Marx 54mm Wolf Conversion to BattleSystem/AD&D Winter Wolves

I am preparing to run the original, three module adventure series, "Against the Giants", AD&D modules, using 2nd Ed. BattleSystem Skirmish rules.  To do that, I need both Frost Giants, and Winter Wolves, along with a load of winter terrain.  Now the terrain is fairly easy, and straightforward:  use cut up pieces of foam to form ice cavern wall shapes, covered by a white sheet.  But the monsters posed more of a challenge.


I set up an automatic search on e-Bay for 54mm wolves (not easy to find -- I looked all over the Internet, and the toy/hobby stores around my area!), and I found an auction for an old, out of production, set of Marx brand, wolf figures -- six of them, all molded out of white plastic.  Perfect!

I won the auction, and when they arrived, I painted the non-white areas only.  To avoid a dirty, grungy, muddy look, I mixed up some custom Magic Wash (Future/Klear Floor Polish) solution, using a blue acrylic paint.  I 'washed' the figures with this solution, then I mounted them on white, vinyl floor tiles ($0.59/square foot, found at your local home improvement stores; makes great basing for figures, and movement trays, as well as other things...) cut to size.  The backing was removed, and the tile pieces were attached to white paper, to keep the tacky glue from becoming a mess.

I still want to experiment with creating a cone of frost emanating from the wolves' mouths (this is their breath weapon attack), but that will come later, as I fear it might interfere with the use of the figures in the game.  The cone of frost breath weapon will stick out a few inches in front of the figure's mouth, so it may be hard to move it into contact with the opposing figures, the Adventurers...  We wouldn't want that, now, would we?

The alternative, is to create a blue cone with the correct dimensions, print it out on a transparency, and cut it out.  The BattleSystem Skirmish rules have templates for various breath weapons, and other magical area attack forms, which I scanned, and printed out on a transparency.  These are then held in place, to determine which figures are affected by the area effect attack.  Cheers!