Varghulf

Well, here's my first proper miniature based post, but first a little context for this model.

I've been collecting and playing Warhammer for something like 18 years, since 3rd Edition. the first army I ever collected was undead, the wonderful skeleton army box set setting me up wonderfully.

My current undead are vampire counts, the catapults, chariots and mummys long consigned to live at my parents (and sometimes used by my brother). My army has seen several evolutions since the first 'warhammer armies' book and with the latest incarnation inventing entirely new troop types I have been looking for new models.

I've been faithful to Games Workshop for a very long time, but just recently some of the miniatures haven't been what I was hoping for. With the internet as a search tool its often possible to find alternative figures - not always better but worth looking.

For the Varghulf I really don't like GW's bat thing. I let my mind wander a bit and considered what I would want from a scary feral vampire and decided to go the were wolf route. There's a lot of bad werewolf figures out there as well as some unexpected ones. You'll find the excellent miniature I chose here, you may have to look around to find one of your own, but worth it I think.

This is my Varghulf painted (fresh!). My pictures are getting better, but my lighting and backgrounds need work :)

I did base the paint scheme largely on the model on the site where I found this beauty. Given it was sculpted and painted by Tim Prow, ex-GW heavy metal, it was a tall order to match his work, especially (with hindsight) starting on a black undercoat.

I worked outside in, starting with the fur and flesh, then the muscle and finally the bone.

The fur and flesh started out in Adeptus Battlegrey - I am really fond of the new foundation paints. The fur I wetbrushed to leave lots of black in the recesses. The skin was almost a complete base coat. Both were highlighted with progressive mixes of Fortress Grey. The fur has in places a final 'highlight' of brown, I used Horseflesh from the Coat'd Arms range, but Scorched Brown or Dark Flesh from GW would do as well I suspect. This final browning made a huge difference to how effective the model looked, it was closely looking at Tim's paint job and some real wolf images that convinced me to try it.

The muscle, innards and tongue were base coated with Mechrite red, highlighted with blood red, washed with a lovely new Baal red wash and then highlighted once more with blood red.

The bone is an old method first taught to me when I worked in GW by a customer called Tom (in case you see this, thanks!). Starting with Vermin Brown and leaving black in the deepest recesses. In retrospect I might have gone over the black at this stage without losing much impact, something to try on my next boney character. Next a fairly complete coat of Bubonic Brown. After that good old Bleached Bone finishing with Skull White here and there.

The eyes are Snot Green blended to white.

The base was a bit of an after thought, bit naughty but better than most of mine. I added a small stone from the garden as the Varg is standing on one too.