This week I have been mostly building my Wolf Guard in Forgeworld MKIII Iron Armour, armed with Combi-Meltas. And it has been challenging.
While the pairs of arms are all the same, half of the left arms didn't seem to line up and grip the underside of the gun very well AND properly attach to the shoulder area. Hence some fiddly super-gluing to make it all stick together. It was a horrible flash back to 2nd edition when I had to glue plastic arms to metal torsos.
Thankfully, the MKIII shoulder pads are massive and covered up the horrible joins.
I continued my use of 'shouty heads' because I feel they really bring the Space Wolves army to life. Although for my Wolf Guard I tried to find older and more 'beardy' heads, because these guys are seasoned veterans and need to look like it.
And, as always, I've based them all on Anvil Industry urban bases.
These guys still need some 'wolfing up' with trinkets, wolftails and feral bling.
I'm also giving them all Kromlech Sons of Thor backpacks. Not just because they're awesome, but also because they cover up the hideous mess of the MKII legs.
Just look at the bad casting of these legs from Forgeworld.
Truth be told, the mould lines on these models were bad. In some instances it seemed as though the two halves of legs and arms had 'slid' apart during the cooling process - having blatantly not been given enough time to cool and set. But thankfully I was able to trim and file these pieces to look okay.
But there's only so much cleaning you can do with a Stanley knife and a set of modelling files. The backs of the legs are particularly bad.
Bitching aside, here's my Wolf Guard Test Model which shows how the cloak hides the back of the legs from casual view.
So I can live with that.
Although the Kromlech back packs are pretty horrendous as well and require lots of filing and green stuff work.
Finally, here are two Rune priests I made using the Space Marine Librarian plastic kit.
A big thank you to Stephen McMullan who gave me a Grey Knight Force Stave for the Rune Priest on the right. I had a blast converting this guy, from carefully replacing details around his belt and giving him a pointing arm (and hand) from the Space Marine Tactical Squad box. The right arm is a Space Wolves Bolter arm with the hand replaced for the one holding a Grey Knight Force Stave. His back pack is from Krom Dragongaze.
Stephen did give me two Grey Knight Force Staves. I tried converting one of them, but made a right pig's ear of it. So I decided to just give the Rune Priest the Force Stave exactly as it was.
How did a Space Wolves Rune Priest get a Grey Knights Force Stave, complete with Inquisitorial =I= ?
Obviously, he was there at the first war for Armageddon where the Space Wolves and Grey Knights fought together to defeat the World Eaters and a Khornate Daemonic Legion united by Daemon-Primarch Angron.
I quite like this bit of background actually.
Did the Grey Knights round up the Space Wolves after the Daemonic incursion and wipe their minds, scrutinise them or have them wiped out like they would any other Space Marine Chapter?
No, the Grand Master of the Grey Knights (perhaps Kaldor Draigo himself?) wordlessly shook Logan Grimnar's hand and the Grey Knights teleported away.
The Space Wolves are The Emperor's executioners after all.
The other Rune Priest (on the left) I'm not as happy with. Mostly because I got a bit conversion crazy on the Librarian miniature, replacing the legs, arms, head, shoulder pads, weapon and back pack. In fact the only part left of the £18 model is the torso.
So I paid £18 for a torso!
This is what happens when you spontaneously convert miniatures late at night when you're tired and really should go to bed.
On the bright side, I have lots of Librarian bits I can sell on eBay which should help to recoup some of the cost. Although I may list this Rune Priest as well and chalk this one up to experience.
Next week I'm working on my second Berserker Dreadnought, complete with gigantic hammer! Thanks again to Stephen for letting me plunder his bitz box.