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i know they're advertised as bolt pistols, but those guns in kit #2 look like they're scaled to one-handed bolters (for true grit).

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Space-Wolves-Legion-Grey-Slayers-Upgrade-Pack-2-2018

One of the heads looks like the pony tail is coming out of his mouth !

 

Apart from that, I'm very happy to see some more CCW Mk3 arms with shields, axes and bolts.

Its easier to see unpainted. Basically he's sneering and a single fang is popping out of his bottom lip with the braid just below it.

 

Would have chose a high contrast colour for the beard when painting this.

Eh. Can't say time has improved my opinion of the heads. Still disappointed at the lack of helmets, the bare heads are fine, if unexceptional, and the masks just look naff.

 

Perhaps the stupidly long wait left me with too high expectations, but my overall feeling looking at this is 'is that it?'. For all the hype, I'd have wanted holstered pistols for the shield kit (because GS still carry pistols, even if you give them shields), the scaling of the BPs we did get is weird, the seem extra huge, even by the already huge 40k standard. Plus, while the axes are cool, less uniformity would've been nice, a mix of swords and axes, with a couple of designs of each, maybe some different handed grips too. They just don't really justify the wait imo.

 

As for the Varangyr... Something potentially shady here. Is the lack of alternate views on the webpage usual? It's certainly less than we get for the Grey Slayers. All the Varangyr are positioned so that I can't tell if FW have repeated the :censored: lazy lack of weapon grips from the godawful Praetor (I think the GS got away with it, but I'm not 100% on the axes). Are they trying to hide their objectively poor design with this kit? I'd like to believe no, but I'm all out of faith with FW these days. Still saddens me that the worst output I've seen from the Company is attached to the release I've wanted most for so long. :cry:

I noticed the shadiness withe varagyr too. Why don't they have better display picks? Does it have something to do with the praetor still being out of stock?

 

 

Also not sure why people want helmets.

 

1. The mk iii kits have helemts if you want them.

2. You're playing Spave Wolves. Helmets are off brand.

Edited by Wispy

Also not sure why people want helmets.

 

1. The mk iii kits have helemts if you want them.

 

And? They're not Space Wolf helmets. If you take that approach, why have any Legion specific bits? Just use the generic kits and call it a day.

 

 

2. You're playing Spave Wolves. Helmets are off brand.

I'm going to call BS here, SW's clearly wear helmets, in both 30k and 40k. If you're happy with bare heads and the masks, more power to you, hope you enjoy the kits. But claiming helmets are 'off brand' is getting into needless antagonistic 'no True Scotsmen' territory.

 

Personally? I wanted helmets for a few reasons:

 

The idea of Marines not wearing a helmet has always kinda bugged me (especially on Terminators). Deliberately not armouring the part of the body that it makes most sense to armour (and thanks to Sci Fi we can't even used the 'restricted visibility' counter from real life) is just a bit dumb, and has increasingly bothered me over time.

 

The MkIII and MkIV helms are some of the most distinctive (and cool) parts of the armour. Losing the helms also loses a lot of what makes the older armour marks unique and special.

 

I hate painting faces. I've had my fill of it with my 40k Wolves army, but would still like to do some 30k Wolves. So SW specific helms (especially after every other Legion got some) would have been very welcome. While it's hopefully possible to 'SW-ify' the standard helms with a bit of care, it would have been a lot easier to just buy some cool runic/knotwork inscribed helmets.

 

 

2. You're playing Spave Wolves. Helmets are off brand.

I'm going to call BS here, SW's clearly wear helmets, in both 30k and 40k. If you're happy with bare heads and the masks, more power to you, hope you enjoy the kits. But claiming helmets are 'off brand' is getting into needless antagonistic 'no True Scotsmen' territory.

"No true Scotsman" indeed. I much prefer helmets on my guys, and am annoyed at the efforts I've had to go through to even get enough for my army. Heck, anyone want more heads? I've got loads of sprues of unused heads I'll gladly swap for your unused helmets...

It's not True Scottsman - if you want to have helmets on your models that's fine - its more about why you would even hold this expectation of having custom ones made for you with the faction you are playing. Bareheads and beards have been a distinct feature of the faction for decades, so that you had expectations of them to deviate from this was more than a little silly.

 

Space Wolves disliking helms is part of the lore, as it inhibits their senses. bare heads as a prominant feature of the toy range with a sprawling collection of custom heads in every Space Wolves kit. Simply... Beards are on-brand, helmets are off.

 

Like, okay, i get it, bare heads aren't to you taste. Its your army, you can do whatever you want with it. That's fair. But lets not pretend bareheads aren't THE feature of the faction them because you prefer a helm.

 

And i like i said, there's helmets in the base Mkiii kit if you want them. They're not customized tho, what space wolf would spend lots of effort customizing something he prefers not to wear.

Edited by Wispy

And i like i said, there's helmets in the base Mkiii kit if you want them. They're not customized tho, what space wolf would spend lots of effort customizing something he prefers not to wear.

Except we do see Wolves wearing helmets, in both 30k and 40k. One of the most evocative scenes in PB for me was when we see Bjorn re-braiding his hair, so it will fit in his MkIV helm.

 

Even the GW promotional materials for the Space Wolves always feature helmeted Marines. It's not hard to find evidence at every turn of SWs using Helmets, even in 'safe' air when they could reasonably remove them, but don't. Is it so hard to fathom that some Wolves would value the greater protection and auto senses of a Helmet over a better sense of smell? Or just wearing the thing is easier than lugging it around in case you do need it?

 

 

Space Wolves disliking helms is part of the lore, as it inhibits their senses. bare heads as a prominant feature of the toy range with a sprawling collection of custom heads in every Space Wolves kit. Simply... Beards are on-brand, helmets are off.

So I imagined all those SW themed helmets that you get in every 40k plastic kit then? Yes you get a bunch of bare heads in the Wolves kits, but you also get Helmets, and they're not unadorned, generic issue ones either.

 

 

Bareheads and beards have been a distinct feature of the faction for decades, so that you had expectations of them to deviate from this was more than a little silly.

No, I'd say it was entirely reasonable, given that every other time we've seen a SW release, it includes helmets. You asked why people expected Helmets, because it would be in keeping for what we've got from every SW plastic release (plus a fair few of the FW head kits) to have a mix. I don't think anybody was expecting an entire set of helms (as much as it would be to my personal taste), or even the 9/10:1 ratios some other Legions have got, but some would've been nice.

 

 

But lets not pretend bareheads aren't THE feature of the faction them because you prefer a helm.

You're the one pretending here. Bare heads are a feature of the faction, but hardly THE feature. Most people seem to notice the pelts, fur, runes, teeth tokens, Wolf embelms, Wolf naming conventions, unorthodox organisation etc. first. To claim the most striking distinguishing mark of the Space Wolves is 'no Helmets' is frankly bizarre.

Will I buy a pack?  yeah I think I will,  but I'm an older modeller, I can afford to spend £23 and use just a few bits and the rest will collect dust.  I'm not bragging with that statement.  I just feel that for younger modellers spending £23 and you may only like half the bits would make you thinking twice about buying them. 

 

I have most of the bits already by using parts from these guys:

 

Axes:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/ESRD62YWE/valkiria-lupus-pattern-energy-axe-left-hand?optionId=64552133

http://www.spellcrow.com/frost-weapons-p-395.html

 

Shields:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/APSAEXAKQ/valkiria-pattern-energy-shield-right-hand?optionId=64563750

https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=542

 

Banners:

https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=546

 

Bodies & Heads:

http://www.spellcrow.com/wolves-space-knights-veterans-torsos-with-heads-p-378.html

 

Shoulder Pads:

https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=549

http://www.spellcrow.com/wolves-space-knights-shoulder-pads-p-397.html

 

Heads:

https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=533

https://puppetswar.eu/product.php?id_product=476

http://www.spellcrow.com/wolves-space-knights-heads-p-234.html

 

The only unknowns for me is the stuff from ShapesWays, but I've had Shapeways stuff before and as long as the designer is good, the quality will be good too. 

 

I think we can do better ourselves.

Edited by sbarnby71

It's an odd kit and pricey too given that Slayers come as a 10 man minimum (i'm building 2 squads of  20). I certainly won't be buying 8 upgrade kits. Looking at the Imperial Fist kits (for warders and templars) at the same price we appear to have been short changed, we have 5 extra arms (useful) and 3 extra heads in exchange for 4 torsos and 5 shoulder pads.

 

Would have hoped for a little variety in the shields, the shapeways ones look handy enough.

 

Not overly keen on the weird bolters with the iron sight under the barrel??

 

I build the majority of my troops with helmets (to differentiate from the 40K aesthetic and as mentioned above the Mk III and Mk IV helms are cool) with a smattering of bare heads, mainly to avoid repetition, the crazy 40K hair dos are quite distinctive however  I wont be using too many duplicates of these heads, the prevalence of bionic eyes annoys me (a good argument for wearing a helmet perhaps) so perhaps i can recoup some cash by ebaying these along with the duplicate combined head and torso.

 

If there is a deathsworn kit it will likely include some variant skull helmets but would have hoped for a couple here, Thousand Sons have 2 separate infantry head sets one of which came a lot later than the other, there is always hope.

 

My main frustration with these releases is in fact how long we've waited for what is, in general consensus, sub par. I don't want to gripe, this is a luxury hobby after all and don't have any entitlement to anything in particular, in isolation they are ok, but when you start comparing them to other legions even I feel a little hard done by.

I´m sorry to say that this is not going to be a buy for me. It irks a little when third-party manufacturer have better quality than FW when it comes to the wolves :sad.: 

 

The only exception is the shoulder pad, going to pick up a bunch on eBay if FW don´t sell them separate.  

So, the Varagyr...

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Space-Wolves-Legion-Varagyr-Wolf-Guard-terminator-Squad-2018

 

I think I figured out what the problem is, to me: please look, very carefully, at the lower legs of every single model. All of the Varagyr are not proportioned correctly. It's not as bad as the SW Legion Praetor, however, it's there; one might need to zoom in, to see it, too.

 

I do like the SW Grey Slayers kits, in concept; the quality assurance for the Wolves from FW does appear to be far too lax these days, for some reason.

I've heard people mention the legs, the heads, and just the overall proportions in general. Honestly I don't see it.

 

The only thing I see that I dislike about these models is the fur. It doesn't look anything like fur. It looks like little tentacles or some kind of bizarre cloth completely covered in rat tails rat tails. This new "fur" design is repeated on a lot of the new forge world stuff for the wolves, and it turns me off so bad. And I'm sure that they must have noticed that it looks like utter garbage, if the artist sculpting these models didn't know how to sculpt fur, surely there was help available - someone to give a hand, or at a minimum some constructive feed back.

 

The varagyr are covered in rat-tail drapes, but the grey slayers are mercifully low on the tentacle-cloak to model ratio (I think only the banner has tentacles all over the back of it). I'll probably buy the grey slayers, but I'm sure I'll skip on the varagyr.

just as a matter of interest the Varagyr in relation to other FW Termies and Primaris models are not that dissimilar in scale.

 

20180206 104913 (2)

20180206 104913 (3)

 

And as for the fur, as the Mrs pointed out, it's more like wet and shaggy clumps more than well groomed just from the parlour.  :smile.:

Why are the front of the bolter/bolt pistols upside down in the second upgrade pack

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Space-Wolves-Legion-Grey-Slayers-Upgrade-Pack-2-2018

  

 

Why has nobody caught this in the quality control? 

 

Compare this to resent miniatures like the custodes shield-captain or the necromunda stuff and I starting to wonder why it is only the wolves where choddy sculpting and bad quality appears.

Edited by Huggtand

Why are the front of the bolter/bolt pistols upside down in the second upgrade pack

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Space-Wolves-Legion-Grey-Slayers-Upgrade-Pack-2-2018

  

 

 

Why has nobody caught this in the quality control? 

 

Compare this to resent miniatures like the custodes shield-captain or the necromunda stuff and I starting to wonder why it is only the wolves where choddy sculpting and bad quality appears.

 

There appears to be some lack of quality control involved, or at least, that's how it seems to me.

 

Why? Well, there is not enough room to put a hand in the area where the potential hand grip is, in front of the magazine.

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