Why do you play the Wolves? And background check...

[Prot]

This is something that's been rolling around in my head for a while. We all have different reasons that make us play an army. For some it's just for the win potential, or perhaps appearance, or the background.

 

For me I've played this game a long time. I have played (in tournaments and events, not just 'casually') with:

- Black Templars (twice)

- White Scars (shorter run, less than one year)

- Ultramarines (4 times... yes 4 entirely different occasions dating back to 3rd edition, all well over 2500 points to 8K.)

- Crimson Fists (first tournament win in a GT)

 

And those are the big ones. You'll notice Wolves aren't up there (and I'll never play BA because a close friend has played them for 15+ years).

 

I played Wolves in 5th edition for a short time and sold them.  So this was supposed to be a foray into something I hadn't really done before. Unique units, a different colour to get the hang of, and a different playstyle.

 

I will say they play quite similar to a lot of my chaos stuff. The colour has been challenging (I've changed my recipe probably more than any other army I've painted).  But the background is something I have a love/hate relationship with.

 

- Many of the novels seem too.. .'memey'.  Some of the inner workings make me wonder how they can function, and sometimes the lore seems downright goofy. 

I had trouble getting through Hellwinter Gate. I love Chris Wraight (his Scars stuff is something else.) 

- Wolftime by Gav Thorpe (typically not a fan of this author) really was very interesting:

 

Light Spoiler alert ahead:

 

Spoiler

This is during Indomitus. Without spoiling anything it directly attacks the issue of Wolves being 'stuck' in  rut, and the whole debacle that ensues when you introduce Primaris, and a Primarch they don't particularly care for in the heart of Fenris. I highly recommend it.)

 

So as someone who reads/listens a lot to background books while I hobby it up, this is fairly important to me.

 

So I'd like to ask you, especially as a longer term player of Wolves, what brings you here? Why did you stay? 

 

And finally for entertaining background. What is the best novels to read?

 

 

[Karhedron]

I started playing Wolves back in about 1993 when they received their original 1st edition list in White Dwarf. It was the first time that a Chapter had really been described in this way with a deep dive into their culture and homeworld. It was that level of detail along with distinctive and detailed models and units that sucked me in pretty quickly.

 

This was reinforced in 2nd edition when Wolves were the first army to get their own codex. It didn't hurt that melee was pretty powerful in 2nd edition and Wolves were basically Marines+1 in close combat. Wolves have ebbed and flowed over the editions but I have always stuck with the sons of Fenris to some degree. Mechanised Wolves were pretty competitive in 5th edition. When 8th rolled around, my Wolves naturally received some Primaris reinforcements although they were not particularly good. Things got better in 9th with a fresh emphasis on melee and proper Doctrines and Chapter trait for Wolves.

 

I also really got into my love on converting. Wolves have a very distinct aesthetic so converting Primaris units to properly wolf them up has been really good fun. Even monopose models can be turned into something really distinctive with just a bit of effort. As for painting, my basic scheme hasn't really changed over the years. I use a basecoat of The Fang followed by drybrushed highlights of Space Wolf Grey and Corax White.

 

Check out my gallery for inspiration if you would like to see more. 

 

[Prot]

Very cool. I love what you did with Calgar too.

 

I remember when I did play them in 5th I was using third party TWC , and rhino's/razorbacks a lot.

 

I never really got into the background until recently. Like I said in my OP it is kind of all over the place from goofy, to really interesting deep dive stuff. (Still haven't read anything specific about the Russ and unfortunately he's hardly in the HH series. Although the Prospero burns books were quite good.)

Edited April 27, 2023 by Prot

[Wraithwing]

I got into 40K during second edition, around 1996. I started with (shock, horror) Dark Angels, but always loved the aesthetic of the Wolves. My favourite mini at the time being the Wolf Guard Terminator Sergeant. 

 

I tried my hand at painting the lovely baby blue colour of second edition, but back then, we had less 'out of the pot' colours, and a teenage me struggled to get the recipe right. I still have the metal squad of Long Fangs I tried to cut my fangs on. 

 

Then third edition came along, and I took my first proper dive into Wolves with the excellent battleforce box that got released with the new plastic upgrade sprue for the army. 

 

Since then, I've done about five different Space Wolves army, with my latest being Primaris only that I am currently working on. 

 

For me, in the grimdark setting of 40K, the Wolves have always stood out as true 'good guys' for me. Yes, they are savage and unrelenting, but they do it for the good of humanity, and the common man. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Wraithwing

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

I started 40k and wolves at the end of 5th (this worked out as a bunch of people were dumping their wolves armies so I was able to pick em up) and for me I loved their "F you I do what I want" attitude, while still working more for the common man than any other Marines (except Salamanders of course). I loved the individuality of the units and their own unique take on marine Warfare.

 

I miss when we were a midrange army. Decent shooting, closing into combat. Not a pure face punchy army but a shoot as you move up and clean up with melee.

 

For books, Battle of the Fang is the one IMHO.

[Bouargh]

I started with them when their first kits were released, at end of 1st, beginning of 2nd ed if I am correct. Mainly because the Terminators and Ulrick  were among the coolest minis at the time. It was also a complete army in something like 4 boxed sets and 3 characters. 

Then I kept on with them at Space Marine (Epic) and I felt in the trap of wishing getting a complete Grand Copmpany at 40k Scale, following cards from Epic. Well it turned out that I more or less completed this vow at end of the lock down.

 

Of course I have not been always faithful to them. going to BA sometimes, but painted in SW livery, to IF too, but painted in IF livery, or Vanilla, but, guess what, painted in SW livery.

Other infractions are trying to gather a Craftworld army, but I completetd only a couple of units, and more recently AdMech. But in the end, I always come back to the SpacePuppies....

 

Phasing out of Firstborn will eventualy break the cycle as I do not want/resist to recompose an army based on Primaris (even if vehicle rules for 10th make me wonder if Repulsors wouldn´t be at ease...).No. I have to be strong. Question of mental health and wallet sanity: I would probably try again to get a Great Company.... Afterall, my chaps are almost perfectly tooled for HH... may be it is the time to give a look at HH 2nd ed.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Bouargh
typos

[Valerian]

My friends and I started playing 40k in 1989 when we were all still in high school.  The absolute first armies that I played were Grey Knights and Harlequins, which I played by proxy for a few years, since I didn't have the proper models. I started collecting Space Wolves back when their first 'real' army list dropped in White Dwarf magazines 156-158 (Dec 92 - Feb 93), which was less than a year from the release of 2nd Edition. This army list coincided with the first unique models for the faction, and pretty much all were pewter. Even the basic troops (Blood Claws, Grey Hunters, etc.) were metal, with plastic arms, weapons, and backpacks.  As Karhedron said, they also got the very first codex ever, right at the beginning of 2nd edition, and it was a pretty decent army to run.  

 

So, I've been building my Space Wolves armies for just over 30 years now.  I can say armies, because I eventually replaced all of those original Rogue Trader era pewter models with plastics, when those kits started coming out starting in the 3rd edition era (through about the 5th).  With the release of the Primaris models in 8th edition, I started all over once again and built up my 3rd distinct collection of Blackmane's Great Company.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Valerian

[WrathOfTheLion]

I started with Space Wolves back in 7E, as the first army I did. I really liked the viking aesthetic, as I was studying Germanic languages at the time (Swedish, Old Norse and Old English), and I've always liked how that looked.

 

I wasn't too interested in bringing the Wolves into the Primaris era, but I've been really into doing a Wolfspear force for a while, which I've finally got around to starting recently. If they update Haraldr Deathwolf, I may just have to do some Deathwolves that I've always wanted to do.

Edited April 28, 2023 by WrathOfTheLion

[DanPesci]

Id had a metal ragnar as a kid along with a few guard and DA models, but only properly started playing them in 5th in uni, after picking up an army 2nd hand on ebay. I wasnt 100% sold on the viking/wolf fluff, but id always liked the models when younger, and what I did really like was that their codex played quite differently to other chapters (it may have also helped slightly that they were FAIRLY decent on the tabletop in 5th )

 

Being non-codex compliant and having the great companies (with missing/non-fleshed out ones), meant it gave a lot of scope for building my own background. Coupled with things like the progression of bloodclaws to grey hunters to wolf guard/lone wolves,  and WG into normal squads (and the much missed elite scouts) they felt like something a bit different.

 

15 years (ish?) later, I've repainted the whole army 3 times, and last year truescaled all the old 5th list using primaris sizes.

- The initial army was very 40k baby blue/grey

- then burning of Prospero came out and I repainted in the darker 30k style and made everything mk3.

- Then primaris all dropped, and after resisting for a couple of years, ended up converting the whole 5th edition list into 'truescale' grey hunters/terminators.

 

Fluff wise in my head they've changed along with the models, these days I see my 'company' sits somewhere between the idea of the 13th lost company and the charcaradons, operating fleet based outside the SW main chapter, and having a lot of old gear (mainly because these days I much prefer the heresy colour scheme and mk3 is still the best haha)....I also play admech who I tie in with this...one day ill actually bother writing up some fluff!

 

TLDR: Im sure most people will say this of their chosen chapter, but for me wolves have enough different options and changes in tone in their history to do some really cool stuff with. Which I think has is what has kept me always coming back as I've been able to change them up when my own tastes etc have changed.

 

Three images below, one from 2014, then 2018, then a couple from earlier this year (the poor vindi/razorbacks are on their third coat of paint haha)

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by DanPesci
spelling

[Prot]

I find it interesting most of you have been Wolves players fir a long time. 
 

valerian where did you get those wolves bits for the Blade guard? I want to do something similar so the don’t look so standard. My only concern is I play in GW stores a lot and don’t want to have an issue with third party bits. But they look great the squad is 

really striking. 

As I’ve mentioned I can’t stand painting first born anymore so I’m shooting for a mostly Primaris Wolves army. 
 

speaking of which I finally finished Dawn of Fire which liked better than Hellwinter gate. And it had a lot to do with Primaris but I couldn’t believe how belligerent Logan come off as. 
 

still looking for some newer reads for the Wolves. 

 

 

[Valerian]

2 hours ago, Prot said:

 

valerian where did you get those wolves bits for the Blade guard? I want to do something similar so the don’t look so standard. My only concern is I play in GW stores a lot and don’t want to have an issue with third party bits. But they look great the squad is 

really striking. 

 

 

Okay, @Prot let me think. 

 

The Banner on the Ancient came from a Sons of Horus Legion Command set from Forgeworld. 

 

The Shields came from Forgeworld's Grey Slayers Upgrade Pack 1.

 

The Backpacks are all from the Primaris Ragnar Blackmane, but you could use the one that comes in the Space Wolves Upgrade Pack instead.  

 

The Sword Blades were literally made just by trimming down pieces of plastic sprue to get the right look for chipped ice, and attaching those blades to the Sword Hilts that came with the base Bladeguard models.

 

The heads are the only real 3rd party bits, and those came from Liber Daemonica's Skald Helmet Set.

 

 

Here are the rest of my Primaris Space Wolves if you want to scan through the pics and see if there are other units that strike your fancy.  And just for the record, I didn't paint any of these; I paid Vasiliy Shipolov to paint them for me, since he's incredible, and I have way more money than I have talent.

 

[SvenIronhand]

Though I play a successor chapter, the Wolves and the new children of their lineage appeal to me for several reasons:
 

• The melee focus.
• The Character-oriented way the army plays with mechanics like Sagas.
• The "barbarian" flair to their lore.

Spoiler

 

[Wolf Guard Dan]

I started my wolves collection at the end of 3rd/early 4th then took a long hiatus until 5th edition. When I came back to the game the 5th edition wolves book was being published so naturally I continued where I left off. I played them because of their models and they were good guys who didn’t follow the “authority” of the imperium when it was not a moral thing to do. My favorite space wolves books is The Emperor’s Gift by ADB. Excellent book albeit narrated through a Grey Knight’s point of view. Hyperion would have made an excellent space wolf had he the luck to be born on Fenris. 

[Beef]

I started my Space wolves collection when 2nd edition came out.  I didnt play 40K ( the first game i played was space hulk) I was not into warhammer 40K but i did know about warhammer fantasy.  I was at a local model aeroplane shop and i say the Ragnar blackmane model and Ulrik the slayer model and i fell in love.  I then started actually playing 40K around 3rd edition when my brother returned back to the UK after studying in America.  He knew the rules for all the models we used to collect but never played with.  I played until 5th edition and then stopped until 9th when i saw the new Primaris range and started up again.  

[Wispy]

I've always been obsessed with norse mythology and loved the savage dressing on top of the Space Marine aestetic. I was introduced to Warhammer & Space Marines when i joined the dev team for Dawn of War 2. Tons of people were playing the game at work and i decided to get on it.  I was leaning Blood Ravens but when i heard there were Space Marines with Norse mythology flair i swerved hard into that direction.

[Starlight_Wolf]

I started late in 5th ed (Back end of 2011) after being given Metal Njal as a Christmas present and a Grey Hunter pack box as a thing to keep me occupied when I was having a down time in life. The models captured my imagination and on reading the codex and playing a few games I was hooked. I think something of the combination of Vikings meet armoured Germanic barbarians really connected with me.

 

I did slowly come round to the play style of aggressively advance and hold the mid field (still my play style to this day :) ) and loved how the wolves worked either independently or in more wolf pack tactics (Massed fire power with a couple of Outflanking wolf scout packs in the rear for one was my favoured trick).

 

More recently and having read more of the fluff (love Battle of the Fang), I've even gone so far as to create some loose back story as part of a slow grow campaign years ago for my Great Company and have tried to make other armies work as a second (Tau, Grey Knights/Inquisition, Imperial Guard, Tau again, and most recently Tyranids), but none quite captured the nature that the wolves play in my head.

 

Not going to lie Primaris slightly shook how my army works on the table and in my head, but they've since just formed another dimension to the fiercely cunning space armoured vikings operate and I think besides the Salamanders, being the most caring towards normal humans (First War of Armageddon/Cold War with the Inquisition as a solid example) firmed up my choice as the one I've stuck with for 12 years and going now :)

[Guest Triszin]

Dogs.

[Marshall Bretton]

Never shared this story here but it's quite a cool saga so here goes.

 

I started collecting wolves casually around 5th but wasn't really gaming at the time and only really focussed on models. I painted some wolves because I loved the Nordic theme and am a fan of that mythology, plus wanted something different from normal power armour and thought the wolves offered a really interesting conversion opportunity. Built up a fairly small collection, basically a few hunters, some terminators and Logan grimnar.

 

A few years later my best mate got engaged. He couldn't decide between me and another of our mates as to who would be his best man so he came up with the idea of going to Warhammer world and having a game to decide the matter. Knowing our other mate played smurfs I put alot of thought into who I wanted to play. I decided on my wolves as they were different and I had painted some recently. Rapidly painted up enough models to get a viable army in time for the game.

 

The match was a bloodbath and I think there were about 6 models left at the end. I went full wolf with Logan grimnar, arjac, some terminators and a long fang pack deep striking mid field (back when terms could use drop pods and grimnar could give a unit relentless so the longfangs could fire the turn they arrived). I had a wgbl and some thundercav outflank and a few grey hunters slowly slog their way up the field. The objective was to capture an item at the centre of the table, whoever had it at the end of the game won. What we weren't told was that as soon as someone grabbed the objective, a dreadknight and some GK terminators would appear to try and capture it as well just to keep things interesting so that hurt, basically lost all my terms and arjac to that scrap. We finished turn 6 with Logan grimnar holding the ring and tanking the last few bolter shots from the surviving few tactical marines to claim victory.

 

So the wolves are why I was best man at my mates wedding and will always have a very special place in my collection as a result. I still have every model from that match and they all have a small gold ring on their shoulder guards as an honour mark of the game.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Gaius Maximus

[ChronoCub]

Loyal wolves player since 3rd.

 

Started with wolves because thats the armour colours the older boy down the road collected & he was a few years older and as a kid i idolised him.

 

I stayed for the lore & i LOVED the dice rolls of a fully pimped blood claws charge.... 15 models inc 3 power weapons (1 per 5 models) ... 4 attacks each.

Also og wolf scouts with meltabombs turning up on their side blowing things up.

Which lead me to paint up as Morkai's company.

[Verevolf]

Chose Space Wolves as my faction in 1992, my first minis I painted were space marines, and I liked the old Grey scheme. 

 

Played them till 3rd ed, then had a family and got back into 40k in 2020. 

 

Probably 60% of my army is 2nd ed.

 

I always go against the norm so my army were never Ragnar’s Great company, but initially Logan Grimnars, then repainted to Drake Slayers.

 

 

[Brother Olaf]

For me, it was from the first articles in White Dwarf back in the days of Rogue Trader. They totally sucked me into to the look, the feel and the very essence of Fenris. The first Codex came not long after and that was it. I was hooked.

[Valerian]

39 minutes ago, Brother Olaf said:

For me, it was from the first articles in White Dwarf back in the days of Rogue Trader. They totally sucked me into to the look, the feel and the very essence of Fenris. The first Codex came not long after and that was it. I was hooked.

White Dwarf #156-158. 

[Dark Shepherd]

I play Wolves because they had bigger company/platoon sizes in Space Marine back in the day :)

[sbarnby71]

Can't remember the year, but I bought a Paint set that contained the "Space Marine Painting Guide" and this page got me started:

It's funny the bit where it states they "take great pride in following the Index Astartes almost to the letter"!

Edited June 26, 2023 by sbarnby71

[TheNicronomicon]

First edition I'm trying 40K, so naturally I picked the Wolves. Partly the theme--i like dogs and wolves, I love werewolves, and I like both vikings and space vikings, and also doom metal. Also the color yellow! Most of the other Space Marine legions don't do anything for me, but I like the pelts-over-power-armor, rune magic, in-your-face assault aesthetic of the Wolves. I expect to build & paint more than play, and I don't really GAF about metas or playing to win 3000 point tourneys or anything. I just want a cool-looking chapter of techno-barbarian einherjar with which to purge the daemon & the disloyal.