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Will you use Canis Wolfborn?


erik ironfang

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Normal fenris wolves -> Thunderwolves (the big ones) -> Blackmane (the giants)

 

Ok so what's your point? It's still not a good thing, and plus it invalidates the fluff on Ragnar Blackmane and how he finished his initiation and got his name. He slew a Blackmane Wolf at the end of it's long life, so unless it was a total runt it would have been the size of a Rhino according to this new stuff, and if it was then he could most certainly not wear the darn thing as a cloak, and if he isn't doing that then the source of his name "Blackmane" from the Space Wolf novels is invalidated.

 

Half baked Retcons are just lame and cause undue problems. A one off Canis Wolfborn isn't so bad, going so far as to create new "brands" of Wolves to justify whole units of Wolf Riders and toss the older fluff out the window is just well... stupid in my opinion.

 

@beef

-Why would they ride the Wolves into battle? That limits the reach of their weaponry (Canis' lightning claws don't look like they could even hit someone not practically hugging the darn wolf), wouldn't be as fast or durable as a Space Marine bike (or as easily replaced) and also hampers the Wolves ability to fight. Wolves are not made to be ridden, they do not have the durability or endurance to carry heavy riders long distances. Wolves are built for speed and lightning quick bites and scratches. They would be best employed like war hounds, bounding along side their masters to drag down foes along side him and harass those their master engages in combat with, just like they were used in the 3rd Edition Codex and you can still take wolves for that purpose with the new one. However the concept of a Space Wolf in full armor riding an oversized wolf just looks kinda... well dumb. The overly burly and bloated wolf Canis' model is riding just goes to show that point, anything much skinnier and sleeker would look like it's back would break with that marine up there, but as it is it looks far too fat to do much of anything let alone charge into war.

 

This is a situation of a funky idea taken to rediculous lengths. The GD model looked arlight but it was a mechanical beastie. Wolves physiology just is not condusive to such unwieldy size or for bearing a rider. It's two completely contrary ideologies, Wolves are fast and agile, a war steed must be big, durable and have high endurance, not necessarily speed. The two don't exactly mesh so well. Yea maybe you and others think it's cool, but I don't think the idea makes sense, is practical, or fits the character or image of the Space Wolves.

 

Heroes striding through war with faithful Wolves at their side... that's cool, Marines riding into combat astride creatures that look more like furry Hippos than sleek Wolves is well... I think you know what I'll say.

Okay, nobody who has glimpsed the new Dex has said anything about whether or not there are special movement rules that may or may not change impressions. It certainly is possible that it would be faster than a Rhino and even possibly more manuverable. It may very well have it's greatest appeal to those who favor a highly mobile "Cavalry" style of "stick and move" Wolf Pack on their battlefield. Certainly not applicable to ALL battlefields or circumstances. However, I will wager that for those that these possibilities existing may appeal to, it would be a very appropriate option to choose from.

 

The creatures are without debate a part of the homeworld. From the rocky outcrops to the fjords of the coastal villages. It is also a visceral part of what the Space Wolves have to face when selected to join the Fang, the beast within. Criminal, I think that is a bit of an extreme point of view and whether or not it is a prevalent point of view or not, it certainly shouldn't be the only. Some people like Jump Packs, others Landspeeders or Bikes. Some would go ALL Armor if the option was made available. Everyone has a different "style" of play that they prefer. Thus the flexibility of choices being made available in most any Dex so that different people could play their Army as they see fit. The criminality of making this choice available is a bit harsh and closed minded. It fits the fluff IMO and does so much more than allowing Personal Transporters for instance.

 

Have an ale and take a few long draws of the golden nectar. It is a choice and though you do not care for it allow your fellow brothers that may, their choice to accept it if they wish.

I do have to say that in the 2nd edition codex where it says "The name of Blackmane comes from the most deadly of the Wolves of Fenris, the blackmaned wolves which are said to serve Morkai the two headed guardian of the Gates of Death." does make them seem like a separate species.

 

To answer the question, to add the wolf riders is silly and I probably won't use them.

Wolf Wolfborn riding a giant Wolf with his Wolf Guard and a Wolf Priest who also ride giant Wolves all belonging to the Space Wolf Chapter.

 

Reminds me of Iron Hands somehow...

 

Bear Rider....hmmmm oh boy.

 

Yeah, but if the Space Wolves got bear cavalry no other force would stand a chance.

I see both sides for and against Canis and his Wolf Cavalry, but I like the idea. The key is to implement it correctly. Lightning Claws on a cavalry unit makes no sense. He definitely needs something with more reach to it. Best thing to do is give him a pole arm weapon that's simply "counts as" a pair of Lightning Claws.

 

The Wolf model is a little odd, but I'm holding my true opinions on it till I see the model in person. So far the only image we have seen is a 2D picture from a magazine. Essentially, a picture of a picture. And that could have been taken from an angle to make Canis seem menacing, but in turn it made his Wolf look a bit goofy. But if the model does look bad, there are many ways to fix it. Make a bigger head, use a different body for the rider, or scratch build your own Canis, like the Forgeworld model.

@beef

-Why would they ride the Wolves into battle?

 

Because they look good. It does not make sence I agree Unless you get one of the rare one the size of a rhino but then I would only have a lord ride a giant wolf, Like a saurus warrior riding that giant trex thing. Normal SW riding smaller version would be a bit much I agree.

 

 

. Wolves are built for speed and lightning quick bites and scratches. They would be best employed like war hounds, bounding along side their masters to drag down foes along side him and harass those their master engages in combat with, just like they were used in the 3rd Edition Codex and you can still take wolves for that purpose with the new one.

 

Well if they were huge then they could be used like juggers. I dont see why not?? use them to fight carnifexes

 

 

However the concept of a Space Wolf in full armor riding an oversized wolf just looks kinda... well dumb. The overly burly and bloated wolf Canis' model is riding just goes to show that point, anything much skinnier and sleeker would look like it's back would break with that marine up there, but as it is it looks far too fat to do much of anything let alone charge into war.

Yes the wolf model does look a bit bloated with a weird head

 

Remember brothers the wolves of Fenris are amongst the most vicious prediters in the known universe. They are massive creatures easily as large as a horse. Legends tell of creatures larger still whos jaws are capable of crushing steel and whose jaws are as large as tree trunks. these creatures roam the wastes of fenris. they are numerous in the lands of Asaheim that lie at the foot of the mountains of Fangard upon whose peaks stand the SW fortress the Fang. the wolves of Fenris are more intelligent than normal wolves.

so ok it does not say they are the size of Rhino's it does give an idication of just how big they would be if their teath are the size of tree trunks.

So far, for me, the only thing that doesn't seem completely right with the Wolf model is the snout looks a bit short compared to the rest of the body. Nothing a little GS can't fix. I agree a double headed (perhaps axe heads) polearm or power lance couting as double Lightning Claws would be a better option as there would be some reach capability. Keeping in mind that it appears that the model is definitely intended as a Cavalry Unit which is generally fast and CC biased as a general rule. It also is very likely to have a claw or bite attack profile which would be stronger or more plentiful than an ordinary Fenrisian Wolf attack profile. The cybernetic eye could mean superior vision opening a possibility for night operations or even Infiltrate or OBEL.

 

Again, I am reserving any judgement until finding out what the Dex says about it and seeing the model first hand.

I personally will field some wolf cav, as part of a fast response great company. I will have to see how they play with the fluff (and guess what, they will. it's part of EVERY new dex coming out. New fluff, out with some of the old. The feel and attitude of almost all armies in 40k have changed over the years, and some have even been done away with.)

 

Personally, right now I play a very solid mech great company. My next one I would like to have a different feel. I'm thinking wolf cav, sky riders, and GH's dropping down in pods. Pretty much a list that will carry the fluff of a fast response army. I can't see wolf cav being "front line" per say fluff wise, but it could be the scout/flanking elements of a force. Less noisy then a landspeeder, and able to delivery a ferocious charge to the enemy's flank. The only thing to me that seems out of place with this unit fluff wise is that Fenrisians have NO idea what cavalry is. They are longship raiders. There's no horses there. That being said, go go teaching engines.

 

But yeah, I can see a new army based around that to be very very fun, and while I know you may not agree with me on this Vash, that's fine. I am choosing to think of why Space Wolves WOULD use this type of unit, rather than focusing on how it never has been seen before. Neither have lonewolves, nor the new squad upgrade chars, nor have there been so many psychic powers. It's all part of the change, and I'm just going to embrace it. It doesnt have to be a cheesey "yay, i have wolves riding wolves!". Instead, it can be a very viable addition to a really hard hitting force that can use elites, fast attack and troops all to get in the enemy's face and keep them on the back foot. Using speed and mobility to separate and eliminate targets. In the end, that's very wolfy, and also plays into nordic tactica.

depending on the stats of the bikers, and wether or not WG can take them, i would seriously consider taking bikers and use the "counts as" for wolf riders, and just heavily convert the bikes to make them super wolfied, so them riding on wolves could be more of a metaphor.

 

as for canis, ill definately get him, without a doubt. hell be a great piece to have and paint, and i would consider using him in my army, stats really will sway my decision for inclusion.

 

im going to buy all the characters, and get a new rune priest, i painted him well, but ill really be remaking a big part of my army now that the new box sets are in.

Brothers, I am a bit skeptical about this new character Canis Wolfborn and the fact that he rolls into battle riding a huge wolf...not sure if I want to add that to my army list or not...thoughts anyone? Why do we suddenly have wolf riders? Was there a drunken night at the fang and some poor Wolf Guard lost a bet to a Blood Claw and this is how he has to ride into battle now?

 

Ill consider it. Frankly I could just as easily use them as bikers... modify them to kingdom come, with scythes and maybe spears or lances.... and shields mounted on the back.

 

Like that WolfGaurd biker thread that was up recently.

See, I agree with cherrboh and Grey Mage. If he was riding some uber bike (or a sweet quad) with a big old Wolf Skull or something on the front, that would be a lot less ridiculous.

It's not that I hate the model per se, I actually think it's an amazing sculpt, but I just think that the most advanced soldiers of the 41st millennium would be able to find something more suitable to ride on than some big ol' wolf.

What's he going to do? Huff and puff and blow Chaos down?

"You know Phil I gotta say that... that sounds terrible"

 

Was there no one at GW who told phil this when they heard the idea of space wolves riding wolves?

 

I can't think of a more ridiculous concept to come out of GW.

 

first they make guard able to have enough psykers to make eldar blush now they have marines riding wolves?

 

I gotta say anyone using wolf riders is going to be mocked by me regardless of how awesome their rules are.

 

Phil must have suffered a head injury prior to making this codex that makes him prone to episodes of batsh*t crazy.

With this new codex I have seen many people ranting about fluff.. While I personally do enjoy some good fluff I think we need to take a moment, relax and take a step back for a moment.

 

Warhammer 40K is a game where Genetically engineered superment who are little more than a 'this looks cool' amalgum of genetically engineered supermen from other liturature use generic power armor, Machine gun Rocket propelled grenade launchers and other hibbidy tools to fight against spaceborn fantasy race analogs, Space communist-anime-thingies, The roman catholic church circa 1200 AD only with better weapons and fewer rational leaders, and Ripply Scott's aliens, not to mention crazy Diablo Cosplayers with scifi crap.

 

Now the people who designed this world of generic Scifi space empireness have never been too clear or creative on their Canon to begin with. Races and units end up falling off the edge of the universe or taken out of the game entirly because they aren't used enough or the designers don't seem to feel they 'do the subject matter justice'. Does anyone remember that Orks have/had a gun that fires a snotling though the warp? Am I mistaken in my recollection that the one big hurty weapon for hte sisters of battle was once a Rhino with an ORGAN on it? A Gothic Organ that doubled as a Missile Launcher no less? Are people forgetting that the Primarcs include an Anne Rice pretty boy angel who gets struck down and puts some 'terrible curse' on his entire chapter for some odd reason that can only be explained as 'Psychically induced plot device', or the one who has living metal hands and whose name literally means 'metal hands'.

 

People keep talking about what is and is not good fluff, and they decry something like riding gigantic wovles as silly... We are talking about a chapter whose founder just happened to have a gene that could turn him or those with his odd mix of genetic super organs that somehow only work on men into what would basically be werewolves, and then when the warp decides its time for some plot device and sends him with his brothers all off to 'random' places he ends up in a world with gigantic wolves that raise him rather than kill him until a space viking comes along and raises him instead. This is one of the less silly and more buyable backstories for the Primarchs!

 

Brothers, I love being a son of Russ. I cannot think of another chapter, another army I would ever have half as much fun playing, and I don't even really want to try. However I think it is time we all take a few steps back and take a look at the forest rather than concentrating on the various minutia of one little sapling. So they are putting Wolf Riders into the codex. Nobody is making you play them, nobody has a gun to your head. And before you start thinking that they seem too silly to be in the game lets please try to keep the setting and context of the game in mind. Anything will look bad if you pick it apart, but this is supposed to be about having fun!

You guys are crazy ... of course we are going to use him (except for a small minority). He's awesome. People have been complaining about having a new codex forever (no - I didn't want one - yes I have had my wolves for 15 years+) and now that it's around the corner people are complaining that the codex has new inventive ideas...

 

I cannot wait to spent my hard earned money on new models and I cannot wait to be spending hours upon hours making new army lists and trying them out using every character model and possible combination I see in this new codex... in 9 more years I will complain about the next new codex maybe, until then let us rejoice that 40K will be extremely entertaining over the next 6 months or so...

 

My 2 cents...

I hope this is one of those cases where the model looks better in person then on the screen.

 

The idea of 12' tall genetically altered human's riding motorcycles into combat has always been a bit... absurd? Senseless?

 

Now we have a 12' tall genetically altered human in Tactical Dreadnought Armor riding a cybernetic Wolf into battle...

 

So like, Cavalry rules, T5, S5, and who knows what else. Wolf Claws, 2+/4+ save, Maybe WS 5 I 5? Will probably cost an arm and a leg in points and $$.

 

To top it all off, we're gonna get a unit choice of 'Wolf Cavalry', but no models?

 

I'm thinking this will be the thing I dislike the most in this Codex.

You guys are crazy ... of course we are going to use him (except for a small minority). He's awesome. People have been complaining about having a new codex forever (no - I didn't want one - yes I have had my wolves for 15 years+) and now that it's around the corner people are complaining that the codex has new inventive ideas...

 

You may be right about a "small minority" but to the contrary, I think it will be the minority that will actually bother fielding Wolf Riders. It's not an inventive idea, IMO it's a lazy, stupid and absolutely rediculous idea. It may be a fantasy universe but that's no excuse to throw practicality and common sense out the window to try and justify a half baked idea that seems to have the singular purpose of adding cheese into the army list. :)

 

Why do I say small minority? Well if this thread is anything to go by it looks like it may be split 50/50, or close to it about people who think it's a good, or bad idea. Maybe even more slanted towards those who don't like the idea. However the true reason it will be a minority is quite simple, $$$$$! A metal model the size of Canis Wolfborn is bound to be very expensive, and Forge World models might even be more so. Even if you convert your own Wolf Riders, such models would still be costly and very conversion intensive. Just like we don't see a whole lot of Bikers running around and even less Biker armies because of the cost of Space Marine Bikers, we won't likely see more than a few units of Wolf Riders running around and probably few if any armies based around them purely because of the extorionate cost of such a project.

 

Most likely some power gamer bandwagoners will try to use Wolf Riders like the new Nob Bikers but will quickly move on and those, like me, who think the idea is truly moronic will simply put them out of mind and forget they exist.

@ Hrathnar Flintfang: I agree with you, our 'dex has been a long time coming...and I am excited to finally have a 'dex that is current. However, my original concern and question still remains, will you field a Canis Wolfborn? I doubt I will. It doesn't fit in with how I perceive the Space Wolves to be...wolves yes...He-man/Battlecat-esque character...no thanks. Maybe I'll talk my opponent into throwing one of his Dark Angels on a huge Lion and call him "Felix Lionborne" and we can fight over the Castle Greyskull.

 

Is it nice having new units? Sure. But where the Dark Angels got Master Sammael and his Uber Jetbike and the Ultramarines got a whole slew of new characters and equipment (Ironclad, Thunderfire Cannon, etc)...we get the "Wolf Whisperer". I would have been happy with a "Skold Greypelt" type-character on a bike with the same types of special rules. Yes, using wolves as cavalry is a great idea, but why couldn't we just make that an option like it was for the 13th company? It could have been easily written as "take this 13th company Rune Priest and he gives you the option for using a pack of Fenrisian Wolves as troops, etc."

 

 

And yes, I know that the fluff and storyline are fictional and that the designer's like throwing in new stuff to see if they can turn a profit and/or spark interest...and I should also be glad that our Codex isn't a two-part "White Dwarf special", but there are so many other character's that I would have preferred to see introduced to the game...Ranulf, Haegr, Skold Greypelt, etc. Instead we get the Shaggy/Scooby-Doo combo with Lightning Claws...

With this new codex I have seen many people ranting about fluff.. While I personally do enjoy some good fluff I think we need to take a moment, relax and take a step back for a moment.

 

Warhammer 40K is a game where Genetically engineered superment who are little more than a 'this looks cool' amalgum of genetically engineered supermen from other liturature use generic power armor, Machine gun Rocket propelled grenade launchers and other hibbidy tools to fight against spaceborn fantasy race analogs, Space communist-anime-thingies, The roman catholic church circa 1200 AD only with better weapons and fewer rational leaders, and Ripply Scott's aliens, not to mention crazy Diablo Cosplayers with scifi crap.

 

Now the people who designed this world of generic Scifi space empireness have never been too clear or creative on their Canon to begin with. Races and units end up falling off the edge of the universe or taken out of the game entirly because they aren't used enough or the designers don't seem to feel they 'do the subject matter justice'. Does anyone remember that Orks have/had a gun that fires a snotling though the warp? Am I mistaken in my recollection that the one big hurty weapon for hte sisters of battle was once a Rhino with an ORGAN on it? A Gothic Organ that doubled as a Missile Launcher no less? Are people forgetting that the Primarcs include an Anne Rice pretty boy angel who gets struck down and puts some 'terrible curse' on his entire chapter for some odd reason that can only be explained as 'Psychically induced plot device', or the one who has living metal hands and whose name literally means 'metal hands'.

 

People keep talking about what is and is not good fluff, and they decry something like riding gigantic wovles as silly... We are talking about a chapter whose founder just happened to have a gene that could turn him or those with his odd mix of genetic super organs that somehow only work on men into what would basically be werewolves, and then when the warp decides its time for some plot device and sends him with his brothers all off to 'random' places he ends up in a world with gigantic wolves that raise him rather than kill him until a space viking comes along and raises him instead. This is one of the less silly and more buyable backstories for the Primarchs!

 

Brothers, I love being a son of Russ. I cannot think of another chapter, another army I would ever have half as much fun playing, and I don't even really want to try. However I think it is time we all take a few steps back and take a look at the forest rather than concentrating on the various minutia of one little sapling. So they are putting Wolf Riders into the codex. Nobody is making you play them, nobody has a gun to your head. And before you start thinking that they seem too silly to be in the game lets please try to keep the setting and context of the game in mind. Anything will look bad if you pick it apart, but this is supposed to be about having fun!

 

Well said.

 

Esponjabob

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