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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Vikings #1


I've been in the process of re-basing and touching up my large Viking collection for use in Impetus and SAGA. I've been a long time Viking player and so was delighted when SAGA hit the scene. The Vikings were my primary army for WAB and are without question the most played army I've ever owned for ancients/mediaevals. I've always liked their beards and axes aspect and their ferocious aggression in using them. Heck, even Cornwell had to make his Saxon hero an ex- Viking!:-) Oh btw, if you ever wanted to know where Axebreaker came from look at the Viking in the front holding a broken two handed axe in front of him. I imagined him hitting so hard he broke axes hence the nick name "Axebreaker" and he was the general of my Viking army.
 
My Viking collection is all based on single square 20mm bases which is ideal for WAB, but not good for me in regards to SAGA or Impetus the rules I now currently play. Of course I could use them on the square bases for SAGA, but I simply do not like square bases for skirmish gaming as it just looks clumsy. So, I've decided to put them on round 25mm bases for SAGA and use warbases multi- slot bases for Impetus.

There were also some other issues as I wanted to lighten up the bases, add tufts, flowers and rocks etc. I also needed to touch up the figures here and there by re-applying some highlights and repainting  a few things to suit my current tastes. Also, I used to have metal shield rims that I no longer like and re-painted them with leather rims which was more common and looks better I think. I also added some pigments to the shields and bottom of the cloaks. The figures themselves are Wargames Foundry and still after all these years rank IMHO as the best Vikings out there with the exception of Bill from Musketeer whose Jomsvikings are brillent. The flag in this case is hand painted by myself as I wanted a huge raven banner with just a single raven on it as nothing quite says Vikings as a good old raven banner. Plenty more re-worked Vikings will be coming along so please stay tuned if you like them.

I hope blogger fixes the reader problem soon!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Wargames Foundry

 Group 1


Group 2 


64 comments:

  1. Superb painting all round - I wouldn't like to meet that lot on a battlefield.

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  2. Absolutely fantastic Christopher! Love the flag, very nicely done Sir! Cool to know where the "Axebreaker" comes from too! My Dark Age guys are also on square bases and I want to change them to round. Now I will have to get my act together.

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    1. Thank you kindly Rodger! I thought some might be curious where the name "Axebreaker" originated. Looking for to seeing your Vikings.

      Christopher

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  3. These are incredible! Very good minis painted up very nicely! I love them!

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  4. Excellent work. The bases look great

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  5. Beautiful brushwork! I agree that your Impetus basing is much preferred to single figure basing and you have executed it flawlessly. Flag is very handsome!

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  6. Nothing like some TLC for favorite figs. Now we know the Ace breaker legend too!

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  7. Superb painting on the figs and Raven Banner Christopher. They are great sculpts with loads of character and the round bases is the way to go, something I think I will now have to re do with some of my older collection.

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    1. Thank you very much Pat. Yes, in regards to skirmish round bases just seem to look right.

      Christopher

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  8. Outstanding paintjob, Christopher!
    And the re-basing looks good as well. I absolutely second round bases for skirmish games. Currently I'm waiting for my Warbases trays to arrive. ;-)

    Cheers
    Stefan

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    1. Thank you very much Monty! Warbases sure do come in handy!:-)

      Christopher

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  9. Superb looking Vikings, I agree about the square bases, I'm thinking of rebasing some of my Moors to round bases, just not sure if I can do it!! If they'd come out looking like yours I'd be chuffed to bits!!

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    1. Thank you kindly Ray. Re-basing is never fun, but sometimes is necessary.

      Christopher

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  10. Fantastic work, Christopher! Your paint + Foundry lead = Viking perfection. And the banner and basing, just icing on the cake!

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    1. Thank you very much Monty that's very kind of you to say that!

      Christopher

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  11. Superb Vikings Christopher! The new bases and movement trays look great.

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  12. Wooohooo these are amazing! Great stuff. Maaan, why aren't located close to Darmstadt. I'd have an excuse to paint up my Jomsvikings. No one in my gaming group is interested in Saga or the likes.

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    1. Thank you very much Doc! Have they even played SAGA? It's popular for a reason as it's just plain good fun.:-)

      Christopher

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    2. One of them has but wasn't impressed (as usual ;) )! The others would be open to it, but I can't bring myself to be the group motivator. :D Lazy old Greek. Perhaps I need to just do it.
      I played it once side by side with the Lieutenant and we liked it (probably also because we kicked some serious behind!). But he also lives far away so I am inclined to concentrate on project that my gaming group wishes to dedicate themselves to.

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    3. I do recommend being the group motivator as SAGA has some many directions you take it without having to paint up a lot of figures to do so and once you know the rules which are easy you don't need to keep reading them. However, I do understand with going with the flow of a group.

      Christopher

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    4. It all sounds very intriguing and tempting though... What would you say; how many miniatures are needed to give them a first good feeling of the rules?

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    5. That depends on the faction you play and how elite you like your force to be. I would say a typical small starter force of 4pts. runs between 24 to 32 figures, but you could go as little as 12 if you choose only elites.

      Christopher

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  13. Wow - as always Christopher you make a superlative standard of painting look so easy. Very hard to imagine these lovely Foundry figures being painted any better.

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  14. Really good coloring, natural matte colors, and terrain.
    I like the most picture below

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  15. Christopher, those are absolutely gorgeous!! They look wonderful. Re-basing is such a soul-less thing to have to do. All the pressure of prizing the figure off with damaging it, and then re-basing....it's a thankless task. But the results are tremendous! They look great!

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    1. Thank you very much Sidney! I agree re-basing is not a fun task, but sometimes one just needs to grin and bare it and get on with it, but it sure taxes the motivation.

      Christopher

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  16. Excellent work Christopher!

    Darrell.

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  17. wonderful figures and always envy your basing

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  18. Nice clean work and really good colour choices Chris. More inspiration for the miniatures with beards and axes across the world. :)

    I have agree with you- Foundry are my favorite vikings hands down to this day.

    Keep up the great painting!

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    1. Thank you very much Eric and I'll do my best!

      Christopher

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  19. Seems like the Dashboard issue was finally resolved. As I already told you, your Vikings are just awesome. They definitely were not bad before but the new bases and the touch ups really did them justice. As I already had the pleasure to play with and against them I can only state now they seem to have an even more ferocious punch than before. I'm looking forward to our next game.

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    1. Thank you very much Nick and indeed I'm happy the reader is working again as it's so much easier to follow what everyone is up to. Looking forward to our next game!:-)

      Christopher

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  20. They are absolutely gorgeous Christopher!!! I wish I could paint figures like that!

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  21. Serious eye candy sir. Well done indeed!

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  22. By Odin, these are stunning Christopher! The level of painting, the attention to details, the banner, the shields, the basing – all are top-notch.

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  23. Those look fantastic! Great painting and your bases really pop!

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  24. Wow these vikings look fantastic! Well done.

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  25. That is some amazing painting Christopher. The hordes of the Black Raven have never looked better! These guys can proudly go celebrate with some well deserved brew and berserker mushrooms!

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  26. Stunning paint job, realy impressive, great looking (and fierce looking) Vikings!

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  27. Beautiful work Christopher! I'm with you on no liking square bases for skirmishing - they just seem wrong. I have a large rebasing project facing me as most of my Dark Age stuff was based on 20mm squares for WAB... Uhg!

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    1. Thank you very much Curt and good luck on your re-basing projects!

      Christopher

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  28. Beautiful these Vikings, really good!
    Simmy

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  29. Cool, love the hairyness of them, apart from the bald one that is, nice work

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