The Wolves of Albion

[ghislop]

Long time lurker, first time poster, etc.

As a Scotsman, what used to be Albion is really appealing to me. The idea of a bunch of forest dwelling barbarians is exactly what I want to be doing, and there's enough room in the established lore to branch out with a bunch of other swampy stuff too.

I have somewhat grandiose aspirations of expanding this to a full army, but I've never painted anything in greater volume than Blood Bowl teams.

One regiment 'complete', and another started. The Bloodreaver figures are a treat, and combine very well with the Marauder Horsemen heads to create the look I'm going for with the minimum of fuss.

It's my expectation that I'll use these as a Blades of Khorne army, incorporating a lot of Space Wolf elements. I have plans to use Wulfen as Wrathmongers, Fenrisian Wolves as Chaos Hounds (as shown in one of the photos). My Mighty Lord of Khorne uses Geigor Fellhand's head and a shoulder pad on the Slaughterpriest in the Start Collecting box. I’m toying with the idea of turning dryads into bloodletters, but the idea of a forest tribe is pretty appealing.

Having a lot of fun with this project. Going to try to keep the rank and file Bloodreavers going for as long as possible. If anyone's got any spare Marauder Horsemen heads, let me know - I'm down to the last 10 or so. Ditto for Beastmen Gor Herd right arms with Axes. I'm out of them entirely.

No real plan to play at this time - I haven’t played since 5th edition, so for now, it’s just a ‘paint the stuff you think is cool’ project.

[Urauloth]

These guys are great. I'm amazed how well the gor arms work with the reaver bodies. The horseman heads definitely change the look of the models, too, they really have that classic barbarian feel to them. The wode looks terrific. Looking forward to seeing more of this project.

[kenshin620]

Really cool, I too loved the albion isle from Legends.

[Wolfman]

Alba gu brath!

[Fisher KIng]

just love them. 

[ghislop]

Completed a unit of 10 double-handed axe Reavers. There's only 9 shown here, as number 10 doesn't have a base yet. Apparently counting is not my forte...

[ghislop]

Early WiP on a Mighty Lord of Khorne. I've done his Fleshhound, and gotten a base ready for him. He's had gaps filled, but needs some more serious Green Stuff attention. Sadly, I am all out, so it'll need to wait a few days.

What do we think about the head? I'm a little concerned he'll look a bit pin-heady...

[kenshin620]

1 hour ago, ghislop said:

Early WiP on a Mighty Lord of Khorne. I've done his Fleshhound, and gotten a base ready for him. He's had gaps filled, but needs some more serious Green Stuff attention. Sadly, I am all out, so it'll need to wait a few days.

What do we think about the head? I'm a little concerned he'll look a bit pin-heady...

 

Spoiler

In seriousness I think its looking fine, maybe better once its painted!

[ghislop]

Almost completed the Mighty Lord of Khorne. Need some chain between master and hound.

Plan is to do some more Blood Reavers, but I have built a Bloodsecrator and 1 of many Slaughterpriests, so I suspect I’ll get distracted. 5 more bases on the way, then I’ll have my 20 meatrippers finished. Pics incoming shortly!

[Routasydän]

Thats a brilliant conversion  

[ghislop]

So here’s the thing. You can’t have a Celtic themed army without some tartan. Kairic acolytes are basically wearing kilts. This was inevitable. We have some reaver blade armed bloodreavers now.

photos on front and rear should show the tartan pattern reasonably well. I really need to get a better photo setup....

Painted count, for those interested is as follows:-

1 mighty lord of Khorne.

10 marauders with hand weapons and shields.

20 bloodreavers with meatripper axes.

5 bloodreavers with reaver blades.

Sadly, I’ll need to take a break from these. They’re great to paint, but I’ve run out of bits, and none of the uk suppliers have them in stock. Desperately seeking marauder horsemen unhelmeted heads, and beast man gor axes, for both left and right hands. I’m trying to stay as axe oriented on the weapon front throughout the army, so the rest of the weapons are no use.

Need to make some command groups, so that’ll probably take up time while I’m sourcing bits. I’ve also got two boxes of Wulfen on my desk, to make into wrathmongers, so that’ll probably be next.

[Brad Gamma]

12 hours ago, ghislop said:

Sadly, I’ll need to take a break from these. They’re great to paint, but I’ve run out of bits, and none of the uk suppliers have them in stock. Desperately seeking marauder horsemen unhelmeted heads, and beast man gor axes, for both left and right hands. I’m trying to stay as axe oriented on the weapon front throughout the army, so the rest of the weapons are no use.

I know the feeling when your have awesome ideas constrained by the limits of the bits market! I've got several alerts set up looking for pieces online.

What you've got so far look amazing though. The bases in particular really give it that highland look and cements everything together. The kilts too look fantastic, really great addition. Stunning.

Look forward to the command groups!

[ghislop]

Early WIP of my first Slaughterpriest. Keeping on the theme of 'weird buddies who live in swamps' here. Kinda bog witch type guy. Base model of the Orruk Weirdnob Shaman, with a head from a Duardin, and a hand from the Wulfen kit. I really struggled with the proportions on this. Humanoids and Orruks don't fit together as well as I'd like. I've given him a dead chicken hat, to try to help with this.

I've also been filing backpacks off of Wulfen, in an effort to make them look more feral than space marine-y. Those are pretty tough.

[ghislop]

More photos today. This edition of blurry camera phone photos in front of an envelope is a chap that I intend to use as my Bloodsecrator. I'm not sure if this is finished or not. Think I might need to put some more green stuff over the banner. The connection doesn't feel great. I'm worried about putting too much weight on the pole too. This mini is pretty heavy, and it's almost all in the banner on a skinny plastic pole.

Parts list:-

Body - Exalted Deathbringer with Spear
Head - Space Wolf
Axe - Beastman Gor Champion
Left Arm - Blood Warriors
Icon on belt - Wulfen
Banner - Minotaurs

[ghislop]

Couple of WIPs of my wrathmongers. Hopefully get these finished over the weekend.

 

wulfen with greenstuffed backs. Big fan of these models, and they’re starting to come together.

[ghislop]

1 squad of wrathmongers, Albion style.

The majority of the Albion lore that I’ve found had shapeshifty type units. It’s a pretty big part of Celtic mythology as well. The army is already borrowing heavily from the Space Wolf range and aesthetic, so werewolves were an obvious fit. 

I picture these guys as a more feral version of the Wrathmongers, with their flailing weapons replaced by claws and fangs.

Certainly the biggest modelling project to date - the backs had the backpack tab removed, filed down, and an overly muscular back greenstuffed in place. Learned a lot with this, and I think they’re passable.

Ive another box of 5 to do, but these were pretty draining. Still haven’t managed to source Gor axes or marauder horsemen heads, so I’ll either paint the Slaughterpriest above, some command groups for the Bloodreavers, or start on some Cavalry. Not really sure- still in that post-completion glow where starting the next thing isn’t at the top of the to do list.

 

 

[ghislop]

I started knocking out some thunder wolf riding cavalry, but the riders I was using didn’t look right, so I stopped. Wolves are done, just need to work out how I’m doing the riders.

Really didn’t want to waste a Saturday, so I knocked out the only other thing I had assembled on my desk, rather than wait on glue and green stuff to dry.  

Ive been putting this guy off for a while. Mostly because he’s kinda got a giraffe neck if you catch him from the wrong angle. Humans and orc models don’t fit together particularly well... planning to use this as a Slaughterpriest, should I ever actually play a game.

Sourced a small number of gor axes, so marauders are underway again. Really need to sort out some Blood Warriors soon, given that gore pilgrims seems like the only playable battalion.

[Easygrin]

You know space marine heads with a little green stuff hair on them fit the reader body's really good aswell. It's a bit chopping here and there. I usually first glue on the heads next day greenstuff a neck and later add some long hair 

[ghislop]

On 7/28/2018 at 7:24 PM, Easygrin said:

You know space marine heads with a little green stuff hair on them fit the reader body's really good aswell. It's a bit chopping here and there. I usually first glue on the heads next day greenstuff a neck and later add some long hair 

Yeah, I've got a bag full of space wolf heads sitting on my desk. I think I'm going to be using them for the more elite troops, like the Blood Warriors etc. They're a bit on the chunky side, with the neck armour and all. 

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Easygrin]

1 hour ago, ghislop said:

Yeah, I've got a bag full of space wolf heads sitting on my desk. I think I'm going to be using them for the more elite troops, like the Blood Warriors etc. They're a bit on the chunky side, with the neck armour and all. 

Thanks for the suggestion!

It not just the space wolves I find others like the Sternguard for instance to be more suitable sinds there is less to cut away no long hair or other stuff in the way  

[ghislop]

Fortnight worth of holidays has ground production down to a halt for the last little while. Really can’t say enough nice things about Toronto, but I’m happy being home with my little war dollies.

Im using these guys as unit champions, in the case of garrek and the guy with the meat ripper axe, and unit fillers, in the case of the rest. Theoretically I guess I can use them as intendeded, but from all accounts I’ve read, they’re not very good.

[ghislop]

Early wip of my bloodstoker. Needs more green stuff gap filling etc, as well as a paint job, but this is almost good to hit the desk.

5 more kilt guys to paint, to get that unit playable, and then a character for a treat. 

[hammer49]

Great work and models and bases,!!!

[ghislop]

14 hours ago, hammer49 said:

Great work and models and bases,!!!

Thanks. I like to play.

[ghislop]

Having had another week off work, I’ve been able to paint quite a bit this last week.

Pictured below are what will be my Bloodstoker and second Slaughterpriest.

The stoker is inspired by the old Chaos Beastmasters. I’ve got him a pack of wolves to lead, whip ‘encouraging’ canines and humans alike into battle. Wolves will be used as Flesh Hounds, which seem to be pretty sweet given the uptick in magic. This model uses the exalted deathbringer body, the other deathbringer head, a gor champion axe, and the whip from the bloodstoker.

The priest is another nod to Celtic folklore, and the hags. I like the idea of the old lady who lives in a hut in the middle of the swamp, using all kinds of black magic that, conveniently, have the same effect as prayers. This model is just the current necromancer, with a hood sculpted rather than using his more ornate ruff. I think the hood covers the bald patch enough that, combined with his smaller stature, makes him look like he could be a her, and fits the theme.

Ive also finished 10 hounds, and 3 mighty skull crushers, which I’ll show in a later post. Photo background is the polystyrene board I plan on making the display base for the army. I’ve got my eye on winning the prize for best first army.