This army was my first attempt at painting 15mm scale miniatures. After what seemed like ages of playing games that nobody played I finally fell victim to the DBA calling. That and the fact that there is a great community of 15mm DBAers here, it was on to the fullest.
So, my first DBA army reflects my favourite historical period and the coolest dark ages army there is. I tried to do something interesting with this army, as opposed to the hundreds of plain looking Vikings I painted in 28mm. As a consequence, all of the shields were hand painted in attempt to make the army something special and more interesting than a bunch of Odin worshipping raiders!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Here they are in all their slavering glory!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
The general's stand. I decided to snip the original, tiny banner
and replace it with something a bit more to my liking! Took a bit
of extra time on the design as well. I am pretty happy with it!
Also I did a couple of nifty shields, including the musician's
Thor's hammer and the entwined beasts on the general's shield.
See a bigger pic of the general's shield below.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
I love that leather armour! It just looks so much better than mail
in my opinion. The shield on the far right end of the stand was
inspired by one in the Fanaticus Dark Ages Shield Gallery.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
More ravening Vikings. One of my more intricate gripping beast shield designs.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
This one is one of my favourites! The red head with the snazzy shield
is an Irishman gone Viking who is apparently quite proud of his
heritage! He even used an Irish tryst-like shield design!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Another of my favourite stands. The raven shield on the right end of the
stand didn't work out as well as I had hoped, but the shield on the left
end of the stand is easily my most intricate gripping beast design! I am
quite proud of that one.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
This stand is also a good one. I kinda cheesed out on the longship shield,
but hey, you can't have a Viking army without a longship somewhere can you?
The shield on the left was a lot of work, and it didn't even turn out all
that great...
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Another cheesy shield here. Still, it turned out great!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
I love the two figures on the left side of this stand. I imagine that the
figure second from the left is saying to his buddy "You said there were how
many?" while deciding whether or not to run for it. All the while, his buddy
is gnawing on his shield waiting to put the hurt on some Saxons! I like the
colours on the shield on the right, but the design itself is a little uninspired.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
This stand was one of my first, and the gripping beast shield is also my first.
In spite of that I am pretty happy with the stand and the shield!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
This stand, sporting two nifty shield designs, isn't one of my favorites.
The knot work shield didn't really turn out (especially compared with the
Irish shield design above) and neither did the gripping beast. I found
the reason for this was the texture on the shields. That wood grain was
impossible to work with using fine details...
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
This stand includes a berserker in a wolf skin with a great shield design.
This was also one of my first and I was quite happy with it. Again, that
leather armour is my favourite, and although it was tough to paint I would
rather have all leather than all mail!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Psiloi rock the spot! And they recoil from blades!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
A collection of close-ups of my favourite
shield designs from the army. Note the one
on the top right is the general's shield.
Pretty expensive design and paint there!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Camps are cool! Unfortunately I wasn't inspired so just
went with the standard two tents on the shore look...
I tried to do it to scale with the 15s as well, but
the hole-punched shields are a bit small. Still, I am
happy at how it turned out none-the-less!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
A closer view of the water. It was done using a slightly
wrinkled piece of paper, painted, covered in watered-down
white glue, and then painted with a coat of clear, shiny
nail polish.
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
And last but certainly not least, my ZOC marker.
Based on a Swedish rune stone, it is entirely hand
painted right down to the smallest Futhark rune
on there!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
I decided this would be my Viking camp follower. I know, he looks kinda fierce
up on that horse waving around that sword, but trust me, no self-respecting Viking
would fight from the top of a horse! Seriously, I painted this one up to practice
painting 15mm horses for my Andalusian 15mm army... And also, maybe, some time in
the distant future, I will use it as a command base for Warmaster Ancients!
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
I held off painting this stand because formed up archers aren't all that
Viking imho... Still, I wanted all of the options, so here they are. These
ones, along with the berserker next were painted up a full year after the
rest of the army, but they turned out pretty good anyway :)
- Manufacturer: Old Glory 15s
Done over a year after the rest of the army, I am pretty happy with
how these turned out... Why someone would pick war band over blade is
beyond my expertise, but they look cool, so what does it matter ;)