Stop.. Hobby Time: How I paint Thunder Wolf Cavalry Pt.2 (With 100% more rider!)

As promised, I have the second part of my write up on how I paint Thunderwolf Cavalry. This write up is lucky enough to feature 100% more Thunderwolf Cavalry rider. This was fun to do, very simple and actually a labor of love because I do have fluff in mind for my army when I build and paint them. More on this in the write up; so let's bash on shall we?


As I mentioned in the previous paragraph; there is a fluff for my army. This can be seen in the way that i paint my army. Without rambling too much(I'll save the fluff for another post when I've completed it); you'll first notice two things throughout my army. The first being some have a red shoulder pad, or something red on them; the second being that they have pale skin. The red shoulder pad symbolises the elites,Lords and Battle Leaders. Elites in the sense that anyone wielding a special weapon such as a claw or fist have a red shoulder pad. The pale skin is due to the fact that my wolves do not reside in Space Wolves fortress monastery The Fang. They reside in caves further north. This is why I have chosen to make them look more barbaric and dark(hence the obvious 13th company influence in armour colour).  You didn't come here for that though, so on to the painting.  This tutorial will be fairly simple because this part is super quick as the Eshin Grey base coat was done for me by Evan.

Like the last part, i'll start with the paints i used :

- Eshin Grey
- Dawnstone
- Skull White
- Baneblade Brown
- P3 Pig Iron(Leadbelcher)
- Rakarth Flesh
- Khorne Red
- Nuln Oil wash
- Blood for the Blood God technical paint


FINAL HIGHLIGHTS ON THE WOLF:

Step 1:
Just a simple dry brush of Dawnstone on the higher points of the wolf. I focused around the shoulders and the tuft of fur on the back and also the head.

Step 2:
Step 1 was followed by a very light dry brush of Skull White on top of those previous highlights. Make sure to not go overboard and cover up all of the Dawnstone though.










THE RIDER:

Step 1:
 I base coated everything I wanted silver with a coat of P3 Pig Iron. Leadbelcher also will suffice as they are identical. I prefer how the GW one behaves over the P3, but I have not been out to pick up Leadbelcher.

 Step 2:
A coat of everything I wanted in a dirty brown colour on the model with Baneblade Brown. I like using this brown because as it is not super bright, it gives the idea of old worn bone. It also has wicked coverage.

 Step 3:
I then proceeded to proceeded to paint the face Rakarth flesh. This when washed with a black ink gives a very pale, sickly look. This was exactly what I was going for and I am very happy with it. After I painted up his face, and touched up any parts that I may have over brushed in previous steps; i glued him on to his wolf. I did this because it is much easier to ink evenly on the wolf then laying on a surface. This also ensures that i can evenly coat him with wash and not have any be touched until it is dry.

Step 4:
Nuln oil was then applied generously to the figure. After I threw down a healthy coat; I went back over and moved whatever was in a weird spot(i.e. not in a recess) to where it should be.

 Step 5(special weapons and characters only) :
Khorne red was applied thinly to the shoulder pad. This will take multiple coats (2-3) but gives a nice, smooth and matte finish.

Step 6:
What barbaric wolf riding warrior is complete without some gore. I threw some Blood for the Blood God on his weapon, wolf's teeth, and wolf's claws to make him look a little more awesome.









So thanks for reading and following along. Stay tuned to the showcase for the shots of the finished product. I hope this helps some of you. As you can see, this was a quick and simple way to get a nice tabletop standard model. I'm very pleased with the result and cannot wait to play with them.