Thunderwolves and dreadnoughts! Also a 3000pt mini batrep!

 Recently teamed up with my friend to make a 3000pt space wolves army. We fought against Orks and Daemons. The highlights of the game were as follows:

• 4 TWC getting the charge on a warboss, painboy, and 4 meganobs. I reduced the warboss to one wound and the TWC powerfist killed everything else (we play S10 out here) The next round the warboss finished him off, but was quickly caught by another TWC unit. 
• Stormwolf with Ulrik and a wolf standard unit flew on right over 30 grey hunters. Who rapid fired into Be'lakor, taking him down to 1 wound, Be'lakor charged, killed 4 GH, and the remaining 6 took him down with a terrifying 24 attacks with preferred enemy. 
• 4 TWC SLAUGHTERED 20 flesh hounds, taking absolutely no damage in doing so. Belakor failed to cast invisibility on them TWICE. The daemon player was upset to say the least, considering he used +7 dice both times. 

In the end, the game was a draw, at turn 3, 6 hours later. If we had kept going, I believe the wolves would have taken a victory. 20 grey hunters + ulrik and friends would charge the lord of change, getting about 90 attacks. Stormwolf would hover away and pop some vehicles, the remaining 2 TWC would be fighting about 12 orks, and may have lived or died, the dreadnought in their back field would kill a heavy support vehicle for another objective. 

As for the other stuff! Here is my first serious attempt at a multicolored thunderwolf. I am thinking about doing another set of them in black/grey/white.

Thanks to a generous GK player (the daemon player from the battle report) I now own a grey knights hammer. I was able to convert it for use on a dreadnought!

Also, finally owning an SM ironclad style dreadnought makes me pretty happy. I really dig the look of this dude. Fun fact, the dreadnought Axe is very similar in size to the dreadknight hammer. 

Lastly, my dreadnought army is almost finished. I am waiting on the FW ironclad to arrive and I will have 9, the maximum allowed by company of the great wolf. 

I just nee to buy more drop pods!

Finally another update!

I picked up a set of cheap walmart brushes with long tips, similar to the expensive brushes I bought at my LGS. I wanted to make sure I could properly care for and use the brush before I destroy the expensive ones with ignorance. 

The result was great! I never thought that a $4 pack of 6 brushes would be anything aside from frustrating and would fray/break easily. I was able to paint teeth, for the first time ever! I am very satisfied with the quality of faces I have been able to produce with the new brushes. I have 5 more on the way and should have 6 fully painted space wolves by the end of the week. Only something like 34 more to go!

 I also sat down and did some converting. I have had this bit, this jawbone, for a while. Never knowing what to do with it. So I sucked it up and went to work. Using some new x-acto blades, I trimmed a chainsword down. Then I drilled an oval hole where the blade was. I modified the jawbone to fit into the hole, and the result is below! My Krakenbone Sword!

.

Lastly, I managed to score a rather large haul of Space Wolves on Craigs list for about $150. Ill be rubbing that in everyones faces when it arrives today, as its +600 worth of minis! With this score I have 10 dreadnoughts, more than enough to run my all walker army!

More minis painted!

Over the weekend I finished getting at least a base coat on EVERYTHING Space Wolf related... aside from my TDA weapons, which are still needing extra shoulder pads. I failed to finish my wolf priest on bike, but I am very happy with how it is coming along. So here are some pictures!

Wolf priest bike and priest, still WIP, but happy with progress.

 Magnetized arms for my wolf guard, special weapons, and TWC units.

 All my power armor infantry. Going full on assembly line with the basic colors, then I will give them all personal touches.

First 3 games!

Another long wait between updates, I am sorry to my 4 readers!

I busted some chop over the weekend to get my SW infantry all up and running. No more unpainted minis lying around waiting to primed and painted! I also had my first 3 games with SW since I last posted! Twice I fought IG, my opponent had the worst rolls I have ever seen both times, he is a good friend and I felt bad for how the games went. As soon as TWC hit his lines turn 2, the game was as good as over. Both games a TWC blob and a axe/shield dreadnought flanked his lines, chewing through tanks and guard alike with ease. Void claws were brought in the first, and did very little aside from really help bring in reserves, though I wouldn't say they are worth the points just for that. A very fun unit I would like to try again none the less. Though for serious use, I would rather those 240pt go to more TWC. The first time I had a wolf priest in my TWC, the second time I had a wolf priest and an iron priest. The wolf priest is an amazing addition to the unit. 

The 3rd game was against orks, we got kill points and I tried a wolf lord with krakenbone, silly me, I should ALWAYS bring fellclaws teeth on a TWC lord. Missing hurts too much. The lord caused 2 wounds to an ork warboss, then failed 1/3 of his +4 saves and was killed instantly by a powerclaw. Both the TWC and void claws in that battle died without causing too much damage. My void claws +2 saves rolls were absolutely terrible, failing 5/11 rolls. Not knowing that his walkers were only S7 caused me to be very defensive with my dreadnought, once I found out how weak they were, I assaulted with mine, wiping them all out in one assault. 

His nobs pretty much walked through all my infantry, the MVP was the autocannon dreadnought, who I brought instead of the sword and shield dread. The auto cannon dread got first blood and slay the warlord. He was also the last model standing and prevented me from being tabled. At the end it was his FW walker VS my dreadnought. Both of us could barely hurt each other and the game ended 11-9 in favor of the wolves. 

All in all, TWC with wolf priest is absolutely amazing. Axe and shield dreadnought is superb, auto cannon dreadnought is pretty nice, but more of just a substitute for a predator, still useful though. The stormwolf is balls to the wall amazing. I used it once, it took out its fair share of vehicles. Lastly, still unsure about helfrost. against orks it missed every time, against IG it managed to glance a russ, taking off its last hull point, and kill some guard.

All in all I had a really good time playing the new Space Wolves. I feel that they are in a great spot to be a fun, somewhat strong army. 

Updated Iron Priest

I was pretty unhappy with how my Iron priest looked with a dinky little standard thunder hammer. The wolf shape was cool and wolfy, but I feel that an Iron priest should have a massive intimidating weapon. I picked up a set of 3rd party hammers from my LGS and started to kitbash. 

The handle is from a frost axe, which I used to extend the thunder hammer. The new length is close to the height of the hammer the actual Iron Priest model has. I am really happy with the new look, though I wish I could have easily had the hand up higher on the grip. 

Thoughts on the new book, and some new models!

The new book is out, and I love it, even though it broke my heart in a few places. The changes to tempestus (mainly murderous being WC2 large blast and living lightning having short range, but shock is cool. ranges fit with how wolves play) Removal of Mark of the Wulfen (I had so many models ready for it!) Removal of chainfist/SS (Spent a good deal of time converting one) and the removal of some of the characters special abilities. Njal lost his storm, and doesn't know all of tempestus (which seemed to be the way to go with the new books) Grimnar lost his special buffs too. The warlord traits are hollow remains of what the sagas used to be, that probably hit me the hardest. EW turned into +6 FnP. Though the awesome daemon trait table might have just spoiled me, the SW ones do seem too situational.

As for the good... DREADNOUGHTS!!!!!!!!
Hell yeah dreadnoughts with storm shields, murderfang, hellfrost weapons! I love them all! A point reduction for just about everything outside of special weapons. Wolf claws getting +1 strength, lone wolves not taking up force org. Teleporting TDA, drop pods with locator becons, Iron priests are ICs, I could just keep going on! There is a lot about this book that I really love, much, much more than I dislike. So I picked up the book and some models ASAP.

I left work an hour early, swung by the store and grabbed everything I needed for a good (not too unhealthy) fenrisian night. Cheese, imitation crab, beer, and models!

I magnetized the dreadnought to use every option outside the normal DCCW and bjorns fist. Murderfangs claw will make for a nice default great wolf claw, and I can swap it off for the shield when I want to.

 Of course, I magnetized it to the same polarity as all my other models, so that lead to some silly business.

 I plan on having a set, maybe 5, of super magnetized marines. This Iron priest is a test of one, both arms and the torso are magnetized. I could swap him over to a foot marine no problem. I may plan on doing the same with wolf guard. So the same 5 or so dudes can get on bikes, or jump packs if needed.

 I had a very good time putting the flier together, only magnets are for the meltas to be skyhammer. I don't plan on running heavy bolters. Because I have so many bodies lying around, and I didn't prime the inside to paint it. I wanted something to block the view a little. So I made a marine to stand at the front.

Between stormclaw and these models I have burned through about 100 magnets. My TDA have every option available, including 5 heavy flamers. I don't know why or where I got 5 SW heavy flamers, but I have them. I figured, just in case lone wolves could have them, plus it looks pretty cool, even if I will rarely if ever run a single heavy flamer!

Progress on the trials.

It's been too long since I updated, and I am sorry. I haven't really done any trials recently, and I am considering streamlining the process, as one group of blood claws can take 3-5 hours. The result is maybe 4-6 names, and I have way, way too many grey hunters lined up for that. So I may generate names in the same fashion I did, and do a simple few D6 rolls. Maybe a reverse leadership on 3 or 4 D6. You fail, dead, you pass, grey hunter. You do well, grey hunter with option for special weapon, you do really well and you enter into the running for TWC, long fangs, and Iron priest hood.

I have been working on my Wolves, just not doing the trials. The new starterbox was really awesome, and boosted up my army to new heights, especially because I had just bought some GH before hand. All in all I have around 60 walking models, and I think only 20 or so are named. However about 45 are modeled, though they don't get a head until they have a name. I am trying to give them all unique poses, which has lead to a lot of custom weapons.

 Hand crafted "fenrisian" weapons

Dwarf converted weapons, all with dwarf belts and helms.

Lizardmen weapons, and attempts at high cheekbone older faces.

 No heads, but my favorite, SHIELD BASHERS! (Shield CC weapon, not stormshield)

Some guys I was just having fun with. Giant hammer is magnetized!

2 badasses I threw together just to do it. 

Ill have an update with my progress on the new models since the release in just a moment.

Small update, painting some models.

Ok, so I did some trials a bit ago, but I never posted them because I am super lazy. Plus the trials went terribly, just some of the worst rolling I have ever seen. So many misses in combat, so many fails to wound! The upside is that a few did make it out, barely. So I think I have 4 more, these ones from caves. They sport the new dwarf weapons and all have matching belts to signify their clan.

The real reason for the post is the painting. Specifically Ringus is painted. I wish I could go back and change a few things while I was modeling him, but overall I am happy. I also purchased a Gamesday Wolf priest to accompany my 7 pewter wulfen models. For gameplay they will be represented by a blood angels allied detachment, they will be death company.

I also recently acquired Bjorn the Fell handed, who I mainly purchased and painted because I love the hell out of it. Lastly, a Contemptor Dreadnought. Who I plan to field, with the crazy FW drop pod they can take, the turn the arrive you can pop smoke and get a +3 cover save, but not shoot anything. So it could be pretty nice.

Second trials, Chaos chaos CHAOS!!!!!!

As a preface for this. Midway I stopped keeping track of each individual, and wrote a single wall of text, my apologies. Next, this battle was organized with a handful of models, literally I just grabbed a bunch of stuff. I wanted a match that, if the SW did well, they could end it quickly, but if they did poorly it would quickly turn against them. A naked herald of nurgle with +1 wound and the portal glyph. I think, 7 plaguebearers, 8 cultists and a flesh hound. Cultists outflanking, and the fleshound coming in from reserves to cause a bit of havoc late game. As I went through the trials, I added a bit of narrative, such as additional summons, and some rewards for the cultists who did well. It turned out to be a very, very enjoyable match. 


SW lose first turn, 1-2 and fail to seize.
Both armies advance, BC don't fail any leadership. Cultists outflank turn 2! Daemons charge in, Rignus scores another wound on the herald with overwatch, then slams him into the ground with his counter attack. Then quickly hurries to attempt to destroy the horrible portal glyph. Kordar is charged but the fires have no effect on the daemon, he fails to cause any wounds, but manages to hold off the plaguebearer. Unfortunate, as there are plenty of targets for his flamer now. Gehgin is assaulted by nurglings, and with a fury deals 3 wounds to the horrible little creatures. However the swarm manages to bring him down with a lucky blow. A volley of fire from the SW takes out the portal glyph, 2 cultists and the nurglings. All of the wolves but Thogus make their charge putting all but 2 cultists in CC, daemon and heretic blood will stain the ground! Rignus obliterates a plaguebearer with his power maul, Thir strikes down a plaguebearer with his chainsword, Baergbar slams his powerfist into a plaguebearer , taking its torso clean off its body. However kordar and Rov, while causing wounds to the plaguebearer, cannot seem to inflict any damage on it whatsoever. The forces of nurgle are weakened, but still remain! Geim, Bul and Dunaak slay cultists, but Yeraim is struck down by a lucky bayonette jab. The gods are so pleased with the cultist, they reward him. Rolling double 6 on the table, the lowly cultist becomes a daemon prince. The flesh hound is drawn to the slaughter and enters the material realm and runs towards Rignus. Bul Consolidates back away from the newly spawned daemon prince, nearly certain this will be his final foe. The daemon prince advances, while the 2 remaining cultists fall into a mad rage upon gazing at the daemon prince. They assault Dunaak and Geim, overwatch misses and geim faulters, failing his counter attack and fumbles with his attacks! Even in the cultists mad rage it only manages to scratch Geims armor. The daemon prince Charges Bul, who fumbles his overwatch, but stands ready, as a true astartes with his counter attack, he is fearless... but the daemon prince is too much, swatting him into a nearby wall and crushing his ribcage.

Rignus makes a call, for all the space wolves who can, to get into cover and fire at will, he marches to attempt to hold off the daemon prince. Baegar moves to the flesh hound with support from Thir. Kordar and Rov are still locked in combat with a seemingly invulnerable plaguebearer. Geim finishes off the cultists and begins to run for cover. Rignus causes a wound to the Daemon Prince with his plasma pistol, Dunaak fires with his bolt pistol, also causing a wound. Baergbar and Thir assault the flesh hound. It swings at each of them once, landing a blow on Baergbar, but failing to get through his ceramite armor. In return, Baergbar lands a fearsome blow to the flesh hound, returning it to the warp. Rignus charges the daemon prince, more than succeeding, if he can survive the overwhelming power of the daemon prince, he may be able to slay it. With skill like no other, Rignus deflects 3 of the massive blows. His wolf amulet burning with the rage of Leman Russ himself, the wolf priest is saved from doom, only receiving one wound, he survives to strike back! Hitting with 3 of 4 attacks, and wounding with all 3 the daemon prince is barely banished back to the warp!!! All that remains is a single plaguebearer, but the gods are furious at the loss of their champion, 4 plaguebearers enter the material world, scattered throughout the battle field. Some rise from the ground, while others seem to walk in from thin air, as if a curtain had been in front of them. Kordar and Rov STILL cannot destroy the plaguebearer, nor can it destroy them. Rignus is furious with them and decides to show them how it is done while the other blood claws begun to fire at the newly arrived plaguebearers. Dunaak blasts one away with his bolt pistol, Geim lands a shot, but it passes through the daemons body. Rignus destroys the stubborn plaguebearer, shouting as his foolish bloodclaws as he does. All the remaining daemons are locked in combat with blood claws, the taint may finally be purged. Geim fells a plaguebearer. Thogus kills another, and Dunaak kills the last one. The battle has finally ended.

So a brief confession. Last week I had actually done the second trials against necrons. I had a bad day, trials were pretty bland, I just remember Kordar being useless as hell. When I recorded this trail, I overwrote the past one without saving. Lucky for several of the blood claws huh? I decided to reflect a bit on the progress of this batch thus far.

Kordar: 1)Did well 2) Stuck in combat the whole time. Will have to prove his worth in 3^rd trial.

Rov: 1) Fails horribly and immediately. 2) Locked in CC the whole time. Will have to be AMAZING in 3^rd trial.

Geim: 1) died early on, failed. 2) Did well. Will have to prove himself in the 3^rd trial.

Gehgin: 1) Deid very early on 2) died very early on. Will have to do amazingly well to stay a blood claw.

Yeraim: 1) Recklessly charged in and died 2) Died to cultist, which lead to daemon prince, shit... probably wont make it.

Thogus: 1) Did great, possible MotW. 2) Doesn't make it into CC, does OK. Looking good, still has to do well in round 3 to make GH.

Bul: 1) Does OK, but falls thanks to recklessness. 2) Does well, unfortunately is in the path of the DP. Will have to do well.

Baergbar: 1) Does well with the powerfist. 2) Does well with the powerfist. Looks good for Baergbar, but the powerfist may be too much, he might do better with a less heavy weapon.

Thir: 1) Dies early to daemonettes. 2) Survives, but doesnt do anything fancy. Will have to do very well.

Dunaak: 1) Does good, reaps a decent tally and survives. 2) does well, wounds the DP and kills plenty. On track for GH.

Rignus: As usual, Rignus has shown to be a great choice for wolf priest. This battle he did something worthy of the sagas and felled a daemon prince in hand to hand combat. For this he will be greatly rewarded, and the Fang will forever remember the name Rignus.

The future of the Wolves, and some forgotten blood claws.

So I have been combing what little I have posted, as I have finally started to keep record of each Space Wolf on my phone. This way I can easily make note of impressive feats and song worthy battles. While doing so I noticed I had left a bit of a stray pack behind.

Knud, Fafnir, Garin and Ulkoa are still alive and well, but still blood claws. With a new batch from the caverns having already started, a new set of trials will have to wait for these few. I started to think, maybe these few just are not meant to be grey hunters. Perhaps they would be better suited as Thunderwolf cavalry, or long fangs (I know, young long fangs and all). Or maybe they just need one last chance to prove they have what it takes? A small group of blood claws, stranded behind enemy lines, outnumbered and outgunned.

As for the future of the wolves (no it isn't bad news) I have been torn on an army list. I like to plan out my armies before I make the big purchases, it's an expensive game after all! I have decided on drop pod wolves as my starter army. Alpha striking is something I miss dearly from my daemons. It doesn't just end with that though. What would be interesting about bland and basic infantry spam? That wouldn't be very awesome at all. So I will be using Blood angel allies, they will count as 13th company. The allied contingent will be made of:
Reclusiarch, using the 2003 gamesday wolf priest
Death company, using the old metal Wulfen models
optional inclusions
Death company Dreadnought, thinking about the FW dread, still unsure
Storm raven gunship (but this baby is expensive!)

The general idea will be something like

Rune priest
7 GH pod wolf standard, plasma gun
7 GH pod wolf standard, plasma gun
7 GH pod wolf standard, melta gun
7 GH pod wolf standard, melta gun
7 GH pod wolf standard, melta gun
7 GH pod wolf standard, flamer
Reclusiarch
7 death company, pod
Death company Dreadnought, blood talons, pod

This is a 1500pt rough list. There is a good chance I will remove 1 of those GH units so I can flesh out the rest with more fancy stuff, like MotW, power fists, and all that fun jazz. Every game, 13th company will be held in reserves, while the wolves do the alpha dropping.

Recruits from the deeps, the first trials!

This is the first attempt at actually typing the trials instead of scratching them on paper as I go. So there is a great deal more recorded. 

Kordar with his flamer advances up to meet the insanely fast daemonettes (move 6, run 8!) and positions himself to hit them with the giant burning fist of flamer. Rov and Dunaak support him from behind. With a quick pull of the trigger, 4 daemonettes are covered in flames and seem to dissolve. A group of plaguebearers was advancing from behind. Kordar hits one with a wall of death, killing it, but is charged by 2 others that land 3 hits and 1 wound that did not break through his armor, Kordar strikes down a plaguebearer, then the other, surviving the slow poisoned blows. He burns one more on overwatch, and then fails to deal any damage to a second that assaulted him. Taking no damage in return, he manages to slay the second plaguebearer and free himself from its grasp.

Rov’s scent seems to be what the beast of nurgle wants. He fires at it advances, unable to deal any notable damage to it. The beast assaults Rov, he fumbles on overwatch, and in a panic fails to land any hits. The beast is excited landing 3 poisionous wounds. Rov’s armor blisters and breaks under the horrible acidic weight of the daemon and he falls in battle.

Geim sees the daemonetts advancing, fails to land a hit with his pistol and is assaulted by 2 of them, he panics and fails his counter attack, then is slain by a rending blow that pierced straight through his torso.

Gehgin with his plasma pistol, fails to land a hit with it at the oncoming damonette. The daemonette closes the gap, locking Gehgin in brutal combat. Blows are exchanged, but the daemonette takes an opening and rends Gehgin, putting him out of the fight.

Yeraim Fires at the oncoming Daemons, missing, frustrated he doesn’t listen to Rignus’ commands and charges in to the Daemonette that is pushing back Gehgin in combat, hoping to save his ally. Yeraim underestimates the daemonette. Both Yeraim and Gehgin are slain with rending hits before they could even strike back.

Thogus is taken off guard by the ferocity and horror of daemons. Perhaps a flashback to his parents death? He fails to land a hit with his bolt pistol, then fails his counter attack. Taken off guard he barely manages to save himself against an onslaught of 2 daemonettes. He sees an opening and strikes one down with a bludgeon to the head. The second strikes back, but Thogus is ready, dodging the attacks and cleaving the daemonette into 3 pieces with his chain sword as Yeraim and Gehgin are slain. Thogus fails to hear the commands of Rignus, he is in a blood fury now. He charges the daemonette that slew his comrades, dodging all blows, and returning with 3 massive arcs of his chain sword. He is assaulted by another Daemonette as it leaps into the ruins towards him, he slays it before it can land a blow. The last daemonette finally makes it to the fray, unable to land a scratch on Thogus, and taking a massive fist to the head, crushing its skull.

Bul Calmly kills a daemonette with his bolt pistol, then misses the second time and is assaulted. He kills the daemonette in close combat, taking no wounds, but the fury takes over as he sees 3 of his allies fall to the rending claws of the daemonettes. He assaults the closest daemonette, and is slain before he can land a blow

Baergbar: wielding a might powerfist lands a steady aimed bolt pistol wound on the beast of nurgle. Excited to use his power fist, he disobeys Rignus and assaults the beast as it crushes Rov. He lands a wound with his powerfist, but the beast seems. He is then assaulted from behind by a deamonette, who deals no damage to him, the powefist is heavy and he misses with his single attack. Rignus Slays the daemons and Baergbar assaults a plaguebearer that has been locking Dunaak in combat, killing the horrible daemon.

Thir is calm and ready, landing a hit with his pistol, but not causing any damage, he assaults a daemonette, striking perfectly with his chain sword. To his surprise the daemonette had no wounds, it should have split the horrid thing in two! In his astonishment, 2 more damonettes join the fray. Thir is overwhelmed and falls.

Dunaak: Fires his bolt pistol, causing the upper half of a daemonette to simply vanish in a fine mist of unholy colors. Assaults a Plaguebearer that is locked in with Kordar, killing it. He is then assaulted by 2 plaguebearers, unable to land an overwatch hit, or any other damage. The plaguebearers deal heavy damage, but Dunaak is able to stay standing. He manages to slay one, and Baergbar slays the other.

Ringus: Failing to hit the beast with his plasma pistol, Rignus decides to take the horror on himself. Issuing orders to his claws, he assaults the beast after it crushes Rov, wounding the horrible thing. Baergbar ignores his commands and in a thirst for glory assaults the beast as well, only getting in the way. With his mighty power maul, Rignus lands several more wounds, slaying the beast as well as a daemonette who joined the battle. The daemonette had a killing blow on Baergbar, but Rignus intervened and was unharmed.

MVPs

Kordar - The flamer gave him a great start, and he protected his flank from a horrible assault of daemonettes and plaguebearers. If not for him, the daemons would have most likely overrun the flank, and possibly the unit. 

Thogus - I couldn't have asked for a better narrative to play out in any of the trials! Starting with a bad omen, which is a D6 roll of 1 when the recruits are given names, it's only impact is for fluff, and in this case it did well. Thogus went from fumbling meat in power armor to a berserker during this battle. Failing to hit, then counter attack, I thought Thogus would just be a failure under a bad star, but then slaying 2 daemonettes, failing leadership and avenging his fallen allies was perfect. I really hope Thogus does well in the next trial, he seems to be cursed with the wulfen. 

There were some who did pooly, and some who did OK. They will have their chance to prove their worth in the next trial. I also realize that there are past blood claws who did not participate. I have decided to stop rolling blood claws into new recruits, it helps keep each new bunch themed. 

Instead, down the line I will have an all or nothing proving grounds. Sort of a "one last chance" for the blood claws who just couldn't quite cut it. These will be gruesome missions to represent the unit of blood claws taking on a difficult front of the battle on dire hopes to make grey hunter. The mentality is that they would rather die in combat than fail to make the grade. Those who succeed will do so with such great honor, they may even make wolf guard. 

Recruits from the depths of Fenris!

10 more recruits have found their way into the care of Rignus. The old wolf priest has been waiting patiently for a new litter of pups to make into proper wolves. This batch or claws come from deep below the surface of Fenris. Within the deepest caves live tribes of craftsmen who have learned the ways of metal and stone. They battle the unseen horrors of the depths for survival. They do so with weapons that would cleave straight through those of your average fenrisian tribesmen, as well as the tribesmen himself. However these weapons, as great as they may be, still lack the destructive power of a chainsword or power weapon. From time to time the Space Wolves will send an Iron Priest to select the greatest smiths of these tribes to help tend to the ancient dreadnoughts and forge new weapons for the wolves.

These 10 blood claws were from a group of aspirants from one such cavern tribe. Deadly warriors with senses tuned to fight the darkest and stealthiest foes. These are the 10 recruits, and the results of their rewards and Bad Omens.

Kordar showed promise as an aspirant, he has a Flamer

Rov, many of the aspirants regarded Rov as bad luck. Bad Omen

Geim

Gehgin has promise with close range shooting. Plasma Pistol

Yeraim

Thogus was raised an infant, his parents killed at an early age. Bad Omen

Bul

Baergbar being the best of the aspirants got first roll on rewards. Power Fist

Thir

Dunaak

These are the names of the 10 who will prove their worth in the upcoming battles against horrors alike they have never seen.

Daemons

Necrons

Chaos

(I need to get a few models from other armies for trials!)

Those who survive will become grey hunters. 

"Rules" update and refreshment.

First off, a recap and some new “rules” to the trials of the blood claws:

I have 10 “blank” marine models. No arms, with helmets, no individuality. These are the wolves during their trials; they must earn their individuality and place amongst the ranks of Grey hunter, and be fielded in my army.

Every group is accompanied by the Wolf Priest Rignus, who gauges the recruits and assists them in hardship if needed.

Some “rules”:

The trials are played out similar to kill teams, models move individually of each other, some team bonuses are kept, and some are not. I just kind of wing it.  

With each new batch of recruits, each blood claw rolls a D6. A 1 is a bad omen, it has no bearing on game play, only fluff. 6 means they show great potential and get a special weapon which is determined randomly within the rules of weapons for the squad.

At the beginning of each turn, each blood claw must make a leadership test on their base leadership. If it is failed they ignore Rignus’ tactics and move on their own, following the “headstrong rule if needed”. Generally they will assault the closest enemy, or one they feel could make a great saga.

There are 3 “rounds” for each set of recruits, at the end all of the data is looked at, and grey hunters are made. Sometimes recruits manage to become much more than just grey hunters. Even Rignus started as a recruit! It is a long and hard road to Grey Hunter, many will fall in their pursuit .

Lastly, I will be attempting to add a bit more lore. It will add some more book keeping on my part, but I feel it could give for some more in depth fluff. Starting with these upcoming trials, recruits homes will be recorded. For example, this next batch is from the mines of fenris, famous for their strong armor and weapons. The grey hunters will wear trophies from their homes in their battles across the stars...

Results of the third trials

Apposing the blood claws and Ringus today were 25 cultist zombies and 3 chaos spawn. I wanted to try to forge a bit more of a narrative, having Ringus try to force the blood claws into a tactical formation. It worked very well, with the blood claws falling back as the enemy advanced, holding the line. It was only afterwards that I realized each blood claw should have taken a leadership test to see if they followed the orders, or charged in recklessly. I am going to test this in the next 3rd trial. 

In no fancy way or narrative, here are the results!

Ulkoa: Miss wBp / Hit but saved / CC kill / Killed 3 cultists at once via counter attack / Wounded spawn in CC.

Tunridia: Kill wBP / BP miss / Wounded spawn in CC / slain by spawn

Surma: Hit no wound BP / CC kill / miss BP / BP kill / wounded spawn in CC / killed by spawn

Varvus: Miss Bp / 2 hit no wound CC / Miss CC / 2 CC kills, Saved Aartappel

Moordenaar:  Miss BP / Kill BP / CC Kill

Volharding: Miss BP/ kill BP / overwatch kill / CC wound, saved / 2 CC kills / Spawn BP wound

Aartappel: Miss / BP / Saved Varvus with CC kill / Kill CC / Saved Varvus CC kill / CC kill / BP kill
Ringus slew all 3 of the chaos spawn with ease, as well as his fair share of cultsts. 

Ulkoa finally showed some potential! After 5 battles he finally killed something, and a lot of somethings. Again, not dying as he displays his durability. He will remain a bloodclaw. 
Tunridia will no rise from this battle, his wounds from past trials have weakened his body. Dead
Surma fell along side Tunridia, they had a good teamwork going in past battles, it is fitting that they were felled by the same enemy. Dead
Varvus This was the worst Varvus has done in a battle, fumbling in combat until the end. However he has survived ever trial, and in the past two trials he preformed above average. Grey Hunter
Moordenaar was possibly never meant to join the ranks of the space wolves, perhaps the geneseed never rooted properly. In all the trials he preformed poorly, this one being his first, and only kill. In the first two he was felled nearly instantly. Dead
Volharding has done well. The second trial he fell quickly, but the first and third he preformed well. He will be made a Grey Hunter
Aartappel was rewarded with a powersword, and used it to make a mess of chaos forces. In his second trial, like others, he was taken down by the putrid plague drones, however felling a chaos champion and slaying a tally of cultists, Aartappel will become a Grey Hunter. As a grey hunter he will have the option to take a special ranged weapon in exchange for his power sword. 

So with this round of recruits finished, we have 3 grey hunters, Ulkoa is looking to be a career blood claw, and more names to mourn before the ceremonies. 

I will be assembling models for the 3 grey hunters, and begin the next round of trials in the coming week (or two, next week I am swamped)

Fly swatters, the trials continue!

Last few days were stressful, my wife and I got a bit too drunk and late that night I decided to have another set of trials! This time I also wanted to test Plague Drones for a potential kill teams.

The blood claws and Rignus faced 4 plaguedrones with death heads, lead by a plagueridden! Of all the trials, these were arguably the most boring. Everyone but Rignus needed high rolls, and no one was making any of them. I lost track of the turns pretty quickly as well. I did opt to use the warp storm, just for the sake of forging a narrative. The only notable note, was that the plague drones lost 1 to their invul save for a round, however this did not cost them as much as I thought it would.

Ulkoa: Unable to land any hits or wounds, but also able to take some hits from a plague drone.
Krag: (the stag?): Krag has really come out of his shell! Landing a wound with his bolt pistol (that was saved) taking a hammer of wrath to the chest from the Plagueridden, then exchanging wounds 2 for 2, but no damage done. Then shaving a wound of the plagueridden each turn. Right before the killing blow, the plagueridden landed and wounded with all 4 attacks, but Krag was able to make all his saves and slay the plagueridden in the following phase.
Tunrida: Misses with his bolt pistol, and then takes a death head to the face and goes down.
Surma: Was able to hit and wound, but was unable to cause any damage. He was eventually overcome by the weight of attacks and fell in CC with a drone.
Varvus: was able to land his fair share of blows, causing 2 wounds to a plague drone.
Moordenaar: Was unable to land any hits, and while he survived death heads and hammer of wrath, the onslaught of attacks from the drone was too much to bear and he fell.
Volharding: Unable to hit with his bolt pistol, and was felled by the poisonous death heads.
Aartappel: Managed to land a single hit, but couldn't cause any damage before the plague drone laid him to the ground.

Rignus: Rignus moved from one drone to another, felling all but one, the plagueridden, which Krag was able to finish on his own.


Thoughts:
 Krag has really shown himself to be worthy of being a Grey Hunter. Here are some quick stats from his 5 battles as a blood claw:
1: No kills no death
2: Died to necron
3: Killed 1PB no death
4: Killed cultist with PB, CC, 2 more in CC, no death
5: fought plagueridden 1V1, felled him in CC
He started off poorly, and things didn't get much better against the necrons. In his third battle he started to show some potential, by his 4th battle he was proving what he was capable of, and his 5th really sealed the deal. While his fellow blood claws could barely handle a single plague drone 2V1,Krag was able to slay the Plagueridden in single combat. I noticed that Krag has been doing better when on his own. In the past two battles, he found himself surrounded, or away from the pack fighting a challenge of his own. This may bear the potential of a lone wolf in the future, though that all depends on how he functions as a Grey Hunter. So, should krag be the stag? Or is that too... frat house?

Ulkoa, the other 5 battles blood claw, has done very strangely. His 5 battles have been much less interesting than Krags.
1: no kills, died to CSM
2: no kills, survived 3V1
3: No kills, no death
4: No kills, died to CSM in cc
5: No kills, no death.
Ulkoa just doesnt seem to have the killing power a space wolf needs, however he doesn't do half bad at surviving. Even in battles where Ulkoa fell, they were late in the battle, instead of early. Survivability is obviously important, however you must also be able to kill your foe, or you will be overcome. Ulkoa will remain a blood claw until he learns this.

Rignus continues to prove to be a very worthy leader. As for the rest of the claw, it is too early to tell for them. Their final battle is approaching,

A long awaited update

Due to life issues (cat getting sick, holiday stress and so on) I haven't done much with my wolves. However thanks to a few friendly games with a friend, Aythrea my Space Wolves frenzy was renewed. He showed me the raw power of grey hunters, and the ferocious bloodlust of thunderwolf cavalry. Such awesomeness that even daemons can pale in comparison!

So, tonight I joined my bloodclaws, Ulkoa, Krag, Tunrida, Surma, Varvus, Moorden, Volharding, and Aarteppel along with the ever trustworthy Rignus the wolf priest, in both drink and battle. Enough fire water to drown a horse, and enough blood to drown a daemon of the blood god! This battle was fought against Chaos Space Marines, an ever growing thorn in the side of the imperium! What sort of foul debauchery was taking place before the blood claws intervention?... probably daemon summoning, CSM like to do that, but who knows? So without further delay, the results of the battle!

8 blood claws and Rignus fought against 11 chaos cultists and 5 chaos space marines. This was the first mission that I used modified kill team rules for. Basically every model was its own unit. However the army was treated as using highest leadership, for both CSM and SW (not that it mattered much)

Ulkoa: Missed with his bolt pistol, then overcome with blood lust all too familiar to blood claws, failed to dodge an overwatch from a chaos space marine and fell in battle. Ulkoa's next fall may be too much for even the healing powers of Rignus.
Krag (no relation to the grenade...): Felled a chaos cultist with his bolt pistol, slew another in CC, then with lightning reflexes dodged 3 shots from las pistols. Fought and killed 2 of the cultists in CC, Rignus obliterated the 3rd with his mighty blows. Krag proved himself an asset to the space wolves in this battle.
Tunrida: Tunrida has developed a mighty fellowship with Surma! He failed to gun down a cultist, however with a tag team duo with Sruma, filled 3 cultists.
Surma: Was fired upon and stuck by cultists, but his armor saved him. Fighting alongside Tunrida, he felled 3 cultsists.
Varvus: Had an eventful fight, failing to cause damage with his bolt pistol, Varvus assaulted, he saved against the overwatch and killed the cultist who fired upon him. Another cultist attempted to charge, but with quick reflexes was able to gun him down in overwatch. Afterwards he held his own against a chaos space marine for 3 rounds until Rignus felled the chaos scum with his powerful blows.
Moordenaar: A quick fate for Moordenaar, after failing to land a shot with his bolt pistol, he was shot by 6 cultists, falling to one of the many las shots.
Volharding: Laid a chaos marine to rest with his bolt pistol, then after failing to hit another chaos marine, took to overwatch bolter hits to the face and shrugged them off. After a round of combat with a chaos marine, he found himself facing both a marine and a cultist. The cultist found an opening and felled Volharding in CC while the Chaos marine distracted him.
Aartappel: With his powersword proudly held, he fired his bolt pistol directly at a chaos marine, failing to wound him. He was unphased by the overwatch, and managed to fell the chaos space marine leader in CC, however, the tainted marine took Aartappel with him to ground.

Many blood claws proved their worth, while others came up short handed in this battle. In the following battles we will see which blood claws earn the title of Grey Hunter. Also, I will have some picture soon tomorrow.