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Hey folks,

This is the WIP of my thunderwolf lord. It is an experiment in almost everything for me, from various different green stuff techniques to painting freehand and OSL. I would deeply value any and all suggestions regarding this little project of mine, so please, throw all the criticism you can at me. I'm a big boy, I can take it

First some initial talk about the idea. I love thunderwolves, and hope one day to a have a army consisting of just them and some fenrisian wolves (its not practical, but damn it I want that turn of all out charge carnage). Problem I have can be summed up by the saddle on the model, its pathetic and not anything like what the wild beasty deserves. They give plus one toughness and have a 3+ save, but have nothing but fur to protect them? Nope, my wolf needs a proper saddle and some extensive armour additions.

As this is a Lord, Runic armour and a shiny weapon is a must, but a crawl through the rule book had me thinking in terms of the power lance, cause S6 attacks on the charge? Choose the opponent and the second turn difficulties become irrelevant, they should be well and truly dead. Chuck on a thundersheild to keep the thunderous theme going and give some badass protection and we are all set to go. Oh, and a cloak, what self respecting lord would be without a cloak?

So, without further ado, here he is.


This picture shows the as yet unadorned right shoulder, planning either chainmail or scale mail for this. The back and sides of the head will be covered with a fine chainmail.



This side view gives a glimpse of what the saddle it like at the moment, as well as the leather armour (quilted at the rear, if thats the word for it) and the cloak. Also, the base is properly visible. For this I wanted a charging across/up a stream, with some of the rocks just visible below the surface. It hasn't quite worked, and I might just use some actual rocks next time and coat them in water effects as well.



Opposite side, showing more cloak, smooth leather front and back, power sword/lance and the basic armour colour for the model, a light grey, with plenty of planned battle damage to be delivered with pencil and weathering powders. The wolfs shoulder armour is looking fairly ragged here as the darker green stuff has not cured as hard as the lighter and being far more difficult to shape into defined plates.The back of the wolf, between the front shoulders will be raised slightly, as I took too much out form the fur and next to a unarmoured wolf looks slightly puny - definitely not the plan there!



Close up of the freehand shoulder pad. Was going to get the whole device on, but ran out out room and had to make do. Even so I think it looks fairly striking.



View from the front, Can see the attempts as OSL and the beginnings of the new shape of the sword/lance.



A closer look at the sword and the OSL. I'm seriously unhappy with the OSL, it just looks like I can't paint inside the line properly. However, the look I am attempting is to have the armour glowing from inside (its runic after all), and then repeat it on the sword and the shield. Would it be better if only the edges of the joints were lit, and the rest was kept nice and dark? I think that will be the next experiment. Also, the sword will be taking on a off-center point, much like the samurai sword has, and will have a very gentle curve down the back edge. I know this isn't very space viking, however I realy like the idea of a long handled sword/short spear or lance for the Lord. It's different and can be worked into the back story with relative ease, say a campaign with the Salamanders who presented him with a honored weapon after the unfortunate loss of his own at the epic finale...


So, TLR Lots of conversion stuff going on, most of it new to me. Would like any and all thoughts and comments, criticisms especially. Next stage will be to extend the saddle and add front grips/pommel, add chainmail to shoulder and neck, neaten up other shoulder and work on the grip of the sword/lance. Also, think up proper name for the sword/lance...

Sorry for the blocks of text and the big pictures,

Fly safe
shiny

What is more viking then tying a sword to the end of a stick to stab people sooner?

Looks great! love the modeling and conversion. I would go with scale maille over chain (he is a lord after all)

I like the free hand as well, wayy better than any of my attempts, it would be a nifty idea (altho its more euro knight mount) to have a banner hanging from one of the sides of the mount, with his symbol on it again. nothing huge, but like a saddle bag, just personalized to the specific Lord.

Looks like a pretty good start to me

Hey guys, thanks for the replies, must say I didn't expect to see anything after nipping for a cup of tea

@Kavik, i was thinking of doing some more on the left hand rear armour, which is nice an smooth. It would be midly awkward now that I've slapped a cloak on top but It could the the lords personal symbol as opposed the to Wolf that walks the stars attempt on his shoulder pad. I will investigate methods for scale mail later today, as well as the right colour of green stuff. I'm presuming that the paler it is the harder is cures? Also tempted to add a mace like pommel to the sword/lance (swance maybe?) for a higher bash ratio

shiny space wrote:
Hey guys, thanks for the replies, must say I didn't expect to see anything after nipping for a cup of tea

@Kavik, i was thinking of doing some more on the left hand rear armour, which is nice an smooth. It would be midly awkward now that I've slapped a cloak on top but It could the the lords personal symbol as opposed the to Wolf that walks the stars attempt on his shoulder pad. I will investigate methods for scale mail later today, as well as the right colour of green stuff. I'm presuming that the paler it is the harder is cures? Also tempted to add a mace like pommel to the sword/lance (swance maybe?) for a higher bash ratio

Thats an even better idea! if it was slightly under the cape (difficulties will ensue) it will look more real, and less about showing skill imho but again do what you want :3
I have no clue on the green stuff to be honest, i havent used any yet (hopefully changing soon) but I do have experince with real scale maille, and in theory it should be doable with a more malliable putty, if you wana do one layer and just carve the scales in with a modeling knife, or do a heavily over lapping pattern if will be a lot thicker but could turn out looking better.

i'm sure you have a few pictures to look at but some of the best I've seen just for refernece and for purchase are at the ringlord.com

Well, I think at any rate its time to clear the old browsing history. Googling the ring lord yielded some unpleasant results.... gulp.

Still, the site your on about has given me some ideas. Maybe using a punch to create individual scales with a small tab at the top and then layering them up the side of the shoulder could work, but would involve some serious manufacturing issues itself...

This is a labour of love really, spent the better parts of two terms on it now, as a distraction from uni work. Maybe doing a lapping process one layer at a time, let it cure, cut out the design and then add the next... humm. Lots to be thinking about now, thanks Kavik

oh dear, sorry about the unsavory site! I dont think i have ever had anything odd show up whilst ordering my rings...but I also just dont pay attention idk XD cant wait to see the finished project