Sunday 12 July 2020

Primaris Space Wolves Part 1


My new project is the biggest one I've ever taken on: a complete Space Wolves army for 40k. For the first time I'm working with all new kits with minimal conversions and aiming for a rules-legal Battleforged army for 9th edition 40k. More below the jump:

After clearing my unfinished projects pile, I wanted to try something very different and decided my next project would be a complete 40k force.

I was inspired by Migs of Iron Sleet's incredible Blood Angels army, a project that feels both fresh and archetypal at once. His combination of faithful conversions and skilful scale model painting techniques made me want to try my hand at a similar project myself.


I settled on Space Wolves for a few reasons: they're one of the Big Chapters, with an established look and lore; they have a unique character on top of the vanilla Space Marine style; there's a cool contrast between their "normal" armoured Space Marines and the chapter's bestial elements (including wolfmen and actual animals in the form of wolves) that is amplified by the introduction of the super-clean Primaris models. And also, I kinda don't like Space Wolves that much.

Wait, what? Why would I work on a faction that I don't like?

Well in short, it's an interesting position to start working from. It makes you consider what aspects you do like. It prompts you to reapproach the source material from a fresh angle that you can find interest in. Between projects I float ideas to myself like: "How would I approach Necrons, if I made them? How would I approach Eldar?" Sometimes that line of thinking is fruitful, sometimes I can't come up with anything that works for me (I've never done Orks, for example). The challenge of building the Wolves into something I find interesting is really appealing to me. For me, the Space Wolves' pseudo-Viking trappings are kind of hokey so instead I'm looking into some of the more esoteric elements of historical Scandinavian cultures. I have a few germs of ideas that I'm gonna try and bring in to the project.




So I'm working towards a complete Space Wolves force, with a focus on experimenting with new painting techniques, and on reimagining the Space Wolves a little. These brand new Primaris kits are already great fun to work with. I'm gonna document the process here and on Instagram, so please follow me on this journey!

Hek


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