Super Simple Combi-melta

I've finally built up some specific Wolf Guard models to lead my squads of Grey Hunters and Blood Claws - till now I've been using the power-fist models that came with the sets, but now I have the models I want, combi-meltas included.

There's loads of tutorials out there on how to make combi-weapons, and pretty much each one does it somewhat different - and I'm going to be different too.

I've ended up using the body of the melta-gun as the basis of the weapon instead of simply using the barrel and fuel tank which is where I most differ from the majority of the tutorials out there.

Here you can see the melta-gun in question, and one of the older model bolt-pistols.  I've used this older bit partly because I seem to have a load of them in my box, and also because it is a nice size to mount onto the meltagun body and is a bit more bulky than the current model bolt-pistol.  I shave the top of the melta-gun body to make sure it is flat (there is a little details on there that is lost) along the green line, and I carefully cut off the magazine etc. from the bottom of the bolt-pistol along the red line, preserving the magazine for use later.

The bolt-pistol body is then glued to the top of the meltagun and the magazine behind it (the first weapon  I did is the one at the bottom and I'm not too happy with the position of the mag so I'll probably move it sometime later).

There you go, really simple, quick and effective.

Some general progress

Hey there everyone - I'd love to do a big shiny update of my progress, I've been working away, but haven't got anything major to show for it as its been a lot of detail work.

I hope to be able to show you some shiny new figures soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd post up my new army tracker that I'll be using to figure out what I need to be able to field the armies I listed in my previous post.  I got this idea from Admiral Drax who has been using it for ages to help him visualise how close he is to completing his epicly large Guard company.  Here's my painting chart:

I'll be trying to keep this updated as I go so I can see how close I am getting to my ideal Wolf army.

A scaling Wolf list

At the local GW there doesn't seem to be a set points value that people play - 1500 pts is a bit of a standard, but you are almost as equally likely to end up playing a 500 pts game as a 2250 pts game.  I've lost count of the number of times I've gone down with a list built to a specific points value to end up having to alter it on the fly to be able to get a game.

To that end, I've tried to put together a series of lists at 250 pts intervals using the models I have available at the moment to cover all the bases.  I'm putting them here to garner comments on them to see if there are ways that they could be improved (bearing in mind that I'm using models I have available, not all of them, but for some options I'd have to build new stuff).

500 pts

Rune Priest  (100)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, powerfist, rhino  (200)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, powerfist, rhino  (200)

750 pts

Rune Priest  (100)

Rune Priest  (100)

3 Wolf Guard:  3 powerfists, 2 combi-meltas  (124)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, rhino  (175)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, rhino  (175)

5 Blood Claws  (75)

1000 pts

Rune Priest  (100)

Rune Priest  (100)

3 Wolf Guard:  3 powerfists, 2 combi-meltas  (124)

Lone Wolf:  storm-shield, MotW  (65)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, wolf standard, rhino  (185)

8 Grey Hunters:  meltagun, MotW, wolf standard, rhino  (185)

6 Blood Claws:  meltagun  (95)

6 Long Fangs:  2 heavy-bolters, 2 missile launchers, lascannon  (145)

1250 pts

As above +

4 Thunderwolves:  thunder-hammer, storm-shield  (260)

(4 pts over)

1500 pts

As above +

Wolf Lord:  frost-weapon, thunderwolf, Belt of Russ, wolf tooth necklace, wolf tail talisman saga of the bear  (245)

extra combi-melta for the Wolf Guard

So are these lists that would work?  Where would you perhaps change them to improve their effectiveness?  Are they even legal (I'm pretty sure they are, but I've made mistakes in the past so I'm never sure).

While I've been away it would seem that 40K Radio has closed its doors.

I know that the show and its hosts have divided a lot in the community, and I've not always agreed with it, and will be the first to admit that the show wasn't always the best thing to listen to.  One thing that cannot be argued is that 40K Radio really lead the way in terms of 40K and to a lesser extent gaming podcasting and I wonder if we'd have so much choice as we do now if it hadn't been for Spencer and his co-hosts.

I'm sad to see it off the air and hope that something may come along and save it as an entity in the future.

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.