Eldar Wraith Guard preview

Here's a little preview of the Wraith Guard and Spiritseer I recently finished. I treated myself to the Eldar Ghost Warriors Box so I still have a lot to finish. The first squad uses D-Scytes, yes the lovely AP2 flamers of doom. I plan on building another squad with Wraithcannons, and the third one probably with axe/shield. 

As for the first squad, it is painted like the rest of my growing Ulthwé Eldar army in black with heavy blue accents. Because the miniatures are all black and bone, the blue accent is what really makes them pop. In my mind, the blue represents glowing energy, a physical representation of their power that can barely be contained in the carcasses that the wraithbone really is, and so I use it in every area that is not a flat piece.

I'm only showing half of the squad because I'm waiting for my FGLS to re-stock on the bases, but I have the 5 WraithGuard fully painted to this standard.

If anything I might add some decals but think they will probably be better without. What do you guys think?

Space Wolf Bust showcase

Today I have a very Wolfy treat! This is not part of the new releases but I'm glad I finished it in time for the Wolfmania. Let me introduce you Thorunn Frozenfang, a magnificient bust by the talented Freeman. This is in my mind what a Space Wolf should look like, and even though the current plastic range is pretty good, it still has some cartoonish edge to it. This bust is a lot more to my liking.

This is my first bust and I think came out decently. It is a different beast to paint the face of a 28mm miniature than this, and thus I dared not go for extrme lights and contrasts, and tried to make him look reallistic. This is why for example there are not strong highlights on the shoulderpads - it is a larger scale that requires less tricks to make it pop. It was nonetheless a very enjoyable experience and a nice complement to my Space Wolves army.

The plan for now is to display him proudly in my desk (perhaps move it next to the TV if my wife is candid enough) and revisit the paintjob in the future if I improve my skills; things like adding more depth to the face or increase the weathering. I mean, the face for example has lots of different layers and glazes, and I added different pigments to the armour but the difference in scale somewhat seems to make this less visible. Anyhow I hope you like it and if you are a Space Wolf fan, might consider as well to treat yourself to a copy of Thorunn. For Russ and the Almighty, greetings and thanks for reading.

Why I didn't purchase Storm Claw

GW's last big seller is probably the Storm Claw box - what's not to love having a huge discount on a several kits plus a soft cover version of the rulebook? Despite how attractive this might sound, and being an avid Space Wolves collector, I finally cancelled the order I had placed in my FGLS. They didn't complain at all by the way because they knew it would be gone very fast.

The problem that I see with Storm Claw is that despite the significant price discount, I'm still a SW player and I don't need the Orks. Even when the hobbyist in me thinks it would have been fun to build the Gretchins and Nobz, it is not what I really want to do.

You see, as many people who have been in this hobby for some years, I went from having little money and a lot of time to have little time and enough money to be able to afford this box without compromising my supper. So if I want to get the Space Wolves kits and that beautiful Krom Dragongaze mini, I need to sell or trade the Orks, because I just don't have enough time to spend on them.

As most 40k guys out there, I have a pretty long list of projects both started and in my wish-list, and I know the Orks would have gone straight to the bottom of the list. First I considered buying this box and actually pre-ordered it with the intent of getting rid of the Orks, but then realized that a) I already have enough GHs and Wolf Guard and b) I don't feel like spending time trying to sell the parts that I don't want.

Think it this way - I'm getting the box for the savings and the special miniature, but in order to get those I have to spend time selling, packing and shipping what I don't need. How much do you value your time? If I need to spend a few hours in taking pictures, selling stuff on Ebay, checking the payment has been received, acquiring the packaging, packing and going to the post, I might as well pay the price difference and save myself all the hassle.

I also don't want to entice GW to keep selling limited editions in this way, because as a customer I feel forced to get stuff I don't want to get in order to get them. If it happens that you want the LE mini and the other kits, then surely it's a great deal, but I suspect this is not the primary intent of this offers. Alas no Krom Dragongaze for me unless a find a good deal in Ebay, which won't probably happen.

What do you think about StormClaw? have you purchased it?

The Storm Fang is here!

Big, ugly and ruthless. Because Fenris likes it this way

The new Space Wolves Flyer - hidden in plain sight?

We have known for some time that designers at GW like to come back to the existing books and material for inspiration when it comes to create new things for a given army. Just browse back your White Dwarf collection and there are plenty of references to previous artworks as inspiration for new projects. Case in point, Space Wolves. Their latest miniature, Krom Dragongaze, is inspired by a 3th Ed artwork. Before him, Arjac is very similar to the drawing in the SW codex, and the Thunderwolves kit allows you to build a very similar one to the illustration depicting its entry in 5th Ed. So now that the rumours on the Storm Fang are solid that are being stated as facts, let's have a look at the SW material and see if there is any hint as to what this Flyer might look like.

Let's remember the description given by Natfka in his blog:

"The Stormfang Gunship has the look of half of a Caestus Assault Ram, and is on the cover of next week's White Dwarf. The previous rumors really list out its abilities well. It comes with a Helfrost Destructor, two twin-linked heavy bolters, two stormstrike missiles and ceramite plating, with power of the machine spirit."

And through BOLS there is a comment from Warseer:
"I should really have said 'love-child of a Caestus Assault Ram and a Stormtalon'. That is a better description of the model's appearance."

Is there anything in the codex that could fit with this description?


This illustration comes I think from the 3rd Ed codex. There are some gunships to the right that look more like Thunderhawks in Star Trek that a Caestus Ram. Moving on.

The below are most certainly Thunderhawks so not our Flyer.

The below doesn't look to be a Thunderhawk, and it is too narrow for a StormRaven or variant.

It is like half a Caestus Ram (check) with small wings on the side (Heavy Bolters supports? check) and some engines towards the end. The cargo area also looks bigger than a Storm Raven (capacity 16? check). Is this the StormFang? we'll have to wait a few more days but I think it likely it looks very similar. What do you think?

Edited: this is how it really looks like!

Space Wolves statlines, rules and points cost from Stormclaw

Folks are starting to receive the StormClaw boxes and so we finally get to know the SW statlines and rules. There's a general points decrease across the board, inline with the previous SM and DA releases, and a very bad change (hint: Grey Hunters). Let's have a look:

From Manuales:

Krom Dragongaze 135p

Power armour, Bolt pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades, Belt of Russ (4++) and his axe Wyrnclaw (master crafted power awxe, +2S FP2). Comes with ATSKNF, Acute Senses, Counter-attack, Furious charge and Stubborn. He's of course an IC.
His Warlord trait makes him declare/accept challenges, with To hit re-rolls.

All of this for 135 points! in the old 5th Ed Codex, it would have been something like Wolf Lord (100 pts), Belt of Russ (25) and Frost Axe (25). This makes 150 points and doesn't account for Stubborn neither the fact that his axe doesn't seem to be unwieldly anymore. Alas Krom cannot take a Thunderwolf nor a bike which is where you usually see Wolf Lords. I might yet paint some Wolf Guard stripes in my Krom and actually get to use the mini.



5x Wolf Guard in TDA 230 p

TDA, 1x hammenator, 1x SB/CF, 1x SB/PF, 1x HF / PF, and the pack leader Beoric with SB and a glaive (+1S FP3).  As usual come with Acute Senses, ATSNF and Couter-attack.

Rules wise they keep the same. Hopefully the new codex will still allow them to be attached to other packs, which was an important difference vs. other Space Marine codexes.

If I'm not mistaken, with the old codex this would have amounted to 245 points so there is a little point decrease here. Still sounds expensive for their load-out (they don't even carry combi bolters!).

5x Grey Hunters 125p

Power armour, bolt pistol, boltgun, krak and frag grenades. They don't seem to keep the CCW, which would mean they lose 1A in CC!

The pack leader (Hengist) has a power axe. Plus 1x GH with plasma pistol and chainsword, 1x with a plasma gun. Rules wise get the standard Acute Senses, ATSNF and Couter-attack.

This configuration would have amounted to 130 points, so looks like Grey Hunters might be getting 1 point discount by losing their CCW. A terrible trade-off if you ask me, GH were so good because they were equally capable shooting or in CC.

5x Blood Claws 110p

Power armour, bolt pistol, CCW, krak and frag grenades. 

The pack leader, Egil Redfist, has a PF. Another Blood Claw replaces his bolt pistol for a plasma pistol. Acute Senses, ATSNF, Couter-attack and Rage, so Blood Claws get a generic rule now.

In the old codex this would have costed 130 points, so that's 20 points less. This doesn't make Blood Claws any better though, they are still overcosted and there is no reason to take them over Grey Hunters... with what we know today.

Conclusion:

Aside from the GH losing their CCW there's nothing new here. Some cost decreases to bring them inline with the other codices and that's about it. At this point, even Counter-attack doesn't seem to stay its ground when compared to the other Chapter Tactics. We'll have to wait some more weeks to find out! Until then, thanks for reading!

New Space Wolf Formation: Fierce-eye's Finest

Included in the StormClaw box set there is a Space Wolf formation datasheet. What is exciting is that not only it is a fairly interesting one, but one more hint that the Space Wolves codex is about to drop! Without further ado this is the formation:

From WDW 24:
"Fierce-eye’s Finest hunt as a pack, and once one unit in the formation has shot at or
charged an enemy, successive units in the formation who choose the same target reroll
failed attempts."

From the description, the formation seems to be composed of 5 Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour, 5 Blood Claws and 5 Grey Hunters. In a week we'll know if those units can be expanded, and if it's possible then it's a formation we might actually be seeing on the tables. Grey Hunters are the bread and butter of all Space Wolf armies, and Wolf Guard are easily found, if only for how cool the minis are (side note: hopefully GW will make all those hammers and shields in the kit usable by giving them a decent price). Blood Claws I've never seen on a table, as who would pay a Grey Hunter cost for less stats and wargear? hopefully the new codex will see them drop in price.

I'm looking forward to get the full details on this. Assuming this formation works with more numbers of Grey Hunters and Blood Claws, and if you can still stick a Wolf Guard to them (to tank shots), Drop-podded SW might be a thing! drop T1, shoot the 2 specials per pack / combi-bolters from the Wolf Guard / massed bolter fire with re-rolls to the second and third packs shooting the same unit, T2 charge with re-rolls again.

Are those re-rolls to hit, to wound? Only one more week - can't wait to see!