Skip to main content

Short, Grim and Deadly

 Greetings to one and all. Last time on the ever growing saga of Dwarfkind that comprise my posts I showed off the Hammerers. Today, it is the turn of their Lord and Master, the tragic figure of Lord Hafnir Stormborne.


This figure is a sort of "cut-and-shut" between two Dwarf lords, the shieldbearers of the King Alrik model and the taciturn fellow you see standing up there now. I love this Dwarf lord. Just standing there, surly, patient, waiting for a target to present itself rather than racing into battle like a manling. I used a few tricks with him to make him appear older and more tired than the other greybeards in the army. Hafnir is the head of a disgraced household and the reponsibilities and obligations that brings tear at him (I'll do a full backstory post soon, finally found a "voice" to tell it in). The tricks are fairly easy, a thin purple wash into the eyesockets robbing him of sleep and adding pale grey to the final skin highlights rather than bone. It washes out the vitality and makes the skin look older.


In comparison to the other troops in the army I went for heavy, dark gold for Hafnir's armour. I figured that the Stormborne armour and his wargear were the last treasures left to his household and he would rather loose his life than the last of his horde. Just like with the hammerers there isn't a whole lot of room for army colours on this chap so I went with the painted helmets on the bearers again.


I wanted another stand out feature on this model - he's got to rise above the host after all - and decided that his runic axe would glow. This worked splendidly with the light being cast across the shield and glove of the left bearer. The easiest way to do this is to just thin - really thin - some appropriately coloured paint and then use it to tint the colours beneath. Then add some white and highlight the tinted area.


And here he is, raised above the host and being carried into battle amid his most faithful retainers. I really am tempted with this unit to say "rules be damned" and deploy him in the centre of the unit. I think it'll look better.


As if that wasn't enough some bonus boom enters stage left:


Five barrels worth of boom in fact. This contraption is an organ gun, one of the older models as the new one is just.... stupid. In fact, rant time, the new idea that Dwarfs avoid wood in favour of metal is one of the more moronic design decisions of recent years. Think about it. A war machine made of solid steel moved by hand. Not light dry seasoned wood. No, solid steel. In fact, go deeper, do Dwarfs use metal for pit props? Digging out iron ore to smelt into pit props to dig out more ore... Go figure. I'll pause the design rant here with an intention to restart it when we start talking Grudge Throwers, stand warned...


So with that the 2k Dwarf workometer is looking veeery healthy. The big job is getting that block of warriors out of the way. Then it's on to 3k ready for January!

And that is all for today. I'll work up a post with the background of the Stormborne's tragic origins and the reason why they are even now marching on the heart of the Empire.

Until then,

TTFN

Comments

  1. Hafnir's skin tone and axe are utterly glorious. And yeah, seconded, stick that bad boy in the middle of the unit, I don't care what the rules say!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He looks great!! I love the old and worn look his armour has, and that axe looks awesome. The glowing is quite subtle, but works really well.

    Worth the wait!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment