Crusade!

Right-o, so my copy of Indomitus arrived this week  (ahead of when Goblin Gaming had suggested for Wave 2 orders, so that was a nice surprise), and I think the contents of that set will become part of Pedro Kantor’s Crimson Fists. In the meantime though I want to round off the Primaris additions for the Space Woves….

Primaris Wolf Priest -Ironically I had begun work using bits from the Primaris Chaplain & Apothecary kits with a spare Lieutenant to make a Wolf Priest, but that Chaplain they revealed for Indomitus just pushed all the retro buttons, in a way that the coat-wearing version we got first just never did (don’t get me wrong, it’s a great model, it just doesn’t really match most previous Chaplain minis – Dark Angels sure, every one else? not so much).

A bit of Ebay-fu in the wake of Indomitus scored me a pair of Chaplains beyond the one that came in my box set, so I began to look at the bits I had and what would need removing from the base model. Surprisngly, not too much. I kept the tabard (as you may have noticed I’m not really one for scultping fur), but removed the original Rosarius (replaced by an icon from the Wolf Guard kit) and the reliquary hanging from his belt (this  was swapped for a wolf-tail talisman). Some vials from the Apothecary kit on the thigh armour nod to his role as a healer (in my mind Primaris Wolf Priests are an odd mix of those older marines who have crossed the Rubicon, plus Apothecaries & Chaplains of the Primaris founding who find themselves having to learn new skills – I did have to resist adding some of the manipulator arms from the Apothacry kit to the backpack…) whilst a necklace from the Thunder Wolf kit finished off the main torso.
The shoulder required building a new shoulder piece to mount the sculpted pad onto – thankfully there were plenty of spare arms in the bits box for donations – the Crozius Arcanum I could have left and simply hollowed out the space inside the wings to take a wolf skull, but sadly I only thought of that after  the fact. As is a quick snip removed that piece and I replaced it with one of the back pack icons from the Wolf Guard kit. The backpack is courtesy of the Wulfen, whilst the head is another donation from the Wolf Guard, but to add some variety the sculpted mohawk has been  trimmed then fled down,  to leave a Wlf Priest with some rather fine mutton chops,extolling his brothers to war…

The Eliminators were  nice and simple – new heads and then each had something added on their lower torso

When it came to the Infiltrators from  the Shadowspear/Vanguard Getting Started set I decided to go with two 5-man packs.That meant one of the duplicate sculpts (3 of them are doubled up) would get some modification to make him stand out as a Sergeant. Handily there were plenty of bits left over from the Infiltrator/Incursor kit, plus I had the bolter arm from the Vanguard Lt spare (more on why that was spare in a mo…).add in a new head and a couple of Wolfygubbins and lo, one Sergeant ready for battle. The rest of the Infiltrators are pretty much following the instructions, but with the odd extra icon or knife added alongside a suitably Space Wolf head.  Oh, and the Helix-Adept got one of the Wolf Skull-helms I nabbed from Puppets War. I thought that worked for a Wolf Priest in training….

And lastly  for this batch the Lieutenant in Phobos Armour. Again I wanted  to give him some Space Wolf flavour – as he  is supposed to be a Wolf Guard battle Leader – whilst still keeping the more spec-ops feel of  the Vanguard. So the head was one of the more sensible from the Wolf Guard kit, the knives from the right hip were swapped out for ones from the Space Wolf Pack kit, and I added a third to the left hip along with swapping out the Bolter arm for one from the ETB Reiver kit, with a knife hand from the Tactical Squad box. a look that I works nicely to emphasize the knife-fighter aspect.

As a bit of an addendum I had a play around with Battle Scribe to see what I could come up with. Interestingly if I build a pack each of Inceptors and Supressors (which I do have lying around), and use a lone Fenrisian Wolf to stand in for a Cyber-Wolf, then I can build  the following Brigade for 1999 points:

• Ragnar Blackmane
• Wolf Guard Battle Leader in Phobos Armour
• Rune Priest in Phobos Armour
• Wolf Priest
• Primaris Ancient
• 3x Blade Guard
• 5x Reivers
• 10x Intercessors
• 5x Intercessors
• 5x Assault Intercessors
• 5x Incursors
• 5x Infiltrators
• 5x Infiltrators
• 1x Cyber-wolf
• 3x Inceptors
• 3x Supressors
• 3x Eliminators
• 3x Aggressors
• 3x Eradicators

Lots of infantry, but sorely lacking in any armour support. Could be fun to throw at someone though 😀 Certainly some shenanigans to be had with stratagems,  and scope to bulk out to higher points in the same detachment..

(and scarily this means I now have over 5k of Space Wolves)