How to Paint Space Wolves

Easy to follow guide for how to paint Space Wolves space marines. This simple How To guide explains a quick and easy way to paint your Space Wolves miniatures to a high tabletop standard.

I've been promising a How to Paint Space Wolves guide for quite some time. So with my Space Wolves painting week in full swing, I thought I should knuckle down, take some step by step photos and explain how I paint my Space Wolves.

People have been asking me a lot of questions as I've been painting all my models in various stages, so I think that this is the best way to answer all those queries.

Here's a full list of everything you will need:

Brushes: Large Drybrush, Medium Drybrush, Small Drybrush, Standard Brush.

Paints: Chaos Black Spray Can, Chaos Black, Adeptus Battle Grey (Foundation), Badab Black Wash, Fortress Grey, Boltgun Metal, Dwarf Bronze, Gryphonne Sepia, Devlan Mud, Macerite Red (foundation), Iyanden Darksun Yellow (foundation), Snot Green, Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Bubonic Brown, Bleached Bone, Kommando Khaki, Graveyard Earth, Skull White, Khador Red Base (P3) and Khardic Flesh (P3).

Privateer Press Paints (P3): Made in the same factory as the Games Workshop Foundation paints, Privateer Press Paints (P3) offer a different selection of colours. In particular, I use the Khador Red Base because it's a far more intense red. I also use the Khardic Flesh paint because it's the best flesh tone you'll find and it's consistent without being thick or watering like other flesh colours.

How to Paint Your Space Wolves

First of all, you need to build and flock a batch of Space Wolves and get them ready for painting.

You'll notice that I haven't glued the boltguns into the hands of my Space Marines, this is because it's easier to paint models without them, then glue the guns in later.

If you're not sure how to flock your models, check out this guide on How To Flock 40K Models.

Once the flock has had 24 hours to properly dry (otherwise it's likely to come off during painting), it's time to undercoat your Space Wolves models, including the flock on their bases.

When using the Chaos Black spray can, you need at the very least a cardboard box and a patch of ground outside.

This is my spray box. You can see I've laid down my first batch of Space Wolves facing upwards and their guns alongside them. I'll then take this out into the garden and spray down into the box.

Leave to dry for 10 minutes, come back, turn all the Space Wolves over and their guns and spray the other side. Then leave them to dry for a full half hour.

Bring them back inside and it's time to get out your Medium Drybrush and Chaos Black paint.

Even if the spray has covered your Space Wolf models really well, you still need to quickly go over any unpainted areas with Chaos Black (watered down a little) to get a nice even coating. The same goes for the flock as this gives a nice even coating and helps the paint to hold the grains of sand and tiny stones in place for drybrushing later on.

It's best to give the guns a quick lick of paint at this point as it saves you doing it later. Put the guns in a small bag or somewhere safe, because you won't come back to these until the very end and you don't want to lose any.

Leave the Chaos Black to dry fully (can't emphasise this enough), which takes about half an hour, then we're ready to start basecoating with the Large Drybrush and Adeptus Battle Grey foundation paint from Games Workshop.

Give the pot a good shake (all foundation paints need shaking), then put some paint onto your palette and add a little water, but not so much that small bubbles appear. Foundation paints are quite thick and need to be watered down a little to flow better and get an easier coverage of your Space Wolves models -especially when you're using a large brush.

Don't be shy with that Large Drybrush, get the paint on quick and cover the whole model. Don't worry about the flock or the base. Just make sure the feet are covered. Get the paint into all the gaps, recesses and details, because a wash is going to bring out all this detail later.

Foundation paints dry incredibly quickly, so you should be ready to basecoat the bases and the flock in 10 minutes of drying time.

Take the Small Drybrush and the pot of Bestial Brown and begin painting the flock. Bestial Brown is typically quite a runny paint when it's new, so applying the paint straight on is the best thing to do.

Be careful to paint around the feet of the model while making sure Bestial Brown goes into all the gaps in the flock. Once all the flock has been painted, give the edge of the base a quick coat of Bestial Brown. Don't worry if it's looks streaky, this is to provide a base layer for another coat of paint later.

Because the paint is much more runny, you need to leave these models for an hour to dry fully before starting the next step.

Time for the Large Drybrush and a pot of Badab Black wash. Give the pot a shake and get some wash on your palette. You'll need to add a tiny bit of water to the mix. This will help the wash go a little further so you don't end up using a single pot on just a handful of models.

Just like when we basecoated your Space Wolves, don't be afraid to cover the whole model in Badab Black wash. Sometimes the wash will create a lot of contrasts, other times it will look like a glaze. But when the wash dries it will look the same on each model, so don't worry about what it looks like when it's wet, just make sure you cover the entire miniature and try not to get too much on the base so long as the feet are properly covered.

You may as well go out for a whole hour. Wash (especially when watered down) takes forever to dry and at the next stage of painting, you really cannot afford to get your brush wet.

On to the drybrushing. You'll need the Small Drybrush and the pot of Fortress Grey for this.

Let me explain the whole concept of Drybrushing. First of all, you need a brush that's Dry (hence the name) with paint. Loads of people seem to screw up drybrushing because the paint on their brush really isn't dry enough. I'm baffled how they screw it up, but they do.

Anyway, You take some of the Fortress Grey on your Small Drybrush and push it around your palette until it is dry. So dry infact, that paint only comes off it you apply some force to the brush. This is how dry you want the paint to be for drybrushing your Space Wolves.

Now, take your very dry Drybrush with some Fortress Grey on and quickly use your wrist to move the brush head back and forth over the details of the model. This will better bring out the details, especially the sharp edges. Don't worry if the model looks a bit rough, when you've got the whole batch done, they'll look great together -just like mine!

From this point on, it's best to paint each model individually due to the sheer amount of unique detail. I've chosen a Grey Hunter with a melta gun for my demonstration.

You can see that I've painted his tubes, pipes, undersuit and grills in Boltgun Metal using my Standard Brush.

I've also painted his shoulder pads using Macerite Red and Iyanden Darksun Yellow foundation paints.

And golden parts have been painted in Dawrf Bronze while skulls, wolf teeth and parchment have been painted Bleached Bone. Any runic stones have been painted Fortress Grey. The eyes have been painted with Khador Red Base (P3 paint)

Once all the basecoat colours are on the model, it's time to break out the washes.

You need a Standard Brush, a pot of Badab Black, Devland Mud and Gryphonne Sepia.

Paint Badab Black over any areas already painted Boltgun Metal.

Paint Gryphonne Sepia over any areas already painted Dwarf Bronze.

Finally, paint Devland Mud over any wolf teeth, purity seals, runic stones or other peices of Space Wolf bling.

This makes them just that little bit darker and helps them stand out against the other washed areas of the model.

You'll also notice that these washes make the surrounding areas of grey armour a little bit darker, creating a nice, dark edge.

To enhance the red and yellow shoulder pads, I then took my Standard Brush and watered down a little Gyrphonne Sepia on the palette as well as some Devlan Mud.

I then carefully painted along the inside edge of the shoulder pad. This gives a little bit of soft shading to tone down that sharp contrast between the bright Foundation paints and the drybrushed grey armour.

Once the washes were dry, I then painted any gem stones using Snot Green, followed by a little highlight on the top right hand section using a 50/50 mix of Snot Green and Iyanden Darksun Yellow.

Nearly done. Now to take your Small Drybrush and drybrush the flock on the base in Bubonic Brown.

Your brush doesn't have to be incredibly dry this time around and you don't want to press too hard, otherwise the flock will come off.

Be quite liberal with it, but make sure you don't get any on the Space Marine's feet.

Next you'll be doing the same thing with Kommando Khaki. But when you wash your Small Drybrush out, make sure it's completely dry. You can dry it out faster by squeezing the water out of it, or leaving it on the radiator for 15 minutes. The last thing you want is a wet brush when you're supposed to be drybrushing.

This time your Small Drybrush has to be very dry when using Kommando Khaki. You're looking to highlight the areas that have Bubonic Brown on them, so you can be quite light, although it's worth paying extra attention to any larger stones on the model's base. Some extra drybrushing with the Kommando Khaki can really bring these out nicely.

Finally, take your Standard Brush and give the edge of the base a nice, thick coat of Graveyard Earth (but not too thick!), then put the model to one side to dry. Don't worry if it's a little streaky, because once the base is dry, you need to go back and give it another coat for consistency.

Lastly, this Space Wolf needs his melta gun.

It's worth painting Boltgun Metal (using a Standard Brush) onto the boltguns and meltaguns in batches to cut down on painting time.

It doesn't matter if you splodge the Boltgun Metal, because once dry, the guns need a Badad Black Wash and a final touch up with some Chaos Black to clean up and mistakes.

Once dry, the guns can be glued using Super Glue into the hands of the Space Wolves. Any extra details such as wolf tooth chains, runic stones, imperial eagles and other details can be carefully painted afterwards. It's too fiddly to paint these details and hold a tiny Space Marine boltgun in your fingers at the same time.

And here's some I made earlier!

There are a couple of points I missed in this tutorial because of the model I chose, which includes how to paint wolf fur, human faces and grey beards.

Wolf Fur is pretty straightforward. Simply basecoat it using a Standard Brush and some Scorched Brown. Once dry, drybrush it using a Small Drybrush and Bestial Brown. For any wolf leather that isn't covered in fur, I highlight this by hand by creating a 50/50 mix of Bleached Bone and Scorched Brown, which I paint on with my Standard Brush.

Human Faces are quite easy thanks to Khardic Flesh (P3 paint). Simply paint it on with a Standard Brush and once dry, apply a Gryphonne Sepia wash to the whole face for instantly realistic shading. Then paint the eyes and teeth with Skull White and the point of your Standard Brush.

If you mess up the eyes or teeth, apply some Devlan Mud wash to these areas for some shading that darkens the recesses and hides any errors.


Finally, if like me, you prefer to hand paint your Space Wolves squad and company markings by hand, all you need is a Standard Brush with a fine point and some Chaos Black with a little water added to it so it's easier to paint thin, straight and consistent lines with it.

You're going to make mistakes and this is where the Foundation Paints are so good. Because the shoulder pads are painting in Macerite Red and Iyanden Darksun Yellow, they completely cover up any black.

If you're not brave/mad or skilled enough to hand paint the Space Wolves icons (and I don't blame you if you don't want to!), I suggest either purchasing the Space Wolves shoulder pad packs from Games Workshop mail order or using the Space Wolves transfers sheet.

Thanks for reading my guide on How To Paint Space Wolves and good luck with your army!

1500 Points Army (for friendly play)

Progress is slow, but the hunter must be patent!

Hi everyone, Dave here with some progress on my army and my first list that I'll be unleashing against my friends.

I know I am not as prolific as Adam at posting but I've not been idle either, aside from commission work and the odd game of Necromunda here and there some work has begun on my Space wolves.

I had originally collected quite a few miniatures for the old codex and these had only tasted a few games on the run up to the new codex release, so once I got my paws on the new codex I faced a problem. All the squads I had built were based on the old wargear selections and allowances, also the miniatures themselves were of the old design.

Now I'm sure that one look at the new plastic kits from Games Workshop is all you need to see the glaring differences in the detail and options available to the Space wolves, so this is what I decided to do:

1-Rebuild the old models with new components from the kits to "freshen up" the look of the minis.
2-Build in all the logical options that the squads may need, to allow me to field the correct models.
3-Build special squads/miniatures from the new kits to allow them to stand out.

Once I had a plan, work started on the army list.
I mostly play against 3 friends who are all Dark Angels players.
But, each of them have their own strengths and flaws as players and each plays in a very different style, but with similar themes in each army I can use to build mine to counter all of theirs.

The themes being Terminators as troop choices courtesy of Belial, Predator Annihilators at the back and few Fast Attack choices. If I could counter these options I was sure of a good game if not a win!

And so to the army list itself. I've looked at Adams bare bones tactics articles and whilst they do lay the game bare to it's roots I prefer a more thematic approach to my gaming.

Armed with some excellent ideas from the articles I designed the army with my own flavor(aka Munky style), I love the idea of foot slogging marines and wanted a mostly infantry army with few Vehicles or Walkers.

The Army List

Wolfguard Battle Leader = 120 pts
Terminator Armour + Wolfclaw + Combimelta
Wolfguard Terminators = 227 pts
1x Terminator Armour + Stormbolter+ Chainfist + Cyclone Missile Launcher
3x Terminator Armour + Combimelta + Power Weapon
Drop Pod

Wolfpriest = 115 pts
Combimelta + Crozius Arcanum + Wolf Amulet + Meltabombs
Wolfguard Pack Leader = 43 pts
Combimelta + Powerfist
Blood Claws = 235 pts
2x Plasmaguns
13x Bolt Pistol + Chainsword

Grey Hunters = 235 pts
7x Bolter + Chainsword
2x Meltaguns
1x Powerfist + Wolf Standard
Rhino + Hunter Killer Missile

Wolfguard Pack Leader = 43 pts
Combimelta + Powerfist
Grey Hunters = 190 pts
7x Bolter + Chainsword
2x Meltaguns
1x Powerfist + Wolf Standard


Longfangs = 290 pts
1x Pack Leader + Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
5x Lascannons
Razorback + Twin-linked Lascannon

Total points 1498


The Plan
- Wolfguard and Battle Leader drop down amongst the Defending units and Vehicles at the back to upset the plan of the enemy and delay their advance, Meltagunning any Vehicles and Terminators, and finish off the rest with Power Weapons.

- Wolf Priest and Blood Claws charge across into any troop choices available with the Priest allowing re-rolls against Infantry.

- Grey Hunters in Rhino sit back and strike at the weakest Objective in the late game.

- Grey hunters on foot either guard the Longfangs or hold an objective.

-Long Fangs take out any Vehicles or Terminators with the Lascannons all 6 of them able to split fire amongst 3 targets if necessary they can reposition if needed to strike hidden targets using the Razorback.

Well thats it for now, as you can see i've built the droppod and the Wolfguard Battle Leader and Wolfguard already. I have fully magnetized the arms for the Battle Leader and Wolfguard so I can change them in the future (I need to find some meltguns to finish off the combimeltas as well).

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more army building updates from me and hopefully a battle report too!

-Munky

Army Building Day 2

It's day 2 of Space Wolves army painting week and already I've got a lot done.

Before bed I took the models I flocked yesterday and gave them a spray undercoat of Chaos Black, then gave them a quick coat of Chaos Black with a brush this morning. This coat of paint will help to seal in the flock, so you won't get bits of sand and stone falling off before and after a game.

Once dry, it was on to base coating with a large drybrush and a pot of Adeptus Battle Grey (Games Workshop Foundation Paint).

Then it was time to paint the bases with Bestial Brown using a small drybrush. I watered the paint down a little to get it into all the gaps between the stones. I splodged a bit on the feet and around the ankles, so had to go back and tidy it up with a standard brush and some more Adeptus Battle Grey.

The bases need a few hours to dry, so I went out for a bit, came back and applied a Badab Black Wash to each model using my large drybrush, watering it down on the palette so that it flowed a little better and I got more out of the pot.

Wash takes a day and an age to dry, so I went out again and came back just before bed to tidy up where the wash had run off the feet and into the flock with more Bestial Brown.

With the time consuming parts done, it's on to the fun stuff tomorrow. Stay tuned for another update as I paint my Space Wolves army in record time!

How to Flock 40K Models

Today I have been mostly flocking Space Wolves.

I have a very different approach to Games Workshop when it comes to flocking. I flock my Warhammer 40K models before undercoating them and I'll explain why.

When I was a teenager with my first Warhammer 40K army, I was terrified of flocking my models. I'd just spent a whole day on painting a fantastic model and Games Workshop wanted me to take an old paintbrush and apply PVA glue onto the base, apply flock and then paint said flock.

When your old paintbrush is frayed, PVA glue is likely to stick to the carefully painted parts of your model and painting the flock, once it is stuck on, is really difficult without flicking paint on the model you just finishing so lovingly painting, it's no wonder I didn't bother flocking my models.

From the looks of the Warhammer 40K armies I've seen around Warhammer World, this is a problem for a lot of kids and a lot of adults as well. So here's what you do:

You need some PVA glue, a tub of Games Workshop flock (I love this stuff) and a medium sized paper clip.

You can see in the photo (left) how I've bent the paperclip to create a handle and an arm to push the PVA glue around the base.

Take the lid off the tub of Games Workshop flock and pour some PVA glue onto the lid. Think of this as your palette.

Use the arm of the paperclip to scoop up some PVA glue and put it into the centre of the model's base. Keep applying PVA glue in this way and push the glue using the arm of the paperclip until it covers the entire models base.

The paperclip arm takes a little getting used to at first, but it's a surprisingly useful tool to push the PVA glue about rather than painting it on. The paperclip arm can also be laid flat and moved sideways to gently push PVA glue up to the edge of the Space Marine's foot.

Next you're going to dunk your model in the tub of Games Workshop flock. Don't worry about the sand sticking where it's not wanted, that's easily fixed.

Give the tub of flock a quick shake so that the larger stones come to the top, then hold the model in the tub and tip the tub so that some of the larger stones roll up to and over the lip of the model's base, before completely submerging it in the sand. Give it a gentle swish around to pick up some of the smaller grains of sand for a more even coating.

Take the model out of the sand, turn it upside down, give it a gentle tap on the underside to get rid of any excess sand or bits that aren't stuck on very well.

Finally, take your paperclip in hand and use the arm to scrape off any sand that's stuck in the wrong place. If you're fussy about the presentation of your models, you can push some of the stones deeper into the PVA or away from the edge of the foot to better show the finer details.

Now put the model to one side and leave to dry for 24 hours. PVA takes quite a while to dry properly and the last thing you want is the flock coming off in the middle of painting your model.

Once dry, it's time to spray undercoat them using Games Workshop Chaos Black spray paint followed by a watered down coat of Chaos Black paint applied with a large brush. Then your miniature is ready to paint, flock and all.

More on how to paint your flocked miniatures tomorrow.

I also made some Wolf Scouts today using parts from the Space Marine Scout box and the Marauder Horseman box.

They're not as good as my original Wolf Scout conversions, but they're simple conversions and they do the job.

I quickly flocked them as well, so hopefully they'll be dry for undercoating tomorrow.

You can expect more daily updates throughout the week as I build, flock, spray and paint my Space Wolves army in record time!

Army Building Week

This week the Space Wolves blog turns things up a notch with our first Space Wolves army building week featuring daily updates!

I've got a whole week off work, so I need to knuckle down to build and paint at much of my Space Wolves as possible and hopefully complete my first 1500pts Space Wolves army in record time.

I've got a handful of models painted to a tabletop standard, but with so many troops in my initial Space Wolves army as well as 5 Wolf Scouts, 3 Rhinos, 3 Wulfen and a Wolf Priest to build, I've got quite a way to go.

But before, I get onto those, because I'm waiting for the Rhinos in the post and need to order parts for the Wulfen and Wolf Priest, it's flocking, spray undercoating and painting for the rest of the army.

Finally, there's the task of hand painting all the pack markings and company markings.

I'll explain it all as I go and demonstrate how I get a great looking army.

I don't have time to make it perfect. It just has to look good and be playable. So the conversions will stay simple, as will the paint scheme in order to get this army done so I can enjoy some games with it. Besides, we can't all be 'Eavy Metal painters, and if we could, who would have the time?

You can expect daily updates throughout all of this week as I build, flock, spray and paint my way to victory!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Adam, Dave and Jim at the Space Wolves blog!

We hope that Fenris Santa (pictured left) brought you everything you wanted for Christmas.

But if he was too busy swigging from his Power Tankard to visit your house, I'm sure you can spend all that Christmas money you received on even more plastic models to join the horde of unpainted miniatures sitting on your shelf.

Personally, I'm going to spend the Christmas holiday frantically painting my Space Wolves army. It's not like I have much else to do during the day. Besides, I'm sure you lot would like to Space Wolf battle reports to read soon.

Speaking of which, we've got loads of great content lined up for the Space Wolves blog in the new year. We're also looking forward to the imminent release of the new Tyranid Codex and see what the Space Wolves can do to counter the competitive armies that emerge from it.

I've already ordered my Tyranid Codex for the new year. If you're a competitive player, maybe you should be doing the same?

And now to play us out is the UK's Christmas #1, "Killing in the Name of" by Rage Against The Machine that quite rightly stuck it to the X-Factor.

Warning: This song contains swearing.

Forgeworld Space Wolves Dreadnought

The Forgeworld Space Wolves Dreadnought is here! There were rumours about a Space Wolves Dreadnought from Forgeworld, but I never imagined it would arrive so soon.

As you can see, he's very much like the other Forgeworld Venerable Dreadnoughts, consisting of a torso and legs with optional arms which need to be ordered in addition.

My only complaint is the winged diamond on the head, which seems rather unnecessary considering the sheer volume of celtic bling he's already covered in.

Apart from the enormous back banner, he's a relatively clean looking model, but still very much in style with the semi-celtic appearance of the new Space Wolves range.

I particularly like the wolf heads that create the two-headed wolf symbol of Morkai across the shoulders, the runic writing in the trims and the diamonds as well as the central wolf and cross bones device.

It's a shame they didn't make a Bjorn The Fell Handed style lightning claw for the left arm. All the same, the Venerable Space Wolves Dreadnought is a very impressive model and I shall be purchasing two of them.

I'm planning to use them as regular Dreadnoughts and I'll order all the weapon varient arms from Forgeworld so I can run them in whatever configurations take my fancy.

While the enormous back banner looks awesome, I know that mine are going to break and at the very least they're going to be a nightmare to transport. I'll definitely be selling mine separately on eBay when this model arrives.

Anyway, the Forgeworld Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought by Simon Egan and Will Hayes is available from the 25th of January 2010 and is available to preorder now for £26 + arms.

Blood Claws

Finally, my Blood Claws are finished. They're not as easy to put together as you might think, because you only get two pistol and chainsword arms in the Space Wolves boxed set.

So unless you want all your Blood Claws to be striking one of two poses, you need to do some conversion work.

I've done some minor changes like cutting just below the shoulder, so I can turn the arm more before reattaching it to the shoulder. The bolt pistol that's held across the body is just horrible though. You can't just convert it.

Just like with my Grey Hunters, I've used a combination of Space Wolf and Space Marine components to create my Blood Claws. I've built up quite a collection of Space Wolves chainswords and bolt pistols from multiple Space Wolves pack boxed sets, so arming them all wasn't a problem.

Two of my Blood Claws will be carrying melta guns (are you noticing a trend?) and they're led by a Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour who's also armed with a combi-melta and a chainfist. I just need to build a plastic Wolf Priest and this unit will be complete.

I'm really looking forward to converting the Wolf Priest, but I'm going to save him for last as a reward to finishing my first 1500 points Space Wolf army. I plan to use a lot of Chaos Space Marine parts, so stay tuned for that. He's going to look suitably gothic and menacing!

Long Fangs Pack

I've finished two packs of Long Fangs for my Space Wolves army. As you can see, all my Long Fangs are equipped with missile launchers and if you look hard, you can see a Wolf Guard in terminator armour with a storm bolter, power axe and a cyclone missile launcher.

As you may have guessed, I have a thing for missile launchers. I could have given my Long Fangs all manner of weapons for 'wound allocation', but the missile launcher is by far the most versatile and cost effective choice.

Note: I need to spend a day writing out more unit guides, because my production rate is catching up with the articles and I'd rather explain why certain weapon options are better than others and give some examples instead of chucking in snippets of tactics in the middle of modelling articles.

As I've mentioned before, I'm making my Space Wolves from a 50/50 mix of the Space Wolves Pack and Space Marine Tactical Squad boxed sets. All the missile launchers I bought en masse from an eBay bitz merchant.

To give my Long Fangs a cleaner appearance, the only Space Wolves components used are Space Wolf torsos and some of the helmeted Space Wolf heads.

Obviously the Long Fang squad leaders have more Space Wolves details to mark them out from the rest. Both of them were loosely based off of the original Long Fangs sergeant from 2nd edition 40K.

I also have them both the wolf skull servo headed back packs to help them scan the battlefield, direct the squads fire and stand out from the crowd a little more.

All of these models were relatively quick and simple, leaving me with plenty of Space Wolves components to help make my Blood Claws look suitably feral.

I need another Wolf Guard Terminator with a cyclone missile launcher, but I'll worry about that after my initial 1500pts space wolves army is built.

The plan is to have my first army built and fully painted by the end of February.

Come 'ave it Beasty!!

Great news for Space Wolves! more Tyranid rumours have surfaced and while things look bad for other armies, it's not so worrying for the Sons of Fenris.

Having read the new Tyranid rules, it's becoming more and more apparent that the Space Wolves Codex was carefully written with the coming Tyranid invasion in mind.

Saga of the Beast Slayer is certainly going to come into its own, as will the Lone Wolves and Rune Priest.

Having read through the new Tyranid rules, there are a few units that concern me, but not many. Overall, it's the difficulty of wading through a sea of little creatures to clobber the big ones which could prove the most taxing for the Space Wolves.

The good news is that Eternal Warrior is gone for Synapse creatures. Finally, krak missiles, melta guns, lascannons, battlecannons, demolisher cannons, powerfists and anything else with a suitably high strength can instantly kill Tyranid Warriors, Zoanthropes and Lictors!

New Tyranid Rules
Listed here is the worrying stuff. If you want to read the whole thing, go and trawl through Warseer, or wait for the new Tyranid Codex when it's all set in stone.

One pair of Scything Talons grants rerolls on all 1's to hit and two pairs grant rerolls to all to hit rolls.

Hive Tyrant Mental scream: all enemy units within 18" have to pass Ld check. If they fail, they suffer the difference between the roll and their Ld as casulties with no armour saves allowed.

Hive Tyrant Lifeleech: one unit within 12 " suffer D3 autohits S3 AP2. for each casulty they suffer, the Hive Tyrant is granted one Wound, up to a maximum of 10

The Parasite of Mortrex (160pts) is a hit and run monster with wings who infects people with ripper eggs. 1 model (chosen by the Tyranid player) in an enemy outflanking unit must pass a toughness test or a ripper swarm bursts out of him! The same thing happens to models killed by the Parasite in close combat. Fortunately he has Tyranid Warrior stats.

Hive Guard (50pts each) are BS4, don't need line of sight and their Impaler Cannon is Range 24" S8 AP4 Assault 2. Only 1-3 in a squad though.

Zoanthropes. Much the same, but 1-3 in a squad. 3+ Inv save this time. Powers same as before, but Warp Blast is now a 'lance' weapon.

The Doom of Malantai (90pts) is another special gribbly with Tyranid Warrior-like stats and 4 wounds and a 3+ save. He sucked the psychic juice out of an Eldar Crystal Matrix and does mental stuff.

Cataclysm is a range 24" S'X' AP1 Large Blast psychic attack. Strength is equal to his number of wounds. After using it he suffers D3 wounds. Every wound he inflicts, he gets a wound back. So his wounds and the strength of his power can go up to a maximum of 10!

For just 90pts everyone is going to take this guy!

Trygon from (200 points) and Mawloc (from 170 points) special rules detailed Here.

Mycetic Spores are Drop Pod for Tyranids that can transport 1 Monstrous Creature or up to 20 Infantry.


As you can see, that's a lot of nasty stuff. There's more in the new Tyranid Codex from the deadly Swarm Lords (280pts) to the lumbering Tyrannofex gun platform.

So the question is, what are we Space Wolves players going to do about it?


SMASH THEM!
Well, first of all, we're going to sit safely inside our transports to avoid the acid, puke and tentacles that are flying around until the Tyranids get a bit closer.

While we're waiting, our Long Fangs can pour lots of cheap Krak Missile fire into the coming swarm.

Now that Tyranid Warriors and the like no longer have Eternal Warrior because of Synapse, we can take them out more easily.

The same goes for many of the monstrous creatures who are now restricted to a 3+ armour save.

Then we're going to unleash melta guns. Lots of melta guns! Anything that's left -let it charge us if it dares! With Counter Attack we have more than enough to strike back with. Couple it with powerfists galore, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Banners to reroll any 1's for an asault phase and we can give the bugs a good kicking.

We have the guns, we have the ferocity and we have the Rune Priests with their ability to nullify any psychic attack on a 4+. We even have Wolftail Talismans to nullify Psychic attacks on a 5+.

There's much to be feared in the new Tyranid army. But let's not forget that a tournament sized Tyranid army will not be able to field all of those horrible units!

There's nothing to fear but fear itself. And I think a few practice games to get around the typical Tyranid trickery will put any player in good stead to best this alien menace.

Come January, my Space Wolves will be ready to slay the mightiest of Tyranid beasts and have an barbeque when they're done!

I think a whole roasted Trygon might appease the appetite of my Wolf Lord
...as a starter.

Lukas the Trickster

I finished painting Lukas the Trickster as a reward for painting 2 squads of Space Wolves. Lukas the Trickster wasn't particularly hard to paint thanks to the washes I'm using, so it' was much like painting a regular Space Wolf, but with a little more detail.

Please excuse the horrible mold line on Lukas' left leg. That only showed up when I started drybrushing. But as I'm on a tight schedule, I had to keep going until he was finished.

Just like Njal Stormcaller, he's undercoated Chaos Black, basecoated Adeptus Battle Grey, given a Badab Black wash and finally (when the wash is 100% dry), given a light drybrush with Fortress Grey. Then it's basecoats and washes or basecoats and drybrushing for the rest.

Quick, simple and reasonably effective. If you're looking for a good tabletop standard for your Warhammer 40K figures, the Citadel Washes are your friend.

Privateer Press Paints are also a godsend, because Games Workshop doesn't do a great flesh tone or a particularly strong red.

Lukas's hair does have a slight orange tint that my camera can't pick out. I did try him with a stronger orange, but it looked horrible. I know Games Workshop like to make their Space Wolves have bright orange hair, but it looks pretty awful for normal people to paint. The solution? Brown hair with a bit of orange added. If it's too bright, tone it down with some Devlan Mud wash.

I'm particularly pleased with the plasma coils on the plasma pistol. James came up with a great technique a while ago for his Dark Angels venerable dreadnought. He painted the plasma coils in Ice Blue, then put an Asurmen Blue wash over them. They came out really well on his massive dreadnought plasma cannon and it looks equally good on something as small as a plasma pistol.

If you're including Lukas the Trickster in your Space Wolves army, can I suggest bending the tail of his cloak upwards, otherwise it scrapes along the ground and chips the paint off.

Alternatively, if you don't have a nice foam padded carry case to transport him around in, give him a plastic back pack from the Space Wolves Pack box instead and model a fur cloak on him. He's much more durable as a model that way. His cloak is enormous and could cause a lot of trouble during tabletop play.

Now it's back to painting more Grey Hunters. Apologies again that my 'How to Paint Space Wolves' guide is taking so long. I'm painstakingly hand painting the chapter and squad markings on to my Space Wolves at the moment and should be done soon!

Tyranids News

New Tyranid rules have been revealed showing that the new Tyranids Codex has a lot of nasty new additions to the force chart, swarm structure and special rules.

Smaller creatures are cheaper, medium sized creatures are tougher and monstrous creatures are more dexterous.

However, the tougher stuff is more expensive.

This is to encourage an endless swarm of smaller Tyranids backed up by a select few of the larger Tyranid creatures.

The Tyranids have truly evolved with 5th edition 40K and can now enjoy cheaper troops, squadrons of monstrous creatures and even elite soldiers who do not need to see their targets in order to shoot them!

New Tyranids Summary:

Hive Tyrants are to gain increased Weapon Skill and Initiative.

Tyrant Guard gain Furious Charge and Rage if the Hive Tyrant they are protecting is slain.

Lictors have a reduced points cost and increased stats such as 3 wounds.

Hive Guard are like Tyrant Guard, but with a new gun, BS4 and do not need Line of Sight.

Pyrovores have similar stat line to tyrant guard with a Flamer that is 2+ Poisoned and AP3. Fortunately it isn't an artillery piece from the sounds of things.

Tyranid Warriors have a 4+ save and 3 wounds as standard.

Hormaguants are half price and gain I5 and Ld6.

Gargloyles have a special poison rule where all to hit and to wounds with their guns auto-wound on a 6. It's not rending. Oh, and their points have been reduced as well.

Carnifexs are 1-3 per Heavy Support slot and have WS4 BS3 as standard.

Trygons are unber combat machines who can deepstrike in and if they land on a unit, the Trygon counts as having charged them.

Mawlocs are not as good as Trygons in combat but have some special burrowing rules. They burst out of the ground like the Trygon, but instead of being in close combat, they place a large blast marker where they appear. All models touched by the template take a Strength 6 hit at AP2. Any models that survive are pushed to the edge of the template. In subsequent Tyranid turns, the Mawloc can dive back underground and re-emerge next turn (without rolling for reserve) in the same manner.


Thoughts: After yesterday's post, the Tyranids look a lot tougher than we first thought. We're going to drowning in a sea of smaller creatures while the Trygon and Mawloc burst out of the ground in the middle of our battle formations. The fact that this is a form of charging for the Trygon while the Mawloc inflicts massive amounts of damage is my greatest concern. Although rumour has it that both of these creatures will cost over 200 points.

The greatest relief then is that Tyranids will still struggle against armoured vehicles due to their lack of high strength ranged weapons and close up melta weapons. If the Tyranid player wants to take units capable of swatting vehicles like flies, he must pay the extra points for them and get them into close combat with the enemy tanks and transports.

If you haven't mechanised your army for 5th edition yet, now would be the time to start! Even the most ferocious gun line armies are going to struggle to shoot down so many Tyranids.

That's all for now on the Tyranid threat until my Space Wolves are assembled and ready for battle, but for the latest news on the Tyranid invasion, read on...


++ ONGOING TYRANIDS NEWS ++

For the latest news on the Tyranid menace, I suggest you follow the Pink Tyranids blog.

Neil already has a stunning Tyranids army, countless Grand Tournaments under his belt and an eye for the most devastating Warhammer 40K army lists that you could ever dream of.

He's new to the world of blogging, but he's already carving himself a fearsome reputation with his instantly recognisable army, tournament experience and up to date information on the latest Tyranid invasion.

Add the Pink Tyranid Blog to your blogroll now and watch the Tyranid invasion unfold.

New Tyranids

New Tyranids are here! Everybody panic!!

Actually, there are some really sweet new Tyranids models coming out. But what does the re spawning of the Tyranid army mean for us Space Wolves players?

Well, Space Wolves probably won't be the kings of close combat any longer, which we weren't anyway.

Crushing Claws on monstrous creatures are said to be nastier and there's a whole heap of new gribblies to fight off.

But nothing turns big, nasty gribblies into steaming puddles of goo better than a horde of melta guns -and melta guns is what the Space Wolves have more than enough of.

I think that Saga Of The Beast Slayer will really come into its own as well!

There's also the dreaded Jaws of the Wolf psychic power, wielded by every other Rune Priest in the galaxy for those low Initiative Carnifex.

The again, will the 6 Carnifex army find itself promptly shelved in favour of the new slithering, snarling nasties on offer? Probably!

As this sudden splurge of new photos has shown, there's the Trygon, the Mawloc, the Pyrovore (presumably a biovore that sets fire to things), the Hive Guard (who look like Zoats) and the Venomthrope.

But before massed hysteria kicks in like it always does whenever there's a new Codex in Warhammer 40K, it's clear to see how these new units are an essential expansion to the Tyranid army in 5th edition.

The Trygon and Mawloc are the equivalent of the Greater Daemon that appears out of nowhere and takes almost all of your firepower to kill in a single turn.

The Pyrovore is the 'ignores-cover-saves' artillery piece, much in the same way as the Space Marine Thunderfire Cannon.

The Hive Guard is the uber unit that can do everything and do it well, but you pay the points for it. Much like Thunderwolf Cavalry or Ork Nob Bikers.

The Venomthrope? No idea what that does and I'm not particularly bothered either.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

It's easy to panic when a new army is unleashed. But the Space Wolves have also had a new codex and are a suitably strong army with many benefits which were presumably designed to deal with the coming Tyranid threat.

From the army lists I've seen, Space Wolves have more melta guns than any other army, more powerfists than any other army and a wealth of character upgrades designed specifically for killing monstrous creatures.

So really, the Space Wolves should be relishing the chance to face the alien horror of the Tyranids once again. They might even prove to be of some small amusement this time.

So there you have it. None of the new units seem particularly frightening for the Wolves fo Fenris, although the Trygon and Mawloc could case problems if you don't splatter them with melta guns on the Turn that they burst out of the ground.

Of course, I am assuming that they will follow the existing Forge World Tyrgon rules.

1500 Points Space Wolves Army for Beginners

While I've spent the past few weeks frantically building and painting Space Wolves, James has convinced me that I need a simple army list to work towards as an achievable goal.

While I wanted to discuss Space Wolf army composition ideas with James (who is my arch-rival and close friend), I didn't find his suggestions particularly helpful when all he wants to do is beat me at 40K!

Fortunately, Neil Kerr was happy to throw me a 1500 points Space Wolves beginners list to get me going which ticked all the boxes:

Loads of melta guns

Lots of essential core units

Embodies the character of the Space Wolves

Competitive army build

This isn't the kind of army I'd typically design for myself, but it includes all the essential core units for the Space Wolves, which I'd need sooner or later.

Please note that I've assigned characters to each unit in the list below, even though Wolf Guard are purchased as a single Elites choice.

1500 Points Space Wolves Army

Wolf Priest
Wolf tail talisman, wolf tooth necklace, saga of the beast slayer
Wolf Guard
Terminator armour, combi-melta, chainfist
15 Blood Claws
2 Melta guns

Wolf Guard
Combi-melta, powerfist
9 Grey Hunters
Melta gun, power fist, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard
Combi-melta, powerfist
9 Grey Hunters
Melta gun, power fist, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard
Combi-melta, powerfist
9 Grey Hunters
Melta gun, power fist, wolf standard, mark of the wulfen
+ Rhino APC

Wolf Guard
Terminator armour, cyclone missile launcher
6 Long Fangs
5 Missile launchers
+ Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

THOUGHTS
I'm very happy with this 1500 points Space Wolves army list. It has a lot of models, a lot of missile launchers, a bucket load of melta guns and plenty of foaming loonies to throw into close combat.

It does everything from shooting to close combat, holding the line and even claiming objectives. It's quite scary how numerous Space Marine armies are nowadays!

Once I've built my first 1500 points as a 'core force' I can easily add whatever other Space Wolves units I like whether they're Lone Wolves, Dreadnoughts, Swiftclaw Bikers or Thunderwolf Cavalry and have a flexible, balanced and competitive army.

I'm dedicating pretty much all of December to building my Space Wolves army, so hopefully I'll be able to play a game with them in the new year and give James' Dark Angels and Thousand Sons a good kicking!

Battle Missions

Battle Missions is a new Warhammer 40K supplement coming in March. Battle missions (as the name suggests) will include over 30 new missions to let you fight the sort of 40K battles from the Black Library novels.

Great as part of a campaign, Battle Missions will include all kinds of daring raids and assassinations, to breakthroughs and last stands in a way that reflects the background of your army.

Hopefully, Battle Missions will give us some unbalanced scenarios to play for a change that don't revolve around tournament strength armies and kill points in the same vein as the missions in the Forgeworld books. That way we can play desperate last stands knowing that while we may lose, we're going to take as many of the enemy with us as we can!

Anyway, Battle Missions is coming in March and will have another splash of new miniatures to support it. Stay tuned for more Battle Missions news over the coming months.

I've played Apocalypse once, I've thumbed through the Planet Strike rules a couple of times and I've never played City Fight. With Battle Missions on the way, I can't help but wonder if it's just me who doesn't have time to play all these extra supplements?