Hobby Update: Varangur Chieftain, Skaald, and Warband

The Varangur project is humming right along. I managed to get a few units moved over into the "table ready" column the other day, so here they are.

"Go forth and die."

First up is the Chieftain. I picked this guy up years ago to use as a battle standard bearer for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Out of the box, his left arm was a tentacle mass holding a shield. I had used the shield in another project, and had planned on building a tentacle holding the flag pole back when he had a purpose. Ultimately, I decided that my list didn't need him in my lists (go Slaanesh!), and he ended up just sitting in a box for a few  years.

As the Varangur project grew (and grew), I dug him up. I decided to build a gesturing tentacle for him, like he was ordering his troops "forward" to go "attack those guys" or something. Nothing too fancy about the painting, though I will say listening to this song while hobbying on him was a good thing. Immersion and everything.

The Varangur actually have a nice variety of things they can field for their Inspiring sources. Coming from Kingdoms of Men.. the Chieftain on a Horse seems expensive, but unlike the KoM, the Varangur leaders are actually quite competent in combat. When you factor in the high Nerve, good combat stats, smaller base size (relative to a unit, anyways) and the ability to take gifts, I could definitely see the Chieftains being a pain to deal with on the battlefield.


I also completed is a Skaald on foot. I picked up the model from Reaper a while ago to have on hand for Dungeons and Dragons. No real conversion work done to her at all, and nothing much to say about her in-game that wasn't covered when I chatted about the Mounted Skaalds. She'll mostly be taken to Inspire the troops.

Lastly, I finished up a Regiment of Warband with shields. The models are Games Workshop Chaos Marauders. I picked up a few Chaos Battalion Boxes back in the day, and had nearly 50 models sitting around.. enough for three Regiments.

However, I forgot how much of a pain these could be to assemble. The muscles on these dudes are so pronounced that you have to glue everything juuust right to get things to line up. The other regiments will be wielding two-handed weapons (Crushing Strength ftw!), and I imagine will be even more of a pain, so those other two Regiments will be worked on slowly. One Warband should be enough for the time being.

I've also made slow but steady progress with all of the Mounted Sons (three regiments and two troops). They are just about done, so hopefully I'll have a post of them up soon!