Viking Project Update: Almost Done!

So the mighty Viking army is very nearly complete! I've finished painting the two units of 28 Hirdmen. Above is a shot of the Jarl's unit (the king) and a detailed shot of the battle standard bearer (BSB). The king is the guy with the bright red beard and white fur cloak. I thought that would make him stand out. The other Hirdmen unit is behind this one. You can just see the top of the red banner for that unit. I figured by now you realize they all look about the same and I didn't photograph that unit.

For some of the banners, and the BSB in particular, I had to make my own. The Viking command set comes with plenty of musicians but not enough banners. I was dreading doing this, as I'm terrible with conversions. But I had a brainstorm to use the veteran sergeant Space Marine banners from my 40K Ultramarines! They worked perfectly, even if the fit is a little clunky when viewed from the rear. I really didn't want to do paper banners for these, and I hate working with green stuff (mostly because I don't know how to use it, probably).

I think the BSB came out very nicely. I copied the Raven Banner as it was depicted in one of my reference books (one of the Osprey ones -- great series of books). I then copied some rune stone inscriptions to make the borders designs. Viking runes are pretty easy, mostly straight lines, and went on pretty good.

I tried to avoid using pure black in my color schemes. I also avoided pure white. I didn't want anything too intense or pure...since this is an historical army, I wanted it to look more realistic. I think the BSB looks faded and battle worn, and not like it was just purchased at Wal-Mart.

Now all that remains is to paint my 13 Bondi archers and then finish the bases of all the models. When this is done I'll set up the whole army for a group shot and post up the final results. I'm looking forward to completing these guys. Then all I have to do is actually play a game of WAB, which I haven't done since July!