Hobby Update: Skald with Lute

My hobbying started out quite strong in the new year, but has slowed down considerably. I have a few prospective regiments about, even primed, but even they have given me me pause over the last month. A spare mini here or there is still doable though. My previous Skalds have generally looked quite barbarous but not very musical. With both a desire to run more Inspiring sources and the recent addition of all of the multiple infantry regiments of Night Raiders and Draugr, I figured I should do up a more proper looking Skald to help the Varangur out.

Eh, not my best work, but it should be fine on the table. 

The mini is Nolzur's Human Male Bard. The longsword had a bit of a corkscrew bend going on that I was not able fix, even with some of the reheating and reshaping tricks I have picked up over the years. So, the blade was cut off, and then replaced with an old GW skeleton scimitar (I think from the Tomb Kings skeletons), which actually looks pretty good.

The mini came pre-primed, but since I had added some naked plastic bits to it and it was quite pleasant outside for February, I gave the mini a rinse, let it dry, and primed the mini again. This was arguably a good idea, but unfortunately I didn't get the best results this time. The rattle can was old, and I either didn't shake it up well enough, or the nozzle was a little blocked, or maybe something else was going on (the temp was nice, it wasn't too windy, but it was a bit damp out), and so the resulting coverage of the primer was not great.

The paintjob emulates the axe-wielding Night Raiders / Clansmen with blue cloth. The primer issues seemed to obscure some of the arm armor, which allowed me paint it as bones, to further tie them to the other units. Unfortunately the primer also obscured the details on the hands and face, which is quite noticeable when looking at the miniature head-on, but should hopefully be passable on the table with a steeper angle of viewing and some distance... Overall, it's not a great paintjob, but it should work. 

I like my Inspiring sources to do more than just stand around the battlefield looking good. While the Skald here does have a ranged attack option, the range is very short and with only two attacks it seems unlikely to do any damage at all! The Lute of Insatiable Darkness has been a pretty common item for me and these ASB-like sources, as Bane Chant is a nice way to let a nearby unit punch a little above its weight. Since the miniature comes with a Lute, and I like the item already in general, I think this will be a natural starting point!

I am tending towards running like sources with like units regarding Inspiring; I don't want to pay for a mount if I am just going to be inspiring infantry and not taking advantage of the extra speed! I also want to run more sources for the Varangur than I have been, to free up my Lords on Frostfang to disrupt and pressure more in-game. With the recent infantry additions to the army, as well as a few potent Huscarl units around already, I think this Skaald should fit the bill nicely!