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So I've been reading a lot of space wolf flufo and I was wondering about the great companies. What does each great company specialize in? Are they all known for one thing or do they all just kinda do the same thing? And my other question is about this badge.

is this just for ragnar or just space wolves in general? As GW seems to use it for all space wolves

That badge is just for Ragnar Blackmane's great company. Logan Grimnar is the current chapter master of the Space Wolves. The codex would have more information on each of the Great Companie's specific strengths.

Why would Space Marines want to specialize in something? Seems like it would be best to be good at all kinds of things because you never know what you're going to be asked to do if you're a merry band of Space Marines wandering around the galaxy looking for fights.

The Great Companies are more like mini-Chapters, in that each one is more-or-less a self-sufficient gathering of Space Marines from the Chapter. While a given Great Company might be famed for something right now, in the current era, that is going to be due to the personal glories of the Space Wolves in it, rather than a legacy they trace back to the time of Russ or something.

The personality and style of a particular Great Company can vary drastically when a new Wolf Lord comes to power. Sometimes even the symbol representing the Great Company is changed. There is usually not a huge change though, partly because Long Fangs and various other veterans that straddle the period between two Wolf Lords will generally not be in favor of major changes, but over time a Great Company can gain renown and specialization for something completely different to what it was known for in the past.

Well I guess now that the first question is answered, time for the second one, that badge. Everywhere I look it's there. From GW to FW kits it's a sculpted shoulder pad and all over artwork. Is ragnar that popular, or is it just used as a general emblem?

 Great White wrote:
Are they all known for one thing or do they all just kinda do the same thing?

Of course they have separate things. Some of them are boring or obvious, like a mechanized/armored Great Company or a scouting Great Company, and other ones are weird, like one that is rumored to breathe fire, and another one that rivals them and just likes to use flamers.

]
is this just for ragnar or just space wolves in general? As GW seems to use it for all space wolves

What does GW care? People who are looking at GW stuff either don't know the difference, or they do know the difference and they just care about what is inside the boxes. It's not really going to ruin continuity.

I think the reason that Ragnar's symbol is seen everywhere is because it's the most obvious of the shoulder symbols that screams "SPACE WOLVES!". There's a lot of people that will free hand paint other chapter symbols.

I also think it's part in face that Ragnar is one of the most well known of the named characters and is involved in several of the books as well. There's also the fact that most people associate Space Wolves with using Drop Pod tactics and that's what Ragnar's company is most noted for using.

The space wolf Great Companies all vary in size and specialization. I like to think that most Great Companies are about the size of an ordinary chapter, but in reality the average is closer to about 500 per company. With such massive numbers, each company specializes in different things. for instance, two companies are basically just wolfy salamanders (obsession with fire - one of them is even said to be able to breath fire), while Ragnar Thunderfist's is in-your-face drop pod assault, while another chapter is just pure mechanized assault with massive amounts of heresy-era tanks and APCs, while the Company of the Deathwolf has more Fenrisian Wolves in it than it does actual Astartes.

Ahhh I see guys. Do the great companies ever work together or do they have petty rivalries with each other?

 dusara217 wrote:
I like to think that most Great Companies are about the size of an ordinary chapter, but in reality the average is closer to about 500 per company.

Not even close. The new codex and supplement make it clear that Great Companies max out at 200, with Logan Grimnar's at exactly 200 and Ragnar Blackmane's at 188.

Great White wrote:Ahhh I see guys. Do the great companies ever work together or do they have petty rivalries with each other?

Yes, all the time, and very often both at once.

jareddm wrote:

 dusara217 wrote:
I like to think that most Great Companies are about the size of an ordinary chapter, but in reality the average is closer to about 500 per company.

Not even close. The new codex and supplement make it clear that Great Companies max out at 200, with Logan Grimnar's at exactly 200 and Ragnar Blackmane's at 188.

Great White wrote:Ahhh I see guys. Do the great companies ever work together or do they have petty rivalries with each other?

Yes, all the time, and very often both at once.

Seriously? Bastards at GW make the one thing specific that I wanted left vague. fethers...

To be fair, it was stated that Blackmane's company was the second largest great company at approximately 200 marines back in the 5e codex, so we've been aware of the upper limit of great companies for awhile.

 dusara217 wrote:

jareddm wrote:

Not even close. The new codex and supplement make it clear that Great Companies max out at 200, with Logan Grimnar's at exactly 200 and Ragnar Blackmane's at 188.

Great White wrote:Ahhh I see guys. Do the great companies ever work together or do they have petty rivalries with each other?

Yes, all the time, and very often both at once.

Seriously? Bastards at GW make the one thing specific that I wanted left vague. fethers...

It's a significant thing, they're making a point, not using a random number. It's a "great" company. A company that isn't "great" has a hundred marines and has to use a formal process to borrow terminators, scouts, and reserve squads. It ends up being 160 - 200 marines. If it keeps those extra marines, just absorbs them and never sends them back to their d companies, then it's a great company.

Space Wolves just don't have a formal process for loaning squads like that except for Priests.

jareddm wrote:
To be fair, it was stated that Blackmane's company was the second largest great company at approximately 200 marines back in the 5e codex, so we've been aware of the upper limit of great companies for awhile.

Yeah, but then I could imagine one of the companies having like 500 marines; the largest.

And here I was thinking there was 12000 space wolves

 Great White wrote:
And here I was thinking there was 12000 space wolves

Nope definitely not, no extra Space Wolves around here. Totally compliant with the Codex Astartes. Don't worry about those other guys downstairs, they're just visiting.

 Thorgrim Bloodcrow wrote:

 Great White wrote:
And here I was thinking there was 12000 space wolves

Nope definitely not, no extra Space Wolves around here. Totally compliant with the Codex Astartes. Don't worry about those other guys downstairs, they're just visiting.

To be fair, I recall in every Space Wolves codex since 5e, space wolves were stated to give no fetch about the Codex Astartes, I don't think it says anywhere they feel the need that they should hide it from anyone.

 lcmiracle wrote:

 Thorgrim Bloodcrow wrote:

 Great White wrote:
And here I was thinking there was 12000 space wolves

Nope definitely not, no extra Space Wolves around here. Totally compliant with the Codex Astartes. Don't worry about those other guys downstairs, they're just visiting.

To be fair, I recall in every Space Wolves codex since 5e, space wolves were stated to give no fetch about the Codex Astartes, I don't think it says anywhere they feel the need that they should hide it from anyone.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the wolves despise the codex

 Great White wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty sure the wolves despise the codex

They do; not to mention the fact that the chapter cannot use any recruits outside of fenris, lest those recruited in such a manner fall to the curse of Wulfen.

In the 7e codex, it is state that Guilliman "ostensibly" agreed that the SW keep their 12 remaining great companies at that time, although it's still limited to "many hundreds of Space Wolves" per company. Which means Chapter had at most 11988 Space Wolves after the split.

I guess it would be prudent to point out that I was joking.

However I don't think "many hundreds" equates to several thousand. It probably meant more in line with the 150-200, maybe at a stretch 300 as others have stated above.

 lcmiracle wrote:

 Great White wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty sure the wolves despise the codex

They do; not to mention the fact that the chapter cannot use any recruits outside of fenris, lest those recruited in such a manner fall to the curse of Wulfen.

In the 7e codex, it is state that Guilliman "ostensibly" agreed that the SW keep their 12 remaining great companies at that time, although it's still limited to "many hundreds of Space Wolves" per company. Which means Chapter had at most 11988 Space Wolves after the split.

The Champions of Fenris supplement lists every single pack in Logan Grimnar's Great Company and the 7e codex lists every pack in Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company, both as of 998.M41. Being the first and second largest Great Companies respectively, it's very clear that there's an upper limit of 2400 space wolves at the end of the 41st millennium. Does this mean that was their size at the end of the Horus Heresy? Of course not, but we have nothing to back that statement up. I'm sure the HH book on the Assault on Prospero will shed light on the subject.

jareddm wrote:

 lcmiracle wrote:

 Great White wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty sure the wolves despise the codex

They do; not to mention the fact that the chapter cannot use any recruits outside of fenris, lest those recruited in such a manner fall to the curse of Wulfen.

In the 7e codex, it is state that Guilliman "ostensibly" agreed that the SW keep their 12 remaining great companies at that time, although it's still limited to "many hundreds of Space Wolves" per company. Which means Chapter had at most 11988 Space Wolves after the split.

The Champions of Fenris supplement lists every single pack in Logan Grimnar's Great Company and the 7e codex lists every pack in Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company, both as of 998.M41. Being the first and second largest Great Companies respectively, it's very clear that there's an upper limit of 2400 space wolves at the end of the 41st millennium. Does this mean that was their size at the end of the Horus Heresy? Of course not, but we have nothing to back that statement up. I'm sure the HH book on the Assault on Prospero will shed light on the subject.

Yes, I am aware of the fact. Personally I don't believe at any time, the Space Wolves chapter can have many more than 2000 space wolves in total.

I was trying to point out since the first founding, the maximum number of Space Wolves in the chapter can be no more than 999 * 12 , based on the "Word of God". As for how many there are at any point in time is no confirmed.

 lcmiracle wrote:

jareddm wrote:

 lcmiracle wrote:

 Great White wrote:

Yeah I'm pretty sure the wolves despise the codex

They do; not to mention the fact that the chapter cannot use any recruits outside of fenris, lest those recruited in such a manner fall to the curse of Wulfen.

In the 7e codex, it is state that Guilliman "ostensibly" agreed that the SW keep their 12 remaining great companies at that time, although it's still limited to "many hundreds of Space Wolves" per company. Which means Chapter had at most 11988 Space Wolves after the split.

The Champions of Fenris supplement lists every single pack in Logan Grimnar's Great Company and the 7e codex lists every pack in Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company, both as of 998.M41. Being the first and second largest Great Companies respectively, it's very clear that there's an upper limit of 2400 space wolves at the end of the 41st millennium. Does this mean that was their size at the end of the Horus Heresy? Of course not, but we have nothing to back that statement up. I'm sure the HH book on the Assault on Prospero will shed light on the subject.

Yes, I am aware of the fact. Personally I don't believe at any time, the Space Wolves chapter can have many more than 2000 space wolves in total.

I was trying to point out since the first founding, the maximum number of Space Wolves in the chapter can be no more than 999 * 12 , based on the "Word of God". As for how many there are at any point in time is no confirmed.

I feel like the Space Wolves still would have had like 50k Astartes in their Chapter after the split, since they were only split once and the lowest number of marines was like 90k Marines, and I think that that was in the Thousand Sons or Emperor's Children. It seems to me that their numbers have been steadily dwindling over the last 10k years, and sometime within the last thousand years they reached their current number of Astartes; which is one that they can maintain.

ETA: Nevermind

It's also possible that the SW numbers swell and shrink as needed to fill current needs.
Ie, in times of relative peace for the Imperium they have barely more than the standard number of marines, whereas in times of great strife they up their recruitment efforts and (slowly) swell to whatever size they deem necessary to overcome whatever dangers are currently befalling the Imperium (or themselves).

Also, the number of 2400 Wolves doesn't include Great Companies lost but not destroyed who are roaming the Galaxy, or Great Companies who disagree with the current (or a past) Great Wolf so strongly that they just up and left. As the SW oath of fealty is not to the Great Wolf but to Russ and the Emperor, this can happen. No one knows how many of those are out there.

Given the fact they can only recruit from Fenrisians and that it's not a very large population to draw on even if they're far better suited for recruitment than humans for other worlds, the huge chapter thing was a stretch. Even as a Legion they were a small one. Perhaps 10-20,000 when the Word Bearers and Ultramarines were well over 100,000. If they had 12,000 marines before the Heresy, its pretty unlikely they're that strong now.

jareddm wrote:
To be fair, it was stated that Blackmane's company was the second largest great company at approximately 200 marines back in the 5e codex, so we've been aware of the upper limit of great companies for awhile.

Yeah, but originally it was implied that these were pre-heresy sized great companies which would have been 1000 each.
They have no successors so that means that the Space Wolves after 10,000 years have been reduced to a single chapter, even if a rather large one. It seems that they'll eventually die out completely. Then again, as the Ultramarines are now 3/4 of all space marines, maybe one day an Ultramarine descended chapter will take over the fang and make a new Macragge out of it.

Computron wrote:
Yeah, but originally it was implied that these were pre-heresy sized great companies which would have been 1000 each.

Got a quote for that?

I expect the space wolves where at the forefront of the scouring, their whole executioners mentality would have almost made that a certinity. I imagine they would have suffered some pretty brutal casualties as a result