Post delayed

My schedule this weekend and tomorrow hasn't really left a lot of time for modelling. I'll see if I manage an extra post some point during next week.

VI Legion Warrior

I recently made some acquisitions that are going to make an appearance on this blog soon-ish. Not today, though, today I'll just keep slowly building up my 30k Space Wolves.

I wanted to keep the miniature simple this time, so I just put together a Mk.III Marine with a bionically enhanced head from Forgeworld's Space Marine Character kit, gave him a pistol and a combat blade and added some cork to the base.
I thought the model would represent a veteran of the Rout from the pre-Fenrisian era. While many of the long serving members of the Legion would have completely embraced Leman Russ' reforms to remake the Legion in a more Fenrisian image, and would have had their experience used to the fullest by becoming officers, not everyone would transition seamlessly from the undisciplined berserkers of the past to the more controlled savagery.
The model has no Fenrisian honour markings, and while he hasn't done anything particularly shameful, he's unlikely to become a hero of the Legion.

VI Legion Destroyer

I still haven't upgraded to the 8th edition of 40k, and am currently thinking of waiting for the Space Wolves codex to come out before I make the shift. In the meantime, I plan to continue to build my 30k army, which leads to a curious situation where I have no army ready for the current edition of either system. To this end, I'll continue to build my VI Legion, albeit with a unit that doesn't really help much.

In the Horus Heresy Book VII: Inferno, it was mentioned that Space Wolves often mixed & matched parts from Mk.IV and Mk.III to supplement the protection of the newer, lighter armour as needed. Since Mk.III Power Armour is known for its protective capabilities, and the Destroyers typically wear reinforced armour, I decided it made sense for a Destroyer to use a Mk.III helmet, exchanging the more sophisticated autosenses for thicker armour (particularly because a Space Wolf can just remove his helmet and use his acute senses if necessary).
I also added some battle damage to the armour, and used one of Forgeworld's Mk.II Space Wolves shoulder pads for the left pauldron.

Space Wolves Legion Huscarl, painted

Though bareheaded models are both cool and appropriate to the lore of the Space Wolves, I like the earlier marks of power armour helmets, particularly the marks IV and V, enough to sometimes prefer them to bareheaded models.

One of the advantages 30k Space Wolves have over their 40k counterparts is the focus on the Viking imagery over the constant wolfwolfwolf gimmick. To that end, I wanted to paint the plume on top of the model's helmet in a colour that makes clear it's not a wolf's tail, and red plumes had been shown in previous 30k Space Wolves artwork.

The frost claw was painted in the same way I use to paint my 40k Space Wolves frost weapons. I also painted the specific 13th Great Company icon on the left pauldron, instead of the generic Legion symbol.

Space Wolves Legion Destroyer with a Missile Launcher, painted

Destroyers were the first Horus Heresy unit type that really caught my interest, so it makes sense I would try to finish my Destroyer squad first. No model in the unit is as iconic as the one carrying the rad missiles, so this guy is a fairly high priority.

I prefer to use a fairly limited palette with my Space Wolves, with Mechanicus Standard Grey -> Dawnstone -> Administratum Grey for the armour, Leadbelcher and Runefang Steel for grey metals and Warplock Bronze -> Hashut Copper -> Sycorax Bronze for yellow metals. That way, when I venture outside these colours, it will pop out better, and the army will look more consistent.
With this model, the only dabs of colour were the red eye lenses and the dark red markings on the shoulder pads.

I realize I'm still a few posts behind my schedule, and I hope to catch up in the upcoming couple of weeks. Helmeted Space Wolves are fairly quick and easy to paint, especially the non-Destroyer ones that don't need all that much weathering.

Space Wolves Legion Destroyer, painted

The description of the Destroyers makes it clear that weathering would be more important to these models than to most. I didn't want to make the armours look neglected, especially since 30k-era Space Wolves wouldn't really consider Destroyers outsiders like some other legions would, but they would be constantly taking a lot of damage.

I wanted to make the model look like it had lost large parts of its upper body to friendly fire from a Phosphex grenade, to complement the bionic left arm. I considered using some soot to blacken parts of the armour as well, but decided against it, as it wouldn't really be visible against the already dark armour of the Space Wolves. I may revisit this with the Sergeant, since he's the one actually carrying the Phosphex grenades.

VI Legion Huscarl

I decided to keep building my 30k Space Wolves again. I had built a couple of troopers previously, and thought the squad could use a leader.

The model started out with just the Mk.IV torso with the cingulum militare. I was planning to just add Mk IV limbs to it, but ultimately found that the Mk III just worked better.
I have always liked the look of the older lightning claws (or frost claws, as is the case here), and with the pointing finger, it seemed like a natural choice for a squad leader. I finished the model with a banner pole from a 40k Space Wolves kit, as well as a piece of fur on the right shoulder pad and a crest on the model's helmet.