Curse you, Adeptus Mechanicus!

Today I was working on my first Space Wolves Rhino, excited to finally have a transport for my Grey Hunters without having to borrow one of the store's vehicles to proxy it in some of my games. Everything went smooth, until I had to put the tracks on. You know - common sense dictates that I should follow the diagram and have them face in the right direction... except the last pieces did not fit that way and I had to reverse them, according to the GW employee there.

No biggie. I've heard about this problem and it really didn't cost me that much time to fix.
I also learned that I should not use plastic glue while putting the top piece on. Why? Well, because even putting a little bit of glue was apparently too much and it turned into a gooey, stringy concoction that I had to file down.. and it still looks bad. Hopefully a nice layer of primer and a base coat of paint will fix it and if not... well.. There's plenty of snowfall on Fenris!

Now, the whole deal with the plastic glue was my own damn fault and I should have known better. I am used to building ork vehicles.. where you don't really care if you put too much glue or filed down something that you were not supposed too. For heaven's sake, I even drilled and gouged my last Battlewagon to make it look more "Orky"!!!
Sigh...


No, my beef with the Adeptus Mechanicus has to do with my second rhino.

I came home, eager to work on my second vehicle and ready to build it the right way. I quickly created my little hobby area using an old cork board that I put on top of my nightstand. It actually looks kind of neat, right? I carefully filed down all flash and used my hobby knife to get rid of annoying crap. I used just enough plastic glue to securely connect the main pieces and when I tried to put the rear ramp/door/hatch, well, lets just say that it and the Rhino's chassis were not meant to be.

The door was just too small. Or maybe not. Actually, when compared to the other one it was just the same size. I don't know what was wrong with it, though. The only problem I could think of was that the treats are facing the opposite way but that was the only way they could fit. I've tried to squeeze both sides of the Rhino as close together as possible and it still does not fit.
This also happened to my friend's Vindicator, which also uses the Rhino's chassis.
This is so frustrating. You try and make things right and then things just bite you in the ass..

I am bringing the vehicle along with my receipt tomorrow to my local store, hoping that the owner will be able to show me if I messed up somewhere. If not, I am going to ask for a replacement that will work. What sucks is that I really hate to be that guy, but the damn Rhino cost me like $33. I am not going to butcher it and I'm not willing to use plasticard or green stuff to fix something if it is not my fault.

The Great Company Banner!

It's been a while. I've been thinking of stuff to write about, but recently things have been.. stale. I blame the new release of Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition. All I hear is "Dude! Run your High Elves in blocks of 50!" or "Magic is so OP!". I don't really care! Gah! Fantasy is kind of neat, but I already sold my Skaven, since I prefer the more futuristic grimdark universe.
We are still trying to come up with a really cool-looking paint sceheme for our Space Wolves. If any of you thinks that your is the best you should totally recommend us something!

Yesterday I decided that I really needed to paint something. I was sick of building miniatures and kind of didn't want to just hang out around the paint bar in our local GW, so I decided to... pain the Great Company! My Wolf Lord's name is.. well.. Skarvald the Troll-faced and he's a renowned hunter and slayers of beasts (thus the saga of the beastslayer). The Company Banner is going to be attacked to his back and on top of it I will attach the decapitated head of a river troll. ; )

Our Adepticon Space Wolf armies are themed after Harald Deathwolf's Great Company. His sigil is the Ravening Jaw - a wolf devouring a white star. Harald's Company is known for its Thunderwolves and that matches the main focus of our four 1000 pts. lists for the Team Tournament. After all, there's a total of 4 units of them - fully kitted out. ;-3

The banner was not that hard to do. Primed black, base coated with Mechrite Red mixed with a liiiitle bit of Blood Red. As always, add water to your paints, especially if it is a foundation paint. 1:1 ratio works best. After that, I tried outlining the wolf with a pencil but gave up on the idea and realized that there was no way that I could fit both the "Harald" AND "Deathwolf" scrolls on it.
Not even the white star that the black wolf was supposed to be devouring. Oh well.
I started outlining the wolf with a fine detail brush, using Chaos Black and with Mechrite Red I was going over any spots that I messed up (wrong proportions, bad details, etc. etc.). This happened A LOT.

Free Hand Drawing is all about going back and fixing stuff you fucked up. It's not about precision, accuracy and a steady hand (although that helps a ton!) - it's about persistence and patience.


After I was happy with the general shape I filled the wolf with Chaos Black and then played around blending various greys, whites.. On top I did the scroll and quickly wrote deathwolf on it with a micron pen. They help sooo much. Can't stress this enough. You need it. Not only was it priceless for outlining and defining the wolf, but it also gives it that "finished" look to boot! It is yet another way to fix whatever you fucked up. ; )

Obviously this is not finished yet. The backside needs to be painted as well with red and I need to add some touch ups to the scroll, paint the cloth part of the banner and finished the little purity seals and little banners beneath the wolf. And I need to paint that troll head.

But that's another story.

P.S: Excuse my camera phone and poor lightning. It was too late for me to rummage for my good cameras, plus the banner does not deserve a proper photo before it is 100% complete.

Wolf Pack, baby!

Hi, there. My name is Vlad and this little puppy here is my new blog. Here, I plan to report the progress of my new Space Wolves army, especially since they are headed down the Road to Adepticon 2011!

I am relatively new to the hobby with less than a year and a half of experience and my first army was Orkz. I still love them, but I have always had a soft spot for our lupine friends and when the new Space Wolves Codex came out I shrieked like a little girl.


I know, I know. I know what you're already thinking:

"In the name of Russ! Yet another Space Wolves blog? Can't I just head to the ultimate Space Wolves blog and win?"
Well.. you could, but then you'd just be reading about a fraction of the hobby potential that the SW codex has. Every hobbyist is different - from their various fluff reasons to start an army, their assembling, painting and actual gaming. Right? Well, I just happen to be one of them.

About me: As I said before, my name is Vladimir or just Vlad for short. I am a colllege student, just turned 20 and game and hobby at our local GW store at the Deer Grove plaza in Palatine, IL. My first taste of competitive, tournament-oriented gaming was over at Adepticon 2010 where I partook in the Team Tournament with an army of Speed Freekz called "Mork Protects" and finished overal 35th! Other than that I am a very casual player that likes to dispense indiscriminate justice with my Orkz and now my beloved Wolves. I got into the hobby as soon as our local store opened and I've been hanging out at "Geedub", which just happens to be like the only good place for hanging out in my little suburban town. More to come.. : )

Stay tuned for pictures of my army as I build and paint more members of the glorious Space Wolves AND batreps as I crush those who dare cross my path!