Wolves in Spaceeee!

Right! As promised - some painted Space Wolves!

This marks the start of a rather big small project - Epic scale Heresy of the Horus variety!

I've got the 6mm bug bad since I tracked copies of Adeptus Titanicus, Space Marine 1st ed and a second copy of Space Marine 2nd ed to add to the one I played the hell out of as a lad. 

As I am now the proud owner of literally hundreds of little Space Marines and seventeen Warlord Titans, I figured I was well placed to recreate and fight some of the battles of the Horus Heresy and the Loyalist's counter offensive - the Great Scouring.

So to start with I decided on the Space Wolves - an old favourite of mine. I can't guarantee that I've got the insignia and markings "historically correct" - as some of you may spot, I've been heavily influenced by the 90's revamp of the Chapter which was when I first started fielding Space Wolves to bolster my old RT Imperial Guard troops. I've organised them along the lines of the 2nd ed Company and Support Detachment cards so I can game with them according to those rules. 1st ed seems to be a lot more flexible in terms of how big and what you include in army group organisation so there shouldn't be any problems there.

Another major factor in my choice of colour scheme (apart from dropping the more modern powder blue) was that we are still awaiting the internet to arrive in our new home - I'm posting this from my parents' place. As a result I had to rifle through all my old White Dwarf magazines and the Rogue Trader rule book - something I can remember from the dark days of dial up before I used the web as a research tool. This was actually quite a pleasantly nostalgic process and meant that I didn't waste hours clicking around hundreds of sites, getting distracted by Youtube and Ebay!

Anyhow - here they are in the beginnings of the ruined cityscape I intend to enlarge for the Adeptus Titanicus game I'm planning for BOYL 2016. You might spot the old polystyrene buildings from Adeptus Titanicus - these will be being added as further square foot tiles along with the card buildings from both 1st and 2nd ed Space Marine sets. I should have a pretty big city in various states of ruin and repair by the end of it...

Blood Claw Biker detachment

Couldn't resist painting some fanged maws on the front of the bikes to suggest the Blood Claws' ferocious nature!

The enemy's point of view - providing they pass their morale test thanks to the Blood Claws' bloodcurdling battle cries!

Another Blood Claws support detachment - this time on foot and equipped with close combat weapons and jump packs.

I did begin to question my sanity after deciding to attempt to freehand the Space Wolves Chapter badge on each Space Marine's left shoulder - or at least a simplified tiny version of it!

A bit of heavy support from a Long Fangs detachment.

They are a bit smaller than the standard Devastator detachment but do have a higher Close Assault Factor - they like to get stuck in as well as providing long ranged support.

Space Wolves organise their companies a little differently than other Chapters. These Wolf Guard Terminators constitute the HQ unit for my Great Company. Along with four stands of Termies, you get twenty stands of Grey Hunters (beefed up Tactical Marines) and their attendant Rhino transports.

During the frenzy of box unpacking I was rather pleased to find some old sheets of transfers I had kept from the 40K Ultramrines and Space Wolves I bought back in the 90's - a bit big for the epic Marines but perfect for banners!

I even had a go at highlighting the transfers to blend them in with the rest of the paint job - nerve wracking stuff that requires a steady hand...

For their special card I decided to give them a Chaplain or Wolf Priest in the case of the Space Wolves - more because it fitted in well with their preference for close quarters combat than any bonus it conferred. 

Thanks to my trawling through my old White Dwarfs I found the article on Ulrik the Slayer. I adapted his banner a bit to fit in with the transfers I had but got a pretty good match I reckon. There's even stats for him in the excellent online Net Epic rules.

Finally we have the Grey Hunters who make up the bulk of the Space Wolf troops. I think they have a slightly higher Close Assault Factor than regular Tactical Marines to reflect the special character of these Fenrisian warriors.

And the obligatory army shot!

I'll finish with a little request as I'm fairly new to all this Horus Heresy stuff. There's some great little snippets and bits of background in the Adeptus Titanicus and Space Marine 1st ed rule books and I've read the story that came with the free Horus Heresy and Warmaster games that came out in White Dwarf in 1993(?). 

However, can any of you more knowledgeable sorts recommend me any essential reading - I'm particularly interested in particular battles which might influence my future choice of Space Marine Chapters and Titan Legions. 

I'm currently planning on contingents, roughly the same size as my Space Wolf force, from the Death Guard, Sons of Horus, World Eaters (as well as a big Chaos Daemon army), Thousand Sons, Emperor's Children and Night Lords for the Traitors. For the Loyalists I'll be going with Dark Angels, Ultramarines, Salamanders, Blood Angels and White Scars to add to the Space Wolves and Executors (I had, and still do, fancy painting the forces needed for the Badab War...) I've already painted. 

Titan Legions I'm planning on include Warp Runners, Fire Wasps and War Griffons for the Loyalists and Deaths Head, Tiger Eyes/Flaming Skulls and the Stormlords for the Traitors.