Vikings, Átján!

Wargames Foundry Vikings, Saga, VIK043 Viking Berserker Champions, Raven Banner, Viking Banner
Well, I powered through and finished the last two of my Viking Berserker models. This pair are the banner or standard bearer models from that Wargames Foundry VIK043 Viking Berserker Champions set that I mentioned the other day. As I mentioned my disappointment with the lack of banner poles for either of these models the other day, so these two sat, pushed to the back of the painting table until they were selected for the first Tray, so again with the limited choice helping me with an active “just fucking get them done” mentality with models I’m really not enthused about painting.
Wargames Foundry Vikings, Saga, VIK043 Viking Berserker Champions, Raven Banner, Viking Banner
The banner poles are brass rod, the end caps are the business end of war picks, cut to shape from the GW Chaos Marauders boxed set. The Wolf Banner was taken from the Don’t Roll a One blog via GIS and the Raven Banner was created by combining a piece of “Viking” style raven art with a “Viking Flag”, both found via image searches and then edited together in Photoshop. I then overpainted much of the detail on both, to get rid of that printed shine, and painted both banners with PVA glue to make them a little more Matt Hardy and then varnished them to finish. Neither are my best work, but they’ll do well enough on the table, and when I have a really good looking Viking banner bearer model, I’ll put much more effort into their Raven (or whatever) Banner.
Wargames Foundry Vikings, Saga, VIK043 Viking Berserker Champions, Raven Banner, Viking Banner
Since I just finished the other two the other day, it makes sense to have a group shot of the four of them together. I’ve now only got one more Foundry Viking model to go (aside from a few more wacky ones), some models that are essentially Not-Vikings and then there will be a few mroe metal vikings from other manufacturers, and then they’ll all be done. Well, I say all. Then I can start on the boxes of plastics…

15mm Flames of War DAK Status Markers #4 & Platoon Command – Battlefront Miniatures

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Status Markers, Platoon Command - Battlefront Miniatures

Thanks to the motivation (and limited choice) provided by “The Tray” (don’t worry, I’ll shut up about it eventually) I managed to get enough focus to sit down for an evening and complete these long-neglected models from my Flames of War DAK force.

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Status Markers - Battlefront Miniatures

The first set of models on show are my final four status markers – these ones are to represent the troops being “dug in”. I didn’t have tiny little sandbags, and ultimately felt that a pile of sand in front of them would represent it well enough without going all 15mm diorama on a 25mm base. Rather nicely, that concludes that little side project.

15mm Flames of War DAK Afrika Korps Platoon Command - Battlefront Miniatures

The other four bases represent the Command and Light Support stands for my second and third platoons of Panzergrenadiers. They’re not that exciting without their platoons, of course – and those are in a right state still. But I figure I’ll add a few of them to the next Tray and use that to work my way through them. Because painting these little bastards might not be that hard, but since I made the boneheaded decision years ago to paint them in “more realistic” rag-tag campaign clothing, with different shades of jackets and pants to represent resupply, scavenged Commonwealth equipment and so forth. I mean, I decided on this after reading some accounts of and from the time, but I guess it goes to show that inspiration isn’t always the best thing for productivity…