Space Wolves (Warhammer 40,000)

The Space Wolves are an army that feature in Warhammer 40,000.

History

The Space Wolves.

The Space Wolves were a legion of the Adeptus Astartes that were created by the Imperium of Man.

Overview

Viewed by some as wild, even barbaric, the Space Wolves are nonetheless a proud brethren, as noble as they are fierce. Those who dare to oppose them quickly feel the fangs of the wolf around their throats, for the Sons of Russ are dedicated to the hunt.

Ranks within the Space Wolves included:

• Iron Priests : the Iron Priest marshals and directs the power of the Fang’s war machines into something far more impressive than the sum of its parts. Claiming absolute dominion over the tank, the fortress and the gunship, this priest of the machine coaxes maximum yields from the gun-spirits of heavy weapons and brings dying engines to glorious life with his ministrations.
• Rune Priests : these Space Wolves possessed potent psychic powers and were the masters of the storm. By their command, howling gales and fearsome ice blizzards beset and confound the Allfather’s foes. Theirs was the knowledge of the mystic arts, of hidden rites handed down throughout the millennia that consume their days and haunt their nights. Rune Priests possess potent psychic powers, they are masters of the storm: by their command howling gales and fearsome ice blizzards beset and confound the Allfather’s foes. Theirs is the knowledge of the mystic arts, of hidden rites handed down throughout the millennia that consume their days and haunt their nights.
• Varagyr Terminators : the chosen warriors of Leman Russ, hand picked from his own Great Company to form his personal guard and close companions in war and council. To have attained such a rank and position, each has distinguished himself in battle many times over, and each has forged his own saga worth the telling. More so than any other of his sons they are the wolves of his pack, marked by the great beast pelt which adorns their armour, and to adopt this honour means more than simply to walk in the Wolf King’s shadow and lay down their lives for him if needs be, it means something much more. It means that at least for a time they have foregone the chance to lead their brothers in battle, to watch while others strike, to stand fast and not to seek out the glory of battle save when their lord commands. When such coldly withheld fury is unleashed however, it falls like a thunderbolt against the foe.
• Deathsworn : Within the Space Wolves, those with an all-consuming impulse to kill and kill again were selected by the Cult of Morkai and its ministers, who ensured with proper reverence that the jaws of the Death Wolf could feast upon the enemies of Mankind. The warriors who gave themselves over became the Deathsworn; marked by their wolf-skull helms, they were the embodiment of the hunger of death in the heart of the Legion.
• Hounds of Morkai : Daubed beneath their sinesterly hued Phobos armour with runes of warding and abjuration, Hounds of Morkai were hunters of psykers. Sniffing them out with psycept detectors, these obsessed warriors emit strangely pitched howls. Runic circuitry augments their hunting call, disrupting their prey's powers and sowing fear before the kill. Equipped with grapnel launchers and special issue bolt pistols with which to hunt their quarry, Hounds of Morkai are a deadly and highly manoeuvrable unit of Reivers that lend the Space Wolves a significant edge against psykers.
• Thunderwolf Cavalry : From the Mountains of the Maelstrom come the legendary Thunderwolves, hulking beasts with jaws so strong they can chew through steel. There are several known instances of senior Space Wolves tracking down and ‘breaking in’ Thunderwolves, and this practice, thought to be an initiation ritual into the upper echelons of the Wolf Guard, has given rise to the near-mythical Thunderwolf Cavalry - a small but dauntless elite within the ranks of the Wolf Guard who remain absent from any official Imperial records.
• Wulfen : the Wulfen were a grotesque distortion of the power of the Space Wolves that had surrendered to the terrible curse that the Canis Helix. Loping forward at a preternatural pace, due to the strange curse that altered their anatomies in bizarre and striking ways. They were perfectly adapted to the hunt, chasing down and attacking the foe with a constant, barely controlled berserker rage. They carried potent artefacts; attacking with claws, axes and hammers as stormfrag launchers, controlled by wilful machine spirits, hurl explosive charges into the fray - and those who hear their howling war cry can feel their own heart within begin to stir.
• Grey Hunters : the Grey Hunters form the fighting heart of each Great Company. Their raw aggression has been tempered by hard-won experience and it is from their number that true heroes rise.
• Blood Claws : the youngest and most inexperienced of all the Space Wolves, and most eager to prove themselves in battle. They are savage and aggressive without exception and will plunge headlong into battle against maniacs and monsters alike, for they are young enough to still believe in their own invincibility.

The wolves of Fenris were legendary beasts whose lives were inextricably linked with those of the human tribes that share their ice-bound world. It was considered a great feat for a battle-brother of the Space Wolves to hunt down a pack of these wolves when armed with nothing but his wits. If he should kill the alpha male of the pack, the rest of the wolves will instinctively treat him as their new pack leader. When the battle-brother returns successful to the Fang, he does so in the company of wolves.

Vehicles used by the Space Wolves included:

• Dreadnought :
• Land Speeder :
• Hunter :
• Land Raider :
• Stormwolf : the Space Wolves’ foremost assault craft that allowed them to bring the fight to the enemy wherever they may be found. It was the favoured transport of packs of battle-hungry Blood Claws and Grey Hunters who were renowned for not holding back once committed to battle.

Members

• Leman Russ :
• Bjorn the Fell-Handed :
• Gunnar Gunnhilt :
• Holmi Longganger :
• Ogvai Ogvai Helmschrot :
• Logan Grimnar :
• Bran Redmaw :
• Bjorn Stormwolf :
• Ragnar Blackmane :
• Greymane :
• Lukas :

Notes

• The Space Wolves were created by Games Workshop and featured in the setting of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

In other media

Video games

• In Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, the Space Wolves were a selectable skin option for Space Marine players in the multiplayer mode of the real-time strategy video game.
• In Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf, the Space Wolves featured in the setting of the free-to-play, squad-based strategy card game. During the story mode, the Imperium sent the Space Wolves to the planet Kanak which was under invasion from the forces of Chaos. The ship carrying Space Wolves exited the Warp near the planet where it was attacked and destroyed by a Chaos ship. The wreckage fell to the planets surface with only a few Space Wolves surviving the crash where among the survivors was Valgard Twice-Slain.
• In Space Hulk: Tactics, the Space Wolves appeared in the setting of the 2018 turn-based tactics video game.

Appearances

• Warhammer 40,000:

External Links

• Lexicanum Entry

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