Its been a while since my last post - the weather has been too hot and I've been too busy for some of this time but worry not, I have been beavering away - working through a set of 28mm plastic Viking Warriors from Victrix.
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| Victrix pack label |
The pack (not a box but a plastic bag with a card label as shown below, contains enough frames to make 60 Vikings in lovely 28mm detail! There are two command frames, each of six figures, with standard bearers, Jarls and Berserkers, whilst there are also four frames of eight figures to build the bulk of the force. Half of these men are unarmoured, the rest are in a mix of chain mail and leather armour.
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| The completed set |
The detail is fabulous and the figures paint-up great, my only complaint is a little too much flash on a couple of the figures on each frame, however, this was easily removed with a sharp knife.
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| The unarmoured Warriors, mostly with Spears and axes |
The figures come in a 'semi-multipose' format - in that some of the figures require specific combinations of arms and/or heads to go with them. Despite these limitations there are a huge selection of spare arms and heads to allow for true variety.
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| Four unarmoured figures from the set |
I'll be looking out for some cheap Dark Age figures on eBay to grab and use many of these spare parts on to upgrade them to near the standard of this set...
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Close-ups of four of the Unarmoured guys, two of these four have natty fur hats,
a third has a head swap from a Gripping Beast Viking figure. |
So as ever I undercoated these figures in white, using an aerosol spray in this case and based the figures on UK '2p' pieces - giving the figures a nice weight.
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| Five more unarmoured men, most have steel helmets, the shield designs are featured well here |
In recent post-covid times I have struggled to source enough '2p' pieces for my figures but I have found a new source for these - the Amusement Arcade on Worthing Pier!
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| A group shot of warriors in chain mail or leather armour, various weapons |
Anyway, after an undercoat I add various colours to taste, to cloth these little guys, then add 'Oily Steel' for all metal work, leather shades for shoes, straps and scabbards, flesh where appropriate and then various colours for hair.
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| Close-ups of these guys, all in leather armour of various shades |
After much fixing of errors and paint 'overspills' I wash all flesh and hair in Sepia ink and then all other parts of the in a watered down Army Painter Dark Tome ink to add shading, before varnishing the figures when dry.
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| Five more guys, with one guy not wearing armour sneaking in to the shot |
Shield patterns are added before these too are varnished and a fine sand mix is added to the base using a dark brown gloop of mixed PVA glue and brown paint. When dry electrostatic grass is added in a similar manner.
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| Another five, these will make up the core Viking units in any battle line |
The plan is for these guys initially to form part of Harald & Tostig's forces at Fulford Gate, where they will be opposed by Anglo-Danish forces under the Earls Edwin & Morcar. Then on to a refight of 1066 and all that!
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| Final three guys, armed with axes and swords |
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I deliberately went to make a number of Hearth Guard guys in this batch,
each armoured and depicted with a great axe. |
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First set of close-ups of the Hearth Guards, the two end figures are very heavily armoured,
the guy second from right has a fur collar |
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| Five more chaps, all looking pretty intimidating! |
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Five more Hearth Guards, one unarmoured (Good to represent the Viking
forces that were hastily prepared at Stamford Bridge). |
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| Final five Hearth Guardsmen |
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| Viking Command Group, Standard Bearer, Jarl and a Musician |
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| Three Bearskin clad members of the 'Cult of the Bear' also known as Berserkers |
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| Finally, possibly my favourite figure, A Polar Bear skin clad Berserker |
