What's this? A space marine? A space wolf at that. What's going on here then?
Well, I have almost no interest in space wolves, but brother Victor here, he's special. He was rescued from the edge, this one.
About a year ago, I was trawling the Wargaming Trading page on Facebook when I see the most forlorn looking minature. He has seen some action in his time. This was the poor fellow as he was then:
Yeesh. The post with it read thus: "Ey up, I just found this thing in the pond at Victoria park. I washed the mud off and it looks like a vintage space marine? I think it has been based with cat litter, and painted with Dulux emulsion. Anyone interested?"
Something stirred in me. I have a terrible need to rescue old broken minis. I instantly sent a PM. It turns out perhaps he may just have been in a box for the last twenty years, but in my mind he had been recovered from the deep, and soon he was on the way to me. This is the image I had in my head for him once he arrived:
So, our fallen brother soon came tumbling through the letterbox. I set to work stripping and carving off the literally centimetres of glue gumming up our brave marines battered armour.
Just look at that. Jeesbus. Any man with sense would have administered the Emperor's mercy and sadly moved on. Not this guy. By the throne, this marine would see action again. Victor's left arm was a loss, so I thought it would be fitting to equip him with a new prosthetic. So, after carving, scrubbing, whittling and sanding, Victor was back on his feet.
And so he remained for many months. Other projects took my attention away from our veteran and he sat on the to-do shelf. Recently though, I was in the market for a 40k hunter, and who better than a forlorn son of Fenris? The final stage began and Victor hit the painting table. Some brush tickling later, and our space wolf was finally ready to return to the grim darkness of the far future.
Wow, Bolt pistols were small back in the day. It's like a derringer.
With Victor back in action and the current events on Fenris, I think it could be fun to have this lone wolf leading a warband of serfs and Fenrisian survivors. A servitor, couple of hairy tribesmen, Fenrisian wolf, maybe a chapter serf. Could be interesting.
Looks superb: all the more so knowing where he began!
ReplyDeleteThanks Preacher. It's pretty nice seeing him restored to service.
DeleteReally cool & funny story about his rescue Saturday. Fantastic job on his paint too man! You should do up a few more....make a squad or something? You've definitely got the talent with the brush to do it :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Papafakis. I don't know about a squad, but I am definitely considering giving him some retainers or using him as part of a warband.
DeleteEvents on Fenris? Is Fenris going the way of . . . Not Catachan. The default Imp. Guard world. Whatever it was. (Someone painted a miniature for us to remember that. I guess I forgot. Oops. Too Newhammer for my little brain, I suppose.) Abyway . . . Holy Swat that's awesome! I really need to update/backdate some of my old wolves.
ReplyDeleteCheers! Yes, the 40k timeline is moving on, and we ain't seen nothing yet I'll warrant. Magnus had his way with the space puppies homeworld, all in 'Wrath of Magnus' AFAIK.
DeleteI need a step by step on the painting process please Mr Saturday! The fall and rise of this fella is certainly a heartwarming story, but I want to know how you did the lustrous weathering and shading please!
ReplyDeleteThanks Axiom! It took two attempts. The first go at the armour was a dead loss, so I had to start over. I took a look at some of Duncan's videos on the space wolves. Base coat of 1:1 Shadow Grey: Space Wolf Grey. Then a recess wash with Agrax Earthshade. Then a 1:1 wash of Agrax Earthshade:Lahmian Medium once the recess shade was dry. Then a really light drybrush of the basecoat. Then edge highlight of about 4-5 layers, blending up to pure Shadow Grey. Then line the joins in the armour with Scorched Brown. The chips are also Scorched Brown. Underline the chops with a 2:1 mix of Space Wolves Grey and Shadow Grey. The dirt on his feet is a light dusting with Old Rust pigment from Basecrafts. I'd never used pigment before, I'm definitely into using it some more.
DeleteNot a GW fan, but this is nice. A believable sized weapon as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. His gun looks so wee compared to the new bolters. Still, he's quick on the draw.
DeleteA beautiful and heartwarming story.
ReplyDelete(Miniature's not bad either!)
Cheers Kelvin. Disney should option it for a tear jerking story of triumph against the odds. Iain Glen could play Victor. YOU HEAR ME DISNEY?
DeleteAwesome work. Those beakies really need some love. Only in death does duty end...
ReplyDeleteThanks Keyan. They sure do, but I have a real soft spot for the old RTB01 set.
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ReplyDeleteThat paint job really has a lot of pop Mr S, its particularly nice. The armour pops, the yellow pauldron pops, his dirty ankles pop... its gorgeous and properly seventies sci-fi library book vivid. Really nice.
Did you seal the weathering powders?
Although it was called a "bolt pistol" in almost every place that I have seen it written, I think that I remember the pistol in the RTB01 set being referred to as a "needle pistol" on the packaging.
Thanks a lot Cheetor, he came together on take 2, it was worth the do-over. I dabbed on gloss varnish to seal them as I had no actual sealer, it seemed to work well enough. They darkened a little, but not much.
DeleteNeedle pistol eh? It certainly looks more like a needle pistol than a bolt pistol. Sorta.
I love this! It makes me wonder if it would be interesting to take this on as more permanent collection - the island of misfit/unloved minis. Finding them in the wild and bringing them back from the brink.
ReplyDeleteNice idea. I've done this a couple of times before, it's very satisfying when it works out.
DeleteA true hardened veteran who refuses to be decommissioned. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThanks Suber. There's life in the old dog yet.
DeleteAbsolutely fantastic!!! This is he best story I've heard for ages!! It makes me feel bad about the marines I've consigned to the Eye of Terror (my bin) over the years!!
ReplyDeleteI hope he gets many years of further service on the battlefields of the far future.
Thanks Legio, you put marines in the bin?! Heresy.
DeleteHe's looking at at least one more service stud I would say.
I know, I know.... but I only have so much room in the house!!! But now I've seen what you can do with old marines I feel terrible!
DeleteDefinitely an extra service stud, possibly even terminator honours for his tenacity!
Space is always an issue for those of us in the hobby a long time. You should see Cheetor's hobby room. It's lush. Still, I could never throw out miniatures, at the very least they go into the bits box!
DeleteWhat I'm looking forward to next with Victor here is seeing how his story evolves on the table. I'm a narrative junky, and seeing how particular characters fare in games is one of the great joys of the hobby. The dice and rules etc all add up to the marvellous illusion of the character making their own choices to some extent. It makes for plenty of laughs more often than not as well.