with the new Champions of Fenris Detachment, they get their wish.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for Review purposes.

Detachment Overview

The Champions of Fenris Detachment gives Space Wolves players an option that focuses more on their Terminator and Infantry units, giving them a solid set of tools to work with at the cost of losing out on the melee buffs in the Stormlance Task Force or the army-wide buffs you can get from Champions of Russ. The real star of this show is the Detachment rule, which gives all of your Infantry and Walker units the ability to charge anything within 3” at the end of the opponent’s Charge phase, opening up a nightmarish realm of possibilities when it comes to controlling objectives and the middle of the table – opponents can’t come close without getting charged, and that’s going to make this detachment very tricky to play around. That said, this utility comes at the cost of raw power and while this Detachment is very cool, it’s likely not the most powerful way to play the faction. How good it is will depend heavily on how good Terminators are and how durable they can be.

The Video Version

If, like the Great Wolf, you’d rather watch than read about this Detachment, you can find the video version of this article here:

Detachment Rule: The Great Wolf Watches

At the end of your opponent’s Charge phase, each ADEPTUS ASTARTES INFANTRY and WALKER unit in your army that is within 3” of one or more enemy units and would be eligible to declare a charge against one or more of those units can declare a charge against one or more of those units, and you resolve that charge as if it were your Charge phase. If that charge is successful, your unit doesn’t receive any Charge bonus (i.e. Fights First) this turn.

While TERMINATOR units from your army are not Battle-shocked, add 1 to the Objective Control characteristic of models in those units.

Giving your entire army old-school Heroic Intervention is just an incredibly wild ability, and something that’s going to be a nightmare to play around. This ability more or less makes it impossible to steal objectives from Space Wolves units without getting into combat, and opens them up to all kinds of nasty tricks – Ragnar in particular loves this because it triggers his Battle-Lust ability, giving him +2 to his Strength and Attacks on Frostfang even though he’s not getting to fight first. Bjorn the Fell-Handed also likes this, and any opponent who gets to close may suddenly find the old Dreadnought zipping an extra 7-8” across the table with his CP cost-increasing aura. 

The OC bonus here makes the designers’ intent pretty clear: They want you to take Terminators in this Detachment. That’s just fine, honestly – Wolf Guard Terminators are already pretty playable, able to stack Thunder hammers and combi-weapons to put out staggering amounts of damage, plus they have a series of strong character Leader options like Logan Grimnar and Arjac Rockfist. The real value, though? Attaching a Wolf Guard Pack Leader in Terminator Armour to a unit of Blood Claws or Grey Hunters, giving them the TERMINATOR keyword and +1 OC, as well as making them eligible for a host of Stratagems.

Enhancements

Two of these Enhancements are Terminator-only. They’re a solid set, and Wolves’ Wisdom is probably a must-take.

• Wolves’ Wisdom (30 pts) – Infantry model only. The bearer’s unit can declare a charge against units within 6” instead of 3” using The Great Wolf Watches Detachment rule. Again, this is pretty bonkers, doubling your threat range to cover almost an entire objective marker’s control area. It’s an amazing threat tool, letting you effectively hide behind walls and cover while still being able to plow through against an opponent getting too close.
• Foes’ Fate (15 pts) – Terminator model only. Each time a non-Monster/non-Vehicle unit falls back from the model’s unit, the models in that enemy unit have to take Desperate Escape tests, and at -1 if they’re Battle-shocked. This is OK. It’s a bit of a deterrent to fall back, but not as good as spending those points on the Fangrune Pendant.
• Fangrune Pendant (15  pts) – Terminator model only. The bearer’s unit can shoot and charge after making a Fall Back move. This is great for re-positioning a key unit and getting them back into a charge. 
• Longstrider (20 pts) – You can re-roll charge rolls for the bearer’s unit. This feels like too much to spend on this, especially because any Captain can get you this with their free Stratagem ability.

Stratagems

This Detachment gives you access to a solid set of Stratagems, with a mix of offensive and defensive buffs, sticky objectives, and an uppy-downy stratagem for Terminators (though with a caveat). It’s a very solid suite and while there’s nothing eye-popping here, it’s more than playable.

• Preytaker’s Eye (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your Shooting phase or the Fight phase on an Infantry unit. They can gain either the [LETHAL HITS] or [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability until the end of the phase. This is just a very solid bump in combat output for a given unit, and the option to choose means it still works with a Wolf Guard Battle Leader.
• Armour of Contempt (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP)  – Standard Armour of Contempt. Not as good as it used to be.
• Runes of Claiming (Strategic Ploy, CP) – Used at the end of your Command phase to make one objective you control with an Infantry or Walker unit on it sticky. The Infantry/Walker stipulation is a bit weird, but otherwise this is a very solid sticky objective Stratagem. Always useful.
• Chilling Howl (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Command phase on a TERMINATOR unit. Each enemy unit within 6” of your Terminators has to take a Battle-shock test, with -1 if they’re below Half-Strength. The timing and range on this one are good, but the effect is still pretty mediocre.
• Stalking Wolves (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s shooting phase, just after they pick one of your INFANTRY units as a target. Your unit gains the Stealth ability until the end of the phase. This is just a solid ability to have for your Terminator units, making them a little bit tougher at a key moment.
• Onrushing Storm (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used at the end of your opponent’s Fight phase, pick an ADEPTUS ASTARTES TERMINATOR SQUAD unit that isn’t within Engagement Range of an enemy unit and remove it from the table, putting it back into Strategic Reserves. Uppy-downy effects are always good, but doubly so on units which can Deep Strike. This Stratagem is nearly everything you want. I say “nearly” because it appears to only work on very basic, regular-ass Terminator units from the Codex, and not Wolf Guard units or anything you’d actually want to field.

I have no idea why Onrushing Storm doesn’t work with Wolf Guard Terminators. It feels like a huge mistake, and something we’d hope they’d fix.

Playing This Detachment

This one’s pretty straightforward: If you’re running this Detachment, you’re playing Terminators. Wolf Guard Terminators are pretty solid in that regard – they’ve already been seeing play in Champions of Russ list, usually with a single five-model or ten-model unit. Their ability to combine thunder hammers and combi-weapons gives them some incredible damage output, though you’ll generally want to have a Cyclone Missile Launcher and a couple of Thunder Shields around to have some more durable models in the unit. You have a lot of options with these. On top of the Wolf Guard Terminators you’ll probably want one unit of regular, basic Terminators with which to use Onrushing Storm. The general idea is that these sit on objectives as durable threats, and anything trying to come close just gets reactive charged and murdered.

We mentioned earlier you can create pseudo-Terminator units by combining a Wolf Guard Battle Leader in Terminator Armour with a unit of Blood Claws. These immediately become incredibly dangerous units, capable of dropping out solid damage output but also becoming a massive threat to be anything nearby. You’ll still want one with Ragnar Blackmane and while you can add a Pack Leader on top of that, you’ll get more value out of putting them in a Rhino. Note that Pack Leaders in Terminator Armour can’t have Enhancements, so while adding them to Blood Claws is a good idea, you can’t use them to get a 6” Heroic unit – that’ll end up being one of your Terminator units.

There’s no shortage of good infantry units to work with in the Space Wolves book and Wulfen also love to get free counter-charges on things getting too close. Bjorn the Fell-Handed and Wulfen Dreadnoughts are also fine picks here, and you can build a pretty beefy list running terminator bricks and dreadnoughts, with support from Blood Claws, Scouts, and some of the better non-Wolf units, such as Bladeguard Veterans. 

Strengths

• Army-wide 3” Heroic Intervention means your opponent can never end close to your units without getting charged
• High OC on Terminator units give you a lot of options and strong control, especially with Terminator-led Blood Claws
• Decent mix of offensive and defensive buffs in the Stratagems

Weaknesses

• Uppy-downy Stratagem limited to a single, mostly bad unit
• Terminators are slow and this Detachment doesn’t give them any movement buffs
• Very little support for your ranged units

A Sample List

The biggest problem with adding Terminator Wolf Guard Pack Leaders to units of Blood Claws is that once you do that, they no longer fit into a Rhino. This can really mess up your building options, and I’m not 100% sure yet if you want to go Rhino-less or have a Blood Claw unit sans Terminator in order to put them in a Transport. For this build, I’ve gone Rhino-less.

Sample List - Click to Expand

Alright so let’s talk about this list. You’ve got one big unit of Wolf Guard Terminators accompanied by a Terminator Librarian to boost their shooting output, while Grimnar can join the standard Terminators or just run solo, depending on the game. He doesn’t do so much for the Wolf Guard by joining them, but more is useful for activating his little Waaagh ability. Those Wulfen act as your midtable muscle, sitting on an objective while ideally staying out of sight and threatening anything that comes near.

In similar regard you have two units of Blood Claws here, each joined by a pair of Characters – one Wolf Guard Pack leader and Ragnar for one and a Pack Leader and Ulrik for the other. These are deadly, threatening units which absolutely love the charge bonuses they get for doing a Heroic Intervention. Of course, Wulfen love it too and I’ve included a large brick here as well, giving you a fast, moderately durable unit which loves to fight on death after intervention. For shooting support here I’ve included two Dreadnoughts – Bjorn and a Ballistus – and there’s lots of action support from the Scouts and Combi-weapon Lieutenant.

Final Thoughts

The Space Wolves finally have a Detachment that won’t focus on Thunderwolf Cavalry and it’s pretty intriguing. Wolf Guard Terminators aren’t the best terminator option in the game but they’re perfectly playable and they really sing in this Detachment. In fact, there’s a lot of really great stuff in here so the only question is whether that 3″ intervention ability is good enough or if it’s something that good players can effectively just play around. 

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