Weekly Waffle #434 – The Hunter’s Mark
5th September 2026
The Mojo
For this week’s weekly waffle I have yet more updates for you on the space wolves kill team. I’ve been making steady progress and it’s in general it’s been a good week. We had a bank holiday here in the UK on the Monday so only four working days. Although it does feel a bit like work are trying get same volume of work out of me over a shorter period. But all in all, it’s not been too bad.
Hobby time has felt relaxed because I feel like I have a handle on how to paint these guys now, so it’s been fun. Although I have been coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas for more minis. Scoping out a whole 13th Company full of ideas, but I’m not going to get too carried away because I know something new and shiny will end up coming round the corner and distracting me.
Now then it’s my wedding anniversary this weekend and then we are both off work for two week’s. So I’m going to put in one of those scheduled breaks and won’t have an update for the next two weekends. It doesn’t mean I won’t get any hobby time in but it frees me up from doing updates. Which in turn I will fill up with going out for some nice food and a few drinks.
But I do have some updates for you this week.
On The Work Bench
Onto the Hunter this week, next one down for the Wolf Scouts after Rune Priest Skjald a couple of weeks back. Nothing’s changed on the painting side, same dark scheme, same pops of red and yellow, same basing recipe with the cork and the AK snow that’s been carrying this squad’s look since the Fenrisian Wolf started it all off. If you’ve read any of the last few entries you could probably paint this lad from memory at this point. Consistency’s still the name of the game.
What I did want to talk about this week, though, is something a bit different, transfers. Specifically the little water slide decals that came in the box, because I’ve historically been rubbish with these things. My track record with transfers is basically a highlight reel of silvering, cracking, and decals that sit on the model like a sticker rather than actually looking painted on. So this week I made a proper effort to do it right rather than just bodging it and hoping nobody looks too closely.
The knee pads seemed like the obvious test, partly because they’re a decent size to work with and partly because they’re exactly the kind of tightly curved surface that normally makes transfers a nightmare. Cut the transfer close to the design, dunked it, slid it into place with a wet brush, then it was Micro Set underneath to help it grip and settle, followed by Micro Sol on top once it was roughly where I wanted it. That’s the bit that actually does the work, Micro Sol softens the decal film right down until it’s borderline gloopy, and from there it’s just a case of leaving it alone and being patient. Prod it with a soft brush too early and you’ll just wreck it. Leave it be, maybe go back in with a bit more Micro Sol if it’s not quite conforming, and it genuinely will settle down into the shape of the pad rather than bridging over the curve like a tiny plastic dome.
Once it was fully dry I went over the whole area with a coat of varnish, and that’s honestly the step that sold it for me. The varnish knocks back the sheen difference between the transfer film and the paint around it, and between that and the decal actually sitting flush against the curve rather than sat on top of it, the edges basically disappear. From a normal viewing distance you’d struggle to tell it’s a transfer at all rather than freehand or a printed detail. I’m chuffed with it, and honestly a bit annoyed at myself for not bothering to do it properly years ago.
But what do you guys think? And if you do like it you can check more of my Space Wolves over in the Gallery Section.
(Gallery here)
Tactical deep dive
If the Wolf Scouts have a specialist in every role, the Hunter is what’s left when you strip all the specialism away and just ask “who’s good at killing things.” No fancy mines, no psychic tricks, no healing balms, just a warrior who’s spent so long stalking prey through Fenris’s worst weather that the elements themselves seem to move with him.
The Lore Bit
Hunters are the pack’s obsessives, Wolf Scouts who are never quite at ease unless they’re mid-stalk. The stories told about them lean into that relentlessness, targets who think they’ve put real distance between themselves and their pursuer, only to catch another glimpse of a storm-wreathed shape still pacing them, unbothered by how far or how fast they’ve run. When a Hunter finally closes in, it’s framed less like a soldier making an assault and more like the weather itself arriving to collect a debt.
The Stat Line
The Hunter runs the now-familiar Wolf Scout chassis: APL 3, Move 7″, Save 3+, Wounds 13. No surprises there, and no gimmicks in his kit either, just a plasma pistol and a combat blade, wielded by someone who knows exactly what to do with both.
Plasma pistol (standard): Atk 4, Hit 3+, Dmg 3/5, Range 8″, Piercing 1
Plasma pistol (supercharge): Atk 4, Hit 3+, Dmg 4/5, Range 8″, Hot, Lethal 5+, Piercing 1
Combat blade: Atk 5, Hit 3+, Dmg 4/5
(As always, treat exact numbers as a snapshot, always double-check current points and rules against the app or your box’s dossier before you build a list around them, as GW does love a mid-edition tweak.)
Fierce Temperament
The Hunter’s one and only special rule is refreshingly simple compared to some of his squad mates: Fierce Temperament gives his weapons the Severe weapon rule whenever he’s within your Storm. That applies across the board, pistol and blade alike, so whether he’s plugging away at range or has closed in for the kill, standing inside that 6″ bubble turns every successful hit into something considerably more likely to end the fight there and then.
It’s not flashy, but it doesn’t need to be. Stack that with the wider Wolf Scout faction rules, Hunting Astartes letting him take two Shoot or two Fight actions in an activation, Tempestuous Wrath handing him Balanced melee weapons while he’s in or was recently in the Storm, and Storm’s Bite knocking a point off any enemy he’s fighting in melee, and you’ve got an operative who doesn’t need a unique gimmick because the squad’s shared toolkit already does plenty of the heavy lifting for him.
There’s also a quirk worth knowing when you’re building your list in the first place: the Hunter is the only operative on the Wolf Scout roster you’re allowed to take more than one of. Every other named operative is a strict one-per-list pick, but nothing stops you fielding a pair of Hunters if that’s the game plan you fancy.
Tactics Corner
Treat the Hunter as your Storm’s straightforward payoff, the operative who most directly benefits from just standing in the right six inches of table. He doesn’t need line of sight tricks or clever positioning gimmicks, he needs to be inside the Storm when the dice start rolling, and Severe does the rest. Double-shooting with the plasma pistol under Hunting Astartes is a genuinely scary threat against anything that’s stood still too long, and because he’s carrying a pistol rather than a rifle, he’s just as happy walking into melee range and finishing the job with the combat blade instead.
If you do go down the twin-Hunter route, lean into the redundancy. Two operatives both benefiting from the same Fierce Temperament and Storm-based faction rules means your opponent can’t simply remove “the scary one” and call the threat neutralised, there’s another one right behind it doing exactly the same job.
The Verdict
The Hunter isn’t the operative who wins you the game with a clever combo, he’s the one who wins it by reliably doing what a Space Wolf does best whenever the Storm’s overhead. Simple, dependable, and properly nasty once Severe kicks in.
Have you run the Hunter solo, or gone all in and fielded a pair of them? Let us know in the comments below.
The Wrap Up
That’s the Hunter marked off the list, and the transfers experiment counted as a genuine win, so a good week all round on the hobby front. Not sure who’s up next for the squad, but I’m enjoying working through them so I’m all lined up to crack on with them. As I mentioned in the Mojo I’m going to have a break for a couple of week’s but will be back on 26th September with more updates when normal service returns. Until then, have a great week and I’ll see you all back here next Saturday.
