The Blackpelts, Blade Guard to Lord Ragnar Blackmane

The Blackpelts, Blade Guard to Lord Ragnar Blackmane

One of the coolest new Primaris units to be released came with the Indomitus boxed set, in conjunction with the release of the 9th Edition of 40k. The Bladeguard were fan-favorite for many hobbyists. They were fantastically sculpted models, but also were equipped to perform well on the tabletop. The only real issue for Space Wolves players was that their sculpts were overly 'gothic' and would require a lot of modification to make them appropriately 'nordic.' Thankfully, some modelers are up to the task of making the changes necessary for them to look like an appropriate Space Wolves unit.

The Blackpelts, personal Blade Guard to Ragnar Blackmane, show what a talented artist can do to make them fit into a Space Wolves collection perfectly. In addition to the standard Bladeguard kit, the models below have all been fitted with custom helmets from Liber Daemonica's 'Skald' series of bits, backpacks from the Ragnar Blackmane model, Shields from the Forgeworld Grey Slayers upgrade pack, the banner from the Forgeworld Sons of Horus Legion Command set, and handmade swords cut from plastic sprue.

The GDF stat-block at the bottom shows what the unit looks like in the game using the Army Forge army list builder. However, this version of a Blade Guard is quite a bit weaker, defensively, than what 40k players are used to from a unit like this. Thankfully, in GDF players are free to customize units using the points calculator that can be accessed with the $5 monthly Patreon subscription, and another player has already figured out the appropriate points for an 'enhanced' Blade Guard unit that has Tough 3 (i.e. 3 Wounds, rather than just 1), and an extra melee Attack. The enhanced version of this unit costs about twice as much as the default version, but I think it'll be well worth it to get a beefier version that better fits the narrative for Ragnar Blackmane's personal bodyguard.

In-game, the plan is to attach Ragnar Blackmane to The Blackpelts, and have them ride in an Impulsor Anti-Grav APC transport.