Part 1: Building a Kings of War Werewolves Horder with Reaper Bones

Reaper Miniatures produces a massive range of highly detailed and affordable miniatures through its Bones line of plastic miniatures.  In this post I will show how Reaper Bones Miniatures could be used to build a Werewolves Horde (Undead Army) for Mantic Games’ Kings of War.

I originally purchased 77009: Werewolf to represent one of my Manimals for my Mutant Crawl Classics’ Fan Site

 

Werewolves Horde: A Werewolves Horde consists of 6 large infantry models (40mm square base) comprising an unit footprint of 120mm wide and 80mm deep (3 models wide, 2 models deep).

The Miniatures: The miniatures I selected for this project are 77009: Werewolf (x5) and 77464:Werewolf (x1). Models 77009 represent my rank-and-file werewolves and model 77464 represents my unit leader (champion).  The bases I used for this unit are Reaper Miniatures’ 74024: 40mm Square Plastic Base.

The rank-and-file werewolves (77009: Werewolf) 

Unit Leader/Champion (77464: Werewolf) 

 

Unit Costs: The models and bases for this unit costs less than $20 USD ($25 to $26 in Canadian dollars).  Specifically, each rank-and-file werewolf costs $2 USD apiece, the champion $3.79 USD, and a 10 package of 40mm bases $5 USD. The affordability of Reaper Bones provides great army building options for a wargamer on a budget.

Preparing the models

Correcting Bent Figures: Every so often a Reaper Bones figure will be bent in an odd direction.  It’s easy to fix this by placing your Bones miniatures in a small bowl of hot water for a few miniatures.  After removing the figures from the hot water, they usually return to their intended shape (somethings you may need to hold the figure for a few minutes in the intended position while the figure sets).

 The models ranked up in an unit

Ranking up the Miniatures: Before gluing the miniatures onto the bases, I arranged the miniatures in their horde formation (3 bases wide, 2 bases deep).  By doing this I discovered that I had to adjust the position of the unit leader on its base to make enough room for the werewolf behind it.  Thus, I had to trim parts of the Bones base to allow the leader to sit in a more forward position on its base.

 

Bases: I used some masking tape to fill over the ‘slots’ in the bases and super glued the miniatures on to the bases.  Since the lead werewolf’s base was quite thick, I used some epoxy putty (green stuff) to create a transition from the Bones’ base to the square base.  When the super glue and epoxy putty have dried, I applied modelling sand to the bases with watered down PVA glue (white glue).

 A black undercoat (black paint) has been applied to the unit

Painting the Models

Black undercoat: I applied an undercoat of black paint to the miniatures.

 A grey base coat has been applied to the unit

Grey Base coat: Next, I applied a grey base coat to the miniatures.

 Ink has been applied to the miniatures

Black ink: When the base coat dried, I applied black ink to the miniatures.

  Ink has been applied to the miniatures

Dry brushing: Once the ink dried, I dry brushed a lighter shade of grey paint over the miniatures (this brings out the texture and details in the werewolves’ fur).

Painted bases

 

Bases: I following a similar process to painting the bases: I started off applying a base coat, then ink and dry brushed the bases.

In Part 2 I will be added the fine details to the werewolves, getting the unit ready for the tabletop.