Making Progress: Space Wolves

I'm at work and I'm bored, so I'll slip in a quick update. I've been working on my Space Wolves and I've finished painting my first Grey Hunter pack, except for the decals. I'm going with Harald Deathwolf, as this wolf lord is featured in March's White Dwarf and the new Wolf Lord seems to be designed with him in mind. I also converted and painted up a power armoured Rune Priest. Next up is the second Grey Hunter pack, which I already started.

Some thoughts on the next additions will be Fenrisian Wolves, a Predator and maybe some Wolf Guard OR Dreadnought. Like I said, I'm at work and don't have any pictures, but I did get a shiney new camera that I'm learning to use, so I'll try getting some pics and video of them up over the weekend.

New White Dwarf and Teeny Space Wolf Update

Got my new White Dwarf yesterday and it has the latest Space Wolf releases along with some background. I also ordered some Fenrisian Wolves while I was in the store. Hoping to get them this weekend.

In all of the new Space Wolf excitement, I have been able to actually start a Space Wolf project. I began with a small 500-point force, a Rune Priest HQ and two Grey Hunter packs. The first pack is assembled with 7 of 10 models painted. The Rune Priest and second pack are assembled and waiting to get primed. As I work on the force, I'd like to take them out for a test drive to get the feel for the mechanics and how the army plays, but it's difficult to find anyone who wants to play such a small game. My only option is to take them through their paces on my dining room table in a solo machine against the Black Reach orks, painting them as I go.

Once all of these models are painted, I'll plan my next 500 points, which will, as I mentioned above include some Fenrisian Wolves and maybe a box of Thunder Wolf cavalry as well as another Grey Hunter Pack or Long Fangs. Although, a tank or two might help. Ugh, decisions, decisions.

You Know What This Means.....

Once again, another project is fizzled and died. This knee injury and the crutches that go with it, are another pesky distraction that diverts my attention away from hobbying and gaming. Now being laid up, you might think, would have the opposite effect, but I'm getting more and more restless as time passes. BUT...maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A relative came by the other day and took me out to my local GW store and I picked up Imperial Armour 11: The Doom of Mymeara, which features the Eldar and Space Wolves. Of course, this inspires me to hobble downstairs and rummage through my 40k stuff to see what I have in the way of the Sons of Russ. I found a few models, and I got myself all setup (that was a project in itself) and did a little painting.

Well, what do I see yesterday, but the new Space Wolf models that are due out soon. By the Beard of Russ, they are awesome! So, guess what? It's Space Wolf time again. Time for some Thunder Wolves and Fenrisian Wolves, and Arac Rockfist. Oh yeah!!!!

Time of the Wolf

It seems I accidentally deleted a recent post. Over the weekend, I had decided that it was time to take that 'new outlook' philosophy and apply it to a new 40k army. So I pulled out my Space Wolf codex yesterday and started reading. I've talked about doing this army in the past, but I never seemed to get it off the ground. Well, that all changes now. With Halloween coming and all, I figured why not start the wolves. So I'm starting with a Grey Hunters box and a SW Accessory sprue. I sat down tonight with my modeling tools and glue, popped in Underworld and got to work.

As of now, I've got 10 models half assembled. I'm waiting for the glue to dry before I begin attaching arms and such, but I'll get back at it tomorrow. I think I'm going to go squad by squad on this army. I'll start with Bran Redmaw's Great Company (which will be featured in the new Imperial Armour book and will also have a Bran Redmaw mini from FW - go figure). I may hunt down a Wulfen or two, but we'll see. They seem pretty expensive.

40k Book Review - Victories of the Space Marines

I just finished reading Victories of the Space Marines, the latest edition in the series of short story anthologies from Black Library. I really enjoyed this third volume. Some of the tales featured a great piece about the Grey Knights and sacrifices made to battle daemons. Excellent story. Loved it. It was also good to see the Blood Angels audio drama, Heart of Rage in print. That one's my favorite Blood Angels story. Some of the chapters features were the Crimson Consuls, Warbringers, Imperial Fists and a Deathwatch Kill Team. I finished this book just in time to pick up the latest Space Marines Battle novel, Battle of the Fang. Of course, this will probably launch me back into Space Wolves (yes, I've prepared a 750-point list). With the rumors about the next Imperial Armour volume featuring the sons of Russ, I couldn't resist.

On the hobby front, I got three of my Grey Knight Strike Squad painted today. I mean completely painted. That includes basing and a couple of coats of sealer. I can't remember the last time I painted three models in a single day.

Tomorrow, I'm playing a game of Warhammer Fantasy against my buddy Jon. 1500 points of High Elves against Warriors of Chaos. I'm guessing I'll get stomped, but it'll be a fun time in any case.

20-second Hobby Update

My Crimson Fists came in the mail and they look great. I even took a day or so to build another Tactical Squad for that army. I also finished another Grey Hunters Pack for my Space Wolves army. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. I'm thinking of bribing my wife, sister and brother-in-law into giving the game a try. My sister is always begging us to come over for game night. I just might use this as leverage. I primed up a unit of High Elf Archers for my fantasy army and am nearly finished assembling a unit of Silver Helms. Finally, I also started a Galadhrim LoTR force as well, so those models are on the table. Anyway, that's it for now. Man, too much work and not enough hours in a day.

New Audio book from Black Library

Last week, I picked up the new audio book from Black Library, Thunder from Fenris by Nick Kyme. In short, I loved it. A great Space Wolf short story. The story focuses on the Thunder Wolf cavalry and their hunt for a battle brother who has succumbed to the Curse of the Wulfen.

It's also works great as a motivational tool when building or painting space wolves.

Space Wolf Update #4

I've made a couple of alterations on the list, deciding to drop the Lone Wolf in place of a Dreadnought, deciding (for this phase to drop the Vindicator), and go with a 5 WG in Terminator armour instead of 4 and expanding the Blood Claws to 10 instead of 9.

The main reason that I've dropped the Vindicator for the time being is that nearly every Space Wolf item from FW is backordered, and I wanted the Rhino doors for the tanks (let me know if anyone out there wants to unload any FW Space Wolf stuff - it would be faster than FW).

Anyway, I finished the two Grey Hunters packs, my Blood Claws, Njal, the Rhino and the Dreadnought. I only have the Long Fangs, Wolf Guard and Swift Claws to go. I'm working on painting a test model right now. My first go around will be to use White Primer, and maybe a 50/50 mix of Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey as a basecoat and then go from there. I'm curious as to what everyone else is doing.

Space Wolf Update #3

So the work continues on my Space Wolves and I'm still having a blast assembling every model. Sound wierd, I know. But to help with my inspiration, I surf the web daily looking for new ideas for different poses and conversions. Thanks to all of those gamers out there that post your work. It truly helps - but that's what this community is all about.

I ordered a few accessories from FW, but it's been three weeks. A prompt reply from their support staff explained that due to the Space Wolves release, they are quickly running out of SW stock. I ordered a set of Land Raider Doors and a set of Brass Etched symbols. I've seen those used to 'wolf up' many a generic models.

Another Space Wolf Update

I finished building the first Grey Hunters Pack, Njal and the Rhino. For the Grey Hunters I was able to mix generic SM bits along with the new SW stuff with surprising ease. I know GW keeps saying that and so are many of the folks out there building space wolves as well. But experience has taught me is that I’ve got to see it to believe it. Some of the torso or belt bits on the new sprues are awesome and can really dress up a standard SM. I’ll have to post some pics of that experiment. But anyway, back on topic. I was also very successful in giving each model its own look and that’s just at the assembly level. There will of course be more opportunities once the models go under the brush, so I’m looking forward (for once) to actually painting them. I’m already well on my way through the second Grey Hunters Pack.

For the Rhino – again for the first time in a long while, I actually had fun building that too. I have found that I’m starting to look forward to the challenge of making every model unique. I did a couple of things differently than I normally do this time around. I decided to use the ‘gunner-required’ stormbolter instead of the shorter ‘automated’ version. I was going to actually add a gunner, but the hatch cover in the open position would not work. I also angled the smoke launchers to the side just a bit. Nothing major but again, I was looking to change things up a tad. Finally, I added some Space Wolf and fantasy Dwarf bits to make it look a lit more SW-like.

Space Wolf - 1500 WiP List

I'm working on putting an army list together, so this is very much a work in progress. The list is more based on the models that I currently have on hand more than anything else. I'll add/expand units as models become available. It's also a modified version of Phil Kelly's list over at GW.

Njal Stormcaller w/ runic Terminator Armour

Lone Wolf in Terminator armour and twin Wolf Claws

Wolf Guard Pack

WG in Terminator armour and twin Wolf Claws

WG in Terminator armour, with assault cannon and chainfist

WG in Terminator armour with Thunder hammer and Storm shield

WG in Terminator armour with Powerfist and stormbolter

WG in power armour with Thunder hammer

8 Grey Hunters with melta gun and plasma pistol

8 Grey Hunters with plasma gun, power fist, and Wolf Standard

9 Blood Claws with power weapon

3 Swiftclaw Bikers with melta gun and power fist

6 Long Fangs with 2 heavy bolters, 2 lascannons, and 1 missile launcher

1 Vindicator

1 Rhino (Blood Claws)

Total Points - 1485

Grey Hunter Elrik Bloodeye

I finally had a minute to sit down and actually mess around with the Wolf Pack kit. I can't get over how much stuff is in there! There are so many options, it's practically impossible to duplicate any single model. The only thing that I'm not happy with is how the backpacks are attached to the sprues - right on the exhaust nozzles. That makes for a trimming nightmare. I screwed up the first one, so I had to go with a plastic wolf's head backpack. I need to be careful on the next one.

Anyway, here's a shot of my first SW Grey Hunter. I present Wolf-Brother Elrik Bloodeye. Elrik has served in Lord Ragnar's Great Company for over five decades and has distinguished himself on the battlefield time and time again. Elrik lost his eye to battling Dark Eldar pirates in the Shadow Nebula (I totally made that up).

The new Space Wolf models are awesome and great fun to build. I only hope that my imagination can keep up with the army as it grows.

Space Wolves - Army List Question

I was working on my list and comparing it to the 2k list in the latest White Dwarf and noticed that the Grey Hunters pack has the wrong point total. At least according to the Codex if I read it right.

According to the GH entry in the Codex, if there are ten models in the pack, the unit made add another special weapon at no extra cost. That said, shouldn't the total point cost for the pack be reduced by 10 points? Just want to make sure that I have it right.

Wolves come to Chicago

I made my early morning trek out to the Bunker this morning. One of the staffers was in very early due to a Bloodbowl tournament, so he was kind enough to let me in to pick up the new Codex.

I headed home with a Codex, a box of Wolfguard Terminators and a Wolfpack kit, which was about all my budget can handle this week (damn mortgage!). I've spent most of my down time reading the background section of the codex today, but I did open the boxes to inspect the sprues and I've got to say, I'm going to have blast building these models. During the course of next week, I'll have a working army list and will begin building the models.

I did glance ahead at the list entries and couldn't find any upgrade for twin wolf claws, yet I've seen pictures of Wolf Guard with a pair. Do you have purchase two Wolf Claws individually?

Space Wolves - Getting Started

A couple of models arrived in the mail the other day, so I decided to get to work on them right away.

The Wolf Guard required a little bit of work to secure the model to the base. The blister includes a metal terrain base with Ork icons that the model would stand on. The model was cast with a peg under it's right foot which is supposed to fit into the hole drilled through the metal base. But the peg was no where near snug enough to support the weight of the model. So I removed the peg, drilled holes in the bottom of the foot and the base (which had glued to a standard infantry base) all the way through and used some brass rod to secure.

I also received Ulrik the Slayer in the maild, which a single piece assembly (except for the backpack). I glued him to the base and gave him a couple coats of primer. I didn't attach the back pack yet as it would make the wolf cape difficult if not impossible to paint.

New Space Wolves

I hate to say it, but this weekend the new Space Wolves are coming out and they are way too cool NOT to collect. I know that's not the first time that I've made that statement, but I've been wanting to start this army for a while now. I'm a big fan of Norse mythology and this Space Marine chapter is right up my alley. I grew up reading Thor and probably read Beowulf a half dozen times. And needless to say, the 13th Warrior and Pathfinder are two of my favorite films. So the way I see it, it's only right that I collect an army of these barbaric, but noble warriors.

What does that mean for my Crimson Fists? I'm not sure. I can't promise that I won't become disenchanted with the new Space Wolves eventually, but from what I've seen and read, they play quite differently from any other non-codex chapter. I like the sound of that. I've never played them before, so I don't have any comparison to make between the old and new. I'll have to play a couple of games and see how I like them. But I'm sure that I'm not the only gamer out there chompin' at the bit, despite the numerous projects sitting on his workbench. But anyway, keep checking back because I'll be throwing up some Vampire Counts and Space Wolves stuff over the next couple of weeks.

New Blog - Old Fang Keep

Hey all,

Check out this new blog:

http://oldfangkeep.blogspot.com