Imperial Wolfbane Commandos
Last time I went to visit the great sho3box he treated me to a day out at Prince August – Ireland’s finest toy soldier factory. It was the greatest day ever.
There at the factory of dreams I feasted upon the piles of vintage Warzone blisters with great plans to rebuild the exact same Imperial Mega Corporation Army of my nerdy teenage years – starting with a squad of Wolfbane Commandos.
Wolfbane Commandoes suffered from the classic 1990s problem of feet spilling over the 25mm base edge, so Wolfbane #1 I painted (above left) got a 32mm base. But the more I looked at it, the more I feared I’d betrayed the Spirit of the 1990s, so Wolfbane #2 got a classic 25mm base with dark green drybrushed sand, with which I was much happier, and so I did the whole squad this way.
The colour scheme is a pretty straight copy of the original studio colour scheme, as I wanted to relive those days when “giant yellow shoulder pads” and “commando” could be unironically synonomous.
I really enjoyed painting these old metal nuggets, and hope to build the army up with some Imperial Blood Berets next.
Ninjabread out!
That WAS an excellent day.
I just wish I had worn a different waistcoat and had my flowing blonde locks trimmed before the photo op…
I would have gone with the larger base – era purity BE DAMNED – but the Canary Commandos are beautifully rendered and look better than they ever have before I expect. I’m not a big Warzone fan, but a blog post like this could have transformative powers…
I think the bright yellow of the shoulderpads is deadened a bit by the bright table background I photographed them on. Might retake them on the standard plain white. I reckon the combo was directly inspired by the 1980s Wolverine costume, which made me enjoy it double.
Next time you take my to Prince August, I’m slipping some blisters in your basket and tricking you into being my regular Warzzone opponent.