30K Wolves.. Finally I got something finished :)

[Dantay VI]

The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?

In the flames Fafnir encountered old memories, which until recently he remembered with fondness. Now they were as ashes, like those at the edges of the fire.

Allowing his thoughts to wander, his mind cast itself back to Fenris. To a simpler time, before this internecine war broke out between brothers and once brothers.

Fafnir Vol'kyr

Out on the ice… by the fire rested Fafnir & Keldane. They were in the midst of a hunt, looking to take down a great white-maned wolf, which had been terrorising the people of Asaheim and had even dared to attack the Aett itself.

Some said it was more than a wolf, others that it was a daemon of Hel taken of a feral aspect… One thing was for certain, it had to be taken down.

Sounds like just the task for Keldane… One of his many trials, maybe this one might actually see his thread cut… thought Fafnir ruefully. And mine too for that matter, saddled with this no good Night Lord.

Turning from his dark thoughts, Fafnir started to flense some meat from the legbone of a grox that he had bloodily killed earlier on in the day. Keldane had asked why there had been a need to kill the beast, but Fafnir so far hadn’t responded… Keldane was a bad star, an ill-omen. Nobody who walked the ice with him seemed to come back… As far as Fafnir was concerned the less he had to do with Keldane the better… Maybe that way his wyrd wouldn't infect Fafnir’s and they might make it through the hunt.

Let Keldane think the wolves an ignorant bunch of mjod swilling, hog feasting heathens, he will see through that illusion soon enough…

He hacked at the meat with one knife, then he put strips of it on the end of the other and placed it over the fire… The flames sizzled and popped as the fat and blood fell away from the flesh and melted into the fire, adding a new aroma to the thick smoke.

“Why are you looking into the firelight Fafnir? It will destroy your night vision you know” came Keldanes sibilant voice.

Fafnir ignored him. Always questions he thought.. Why this? Why that? Why, why, why? Always followed by a statement of fact… He is like an oversized mewling child who thinks he knows best. What did I do wrong to be saddled with him? Thought Fafnir.

As Keldane opened his mouth to ask another question, Fafnir raised his hand and gestured silence. In a low rumbling voice Fafnir spoke.

“For the love of the AllFather, would you please stop with these incessant questions. Your ceaseless yapping is giving me a headache…Just look at you in your midnight armour with your fancy lightning bolts and your fancy words. You think you are so much smarter than I, but I am interested to know, Keldane. What you have learned from today on the ice?”

As Fafnir glared at Keldane from across the fire, Keldane sneered back.

“I have learned that you are a messy killer and a messier eater Fafnir of Fyth” replied Keldane “Look at your face, you should be named Bloodmane. Why have we stopped here, when we should be tracking this beast? Then we could At least go back to the Fang, get some real food and out of this biting cold?”

“Hmmph, so not much has penetrated that hard Nostraman head of yours then?” muttered Fafnir “Maybe a story to pass the time?”

Fafnir's shield

“A Fenrisian saga from the venerated Fafnir, I can hardly wait”

The flames crackled and after a moment or two Fafnir sighed & broke the uneasy silence.

“One spring day, a fox was prowling through the woods, looking for prey. He comes across a squirrel looking for nuts on the forest floor”

“What is it with Wolves and their stories of animals.. Don’t you have any women?” sniped Keldane with a malicious grin

“Silence whelp” growled Fafnir as he cuffed Keldane across the side of the head. “Listen & you might just learn something"

"The fox tried to catch the little squirrel, but it darted away and climbed up a tree branch and to safety.

You should leave said the squirrel a wolf is coming…

To which the fox replied. I am not afraid of the wolf little squirrel. You only have one plan to escape, and will not always succeed, but I am a fox. The most intelligent of animals and I have a thousand ways in which I can escape from the wolf”

“I always did like foxes, such cunning little creatures” said Keldane, eyes gleaming in the firelight

“Then you had better be fast, said the squirrel for here he comes…. The fox looked around and considered how best to escape the wolf, but it was too late, before he could make up his mind what to do, the wolf had caught him and made him his supper. When the wolf left, the squirrel climbed down from the tree and escaped”

“Stupid fox” sneered Keldane

“I thought you liked foxes” said Fafnir with a smirk “Maybe that will be your name, Blackfox. With your midnight armour. Besides you are much too small to be a true wolf”

“Stupid story then”

“But what does the story teach you?”

“Besides that squirrels can outclimb wolves and foxes?”

“Now you are being facetious” retorted Fafnir “Yes I know words which consist of more than 2 syllables, we aren’t all complete savages”

Keldane gave Fafnir an incredulous look as he continued.

“It teaches us that sometimes 1 simple plan can be better than having a thousand elaborate plans, and often simplest is best”

“Simple? Like you, you mean? Sniffing like a dog at the outpost , then thrashing in the snow with that beast like a wild canine all smeared in blood. Making it stupidly easy to follow the drunken tracks that you left behind us.That wolf thing could easily……” Keldane's voice trailed off as comprehension dawned on him.

“Easily what Keldane?" whispered Fafnir with a feral grin.

“It could track us here”.

“Exactly” replied Fafnir with a triumphant tone. “All that grubbing about at the outpost, I was checking its spoor, its fur the scents it left behind, its tracks. All things a good hunter should be able to do. Intelligence is the first thing you gather about your enemy before you strike”

“And what did you find out?” Keldane asked despite himself

“It is no ordinary beast and what we hunt here, you can never speak of outside of our great company, that is if we survive the night.

It is a revenant. A ghost of what may come to pass to all of Russ' sons. What we hunt is a wulfen, part man part beast and a lot more besides. I have learned that the wulfen is sick, it is weak and it is hungry. It must also have been truly desperate or suicidal to have directly attacked the Aett”

“If it is sick and weak, why not just corner it and kill it with a bolt-round to the head? Why risk your life and get so close?” Asked Keldane

“Because it is still part man and I would see it die an honourable death, not like a caged, rabid beast” spat Fafnir. "You forget that this wulfen was once like us and as such, deserves our respect. The messy kill, makes it look like me and the animal I killed are stricken, easy kills. He will smell the blood on the air and be attracted to it. So rather than chasing him over the ice for days on end, we lure him here and take him down. He can die with honour in battle”

“Or we die screaming” deadpanned Keldane

“Or there is that”

“Why Fafnir, was that an attempt at a joke? You know of all the Wolves I think I might actually grow to like you” smiled Keldane in a tone whih was not completely insincere.

“I bet you said that to all the others who went out on these quests and had their threads cut” said Fafnir trying not to smile despite himself.

“No, just you… So let’s see if we can break this wyrd thing of yours and try to get us both back alive eh?”

A hand rested on Fafnirs shoulder breaking his reverie.

Starkadr

“It is time to hunt Fafnir, Vykryl calls. Are you ready?”

As Starkadr walked away to join the pack, Fafnir slowly rose from his haunches. He unclipped his cloak & white maned pelt from his armour and tossed them on the fire.

Starkadrs shield design.....

“Our friendship is ashes, like this pelt of the wulfen we took down together on our first hunt, now I must take you down, like the beast you have become. You are my brother no more. I have been sent with my brothers to watch over the 13th and ensure their loyaly. But I know you are here and by the Allfather I will find you”.

With that he turned his back to the flames and stalked away to meet with Vykryl and to face his brothers....

To be continued.

Thanks for looking. I have been enjoying working away on my models,and I have always been a Space Wolves collector and painter (very slow at painting)

I want to say a big thank you to Flint13 for getting me into trying to write fluffy bits for my Wolves and it was her idea a good while back to start a Hall of Honour for them. I quite like keeping them as WIP's because nobody can judge them f they aren't finished. Plus I am a bit of a painting butterfly, never getting one thing finished before moving on to the next.

I am hoping that by doing a HoH thread it will motivate me to not only start a model, but also to finish them too.

These are a few which are properly done, the rest of the squad will appear soon enough I hope.

Anyhoo, hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them, and any & all constructive criticism is welcome.You cant grow if you dont learn

Any ways thanks for looking.

[Argyle]

Well I suppose I owe a big thank you to Flint13. So...thanks Flint!

 

In all seriousness....a privilege both to view and read. I understand fully your dilemma of not finishing models as I am guilty of precisely the same thing. Artists are their own worst critics. I dont normally read a lot of the posted fluff but I anxiously look forward to more from Fafnir.

 

The models looks great. That dwarven hammer really fits the wolves especially so with the heresy armor I feel. Love the gritty dark feel that shows these two are ready to kickass. Is that second shield freehanded? Speaking of shields the traditional viking round shields add a mountain of character to these guys. Definately something I was considering to give me space to do individual heraldry as you have. Well done....stolen :)

[Dantay VI]

Thanks!!

 

Your models are pretty supremo.

 

The Dwarf Longbeard/hammerer set is a real treasure trove of bits, I git mine from a bits supplier along with a bunch of axes and stuff.

 

The shields are all done at around 100mm diameter, my freehand is nowhere near good enogh to paint setail that small. I'll then scan them and shrink them down. Leaves me some nice artwork, plus I canmake more shields if they are ever needed.

 

I have a gallery set up here where I keep ideas for shields..

 

Part 2 is done, but it involves a Wolf Priest who is nowhere near painted. I might put it out soon and just include the rest of Fafnir's squad, and introduce the Priest when he is ready.

 

The plan is paint more models and do a wee bit of story with each one. Gives them a bit more character than just Wolf1, Wolf 2 Wolf with plasma gun, wolf with wolfy wolf wolf of wolfiness!! :D