Maciek's Dwarfs - Longbeards march out (195 points)

Rank & File month 1

Longbeards - knights, veterans and unbearable grumblers

To kick off the challenge I start with my all-time favourite bunch of old geezers: the dwarf Longbeards. Wherever they go, they bring some serious martial prowess, incessant grumbling and a faint smell of naphthalene mothballs. In the dwarf hold of Karak Varg in the Grey Mountains they are the royal bodyguard. They have the most experience so there simply is no one better or wiser and the Longbeards make sure other dwarfs know that.

Conspicuously, the command group is absent so I will need to paint it on the side in the coming months. Despite good progress early in the month I only painted 13 rather than the planned 15. Mostly because I generally paint at glacial speed, but also I took my time as the models have a lot character and I wanted to do them justice.

 

The models are the mostly mix of Marauder Longbeards and the Citadel imperial dwarfs from the 80s.  They were selected so that the unit has consistent equipment - inspired by XII/XIII century. To reinforce the knightly vibe I gave them a mix of heater and kite shields. This should tie them nicely with their feudal Bretonnian allies.

I always appreciated how the Marauder minis - despite being highly stylised and fantasy - were historically inspired and grounded. When the clothing and equipment of most Marauder dwarfs were inspired by late XV/early XVI century, the equipment of the Longbeards was several (real world) centuries older and perfectly reflected their background. 

 

 

The colour scheme for the tunics is inspired by the classic Wayne England's dwarfs. I opted to paint them clean and tidy (free of moths for sure), as they would be at the beginning of the campaign. For the shields I wanted a design that is simple and easy to paint in larger numbers for the whole unit but also very dwarf-like. Hence a mountain (Karak Varg) and runes - no brainer!

These minis were a joy to paint. The Longbeards were what convinced me to collect a dwarf  army ~25 years ago and the imperial dwarfs ooze character with their expressive faces and dynamic posing. I did experiment a bit with the couple of shades of blue, beard colours and the silver (gradients on the blades) so look forward to apply the learning in the coming months. To my surprise I found that baking paper makes a good neutral background for photos :-)

The tally of the month is 13 Longbeards at 15 points each: 195 points, by 4th edition army book.

February will be devoted to Marauder crossbowmen, but if I get the time some Longbeards may also pop up. See you next month!