The Wolftime: Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves

I’ve finally gotten to work on the Primarch of the Space Wolves Space Marines Legion for the Horus Heresy 30K, the indomitable Leman Russ.

Russ is a great miniature, and it was fun to paint him. He has a lot of animation, with a swirling motion throughout the whole figure, starting from his base of shattered stone to his whirling wolf pelt cape and long braided hair. His dagger sheath even swings out away from his body with his momentum. The motion of the model follows his eyes, with Russ turning his head to face of against an unseen foe (or searching for another), and his leg planted to begin his turn in that direction. This pose does make the minie difficult to photograph, but it does avoid any problems of a miniature ‘in-the-round’ being dull from some directions.

His armor is of course pretty elaborate, with lots of studs and spikes and ‘Viking’ design on armor plates. I went with a cool dark grey for his power armor, and kept most of his color scheme a cool temperature, from his armor, weapons, and even the wolf pelts. The base has some warmth to contrast, with reddish terracotta showing through the facades.

His paired weapons are a highly decorated sword, painted with violet and blue washes to separate it from him, as well as a big axe worked to a shiny polish with blue and silver.

I show one pic with Russ on his normal 40mm base and then inserted into the scenic base, as well as a pic of just the scenic base. Like the other Primarchs, he has his own little diorama on a 60mm base. In Russ’ case this is some palace floor on Prospero, when the Space Wolves fought the Thousand Sons Legion. You can see a discarded scroll and Thousand Son helmet among the rubble of magic wards and inscriptions. Russ has a few of the same metals from the scenic base used on his armor to tie him visually to the base.

More to come. Looking forward to Sanguinius and Dorn.

Deathwatch: Heavy Support

The Deathwatch Kill Team I’ve been working on gets its final members, in the form of some heavy support (psychic and heavy weapons that is).

The Space Wolf Rune Priest gives the unit some close combat and ranged psychic punch. Despite his black armor and silver left arm/shoulder, he is proudly Space Wolf, with fur cape, loincloth, runes and charms, and his wild braided mane. He doesn’t have a standard Deathwatch shoulder pad like the others in the squad, since he was a solid single piece model (aside from weapon hands and backpack) and thus the shoulder was sculpted too deep into the model to modify easily. Instead he got a gold field with black edging and a fanged skull transfer. The edge of his force axe was detailed with a lightning effect.

The first of the heavy weapons Marines is a Salamander. He carries the heavy flamer of course, decorated with plenty of battle honors. He got a Mark 4 Maximus armor helmet, giving him a vaguely reptilian look. He wears black armor, aside from the Salamander chapter shoulder and a battle honor on his right knee pad. He and the Storm Warden, like most of the rest of the squad, were built from a mix of plastic Tactical Marines and Sternguard Veterans. Their weapons both come from that kit, the better to showcase their status as well-equipped veterans.

The heavy bolter Marine is a Storm Warden. Unlike other Marines I didn’t have a molded Chapter symbol for the right shoulder pad, so I painted the lightning bolt on shield. The Marine also has a shield-shaped plate (from the plastic Terminator kit) covering his shoulder joint which repeats the design . The case for the heavy bolter is red like the bolters carried by the Tactical Marines, better to make it stand out from his black armor. He has a Deathwatch helmet from the upgrade kit.

Wolf Scouts

I’ve recently returned to a Space Wolf army for 40K. As often happens (at least to me it seems), I started the army some time ago, and then the client moved on to other things. The army was played with a while, then sold to someone else. The new owner wanted to expand the army, so sought me out to finish it with more stuff. So here we go again…

First up, some Scout Marines. The client wanted the option to field 2 5-man units, or a single 10-man unit, or variations thereof. He built the Scouts in pairs, one with a bolt pistol, and the other with a special weapon, either plasma pistol or power sword. The pairs had the same pose and head, just different weapons (and painted with distinct hair colors and runes to differentiate). One pair carried the special weapons, in the form of meltagun or missile launcher.

The pics are the 5-man groups, with the ‘twins’ swapped. Each has a unique rune on the right shoulder, while the left are all black to match the Great Company color of the rest of the Space Wolves army.

Space Wolves

Here are some key members of the Space Wolves army I’m working on for a client.

First, Logan Grimnar, Great Wolf himself, leader of the army. He was fun to paint, but actually has less bling than most of his subordinates. The problem with a much older model compared to the current Wolves line.

Next, another Thunder Wolf. It has the same gear as the others in the army (from earlier posts).

Finally, another one of the army’s Wolf Guard Terminators, armed with chainfist and cyclone. Each unit of Wolf Guard in power armor is lead by one of these guys. The detail is the of the runes running along the top of the cyclone rack.

Wolf Guard Terminators

It’s been a while since I last posted. Work and school can eat your time, right?

These are a grouping of Wolf Guard Terminators I have painted for the Space Wolves army I’m doing for a client.

All have the same weapon/gear loadout, acting as the heavy support for Wolf Guard units in standard power armor.

The third Wolf Guard is a bit out of focus, sorry.

Wolf Lord

The newest addition to a client’s Space Wolves army for 40K. A Wolf Lord mounted on a Thunderwolf. The marine is made up of a mix of kits (mostly the Space Wolves bits) but the legs, and the mount, are from WarGamma.

I put a lot of detail into him, since as the army’s leader he’d draw plenty of attention. The runes were largely painted freehand unless they were already sculpted on to the model. His helmet hangs on his saddle’s left side, and his banner matches the heraldry of the Great Company of Logan Grimnar (as does his left shoulder heraldry).

Wolf Guard 2

These are another batch of Space Wolves; more Wolf Guard. The red knee pads mark them as a squad.

Like the other Space Wolves, these Marines are heavily blinged up, with lots of extra gear and trophies. I did some weapon and arm swaps to add more variety.

Wolf Guard

These are more Space Wolves for a client’s army. Effectively small-scale characters in their own right, rather than basic troops, these guys are covered in extra detail and trophies.

They follow the previously posted Lone Wolves with the ‘old-school’ Space Wolves color scheme of Fortress Grey and Codex Grey. Lots of metals used as well, to make their armor really shine. Count the trophy skulls!

Note: The photos really cut down the contrast on the armor for some reason. Oh well.

Space Wolves: Lone Wolves

I’ve started work on a Space Wolves marine army for a client. These fellows are Lone Wolves.

Like every first miniature/grouping of miniatures for a new long-term project, they are experiments of sorts. The client wanted the armor to be old-school Wolf grey, rather than the current baby blue-grey that GW uses for their examples. So I mixed up basic Fortress Grey and Codex Grey, with highlights in Fortress Grey and white.

Despite the fact that the marines here are mini-characters, I kept their color schemes and decoration simple (for Space Wolves). A bright color to contrast the basic grey, and lots of highlight for the bling. More Wolves to come.