A good time to start Wolves?

[Sea-People]

Hi all! I'm trying to figure out if Wolves would be a good force for me to add to my collection.

 

I came into the hobby at the tail end of 7th with Codex Marines. I thought they were bland, so I switched to Deathwatch, which has been my primary army ever since. I've tried to start at least 5 different home brew chapters, but was never able to hold interest in any of them. It kind of just felt like I was collecting marines twice. Out of those, a Blood Angels successor was the one I was able to hold on to the longest at about 6 months, before I both got bored painting black twice and decided the playstyle was not quite what I wanted.

 

I'm being pulled towards starting wolves for a few reasons:

 

- I have an unbuilt shadowspear set that I now can't take with my Deathwatch :(

- The models look great (for the most part) and come with lots of bits that I can tack on to generic models.

- A more assault focused army seems sufficiently different from how the Watch play, although Wolves seem to be more flexible than blood angels, which is a good thing.

- There are lots of opportunities for simple freehand designs, which I love doing.

 

However...

- I think Wulfen are hideous, and they are one of the best units in the codex. I've tried to like the models but right now I just can't lol. If somebody can change my mind that would be awesome haha.

 

Other thoughts:

- Are homebrew great companies a thing? I have a neat idea for one, but i don't know if that is fluffy or not. I could just do a wolves successor, but I would like to include some Firstborn marines, and, to my understanding, all of the Wolves successors are 100% primaris.

 

- Not getting all of the new rules doesn't bother me too much, because eventually we will get something. Being unplayable, even in a LGS setting, however, does bother me. From an outsider's point of view Space wolves still have a lot of good tools and just got more, but maybe a more experienced Wolf lord has a better stance on this.

 

Soo... that's where I'm at. Maybe I'm over thinking it too much, but I'd like to see if this is an army I'm probably going to stick with for the long haul before dropping $$$ on a bunch of stuff I won't use in a year.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

[NightHowler]

If you like being the underdog (underwolf?), then there's no better time to start a Space Wolves army!  If you're easily discouraged by struggling to pull a win out even against opponents that you know you should be able to beat, then I would hold off (at least for a little while) as we are currently at the very bottom of the power scale for all the armies in 40k except perhaps Grey Knights.

 

If you're just getting into it for the modeling and painting part of it, then I can recommend no army over Space Wolves, because, I mean seriously, how can you possibly get any cooler than vikings in space who wear power armor, struggle against a barely contained inner beast, with wolves for pets?  You can't.  

 

However...

Wulfen are hideous.  They just are.  But they don't have to be.  Using the models we're given is a choice and converting the models we're given is an equally valid choice.  There are several great examples in the Fang of folks who have made the wulfen look totally awesome by using either legacy marine or primaris marine torso and legs with wulfen head and arms.  This takes wulfen from a great unit with disgusting model, to a great unit with a truly awesome model.

 

Homebrew great companies are totally a thing.  While the Space Wolves have never had a "true" successor chapter, they have in their lore something called a "lost company" that was likely specifically designed to allow us to all make our own Great Company.  The idea is that of the many Great Companies of the Space Wolves chapter, entire Great Companies are occasionally lost in the warp, or go on a great hunt and never return, and when this happens, their stone is pulled from the Grand Annulus and planted beside the Fang to honor the lost chapter.  The first to be lost was the 13th company, and there is a single black stone in the Grand Annulus to represent all the companies that have been lost in this way.

 

So if you're the kind of player who builds and paints with the primary purpose of playing (and winning) some games, you might hold off a little longer as the rules are always being updated (even if painfully slowly).  But if you play 40k for the lore and the building and painting of some awesome models, then I would strongly encourage you to pick up some Space Wolves.  I've loved my Space Wolves since day one and even though I struggle on the tabletop from time to time (depending on the edition), I am simply totally stoked by the lore and the look of the army.

 

Sincerely, a longtime loyal Space Wolf

[Sea-People]

@ NightHowler

 

Thanks for the reply! Clears up quite a bit.

 

I'm not terribly worried about power level, although being right next to Grey Knights is concerning. Call me crazy, but I think the new vanguard models and universal space marine rules are going to help out quite a bit.

 

It's definitely a balancing act between modeling and power level for me. If I don't like the models, I'm not going to paint it. But if they suck on the table... I'm probably also not that inspired to paint it lol. If I want competitive I have deathwatch soup I'm working on to do that haha!

 

I'm more than likely going to wait until I see the upcoming PDF before doing anything, but the call of the Rout is strong...