AoS28: Freyvid Hafnar - The Eclipse

Is it like the hand of God hovering above?

Freyvid Hafnar, Chief investigator of the Barak-Nar Biologis Guild, had been commissioned, alongside an Overlord warfleet, to venture into the humid cloudbanks of Ghyran in search of a missing explorator fleet. The Kharadron had long forsaken the realm of life for the riches of their native Chamon, but greed and hubris garnered from their dominion over the skies eventually pushed them outward. Rumors circulated the airways of some daemonic taint that had begun to overtake some of the farther reaches of the realm, and the Admiral Counsel began to fear that their ships may have been lost to its vile clutches. In hopes of salvaging something from the lost venture, they commissioned a Grundcorps reconnaissance fleet to investigate, with Hafnar amongst their storied crew. Never ones for superstition, the Barak-Nar Admirals reasoned that a scientist would prove useful in case the lost fleet met their end via some unconventional means. Hafnar was also somewhat of an expert on Nurgle pox and maladies, if anyone could truly be called such, studying the Guild’s labyrinthine archives on the matter. Whatever the fate of the lost ships, the decaying hand of Nurgle or otherwise, they would be found and avenged…

Freyvid Hafnar shaved off his beard as an oath to his commitment to unlocking the mysteries of the crystal blight.

Freyvid Hafnar is my entry into Ex Profundis’s AoS28 contest, The Eclipse. The contest’s goal is to have each contestant create some form of witch hunter within the Age of Sigmar setting. Having recently devised a crystal blight afflicting the mortal realm for our first venture into AoS28, we thought it would be neat to continue to explore the idea for the contest. We were interested in examining how the inhabitants of the Mortal Realms would assimilate knowledge of this new contagion. Would they assume it is some new curse from the pantheon of Chaos Gods ? Or perhaps some would take a more scholarly approach and attempt to empirically determine its cause? Science and scholarly pursuits are not much talked about in Games Workshop’s universes (Age of Sigmar or otherwise), but it is hard to imagine they would be completely absent. So for our witch hunter, we wanted to create a scientist that was trying to elucidate the cause of the crystal disease and possibly even devise a cure, or failing that, attempt to purge it from existence. The release of the Kharadron Overlords coincided with these ideas, and we decided to create a scientist from one of their skycities.

As a scientist first and foremost, Freyvid Hafnar is not covered in weapons, but has a single sidearm.

Freyvid examines the crystal encrusted helm of one of his kinsmen.

The Kharadron Overlord’s society is built around Guilds that handle various vital aspects of the dwarves’ lives. The Aetheric Navigators of the Nav-League and the engineers from the Endrineers Guild are two of the most powerful, dealing with navigating the skies and building airships, respectively. To fit our theme for the Eclipse contest, we created a new Biologis Guild that focuses on biological sciences and medicine, something that would be just as vital to their society as dredging Aether-gold from the skies. As an organization that values knowledge (and free exchange of that knowledge), it does not get caught up in prideful displays of what Sky-port they hail from. Towards this end, they also have a common practice of shaving off one’s beard at the onset of any new quest of learning, remaining that way until the quest ends. This Oath of the Moment symbolizes their altruistic commitment to their new scholarly pursuit (a dwarf’s beard is a point of pride throughout dwarven culture). Our dwarf comes across the crystal disease as it infects some of his peers when traversing the Realm of Life, investigating a missing Kharadron fleet.

The Biologis Guild functions on the idea that knowledge is universal, and therefore not interested in prideful displays of their Sky-port’s colors.

When setting about converting the model, the main thing that I wanted to do was modify the Overlord’s questionable anatomy. The stock models hardly have abdomens, and seem as though their scapulas attach to their pelvises. This makes the models look a lot like eggs with muscular legs attached to the sides of them. Instead, I wanted to try to make the model look more like the cover of the Overlord’s battletome, with legs attaching more naturally (no huge thigh gap) and an appreciable abdomen. To do this, I needed to cut off the legs and reattach them closer together. To make the legs look more natural (and not so muscular), I trimmed them down quite substantially before reattaching them. I then used green stuff to rework the leg detail. I also extended his torso with a little piece of plastic card and green stuff. Although time-consuming, I think these two changes help tremendously, making a dwarf that could conceivably move around. Due to the ball and socket design of how you attach the Overlord’s heads, it also looks as though they do not really have necks. I made sure to sculpt one on the head I chose, which was one from a Chaos marauder horsemen. Although the face does not have a beard, I really liked the look of it, and felt it reflected the Guild’s background (see above). To suggest his role more as a scientist than a warrior, I did not want the model to be overflowing with weapons, and only added a pistol to his waist. Finally, I made him holding the helmet of one of his afflicted brethren, studying the crystal phenomenon and considering how best he might combat the crystal menace.

Work-in-progress images of the Overlord, notice the extensive work done to his pants and torso.

Although the modifications made to the Overlord made him a little taller, he still looks like a dwarf next to other Age of Sigmar models.

The WIP dwarf next to the fully painted one!

Now that all is said and one, I am quite glad that Ex Profundis held the Eclipse contest when it did, as it forced me into action to put some of the ideas we had been throwing around into model form. It also got me to chose a color scheme for the crystal disease, something I was dragging my feet on! Let me know what you think about this somewhat unconventional witch hunter!

-Adam Wier