Dan's Space Wolves Showcase

So as you guys know every now and again I like to try and get other armies showcased on here so that we can all spread the hobby love just a little more. And today is one of those days, and you are lucky enough to have Dan's space wolves to feast your eyes upon, so without further ado I will pass you over to Dan

 

The Space Wolves and I go back a long way. My first codex was Codex Space Wolves for Warhammer 40,000 second edition. As a result the sons of Russ were my go-to tabletop army during my teens. After a massive 17-year hobby hiatus, I picked up where I left off – same miniatures, new edition of the game. After a while I started painting my 40K Wolves Heresy-era grey. This was mostly due to the artwork I liked, how the Wolves are depicted in my favourite novels, and a bit of nostalgia for the Rogue Trader years. Shortly after reading Prospero Burns I moved my angry space vikings to the war zones of the Horus Heresy. My lifelong gaming buddy plays Eldar and we mostly play small games. With a few house rules we’ve been pitting 30K and 40K forces against each other for some time.

 

Here’s most of my Heresy-era Space Wolves. I’ve been very slowly building and playing this force for the last couple of years using the generic Legion list. Occasionally I’ll use Codex Space Wolves instead but the imagery, cool toys and character customisation of the Heresy always pulls me back. I’ve only played a few games since getting Book VII Inferno but I love how The Rout plays. It’s super-thematic and they feel like they should. I’m not the fastest painter and I don’t actually paint that often, so I’m still updating my Wolves with the ‘official’ heraldry and markings. 

Ranek Helclaw. Champion of The Rout. The Iron Wolf.

This is my Wolf Lord/Champion/Centurion (it depends on the size game we’re playing). Helclaw is often accompanied by his Wolf Guard, outflanking monstrous creatures and challenging enemy leaders to single combat. Ranek recently shrugged off 22 point-blank shuriken catapult shots after he ambushed an Eldar war host – hence ‘The Iron Wolf’. Helclaw is based on the Forge World Praetor miniature. You’ll probably recognise bits from Geigor Fell-Hand, a thunder hammer from the Thunder Wolves set, and a Chaos Marauder Horseman head. 

Grey Slayers

The first thing that really drew me to the Horus Heresy was the grittier aesthetic. I toned down the amount of trophies, pelts, runes and skulls on my Mark VII 40K Space Wolves and I carried that over to 30K. The things I liked most about building this force before the release of anything official was deciding how they should look, kit bashing and sharing ideas with other fans. It was a nice surprise to see I wasn’t a million miles off the overall look when we got our first glimpse of Forge World’s Space Wolves!

Cataphractii Terminators

This was the second Heresy-era squad I finished painting but they rarely see the tabletop due to a combo of their points cost and our small games. They’re still waiting for their time to shine in Zone Mortalis! 

Speaker of The Dead

A friend gave me his old limited edition Games Day Wolf Priest. Unpainted and everything! The idea for the banner was something I found on the web. I wish I could remember where I’d seen it so I could credit them.

Contemptor Dreadnoughts

The Contemptor dreadnought is one of my favourite models. To me it’s one of the most iconic sights on the Horus Heresy tabletop. These two big guys rarely disappoint me in-game. One is a walking turret, the other is a close combat brute.

Sky Hunter Jetbikes

As Space Wolves are described as pursuit specialists, I thought it appropriate to give them flying torpedo motorbikes. A friend was selling a job lot of Heresy goodies that included these bikes. How could I resist!? After a little kit bashing, they’ve been harassing the Eldar ever since. These guys are still displaying the red and black heraldry I used before we had images and transfers from Forge World. 

So what’s next? As my main gaming buddy plays a 40K army and the Horus Heresy is staying in 7th edition, I’m planning a move to 40K 8th edition. I’ll use the Space Wolves list in Index: Imperium and I’m hoping Forge World’s Index: Forces of The Adeptus Astartes covers the Heresy-era specific stuff. I’m sure I can create some lore-related reason my Wolves are grey and using Heresy relics. Perhaps Helclaw has a thing for vintage armour. Doing this will also allow me to have a crack at converting Wulfen and maybe some Primaris marines.

In the meantime though, I’m focused on finishing up a bunch of part-painted bits. My rhinos, Javelin Speeder and Veterans all need a bit of work. I’m just a few dudes short of filling out a Grey Slayer close combat squad – though I guess they’ll be Blood Claws now! After that I might take a break from painting grey and shift focus to another project. But then again I’ve been saying that for a long time!

Anyhoo, thanks for reading. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @sheriffonothing if you’d like to keep up with my hobby progress or chat about our favourite space Vikings.

Fenrys Hjolda!

Dan

 

You can find more of Dan's work at @sheriffonothing on both instagram and twitter