The Armoury

[MaveriK]

EPISODE THREE: Mark of the Wulfen

 

A thread about the sacred relics of the (Vlka Fenyka) Space Wolves Chapter. This is a tech+fluff based discussion about our wargear. This is meant to be a fun discussion about our sacred relics. Giving us a different look at our mighty chapter, and hopefully gaining insight and appreciation of our fluff as a whole.

 

Today we talk about the mark fo the wulfen. Taking a look at the progression of the rules and the changes made in the MotW, throughout these long years. In the previous codex, the rules for the MotW was that for only 10pts, only Wolf Guard could buy the wargear, and in turn received +D3 attacks, and not to mention always hits and is also hit on 3+ during close combat. In the previous codex, those who had the mark, automatically passed all morale or pinning test.

 

Fluff wise, the warrior is said to undergo a physical transformation into a wild best like creature during close combat. But it doesn't mention if the warrior reverts back to his normal form, or just stays in that current state, and eventually succumbs to the wulfen within.

 

During apocalypse, we were given a small glimpse of what the future may hold , all thanks to the wulen guard data sheet. Although there is a huge difference between MotW and a Wulfen. By giving/adding the rending special rule on the wulfen, I believe it helped influence the “making of” those with the mark.

 

In the current edition, we are given the rending special rule during close combat. Along with the D6+1 attacks (weapons and wargear not used) all for an extra 5pts more from the original. One of the huge differences with the current MotW wargear, is that we can now have one of our grey hunters running with the mark in our packs. I think this is HUGE compared to the wolf guard only in the older codex. I think every grey hunter pack should always have one with the mark.

 

Our runepriest, wolf priest, dreads, iron priest, bloodclaws, swiftclaw, long fangs, and obviously fenrisian wolves. Are the only troop choices in our codex that don't allow for the wargear upgrade. But does that mean or tell us that our wolf priest or rune priest are more tolerant towards the curse? or maybe it's just a rules balance in the codex?

 

Comparing the new rules to the old, do you think the MotW have gotten better or worst? and have we gained more out of this wargear now? than we have in the past?

 

I've also seen people mention that they at times give their warrior with the mark, a special weapons like a meltagun. Other argue that it’s a bad idea only because of the wound allocation. I’d like to see people talk about that issue more. How do you usually equipt your warriors with the mark? do storm shields effect or negate the special rule? or does it help enhance the longevity or a model with a mark?

 

Anyway, as for fluff discussion.. Are those with the mark effected by the moon? if a non Fenrisian born was bitten by a wulfen or those with the mark, and survive, are they at risk from the mark? is it possible for some Space Wolves revert back to their normal form? And what is it about our wolf priest that can keep the beast within calm? Even the wulfen are known to obey wolf priest. Is it possible to have a wolf priest succumb to the wulfen within? was Russ affected by the curse? the only known wolf lord who had no problem hiding his mark was Jorin Bloodfang, and Bran Redmaw comes second.

 

--EDIT--

Just some things to think and talk about… I just wrote this on the fly, and didn't have my references or codex to look up. If I’ve missed something, my bad! So what are your thoughts on this juicy and nice fluffy wargear?

[Zzo]

I personally love MotW. However I'm sure many people would disagree, and have different views. Overall, it is fair to say it is a bit pricey, 15 points for a random ability. Sometimes it could be useless, other times it could be devastating. I always run a mark in a big GH squad because I think it gives them much more CC potential, especially when used with the wolf standard.

 

I would never give the MotW another special weapon or equipment, I prefer to have the extra wound allocation.

[skoll]

EPISODE THREE: Mark of the Wulfen

 

 

Anyway, as for fluff discussion.. Are those with the mark effected by the moon? if a non Fenrisian born was bitten by a wulfen or those with the mark, and survive, are they at risk from the mark? is it possible for some Space Wolves revert back to their normal form? And what is it about our wolf priest that can keep the beast within calm? Even the wulfen are known to obey wolf priest. Is it possible to have a wolf priest succumb to the wulfen within? was Russ affected by the curse? the only known wolf lord who had no problem hiding his mark was Jorin Bloodfang, and Bran Redmaw comes second.

 

I'll just answer this part because honestly i love fluff. It is never implied that the moon would affect the transformation, this would pose a problem, because being in space and fighting in planets with multiple moons, etc could if that was true make entire packs of space wolves into wulfen, it is stated however that the wulfen transformation is also a bodily response to attempts of corruption by chaos.

 

Those bitten by the mark a most likely are at risk of turning , my reasoning is as follows.

one originally acquires the wulfen trait by drinking from the cup of wulfen, technically all space wolves bear the curse ,the mark however only displays in the ones who bear it in the most prominent of manners. The cup is said to contain the blood of the first who fully turned into wulfen and refused to turn back. So then the curse must be a virus that interacts with either the geneseed or the blood, so there are two possibilities either only space marines that are bitten will turn or all that are bitten will turn.

 

Is it possible to return to the original form? yes after all , every space wolf turned fully once right after they drank the cup or so does the codex make it seem, then they are thrown out into the wild miles from the fang and are expected to regain their humanity.

 

the wolf priest are psykers? i dont recall correctly if only rune priests are or not. if so then there is why.

 

Russ was probably the one most severely affected by the curse being the progenitor of the trait, he is the alpha wulfen for all intents and purposes, much like william is the first werewolf in the underworld series. However being a primarch probably gives him some control over turning , or innate resistance, however this would mean than when transformed A)his transformation would be the most brutal and powerful of all wulfen, and :P this would probably make him the most powerful primarch by far, combining the training,discipline and battle instincts of a space marine, the power of a primarch, the fury and enhanced reflexes of a feral beast,etc. He would become a being probably only second to the emperor in power.

[Quillen]

Um, not quite right skoll.

 

The Novels touch on it some.

 

We drink the first part of the Gene-seed from the cup. And it changes the very DNA of the recrute. Some fall the the curse of the wolfen. Which is to say the Wolf DNA and instincts take over. Some never make it back to the Fang. Becoming Wolfen. And some make it back, but the Gene is out of whack. And they have a higher chance of falling to the Wulfen. All a MotW is, is simply a marine who made it back to the Fang, and was inducted to the Brotherhood. He has been loosing the battle with the Wulfen Gene in himself thou. But this makes him a killing machine in melee.

 

So it's a curse and a belessing. He will probly fall to the curse of the wulfen and be put down. But on the way he can shredd some enemies.

 

As to Russ being a werewolf. Um no. He was a thinker and a planner and loved to brawl and drink. A Primarch's DNA was changed to allow certain things. Not to make them boogie-men.

 

It is never said anywhere that Russ could turn into a wolf. What is said is his Armor is found and a spear he hated was found. No one knows what happened to him.

 

Some believe he went into the Eye of Terror to find fruit from the tree of life to save the Emperor. And near there is where his armor was found. No one knows more then that. We have his dieing words too. But this means nothing. We have evidence of 3 Primarchs whom should be dead and are alive and in suspended animation.

 

I liked in the books how they follow one of the pack instinctively. If there is 2 alphas they will bump heads till one shows he is better and then they once again follow the alpha. And of course Ragnar is an alpha type. lol

 

As to the original followers of Russ, a bunch of them tried to become marines. All of them drank, and only a hand full of them became marines. The rest died horribaly. Succombing to the curse of the Wulfen. And it links Curse of Wulfen and Death. Most die who fall to it, or they put them down. They cover some of it in Tales of the hersy short stries. I have it around here someone. It's a great shorrt story showing the Sons of Russ in the field, out numbered and out of supply. Still kicking ass thou.

[hendrik]

i also believe all of the 13th company are wolf bitten (eg have the yellow eyes instead of the normal white), you can actually find a lot of information the the book wolf's honour. the wulfen still are "controlable" to a certain degree by any powerfull spacde wolf since his powerfull voice can remind the wulfens to the oaths they once swore. there's evidence of this happening by a wolf lord too in wolf's honour

[skoll]

Um, not quite right skoll.

 

The Novels touch on it some.

 

We drink the first part of the Gene-seed from the cup. And it changes the very DNA of the recrute. Some fall the the curse of the wolfen. Which is to say the Wolf DNA and instincts take over. Some never make it back to the Fang. Becoming Wolfen. And some make it back, but the Gene is out of whack. And they have a higher chance of falling to the Wulfen. All a MotW is, is simply a marine who made it back to the Fang, and was inducted to the Brotherhood. He has been loosing the battle with the Wulfen Gene in himself thou. But this makes him a killing machine in melee.

 

So it's a curse and a belessing. He will probly fall to the curse of the wulfen and be put down. But on the way he can shredd some enemies.

 

As to Russ being a werewolf. Um no. He was a thinker and a planner and loved to brawl and drink. A Primarch's DNA was changed to allow certain things. Not to make them boogie-men.

 

It is never said anywhere that Russ could turn into a wolf. What is said is his Armor is found and a spear he hated was found. No one knows what happened to him.

 

Some believe he went into the Eye of Terror to find fruit from the tree of life to save the Emperor. And near there is where his armor was found. No one knows more then that. We have his dieing words too. But this means nothing. We have evidence of 3 Primarchs whom should be dead and are alive and in suspended animation.

 

I liked in the books how they follow one of the pack instinctively. If there is 2 alphas they will bump heads till one shows he is better and then they once again follow the alpha. And of course Ragnar is an alpha type. lol

 

As to the original followers of Russ, a bunch of them tried to become marines. All of them drank, and only a hand full of them became marines. The rest died horribaly. Succombing to the curse of the Wulfen. And it links Curse of Wulfen and Death. Most die who fall to it, or they put them down. They cover some of it in Tales of the hersy short stries. I have it around here someone. It's a great shorrt story showing the Sons of Russ in the field, out numbered and out of supply. Still kicking ass thou.

 

 

i never said russ was a werewolf, also u misread what i typed obviously because nothing besides that comes at odds with what i said.as to that my response is bellow

 

what i said about russ was, that the chapters gene seed is derived from him. Much like a parents traits are evident on the child is how a primarchs traits are evident on the marines derived from his gene seed. Therefore the evidence of wulfen points towards the fact that russ himself contained this trait, to what degree ? most likely a heavier one, since all space marines are in essence watered down primarchs much like the primarchs are watered down emperors.

 

But like I mentioned Russ being a primarch and all probably has innate resistance or control over the trait, did i say it was likely for him to turn? no , impossible ? Until GW itself says otherwise I'll say it isnt. However for the very reason that he is the first bearer it is to be assumed his would be the most powerful when it does happen.

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

I'll just answer this part because honestly i love fluff. It is never implied that the moon would affect the transformation, this would pose a problem, because being in space and fighting in planets with multiple moons, etc could if that was true make entire packs of space wolves into wulfen, it is stated however that the wulfen transformation is also a bodily response to attempts of corruption by chaos.

 

Those bitten by the mark a most likely are at risk of turning , my reasoning is as follows.

one originally acquires the wulfen trait by drinking from the cup of wulfen, technically all space wolves bear the curse ,the mark however only displays in the ones who bear it in the most prominent of manners. The cup is said to contain the blood of the first who fully turned into wulfen and refused to turn back. So then the curse must be a virus that interacts with either the geneseed or the blood, so there are two possibilities either only space marines that are bitten will turn or all that are bitten will turn.

 

No idea where you got the idea from that the cup contains the blood of wulfen. It doesn't say this anywhere. IIRC it is a liquid that looks like mead but tastes like nothing at all. Wulfen is only the man who drank of the cup, but could not control the beast within as he was secretly jealous of Leman Russ.

 

I highly doubt the cup contains a virus. Viruses are extraordinarily hard to control, so infecting yourself with one on purpose is more than just stupid. Viral infections also cannot be controlled by willpower alone. I don't think there's a good scientific explanation for any of this, and I'm glad there isn't because every time GW flirts with science, things get embarassing.

 

 

Russ was probably the one most severely affected by the curse being the progenitor of the trait, he is the alpha wulfen for all intents and purposes, much like william is the first werewolf in the underworld series. However being a primarch probably gives him some control over turning , or innate resistance, however this would mean than when transformed A)his transformation would be the most brutal and powerful of all wulfen, and this would probably make him the most powerful primarch by far, combining the training,discipline and battle instincts of a space marine, the power of a primarch, the fury and enhanced reflexes of a feral beast,etc. He would become a being probably only second to the emperor in power.

 

Errr... well, lets not draw underwolf into this shall we? This is the grimdark future of mankind, a tale all of its own (which, of course generously borrows from other sources...).

 

What makes you think he's the progenitor of the trait? Nowhere is it mentioned that he ever turned into a wulfen. All space wolves have control over turning into wolves, and they do all they can to avoid doing so, as it comes with a loss of control over oneself that is very hard to tolerate, especially for a space marine. That means that if the marine has the willpower to control the transformation, he never ever will transform. Those that do, however, presumably are the ones that came closes to failing the test of willpower so that, as the codex says, in situations of extreme stress (i.e., battle), they do transform.

 

Are those with the mark effected by the moon? if a non Fenrisian born was bitten by a wulfen or those with the mark, and survive, are they at risk from the mark? is it possible for some Space Wolves revert back to their normal form?

 

I highly doubt they're affected by the moon any more than their wolfishness causes them to be affected (they might enjoy howling at the moon every now and then, I guess). They're not werewolves, after all, they're space wolves. I don't like werewolves. I do like spacevikingwolves, though.

 

For the same reason I doubt that being bitten by a wolf who has trouble containing the beast withing causes you to turn into one. The trait is probably equally strong in all wolves, and they can control it with the few who can't being exceptions. But they're not werewolves.

 

It seems all space wolves affected (save those who turn completely and haunt asaheim) can turn back to their original form, as the codex says they only transform in situations of extreme stress, suggesting that they're reasonably normal (for what it's worth, being a space wolf) for most of the time.

 

I've also seen people mention that they at times give their warrior with the mark, a special weapons like a meltagun. Other argue that it’s a bad idea only because of the wound allocation. I’d like to see people talk about that issue more.

 

Seeing as taking a special weapon replaces the bolter, I don't see the benefits of giving him a melta or what have you. For the wound allocation reason alone, this isn't a good idea. And seeing as it is most likely known the guy has some anger management issues, they probably won't give him a meltagun anyway because he's is liable to lose it. Or break it. Or break it and then lose it.

[Jonas Stromclaw]

I have personally been hooked on the new Mark of the Wulfen since the first time I used one he killed half a squad of zerkers and saved his pack from an inglorious defeat (four rolls of six on two wound plus rending... messy). While I understand why some of my fellow wolves like to stick a special weapon with the Mark to maximise close combat attacks, I never do for fluff reasons. This guy turns into a raging killing machine who rips apart his foes with his bare hands. That meltagun you gave him is probably buried in some poor hostile's head, and not in any functioning state.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

I have personally been hooked on the new Mark of the Wulfen since the first time I used one he killed half a squad of zerkers and saved his pack from an inglorious defeat (four rolls of six on two wound plus rending... messy). While I understand why some of my fellow wolves like to stick a special weapon with the Mark to maximise close combat attacks, I never do for fluff reasons. This guy turns into a raging killing machine who rips apart his foes with his bare hands. That meltagun you gave him is probably buried in some poor hostile's head, and not in any functioning state.

 

Who loses attacks for having a SW?

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Scouts and skyclaws give up their bolt pistols for special weapon, losing the additional attack for 2 ccw. Since MotW precludes the models from getting the 2ccw bonus anyway, some find it expedient to place both upgrades on the same model. Example:

Pack 1 3 scouts bp and ccw, 1 scout meltagun, 1 scout MotW = 9 attacks + MotW

Pack 2 4 scouts bp and ccw, 1 scout meltagun and MotW = 10 attack + MotW

 

While it seems to be better, the second option does mean you can lose both upgrades to a single lucky hit. But as I said before, I don't do it for fluff reasons.

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

I think there's a chance MW asked that question so that some unsuspecting blood claw would say this:

 

Scouts and skyclaws give up their bolt pistols for special weapon, losing the additional attack for 2 ccw

 

And then he'd get to whack them over the head with a big FAQ. And make them polish his armour for the rest of eternity (even while in battle).

 

Unfortunately, I did the whacking so it is my armour thou shalt polish, and my ale you will pour :rolleyes:

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Not so. The FAQ only modifies the last bullet point of the scout entry, which concerns the purchase of power weapons and plasma pistols. One must still lose a bolt pistol in order to take special weapons in one's wolf scout and skyclaw packs. So, whelp, where's my ale? :lol:

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

Not so. The FAQ only modifies the last bullet point of the scout entry, which concerns the purchase of power weapons and plasma pistols. One must still lose a bolt pistol in order to take special weapons in one's wolf scout and skyclaw packs.

 

:P ok... I never actually checked up on that. I just sort of figured they meant the special weapon and didn't check what was actually in the last bullet point.

 

So, whelp, where's my ale?

 

Sorry, ran out. I drank it all (hence my inability to read).

 

Better luck next time...