"Dark Wolves Are Often Found Running With Werewolves..."

"...Or in service to other evil powers such as vampires."

This pair of 28mm metal specimens of Canis lupus were sold by "Warlord Games" as part of their Mythic Americas range, and could be found inside the Nottingham-based company's five-figure Tribal Nations Wolves boxed set. However, as I wanted to use these particular models to represent Dark Wolves (or at least Grey Wolves) in "The Silver Bayonet" by "Osprey Games", I decided to go with a predominantly black palette, as opposed to the much lighter one found on their 'official' packaging.

The two canines were all undercoated in "Citadel" Abaddon Black, enthusiastically dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, and drowned in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then gave each of the animals' legs, belly, throat and maw a few solid brushstrokes of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, shaded these areas with plenty of "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and subsequently dry-brushed them with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - A Napoleonic Austrian Grenadier, Officer and Infantryman

Somewhat disappointingly, this technique didn't quite work out as I had hoped - largely due to the sculpts being disconcertingly soft in detail, especially the fur. Resultantly, I thought my beasts looked more like Alsatian dogs or Doberman than ferocious wolves, so decided to blend the two contrasting areas with more dry-brushes of "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and Heavy Sienna - as well as use this opportunity to greatly reduce the amount of brown colour on show.

In the end I also gave the entire ensemble a generous wash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil in a last, desperate effort to darken down my paints, and carefully 'picked out' their fangs with a combination of White Star by "Two Thin Coats" and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. Finally, I considered whether to dot their eyes with an unholy red - specifically marking them out as Dark Wolves, or stick to them being pure "Citadel" Abaddon Black - as I have done with the other Tribal Nations Wolves I've previously painted.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - Three Napoleonic British Riflemen

As I was somewhat doubtful I'd ever pick up (or debatably find) another box of these now OOP (Out Of Production) miniatures, and actually now may well purchase some of the 'proper' Dark Wolves produced by "North Star Military Figures" in the future, I decided to leave them as they were - and thus let me use them as 'natural' Grey Wolves should I ever be inclined to work on a Mythic Americas project.

With my "Silver Bayonet" itch still not really scratched, I have also spent some hobby time basing and priming a number of 28mm metal Napoleonic figures by "Wargames Foundry". This month I would really like to pigment enough of the range's Austrian models to field a force of (historically-themed) monster hunters, so I have purposely plucked out miniatures from AN007 Hungarian Infantry Command, AN026 German Grenadiers 1805-15 Marching, and AN002 German Infantry Marching to help with that aim. Furthermore, I couldn't resist seeing if I can perhaps 'bulk up' my four-figure British Riflemen unit by adding some more 'recruits' from blister B080 British Riflemen...