The Space Wolf Wulfen Return To Warhammer 40,000
February 6, 2016 by brennon
It looks like we're back looking at the Wulfen, the cursed company of the Space Wolves that were lost in the void. See what you make of these new models for Warhammer 40,000 by Games Workshop. I'm fairly sure that folks are going to be very divided on what they think of these sculpts...
The Wulfen
I always liked the idea of playing games with the Cursed Company ever since we found out about them. I thought they models were neat but it was very hard to get a hold of them in the end. These are obviously great for those who really want to get stuck back into the Wulfen but are the models up to snuff?
I don't think they are 'that' bad but the main model you see here, the Pack Leader, is in a pose that in no way looks useful for the battlefield. He looks like he's just doing a little dance. I do however quite like the rest of the pack and I think with an additional bit of work on the painting they could be very awesome looking on the tabletop.
Rules-wise there were some leaks about the Wulfen already with many calling them over-powered already. Well, we knew that balance wasn't really in the works from Games Workshop nowadays. Anyway - a perfect opportunity to do some gaming in the gaps for the Space Wolves?
Books
As well as the models we have the new War Zone Fenris: Curse of the Wulfen which comes in two different styles. You have the regular edition of the book...
...and a second version which is the Saga Edition of the book. Both of these books give you all the rules you need for running the Wulfen in your games with some additional rules for campaigns following Logan Grimnar and his fight to return the Wulfen to the fold.]They also have updated rules for the Space Wolves in general and have some additional rules for environmental effects in your 40k games.
On top of both of these editions of the Curse of the Wulfen we also have the Chaos Daemons Grimoire which takes all of the rules from this book on Chaos and separates them into one place so you don't have to bother with the loyalists if you're a follower of the Dark Gods. A neat idea...
I could certainly see the reasoning behind doing this as there were plenty of people who would have loved the demon rules and really didn't want to get a book full of werewolves in order to learn about some of the new rules.
Will you be picking up the new Wulfen?
"...a perfect opportunity to do some gaming in the gaps for the Space Wolves?"
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And here was me thinking I’d get through a day by only saying something nice about a new GW mini on a news item. It’s all the bad bits of the plastic AoS minis combined into a 40K mini.
Here’s a photo of the pack leader’s martial arts mentor –
http://www.residentadvisor.net/images/events/flyer/2013/3/au-0329-463044-front.jpg
I see him as doing the can-can…
It’s like GW hired Rob Liefeld to concept it. One for the old comic book fans there…
Ha nice!
Actually, it really does look like Rob Liefled concepted. The awkward floating post, the lack of emotion in the expression, the weird musculature. It’s spot on.
Yeah I know, you totally nailed it. Feet look big enough though ;P
I don’t see what your talking about that pack leader has no expression. It’s clear he has that deer in the headlights expression! He even has his arms out in shock upon the sudden impact that will come from a pickup truck.
Not quite. The mini has actual feet and isn’t squinting so hard that his eyes are gone.
Hmmm, I definitely prefer the old Wulfen minis.
I wonder if these ones would look a little better with a more ‘bestial’ skin-tone…
Still, nice to see the 13th Co. return in some way, brings back memories of playing in the Black Crusade worldwide campaign!
Thats one way of ruining the feel of a future battlefield .. 10 out of 10 santa sleighs from me
I’m seeing chicken warriors…… Is anyone else seeing chicken warriors?!?
Maybe I’m just hungry.
Well according to the rules you deploy them and roll a scatter dice and 2d6 for each squad member to determine movement. If a hit is rolled the animal sits in place and picks for seeds. If one ends up in contact with a friendly unit with guns it will on a 4+ successfully “trade” its viking gear for the gun, the model can then move normally for the rest of the game.
The aesthetic and posing just doesn’t work. I feel for Space Wolf players, first the sleigh and now this.
I think I’m going to wait for Forge Worlds take on Horus Heresy Space Wolves. They just don’t look very good.
Teen Wolf and his Dad!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMyuv3wkTJs
they have kitten noses 🙂
MAKE IT STOP.
Sorry friend, this is reality… no stop button on this release. Think of the positive side. The one on the left side, if you clip away his weapon, it will look like hes a rather good air guitar player 🙂
They have put out some good stuff recently, but this one is a miss I think.
Something just doesn’t sit right, even ignoring the ‘Daniel san’ pose of the leader, they aren’t very ‘wolf’, just look like chaos tainted men. And again the overemphasized musculature like the Sigmar chaos and dwarf dudes.
They’re too cartoonish but I think this is mostly the paint job – give them darker hues and they’ll be better. Mute like colours etc. The heads are an issue. But the main problem seems to be the computer design which just isn’t creating the pieces that naturally fit to the bodies, the poses are awkward like the recent Dwarf Slayers: they are jarring. They don’t feel like they were sculpted by an artist. They need to tone it the f*ck down. £35.. eh ? But you get a lot of stuff I suppose – and there is a great… Read more »
WOw, even the most die-hard fans are tearing these apart all over the internet. The old ones look amazing in comparison. I think there value just increased 400% on ebay.
Technically very good again, as most GW minis are. It’s the “style” that is off IMO
The leader model is ridiculously bad.
Crikey GW. Those are terrible. Especially that guy in the middle who looks like he’s doing some sort of dance routine.
I don’t think I’m a fan of the power armoured shorts they’ve got going on…
Jorts.
They are the john cena marines, their motto is hustle, loyalty, respect to the emperor.
I wish I couldn’t see them….
Honestly I don’t understand the hate. I mean the price is ridiculous, but just because something isn’t your speed it doesn’t mean it is bad.
These guys aren’t in power armour they are only in their black carapace so I think they represented that well, they all have fangs and wolf like legs, they fit the bill. They are quiet dynamic. Anything that is unique, is always good. I think that the heads and top halves may may look good as wild dwarf heads, with some converting.
Its hard to know if you have the wrong opinion or not sometimes
@hatamoto I think it is hard to say when it comes to art that there is wrong opinions. There are differing opinions for sure. I don’t think anyone is wrong for disliking these sculpts, it is simply what I said, I literally don’t understand why, there are far more ridiculous sculpts out there which people like… I just don’t understand. That is al.
“just because something isn’t your speed it doesn’t mean it is bad”
you said that, but meant something else? 😛
No I mean there is no “right” opinion, some people put you into camps like your with us or against us. I just don’t understand why they don’t like it.
lol
To be honest @caladors I don’t have a problem with these minis either. To my eyes GW is rather obviously going with the ‘wolf man’ style familiar from the old the Lon Chaney Jr. movies, whereas I think many Space Wolf fan would rather Games Workshop either steered clear of the Wulfen altogether, or alternatively went down the full on Howling style werewolf route complete with lupine heads and a total lack of any ability to use technology. They are entitled to their opinion, but for myself I don’t think GW can easily keep dodging a unit as iconic to… Read more »
I didn’t know who you were talking about, I had to look it up, but it seems like your right they do look very similar. I think there are plenty of other things that people can use instead. Take a look at the Circle of Orbors skinwalkers if you don’t like this look. http://privateerpress.com/files/products/72075_WarpbornAlphaWEB.jpg http://privateerpress.com/files/products/72070_Skinwalkers5manWEB.jpg I am not saying you don’t but other people. I think there are lots of options out there. I think perhaps people have just fallen in line with what is popular, most people I talked to in person really love the look of them. I… Read more »
You are the fluff master, how are they planning on surviving volleys of bolter fire wearing spandex and carrying sheilds? :p i havent seen the rules but im looking at these and they dont look effective unless theres supernatural dodging or toughness involved.
Well, it is more partial armour and shields rather than spandex, and they do have the Feel No Pain special rule along with two wounds each, so a measure of supernatural toughness and/or a concept like such berserk rage that they don’t know they are dead until some minutes after they have been riddled with bullets might come into play here. Either that or this unit is just going with its Werewolf roots, who like Vampires are famous for their bullet resistant properties in fiction…
having been in the warp for some time might have given them some power as well. They came out too clean though imo, would be cooler if their weapons had been more worn and makeshift too
Yeah I don’t mind the minis either, there are lot of details and can be assembled however we like. So the pose, amount of details and paint scheme are up to us really. If the price ($100 in oz) wasn’t so steep for me I’d get a few.
“Honestly I don’t understand the hate”………….it’s GW caladors, starts and ends there.
does the fur on the ankles look more like feathers, so they all look like wolf marines with bird feet?
These do seem like misses to me with they overly cartoony look and silly poses. As much as I like SW even if I don’t collect them I just can’t get myself to like these.
Looks like something from the Island of Dr Moreau.
These already seem popular with my friends that play Space Wolves, I don’t mind the sculpts myself and if they did lycan ‘Crinos’ werewolves, like Infinity have done, it would be seen as a rip off, so I think it was a good design direction by GW (but I’m biased as I like the classic werewolf look more)
I’m interested to see what kind of conversions they make out of the kits, as there’s 5 poses but you can fit 8 Wulfen in a Stormlord flyer. Which will be filthy.
Yeah I think your totally right, I looked at the number of werewolf sculpts out there and there are just so many, Infinity seems to fit the bill the most with their dog-warriors. It is hard to… stand out from the pack… if your just doing the werewolf thing. But the biggest thing for me is the heads. I actually like the dynamic poses.
The poses just don’t look right its like whoever designed these doesn’t know how to run. Might look a bit better with a darker colour scheme, but no not for me.
So…
The crazy wolf mutant berzerker melee lovers invent a backpack mounted ranged weapon and in 10,000 years no other space marines think thats a good idea, lets do it. Makes. No. Sense.
< *this*
@caladors and @vetruviangeek – you are of course right that it’s a change in concept that is riling people up. Personally I think there are quite a few elements of the miniatures that I like – including the heads. But I really dislike the concept they’ve gone for, and I don’t think the execution of the concept works either. If they wanted to do Infinity-style werewolves, that might have required a bit of fluff retconning, but might have ended up with a totally badass model. Alternatively, they could have stayed with a vaguely believable ‘geneseed didn’t stop buffing this guy… Read more »
I guess that is where GW has been going for awhile now if you look at both the Age of Sigmar sculpts for the box set and for the more recent dwarves, they do have very comic book feel. I get that people are riled up… but what I don’t get is why, I mean take at your average guy, the heroic scale makes things look quiet silly when compared to the more realistic sculpts. Like a malifaux great sword isn’t as large as your average chain sword. I think it may be more of the popular, bash on GW… Read more »
There is no bash GW bandwagon, sorry to dissapoint you
No bandwagon here. Like I said the last time this accusation came up a few weeks back, I nominated a 40K sculpt for the BoW awards this year. Nor is it the concept that bothers me. It’s the execution of the mini itself which is the problem. It wouldn’t matter what the concept was.
You get that people are riled up but not why? Why don’t you try and read their posts, perhaps the words they’ve typed hold that elusive answer.
I think it’s more a case that he’s questioning the vehemence of the criticism. We see plenty of dire minis from other companies on BoW but none of them seem to attract the vitriol that GW minis do.
Evidenced by the amount of negative votes poor Caladors is getting for defending them. He’s said nothing particularly aggressive or inflammatory but every one of his comments has been downvoted at some point.
So what would be the goal of defending a miniature from others subjective opinion? To prove them wrong? Auto fail imo
I can’t speak for others but I can at least speak for myself on the matter that you and others are talking about. It is my general view that GW being the big fellow in the model industry should have the resources and manpower to make excellent models. They can do market research and hire the best of the best to do all aspects of a model’s development. So when they come out with models that I don’t like I feel that I can be frank about it as they can take the heat. My comment has little weight in… Read more »
The ‘why’ is down to people’s expectations based upon their understanding of the universe and a familiarity with the miniatures GW have put out in the past. I know they have gone through different design phases, and certainly some sculptors have been known for particular styles of miniature, but in this case people had in mind an idea of what they were expecting from the Wulfen. They were familiar with the previous version – which was very nice. I don’t think they needed an update. And the update they’ve done has created something that in my view just doesn’t fit… Read more »
I know what you’re talking about and agree. For fantasy I can sort of see what has happened in its case. Before they needed to make models to rank up, so where restrained in design. Now they can be arms out and all. It’s like GW has entered a stage of position freedom that has run amok. I never thought I’d say this, but I wish for the day’s GW models where more static and not all over the place. Does every second model need to look like Neo in mid air about to kick?
I’m kind of torn. I love the freedom that they’ve been able to give some of their new fantasy miniatures. The Nurgle super-chaos warrior guys (Blight Kings?) were great. And I like most of the Khorne models in the Age of Sigmar box. Actually, I quite like the Sigmarites too (I’m just not really a fan of the high fantasy setting which they are a part of). So we know they can use CAD well. I wonder why they don’t use it well more consistently? For me, i think one of the biggest problems GW miniature design has is it… Read more »
This is the first time I have posted a comment on BOW. I’ve been a Space Wolf player for a long time I was P!@$&^ when the old Wulfen went away so I’m way stoked about the new ones coming out. As for the sculpts I don’t get the hate it seems like over half the posts anymore are people bashing GW and there stuff. Why? If you hate GW so much don’t buy there stuff or support it. I like the sculpts and am looking forward to the rules and the campaign. If I come off as a d!@#… Read more »
I’m a ‘hater’ of these miniatures, and a sometimes critic of GW, but I still think some of what they produce today is top-notch amazingness. Each to their own – and I’m glad you like these new miniatures. I’m certainly not criticising you for your tastes, even if they’re not mine. I try to be fairly even handed when I post – praising stuff I like and saying why, but also noting when I dislike something – and saying why. I’m more likely to be generous when it’s a smaller company or someone just starting out. Less so when I… Read more »
To be fair after looking back at the picture @mjolnir, I think it’s the leader front and centre that makes me think they all look bad. But upon a second glance the one on the right with hammer and shield is great. He has the right type of movement as in a charge with weapon ready and shield protecting his front. I hope they have the parts to make all of the in a similar fashion.
“JAZZ HANDS”…… was my first thought when seeing the leader. And then the guy at the back on the right looms like he is doing the darth Vader ‘nooooo’
Man these have been the best laugh of the day.
These are beyond horrendous……and the old ones were so good.
I think the guy out front is killing them. He’s by far the worst looking one. Had he looked anything like the front of the new campaign book I think he’d have turned out okay. The other four aren’t too bad and if I was a SW player I’d buy the box and just kit-bash him into something presentable.