A few 'Wolf time' campaign pics

I promised to show you some pics of the 'Chapter Approved: First book of the Astronomican' campaign, shortly known as the 'Wolf time'. I don't have but a fistful of them, but I'll try to explain the campaign in a few words.

50 years ago an Ork fleet from the Charadonian Empire got lost into the Warp and ended up in an isolated system known to men as 'the Wheel of Fire'. Totally surrounded by Warpstorms, the Orks were unable to leave the system, so they settled and colonized the planets. Nowadays, an Imperial Navigator has discovered the apparently only safe route in an out the Wheel of Fire. The Emperor commanded Space Marines of the Space Wolves Chapter to lead a Crusade into that dangerous area and claim it for the Imperium...

So this campaign is set on a crappy planet named Xit (again, GW humour from the 80's, long time lost in battle...). Space Marines must take over the Ork stronghold led by 'Governor' Kulo (if the planet is 'Xit', 'Kulo' phonetically sounds exactly like 'butt' in Spanish). But the defences of the castle must be deactivated prior to the final engagement. So Space Wolves must simultaneously conduct three different raids on three different power plants. If they succeed, they can attack the castle. If they fail, the assault is impossible and they should fall back. That's it, quite a simple campaign.

The following pics are from the first battle; I'm afraid these are all that I keep. They show the assault to the first power plant, built on a mountain. Primitive dwellers made a temple of it, but when Orks invaded the planet, they killed everyone and decorated the temple in their own style, included the big statue on the front.



You saw me last week

Fifteen Orks garrison the complex. Space Wolves must take over the main building by reaching the grav elevator (on the top of the temple), using it to go into the building and setting the power plant down (or throwing grenades through the elevator. Or whatever; remember, this is RT, there is no limit of what you are allowed to do).

Oooops! No more repeated pics! Next one is new, promised

At the beginning of the campaign, the Space Marine player has to split up his forces at will into three separate detachments, each one having to take care of one objective (though the player doesn't know how many enemies he will meet when he arrives to each one of them). My pal used a couple of Squads and a Captain here (I hadn't said, but I led the Orks, as usual, hehe). They begun the assault with fierce determination:


C'mon brothers! I can feel the statue staring at me! Let's finish here and go back home

However, Orks didn't want to be evicted from their home!

Dis is ur neigburhood, hummies!

As a matter of fact, they did outstandingly well! The dice rolls were unusually lucky:

Ork marksmanship

So they held the line and avoided the Space Marines from even approaching the main building.

No grey hummie is comin' home for dinna!

The Space Wolves Captain bravely advanced under enemy crossfire towards the Ork leader: 

Add photoshop effects at will

In the meantime, the heavy weapons support Squad helped causing some mayhem!


Bratatat dakka dakka pew pew

But the Ork leader smashed the Captain and charged onto the rests of the now scattered strike force.


We're winnin'! Unbeliv... Unbiliv... Unbi... ehrm... Cool!

Though having received an injury, da Boss killed the last Space Wolf standing


Multiple deaths in progress. Please do not disturb

Ork viktury! Well, you see this has been real fast, but it took five turns. Due to an extraordinary luck on the Ork side during turn 1, Space Wolves didn't really had a chance, as their forces were decimated just as they arrived. It was a reeeeal shame, as we didn't even use the big building! :( It would have been fun seeing the Marines in action trying to reach the roof.

We played the other two preliminary battles, but I'm afraid I don't keep any pics but these two:


The bowl building in use!

Space Marines have to take over this power plant, but it's suffering from pressure overloading and it might explode any second! Space Wolves don't know anything of that, and they look amused how the Orks run all over the place instead of fighting them!

Nope, that's a totally diffrerent compound. You haven't ever seen that :P

The fun here comes from the fact that there is a mist so heavy that no one can see beyond certain radius. Besides, the floor hides... some surprises.

I can say no more in order not to spoil the campaign (And I might have said more than I should!). Depending on the results of these three battles, Space Wolves should find it easier or more difficult the final assault on Governor Kulo's Castle. We didn't play it, but I definitely would have liked to see that, as it is a big scale battle. My friend even managed to get the ooold 'Citi-block' set, so we really should have played that, we have no excuse. On other thought, for sure it would have been fun designing and building some more cheap Orkish scenery...


And there are some more map surprises indeed!

So this is what we got. Hope you like this half-campaign!

New minis, old school

I'm talking about the two limited edition minis Games Workshop released last year, the 25th anniversary Crimson Fist Space Marine and the Games Day Blood Angels Space Marine.

In case you are not into this and you need any introduction, the first edition of Warhammer 40,000 (usually known as 'Rogue Trader' or simply 'RT') had this cover back in 1987:

 

This was 1987

 

The Space Marine with the Ork head became quite iconic pretty soon. Last year, GW released this special edition mini:

 

I've been posing for 25 years

 

 You might notice something strange if you look close. It's the head. The mini came beheaded in its blister. After some time trying to get a solution from GW through a friend, I got no response, so it was easier for me replacing it with a head of my own. I used a Mk6 helmet and used some green stuff on it for the nose cone.

 

Poetic justice. I had a severed head in my hand, but didn't have one of my own...

 
Before I speak of this incident, let me show you the other limited edition mini I was talking about. The 2nd Edition of WH40K was released in 1993, the game having  this cover:

 

 'Grim Darkness'?

 

And this mini being released last year for the 'Games Day' event:

 

I've been posing for a while too

 

Fortunately I got all the pieces this time. That's something. Then I just had to face the problem of the annoying bubbles...

 

There's green stuff in places you couldn't imagine

 If you are familiar with the so called 'Finecast' resin GW has been using on their models for a while, you already know what I'm talking about. I had heard about the problem, but had never experienced it. These two are the only 'finecast' models I've ever purchased. The last will they be.
Talking about it would be the usual GW bashing you can read elsewhere on tne internet. I'll just say that my own experience working with this resin is not quite satisfactory. I will politely say no more.

But I don't want to end this post with a bitter taste, sooo... Bonus mini! :)

You might rememeber this illustration by mighty Jes Goodwin, depicting Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves: 

 

Pretty old piece of art

 
I got the mini on eBay some time ago for a reasonable price. Unfortunately without the wolves (Freki and Geri).

 

I feel lonely. Like a lone wolf... Lone wolf, you get it? Ha ha... What do you mean by 'not funny'?

Ahhh... Good old reliable metal... Hopefully someday I can find the wolves. I promise to put Russ a cloak and banner then.

But having this mini, who would like to buy the Forge World Primarchs? Meh! This is more than enough!