Purchasing new models; assemble the new ones, or paint the old ones?

So, there's been a bit of a lull here, and with my hobby. I've taken a bit of a break, so to speak. But now that I got a nice sum of funds as a gift, I decided to jumpstart this here hobby again!


Introducing, the new arrivals;

Now, unfortunately, buying new things makes me all giddy about them. I want to start assembling them NOW, GODDAMNIT!!! ...whereas I still have a bit of a backlog of unpainted models that need care first...<.< I'll go more into detail about them in a bit, as first, I'll go through my backlog!

Like these unpainted merry men!

3 random Space Marines! I got them as a gift (small, cheap, box of only three models, quite bad quality compared to standard GW products, to be honest), and slapped them onto my existing squad of 5 Grey Hunters.

Other than that, I have my Thunderwolf Cavalry (3 models) that aren't painted yet, as I've been scared as hell I'll ruin the fur, due to lack of experience... BUT FEAR NOT! Found a nice tutorial-video on how to paint fur!

Moving on, I has... A drop-pod! Will be interesting to try to get that one done, as big flat surfaces are surpricingly difficult to get smooth. One of the employees at the local Warhammer-store suggested using some proper Lahmian Medium to thin the paint, rather than water, to avoid the bubbliness, yet still getting a nice smooth surface. Will try it out with the drop-pod, methinks...

And then, finally, a very specific character...

Njal, the Stormcaller!

A very highly praised and warmly suggested tactic with the Wolves, is to have a Long Fang squad (Devastators, for those more strict to the codex), filled with missile launchers, accompanied by a Rune Priest as a divination buffing machine! Other than that, I've ran him once into the thick of it, accompanied by a terminator retinue to wreck havoc in close range! ...aaaand I did all that with tiny bits of blue-tac to keep him standing. Yes. I feel very much ashamed. He's primed (and awaiting painting) in parts to make it easier.

Then, we also have Bjorn, and his base... I want to base all my models, but I'll add some extra effort to my HQs (especially NAMED HQs).

More in-depth on the new-comers!

I love to browse a Warhamme 40k -subreddit. There's a lot of good info about lore, helpful ideas and thoughts about army-lists, and plenty of pictures or awesomely painted models! Naturally I've used them for help and advice, while still keeping my own visions and goals in mind; not exactly copying anyones lists with anything I'm doing, I'd rather create something of my own, while modifying it perhaps a little.

Long Fangs are always reccommended. I've used my older brothers Devastators as stand-ins for my Long Fangs, and I've had a lot of success with them, so they were a natural choice for purchasing. Most probably going to run Njal with them for buffs (sweet Psyker level 3 buffs, yo!) and Deny the Witch in the vicinity.

After that, I was a bit perplexed... I need boots on the ground, so Grey Hunters were a nice choice. More Thunderwolf Cavalry for the Thunderwolf Cavalry -God is a good idea as well. Other than that? Transports? Who knows?

The start collecting-box is a nice deal on a lot of good units (albeit a little lack of transports, but derp), so I figured I'd go for it. Plans include a Wolf Lord or Wolf Guard Battle Leader (depending on points-range of game) on a thunderwolf (expect some sweet conversion-stuff coming up when I start doing that), accompanied by a squad of 5 TWC.

Thoughts on procrastination and other things...

A lot of this has been put on hold, unfortunately. A lot of PC-games on my game-backlog, I've also started to handcraft some terrain (for example these craters here)...

So how does one easily combat procrastination and pouring attention on several things? I don't know... One thing that is for certain would be to have a project-table at the ready, or having my painting-projects out constantly, so I don't have to break out the project-box and the paints and everything, which takes ages in and of its own...

So, time to convert my desk to a paint-shop! LET'S GET CRACKIN'!

Bjorn the Fell-Handed

The venerable.

The ancient.

The dreadnought.

The Fell-Handed.

Yes.

Bjorn.

So, I've been watching a lot of battle-reports on youtube, and read Battle of the Fang by Chris Wraight, and decided that I want Bjorn on my team. Doesn't matter how I'd build my army, Bjorn has a place in my heart, and on my list.


The fluff
Bjorn walked the stars in the age of the primarchs. He was part of Leman Russ', the Space Wolves' primarch, personal Wolf Guard!

To summarize the history a little: way back in the day, in the middle of a feast back on Fenris, Leman Russ got a vision. He got up and gathered his Wolf Guard, all but Bjorn, and left! He said that he would return on the eve of the Wolftime (basically when rangarok, the apocalypse, the end of days, occurs), and left Bjorn in charge. Russ went for the Eye of Terror, and no-one has seen him since. For starters Bjorn was "temporarily" in charge, until it became clear Russ wasn't returning any time soon. Bjorn took the mantle of being the first Great Wolf (chapter master), and several centuries later, he was severly wounded in battle, and interred in a Dreadnought. He spent a lot of time on the front lines as a walking beheamoth of destruction, until he was entombed in stasis sleep like a lot of the dreadnoughts of the Space Wolves.

Every one hundred years he is awoken, unless situations arise that require his wisdom, expertise or skills in battle, to hold court at the Great Feast, where he retells the sagas of old.


The crunch
Bjorn is a really strong combatant, stronger than your standard Venerable Dreadnought. Comparing his base-stats with other dreadnoughts:
Bjorn is more pricey than the standard dreadnoughts; 220 points for Bjorn, 120 for a Venerable, and 95 for a standard. With the extra points his WS, BS and S is upped by 1, front armor upped by 1 to 13, and a standard of 4 attacks. Furthermore, he has a 5+ invulnerable save, and improves the Sieze the Initiative -roll by one (5+ to steal first turn!). He does, however, lose 1 point of initiative, down to 3, most probably because of his old age.

In a clearer format:

WS	BS	S	Front	Side	Rear	I	A	HP
6	6	7	13	12	10	3	4	3

Weapon-selection? He comes with a standard Assault Cannon, which can be swapped FOR FREE for the Helfrost Cannon or Plasma Cannon, or pay 5 points for the Twin-Linked Lascannon.

Assault Cannon, S 6 AP 4, Heavy 4 & Rending

Helfrost Cannon, focussed, S 8 AP 1, Heavy 1, Helfrost

Helfrost Cannon, dispersed, S 6 AP 3, Heavy 1, Helfrost, Blast

Plasma Cannon, S 7 AP 2, Heavy 1, Blast, Gets Hot

Twin-Linked Lascannon, S 9 AP 2, Heavy 1

Helfrost, bitches!

I'm running with the Helfrost Cannon, due to me, not having a proper amount of good anti-tank at the moment, BUT I left it unglued, so I can swap the gun for something else, should the need for it arise! The Helfrost special rule forces the target to make a strength-test when he suffers an unsaved wound. If he fails, he's frozen solid, and dies outright. Having a BS of 6, the scatter is lessened by 6 inches, so there's a high chance for it actually hitting dead-on, and insta-killing any T 4 units, and has a chance to freeze any multiple-wound characters with a higher toughness than 5. Quite sweet!

For his other hand, a heavy flamer and a relic, Trueclaw. S 10 AP 2, Master-crafted, Shred. Get in melee with him, and suffer 4 hits from that, with a WS of 6. First game I ever played, he slaughtered 2 Tau drones with a Hellfrost-blast and his heavy flamer, and slaughtered 2 Crisis suits in melee, before they fell back, and he destroyed the commander with a sweeping advance.

"I'll just pinch him a little there..."

The model

Okay, enough of the crunch... Here's the assembly and the painting... Unfortunately I didn't take much pictures during assembly, but I learned something annoyingly drastic, which I will cover next to a picture further down. I assembled and painted him in pieces, but decided that this is the last time I do that, as it gets VERY tedious.

There he is, still halfly unfinished. Painting the gold on the front wasn't as hard as I first imagined. On with the base, on with the layer. Didn't even shade it, and it turned out awesome. Also, what's up with the sarcophagi where the character inside has his head sticking out?

Like, come on, Murderfang. Really? One headshot, and you're out of commission!

That little drastic thing I mentioned? Yea, so I've sprayed a lot of things in the same cardboard box on our balcony, right? Problem there was, that the bottom got quite gunky from residue spray. Said gunk gets stuck on a modle-piece if it's resting against it. If your model is assembled, and standing on his base, then you're fine! Who cares about some gunk on the bottom of the base, right? Well, this was sprayed in pieces, and here is the result of what happened. Gunk, futile effort of scraping it off with a toothpick, aaaand the plastic's ruined.

An example of how it SHOULD look...

The claw itself... The box and Games Workshop has a lot of neat art on their site, and I tried replicating it. Turns out, using Lothern Blue as a base for it and White Scar for highlights/drybrushing had the wished effect of it!

And here we have him, with his arms off of him. Left these pieces unglued, so I can swap out his main weapon of I need to, or to just show the "Weapon destroyed" effect on him.









So yeah! There he is! One of the corner-stones of my army! What I've learned from painting and assembling him? Assemble first, paint later. A lot easier. Also, if using the same spray-box, use a sheet of paper or something to make the bottom less gunky every now and then... Again, highlighting and detailing is left to a later date, when I'm more confident in my skills.

The Stormclaw box, part 2! Krom Dragongaze and Blood Claws!

In the last post I covered the Wolf Guard Terminators. After I got done with them, I started assembling and painting the Blood Claws and the company commander, Krom Dragongaze... So let's get started!

Krom Dragongaze

Not much to say about the assembly... Boom, bang, done. The PAINTING, on the other hand... Still a lot of trial and error here...

So, here he is, in all his splendor... Not. I didn't have all the paints needed, so hade to use some makeshift and temporary paintjobs. I also had no idea about shading and/or drybrushing or highlighting...

So, yeah. The vents on the armor's generator (the wolf-skulls on the back) should be gold, and his axe shoud be drybrushed with white. Didn't know how to do it, and din't have all the paints, so I went with this temporarily...

A hell-of-a lot of detail, a hell-of-a lot of time. No shading, no highlighting, no dry-brushing. Also, I STILL don't have proper paints for the hairs (saving money at the moment), so his head is pretty much undone...

Blood Claws

So, my squad of 5 Blood Claws... I figured I'd slap a Wolf Guard pack leader, because why not, eh? Unfortunately I took no progress-pictures of them, and thus I have only the (semi-) finished thing...

So, here we have them. One Wolf Guard pack leader, 4 Blood Claws with chainswords and bolt pistols. No shading, no highlighting, no dry-brushing, again... Still learning...