Welcome to the very first post that starts to catalog my entire collection of painted and based Warhammer 40,000 miniatures.
I need to motivate myself to paint more and this is the way to do it! I have always wanted a grand army of Warhammer 40,000 miniatures and I have so much unpainted and unbuilt miniatures in my (this is a legit term used in the community) "pile of shame".
So first up let us clarify that I want to build an army that counts as the most models and the most points that the army can be, though sometimes a model can count as more than one thing!
Here is one of those situations and we shall count it as a maximum points value for the sake of totalling.
The Model
A Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnought armed with an Assault Cannon and embellished with all manner of bling. This is a standard Space Marine Dreadnought that I modded the hell out of.
More bling. This Dreadnought is also armed with a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon OR Greatclaw - a Space Wolf only Dreadnought weapon.
Beneath its heavy tread is a flattened Tyranid Genestealer. This is something that I added in myself. The Space Marine Dreadnoughts of this time came with a decorated basing, which is why this base was done easily.
More details showing the crushed Genestealer and blood oozing out of it!
I also won this trophy for best painted vehicle at an event with this model!
The Legend of Vorax the Eternal!
During the 4th and 5th Edition Epoch, this model was used as a Space Wolf Dreadnought that I named Vorax the Eternal.
Vorax was notoriously hard to kill and slew many enemies. I started keeping a verbal account of how many enemy HQ leaders Vorax had slain in single combat, much as a Space Wolf skald would do.
The Saga of Vorax's many kills grew to the point that I had to write them down, but I had another idea: I began marking the kills off on Vorax's body. There would be red marks on his body for Chaos HQs, Dark purple for Dark Eldar, Blue for Space Marines, light green for Tyranids and so on.
It soon became a running gag for me in tournaments that I did not go into the tournament to win the event, I went to kill HQs with Vorax and add to his Saga!
To me, the game that I played and invested so much time into had to be fun above all else and this was a definite fun way to do it!
I painted over these markings when his rules significantly changed, intent on starting the tally from scratch again.
The current rules for Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnoughts
Here are the stats and rules regarding this model from https://wahapedia.ru/.
Dreadnoughts have Wounds and Toughness now, making it... different. This Dreadnought is armed with an Assault Cannon. I could count him as wielding a Dreadnought CCW or a Great Wolf Claw.
The Dread CCW doubles Strength to S12, has an Armor Piercing of -3 and deals 3 Damage per successful wound roll.
The Great Wolf Claw gives +S4 for a total of S10, AP -2 and also deals 3 Damage. It also re-rolls to wound. it is difficult to decide which is better. I suppose the claw would be better against most medium infantry and the fist would be better for bigger or heavier armored targets.
I underlined the weapons I am using, you can see plenty options are available.
The Venerable Dreadnought also has the Duty Eternal ability that reduces the incoming Damage of attacks to a minimum of 1 as well as Unyielding Ancient which gives it a 6+ save against taking damage. It is not a Feel No Pain, which is sometimes negated due to certain rules. It is just a flat rill a 6 and do not lose the wound.
Bjorn the Fell Handed
Bjorn the Fell Handed is a special character or named character. This means that he is unique and generally comes with a special model as well as special rules.
In the lore, Bjorn the Fell Handed is a 10,000 year old Dreadnought, the eldest among all Dreadnoughts. I will write a more in-depth article about Bjorn's lore another time.
Meanwhile there is some odd things about this unique character. He is a Dreadnought and can be fielded with a variety of ranged weapons depending on your choice.
Here are his stats:
As we can see, Bjorn is tougher, stronger and has even better skills than a Venerable Dreadnought... and a Venerable Dreadnought is an old an honoured Dreadnought. Therefore this is the holdest and most Venerated Dreadnought.
He basically has the same ability as a commander as a Space Marine Captain.
While a Dreadnought and even a Venerable Dreadnought are Elite choices, Bjorn is an HQ and can lead your whole army!
Here is the model they sell on the GW Website for Bjorn, but that same model could just be any Venerable Dreadnought. Over the years, people have made their own Bjorn the Fell handed. As long as he looks wolfy and special, he will do!
The only thing I will have to change on this model is the underslung Storm Bolter on the Claw arm and give him a Heavy Flamer!
The tally would be as follows:
As an Elite Choice:
Venerable Dreadnought - 135pts.
As an HQ choice:
Bjorn the Fell Handed - 155pts
We shall keep painting and tallying. Until I have another model for him, I will regard this model as Bjorn the Fell Handed!
Grand Total - 155pts
Space Wolves - 155pts
HQ - 155pts
- Bjorn the Fell Handed - 155pts
Until next time!