On thunderwolf mounts

For those few Space Wolf players out there, this is a bit of a debated topic, what do you use as a mount when representing Thudnerwolves.  This topic is of great interest to many because the effect of Thunderwolves in the game is not to be under-estimated - I managed to cram 5 into a 750 list against Nurgle marines and they solely ate their way through about 80% of my opponents army before finally succumbing.

You'll see in my previous post that I'm converting a juggernaught to be a Thunderwolf for my Iron Priest, this I feel fits pretty well as being an IP the creature would eventually end up being almost exclusively cybernetic, it even mentions this fact in the IP entry in the Codex.  I thought I'd do a little run-down of the possible options here (the ones that I am aware of) that could act as a resource to budding Space Wolf generals.

Fenrisian Wolves/Cyber Wolves

There's a couple of possibilities from the GW range here:

Goblin Wolves, Doom Wolf, VC Dire Wolves, Hounds of Orion, Chaos Warhounds and Lions from the High Elf Chariot

I've got a pack of Warhounds that I am green-stuffing to be my Fenrisian Wolves - they are looking pretty good so far and I'll post them up here as soon as I've got some more work done to them.  I also have some Dire Wolves that I will be converting to represent Cyber Wolves, they are a little bigger than the Warhounds and you can use some of the exposed areas of bone painted silver to appear as cybernetic enhancements.

DJ Batman has also used chaos warhounds to make Fenrisian Wolves and has combined them with the Goblin wolves.

Hogs of War have shown a great model from Helldorado that would look brilliant as a cyber-wolf, however it is extremely difficult to get hold of, I've had no luck so far.

Thunderwolves

The only model that GW offers up as an official Thundewolf is the Canis model.  Many have criticized this model as being un-wolf like and I'd have to agree, to me it looks a lot more like a giant chinchilla.

If you aren't happy with the Canis model, you can convert it to look a lot better, Dave Taylor has built a series of Thunderwolves using the Canis model and they look amazing.  Bear in mind though that Dave Taylor is quite the genius and to get the kind of results he's showing requires a heck of a lot of time and skill.

There's a couple of other models that you may want to consider as a possibility from GW, I've seen people use Goblin Wolves, VC Dire Wolves,  Lions from the High Elf Chariot.  You can also completely ignore the fact that they are supposed to be wolves and use other types of mounts such as the Chaos Knights or the Chaos Marauder Horsemen.  I've used some of the parts from the Chaos Marauder Horsemen in my Thunderwolves.

Very cleverly, Magnus from Minutae has used dire-wolves mounted on the same base as a walking Space Wolf to symbolise Thunderwolves.

The final GW option is to use a Juggernaut like I have here to be the mount for my Iron Priest.  Another example of this that I've discovered while researching this post is Jcroxford over at Spear of Russ who has also done a conversion of a juggernought like me.

As far as other miniature companies that produce suitable products:

Heroclix make a "Fenris Wolf" model from Marvel comics series that you will see in my previous posts, its a perfect size and looks great, and Marauder Horsemen legs fit over it perfectly.  The big problem is there is only one pose so to have a few you may wish to customise it for different poses.  Since I found these, I've discovered that jcroxford over at Spear of Russ has done some very good Thunderwolves based on these models.  I couldn't find these models anywhere in the UK, but was able to source them from Ludik bazar where 5 of them cost me a total of €39 including shipping and they showed up in less than a week.

There is the model from Helldorado that I mentioned before that is shown on Hogs of War.

Max Mini have created a "Giant Wolf" model that should be about the right size. - I'm not a fan of the pose though, and there only appears to be one, and its not yet available, the jury is out on this one.

Mr Dandy at Wargamma has produced 5 "Battle Wolves".  I feel like these are very similar in shape to Canis - more chinchilla like than wolf like.  Dark Future Gaming have a detailed video review of theses models.

There's very likely many more suitable models out there but these are simply the ones that I found doing my research before getting my own models, and in researching this post.  If you think there is something that I should add to this then drop me a line and I'll look to updating the post.


UPDATE:


jcroxford also has a juggernought conversion:  link

Figs-Freak has also listed a few other Thunderwolf models, some of these look pretty nice!:  link

All images in this post used without permission and no claims are made upon them.  If you wish me to remove any then please contact me and I will happily comply.