Bjorn Grendel's Dwarven Holds - February: leader's month.
February. The shortest month of the year, the most difficult month of the challenge, and of course the ideal month to introduce the leaders of an army.
I admit without shame that I had other plans for this month; I wanted to showcase a larger number of models, but alas, we were all sick at home, and of course not all at the same time. So, I lost a lot of days to fever, medicine, parenting care… and my painting time was drastically reduced. So instead of presenting all the leaders as I had planned, I was only able to present a handful. Here are the details.
Alrik Ranulfsson, King of Karak Hirn.
I fully realize that this is a 6th edition model and that in our game we aim to stick to 3rd edition rules; so, I thought of interpreting him as a 20th-level hero and adding shield bearers, approximating the cost to about 160 points. Beyond that, the obvious choice was to place him in his classic support unit, the hammerers, which I prepared last month. I don't have much to say about it, probably this has always been my favorite dwarf; in my personal opinion, it is one of the best models ever made and it gave me tremendous pleasure to work on it... and yes, this specific model, for those who were wondering, is mine. Not my son's, not my wife's, MINE.
The sharpest observers will have noticed that the shield bearers are strange. Unfortunately, I didn't have the left bearer, the one with the horned helmet, but strangely I only had two right bearers (don't ask), so I went with this choice, and oddly enough, no matter how I placed them, I couldn't position them in the classic two 20mm bases. But I resolved it with a 40mm base and a bold position. And I don't regret it; now this Alrik is the centerpiece he’s meant to be.
Master Runesmith and Anvil of Destiny.
The classic model, THE ONLY TRUE ONE. Monopose guards, wheels, heaviness and fierceness. And I prepared TWO of them! Yes, two, one for us and one for the commission we talked about last month; we’re starting to see what it means to paint legions of dwarves. In both cases, I left out the banners and poles, I haven’t established an official protocol for the standard-bearers and flags yet, but I’m developing a system and will likely do a big reveal in the final wrap-up post. It’s easy to notice which anvil (and which future pieces) belong to my army and which belong to my client’s army: my bases are summer-themed, theirs are winter-themed. My bases are classic 20mm, theirs will be Old World, 25mm bases or even more unusual. If I did the math right, Runesmith, the anvil, and the guards should total about 360 points.
Slayers.
Only 3 models this month. Very few. Actually, I was aiming for the whole regiment, but now that I think about it, I don't mind at all the idea of presenting a small handful at a time, along with other things, and combining them into a regiment in the end. Yes, I'll do it that way... Now, some considerations: only one of the models is actually an original GW. The others obviously aren’t, but I thought that to increase the number in my collection it might be possible to include some cousins, and I must say they fit in; within the overall unit, you hardly notice the difference in scale or style of the bigger models.
Yes, these are Tir-Na-Boor Dwarves from Confrontation, maybe some of you remember the famous skirmish game from the French company Rackham? Exactly those. They are much bigger and hunched, the feet are really exaggerated, and they have a rougher look with worse weapons, and they even have pieces of armor and shields! I have a specific lore in mind for these rascals, but I’ll tell you that later. For now, let’s focus on the smallest of the litter. Hey, he's not even a dwarf.
That's right, he's actually a 15mm human barbarian from an unknown company, I really have no idea where he came from, but I've always had him at the bottom of the bit box. But I've always liked him, and you know what? The hell with it, I'm including him! In my personal lore, this will actually represent a gnome. Gnomes are still a thing in old Warhammer; they share the cities under the mountains with their Dwarf cousins, and in 3rd edition you could even field regiments of these midgets (a FANTASTIC way to justify the scale creep that has always plagued Citadel miniatures)! This specific Gnome even chose to take the Slayer oath, leaving the caves of his clan to join the cult of the Slayers, where he is welcome and respected among the bigger cousins, in a brotherhood where it doesn’t matter who you were or who you are, only how many bastards you’ll send to Hell before you die! Small or large, these subjects are worth 39 points (13 each).
NEW! Dwarves Treasure-Hunters.
Okay, this is a new entry for this month. We've already mentioned that our collection is vast and difficult to manage, and we've also said that we borrowed some models from other gaming systems, and here we are. Some of these venerable plastic dwarves won't find a place in the metal regiments of the Hold, but I would be a terrible person if I didn't give them dignity. As my son always says, 'No dwarf will be left behind!' And damn me if he's not right! So these two, the famous Heroquest dwarf and a generic monopose dwarf, end up here; they've always been a favorite in my family and deserve respect. To fittingly include them among this month's works, they received a touch-up in paint, covering chips and touching up here and there. We've also added a small loot at their feet to better identify them as adventurers in the streets of Mordheim or the dungeons of Heroquest. Their names, once known only orally, are now indelibly written on their bases. They are called Ascia and Martello. “Axe and Hammer” — my son wasn’t very imaginative when he was little, limiting himself to calling them by the names of their weapons, but now that he has grown up he decided to keep the original names, justifying the choice with his own lore: “adventurer dwarves leave their names at home so as not to tarnish them with the shame of defeat, but when they return they take them back with joy, making them shine with their victories!” Damn, the wise boy!
NEWS! The Hold's Clandwarves
Another new entry: still some leftovers from sorting the models for the main army: here we are talking about pieces that really have no purpose even as a Mordheim gang or generic adventurers, they are merchants, workers, craftsmen, courtiers… I’m not sure yet if they will find a place, maybe in some display, some filler, some diorama or who knows, but here they are in the meantime. These too have been taken from my collection of old paintings and refreshed to match the quality of the current project.
For now, the Dwarf Queen and the goblin jester, very old and splendid pre-slotta Marauder figures. A great way to finish on a high note...
I also prepared a couple of test models for next month, unless something unpleasant happens I should surpass myself in terms of workload... we will live and see…
Finally, here is the updated table with the points and the number of models painted. LET'S GO!
And that’s all for February. Bjorn Grendel signing out.
as always:
keep painting, stay old school.
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