Detachment Focus: Champions of Fenris (Updated August 13, 2025)

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.

Changelog:

• 2025-08-13 (Current): Updated for the Codex and errata
• 2025-12-24: Initial Publication

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 Saga of the Beastslayer. 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 Wolf Guard Terminators are and how durable they can be. And unfortunately, some of the changes made in the Codex to Wolf Guard Terminators and who can lead them really hurt this Detachment.

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. That’s a bit of a problem, because there are no generic Terminator characters able to lead Wolf Guard Terminator units. So these are purely only available on your standard terminator units. The ones you don’t really want to take. This is honestly enough to make the Detachment not worth your time.

• 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. Would be incredible if you could take it on Wolf Guard Terminators.
• 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. 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 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 more or less everything you want, and the errata to make it apply to Wolf Guard Terminators and characters like Logan Grimnar ensures it’s something you’ll use.

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. Current competitive lists frequently run 10-model units led by Arjac, though that’s in Saga of the Beastslayer where they get access to Lethal Hits. Still, a 10-model unit with Thundershields are brutal to remove and can use Logan Grimnar’s ability to drop onto the battlefield with Deep Strike if you set them up in Strategic Reserves. Once they’re down they don’t have to stay down, either – you can use Onrushing Storm to pick them back up as needed. 

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

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

Weaknesses

• Broken. This Detachment needs to be fixed – Wolf Guard Terminators can’t take leaders from the Space Marine book, so some of this Detachment just doesn’t work.
• Speed. Terminators are slow and this Detachment doesn’t give them any movement buffs
• Ranged Support. There’s very little support for your ranged units here.

A Sample List

This is just not the best way to run Space Wolves, and while Wolf Guard Terminators are solid, there just isn’t enough here to make a proper run of things. And if you want to run a melee-heavy Space Wolves army, you’ve already got other, better options, and those frequently run ten-model units of Wolf Guard Terminators anyways.

Jason Gloess’ List

That said, you can still win an RTT with this, so let’s look at an example. Jason went 3-0 with this list:

Jason's List - Click to Expand

It’s a melee list going lighter on Terminators than you’d expect – though it still packs Grminar with a five-model Wolf Guard Terminator Squad in tow. There’s an Impulsor full of Headtakers, a pair of Gladiator Lancers for anti-vehicle firepower, and plenty of mobile melee threats like Blood Claws, Thunderwolf Cavalry, and Wulfen. It’s a versatile list that can compete without going in too hard on the Terminator bit. I’d potentially look at adding a second unit of Terminators with Arjac here, but at 280 points for Grimnar + five terminators, only one unit will fit in Strategic Reserves and be eligible to drop in first.

Final Thoughts

Wolf Guard Terminators aren’t the best terminator option in the game but they’re perfectly playable and they really sing in this Detachment, which gives you a reason to take them in units of 5 rather than 10. There’s a lot of really solid 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 and what we’ve generally seen is that it’s not good enough when you’d be better off just smashing your opponent’s face in directly.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.