Blipvertus multigame Dwarf army
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About the Project
It started out simple. I wanted a Viking army for Saga but I wanted it to be different because everyone does Vikings. So instead I did seven other armies. I finally hit upon the idea of using Dwarves as my Viking stand in. Dwarves are also a part of Norse mythology and they’re ill tempered and armed with axes. Seems like a natural fit! When Oathmark came out with a plastic Dwarf infantry box I found everything I’d need for a Saga army. You can make dwarves armed with bows, something that is pretty rare for most Dwarf models, as well as spear and axe armed dwarves. You can also equip figures with a weapon in each hand making them a great substitute for Berserkers. One of the nice things about this box is all the figures are wearing chainmail and to me, that’s quintessentially dwarfish. Originally I was going to make the spear armed dwarves my warriors and my axe and sword armed dwarves as my hearthguard. But Oathmark came out with a box of Heavy Infantry Dwarves so I may use them as hearthguard. These also feature chainmail but also have segmented armor and some platemail. They also feature a lot of steel face masks integrated into their helmets. This is something I love because Tolkien mentions something similar in The Silmarillion about the dwarves in Middlearth. With my Viking army all planned out and a couple of boxes of minis, I was set. Huzzah! Then Age of Magic arrived. And Warlords of Erewhon. The unit options in both games increased the variety of units a Dwarf army could take. So I set about trying to find suitable minis that would look good together. I found a nice set of crossbow armed dwarves from Conqueror. Conquer also had dwarves armed with two-handed axes. Both units are also in chainmail thus making it easier for them to blend in. I then found some chainmail wearing handgunners from Mirliton. Because I’m getting minis from several different ranges I worried about how to make them look like a cohesive army. I asked our local guru, Sean Twiddy. He’s one of the smart guys that teaches art at one of the local universities and uses miniature painting in some of his lessons. Sean is also an avid Saga player. He suggested using the same color pallet for the whole army in order to tie it all together. So I tried it and painted up a test color scheme and I think it’ll work. The header/thumbnail photo is of the test minis. I’m going to try to document how I got to those finished images. I’m going to try to show and explain every step as well as show the sources of the materials used.
Related Game: SAGA
Related Company: Studio Tomahawk
Related Genre: Fantasy
This Project is Active
Shieldmaiden update
The unit leader’s cloak was painted Vallejo Ghost Gray, then washed with GW Apothecary White contrast paint. The other two figures with cloaks were painted with Vallejo Mahogany Brown and waded with GW Seraphim Sepia. The light color on the top of one of the figure holding two weapons is Army Painter Skeleton Bone washed with GW Seraphim Sepia. 
More Shieldmaidens
Painting and washes done, I just need to base and add transfers and a banner.
I added a shield to the Valkyrie figure, second row far right. The shield was a spare from the Conqueror Miniatures two handed axemen unit.Shieldmaidens WIP
Just a brief update on the Shieldmaiden unit. First three painted and washed. Still have bases to finish and a transfer to add to the unit leader’s shield.
These figures are from Bad Squiddo Games. The figure holding the banner pole is a conversion of the torch bearer figure. Destruction Teams
There’s a certain point in painting minis where it just seems to come together and it looks like you envisioned it. It’s different with every minis. In this case it’s when I was about half way through applying the washes. There were still a few more steps to do after that, but that was the “ah-ha” moment.
Theses are really lovely little minis and I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out.
General Updates
I’ve started work on the destruction teams, the shield maidens unit and the Lieutenant (sniper). Below is just a general update. I’ll probably do the destruction teams first, to completion, then the Shieldmaiden unit then the sniper.
I’ll show each step so some of the photos will be duplicated but they’ll be in order. The above photos are just where I’m at today.
Minor Modifications
I took the female dwarf with the torch and cut off the torch. I saved the flame portion of the torch for another mini. After cutting off the torch, I smoothed things down with a file and then used a drill to make a hole in the hand. I then found a steel spear, cut it to length, then glued it in place.
You can get wire spears from several sources but these came from Northstar. I cut the spear to be about the same length as the spears of the Oathmark figures.
Link to Northstar: https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=536
Defend the Beer!
GW Agrax Earthshade. I dry brushed the metal bands with GW Eshin Gray and the brass fittings were washed in Seraphim Sepia.
I tried washing the wood with Seraphim Sepia but didn’t like the result. I then washed it again with GW Agrax Earthshade.
As mentioned previously the barrels are from WizKids Deep Cut line.
New Minis
While waiting for some paint to dry I snapped a photo of the next minis in the que. I’ll start them after the objective markers are done.
The mins below are from Stonehaven Miniatures : https://www.stonehavenmini.com/collections/dwarves?page=2
These minis will be the Destruction Teams for the Saga army. Bad Squiddo Games recently did a Kickstarter for dwarves and Amazons. I’ll use some of the minis to form a Shieldmaiden unit for my Viking army.
Link thingy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badsquiddogames/amazons-and-dwarves-quality-28mm-female-miniatures/description
I plan to convert the torch bearer to be a banner bearer.
