A Ship Fit For A God - Skíðblaðnir

Hey All,

Today we have the latest instalment of my personal Norse saga - Freyr's magical Long-Ship Skíðblaðnir.

"Skíðblaðnir (Old Norse 'assembled from thin pieces of wood'), sometimes anglicized as Skidbladnir or Skithblathnir, is the best of ships in Norse mythology. It is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, both written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. All sources note that the ship is the finest of ships, and the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda attest that it is owned by the god Freyr. Both Heimskringla and the Prose Edda attribute to it the ability to be folded up—as cloth may be—into one's pocket when not needed."

[The text above is an edited extract from this Wikipedia entry.]

The first thing that I must say about this model is that it is completely unnecessary - I could have simply represented Freyr owning a magical ship by giving him the 'Amphibious' trait in 'Of Gods and Mortals', allowing him to move over water unhindered.

However, of all the strange and wonderful creatures and creations in Norse mythology, the idea of a ship that could be folded away into the owners pocket was something that I just fell in love with, and very quickly knew that I had to do a model of.

I think this pic' shows it best. Can't you just see how it 'folds up'?

After looking around on-line at various historically accurate Viking Long-Boat models in 1/300th and 1/600th scale, I stumbled onto the Spartan Games website and fell in love their Uncharted Seas "Thaniras Elves Phoenix Class Battleship". With its groovy diagonal hull planks I immediately 'saw' in my minds eye exactly how this ship folded up into a pocket sized parcel, and knew that I must have one!

When I got the model I was rather surprised by the size of it - its freaking huge! - being about 5" from end to end. The model came in three pieces, a one-part resin hull and two metal sails. All were nice clean castings with only a few small mould lines in the usual places. 

I hope this shot shows the size of the thing.

I know that the ship does not really look anything like a Norse / Viking long-ship - but then again its supposed to be Magic and made by Magical Dwarven Smiths. I was careful to choose a 'traditional' (rather than 'fantastical') colour palate when painting the model to try and draw it back towards the realms of mythology, rather than high-fantasy. I think that this has worked out rather well, but I have yet to show the completed model to any of my, rather sceptical, wargaming buddies...

And on the point of the clearly different scale of the model.....oGaM is a game of colossal abstraction - with a handful of figures representing the greatest armies of myth and legend, and gods portrayed in the way that they are. With this in mind, I think I can get away with an out of scale magic boat.

Next up in the painting cue, some War-Trolls.

MM.

My God - Freyr

Hey Internet, 

I've very much been looking forward to putting this model up online - my god for 'Of Gods and Mortals' - Freyr.

Some WIP pictures of this model can be found HERE.

The model itself is a converted 'Jason' from Spartan Game's short lived 40mm scale Greek Mythological skirmish game. I absolutely love this model - and that not a thing I say often. Perhaps it is because I've never worked on a 40mm scale model before, but I was awed my the level of detail and character that the model possessed - particularly the intense, piercing stare of the eyes.

"Freyr (sometimes anglicized Frey, from *frawjaz "lord") is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was associated with sacral kingship, virility and prosperity, with sunshine and fair weather, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals". Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and seen as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house.

In the Icelandic books the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr is presented as one of the Vanir, the son of the sea god Njörðr, brother of the goddess Freyja. The gods gave him Álfheimr, the realm of the Elves, as a teething present. He rides the shining dwarf-made boar Gullinbursti and possesses the ship Skíðblaðnir which always has a favorable breeze and can be folded together and carried in a pouch when it is not being used.

The most extensive surviving Freyr myth relates Freyr's falling in love with the female jötunn Gerðr. Eventually, she becomes his wife but first Freyr has to give away his magic sword which fights on its own "if wise be he who wields it". Although deprived of this weapon, Freyr defeats the jötunn Beli with an antler. However, lacking his sword, Freyr will be killed by the fire jötunn Surtr during the events of Ragnarök."

[The text above is an edited extract from this Wikipedia entry.]

Although I was initially daunted by the prospect of painting the centrepiece of my force without ever having painted a model of this scale before, I found the process to not only be incredibly enjoyable, but incredibly simple too. I didn't 'read-up' on painting 40mm figures before tacking him, so just painted it as if it were a 28mm model, using the same colours and techniques. As it turns out, it is exactly the same - you simply have far more space with which to blend colours on flat surfaces, and any fiddly details are much, much larger, making them also far easier to paint.

The final thing worth mentioning are the glowing eyes. I probably spent half of my total painting time for this model researching how to paint glowing 'directional lighting' effects on-line, and 'um-ing' and 'ah-ing' over whether to give it a go or not. On the one hand, I was very fearful that I would screw-up my otherwise completed model if I hacked blindly at the eyes with a paintbrush, while on the other I thought a glowing eye effect, whilst far more Greek than Norse, would set Freyr apart from his mortal comrades-in-arms. In the end I just went for it, and I think it looks really quite all-right. I think I did good.

A little out of focus, but I think it shows the eyes pretty well.

My next step towards completing my Norse project will be painting up Freyr's alternate form on the table-top, Skíðblaðnir, his dwarven forged, magical long-ship. 

Two Armoured Huscarls (Black Tree Design)

Hey all,

I've got two models to show today, a pair of Norman nobles by Black Tree Designs, that I have recently stripped and intend to press into service as part of a unit of armoured Norsemen.

I originally purchased these models to be part of a Ango-Danish Huscarl force that never really took off. They'd been sat in a box for almost a decade, their terrible original paint-jobs slowly slowly chipping away over time. A day in some break fluid and a scrub with an old tooth brush soon saw the last of the paint off, and I think they're looking far better now.

The models themselves are rather nice, being both detailed without being 'fussy', and were well cast. The pose of the guy with the axe is fantastic, even if he does have weird hair.

They are both a little too well armoured to be 'accurate' Norse warriors, but to be honest I really don't care. I'm going to get a few more armoured Norse/Viking types from Gripping Beast to complete the unit, and I'm quite sure that no one will notice that they have slightly too much armour on for the period.

What do you think? Did I do good?

Next in line - painted pictures of my chosen god, Freyr.

Freyr - Work in Progress

Hey Everyone,


Another update on my Norse project. This time it is my first God miniature - Freyr.

Edit: Completed pictures of this model can be found HERE.

The model that I am using to represent Freyr on the table top is a 40mm scale Jason (of Argonoughts fame) produced by Spartan Games. I was lucky enough to buy a bunch of these minis from my old local gaming store while they were still in production. Huge monsters excluded, their Jason model is my runaway favourite. With his neat beard, ornate armour and chiselled features I thought he made a fine candidate for a miniature deity.

I left the model mostly 'as is', the only conversions being the two weapon swaps. I drilled though the left hand and added a spear ('borrowed' from one of the skeleton models) and replaced the sword with an antler taken from a GW Bretonnian Helmet. 

I was a little worried that a 40mm miniature would be a little on the small side compared the 'official' God miniatures, but I think that he sizes up well next to his 28mm worshippers. Norse Gods are depicted as being far less detached from the common man compared to their Egyptian and Greek opposites, so I'm quite happy with how he is only a head taller. 

Here's a scale comparison:-

A Jarl - Mithril Miniatures Human Warrior

Hey All,

More pictures charting the progress of my Norse Warhost for 'Of Gods and Mortals'.

Today, we have another painted Jarl. I think it is a Mithril Miniatures Human Warrior of some kind.

Interestingly, this figure is the first wargaming figure that I ever owned. It was given to me by the lad who used to sit next to me in O-Level Maths, back when I was still at school.

As far as I can remember, this is the fourth paint-job that this figure has had. I painted it in the usual way and had a fun time doing so.

2 Dwarfs - Mithril Miniatures Dwarf Characters

Hey Internet People,

More progress on the Norse front - my first two Dwarfs.

Both are by Mithril Miniatures, although I'm not sure which characters they depict.

They are lovely sculpts and sit nicely next to my Games Workshop and Hasslefree Miniatures Dwarfs.

So, without further adieu, the pictures:

2 Jarls - Mithril Miniatures Aragorn and Boromir

Hey all.

I've made a little more progress with my Norse Warhost for 'Of Gods and Mortals'. I've taken a few snaps and popped them up on here for you lot to ogle.

Both are old Lord of the Rings figures made by Mithril Miniatures. Mithril figures have very, very soft surface detail, making them rather challenging and time consuming to paint. In particular I had trouble with the belts and faces. Both are more 'suggested' on the model than 'sculpted on'.

Mithril Miniatures Aragorn

Mithril Miniatures Boromir

As you can see, I couldn't get Boromir's face to work. The thing is basically a flat surface with only the vaguest contours of the facial features sculpted on. No matter how much time I spent on him I was never going to get a convincing looking right eye - so I just covered it up with a big knarly scar.