Spring Clean Challenge – Where wolf’s ears are, wolf’s teeth are near! – Volsunga Saga

Hi everyone,

So yesterday I finished my last unit – the werewolves – and completed the challenge I set out to do.

Here I would like to present all the models I have painted for my Saga Viking force, in a single picture.

I also took a picture of all my force to date.

I just would like to thank the guys at OTT for this great community activity.  Working on this project and going through all the other member’s projects really motivated and entertained me in a productive way.

WHAT IS NEXT FOR MY VIKINGS?

If you have followed this project from the beginning, I imposed a condition on myself that I would only use stuff I already owned – and I have kept that condition!

This means that I still have 3 units I would like to add to the force before closing this project.  The thing is I have to buy more stuff and that is why I did not add it to the Spring Clean Challenge.

Therefore after the Spring Clean Challenge, I will continue this project.  It will give me some time to buy the other miniatures.

Until then stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

The werewolves are ready and that means my Spring Clean Challenge is complete!!! Huzzah!!!

I painted all the werewolves with the same painting scheme.  I did this to speed up the painting process and I did not really fancy them in different colours.  I prefer the ‘all from the same breed‘ approach.

So here is the checklist from the very first post.

• One monster – probably a titan like a frost giant. – CHECKED
• One unit of creatures – these will be large werewolves. – CHECKED
• One priest/wizard character. – CHECKED
• One standard bearer. – CHECKED
• One lieutenant/champion on foot. – CHECKED
• One warlord on a beast. – CHECKED
• One more unit of hearth guard. – CHECKED
• One unit of thralls with bows. – CHECKED

Tomorrow I will post a photo of all the miniatures I have painted for this project together, and another one with all the force.

Until tomorrow,  stay safe and have  fun.

Best regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

The werewolf creature unit was supposed to be the first unit I wanted to paint, but I had a few issues with them.  First there were a lot of air bubbles ( even on their snouts), then there was a lot of flash to clean on very white resin.  After I primed them many thin line flash and grooves popped out.  I swear I could not see them with the white resin.

At this point my enthusiasm was deflated, so I decided to work on the rest of the force and leave the werewolves to last.

After going back to them and cleaning them up properly, I decided to paint them all in one scheme – from one tribe so to speak.  This would speed up painting time.

The first step was to choose a colour – dark brown – for the base.  Then I painted up the fur and the eyes and mouths altogether.  I over brightened the fur and skin intentionally, because I knew it would be muted down with the oil washes.

Normally, I hate dry-brushing, but to speed things up (and because they are gaming pieces) I went with this technique.  I then went on to paint the first model and give it an oil wash to mute and tie everything together.

Below is a quick comparison between the first stage of painting and the last.

I will paint the bases and add tufts at the end when all the wolves are painted up.

I think this is a reasonable tabletop standard considering the speed and techniques used.

Until next time stay safe and have fun with your projects as usual.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

The thrall unit is ready  to be deployed and slaughtered in the name of booty. I finished the last four miniatures about two hours ago and took the pics.

I only have one unit left to fulfill the Spring Clean Challenge and that is the creature unit of werewolves.  I had a few problems with them, so I left them till last.

Until next time stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I am currently on holiday – at home – due to renovations at work, so I am taking this free time to press on finishing this unit.

So below are the next four thralls in the unit.

I have already started the last four miniatures.  At this rate I could finish the unit by Thursday.

That’s all for today.  Until next post, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

Just finished the first four models in the thrall unit, and I have started to work on the next four.

I am painting all the leather parts, shoes, and metallics the same on all the 12 models, but I will paint the tunics and trousers of every 4 models with 4 different colours in order to get some diversity and speed up painting.

I am excited to get these on the table.  I have never used thralls before, since I did not find them particularly useful.  With the changes in 2nd, I think they will be very useful against shooty forces.

I will try to finish the next four this week, Until then stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

At long last I managed to finish my Berserker Lord for Saga: Age of Magic or any other fantasy skirmish game for that matter.

It took me a while to paint this because I get very nervous when choosing a painting scheme and whether or not I can pull it off.  As it turns out, I actually like the wolf more than the warrior, because the wolf ended up closer to what I had in mind than the warrior.

Anyway, overall I am happy with how it turned out and I can’t wait to field my little mighty leader at the head of his booty-hungry men.

With this ready, I will now focus on finishing the 12 man thrall unit over the following weekends.  Maybe I just might be able to finish this challenge.

Until next post, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

Today I’ve posted a small update.  I have managed to find a job outside of the hospitality industry and I am busy acclimatizing to the job.  This doesn’t leave me a lot of time, but I am determined to finish the challenge.

The first up is the Berserker Lord.  I have finished the Lord and I have now to do the wolf. I am taking a bit more time with this, but my photography drains all the colour from the picture.

The next thing I started was the Thrall unit.  I started working on them 4 at a time. The leather stuff will be the same on all the unit, but I will use 4 different colours for their tops and trousers for every 4 miniatures.  This will give me some variety.

I started with the thralls with shields first.

I will try and finish the Berserker Lord this week, so stay tuned.

Until next time, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I have finished my third hearth guard unit today and I have managed to upload the pics.

This gives me several gaming options and choices in Saga and Age of Magic, which I had not previously.

Now I just have to wait till our club opens again 😢!

Next week I will try and finish the Berserker Warlord, it might be hard because I have managed to find a new job outside the hotel industry – finally.  It was the hardest and first hit and will be the last to recover.

On the other hand and bright side, I had a lot of time to hobby – which is great.  Nonetheless, I hope you all stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

So over the weekend I spent the time I had preparing the thrall miniatures for painting and working on my 3rd unit of heart guard and the berserker warlord.

I prepared the thralls from Warlord Games for painting.  I will do them up 4 at a time for practical reasons.

In the meantime I started painting up the hearth guard.  As always I start with the heads.  While doing this I also started to work on the warlord head as well.

I will try to finish the hearth guard this week and the warlord next week – work permitting.

Until next week, keep up the great work on the projects, the springtime challenges and your gaming, but most of all stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I have managed to finish my frost giant at last. I put in some extra work on this model because it will be what catches the eye when on the table.

I was going to paint the flesh blue initially, but in the end I opted for normal flesh tones. Instead, I gave the beard and hair a bluish-gray tint.

Also, my photography is not so good and my pics seemed to be drained of all the tones and shading, and I can’t figure out why?  If anyone knows why this happens please let me know.

Next week I will make an effort to finish the unit of hearth guard, but it depends on work.  I also want to try and start the berserker lord.

Until then stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I finished painting up the standard bearer which I converted from a Norman spearman.

I tried to keep the painting  in the same style so they can mesh with the other minis in the warband. I think it is a good tabletop standard.

The flag I found on the internet and printed out.

And that’s all. I hope you like it.

Next week I should have finished the giant and started the four hearthguard.  Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I have had quite a bit of work thrown my way this week, and I can’t afford not to take it, so I did not have a lot of time to hobby.

Nonetheless, I tried to do the best with the time I had.  I decided to work on the giant, because I figured if I worked a little everyday I could finish it in a week.

I have worked mostly on the body armour and face helmet.  As I have said before, I believe that the eyes are the focus of the face, and the face the focus of the model.  Therefore if the eyes are not right, the face is not right; and if the face is not right the model is off.

I have the arms and legs to paint up, as well as the axe to do.  I also need to add more highlights here and there.

The paint job on the base is also ready.  After I attach the finished giant, I will add some tufts.

I will try to finish the brute by Sunday, and I will make an effort to post.  Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Best regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

It was a busy weekend, so I did not get much painting done, but I did make sometime to work on my standard bearer.

You might remember this guy from last post.  It was a Norman spearman that I converted into a Viking bannerman.

I use mostly ‘greenstuff’ and magic sculpt, but I do use milliput on occasion (but mostly for filling gaps and terrain).

Transforming the model did not take much.  I had to change the head naturally, but I also needed to convert the trousers.  I also had to remove the sword which was placed under the mail in the Norman, since Vikings never wore swords this way (at least to my knowledge).

I then added a cape and a few accessories, like braids, pouches and knives.

I now have a unique model – excelsior!

I will try to post again this week.  I will probably post an update, since I don’t think I will manage to finish anything this week.  I will have to see.

Until next time stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I only had time to do some preparatory work today, but at least I have everything ready to paint up for the weekend.  I just have to choose what to paint.

The first work I did was to prime the giant and add sand and gravel to the bases of the giant and the warlord.  When the sand and gravel dried I also primed these too.

The next unit I worked on were the hearth guard.  I cleaned them up, glued them to their bases, pinned the shields on and added sand and gravel to the bases. Then I primed them up.

The two models with axes were supposed to have spears, but I wanted all my hearth guard to have hand weapons.  So I found two old Grenadier elven axes and I cut them up to look like Viking axes and glued them on.

While I had my prep groove on, I fixed a problem with two of my Viking women warriors.  These two had different sized spears which really annoyed me.  So I decided to correct the length.

The last model I started to work on is the standard bearer.  I don’t have anymore Vikings holding spears, so I took an old Citadel Norman model and an extra Viking model in order to convert them.  I did not have time to do much, but I will do some more work over the weekend.

That’s all for this week.  I will post again some time next week – probably Tuesday. Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

With another quiet day I managed to finish the hero/lieutenant model I was working on.  In fact, as I was taking the pictures,  the glue under the tufts was still drying.

I wanted to paint the hero in an opposite tone to the wizard.  While the wizard was dark and dirty, I wanted the hero to be more colorful and affluent.

It was the rock outcrop made from cork that I enjoyed building and painting the most though.

I also like the quick weathering on the bottom of the cape.  I did this with glazes of beige and sand colors dried with a hairdryer.

I am not sure if I will post more this week.  Maybe some prep work.  Well until next time, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I have finished the wizard  or priest.  It took me one day of painting.  I am trying to make them a bit better that the troops but since they are wargaming minis I don’t wont to go overboard.  Trust me, I can go overboard quite easily.

Overall I think I have captured the character of the model and achieved a good standard that is better than most of the force.  He is a darker, ominous type so I wanted to go with black and dirty brown.

I can’t wait to get him on the table a start zapping with ‘not so much magic’ 😉.

On Thursday or Friday I will have finished hero (Gunner) on the rock outcrop and I will post forthwith.

Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I managed to transfer my pics of the assembled vikings and the Berserker Warlord for my force.

The warlord took up the most time as I had to sculpt in the lower body part and saddle + dressings with green stuff.  TBH, it is a pleasure doing this for Kev Walker’s barbarian.  I just hope I did it justice.

Regarding the other models, I still have to do a bit of work here and there – like straightening the hero on the base and work on the seam lines of the werewolves that popped out after priming.

Next week I hope to present the first painted minis. Until then stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

As part of my SCP, I have decided to add a fantasy warlord to my mythological/fantastical Vikings. Part of my personal rule is to use only minis from my collection.

So I wanted my Warlord to ride a beast and I had just the figure – a Fenris type wolf from the Heroclix range.

I also had an old Grenadier Barbarian riding a great cat and a just as old Harlequin Barbarian.

I cut the barbarians in half, and I took the bottom half of the rider and the top part of the bear-clad barbarian. The cat will be used for a future project. I also had to cut out a part of wolf in order to fit the warlord.

I will post more tomorrow, but I forgot to transfer the pics from my camera.  Until then stay safe and have fun.

Best regards,

NR

Hi everyone,

I finished putting together the two characters for my force.  A lieutenant or hero and a priest or wizard depending on the setting. I will probably start painting these up first.

The rune stone on the priest was a scenic piece from the old Warlord Fantasy Mass Battle game system.  I have had this for over 20 years. I finally found a good use for it.

The hero is a Saga character called Gunnar from Gripping Beast. I took off the base and constructed a cork base.

I am now working on the warlord on beast which I will post on Thursday or Friday.

Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Regards,

NR