The Void Claws Formation

I have been meaning to do a post on a whole unit or formation for a while now, and thought today is the day. At first I intended to post about my Wulfen unit, but as it turns out, one of the models had lost his backpack and I have no idea where it could have gone and will probably end up just making another one to replace it. So, an older unit it is, and a formation to boot.

 The Void Claws are a unit of Wolf Guard Terminators, who, unusually for Space Wolves, specialize in deploying by teleportation. They are also used for fighting aboard enemy spaceships, hence the name (and my decision to give them all helmets).
I had also originally made a Terminator-armoured Rune Priest to go with the formation, but it is somewhat unclear if a Rune Priest could actually deploy with them, considering the Formation's benefits include being able to Deep Strike on turn 1 and to reroll the scatter dice, something the Rune Priest would not be able to do normally. I don't think this was covered in the Space Wolves FAQ either, so it would pretty much depend on if the opponent would agree to it.

Here's rear view of the unit, which the controlling player would see most often. I rarely put anything too special on the backsides of my units, though I do paint them to pretty much same standard as the front.

On a different note, I have been thinking about changing my update schedule again. I haven't decided anything yet, but there's a fair chance I'd only do one post per week in the future. This weekly post would be somewhat bigger than most of my posts so far, as it might include two or three units, or possibly both assembled and painted pictures of a single model, along with more detailed information.
As I mentioned, I haven't decided anything yet, but it would make sense from my perspective, and I think it might work well for the readers, too.

Arjac's Shieldbrothers' Pack Leader, painted

The Wulfen are the current hot Space Wolves topic, along with the updated datasheets for the old units etc. that are going to change the way the army plays. Naturally, I decided this would be a great time to make a post about something that was topical a year and a half ago, Arjac's Shieldbrothers. The Wolf Guard Terminator pack it mostly consists of now has a leader, which means I could field the unit as a normal pack of Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields. Arjac himself still needs some work done before he's ready to be painted.

 Last time I showed this guy, he had no face. Obviously, that had to be fixed before I could start painting him. The model's head took inspiration from the Space Wolves Terminators torsos that used to be on sale on Forgeworld. Specifically, I wanted to give the model a mohawk and a long beard.
The model looked to be a little short, so I added some green stuff to the top of his legs piece, lengthening his torso a bit. He's still shorter than my Logan Grimnar or than Arjac will be.

The same view here, but painted. I chose dark-ish brown hair and beard. I thought the model's right shin looked a little plain, so I painted a yellow diamond figure on it and added a transfer. I wanted to have the pack marking somewhere on the model, so I painted it on his belt buckle. 

I felt like the shoulder pads' triangle pattern needed to be painted in Wolf Guard colours, despite the fact that there was only one triangle on the top row that was visible in its entirety.
The Thunder Hammers' cabling's colour is not exactly an important choice, but it's still surprisingly difficult to make sometimes.. This time around I went with dark blue.

I'm relatively satisfied with how the model's bionic left leg turned out. It looks appropriately wolfy and cybernetic, and is decorative and advanced enough to be used by the Chapter Maste's champion's second in command.
Speaking of Arjac, the model is coming along nicely. I expect the formation will be done relatively soon. Unfortunately, I can't really be any more specific than that.

Void Claw with a Cyclone Missile Launcher, painted

This is my 100th post, and to celebrate that, I'm finishing the first of my formations, the Void Claws. I started painting this model during the weekend, but having been surprisingly busy with other stuff, it took longer to finish than expected. The Cyclone itself adds more to painting time than expected, especially with all those nice, flat surfaces for extra decoration.

 The  first step with all the Void Claws has been to decide the individual colour scheme of the model. With this one, I felt like the model's special weaponry and bionic arm would distinguish him clearly enough from his battle brothers, but I did paint some extra yellow-on-black decorations on his helmet. As for his claws, I painted the casings the chapter's grey and his fingers black.

 The Wolf Claws were painted as usual, with Caledor Sky base, drybrushed with Fenrisian Grey and finally White Scar. I use this scheme for all the frost weaponry (excluding Frostfang), which I count Wolf Claws as.

The wolftail talismans were painted with deeper brown basecoat, then drybrushed with Gorthor Brown and finally with Dawnstone. I use this for most of the talismans, unless I want to make them stand out somewhat.

For the Cyclone itself, I decided on simple knotwork patterns on each side. with the over-under patterns opposite from each other.
This is the final model in my Void Claws, at least for now. I do consider it possible to add more, in case I want to increase the formation's size, or if I want to take them without the Cyclone at some point.

Arjac's Shieldbrothers' Pack Leader (WIP)

I believe that the key to having a really great-looking army is to take no shortcuts. While it's very natural to want to put more effort in the character models at the expense of the rest of the miniatures in the units, giving each one real attention will result in an army you can be proud of.
All that said, I still find myself giving the character models more attention than the rest, especially when it comes to characters in centrepiece units like Thunderwolf Cavalry, Void Claws or, in this case, Arjac's Shieldbrothers.

Now, some of the missing details in this model may be slightly more obvious than others. Glossing over the lack of face, which in this case has nothing to do with the model being shamed for something, I still plan to add some sort of fur apron or something similar to the legs. Also, the bare left leg may or may not get some extra decoration.

 I like to think that the Shieldbrothers each have their Thunder Hammers customized to fit best their individual fighting style. In this case, I imagine the axe blade being used more for hooking action than offending, catching the attacker's weapon right after blocking the attack with the shield, leaving them open for a counterattack (as represented by the formation's rules).

The most labour-intensive part of the model has (so far) been the bionic left leg. I decided that I wanted it to have a lupine shape to it, instead of the more standard ones. It confers no additional abilities, but the high quality is included in the bonuses the model gets from being a part of the Great Wolf's Wolf Guard.
The model's base will be further detailed before painting. If nothing else, I have to use cork to get the bottom of the model's left foot in contact with ground.

Arjac's Shieldbrothers' Land Raider Crusader, painted

This is another model I had mostly finished earlier, and now just touched up the paintwork and varnished. I originally started to work on the model quite a while ago, and this can be seen in certain places, as far as quality of the work is concerned.

 I sculpted the decoration on the front hatch out of Green Stuff. Unfortunately, the sculpt wasn't terribly clean -- a problem that was exasperated by using the final gasps of a spray bottle in a warm weather for the primer coat. This led to the final sculpt collecting a little too much of the washes in its recesses, making the highlights stick out a little more than I'd like. It's not a disaster, but I wish it could have been better. The somewhat rough finish of the decoration called for some weathering on the front ramp. I used rough pieces of sponge to apply some Leadbelcher over the ramp.

 The Wolf that Stalks the Stars was painted freehand just today. I found the thought of painting it a little intimidating, even though I knew that the symbol wouldn't be visible from both sides at once, so perfect symmetry wasn't absolutely necessary. As it is, I think the symbol fits the model well enough.
Decorating a large model like a Land Raider in a suitably Space Wolfy fashion is demanding, but pretty fun. I ended up using a lot of pieces from the Stormwolf/Stormfang kit, such as the decorative chains and shields that I don't think work that well on an aircraft model. I also added some wolf skulls that I glued over the headlights and painted in bronze colour.

 The rear of the model is left pretty much undecorated. In hindsight (no pun intended), having some kind of decorative elements behind the model would have been cool, but it is as it is.

 The left side door had a plastic Space Wolfy bit from the dreadnought kit IIRC. I also sculpted a small Crux Terminatus between a set of bronzed rows of teeth. Again, this was made of Green Stuff, but the finish turned out significantly better than on the front door.
The meltagunner has the Iron Priest torso and head from the Stormwolf/-fang set, but the rest of the gunner comes from the standard Land Raider kit.

 I felt like the top of the model needed some flavour, and after a lot of deliberation, I decided on a loose knotwork pattern. It could have been cleaner, too, but it's not really even close to what I'd call bad.

 I magnetized the side doors so that the insides could (and should) be painted. The small magnets I used can be seen in picture, as I had already painted most of the hull when I came up with the idea. I think the naked magnet look actually works pretty well here, though.

I also painted the insides of the crew compartment. To achieve that, I simply painted the insides of the model before the final assembly, so that both sides of the track and side assembly,floor and the upper part of the model were painted, as well as the assault ramp and the front door.

Now that my Land Raider is finished, the only things to finish of Arjac's Shieldbrothers are the Pack Leader and Arjac himself (canonically, pretty much the same thing, but in terms of rules, a Wolf Guard Termnator pack must have at least two models and a pack leader).

Void Claws Pack Leader, painted

The design choice of adding extra cabling to the Void Claws may make the models look a little bigger and bulkier, but it also makes them somewhat more difficult to paint. I usually prefer to paint the models' arms separately from the body, but with the stiff guitar strings connecting them together, that's not really an option. On the other hand, the decision to have them all wear their helmets also helps paint them, so all in all, the two largely cancel each other out.

 I repositioned the model's right arm a little after the previous blog post, as I just wasn't very satisfied with the previous pose. This one isn't as dynamic, but to me, looks more natural and, more importantly, doesn't look like the model is impotently shaking his fist. After some consideration, I opted to paint his helmet in Wolf Guard's typical colours of black and yellow, and went for deep red casings on the Wolf Claws.

 Again, I painted the "runes" (not really runes, but Latin alphabet, just written in a sort-of-runic font) in thinned-down Temple Guard Blue to imply that the weapon is crackling with power. I decided not to highlight them with white, as I felt that the colour followed the recesses  closely enough as it is.

For the bluish-grey Space Wolves colour scheme, I paint a basecoat of The Fang over Chaos Black primer. I then paint over that with Russ Grey, wash it with Nuln Oil and finally drybrush with Fenrisian Grey.
The base was a fairly standard one, with cork stone and grass tufts to give it some character.
See the model unpainted

Arjac's Fourth Shieldbrother, painted

I'm not actually putting Arjac's shieldbrothers in any particular order, other than that in which they are modelled and finished, but since I'm not naming them all, I have to call them something.

 The most distinguishing feature on this model is the Thunder Hammer head sculpted from scratch. I carved a few runes on its surface, which I made glow with Temple Guard Blue. I also gave the claws holding the hammer head the same glow, to show that the weapon is definitely powered.
I considered just making the model's hair and sideburns blonde, but ultimately decided to make them grey instead. I wanted to show that the mohawk isn't a phase among the Sky Warriors, though it may well be a sign of unusual ferocity, which would explain why it's so common among the Blood Claws.

 I decided to give his armour's collar some decoration in Wolf Guard's colours. It's also pretty similar to the pack marking I chose for the Shieldbrothers, making it a good fit.

There's still space for another four Terminators aboard the pack's Crusader (which I may have to post about at some point), but after this one, just adding the Pack Leader and Arjac would already make a respectable-sized (and very expensive, points-wise) formation. I think I will end up filling the transport, just to have that option, but I will consider the formation to be "ready" once the pack leader and Arjac are aboard.

Arjac's Shieldbrother with Bionics, painted

I took more risks than usual with this one. The model presented with a challenge to  begin with, having one half of the face bionic and the other natural (relatively speaking). Then, I decided that his shield should be white, instead of red or black, as with the previous two Shieldbrothers.

 White is a fairly demanding colour to shade and highlight. Using inks or shades, it's very easy to just have the end result looking dirty. Also, since you can't really have a piece be brighter than white, highlighting is challenging. I ended up just applying a little Nuln Oil by the rims, and that seems to work well enough.

 I decided to make the cabling to the Thunder Hammer stand out, so I applied the yellow-black pattern I usually use with my Mechanicum models. I also wanted to give the hammer a powered look, so I used thinned down Temple Guard Blue.

Another little touch was the knotwork pattern. I am relatively satisfied with it. Overall, the paintwork could afford to be a little cleaner, but considering what I set out to do, ie. make the model look unique and stand out from GW's stock models, I think I could call it a success.
See the model before painting

Tartaros pattern Void Claw, painted

Painting this one took a surprisingly long time. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since I hadn't actually painted Tartaros pattern armours before, so I couldn't have developed any sort of routine for it. I still prefer the look on Indomitus pattern by far, so I'm not sure I'm going to paint too many of these anyway. Then again, all bets are off once Forgeworld releases Space Wolves for Horus Heresy.

 The model did end up suitably wolfy to not stick out too much from the rest of the army, while still being different enough to keep things interesting. I actually started to consider adding another Tartaros to the pack. I do have plenty of them unused, all it would take is acquiring another set of compatible lightning claws.

My usual method of The Fang -> Russ Grey -> Nuln Oil -> drybrush with Fenrisian Grey worked fine with this armour, too. The longer Tartaros pattern lightning claws look pretty vicious.

The molecular bonding studs give the armour character. I did end up somewhat rushing the base, though. I may add a grass tuft to it at some point to soften the transition from snow to mud.

Void Claw with a Cyclone Missile Launcher

Since I had modelled nearly all of my Void Claws anyway, I decided it would be best to do the last one quickly, too.
I usually try to give each model in a pack one gimmick, such as bionics, a particular special weapon etc. This time, as I was running out of Wolf Claws (there are four in a Wolf Guard Terminator kit, two of which are the same), I decided to make one of the arms bionic. In addition to this, I also gave the model a Cyclone Missile Launcher. That's two things, but we'll let it slide.

 Instead of using one of the plastic shoulder shields, I sculpted a round one, to better tie the Tartaros pattern Void Claw in with the group. I also gave this guy an extra crotch plate. Supposedly, the wound that took his arm made him more cautious.

 The bionic arm is mostly made of Adeptus Mechanicus Electro Priest parts. You may notice that, at the time of writing, his right extra cable is still missing.That will be fixed before painting.

His left side is mostly standard parts, except for the shoulder shield.
With this one done, I can move on to painting and, hopefully, to other packs and formations, such as Arjac's Shieldbrothers.

Void Claws Pack Leader

It looks like Void Claws will be the first of the Champions of Fenris formations I will finish, only a little over a year after the supplement came out. It was partially because I came up with a pretty simple and clear theme for the models, but mostly because that theme included wearing helmets.

 The Pack Leader is marked by the back icon from the Space Wolves Upgrades kit. I also wanted to give him a lot of wolf tail talismans, and decided to sculpt them myself. I probably will clean up the sculpts somewhat before painting. Other than that, the model is a fairly standard Void Claw, with the shield with the pack marking and the extra cabling that I imagine somehow helps with teleportation.

 I wanted to give the model a somewhat more interesting pose than to just have him standing around, so I used a set of legs with a bent knee and added some cork under the bent leg. I find it works wonders when trying to pose the models with otherwise standard legs.

 The Pack Leader is fourth of the Void Claws I've modelled so far. The fifth one will have a Cyclone missile launcher, and I may later make a sixth one, in case I want to either field the formation as simply as possible, or if I want to make the pack larger and scarier.

Second of the Void Claws. painted

One model is hardly a formation, and I needed at least five, so I decided it was time to paint another Void Claw.

 The model itself had few distinguishing features, besides the molecular bonding studs, so I decided to differentiate it a little further in the painting stage by leaving his helm black. I did the same to the casings of his Wolf Claws, giving the model a somewhat darker look than most Terminators.

 The extra studs were not only somewhat fiddly to sculpt, but painting them took some time, too. Since I wanted to leave the shoulder pad underneath black, I had to paint each individual stud one by one. Luckily, there wasn't too many of them.

Otherwise, the model was fairly standard Indomitus pattern Terminator. I kept the base simple, as well.
Two Void claws down, three to go. The next steps with the Void Claws are probably going to involve the Tartaros pattern Terminator and the pack leader.

Tartaros Void Claw

I was going to do stuff other than Terminators for a while, but I can justify this, since it's not the Indomitus-pattern. A good while back, I ordered a set of Tartaros-pattern Terminator Armours from Forgeworld, as well as the set of Power Weapons. As far as I know, they were primarily meant to be used by Forgeworld's Minotaurs chapter in 40k, who can get their hands on the rarer and more advanced armour through their connections to the Inquisition. Space Wolves are sort of the opposite of that, but they are a first founding chapter, and have an armoury that dates back to the Great Crusade, when Tartaros pattern armours were being mass produced.
I decided early on that Tartaros patterns would be mostly used by the Great Wolf's company, with the High King of Fenris also acting as a custodian for the chapter's most prized relics. When I made the decision to have all my Wolf Claws keep their battle helmets on, it made it even easier to find a pack for one of the armours, since the high collar makes it a little difficult to make bare heads fit right on the models.

 Because the armour is as old as it is, I thought it made sense it's been repaired a few times, so I added some molecular bonding studs to the legs. I also added a rondel with my Void Claws pack marking on it to the left shoulder. The chestplate has a simple wolf's head design.

 I kept it simple with the decoration on the claws, too. I scupted two axe heads with a rune on each of them.  He also has the extra cabling helping with the teleporting.

I tried to pose the model so that he's using his right arm to check the opponent while preparing the left for a powerful thrust or slash. Tartaros pattern Terminators give the modeller a little less choice regarding the pose than many other armours in that there's a fairly limited range of motion for the waist, more so than with the standard plastic Terminators.

Arjac's Deathwatch Veteran Shieldbrother, finished

The concept of Deathwatch is interesting from the narrative standpoint. The idea of an all-stars Space Marine taskforce is nice by itself, but the real meat of the concept is the thought of how Astartes from various Chapters need to learn to get over their differences, which are many and various. For example, an Iron Hands marine would have very different idea of how to treat civilians caught in a warzone, when compared to a Salamander, for example. Also, an Ultramarine wouldn't very easily find common ground with a Space Wolf, when it comes to tactical doctrine, and Black Templars won't like how highly White Scars regard psykers.

Having adjusted to life in the Deathwatch, it would be comparably difficult to return to one's own Chapter. Chris Wraight's Blood of Asaheim had this as a central theme, with Arjac Rockfist giving a fellow Wolf Guard advice on how to deal with a returning Deathwatch veteran. I decided Arjac would know what he's speaking of because he's been there, and has learned to appreciate a Deathwatch Veteran's skill and perspective.

 At first, I considered just painting the right shoulderpad black with some silver accents, and leaving the arm grey, but then decided 40k miniatures don't have to be subtle and just painted the whole arm with shades of iron and silver. There was a similar thought behind the red Storm Shield.

 At first, I considered painting the pack marking on the small faulds covering the top of his legs, too, but because he had a knee pad on which to paint, I decided it would be just a little too much.

The Genestealer head was meant to be a memento from his time at the Deathwatch, so I went for an old, faded look. Tyranid organisms are generally too alien for Milky Way bacteria and other germs to digest, so it would just very slowly dry out after death, the colour fading with time.

First of the Void Claws, finished

The first actual model I blogged about is now painted, based and varnished. In a word, finished. More importantly, I'm pretty happy with the way it looks.

 I left the helm more or less undecorated, instead focusing on decorating the body. The combination of the Wolf Guard torso and the customised legs, together with the purity seals and extra cabling, gives the model enough character, without appearing too busy (on 40k scale, at least). 

 I was initially going to just paint the rims on his shoulder guards with a metal colour, but then decided to do a little better and painted the alternating triangles in Wolf Guard colours. I'm glad I did, as this looks a lot more interesting. Also, the studded leg looks good, giving the model some extra edge.

The chains are where I was originally going to connect the extra cables, but the part of the model was a little too flimsy for that. I stuck the chains in to cover up the holes. This way, the model's back has something interesting going on, too, even if they do resemble a tail a little more than I'd like.