Oldhammer Goblin Wolf Riders

I posted recently showing three wolves, now here are the riders.

MM32/2(b), MM34/2 (b) and MM32/1 (a)

A Change of Plan 

After preparing these three Marauder goblins I decided to keep these for the matching Marauder wolves. I have some of the Kev Adams Citadel goblins, so I chose my favourite to go on the Citadel wolf, 0706/14 Gaglob 2.

Painting the Goblins 

I gave each goblin a slightly different skin colour. There was no attempt at uniform colours for clothing and equipment. 

I used my standard orc method of base coat, extreme highlights and wash, but given that I'm only painting a few of these I gave them extra highlights after the wash and tried to give them better detailing.

The three Marauder goblins, with Gaglob 2 on the right*

The Shields

All the goblins have a stud to hold a plastic shield. Unlike most of Citadel's plastic shields, where the stud fits through a hole and acts as the shield boss, the Marauder shields have a recess rather than a hole and the stud is a lot shallower. The Marauder shields all have moulded detail. I still have some of these, so it seems appropriate to use them. I was tempted to use the crescent shields with a wolf on them, but in the end I chose a small round shield with wicker texture and a small 'Evil Sun' boss.

Blurry shields*

So there they are, three lovely old school goblin wolf riders. You may notice that I've painted the wolves' eyes in yellow since their last post.

I'm pleased with how they've come out, and I'll get the remaining wolves (two Marauder ones) painted soon.  I have one painted rider already, and a couple more unpainted, one of which is missing a hand, so may become a standard bearer.

I'm also pretty pleased with the photography.  Again just using my phone, but this time experimenting with the Portrait setting and the Food filter, both of which seem to accentuate the warmer tones.

This goblin appears to have picked his shield up upside down!

At this point I would usually remark that in fact, this is more than I ever actually managed to properly complete back when I originally collected them, but not this time. I had a unit of ten Goblin Wolf Riders back then, although they were Citadel rather than Marauder. I remember being very pleased with them, though they never did very well on the battlefield. They did suffer from varnish misting; repeated applications of newer varnish never quite corrected it. 

Apart from Warhammer, they also saw action in a 3E D&D adventure where the characters had to defend a hamlet from marauding goblinoids and an Oni. Leave a comment if you remember High Verge.

* Yes, blurry pictures.  Despite the attempts at better photography, these are just WiP snapshots, and I actually can't tell how out of focus they are until I see them on my PC screen, by which time i've moved on in the painting process.

Oldhammer Wolves

Evil Cavalry 

As I continue to clear through the piles of old minis, I'm putting to one side anything that I think will fit my Oldhammer project.

I recently found these three wolves, along with a handful of goblin wolf riders, so I decided that a unit of three (to be later expanded to six) would be a great addition to Team Evil.

The models are two Marauder Miniatures wolves, MM32 (W1) and MM34 (W1) and one Citadel wolf 4787/9 wolf 1

What Colour is a Wolf?

I've done some googling, and miniature painters seem to choose either greys or browns for wolves. A bit more research into real wolves showed me far more variation than I thought possible. 

Still, the choice is largely greys or browns, with further choice in lighter or darker colours (bellies tend to be light, and the top side, especially the spine is dark). 

In the end, I decided not to try to copy any particular wolf, but make up my own wolfy colours.

Now I have painted wolves before, you can see my 10mm wargs here and here. I also painted some of the Marauder wolves years ago to use in roleplaying (I can't remember how long ago, but it was third edition D&D). I still have one of these for reference.

Painted MM32 (W2) looking a bit the worse for wear

In the end I decided to go for greys. I think this will contrast well with the green skin of the goblins and the browns and tans of much of the equipment. Besides, if I ever do any orc boar riders, they will be browns.

There was one small problem, one of the wolves has lost it's slotta tab, but careful drilling and pinning allowed me to have a wire to attach it to a base (I'm using slotta bases as a temporary measure).

Tab-less MM 34 (W1)

Three Painted Wolves 

The wolves were primed with Vallejo Surface Primer, then a base coat of Vallejo Game Color Wolf Gray on the underbelly, legs and flanks. 

Then I overbrushed VGC Fortress Gray moving up the flanks, leaving plenty of the Wolf Grey showing.

Then a smaller area of the flanks and the top side was painted in VGC Cold Gray.

Finally the very top, from the forehead down to the tip of the tail was painted in Vallejo Extra Opaque Charcoal Gray. 

The detailing was pretty simple; claws and fangs were VGC Khaki, highlighted in Bonewhite, then Off White. The edges of the ears were painted in Wolf Gray. Gums were Charcoal Gray with a bit of black mixed in, the snout was the same darkened Charcoal Gray. Pads on the paws were VGC Dwarf Flesh. I finished by running a bit of black wash along the spine.

I'm delighted with how these wolves have turned out. I've already stripped the paint off the previously painted model, and found another unpainted Marauder wolf to add to the pack.

The Riders 

The goblins were pretty straightforward, but I'll give them their own post, including the completed wolf riders.