Hobby Update: Touched-up Avatar of the Father

I am still catching up on what will be a handful of hobbying posts from all my May efforts. Life has been busy lately, and unfortunately not in the best ways. On the happy hobbying front though, I officially out of new units for the Herd, but have a few things in need of touchups that I've been chipping away at. Most of that is just a little paint to hide some yellowing super glue, and will not be documented, but I do have one model that got a lot of attention: the Avatar of the Father.

Back in 2019 I did up an Avatar of the Father, which at the time was just a fighty monster. In the transition to 3rd Edition, the unit remained, but gained a permanent Fly. My wingless version wasn't wysiwyg, so I despaired a bit. Recently, I found some wings from Scribor in a local shop, picked them up and got to work touching up this legendary leader option for the Herd. So I guess I have a legitimate centerpiece model for the Herd again? Yay?

All done, for now.

The updates are pretty good! I don't usually trust myself to do eyes on any mini, but felt that something white or bright would be a nice final touch here. Not being great with eyes, it's not perfect, but does give a nice feeling of an "empowered" being, I think. Seems fitting for an Avatar.

I had a lot to do, and then the head popped off... so the whole mini got touched up.

For hobbying, just about everything needed some work done. Aside from adding the new wings, I saw a few mold lines that I missed previously; the base was oriented wrong and could not make use of the leader point divot; and the base needed some more work with some tufts and a bit more paint after removing the miniature. Then head popped off, so I set about just touching up all the paint. 

From the back, before adding the final tufts.

The wings are one big piece of solid resin, so the model is now quite heavy. For now, I just filed down the connections and applied a fair amount of super glue, but this will probably be in need of a pin or two in the near future. The extra weight might also require a pin into a hoof or two to provide more support. He's vertical for now, but I'm not sure how sturdy just cork board will be long-term and if the wings will hold against any accidental torqueing force or in-game bumps. 

I am always excited to finish up a unit and eager get them onto the table for testing, but that is especially true in this case.

My tiny, pseudo-local meta has been exploring what I think of as "heavy fliers" over the last year or so. These are things like the Vampire Lord on Undead Dragon for the Undead; the Clan Lord on Fire Drake for the Salamanders; the High Paladin on Dragon for the Brothermark; or the Archfiend of the Abyss for the forces that hail from there. A heavy Flier is a titan, something that costs around 300 points, has good stats, as well as some extra ranged ability tacked on, like a breath attack or a spell. I have not played with them too much myself, but the general consensus is that these kinds of heavy flying units just have not been worth it. One wants to get the beast into combat, so the ranged ability is often paid for but not used. However, once it gets into combat, the damage output just isn't there, and it's a 300 point investment that then needs assistance to get things done. No matter the situation, you're paying for things you are not using, so the heavy fliers just have not been delivering for my opponents, and do not seem to be regarded as good picks online.

As a rather combative flier, the Avatar of the Father is in that same lane, but still a bit different. It drops the ranged attack, making it little leaner points-wise, and is only on a monster-sized base, making it easier to squeeze into any gaps your opponent leaves for you in their battle line. I have not messed with true heavy fliers much myself, but I am hoping the Avatar of the Father might provide some more tactical insight into that unit type after a few games. We'll see what uses and insights I can come up with. The Herd seems like a fun and aggressive army, and hopefully I can squeeze in a few more games with them soon!