Lake Town Fun

As you can probably see from this photo, one of my gifts this year was a Lake Town House from the Lord of the Rings range. I had thought it had good potential, as the architecture style was generic enough to be used as a Rohan, Viking, Victorian era or general fantasy building. The walkways could be used as in the box, as a harbour side, or in a muddy village setting as pathways (I got this idea in a recreated Danelaw village in Yorkshire). The boat would have lots of uses and there are quite a few little extras like baskets, barrels and such like. Here you can see the house built, with the square wooden platform intended as the house base, instead used as a dock/jetty.

As I was building the couple of barrels I remembered I had a set of Renedra barrels squirreled away and cracked them open too. My dock area quickly filled up and I was just about to throw away the used sprue, when it occurred to me that it could be a useful frame. A little bit of work cutting and glueing coffee stirrers to the used sprue and I had a second dock area. They could also be used to make elementary shapes, to make planked buildings like small sheds or animal shelters. Fun times.

The Last Vikings

As it's the last Thursday (Thor's Day) before the xmas festivities take a hold, I have to concede defeat on completing the whole bondi unit. There's just one left to finish, oh so close. I would not usually spend so much time on "grunts", but these models are so well sculpted and have such lovely details that it seems a crime to rush through them. So here we are, one (not two) more spear armed bondi added to the mix. He's second from the right, wearing his winter mittens!

I also photographed some previously finished axemen in a group together. These are grizzled veterans, they have seen many a winter and perhaps look a bit out of shape, but you can be sure their experience on the battlefields of the past will see them through.

These groups are actually two of the sets sold by V&V Miniatures. I have said it before and will say it again - they are superb figures and if you are in the market for top quality sculpts and casts, they are your number one option.

So that's a wrap on the vikings for this year. I will get the lone bondi finished for sure and I do also have a special guest character I want to paint before year's end. I also have lots more viking goodies on the way, part of a special yule delivery - I made a list of the things I would like and sent them out to family, not sure which I will get as yet. And I have some plans to make some terrain, develop some background, a little art perhaps.......all for next year of course.

Another pair of bondi

My plan was to complete the whole unit of eight bondi before the end of the month, but that's just not going to be possible now, so I thought I would photograph another pair rather than wait even longer for an update. So here we are, two more of the V&V Miniatures vikings. The younger warrior sports a shaven head, I have added some tattoos to the exposed skin, but you cannot really see this from the front. He also has a little fancy embroidery on the collar of his tunic.

The second warrior is a more unusual pose, wielding his spear in a two handed grip with his shield slung over his shoulder. He also wears a padded tunic, which I have seen some objections to on some parts of the internet as it's generally regarded to be a post viking era garment. My own view is that we know so little for certain about the appearance of the vikings - their clothing, their hair, shield designs, etc. The little "evidence" we have is related (often by their foes) decades or centuries after they were around, so hardly reliable, factual witnesses. It seems to me unlikely that they would not have padded their clothing to give some protection. Whatever the truth, this toy soldier is wearing a padded tunic.

I took a photo of the four spear armed bondi in a miniature shield wall, it's a nice little diorama. I have chatted to a few re-enactors who have said that it's likely the warriors acted in pairs or teams, with one providing protection with a shield while his comrade stood behind thrusting a spear. We will never know if this is true or not, but it does look good.

More bondi

You might be thinking that there is a Gaelic vibe to these figures, with the darker hair colours and the plaid of the cloak. I suppose most people think of vikings as Scandinavian in origin. While it's true that they did originally set sail from northern Europe, many settled in lands they had raided. In England, a large contingent settled in the east and north of the country, forming what would later become known as the Danelaw. There were also sizeable colonies in the Scottish islands, the Isle of Man (off the west coast of northern England), and famously it was viking settlers who founded the Irish city of Dublin. It was these I had in mind when painting these figures. Once settled, it's likely that the vikings would have adapted to their new culture, in order to be accepted by the locals, and one way to fit in is by wearing their clothing. In addition, there could easily have been recruitment of local Irish/Gaelic stock into the ranks too - voluntarily or otherwise. So it's perfectly feasible (in my mind) to have viking troops not exactly fitting the usual blonde Norse stereotypes.

Of course, we have no idea what they looked like anyway, most of our pre-conceived ideas come from later medieval artwork and Victorian romanticism, but that's another post for another day.

With these two figures added, the unit now totals four bondi - half a point in Saga terms. I was hoping to have the whole unit done by the end of the month, and I am still just about on target. I am quite busy at the moment and with the festive season approaching I suspect hobby time will diminish, but I will keep plodding on, "little and often gets it done" is my mantra. If I don't manage to hit the deadline, it's not a big issue. After all, Rome (or even Dublin) was not built in a day.

Viking Bondi

A pair of bondi completed. These are the V&V Miniatures I have been working on for the past couple of weeks. As you can see, they are packed with detail and have lovely proportions. I have set myself a loose target of completing them by the end of the month, so getting two done now means I am on target.

The figure with the hat took me longer to complete. I painted some trim on his tunic and his shirt. I got this idea from visiting re-enactments, where often viking women are sat in tents making these "ribbons" from wool. It seems an easy thing to do, so I reckon most warriors would have these little extras on their clothing. I also painted stripes on the trousers but they are hard to see, I need to be a little bolder in colour choice at times.

The bare headed figure I intended to paint in a pale, neutral tone, to represent unbleached fabric. But the original shade was too blue, so I glazed over it with yellow and ended with a green grey mix. The shading is a little too contrasty for me, I prefer more subtle tones. The leather shoulder pads I think I may have misinterpreted the sculpt. Looking at photos from re-enactments I think it was intended to be a cloth hood. I assumed it was leather to give some basic protection to the shoulder areas. I do like the head though, this old boy is full of character.

A Visit to Valhalla!

I have been to Valhalla! It was not full of viking warriors drinking ale, fighting and carousing, but a few tourists drinking beer and chatting. Maybe I got the wrong one - this pub in York is the one I visited. Wooden benches, fur blankets, flickering (medieval) lamps, runes carved into timbers, there was even mead served in horns. It was definitely characterful bordering on cheesey/comical, but it served nice beer and there were plenty of beards to check out.

It did inspire me to dig out some of my vikings that I had started to paint back in the spring. Just a pair of them to finish off a small unit of bereserkers. These are V&V miniatures, which I have said before are probably the finest sculpts available to budding jarls, as long as you don't mind working with resin and paying a little extra than usual. 

One of the two figures does look a little too old to be a berserker. I did reinforce the age vibe with his silvery beard and tattered clothing. With that bandage round his head he has the appearance of a walking wounded, so there's a good chance he will be demoted to a bondi at some stage in the future, though the blood spatters on his axe and shield suggest he should not be underestimated.

And here's the unit of four berserkers ready to wreak havoc on their weakling opponents. More vikings to come in the next few months I think. There's the long-awaited (by me at least) Saga battle book just been announced, so I am keen to get some more of the Northmen painted and ready for action. For the glory of Odin!