Many of you may know the story of Prometheus, the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods and gifted it to Man. What you may not know is that Prometheus (foresight) and his brother Epimetheus (hindsight) were charged with the creation of all life on earth. Ever the hasty one, Epimetheus created all the animals on Earth, as fast as he could; depleting all of the gifts that Zeus had granted them for Creation, without any planning or foresight. Meanwhile, Prometheus strategically planned every aspect of Man, his sole creation. Deprived of many of the gods’ gifts by the hastiness of his brother, Prometheus bestowed the gift of fire (technology) upon his creation; granting Humanity a far more subtle, but powerful, strength than those his brother bestowed (tooth and claw).
Does any of this sound familiar, with regards to some of our hobbying behavior, when we get a new box of grey plastic? All those shiny new kits, new sculpts, and fancy bits; we can’t wait to cut them all off of the sprue, slap some glue and then, BOOM; we have a heap of grey army men that languish on our shelf, forever waiting to be painted!
I want to give the readers, specifically newer members of the hobby, some quick tips and tricks with regards to the importance of modeling and planning out your army. This article is going to be very general in regards to hobbying, but I will focus on a few small things that Space Wolves players specifically need to think about, a little foresight goes a long way!
In my experience we can fall victim to a few blunders after tearing open that new box of models:
“Now why did I use that bit there!?” This is where you really regret using a special weapon or specific piece for something else. This happens all the time when you don’t realize arms that hold boltguns come in pairs. Or you're left with with two right arms because you wanted to do some wild conversion, also know as “When Kitbashing goes bad!”
“OK, this guy has a power sword, but it’s really a lightning claw!” This is also known as “All the flamers are really Melta-Guns” Syndrome. Now, using your imagination is one thing, being a WYSIWYG jack wagon is another, but you have to find balance of somewhere in between. I have even used this tactic when army building, making those Plasma Guns on my bikers count as Grav Weapons. The question is though, do you simple not have the bit, or do you want to feel out the functionality? Either one is perfectly reasonable, but don’t simply use those excuses because you are simply a poor modeler.
“Crap, I forgot to add the (fill in the blank) to this squad!” This is where forethought is the most important. When we get lost in the building of a single model, sometimes we lose focus that they are in fact a unit or collection of models that have to represent established roles in the game.
“These guys look exactly the same!” This is especially aggravating for the sons of Russ as we try to make individual warriors who all have there own style and unique feel. Yet time and time again, I find I have glued the same legs with the same torso, and I'm about to place the same head sculpt! This is not a problem with chapters who all wear helmets, but for a proper squad of wolves (without helmets!) this really hurts the overall feel of the Wolves. Individuality is one of the reasons many people pick the Space Wolves to begin with.
“Now why did I use that bit there!?” This is where you really regret using a special weapon or specific piece for something else. This happens all the time when you don’t realize arms that hold boltguns come in pairs. Or you're left with with two right arms because you wanted to do some wild conversion, also know as “When Kitbashing goes bad!”
“OK, this guy has a power sword, but it’s really a lightning claw!” This is also known as “All the flamers are really Melta-Guns” Syndrome. Now, using your imagination is one thing, being a WYSIWYG jack wagon is another, but you have to find balance of somewhere in between. I have even used this tactic when army building, making those Plasma Guns on my bikers count as Grav Weapons. The question is though, do you simple not have the bit, or do you want to feel out the functionality? Either one is perfectly reasonable, but don’t simply use those excuses because you are simply a poor modeler.
“Crap, I forgot to add the (fill in the blank) to this squad!” This is where forethought is the most important. When we get lost in the building of a single model, sometimes we lose focus that they are in fact a unit or collection of models that have to represent established roles in the game.
“These guys look exactly the same!” This is especially aggravating for the sons of Russ as we try to make individual warriors who all have there own style and unique feel. Yet time and time again, I find I have glued the same legs with the same torso, and I'm about to place the same head sculpt! This is not a problem with chapters who all wear helmets, but for a proper squad of wolves (without helmets!) this really hurts the overall feel of the Wolves. Individuality is one of the reasons many people pick the Space Wolves to begin with.
How do we avoid these unfortunate series of events? With simple planning, otherwise known as getting our Prometheus on! We are creating a world of our own after all!
Have an idea of each model or units battlefield role, or how you intend to use the kit. This will be obvious for a majority of kits which outline exactly what they are, i.e. a basic tactical squad. For the Sons of Russ, we are really blessed at being able to not only kitbash with a plethora of wolfy bits, but are basic troop box can make multiple unit types. So if you are going for a new squad of Grey Hunter or Blood Claw, open up that codex and start reviewing options. Do you really want that Plasma Gun on your Blood Claw? Most likely not, unless you just really love that bit and want to see the young pup miss half the time, and blow himself up a third of the times he misses. Also, it may not be the best idea to fire a rapid-fire weapon with the assault boosted unit.
Start getting an idea of what bits and equipment you want to use, and mocking up some of the builds. Many people use blue tack, this allows you to get a feel for the look before applying glue to anything. This is also a great place to clean up all the flash and mold lines off your bits. Once you have everything fitting together in both looks and function it will be a lot easier once you pull the trigger on gluing everything.
Have Painting on the mind! Some folks do build then paint, some paint then build, some a little column “A”, a little column “B”. I have a good friend who has been painting for years (very well I may add) and paints some bits on sprue, paints all bits unassembled and then the absolutely last thing he does is glues them together. I’m talking front half of the torso and back half of the torso (strange I know!).
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These quick tips will save you from not having to break that model apart later down the line or having to search eBay for that one little spikey bit that needs to be adorn by your beloved General! Happy modeling, Happy Hunting!
For Russ and the Allfather,
- Adam Russman
