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Space Wolf Legion organization and markings.


Xwingt65

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The Collected Visions art books had 'Hunter squads' and 'Fenris Bloods', which sound fairly similar. 'Stalker squads' are also mentioned. There were no Long Fangs, at least by that name, but there were heavy weapon troops and squads with special weapons: there's art of squads with flamers and rotor cannons. I think there might have been a picture or two labelled 'varangei', which is a term Chris Wraight uses for wolf guard in his (40k) SW books.

 

It's not clear how much of this FW will actually hold on to when they put out the Prospero book but it's food for thought. Prospero Burns and Wolf King have no explicit mentions of specific squad types, though the latter does have special Runeguard (twins in bone coloured power armour) to protect the high rune priest.

 

It would also be worth looking at Howl of the Hearthworld, ADB's short story, as it covers legion organisation and shows how the wolves, accurately or inaccurately, match their units up with more standard legion designations. It's tricky to unpick but there was a thread on it in the SW forum if you search.

 

EDIT: All of that is around the time of Prospero, obviously. Pre-reunification with Russ they presumably would have followed the same Terran model as the other legions. Not for long though, he was one of the first found.

According to forever lore, the Space Wolves Legion originially had 13 Great Companies. How much of that will survive BL/FW treatment remains to be seen.

 

There is an argument for the Legion using the same unit types as the later Chapter still does, since they did not reorganise during the Second Founding. On the other hand, there was some veeery old lore during 1st Edition that stated that the Legion did briefly reorganize according to Codex guidelines, but then were changed again based on Russ' preferences. So perhaps the current unit types are actually wolfified versions of the standard Codex units, and not the very same units the original Legion had been using.

 

"Like the other Chapters the Space Wolves were reorganised after the Horus Heresy according to the Codex Astartes. However, their Primarch, the famous Leman Russ, was never conventional and the Chapter soon adapted to suit its leader's fierce warrior mentality."

- 1991 (during 1st Edition) 'Armies of the Imperium' (Space Marine 'Epic' source book), p. 11

 

That was from three years before the Space Wolves got their own Codex and "current" form in 2nd Edition, however, they had already been given their trademark characteristics in the 'Armies of the Imperium' book, i.e. twelve Great Companies, Grey Hunters, Blood CLaws, Long Fangs, Wolf Guard, the Fang, etc.

 

Edit: So it would actually be allright if BL or FW came up with different unit types for the original Legion. Other than with Ultramarines, where one would have realistically expected them to use the same unit types as the later Chapter...

Russ led the legion with an iron hand, most legion markings were destroyed with the introduction if Russ' new legion symbols and signs. This is one of the earliest that was found in the Fang, and soon spread to most legion ships.

 

http://i.imgur.com/hmM3wilm.jpg

Self-quote, because finding the post was quicker than finding the original reference.

 

On pg 160 of the Visions of Heresy, it says the Fenrisians "were organized into their own distinct squads, known as Fenris Bloods and Fenris Hunters," although "they also led some squads of Terran Space Wolves (the Hunter, Claw and Long Fang squads). The officer corps and the elite Wolf Guard were drawn from the ranks of both Terrans and Fenrisians."

 

The only other squad type were the Wulfen Packs, unique to the 13th Great Company, which included Terrans and Fenrisians alike, with no mention on whether one was more prone than the other or not.

 

How close or how far FW will take the Legion from Visions, we don't know yet. But, it's an additional reference for anyone curious.

Please explain that distinction. Do you mean that the VI Legion has only one copy of certain units that no other legion gets?

I can't remember exactly, and it must be buried in the HH weekender thread, but I got the impression the Wolves would pretty much replace some standard legion units with their own.

According to forever lore, the Space Wolves Legion originially had 13 Great Companies. How much of that will survive BL/FW treatment remains to be seen.

 

There is an argument for the Legion using the same unit types as the later Chapter still does, since they did not reorganise during the Second Founding. On the other hand, there was some veeery old lore during 1st Edition that stated that the Legion did briefly reorganize according to Codex guidelines, but then were changed again based on Russ' preferences. So perhaps the current unit types are actually wolfified versions of the standard Codex units, and not the very same units the original Legion had been using.

 

"Like the other Chapters the Space Wolves were reorganised after the Horus Heresy according to the Codex Astartes. However, their Primarch, the famous Leman Russ, was never conventional and the Chapter soon adapted to suit its leader's fierce warrior mentality."

- 1991 (during 1st Edition) 'Armies of the Imperium' (Space Marine 'Epic' source book), p. 11

 

That was from three years before the Space Wolves got their own Codex and "current" form in 2nd Edition, however, they had already been given their trademark characteristics in the 'Armies of the Imperium' book, i.e. twelve Great Companies, Grey Hunters, Blood CLaws, Long Fangs, Wolf Guard, the Fang, etc.

 

Edit: So it would actually be allright if BL or FW came up with different unit types for the original Legion. Other than with Ultramarines, where one would have realistically expected them to use the same unit types as the later Chapter...

the each great company should have like 10000 astartes?

 

According to forever lore, the Space Wolves Legion originially had 13 Great Companies. How much of that will survive BL/FW treatment remains to be seen.

 

There is an argument for the Legion using the same unit types as the later Chapter still does, since they did not reorganise during the Second Founding. On the other hand, there was some veeery old lore during 1st Edition that stated that the Legion did briefly reorganize according to Codex guidelines, but then were changed again based on Russ' preferences. So perhaps the current unit types are actually wolfified versions of the standard Codex units, and not the very same units the original Legion had been using.

 

 

"Like the other Chapters the Space Wolves were reorganised after the Horus Heresy according to the Codex Astartes. However, their Primarch, the famous Leman Russ, was never conventional and the Chapter soon adapted to suit its leader's fierce warrior mentality."

- 1991 (during 1st Edition) 'Armies of the Imperium' (Space Marine 'Epic' source book), p. 11

 

That was from three years before the Space Wolves got their own Codex and "current" form in 2nd Edition, however, they had already been given their trademark characteristics in the 'Armies of the Imperium' book, i.e. twelve Great Companies, Grey Hunters, Blood CLaws, Long Fangs, Wolf Guard, the Fang, etc.

 

Edit: So it would actually be allright if BL or FW came up with different unit types for the original Legion. Other than with Ultramarines, where one would have realistically expected them to use the same unit types as the later Chapter...

the each great company should have like 10000 astartes?

Yes.

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