10mm LotR Wargs Speedpainted

For Friday's game I wanted some more Wargs. I had the minis unpainted, but my 500pt army only needed one company, so that's all I had finished. 

I also rather liked the grey/black colour scheme I used in the latest batch of Warg Riders, so I decided to go for something like that for future Wargs.

But I only had a few evenings to get them done. I wondered if Speedpaints might be the answer?

I used the Warg Chieftain as a test model, and the results were sufficiently encouraging that I finished all thirteen models.

The Wargs were given an undercoat of Gray Vallejo Surface Primer, then I used Army Painter Speedpaint Gravelord Grey on the belly, legs, flanks etc.

Once this had dried I used APS Grim Black on the back, upper flanks and top of the muzzle.  

This was close to what I want, but I went over with another coat of Grim Black, This time just along the spine and muzzle. 

This gave a bit too dark a result (the Speedpaints do sometimes intensify in shade as they dry) so I gave a very light drybrush of Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal over the back, ears and muzzle.

I finished off by dotting in red for the eyes and a touch of white for any teeth that show, but they looked a little 'flat' still.  My son suggested a touch of light grey on the tips of the ears, and that seems to finish them off nicely.

Basing etc. was as normal, but I didn't want to risk suing my normal coat of gloss painted on as I feared it would reactivate the Speedpaints.  A light spray of varnish sealed the paint, allowing me to finish off normally.  In fact, if you look closely at the account of the game, you'll see that I didn't quite finish the basing; this took a couple of short sessions over the following days. 

These may not be my best work, but they are plenty good enough for a quick paint job.  I realise that I have one company of mostly brown wargs, and three of dark grey/black.  Eventually I'll do another three companies of the brown, and one of the dark, but they'll do for now.  Perhaps Isengard uses slightly different colour wargs to Mordor?  Anyway, I think they fit in well with the rest of the army.  

I'm not sure how well Speedpaints would work on most of the other minis in this army: besides, I have my tried and tested method for the orcs and warg riders and I am pleased with the results.  I may just try the Speedpainting some Mordor Trolls though, I have a few more of those I could do with getting on the battlefield to deal with those pesky Def 5+ troops.