Hobby Update: KoM Fanatics

These dudes are a few years late. Back in 2018, I hobbied up some old Berserkers (now termed Fanatics) for 2nd Edition. I hobbied up two regiments and had some leftover miniatures that never quite reached the hobbying table. In 2022 I used some of the bits to make some Varangur Draugr. Still having some human bits left, I did some recalculating, and picked up some individual sprues to replenish the ranks enough to make some more units. So, here are two more regiment's worth of crazed Berserkers Fanatics for the Kingdoms of Men.

Hey, that's enough for a horde!

The units are a mix of bodies and bits. There are a handful of helmeted heads and shields from Warlord's Roman Legionaries. Some of the older bodies are from Warlord Games and various Celtic lines, and the additional sprues I picked up were Irish Warriors from Wargames Atlantic, who have been kicking out a lot of great releases the last few years. I wish I had more time to game and more space to store armies! Alas. Still, all these various bits and bodies mixed nicely together, and I was able to get a nice, disorganized unit, on par with the older regiments. 

Two troops, with Sam Elliot and his commanding rock.

Hobbying-wise there isn't too much going on, though I am getting a better handle on painting white. The key, as it turns out, is to paint not white for several layers. Layer after layer is usually not my jam, but the results are worth the extra effort, even finishing up with cheap craft paint like I did. I used a tan base coat (Usabti Bone) then off-white layer covering everything but the lowest folds, then a white highlight on the highest creases and the unit "pops" much more than usual. At least in person.

The other troops.

The Fanatics are not my favorite unit type, but it won't hurt to have a few more of them around. We'll get some more testing in and see how they do. I hobbied them up as troops for flexibility, but I think these are most likely going to show up initially as a full horde. My Kingdoms of Men have had a hard time playing that regimental MSU style that I like, and I think I'll use this army to explore hordes more for their next few games. I mean, I have yet to run a horde of Knights, and that seems a "must-try" at some point since I have the army. We'll see if I can figure out how many hordes is too many for the Kingdoms of Men!