"Void-Born" - Yar Umbra I

Yar Umbra is a void-born Necromundan Bounty Hunter
who was forced to take up the trade 
after he was intentionally marooned 
on Hive Primus by a deck master
of the chartist vessel Halcyon Dawn.

- Lexicanum


Welcome back to The Art of Caesura!

Last week we finished off the coverage of my first Necromunda Gang: The Unkindness. Today, we're sticking with Necromunda, but moving on to a Hired Gun: Yar Umbra. 

Today's post is a short one - I'm still working on this guy - but wanted to show you an important conversion I made.

I bought this model at Warhammer Fest a couple months ago. I really like almost everything about this model, but wasn't crazy about his head - and unfortunately that's kind of his main bit!

In his story, he was marooned on Necromunda when his ship left without him, some say the reason behind this was related to whatever he's hiding under his mask. 

The "Scarecrow" burlap aesthetic is cool, but I didn't love the saucer-shape of his head. It might be that he is wearing goggles, or (more likely) has an mutation. 

So, I had a bit of a conundrum, I wanted to replace his head, but didn't really know what I would replace it with and - wouldn't you know - he's one of the few models with his head actually sculpted on to his body as one piece! Yikes!

It was with trepidation that I started removing the head of this relatively expensive model. I quickly realized that clippers were going to be a no-go due to the piping on either side of his neck - I just couldn't get the buggers in there. I hoped to preserve his head for the ol' bits box too. So with a sharp hobby knife and a lot of patience, I finally managed to get it!

I spent a lot of time picking a new head and positioning it. By looking away, like on the original model, he looks even more alien and distanced.

A go-to for many Necromunda and Inquisitor 28 conversions that I've seen online are the old Warhammer Fantasy Empire models. I liked the big plume, but recognized that this would be pretty impractical for a stealthy sniper, and it lost the story element of the mystery of what's under his mask.

Next up was a head from an army I've had a good bit of experience with, Kharadron Overlords! This ticked a few boxes, it brought in a cool steam punk vibe and covered his whole face, in keeping with his story. But as much as I didn't want to admit it, the scale was just not quite right. As steam punk dwarves, Kharadron Overlords have big heads on squat little bodies. I felt that the head was too big for Yar's human frame. 

So then I went looking at some of the other bits that I got from Warhammer Fest, namely the alternate Delaque heads. I found a head that I thought was perfect and super awesome. With the eye augments, it totally looks like a creepy sniper that would lurk the Underhive. Plus, with the mask on his lower face we still wonder what's hiding under it - fangs? A missing lower jaw? Eerie.

BUT I really didn't want him to just look like a Delaque member who's gone rogue. I tried to think of ways to distance him from the typical Delaque (aside from, yuh know, not having big haunting robes). So instead of the really pale skin, for which Delaque are known, I gave him dark skin and contrasted it with a white mask. 

Here's a sneak peak of how he's looking, we'll get better shots next week...

I hope you liked our first look at Yar Umbra, tune in next week for more right here on The Art of Caesura!

Watching: Skin Wars

Reading: The Tattooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris 

Next Week:

Skulking the Underhive...