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2017/02/18 11:15:40
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
So, I was just thinking how, Even though I like my space wolves, And like wolves, I wish they where more Viking and less Wolf and that made me wonder, Is there any good conversion bits or alternative models out there to make the Space Wolves, Model wise, More Viking but still space marine?
2017/02/18 13:50:25
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I also really like the 30k space wolves armor. It's more segmented with lots of little rivets and runes carved into it. Looks a lot more viking/marine to me.
IMHO the 30k look has nothing about vikings and nothing about SW too, they're regular space marines with a wolf in their shoulder pad, they look like knights rather than vikings.
I've seen some cool blood claws and grey hunters converted using fantasy chaos warriors bodies, they looked like Game of Thrones' Night's Watch.
You can use some horned chaos helmets too.
2017/02/18 14:11:15
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I disagree. They have little nordic knot scroll work and such in the chests. (guy on the left) or super elaborate stuff (guy on the right). Throw on the furs some tooth necklaces/fetishes and such and your golden.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
2017/02/18 18:48:04
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I've been wanting to do this for a while now - so I'm happy to throw out my ideas to someone who thinks similarly. To be honest, SW's aren't Norse so much as they are Anglo-Norse. They essentially combine elements of Brythonic, Anglo-Saxon and Norse elements all in one go. That said, if you're wanting to go down a more Norse route, then here's a few things to possibly consider. I'll spoiler each section for neatness:
Armaments:
Spoiler:
You're gonna want a preponderance of axes. This is one bit of pop-culture that is actually correct on the Norse. Swords were more complicated, expensive, time and material consuming to create - so only the most wealthy or renowned warriors could afford them (Read - your veterans and command units). Iron Ore was also of poor quality and sparse in Scandinavia during those times (That is to say, before industrial mining arrived). In general, aside from the widely used spear, most Norse would use a cheaper axe or a small sword/ long knife similar to the Seax which they had encountered in Britain. As for the shield - pretty much of a similar design to the rest of Western Europe at this time - round, with a central boss, and covered with a variety of simple patterns.
Armour:
Spoiler:
The very first thing you're going to want to avoid is horned helmets like the plague. There is absolutely no historical evidence for horned helmets being a Norse preference, outside of a sparse few ritual helmets with animal protrusions. The vast majority of Norse helmets found have no horns and no mounts for horns. The same goes for 'Thor-esque' winged helmets. It's just total invention by 19th century enthusiasts. In a closed shield wall, nobody wants their eyes put out by their neighbour's horns.
As with swords, Chainmail was also very complicated to produce and used a lot of raw materials - so only the wealthiest or professional warriors would use it. However, you may want to consider replacing some of your SW's furs with a little chainmail (Usually found in CSM kits). In general Norse warriors going Viking would prefer lamellar leather armour, which was more comfortable and lighter on a raid. Lamellar usually consisted of overlapping plates of iron or leather sewn onto a leather coat - in your case, Mk III armour would mimic this quite well or (As Lance845 points out) the FW upgrade kit.
Designs and motifs
- Knotwork.
Spoiler:
Contrary to popular opinion the widely recognised 'Celtic' knotwork is knot wholly Celtic (see what I did there ) and did not originate in those countries such as Scotland or Ireland who consider themselves as 'Celtic' (This is a whole can of worms which I'm not going to open here). In fact, your typically 'Celtic' knotwork originated in my own homeland - Northumbria (In England), combining animal styled ornament, with interlace. This Insular Art reached it's height within Northumbria, and when my ancestors subsequently traded with Ireland and conquered Southern Scotland, this fully realised art was adopted by the peoples there. In essence your modern 'Celtic' knotwork tattoos are a actually a key identifier of an art-form primarily Anglo-Saxon in origin.
What does this mean for Norse themed SW's then? - as Northumbria was the first to be invaded by Norse Viking groups, Anglo-Saxon knotwork did have a return influence on the already existing Norse animal style (Which was less interlaced and relied more on animals gripping each other) , so 'Celtic' Knotwork isn't too out of place for use on 'Viking' minis. In that capacity, I believe many Third-party Celtic bits, would also suit a Viking themed SW. You may also want to look into printing your own transfers if you don't want to have to paint a lot of fiddly knotwork.
- Colours
Spoiler:
You'll want to use lots of silver and bronze, but be more sparse with gold, which wasn't half as common in Northern Europe, and as such didn't feature in Nordic ornamentation as much. Blue would be most appropriate alongside greens as the most commonly available dyes. Reds and yellows were available, but were less common.
Bits:
Spoiler:
I'd recommend Puppetswar as they have a variety of different themed bits (I'm not affiliated with them btw). Here's just some of the stuff I found that may help you:
Helmets - Provided you clip off the wings, they'd be pretty good.
Bare Heads - Good alternative for Norse without ridiculous hair. Conversely, it was the Britons that tended to spike their hair up - not the Norse.
Pauldrons - The segmented sections could better represent the Lamellar I mentioned earlier.
Finally a note on wolves themselves. Unfortunately, if you're wanting to tone down the Wolf aspect, it's not going to be so easy. Wolves played a large part in Germanic mythology and the 'Wolf Warriors' (Similar to Berserkers) were said to have been under the guidance of Odin - so really wolf furs and wolf totems were pretty common in Norse ornamentation.
I wall of text I know, but I hope these suggestions will prove informative when you're searching for bits that you hope will look 'Viking'.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/02/18 19:42:59
And you'll need to decide what to do re horned helmets - they're historically inaccurate, but nevertheless part of what many people think of as 'the viking look'. Within 40K, they have other associations too, appearing in Chaos here and there (which of course can make modelling them easier ).
2017/02/18 20:33:13
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I'd consider simply starting with non-Space Wolf models. Add stuff to your liking rather than going backwards from the Space Wolf stuff (add shoulder pads, beardy heads, axes etc.)
2017/02/18 22:39:31
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
Nice big bossin middle. Paint them with a distinct design to represent there lord. Each lords soldier's bore the loyalties visibly in battle.
Nordic design was pretty intricate so you still can have details.
Also if Vikings serrid is acurate... Depending.
Higher ranks sometimes where tattoed and some bore war paint in battle to honour certain gods.
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2017/02/19 04:54:31
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
My question to the OP is what exactly about the normal Space Wolf Marine model is too much wolf and not enough viking? The basic model really isn't wolfy at all. Just use the helmeted heads, and just don't add on or clip off the animal tails or wolf pelt cloaks. However having said that, wearing animal skins was very much part of all ancient cultures. The only other decoration on them are rune stones and jems which don't say wolf to me in any way or shape.
Now I agree that adding in more axes than swords and maybe use circular shields in place of models that normally wield storm shields would help in caring over some of the more viking feel.
See pics of my Orks, Tau, Emperor's Children, Necrons, Space Wolves, and Dark Eldar here:
2017/02/19 11:09:47
Subject: Re:Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I never build power armoured models (except maybe characters) from the SW sprue alone. I always mix in other kits like vanilla or chaos marines.
But I think the biggest "Wolf" problem are their best units: TWC and wulfen. Everything else doesn't really overshadow the Viking aspect as they also used fur. Maybe paint some of it brown to represent bear pelts.
2017/02/21 23:39:21
Subject: Conversion bits to make Space Wolves more Viking and less Wolf?
I'm currently rebuilding my SW army after leaving the game and was in the same boat: when I stopped playing the Space Wolves were just regular SMs with some extra wolf bits from the expansion sprue, now every single one is a Wolf Marine wearing Wolf pelts over his Wolf breastplate using Wolf swords with his Wolf bolter riding a wolf talking about wolves as wolves howl in the distance. And on top of that, damn near every head is fething terrible!
One of the main things I did is what Ragnar69 said: mix in vanilla SM kits. I picked up some SW kits, some regular tactical marines and also some of the Betrayal at Calth 30K marines off ebay (they're perfectly compatible, and about $25 to $30 a squad), you could use the Burning of Prospero marines, but I dislike that set of power armor. That not only lets you mix in non-SW legs and chests but also tones down the wolf iconograghy on the weapons as well. I dislike the change to the rounded lips on the shoulder pads, so I'm only using regular tactical pads, that also helps bring them more in line
Finally, I bits ordered a bunch of the resin Feral heads from Spellcrow, they have a few different sets that look properly space wolfy, though they weren't cheap. Another option is to use heads from the Wargames Factory Viking Huscarls box set, they're good quality but just a tiny bit small, good if you like the pinhead marine look.
I AM fielding wulfen and thunderwolf cav because you basically have to if you want to have a decent army, but the riders follow the same mix-in w/ vanilla SMs stuff and the wulfen I bitz-ordered just the heads, arms and weapons off Ebay and put them on regular SM legs/torso/powerpacks . Looks more like the older metal 13th Company wulfen that way since the actual plastic wulfen are both godawful AND super expensive
) and did not originate in those countries such as Scotland or Ireland who consider themselves as 'Celtic' (This is a whole can of worms which I'm not going to open here). In fact, your typically 'Celtic' knotwork originated in my own homeland - Northumbria (In England), combining animal styled ornament, with interlace. This Insular Art reached it's height within Northumbria, and when my ancestors subsequently traded with Ireland and conquered Southern Scotland, this fully realised art was adopted by the peoples there. In essence your modern 'Celtic' knotwork tattoos are a actually a key identifier of an art-form primarily Anglo-Saxon in origin.
).
