Lone Wolves vs fluff?

[Forté]

I know this may be a bit limiting but surely a Lone Wolf it TDA doesn't really exist. The description in the codex states that Lone Wolves haven't reached the rank of Wolf Guard and as far as I'm aware these are the only Wolves trusted to use TDA.

Why would a Wolf lord let someone with a death wish use a suit so valuable?

[Wolf Guard Dansef]

Not that I'm vehemently arguing they should or shouldn't be allowed to wear TDA, but the Codex does also make it well known that these Lone Wolves are not just some muppet who fancies trying his luck solo, but are on honour-bound missions of vengeance and redemption, which the SW's take very seriously. I got the impression from the Codex that it's not a case of limiting what they can have so that the equipment isn't 'wasted', but more a case of making sure that they can wreak the most destruction amongst the enemy ranks when they do get there with a howl on their lips.

 

Plus, as any right-minded SW WL knows, they will win the day anyway, so the TDA suit can always be reclaimed after the opponents have had their asses handed to them and the Lone Wolfs remnants have been scraped out of it :)

[Custodian Athiair]

thats my point, and that is why i will never field a Lone Wolf in TDA, except maybe in a torunament (so it can rip up most things)

 

Athiair :)

[Forté]

You've got a valid point there. I just pictured them so hell bent on honour that they would go back to their roots with a shield and ccw of some kind and take the fight to the enemy old school style.

[Wolf Guard Dansef]

Of course there's always the other view that GW just wrote contradictory fluff/rules and didn't realise/care . . .but what are the odds of that :) lol

[Duke Corwin]

Maybe the wolf lord wants the lone wolf to survive so he puts him in the TDA. Of course he doesn't tell the lone wolf that that is the reason he gave it to him. Remember, if the lone wolf survives he usually will be put in the wolf guard anyway.

 

In a way being a lone wolf is like a test. If he fights hard and returns triumphant he joins the wolf guard, his honor satisfied. If he dies, his body is recovered and he is still honored.

 

Finally, a space marine is a valuable asset. While a wolf lord recognizes the right of the lone wolf to seek a glorious end he does not want to "throw him away". Looked at this way it makes sense for the wolf lord to equip him well.

[TheLastHuzzah]

Fluff-wise, I would imagine the SW are planning to collect the gene seed from the Lone Wolf anyhow(if he falls), and can grab whatever gear he had on him. I understand that TDA is very valuable, but I also can't think of any real reason for the enemy to loot the TDA. I'm going to guess the suit weighs in at 350-500 lbs, and the only armies I can think that would want to take it would be the Tau, and maybe the orks, the latter to rip apart and add as extra "shinies" to what they have. I could see hand held weapons (bolters/etc.) being grabbed, but an entire suit of armor + the 400 lb guy inside doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

 

-Huzzah

[hendrik]

at first i was just like you although some guys gave me some scenarios in whch i can see a wolf lord granting a lone wolf a TDA, like when it's a long fang, afterall a guy like this has been around for ages and is a really valuable asset for a wolf lord

[Brother Captain Kezef]

"Yo Erik, heard about your pack, nasty business with that Carnifex. Look, I know you've sworn an oath to go out, kick arse and die but would you mind colling your heels for a few weeks while we train you to use TDA? Good man!"

[Thorgad]

"Yo Erik, heard about your pack, nasty business with that Carnifex. Look, I know you've sworn an oath to go out, kick arse and die but would you mind colling your heels for a few weeks while we train you to use TDA? Good man!"

 

Hehe, just want to lead off with saying that this made me giggle a bit :(

 

As I understand it from reading the fluff entry in the codex, Lone Wolves usually take on their oaths after the battle which finished off the rest of their pack has ended. They then etch the names of their packmates and powerful oaths of vengeance into their flesh, and thus become Lone Wolves. Approaching their next battle, they will swear to hunt down this monstrosity or that enemy commander, and assuming that their Wolf Lord deems it a worthy, or possible cause, the Lone Wolf is probably properly equipped and trained in the usage of applicable weapon and armour on the way towards the battlefield, inside the Space Marine spacecraft.

 

Alternatively, you can just explain any and all TDA-equipped Lone Wolves as being former Wolf Guard, thus being trained. The fluff entry does suggest that it's usually a Long Fang or a Grey Hunter, but there's nothing that prohibits Wolf Guards becoming Lone Wolves. In my mind, a Wolf guard who has lost the entire pack he was sergeant of, or one who's the last of a lord's bodyguard, could easily take on the Oaths.

[Grey Mage]

I know this may be a bit limiting but surely a Lone Wolf it TDA doesn't really exist. The description in the codex states that Lone Wolves haven't reached the rank of Wolf Guard and as far as I'm aware these are the only Wolves trusted to use TDA.

Why would a Wolf lord let someone with a death wish use a suit so valuable?

 

You dont have to be a WG to have experianced losing your pack, or affected by a deep personal loss. I imagine a WG that lost his WL while on duty gaurding him would take up the path of the lone wolf. There is also this:

 

Harsath Bloodmonger was but a humble Grey Hunter, one of a pack of 9. He had the honor to bare a powerfist into battle, and he was darn good at it. At the battle of seven towers his unit was ordered to hold a position at all costs while the rest of the company was redeploying. Nearly 200 of his brothers and 2000 IG were at stake.

 

The world Eaters were numerous, and supported by the tanks of traitor gaurd. Firing for as long as they could from the cover of a ruined building Pack Thurisaz numbered but 3 men when their long fang support was taken out by an enemy defiler.

 

Determined to buy more time at any costs the three Grey Hunters charged forth, Hrothgar and Menoth having taken their fallen brothers meltaguns. As they surged forward guns ablazing they accounted for no fewer then five Leman Russ tanks and a rhino. Still, they were heavily outnumbered and despite the advantage of mobility they had in the crowded confineds of the city-hive they were eventually overun. Harsath himself fell in combat with the dread defiler, Menoth slaying it but a moment later and dying of the shrapnel.

 

Of all his pack only Harsath could be healed by the Wolf Priests. He was given battlefield commendations for valor and heroism, and promoted to Wolf Gaurd on the spot.

 

Harsath however was a changed man, and the death of his brothers and elders laid heavy on his mind. So it was, that a year later he asked his lord and his companies wolf priest to allow him to undergo the ritual of the lone wolf, that he might die in glorious battle and end his suffering.

 

Bjorn Stormwolf was not a man to allow a good resources to be casually thrown away, and so it was that he commanded that if Harsath was to do this, he must do it as he was presently outfitted. He would have five years to acheive his ends- and then, should he have failed he was to be reinducted into the ranks of the Wolf Gaurd. All agree, and the ceremony was held three days later.

 

Harsath Bloodmonger is rumored to be somewhat wolfbitten and unpredictable these days, but all of his company know that he will hold true to his oath- that he will seek ever greater glory, ever greater triumph, in search of honor for his lost pack. While he yearns to die, he cannot do so through incompetency of willfull surrender. So it is that to this day he surges forward, stormshield strapped to one might arm and frost blade in the other... and his foes tremble as he comes for their souls.

 

For what is Valhalla without enemies to conquer?

[Lord Ragnarok]

My take is that it is "we honour this brother with all the mighty war arsenal he can muster"

 

Also, remember that it is their mission to kill something of epic nature to honour their pack or die trying once honour is restored they may be inducted into the WG.

 

Rules to Fluff, I would have been nice if they got something for killing something big in Kill point missions versus just the suicidal stuff they have. Like "if they kill something of X large pts or X Toughness, they will also not give up a kill pt" or something to that effect.

[Forté]

Like that short story Grey Mage. Gives it a great feel (and makes me want to charge a lone wolf against a whole army!). The KP ideas good too. GW missed a trick there.

[Aeric]

If a lone wolf is that hard after losing his pak, why not make him a Wolf Guard? Especially if he can take on Dreads and Carnies

[Grey Mage]

If a lone wolf is that hard after losing his pak, why not make him a Wolf Guard? Especially if he can take on Dreads and Carnies

Because hes not quite right in the head- you dont give someone whos unbalanced a place in the chain of command where it could get other people hurt.

 

Beserkers dont lead, they kill.

[Wildfire]

I'm more annoyed by the fact that they get less skilled and tough when they join the WG.

[hendrik]

I'm more annoyed by the fact that they get less skilled and tough when they join the WG.

i gues it depends on how you feel it. to me no dex can really represent the might of a space marine, so it can't even come close to a space wolf! this game has both a "balanced" gamesystem as well as a rich background. to me the later is the most important

[SamaNagol]

Same reason Dwarves don't make Slayers their generals or Hearthguard.

[Grey Mage]

Except you know... the slayer king -_-.

[Forté]

Had to highlight that didn't you ;)

Most lone wolves wouldn't survive long enough to become a wolf guard as surely they just keep fighting till they're killed. Wouldn't ever catch one picking an even fight (that ork warband is MINE!).

[Grey Mage]

That deff dread counts as two!

[legless_al]

I'm a one man Mofo Wrecking Crew, TDA Thunder hammer Storm Shield and two wolves, fluff or no fluff thats gonna cause serious damage,

 

A lone wolf isn'ty alway GH or LF they're just guys who lost there mates n wanna go and find some other bigger tougher mates

[rodgers37]

This is what i think/thought:

 

Lone Wolves where just the last members of the pack (i didn't know it says grey hunter packs..... or any other pack, just last member...)

and what the want to do is go and fight to the death, they don't fear death, but they don't just jump in front of a giant monster/tank unequipped...

 

so there is no reason why they could/would not be in TDA, really it makes sense....as they want to go and kill as much as possible....

[Prophecy]

Eh. They want death, but I look at it from the point of Dwarf Slayers (as has been mentioned before). Look at Gotrek. He wanted to die, but he sure as hell wasn't going to do it to the first little pansy ratman that came his way.

 

My lone wolf is the same way. He wants to die, but when he goes, he wants to make sure that it's to something so big, and so nasty, that the allfather-damned exterminatus would have to take a second look to make sure it's really dead. Thus, he kits himself out in the nastiest wargear he can find and takes his two faithful hounds with him. Anything that can kill him in THAT will give him a death worth telling his packmates in the afterlife about.

[Forté]

tempting to keep a tally once I put one to use. See how much can be taken out by one.