Nighthowler’s LVO challenge

[NightHowler]

So I’m going to LVO this year. Been trying to get there for years, and finally able to go. But as with all things epic, the forces of chaos are aligned against me, so as luck would have it, all my wolves are picked in a storage unit that I can’t access in time to get ready. And therein lies the challenge: I have to purchase and paint an entire 2,000 point army in time for LVO (in all fairness, as of writing this I have already purchased, assembled, and primed everything in my list).

 

I’m not ready to upload pics yet, but I will use this thread over the next couple of weeks to document the painting of the army, and hopefully also some batreps from LVO.

 

Also as luck would have it, I was only recently able to play a couple of games of 8th edition, so I’m going in with very little (next to no) 8th Ed experience. So the batreps will likely document some epic losses, but we’ll see.

[PeteySödes]

Whaaaaaat you madman?! That really sucks and is equally crazy.

 

Well I know who I’m buying the first beer for next Friday...

[NightHowler]

Lol! Thanks man!

 

Kind of because I really like the list, and kind of because the list has so few models (making it easier to paint) I’m going with an (almost) all dreadnought list.

 

Bjorn

3 Wolf Priest (chaplain) Dreads

3 Wulfen Dreads (axe & shield)

3 Venerable Dreads (axe & shield)

1 Leviathan (twin storm cannons)

1 Hyperios Whirlwind (to abuse keen senses)

1 Dreadnought Drop Pod (to protect the Leviathan from alpha strike assassination)

1 Wolf Guard Battle Leader (jump pack, armor of Russ, wolf claw, and storm shield)

 

I don’t expect to win a lot of games (combination of lack of 8th experience, Space Wolves power level, and weaknesses inherent in my list), but I do plan to have as much fun as possible.

 

Edited to add: special shout out to TiguriusX for graciously allowing me to steal his list idea and then brutally twist it to my own hybridized version.

Edited January 17, 2020 by NightHowler

[tangoalphatwo]

Bruh, I’ve been painting one army since last May and I have 36 space marines done. I applaud your aspirations and will definitely be following your progress.

[GrFlur]

Bring the man another round, I'll pay every single one he can drink with a straw while he gets his army painted !!!!

[NightHowler]

Ok, so some pictures of this journey, starting back at the beginning, with boxes.

Here's a picture of me at my FLGS picking up the bulk of my army.

Here's my pride and joy, my brand new Leviathan. I wanted him to have a pose that sort of made him stand out even more from the other dreadnoughts, so I positioned him stepping up onto a barricade.

[NightHowler]

I thought that I had a picture of my Lucius Pattern Drop Pod, but I guess I forgot to take one of just the pod. You'll see it later in the group photos.

I did remember to take a solo shot of the rhino chassis that would end up being my Whirlwind Hyperios.

And the turret for the Hyperios being photobombed by the torso for my WGBL

Here's one of the WGBL assembled

Since there are going to be a lot of dreadnoughts, I needed each of the three different kinds to look enough alike that you could tell them apart from the other dreads, so here's how I set up the carapace of my wulfen dreadnought (this one will actually end up being a venerable dread by adding the detailed carapace plates to the chest, I realized this after uploading this picture because if you look closely you can see the detailed leg plate on the right leg and the wulfen all have the plain chest plates and plain leg plates).

For the wolf priest dreads (chaplain dreads) I used the body of a plain space marine venerable dread with the wolf skull chest plates glued over the front. The idea for these is that they would have the heads from the forgeworld deathsworn models, but as chaos would have it forgeworld was sold out of deathswor, because of course they would be. So I ordered some of the KFStudio wolf skull helms (I actually have a set of these in storage and really like them a lot). But it doesn't look like the KFStudio helms are going to make it in time either. So I guess we'll see what the universe lets me do for these guys' heads.

The heads I REALLY wanted:

The heads I ordered:

The heads I have:

[your image of heads would go here if you had any heads, but you don't]

So anyway, moving on, here's a group photo of most of the boys assembled.

Here's a shot of them primed and waiting to be painted.

And finally, here's me starting the assembly line process of attempting to speed paint the whole thing in one day (I didn't by the way, in case you were wondering, I only managed to get the metal bits on about half of them painted before the studio I was working at closed for the day and kicked me out into the cold Alaskan winter). The ones on the right have their metal bits done, the ones on the left feel left out and angry at daddy for not getting to them before time ran out.

So I'll probably end up painting these during lunch breaks and after work since I won't really have any more full days off until the LVO. We'll see if I can do it. I won't say I'm panicking yet, but that probably has more to do with my level of intelligence than it does with the need (or lack of need) to panic.

[Guest Triszin]

March of the ancients!!!

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Looking forward to seeing them more completed, great job so far. Noob question what's LVO stand for? (I'm guessing an event but not sure which)

[PeteySödes]

Las Vegas Open. As far as I know it’s still the biggest (numbers wise at least) 40k tourney in the world. I think it overtook the Adepticon TT last year by a few hundred.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Ahh that makes sense now I live far from Vegas, but it's cool to know there's a 40k scene in the states that's super popular.

[Wolf Guard Dan]

Looks awesome. Make sure to try and get pre approved for the chaplain Dreadnought conversion. I hear they’re being sticklers about it this year. If you don’t get it approved you may get a yellow card right off the bat.

[NightHowler]

Looks awesome. Make sure to try and get pre approved for the chaplain Dreadnought conversion. I hear they’re being sticklers about it this year. If you don’t get it approved you may get a yellow card right off the bat.

Thanks man.  I've been keeping abreast of the issue, but didn't request "counts-as" approval in time, so we'll see how it goes.  This particular issue is why I'm so distraught about being unable to purchase the wolf skull helmets for my wolf priest dreads...   that one bit was the key element to make them clearly "chaplains".  

 

Not much to be done at this point except to try and finish painting in time and hope for the best.  Who knows, maybe the bits will come in the mail this Tuesday.  I'll be posting here if they do.  If not, I'm kind of up a creek.

[TiguriusX]

Did you get your chaplain dreads pre-approved?

 

I was reading this FLG article on it and it made me think of your army

Edited January 19, 2020 by TiguriusX

[NightHowler]

Thanks.

 

No I didn’t get them pre-approved before the deadline. I emailed them the night after the deadline (just minutes after a friend made me aware of the need), and their response was, “you didn’t ask us in time to get an official approval, but as long as they are modeled to look appropriately like chaplain dreads, you should be fine.”

 

We’ll see how it goes.

[NightHowler]

The good news is that I have ordered some bits that will make them appropriately wolf priestly. And they should get here in plenty of time.

[Iain_Stormeyes]

Ahh that makes sense now I live far from Vegas, but it's cool to know there's a 40k scene in the states that's super popular.

 

It's not the scene in the state.  Its an event people fly-in for from all over the world.  Part of the reason it is so successful is that it is in Vegas, so lots of shows/gambling/food/etc. to pull people in.  LVO also sets the stage for the meta for 6 months and whatever does well might get a nerf and whatever does poorly might get a buff in the Spring FAQ.  Its almost a "State of the Union" for 40k.

[RikuEru]

Another thing to make them properly Wolf priestly looking would be black armor plates (either fully or as highlights)

 

Go on, brother! You are writing a saga of epic proportions already.

[NightHowler]

Another thing to make them properly Wolf priestly looking would be black armor plates (either fully or as highlights)

Go on, brother! You are writing a saga of epic proportions already.

Thanks for the tip, but we’re already on the same wavelength. If you look closely at the very last picture I posted, the the dreads primed in black are my chaplains.

 

Update: I finished the metal bits on the last of the dreads last night. Tonight I’ll do the brass and gold bits. Hopefully Monday night I’ll hit them with nuln oil and post some new pics.

Edited January 20, 2020 by NightHowler

[Guest]

Good luck you Madman :P

[Chazzmos]

What an awesome army! I love it and your plan to get it done. Odin's speed to you!

[Watcher]

I have never been so happy to see so much plastic assembled in an area. Can't wait to see this army built and start wrecking! 

 

Sorry to hear you cant access your original army, Brother. Hopefully it works out in the end.

[NightHowler]

Thanks for all the support brothers!!! I’ve made a lot of progress and I’m pretty confident I’ll be tabletop ready by the LVO. Not the greatest quality, and a few things I wanted to do may get put off to later, but the army should be good enough to play.

 

Will post update picks later tonight (by 9pm or 10pm Alaska time).

[NightHowler]

Ok, here are some pics of my progress. Because I'm going one color at a time for everything, this set of pics is after I'd painted the other (non-silver) metal bits.

First, my Hyperios, now with gold and brass bits.

My Dreadnought Drop Pod, also now with gold and brass bits.

Bjorn with gold and brass.

Little Levi with gold and brass.

One of my Venerable Dreads also with gold and brass.

One of the Wolf Priest Dreads with gold and brass.

And my WGBL with gold and brass.

URL=http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/image/274154-wgbl-with-brass-and-gold/][/url]

Next I'll have some pics of the army with some basic colors added. They're starting to look much better!

[NightHowler]

Today I went through and hit the areas that would have white, red, and brown. Things are starting to look a lot better.

First is Bjorn with some color.

One of the Wolf Priest Dreads with the skulls painted white. I'll wash them and highlight them before I'm done.

Here's my WGBL. I'm really happy with how he's turning out so far. We'll see if I can keep from messing him up before I'm done.

And here's a group photo of the whole gang.

Tomorrow I should be doing the yellow, blue, and black areas. If I have time I'll put on some transfers before I wash them. We'll see how tomorrow goes, since it will be the last day I have to paint before I fly to Vegas.