# Maidels Wolves - An attempt to finish an army



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

I have been playing both fantasy and 40K for in excess of 20 years.

To date, I have finished 0 armies.

When I say I have finished 0 armies I do not mean I have gotten them to a state I am happy with, but there is always more to be added, what I actually mean is that I have finished no army I have ever started, closest I have is 1250 points of eldar completed, out of about 3000 that I own.


So, why should anyone bother reading any further - Well, what I am hoping, is that doing this will actually give me some emphasis and drive to finish the army, or at least get the 4000+ points of Space wolves I have completed to a 2000pt army.

What makes this any different to any other army that people have shown? Well, it contains models from the length of time I have been playing 40K. This army contains about 1 model per squad from rogue trader, 2 or 3 per squad from 2nd edition and the same from 3/4th edtion and finally one or two new models per squad (+ a whole load of new arms!).


The entire army contains:

Rangar
Ulrik
Wolf Lord in terminator armour
Rune Priest

10 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour
6 Wolf Guard in Power Armour
Iron Priest + 2 servitors (not pictured)
Dreadnought

4 Squads of 10 Grey Hunters
2 Squads of 10 Blood Claws

2 Squads of Long Fangs


The current state of the army is this:

Terminator Wolf Lord + 6 Wolf guard painted
1 Grey Hunters and 2 blood Claw painted.

10 Grey hunters, 10 blood claws, 2 Wolf Guard and 5 Long fangs painted to a rather poor standard from 10 years ago and everything else is stripped and ready to go (accept for a few models that need arms attached and half a new box of grey hunters that need gluing together.)


So, for the pictures:










Ragnar, Ulrik and Iron Priest (+2 servitors not pictured).

I hate these models (well mainly ragnar) but I am loathed to dump them entirely. Anyone recommend any better models, or are their rumours that these models will be redone (like nijals was)?









Well this is the finished paint scheme - thats the Wolf Lord in terminator armour + 5 painted wolf guard terminators. Im not happy with the wolf lord (this might have something to do with why I never finish a bloody army!) I didnt strip the wolf lord before painting him, unlike all the terminators which was rather silly really. 

All the terminators here are 2nd edition or earlier (bits are mixed around arms and bodies).










This is the second set of terminators, bit more of a mix in this squad with 2 more modern terminators (last of the metal ones) as well as a space crusade terminator librarian. Obviously all need painting. (although one is primed and base coated at the back there).











All of these have been shown in the above photos - but its a comparason of the scales throughout GW time of making terminators. Question - do you think these look ridiculous to field together?










First Grey Hunter Squad - Wolf guard is dead centre with the raised powersword, one finished grey hunter is behind him with the empty banner pole (well not quite finished then...) First rogue trader marine is hiding off to the left in this squad.










Second Grey hunter Squad - Finished Wolf guard with the wolfs claw. Rogue trader era mk V armoured marine is also hiding in this squad (talk about inconsistancy with scale, hes actually a tall as the newest marines now, especially with their shortened bases.) The pile on the right is the arms for the missing marine (I didnt bother doing this for the other squads, but they should all be 10+1 strong)









Grey Hunter squad 3 - very unfinished this squad and is led by their primarch... (LOL! how short was he!). 










Final grey hunter squad, again not entirely finished, but nearly their, has a stern guard model for the wolf guard (because I like the model, no other reason). One thing to note about this squad and all other grey hunters is that unless they are carrying a special weapon, they are all armed with bolters and close combat weapons (appart from 3 models I think). This is to differentiate them from the blood claws who are all armed with bolt pistols (although this is also a viable armament for grey hunters).










First squad of blood claws with 1 finished model and one utter midget in the centre.










Second squad of blood claws and also the one with the olderst model in it - I wonder if this one is a step too far? (I mean, wtf is that 'gun' he is holding?).










First squad of long fangs. The guy who is missing his arms should have plasma cannon, so thats 2 plasma, 2 multi melta and 1 heavy bolter (who will probably never be used, but he came in the kit 10 years ago...).










Second Long Fang squad - which is 3 missle launchers and 1 lascannon. I didnt have enough missle launchers so two of them have missle launchers made from hunter killer missles from my rhino kits (unfinished crimson fist army...).









Finally, the dreadnought. Im not sure that the plastic legs will hold the metal body very well, but I will give it a try!

I also have a pair of old rhinos (I mean the OLD kit) and 1 land raider, but none of them fit in the army box and frankly, Ive had enough of tanks trying to make 10 leman russes...



Comments, questions, suggestions and most of all, give me some encouragement to actually finish something I start!


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

NIce , it's good to see somone else trying to bring models from all ages together in a single army. I've never been a big SW fan but i'm going to be watching this carefully.


----------



## Marneus Calgar (Dec 5, 2007)

Looks good, I can't see why you don't have a painted army, they look awesome!


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

GrimzagGorwazza said:


> NIce , it's good to see somone else trying to bring models from all ages together in a single army. I've never been a big SW fan but i'm going to be watching this carefully.


Ive done the same thing with my eldar - I love some of the old models (cant stand others!) but where I liked the model enough to buy it in the first place, I always try to include it in ongoing projects. Before now I have always gotten to a point where my paining improved so much that I hated looking at older models, but I have fairly much reached a peak (infact I think I was slightly better a few years ago, Im out of practice now what with work, having a wife and a baby...)

So you know what I am talking about - here is my new and old banshees (Yes I know the 'new' one is infact now also old...)












Marneus Calgar said:


> Looks good, I can't see why you don't have a painted army, they look awesome!


Thanks. I do have a flaw when painting - I am incapable of doing models worse than I can, I paint everything to 'character' standard. I know that other people can paint better than me, but what I mean is that every model I paint is done a well as I can, no short cuts for troops.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

This one should be interesting to watch. Being a sinner of similar vein I wish you well in getting it done.

Although the older minis give the warm feeling of nostalgia, I'm not sure you should include some of the really old ones. The original SM with the _WTF gun is that?_ is a step to far into the past imo as is the really old termi.

I did a similar thing with My old Red Scorpions by including some old RTB metal SMs and found a few things handy to help them fit in.
Some of these might be considered sacrilege though.



Mounting them onto bits of slate to bring them up to a similar height to the newer Marines (good on Termis).

New Backpacks all round. (Except for some old Jump packs I used.)

I filed down shoulder pads so they would fit inside the new plastic ones and glued them over the top. (Sergeant)

I also added GS trim and bulked out the Shoulder pads that were too big or awkward to trim down to clad in new ones. (Sergeant right pad.)

Love the finished Terminator Squad


----------



## elmir (Apr 14, 2011)

Maidel said:


> Thanks. I do have a flaw when painting - I am incapable of doing models worse than I can, I paint everything to 'character' standard. I know that other people can paint better than me, but what I mean is that every model I paint is done a well as I can, no short cuts for troops.


I recognise that problem. Not so much for myself, I can settle for a "table top" standard personally. As long as it's a good enough table top standard. 

You know what I do to combat the urge to paint to high standards? I always try to have at least 1 "off" miniature around. Either something that uses different colors, or one I have set my eyes on for a painting comp or whatever. You can always swap to that model if you want to practice techniques or paint to character levels. 

Try it, maybe it give you a crutch to finish your first army and to be able to take a step backwards aways from the character painting...


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Viscount Vash said:


> Although the older minis give the warm feeling of nostalgia, I'm not sure you should include some of the really old ones. The original SM with the _WTF gun is that?_ is a step to far into the past imo as is the really old termi.


hehe - yea, I think you are right. Im rather partial to the other 3 rogue trader models and I dont think they stick out so much. I might need to order another pair of legs from bitzbox, I have plenty of everything else!

Ironically, the 'really old' plastic terminator is much newer than 3 of the metal ones and about the same age as the other 5 'older' metal ones. Ill hang onto him as a 'place holder' until I replace him with a rune priest in terminator armour - but I am self banned from buying anymore models until I actually paint some of the ones I already have!!!



> Mounting them onto bits of slate to bring them up to a similar height to the newer Marines (good on Termis).


Like it, wont do it to the terminators as they are the only ones actually based, but will definately do it to the other 3 rogue trader marines I am keeping.



> New Backpacks all round. (Except for some old Jump packs I used.)


Been there, tried that, failed, the new backpacks simply wont fit on those models, they either stick way over the top of the models head, or, they wont fit between the models shoulder blades.



> I filed down shoulder pads so they would fit inside the new plastic ones and glued them over the top. (Sergeant)


Interresting.



> I also added GS trim and bulked out the Shoulder pads that were too big or awkward to trim down to clad in new ones. (Sergeant)


also interresting.



> Love the finished Terminator Squad


Thanks. Its another one of my failings - starting with the most fun squad.... sigh.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Ah! The back pack situation benefits from having the mounting 'nipple' cut off the Marine which allows for the lower position of the backpacks. 

(Same links)


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

elmir said:


> Try it, maybe it give you a crutch to finish your first army and to be able to take a step backwards aways from the character painting...


I wish it were that simple. I have a very 'odd' way of painting and I realise that I may be unique here (or not, would love to hear from people who do simlar things).

When I decide on an army to paint I do testers (ignore the ancient grey knight on the end of the row):










I did these at the same time as the single painted blood claw. In the end I settled on a crimson fist army (also unfinished...) but later on when I found all my old space wolves I ressurected that paint scheme for this army.

When I choose a paint scheme it tends to be a 'one hit' version - eg there isnt a 'better' or 'worse' version of it - it either is done as I worked out, or not at all.

To give an example with this army they are:

Undercoated
painted shadow grey
Thin chaos black wash
armour re-highlighted with shadow grey
Very thinned space wolf grey appied in multipul layers over all the raised areas.


Unfortunately unlike the way most people paint (blending) where you can choose to leave off layers or colours or miss out stages on troops, I simply dont have that option, if I leave off the highlight, I leave off space wolf grey - and then all the models end up looking like the terminator a the back left of the second terminator squad.

Basically - I hate myself and enjoy causing myself pain, and then moaning about it. :shok:


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Viscount Vash said:


> Ah! The back pack situation benefits from having the mounting 'nipple' cut off the Marine which allows for the lower position of the backpacks.
> 
> (Same links)


hehe - yea - but that only solves part one of the problem, part two leaves the backpack susspened on the edges of the marines shoulderpads, or leaning back at at a ridiculous angle. I think it depends on exactly which marine its being tried on and I think I am unlucky with these particular models.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

2 Days since the start of the project - 1 more terminator complete. (bar the base and a few touch ups).

I wont bother getting my mini studio out each time, so the quality of photos is a bit reduced.

At this rate, I think I should be finished somewhere in the middle of 2012...










On the left is where he was last night, other two are tonight. The photo doesnt make him look very good, but hes nearly identical to the other 5 terminators (if anything slightly better and smoother... Bloody camera!)


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good man! I wish you luck on the project as I am also of the same ilk. 6+ years in the hobby and not a finished army to show for it. I will be following along with your progress and I hope to see some more nicely painted stuff!


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Midge913 said:


> Looking good man! I wish you luck on the project as I am also of the same ilk. 6+ years in the hobby and not a finished army to show for it. I will be following along with your progress and I hope to see some more nicely painted stuff!


haha - just wait until you are 20+ years in and still havent finished an army.

What really drives it home is when you are painting models from 3 previous itterations of that army which you didnt finish 10+ years ago...

sigh.


I spotted a few errors in my terminators that need rectifying tonight - error one is that I havent done the jewels on their armour - so I will be finishing off the terminator above and 'bejeweling' the rest of them. I hope it looks as good as on my eldar.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Right - little update (Well it looks little, still took 3 hours...)

Heavy Flamer Wolf Guard now complete:










and the entire squad has had the jewelling completed - I had lots of experiance doing this with my eldar - but JEEZE am I out of practice!!!










and a few close ups in case any one can actually spot the gems...


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

looking good so far dude. Are you going to be working on a single squad at a time or individual models and just painting what you feel like? 
I'm finding that doing single minis takes more time but means i don't get board by the time i reach the detail. 
Also what are you planning to hit up next?

With the scale of the models i would be tempted to keep them in, i know they're a little older/weirder but it all adds character. It's amazing how people will pick out these specific squad members to become the focus of mini stories.

I've got a plastic blood bowl ork with arm swaps in my army, his face is painted like the insane clown posse. Despite the fact that he is one of the happiest looking of my ork boys he's become the target of hate for my regular legion of the damned player. Last game he and his nob were the last 2 survivors of their unit whilst i had a full shoota boy mob as well. A whirlwind shot scattered and took I.C.P out....my oponent was more happy with killing him then if she'd scored the direct hit she'd origionally aimed at the shootas.

Just claim they are using older wargear that has been recently dicovered on a battlefield from eaons ago, the lost battle brothers who were wearing it were presumed lost long ago and now their remains and wargear has been returned to the chapter for repair and reconsecrating in battle. A new paint job and they'll be fine .


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Although I have a few more terminators in the box I won't be doing any more for a while. I've never been able to 'batch' paint. I get horribly bored doing the same stage over and over again on 10 models. I will however, often do fine details (like the gems) to a squad at a time.

I will probably go for the first grey hunters squad next, but I also need to spend some time finishing building the rest of the remaining models, there's about 20 of them still in pieces/armless.


----------



## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

every time i see clean marines i always think somethings wrong... nice job nonetheless though


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Haha.

Every time I see dirty marines all I can think is that their sergeant is not yelling at them enough back at the baracks...

It's one of those things I refuse to do on any of my models. Each of my armies is painted as if they have just made planet fall and haven't had time to get dirty yet. It's also the reason why 95% of my space marines have helmets on, I don't go in for this 'fighting bare headed' nonsense that most space wolves seem to try. I looked last night at some space hulk terminators and they really 'offended my sensibilities' because two of them were helmetless - IN A VACUME!

So I know I'm in the minority, I just can't bring myself to spend hours on a model and then go and thrown weathering pigments all over them in case I screw it up.


----------



## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

well you DO know that in the fluff, Blood claws are forced to fight without a helmet, right? its a rite of passage for them.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

KhainiteAssassin said:


> well you DO know that in the fluff, Blood claws are forced to fight without a helmet, right? its a rite of passage for them.


Not on worlds with unbreathable air.

My marines ALWAYS fight on those sorts of worlds...


To be honest it all goes back when GW produced helmetless heads that looked awful and I refused to use them.


----------



## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

that 'libby' model looks like he should be purple in the face you know.

but besides, most marines are designed so, bar being in OUTER SPACE, they can survive without a helmet in almost any condition.... or so the fluff makes us believe.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

I come from a time when marines only had 4+ saves... Ive fairly much ignored some of the newer fluff that uses the 'rule of cool' to decide if it gets incorporated, I've read it, but my brain stores it away under M for 'meh'. 

I totally understand why GW does the whole helmetless thing, especially for blood claws as it let's them produce one box set that covers two units which are easily recognisable on the table.

However, if I get round to it I will be removing the heads of those 3 metal wolf guard and replacing them with helmets. It's very easy, they are lead. Not sure I can bring myself to decapitate leman however. I think I shall leave my 'primarch' as an example of just how hard a midget he is.


----------



## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Man, these guys take me back. My first full army was space wolves and included most of these models: original grey hunters, original lung fangs, the ancient metal terminators mixed with wolf guard models, and even the plastic librarian. they might not fit in the system scale wise but Ulrik and Ragnar are still beautiful models.



KhainiteAssassin said:


> every time i see clean marines i always think somethings wrong...





Maidel said:


> Every time I see dirty marines all I can think is that their sergeant is not yelling at them enough back at the baracks...


I am also with you on this Maidel. Despite having primarily Khornate armies, I categorically refuse to dirty them up. I want my armies to look like they are in fully glory _before _the battle not, wrung out and dirty after the battle. And besides, Imperial marines who are so focused on the purity of their spirit, genes, equipment, and honor - don't seem like the chaps to roll around in the mud proudly or otherwise.

*Raises glass to clean marines*

Cheers,
Kreuger


----------



## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

Kreuger said:


> I am also with you on this Maidel. Despite having primarily Khornate armies, I categorically refuse to dirty them up. I want my armies to look like they are in fully glory _before _the battle not, wrung out and dirty after the battle. And besides, Imperial marines who are so focused on the purity of their spirit, genes, equipment, and honor - don't seem like the chaps to roll around in the mud proudly or otherwise.
> 
> *Raises glass to clean marines*
> 
> ...


um yeah... about that.... SW are not focused on purity of their spirit, genes, equipment... 

SW are VIKINGS in SPACE they really care more about battle. but were given an honor bound side to be on the emperors side


----------



## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I was responding to clean marines in general. Space Wolves are definitely a more raucous bunch, but I'm still a 'clean' miniature devotee. 

To be fair, I have seen weathering I think was very well done. Typically it has to add a lot to the model, and to be good in my opinion, it should be more than a weathering powder or some rust stippling. When I've seen weathering effects done well, its not simply a matter of adding dirt, but of carefully showing the wear and tear suffered by the troops equipment. 

That's not part of how I envision any of my models.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

KhainiteAssassin said:


> um yeah... about that.... SW are not focused on purity of their spirit, genes, equipment...
> 
> SW are VIKINGS in SPACE they really care more about battle. but were given an honor bound side to be on the emperors side


hehe - the heav metal team space wolves are nice and clean. :grin:


I have to say I do agree, in principle, that space wolves should be half drunk brawling barbarians and that a bit of dirt on their armour wouldnt really bother them.


However, I didnt choose Space wolves as an army last week - I did about 20 years ago when rogue trader had a picture of the Fang printed in it - and back then, they were just grey space marines, so I dont really 'like' the mad viking bit of the space wolves fluff. Really wish that I had picked blood angels back then....


And, while im on the subject - how the hell do space wolves ever put their helmets on with their hair styles? If you put some of those beards/top knots in a helmet it would cover the marines entire face....


I digress. Imagine my army as just charging out of the drop ships after the Fangs thralls spend hours cleaning their armour while they all got drunk. :biggrin:


----------



## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

SW having to clean their armor just seems... wrong to me, especially AFTER they get drunk...

and they obviously put their top knots down before putting their helmets on! and their beards just get all bunched up below the helmet...

TBH dont think GW was seriously looking at realism on that one XD


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

KhainiteAssassin said:


> SW having to clean their armor just seems... wrong to me, especially AFTER they get drunk...


Thats what I meant - its the thralls that have to clean the armour - thats what they are there for. 



> and they obviously put their top knots down before putting their helmets on! and their beards just get all bunched up below the helmet...


But, but, but that doesnt work because then they cant seal the helmet. 



> TBH dont think GW was seriously looking at realism on that one XD


Ah - well yes that makes more sense


----------



## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I think I'd like to see some space wolves with helmets made to accommodate their face fur and hair. Like a helmet with a big section hanging down from the chin to armor the beard without mussing it. Or a tall eldar- height helmet to accommodate a top knot.

It would be hilariously ridiculous.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Kreuger said:


> I think I'd like to see some space wolves with helmets made to accommodate their face fur and hair. Like a helmet with a big section hanging down from the chin to armor the beard without mussing it. Or a tall eldar- height helmet to accommodate a top knot.
> 
> It would be hilariously ridiculous.


Oh dont tempt me 

But seriously - next on my list this evening is one of the Rogue trader era marines - I want to see how well he fits in.

Will also take some advice and mount him on a raised base.


PS - has anyone else noticed that the new plastic bases are a few mm shorter than the old ones?


----------



## lilloser (Mar 30, 2010)

Oh wow, classic space wolves. I'm a sucker for nostolgia and i'm a sucker for this blog. 

What Rogue Era marine will you be painting tonight?

LilLoser


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

lilloser said:


> What Rogue Era marine will you be painting tonight?
> 
> LilLoser


Im tempted by Leman - but thats something I will save for later when I am fully happy with my painting style (which I wasnt when I did the terminator wolf lord, just looking at him closely makes me want to strip him and start again...)

So I will be going for this little guy - his pose will be great when angled slightly on a slanting base, which will also benifit by making him taller.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

What a difference a few days make.

The 'little' marine is no longer little, hes in fact the tallest in the squad now, I over estimated the thickness of the slate I used - but its only a tiny amount.

Ive also finished off the other 4 marines that were nearly finished - they all have pack markings now (still no army badges - will get transfers later on). I havent done the banner yet - that will wait until the very end and i feel I am up to a freehand banner again.










Backs to show pack markings


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Right - nothing to show for it, but work is continuing. 

This entire squad has been singled out for something I have never done before - batch painting...









Two guys in the squad are already finished, + I swapped the Wolf guard with the one that is finished - dont want to overload my self for the first time.

The three painted wolves ahve been stripped and rebased onto blank bases. All the models have been primed and the silver drybrushing has been done.

Next is a huge step which is colouring all the armour areas with shadow grey, then the easy step of black washing them - and then I can start finishing them off one by one.

Hope to have something to show for it by the weekend!


----------



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good Maidel.

I used to paint miniatures in squads one at a time and found that it just drug on and on. I have since moved to batch paintined just about everything and I have found that I get bored less easily and I manage to achieve more consistent results across a whole squad. Good luck with it and I look forward to seeing the squad finished up.


----------



## Maidel (Jun 28, 2009)

Right - still going with the whole batch painting thing - one thing has struck me - I have found some short cuts with the armour method, I had an entirely redundant step in the process which was taking up a lot of time for not benifit. When the first one is done to the end of the armour stage I will post a photo up and people can tell me if they think it looks any different (I think it might even look a little better!)

But please be honest!


----------



## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Awesome Wolves, nice job .


----------



## Hammer49 (Feb 12, 2011)

Excellent work. Looking forward to seeing the unit finished.


----------



## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

mate, I'm loving this, seeing all those lovely old space wolf minis brings back loads of memories


----------

