Olaf Wyrdweaver

This is Olaf Wyrdweaver, wielder of Gottblyndyr, Gothi to Rikkard's Great Company. A Rune Priest of considerable talent in manipulating the natural world, Olaf has served several Great Companies since his elevation to the Sky Warriors of Fenris.

Olaf wields a staff named Gottblyndyr, a weapon inherited from his mentor in the ancient ways. It is said that Gottblyndyr's light shines so brightly in the warp that it pains the gods themselves to look upon it.

Fierce and wise with an uncanny ability to be one step ahead of fate, Olaf is at the very heart of Rikkard's Great Company, valued as a warrior and councillor both.

What a pleasure to put my own spin of Jes Goodwin's classic Rune Priest miniature. Not that there's anything wrong with the original, I just fancied doing something a bit different. I decided upon a force stave partly for the look, partly for the in-game use. It's based on a Grey Knight force halberd with an icon and skulls from my collection of Space Wolf bits. The twine it just rolled-out green stuff.

I tried a glowing effect on Olaf on the various runes, the wolf eyes on the backpack and also in his hand, as if he's conjuring some kind of power. It more-or-less worked as I hoped after several attempts. I tried to paint on a glowing rune on the left shoulder pad, an eye of warding, which Prospero Burns fans may recall has quite some potency for the Vlka Fenrynka. It's not come out as well as I wanted, but the colour is good.

I have a few WIP shots, which aren't the best quality and not helped by the shiny pewter, but it should provide a little insight into what went into building Olaf.

The swapping of the axe from the original model for an open hand from the Grey Knights kit worked very nicely. I'm pleased with the angle it's held at as hands held palm up seems to be a fairly uncommon pose. I think it gives a real sense of casting great power.

So that's that. I'm really pleased with Olaf and hope you like him too.