Logan Grimnar
Logan Grimnar, Bloody-Handed Warrior, he piles the skulls of his enemies, he builds a mound of the fallen, his foes weep rivers of blood.
Logan Grimnar, strong wolf of the pack, his Axe hungers for red flesh, his guns thirst for battle, he laughs amidst the war-din.
Logan Grimnar, father of wolves, his sons haunt his enemies, slay them where they falter and bring their pelts to Fenris.
- from The Saga Of The Old Wolf (excerpt)
Even a Grot knows dat da King of da Wolf Boyz is da biggest and da baddest Space Marine da ever was. E's bigga den a Deff Dread, wiff a 'ead like a Gnasher Squig but... hairier. E's got six arms and dey all made of shooty bits and choppas and spikey bitz and if ya shoot at him e don't care kuz e's too tough. E's voice is so loud e can shout at the sky and make it fall down, and if e gives you a wallop den bits of you go everywhere like when Grogruk ate dat stikkbomb fer a dare. Even Gork and Mork think e's hard.
- Nozbrog, Ork Boy, on Logan Grimnar
Logan Grimnar is Chapter Master of the Space Wolves, and all-around cool guy. He has been the Space Wolves Chapter master for over 700 years and has been kicking ass even longer, making him one of the oldest Chapter Masters, after Dante of the Blood Angels. He has shown great battle prowess and his thirst for blood rivals that of their mighty Primarch, Leman Russ. As such, he is said to be the greatest living warrior in the Imperium. Grimnar wears a suit of terminator armour equipped with a storm bolter and carries his trusty axe Morkai (which he got from beating the shit out of a Chaos champion and stealing it from him, then beating the corruption out of the daemon weapon until it submitted to him).
The Ecclesiarchy does not like him, and has charged him on multiple counts of treason and heresy for being a decent person to the Imperial Guard and other non-Astartes organizations. Like after the Armageddon War (in which he actually managed to make Angron even ANGRIER), when those assholes in the Inquisition decided to purge all the Guardsmen who fought there because they were "tainted" or some shit and Grimnar called them out on their dickery. As a result, the Inquisition keeps clear of Fenris whenever it can, for fear of what might happen. Yes, you read that right. The Inquisition has no fear of the heretic, the xeno, or the daemon, but Logan Grimnar? He gives them fucking night terrors. There is good reason for this, though. Can you imagine how pissed the entirety of the Adeptus Astartes would be if the Inquisition went after a First Founding Chapter for little more reason than "they wouldn't let us murder a planet they saved". The Inquisition had best pray the Celestial Lions don't run into any Space Wolves on their way to Terra (stubborn, aren't they?), or their organization might not exist for much longer.
When that fucking failure Abaddon kicked off the 13th Black Crusade, good ol' Creed knew just the person to call. See, Grimnar is an old drinking buddy of the clever Cadian (which says a lot about Creed's stamina, as Space Wolves only drink Fenrisian), and when the massed Legions of Chaos came knocking on the Cadian Gate he knew the Old Wolf would have his back. Grimnar rocked up and ran the show, combining his testosterone fueled manliness with the brass balls of Creed to put the Armless Wonder back in his place. He was named Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces, which included Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition Forces, who took it about as well as you would expect. He then proceeded to fucking fail and Cadia got destroyed.
He is the only known furry that you can think is FUCKING AWESOME without being HERE-BLAMMED.
No relation to Wulfrik, Garmr Hrodvitner, Valmir Aesling, Sven Bloody-Hand nor any other Norscan.
He also has a hover-chariot pulled by wolves as of 7E. We have no fucking clue as to why this is a thing.
Logan Grimnar and the Inquisition
Logan Grimnar is thought to be something of a renegade by the Inquisition and the Administratum, particularly for his actions after the First War for Armageddon. The Inquisition thought that everyone but themselves and the Space Marines who participated in the war were tainted by Chaos. In addition, the Administratum didn't want people to find out that the Imperium was weaker than they said it was, since Angron's forces had decimated Armageddon's population and cities. So they ordered the PDF, all the serving guardsmen, and civilians of Armageddon to be sterilized and rounded up into work camps to slave for the rest of their short lives while Armageddon is re-populated. There was also the order of mind-wiping his marines due to them witnessing the Grey Knights.
Naturally, this horrified and pissed off Grimnar, and he ordered his forces to protect all the departing Imperial Guard troop carriers with his fleet, but he forbade his soldiers from firing on the Inquisition, at least at first. This action naturally pissed-off the Inquisition. While not in open war, some very bad blood existed between the two parties, more specifically between Logan and Inquisitor Lord Ghesmei Kysnaros, the inquisitor responsible for purging the old population of Armageddon. Eventually the Inquisition under the guise that they wanted to bury the hatchet, decided to negotiate a truce with the Space Wolves in neutral space....then the stupid started to commence.
The Inquisition and Grey Knights opened fire on the Space Wolves' fleet, with the Space Wolves losing 3 ships and having 1 crippled. Apparently, instead of trying to reach a mutual understanding, the Inquisition thought that it was a better idea to force the Space Wolves to surrender and force them to take a crusade of penance. You can imagine how the Old Wolf took this. So, he was brought into the Grey Knights command ship, under the guise of opening diplomatic channels, though when he arrived he proceeded to behead Grand Master Joros' for firing on his fleet. The Wolves tried to teleport back to their ships, but when the teleport temporarily failed, they gunned down four justicars with their Storm Bolters and said their farewells.
This lead to a period of time called "The Months of Shame," in which the Space Wolves became more hostile, throwing aside their earlier passive resistance, even destroying a number of Inquisition ships in revenge for their earlier betrayal.
The Inquisition (who generally aren't the type to admit a mistake or apologize to anyone), decided to go to Fenris loaded for bear (or wolf, in this case). In addition to the Inquisition storm troopers, they also called upon more grey knight vessels and the entire Red Hunters chapter(!) of space marines. The Inquisition intended to bring Wolves to heel (pun intended) with the power of the Inquisition and force them into a penitent crusade for their action through a show of strength. This may seem like a giant ego trip on the part of the Inquisition, but keep in mind that a lot of an Inquisitor's power comes from fear and a facade of omnipotence. By challenging that, the Space Wolves could potentially erode the inquisition's power, and thus their ability to do their rather vital work.
The Inquisition landed on Fenris to "negotiate" a peace agreement with the guns of their fleet aimed at the Fang the whole time. While The Fang is one of the most formidable fortifications in the galaxy, only rivaled by the Keep Inviolate, The Rock, and the Emperor's Palace on Holy Terra, at that time The Fang was barely manned, what with most of the chapter being deployed elsewhere, the threat was very real. As "negotiations' began the majority of the Wolves' fleet jumped into the system and engaged the Inquisition Armada (normally one would think that a single chapter's fleet against an entire armada would be pretty one sided, but the space wolves have an almost hilariously formidable fleet. They have EIGHT battle barges (A truly staggering number given most chapters only have around three of these gigantic capital ships on average) and THIRTY FUCKING STRIKE CRUISERS. THIRTY. During the fighting, Logan and a force of 20 Terminators, boarded inquisitor Lord Kysnaros' ship and slaughtered the crew, along with the inquisitor.
But in the end, the Space Wolves could not hope to defeat the forces of the Ordo Malleus and an entire Space Marine chapter at the same time without horrendous losses on both sides (which would be detrimental to them and the Imperium as a whole), so Bjorn told Logan to cut his shit out. The chapter was more important than any human survivors, and the inquisitor who had started the whole mess was dead. Due in no small part to the remaining Inquisitors and Grey Knights being awed at being in Bjorn's presence (after all, he fought beside E-Money back in the day), the Space Wolves and the Inquisition settled everything and broke off the current conflict. They didn't declare the Space Wolves heretics and Logan reluctantly let go of his vendetta, if not his rage.
To this day however, Ol' Grimmy still hates the Administratum and the Inquisition for their actions on Armageddon; the latter in particular for their altercation. The advice of Ulrik the Slayer and the gentle "advice" of Bjorn keep Logan from renewing hostilities. While the Inquisition takes great care not to get on the Space Wolves' bad side anymore, lest they risk a war with one of the only loyalist chapters who has the balls to give them the middle finger and say: "Fuck you, we do what we want".
That said, while Logan hates the Inquisition as a whole, he still gives individual Inquisitors a fair shake if they're willing to prove themselves, which we see in the second book in Ragnar Blackmane's series of novels..
On the Tabletop
7th Edition:
| Pts | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Grimnar: | 250 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 2+/4++ |
Logan is a 250 point melee powerhouse, relegated to the obligatory 200+ point LOW character as all the big three are. As far as rules go Logan has ATSKNF and Acute Senses, like all wolves, plus Eternal Warrior, Counterattack, Stubborn and Independent Character. His warlord trait is Saga of Majesty allows wolves within 12" of him to reroll pinning and morale traits. Gear wise he's got terminator armor, a storm bolter, and a belt of russ (4++ invuln save). His Axe of Morkai has two profiles, Str+2 AP3 and StrX2 AP2 with 2handed and unwieldy. He can also ride on his wolf-drawn chariot Stormrider. Stormrider is all around armor 12 with 3HP, 12" movement and a 4++ invuln. The wolves pulling Stormrider add an additional Str5 AP- Rending attacks at initiative 5 (note that RAW those attacks come from Logan himself not Stormrider). He'll blow through anything short of a superheavy in a turn or two, except for this motherfucker . The main thing to keep in mind is his price. You have to be selective. If you spend two or three turns stuck in combat because you put him against a blob you just dramatically decreased your odds of making his points back. Not actually too much to say about him. Take his sleigh or stick him in a group of termies. He won't disappoint.
8th Edition:
| Pts | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | A | Ld | Sv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Grimnar: | 190 | 5 | 2+ | 2+ | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 2+/4++ |
Now Logan costs 190 points. He is not LOW anymore, taking his deserved place near other HQ. His Axe still has 2 profiles: One-handed - S +2, AP -3, DMG D3; Two-handed - S x2, AP -3, DMG 3 (-1 to hit roll, though). He got special rules too, first - Chapter Master: re-roll failed hit rolls for friendly SPACE WOLVES within 6" of him (NICE!), second - High King of Fenris: ALL Wolf Guard do not need to tale Morale tests (at all, meaning they are technically fearless). Gear wise he still has a Storm Bolter (Rapid Fire 2 now), and the option to take STORMRIDER (yeah!) This makes him a VEHICLE now, with the same combat stats stats but Movement 10/7/4, a Toughness of 6, 12 wounds and a regular 3+ save to reflect his unarmored thunderwolves. However, they let him re-roll charges on the sled and also get 6/5/4 S5 AP-1 D1 hits after his attacks have been resolved. He still needs to be tested, but now he looks a lot more useful and cheaper than before. It is probably still better to take him on foot, as all models with 10+ wounds can be picked as a target even in a mass of bodies. That being said, his speed and abilities synergize very well with thunderwolf cavalry, and his 4++ makes him surprisingly resilient against lascannons. Add an Ironpriest on thunderwolf to the mix, and you can repair Stormrider on the run. An expensive little blob, but hits hard enough to bring down small titans!
Logan Grimnar gets a talking to
"Brothers, brothers, let us call the grand convocation of chapter masters to order."
Slowly hush descended as various post human supermen put down glasses of wine or forkfuls of food, all save for Pedro Kantor and Helbrecht who were eating large spoonfuls of chocolate pudding whilst staring at Vladimir Pugh making loud mmmmmm noises. Pugh's face was growing redder by the second.
"Brothers, order please!" Dante of the Blood Angels slammed a fist on the lectern.
"I have called this conference to discuss a very pressing problem, I speak of course of the wolf issue."
Angry muttering filled the room, the Space Wolves new armoury had caused consternation in the fellow astartes chapters.
"Logan Grimnar, you and I have known each other for hundreds of years, we have fought by each other's side more times than I can remember so as a friend I have brought you here to tell you that this shit has to stop. We could cope with the Wolf Guard, fuck it we could even deal with everything being called wolf but this." A picture of the the wolf sled appeared on the holo projector "This has to stop friend."
"Hypocrite!" bellowed a Space Wolf. "Don't think we've forgotten about deep striking land raiders, or the obsession with blood."
"At least they're not furries!" a voice yelled and was met by a cheer.
Now it was Grimnar's turn to stand.
"Hunting Fenrisian wolves is part of our culture, we have a right to take trophies."
"So do we," rumbled Tu'shan of the Salamanders, "but you don't see us with ears and tail." He gave a worried look at his Firedrakes as they were each covered with horns and scales and made a mental note to have a chat with them back on Nocturne.
"Logan we do not wish to insult you but we just wanted to show you how far-"
"You have come to being a total faggot!" yelled Gabriel Seth who threw a bread roll for added emphasis.
Logan gave a sigh as the roll stuck to the wolf pelt on his armor.
"Brothers, surely you can forgive a first founding chapter their..." he glanced at the wolf swords of his Wolf Guard "their little eccentricities, have we not done much for the cause of the Imperium. By our actions, the Inquisition have been told to back off from interfering in the affairs of our chapters and by our blades have countless innocent lives been saved" (muttering greeted this statement as the definition of 'innocent' was one that was up for close debate amongst the various chapters). "We all after all have our iconography, the Dark Angels bolt stonework to everything, the Salamanders have their scales, we have our wolves I find it breathtaking" Logan's voice raised to a deafening yell "that other chapters would have the audacity to interfere-"
"You make us all look ridiculous!" yelled a Silver Skull.
The debate raged for two hours more until eventually the Great Wolf and his Wolf Guard were driven from the hall in a hail of bread rolls and catcalls.
Later Logan found himself trudging the deep passages of the Fang, lost in his own thoughts, he had exchanged his armour for the loose tunics the Wolves wore when not in battle and his footsteps echoed through the dimly lit corridors he passed Murderfang being wrestled into containment by a trio of Iron Priests.
"YIFF!" it screamed gnashing at the air "YIFF! YIFF! YIFF!" Logan winced and carried onward to an ornate vault which swung open at his touch.
"LOGAN!" a voice boomed from the darkness "What brings you here this night?"
In an jewel encrusted alcove stood the squat form of Bjorn the Fell Handed, the ancient dreadnought beckoned with a claw.
"Come Logan, sit and tell me what ails you boy."
Logan pulled a short three legged stool from a corner, noting the mating wolves carved on the top. The Great Wolf sank forward head in his hands.
"Where did it all go wrong Bjorn? We used to be feared and loved. Everyone wanted to be us. When the chapter walked and met it's fellows, they would respect us. Now they laugh."
There was a mechanical sigh from the sarcophagus.
"It's because we just aren't scary anymore son. We used to be gods, we were downright terrifying. Do you know why people used to join us back in the day?"
"For honour, for being selected to fight in the Allfather's crusade?
"WRONG" yelled Bjorn "It wasn't for honour. It wasn't to see the stars. Sure as shit wasn't to pansy around with the Allfather, it was for these reasons: drinking, fighting, bitches. Becoming an astartes gave you lots of all three. We were supermen for crying out loud, all young and fired up and ready to go. People were scared of us not because we loved death but because we LOVED LIFE, we loved BEING an astartes, we loved the blood and booze and the pillaging. We were raiders and reavers and lunatics. You," Bjorn pointed a claw at Logan "have lost sight of that. "We had enthusiasm."
"But what does this have to with the whole 'wolf thing'?"
"Because you think the wolf thing was what gave us identity, made us special but it wasn't. What made us special was that we were sweaty beardy angry savages with guns and gene implants. We wore the teeth and totems to remind us of home. Wolves didn't define us, they were a part of the rich primal heritage of Fenris, one symbol amongst many."
We Space Santa Now
It is told amongst children of the Imperium, that if you are a good non-heretical boy, and recite your psalms to the Emperor before bedtime, on one magical night of the Imperial calendar, a merry bearded astartes will bring gifts of wolves, mead, and the slaughter of heretics to your system. Of course, all the bad boys get melta bombs in their presents.
Logan-clause resides in the north pole of the Imperium, Fenris, working all year round in his workshop at the top of the Fang, with his band of merry elfstartes (you mean the 40k elves - Eldar?), artificing toys, and wolves and boltguns for all good children.