Blood Rage Expansion Models: Fenrir and Werewolf

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Blood Rage Expansion Models: Fenrir and Werewolf

We’ve started playing Zombicide again recently, taking up from where we left off sometime in 2021. The idea being to have a full playthrough of all of the 1st Edition content which will eventually culminate in cracking open the 2nd Edition Kickstarter and playing that. It just seemed a shame/waste to not play through all of the huge amounts of ZC1 content first – both paid for as well as the many free scenarios on their website – even though we’ve played through the initial campaign(s) a couple of times at the very least, we’ll be going all the way this time – and when we take an inevitable pause here and there – we’ll just note down where we were and what comes next. What does all this have to do with these models? Well, in the boardgame shelf, nestled right behind where I’ve been sitting are some boxes of boardgame minis. Mixed in behind a bunch of Zombicide stuff are a few models from Blood Rage – another Kickstarter game I’ve not yet painted. When I saw the Werewolf in its little box in there it looked like a quick and easy win, so given how shitty a year 2021 has been, I allowed myself a little “Treat” on Dec 27th – to try and get it finished in a day/overnight. When that worked, I got out the Fenrir model the following day and did it again, completing it on Dec 31st – my last completed model of 2021.

Blood Rage Expansion Models: Fenrir and Werewolf

As you can see, the Werewolf is a nicely sculpted model, but also a simple model in a… I’ll be generous and call it a straightforward sculpt. It’s a bit reminiscent of a “T-Pose” from digital art and games, to be honest. The artwork depicted him as the typical GW-esque bugg white dude with fur glued onto him, but I went for a dark brown instead as I prefer my werewolves covered in at least some fine fur all over – think of a cat, or a horse, or one of the many, many breeds of shorthaired dogs.

Fenrir was a slightly different proposition. I know what you’re thinking – and yes, this model is clearly a rip off (or at least a homage) of Games Workshop’s Space Wolves home planet of Fenris, and their many original ideas about wolves in space with names like Freki and Geri and all the rest, like Lukas the Trickster and many others. Even Marvel/Disney has ripped them off – amazing that GW hasn’t sued, but then they’re renowned as a company that’s not particularly litigious when others use ideas from their Warhammer IP, so I guess it fits their character – even when they make a ton of bank off of GW’s back, like all that Tolkien stuff with their derivitave versions of WHFB’s Aelves and Duardin.

Anyway, black wolf is black – ar at least a number of shades of dark grey….

25 thoughts on “Blood Rage Expansion Models: Fenrir and Werewolf”

  1. These are great mate – inspired by yourself, I’ve developed a soft spot for this kind of mini after wading through the Conan KS last year. It’s just nice to give the poorer minis a tickle & see how good you can get ‘em to look! In this case, ‘very good indeed’ 😁👍

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  3. Two more beasts: great!
    Yes, the werewolf miniature is very schematic in its setting and even funny with the naked body and tufts of hair covering strategic points such as the groin … Excellent choice to give a hairy effect to the whole skin.
    Fenrir is actually a more fascinating miniature and the idea of ​​painting it black appears effective, with a contrast of the grays of the rock on the base.
    As for the question of who copies / is inspired by whom (excluding Tolkien), an infinite debate would open … For the miniatures, in our opinion it is also appreciable to take inspiration from what already exists, as long as: they are not mere copying for commercial purposes; or, on the other side, that behind the variations, as was said in the previous post, there is an idea and not just the desire to experiment something appealing…

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    • Thanks Rodor! My defence of GW’s “originality” was sarcasm, though easy to miss with the way I flat-deadpanned it in my text. We all know everyone steals and is inspired from everyone else, and even Tolkien had the roots of his own mythos deep in Norse, English and Celtic myth, as well as his own personal experiences with “the East” during The Great War and his subsequent return to an ever-more industrialisation encroaching on his “Green and Pleasant Land”.
      The next few posts won’t be beast-related, but rest assured – I’ve got some more canids and other beasties on my panting desk in the active part of the queue right now…

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      • Yes, we understood the sarcasm of your words about GW, fully justified! : ) Of course, as you well point out, Tolkien also had sources of inspiration, but he related to them as a scholar and it can be said the founder of classic fantasy. The technique of the Warhammer creators was instead that of the glue ball rolling in the library … brilliant metaphor! In our opinion with an advantage over Tolkien: everyone is free to add characters, places, events without having the feeling of being a profaner, as would be the case for the world of Middle-Earth!

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      • Oh absolutely agreed! Tolkien married those concepts together of folklore and mythology from different places as well as his own experiences of what was then modernity and basically created what we now view as “baseline” fantasy that is now the template for most others to add to and/or subtract from to create their own “unique” settings.

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    • Thanks Mikko – the Space Wolfy tangent was actually pure sarcasm in regard to GW’s “original” IP that’s pretty much “inspired” by anything and everything, like a big ball covered in glue rolled through a library!

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      • Hahah, it threw me off a bit – I mean surely anyone into all kinds of geekery wouldn’t miss the original reference point 😀 oh well…sarcasm and the internet.

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      • Haha no worries. I like to do a bit of a straight/deadpan bit every now and then to give off a “is he SERIOUS?” bit. I thought the reverent defence of GW’s originality and lack of litigiousness would have been the biggest clues! 😉

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  7. These came out really nicely, mate. The sculpts are above your typical board game quality too from what I can see. Everyone needs at least one big wolf mini in their collection too, I reckon 🙂

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  8. Lovely paintjobs on both. Did you use an oil filters on these guys? Almost looks like it. Really dig the subdued colours and honestly, I like the simple sculpts. GW stuff is often overdetailed, so this is a fresh breeze. The red eyes on the wolf really add a lot, despite being tiny.

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