Thunderwolf Cavalry Finally Finished!

The End Times tournament is coming up at the weekend. It will feature games at 1000 and 1500pts and finally a 2000pt game to finish off the event. Since there's only one 2000pt battle and I'm unlikely to be in any position for it to be crucial I decided I'd have nothing to lose by trying out thunderwolf cavalry at a tournament for the first time. As you may remember from previous posts I've had my Mythicast TWC for quite a while now but I've failed miserably to find the motivation to get them painted. Needing them for a tournament was just the push required so here they are:

I originally planned on painting them all up with different shades/colours of fur but in the end I decided to paint the cavalry in a grey/white scheme and the thunderlord in dark grey/black. The fur is incredibly simple to paint. I started by basecoating them with Deneb Stone and then overbrushed/drybrushed Skull White on top of that to give the white fur some texture. Then I applied Badab Black to the top half of the model followed by another layer in a slightly smaller area. I was originally a bit worried that I wouldn't do the models justice but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

The marines are painted in the same way I paint all of my Space Wolves with the exception that I went for Liche Purple for the shoulder pads instead of my usual red. I wanted to differentiate them from the rest of my army and indicate that they're the bodyguard for the wolf lord. Incidentally, I've decided to call him Thorgrim Blackmount since he's the only one with a black/grey steed. 

The bases came courtesy of Scott who's far better at that sort of thing than me. The figures aren't quite flat footed so a bit of creative use of slate was needed so that all four feet would be on the ground. I'm impressed by the models themselves. They've got a lot of nice details like the bionics and armour plates. The marine legs on the back of the wolves easily pass for proper GW figures. The only problem I have with them is that some of the fine detail isn't well defined as a result of the casting process. Some of the edges that should be sharp e.g. around the armour plates, are a little dulled. That being said I'm very pleased with my purchase and it's been worth the wait for them to be finished. It'll be nice to use them in battle without any blu tac holding them together!

On the battlefield they've been pretty devastating at times. There's only been a couple of battles where they've been a damp squib. This was usually after they'd take a punishing amount of fire or had been forced to charge the wrong type of enemy. Even so, they distract your opponent from the rest of your army beautifully and if not then he pays the price for ignoring them. The lord himself has racked up an impressive amount of kills in his short career and 3+/3++ means he refuses to die sometimes! He's a bargain for 230pts and there isn't anything extra I'd like to give him. The wolf claw is brilliant for cutting through infantry which to me is their primary role. Let the long fangs deal with tanks and MCs and if they can't then the power fist and wulfen in the grey hunter packs usually does. 

Thunderwolves bring a lot of entertainment to a 40K battle and they're far more in the spirit of Space Wolves than some of the lists you see around. OK so they aren't perfect but there's something really satisfying about measuring 12" for charge range and seeing your opponents face as you move them into combat....