"Be a Wolf" - Descent: Legends of the Dark - Wolves - Part 1

Always be yourself,

unless you can be a wolf,

then be a wolf.

- Unknown

Good day fellow Caesurians!

Last week we started diving into Descent: Legends of the Dark, a beautiful game from a couple of years ago from Fantasy Flight Games. You can check out that post for my overview of the game and some thoughts about the minis and app. 

Today, we're looking at the first of the denizens of Terrinoth that you fight in this game: Wolves!

I spoke last week about how incredible the quality of the miniatures that come with this game are. They are equal in quality to the HIPs plastic used by GW and their posing is dynamic and characterful. While aesthetic preferences will vary, these are undoubtedly the highest quality board game miniatures that I have come across. 

While my preferences typically tend towards the grittier (Oathsworn, Reichbusters, etc) these Descent minis are really appealing to me. They look straight out of Disney's Hercules (a film I loved as a kid) - they can go the distance!

Anyway, to the model at hand...well almost. First, I want to mention that wanted to push myself, and learn new skills; these models, with their exaggerated details are the perfect palette to try new things. 

Specifically, I really want to push myself to become more confident in airbrushing (I got a new airbrush just last week - but more on that another time), and I've always wanted to try oil washes. So here we go!

These days, I have been painting a lot of Black Templars (I have many in the bank to show you!). I enjoy them but there isn't room for a ton of creativity in army painting. So with today's models I went in the opposite direction. Why have a grey wolf when you can have a blue-purple one!?

From a zenital undercoat, I mixed black and The Fang, thinned them and airbrushed the whole model with this mix. While these colour are opaque, thinning them allowed the zenithal undercoat to show through. 

I then sprayed from below with Khymera Kolors' violet. This is a beautifully saturated hue but for some reason it, more than any other colour that I've worked with, is a huge pain to clean out of the airbrush. Worth it. 

I sprayed the face with a combo of Cadian Fleshtone + Wraithbone.

That was actually the majority of the model complete!

I then applied an oil wash of Payne's Grey (using a old oil set of my wife's) and let it dry overnight. 

I then dry-brushed Grey Seer onto the back to bring out the texture of the fur. 

All that was left were the details of the face and the base. 

It was really fun to bring airbrushing into my workflow. The oil wash was basically like any other wash (though thinned with spirits instead of water) so it is no longer some scary unknown entity.

These three models basically painted themselves, they were so quick and easy. My confidence will only increase as I continue to use the airbrush and oils. 

Thanks, as always, for tuning in! I'll see you next week on The Art of Caesura!

Reading: Priests of Mars - Graham McNeill

Watching: Flash Gordon

Next Week:

Wolves by night...