My first pack of Pre Heresy style Space Wolves are finished! I'm really happy with the way they look, the way I'm painting them and the finished result.Yes, they all have black (highlighted) hair. I also considered giving them all grey wolf pelts and wolf tail trophies. But I decided that the contrast of warm and cold colours would look better as an overall army theme. Plus the dark brown bits make hiding any hastily botched conversion parts much easier.
Sure, I wavered about having brown or grey wolf pelts. But the grey wolf pelts made any red icons look incredibly bright against a grey and light grey base coat. The darker brown seems to balance it all out. In fact, there are quite a few browns used on each miniature (plus washes), giving them a nice earthy feel.
My gaming buddy James will tell you that I've never been truly happy with any army that I've built for Warhammer 40K. It's either that the level of detail isn't high enough or they take far too long to paint.These seem to be the perfect compromise of speed and quality to keep me happy. The base coat is nice and quick, then it's just detail painting -but no freehand icons, which were the bane of my life before. Just a little bit of red or gold here or there to brighten things up a bit.
I'll deal with pack markings later, but for now they're essentially grey Space Marines in medieval style armour with brown fur cloaks. It's a pleasantly serious change from my current colourful mardi gras Space Wolves army.
That's just my feelings on the army colourscheme. You might disagree and love the old 2nd edition paint scheme with all the red and yellow. But having read the recent Space Wolf fiction (The Wolf at the Door, A Thousand Sons, Prospero Burns), plain greys tie in with the modern vision of the Space Wolves and their new militaristic nature.Even the Badab War books from Forgeworld are depicting Space Marines in a more militaristic nature with less outrageous colourschemes and I feel that in time many players will follow suit.
I'll continue to play my current Space Wolves army until my new Space Wolf army catches up with it, then I'll swap them over. Obviously, this could be a whole year away.
In the meantime, stay tuned for some heresy era Space Wolf terminators and more Grey Hunters as well as painting and conversion guides for all the miniatures in my new army.
20 comments:
January 24, 2011 at 2:08 PM
Where'd you get the cloaks?
January 24, 2011 at 2:16 PM
Chaos Warriors
January 24, 2011 at 2:53 PM
Looking sweet fella, and even better in the flesh(plastic) when I popped round the other day.
What's next on the adgenda?
January 24, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Terminator Rune Priest, then Wolf Guard. Lots of Wolf Guard!
January 24, 2011 at 3:06 PM
Adam, have you read the space wolf story in tails of heresy?
Cool looking Space Wolves there.
@ Munky Terminators I think.
January 24, 2011 at 3:43 PM
They look great Adam. This isn't the colorful cartoon space vikings of William kings books, Truly savage and inspired by prospero burns.
January 24, 2011 at 5:30 PM
I really like the chaos warrior conversions -- they make for a wonderful vibe for the whole squad.
January 24, 2011 at 6:34 PM
Cool conversions ... but one question: why do pre-heresy wolves have chaos-stars on their backs? ;-)
January 24, 2011 at 6:35 PM
You should try to 'Sand' the lower part of the legs and lower back fur cloaks to blend it in with the bases. This will give them another push toward the realistic look of their environment. The wolf tails are in need of a lower pale grade of brown to stands out some more. Last a small line of red on the side of the gun will bring detail to them all.
G-Job!
January 24, 2011 at 6:51 PM
Damn handsome squad. I personally liked the red contrast; especially the standard bearer. But if you think it's too much, you can always tone it down with some brown mixxed in. I tend to do this on most of my reds on my wolves. And drill out your gun barrels you lazy sod. :p
January 24, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Looks good, I don't know that I would do an entire army in them... I feel there isn't enough unique-ness that defines a wolves army.
I've actually used a number of warriors of chaos bodies for my wolves but only maybe 10 out of the 45 marines. I found that to add just enough to give them that medieval (pre-heresy) feel.
Just me though, they look great!
January 24, 2011 at 11:29 PM
These look cool, love the cloaks, really makes them look cohesive and threatening haha.
BTW, we need some more Battle Reports! Hasn't been one in awhile :)
Cheers
January 25, 2011 at 4:12 AM
Awesome :)
January 25, 2011 at 6:26 AM
Great job! I'm a fan of your army.
January 25, 2011 at 1:35 PM
I am reading Prospero Burns now. It seems like most of the wolves wear leather masks. You should try and incorporate that into it somehow. Maybe some greenstuff?
January 25, 2011 at 2:29 PM
Nah, I think it would look silly.
January 27, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Aye,the masks seem stranger then going barehead.
This technique is hard though, first time never bothered cutting the legs off, though I am slowly built a couple
January 30, 2011 at 11:34 PM
I have been a long time lurker, and I haven't seen any posts on the colors used, so I don't mind asking: What colors did you use for the power armor, it looks great.
January 31, 2011 at 2:45 AM
See the How To Paint Space Wolves article.
April 5, 2011 at 12:52 PM
hi mate im trying to build these but i cant get the torsos to fit onto the legs any tips? cheers
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