One of a kind- BJORN FELLHANDED Commission
The Old Wolf
Bjorn the Fell-Handed occupies a particular place in the history of Bran Redmaw’s Great Company. When Bran’s elevation to Wolf Lord was questioned following the death of Andhrimnir, it was Bjorn who counselled Logan Grimnar against condemning him solely because of his susceptibility to the Wulfen Curse. Bjorn had witnessed the Curse before and knew that its presence did not necessarily mean the loss of a warrior’s judgement.
Bran was permitted to take command, However, this decision would later become considerably harder to defend.
As the Wulfen appeared in increasing numbers amongst Bran’s warriors and reports of the Wolf Lord’s own transformations became more frequent, Bjorn remained one of the few warriors of the Fang capable of judging the matter from experience rather than fear. When Bran eventually led his Great Company into the abandoned Ghorstang Reach, Bjorn accompanied Grimnar, Ulrik the Slayer, Njal Stormcaller and Ragnar Blackmane.
The expedition was intended to determine whether Bran remained fit to command, and Bjorn would act as judge, and if needed, executioner.
Painting an Ikarus-Pattern Bjorn
This commissioned Bjorn is built around the distinctive Ikarus-pattern Dreadnought chassis, giving the model a markedly different character from the more familiar contemporary Space Wolves Dreadnought designs.
I wanted the painting to reinforce a sense of age. The blue-grey armour is deliberately restrained, with worn metallics and weathering providing much of the visual interest. Bronze, brass, bone and leather introduce warmer notes across the model and prevent the large armour plates from becoming visually flat.
For a character as ancient as Bjorn, I particularly like allowing the underlying metal to show through the damage. Rather than painting scratches as decorative lines, build them into the weathering process so that the armour appears to have accumulated damage over a very long period of service.
The complete process for painting this Bjorn, including the Space Wolves blue-grey armour, aged metallics, weathering and colour balancing, is available through the Lil’Legend Patreon.
