I've you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, it should be fairly obvious that I have a minor obsession with space marines. In addition to having painted 3 whole armies of space marines, I'm also in the planning stages for a 4th, and have painted models for all the other chapters I haven't even played. One of the nice things about having friends who play chapters I don't is that when the bug bites me to paint up a model or 3 of their chapter, they're more than willing to provide me with a fitting subject. That way I don't have to go spend money on a model I can't use in a game, and they more often than not get a free paint job. It's a nice arrangement to say the least.
Having 2 friends with Space Wolves means I've painted quite a few of the boys in blue/grey. Here are some examples of what's been done:
Ragnar Blackmane
The first Space Wolf I ever painted, Ragnar serves as a nice benchmark for how I am progressing and how the overall wolf aesthetic has progressed. I based the color scheme off the model shown in the old Space Wolf codex, when the boys were armored in the powdery blue instead of the harsher grey's of the modern space wolf codex. This is a reflection of GW's overarching revision of it's models and colors, a unified new vision of the 40k universe. Nowadays you will be hard pressed to find the bright, bold colors that defined warhammer for the 80's and most of the 90's. The new world of 40k is a darker, grittier, one, filled with metal, dirt, blood, and stone.
But as time has gone on, this guy maintains a sort of nostalgic tint for me. It's an archaic model with an old paintjob in an all but forgotten paint scheme. It's nice to see something so bright in today's game environment, and it always helps to look back at your old stuff to appreciate just how far you've come.
Land Raider
Speaking of progress, this bad boy is the latest and greatest wolf piece I've completed to date. The detail of the hull was the hardest to achieve, especially the celtic knot. I'll think twice before I make one of those things again. I painted this piece for a friend who plays one of the fire-happy space wolf great companies. So it made sense that his land raider would be a redeemer style build. I tried to work in some extra fire details and color suggestions here and there to really push the theme. The giant flame throwers on either side definitely helped with this as well.
For those of you who haven't or are considering building a land raider for your force, a word of advise: glue it shut. I know they give you detailed inside pieces and all the mechanisms to make a working front hatch. Just throw those extra inside pieces out and glue it all shut. You'll be glad you did if you ever see someone's land raider where he built a working hatch. The problem with plastic working parts is that eventually they wear down and become smooth with repeated use, and eventually offer no resistance at all. I can't count the number of land raiders I've seen where the doors won't stay closed. This not only impedes movement, it just looks bad, and if you're going to sink the time and money and points into such a gargantuan vehicle, you don't want it coming back to bite you. I know it seems counter intuitive, but ask any veteran player; glue is your friend when it comes to doors and hatches.
Lone Wolf
One of the new units the space wolves get is the lone wolf, a born troublemaker out to get himself killed in battle. After reading about them, I couldn't help but envision this as an ideal Ork unit, but then realized it would be extraordinarily redundant to refer to an Ork as suicidally violent.
The photograph doesn't quite show it, but this guy is a very very dark shade of blue. This is more along the lines of the new vision of 40k I was referring to earlier; dark and brutal. I wanted to give this guy more of a somber tone, given the nature of his unit and his personal mission. I like that GW chose not to issue specific models for these guys, leaving the vision up to the player. In my case, I definitely wanted to see a warrior out in the field, pausing only to take another shot to try and get the enemy's attention. The new sternguard models served as a great addition to several units, and this guy was no exception. I love this sculpt, and I would paint it again several times over.
Grey Hunters
Bits, bits, bits, bits, and more bits!
My god this box has a lot of bits. I thought I was inundated with bits when the Black Templar upgrade box came out; I had no idea what was coming. It's so extensive that it slowed me down for a while while I tried to figure out what to use and where. My only complaint about the box, for all the special options and weapons and bits and bobs, there weren't any melta guns included. Come on GW, you stuffed dozens of heads and helmets in there, leave room for at least one melta gun huh? I'm willing to bet the player base would be willing to sacrifice one or two of those zany haircuts for a bit they really need, especially in the armor-heavy 5th edition world.
Another note, although I was very happy with the way these guys turned out, if I was making an entire Space Wolf army I would be a little more vigilant in spreading the wealth so to speak. I feel like a single box of these bits would be enough to wolf-ify at least half an army. I think one of the problems in a hobby situation with too many options is you end up taking too many of them just to make up for the huge variety you have to pick from initially. Plus nothing will look special if you keep repeating your favorite helmet selection a dozen times over the course of the army. Plain old space marines can be okay. In fact, I feel they're entirely necessary to define what really shines out in the rest of the army. You need a visual base to work from, something I detailed in my previous post.
13th Company
These guys were a blast. I painted them back in the days before the 5th edition codex came out, when the 13th company was still a viable selection. They can still be run in a wolf army, they just need to be spread out a little. And as I was saying, having a few members of the 13th company popping up in your army here and there will add interest without distracting. The other nice thing about these guys is you can make them really distinct without having to resort to overused loyalist bits. A simple chaos shoulder pad and a different color scheme is all that is required and you're in business. GW did the smart thing by making the ranges physically compatible, opening up a variety of conversion options for those open minded enough to seek them out. Nothing is quite as easy as kitbashing when it comes to making a custom model, and nothing comes as close to an accurate interpretation of a characterful unit like the 13th company.
