Wolves on the Rampage!

Skoal Wolf Brothers!

First post on this great blog and I thought I would cover the performance of the latest addition to my Pre Heresy Space Wolves army during the recent South East Rampage mini doubles tournament at Warhammer World.

I have not played in any tournaments and would like to enter more so I saw this as a first step.

I say mini tournament as this wasn't a tournament attended by many advanced gamers - I think it is intended to be an intro to tournaments - that's not to say there were not some power gamers scattered around - but it depends what you think of two Land Raiders in a 1500pts list!!

Anyway, it was a doubles tournament and with each partner supplying 750pts.

My partner was my mate Mark who has been working on an awesome Adeptus Mechanicum themed army using the Imperial Guard codex. His list included:

• Primaris Psyker (with the Veterans)
  
• Veteran squad - shotguns and melta guns coming out of their ears mounted in a Chimera
• Penal Legion squad
  
• Two Vendettas (lots of lascannons and heavy bolters that could outflank)
• Two Hydra flaktanks

One of Mark's favourite franchises of all time is the Terminator series and this has had a great influence on his army but, enough about exoskeletons in robes - this is a Space Wolf blog!

I was really looking for inspiration for what to take and when I read this very blog's 750pts list for Wolves I had found it. The problem was it required four Thunderwolves and I had none! This led to one of my biggest projects - building four Thunderwolves using Canis as a base so I could use them at any GW sanctioned event.

With the Thunderwolves built and a new Rune Priest to lead the army I was ready to go on the Rampage!

I'm really just going to concentrate on the performance of the Thunderwolves during these games but if you would like more details let me know.

Game One Vs. Necron and Necron, Seize Ground (two objectives) with Pitched Battle deployment
Our first game was against a Necron double team. Their lists were pretty similar meaning they had two Necron Lords (one with a Destroyer body), two full units of Necron warriors, two units of four Destroyers and three Heavy Destroyers.

They won first turn so decided to hold much of our army in reserve and run on at full pelt to prevent a turn of free shooting. On hindsight I think I should have probably just braved it with the Thunderwolves and got into combat earlier.

Turn two my Thunderwolves arrive and run screaming at the Necrons Warriors hiding in a bastion. They reached it in turn three and the powerfist ruined it utterly - those five strength 10 hits are awesome! The Necron Warriors in the bastion were stunned and would have been smacked by the Thunderwolves in the following tuern but we ran out of time!

I should note that during this game the Necron Lord with Destroyer body would just not die despite out best efforts until the very end - thanks to a face full of Long Fang missiles! But this image pretty much sums up the effort we went to before hand!

As the game was objective based with one on each side the game ended a draw (we had the moral victory though as we would have won if it went to victory/kill points)

Game Two Vs. Ultramarines and Ultramarines, Seize Ground (four objectives) with Dawn Assault deployment
Our opponents during this game were very young but cool guys and we had a laugh discussing how best they could use their army. Turn one my Thunderwolves ran on and up the cover on the right flank. By turn three they charged a full ten man Ultramarines tactical squad that were falling out of a wrecked rhino (thanks to Mark's shooting) and annihilated them in one round.

Now behind enemy lines the Thunderwolves then went on to wreck a Whirlwind and 5 man combat squad (with an annoying missile launcher) in turn four and the final combat squad on the Ultramarine held objective in turn five.

Game Three Vs. Eldar and Eldar, Annihilation with Spearhead deployment
Our opponents this time were more seasoned and we were currently placed fifth in the tournament (out of 43 teams).

The Eldar guys won first turn and we chose to hold everything in reserve to give the Vendettas a chance to get into position to outflank the Eldar.

Unfortunately due to poor deployment, as I was worrying too much about my Thudnerwolves surviving shots from sneeky Eldar weaponry, they never really made it into the game.

Turning point of the game was when an Eldar wave serpent carrying Yeriel (apparently he is pretty nasty???!) and a full unit of Howling Banshees ramming my Rune Priest's rhino and not damaging it but instead wrecking themselves and killing all occupants! The Eldar players were not happy!

The Hydra flak tanks were solid and kept up their volley of autocannon fire, managing to keep wrecking or stunning the Falcons/Wave Serpents.

In conclusion
Thunderwolves are awesome and you should not be afraid to get them stuck in - you need to be agressive with them. Thunderwolf charges are horrendous - the shear amount of rending attacks followed up my five strength 10 hits from the powerfist is something to behold. Topped off with the toughness of five means retaliation attacks often cannot do enough damage. I cannot wait to use the Thunderwolves again and look forward to playing in more tournaments.

I met Phill Kelly while at Warhammer World and he asked how the Thunderwolves were performing - he left with a cheeky smile!

To top off a great event Mark and I won best painted army too! Somewhere in GW HQ there is now a photo of two grinning idiots who managed to fuddle their way through their first mini tournament (with a little help from Codices Space Wolves and Imperial Guard AND this very blog!)

Best All Round Wolf Guard Terminator Loadout

Wolf Guard have loads of options, so we've put together the best all round Wolf Guard Terminator loadout for shooting, fighting and defending.

I don't understand why people keep fielding units of Wolf Guard in power armour. Grey Hunters are still so much better for their points.

Sure, a 10 man Wolf Guard unit led by Ragnar armed with frost blades, wolf claws and storm shields bursting out of the Land Raider Redeemer may be awesome...

But when you consider how many points the unit costs, there's only 1 way to field a cost effective Wolf Guard unit in the Space Wolves army -and that's 5 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour, riding in a Land Raider:

1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with storm shield and power weapon.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with storm bolter, power sword and cyclone missile launcher

Land Raider with extra armour


Alternatively, you could try this for maximum combi-weapon death!

1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma and wolf claw
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and power sword.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-melta and chainfist.
1 Wolf Guard in terminator armour with combi-plasma, power sword and cyclone missile launcher

Land Raider with extra armour

THOUGHTS:
This is a really good 'bolt on' 500pts unit for a 1500pts army to take it up to 2000pts. Unless you're going for a pure Space Wolves Terminator army, I'd recommend staying away from the terminators until you get above 1500pts. They draw too much away from your army's core of Grey Hunters otherwise.

These guys are designed to rock up at full speed in their Land Raider (heavy metal blaring out the speakers!), disembark, fire all their combi weapons and cyclone at close range and CHARGE! You probably notice that they're optimised for wound allocation as well.

I've wiped out whole units with these guys, taken down Trygons and left them to rampage through the enemy army. Meanwhile the Land Raider provides supporting fire and provides a heavily armoured taxi for any other units that desperately need it.

In a worst case scenario the Land Raider explodes on Turn 1. Get the Wolf Guard out and walk (or run) behind the Grey Hunter Rhinos and back them up once they get stuck in and meet resistance.

CONCLUSION
This is the best all round Wolf Guard Terminator loadout because they've got a mixture of weapons to take on anything and they're cost effective at the same time.

The combi weapons take care of Space Marines and Monstrous Creatures up close (or anything else that needs lots of high strength, low AP hits).

The cyclone missile launcher gives them some long ranged clout and the storm bolter is surprisingly effective alongside all the bolters too.

Don't worry about only having bolters instead of storm bolters. A few extra bolter shots never made a huge different, but a lot of close range, rapid firing combi-weapons do!

Finally, the combination of 4 power weapons and a chainfist inflicts plenty of casualties in close combat with the chainfist cleaning up at the end and often tearing apart an Independent Character who falls foul of Wound Allocation.

The Storm Shield is also vital for deflecting lascannon blasts and power weapons in close combat, keeping the squad alive at range and in the thick of the fighting.

Trust me, you'll love these guys.
Get a box of Space Wolf Terminators and a Land Raider, then go have some fun!

Alternatively, bung them into a Drop Pod. Although the Land Raider is a much safer (if more expensive) option.

Delusions of Grandeur

I'm pretty good at this game.
However, I simply don't play enough to be GREAT at this game.

Understanding the optimum load out for units is one thing. Writing the best army lists is another. And the experience of playing your optimised army against another optimised army is something else entirely.

It's this lack of experience against other armies that gives me the greatest difficulty. I don't play enough games and I don't have enough people to play against locally.

Believe it or not, I've never played against competitive Orks, Eldar or Blood Angels in 5th edition. Most of my games have been against Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Tyranids and Chaos Daemons. Come to think of it, I haven't played against competitive Chaos Marines with my Space Wolves yet either.

Suddenly I don't feel so deserving of that 3rd place at BOTCH.

Even so, coming 3rd in a top level tournament does strange things to your head. And so I went to Open War and got my arse handed to me. Although the bizarre missions, running out of time and going down with man-flu definitely didn't help.

This year I've accepted Alex's Challenge to come in the Top 5 at 4 tournaments in the attempt to get an invite to the 2012 Warhammer 40K Masters. I don't expect to do it, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

Normally I attend 2 top level tournaments each year and maybe a more relaxed event here or there. So this is the first year that I'll be attending 4 tournaments. To round it all off a Tempus Fugitives Horus Heresy campaign will be a chance to relax.

Adam's 40K Diary:
March: UK 40K GT (1750 points)
July: Battle of the Chumps (1000, 1500, 2000 points)
August - December: Need to find 2 tournaments.

Let's be honest here, I expect to get slaughtered at the UK 40K GT. Battle of the Chumps could go either way and as for the other two tournies, it's anyone's guess.

However, to prevent a repeat of my abysmal performance at Open War, I plan to read all of the tournament packs and plan my army for each event well in advance.

Truth be told, had I realised how whacky the Open War missions were going to be, I wouldn't have even bothered buying a ticket.

Here's a list of things I need to do if I'm going to survive Alex's Challenge:

1) Play Faster
running out of time ruined my games at Open War.

2) Know My Enemy
Learn the best army lists for each race and how to counter them.

3) Read the FAQs
Because sometimes opponents aren't as forthcoming as they should be.

4) Improve Army List
Change all twin lascannon Razorbacks to las/plas. Fine tune, refine, etc.

5) PLAY GAMES!

Space Wolves Comic

That's right, I said Space Wolves comic!

I've been chatting to Nachomon and he's decided to show the French comics industry what he can do when he's let off the leash to go do his own thing.

His own thing being a Warhammer 40K web comic.

It's free, it's online and it's not being sold in any shape or form. It's simply a creative outlet.

Oh, and it's going to be hosted RIGHT HERE at the Space Wolves blog!

You can see the original concept from 2007 on the left.

Plus there's a sheet of new sketches

Just to be clear, this isn't going to be anime styled weaboo nonsense.

This is going to be a proper, gritty, graphic novel in Nacho's unique illustrated style.

We're currently discussing a schedule for it. But we'll make sure it appears in a regular slot.

Now, please go out into the internets and SPREAD THE WORD!

The Warhammer 40K community must know.

1500pts Grey Knights Army List

I thought I'd have some fun and write out a 1500pts Grey Knights army list. Heck, everyone else is doing it.

James and I came up with this. It's designed to be fast, flexible, have plenty of anti tank, anti troop, scoring units and above all, it will mess up any army.

I reckon it'll cost about £280 to buy, which is about on par with most tournament armies nowadays. Although there is only 8 units.

Anyway, I've taken a completely different approach to army building compared to the other lists springing up all over the web.

So while my American cousins are busy writing army lists of 2000 points, which seem to incorporate everythng, here's my 1500 points Grey Knights army list designed to win missions and crush armies:

Grand Master
8 Grey Knights (2x Psycannons)
Storm Raven (twin linked multi melta, twin linked lascannon)

10 Grey Knights (2x Psycannons)
Storm Raven (twin linked multi melta, twin linked lascannon)

Nemesis Dread Knight (Super Psycannon, Super Incinerator)
Nemesis Dread Knight (Super Psycannon, Super Incinerator)
Nemesis Dread Knight (Super Psycannon, Super Incinerator)

How It Works
The key to making this army awesome is the Grand Master.
He can give up to 3 units the ability to scout or become scoring.

So, in games where you need to claim lots of objectives, you make the Dread Knights scoring units.

In games where you need to get close to the emeny and into close combat quickly, you give 3 units the Scout ability, which will allow those Storm Ravens to Outflank and hit the enemy from the sides.

With their high mobility and assault ramps there really is no escape unless your opponent crams his force more than 24" from either board edge.

If that's the case, he's susceptable to all the super incinerators and psychic blast powers of the practically unstoppable Dread Knights who will be advancing up the field, firing at will.

Finally, if you win the first turn, you can really screw over any Chaos Daemons player due to the 12" deep strike mishap abilities which all Grey Knights share.

On Turn 1 make sure all 3 Dread Knights are at least 12" on from the table edge and 24" apart.

You just sealed off 1 half of the board. I don't even know how big the Dread Knight bases are, but they're pretty huge as well!

Speed your Storm Ravens across to the other side.

Both, just over 12" on from the sides while being just over 12" from the top board edge.

Now the only place any Daemons can land is in a central pocket approximately 24" in length and 20" in width (due to the size of the Storm Raven base)

Grey Knight army doesn't move and simply shoots the hell out of whatever lands in there.

If firepower can't contain it all (and it should!) then the Grey Knights and Grand Master charge in and clean up. Job done.


CONCLUSION
Having read the Grey Knights Codex that's been floating about online, I can't see anything beating this Codex apart from Imperial Guard.

This is because they have the guns and the numbers. Everyone else simply doesn't have the numbers to do it.

Power Weapons are the problem. I have no idea why GW gave them all power weapons, which have no benefit against Daemons. But it means what Space Marines of any colour will not want to get into close combat with them.

I was chatting to Alex (our resident Warhammer 40K Master) and even he expressed concern.

Will Grey Knights break Warhammer 40K in the same way that Chaos Daemons broke Warhammer Fantasy? Time will tell.

I dunno about you guys, but it makes me want to play my Space Wolves with more passion than ever before!

Wolf Guard Terminator Army Built

Finally, I've built my entire Wolf Guard terminator army! Well...as much as I could build.

Unfortunately, because I'm converting so many models, I ran out of bits and couldn't complete my 6th squad or even begin to contemplate building a Logan Grimnar conversion. In fact, I have a whole pack of 5 unassembled terminators in a bag buried amongst all these leftovers.

Even this assault cannon conversion on the left was a bit of an accident. He was meant to have a power weapon, but because the basic terminator scale hand I was using looked so puny I had to use a power fist instead. I'm also in the middle of doing some very ambitious green stuff work to fix the huge gap I've made in the belt feed. More on this another day!

But building these 30 guys has been an adventure. A journey if you will.

Truth be told I've cut my thumb open (and blood went everywhere!) converting so many combi meltas and combi plasmas I never want to make another of the damn things ever again.

Anyway, enough ramble from me. Check out these photos:


This is the first pack I made a while back. I've flocked them using my usual mix along with some gravel liberated from the neighbours' drive. I will have to acquire more.

combi-plasma, power weapon
combi-plasma, wolf claw
combi-melta, power weapon
combi-melta, chainfist
storm bolter, power weapon, cyclone missile launcher


I love the gnarled old veteran in the middle with his storm shield and axe confidently jogging forward. I'm not a huge fan of the very static looking cyclone guy or the strangely flat posed thunder hammer guy either. I was still getting to grips with the kit at this point.

combi-plasma, power weapon
storm shield, power weapon
combi-melta, power weapon
combi-melta, thunder hammer
storm bolter, power weapon, cyclone missile launcher


I was much happier with these guys, although I chose to use a different wolf claw from the plastic kit which didn't look at good. I had the choice of another wolf claw, but I was concerned that the claws would break over time due to the pose. Was also pleased with my first left handed combi plasma conversion. Yes, I did slip and cut my thumb open doing this.

combi-plasma, power weapon
combi-melta, power weapon
combi-melta, wolf claw
combi-plasma, thunder hammer
storm bolter, power weapon, cyclone missile launcher


Another cool guy with an axe and storm shield. Loving the chainfist guy in this one. He's sticking it in where it hurts! The guy top left would have looked much better in a static pose, but oh well.

combi-plasma, power weapon
storm shield, power weapon
combi-melta, power weapon
combi-melta, chainfist
storm bolter, power weapon, cyclone missile launcher


Yeah, you know which one is my favourite model in this unit! I don't expect to field this pack as much as the first 4, so I decided to cram in a little more plasma, because I could.

combi-melta, power weapon
combi-plasma, wolf claw
combi-plasma, power weapon
combi-plasma, thunder hammer
assault cannon, power fist

Naturally, all of these Wolf Guard Terminator packs have been optimised for the very best performance for their points...apart from the last one, because it has a guy with assault cannon and powerfist rather than a cyclone missile launcher.

Waiting for Forge World
I'm going to build Logan Grimnar, Arjac Rockfist and a Wolf Priest in Terminator armour at a later date. I'd like to take my time with and see what I can come up with.

Also, I'd like to wait for Forge World's Imperial Armour 11 which will have some Space Wolves characters. Hopefully there will be at least one in Terminator armour *crosses fingers*.

I also need to build 2 Space Wolves Dreadnoughts to finish this force. I have something in mind that I haven't seen anyone try yet.

Then I need to build and paint 8 Drop Pods. I'm not quite so excited about that.

Anyway, I suppose I'd better start painting my first Wolf Guard Terminator pack. But first, a well deserved beer!

Combi Plasma Conversion Guide

I've also been makings of Combi Plasma conversions. A combi plasma conversion is actually quite hard, but it gets a lot easier with a little bit of practice. So watch and learn!

You need a storm bolter arm, a plasma pistol and a bolt pistol. Plus some green stuff modelling putty.

While you get plenty of Space Wolves plasma pistols, what you really want are the basic Space Marine plasma pistols. I'm sure your Space Marine playing buddies will have mountains of the things, because no one likes to field them considering their extortionate points cost.

Finally, make sure all of these components have been cleaned of flash and mold lines before you begin.

The Easy Bits
Start by chopping the front off the storm bolter. That's both barrels, the sight and the stubby bit underneath. Its only going to get in the way once we start carving this thing out.

Next, cut the plasma pistol free from the space marine had. I find it's best to severe the hand at the wrist first. Then line up the knife edge along the top of the gripping hand and cut clean through. You may end up with a bit of flash on the other side. Simply cut this off.

To get a flat surface where the hand was, use a modelling file, or scrape the blade edge backwards along it, smoothing the surface.

Finally, take your bolt pistol, line the knife edge up with the stock of the gun and cut clean through, severing the barrel and the little sight above it. This piece is tiny so make sure you don't lose it.

The Hard Part
Take the storm bolter and using your knife, mark a line across the top, just to the left of the central bit on top. Then mark another line straight down. This will help you to cut a rectangle out of the side of the gun.

I start but lining up the knife blade with the back of the 'boxy bit' and cutting down. Then I do the same thing on the underside of the 'boxy bit'. This makes it easier to get the main chunk of plastic out later.

Remember the two lined you made? One across the top and one down the front of the 'boxy bit'? You'll need to use these as a visual guide when you cut along them both at the same time by coming in with the knife blade at a 45-degree angle on the front corner of the 'boxy bit'.

Once you've cut as deeply as you can without accidentally cutting into the rear parts of the gun or down into the magazine, you're ready to start getting the plastic out.

Lay the gun on it's side and start cutting down, to remove a small triangle of plastic at a time.

You can keep doing this quite easily until you get towards the back of the gun. Then it's a case of wiggling the point of the blade carefully beneath each small section and carefully cutting it out until you've got a nice big space where half of the gun's 'boxy bit' used to be.

See, I said this was going to be the hard part. But now it gets easier.


Gluing Together
Take your plasma pistol and trim the inside, removing the two dimples near the front and little piping at the back to get a smooth, consistently flat surface.

Next you put some polystyrene cement glue in the empty rectangle where you want it to go and stick it in.

The plasma pistol probably won't fit perfectly. So check it from all angles to ensure a good, straight fit. Does it look straight from the side?

You can also get the top of the plasma pistol to blend better with the storm bolter's 'boxy bit' by putting more polystyrene cement across the join. I love this stuff because it melts plastic beautifully. Just make sure you don't get your fingers in it and then touch your model, or it will start eating the detail!

Now, leave it to dry overnight.

I know you want to finish your conversion NOW, but this is quite a fragile conversion and needs time to set properly before you get to the next part.

Final Touches
Glue the bolt pistol barrel and sensor to the front of the storm bolter using some polystyrene cement. Make sure you check the fit first as it may need a tiny bit of trimming to get it lined up straight.

Give it 10 minutes to dry and we can get on to the Green Stuff.

Always take half as much as you expect to use. I'm sure this stuff expands after you knead the yellow and blue halves together.

Once you've got your little ball of properly mixed Green Stuff, press it into the gap below the back of the plasma pistol.

Take your knife and use the flat edge to gently push the Green Stuff into a square from the front, back and side. Use your thumb to flatten the side facing you.

Wet your thumb a little and ever so gently smooth the Green Stuff up, over the lip of the plasma pistol.

Tidy up the shape again with the flat edge of your knife and you're done.

Don't worry, it gets easier with practice. I hated making the first few combi plasma conversions, but after the third it was pretty straightforward.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful :)

Combi Melta Conversion Guide

This week I've been making lots of Combi Melta conversions. A combi melta conversion is surprisingly easy, so watch and learn.

You need a storm bolter arm, a plastic melta gun (good luck if you're using the metal ones!) and a bolt pistol.

You'll notice I've used a Black Templars melta gun. This is because they're cheaper and more readily available than other plastic melta guns online. Plus, we're not using any of the bits with Black Templar details, so we're really on to a winner.

Before you begin, make sure all of these are cleaned up and free of flash or mould lines.

Storm Bolter
Take the storm bolter and using a Stanley knife, carefully cut the detail off the side. I tend to scrape the back of the blade across the flat surface to ensure a good, smooth, flat surface. But you should use a modelling file really.

Next you need to cut the storm bolter barrels off while keeping the little stubby bit that pokes out at the bottom. Keeping this stubby bit makes all the different in the long term when it comes to the melta gun barrel not breaking off later...

Once you've cut them off, use a file (or the knife scraping technique) to get a flat, smooth surface.

Melta Gun
Now for the fiddly part!

Pick up the melta gun, take your stanley knife and gently press/wiggle it just underneath the fuel tank on the side of the gun until you're just under half way through. You'll want to remove the whole side of the fuel tank and the two wires that come out underneath it.

Once just under half way through, turn it over and come at it from the other side. It will bend slightly once you've cut it free, but it should still fit to the smooth side of the storm bolter fine. If not, trim it flat at the back with your knife.

Next, you need to cut the barrel free from what's left of the melta gun. Nice and simple. Just line the knife up to the edge where the stock meets the barrel and cut straight through. Give the back of the melta gun barrel a very careful trim to get a flat-ish surface. You'll be surprised how well it glues on to the front of the storm bolter in a second.

Bolt Pistol
Just like with the melta gun, but a bit smaller. Line the knife up to the edge where the stock meets the barrel and cut straight through. You should get the little sight just above the barrel with it and probably a little bit of flash around where you cut. Don't worry, that will help it glue to the front of the storm bolter much easier. Polestyrene cement will melt the thin plastic and cover any little bits like that.

Assembly
As my Dad always said "Measure twice. Cut once."

In this game, it's 'glue once'.

Hold the melta gun barrel to the front of the storm bolter. Is it nice and straight? If not, turn it round and see if it's straight with attached upside down. More often than not it fits quite well. The same goes for the bolt pistol barrel and sight.

Both might need a tiny (tiny) bit of trimming get a reasonable fit.

Use polystyrene cement to glue them on and this amazing plastic melting glue should do the rest. Although it doesn't hurt to adjust the barrels from every angle once glued on to make sure they're straight.

I also recommend gluing the bolt pistol barrel on first, because once the melta gun barrel is glued on, it's hard to get at with your fingers.

Put it down and leave to dry. Once dry, glue the melta gun fuel tank on to the flat, smooth side of the storm bolter.

Finished
Now it's your turn!

When it comes to building combi meltas, I would always recommend using storm bolters as the basis. They're big, but they're fairly squat guns, which makes them look good in the hands of even power armoured troops, like this Wolf Guard on the left.

Notice that I've used the power armoured storm bolter from the Space Wolves sprue in this example.

I found that the regular combi melta that's built on top of a regular bolter just looks too long and skinny some how. But with a bit of extra bulk the storm bolter seems more visually acceptable.

How To Make All Your Wolf Guard Unique

Space Wolves are renowned for their individuality. So to make sure that every Wolf Guard in my Terminator army was different took a bit of planning...

First I glued all the upper bodies together and left them to dry.

While they were drying I them organised the bases into 5 rows of 5.

I then organised each set of 5 legs, gluing them to the bases in rows of 5 going back.

(Zoom in on the picture for a closer look.)

Next, I took X5 of one body type, placing one in the top left corner of the formation and the other bottom right, then placed the other 3 bodies down between them in a diagonal line.

For the next diagonal row I used 4 of the same bodies, then 3 for the next diagonal row down. Then 2, then 1. t

Then back to the top, starting with 1, 2, 3 and then 4 until the whole 'grid' had been filled in.

Now I have 25 completely unique Wolf Guard terminators with every body and legs combination possible!

Please note that some of the bodies don't fit on the legs very well due to chains of trinkets and other little details, but these can be easily removed with a modelling knife.

Optimum Load Out
I nearly forgot, no doubt you'll want to equip each squad as differently as possible while trying to give them all an optimum load out? Here you go:

cyclone, storm bolter, power weapon
combi plasma, wolf claw
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi melta, chainfist

cyclone, storm bolter, power weapon
storm shield, power weapon
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi melta, thunder hammer

cyclone, storm bolter, power weapon
combi melta, wolf claw
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi melta, thunder hammer

cyclone, storm bolter, power weapon
storm shield, power weapon
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi melta, chainfist

assault cannon, power weapon
combi plasma, wolf claw
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi plasma, chainfist

assault cannon, power weapon
storm shield, power weapon
combi plasma, power weapon
combi melta, power weapon
combi plasma, thunder hammer

I couldn't resist taking two of the Space Wolf assault cannon models. They're awesome. Besides, I ran out of cyclone missile launchers.

I've now glued all the bodies to the legs, facing straight ahead. Tomorrow night they'll be ready to receive arms, heads and weapons. Although I need to separate each batch of 5 and work on them a squad at a time.

Night of the Clippers

Spent most of the evening using my clippers (get some if you haven't, they're awesome) getting legs and torsos off the sprues.

I clipped all the other components off and organised them into bags of storm bolters, thunder hammers, etc. That way nothing should go missing and I can keep a tally of all the bits.

Now to clean up the legs and torsos with a Stanley knife, then organise all the parts into some form of individuality.

I've also been thinking ahead when it comes to flocking my terminators. The first batch I made for my last Space Wolves army got the regular flock mix that I use. But on their large bases this didn't look very effective. They needed some bigger stones.

So I've been grabbing a few small, flatish, yet angular looking stones from the shingle on the driveway every day. Added to the mix, I think they might just work.

Wolf Guard Week

It's Valentines Day today (aawww!), but having been untimely dumped by my girlfriend (booo!) I've decided to focus all my time and money on my one true love - Me!

So I'm dedicating this whole week to building my Wolf Guard Terminator army.

I've got the difficult task of organising each squad to look different, be armed differently and hopefully find all the correct arms so that they can hold the right weapons too.

Stay tuned for daily updates as I convert my way through 6 boxes of Space Wolf terminators.

Combi-melta and combi-plasma conversion guides to follow of course.

I also need to make a convincing Arjac Rockfist, Logan Grimnar and terminator armoured Wolf Priest from this lot too.

Grey Knight Nemesis DreadKnight

The Grey Knights Dread Knight is based on the concept of hummanity constructing a large fighting rig that would enable a skilled pilot to battle monstrous creatures at their own level. Think of the Power Lifter in ALIENS and you're on the money.

While the Nemesis DreadKnight may be ugly as sin, I guarantee you that every Grey Knights player is going to have one, if not three. Especially when they only cost 130 points basic.

Now is the time for us Space Wolves players to figure out how best to kill it. It's what we're good at after all!

We had plenty of warning when the new Tyranid swarm was approaching. We had even more when Blood Angels rumours were sweeping the web.

Both times we put our heads together (it sounded like a bowling alley) and figured it out. Remember that the Space Wolves are capable of anything. That's the whole point of us.

So What Is It?
It's a Monstrous Creature with lots of wounds, high strength, high toughness and a 2+ save as well as a 4+ invulnerable save.

You can clearly see 3 weapon options:

Heavy Psycannon: Str 7 AP 4 36" Heavy 6?, Rending
Heavy Incinerator: Str 6 AP 4 Template, Rending, Fires Like Inferno Cannon
Nemesis Force Weapon: ?

Nemesis Dreadknight: 130 Points
WS 5 BS ? S 7 T 7 W 4 I 4 A 3 Sv 2+/4++

Wargear: Heavy Psycannon, Heavy Incinerator, 2 close combat weapons.
Options: Personal Teleporter +75 Points (Unit can move as though they have a jump pack. Once per game, the unit may move 30", but may not assault afterwards.)
Special Rules: Monstrous Creature, Deepstrike, Psychic Mastery 1 (an use 1 psychic power per turn for each level)
Psychic Powers: Hammer Hand (+1 strength in Close Combat), Holocaust (S5 AP - Large Blast 12")

Optimum Load Out
I expect every Grey Knight player to have 2 of these as standard and use them as walking weapons platforms. Two for 260pts. That sounds pretty damn good.

It's very difficult to kill them at long range with their Toughness 7, 4 Wounds, 2+ save and 4+ invulnerable save. They don't even need cover.

I don't believe anyone will be able to justify the 75 points needed for the personal teleporter.

Believe it or not, this thing isn't great in close combat. It only has 3 attacks. However, unless you can surround it with powerfists or thunder hammers, it's not going to die quickly.

How Do We Kill It?
It's got a huge base and it's really, really tall. So we'll always have line of sight to it and any blast weapons are pretty much guaranteed to hit it. You'll also be able to get a ton of models into close combat with it.

For regular Space Marines, the infamous Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield wielding Assault Squad will take it apart no problem.

Space Wolves will need to combine everything they've got to take one of these things down. We need every melta gun, plasma gun and lascannon you can throw at it.

It should roughly take a total of 10 plasma/melta/lascannon shots.

But can your army deliver fire power of that magnitude?

Mine can with 3 Las/Plas Razorbacks and all 3 of my Grey Hunter packs.
(I guess I should hurry up with those las/plas turret conversions)

Failing that, I'll try casting X3 Jaws Of The World Wolf per turn and hope he rolls a 6+. The odds of him falling down a hole are 50/50.

But don't forget that S4 attacks and bolters can still wound it on a 6+. So you could still bring it down with LOTS of basic fire.

CONCLUSION
If you've played against Imperial Guard a few times, then you're used to being shot at. This is no different.

Use your burning Rhinos to hide from Line Of Sight. Run into cover. Go to ground.

Our army has always played like a pack of Wolves. We don't have 1 super unit that can easily butcher someone else's super unit. Our army has to work together... like a pack.

Pick on the weak, then attack the toughest units en masse. Or simply avoid them.

The Space Wolves army is a lot smarter than a rock that you use to bash against another rock.

With a some solid tactics and a little wolf cunning, we can still beat any army.

As Codex Creep continues we won't be relying on the ferocity of our Grey Hunters, but their flexibility instead.

Right then, I'd best get started on those las/plas Razorback turrets...

Oh Yeah, I Built These Other Week

...and forgot to take a photo for you.

This was when I'd been having fun making combi-meltas and my modelling knife slipped, gouging a huge chunk out of my thumb. Blood went everywhere!

Today my 6 boxes of Space Wolves Terminators arrived from Wayland Games. I'm a very excited boy and equally pleased at how much I saved.

I just have a mountain of bits to organise so I can build this army without losing any melta guns, plasma pistols or bolt pistols. Yes, even bolt pistols have become important components.

Get ready for next week where I'll keep you up to date on my progress as I build the lot. I should be able to bring you combi-melta and combi-plasma conversion tutorials now that I've mastered making them.

See you on Monday!

Pre Heresy Space Wolves Conversions

Check out these Pre Heresy Space Wolves conversions sent in by Jared Morris.

Inspired by my Pre Heresy Space Wolves Jared set to with modelling knife and green stuff to create some awesome characters and expand on the ideas already laid down.

I took one look at this guy with the wolf draped over his shoulders and instantly thought "pre heresy Ragnar". Not that I've ever felt the need to field Ragnar Blackmane, but I know I will one day.

I really like how he's reposed the Chaos Warrior right arm and changed the axe head for something more nordic and less chaotic.

The wolf skull across the crotch is also a good touch, although I'd probably have included a wolf pelt of chain mail tabard as well. The hanging wolftails are pretty good.

But what you're probably looking at is the big sculpted wolf head. Me too!

This running Space Wolf is much more minimalist, but with awesome sculpted hair.

Great use of the Chaos Warrior Champion arm again.

I tend to stay away from these kind of poses because the sword (and sometimes the arm holding it) breaks over time.

I can see myself borrowing ideas from both of these conversions when I come to make my own pre heresy Space Wolves characters from plastics.

Speaking of which, Jared has already beaten me to a lot of ideas with this Rune Priest sporting a very fetching beard. I need to learn how to sculpt beards for my characters.

I'd been thinking about using the Chaos Warrior standard pole as the basis for a Rune Staff, but wasn't sure how to get the top end to work. Jared's done an excellent job with this and has even used a tiny wire to coil around the staff.

Sharing Ideas
If there's one thing I've always loved about this hobby, it's the way that people share *cough*steal*cough* ideas and improve upon them.

I took my Chaos Warriors concept from Wolf Lord Mjolnir who had made his pre heresy Space Wolves using them.

I then took his idea a step further by cutting off the thigh armour and sticking it over the Space Marine legs. A technique strangely abandoned by everyone who seemed to favour basic marine legs or modified the Chaos Warrior legs from below the knee.

Now Jared has taken my concept a little further using components I'd overlooked.

Which means it's time for me to take his ideas and see what else I can add.

Best of all you can steal ideas from the pair of us! After all, why risk botching a complicated conversion when you can copy someone who's done it already?

Day at Warhammer World

I fancied a day at Warhammer World, so James and I emailed, text and facebooked all our 40K friends and asked them if they wanted a game. The response was comically poor, so we had a great day out with a just few good friends.

I showed off my first batch of Pre Heresy Space Wolves and talked about my other conversion ideas with my first models as the basis.

Simon liked them so much, he insisted that I field them in our game. They looked fantastic in the middle of a battle. I was really happy with them. They epitomise the Space Wolves in my mind (especially having read Prospero Burns). For some reason, they also simply refused to die and killed three times their points in World Eaters.

Simon's Khornate All-In-One Space Marine Army is coming along very nicely, resplendent in all it's Forge World glory. I particularly liked his Khornate Raptors, complete with stripped down Sanguinary Guard jump packs (minus the wings).

Our game was good fun and he nearly scraped a Draw with his 1 remaining Bezerker had the game ended on Turn 5. But that's the way it goes some times.

I also played Gerard who was learning the 5th edition rules having been out of the hobby for a while. He borrowed James' infamous Castling Marines and gave me quite a hard time with them.

After blasting apart a Rhino, then gunning down all of the Grey Hunters in the wreckage, I was awaiting the systematic destruction of my army, one unit at a time.

Fortunately, a fierce advance and smoke launchers saved my bacon, but just like in the first game my two Long Fang packs were stuck with very few worthy targets.

Eventually they proved their worth by pouring krak missiles into the dreaded Chaplain led Assault Squad.

The game was a complete bloodbath, but by the time the Space Wolves were stuck into his main force, they leapt from combat to combat, killing all in their path.

The Chaplain and his few Assault Marines were eventually gunned down with lascannons and more krak missile salvos after butchering a pack of Long Fangs, which left just a few Grey Hunters to grab the home base objective.

THOUGHTS
Both games made me question whether I should invest in a Vindicator to blast big holes in the enemy formations...and generally scare the hell out of my opponent!

I also had to question the usefulness of Long Fangs once again due to the turn it took to safely set them up, followed by them not having much to shoot at until later in the game. But when they do get a clear line of sight, all that patience and shepherding really pays off.

I'll give a Grey Hunter horde army a try all the same though.

Blood Claw to Grey Hunter

Hey guys just in case you were all worried I haven't fell off the face of Fenris just yet. Unfortunately real life has reared its ugly head and took a big bite out of my ass which means that until mid march I am not going to be doing many posts. That doesn’t mean I've put the hobby to one side though, I've been getting some painting in and even been to a few tourneys.

This weekend will mark the one year anniversary of my 40k tournament career when I attended the 1k tourney at Vapnartak. Well on Sunday I will be returning to Vapnartak sporting battle scars from a years worth of battles and a good deal of tournament experience.

2010 was a great year for me as far as tournaments go, I went to some great events and had a blast. I don’t think I did to shabby either, I had a rough start to begin with but from tourney to tourney my standings improved with me grabbing 4th spot at the Oxford GC’s 1750 tourney after a massive head to head with Alex (Killswitch)

I’ve started 2011 as I mean to go on, Space Wolves all the way baby! My tourney season has already begun with the Caledonian uprising a couple of weeks ago. I placed 24th out of 80 after six games which ain’t bad when I see that a lot of the countries top players were in attendance. A moral victory for me was that I was the highest placing Space Wolves player.

The top 20 spots were dominated by Guard and Deamon players. I was not surprised by the Guard results after I saw the vast fleets of Hydras and Vendettas stacked upon table after table. Its seems to me the codex has cracked and now the optimum list design is spreading like wild fire, Forgeworld must be happy with Hydra sales at the minute. I’m glad the Deamons are still going strong, I do enjoy fighting the sons of the warp as it always makes for a close and bloody battle.

What else have I got planned for 2011? Well I have already mentioned on Sunday I will be heading to Vapnartak for the 1k tourney there. After Vap I haven’t got a clue what will be next, I have seen Open War in April and hopefully BOTCH will be in July. I’d like to stick to events held at Maelstrom just for ease of access, its much easier convincing the wife to let me go playing with my toy soldiers when I can tell her it doesn’t involve an overnight stay.

Anyway Wolf Fans watch out for a few more posts in the near future and hopefully in a few weeks I will get back into the routine of writing up some proper battle reports because I know that’s what you all love.

Ravenwing VS Space Wolves Batrep

Space Wolves VS Ravenwing would prove to be a very interesting game. The Ravenwing are a highly mobile force while the Space Wolves really aren't.

I'd faced James' Ravenwing army many times before, but never with the Space Wolves. My biggest concerns were his huge mobs of bikers bristling with melta guns and multimelta attack bikes while his Land Speeders would hose down my troops and glance my transports from a distance.

Worse yet, was Sammael, the master of the Ravenwing in his personal Armour 14 Land Speeder, complete with Ballistic Skill 5 and twin linked weapons!

A firefight wasn't really an option and I was certain my Grey Hunters would tear apart his bikes, but only if they could get close enough to charge them.

I decided that to stand a chance of catching him, I'd have to carefully place my slower moving units in central positions. This would effectively use the table size to trap his fast units in different sections of the board, keeping them close enough to charge.

I also took my usual choice of Rune Priest psychic powers. I never tailor my army to beat my opponents, so although Living Lightning would have been very useful in this game, I continued to play my regular 1500pts tournament list.

1500pts Space Wolves Army
Rune Priest (murderous hurricane, jaws of the world wolf)

(X3) Grey Hunter Pack:
Wolf Guard with Combi Melta and Powerfist
8 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Wolf Standard and Mark of Wulfen
Rhino APC transport

Grey Hunters Pack:
5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun and Mark of Wulfen
Razorback APC with twin linked heavy bolter

(X2) Landspeeder:
Multimelta and Heavy Flamer

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon

Long Fangs Pack:
1 sergeant, 5 Long Fangs with Missile Launchers
Razorback APC with twin linked lascannon


1500pts Ravenwing Army

Sammael Grand Master of the Ravenwing on Landspeeder

(X3) Ravenwing Squadron:
6 bikes: sgt, powersword, 2 melta guns
1 attack bike: mulitmelta
1 landspeeder tornado: heavy bolter and assault cannon

Landspeeder Tornado:
Multimelta and Heavy Flamer


SET UP
We rolled for mission, getting Annihilation with a Dawn of War deployment. My favourite! One of James' favourites too, so we'd be in for a bit of a blood bath.

I won the roll to go first and did my usual trick of placing two Grey Hunter rhinos with their rear hatches 7" away from the back of the table edge. Meanwhile the Rune Priest embarked in the Rhino right of the centre while the other Rhino deployed on the far right flank.

I declared that the Land Speeders would stay in reserve. Everything else would arrive on Turn 1.

My plan was to deploy heavily on one flank to dissuade James from Outflanking his Ravenwing, because they'd only get jumped on if he did. I wanted to make this a long ranged battle, which would allow my Long Fangs and Razorbacks to pick apart his Land Speeders from a distance. That would leave his bikes rather helpless, especially if they got close enough to my Grey Hunters to be charged.

But then James did something I didn't expect.
He deployed two units of 6 Ravenwing bikes opposite each Rhino with Sammael, Grand Master of the Ravenwing, riding his Armour 14 Land Speeder slap bang in the middle of them.

His Attack Bikes and third Ravenwing bike squad went into reserve to Outflank.

I wondered where his Scout move would leave those bikes before Turn 1 began. James chose to leave them where they were...then rolled to Seize The Initiative.

He got a 6 and took the first turn. This game could be more difficult than I'd thought!

TURN 1
The Ravenwing bikers sped towards the right flank, closely followed by Sammael's Land Speeder. 4 Land Speeders swept down to the right of the centre and opened fire.

Unfortunately, due to the dim pre-dawn light (and some bad rolls) none of the Ravenwing could pick out the Space Wolf transports. Sammael found his target, but the assault cannon rounds pattered harmlessly off the grey vehicle's armoured hull.

Two Grey Hunter packs walked on from reserve and embarked into the Rhino transports which sped forward. The first advanced behind the barricades in the centre and fired its smoke launchers. The second advanced up the right flank, firing its storm bolter at the Ravenwing bikers, along with the Wolf Guard and melta gun armed Grey Hunter who fired from the top hatch.

A third Rhino arrived behind it and its cargo of Grey Hunter disembarked into the ruins, adding their bolter fire to the salvo, killing a total score of 4 Ravenwing bikers.

Behind it all, the Razorbacks arrived firing their heavy weapons to no avail, but disgorging Long Fang packs who ran into the ruins to take up firing positions for the rest of the game. The Grey Hunters and their Razorback on the left of the formation would play a pivotal role later in the battle.

TURN 2
The 2 man Ravenwing bike squadron drove to the edge of the ruins, ready to charge into the Grey Hunters while the full strength bike squadron converged on the Space Wolves Rhino at the right flank and fired both melta guns, but could only immobilise the transport.

Meanwhile the mob of Land Speeders in the centre swept around the dug out, firing on the Rune Priest's Rhino transport, shaking the crew and cutting down a handful of Long Fangs in the ruins.

Finally, a Ravenwing Attack Bike arrived from reserve and outflanked behind the Space Wolf lines, blasting apart the nearest Razorback with its multimelta.

On the left flank a third Ravenwing biker squadron appeared and sped towards the Space Wolves. It would take them at least 2 more turns to play any part in this game.

The 2 man Ravenwing bike squadron charged through the ruins and into the pack of Grey Hunters, killing a few before being torn apart by the wolves of Fenris.

Having closed with the Wolves, the Ravenwing were about the feel a devastating counter attack.

On the right flank, the Grey Hunters disembarked from their Rhino and with the nearby Grey Hunters opened fire. Meanwhile the Rune Priest and his Grey Hunters also disembarked into the nearby dug out before casting Jaws Of The World Wolf at the nearest Land Speeder. The ground split asunder, doing no harm to the floating skimmer, but the Ravenwing bikers behind it were not so fortunate and lost 2 of them number. Meanwhile this left the rest of the Rune Priest's pack to open fire on the nearby speeder, blasting off the multimelta and leaving the skimmer unable to move or shoot for the turn.

Long Fangs poured krak missile after krak missile into the throng of Ravenwing Land Speeders, destroying one and shaking another. Meanwhile the twin linked lascannon of their Razorback scored a glancing hit on the Master of the Ravenwing's Land Speeder, stunning the crew for a turn.

The lone attack bike, behind the Space Wolves lines was set upon by the 5 Grey Hunters who disembarked from their Razorback and blasted the vehicle crew apart with their melta gun and bolters.

The close combat to the right was brutal as Ravenwing bikers were cut down and Grey Hunters cut down in turn by the Dark Angel Sergeant's power weapon. Two Space Wolves has fallen, while only two Ravenwing remained and would be cut down in the following turn.

TURN 3
On the left flank the remaining Ravenwing bikers Turbo Boosted towards the Space Wolves, closely followed by a fleeing Land Speeder.

Short on firepower for the turn, James as helpless.

Both Space Wolf Land Speeders arrived from reserve and glided alongside the speeding Ravenwing bikers, firing their heavy flamers and multi meltas into the dense formation. Meanwhile lascannons, missiles, heavy bolter rounds and finally 5 charging Grey Hunters wittled them down to a single Space Marine.

CONCLUSION
With their firepower depleted, all their melta guns gone and their bikers wiped out, the Ravenwing were defeated.

We played on until the end of Turn 5, but it was a resounding victory for the Space Wolves.

They advanced up the field, quickly taking down the Land Speeders with missile launchers, bolters and melta guns...or failing that, their fists!

Even Sammael couldn't escape the slaughter as his Land Speeder was finally brought down with a close ranged melta gun fired from the top hatch of a Rhino.

It had been an easy win for the Space Wolves. All I had to do was sit tight and pound him with heavy weapons while I sent my Grey Hunters forward to minimise his manoeuvrability and trap his fast units within small pockets of the board. A simple divide and conquer strategy...or herd together and attack.

James' biggest mistake was putting so much of his army in reserve, let alone to Outflank.

He should have drawn me out, then hit my tanks in Turn 2 with everything he had, effectively stranding me where I stood, then sat back at a distance before redeploying and advancing en masse, combining his firepower into a single squad at a time to ensure their destruction and avoid any charges from getting his bikers within 12" rapid fire range. But being patient isn't how James plays.

Instead of playing the long game, he went for the quick kills and it cost him dearly.