Why are SW so popular?

[CaptainStabby]

First codex ever released, way more interesting than the UM/Standard Codex back in the day. Ultramarines weren't as well developed as far as the Greek/Roman theme back then, they were very generic different colored marines.

[Karack Blackstone]

I believe that massive comment was originally typed by Valerian; I might be wrong, however.

In three words, the Space Wolves are popular because, "Space Viking Wolf."

That's it. Oh, you wanted details? Okay!

 

The Emperor needed warriors able to do his dirty work, to cull any and all of their fellow Astartes that might stray from the Emperor's plan, or, light, as the big =I= in setting calls their, I mean, his, plan. Anyway, the Space Viking Wolves, or, the pack of Loyal to the People, not the State, Imperial Nutjob Warbringers of Humanity, run amok across the stars, bringing beatings, badassery, and asskickery to any and all who threaten the People of Mankind, no matter the origin of the threat. This includes Mankind's supposed protectors.

 

During the course of culling their fellow Astartes, the leader, The Man of The People, or, not translated, Leman Russ, reforged his Legion into the self-controlled, self-thinking and self-defining badasses that they are, the Wolves of the 40K era. There's every reason that the Wolf that does not think for itself is not a part of the pack; it took some effort for the Pack to figure out it needed to form up and stand on its two legs and four paws each, before they as a force could become the living weapons and sworn defenders they needed to be.

 

As far as the more recent non-Wolves centered fluff, well...

 

Some of the more recent fluff in other forces' books might be showing the Wolves badly, as in, given the chance they will butcher their sworn charges, said People, on a mere whim. I call :cuss simply because, that's not how a sworn defender works. Bad writing by writers is one thing; the army not acting according to character is bad writing.

 

I guess, there's a very simple phrase, after typing all that, that sums it up nicely.

 

The Wolves care. About? Well, yes, in a way. The Wolves care about the common people; they care that people are honest, forthright, upstanding, honorable, and keep their word.

 

I am drawn to the Wolves because they only know one thing: do right by another and they shall attempt to return the favor, should you or another need it. The problem is, as I have attempted to recently tell one I am debating calling a friend, just because one can write a thing and call it truth will not alone make said thing true. If the non-Wolves centered writing is not portraying the Wolves as who they are as a faction, I have the right to point and tell GW they're doing it wrong. I don't have to like someone else telling me the fluff is inviolate, just because some licensed writer put some, "prose," to paper and called it gold, if it stinks to high Heaven!

 

Anyway, I love Vikings as a people's concept, I love Wolves as a fierce and independent animal, and I love the concept of a Space-faring, Viking Wolf cultural hybrid that loves everything they do as if every passing moment could be their last. A combined love and lust for life is very interesting, as, in a setting as lethal to even Astartes as the WH40K one is, why should I not find the thought of reveling in life itself for the brief flame of one's existence in an apparently uncaring, selfish, laughing gods Universe the best fun right back in said gods' faces?

 

The Wolves LIVE their lives. They do not try to contemplate existence past what they need. Can they? Sure; and if they do it at the wrong time, they die. The Wolves know one thing: war within, war without, war unending. War is the fight to survive; war is why societies band together, for mutual protection.

 

The Wolves...

 

Are.

 

... Wolves.

 

As much as I hate to type that, the Wolves are the Wolf in human form, with a Viking veneer. I think more Viking presentation with a Wolf wearing said veneer could go a VERY long way, in the fluff. However, GW is so convinced it can do no wrong that they write Space Wolves not being Wolves, but selfish glory hogs with no concept of honor and uphold one's oaths that it just rubs me the wrong way. I can point and call foul; others can say I am wrong. Until one finds the inner Wolf in life, don't try to tell me I'm :cuss'ing up mine without knowing how I'm thinking, and hunting every moment of every day, for the better and hopefully one day, best me, I can be.

 

Vlka!

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

 

 

Who’s your favourite X-men?

 

Wolverine!

 

Of course.

 

Similar feel to why I think Space Wolves are popular.

OMG No :P

 

I have always had a love of Norse Mythology, but for many years I hated the Wolves due to the special treatment they got by GW and their codex in 2nd was pure filth.

 

But over the years I mellowed out... It was Jarl Kjaran Coldheart that finally convinced me.

 

So here I am.

Please dont blame me for this ;)

[Kassill]

It's all about what flavor of marine you want. There are many factors to this, lore, models, and tabletop rules to name the key three. For many of us, it was the Wolves above all else that scored perfect on all three. Their lore is always intriguing and unique, their models are quite good while also being great bases for conversions galore, and they have almost always been a force to be reasoned with on the table. 

I have collected and played vanilla marines, chaos marines, orks and IG, but the Wolves have been my longest running army. I feel an attachment to them more than any of the previous factions, and will continue to play them. 

Armies come and go in popularity but most SW players are here for the long run. 

[GrFlur]

Because ...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0U84ZbNgcw

[Jackalwolf]

Realistically there's only two possible answers to the question of which paragon of a space marine chapter you'd like to go out and have a beer with, and I'd rather risk an axe on my head than something up my bum.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

They're heroes that line up more with our values. When you look at a lot of the marine fluff, alot of them a pretty bad people. That and they have other aspects to their lore besides fighting, I mean storytelling and drinking are way more relatable then just sitting around praying to your gun and training lol. 

[Fytharin]

When I was ready to start my army, I had a bunch of boxes of orks already in hand, turned a corner to go pay and saw the Thunderwolf Cav box. "They're vikings riding wolves?" -immediately put orks back and bought all of the space wolves I could- Vikings and wolves is my answer.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

On topic, I actually picked the Wolves back in the day day (2000-2001?) because of the 3rd Edition pamphlets cover...

 

I mostly played Warhammer Fantasy and had a massive Middenheim army. My group wanted to try out 40k and I was like "Vikings in space!! I'm in"

 

I didn't know the lore, the rules, or what a Chapter was.

 

I did see a lone warrior, surrounded and outnumbered, looking as if he was about to snap the world in half.

 

And I was hooked

[HvitrValdyr]

I was introduced to Space Marines in a game called Space Crusade. The 3 marine teams there came in blue, yellow and red plastic for Ultramarines, Blood Angels and Imperial Fists. When a friend of mine told me there was a bigger universe that these Space Marines came from and that there were some called Space Wolves I knew I had to know more. I have always loved wolves and so anything associated with them piqued my interest. He lent me his Space Wolf Codex (2nd edition) and as soon as I was done reading it I borrowed his Space Wolves Grey paint and painted my yellow plastic Imperial Fists from Space Crusade as Space Wolves instead. I've been on this road ever since. All of the reasons given above are true.

[Wraithwing]

 

 

They are super-human, but keep more humanity than their brothers. I think they are typical example of "good guys".

as much as a good guy can be in 40K anyway. i still say the reason i chose 40K was also because they were the closest things to good guys in the setting.

 

Notwithstanding the Months of Shame or the Wrath of Magnus events which nearly put the Wolves down to the Dark Angels level in backstabbing allies (albeit thanks to Changeling trickery) and slaughter of civilians (after the events of Magnus, which thousands of fenrisians were purged by the Inquisition with the Wolves having no more strength to prevent it).

 

Maybe I should say, they are one of the least likely to screw you over as allies, even if you are a mortal .

The Months of Shame don’t count, as it was the inquisition and the grey knights that shot first. The Wolves we’re trying to protect the imperial guardsmen that had fought at Armageddon.

 

The events of the Wrath of Magnus were so catastrophic that Grimnar had no choice but to purge some of the populace. And that wasn’t to hide the existence of chaos, but to remove the portions of the populace had been corrupted.

 

In short, the Wolves are the closest things to honest to goodness good guys in the setting (salamanders not withstanding), and that makes them awesome.

[Kasper_Hawser]

 

 

They are super-human, but keep more humanity than their brothers. I think they are typical example of "good guys".

as much as a good guy can be in 40K anyway. i still say the reason i chose 40K was also because they were the closest things to good guys in the setting.

 

Notwithstanding the Months of Shame or the Wrath of Magnus events which nearly put the Wolves down to the Dark Angels level in backstabbing allies (albeit thanks to Changeling trickery) and slaughter of civilians (after the events of Magnus, which thousands of fenrisians were purged by the Inquisition with the Wolves having no more strength to prevent it).

 

Maybe I should say, they are one of the least likely to screw you over as allies, even if you are a mortal .

The Months of Shame don’t count, as it was the inquisition and the grey knights that shot first. The Wolves we’re trying to protect the imperial guardsmen that had fought at Armageddon.

 

The events of the Wrath of Magnus were so catastrophic that Grimnar had no choice but to purge some of the populace. And that wasn’t to hide the existence of chaos, but to remove the portions of the populace had been corrupted.

 

In short, the Wolves are the closest things to honest to goodness good guys in the setting (salamanders not withstanding), and that makes them awesome.

 

 

To me, the Wolves are as much to blame for the Months of Shame in spite of tenuously holding the moral high ground. Hyperion the Grey Knight pretty much summed it up in the end as he and Grimnar fought each other while each raged at the other one being at fault:

 

"We are both guilty".

 

In the end, both these events showed the flaws of the 40K Wolves more so than other events in their history. So why do we still like them? BECAUSE THEY ARE FLAWED! And they know it, they try to correct it even if they fail. Ragnar is one of the best example of being born with stubborn pride before finally throwing it away for the sake of the Imperium.

 

I'm referring to that one time he killed a DA champion in anger, regretted it for the next 30 years, and when he defeated a DA captain again, despite the DA refusing to yield, he basically stared down the DA Captain to surrender for the sake of fighting on Cadia and the DA Captain was convinced to stand down. A Space Wolf not only NOT killing his opponent in anger, but at the same time convincing him not to continue the stupid duel while Cadia burns?

 

Oh yeah. thank you ADB for a splendid book. I just hope ADB don't write him too much of Ragnar, as I noticed that ADB has a tendency to do a GRR Martin on his characters after 4 books or so. Sigh, RIP Argel Tal.

 

 

So yes, the flaws of the Wolves also factor in why there are so many fans. 

[b1soul]

I would love to see a DA smash a SW in the ritual duel...but that is neither here nor there

Someone mentioned the humanitarian aspect of the 40K SW chapter (e.g. protecting guardsmen and civilians from the Inquisition). Yes, I also think that adds to their appeal and complexity.

[Kasper_Hawser]

I would love to see a DA smash a SW in the ritual duel...but that is neither here nor there

 

Someone mentioned the humanitarian aspect of the 40K SW chapter (e.g. protecting guardsmen and civilians from the Inquisition). Yes, I also think that adds to their appeal and complexity.

 

Regarding spoiler, it may not have happened "live" in novel yet, but in the Great Wolf Primarch novel Leman russ...

 

The Dark Angel at the end of the novel claimed to have beated the Wolves 3 times before the current duel. It is left ambiguous who won in the end though with the current wolf character.

 

[Leif Bearclaw]

 

 

To me, the Wolves are as much to blame for the Months of Shame in spite of tenuously holding the moral high ground. Hyperion the Grey Knight pretty much summed it up in the end as he and Grimnar fought each other while each raged at the other one being at fault:

 

"We are both guilty".

 

In the end, both these events showed the flaws of the 40K Wolves more so than other events in their history. So why do we still like them? BECAUSE THEY ARE FLAWED! And they know it, they try to correct it even if they fail. Ragnar is one of the best example of being born with stubborn pride before finally throwing it away for the sake of the Imperium.

 

 

See, I'd really disagree there. Ultimately the GKs have to shoulder a far larger share of the blame than the Wolves (Ignoring for a moment the entire retcon around the aftermath of 1st Armageddon is stupid imo). They followed bad orders from the Inquisitor, knowing they were bad orders. The GK Grandmaster didn't need to take the blame for firing on Grimnar under a flag of truce, or fire in the first place (the event which really kicked the dispute into a full shooting war) when the boss Inquisitor was the driving force. The GKs, precious Daemon hunting specialists, got themselves sucked into an Inquisitor's personal vendetta, suffering comparable losses to those taken at Armageddon itself (if not more), trying to enforce an overly draconian and grimderp decree, for the sake of one Inquisitor's pride. The only 'error' committed by the Wolves was taking a stand, which imo they were right to do. Once the Inquisitor betrayed the flag of truce, I honestly don't think any other First Founding Chapter (and many of the subsequent Foundings) would have acted any differently from Grimnar.

 

Hyperion arguably needs 'both sides to be guilty', otherwise he'd have to confront the idea of him being the villain. He had the power to end the war, he knew of the divide in the Inquisition, he saw that the boss Inquisitor was only ever going to escalate, and had given the Wolves no room to back down. He could've ended it, let the moderates take over and de-escalate. But instead he 'only followed orders', ultimately just an Inquisition stooge. Yeah, I didn't like Hyperion much by the end of TEG .

 

Wrath of Magnus? Eh, that's more character assassination than 'flaw' imo. But then that entire Warzone story is terrible on pretty much every level imo.

[Pavement Artist]

In my experience, with people's favourite chapters are like football teams in a way. Space wolf fans tend to be the most vocal and enthusiastic.

 

It's generally a positive thing for the hobby but as a flip side to this, i have noticed that Space wolf players tend to buy into EVERY aspect of their lore utterly, even when there are areas designed to display hypocrisy (That being 40k you know)

[Kasper_Hawser]

 

See, I'd really disagree there. Ultimately the GKs have to shoulder a far larger share of the blame than the Wolves (Ignoring for a moment the entire retcon around the aftermath of 1st Armageddon is stupid imo). They followed bad orders from the Inquisitor, knowing they were bad orders. The GK Grandmaster didn't need to take the blame for firing on Grimnar under a flag of truce, or fire in the first place (the event which really kicked the dispute into a full shooting war) when the boss Inquisitor was the driving force. The GKs, precious Daemon hunting specialists, got themselves sucked into an Inquisitor's personal vendetta, suffering comparable losses to those taken at Armageddon itself (if not more), trying to enforce an overly draconian and grimderp decree, for the sake of one Inquisitor's pride. The only 'error' committed by the Wolves was taking a stand, which imo they were right to do. Once the Inquisitor betrayed the flag of truce, I honestly don't think any other First Founding Chapter (and many of the subsequent Foundings) would have acted any differently from Grimnar.

 

 

Hyperion arguably needs 'both sides to be guilty', otherwise he'd have to confront the idea of him being the villain. He had the power to end the war, he knew of the divide in the Inquisition, he saw that the boss Inquisitor was only ever going to escalate, and had given the Wolves no room to back down. He could've ended it, let the moderates take over and de-escalate. But instead he 'only followed orders', ultimately just an Inquisition stooge. Yeah, I didn't like Hyperion much by the end of TEG .

 

Wrath of Magnus? Eh, that's more character assassination than 'flaw' imo. But then that entire Warzone story is terrible on pretty much every level imo.

 

 

Well I see your point and in my opinion, you are not completely wrong. We'll have to agree to disagree on how much of the blame game rests on the Inquisition, the GK and the Wolves. But in the end, it's par for the course in Warhammer 40K for this type of misunderstanding to flair up to unholy proportions, to the point that the Fang gets damaged far worse than when Magnus invaded. 

 

In any case, back to OP, regardless of the flaws, the Wolves still come out as connectable, even likeable. 

 

 

In my experience, with people's favourite chapters are like football teams in a way. Space wolf fans tend to be the most vocal and enthusiastic.

 

It's generally a positive thing for the hobby but as a flip side to this, i have noticed that Space wolf players tend to buy into EVERY aspect of their lore utterly, even when there are areas designed to display hypocrisy (That being 40k you know)

 

If you know 40K though, you should know that every chapter and faction has its hypocrisy sooner or later, and that nobody is noble bright, although the Wolves at one point came close to it before Curse of Wulfen and Wrath of Magnus mucked up the whole good guy image. But yes, fans tend to be blind to the flaws of their favorite teams. I just hope space wolves fans don't come out as crazy English/French/Spanish football hooligans who riot when their team loses. (not that they all do, no offence to football fans out there).

 

By the way, to American readers, when I say football, I mean soccer, which is the real football in my side of the world. Though the current context can also be applied to fans of American football or Aussie Footie.

[Waldwolf]

In my experience, with people's favourite chapters are like football teams in a way. Space wolf fans tend to be the most vocal and enthusiastic.

 

 

 

 

 

You forgot to mention good looking

[Pavement Artist]

 

 

 

 

In my experience, with people's favourite chapters are like football teams in a way. Space wolf fans tend to be the most vocal and enthusiastic.

 

It's generally a positive thing for the hobby but as a flip side to this, i have noticed that Space wolf players tend to buy into EVERY aspect of their lore utterly, even when there are areas designed to display hypocrisy (That being 40k you know)

 

 

If you know 40K though, you should know that every chapter and faction has its hypocrisy sooner or later, and that nobody is noble bright, although the Wolves at one point came close to it before Curse of Wulfen and Wrath of Magnus mucked up the whole good guy image. But yes, fans tend to be blind to the flaws of their favorite teams. I just hope space wolves fans don't come out as crazy English/French/Spanish football hooligans who riot when their team loses. (not that they all do, no offence to football fans out there).

 

 

Agreed. My point was that every faction has an air of hypocrisy, just that in my experience, some space wolf players have railed against this as a sign of weakness as opposed to accepting it as part and parcel of the background.

[Guest Triszin]

edit:

 

[NightHowler]

edit:

 

Blackmanes Bloodclaw sighted!

[b1soul]

Are any of you guys experts on historical Vikings?

 

Do the SW stray from historical Vikings in any significant ways?

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

Are any of you guys experts on historical Vikings?

 

Do the SW stray from historical Vikings in any significant ways?

I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I try to be well read.

 

One of the biggest difference I've found is that the Vikings are located only on Earth, where as the Wolves can be found galaxy wide.

[NightHowler]

 

Are any of you guys experts on historical Vikings?

Do the SW stray from historical Vikings in any significant ways?

I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I try to be well read.

One of the biggest difference I've found is that the Vikings are located only on Earth, where as the Wolves can be found galaxy wide.

Power armor? I don't think Vikings had power armor.

[PeteySödes]

Are any of you guys experts on historical Vikings?

 

Do the SW stray from historical Vikings in any significant ways?

 

Not an expert but its definitely a thing I'm passionate about. I think one of the cool things is that theres a TON from norse mythology that echoes in the lore but a lot of the differences are the same as what you see in oral tradition.

 

It's totally plausible lore wise that the first humans on Fenris were modern Viking enthusiasts then passed it all down generation to generation eventually substituting some of the characters for ones that (semi) squared with the imperial truth.

 

I think they are almost more similar than a lot of people give credit. For example Fenris is an insanely harsh deathworld where livable land is at a premium and ever shifting. Both Fenrisians and historical vikings main motivations for warring was arguably land. Now thats not necessarily a SW thing since it would be pre-induction but I think it still shapes their world.