For the longest time I've always considered the Space Wolves a Chapter many times greater than others. We know they only split once after the HH and that was it, we also know they didn't take the heavy losses other legions had, so it stands to reason they would have had the numbers. Several times, in codex's and other sources, the Space Wolves have been mentioned as being so large that the inquisition dared not enter their space.

The Badab war had 4 Chapters going rogue at one and that didn't seem to stop the empire from sending in forces. The current Space Wolf Codex, Warzone Fenris, and the Sanctus Reach Campaign all give some 'official' idea of what a Great Company is. The Warzone Fenris book states under "The Howl of Wolves" special rule "If a WolfClaw Strike Force includes two or more Greatpacks, or two or more of the same Legendary Greatpack, one including a Wolf Lord and the others including a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, then together they form a Great Company."

This passage says that a Great Company could comprise hundreds of Space Wolves each. In the Space Wolves Codex Ragnar Blackmane is listed as having 188 troops at the Battle for Alaric Prime. The Champions of Fenris Codex lists Logan Grimnar's force comprising of 200 Troops at the same battle. However in the 3rd book of he series, there's a sub-section called 'The Great Companies' that gives a short backstory on the Space Wolves, in there it says "The Forces that came to the aid of the defenders of Alaric Prime comprised elements from the Great Companies of Ragnar Blackmane, Krom Dragongaze and the current Great Wolf Himself,". What caught my eye was the "elements" part, this means that the listed forces are only a part of the overall Great Company. This suggests that the Great Companies of Logan and Ragnar easily 500+ marines if not far greater.

12 Companies at 200 marines is roughly 2 1/2 regular chapters, certainly nothing to scoff at, but certianly not a force so large as to keep the Inquisition at bay. However 12 Companies of 500 marines on average, and now you're talking about the strength of 6 full Chapters. This would be more in line with a force that could keep the Inquistion out of their space.


I've seen some debates that there is no way Fenris could support a population large enough to fill those needs, often citing the fact that the Ultramarines have problems keeping their ranks filled. However Ultramar has 3 things working against it that Fenris does not. 1: It's still in recovery from massive Tyranid invasions, this means that a vast number of young fighting age men we killed or maimed. 2: Ultramar is a 'High Society' type planet, which often means lower birth rates. 3: The Ultramarines (like most chapters) draw their recruits from the best their society produces. The Space Wolves do not have these issues, as a society that is less advanced, it most likely has a much higher birth rate. This fact is something very common here on earth, the less developed a society is, the higher it's birth rate (gotta fill that free time with something). But there's also the fact that the Space Wolves don't draw their recruits from the living, thus recruitment does not diminish the breeding stock.

All this being said, I don't see it being unreasonable to see a Great Company 400-600 marines strong