Dottirs of Hel

First unit done for the army and it pleases me to get these done in short order.

From a basecoat using Army Painter Oak Brown from the rattlecan (my airbrush is still out of commission) I worked up a Dark grey into a lighter one and highlighted using a cool off white. The stomachs were done using a tan just to give some warmth and contrast like real canines.

I see ModPodge works damn well for the grass flock and snow once it all dries out. Some Gamer Grass Autumn at 5mm accentuates the transition of spring or an early winter with however the viewer wishes to interpret. I will continue with this for the rest of the army.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit! My brain was left to sit and boiled over. Egh… oh well. Here’s where we are then with a mess of thought all over the place. Atleast its still on theme as I look at adding some owlbears for Creatures. They aren’t flashy like I normally try as I consider Creatures to be just mini monsters but it does round out the great wood theme.

Maybe this build is a good balance for me as waning away from the other visual blasts by scale. I also say this before getting my printed giant in hand or get the ice wyvern. I guess that’s really the case for anything in the process. All my foot troops scale relatively similar at 28mm and then grow in demand for attention on the board. Maybe this is why GW, as a company with design, painted itself into the corner it did with scale creep into 32s and complexity of all the gribblies. Less noise and more focus works here.

I can’t very much leave well enough alone with things sometimes. I have bits that I am not using and an army that needs some more sprucing up from just people.

I decided to use the resin crows I pulled from Etsy years ago. This steers it all in the direction of an Otherworld board build. The stl files appear to come from White Werewolf on Myminifactory. Visually it works and continues the Scandinavian theme. It doesn’t hurt to think back to Lloyd’s Giftmas sticker and the track from Kordhell.

I’ll keep thinking of what else to lob into the pot and simmer in my head.

With all the shieldmaidens and just a few werewolves this army didn’t look fantastic enough. I was aware of the halflings on walri from the time they were announced long and I checked around Myminifactory to get them. I succeeded and have enough to field a Warrior unit. Good things are coming about with this build. I look forward to a friend of mine shipping me the giant soon as it will prove to be great addition for scale. I may or may not have enough credit built up with my local resin dealer to get the model for my Scourge just yet.

Since this has been intended to be a teaching army I’m not sure if I should get a third monster or not. I could do it for visual variation but I might just be spinning my wheels with that. Perhaps I could find another geek culture reference to run with here. I’ll let that thought  simmer.

I ordered a Signum Games figure with the intent of mirroring my Arabian Knights magical crew to this one. A moose mounted female arcane artist and a male on foot. Keeping with the Scandinavian theme I believe this will work. The werewolves from Wargames Atlantic are a touch of fantasy I’m ok to field as perhaps a special unit of shapeshifters or general fantasy warriors. As Hearthguard/warlord bodyguards I do have the berserkers but visually I might need more fantastic troops. I probably just need to drop monsters on the board to get over this.

My army has gotten a transport tray and most of the army is now magnetized. I have yet to do the second archer levy but that isn’t going to be too bad. The single figures of werewolves will get magnets but I’m debating on whether or not I should cannibalize some of the ones I earmarked for a future classical Indian army and a movement tray. I think I probably will just for the cohesion.

For the larger bases to magnetize I have my sorceress from Bad Squiddo and the leader from Gripping Beast’s Shieldmaiden box. I’ll be going with larger magnets for these since there’s more weight to them. These will have single 1/2″x 1/16″ discs to adhere with. On the other hand, I feel as though I did make a mistake in the size of magnets for my warriors and levy on the trays. I used 3/16″ diameter by 1/16″ thick discs and together they have a strong pull even with the metal minis. I slide them across the transport tray to over come the issue. At 3mm thick the movement trays leave little room to pull with enough force using my fingertips. Let this be a lesson to others 1/8″ is fine for plastic and should be ok for metal as long as you’re not throwing them around.

Seeing as these are barbarian ladies I will go to the 1985 film Red Sonja for inspiration. I have yet to see the remake and I will avoid doing so for the moment. I also thought of the comics as I guessed she was probably on horseback at some point in them. Good luck for me, as I had forgotten, Brigitte Nielsen had been on a horse as well with a great costume while she played the titular role. With all that I will make a not so subtle reference and name the leader of this army Ruðra Sigrid.

I have decided on what figure to use for Ruðra. During a late night with insomnia I managed to find an Amazon that was partner to the one I used for Bubo in the Harryhausen Hellenics army. Here I am going to modify her to properly sit atop this, what I can best describe as, dire wolverine. This helps to cut the cost of buying anything new. The original idea of using a copy of Bad Squiddo Freya on Hildsvini was good but just more money out of pocket. I feel good about this as it means this figure has been used and isn’t just taking up space without purpose.

I’ll need to open up the hips on this model like I did for the model riding atop Bubo. I’ll also trim back the crotch curtain that was sculpted and printed (some people call them loincloths). I don’t think I have enough space or talent to sculpt the scale armor Red Sonja is typically seen in but I’ll think about it. I will, however, give her fur topped boots. Its a tragedy to think about the trend years ago of young white women wearing Ugg boots drinking their pumpkin spice lattes. I could try to sculpt the coat from the film and just do some freehand to give it some visual interest from Mongol textiles. Who knows, with a nod to the YouTube channel Habitual Linecrosser “I be building shit”.

I’ve decided to use the same lovely Trollblood Base paint from P3 as a key color on this army like I did with previous Vikings. It is very nice to see in person as the matte finish just blends so well. I’ve also decided on using Proacyrl’s Burnt Red as a contrast. I have high hopes for the figures.

Besides that I have decided on my monsters that will be added, a beast mount to kitbash and some halfling walrus wranglers to “charge” the enemy. These fantastic elements are what make Age of Magic so fun. You get right next to what is normal and then have a reveal of the supernatural. Nothing is quite what it seems like on the surface.

Myminifactory provided more potential add ons.