I had a number of Vikings painted up for SAGA. In reality, Vikings, Joms Vikings and Pagan Rus. The figures are a mix of Old Glory metals and Gripping Beast plastics. To date, I have not used them for SAGA (I have other armies too). The Ninth Age released a supplemental army last year called Asklanders. The list is based around a northern barbarian warrior race loosely based on the Vikings. When I read the list, I was quite intrigued. It looked like it would be fun to play.
Going through my various painted and unpainted miniatures, I turned to my shelf full of Vikings for SAGA… Looking them over, I decided these would be perfect for the main troops for the army, Fantastical beasts would of coarse have to be added! However, this would give me a good head start.
The first issue I had was all my SAGA minis were mounted on round bases. This would not do for T9A, so it was time to rebase. The army requires 25mm square bases for the troops, so I went into my storage and pulled out a stack of old Gale Force Nine magnetic bases. This would save me time in magnetizing the troops and would work well for the metal models.
I started by removing all the round bases from all the figures. At first, I tried to save the bases, but this took too long (they were all wood rounds). So, out came out the snipers and I just focused on the figures and trashed the remains of the round bases. I could have saved them, but they are really cheap and bio degradable, so it was not worth the effort to me. One night watching some TV and all the models were “debased”.
I then glued them to the Gale Force Nine square bases using white glue (I spray painted the bases dark brown a couple days earlier). Let that set and then glued on light brown rocks and ballast. Let that dry for a day and hit all the bases with Woodland Scenics Dark Ochre. This is more of a wash than a paint, so gives a little depth to the ballast, saving layers of dry brushing. The next day, I had a Skype paint a thon with some buddies and drybrushed each base with Vallejo Iragi Sand. I then hit all the rocks with light grey paint. Went over them all with a black wash and wet brushed the same grey on the rocks again. I then hit the base sides with dark brown to cover any paint overs (the dark brown spray paint made this much easier).
Finally, I added some Scenic Express flock (flock and static grass mix) and added some marshland grass tufts from Gamers Grass. Once everything dried, the troops were ready for the tabletop! Now, I just need to paint up the rest of the army…..
- Manteuffel