Doghouse

I think the original is perfect as it is.

More building today jumping back to the Fists. I've not really enjoyed this build, bit of a pain to put together but nearly done. I think I will paint it in the Howling Gyre campaign colours which is black with yellow accents to make it stand out as a command vehicle. I do have a second one but not sure I want to do another just yet but now I have made one I think I could make the second a lot quicker.

Bit of an update

Not glued it in place yet but toying with adding gear to a combat shield mag-locked on top of the sarcophagus. So the idea will be that millennia ago his wargear was added to the top so that he still carries it into battle suggesting he was an assault squad member. Any bits I add will have once had some significance but have long since been forgotten.

Bit more done, still building the Astartes but took a break to work on one of the HQ choices, the venerable dreadnought can be used as one of the three HQ choices I will need. The Iron Oath Unlike most venerable dead, his armour bears almost no recognisable original heraldry. Whatever symbols once marked the machine have vanished beneath ten thousand years of repair, replacement plating and battle damage. Entire sections of the chassis are visibly mismatched. Generations of Iron Priests rebuilt him using whatever sacred components could be recovered or forged anew. The sarcophagus itself is ancient beyond reliable dating and carries machine inscriptions in forms no longer spoken within the Chapter. The red armour panels and black wolf sigil he now bears are believed to be later additions. They were painted onto the dreadnought long after his interment when he became bound by oath to the Great Company of Harald Deathwolf in the current age. Beneath those newer colours fragments of older markings still emerge through chipped ceramite and worn paint. Faded Terran kill glyphs. Obsolete campaign runes. Half-erased honour sigils whose meaning has long since been forgotten. For this reason the Great Company does not truly regard the dreadnought as belonging to them, rather they consider themselves merely the latest warriors entrusted with carrying his memory into battle. The Iron Oath speaks rarely but when he does even the Wolf Priests listen carefully, his voice emerges slowly from ancient vox emitters with the grinding weight of failing engines. Every word sounds laboured as though dragged upward from immense depths of memory and machine corruption. Long silences often separate his sentences during battle and younger warriors have learned not to interrupt those pauses. On more than one occasion the dreadnought has resumed a conversation several hours after the other speaker believed it finished. He refers to Fenris as though recalling a harsher and more primitive age than any living warrior remembers. He speaks of Terran commanders whose names survive nowhere within Imperial archives. On one occasion he described witnessing the first void docks rising above Luna, though whether this was memory, dream or machine corruption remains impossible to determine. No direct record links him to the Horus Heresy, yet rumours persist. Deep within the sealed vaults beneath the Fang fragments of battle telemetry recovered from his sarcophagus are said to reference engagements against “the red-marked sons” and “the carrion banners of the Warmaster,” though the data is corrupted beyond meaningful verification. It is also said that Bjorn the Fell-Handed recognised the old warrior immediately upon first waking beside him centuries ago. Neither dreadnought ever spoke publicly of what passed between them afterward. The Iron Oath himself has never confirmed any of the stories, when questioned directly about his origins he once answered only: "In those days we believed the wars would end eventually... after enough worlds had burned and enough victories had been won we thought there would finally come a time when men no longer needed warriors like us..." No further questions were asked after that. I am waiting on the twin lascannon to arrive for the right arm and just chipping and scratching the hull mostly. I am still sourcing parts but am tempted to go longship on him and add trophies and possessions to the top of the hull. I feel that dreadnoughts should be walking mausoleums for the warrior interred within and it seems fitting of the Rout to do so. He will be a counts as Venerable dreadnought with heavy flamer and twin linked lascannons. I have mounted him on a tradition dreadnought base rather than use the stock Leviathan one.

I've been thinking a lot about the 4th edition army as I dig around for bits. As some may know I really am not a fan of corporate 40k for a multitude of reasons. I find myself wanting to return to a far more gothic and archaic vision of the setting. What I always loved about older 40k was the sense that humanity no longer truly understood the empire it inhabited. Technology felt ancient sacred and half remembered. Machines were not simply manufactured objects churned out on demand by an endless industrial machine but relics that had survived across thousands of years. They were maintained through ritual superstition and inherited doctrine rather than true understanding. Modern 40k often feels too clean in that regard. The Imperium appears capable of producing whatever it needs whenever it needs it while the significance of STCs and technological loss has drifted into the background. For me the setting loses something when every problem can simply be solved by rolling another tank off an assembly line. I much prefer the idea that a suit of power armour might genuinely be ten thousand years old. Not untouched of course but repaired and rebuilt so many times over the millennia that almost none of the original remains. More Ship of Theseus than manufactured wargear. Layer upon layer of replacement plating rewired internals substituted mechanisms and devotional repairs carried out by generations of Tech Priests who preserve the machine without ever fully understanding it. In that version of 40k technology feels mythic. A boltgun is not just another weapon issued from a stockpile but something entrusted to a warrior. A warship is not simply constructed but maintained across centuries by entire bloodlines of labourers priests and serfs. The idea of the machine spirit works best to me when it comes from a civilisation terrified of losing the last fragments of knowledge it still possesses. That atmosphere of decay reverence and superstition is the side of 40k I miss most and it is something I want to reflect in these Space Wolves. I will be adding skulls relics charms old campaign markings and artefacts wherever possible so each warrior feels ancient and storied rather than factory produced. I also really like the idea that each warrior exists between two identities. Within Imperial records they may carry a formal designation such as Brother Lucius Aggamon while amongst themselves and in battle they use their Fenrisian names such as Skorri Blackmane or Hakon Icevein. To the wider Imperium they are recorded as assets warriors and gene-lines catalogued within endless archives. Amongst the Rout they are remembered for sagas deeds rivalries and the names earned beside the fire or upon the battlefield. The Imperial title belongs to the bureaucracy of the Imperium while the Fenrisian name is the identity known to their brothers and carried into war. I think this ties in well with the concept of the Space Wolves being known as the Vlka Fenryka on Fenris. So what this may mean is that I lean far less into the wolfy mcwolferson trope and more into an Imperial theme.

Thanks mate. The posing and the way the cockpit hatch opens is something I created but the colour scheme was based on this image from the compendium. I wanted something like a tank commander popping the hatch and at ease. The infantry captain takes some inspiration from the guy in this image as well, 3d modelling isn't something that I massively enjoy so unfortunately I stopped at the pilot, Captain and Guardsman. I did learn enough to start working on my own model range I'll be bringing out next year with any luck though.

Yeah I tend to just use micro sol on it's own, they are really good. Something a little bit different. I was hunting through my bits boxes for parts and came across this old project I started years ago but forgot about. I may well go back to it at some point but for now just wanted to share some pics. The idea was to create a RT force in the style of the more military dioramas of WW2 tanks and infantry. The dreadnoughts I got from an STL file that I heavily converted to add new weapons and detailing but the infantry I sculpted in Blender based on the original RT era models for the Imperial Army. These were Army Dreadnoughts because back in the day they could be taken by Imperial Army and these original dreads could be piloted like a vehicle rather than having the pilot surgically attached. I converted the original file to turn the top of the dread into a door then flipped it open so the pilot could be seen standing in the cockpit. Unfortunately the door has broken so I will go back at some point and fix it. I also sadly can't find the STL files so when I do fix them up I can't really make any more of them. Like I say I am not touching them for now but thought some people might be interested to see them. I started to paint the lead dread but never really got much further than this.

I think they've said before it wouldn't be space marines. I'm a big fan of the game, still playing from the HD1 days. I think the Kashrkin are the most likely candidates. I think a lot would prefer krieg but I've seen people proxy those in game with existing kits.

Still very early days but I am playing around with the decal fitting first, bit glossy because it's still a bit wet. I think these will look good when finished. Still needs a ton of work just yet though. My immediate goal is the Wolf Lord and two squads along with the raider.

sitnam: Thanks mate. I really quite like the gritty grimdark style and this style of painting seems to suit it well. I like the idea that it's soot covered and battle damaged so the colour has taken on a darker tone rather than being more sun bleached. It's all just experimentation but lots of fun. Very brief update, trial Astartes for the Vlkr Fenryka Astartes. Really simple approach so far, rather than stippling I applied the brown undercoat like the tanks but instead of stippling the admech grey I am dry brushing. It's not the greatest picture but works really well in person and ties in well with the tank. It gives the armour a very old worn feel, I think I may paint the backs of the legs where the armour is segmented in Iron Warriors Metal to make the plates pop a bit more. The shoulder pads will be red which will tie it to the raider but I quite like the idea of making the bolter weapons on both yellow to tie them together further.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this guy though. I expect it will look amazing.

Fantastic work on those conversions. The addition of the cables really makes them pop and great gs work.

Really nice stuff, especially loving that army shot.

They're looking great, really liking the colour scheme.