My brother-in-law got his kids a whole bunch of HORDES battlegroup starters for Christmas, and when I dropped the presents off with him, my wife spent some time looking at the Legion of Everblight starter. Then she said those magic words: “This looks like fun.” I’ve been down this road before and made an overzealous mess of it, so I kept my cool. Nonchalantly, I turned to her and said, “Oh, yeah? Legion is pretty awesome. Do you want to give them a try?” Thus began my latest attempt to involve my wife in my hobbies.

The next day I grabbed the HORDES Two-Player Battlegroup Box. She’s still working on picking out a color scheme she likes, but I knew instantly what I wanted to do with my new Circle army. My mother-in-law has a Welsh corgi named Einstein. He’s a very fun dog, but since I am not an animal person, he’s been the source of much consternation over the last few years. I figured what better animal to serve as inspiration for an army of mangy mutts (and Kaya).

Because I wanted to end up with coloration very similar to Einstein’s, I started by basecoating everything in a very light brown. I then layered brighter mixes of brown and white on top until I reached a color I liked. I then added a yellow glaze. I realize now this isn’t the best way to achieve a blond look, as you generally want to avoid true yellows. However, I was happy with the kind of unnaturally vibrant look it gave the Feral Warpwolf, so I decided to carry it through the rest of the army. I then worked to make sure the Warpwolf and Argus’ black lips provided some nice contrast; I also lightened the fur around their mouths, hitting a shade just to the left of off-white.

All and all, I feel like I captured the little guy’s essence pretty well, and it feels great to know a simple piece of inspiration can help you across multiple models.