Sunday 3 October 2010

West Wind Werewolf Bikers

Carrying on from my review of the West Wind Vampire Bikers. I'm now going to review the Werewolf bikers from the same Road Kill range. I'll begin with set GRK003 Werewolf Biker Gang (A). As with the vampire biker sets you get four figures in each pack - 2 mounted on their bikes and 2 dismounted. Also, just like the vampires, these werewolves are designed for a contemporary setting.
The werewolf at the far left is the one that I'm using as the leader of this pack. I love the fact that the sculptor has given him a pot belly, which is something you almost never see on a werewolf! This is someone who enjoys his food... a lot! Even so, he still exudes menace. He is armed with a pistol and an axe, a useful combination. Upon reflection, I realise that I should have painted his gang "colours" on the back of his denim waistcoat. You can see his gang's logo painted on the fuel tank of his motorbike. Anyone familiar with White Wolf, producer of the RPGs Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse (amongst others) will recognise it is their company logo. All four bikes feature it in the same place.
 Next to him, is the first of two werewolves armed with a pump-action shotgun. Another nice touch, is that the sculptor has given him a pair of John Lennon style glasses. I like it! This werewolf is bare-chested and has a mane of hair running along the top of his head and down his spine. If you remember, I said last time that I'd swapped two of the front of the vampires' bikes with two of the front sections from these two sets. This meant that all four vampire bikes were identical and all four werewolf bikes were identical as well. As you can see, these bikes aren't as sleek looking as the vampire bikes but I think these fronts work better with the lupines. They look more ramshackle and rugged, which is just the image I wanted. Each bike has a human skull tied in place atop of the headlight.
This next set is GRK004 Werewolf Biker Gang (B). At the far left is the second werewolf armed with a pump-action shotgun. His dismounted version has him advancing menacingly. His shotgun is a Franchi SPAS12, which I've mentioned before, is my favourite shotgun. He is the only werewolf to be wearing leathers instead of denim. You'll notice that all four werewolves are extremely muscular. Even without their weaponry, they are killing machines.
 The last in line is another werewolf wearing jeans and a denim waistcoat. He also sports a pair of wrap-around mirror-shades to give him that "too cool for school" look. The dismounted version is armed with a pair of pistols. The mounted version has stuffed the pistols into the back of his jeans and he is the only rider with both hands on the handlebars. I had a lot less problems fitting the werewolves to the bikes as I did with the vampires. I thought this one in particular might be difficult just because he has both hands on the handlebars but he fitted like a dream, I'm happy to say.
This group of four complement the vampire bikers extremely well. Although I am more of a vampire fan than a werewolf fan I absolutely love these figures. They are so well sculpted and are crying out to be used in a contemporary horror game. Ed Teixeira of THW has confirmed that vampires and werewolves will appear in the After The Horsemen supplement, which is fantastic news. I can hardly wait for its release next year.
Both sets of werewolf bikers cost £9.99 each from the West Wind website. As with the vampires these are more "heroic" scale than true 28mm scale but surely for werewolves you want them to be larger than life. The West Wind Road Kill range is one of the best sources of contemporary horror figures. I just wish they made a lot more!

10 comments:

  1. Great job on the review. I really like these minis, very characterful and you did an excellent paint job on them. I agree about the pot-bellied leader, that's something you don't see everyday, but is very cool.

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  2. Agreed, LJ. Who'd have thought of a werewolf with an obesity problem? Very original!

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  3. I like these minis even more than the vampires. I first noticed the human/vampire/werewolf bikers from westwind in july 2008 when I was searching the web for good post-apoc road war rules. I ended up with chain reaction 2.0 which lead me straight to ATZ...and buying everything else THW. Maybe I will buy these miniatures for After The Horsemen.
    The White Wolf logo is a good gang colour...though I would have chosen a black spiral. I did spend (waste?) a fair amount of the 90's in The World Of Darkness.

    How do you do the denim? Just drybrushing a lot of blues?

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  4. I think these werewolf bikers and the vampire bikers will work very well in ATH, Oliver. Black Spiral? Yeah, I know who they are - tainted rabble!

    Yep, my denim colours are basically lots of drybrushing. Start with something like Citadel Ice Blue or Citadel Shadoe Grey. Give it a wash of Citadel Asurmen Blue. Then drybrush with your base colour and add Citadel Skull White to it in progressively greater quantities. I generally give them about four or five drybrushes, with the last one almost being pure white.

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  5. Tainted? I prefer "enlightened". Behold the beauty of the wyrm! ;o)

    Thank you, I think I will have to paint denim very soon.

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  6. Bryan, they like the vamps look good. Have you thought about the Biker Priests and Biker Nuns from West Wind? I can picture it now, in the fist days of the Outbreak the Vatican sends out the Holy Warriors to battle Satan's army of the Undead and some of the Holy Fathers and Holy Sisters take to traveling the roads via supped up Hogs, spreading the Lords good word too the undead masses using their blessed Shotguns (and other firearms and melee weapons) of Retribution and the Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch.

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  7. Thanks, Eldorf. I do indeed have the West Wind Brotherhood and Sisterhood bikers. I haven't shown them because I haven't painted them yet. They're part of my lead mountain, patiently waiting their turn to get painted. Yep, a fighting force from the Vatican appeals to me as well and the figures are nice too. I've even got the three special characters to go with the "foot soldiers." I'll probably wheel them out when ATZ morphs into ATH. Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch are a must-have item!

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  8. I've been away and you've been busy! These look great!

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  9. I rather like them myself, Willy!

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  10. Hey Bryan, Just trolling through your posts - nice job with these monsters. I agree with you on the potbellied and glasses wearing werewolves; very nice touches.

    I hadn't heard about supernaturals being in ATH, but I am glad to read it! I was wondering if it would be worth getting, but now I definitely will, as I am a big 'Supernatural' & 'Sanctuary' fan; do you watch either of them?

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