Why do we love being Space Wolves?

[WolfLordLars]

On the drive home from work this evening, I was thinking about it. I imagine everyone has their own reason. Leaving aside the usual "dood.. vikings in space!" answers, there has to be something that just drew you in and hooked you. Not counting gaming terms (though, if you want to look at that.. compare a tactical squad to a grey hunter pack with points and tell me vanilla marines have it better :D ), for me... Space Wolves are the Klingons of the 40k world.

 

Anyone who watched Star Trek has to admit, overall, the Klingons were the coolest 'species' in the franchise. You have the Romulans (Dork Angels or UltraSmurfs), you have the Borg (Necrons), and some of the others were neat.. but nothing really gets a show going like the Klingons. Everything I like about them, I see in the wolves.

 

Warrior culture, savage but honorable, and a code which is more than a book handed down by a primarch. It goes beyond the 'military society' that most other chapters have. Ultramarines are soldiers... Space Wolves are Warriors.

 

Ok, thats all... :D

[Menathorn]

Hum.... Vikings in Space ^_^

 

But on a serious note. The Wolfs have become an army which you can pull of almost anything. I mean, look at the Dark Angels, Ultramarines and Blood Angels. Sure, they have some things that we don't but we do have the advantage of having fun!

 

I have played with Codex marines, I have played with Dark Angels, yet I have had the most fun with the Wolfs. That is probably my reson. I have fun while I play, and anyone who tells me I don't will have a meeting with my axe ;)

[Vassakov]

They are a fun army to use. Not horrendously overpowered, and not with many "clanger" units (Maybe LF and LRE - but they are awesome for fluff anywho) Their background is rich and varied.

 

But most importantly, no other Loyalist Chapter has so many conversion opportunitites (or indeed, necessities ^_^ )

[Dark Bjoern]

It was the Fluff. The SW are different. They are proud warriors but they have their heart on the right spot. They care for mankind. They respect normal humans and treat them as equal (Something they have in common with the Salamanders). The best example is the first War for Armageddon. Logan was pissed what the Administratum and the Inquisition had done to the brave defenders of Armageddon.

And SW are not so serious like the Smurfs or DA. They have something like a life. They drink, laugh and like to celebrate their victories loud and noisy. It seems that they had not completly forgotten what it means to be human.

 

Playwise it´s the fun. And the conversion factor is more then important to me.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

I play my Space Wolves because whatever game system i am playing, i always favor the good guys over the bad guys. (make of that what you will).

 

looking at warhammer 40k, the only true good guys are the Space Wolves (imo), and here is why:

the Imperial Guard waste men in a horrible fashion, and often execute their own warriors.

the various Ordos of the Imperium would kill you for thinking differently from them, in a blink of the eye.

the vast Majority of the Space Marine chapters allow the horrible actions of the Imperium to occur with no resistance. Some space marine chapters would kill you, or leave you with no aid, based upon your genetic purity.

the eldar would kill you if it aided themselves

the tau will kill you if you refuse their idea of the greater good.

the orks will kill you for the heck of it.

the necron will kill you for breathing

the nids will kill you for food.

the daemons and chaos marines will kill you for sport, sacrifices, boredom.

 

so, in a truely dangerous universe to live in, the Space Wolves are known for protesting the actions of the Inquisition. they are known for honoring their allies, regardless of genetic purity. they fight not to kill, but to protect mankind. in such a dark and bloody universe, they really are humanity's greatest hope.

 

its kinda sad that the Space Wolves, the space marines most human in nature and their actions, are seen by many "good" citizens of the Imperium in such a barbaric fashion.

 

this is all my opinion. maybe naive, but honest. playing Space Wolves lets me play the good guys.

 

Wolf Lord Kieran

[Lord Howland Greywolf]

The fluff. The wolves(I have spiritule connection with them). And a warrior code of houner. Not to mention all the feasting, drinking and good old fasiond drunken brawling. Marines will hit you for the emperor. Wolves will hit you for the emperor, and becouse they enjoy it, they can boast about it, they can have a feast later, becouse you insulted them in some way, etc etc.

[Grey Mage]

It was 95% fluff for me... the other 55% was simply that for once the rules seemed to fit the fluff in a good way.

 

The fact that the chaptermaster had stood up to inquisitors over the all to common exterminatus.

 

The fact that you never knew before initiation if you were going to become a ravening werewolf, but you did it anyways.

 

The fact that the people that live on their world worship them as gods, and they dont abuse it.

 

The viking theme... I know, I know... no vikings in space stuff, but seriously Norse mythology was and is one of my favorite subjects in school, and I have a deep respect for those old gods. Sacrifices and screw overs and all.

 

And the fact that they were one of the origional legions. Im sorry, but thats just amazingly cool to me. Not only are you cool, not only are you humanitarian despite being bestial and savage, but youve been carrying the banner and fighting the fight for ten thousand years without falling to chaos, time, or despair. Holy crap.

 

That, and grey and blue are my two favorite colors ^_^

 

Edit:

its kinda sad that the Space Wolves, the space marines most human in nature and their actions, are seen by many "good" citizens of the Imperium in such a barbaric fashion.

Wait just a darn minute... thats another thing for me. Logan Grimnar is one of the most beloved commanders in the emperium. The eye of terror codex for example talks about regiment upon regiment of imperial gaurd who feel honored just to be on the same battlefield as he is, and how they grew up on his stories. Id say many of the good citizens of the imperium love the space wolves for being who and what they are.

[The God Emperor]

Fluff wise ,they resemble humans the most even though they're not really humans. They celebrate, they throw banters at each other, thrash each other about it and sit down later and laugh while munching on hunks of meat and a good ol' stein of Fenrisian Ale. Some chapters might just move on after a battle all solemn but us Wolves would chuck parties and remembered dead comrades with ale.

 

Model wise, looks really good and I can put what ever I feel like on a Wolves (as long as it's not Chaotic, thats the 13th Company). Every Wolves are personalised, they put their own heraldry and trophy on their armour. You'll find a good portion of my high ranking officers carries the heads of their slain foe while toting a huge a mount of purity seals, wolf totems and a massive wolf pelt.

 

The Wolf Guards are customisable which one thing that doesn't tie me down like the Codex Space Marines because every Wolfguard is a character and I can put whatever I like on him and it's perfectly legal.

[muzzyman1981]

I feel the same way, it was the fluff that pulled me in. I've always been partial to the Space Marines and my first try at liking a Space Marine Chapter was the Black Templars, but they (and in most respects every other Space Marine Chapter) have very boring backgrounds compaired to the Space Wolves.

 

I really liked the close combat nature of the Space Wolves as well because in most games (especially MMOs) I am the guy who likes to get int the faces of my foes and either beat them down with no mercy or die trying.

 

The Space Wolves do have other things on their minds as well as fighting, they enjoy life as they have it....they have feasts just for the sake of having feasts and enjoying the comraderie. They keep the aspects of themselves they grew up as, men who had to stay alive by being hard and, for the most part, fighting harder than everyone else to prove himself worthy to he a hero...before he is chosen.

[TheLastHuzzah]

For me it was the fluff, and connection to mythology (not specifically Norse). I've spent many hours reading mythology, and of all the 40k armies, they have some very clear roots in it; mythology is never a bad thing.

 

Aside from that...I played fantasy for a year or two before I picked up 40k, and had amassed a fairly large Dwarf army. I came in right at the beginning of 3rd edition and the Wolves ended up being the closest thing to Space Dwarfs (yeah, I said it!). The SW drink, use big honking axes, hold grudges...and the whole werewolf thing was freaking cool too.

 

-Huzzah

[Grimmwulf]

I was originally a fantasy player, and i still am. i never wanted to start 40k, but a lot of my buddies played it. i always liked the wolves and the tyranids the best. I am also one of the guys that feel drawn to the good side. Tyranids are not really evil, they just kill to survive and to expand their territoty, which is totally fine from an evolutionary point of view.

They are absolutely neutral, I guess. But i second Wolf Lord Kieran's opinion about the other armies. What finally led me to start 40k and to play wolves whas that a buddy who left the hobby gave me his BA army for free. Of course I did not want to play BA, but i just stripped the paint off, wolfed the guys up and re-painted them. since then my army has been steadily growing. I have lots of fun playing with the wolves.

When in doubt about what to do on the battlefield try to think what a space wolf would do. mostly i come to the conclusion to charge forward, no matter the odds. and even if i lose the fight, it is really a fun thing to do.

[Wolf89]

For me it was having 4 AC's in a pod... oh wait that's now, back then it was probably the beer, but I'm too sober to remember...

 

I was a very young kid when I started, I got into 40k for the modeling and painting over the playing of the game. The most appealing to me was the Space Wolves just because it had wolves in the name (my favorite animal, which I'm sure a lot of people here enjoy the wolf as much as I).

 

The close combat somewhat was appealing as well, just not when my cousin faced me with his huge death companies. :)

[Bullet_magnet]

The idea of wolves in space first got me playing space wolves. I have always been partial to the thirteenth company and have always modeled my wolves with chaos bits here and there, heck my first box set was a box of grey slayers. and so I guess it was more the huge amount of modeling opportunities that come with the wolves. Each one is an individual character and I always try to make that come out in my modeling. the wolves ARE warriors not soldiers and more power to 'em. Of course the fluff is totally awesome, After all no body can hold a grudge like Leman Russ!

[Ullr Direfang]

much like what has been said:

 

i love the idea that there is a world where some of the most badarses in universe come from. not to mention the wolf has been one of my favorite animals from my childhood. but also, after reading fluff and other books on the different chapters, the wolves just seem more like battle brothers then other chapters. not that marines in other chapters don't care about the guy next to them, it's just that a space wolf pack and company, know and trust each other like how i would of expect real medieval warriors would of had. so i guess fluff wise for me mostly.

[G. A. K.]

Its the individual character of the Warriors and the chapter as a whole. SW seem to be the only chapter with 'down time'. Not every minute of the day is laid out with formalities and rituals.

They fight hard and they play hard!!

To the Wolves of Fenris, Life is a struggle that is to be savored, Let not your hatred for the enemy cloud your enjoyment of existance.

 

G

[Long Fang]

I originally started with blood angels, but with only really the death company and assault squads to get up close they just didn't have quite enough close combat for me. I started playing wolves over the blood angels largely because i could have every squad tooled up to beat things to death up close, and lets be honest who can resist that many axes :) As i learned more about there history i just got more and more drawn in and have never gone back, even my guard army owes its loyalty to Fenris having had there arses saved by the wolves (wolfy fluff ftw) As I've dipped in and out of the game over the last 12 years or so i always come back to the wolves and now that i have found a good gaming club I'm rapidly approaching having a full great company :D

 

now where did i put my ale...

[OnlyInDeath]

Well, when I started 40k way back in the day, I knew that I wanted to play a space marine chapter of some kind, but I really didnt know which. So then I looked at the models. I wanted an army that I believed could be fielded on an actual battlefield, and not get shot to pieces. This automatically eliminated smurfs and space vampires, as they stick out like a sore thumb and I just found them to be unbelievably cheesy looking. BT's weren't out at this point, otherwise I may have been tempted by them, but it came down to wolves and DA's. The wolves by far appealed to me the most, as I loved the look and the possible conversions, SO i got some grey hunters and went with it:)

 

From that point on, I've loved my wolves more and more every time I field them. They have never let me down on the field of battle, the fluff is amazing, and the chapter as a whole just oozes character. I also have to say that bar one player (a guy who only played SW but non stopped complained about doing it, I dont talk to him anymore), every single SW player I would be happy to play a game with or against: we draw the quality people.

 

Also, how can you not play an army where getting piss drunk is paying homage to your prmarch?

[Icewolf]

For me it is Marines who can get drunk whats not to like

 

and whlie a marine may complain to an inquisitor if he is killing innocents with his actions a wolf would complain, give the inquisitor a good beating, hold a grudge and then save the innocents the inqusistor would have killed.

 

Also celebratoray feast

 

Icewolf

[Vash113]

What first got me interrested in 40k were the Space Wolves and Logan Grimnar especially. But only in the last couple years have I actually gotten together a Space Wolves army. But for me the Wolves are just awesome. Their rules are a lot of fun and no matter what happens the results are almost always enjoyable. They drink mead in endless quantities, who can gripe about that? Haegr, nuff said. Ragnar, nuff said. Oh and lets not forget Bjorn the most awesome Venerable Dreadnaught in the galaxy who was kickin but and takin names alongside Russ himself back in the day.

 

Plus the conversion opportunities are awesome, few loyalist Chapters have the sheer conversion opportunities the Space Wolves have.

 

All in all the Space Wolves are fun to play, their fluff is awesome, and for some inextriceable reason I feel Space Wolf players just have more fun in general. Whether we win or lose we're havin a good time doin it! And when we get back with tales to tell and wounds to lick we all sit around and have an ale!

[Icewolf]

Oh Yes Bjorn the 10000 year old veneradle dreadnaught who can go wrong with that kind of experence

 

Icewolf

[OnlyInDeath]

Oh Yes Bjorn the 10000 year old veneradle dreadnaught who can go wrong with that kind of experence

 

Icewolf

 

I just hope that they will sculpt him something a little more....dynamic when the new model line comes along. I do like the old metal one, it's gritty, it's bad*** with the giant lightning claw, but they need to do one where he's really getting into the thick of things and about to tear some serious stuff up. The dude is 10,000 years old, I think he's learned to strike a better pose than just shooting with an AC while holding his hand open.

[erik ironfang]

I was first drawn to this game in the early 90's when I myself was a young U.S. Marine, stationed overseas and bored out of my mind. A friend introduced me to the 40K world and I bought the 2nd edition boxed set. I thoroughly enjoyed painting all of the models, and spent several hours per night working on my first Marines. At the time that I started playing, there wasn't a "Space Wolves" codex, just a compilation of short stories from the Rogue Trader book and a few references in the "Codex: Imperialis" book. When the first three codex's came out I purchased all of them; Ultramarines, Angels of Death, and the Space Wolves. It was after I purchased the brand new codex (2nd edition) that I fell in love with the background and storyline of the "Sons of Russ". I remember when the first pewter Space Wolf models hit the shelves. I couldn't get enough of the detail compared to the earlier Rogue Trader Marines, and decided to scrap my "Codex Stunties" for some real challenging models to paint. I purchased one of everything, and to this day still have several of the old models in each of my squads for luck. It was the challenge of painting that initially drew me to the Wolves, and as my skills progressed so did my desire to convert my models so that no other force looked like mine on the tabletop.

 

I have painted, sold, and given away a number of other armies, but my Space Wolves will always be my "go-to" army for any event. Last April I had the opportunity to go to Adepticon with some friends, and as far as I could tell, we were the only Space Wolves players there. It mattered not to us that there were newer, tougher lists out there. We were glad to play as brother's and the first thing we did before every round was to down a pint of ale in honor of Russ. While I may not have won many tournaments, my Wolves have almost always placed in the top three.

 

It is the fact that the Space Wolves are not like the other codex chapters, it is the fact that not many people have the ability to play a Space Wolf army well, it is the fact that the fluff suits me, it is because the Wolves think for themselves, and do not hold on to Imperial Dogma to guide their choices.

 

Though new to the forum's I may be, my tooth is long and my beard is grey when it comes to playing and gaming with the Sons of Russ. In the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, there is only war…and that suits my Wolves just fine…

 

For the Allfather! For Russ!

~ Erik Ironfang

[Wolf Guard '79]

I enjoy playing wolves because they look good, they got a great story behind them, and above all else they just kick the crap outta all else out there!!

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

pretty much what everyone else has said and this is what my love of wolves has lead to

 

http://x4f.xanga.com/f6bd671624531144510124/m106952964.jpg

[Freman Bloodglaive]

I started in Second Edition and again it was a toss up between Dark Angels and Space Wolves. If there had actually been a Terminator Captain model available then I probably would have taken Dark Angels but there wasn't and I didn't.

 

That said with the advent of robed plastic Marines I've started a Dark Angel successor chapter (which will now be played with Codex Space Marine rules).