A Fistful of Nordic Myth

Alongside my various projects on Greek myth, Middle-earth and other settings, I’ve been quietly collecting miniatures for Norse mythology/ fantasy as well. I’m hoping that these will see the table at shows next year as part of a big Midgard game as well as in various smaller club encounters.

First up is a Valkyrie from Bad Squiddo Games that I bought from Annie at Partizan in May. This is a two-piece resin casting based on Arthur Rackham’s classic illustration of Brunhilde (left), and by Thunor, it’s a fine piece of work! You can see how carefully sculptor Shane Hoyle has captured the pose of the original art.

My Norse myth collection has a blue-grey-white colour theme, so she didn’t get the Rackham colour treatment, and I went for a frosty base to tie her in to my setting. Nevertheless, I’m really happy with the model.

While most of the mini has been painted fairly quickly using GW Contrast paints and various acrylic highlights, I spent a few minutes giving her cloak a runic border for a further Norse vibe.

Next up are a pair of Elves from Lucid Eye’s Red Book of the Elf King range. As you know, I play a bit of Red Book every so often and am slowly building up a circle of warriors with a more frosty theme to fit the winter setting of the game’s background. These will also see service as Alfar in my Norse myth games.

The model leaning on his sword is a recent addition to the range, an Elf Companion Captain. No-one sculpts cloaks quite like Steve Saleh and I bought this on impulse in one of Lucid Eye’s sales. Like the Valkyrie, he’s been painted mostly with Contrast paints with additional highlights and has a runic border on his cloak. It took me several weeks to decide on the colour of his plume (GW Contrast Fyreslayer Red) as I wasn’t sure if it was too much! Despite being outside my blue-grey-white colour theme, it grew on me and I then opted for a red/ black banner to tie the two models together.

The standard bearer is a newish Red Book character, Chaelech of Hale, again ordered on impulse during the 30% off sale! When he arrived, I decided that I didn’t like his sword and thought that he might work better as a banner bearer. Having been painting Wars of the Roses banners in September for Never Mind The Billhooks, I opted for a late medieval-style flag with a side pole. The raven banner itself is based on an image I found online and over-painted with more Fyreslayer Red to match the Elf Captain’s plume. The standard bearer’s shield is a resin casting from Scibor Miniatures that I’ve used on my other Red Book warband.

Last, but certainly not least, is another cracking resin model from Bad Squiddo Games. BSG aren’t the cheapest minis out there, but the quality control and packaging is absolutely top notch. When this model of Freya riding her giant boar Hildeswini arrived (£22), I was blown away by the quality of the casting. There was virtually nothing to clean up so preparation consisted of a quick wash and then undercoating. The packaging included a painting reference photo which was useful in identifying detailed parts of the armour.

This time out, I undercoated Hildeswini in black so that I could dry brush the bristly fur to a suitable grey-brown. Freya herself received a white undercoat and various base coats of GW Contrasts plus highlights. Being a goddess, she was also first in line for a fancy border on her dress.

Once assembled, I was delighted with the animation in this model. She’ll be a much appreciated leader in my games of Of Gods And Mortals and Midgard, for sure, and Bad Squiddo will certainly be seeing some more of £ winging their way.