ISSUE: Can a Wolf Guard Battle Leader on a Thunderwolf Mount take Saga of the Hunter?
HOLDING: No, a Wolf Guard Battle Leader on a Thunderwolf Mount may not take Saga of the Hunter.
ANALYSIS:
Justicar GiantKiller delivers the opinion of the Court.
The issue arises from the “infantry only” unit type restriction on the Space Wolves’ Saga of the Hunter, as it applies to Wolf Guard Battle Leaders (hereinafter “WGBLs”) on Thunderwolf Mounts. Our analysis will ultimately require an examination of order of operations in unit selection. Can the order in which you choose your unit’s wargear really make a difference? We shall see.
We begin our analysis with a look at the language of the applicable rules. We turn first to the language of the Saga of the Hunter rule:
“Infantry only. … The character has the ability to outflank and the Stealth rule.” Codex: Space Wolves p.64
Of clear significance to our discussion is the “infantry only” requirement. This language is plain – Saga of the Hunter can only be taken by models of the infantry type. Models of any other unit type are prohibited from taking Saga of the Hunter.
Next, we turn to the rules for Wolf Guard Battle Leaders to determine how the rules interact. Saga of the Hunter is an upgrade available to WGBLs (Codex: Space Wolves p.85). WGBLs have the base unit type of infantry (Codex: Space Wolves p. 85), so they would qualify for Saga of the Hunter. However, WGBLs also have the option of taking Thunderwolf Mounts, Jump Packs, or Bikes as wargear. Accordingly, its unit type could possibly change based on wargear selections. So we turn to the rule for Thunderwolf Mounts to investigate the consequences of taking that upgrade:
“A character with a Thunderwolf Mount has the unit type of cavalry, adds +1 Strength, +1 Toughness, and +1 Attack to his profile, and has the Rending special rule in close combat with any attack that does not use a special close combat weapon. However, he may only join Thunderwolf Cavalry or Fenrisian Wolves units” Codex: Space Wolves p. 62
We note that once a WGBL takes a Thunderwolf Mount, its unit type becomes cavalry. It doesn’t “gain” the unit type of cavalry, which would suggest that it could have the type cavalry in addition to whatever it was before. No, its unit type becomes cavalry. Whatever unit type it had before is completely replaced. Combined with the language of the Saga of the Hunter Rule, we now know that once a model has a Thunderwolf Mount, it is no longer Infantry, and can no longer take Saga of the Hunter.
But what if the WGBL takes Saga of the Hunter first? What if the WGBL selects Saga of the Hunter before taking a Thunderwolf Mount, while it still has the unit type infantry? Generally, I would argue that the order in which wargear is selected is both irrelevant and inconsequential and should have no bearing on the tabletop. But then GW saw fit to issue this ruling from the Ork FAQ:
“Q. If a Boyz mob exchange sluggas and choppas with shootas, can a Nob take a power klaw or a big choppa? (p100)
A. You may upgrade the Nob to have a big choppa or power klaw before you choose to upgrade the mob to have shootas, in which case the Nob is not affected by the mob’s weapon swap (as he no longer has a choppa to swap), does not receive a shoota and keeps his slugga and power klaw/big choppa instead. He is a lot happier that way!” Codex: Orks FAQ p.4, July 2011.
This ruling has a couple of very important implications. First, It implies that the order of upgrades is chosen by the player creating the army. You do not have to take upgrades sequentially in the order they’re listed in the unit’s entry. Second, and much more importantly, it indicates that the order in which you choose upgrades matters. According to this ruling, the order of operation can, in fact, determine whether or not an option is viable. In the case of Nobs, they can only obtain a Power Klaw by trading in a choppa (See Codex: Orks p.100). If the unit took shootas instead of sluggas n’ choppas, the Nob had no choppa to trade, and couldn’t take a Klaw. But, according to this FAQ ruling, the ork player can get around that problem by selecting upgrades in the following order:
1. upgrade a boy to a nob;
2. upgraded the nob’s choppa to a Klaw; then
3. upgraded the unit’s sluggas n’ choppas to shootas.
We note that this order does not follow the sequential order of upgrades in the unit listing (See Codex: Orks p. 100), but it is nevertheless permissible according to the FAQ. The ruling also indicates that when the unit replaces its sluggas n’ choppas with shootas, it doesn’t go back and undo or take away the Nob’s PowerKlaw upgrade, even though a choppa is technically required to upgrade to a PowerKlaw (See Codex: Orks p.100). Thus, per this ruling, when you take an option can indeed determine whether or not you get to take it at all.
It has been argued that a space wolf player can, similarly, “get around” the infantry only requirement for Saga of the Hunter by choosing upgrades in the following order:
1. Select a WGBL (an infantry model)
2. Select Saga of the Hunter (available to infantry models)
3. Select a Thunderwolf mount (at which point the WGBL stops being an infantry model but already has Saga of the Hunter)
Ultimately, the argument is unpersuasive. There is a significant difference between Saga of the Hunter and the Ork Powerklaw. Unlike Saga of the Hunter, the PowerKlaw’s rules do not specifically limit it to models with a slugga, or models without a shoota. The requirement of trading in a choppa is only a requirement to obtain a PowerKlaw, not to use a PowerKlaw. That requirement is created by the ork boyz unit entry, not the PowerKlaw rule itself. In contrast, Saga of the Hunter’s own language prohibits it from being used by units which do not have the unit type “infantry”. That requirement persists – there is no indication in the language of the rule that the requirement goes away once the Saga is selected. As soon as the model has the unit type “cavalry”, it has become disqualified from using or possessing Saga of the Hunter.
It has been argued that the WGBL is granted an implied exception to this rule due to the asterisk and accompanying text after the Saga of the Hunter entry in the WGBL army listing:
“Saga of the Hunter … may only be taken by a model in power armor that does not have a jump pack or Space marine bike.” Codex: Space Wolves p. 85
The asterisk text does not specifically exclude models on Thunderwolf Mounts. Thus it has been argued that pursuant to the inclusion/exclusion canon that GW intended for the saga to be available to WGBLs on Thunderwolf Mounts. This argument, too, is unpersuasive, because that “implied exception” is not enough to override the clear language of the Saga of the Hunter rule. Where the combination of these two options is so clearly prohibited, something much stronger than implicit permission is required to override the rules as written. In short, GW didn’t have to include Thunderwolf Mounts in that list because they’d already clearly prohibited the combination with the Saga’s own language.
Ultimately, we find that these upgrades are mutually exclusive. A Thunderwolf Mount changes a model’s unit type to Cavalry. Saga of the Hunter may only be used with models of the unit type Infantry, and that requirement persists through unit selection and beyond. Therefore, a WGBL may have either a Thunderwolf Mount or Saga of the Hunter, but not both. So holds the court.