Dauntless December: The Chosen Axes

I didn't think of these guys as suitable for the challenge at the time I painted them, but really, nothing says "dauntless" like Dwarves. And they are all basically named characters. I certainly put as much work into them as I do most characters, which is one of the things I like about stuff like Shadespire and Kill Team. I can really take the time to get into every single Model in a force without it taking years to finish. I did a few group shots of them along with Spiteclaw's Swarm earlier, but just now got around to doing individual shots. Anyhow, on to the pics:

First up, Grimnir himself. I had to cut off and reposition his left hand to be able to get in there and sculpt his boot, in addition to the primary conversion work. The rune on his back is  unfortunately somewhat obscured, because I need to get some sort of diffuser for my light box, but it's Gebo, which, in addition to being his initial, represents the connections between gods and mortals, and the gifts the gods provide to mortals.

Next, we have Vol. The overall idea for this colour scheme, as far as I can reckon, I came up with on my own, but the decision to lock it in and some of the details of the execution owe a significant debt to Spooktalker's Fire Giant. His rune is Thurisaz, associated with the god Thor, and strength/power, particularly in defense of the home.

Tefk Flamebearer is my personal fave. The smoke didn't come out quite like I wanted, because I had to trim it a bit more than planned, but I'm still pretty happy with it, and love the overall effect. He wears the rune Kenaz, the rune of fire, because, really, what could be more appropriate?

Last and, yeah, pretty much least, we have Mad Maegrim. I wish they had differentiated his rules a little more, letting him, say, hit hard, but have substantially worse defence, or something like that. He also has a more two-dimensional pose that leaves him with fewer angles worth photographing. Incidentally, shortly before finishing these guys, I found out through a completely different source that "megrim" is an archaic term for a migraine, with, since it pre-dates modern medicine, more connotation of madness. Maegrim is marked by Naudiz, a rune signifying need, obsession, or distress, a combination that felt appropriate.

And the whole lot together

I've got one more set of pics for Dauntless December, and then it's going to be on to new stuff. My goal for 2019, inspired by a number of the end of the year posts and Azazel's regular tracking of his productivity, is to record everything I finish in the year, see what my productivity is actually like, so I can set reasonable goals for improving it. As we move into 2019, y'all have a good one, y'hear!