A Giant Wolf as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.
A Giant Wolf is a member of an extremely cunning species of savagely fierce, cruel, and violent pack animals that are infamous for their unnaturally large size as well as for roaming within large tracts of wilderness across the Known World.
Giant Wolves often form a partnership with Goblins and Hobgoblins who use them as mounts. In turn, the bonded pair may serve among the armies of the Greenskins as the cavalry unit called Wolf Riders.
Role
Goblins riding upon their Giant Wolf mounts as Wolf Riders.
In times long past, these predatory pack animals were so vast and dangerous that when the first Men came into the lands of the Old World, the Giant Wolves prowled the wilderness almost unchecked, slaughtering whole villages and delaying Mankind's progression for nearly a millennium. Even to this day, Giant Wolf packs are still a belligerent threat to outlying villages that stray too close to the untamed wilderness beyond the reach of Human civilisation.
As their name suggest, Giant Wolves have been known to grow to an unnaturally large size, with some growing larger than even a pony but rarely reaching the size of a horse. When hunting, these Giant Wolves have adapted to become skilled, cunning and patient hunters who naturally hunt in large packs, encircle their intended prey and when the timing is right, pounce from all directions. Using their overwhelming numbers, Giant Wolves target the weakest point of their victims' defences or prey upon the most helpless animal within the group.
As a result of their mutual instinct to target the weak and helpless through the use of tactics such as overwhelming force and encirclement, there has always existed a strong bond and a deep respect between Goblins and Giant Wolves. Goblins ride on Giant Wolves in the same way that the members of the other mortal races ride upon horses, a symbiosis that eventually led to the creation of the Goblin Wolf Rider mobs that have been known to plague the open plains of the Badlands and the Eastern Steppes.
The alliance between the Giant Wolf and Goblin is nevertheless a very tenuous one, for their loyalty to each other is largely the result of an alliance derived from mutual gain. In this exchange, the Goblin is rewarded with a fast and agile mount while the Giant Wolf is usually rewarded with a regular supply of food. If either of member of the partnership thinks the exchange is not worth it, they will have no problem fleeing the field of battle and leaving their partner to their fate.