Painting question

[Hrvat]

I have a five man squad to paint as part of a friendly painting challenge and I have chosen to do 5 Grey Hunters. I have been looking for inspiration through the hall of honour and something struck me. Almost all the SW armies I have seen were painted with yellow right shoulder pad. There were only 2 with red, 3 with black and 3 with grey. So I wondered how come almost everyone paints their SW as if they were from Raganars company. Not to mention that is the only company which has yellow. On the other hand I haven't seen one army painted with white.

 

Cheers

[sazzer]

Mine all have blue right shoulder pads, and my blood claws (only models I've got so far) have yellow left shoulder pads. I kept having to triple check that I'd got the correct shoulder pad yellow because - as you say - so many of the pictures have the right one yellow...

 

Left shoulder pad indicates designation - Yellow = Blood Claw, Red = Grey Hunter, Grey = Long Fang, etc (I think)

[WolfGuardVortek]

Long Fangs have white on their left shoulder pad.

[Night Runner]

I avoid yellow like the plague when it comes to my Grey Hunters. It just does suit them IMO.

 

I guess so many do Ragnar's company because they were the first to appear in 2ed. Also 3rd edition glorified yellow shoulder pads. And don't forget that for a long time we did not have any decals of the other Great Companies. Now we have them all thanks to Forgeworld.

[CainTheHunter]

I'm doing Ragnar's company and I paint GH shoulder pads yellow, Blood claws get their right shoulder pad red, Wolf Guards in PA get that "wolf skull and crossed bones" bit as their right shoulderpad (from old SW sprue) and Long Fangs have both their shoulderpads white with bronze trim.

[Arcus]

my force is a 13th company warband, so black company background with the red wolf and white moon. the squad designations i decided was based on the bold jaws look, three triangles pointing up, two down, pretty common to see cause its easy hehe, with colour variations: Blood claws are yellow/red, Grey hunters red/black, longfangs black/white, and the wolf guard get a different design (the thin zigzag one) but any of the three colour sets showing where they were when they became wolfguard, in honour of the packs they left. in addition (im yet to do this apart from one GH pack :) ) extra packs get the design going in a different direction, up, sideways, and diagonal (2 directions).... im also not really a fan of yellow, but since i dont have yellow company pads, the squad ones dont look that bad imo

 

edit: Morkais company has a white background, and good fluff. i really like the white shoulders, the look cool, but im already dedicated to the 13th, so its black for me! Arroooo!

[WolfScout86]

On the other hand I haven't seen one army painted with white.

 

My army resembles Eric Morkai's great company (Lots of scouts fluff wise) and therefore all have white company markings with the twin wolfhead (Which means my long fangs will have white on both shoulder pads). I don't think I'm the only one tho.

 

Wolfscout

[Silverwolf]

Basically, you see a lot of Ragnar's Co. because thats what GW always seems to paint so thats what a lot of newer SW players tend to think is "right". I'm personally working on a Bran Redmaw GC project, which will mean all mine are red... I think... *goes hunting for his dex again*

[winternight]

The models left shoulder pad (from the models perspective - anything else is just confusing, what if you look at the model from behind?) should indicate the great company. I originally used Erik Morkai's which was yellow and red and has now been changed to white (bastards!). I'm going to continue using yellow and red.

 

Models right shoulder pad should indicate what kind of squad they are in. The common colours are as Arcus said:

Blood Claw - Red + Yellow

Grey Hunter - Red + Black

Long Fang - White + Black

Wolf Guard should be Yellow + Black

[FenrisWolf]

I definitely went my own route and created my own great company: Greymoon. Color is Necron Abyss background and a Fortress Grey crescent moon freehand. So far I have done two grey hunter squads and they have purple right shoulder pads.

Of course my armor is a dark grey anyhow (Adeptus Battle grey mostly)

[stinkenheim]

i started pianting mine for the previous codex where there were no mentions of different companies using different colours. iirc it was only this codex which included pictures of the different icons and the colour they suggested they be painted on.

on a purely visual point of view, i felt that yellow added warmth that was severly lacking from my models. i find space wolves usually look very cold, and whilst that isn't a bad thing based on their fluff, it leads to a very cold army. balance is needed to maintain visual interest and also add some variety and contrast to models. thats why i did it anyway, it looks better than all cold and desaturated colours imo.

[winternight]

Previous Codex did have colours for at least some of the great companies. Though would have to check my Codex to confirm

[Marshal Wilhelm]

i started pianting mine for the previous codex where there were no mentions of different companies using different colours. iirc it was only this codex which included pictures of the different icons and the colour they suggested they be painted on.

on a purely visual point of view, i felt that yellow added warmth that was severly lacking from my models. i find space wolves usually look very cold, and whilst that isn't a bad thing based on their fluff, it leads to a very cold army. balance is needed to maintain visual interest and also add some variety and contrast to models. thats why i did it anyway, it looks better than all cold and desaturated colours imo.

 

I believe you are right on the warmth issue. I think yellow looks really good on them.

They added red for b&w templars for the same reason.

[Hrvat]

Thanks on the replies guys.

 

I have another question.

 

I have the 3rd and 5th edition codex as well as Index Astartes and Codicium Imperialis about Space Wolves but am lacking the 2nd edition codex.

 

We currently know of these "totems"

 

Wolf that stalks the Stars*

Blackmane*

Thunderwolf*

Morkai*

Sun Wolf*

Blooded Hunter*

Fire Breather*

Night Runner

Sea Wolf*

Fire Wolf*

Great Devourer*

Wolf of the Red Moon*

Iron Wolf*

Spirit Wolf

Wulfen

 

*currently in use

 

So my question is are there any other "totems" mentioned in the 2nd ed. Codex?

 

I am quite sure there have to be other "totems" because the new Wolf Lord would be stuck with taking a totem of his fallen leader or take one of the two that are not currently used of which one is of limits, the Wulfen. Also would it be possible for a new Wolf Lord to take as his totem the totem of Great Wolf that he used before becoming a Great Wolf. In other words is the previous totem still considered occupied.

 

There is also another thing that I have noticed and that is just like everything in Space Wolves the colour of the totems isn't fixed. Example for that are Egil Iron Wolf and Harek Ironhelm. Both used the Iron Wolf totem but one had red field and black badge while the other is using black field with a silver badge.

 

The reson why I am asking these questions is because I want to paint these Grey Hunters as unique as possible (who know I just might like it enough to expant into a full army).

 

I have finished my test models(thank you GW for AoBR) and came to conclusion that Codex Grey is my colour though I might be tempted with Adeptus Battlegrey when it arrives. White shoulderpad just doesn't look right, to templar like. Yellow and completely grey are Okish but Black and Red fit best. Considering soft armour is going to be black the colour of my company will be Mechadrite Red. Now I just need to find a cool enough totem that is not to hard to free hand and if there are none make something up.

 

I am currently thinking between making these either survivors of the Great Company of Svengar the Red or warriors belong to the Great Company of Sven Ironhand.

 

This is slightly off topic but I think it is better to ask here rather than to open a new Topic.

Sven Ironhand left Fenris in 815.M41 while Svengar the Red was lost in 912.M41 and Jotun Bearclaw elected not to return in 992.M41. That would mean that currently within the Space Wolves chapter there are three "fresh" companies. One just under 200 years of age, aother with less than a century of experience and one just raised. That begs a question which of the current GC these are.

 

Also do any of you know any other named company that has been declared "lost"?

 

 

Cheers

[CarlSkaven]

you can see mine on my avatar!

 

Start with a base of deneb stone then skull white and blood red over that!

[Simo429]

i go with ragnar because I loved the books, its the reason i go with wolves full stop

[sazzer]

I *don't* go with Ragnar mostly because everyone else does. The books are cool, but I really don't think I could do him justice...

[Beef]

Ragnar is cool and so is his wolf symbol. for me its the epitome of SW's, and has been since 2nd. sO mine are painted yellow. Its what I am used to, habit and all that

[Arcus]

Also do any of you know any other named company that has been declared "lost"?

 

well, no. i dont think there is any other named Lord who has been lost. Only Jorin Bloodfang of 13th Company fame, but he has a new name now Jorin Bloodhowl, so technically thats two Lords, plus that book which has the 13th lord as Bulvye (Frackin stupid in my oppinion and a TOTAL ripoff but there ya go). so you have three "official" named Lords to work with. But really why bother? the major point of running a "lost" or 13th list is that you can go in pretty much any direction you wish, using your own storyline and characters! Build your own Lord and make his Saga great! :P

 

cheers

-Arcus

[LoneSniperSG]

I avoid yellow like the plague when it comes to my Grey Hunters. It just does suit them IMO.

 

I guess so many do Ragnar's company because they were the first to appear in 2ed. Also 3rd edition glorified yellow shoulder pads. And don't forget that for a long time we did not have any decals of the other Great Companies. Now we have them all thanks to Forgeworld.

 

What? When did FW start punching out SW decals?

[Silverwolf]

I am quite sure there have to be other "totems" because the new Wolf Lord would be stuck with taking a totem of his fallen leader or take one of the two that are not currently used of which one is of limits, the Wulfen. Also would it be possible for a new Wolf Lord to take as his totem the totem of Great Wolf that he used before becoming a Great Wolf. In other words is the previous totem still considered occupied.

 

Acctually, my understanding was the each new Wolf Lord either creates a new totem that suits him, or takes up the one of his old Lord.

 

If I'm right, you can pretty much come up with anything you like that is suitably "wolfy" for your totem.