Introducing Katya Volkova!

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine in Spokane and I started discussing how cool it would be to have a Widowmaker warcaster. I doubt it ever happens (as PP has already released Captain Kara Sloan), but I worked to make a custom warcaster, named Katya Volkova, the Winter Wolf. Two-plus years have passed, and PP comes out with Company of Iron - which is actually awesome for me! I can finally put (a version of) Katya on the table! After much deliberation, I present the Winter Wolf, still a journeyman warcaster but rapidly progressing.

Katya's Hunting Wolves
Kovnik Katya Volkova (Arcane Tempest Rifleman)
- Katya served in the Widowmakers, showing an amazing calmness under the strain of battle and a keen eye in selecting, and eliminating, her targets. However, midway through her term of service, the battle she was in took a turn for the worse, and her unit was wiped out. In a desperate attempt to survive the 'jack-marshalled Hunters attacking from the Cygnaran's flanks, she took command of several Destroyers. She used them to decimate and destroy the light 'jacks, even as she sniped their controllers. She has recently graduated her warcaster initiation, and is now taking on more dangerous, and more critical, missions - all while increasing her warcaster powers.

Volka (Hunter)
- Volka is the spoils taken during Katya's first mission as a journeyman warcaster. Tasked with a search and destroy mission by Irusk, Katya ended up in a duel with a Cygnar journeyman warcaster controlling a pair of Hunters. Impressed with these light warjacks ever since the battle that revealed her warcaster talents, she was determined to capture one. After killing the journeyman (and one of the Hunters, unfortunately), Katya brought home one of these 2.5m constructions. After months of mind-breaking effort, she succeeded in breaking the Cygnar cortex protections, and installed her own. Though Volka does not fully trust her yet, she has gained its loyalty - and his gun.

The Hunting Wolves (min Long Gunner Infantry)
- The Hunting Wolves are a small unit of elite Winterguard Riflemen, so skilled with their weapons they can maintain a high rate of fire while still accurately hitting their targets. Directly recruited by Katya to assist her on her missions, they excel at stealth, sabotage, and killing from afar.

Yes, I am using a Cygnar list to play a Khador Company of Iron, but it's what allows me to take Volka - which is one of the defining characteristics of Katya! By using an Arcane Tempest Rifleman, I can mimic her starting out as a warcaster (spells are Snipe and Ward Breaker, with Deadly Shot a call back to her days as a Widowmaker), as well as the abilities lining up nicely with her background as an elite sniper. With Volka being 'jack-marshalled rather than bonded, this shows her right at the beginning of her time with it, with the cortex locks just broken and it still distrustful of her, rather than years (presumably) down the road when they work as a well-oiled pair of warcaster and 'jack.

Stay tuned as I continue to flesh out this group of intrepid serving Queen and country!.