Space Wolves Landspeeder

Land speeders are iconic vehicles in almost any galaxy/space related lore, theme, or pop culture. In Warhammer 40k, land speeders are used for a number of roles such as scouting, spearheading assaults (alpha strikes), or outflanking enemy positions - basically anything related to destroying the enemies of the emperor except ramming other vehicles (of course!) because let's face it: those things look fragile! Even so, it is amazing how a fragile thing can bring so much devastation in the battlefield!

The Emperor laughs at this "speeder"!

Land speeders are, in my opinion, one of the best units in any marine army. They are a Fast Attack choice, can move 12 inches and still fire 2 weapons giving them a threat range of 48-60 inches depending on your load out. With the release of the 7th edition Space Wolves codex, their appearance on the table could be expected to dwindle due to the points reduction made to its fellow Fast Attack choices, which now seem to be tempting options to explore. So let's see what land speeders can bring to the table!

Land Speeder Squadron - not mine

THE PROS

They have Maneuverability!

• land speeders can move 12 inches and turbo-boost for 12 inches more! useful for getting from cover to cover in the unfortunate event that you roll hammer and anvil for a battlefield. This is also very useful for getting to objectives quickly or landing a line breaker at the end of the game
• they can fire 2 weapons even if they move 12 inches
• they are now scoring units
• they can have a 4+ jink save even if they do not move

They have Fangs! (These are the loadouts I tend to use)

Land Speeder Typhoon - MINE

• Land Speeder Typhoon (just a heavy bolter/HB and a cyclone missile launcher/CML)  = 75 points each
• this is crazy good as they became 15 points cheaper from the previous codex! Maybe this was to bring them in line with the Space Marine Land speeders. What this brings to the table is a HB that can spit  3 Str 5-AP 4 shots and a CML that launches 2 Str 8-AP 3 shots! Now imagine 2 to 3 of these in the field! This is perfect for alpha strikes! Use them to pop AV10-12 vehicles or provide suppressive fire as your warriors charge up the field! I can't stress how many times my 225 point land speeder squadron earned back their points and even more!
• Land Speeder with Multimelta (MM) and Heavy flamer (HF) = 70 each
• I like the flexibility of this build as it can be part of a "take all comers list". With these bad boys, you can deal with either armor using the multi-melta or an infantry list with the heavy flamer!
• Land Speeder with Double Multimelta = 80 each
• This could be considered your suicide squad! your titan killer! your knight killer! If you can deepstrike these boys within 12 inches of any armor of even if they just reach their targets within that range, say bye bye to it! When your opponents see these on the battlefield, chances are that their eyes would widen and they would allocate sufficient fire power to ensure the destruction of the said unit therefore becoming a fire magnet.

 So we talked about the wonders of Land Speeders! But being good at something would always mean a trade-off...

THE CONS

They are AV10 in every facing with only 2 Hull points and that means anything Strength 4 can potentially glance it to death and any weapon strength 5 and above would really cripple it in different ways! I had bad experiences with rapid firing marines, dakkafexes, and flyrants. Hopefully your careful positioning, jink saves, and bad opponent rolls can prevent this from happening. When your speeders get charged (which means you are playing them wrong), say bye bye to them unless your opponents roll badly. When you roll the mission "The Scouring" suddenly they can become a liability by providing your opponents an extra victory point if they get destroyed!

Another sad trivia about Land speeders is that the Space Wolves weren't issued the Land Speeder storm, which is a dedicated transport for scout companies. Are the scouts of the wolves so elite that they eschew any form of fast transportation now?? I really think they need it now since their "Behind Enemy Lines" rules was removed in 7th edition, basically turning them into just better scouts combat and shooting-wise.. sigh..

Land Speeder Storm, not mine

WISHLIST

In the spirit of Christmas, I've decided to include this segment, which is a wishlist of what I would like GW or future Space Wolves codex writers to do or consider regarding Space Wolves Land Speeders

1. Land Speeder Helfrost Variant - a speeder that has a helfrost cannon equipped.

2. Land Speeder Storms - I hope the wolves get issued this soon :)


CONCLUSION

It is a wonder that Space Wolves even use these speeders because weren't they depicted as "uncomfortable with flying and would like to fight with two feet firm in the ground just like Russ intended"? One may argue that they are not flying but simply hovering or something to that effect. Whatever the pet peeves of the wolves might be, the power of the Land Speeder cannot be denied! It is like a wolf circling a prey and striking when the opportunity presents!

In my 3 years of war-gaming, only once did I fight a person using only one land speeder. In my opinion, the others should consider it and take a look at this taken-for-granted unit. Unfortunately, there are now more tempting choices for Fast Attacks slots in the Space Wolves codex so their sorty into the battlefield may take a bit of re-considering.

So what are your thoughts regarding Land Speeders? I would love to hear how you equip yours (if you even use one). Do you use any of the other Land Speeder variants? Have I left something out? Let me know! Once again this is Camacho, Jarl of the 8th signing out! :D

Oh and by the way, my Wolf Wing Squadron says HI!

P.S. - some images are mine and some were taken from the internet without permission. If you see your work here, that means I thought it was very cool and it deserves to be shared to others ^^

First Impression on Warhammer 40k: Space Wolves

When I first saw a Warhammer 40k game coming out with a title called Space Wolf, of course I was excited! Welcome to my review or first impression of the game!

WHAT IS IT?

Warhammer 40k: Space Wolf is a turn-based strategy game much like Final Fantasy Tactics, Frontline Mission, and Disgaea. The game is different from those mentioned as everything you do here involves cards. Yes! Cards.. You select cards from a premade deck (you can modify this deck eventually). You use the cards to either move, attack, or equip then attack later (which I don't really get cause they use up actions as well). Each turn you can use two cards to do any of what was mentioned. The cards have numerical values. The more powerful the card, the higher the numerical value and this determines turn order eventually with the lowest total going first. You start out first with the main character which is a Grey Hunter then you'll eventually pick up others specialists, which leads me to...

...THE STORY!

A Space Wolf ship/cruiser/battle barge was ambushed by a Word Bearer ship. Both sustained heavy damage and crash landed on a planet. As the main character, you are tasked to find/rescue the scattered crew, which range from Grey Hunters, Terminators, Scouts, etc., retrieve scattered supplies, and slay the blasphemous Word Bearers and find out what they are doing in that certain planet. Now that is just the intro. There may be some deeper twist as you go further along but I haven't gotten too far in the game due to a number of issues.

THE ISSUES (OR THE OUTS)

1) Game Crashes - My number 1 issue! The game crashed for me at least 3 times already. I hate it when this happens especially when you are halfway through a mission. You can still click buttons but they do nothing and everyone is just standing in the field. I've tried waiting for more than 10 minutes on some missions but nothing happens and you need to exit the game a replay the whole mission.

2)  I'm a fan and a player of the Warhammer 40k tabletop game and I think I just got used to certain units having limited gear and certain purpose or roles but in this game one Grey Hunter can use the lascannon, a missile launcher, a heavy flamer, and heavy bolter all in one mission (must be their Long Fang but no distinctions were made). Having lots of weapon options are cool but when is it enough?

My Grey Hunter can use a lot of weapons!

3) The Deck/Card system -I would've been happy with a generic Final Fantasy Tactic type of thing with stats and jobs etc. I really don't know how to feel about this but believe me I'm trying to like it. It just sometimes feels complicated at first but then you'd see that it's pretty straight forward. You combine two cards that look alike to get a stronger version of that card then add it to your deck. One thing that I wish we had was a card that can heal your characters.

You can have a max of 30 cards in a deck. I haven't checked how many copies of certain card are allowed in a deck though.

4) Internet Connection - You need the internet to play this game :/ Can't believe I can't play it outside of home. A really big minus for me :/

Needs internet.. boo..

 5) Lastly, my phone gets hot like crazy whenever I play this game and it's a pain to hold. Not to mention, it drains your battery pretty quick.

WHAT I LIKE

1) Space Wolves - of course! Nuff said!

2) Tutorials - thanks to these tutorials, the game becomes a bit easier to understand. I just wish they were repeatable for slow learners like me.

3) Graphics - When selecting a game, this one is a major factor for me to consider. The graphics of this game is top notch for me considering that it's on a phone. They also do the Space Wolves justice as most of the characters are really ornamented and detailed.

BURN HERETICS!

The briefing room.

You can choose your squad mates as you go out on mission.

VERDICT

Maaaaan.. I can tell that it is very good and promising game but even with my fully updated iOS and game version, it still suffers due to major crashes. I'll try to finish it as time and crash permits. I just wish they fix it soon because I need to kill me some chaos.

WIP: The Axe Morkai

WLC is back! The blog is not dead... yet! ^^"

I had to go on a hiatus for a week or so due to crazy med stuff going on. First week was med week and I had to learn a couple of dances, make some lines for a script, and act. Who says a med student is all study?

2nd week was retribution. The real med life came back with a vengeance of 10 quizzes. So glad I survived the onslaught. Now on to the project!

Most of the WIPs (work/works in progress) that are going to be posted here were done in the near past and were done bit by tiny bit so if you think I have a lot of time on my hands then you're dead wrong!

THE AXE MORKAI

The Axe Morkai is the main weapon of Logan Grimnar, the current badass chapter master of the Space Wolves. He acquired it after defeating Akor Doomflayer, a Champion of Khorne, during the first war for Armageddon. He then tasked the blacksmiths in the Fang (the Space Wolves home base or Chapter Monastery) to melt it and forge it into a new weapon in the image of Morkai.

IN GAME

The Axe Morkai is a different kind of relic weapon. Logan Grimnar can use it to divide his attacks into either 2 profiles, that of a Frost Axe with +2 to strength and AP 3, which can hit on initiative or Powerfist attacks.


FORGING THE AXE MORKAI

Now about several  months ago, I decided to scratch-build or kit-bash my own Logan Grimnar because 1) the old model (this was before the new one came out) was really bad and out-dated and 2) I can't find the model and 3) I really thought back then that he was expensive for a single model outdated model (the new one looks way better but clocks in at 2700+).

As I built my Logan Grimnar based on the pictures I found on the codex and online, I realized something; this was a weapon acquired from a great daemon, who's supposedly big and powerful. You melt that weapon and only get a puny axe?

see what I'm talking about..

He is a badass Chapter Master and he gets a very small axe. In my mind, it doesn't look appropriate especially that he is wearing terminator armor. So I decided to build my own vision of the axe but of course it had to be close to the original.

I compared the axe in my mind and cross-referenced it with a couple of pictures...

Drawing concept of Axe Morkai from the codex

The Old Axe Morkai... :/

The New Axe Morkai

And so I made this...

Looking at how a terminator model will hold it...

Is it perfect? No! Does it look better? Maybe.. In the world of Warhammer 40k, things get crazy and exaggerated so might as well go with a bigger axe! Besides, a terminator armor turns the user into a "mobile tank or artillery platform" as some novels would suggest so I guess a very big axe could be wielded by such. As a bonus, you could see the left hand of Logan Grimnar wielding a wrist-mounted storm bolter. It doesn't have a name but if I would name it, it would be "Storm Fist".

MATERIALS

So what did I use to build my Axe Morkai? In reality, I really wasted a lot of Space Wolves Axes and Thunder Hammers trying to turn the concept into reality but I found out that all you really need are the following:

x2 Frost Axes from the Wolfguard Terminator Box
x2 Thunder Hammer from the Space Wolves pack
x1 Right Terminator Arm

IN CLOSING...

I'm really satisfied with how the axe turned out as I really had a hard time. After gluing the parts together, there were some holes in it that I had to seal up with green stuff. A spray of primer grey and voila! The green stuff marking are not visible from afar but upon closer inspection you would be able to see it and I hope that the paint job would cover it up.

So that's all for today folks! Hope you enjoyed this journey and learned a bit of info regarding the Axe Morkai! WLC, Jarl of 8th signing out!

And oh! As a teaser for my next work... ^^

Clue: Tattoo

New Skyclaws! Pack Razcals!

 Hey everyone and Good Evening! WLC, Jarl of 8th here! Classes were suspended as of 5:17am and this presented an opportunity to create something that I have been contemplating on for a while.

Presenting my new Skyclaws! It is a 10-man unit led by a Wolfguard.

Pack Razcals ready to smash face!

SKYCLAWS

Skyclaws are made up of the most stubborn and headstrong Blood Claws from different packs. Most see being strapped into a jump pack as punishment but these individuals eagerly take it to be able to bring the fight to the enemy faster and earn more glory in the process. With chainswords roaring and pistols barking, they rush headfirst to bring the hammer of wrath to the enemies of mankind!

 THE BACKSTORY

Pack Razcals has seen the highest mortality rates in the history of Skyclaws as they were always given the most dangerous of mission even if it's deemed impossible. Assignment to this pack may mean two things: 1) your Wolf Lord really detests you or 2) your Wolf Lord believes in your ability to achieve the impossible in a short amount of time. With the assignment of Wolfguard Antonnidas to the pack, casualties have trickled to a stop for a while now.

I modeled some of the hair so expect 3 new hairstyles. I eventually plan to add some tattoos and some shaved head effect so watch out for it! :) I also added some back stories for each pack member. Enjoy!

Wolfguard Antonnidas Xang - one of the few remaining terran-born Space Wolves (need to model more hair for him)

Warrik - Newly assigned to Pack Razcals. One of the few who asked to be assigned.

Brandt Hjalmar, wielder of the Meltagun - The oldest of the pack and thought to be one of the original members of Pack Razcal. No one has seen his true face for hundreds of years.

Unn the Vain - was sent to Pack Razcals because his pack mates cannot tolerate his egocentricity. NEVER touch his hair!

Strom Greylock - Strom had served his time in Pack Razcals but requested to stay at the end of his term saying that life with the pack is more dangerous and exciting.

Anggred - the first and last to any battle, some whispers that he has the Mark of the Wulfen on him.

Bjarki - rarely utters a word. He is not as headstrong as the others and follows orders without question so it is a wonder to his pack why he was assigned here.

Dakken - has a fascination with grenades and explosions, good with hand to hand combat and would secretly stick a grenade to the enemy at the midst of it

Krilex - He loves the sound of his dual pistols and frequently fires them in a rhythm

Oddvar wielder of the Flamer - a costly error of his own doing during a mission had his Wolf Lord banished to Pack Razcals. He styles his hair using the flamer.

IN ENDING...

So there you have it! Skyclaws are good now because they are cheaper though I'm still not sure on how to run them yet as I have never tried them (but I already have an idea). One is a 10 man blob that would go about killing huge targets or as 2 5-man squads that could claim objectives quickly. One thing to consider is adding a Wolf Priest to the group as it would help offset their poor weapon skill of 3 (but then again, they'd be hitting on a 4 anything that has a weapon skill 4-7).

Feel free to write any comments or suggestions on the blog! Thank you for reading and see next time! - WLC, Jarl of 8th

The Wolf Lords

Hello once again and welcome to my blog! Classes were suspended for September 15, 2014 and that means a little bit of time to write and get the noise outside of my head. Still, it's not a vacation as the exams are not yet finished and the battle still rages on! Today, I'll be writing about the leaders of the Space Wolves, the Wolf Lords!

THE WOLF LORDS

The Space Wolves chapter is divided into 12 (or 13) great companies and each consists of a thousand warriors and is lead by a Wolf Lord. Each great company is personalized by their respective Wolf Lords; it is named after them and the insignia/sigil/badge of the company would be that of the Wolf Lord's choosing. He can choose to continue his past lord's sigil or create an entirely new one of his own based on the mythology or sagas of their home planet, Fenris. To add to that, the combat tactics of that company would adapt to the style of warfare most favored by their lord.

Wolf Lord Bran Redmaw (P.S. This is not mine)

My favorite example is the Wolf Lord Bran Redmaw - His company is called Bran Redmaw's Great Company (in the new 7th edition codex, they are now also called "The Bloodmaws"). His company's sigil is "the bloodied hunter". He favors the use of Grey Hunters for ambushes and outflanking maneuvers. There are other rumors surrounding this particular Wolf Lord, which would be discussed in the near future.

The Bloodied Hunter

When a Wolf Lord dies, his retinue or bodyguards, called the "Wolf Guard", would elect one amongst themselves to be the new Wolf Lord and again the name, sigil, tactic of the company might change. When the Wolf Lord has chosen his sigil, it is placed on a stone slab called the Grand Annulus, which shows the current living Wolf Lords.

The Grand Annulus

Wolf Lords are the equivalent to captains of other Space Marine chapters and the greatest among them is called the Great Wolf, who leads the entire chapter but has a company all to himself also. His position is depicted in the center of the Grand Annulus. When this Great Wolf dies, the new one will be elected from amongst the current living Wolf Lords.

Currently there are 12 living Wolf Lords

• Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf - leader of the Champions of Fenris
• Bran Redmaw - leader of the Bloodmaws
• Engir Krakendoom - leader of the Seawolves
• Erik Morkai - leader of the Sons of Morkai
• Gunnar Red Moon -leader of the Red Moons
• Harald Deathwolf - leader of the Deathwolves
• Bjorn Stormwolf - leader of the Stormwolves
• Egil Iron Wolf - leader of the Ironwolves
• Krom Dragongaze - leader of thee Drakeslayers
• Ragnar Blackmane - leader of the Blackmanes
• Sven Bloodhowl - leader of the Firehowlers
• Kjarl Grimblood - leader of the Grimbloods

THE 13TH WOLF LORD

If you noticed, there is blank slate on the Grand Annulus. This space once belonged to Wolf Lord Jorin Bloodhowl (or Bloodfang?), leader of the "Wulfenkind" (or was it Wolf Lord Bulveye? There are conflicting resources regarding this). They have been presumed lost in the warp when they decided to follow and hunt down their arch-nemesis the "Thousand Sons" into that emperor-forsaken place.It also commemorates the companies that have been destroyed in battle, lost on campaign, or betrayed their brothers and the emperor.

IN ENDING..

Now what made me decide to write all of this down is my discovery of a particular Painting Guide called "Companies of Fenris". At first, I thought it was a money-grab. After all, who needs a painting guide when you can learn from others and the internet? There are a lot of resources such as forums, blogs, and youtube! But then someone reviewed the painting guide (link to the one who reviewed the painting guide - kudos to you good sir!) and it apparently contains fluff for some of the Wolf Lords, where there has been none before! To add to that, there are depictions/drawings of those Wolf Lords and the best part is, they can now be modeled! So as of now, based on current models, pictures, and the paint guide, the following Wolf Lords can be built or modeled accurately:

• Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf - leads the Champions of Fenris
• Bran Redmaw - leads the Bloodmaws
• Erik Morkai - leads the Sons of Morkai
• Harald Deathwolf - leads the Deathwolves
• Egil Iron Wolf - leads the Ironwolves
• Krom Dragongaze - leads the Drakeslayers
• Ragnar Blackmane - leads the Blackmanes
• Sven Bloodhowl - leads the Firehowlers

Companies of Fenris Painting Guide

8 WOLF LORDS! This leads me to a project that I've been thinking for a while now - I'll be creating a series wherein I try to model and recreate these character models as best I can, so stay tuned!

Currently, I have no Wolf Lord models because I didn't think they were practical at first in-game but after viewing the new codex, they seemed to have bumped up in power, along with the new relics and a thunderwolf mount, they seem to be very viable and popular this edition so expect me to create one!

That ends this segment! Hope you enjoyed and learned something. Once again this is WLC, Jarl of 8th signing out :)

(P.S. - if you have any resources, pictures, etc of the other Wolf Lords not mentioned here, please do send me a comment or link about it! TY in advance ^^)

Last Howl of the Wulfen: Mark of the Wulfen removed :'(

One thing that stood out to me from the new codex is the loss of "Mark of the Wulfen"

What is Mark of the Wulfen by the way?

Lore wise...

• imagine a far-in-the-future, enhanced, superhuman being, in heavy armor, then turn him into a werewolf.. I'm not kidding..
• It represents both the best and the worst of the Canis Helix gene of the Space Wolves (a mutation or degeneration as some would say). It makes them stronger but the downside is you can fall to this "curse" and lose yourself forever and become feral or a mindless beast (so they say).

In-game wise...

• It is an upgrade to a single member of  almost any unit or a model in the old codex costing 15pts
• it changes the attack profile of that model to D6+1
• all close combats attacks it does have the rending special rule but can't use any weapon profiles.

Adding this to the Wolf Standard, which is different now, this upgrade increases the potential of a single model to do damage. To me, not only the potential was lost but also the flavor/identity that made the Space Wolves SPACE WOLVES!

Summary:

Advantage of losing it (I'm trying hard to think of some)

• game is faster and more streamlined now and I think this is one of the aims of Games Workshop (GW). Many time I find myself confused over how many attacks I should roll.
• removes the randomness of the attacks
• GW has no models for it anymore I think and other 3rd party companies are making money of it by sculpting and selling their own models. No rules. No profit for those other companies.

Models by GW: It's sad that I don't have them and probably never will have them as they're old and out of production :'(

Model by other companies such as Mythicast. It is a good looking model and I understand why people would want to buy it. I'd buy it if I were able to.

Disadvantage

• no more potentially 9, with possible AP2, attacks on the charge (or counter-charge)
• no more potentially ripping out and destroying light armored vehicles up to AV12
• people actually scratch-built their own models for this! I did some on April of 2014 and now they're just generic Grey Hunters.

And now to present my finest Wulfens (or Wulvens? O.o)!
Yes! They have lore and commendations but they are still a work in progress (I'll update their pics as soon as possible)!

Beoric the Dreadfall

Beoric the Dreadfall

Unlike the other Wulfen of Bran Redmaw's great company, Beoric does not welcome the changes brought to him by the "curse". But once the wulfen overtakes him, only death (his or his enemies) can stop his blind rage. He single-handedly ripped a dreadnought open, pulled the writhing embryo from it's sarcophagus, tore it into two, and threw the carcass to the latter's battle-brothers. He howled in delight after. He never remembers anything afterwards.

Torik Ogrynsbane

Torik Ogrynsbane

He is the youngest to have the mark of the wulfen in the Redmaw's company and it seemed like he sought it all along. Unlike the others, his transition to and mastering the wulfen was second-nature and rare was the need to restrain him after the battle is over. Called the Ogrynsbane, he took on 5 Ogryns, which were the personal bodyguards of Yarrick. He felled two and wounded one before being knocked unconscious by the Yarrick's power klaw.

Koss

Koss

Koss has still to make a distinction for himself. He is the newest Grey Hunter to have the mark and is designated to the pack of the "Patient Killers", an elite and covert group of Grey Hunters handpicked by the Redmaw.














In ending, Mark of the Wulfen will be missed! We could only hope for a supplement for you but as they say "hope is the first step on the road to disappointment". - WLC

WIP: Bran Redmaw 2

Bran Redmaw! Looks almost the same except for the runes in the armor. Would paint it instead I guess

Cape repaired. Thanks for your comment Machi!

 Spray painted the figure black afterwards, my first time using a black spray paint. :)