Torsten
This figure is “Torsten” from the Hasslefree “Grymn” (space dwarf) range, available here. I plan to use the figure as some sort of Living Ancestor, space dwarf psychic/wizard character (and thats a particularly entertaining and geeky sentence).
The Grymn range is beautifully sculpted and cast, but the proportions are petite, even by miniature space dwarf standards. Im not very fussy about that sort of thing generally, but a bit like Bob Olleys “Scrunt” range – which is a little larger in proportion than most 28mm space dwarfs – the Grymn dont really play well with other space dwarfs.
Regardless, I plan to add many more Grymn in this project anyway. The range is too nice to leave out and I am too rock-n-roll to care about the minor scale discrepancies, but be warned: standing Grymn alongside Forgefathers may induce nerdrage in some 🙂
L to R: Forgefather Stormrage Veteran, Grymn Torsten, Forgefather Steel Warrior. Grymn have much smaller heads
I knew all of that scale stuff before I bought Torsten, but figured I would take a chance with the figure and see how the range fits in with the Ursa Miners that I already had. As suspected the proportions didnt seem appropriate for use as a big tough leader type of character as I had intended, so I slated Torsten as an ancient and wizened “Living Ancestor” or “Ancestor Lord” type of space dwarf.
“Back in my day all this was fields. Of rock.”
The old Rogue Trader background featured Living Ancestors as exceptionally old Squats whose spiritual proximity to the departed souls of their deceased comrades gave them psychic powers. These powers were largely defensive in nature and Ancestor Lords (as they became known in their very brief WH40K 2nd edition existence) on the whole were less powerful than the psykers of other races.
So, wizened old wizard types that can increase durability in their comrades via armour/toughness/morale buffs then: thats Torsten that is. He looks a lot like Donald Sutherland.
L to R: Grymn Torsten, Squat Adeptus Mechanicus. Torsten is taller but also a lot more slender.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2013, 40K, 40K Skirmish, Adeptus Mechanicus, Grymn, Sci-fi, Space Dwarfs, Ursa Miners |
sho3box 
He does look like an aged Sutherland. I like when that urban camo motif is quite visible on your Space Dwarves. I find it lifts (adds more depth to?) the rather dark uniform of the UM’s.
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Thanks otto, good feedback 🙂
Overall the space dwarfs are a little on the dark side (a bit of foreshadowing there…). I like painting black because it allows me to add brightly coloured accents to models without having to worry too much about gaudyness, while also enabling high output due to the undercoat being the basecoat and all that. I do tend to veer in that direction a little too often though.
The camo pattern takes a little bit of time to paint. Not ages, but a little bit of time, so I limited the number of areas on the models that get it. I mentioned in my very first post about the space dwarfs that the basic troopers actually look better from behind, due to the camo being on their cloaks. Its one of those things that actually works better on the table than in photos from one angle I think. I will take a rear shot of the Miners when I taking some group shots over the next week or two which will hopefully illustrate.
As is often the case the elite units and other interesting bits get a little more attention and therefore more camo areas. The important thing for me was to ensure that the basic scheme for the grunts was quick and easy. They are after all just bit part players and I wanted to be able to churn them out at a decent rate. I hope that you will be pleasantly surprised when you see the Ursa Miners on the table anyway. They are dark and semi-realistic (whatever that means) but visually interesting nonetheless I think.
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