Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

As the title says are Space Wolves generally larger than other Astartes? I ask this because in a few books (cant name any) they always seem to comment on Spaces Wolves being much bigger than every one else and tower over other Astartes is this known fluff? Or is it just the authors trying to big up the Space Wolves so when they fall its more dramatic?

I've never heard of Space Wolves being bigger than other Astartes, personally.

Minus that guy from the Space Wolf omnibi, but he's just one dude and I'm not a fan of those books, myself.

Body size? probably not any larger. Beard size? absolutely the biggest!

Out of the way ladies

Astartes vary is size - some big, some small, in the BL novels and other fluff.

I don't think any one Chapter has especially large fellows in its ranks...............

Yeah, I'd say it was artistic licence of the author, trying to make them sound cooler by exaggerating. Happens alot. Which leads to all the contradictions in the fluff.

Maybe we should ask the Sisters of Battle. lol

Joking aside, there is nothing codex wise I can think of that makes the Wolves explicitly bigger than any other Marines, though there are definitely some very large individuals in the chapter.

From what I recall, Fenrisians and Catachites are bigger than baseline humans, but the references to Wolves being bigger or stronger than other Astartes are sporadic and generally only found in Black Library books, with tremendous variation from author to author.

The only size difference in Astartes that has ever been clearly states was the shorter, broader build of Grey Knights, states in the ancient fluff as due to the terribly gravitational forces of Titan.

The rest, other than slight variations in individuals, are all around the stated height of approx 10ft.

Chaplain Grimaldus, as documented in Aaron Demski-Bowden's Helsreash was 12' tall. The Black Templars, on average, were only 11 feet tall. The Ultramarines, having the most stable gene seed, are the tallest at 12' average. The Space Wolves and the World eaters were the shortest, at only 8', which is why they're so angry all of the time.

Interesting, thank you kronk, if the wolves are actually documented as being shorter than average, then combined with the beards and beer, it might go some way to explain why they got rid of squats, as they'd moved the dwarven tropes over to the new space dwarves, the SWs...

So space wolves are the new squats.

Of course, the geneseed of the Primarchs could influence size variations amongst their respective legions.

And also too what has been documented was the gradual height increases with the Thousand Son psykers who constantly used their powers. Some rose in excess of 13 feet before the Horus Heresy, dwarfing their ten foot tall brethren that came to be the average height of Thousand Son marines.

That's exactly how Jervus Johnson explained it in White Dwarf.

We already have short, bearded space marines in the Space Wolves. Break the molds for the squats and lets move on...

@ Warone: I forgot about the Thousand Sons.

How big was the Skjald in Prospero Burns? He had some modifications done to him, and I believe became taller than the average humans around him, I could see the wolves being close to 10 feet based on that, since he wouldn't be as large as full astartes of the 6th, and he never mentioned Bjorn or other wolves towering over him, 10 feet makes total sense for the Wolves, being... stout and hearty, like a good beer or soup. Are they small? Feth no! But they are like the scrappy younger brother. He's a little smaller than the older kids, but he'll feth you up right if you pick on him.

What page does it say Grimaldus is 12ft tall ? Had a quick glance through and could not see it?

Seems very tall?

@ Mr Morden: I might have my sources mixed up. Not sure where I read that, then...

I believe the changes wrought upon a human body undergoing the Rites of Initiation into the Adeptus Astartes are probably much, much stronger than any genetical differences between the native populations of the various recruitment worlds, barring the most extreme mutations. Accordingly, the difference between a Space Marine from Fenris to a Space Marine from Macragge will be less obvious than between the locals of these two worlds.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:approx 10ft

kronk wrote:]Chaplain Grimaldus 12' tall [...] Black Templars 11 feet tall [...] Space Wolves and World Eaters only 8'

WarOne wrote:some rose in excess of 13 feet before the Horus Heresy

lolwat

Ridiculous. Has any of these authors ever actually read a GW Codex? Someone needs to tell Jes Goodwin so that he can have a laugh again.

I have always been under the impression that after all the various implants, and chem therapy and marine hocus pocus gene stuff..they all end up being around within a few inches, the same height weight and build, in order to make everything like power armor, vehicles , weapons all match their dimesions..but wait that makes sense...scratch that yes their height is only matched by the magnitude of the awesomesness..titan size marines here we come.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have always been under the impression that after all the various implants, and chem therapy and marine hocus pocus gene stuff..they all end up being around within a few inches, the same height weight and build, in order to make everything like power armor, vehicles , weapons all match their dimesions..but wait that makes sense...scratch that yes their height is only matched by the magnitude of the awesomesness..titan size marines here we come.

Don't be silly We all know that the Imperium can't get anything right when it comes to size or tactics... I mean this is considered a valid tank tactic in the Imperial Guard :

 Lynata wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:approx 10ft

Ridiculous. Has any of these authors ever actually read a GW Codex? Someone needs to tell Jes Goodwin so that he can have a laugh again.

I don't speak for anyone else here, but I do know Dan Abnett has written about 10 feet tall marines on more than one occasion and I'll be taking his word over that of anyone else around here, thanks all the same. The Black Library books are seriously vetted for background deviations and Abnett himself has described the rigors of adhering and having work studied for discrepancies deemed unacceptable.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Astartes vary is size - some big, some small, in the BL novels and other fluff.

I don't think any one Chapter has especially large fellows in its ranks...............

QFT
IMHO if the 7 ft tall Fenrisian (who is stronger then average human) barbarian goes under surgery - well he is ****** giant (check Bjorn)....
.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have always been under the impression that after all the various implants, and chem therapy and marine hocus pocus gene stuff..they all end up being around within a few inches, the same height weight and build, in order to make everything like power armor, vehicles , weapons all match their dimesions..but wait that makes sense...scratch that yes their height is only matched by the magnitude of the awesomesness..titan size marines here we come.

Don't be silly We all know that the Imperium can't get anything right when it comes to size or tactics... I mean this is considered a valid tank tactic in the Imperial Guard :

Of course it is..when you start sticking guns on agri tractors and calling them tanks, so driving close to try and whack them with a saber makes fully sense, that and the officer getting wacked in the groin by the battlecannons breech, but its just more awesomeness!

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I don't speak for anyone else here, but I do know Dan Abnett has written about 10 feet tall marines on more than one occasion and I'll be taking his word over that of anyone else around here, thanks all the same. The Black Library books are seriously vetted for background deviations and Abnett himself has described the rigors of adhering and having work studied for discrepancies deemed unacceptable.

Don't get me wrong, in the end there is no one "correct height" anyways - it's left to each of us individually to decide which of the many contradicting sources we want to follow. I guess I'm just a bit miffed that the various sources of fluff cannot even be somewhat consistent on something as basic as approximate size, as well as thinking it somewhat silly how - in Jes Goodwin's book - the Space Marines "seem to get bigger with every book". No wonder many (not all, thankfully) their fans arrive at what I, being used to other (obviously less exaggerating) sources, would call hyperbole!

As long as people at least realise that book X is just suggesting how something could be, rather than supposedly determining a fixed truth, it is all good. The real issue is that there's still way too many people thinking all these books and whatever details they tell are meant to be fully compatible, and thus comparable, with each other. It's why we have oh so many heated debates here in this very forum.

 Lynata wrote:
I believe the changes wrought upon a human body undergoing the Rites of Initiation into the Adeptus Astartes are probably much, much stronger than any genetical differences between the native populations of the various recruitment worlds, barring the most extreme mutations. Accordingly, the difference between a Space Marine from Fenris to a Space Marine from Macragge will be less obvious than between the locals of these two worlds.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:approx 10ft

kronk wrote:]Chaplain Grimaldus 12' tall [...] Black Templars 11 feet tall [...] Space Wolves and World Eaters only 8'

WarOne wrote:some rose in excess of 13 feet before the Horus Heresy

lolwat

Ridiculous. Has any of these authors ever actually read a GW Codex? Someone needs to tell Jes Goodwin so that he can have a laugh again.

To be fair we need to check the sources as I don't recall these measurements when I read the novels and Kronk did add he was unsure of his source for the Grimaldus quote....

12ft is a bit silly. I figure theyre 7ft unarmored, 8 ft armored. I believe the Alpha Legion grew em a bit bigger to blend in with their Primarch (who was probably shorter than most).

I kind of find it funny how in every book somebody has to be dwarfed by somebody....I mean are all authors 1,70 m tall and bald so they have er... complexeses?

12 is stretching it, maybe if you already were close to 7 foot pre-transplant. Usually the body can't handle the growth past 11 feet, so that is the norm for most chapters.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
12ft is a bit silly. I figure theyre 7ft unarmored, 8 ft armored. I believe the Alpha Legion grew em a bit bigger to blend in with their Primarch (who was probably shorter than most).

Abnett said that Alpharious is at average astartes height IIRC...


REAL QUESTION : IF THEY ARE 12 FT TALL, HOW BIG ARE THE HEADS?

Mr. Morden: True. If there's one thing I should have learned by now, it is that the actual source might say something different than claimed. I guess in this case I'm more willing to believe it because it's a larger number of people saying so (not just here but the 'net as a whole) and it kind of fits into my prejudice regarding non-GW sources and Marine hyperbole. Or hyperbole in general - the SM are just the ones "profiting" from it the most because the majority of BL novels is about them.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see if anyone brings forward actual quotes tho, or at least more people posting info from memory.

d3m01iti0n wrote:12ft is a bit silly. I figure theyre 7ft unarmored, 8 ft armored.

Personally, I'm going with GW's measurements of 7-7.5 feet, in armour - see the lifesize drawing I linked in my first reply.
As Jes stated in the GW design podcast, that's large enough - it's not their height that makes them stand out, but the sheer bulk.

not to mention but on a battlefield littered with high power ranged weapons, being very large and wearing bright colored armor will likely mean a much easier target.

I know when I was deployed and the bullets started flying I wished I was alot smaller

7ft before armor 8ft-9ft afterwards sounds about reasonable, but remember before all the marine fans get their adamantine undies in a bunch, they are almost as broad as they are tall, and all muscle, so still macho, just dont have to watch the clearance signs when walking under bridges.

Just checked a scale pic in the IA : 3 taros campaign and it stated the combat blade of the marine pictured was 50cm in blade length, doing a bit of screen measurements puts the marine in armor at a little over 250cm in height 2.5m so around 8ft.

about as accurate as I can get for now.