Vikings Re-post

I am re-posting my Viking warband, because another member of the Powerfist forum requested larger pics, and I need a hosting site, as Powerfist does not seem to support attaching pics to posts.

So here they are!

Dark Ages: Full Viking Warband

Here they are, four points of Warriors, two points of Hearthguards for SAGA.

For God of Battles, they can count as two units of Brutes, one unit of Younglings, and almost one unit of Brute Slayers As mentioned earlier, I shall now upgrade the Hearthguard to 10 models, which is effectively all I need to field 24 points in God of Battles, but I shall paint another 10 mail-clad warriors to use as another unit of Brute Slayers, so that I can field different configurations - and only need to do another unit of unarmoured Warriors/Brutes (which will then need only six additional models painted, as the Warriors already count 24 models) for a 36 points army. I shall also paint a Godi for the army; Crescent and Cross has rules for priests, and it is nice to have one for God of Battles as well.

I also need to decide on a Thor model to use this army for Of Gods And Mortals, I shall probably get a pack of the 'fantasy-ish' Vikings from Foundry, together with some berserkers or úlfhednar.

Dark Ages: The Second Point of Hearthguard

And here they are - I shall make a full line-up of the warband tomorrow, as I have to clear some space on the dining table, first.

Dark Ages: Last Hearthguard - For Now

Job done!

I have now officially painted a full six points warband for SAGA! 🙌

As previously mentioned, I am not done painting Vikings just yet, but I shall now paint a Forge Father Steel Warrior Huscarl, before I start working on the next batch of four mail-clad warriors.

This also conludes what I shall manage for March. Hopefully, during April I shall finish upgrading the Viking warband to a 24 points God of Battles Main Force army, and then it will be time for working on some Rohan warriors to use as Anglo-Saxons for fighting the Vikings.

In between, I should get most of a Forge Father strike team for DeadZone painted - I am using those as 'relief' from working on just one type of minis, and it should keep me from getting 'bogged down'.

Dark Ages: Three Down, One to Go!

I am very, very close to finishing the second point of Hearthguard, now.

Only one more mail-clad warrior to do, and I have a full six points warband - all painted in one long go!

It seems that I missed a spot on the trousers when applying the dark wash, I may have to go over that leg to mend it, but I shall definitely not do so. until I have finished the last figure for the warband!

In the meantime, I have primed two Forge Fathers, glued sand on their bases, and glued them onto corks, so I can start painting the Huscarl right away, when I have finished the fourth Viking Hearthguard. It  will be a welcome break from painting Vikings, but as already stated, I am going to paint even more of the armoured warriors, as I want to use up the shield stickers I have, and also upgrade the warband to 24 points for God of Battles, which requires bringing up the Hearthguard to 10 models, and add another unit of 10, so 12 more in total, which is just about what I have decals for (I do have a couple of sheets more, with identical motifs, but hey were purchased later, and much of those are going to be used for the God of Battles Command and Support section for the army).

Dark Ages: Two Down, Two to Go

After a week with almost no painting, due to spending a lot of time in the garden, I managed to finish this, the second armoured warrior for the second point of Hearthguard.

As usual, the shield is a Little Big Man Studios sticker transfer.

The last two models to complete my first six points SAGA warband may see completion one of the next days, if I can muster sufficient motivation to make it happen.

I think this is the first time ever that I have painted a complete army/warband in one go without diversions, and even though I really feel my Inner Butterfly kick and scream by now, I am determined to see this project through (so close, now)!

When the six points are done, I shall allow myself to paint something else, before I paint the next batch of mail-clad Vikings, just to please the Butterfly - I have assembled a couple of DeadZone Forge Father Steel Warriors which will be primed one of the next days.

Dark Ages: Another Armoured Viking

Today I finished the first warrior for my second point of Hearthguard.

I have another one almost finished - am going to apply the shield transfer tomorrow, and then see if I can manage to finish him - and the last two are about half done.

All in all, I think my six points for SAGA should be complete by the beginning of next week, but as mentioned earlier, I have to assemble and paint about a dozen more Vikings to use up the shield transfers I have.

It is my plan to then rebase and paint enough Rohan warriors to make up an Anglo-Saxon warband to fight the Vikings, but I may decide otherwise, before I get around to that.

Dark Ages: SAGA Vikings Five Points

Pitch invasion! I had to use the Subbuteo playmat for this line-up, as it takes up the most of the dining table at the moment, because Lea and I play Striker.

Five points, and the warband could probably work as is, but I still want to get that second point of Hearthguard finished, before I commit it to battle.

Tomorrow I am cooking Bacon and Cabbage, because it is St. Patrick's Day, and I like to try out foreign recipes (cooked French cassoulet last Sunday, yummy!), which is going to take up some of the afternoon, and thus I am not going to work in the veggie garden, so I hope to be able to paint a bit while the bacon cooks. I may finish another Hearthguard over the weekend, as the forecast is showing possible rain, but do not hold your breath, as I need to finish preparing the vegetable garden if the weather permits it, and I have only the late afternoons, because I need to sleep after night watch.

Dark Ages: One Point Viking Hearthguard

You have seen them before - but here they are together, my first full point of Viking Hearthguard. If I get the chance tomorrow, I shall post a photo of the full five-point warband, as it stands so far.

Dark Ages: Fourth Hearthguard Finished

Finally I finished the last model for my first point of Hearthguard (or ½ point of armoured Warriors - they are destined to be degraded to that status, later on).

The next five days, I am probably not going to paint much, as I begin my five-night work period tonight, and thus have to sleep most of the day, then spend an hour or so in the garden, if the weather permits. I shall try to get ½ hour of hobby time squeezed in, now and then, though, as I want my SAGA warband to be fully operational at six points, as soon as possible.

As I fell like having some variation, I have decided to build some Mantic Forge Father Steel Warriors (from my DeadZone II Kickstarter pledge lot) to paint in between the groups of Vikings, so I dug out the Forge Father sprue and parts from the box I store my DeadZone and Dungeon Saga stuff in.

Talk about multi-part miniatures!

Thank The Powers That Be that they are at least real plastic, and not that awful restic stuff!

I shall post some WIP pics when I have started construction - in the meantime, I shall post some Viking line-ups.

Dark AgeS. Viking Hirdman Number Three

I shall probably not finish the two points of Hearthguard for my Viking warband this week after all, The gardening season has begun, and most of the days this week are seemingly going to be dry and fairly warm, so I am going to spend a lot of time in the vegetable garden, preparing the soil for planting potatoes around April 1st.

I do manage to squeeze in the odd hour or half of painting, though, so in the best LEAN tradition, I am making some progress on a daily basis.😃

I managed to finish this guy today. and I am now only one Hirdman away from having a full point of Hearthguard, bringing my SAGA warband up to five points.

Tomorrow, I expect to be able to paint 2-3 hours straight, after spending the first hour in the garden, so I may actually finish  another mini, but the shield process, sticking the transfer on, then painting the rim and the boss, touching up the shield design, if the transfer did not fit perfectly, and then finally applying, first gloss varnish, then matt varnish, often takes a bit longer than anticipated.

Dark Ages: Second Hearthguard (finally)

While walking to and from the stove, cooking rice porridge for supper, I finished my second Viking Hearthguard warrior with a shield transfer and some detail painting.

I hope to finish the first point of Hearthguard over the weekend, but the forecast promises dry weather, and I may have to spend a lot of time preparing the veggie garden for planting potatoes, as the spuds should be put in the soil around April 1st.

I do not think I let my lamps heat up for quite long enough, hence the slightly dark photos.

No problems with the latest two shield transfers, by the way - but I still want to use up the entire first batch of four sheets, before I move on to something else - which means that I shall probably be busy until late April, at least.

Well, I do not have any pending deadlines, and painting these Vikings is quite easy and rewarding, so it is not that hard to find motivation.

Dark Ages: First Hearthguard Painted

I felt a bit ill during the weekend, and most of my hobby-time consisted of reading up on the SAGA rules, both the original book and the Crescent & Cross hardback.

This morning. though, I got up early, and started painting again. I focus on finishing one Hearthguard at a time, so that I can check off some progress each day (except those days when I have to sleep after a night watch). I expect to have two points ready somewhen next week, but a quick count of my shield transfers has shown that I shall have to paint about a dozen more, so I am probably not going to stop painting Vikings very soon.

I had no problems with the shield transfer today, by the way, even though it is from the same sheet as the previous ones.

I am not quite content with the mail - I used the original black ink for the ancient Citadel Colours Ink Paint Set (you know, the series with nine pots in a vac-formed white insert) on top of Chainmail, and it is, I think, a bit too rich for this purpose. On the next one I shall try Badab Black, of which I still have an almost full pot, and if I think it dulls the metal too much, I shall get a clear Nuln Oil as soon as I can commandeer the family dropship for the purpose.

Dark Ages: Four Points Warriors Line-Up

Both the girls have been ill (cold/flu/something), so I have been laying low on the hobby front. I have lined up the four points of Warriors, though, here arranged in two units of 12, and one unit of 8.

For God of Battles Blood Gorged Vikings, these can be two units of 'Brutes' (6 points, 10 models), and one unit of 'Younglings' (3 points, 8 models) with a few models spare.

When I have painted three points of Hearthguard, I can use those as 'Brute Slayers' (9 points, 10 models), and I shall have both a full SAGA warband, and 24 points of Main Force for GoB.

To round off a full 24 points GoB force, I then shall have to paint six huskarls/hirdmen for a 'Brute Watchers' unit (12 points, 6 models), as I already have a Warlord/Herdlord (12 points, 1 model).

I have not been playing around with the Thousand Tribes list for these, yet, and I have a feeling that I shall rather use my Rohan collection for it, keeping Vikings, Anglo-Danes, and Saxons (when I get around to those) for the Blood Gorged list.

The six hirdmen will not be the end of it, though, as I shall probably want to paint another six, at the same time getting them ready to take over the role of Hearthguard, while my spear-toting, mail-clad Vikings can then shift to the position of Warriors - and I can use some of my un-armoured Warriors as the start of an Anglo-Danish warband. This, of course, also leads to the need for more armoured models to swell the ranks of the Vikings, and I also want to make a dane-axe equipped unit to act as 'Brute Ravagers' in Gob, while at the same time providing the option of dane-axe equipperd Hearthgurad for the SAGA Anglo-Danes.

Still some road to cover - and I do not think that I am getting all the way there right away - but I expect to keep at it, at least until I have used up my first batch of LBMS shield transfers, to avoid them going irreversibly bad.

As soon as the transfers are all used, I think I shall go back to the Perry plastic spearmen and finish assembling the first 16-man block, to be able to get them off my prepping station, as I really need some space there. I might even paint some of them - would like to get my Gondor army up and running - but I have plenty other projects waiting down the line, so I cannot plan that far ahead.

Dark Ages: Three Points + Two Warriors

The newcomers join the party. I am starting to yearn for a game with these, but I need to get the full six points done.

I am not getting more finished today, after all, but I have four almost done, and if I get something done over the weekend, I may finish the last point of warriors Monday afternoon. May. As always, depends on, how many other tasks I have to tend to,  but I am very optimistic about being able to begin painting the armoured Warriors/Hearthguards Wednesday, at the latest.

Dark Ages: Three Points for SAGA Line-Up

As mentioned earlier, I cannot fit the full line-ups on my Vikings on the photo-station, anymore, so here is a quick presentation among the clutter on the dining table.

I have finished two more, they are sitting in the flocking box, glue drying.

Dark Ages: Third Point of Warriors Finished

I am back in the saddle painting Vikings.

I finished these two 'command' models earlier today, and they bring my SAGA force up to 3 points (combined with some of the minis from my Blood Eagle warband).

I shall post a line-up of the full three points tomorrow (I need to clear a space on the dining table for it), and I have gotten an early start on the next eight models, so I hope to finish a few before the weekend.

LBMS Transfers - Troubles and Possible Solution

Today, after cutting out a couple of Little Big Men Studios shield transfers, I could not get the protective clear film off the sticky side.

I had pondered about this problem in advance, as I have heard that it sometimes happens over time, and I have previously had a couple of transfers ruined.

I have often experienced that temperature can heavily impact the stickiness of adhesives, and I decided to try out heat to soften the 'glue' on the transfers.

Holding the transfer with a pair of tweezers, I used a hair-dryer to heat it up (for about ½-1 minute), and then it was possible to remove the film and attach the transfer to the shield, as normal!

I successfully applied this method to both the transfers, but I think that it has to be repeated several times to prove effective (I may have been lucky).

Dark Ages: Third Point of Warriors is Coming Along

I have had a couple of very lazy days, yesterday because Lea was ill, and we ended up on the couch, watching three movies.

Today, though, I found the energy to finish the hornblower, and as the leader model was already finished Thursday, I now have another pair of warriors done, and only need to finish two more, then I shall have three points ready for the table.

As mentioned earlier, I do feel my motivation waning, as a kind of painting fatigue is setting in. so my progress will probably be somewhat slower from now on (I still hope to have four points done by next weekend, as the next batch have no shields, and that means a couple of steps less to work through.