I’ve been giving a lot of thought recently to sorting out the characters that I need for my Space Wolf army. Space Wolves are unique in that they can have two character’s for each HQ slot in the Force Organisation Chart – meaning a normal game can have up to 4 characters rather than the usual two. This adds quite a bit of flexibility when you’re playing 1,500 point or larger games. Part and parcel of this is that every single character needs to be unique – specifically on a wargear/equipment/power front, but to my mind they also need to be unique on a modelling front. Sadly there are very few “generic” miniatures available for the Space Wolves – there is one generic Rune Priest and one generic Wolf Priest (although I do have the Games Day special Wolf Priest).
Thankfully the Space Wolf sprues do contain numerous components that can be used, but in my mind it’s quite difficult to disguise the fact that your character has been built from standard pieces without extensive modification with putty and similar. The thing is, if I’m going to be doing that amount of work regardless, it makes sense to really go to town on customising them and using a base miniature that isn’t normal.
So here follows my list of characters and ideas.
Rune Priest in Runic Armour
I’ve already got a Rune Priest in Terminator armour, however when points are tight or I want a second Rune Priest for that extra bit of clout, I need a power/runic armoured version. Rune Priests are the equivalent of Librarians, with Psychic Hood and a force weapon.
There are precious few miniatures out there with power armour and a psychic hood, which drastically reduces what you can use. Even more restrictive is that for some unknown reason, the vast majority of miniatures have bloody stupid robes on them, goodness only knows why! It is possible to sculpt a psychic hood but that might not be quite as effective as one on an existing model.
Possible bases: Forgeworld Sevrin Loth,
Wolf Priest with jump pack
To be truthful, a Wolf Priest is pretty much always going to be attached to a pack of Blood Claws of some kind, this removes the Headstrong rule from the pack and gives them Preferred Enemy as well as making them Fearless – oh he also has a 4++ save. Primarily it’s my intention to poke him with my Skyclaws (jump pack wearing Blood Claws), but magnetising the jump pack so that he can have a regular backpack would provide a lot of flexibility for smaller games.
A bit more choice about for a Wolf Priest. They really need to have a wolf skull helm, so I may try and pick up a cheap Ulrik the Slayer mini so that I can nab the head off that.
Possible bases: Forgeworld Ivanus Enkomi, Space Marine Captain: Lord Executioner,
Wolf Lord (Bjorn Stormwolf)
Bjorn will be fielded when I play large games, he needs to be in fairly “ornate” terminator armour, but the rest of his kit is up for discussion (noisy and brutal is the name of the game). Ideally he needs to be larger than any other terminators, and not just through raising the base up. Nearly all of the conversions you can find online have him wielding a Thunderhammer (it’s big and brash), however a brutal Power Maul could actually be a really interesting alternative, plus allow him to have a ranged weapon rather than the obligatory storm shield, afterall with a high ballistic skill it’s stupid to not have him shooting.
Because he’s in terminator armour, there is actually quite a bit of choice out their. A 30k Cataphractii Terminator would actually be a really nice basis, but I love the Aserion Moloc miniature and can visualise it covered in pelts and trinkets. Not sure how I’d do the weapon though.
Possible bases: Forgeworld Asterion Moloc, Forgeworld Commander Culln, Arjac Rockfist, bulked out “truescale” terminator
