Great Company Project

[Silverwolf]

EDIT: Ok, there was a lot of set-backs, and a lot of RL stuff happened that had unfortunately put this project indefinitely on hold but, finally, I have the money, and purchasing has begun. Couldn't help myself when I went into the local games store last weekend, and bought the first Battle Box & a box of Chaos Marauder Horseman for converting jobs, and work has begun. Pics will start coming up soon.

 

Lists of item's etc have changed a little, but resurrected this thread instead of creating a new one about the same thing :).

 

This will be Bran Redmaw's Great Company (as discussed below), and having recently gone through Mav_girl's thread about her Vinteren Vakt, I'm also going to get a couple of PP models to represent some Vinteren Vakt accompanying this Great Company into battle.

 

 

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++++++ ORIGINAL POST ++++++

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Alright lads, gather around and lend a brother some help for this one.

 

Pretty basic... I'm starting work on a Great Company project, quite simply I'm going to be purchasing, building, converting, and painting, an entire Space Wolf Great Company... thats the simple bit.

 

Current list for purchases is this;

 

++ From GW ++

 

- 5x Space Wolf Battleforce (6 PA WG, 40 Grey Hunters, 14 Blood Claws, 12 Long Fangs, + extra Grey Hunters / PA WG)

- 4x Rhino

- 1x Razorback

- 2x Space Wolf Terminators (10 TDA WG)

- 3x/4x SM Devestator Box Set (Unless I can find the heavy weapons I need elsewhere)

- 1x LR Redeemer

- 1x LR Crusader

- 2x LS Typhoon

- 1x SM Dreadnought (For a conversion job with the old metal Bjorn model).

- 1x Vindicator

- 3x Chaos Warhounds (For Fenris Wolves... so much more savage looking then Goblin Wolf Rider models :)).

 

++ From Forgeworld ++

 

- 5x Rhino Reinforced Armour

- 2x Land Raider Reinforced Armour

- 1x Space Wolf Terminator bodies/heads/shoulders

- 5x Space Wolf Rhino Doors

- 2x Space Wolf Land Raider Doors

- 1x Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought

- 2x Plasma Cannon Dread Arms

- 2x M.Melta Dread Arms

- 2x Close Combat Dread Arms

- Couple of bags of Space Wolf Iconography

 

++ BaseIX (Ebay) ++

 

... LOTS of resin bases, various sizes and styles depending on which models they are for. Normal troops will have the basic rock/snow bases, WG models will get a slightly raised rock/snow base, and HQ models will get larger rocky outcrop bases.

 

I'll also be getting a bunch of rare-earth magnets for setting up the ability to do weapon swaps on the vehicles etc. As you can see this is going to be quite a big job. All of this is going to be bought through a local games store who are giving me a big discount due to the size of the order, and I'll be paying for it all in installments. Note it will be a month, maybe two before I have everything bought and ready to start on the development / construction phase of this project.

As part of the final numbers, I already have an old metal TDA Rune Priest, old metal TDA WG (which I'm looking to covert with a newer plastic one), Ragnar, games day Wolf Priest, metal Rune Priest, the old Bjorn model, and three of the metal SW Scouts, all of which will be incorporated into this army (Except Ragnar... probably).

 

On top of this I currently already have a Crusader, three Rhinos, two Preds, old Exterminator (which I think I'll still paint up and sit with the rest even though we can't use them anymore :)), 100+ marines, 9+ Bikes, Forgeworld Dreadnought, and probably a few other bits and pieces laying around. The current figures listed however will not be included in this army.

 

This is because they're all older work of mine that are a mix of bad modeling, bad painting, and green-stuff work that I've since improved upon. There is a WG Pack Leader I did which I may salvage, and I'll be raiding the melta equipped models for their gun if I don't have enough spare laying around, but aside from that all of these figures will either be sold, or handed over to one mate or another (There is an Ork player helping me build this Great Company who would probably love to get his hands on some of my vehicles for looted vehicles :)).

 

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Now, you can see the size of this project... it's going to be a lot of time, and I don't even want to think about the money side of it at the moment, but this is something I decided I would do once we had a new dex about six years ago :).

 

And now we're down to the part I'm coming to you lads for help with. I'll be the first to admit I'm very rusty on certain areas of our fluff, and some of it I've simply never known. This Great Company is going to be constructed as the Great Company of one of our current standing Wolf Lords. I know how my army works, how I play it, and I want the Great Company and Wolf Lord to reflect this.

 

My lists are primarily mechanised, heavily mechanised, with just about every unit in the army being in a vehicle of some description. And when no mechanised, the whole army is in Drop Pods.

 

Obviously been who we are, the list is very assault focused, but I also have Grey Hunters and (with our nice new dex) Long Fangs providing ranged support a lot of the time, with the GHs of course getting into the thick of things soon after.

 

My attacks and strats are generally more in the way of brute force then anything, but I will also use diversion tactics to make the enemy overbalance his defences in the wrong areas, using my vehicles to then quickly take advantage of the holes this creates in his defences.

 

My forces only ever include a single pack of Blood Claws, with the main force being comprised of Grey Hunters, and then a few Scouts, Long Fangs, WG, and Dreadnoughts thrown in to round things out.

 

Now, to those Wolf Priest amongst our ranks :), who does this best describe? Which of our current standing Wolf Lords do you think this style of warfare suits most?

 

I'm going to be putting a lot of time, money, and hard work into this army, and I want it to properly reflect our fluff and histories.

 

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For those who are wondering, colour scheme is Adeptus Battlegrey, then black ink wash, followed with some relatively basic highlighting (yet to be decided on). Shoulder colours etc will depend on which Wolf Lord we end up deciding on.

 

I expect we won't take that long to work out the Wolf Lord, and once that is done there won't really be any posts in here for quite a while. But once all purchases are made I'll be taking a WIP photos as the project develops. First one being a photo of all the unopened boxes, with myself standing behind them all with a silly grin and my little team of helpers who are going to be assisting with the basic modelling and painting of this army (Greenstuff work, and the fine detail finishing touches will mainly be handled by myself, though I will admit I've found a genius painter who I may yet drag into doing hand-painted banners for each of the Grey Hunter squads). After that photo, there will be a slow feed of photos into here of the work as it progresses, with some step by step ones on some of the finer jobs (first of the Chaos Warhound conversions, the Bjorn conversion, the conversion job for whichever Wolf Lord we decide on, etc).

[Legatus]

I cannot remember whether there was a detailed description of the Wolf Lords in the 3rd Edition Codex (cannot check right now, but IIRC there was a brief description of the companies on the last page, inside cover, with the stone circle), but I think most of the information about them is in the 5th Edition Codex Space Wolves. I don't think there is much more than that.

 

My lists are primarily mechanised, heavily mechanised, with just about every unit in the army being in a vehicle of some description. And when no mechanised, the whole army is in Drop Pods.

Engir Krakendoom - The company usually known for their proficiency at space combat and boarding actions prefers to go to battle in a lot of armoured transports. They usually also employ a lot of bikes.

 

Egil Iron Wolf - Prefers armoured assaults, using a combination of heavy tanks that assault the enemy lines and units in transports that cut off their escape routes.

 

Depending on whether you would rather like to use more Bikes or more heavy tanks, one of them would fit the "mechanised" theme.

 

 

Obviously been who we are, the list is very assault focused, but I also have Grey Hunters and (with our nice new dex) Long Fangs providing ranged support a lot of the time, with the GHs of course getting into the thick of things soon after.

 

My attacks and strats are generally more in the way of brute force then anything, but I will also use diversion tactics to make the enemy overbalance his defences in the wrong areas, using my vehicles to then quickly take advantage of the holes this creates in his defences.

Bran Redmaw - His company uses a combination of brutal frontal assaults together with cunning traps set by Grey Hunters that cut off the enemy's retreating forces. His company is otherwise very "wulfen" themed, with a higher quantity of them.

 

Erik Morkai - Uses lots of Scouts and cunning tactics, but is also said to prefer swift and bloody acts of violence. I think he may be more pragmatic about it than Bran Redmaw, though.

 

I would say Bran Redmaw's theme is probably more that of ferocious assaults with a bit of instinctive cunning, while Erik Morkai is closer to professional special ops while also being a Space Wolf.

 

 

Logan Grimnar - The two themes of "mechanised" and "aggressive with a bit if trickery" could be emphasized, but on the other hand using lots of Grey Hunters, with a bit of everything else, while prefering aggressive attacks with a bit of trickery, and then putting every unit in transports, could also pass as "generic Space Wolves doctrine". So Logan Grimnar's Great Company, which is not described as having any particular specialised preferences, would probably best represent such a "basic Great Company". I would have also thought that Ragnar's Great Company would be generic (since is is the most well known Wolf Lord), but his Great Company is said to prefer drop pod assaults and is probably generally more on the straight assault path.

 

 

Summary:

 

It depends on whether you would like to more emphasize the "mechanised" theme of your force or the combat doctrine of focusing on brutal assaults with a bit of clever diversion tactics. or whether you could also see it as "basic Space Wolves force".

 

Mechanised theme

 

Engir Krakendoom - Mechanised plus more Bikes

 

Egil Iron Wolf - Mechanised plus a lot of Tanks

 

 

Aggressive plus trickery theme

 

Bran Redmaw - Grey Hunters and more Wulfen

 

Erik Morkai - A lot of Scouts

 

 

Generic Space Wolves theme

 

Logan Grimnar

[Verseau]

since you emphasized "mechanised" and "aggressive with a bit if trickery"

maybe you don't have to limit it to 1 great company,

maybe you can imagine it you have 2 really close great company who often "work together".

[Silverwolf]

I'd say Bran or Egil are probably the best fits at the moment, and considering I've got MotW on pretty much everything I can take it on, probably Bran out of those two :).

 

My lists are generally a whole bunch of Rhinos, with Land Raiders and Long Fangs with Razorbacks providing the heavy support. The only Fast Attack options I've been taking to date are various Speeder variants.

 

@ Verseau - But then I'd have to buy twice as much stuff :D, my wallet is going to be in enough pain already :). It IS acctually a good idea, but the whole thing is I'm trying to basically be able to field one entire Great Company, points allowing of course. I've just always loved the idea of doing that, and now that Apoc has been brought into the mix, I can acctually turn to my opponent and tell them they're now facing the entire Great Company of Bran Redmaw :D.

 

 

EDIT: Ok, assuming no-one comes up with any better ideas for which Great Company / Wolf Lord... now more on to the modeling side of things.

 

Considering Bran Redmaw, I'd say they would be a somewhat savage bunch, perhaps a bit more towards the whole "viking" theme of Space Wolves. Most recent advice on extra heads/weapons along these lines has been the fantasy Chaos Marauder box sets. There was also the Chaos Chosen sets if memory serves? Anyone else got any other sprues they turn to for weapons/heads of a more barbaric nature?

 

On that note, does anyone know if it's still possible to get Wulven models anywhere? Or is Ebay the only place left to find those? Failing that, is there any models people have been using for doing Wulven / MotW conversions?

 

One thing I have been thinking of doing is buying a Baal Predator instead of a Razorback and reversing the turret location to make a meaner looking Razorback with TL Ass.Cannons. Would this work / come under WYSIWYG, or do people think that opponents may complain and try and say it looks like I'm trying to field a Baal Predator?

[Legatus]

A lot of red facial tattoos come to mind for a particular savage Space Wolves company, though the 3rd Edition Codex also mentions facial tattoos as a possible mark of the Wulfen (instead of an all out mutated beast), so you might want to limit the red facial atttoos to the models with the mark.

 

I am not sure about Marauder bits, perhaps the odd axe. Other than that I am not sure whether their specific helmets fit the Space Wolves. That is also in part because I have not looked at them recently, but I remember some of the helmets being more distinct. There may be one or two heads without helmets though.

Other than that, perhaps you can try to find a few chain axes. Those are usually associated with more brutal Space Marines.

[Barn]

Bran Redmaw is an excellent choice ;)

 

Feel free to look over my Bran Redmaw modelling diary!

[mitchell93]

My lists are generally a whole bunch of Rhinos, with Land Raiders and Long Fangs with Razorbacks providing the heavy support. The only Fast Attack options I've been taking to date are various Speeder variants.

 

On that note, does anyone know if it's still possible to get Wulven models anywhere? Or is Ebay the only place left to find those? Failing that, is there any models people have been using for doing Wulven / MotW conversions?

 

1. I think your play style is Egil Ironwolfs company.

2. I have Wulfen in my Greyhunter packs as models with 2 close combat weapons and helmetless to look crazy and energetic.

[Vash113]

A couple of the Wolf Lords favor mechanised tactics more but your list could reasonably represent almost any Great Company. The 5th Edition Codex has the most information on all of the Wolf Lords (except Ragnar) that we've ever had, take a look and also look at the symbols for each Great Company and decide from there.

 

You're sizeable number of Long Fangs could easily represent Gunnar Red Moon, and you're Mech plus the Redeemer and depending on whether you like flamers could well represent Sven Bloodhowl or Kjarl Grimblood.

 

A few of the Wolf Lords traits aren't overly specific, such as Krom Dragongaze, Logan Grimnar or Gunnar Red Moon. Any of the Wolf Lords may well field such a list, I think you should pick based off of what you think of each Lord's little fluff blurb and the color and nature of their Great Company symbol.

 

Or you could even make you're own, many do.

[Demonslayer]

Or you could let the fate of the dice Gods decide, Just take 2d6, number the Company's between 2-12 ( you'll have to leave one company out of course ).

 

Take the dice offer up a prayer to Russ and let the fate of the dice decide, until you get the one you want of course :)

[sazzer]

Or you could let the fate of the dice Gods decide, Just take 2d6, number the Company's between 2-12 ( you'll have to leave one company out of course ).

 

Take the dice offer up a prayer to Russ and let the fate of the dice decide, until you get the one you want of course :)

 

Why not just roll 1d12 - gives a more even spread of numbers and doesn't miss out #1... :P

[Silverwolf]

@ Vash113 - Current list is 2x Dual Melta GHs, 2x Single Flamer GHs. Previously I was running 2x double melta and 2x double flamer (Dropped a flamer on each as went to 9man teams to fit a WGPL). Pod dreads I usually take with a M.Melta, and if I'm not running Typhoons I'm running Tornados with Double melta or melta/flamer. Add that to the Redeemer and yeh, I take a lot of flame-type weapons. Mainly though this comes down to a personal aversion to Plasma weaponry on marines... my dice always seem to end up rolling 1s when using them :D.

 

In a standard list I only run the single pack of Long Fangs, it will only be in very large battles (>2500pt) that I'll be running more then one usually. 2500pt is my usually battle size, with the odd 1750pt or smaller battles.

 

@ Barn - Dear god thats some fantastic work brother!! :D - pity your Victorian ;):P ( couldn't help it :) ) - But honestly I think I just found one of my best insperation resources yet Barn. Any of you that haven't seen it yet should take a look at Barn's Bran Redmaw Modelling Diary. And a TDA WG with CML with the LFs! Never even crossed my mind to do that, what a brilliant idea.

 

@ Legatus - Yeh looking around in this forum, and on a couple of others, seems that the Marauder parts are the best options, basically take the arms, and maybe one of the heads, have the model dual-wielding some CC weaps with his bolter on a strap on his shoulder, and give him a lot of red celtic tattoos on the exposed areas of skin. Go very "Viking Beserker" style with them :).

 

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I think Bran Redmaw still seems to fit the best... Savage assaults, with some instinctive cunning in terms of the tactics used, and a lot of members bearing the Mark of the Wulven.

[Barn]

lol thanks for the feedback.

 

I was actually thinking of reposting my diary over here, the lack of 'wolfy' feed back over there is a let down lol

[Karack Blackstone]

I'd try to avoid the Baal Predator problem by just using the LR TLAC mount if you can. Sadly that means one goes without, or pick up something with it. I can't recall anything past getting them with a LR.

 

As far as the individual GC goes, each fits, but Egil Iron Wolf favors heavy mechanized, and Ragnar Blackmane favors heavy podding. Take that for what you will...

 

I put a list together that would be a full Great Company once. It wasn't legal, so Apoc. And would have run me about 5,000 pts to field it. So don't worry about points, it's 100% possible to make something massive. Especially with 3 x 5 TWC packs running around...

 

Edit: Conjunction junction, what's your function... (Can't think and type at the same time, sometimes...)

[Silverwolf]

@ Barn - Should :), it's great work and will help give insperation to our younger brethren ;).

 

@ Karack - Yeh was thinking that would probably be the answer, problem is getting a LR TLAC mount without buying a LRC just for that. My other thought was try and find a Tau player with a bunch of spare burst cannons, and do all AC in my army as Burst Cannon conversions :). Seen it done on a few peoples work and they look much more badass :D.

[Lord_of_Fenris]

I'm going to go against what most everyone else is asying and ask the question: Why try to fit your great company into one of the existing molds? Being a space wolf is all about doing your own thing and being individualistic. This is a fantasy game, so go ahead and assume that one of the current wolf-lords got stepped on by a chaos titan, while a majority of the rest of the company he was leading was wiped out. A Wolf Guard from Logan Grimnar's company was voted in as the next wolf lord, and units from a few other great companies were transferred to his command. The reason for those transfers being that each of those units were ones that he served in over the past several hundred years as a battle brother in the Space Wolves chapter, before being hand-picked by the Great Wolf to become a member of his wolf guard.

 

Hell, don't even listen to what I am saying and make up your own story about it. Anyone that tries to tell you you can't do that isn't having as much fun as they could have with 40K. Your wallet will be happier, you'll enjoy *your* army more, and you won't have to worry about doing things the way some other space wolf might want you to because it's *your* great company.

 

I also must admit that I am undertaking the same endeavor, and make a similar promise to myself back in 2003 when I first got into the hobby but played Grey Hunters instead of space wolves because I was a victim of the AOTM sydrome.

 

Cheers,

 

L

[Silverwolf]

An interesting topic to make your first post on the forums :(, welcome to The Fang.

 

I know what your saying, and it was something I considered doing back when I first decided to undertake this project. Spent a lot of time thinking it through, what I would call them, what I would call the Wolf Lord etc. But honestly I like the idea of "bringing to life" one of our current Great Companies :down:. Any small discrepencies between how I play them and the way they're "supposed" to be played can always be put down to situational differences, small changes in tactics based on the behaviour of the enemy.

[Lord_of_Fenris]

Thank you.

 

That's a very well-thought out response, and I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with your thought-process and use of logic. The posts started turning into, "do this!", "no, do that!". We're space wolves and we do what we want, by Russ! Good luck and I can't wait to see some pictures!

 

L

[Silverwolf]

Resurrecting this thread as delays are over, and the project has begun!! :D

 

Pics will start soon, but for now here is the basic Colour scheme I'm going with;

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/0Silverwolf0/Warhammer%2040k/BranRM_WolfGuardTDA.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/0Silverwolf0/Warhammer%2040k/BranRM_WolfGuard.jpg

 

Basic inspiration for it coming from the cover of our current 'dex.