Magnets

Magnets. They are like glue that you can separate at any time. Exactly what you need to make an army that can take on anyone with little prior notice.

They will open up your units to every option available in its codex as you can remove arms and weapons, replacing them with whatever option you prefer. It also removes the dilemma of what weapons will go straight into your bits box as all options can be magnetised and used at any time.

The magnets available out there are all relatively cheap and come in a vast range of sizes. I have found that a magnet 3mm in diameter by 1 or 2mm thick is sufficient for marines, terminators and any marine vehicle. I am a huge advocate of using the magnets in my marine armies and installing them is pretty straight forward as long as you glue the magnets in the right way round, so you have the correct polarities facing each other.

So there we are, a few quick thoughts on using magnets. I love them as it allows me to switch between options on my units in seconds, without having to break the bank buying entirely new boxes to create an additional weapons choice, whilst allowing me to remain wysiwyg. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts on magnets as well.

Conversion - Combi-Weapon

Storm Bolter, Flamer, Shoulder Pad

Pretty much every marine army will have combi-weapons in some capacity or other, but the availability of these weapons is pretty rare and can be expensive. The simple solution is to create your own combi-weapons.

We will take a a storm bolter, flamer and shoulder pad to make a combi-flamer for a terminator in this instance, but the method behind it is quite easily transferred across to make either a combi-melta or combi-plasma.



We will begin by taking the storm bolter and trimming off the barrel and all associated bits on the front of the bolter so that we have room to fit the flamer barrel and a repositioned bolter barrel on the front of the weapon. if you manage to remove the barrel cleanly you may want to keep it so that it can be reused as the barrel on the new weapon. Once this is done, clean up the weapon with any necessary filing and place to one side for the moment.

For the next stage we will cut the end from the flamer weapon we have, filing off all uneven edges so that the end section will sit nice and flat on the end of the storm bolter body we have just trimmed and prepared. When they are to our satisfaction we will use plastic glue to join the two bits. The plastic glue doesn't set instantly like super glue and as such gives us some time to reposition the flamer section as we require.

Once the flamer section has been fixed in place we will need to add a bolter barrel to the weapon to finish it off. We can either take a boltgun and trim the barrel from there or use the barrel we cut off earlier and fashion it down to a single barrel. The piece of the barrel will be very small, so be careful not to drop it as finding it again can be incredibly frustrating. This piece can then be added to the front of the storm bolter base.

We can even add in the flamers fuel store by trimming it from the flamer and attaching it in a position you want on the combi-flamer depending on the bolter you are using as your base.

The combi-weapon creation process can be applied to both combi-plasma and comnbi-melta weapons as simply as the combi-flamer. Take the distinctive parts of the special weapon and then mould them into positions on your bolter base. It is quite possible to create any number of different looking combi-weapons, all of which are equally valid within the game itself, so kick back, relax and make the coolest looking combi-weapon you can imagine.

Conversion - Right Handed Storm Shield

Wolf Claw, Storm Shield and Shoulder Pad

For many Space Wolves players the Lone Wolf has a quite popular set up of either thunder hammer and storm shield, or chainfist and storm shield. The first option is not a problem for any player out there. However the second option leaves you with two left-armed weapons on one model. At this point we will have to reach for our trusted craft knife, nail files and a tube of glue.



We will start by collecting together the bits we need for the conversion, which are a storm shield, a right handed lightning/wolf claw and a shoulder pad. We will then take the claw and slice off all of the blades, leaving the arm as shown. Once all lines have been filed and smoothed down we will move on to the storm shield.

We are aiming to remove the entirety of the hand from the back of the shield. To do this we must take care when slicing down through the hand area for two reasons. 1. We don't want to damage any of the rest of the shield, only the section we are removing and more importantly 2. The craft knife should be quite sharp and we really don't want to be slicing through our fingers with it.

If the section is removed in thin slithers, it should be relatively easy to keep control over what we are removing and keeping the rest of the shield in as good a condition as possible.

Once we are satisfied that enough of the left hand section has been removed from the storm shield, we will need to check that the shield and the right arm are laying flat against each other in position before we glue them in place. If this is not the case, we will file down the arm as necessary to get the two items as neatly together as possible.

Once the filing is complete and we are satisfied with the positions of the storm shield and arm in relation to each other, we can use some plastic glue (or superglue if you would prefer) to fix the shield on the arm. I prefer using the plastic glue as it takes a little while to set, giving me time to adjust the shield on the arm as necessary, where superglue sets in seconds leaving very little adjustment time.

Once the glue has set you can mix up some green stuff and fill in any gaps that couldn't otherwise be filled in, or to repair details that were damaged during the conversion work.

Aside from the awkwardness of cleaning up the storm shield this is quite a simple and straightforward conversion. Let me know if you have a different method, or ideas on how to improve the process.

Painting Terrain

Painting Simple Terrain Pieces

Between you and me, I have never really considered painting any terrain before. It has always seemed too big for me to want to do it. I struggled to complete a dreadnought, never mind my Land Raider. So why bother with a terrain piece?

The truth is, I enjoy seeing my Space Wolves, as close to fully painted as they are, rolling out to battle. It looks impressive seeing a fully painted army working their way around the battle field. It would be even more impressive seeing them manoeuvre around fully painted terrain, imagined with the grim dark of the 41st millennium in mind. For this post we will take a look at some experimenting I am doing with regards to simple terrain pieces, eventually seeing how they turn out as finished articles in the end.

From the picture above, you can see the two terrain pieces we will be using along with the associated paint and flock that will be required. For the paints I have gone with using the tester paint pots you get in all DIY stores. I found them to be cheaper than the paints I use on my models, while also holding three or four times the amount of paint in them. Most of them come with their own brush as well, which is of a decent size and will cover large areas pretty quickly. We are aiming to have one piece looking like a muddy crater, while the second one will be a crater blasted from solid rock (which really means that instead of it being brown, we will make it grey instead).

We will begin by spraying the pieces of terrain with a black basecoat. Im using the Army Painter matt black spray, but you can use whatever you usually use and have available. It is best to follow the instructions on the can and allow the paint to fully dry before moving on to the next stage.

Wet Mud / Dry Mud

Before putting paint on these terrain pieces consider the actual effect you want to achieve. For instance, with the muddy crater do you want it to be a dry crater, a wet and boggy crater or somewhere in between? Wet mud is generally a lot darker than dried mud so the basis for the colour of the terrain piece must be thought of in advance. Further examples of mud textures can be seen here Mayang Mud Textures.

The next stage involves painting the entire crater in the main colour we want. In this instance, one crater will be painted in Matt Smooth Chocolate, with the other crater being painted slate grey. The only trouble with the emulsion paints used is they take 2-4hrs to dry, so while waiting for that, we can crack on with any other painting, modelling, gaming you wish to do.

Now all we have to do is put a layer of Army Painter Quickshade over the craters, which will leave it with a glossy, wet look once dry. You can use any sort of varnish, but one with a dark tint will add extra depth to the cracks within the crater. I have never tried using clear varnish on this, but my feeling is without washing the cracks with a very dark colour first, the terrain may feel a little flat once completed.

As we don't want the crater blasted from solid rock to have a glossy wet look, once the varnish has dried (approximately 12hrs I leave it), we will spray the piece with a matt varnish to take the shine off. The result can be seen below.

The craters can then be flocked as you wish to create the feel you are looking for. Sometimes you may not feel it necessary to carry out any further additions. I have kept these simple for my first go, but will return to this area of the hobby in the near future to investigate what else can be done in modelling and painting terrain and scenery.

Space Wolves : HQ Units

Rune Priest
The main stay of most Space Wolves armies out there, I usually run at least one of these guys depending on who I am facing. Runic armour is a must and more often than not the Rune Priest goes to work with the Long Fangs.

For psychic powers, its an almost always a choice between Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane, Tempests Wrath and Storm Caller. When I take two Rune Priests all four powers are covered, in the one priest lists it entirely depends upon the game plan. Jaws of the World Wolf is only really used against lower initiative armies.

While still a decent prospect in close combat, the Rune Priest excels in a more stand off position, nullifying psychic threats with the rune weapon, while also launching medium to long distance firepower back at the enemy. Chooser of the Slain is helpful in getting extra hits as it increases ballistic skill by 1 and can hold an infiltrators at bay a little while longer.

Wolf Priest
Not much upgrading really needs to be carried out on a Wolf Priest. By exchanging power armour for runic armour this priest will have a 2+/4++ save which is better than the TDA that is also available to the priest. The runic armour also allows for sweeping advance which is pretty handy for a unit that is geared toward close combat.

The Wolf Priests themselves are best used in close combat. Their preferred enemy rule allows for re rolls when attempting to hit the opposition for anyone in his squad. This is particularly useful if he were to be teamed with some Blood Claws and thrown into a Land Raider Crusader and charged toward an enemy position. Depending on the unit composition you could be looking at up to 64 re rollable attacks on the charge, with a few of those being power weapon attacks. It would be a lot of bang, but it is also a lot of bucks to put on the table.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader
A benefit to any army, the WGBL has the same options available to them as the Wolf Lord, for only a one point disadvantage in WS, wounds, attacks and leadership. Equipped as shown and put in a drop pod with some Grey Hunters, he is pretty much guaranteed to be able to take out a tank with the combi-melta on the turn he arrives then, being so close to enemy lines, should be looking to get into close combat in the next turn.

As well as all equipment available he also has access to all the sagas barring Saga of Majesty, meaning it is quite possible to make a beast out of this unit for less than you would pay for a Wolf Lord with the similar equipment.

Wolf Lord
If the Wolf Guard Battle Leader can be a beast, then the Wolf Lord is a monster. Access to all sagas and a better stat line than the WGBL, the Lord needs to be delivered into close combat as quickly as possible. There are only two options for this that I have available - Land Raider of any variant, or drop pod. Both have their positives and negatives, but I prefer using him in a Land Raider, travelling in a style that will allow for assault the second he sets foot on the battlefield.

The Wolf Lord can be pretty hard to kill, especially when equipped with TDA and storm shield as I have, giving him a 2+/3++ save. With Saga of the Bear he becomes an eternal warrior, which also increases his survivability.

Currently this Wolf Lord has a wolf claw as his only weapon, which would allow for 5 power weapon attacks on the charge/counter assault at WS6, with re rolls on either hits or wounds rolls, he has a good chance of carving a few enemies out of opposing units pretty quickly.

The one option I hear and see talked about with the Wolf Lord is putting him on a thunderwolf. I do have a project underway at the moment, and as I make headway on it I shall post up pictures on this blog of my Wolf Lord with Thunderwolf. I will also report back here on the successes and disasters he encounters on the battlefield.

Conclusions
As I only really play 40k for fun, my lists can be pretty varied at times, trying out all units in all situations. Usually I will take one Rune Priest and a Wolf Priest and a further HQ, either a named character or one of the HQs from this post, and split them out across the units that make up the rest of my army.

There is a lot of fun to be had with each unit and alot of punishment to be meted out to all those who oppose the Space Wolves. These units are the heroes who will spearhead that drive.