And another HALF YEAR!?!?!

Oh that a worthless hobbyist I am… Happy New Year folks! My nephew has been getting into 40K and thanks Space Marine on PS3, some foolish spending of his birthday cash, the launch of 6th edition and the Dark Vengeance box set, he is now in possession of a tidy little sum of Space Marines, which he intend to paint as White Scars, more or less. As I have a Scars force on deck, I thought it would be cool to collaborate with him. But this post has nothing to do with that…

Of course, it took over a year an a half to get back to actually PAINTING my Space Wolves, (who as we\’ve noted before have been waiting for paint since the last 90\’s!). Let us flash forward from May 26, 2011 to Dec 11, 2012! After a dice rolling hiatus of many months, DesertFoxx hosted not one but TWO tables at his home. He and his Salamanders would face Geoff\’s Dark Angels and my Space Wolves under the command of Bri#2. I had the luxury of getting to take my fully painted Tau out for their inaugural battle vs my old nemesis, Bri#1, who in turn was playing his IG for the first time with his original army as allies, the Blood Angels. That, however, is a story for another time.

In an effort to help Bri#2 keep track of the models I loaned him, I decided to paint the pack shoulder guard on 10 of the 20 Grey Hunters he would be playing with, just so he could keep track of one unit from the other. Well, that was enough. A simple couple hours to base coat and a rudimentary highlight and I had resurrected my Space Wolves project yet again. After a horrible fall at work where my stress level was through the roof and I rarely left my desk for an instant, I have decreed that I MUST take lunch breaks to paint in order to keep my sanity, (and my job since I cursed a slacker out in the cube farm and frightened a co-worker with commentary of a somewhat violent nature just before the holiday break). And to date, since returning to work on 02Jan, I have painted at least 1 hour per day for 6 of the last 7 work days.

I am no Slayer Sword winner, and likely never will be, but when I get my ire up I can put some paint on some models. This project is 27 hours and counting to paint 29 models to date. We have finally reached the detail stage, where things like gems, eyes, purity seals, skin, hair, etc are all that is left. In an effort to set a very clearly defined goal in place, I have established a definitive 1500pt list of the several thousand points I have available. This is may target, a point at which I will allow myself to engage in my next project at least. So, what is my goal and how am I progressing? Let\’s count it up;

• HQ: Wolf Guard Battle Leader (BP+Frost Blade)
  • Using model for Ragnar Blackmane, the company will actually be Ragnar\’s, using his company markings, etc. However, for the purposes of putting a list together and keeping it at 1500pts, this is a WGBL.
  • 0 of 1 model painted.
• HQ: Wolf Priest (BP+Crozius)
  • Similar to above, model is Ulrik the Slayer, but will rarely be him in game.
  • 0 of 1 model painted.
• Elite: 3x Wolf Guard (BP+Frost Axe, BP+Frost Sword, Bolter+Power Fist)
  • These 3 will be pack leaders for the Blood Claws and Grey Hunters.
  • 0 of 3 models painted.
• Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (DCCW, HF, AssCan, Saga of Magesty)
  • Another model sub, we have Bjorn the Fell-Handed here.
  • 0 of 1 model painted.
• Troop: 10x Grey Hunters (Flamer, Meltagun, Power Fist, Wolf Standard)
  • This pack will actually number 11 models. I made a simple decision with my Grey Hunters to be able to split the pack by painting a 2nd power sword model and using the knee pads on half to denote one part of the squad from another on the table.
  • 10 of 11 models painted.
• Troop: 10x Grey Hunters (Flamer, Plasmagun, Power Axe)
  • Also 11 models, their alternate is Power Sword & Plasma Pistol, again using the knee pads to distinguish.
  • 9 of 11 models painted.
• Troop: 15x Blood Claws (2x Flamer, Power Sword)
  • This pack still needs 3 more bodies assembled, but then again they also need pack markings as my Iyanden Darksun is all dired up and I\’m limited on my yellow options at present.
  • 10 of 12 models painted, 3 models to assemble.
• Heavy: 6x Long Fangs (3x Missile Launcher, 2x Lascannon)
  • The original Long Fang box of 5 models was the first thing I painted 15 years ago. They look like shite! The pack leader also can no longer be assembled with a bolter. So, the unit has been split up to take advantage of the new codex, (the Multi Melta will be getting donated elsewhere). Some scavenging from other unpainted projects allowed me to WYSIWYG what I need and now is getting unceremoniously dumped into the stripping vat.
  • o of 6 models painted, 3 models to assemble.
• Heavy: 6x Long Fangs (3x Heavy Bolter, 2x Plasma Cannon, Power Axe)
  • Ditto above.
  • o of 6 models painted, 1 model to assemble.
• 1499 pts

Right now, I need to get all of the additions and rebuilds ready for a TAP Wolf Grey base coat. So, that\’s 7 models to build & 26 models to clean, 26 if you count the dread, I figure 2-4 hours total. 1 can of TAP could cover them all and it only took 1 hour to base coat 29 infantry to begin with. After that, I\’ll focus on finishing packs. 8 more Grey Hunters/Blood Claws painted to the standard in the attached pix. I will make an assumption of 8-10 hours, completing all 37 models in the Troops section. Next up will be the 12 Long Fangs, probably 12-15 hours giving a little extra love to the heavy weapons. 5 Wolf Guard/character models will get extra TLC, so they may be anything from 10-15 hours unless I get horribly impatient. Then Bjorn, who has been horribly in need of paint for so long. He\’ll get a rudimentary paint job at first to call the force \’finished\’.

Next steps will be the 1750-2000 mark, which includes 4 Rhino/Razorbacks, a Predator and a Whirlwind, (all assembled already), in addition to a pair of Wolf Guard Termies to lead the Long Fang packs. So, I\’ll burn through 4-6 vehicles getting my technique in shape before I step back in and really put some quality time in on Bjorn, then I\’ll use the termies to get ready for my Loganwing, but that as they say is a story for another time…