Halvarn the Reiver (Joins the Glaurung)

Born and raised in the city of Snowborne in Rohan, Halvarn has spent most of his adult life on ships, raiding the towns of Near Harad and the outlying settlements of Umbar. While the Steward of Gondor is more than happy to encourage and give refuge to such reivers, they are generally considered to be dangerous, ill-disciplined men. Most folk view them as little better than the corsairs and want nothing to do with them.

When Halvarn volunteered to join the crew of the Glaurung, Mandracoth advised against accepting him. Breged overruled his friend, however, for besides his mighty axe, Halvarn brings one very important asset to the company. He knows the shores and the dangerous lands to the south. He knows the safe harbours and friendly villages. Most importantly, he has seen Umbar.

When planning the voyage, Breged and Mandracoth knew there would be one great challenge, even before they sailed off the edge of the map. How to slip past Umbar, the capital of the corsairs? With Halvarn as part of the crew, the chance of passing through corsair waters undetected is greatly increased.

Unlike any of the previous volunteers, Halvarn is the only one to demand that his claim to a share of any and all treasure recovered during the trip be put in writing.

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As with most of the crew of the Glaurung, I chose the figure first and then created the background for him. Halvarn’s figure is actually a Dunlending hero. The pack came with both a mounted and foot version of the figure. I haven’t painted the mounted version, but I will at some point.

I decided he would be from Rohan for three reasons. First, I don’t currently have a hero from Rohan, and though Halvarn is perhaps not who the Horse Lords would choose for their representative, he’s better than none. I also thought his armour looked more in the Rohirrim style than the Gondorian style. Finally, since I have a mounted version of the figure, it seemed right to give him a riding background, even if he is basically depicted as a Viking.

The figure was a lot of fun to paint. Lots of hard detail that was easy to pick out. Also because of the heavy cloak, it is a very chunky figure with some nice heft to it. Finally, I love painting fur, such as his wolf skin cloak. Nicely sculpted fur is probably the easiest detail to paint and have look really good. Just a few layers of dry-brushing really bring it to life.

Although pricey, this figure is still available in metalfrom Games Workshop. If you want one, I wouldn’t wait around. The Lord of the Rings figures are disappearing from their webstore at an alarming rate.