Luna Wolves Army Project

[richter]

Hi, this is going to be the new house for my Luna Wolves Project, the objective is to model an Pre-Heresy Luna Wolves army, both for display and tabletop gaming. I'm trying to keep it as accurate as possible on visual terms and to reproduce all the tiny details.

Since I'm going trough a lot of hoops to gather background information on Pre-Heresy stuff, from armour type looks, to weapons and tabletop organization, I'll also post here a "bibliography" of all the links and stuff I based myself to build my army. I'll also try to refer the conversion tutorials, techniques and sprue sources. This may sound unecessary to a "pro", but it may help the "initiate" fan in the future to get a similar project going.

I'd like to thank to everyone that is helping me out on doing my homework for this project, and yes, I will be nagging you some more with questions and doubts

So, first, some references:

The basic and indispensable refence sources I've used were of course, google, GW's website (uk and us) and wikipedia.

These are the links to several threads I've created here on waseer and on other forums, like pre-heresy and bolter and chainsword. These cover a lot of resources and contributions from all the kind members that lend a hand on this project, from rules and organizations, to visual references, background informations, tutorials and so on, and so on.

Warseer forum thread: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67561

Pre-Heresy forum thread:
http://z10.invisionfree.com/Pre_Here...?showtopic=614

Bolter and chainsword thread:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/i...owtopic=102964

As for the visual reference and information, there are some quicklinks to armour, color and weapons:

Armour types:
http://fr.games-workshop.com/40k/spa...ures/index.asp

Some conversion model examples of Pre-heresy armies:
http://oz.games-workshop.com/games/4...e_heresy/5.htm

The Horus Heresy card game:
http://www.pa-sy.com/hhccg/

And of course some googleing (usefull for some justaerin termie images).

Some quicklinks to painting tutorials:

Eyes:
http://us.games-workshop.com/games/4...es/default.htm

Black armour (using it on the justaerin)
http://uk.games-workshop.com/spacema...lack-armour/6/

FearFrost's basic layering tutorial:
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56722

Spkyjames's ultramarines and colors
http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60990

As for GS usage, there are some great tutorials on the GW website and they are quite easy to find.

Regarding background information on Pre-heresy armies, the best is to read the Horus novels (Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames), in my forum threads (posted at the top) is also some very usefull background information covering armour, weapons, PH facts and general codex stuff.

As for tabletop organization and rules of an Pre-Heresy army, being a total noob at that, I've found some threads that were really interesting:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/i...&#entry1110746
http://bolterandchainsword.com/index...howtopic=82836
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/i...howtopic=39202
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/i...e-heresy&st=75
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/i...howtopic=79621

At this point I wont be linking any conversion tutorials, there are plenty around both on warseer and on pre-heresy forums (specially this one) and listing them all is too much time-consuming. Hey, at least I told you where to find them When I post some modding WIP I'll have some more solid sources and input on the matter, so I might reference some links then.

This information regards my basic homework on the matter, I also recomend looking into some of the threads on all the three mentioned forums, as they have much more aditional information, specially on similar projects were you be in awe of some fabulous armies and learn/import some techniques and ideas to your own project. I'll be adding up stuff to this part of the log as I go along with some WIP.

Now for the cool part, the sprues and bits. Not having any surplus sprues or bits of my own, I've had to bought some, my "shops" where the obvious ones:

-Gw's online store
-Ebay
-Battlewagon bits

Since I intend to build an nice and diversified army, i've decided to gather my bits on a "representative" way (eg. MK3 head, Mk4 head, abbadon head, etc), having enough to build a few display-quality models of all the types of units I'll placing on my army (eg. Combat sq marine, assault sq marine, heavy weapons sqd marine, termie, etc), when that stage is done, I'll just have to replicate them to get a an army. This allows me to narrow down all the mods and techniques to use and the look and feel of each unit, this may seem silly, but I like doing it this way.

So, so far I've gathered the following sprues and bits:

Incoming:

Received:

Space Marine combat squad(boxed)
Chaos Terminator Reaper Autocannon 2x
Abbadon's Head 2x
Iron Warriors Head 4 x10
Bolters Boltguns x10 bits Space Marine
Space Marine Legs x10 bits
Black Templars Maximus MK4 Helmets x4 Bits
Black Templars MK2 Crusade Helmets x4bits
Running Legs x5 Bits Space Marine
Space Marine Heads x10 Bits Helmets
Space Marine Torsos x5 Bits
Space Marine MK5 Hersey Strap Body Torsos bits x10
Studded Shoulder Pads x5 bits Space Marine
Chaos Space Marine Body Torsos x8 Bits
Space Marine Tactical Squad Upgrade Sprue
Terminator Heavy Flamer bits
Terminator Legs x5 Bits
Terminator Body Torsos x5 Bits
Terminator Groin Armor Plates x5 Bits
Terminator Lightning Claws Bits Set D
Terminator Screaming Sgt Head Bits
Terminator Sgt Power Sword Bits
Terminator Chainfist x4 bits
Terminator Powerfists x4 Bits
Space Marine Devastator Squad (boxed)
Small ammo pouches x20
Bolters x10
Bolter arms x30
Bolt Pistol Holsters x20
Space Marine BackPacks x30
Space Marine Shoulder Pad x40
Standart Bearer Bits
Apothecary Upgrade bits
Chaos Space Marines Battle Force
Grey Knight Terminator Squad
Rogue Trader Dreadnought
SM Metal dreadnought 3x
space marine assault weapons and "arquive jetpack (from GW) "Chaos Jumpacks
command squad sprues (for some of my characters)
A bunch of Chaos terminator Lord minis.
Chaos Army Boxset
Dark Angels Veterans (x2 boxes)
Black templar Command Sprue
Assorted "pre-heresy" rhinos (yay for ebay)
Chaos Dreadnought
Chaos Terminators (x2 Boxes)
Several "vintage" minis and weapons
Space Marine Chaptermasters
Space Marine Veterans MKII


On my shopping list I also have:

Iron warriors Torso (maybe 5x or 6x)
Iron warriors head 1 and 3 (5x each)
Iron Hands legs 1 and 2 (2x each)
Roman Style Tabbard x6
Sargent Head with studs x1



Then, when all is set and painted, I'll just order the needed bits to make more of each type. All of those bits are en route to me, so as soon as they arrive, I'll start posting some wip

C&C, suggestions, tips and help are most welcome

[Light of the Emperor]

Another few bitz you might want to consider are the Iron Hands bionic legs and the iron warrior metal torso. They have that distinctive "castle top" armore plating. I don't know what they're called, but you'll see what I mean. My Imperial Fist pre-heresy squad has that armor style and it fits pre-heresy well.

[Blackrock]

^^ crenellation

[richter]

Another few bitz you might want to consider are the Iron Hands bionic legs and the iron warrior metal torso. They have that distinctive "castle top" armore plating. I don't know what they're called, but you'll see what I mean. My Imperial Fist pre-heresy squad has that armor style and it fits pre-heresy well.

Just took a look at those sprues...Loved the torso style, I think I'll get some of those in my next order to use on characters or some elite units and such. Not so sure about the legs, maybe I'll buy a couple to depict some prostectics on battle brothers

The Iron warriors have some very cool heads, I'm fancying model 1 and 3, maybe some of those too to add more "diversity".

[jasevx]

At last! Something I've wanted to do for ages (Deathguard tho), but two scared to start! Will be watching closely!

[richter]

Small update:

Just got my combat squad from ebay (still wainting on GW and battlewagon's deliveries), just started my prototype mods, an MK4 helmet, two Pre-Heresy Bolters and and full MK3 Power-armour. Pictures coming soon

[richter]

Well, the first batches of sprues have arrived, after my first inventory I counted enough basic bits to assemble about 30-35 Luna Wolves, including characters. Also will have enough for 2 terminator squads (assault and close combat) with a few left over termie bits for a couple more.

When my shopping list is completed, I'll have enough heavy weapons to form a devastator squad and some to spread around tactical and combat squadrons. Also will have at least one assault squadron, two termie squadrons
and a few characters for HQ.

As for the Hq characters, I'll need some command squad sprues and the Iron warriors torso to get them started. I do have enough for Qurze and Vipus, witch will be my first "fancy" marines even though they will be only "squad" commanders. For Loken, I'll use the Devastator squadron sargent's head, for Aximand I'll use my second abbadon head but the topknot will have to go. Torgaddon will use an bare head on witch some GS long hair will be placed.

As for detail on every marine, due to the PH look, I'm going for simple stuff, plasticard oaths of moment, ammo pouches and sidearms holsters. I'm also considering what to do with the MK3 chest plate, since it seems a bit to empty. Since 2/3 of my available bits are MK4-like torsos, I'll use them a lot, but mixed with Mk3 Helmets and Mk3-style arms (with that funky gautlet plate), a lot of MK4 helmets will be modded, but for me the MK3's are too cool to be left out.

As for the modding and modeling, I'm finishing up my test marines so some new pictures will be up soon. Since so far, no comments where made, except by yours trully, Ive recycled the previous picture posts.

[richter]

OK, some updates to my project. So far I've made a couple of units, managed to convert the "test marines" into some cool looking mk3-ish marines.

So far, I've made a couple MK3 and Qurze, Vipus and a couple of MK4's and two justearin termies.

These are the MK3 guys, they'll be part of Qurze's "veteran" squadron, I'm trying to make them look like "specialist units". So far there's the flamer dude and the melee expert, also on wip is a "trigger-happy" elite and some other guy who's skill I'm still thinking about. The guy with the fancy ponytail is Qurze. Notice the worked up and customized power armours, I think that veteran units should have "special" armours and weapons, thus this look for these guys.



The following are part Vipus's Locasta squadron, they are more "sleek" and standartised, opposing to Qurze's veterans that look more bulky, cluttered and unique. They will be a devastator squadron with some "elite" guys to cover up the heavy weapon marines. So far there's the RPG dude and the "sharpshooter" marine with an scoped bolter, the funky barrel on his bolter is meant to be an silencer. I figure this guy would take cover and do some close-range headshots, using a single shot firing mode. The bear headed marine is Sgt. Vipus leading his guys to attack.



Finally some Justaerin Termies. I followed the "fluff" on these guys, so far there's an reaper cannon guy and an heavy flamer guy. I've used the Iron warrior heads because I think they look really cool on the Justaerin look, I've also made them taller, I've allways pictured these guys towering over the normal marines.



Some C&C is very appretiated, I'll be painting these guys in the following days, so, some paintjobs are coming up soon.

[dave is the best]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats all i can really say.

DAve

[Sling]

Mate, thats really awesome!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed.

[Pekel]

All looks amazing. One suggestion is to crop the Terminators down, as now they look top-heavy and disproportionate. The torsos are way too long, and the midsection with the white tubes should be cropped out. Then they'll be perfect, but right now they come off looking just a bit goofy.

Good luck, and keep posting more!

[doghouse]

Speaking as a fellow Pre-Heresy/Heresy fan they're looking good so far Richter.
This link might be of some use to you.: Legion Organisation Suggestions using Codex Space Marine

[richter]

Thanks to every one for all the cool feedback so far

Pekel: Yeah, I know what you mean I wanted them a bit taller but not like that, these two will be a bit of an exception. I've made the shoulder plates a bit too large (I worked the torso and legs separately), making them look like gloryfied dwarves, so, the only way to fix it was to increase torso height, (trust me, they would look a lot worst smaller), but you make a good point and I'll try to do that on my other justaerin

doghouse: Thanks, I was kinda needing a cool source to get some insight on proper legion organization. All my ideas so far came from what is presented on the Horus novels, and they don't dig that deep on how does a legion work and such, so, your link looks promising. I must say that your world eaters termie was a great inspiration for my models. Also loved the MK4 torso on your NightLords.

In other news, all the guys are now primed, I've used chaos black to get a darker tone to my army.

As for the colours go, I'll check the darkangels tutorial on the GW site. I need some ideas and techniques for a cool black Justearin armour.

As for the general troops, I'm going for the luna wolves colours (white with copper-ish trims), maybe use a bleached bone base color, skull white for highlights and a fortress gray+skull white wash for shadows? But I'm open to suggestions on this one.

I'll post some more pictures soon, so far I'm pretty happy with their priming, they have a nice "will pwn you" look into them

[jasevx]

Inspiration for those that are scared of greenstuff! Keep it going!

[richter]

Here are some pics from minis, added some chaos black primer and on the weekend I'll be busy painting the basecolor on them.

The two termies:



The MK3 marines:



The MK4 marines:



Given the ammount of modding I've made to all of them (GS, plasticard, pinheads, arm repositioning), I'm pretty happy about the way they turned out so far, specially with the PH bolters.

[Arch-Traitor Horus]

nice work on the terminators ACE!

[unwanted]

I think the lengthening makes the termies look too much like those thingies from Warmachine, And I don't particularly like it. As have been said, waaay too top-heavy!

Otherwise great work on the other marines!

[richter]

Time for another update!

My current WIP has been to paint the minis I've posted before and convert some new ones for my army.

Painted so far:



On these guys I've used my first option for a colour scheme, Bronzed brass trims, bleached bone shadows and skull white base colour. I'm having some trouble handling all the shadowing/highlighting, they either look made of plaster or filled with coffe stains :P , so any help/tips are welcome.

The guy with the pointy helmet is also wip, he has a roman-like shield (scratch made) and the helmet was fully converted from an mk7 head. The "dirty" guy is a weathering test, I'm pretty happy about how dirty he looks.

Termie colour tests:



These are my termies, they are Wip, only base colours so far, the overlappings need to be fixed and the whole detail colours, highlights and etc need to be added. Also tested my justaerin colour scheme on an grey knight, it doens't look so bad, so I'll be detailing it too.

The heavy bolter dude is WIP, currently doing some converting on that chaos HB, I'm working out a way to make an "ammo box" addon to the backpack and an way to connect one of those "bullet strips" (don't know the exact word) between the bolter and the ammo box (like on the SM heavy bolter).

More Luna Wolves:



These are in queue for painting, all primed white this time, wanted to see for myself the differences. All of these jokers where converted, some MK4 (meltagun guy, plasma guy, apothecary), some mk3 (bolter guy, swords guy).

You may notice a lot of chaos stuff on these guys, at first I sneared at the idea, but now I realise that chaos is the way to go on PH stuff, they have a lot of PH items and some great "look alikes" on their sprues. So all the MK3/MK2 stuff will be made from chaos sprues, the "clean looking" MK4s will be from SM sprues.

As allways, C&C is highly valued and appreciated. Painting tips and suggestions are also welcome. On a side note, the termie size thing you guys mentioned is not forgotten, will fix it on my soon-to-come termie conversions .

[t-tauri]

Your primer looks far too think on those later ones. It's almost obscuring detail. Have you tried a few light spray coats? All you need to do with the primer is give later coats of paints something to key on.

[richter]

Yeah, I know what you mean...I got distracted while spraying (never talk on the mobile while spraying, never!!) and really soaked those guys into paint. Other than dipping them into some "paint remover", is there another way to "thin" this white coating a bit?