Changing update schedule

First of all, I will not be posting an update tonight. Second, in the future, I will not be following a weekly schedule, but rather, intend to make posts when I can find the time and the subject matter for them. While they may still be approximately weekly, I suspect they will not, and I don't intend to aim for that.
The reason for this is simply my job. I work a lot of evenings, and will have more hours in the future (which means more money in my pocket, but less time to spend it), and keeping a regular update schedule with irregular working hours doesn't really work.

No update today

As the title says, I'm skipping this week's update. I'm still working on the two previous one. Having a job with irregular hours makes running this blog somewhat tricky, and I may have to further cut my update schedule down to every two weeks, or possibly just make it monthly, and try to make those updates count.

Space Wolves Heavy Support Legionnaire

Although they may not be all that great in terms of rules, I like the style and idea behind large-bore full automatic weapons of 40k, such as autocannons in this case. Same goes for assault cannons and, to some degree, heavy bolters.

Pictures up tomorrow.

Grey Slayer, painted

Pictures up soon

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.

VI Legion Trooper

I know I still haven't uploaded photos of my last week's model, but the problem is that the model's chainfist fell off and got lost. I plan to keep looking, but if I can't find it, I'll just take a photo of an incomplete model and add another if I ever do find the missing weapon.

This time, I wanted to go back to the rank and file troops of the Vlka Fenryka. I had previously made one Grey Slayer model, and that one was wearing Mk.III armour. This time, I wanted the model to have mostly Mk.IV Maximus armour, partially because I really like its sleek look.

Most of the model's armour came from the Betrayal at Calth set. I exchanged the arms for Mk.III models from the Burning of Prospero set, because I didn't have Mk.IV arms posed the way I wanted. Having more protected arms does make martial sense, because in a swordfight, the fighters hands are the most extended and therefore the most vulnerable target much of the time.
I used one of Forgeworld's Space Wolves torsos, mostly because I could, and covered the right shoulder pad largely with fur, because I don't have as clear an idea how 30k Space Wolves Legion shoulder pad heraldry goes as I do with 40k Space Wolves Chapter.

I may decide to paint this model for next week's update, just to get back to the swing of things.

VI Legion Centurion in Cataphract Armour, painted

Considering Leman Russ' points value is just under 500 points, IIRC, I need to have at least two HQ units to ever field him. Also, 30k Space Wolves need an HQ unit for every 1000 points, so having a wide variety to choose from is always a plus. Of course, having one HQ unit is the first step of having several, so here is the first one.

Pictures up tomorrow.

VI Legion Destroyer with a Missile Launcher

I haven't gotten around to buying the 8th edition Warhammer 40k box set, so there will be no Primaris Space Wolves to be expected any time soon. Instead, I'm going to keep my focus on 30k, largely because 30k Space Wolves haven't jumped the wol... shark the way 40k Space Wolves have. Of course, self parody is an important part of 40k, and 30k takes itself possibly a little too seriously, so I expect I'll get to it sooner or later.

The main point of Legion Destroyers, along with phosphex grenades, is probably the Missile Launcher with rad missiles. Therefore, the squad wouldn't be complete without one, even if it does look more like a grenade launcher than a missile launcher to me, at least.

I decided I wanted my missile launcer legionary to have a solid stance, so I took one of the Destroyer bodies with widely spaced feet and shaved off the empty holsters, then replacing one of them with a chainsword and the other with a holstered bolt pistol. Other than those modifications, I mostly went with a fairly standard Destroyer set up, just replacing the backpack with a plastic one, adding decoration from the 40k Wulfen frame to the Missile Launcer and sculpting some decorative elements to the helmet.

Update postponed

Once again, I had work until late tonight, so I'll have to do an update later. This time, however, I expect to be able to show something fairly soon.

Mk.IV Vlka Fenryka Destroyer

As the Legion who was always willing to do whatever the Allfather needed done, the Space Wolves Legion had few scruples when it came to using Destroyer corps. This was brought to a sharp focus during the Prospero campaign, when Leman Russ had already decided to wipe out the planet, having been manipulated by the Primordial Annihilator.

 I wanted to make the model look battle-worn, chipping and drilling small holes to the surface of the armour. I also exchanged the model's left hand for a bionic one, and sculpted a head with heavy scarring on the left side. I imagine the warrior had taken friendly fire from a Phosphex grenade during an earlier battle.

I repositioned the legs slightly by heating them in hot water and raised one foot. This foot rests on pieces of cork I glued to the base, a technique I keep using fairly often because it works.

I still have two updates to catch up, but considering I have reasonably lots of projects in the works, that should happen soon-ish.

Another update postponed

I'm aware I still haven't done my previous postponed update, but here I go again. On the plus side, I expect I'll be able to catch up at the end of this week.

Update postponed

Again, I had a late shift at work today and will have an early one tomorrow, so I'll have to get some sleep. I may have to rethink the whole regular update schedule thing at some point, since my job is anything but regular.

VI Legion Centurion in Cataphracti Armour

So I entirely forgot to post the picture for last week's model (will be corrected shortly). Apparently, my Horus Heresy army isn't off to a great start. Onwards and upwards, however. The Betrayal at Calth set comes with two character models, which at first don't really seem very space wolf-y, but I decided to go for it and make them into VI Legion models. I started with the Terminator Captain.

 One of the simplest and possibly most effective things I could think of to make the model look more like a part of the Rout, was adding a wolf skull to the model. I also glued one of the rondels from the Wulfen set to the gorget and added some green stuff to make it an amulet.

Having just plain capes doesn't really fit the Space Wolves style, but I decided to add a pelt to the mix. Originally, I was thinking of just adding some fur lining, but decided ultimately to add a head and paws to the mix.

The model may go through some more minor modifications before painting, but I mostly, I think it's ready. It remains to be seen if this will be painted by next Sunday.

Space Wolves Legionary, painted

Because 8th edition of 40k will be released soon, I'm probably not going to do any major additions to my 40k armies in the near future, but will focus on 30k instead, as ForgeWorld has stated that Horus Heresy will continue to use 7th edition rules. I alreeady have the Primarch, and the Fenrisian Wolves can be used for either time period. That just leaves everything else, ie. almost the entirety of VI Legion, a much larger fighting force than Space Wolves the chapter.

I wanted to link my 30k and 40k Space Wolves, and the way to do this were the Wulfen. I had previously painted the 13th Great Company badge on my Wulfen shoulder pads, so to tie them in with the 30k army, all I had to do was to have at least some of my models carry the same emblem.

The part I most like about 30k Space Wolves is their dark colour scheme. To that end, I painted the model's armour in Mechanicus Standard Grey, washed it with Nuln Oil and lightly drybrushed with Dawnstone, finally adding a few highlights in Administratum Grey. I also kept the bronze parts of the armour relatively dark.