So after doing my Thundertusk conversion, I knew I needed to do some Mournfang as well. Without a Mierce model to use (Creoda was already tapped for an Ironblaster conversion), I decided to just repeat the effort I had done on the Thundertusk - use a GW model with some greenstuffed parts!
Since the mournfang head link up with their bodies oddly, I knew I wasn't going to take the FIMO route. Instead, I just used greenstuff and some focused sculpting time to sculpt new heads. I filed the details off the old mournfang heads and shaped them to fit the form I wanted for the wolf faces, then just greenstuffed over the top.
For greenstuff, I typically sculpt in shifts, allowing details to cure before I sculpt more. I have a problem with forgetting where the greenstuff is while I'm working, so if I try to do too much, I tend to leave fingerprints. For this, most of the head was sculpted it one pass, with ears done on a second pass, and teeth done on a third.
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| First sculpted head | Second sculpted head, without teeth |
I felt I had a better sense of proportions on these heads than I did for the Thundertusk. This could be chalked up to the mournfang heads having better proportions to the body (without that massively wide neck of the Thundertusk), or maybe just better familiarity with the wolf form now that I was a few sculpts in.
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| Third sculpted head, again without teeth | Third head after adding teeth |
Once the heads (and tails) were done, I added the heads to the models, put on the saddles, and then bent the pewter legs of Confrontation Devourers of Vile-Tis to get them more or less riding the saddles. I had to cut the loincloths off to get them to fit, but the detail isn't very obvious. I then pinned their torsos and configured their arms, so they could rank up 4-wide.
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| Rank-and-file and standard bearer, mounted (unpainted) |
Once done, I grabbed the musician and painted him up as a test model. I did the mounts in a grey/brown combination, trying to match actual wolf coloration. I went with blue as an accent color on the riders and red on the mount, to give a warm/cold contrast with the cool fur of the wolves and the warm fur of the brown riders. Apart from that, the color scheme is a pretty standard one from me, using a lot of non-metallic silvers and golds.
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| Musician (howler), painted |
With the musician done, I painted up the banner, champ, and fourth member of the unit as well.
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| Unit champion, painted |
I took pictures without basing the unit, which was done the night before the tournament. Alongside each other, the unit looks shockingly different to a Mournfang unit, even though the only real differences are the riders and a headswap.
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| The unit, painted. |
All told, the unit took about three weeks from sculpting to painting and basing.
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| Reverse of the unit |
It's been an integral part of my success with the army, as it forces my opponents to deal with it as a threat, and allows me some tactical options to deal with larger threat units.
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| Close shot of the champion and musician |
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| Reverse angle of the unit |
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| Rank-and-file and banner bearer |
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