Laignach Faelad, The Wolf Men of Tipperary

I had this kit by Spyda Adams in my stash for quite a while, being Irish and a fan of mythologies, I couldn't say no.  Finally this past St. Patrick's Day I decided it was the perfect day to take it out and start it.

The  Laignach Faelad were reputed to be a group of vicious warriors  who were said to be half man, half wolf. These men are mentioned in an incredibly ancient Irish text known as the Coir Anmann, which claims that these faelad (soldiers) would fight for any king willing to pay their steep price. The text goes on to say that these men dressed in wolf skins and were tremendously brutal in battle, which is why the old Irish kings wanted them so badly. During this time the land was drenched in the blood of battle, the country was constantly at war and the kings would do whatever it took to win, including hiring the inhuman Laignach Faelad, which not everyone was too pleased with.
Now, you may wonder why one would be wary about hiring the Laignach Faelad, kings have plenty of gold right? Yes, but unfortunately these warriors did not ask for money, instead they asked for something entirely more precious – the flesh of newborns. They would divide among themselves, falling upon the flesh like wolves and devour it raw. A king would have to be pretty desperate and ruthless to hire these warriors.

The kit came in 4 parts of white, odorless resin. There was a little seam line, but it was easily dispatched amongst all the fur. I then applied some Aves to the two arms where the seams were. The other parts was the axe and the base. 

Starting to paint, I decided to try out my new Vallejo Skin color set. But first I washed the fur and a few of the details in a new technique I first saw on Sorastro's You Tube channel.  I also coated part of the base in an orange brown. Here, I want to simulate wood. If you look over his shoulder I also painted the handle of the axe with the same color.

As I like working from dark to light, I then sprayed on a darkish flesh color. That **HAHA** just gave him a sprayed on tan orange color - 

While I was waiting for his body to dry, I turned my attention to the base. Having scroll work in typical Celtic fashion there was no other color choice that green and gold. I also applied some Citadel's Agrax Earthshade wash to the wood area. After I started washing I realized I should have roughed it up a bit to get some "grain."  Here I just have the green down - 

Taking a side step, I looked up what wolf pelts really look like. This was tough as there are as many different wolf colors, as there are people. I really liked the Black wolf color - 

But painting a pale Irish guy, I figured it would contrast too much with the black pelt. So I chose a mixed color wolf to copy. There are other wolves with brown in them, so I added some brown to my pelt - 

You can see I also added the mid tone flesh to the warrior. So far so good.

Then I added my last highlight to the figure, but IMHO I thought it was too bright. So I misted the middle color over the figure. This settled all my colors down. Next steps were to add color to the fur gauntlets, the leather straps, and the metal bits. For the metal I wanted something dark and added Steel from Vallejo's Metallics line to the axe blade, strap ring and a few "decorations" on the belt. I highlighted these with V's Silver.
Finally, again thinking Irish, I added a reddish hair under the wold cap, blue eyes inside the wolf orbits, and some (rusty) orange to the chin mimicking a 5 o'clock shadow.  
 I slipped the axe handle thru his hands. I was a bit nervous about this as it was tight, but thankfully none of the paint scraped off. Whew. I then flicked some dark red "blood" on the axe blade and let it hit the face body and hands. When dry I touched it with flecks of a brighter red and then some gloss.
Thanks for looking.