So sometimes its sort of fun to use a deadline and do a quick-turn experiment. For Historicon last year, I had used one of the Viking beserkers from the Footsore Miniatures Viking Kickstarter (WHY DID I BUY MORE 28MM VIKINGS) to make a cool little diorama base of a Viking on the prow of the ship.
I had two more from their range, a Jarl and an Anglo-Saxon priest I had selected for a little Dark Age (apologies Early Middle Ages) triptych depicting small scenes from a Viking raid. It also pairs well with the Ambush Diorama I worked on last year for Histroicon as well.
But MFCA was only 8 days away. It was a slow Friday, but I had a checklist of improvements for the Beserker after a coaching session with Matt, and the other two models had been picked out.
I primed over the water effect for the Beserker. The bases were built out of the scrape butcher block from a project helping a friend with a desk, cut on my miter saw and hand sanded. The Jarl got a cork-based rocky build up and the priest got a little tree and some tufts. Aves apoxie sculpt was used to seal the cracks before sanding.
I resurrected my airbrush, yay! After some cleaning and reassembly I could lay in some color, especially for the grass. I did this Saturday while my Marzen was brewing.
Then it was on to painting! Just quick acrylics, but saved some time through wet blending and two-brush blending. I then did some freehand details- while this can be frustrating, some simple details can be quick to add. I stuck to simple patterns I had practiced before.
By doing a pre-work and post-work painting session (and using a little PTO) I was able to pull them together! I like how the look as a group, even though it is not the smoothest paintjob- I think this shows how a strong link and consistent execution can help smooth over some inconsistencies. Sometimes its fun just to go fast and paint!
-BS
