Norse 3 - Einar Ragnarsson

Here we have the warlord for my nascent Viking band. I had considered going with a big guy with a wolf skin cloak, big imposing helmet and all the trimmings, but I had this guy, and it amused me to have him lead the force. It'll make for entertainment on the gaming table.

This fella is Einar Ragnarsson from the film The Vikings, from 1958. (You can find it on many of the streaming services.) He's quite the rapscallion, is our Einar, played by Kirk Douglas, as if that chin hadn't already announced itself. Just the guy to lead an opportunistic raiding force of Northmen. 

It's not the finest sculpt I've ever painted, the pose is a little stiff, but nor is it a bad sculpt at all. The sculptor NAILED the likeness. I followed the film pretty closely for a colour scheme, and I might use the palette for the sheepskin leg wraps on a few other members of the warband. I spent most of the time on the face and luxurious hair, to be honest. I also wanted to get that blind eye just right.

Saga requires a larger base for the Warlord, usually 40mm, which I felt would have been too big. So I popped him on a 25mm and made a 40mm base extender, so I can use Einar in other games, like Pillage. I had a poor mistreated old dog mini in my bits box, and thought it would be perfect for a bit of visual interest on the base extender. Enter Jǫtunn, Einar's faithful hound. The dog was originally a Lord of the Rings mini, I discovered, one of farmer Maggot's two mutts. How he got in that bits box, only Odin knows.

I've got plans for a few more units to get me to five points. A unit of berserkers next, then two unit of warriors and a unit of levy. After that, I have some sweet Viking casualties to serve as fatigue markers, some dark age terrain, and most terrifyingly, a longship that I've had stashed in the pile for years.

Next up, Ulfhednar!

Norse 2 - Hearthguard

Today we have some more Northmen. Some buddies and I are planning on a Saga weekend in a few weeks, and I eagerly dug out my venerable Citadel and Foundry Norse. I've had half an eye on doing some Vikings for years, and if not now, when?

The Perry(?) Citadel Norse are really lovely sculpts. I have a nice stash of them, and I must say, they are really nice to paint up. I'm having THE FUNS. Dipping a toe into historical has sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. All of a sudden I'm poring over Osprey books and looking up historical reference. Finding the LittleBigMan Studios shield transfers was a delight. They are so good. Look at them!

Now, one thing I did not love was the bosses on the minis for the Citadel boss-less shields. It's a bit of a pain in the hoop. So, I filed them flat, drilled a hole for a wee pin and used Foundry shields, which happily the transfers fit perfectly, and are a lot less hassle to attach.

Painting-wise, it's a lot of natural materials mixed with a few more vibrant colours. The Vikings were a fairly colourful lot, it turns out. I mixed up a nice new recess wash for metals by mixing GW Nuln Oil, Vallejo Umber Wash and a touch of black. It's nice for definition. 

Hair was the other thing. I wanted a nice blonde, red and a few good browns. I think they worked pretty well, though I fancy a nice black hair colour too. You gotta have good beard-fu when painting Vikings.

Gunnar Hrafnsson here is one of the few Citadel exampled with a full helm. I do wish they had done a couple more. Still, he's a nice sculpt. I hadn't originally planned on the gold on the helm, but it needed something to draw the eye amongst all that silver.

Úlfr Raudskeger is another really sweet chonky sculpt. Those pants alone demand respect. I made him a redhead, and I think it's realistic enough without being too vibrant. I've started kind of 'polishing' on the top highlight on the metals, like a hard drybrush with almost no paint, and it gives a really realistic sheen.

Björn Inn Sterki, the last hearthguard, is a (gasp) duplicate! I had two, and I like this sculpt so much I just added him in. If I do another unit of hearthguard I'll just swap him in there. I went brighter with his tunic as I want to add maybe three more vibrant colours to the warband palettte. I have this, a blue, and I might do a red as well.

So, that's the first unit of Hearthguard. Next up, the warlord. My own Viking heritage goes back the Orkney islands, so I get a buzz out of finally doing a wee Viking warband. Is that you, grandad?

Vertu sæll!

Norse 1 - Sigurd Kåresson

A change of pace. Gone are the eyeless sockets, rusty armour and the jerky gait. In with guttural war cries, coastal raiding and shaggy beards. It's the Vikings! 

I'm building a small force of Vikings for Saga, something I've been meaning to get around to for years. Saga seems a very fun game, and the model count needed is very reasonable. I'm starting with a four-point warband, and we'll see where it goes from there. I have a Saga weekend coming up, so that'll give me a nice idea of what to add to the force.

I've plenty of minis underway, but this is the first one finished. Sigurd Kåresson, who will lead my first unit of hirdmen. He's an old Citadel sculpt. Citadel did a lovely range of Norse back in the 80s. This range eventually went to Foundry, and you can still buy most of them to this day. 

Sigurd here is a super nice sculpt, and called to me. He bade me join him in the halls of Valh- sorry. What was I saying? Yes. So, the temptation would be to give him grey hair, so I went with blond. He's not an old guy, just wears that helmet too much. 

I'll be posting the first unit of four hirdmen (Hearthguard in Saga) shortly!

Undead Spearhead 7 - Ser Ballon Gravenmere

Ballon's horse trudged forward through the sheeting rain. The grinding of broken bones against the many metal arrowheads lodged deep in it's flesh would have grated on any mortal rider. But Ballon was far beyond such concerns. All there was now was duty. 

But not duty to lord or land. No noble quest urged him on. 

He just wanted to find those who has so cravenly ambushed him and his horse on the Knight's Road. He was going to teach them what happens when such despicable cowards think they have escaped justice.

This day we bid the brave Ser Ballon Gravenmere welcome to the ranks of the painted. Ballon is a black knight, (or barrow knight, to the AoS folks) and is the second of five such creatures I need for my little force. He's from the C21 Citadel undead cavalry range, sold as 'Corpus the Fallen'. I believe they were sculpted by Aly Morrison and Bob Naismith, though I might be wrong here, or omitting other sculptors. Do let me know if I need to add anyone.

I love this range of undead riders, though they are a little small by today's standards. But for sheer character, they are hard to beat. Sadly the range never had any command figures, but there is a very nice wight king that would serve well as a unit champion.

Prep-wise, this old boy and his mount were as hard to clean up as any metal fig from the era. Some of the arrows riddling the horse had been eroded quite badly, so I cut all but one of them off and added some new plastic ones. I did have to add some greenstuff to the saddle so he'd sit on it a little better. Each of these riders only fit one one or two horses from the range, which is fun. 

As to painting, I trawled old Bosch and Bruegel paintings (Triumph of Death is a must-have reference for any undead officionado) for colour schemes for the rotting horse. Browns, greens and purples made up most of my palette here. I think the stanky pony came out pretty well. I didn't want the result to be too dark, as I know the knight would be wearing black iron armour like the rest of my wights, and I wanted some contrast.

I recently picked up a pile of basing bits from Epic Basing. The thorn bushes of Ballon's base are some of theirs. I defintely recommend giving them a look. I had a lot of fun basing my Tomb Kings Bloodbowl team with their shattered pottery set.

Now, it's back to the wights!

Undead Spearhead 6 - The Choir of Ashes

 

Another small unit of skeleton warriors across the finish line. This time it's the Choir of Ashes, led by the bellicose Sergeant Wollf. 

This unit is the second ten-corpse group I need for the Spearhead project. It's a mix of ranges, from Citadel, Skull & Crown, Diehard, Bonefields and others. I do like to shop about. I have plans to boost these guys to a twenty strong unit in time. 

It took a while to settle on a banner design. I kept the colour scheme I used on Raoul de Tosny's Banner of the Horned Sun, I may use a variant of it on ghostly fellows too. The banner design really was the thing that needed some thought. Eventually, I settled on a portrait of Samael the fallen angel, though as Morr, (or Morrda in Age of Sigmar) God of Death in this setting. The Ashen standard is held aloft by Malach Veyr.

I'm very happy with the result. The banner itself is a chopped up ogre standard with some green stuff work and added grisly trophies. These old 90s Citadel standard bearer minis, more often than not, didn't come with a banner, just the banner pole. You had to add the flag yourself. With this being a particularly fancy banner pole, I felt it needed a nice flag. 

The Choir of Ashes is so named for the dirge that rises from it's members as they shamble across the land. A genial song of praise to Morr it is, that they may be released to his peace. Morr is not a vengeful God, but holds the choir fast to their oaths. Only when they are fulfilled will he let them rest, but, for the moment, the song eases their burden, as songs do. Wollf hushes them with a bark all the same, when focus is required. 'Enough whickering my morose fellows, there's sword-work to do. Step lively now!'

Undead Spearhead 5 - Melchior Dregomir

This project I’m working on needs a leader. A wight king, to be exact. There were many candidates, but in the end I picked this tall gent, a Heartbreaker undead lord from the 90s, sculpted by Chaz Elliot. As you can see, compared to his bony minion, he’s a fairly big mini, and a fine Oldhammer era commander for the host. His sword was missing its grip and pommel, so I picked out a new one. (I since found the original, irritatingly.)

Paint-wise, Melchior got the same treatment as my other wights, bar the white fur ruff and the glowing orb. The orb was my first time using fluorescent paint, and it was a bit of a learning curve. I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Melchior is a creature driven by sinister purpose. A towering wight lord of terrible aspect, made more awful still by the enormous sword he carries, the wight blade known as Absolution. This weapon passes harmlessly through the innocent, but wrenches the souls from the guilty. These shades are then bound to Melchior's magical phylactery, the Cweartern. There they dwell until such time as Melchior calls on them to perform some service, or until he deems their penance concluded.

Melchior is no cruel warden, but is unrelenting in his righteous castigation of the wicked. If one could get close enough to listen, one might hear him quietly admonishing his ghostly charges on the errors of their ways. 

So that's our champion of justice ready to lead this bony minions. More rattlebones soon.

Undead Spearhead 4 - Silas Harrow

A minor, but slightly oddball addition to the Spearhead today; Silas Harrow, skeletal fiddler for the second unit of skeleton warriors. 

Silas is a mini I have had for a very long time, and I can't recall what manufacturer he is from. He's been awaiting his turn at the painting desk for many a year, so it's nice to get him done. A simple enough fellow to paint, the only real head-scratchers were getting his fiddle bow to look something like what it's intended to be, and painting in the fiddle-strings.

The second unit is just about done, but still needs it's standard bearer. He's going to be a bit of a job, so, I'm going to put him off and paint the wight king leading the force next instead. Another old fellow come to his final reward.

Until next time, my dears.