All (well at least some of) the Danes
Recommendations: 441
About the Project
So much potential, so little energy. For my first project and, by inference, my first Spring Clean Challenge, I have decided to attack the box I have just stubbed my toe on; Matt Barkley’s Vikings from Footsour Miniatures. I have been in the hobby a fair few years but seem to have fallen into the trap of “having all the tools and none of the skills”, so lets see how long can keep this lark going… I might learn something on the way but this should not be seen as any sort of “tutorial”, for I am the blind one in this world.
Related Game: SAGA
Related Company: Footsore Miniatures and Games
Related Genre: Fantasy
Related Contest: Spring Clean Hobby Challenge 2025
This Project is Active
Day 3 – Hairy Time
Watched someone YouTube on painting red hair, made sense at the time but I forgot skill and practice is needed…
The gang got Silver Grey (AK) on all the bits that looked like hair (I use Silver Grey as (1) it seems to cover a bit better than white and (2) I seem to have two pots of it (not sure how that happened and when I find the person who bought the extra one, we will have words).
Harald got some Deep Yellow (AK) trim to his cloak and then I decided he was “older” so base coated this hair with Dark Warm Gray (Pro Acryl) then painted Ash Grey (Army Painter) and highlighted with Ghost Grey (72.046) from Vallejo. On paper it should have looked a lot better than it did… I will try to learn from this.)
I found a “recipe” for red/ginger hair from YouTube (52 Miniatures) so Sigrid and Leif got to try it out. Violet Red (70.812) in the deepest parts, then Flat Red (70.957) for the base hair followed by a good covering of Amarantha Red (70.829) and highlighted with a mixture of Amarantha Red and Deep Yellow (AK). Once again it looks nothing like how it was on YouTube but I will learn. Leif also got a bit of Deep Yellow (AK) on this neckless and headband.
Day 2 – No water needed
Still with some enthusiasm from the challenge I grabbed an hour and got too it.
Harald got Ducat Blue from AK on his cloak and he seems to have an animal pelt so I painted it Silver Grey from AK so I could use Ruddy Fur from Army Painter on it.
The whole team then got: Skeleton Bone (Army Painter) on their pouches; Leather Brown (Army Painter) on their bits of leather (including Sigrid’s hat) and Green Grey (70.886) from Vallejo on their scabbards. As an aside most of my paints are very old and many of them do not need (or take well) to thinning. None of this “two thin coats” or “thin your paints” crap here; the Leather Brown is a good case in point – shook the living daylights out of it, vortexed it until I could not feel my hand and then shook it again… came out like watered down water and took several coats to cover the primer (I suspect it is user error… it normally is).
Day 1 – full of enthusiasm
The box is a hefty weight and I seem to remember it arriving and, in a bust of enthusiasm, me opening it and starting the clean up the metal beauties. After which I suspect I placed them back in the box with many good intentions (a bit like this project).
When I unearthed the box, it seemed that someone had both cleaned them and had also bagged them into major “factions”; great stuff and 6 bags. After watching far too much YouTubes, I seem to remember people saying I should have a plan so my colour plan is:
- Thor’s Hammers will have mostly reddish hair and a blue theme to clothing
- Odin’s Wrath will have mostly blondish hair and a green theme to clothing
- Loci’s Tricksters will have mostly black/brown hair and brownish theme to clothing
- The rest I have no plan for
Unsure what I wanted to do I decided to let the Dice Gods decide, rolled a D6 and got a 2 so it is Thor’s boys… so out with the blue type paints and watch some YouTubes on red hair. It seems the same person who put them into factions also split them up into groups (must buy that person a beer some time, as I have no memory of doing this). Eight smaller bags so I rolled a D8 and got a 2 (if I had been a bit brighter I would have noticed the same person had also written the contents of each bag on to a sheet of paper… this person must have been a genius) so it is Bondi with Spears – MBV 108.
Finish the clean up (the legend before had done a great job), drilled the hands for the spears (the drill I used was just a bit bigger then the spear so everything slipped in well, (I was so proud that this worked as I have made some real messes when using a drill in the past… this pride came home to haunt me) and glued them onto the bases.
Time to name the band, so from left to right we have: Sigrid (with a long cloak); Leif (with some sort of bandana); Harald (with one eye and looks like he is in change to the gang); and Gunnar (who had a hood covering his face).
Still on a day one high it is priming time. Black is the current colour the cool kids are using; it was white in my day but in those days you could get your brush onto all parts of the model… but not anymore so black does make sense. Looking for my can of Halfords Black primer was a fruitless task, it seems someone had used it all up and note replaced it… I suspect it was the idiot who cleaned and bagged up these guys in the first place, legend status removed.
Found some Mechanics Standard Grey from another project that was not finished and I hosed them down with it. Just one “dusting” (make me laugh) and looking back at it I should have held the can further away and done it a bit lighter… next time.
Boots got Anthracite Grey from AK (looked just a little darker than the Mechanics Standard Grey and when dried I could not tell the difference) and faces got Flat Fresh (70.955) from Vallejo.
Gunnar’s top was panted Grey Blue (70.943); hood Beige Red (70.804) and leggings/wrap Iraqi Sand (70.819) all from Vallejo.
And that was Day 1; I suspect the enthusiasm will drip but this is more then I have done in a day in years…
