NagoyaHammer.com

Dang. The demo event in Nagoya sounds rather rad, and I'd love to get some hands-on time with the wolves. Too bad it's a bit out of my way and I will already have splurged to go to Tokyo earlier that weekend.
I'd definitely like to try and come to one of the hubs for a demo... I'll see what me and the other Shigaboys can work out in the future.

@MiJ in regards to my fluff/modeling. I'm currently reading through the SW Codex (pirated pdf in the meantime! Shhhh...) and using it to make some informed tweaks to the larger chapter theme I already have floating in my head. I'm writing it now. Basically, they were a Fenrisian tribe in Northern Asaheim that were nomadic and rare, and would raid other tribes and eat the slain, leaving only their bones as a warning to survivors. They became something of a bogeyman tale. When Russ arrived and tried to assimilate them, they played guerillas in the mist (harhar, get it?) long enough to cause a great deal of trouble. Russ finally tracked their leader down, a bloodthirsty barbarian chieftan who called himself the Wendigo and showed signs of Daemonic influence that held his tribe in thrall. Russ defeated the Wendigo in single combat and the hunger subsided in the tribe as their former leader bled out in the snow and they pledged fealty to a new lord. By the time the Primarch was reunited with ths Emperor and the Space Wolves were founded, the remnants of the Wendigo tribe had already earned a name for themselves within the halls of Russ. But not all notoriety is good. Many other Fenrisians accused them of being prone to strange appetites and fits of rage. Nevertheless, they were among the first of the Sons of Russ, though their reaction to the Trials were somewhat frightening. Whereas most new recruits would fight the transformation into the hideous Wulfen with great speed, recruits from the Wendigo tribe would succumb to the bloodlust and even butcher the other Wulfen of the wastes and relish their animal forms. By the time they did stabilize (and many of them did) the implantation of the Omophagea organ (traditionally an oversight in other Space Marines that allows them to retain the memories and wits of the owners of flesh they eat) caused serious problems. Namely, it was too reactive, and in times of battle would recreate the hunger the ancestors of the tribe once experienced. The urge is sometimes so great that young bloodclaws have been known to pause in battle to devour Tyranid corpses, heedless of the acid that courses through the tainted xeno blood. The spattered red markings on the traditional Bone and Crimson Wendigo armor is sometimes mistaken for paint, though it is usually the result of a famished tribe member forgetting to remove his helmet first.
The horrific habits of the Wendigo Descendants became easier to control once Leman Russ decided to give them their own sub-chapter, mainly as a compromise with the other pack leaders who found their flesheating brothers in arms a bit off-putting. One caveat was that they extend similar limits on cannibalism as were afforded to their own tribe to all members of the Space Wolves - and after a few notable mishaps - to other warriors of the Imperium. Were the Ordo Hereticus ever to find out about the proclivities of the Wendigos,
the Descendants would surely be purged, maybe even as Daemons, but the Space Wolves recognize a spark of animalistic kinship in their berzerk brethren.
The Wendigos do not worship the Emperor in the same manner as other Marines, but rather see him as a main God in their massive pantheon of the hunt. As such, they also gain some of their powers by different methods. Their Rune Priests, known as Manitou, are ordinary infantry who have eaten the flesh of a Daemon or Psyker flesh while in battle and have survived the direct connection to the warp and the tumult of ingesting raw chaos. They gain a level of tremendous clarity and become the rational spiritual leaders of their tribe, gaining Psyk manifestations of their home planet to boot. They use the patterns of falling drop pods like scrying bones to predict the outcome of battle.
They are revered only slightly more than the Ithaqua (Wolf Priests), who are the rare tacticians with enough masterybover the great hunger to pass it on other tribe members, as well as act as intermediaries with the greater Imperium.

Paint sceme is Bleached Bone with Red Gore pauldrons, gloves, crests, boots, and possibly shoulder pads.

@dylly: all sounds fine to me. tbh, I tend to skimp on the backstory and focus more on how the fluff affects the look of the models. Oftentimes, it actually works backwards for me (e.g. when thinking about my eldar, i first sat down for a couple of weeks and pondered colour schemes. After settling on blue-grey/dark grey/red details I then thunked a bit more about how I could tie those colours into some kind of coherent fluff. I ended up with a craftworld that prizes negotiation, cunning, and general being-smarter-than-everybody-else over martial prowess. Kinda anti-Biel-Tan. Their logo became a mountain behind clouds, sometimes with a volcanic glow. This represents the solidity and strength of the moutain behind the nebulous airy-fairyness of the clouds. It also tied in nicely with the blue-grey/dark grey colourscheme. On top of that, the red happily represents the glow at the heart of the mountain i.e. the avatar. So, I ended up with a craftworld that has a colour scheme that represents their somewhat shifty negotiation tendencies, but backed up by the raw strength of their military. i.e. they may look like pansies, but just see what happens when you tick them off...)

So, aye. I think bleached bone with red trim would be fine. Red gore is a fairly dark red, isnt it? Id recommend you paint the red bits with a dark brown first (PP umbral umber is ace for this) and then paint over it with red gore, with blood red highlights. Thatll give you a nice dark, deep, bloody red. The brown undertone will also tie it in with the bleached bone. On which note: it might even be worth your while undercoating the whole mini in umbral umber, as the bleached bone should sit nicely over that, too. Highlight up to white. The big question is: What's your tertiary colour. i.e. the one for pouches, knick knacks and general decoration? You could either go opposites, with a kinda light sky blue (blue grey?), or you could keep everything warm and use a kinda orangey colour. Either would be ok for hair, too, and I suspect therell be a lot of that going around

Howdy folks,

Dyllybones is currently engaged in making his own chapter of not-Space Wolves, I did my own Eldar Craftworld (Vaulen Kaithe Tyr'she, for those who care ) and my Kabal of the Gimpy Knee will soon be seeing gaming tables all over...well. Mie and Aichi, at least.

So, rather than have other threads get all clogged up with fluff, so to speak, I decided to move all the "here's my background for my little plastic men" chat over here.

Good call on that one, MiJ. I didn't want to hijack the welcome thread but got a bit carried away in mu excitement.
I have a similar "Homebrew and Fluff" thread that I co-created and curate over on the Privateer Press forums, so this sort of place sounds like a fun way to get those creative juices (eew) flowing.
More on the Wendigo Descendants as they develop.

@MiJ The fluff informs the modeling thusly:
I will do some basic drybrush blood spatters on the arma of the Blood Claw troops to make them really live up to their names. If I feel strong enough with my painting ability, I might freehand warpaint on their faces and blood around the facial grills of those with helmets.
Grey Hunters (known as Maneaters) will maintain a relatively subdued scheme.
Scouts (known as Skinwalkers) will maybe get minor totemic additions.
The Drop Pods (called Skybones), I'm considering carving some long-fanged wolf skulls out of plasticard, and will use them as outer paneling. When the pods slam planetside, the "fangs" anchor into the crust beneath and provide a steady platform for disembarkment.
Rune Priests (Manitou) and Wolf Priests (Ithaqua) will wear wolf skull helms (full, in the case of Ithaqua) bedecked with moose/elk antlers (my first greenstuff conversions!).

I love the Idea add Braves and Shamans to the mix as well. All very cool. North American Sace Wolves is a theam I have really loved and I hope you pull it off..

@dylly: all that sounds fine and dandy. itd be worth doing a mock-up of what you actually intend to do, though. Its very important for a model (or army) to have a visual impact. If it needs to be verbally explained, its not doing its job right. You need to have a "look" for the army that is immediately identifiable as "Wendigo", without having to tell people what theyre supposed to be.

So, before you get all excited about your wondrous plans for funky conversions and whatnot (I say this cos I know I tend to get carried away in the planning stages) actually sit down with some green stuff and a coupla basic marines. Convert them as much as you are capable of doing. Paint em, and then sit back and look at em and think "right. Is this how I want the entire rest of my army to look?"

if yes, then carry on. If no, then its best to have a re-think before you get too deeply involved in the other stuff.

Thats what Ive found, anyway. Test models - its the way forward.

I think that Fluff helps to generate your creativity so I say fluff up as much as you can before the models are in your hand then get to work with conversions... if you need help getting started I have green stuff and some spare marine parts... for the look of the models it never hurts to do a bit of research Google is a good way do find tribal art work... there is a heap of stuff out there that will help you generate ideas and take the models and fluf in the right direction.