Big Viking

I had a day off work on Friday so I decided to visit the Wargames Foundry store with the express intention of purchasing some Napoleonic command packs, top up on paints and get a few bases. Things did not turn out that way and I returned with various bargain packs including an Indian elephant, acw figures, lots of ecw and dark ages and a number of other random items which I couldnt resist but none of which have the virtue of fitting in with my ongoing peninsular project.

One of my random acquisitions was a large Viking figure. I've seen this figure before and always thought it would be interesting to paint.  I wanted to try a technique which is new to me, by which the undercoat is removed with wire wool to reveal the metal underneath giving a more worn look to armour and weapons.

So in between various social events and a bit of DIY I've spent time over the weekend painting him up. As this is a new technique to me I thought I would show the progress on the figure.

First up the figure has been undercoated black. Once this has dried I've removed parts of the undercoat with wire wool.

Non metallic areas are re-coated black. The next picture shows the model with basic colours before any highlighting.

The painting is completed and the figure is based and varnished. As a final stage a file is used to remove the matt varnish from raised metallic areas to provide a bit of shine. The next picture shows the finished figure with freshly severed heads courtesy of leftovers from a box of Warlord miniatures Celts.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the figure and I like how the wire wool technique has given the armour and weapons a worn, dark and menacing appearance.

Fearsome though he is the picture below reveals that he nearly met his match from our kitten Bradshaw who along with sibling Wellington offers me constant harassment during all of my wargaming and DIY activities. 

They have a seemingly pathological desire to kidnap my figures and I ran a bit of a risk letting her get this close. Worth it for the photo though.

Next post will be Napoleonics for definite.