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Space Wolves Armory

Special Rules

 

 
 
 
                                                                                            
 
 
 
 
The following special rules apply to a Space Wolves army:
 

"And They Shall Know No Fear" 
 

Space Wolves automatically regroup as they fall back, even if the squad is reduced to less than 50% by casualties.  If the enemy advance into them the Space Wolves are not destroyed and the advancement of the enemy unit is treated as a new assault (enemy striking:  +1A the following turn) in the same way as a sweeping advance.  If the enemy does not advance into them the Space Wolves are free to move, shoot and assault normally in their following turn.

Drop Pods

At the start of the battle where you can use the Deep Strike rules, you can declare that your Space Wolves are deploying by landing in drop pods from orbiting spacecraft.  Models doing this deploy using the Deep Strike rules in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.  Only the following can deploy from drop pods.  No other models in the army can be used in this mission (they stay aboard ship):  any Space Marine model in power or Terminator armor, Space Marine Scouts, Dreadnoughts and Land Speeders.

Mixed Armor

It's possible for Space Wolf units to have models with different armor saves.  So the normal casualty removal and armor save rules are altered slightly.  The opposing player rolls to hit and wound for which ever unit he is firing with as normal.  However, when the Space Wolves player makes his armor saves, he uses the save for the armor worn by the greatest number of models in the unit.   In the case of a tie, the Space Wolves player may decide which save is used.   Any casualties removed after saving throws have been taken must come first of all from the models whose saving throw was used (even if hit by weapons that don't allow a save to be taken, like power weapons, etc.).  For example, if a Wolf Guard bodyguard consisted of three models in Terminator armor and two with power armor then the Terminator armor save would be used, but casualties would be taken on the Terminators first of all.

Will Not Teleport

Space Wolves have little trust or respect for the more arcane aspects of the technology used by the Imperium.  In particular, they dislike the idea of teleporting into battle and remain stubbornly opposed to its use.   To represent this, any Space Wolves model with Terminator Armor may not Deep Strike unless the entire army enters play in drop pods.

Acute Senses

The Space Wolves have senses as acute as a Wolf of Fenris, superior even to other Space Marine Chapters.  This is a result of their corrupt genetic implants and part of the blessing, as well as the curse, of the Wulfen.   To represent this, you may re-roll the dice when rolling to see how far a Space Wolves unit can see when fighting at night.  You must accept the result of the second roll, even if it is less than the first one.  Their acute senses make Space Wolves very difficult to sneak up on. To represent this, in scenarios which use the special rules for Sentries, a Space Wolves army uses four Grey Hunters as Sentries and each sentry has a spotting distance equal to twice its Initiative value.

Blood Feud

The Space Wolves never forget a grudge and have had a millennia long feud with the Dark Angels Space Marine Chapter and the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine Legion.  A Space Wolf will hit on a roll of 3+, regardless of the model's respective Weapon Skills, when fighting in close combat against troops from either of these formations.  However, Dark Angels and Thousand Sons opponents will reciprocate and will also hit on a 3+!  You should determine which models in a Chaos army are Thousand Sons at the start of the battle.

Counter Attack

To the Space Wolves, attack is always the best form of defense.  If charged, they spring forward themselves and counter-attack the enemy.   To represent this, unengaged Space Wolf and Fenrisian Wolf models from a unit that has been charged by the enemy must move up to 6" to get into base to base contact with the enemy.  Treat the counter-attack as you would an assault move, so take terrain into account as normal.  Models that counter-attack do not receive the +1 attack bonus for charging but will be able to fight with their full compliment of attacks.   Long Fangs may not counter-charge because they are a bit old for that kind of thing!  Models may counter-attack if the unit they are in was charged as part of a "sweeping advance", in which case the move is made immediately after the unit that made the sweeping advance completes it's move.

No Matter The Odds
Space Wolves never know when to give up and will keep on fighting no matter the odds.  They may ignore the negative Morale check modifiers for being outnumbered in close combat.

True Grit

Bolters have a 'pistol grip' which means they can be fired with a single hand.  This takes considerable practice and skill and is not normally encouraged.  Units noted as having the "True Grit" skill in the army list, however, have learnt how to use their bolters in this manner.  In game terms, this means that they may count their bolter as a bolt pistol in close combat and will therefore be allowed to roll an extra Attack dice if they have been equipped with a second pistol or close combat weapon.  However,  a model using their bolter in this manner may not receive the attack bonus for charging, as a bolter is too unwieldy to be fired with one hand while simultaneously hurling yourself at the enemy.

Fenrisian Wolves

A number of entries in the armylist allow characters to be accompanied by Fenrisian Wolves.  The Wolves can be represented by any suitable wolf model from the Citadel range of models.  They must remain within 2" of the character at all times and move at the same rate as him (in effect the Wolves and the character form a small unit).  Because the Wolves and the character form a unit they have to take Morale checks for suffering 25% casualties in a turn and will be worth victory points if reduced to half strength, etc.
The character and Wolves may join other units.  Treat these mixed units as one large unit led by the character.  The Wolves must stay within 2" of their master, but otherwise count as being part of the unit and may be removed as casualties in place of the character or in place of models in the unit which they have joined.
Fenrisian Wolves may be transported in a vehicle in the same way as a Space Marine in power armor.  Characters accompanied by Fenrisian Wolves may not be equipped with jump packs but may ride a bike, as the Wolves are able to run alongside.  Fenrisian Wolves always move at the same rate as the character they are with.
Fenrisian Wolves benefit from the "And They Shall Know No Fear, Acute Senses, No Matter The Odds and Counter-Attack" special rules.   Fenrisian Wolves may not use the optional Voluntary Fall Back rule.
If their master is killed then the Wolves will drag away his body to a place of safety and so are removed from play as soon as he dies.  In games where the enemy are allowed to "capture" characters or can remove things from their dead bodies, they may not do so if any of the Fenrisian Wolves that accompanied the character were able to drag him off (i.e., at least one was still alive when the character was slain).