Long Fang

A Long Fang is a senior Veteran warrior of the Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter who serves as a heavy weapons specialist. Hoary with age, proud and wise, they are quite literally endowed with long fangs, for as a Space Wolf ages his canines lengthen and his hair grows coarse and grey. After centuries of long wars, their esteem within the Chapter stands as a mountain, commanding awe and respect from those of lesser years.

There are relatively few Long Fangs within the Chapter, for so many warriors die in battle that only a minority survive to reach a venerable age. Their life sagas are almost complete. These Veteran warriors are disciplined and steady in the heat of battle, and are entrusted with the use of the Great Company’s heavy weapons.

Long Fangs are the Space Wolves' equivalent of a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter's Devastator Marines. Having fought and survived so many battles, the Long Fangs are rarely unsettled even by the most serious set-back. There are many accounts within the Chapter's history of stalwart Long Fangs who have held the field against overwhelming odds, even after all others have fled or been slain.

History[]

Long Fang2 — A Long Fang in the heat of battle

There are those warriors within the ranks of the Space Wolves that are canny enough to survive for Terran centuries serving in the name of the Allfather. Filled with legendary bloody deeds, their individual sagas are quite long, for each Veteran warrior has earned wisdom and insight from innumerable battlefields across the width and breadth of the galaxy and has emerged victorious from bitter wars fought in both the material universe and the Empyrean. The collective skills of such venerable warriors are too valuable to throw away upon a blood-soaked assault or a desperate quest for vengeance.

These Veteran Space Wolves are formed into Packs of Long Fangs. Steady of hand and temperament, they are entrusted not only with the protection of their brethren but also the heaviest of weaponry used by the Sons of Russ. It is said that the Long Fangs know the soul of every weapon within the Armouries of the Iron Priests, and take every opportunity to prove it on the field of battle.

These dour and grizzled warriors have survived long enough for the genetic inheritance of the Canis Helix sequence within the gene-seed of their Primarch Leman Russ to manifest fully, as they are literally endowed with long fangs. As a Space Wolf continues to age, their canines lengthen into wolf-like fangs and their hair and beard grows thick and grey. They once hungered for honour just like their brethren when they were younger warriors, eager to earn a place within the Chapter's sagas. Yet the hot steel of youth has been tempered by honour and pragmatism, leaving Veteran warriors as finely balanced as the keenest blade.

Long Fangs Sgt by skor2d — A Long Fang Veteran armed with a Heavy Bolter

Over time, most Blood Claws and Grey Hunters die in battle, and only a small minority survive to reach a venerable age, but those that do are amongst the most redoubtable warriors in the galaxy. Having fought in the most nightmarish conditions the galaxy has to offer, Long Fangs remain implacably composed in the heat of battle. Their former Packs, whittled down to but a handful of Veterans, know one another so well that they fight as one, often casually conversing with one another or calmly placing bets as they mow the enemy down with devastating salvos of overwhelming firepower.

The Long Fangs' solid and reliable demeanour is precisely why Long Fangs excel in the role of a fire support unit. In battle, the oldest Long Fang of the Pack is entrusted with selecting enemy targets and directs his brethren's fire where it will be most effective. These Squad Leaders are able to anticipate the flow and ebb of battle with uncanny prescience. This enables their men to function more efficiently than most conventional Astartes Devastator Squads.

Wargear[]

Power Armour
Heavy Weapon, choice of Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher, Multi-Melta, Plasma Cannon, or Lascannon
Close Combat Weapon, choice of Plasma Pistol, Plasma Gun, Power Weapon, Power Fist, Flamer, or Melta Gun
Bolt Pistol
Frag Grenades
Krak Grenades

Long Fangs Pack Markings[]

Long Fang Packs display their Pack markings in a startling black and white colour scheme, displaying the Pack markings they have worn since their youth as Blood Claws, through their time as Grey Hunters and now as true Veterans of the Chapter.

Long Fangs often hang trophies and honours from their belts and paint various wolf symbols and other Fenrisian runic designs on their weapons.

Notable Long Fangs[]

Old Brother Hrolf (Long Fang Pack Leader) - Senior Pack Leader of Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company.

Sources[]

Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pp. 28, 92
Codex: Space Wolves (3rd Edition), pg. 12
Codex: Space Wolves (2nd Edition), pp. 13, 33, 45
Horus Heresy: Collected Visions (Background Book)
Index Astartes II, "Wolves of Fenris - The Space Wolves Space Marine Chapter"
White Dwarf 259 (AUS), "Index Astartes – The Space Wolves"
White Dwarf 258 (US), "Index Astartes First Founding: Wolves of Fenris"
White Dwarf 244 (US), "Codex Space Wolves", "Sons of Russ - Codex Space Wolves," "Super-Interchangeable Space Wolves," and "The Battle of The Fang", pp. 7-19
Sons of Fenris (Novel) by Lee Lightner