[40k] Hot Take: Wolf Scouts, Stealth Suits, and Ultramarines (Oh My)

After radio silence following the model releases for the new Ultramarines two weeks ago and the preview for Kill Team: Dead Silence on Saturday, Games Workshop quietly dropped a series of updates into its app today, giving us rules and point values for the new units in Warhammer 40k. In the update are Wolf Scouts, T'au Stealth Suits, and the new Ultramarines units. We'd already seen the new Ultramarine units' rules previewed on Warhammer-Community, but now we have points for them.

These new unit updates also came with a new Detachment - The Blade of Ultramar - and you can find our review of that Detachment via the link. In this article we're going to run through the new units, what to know about them, and whether they're worth taking.

XV26 Stealth Battlesuit. Credit: Greg Chiasson

Stealth Battlesuits

Stealth Suits have new models for their Kill Team and they've received a new datasheet to go with said models. These new teams are always five models instead of being 3/6, and somewhere in between the prior option on a per-model basis - the unit of five will cost you 110 points (22 points per model), compared to 23/20 for 3/6 of the old suits. The statline for these suits hasn't changed, and they come with Burst cannons and the option to take two fusion blasters in a unit, so you can at least get two fusion blasters for cheaper than before. Here your Shas'ui loses the option for a shield drone but can come with a gun drone, marker drone, pulse pistol, and homing beacon.

These Stealth suits retain their INFILTRATORS and STEALTH abilities, as well as their Forward Observers rule, allowing them to to give re-rolls their guided units on hit and wound rolls of 1. They also keep the Homing Beacon, which lets you bring in a unit via Rapid Ingress for free within 3" of them.

So aside from the unit size and cost, what changed? Well, the Battlefield Support System is gone, which gave the unit the ability to fall back and shoot with one model in the 3-model unit or two in the 6. That's a big downside, since it means no more falling back and spotting, though the addition of the pulse pistol to the Shas'ui means you can spot while in combat, at least.

That's it, and that's fairly disappointing since it means these Stealth suits are just worse than they used to be. They're still useful as Infiltrating spotters, but losing that bit of flexibility and the ability to take a unit of 3 on the cheap is going to hurt. The five-man twin fusion unit is a better deal than the six-man in terms of raw firepower, but that six-man unit could fall back and shoot its fusion blasters. It's a tough tradeoff and while T'au armies will be OK with this change, there's not much excitement to be had here.

Credit: Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

Wolf Scouts

The new scout unit for the Space Wolves, the Wolf Scouts basically trade out the Scout Squad's ability to go back into Strategic Reserves every turn for more movement and a better offensive datasheet. Is the tradeoff worth it? No, not really.

Let's start with unit comp: Wolf Scouts come in units of six models - four regular guys, a pack leader, and a wolf. The pack leader has a plasma pistol and power weapon, while the rest get plasma pistols and combat blades, and the wolf just has teeth and claws (same, buddy). The wolf notably moves 10" with the rest of the unit moves 7", giving them a lot of speed over a traditional scout unit. However, the wolf has an OC of 0 unless it's within 6" of a friendly character model, so you can't necessarily use it to run forward and snag objectives... but you can use it to run forward and do actions.

Other than the speed, the stats for these guys are the same as regular Scouts. What sets them apart is their wargear options: One can swap their pistol for a plasma gun,, one can swap their pistol with a Hawywire mine, one can be upgraded to a psyker, and if you have 12 models, you can give one an Instigator bolt Carbine. That last one doesn't matter but if you're taking a unit of these you'll want to pick the first three options. The haywire mine gives you a once per game free D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit within 3" on a 2+, or 2D3 to a vehicle. That's pretty nasty, and it goes off at the start of any phase, similar to the Kasrkin mines, making it a great deterrent for enemy units trying to get too close to your scouts - you can always pop it at the start of the Fight phase as well for free damage on a unit that charged you.

By the way, those combat blades? Way better than what Scout Squads get - they're four attacks each at S4 AP-1, putting them on par with a Chainsword. The psyker gets a Runic Stave and the Thunderclap ranged attack. The Stave is a force staff - 3 attacks at WS3+, S6 AP-1, D3 damage, and Thunderclap is a 12" D3-shots gun that hits at S5 AP-1 for 2 damage with BLAST. That's not a bad little setup for a unit with Scout, and these can be extra nasty if you're running them in Gladius with [LANCE] and +1 AP for being in Assault Doctrine.

But it all comes back to that comparison to Scout Squads. At 105 points, these guys are pricey, and Space Wolves really do not need another melee unit. Meanwhile the Scout Squad's cheap cost (70 points) and ability to go back into reserves every turn makes them an indispensable part of marine armies, able to capture objectives and perform actions nearly anywhere on the table every turn. Yeah, they don't do much when it comes to combat, but the last thing you want is your Scouts having to actually fight something.

The Wolf Scouts are an interesting and thematic unit, but one that will struggle to see play in competitive lists as long as regular Scouts are an option.

Ultramarines Cato Sicarius. Credit: SRM

Cato Sicarius

Cato received a new model and with it, a new datasheet. You can still take the old version, Captain Sicarius, for the moment, but this new version gives you new rules to work with.

Cato has the same statline and ranged weapon as before, but gains an improved version of his sword: The Talassarian Tempest Blade can now be used in one of three modes. Strike mode gives you 4 attacks at S6 AP-3, 3 damage with [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] and hits on a 2+. The Sweep mode gives you 9 attacks with [SUSTAINED HITS 1] at S5 AP-2, 1 damage. And Coup de Grace mode gives you 6 attacks hitting at S5 AP-2, 2 damage with [PRECISION]. This is a big step up, and that strike mode is incredibly nasty - if you could pair this guy with Assault Intercessors he'd be straight busted but fortunately for everyone else he can only be attached to Victrix Honour Guard... but he can double-attach with Calgar.

Cato comes with two abilities: Knight Champion of Macragge returns, and gives his unit a 6" reactive move, which is insanely good, and having the ability to reactive move with multiple units in your army per turn will be a nightmare for opponents to deal with. Honour or Death lets you target Cato's unit with the Heroic Intervention Stratagem for 0 CP, and use it even if his unit has already used it. This replaces giving his unit Scouts 6" and [ASSAULT] on ranged attacks and while that ability is inherently stronger, this new ability has more synergy with attaching to Calgar's unit.

The biggest change here is the cost: At 120 points, the new Sicarius is a lot more expensive than the old one (85), making him a tougher sell, especially since he can't go in any of the units old Sicarius could. That said, he's really, really nasty with the new Victrix Guard, where his free reactive move combos with their Surge move to make for an insanely threatening melee unit. If you're taking this Cato, it's likely as part of a more herohammer-focused play style or a lot of Victrix.

Victrix Guard – Credit: Keewa

Victrix Honour Guard

The Victrix Honour Guard are no longer attached to Marneus Calgar, and now have a separate unit, capable of being led by any captain or chapter master unit that can attach to a COMPANY HEROES unit. These come in units of 3-6 models and can be configured a number of different ways but tend to cost around 35 points per model. They've lost their Feel No Pain 4+ when attached to Calgar but come with 4 wounds apiece now and give incoming attacks -1 to Wound as long as a Captain or Chapter Master is attached to their unit, which is pretty solid compensation. What hurts more is that they've lost their 4+ invulnerable save, meaning you'll have to make up for their loss in durability by taking more models. Still, having a squad of six guys with 4 wounds apiece and a 2+ save is just very nasty and these guys more or less act as better Company Heroes.

In melee the Honour Guard wield master-crafted power weapons (2 damage power swords), but one model can be upgraded to a champion, gaining an extra attack, [PRECISION], and [TWIN-LINKED] on their melee attacks. You can also give one a banner, in which case you get a once per game fight phase ability to give the unit +1 Strength and Attacks on its melee weapons. This can combo with the Captain's ability to make a truly frightening turn of melee output.

The other big change here is that Victrix Guard give their unit a surge move. Glory of Ultramar gives you the ability to make a D6" surge move if your unit is shot but not destroyed, allowing you to move into Engagement range with an enemy unit. This is particularly nasty if you combine it with the reactive move from the Gladius/Blade of Ultramar Detachment or Cato Sicarius - an enemy moving toward you suddenly finds you reactive moving into their face, and now if they shoot you, you'll be in combat. That's a hell of a threat to have looming over their heads. And if you're running it in Gladius or Vanguard with Cato on one unit and Calgar or another Captain on the other, you'll have two units that can do it in a turn, which is pretty insane.

The loss of an invulnerable save and 35 point cost per model ultimately may keep the Victrix Guard from being too good but even at that cost they're still a better version of Company Heroes. While losing a 4+ invulnerable save is a big deal, having a 2+ save and -1 to wound to fall back on plus 4 wounds each means that taking 18 of them is likely going to be A Problem. There's definitely a more melee-focused version of Gladius that plays herohammer and wants to try running 18 and that seems like something I wouldn't want to mess with.

Marneus Calgar in Armour of Antilochus

Finally there's the new Calgar. He comes with Terminator Armour this time around, which means he's gained the Deep Strike rule and can join TERMINATOR units. The Terminator options for Ultramarines are still pretty mediocre, so that part doesn't matter much. But he's also capable of joining the new Victrix Guard unit and doesn't automatically come with them. He otherwise has the same abilities as standard Calgar so what this Calgar really gets you is flexibility - either the ability to just pay for him at 140 points with no Victrix, or to attach him to a larger unit of Victrix. It's really a flexibility play for a model that's pound for pound pretty much identical to what you already had.

Final Thoughts

These are solid, but not amazing, changes. Except for Stealth Suits, which seem to have been shafted a bit. Ultramarines players will be happy about this, which is always a bad thing, and I expect we'll see 12+ Victrix lists start popping up more or less immediately. Mmore options for Ultramarines was always going to risk hitting that tipping point of "way too good," as they're already one of the game's top armies and anyone who had to play through the "infinite CP days" of Calgar + Guilliman before dataslate nerfs won't be champing at the bit to see Ultras back on top. Having two units per turn that can reactive move and surge seems insanely good and Victrix just seem like a nightmare to chew through. That one definitely wants Gladius over Blade of Ultramar, however - the new -1 to wound strat does nothing for them and they really want to be able to Fight on Death. Vanguard's also a decent option for them.

The one thing I was surprised to not see here was new Terminator datasheets - I was expecting to see something for them - so they remain pretty mediocre, despite cool new models. Tough break for the first company, but they'll manage. Deathwatch also got an update, but it was just to the keywords on the new Kill Team - Xenophase blades for that team remain frustratingly without rules.

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