Once again following from Trolls, more Dwarfs. Or Dwarves. Both are correct, so I’m told…

I’ve found almost all of these guys are in the 1988 catalogue along with White Dwarf 107/November 1988. The three to the right are all in the Norse Dwarfs range, though I’m reliably informed by Somet that “The ‘Viking dwarf’ is actually the model GW used to represent Sven Hasselfriesian for the scenario ‘ The Magnificent Sven’ in the WHFB 2nd Ed rulebook, so around late 84. The guy on his right is of a similar age too.”

Norse Dwarfs from the late 1980’s, Including Sven Hasselfriesian

I can’t find the fourth one – the leftmost with the Goat-horned Horned Helm – in any of the old catalogues but it’s pretty clear to me that he’s from the same era as his compatriots in the photo, having both a very different style to the revamp of the range and influx of Marauder Miniatures line in 1993, and having owned him since probably the late 1980’s when I’d collected the others. I strongly suspect that he’s also a “Norse” Dwarf as he shares the same base sculpt as the Ginger dwarf standing next to him.

Marauder Miniatures’ Embossed shields & freehand versions of the same design.

These were all painted a long, long time ago, and the twins were even shown off previously in this blog, albeit with awful, dark photos that weren’t much cop compared to today’s pictures. As noted in that previous post, these guys were some of my earlier repaint/touchups, back in 2012 – before doing so became a stronger focus as it has been recently. Obviously all four were painted to a similar aesthetic. Perhaps they’re the Hearthguard of a Great Norse Dwarf Hero? I might have to figure out a model that fits that description. The two on our left have Marauder Miniatures’ Embossed shields, while the two on the right have freehanded designs inspired (ok, copied!) from the Hammer-and-Anvil Marauder shield.

Rear View of the Norse Dwarfs

You’ll notice that instead of a beaskin or wolfskin, that Sven – the model wearing the historically-correct Viking helmet(!) has a dog-skin cloak. I prefer to think that instead of celebrating his victory over such a mighty beast, that it’s actually the skin of his own (former) companion that he chooses to honour by wearing his pelt into glorious battle. I’m sorely tempted to redo/touch up his cloak and “viking” horns, but I’m finding it a hard call to retouch some of these models again for some reason, even though they were updated once, just a couple of years ago.

I have to say that looking through the old catalogues to gather info for the last couple of Dwarf posts has really made me want to grab out a few more of these old models and get them painted up. I’ve got to hold to my discipline and keep finishing off the half-painted models on my desk, though.