The 'Dire Wolves' Traitor Chapter

As promised in my last article, I want to introduce my own traitor chapter to you: The Dire Wolves

I have to admit that my Dire Wolves haven't got any background story whatsoever. And even if they had, I'd struggle to properly tell their story in English. They are supposed to be a traitor chapter that is loosely connected to the Space Wolves and - by getting lost in the warp 13th Company style - somehow wound up being tainted by Chaos, especially by the Bloodgod Khorne.

I wanted to have a Chaos Space Marine army with the norse atmosphere that Warriors of Chaos (WoK) have in Warhammer Fantasy. So, it is no surprise I used a lot of WoK bits. And since I wanted to create some useful tutorials, I am going to explain where the single bits come from:

• Helmets: Khorne Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, Warriors of Chaos, Chaos Knights
• Shields: Khorne Chaos Lord on Juggernaut, Warriors of Chaos, Chaos Knights
• Close Combat Weapons: Chaos Knights
• Extra Shoulder Pads: Chaos Knights
• Legs, Torso, Arms, Firearms etc.: Chaos Space Marines

The helmets fit as if they were made for Astartes warriors. Other parts (e.g. the arms with the close combat weapons of the WoK) need to be cut a bit in order to fit the marine models. But there are no expert modeling skills required at all.

Painting the models was not too difficult. I won't explain all the details, but at least how I did the armour and the metal parts:

Painting the Armour

This is one of two painting methods I developed for my Dire Wolves chapter. I am going to explain the second one, when I write about my Terminator squads. The results are very similar, but this one might be easier:

1. Black Primer
2. Drybrush with Bleached Bone
3. Light drybrush with Bleached Bone and Skull White (1:1)
4. Very light drybrush with Skull White
5. Washing the whole model with Asurmen Blue
6. Washing the whole model with Badab Black

Painting the Brass Trim

I have my own way of painting metal (e.g. I alwals wash gold with green and purple to make it look more realistic) - maybe that's one of the reasons for why I am such a slow painter. I have to mention that the metal effect, in my opinion, looks much better in reality. I'd advise you to try it out on some spare bits you have lying around and decide for yourself:

1. Black Primer
2. Undercoat with Scorched Brown
3. Paint with Shining Gold
4. Wash with Devlan Mud
5. Wash with Leviathan Purple (makes the finish come out much more matte)
6. Wash with thinned down (means: lots of water, not much paint) Hawk Turquoise
7. Drybrush with Mithril Silver

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the first real article in this blog. Expect more Chaos... ;-)

PS: Right now my photo setup is in its experimental phase. Basically it is a box with a sheet of paper and a daylight lamp ;-) I am going to keep making photos with my iPhone, because I am quite content with the results and the workflow is a breeze (I got a DSLR bur no macro lense, so I won't use my Nikon). I will try to get better lighting and focus in future though :-)