Category Archives: 40k

Space Wolves Fenrisian Wolf Pack.

by

0

I picked up 5 of the new(ish) Space Wolves’ Fenrisian wolves off the eBay several months ago. I like the models, but I’m not fond of GW’s current pricing strategy for Australians. There are ways around it of course, and one of those I employ quite frequently these days is picking up a lot of secondhand figures from eBay. It’s also a good way to get metal models, rather than the overpriced Finecrap they’re peddling, though I’ll occasionally get those via eBay as well if the cast appears to be close enough to perfect. Not that this matters here of course, as we’re dealing with secondhand plastics. These ones were already assembled and sprayed when I got them. A little rough around the edges, so a bit of scraping got them in order, and a coat of Army Painter grey to start off my own basecoat. After some “research” time watching Nat Geo and Animal Planet docos, I’ve also seen how grey, black and white wolves seem to co-habitate the same packs, I went for grey wolves for the first batch with the following ones to be black and (probably) white. It also works to split the five unique body sculpts across 15 models, making each one slightly unique. After checking out some photos of them online I worked out how I was going to break down their colours.

Some blending for both the grey fur and the warmer brown tones on the faces. I was actually quite happy with the subtle blending on the grey fur, as well as the grey on the bodies to the browns on the paws at this point, though my WIP photo here is a bit crappy.

Coated with Pledge One Go/Future Floor Wax, for my first attempts at using ink washes, inspired by Chung/Wargamers Consortium’s video that can be found below.

**NOTE  – THIS IS NOT MY VIDEO. CHECK OUT THE WGC CHANNEL FOR GREAT TIPS AND ADVICE.**

Anyway, here they are – finished!

Space Wolves Fenrisian Wolf Pack Space Wolves Fenrisian Wolf Pack

The Oil Wash was a good learning experience. I wasn’t completely happy with it, and had to do a little bit of re-blending over the top in places, but overall, the wolves came up well, especially as a quick project. I’m still a little bummed at my nice subtle fur blending being wiped out by the oils, and so it’s not a technique I’ll use for everything going forward, by any means. Still, it’s nice to have another technique that I’m comfortable enough to play with, and as I said, on cheapish eBay figures, it’s not the end of the world. I wonder how Oil Washes would behave on Bones models? Perhaps it would melt them? In the end I also opted to give them somewhat natural looking eyes, rather than (stereo) typical “evil red” eyes.

Space Wolves Fenrisian Wolf Pack Space Wolves Fenrisian Wolf Pack

I intend to use these wolves (and the other 10, plus all those older-school ones I still need to paint) across several systems. 40k, LotR SBG/WotR, Kings of War, even (maybe) DeadZone if I ever play it (replacing those awful Mawbeasts). I found these wolves to be pretty good, but not quite as nice as I’d hoped. The poses are great (though one did have an accident when Marouda carelessly snapped it off it’s base at the ankle requiring some pin vice surgery and more overpainting – I was well pleased with that) – so as nice and dynamic as they are, the poses are a bit fragile. The tails not being a separate piece, is a nice change from the older models, so they’re less likely to break than the previous wolves. What I’m not so keen on however is the fur on the side of their torsos and upper legs. Clearly a result of digital sculpting rather than more traditional methods, they’ve overlaid a “leaf” pattern of fur (more visible in my first and third photos) rather than sculpting the whole of the bodies in a more traditional manner, as they have for the manes.

Overall, though. I’m happy with the models and the way they turned out. I don’t think the Black Wolves will need an Oil Wash, so they’re just needing to sneak into the paint queue past the Ogres and Elves. The white ones need a bit more than that however. Once they’re all painted, I’ll do some nice shots of the entire pack. Look forward to that in 2014 sometime! Unless a KoW Ogre army has some kind of counts-as provision for packs of wild wolves… 😉

MaxMini Jump Packs – Polish Resin #7

by

2

In what’s getting close to my final MaxMini review post for awhile, I’m sharing their various Jump Packs today. I picked up set of 5 of their Iron Pattern Jump Packs shortly after they were released, though due to the joy of moving twice in a relatively short period, they got put in a box and not used (story of my figures’ bloody life!) Recently, I decided to start to resurrect some of my armies, so I’ve been buying cool resin bits, which at the moment mostly sit around until I can work out some army lists and then motivate myself to get them started/finished.

I originally got these to use either with my Iron Warriors or possibly my old-school-style Crimson Fists. So anyway, with 5 of these suckers already in hand, I needed to get another 5 to finish a squad. So I did. I may need a second 10 of them so I can kit out both armies with them. I’ve tried to give my Iron Warriors more of a Renegade Marine vibe than a gribbly chaos marine one. As cool as the new DV figures are, and as much as they harken back to the old Slaves to Darkness style, I actually want to go with the “loyalists with spikes” look for the dour, mechanically-oriented Iron Warriors – more likely to amputate a tentacle and replace it with a bionic arm than to accept it as a gift of chaos, so studded mechanics work from my perspective.

Size Shot – Maxmini Iron Pattern Jump Pack.

Here’s the pack being modelled by a marine I’ve been working on for a mate. He won’t have a jump pack in his final form, but since his wasn’t glued on, I thought he’d work fine as a Jump Pack model. As you can see, this Jump Pack is a pretty big piece of work.

Maxmini Silver WIng Jump Packs

While I was at it, I decided to pick up a set of 10 of their other two new styles. The Silver Wing Pattern Jump Packs will go perfectly with either Blood or Dark Angels, and as I have a small DA force and an unbuilt BA force, there’s potential to once again buy a second set of them so both forces can use them. The DA already have a mostly-built Assault Squad though, so maybe I’ll just grab another 5 for some Character models.

Size Shot – Maxmini Silver Wing Jump Pack.

As you can see in the photos, the Silver Wing packs are just as big as the Iron Pattern, though I was surprised as the details are almost entirely different, aside from the turbines and the part that plugs into the back of the model they’re being mounted on. The detail is really quite nice, with lots of exposed wires, pipes and tubes again giving it an old-school look, though perhaps not all that OH&S-friendly.

Maxmini Bronze Pattern Jump Packs

Finally, I grabbed a set of 10 of the Bronze Pattern Jump Packs. These don’t fit the old-school vibe in the exact same way as either of other the turbine-topped styles, but I thought the huge vented intakes looked pretty cool, so I again got a set of 10 to kit out a squad (of something TBD).

Size Shot – Maxmini Bronze Pattern Jump Pack.

Now if you thought the other two were big, these will really impress. These ones are edging towards being ludicrously big, but despite this, I really like them. The sculpting and design on them are really well done and a bit different. They still look a little Horus-Heresy-retro, but perhaps like something that was newer then. They look like something that would fit in with the era of this classic Paul Bonner Dark Angels painting (used as a WD cover back in the day). Not-quite Rogue Trader, Not quite modern era. Around the days of Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine. Note the marine firing! If you look carefully, you can see how he’d probably like you to say hello to his little friend..

Paul Bonner’s seminal Dark Angels-Scarface artwork.