Space Wolves Escalation Force Update (October)

We're nearing the end of October, so I wanted to sneak in a force update post for the month.  The escalation league itself is dead, as they are wont to do, but I'm pushing ahead on my goal.  Still not sure if I'll push for 3000 points for the Narrative track, or 2000 for the GT for 2013 WGC.  The GT is obviously easier, but I do always have a lot of fun at the Narrative, and get to hang out with the same group of cool people the whole weekend.

My goals for October didn't quite pan out;  I had planned to add a 500 point section to my force, but barring a last minute push to finish my bastion, I'm going to be adding a total of 345 points.  I had to go back and retrofit some models, adding a lascannon to my older dreadnought, as well as doing a bit of work to bring his look into line with the rest of my force.  I also spent some time turning my Wolf Lord's wolf claw into a power fist, something that I've been needing to do since 6th edition came out.

For actual units, I was at least able to get the four Long Fangs from my current series of tutorials painted up, so there's that.

I'm still happy with my progress;  I've got a 1250 point tournament coming up on Nov. 4, and for the first time since I started playing 40k in the mid 90's, I'll actually be playing with a fully painted (by me) army.  It's small (at 19 models), but potent.  If I am able to crank out another dreadnought lascannon arm and paint my bastion, I'll be shifting Bjorn down to a regular dread, and picking up the bastion for the tournament.

Well, that's it for me!  November should be a good month here at the blog;  I'll be finishing up the Long Fang tutorial, as well as showing the final results for my bastion and of course an army update toward the end of the month.  Plus you'll start to see some WIPs from me on my projects for the 2013 painting competition scene.  I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.  For my part, I'll be binging on store-bought candy and watching old slasher flicks!

Brandon

Space Wolves Escalation Force (or how I finally got my army painted)

With 6th edition in full swing, my local group has an escalation league starting on August 1st, and running for 3 months.  The guy running it is working on missions for the campaign, as well as a map of the Austin area, modified to be more "grimdark" of course. ;)


Being that I'm such a slow painter, the wolves will be a good fit for me, as I already have a few expensive HQ's painted up, so the force will be focusing on a tactic I'm enjoying right now, that of putting multiple hard-hitting characters on the board, and using them to eliminate enemy leadership quickly and efficiently.  The downside is that at 1500 points (the final value in the last month of the escalation) my army will total 28 models, 11 of which are Imperial Guard infantry.


The first 500 points (my force for the month of August) is a pretty simple 8 models, but still manages to hit pretty hard.  


Thunderwolf Lord w/ Runic Armor, Storm Shield, Wolf Claw, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman - This guy packs a decent punch, and will spell death for most characters or units I see at the 500 point level.





Rune Priest w/ stock gear, 1 Divination power & 1 Biomancy power - Used mostly as a support character, he beefs up my Grey Hunters' leadership, as well as augmenting their firepower, or the resilience of one my units.  That's the hope anyway; the warp is a fickle benefactor at the best of times. ;)

1 Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ Stormshield - My Wolf Lord's trusty bodyguard, or is it the other way around?  The save afforded by Runic Armor often sees my lord leading from the front, as my narrative supports.









5 Grey Hunters w/ a Plasma Gun & Mark of the Wolven - five of the Great Company's finest, given the honor of making initial planetfall with Bran Solfang himself.


While I have the 2 HQ units painted already, I'm still finishing up the Grey Hunters and the TWC, so look for finished photos of those in the near future, as well as updates on the course of the war effort!

Wolf Lord Completed

Well, mostly.  I took pictures of him, only to discover after the fact, I had forgotten to paint part of him in my haste to get him done for a painting competition.  Go figure.  I guess that's why I need to not try to paint my entry a week before...  I have since gone back and painted the offending part!

http://www.coolminiornot.com/308607 for all my voters out there!

Wolf Lord WIP II

Well it's update time.  I've been pushing hard to get this model out of the gate.  WargamesCon starts (for me) on Friday, and the painting competition is Saturday.  These photos are a couple days old and I'm much further along at this point, so I don't think time will be an issue.  I am woefully behind on projects in general, including two other models that were supposed to be done for WGC, but I suppose as long as I stay diligent and tackle it one thing at a time, I'll catch up eventually, right? :) 


Photos!  The wolf is done, aside from the addition of some snow in the fur.  I wanted to play up the whole "sunwolf" thing with my Wolflord, so I wanted a vibrant yellow wolf, without taking him too far into "Imperial Fists" territory.  At this stage I had finished the armor, including freehand, and worked in the base for the paint chipping.  I also did the basecoat and first wash for the bronze and the soft joints/cables.  He normally wears runic armor, so I wanted to stack as much knotwork and the like on him as possible, without making it look too busy.  Finished pics will come soon!

Wolf Lord WIP

Hello, the Internet!


Wow it's been crazy times, and I have not been able to get in the hobby time to warrant a post lately. Life and a sudden move really took me out of the game, but things are starting to ease up a little bit.  I was finally able to really get going on a competition piece for WargamesCon, coming up in a few short days;  hopefully I'll be able to finish in time!


Though it's not as ambitious as my original plans for this year's painting competitions, it fits nicely in my army, and will go well to start me on our LGS's 6th edition Escalation League starting up in a few weeks.

Puppy Love

My other Thunder Wolf has Preferred
 Enemy against Monstrous Creatures.

It's been a crazy month, and I wasn't able to get my regular blog posts in, but I'm back now!  As a devoted Space Wolf player, it was only a matter of time before the new Thunder Wolves ended up at my work desk.  Initially I bought one box, thinking I'd build a small unit and repurpose all the bits elsewhere, but I was left wanting more.  In the end, I got two boxes - enough for a good sized unit and a pair of Wolf Lords, one of which will eventually move over to lead a large pack of Fenrisian Wolves.


The kit goes together easy enough, though you'll want to pay attention to the instructions, as  the saddle pieces and the wolves themselves are pretty particular.  Take a little time with some liquid greenstuff (a step I haven't quite gotten to) to clean up the join lines on the wolves.

The first three wolves I did were built straight out of the box, but I wanted to make the second box look a bit different, so I deviated from the instructions.  They went together well enough, but will need some fur sculpted on in some places before I can get them painted.  

All the marines benefited from my extensive bits box, to tie them in with the look of the rest of my force, and a couple have magnets for changing some of the special weaponry.  I also wanted to have one carry the company banner, since the Wolf Lord rides with them, which will give me a good opportunity for freehanding later on, as the unit will be a centerpiece for the army... or at least draw a lot of attention/fire.


Most of the kitbashing is done at this point, but I'm still left with some greenstuffing to do before I can prime, particularly on the Lord with the Frost Axe.  I've also got to pick up some nid parts in trade this weekend to put on the bases, and then I'll get into the paint.


You'll be seeing more of these guys soon, as I track my progress on the unit.