Horus Heresy 2e Review: Space Wolves Rites

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3/5 stars. The rules are average.

Rites of War.

The Rites of War for the Space Wolves feature no fewer than three distinct entries, which is more than what is found in other legions.  

The Black Watch. For the Loyalists in the post Prospero era, these Space Wolves are a detachment sent to carefully look after allies and make sure that their assumed loyalty is not wavering. Of course, those assigned to the legions who turned traitor were never heard from again. This rite grants traitor hatred, and primarch preferred enemy (good luck with that). Helping them is fearless in close combat against traitors and +2 charge distance to enemy primarchs (do you have a plan yet?). Hampering them is a lack of vehicles and no Russ. Its very, very fluffy. But ultimately, you really need a plan for this detachment. 

The Pale Hunters. Grey Slayers and Stalkers gain hit and run and can run up to the distance rolled rather than the full amount. This is strong, but also calls for the army to use these units extensively to make maximum benefit. Flankers gain fleet and rage when they come into play as well which is great, and up to three units gain outflank automatically. They have to use flanking for one unit, and only gain one heavy support. Overall, this is a very reasonable rite, without being over powered. 

The Bloodied Claw. Declare a bloodied claw once per game to gain +1 combat resolution, fleet, furious charge, stubborn (or fearless if they already had it). This is a one turn boon that can be very strong if played at the right moment, but is otherwise fairly standard. The drawback is that the turn in question forces charges where possible, which might not be so great - so build accordingly. 

Overall.

The final two are standard rites which can be good, but require thinking about army builds. The Black Watch is fabulous, but there is a concern it won't see too much play! Perhaps it might be good with loyal Alpha Legion allies (Mobius rite)?