Iron Priest Thunderwolves

GWvsJohn has taken a shining to the Iron Priest, so he's asked me to hit y'all with some knowledge.

Everybody knows and love Thunderwolves, but did you know you can fit even more cavalry models in your army?  Grab an Iron Priest and throw him on a Thunderwolf of his own and you can now fill up your Elites slots with smashy cavalry of doom.  But how do they stack up to normal TWC?

Well, for 95 points you get a Wolf Guard statline with Ld8 and runic armor instead of power armor, Thunderwolf upgrade, thunder hammer and servo-arm.  Compared to a normal Thunderwolf Cavalry model with a thunder hammer you end up paying 15 points for 1 less attack (made up by the servo-arm, but S8 vs S10), 1 less wound, 2+ armor (and 5+ invul against psychic attacks), and the ability to repair damaged vehicles.  In a straight up comparison, TWC wins pretty handily.  The extra wound is a huge boon here as 1 bad save will only inconvenience your TWC while it will eliminate the IP.

However, IPs still have their uses.  As I said before, they allow you to field more cavalry units when you fill up on Fast Attack.  Having flexibility across the FOC is important, and with IPs you can field cav in every slot except Heavy Support.  You may not always fill out your Fast Attack, but if you wanted Speeders or, Allfather forbid, Skyclaws or Swiftclaws, you can field them without losing your cavalry. 

While TWC are made up exclusively of important models, you can give your IP up to 4 cyberwolves to accompany him.  Since he isn't an IC, that gives you 4 ablative wounds for only 15 points a pop.  They're all T5 so majority T doesn't suffer, and they sport 3 attacks apiece, making them quite formiddable on their own.  An IP and his doggies excel at diving headfirst into big enemy swarms and dishing out a ton of attacks at S4, relying on that tasty T5 to reduce incoming damage, and follow up with some S10 and S8 attacks.  They are also excellent for screening your TWC without having to waste a slot on Fenrisian Wolves or using Canis if you don't need him. 

IPs can also pick up a Wolf Tooth Necklace, making up for his average WS of 4.  A Wolf Tooth Talisman is also an option, but Runic Armor protects you pretty well, as do any Rune Priests you should have.  It's a handy use for 5 points, but not essential. 

An Iron Priest can also fix your vehicles.  Saga of the Iron Wolf is not very useful on a cavalry model since it can't ride in a transport, and +1 to repair isn't worth the points.  With only his servo-arm he has a 33% chance to fix something, so if you have a mech list with TWC you may want to consider an IP or two to double up as killy cav and fixer.  Don't bother spending to upgrade it, just consider repairing a handy option he has to support your mech.

Here's a couple lists using IPs to hopefully good effect.

HQ
Rune Priest w/ Chooser, Storm Caller, Thunderclap, Saga of the Beastslayer

Elites
3x Iron Priests w/ TWM, 4 cyberwolves, WTN

Troops
3x 10 GH, meltagun, power weapon, MotW, Rhino
9 GH, meltagun, power weapon, MotW, Rhino

Fast Attack
2x Typhoons

Heavy Support
3x 5 Long Fangs, 4 missile launchers

Total - 2000

Rhinos and TWC can move up to get in the enemy's face while Fangs and Typhoons provide supporting fire.  IPs can help keep the Rhinos rolling should they get immobilized.  Adding TWC in any capacity to a Rhino rush list gives SW the ability to get into assault 1 turn sooner and makes up for the lack of punch in GH squads without necessitating WG.  Rolling dual melta Rhino bunkers with a weak HtH capacity up to midfield is usually a poor choice, but TWC give you extra reach and punch in assault, they end up complementing each other very well. 

HQ
Logan Grimnar
Rune Priest w/ Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath, Chooser

Elites
3x Iron Priests w/ TWM, 4 cyberwolves, WTN

Troops
10 WG, 2 WGT w/ cyclones
3x 5 WG, combi-melta, WGT w/ cyclone, chainfist

Fast Attack
3x 2 TWC, powerfist

Total - 2000

It's Loganwing, subbing static Long Fangs for 6 units of cav running around to punch you in the face.  Iron Priests let me field MSU cav that still hits incredibly hard.  Cyberwolf units are ideal for screening, since you can hide 3 in cover and 2 to block the smaller TWC units and get cover for everybody.

So, that's Iron Priests.  Overall, they are not as efficient or killy as TWC point for point, but they bring their own unique take on the cavalry unit which, while not always necessary, can be very useful.