Ragnar Lothbrok and Family & Friends

    Ragnar Lothbrok and his family and friends from the Vikings TV series - 28mm Brigade Games

Since I am going to be running my Viking Town Raid game at a number of conventions this year, I decided to spice up the interest level a bit by using characters from the 2013 History Channel's Vikings series. They will lead each player characters' band of raiders in their attempt to gather more loot than their fellow Vikings. I asked for input on the Lead Adventure Forum and did some searching myself, and eventually decided to go with 28mm metal miniatures from Brigade Games. Besides the series star Ragnar Lothbrok, the set of five also included his brother Rollo, wife Lagertha, son Bjorn Ironside, and friend Floki the shipbuilder.

    Vikings series characters in front of a 28mm Acheson Creations Viking Turf House

I preferred to order all five from the same manufacturer so that I didn't end up with scale issues. Plus, Lon Weiss at Brigade Games always has excellent service and sells quality miniatures. Shipping from the USA, rather than an overseas manufacturer, was a plus, as well. I really liked the figures when I unpacked them, and continued to like them through the painting process. There was almost zero flash and the detail was crisp. I detest "slotta" bases, so snipped them off of their metal tabs and shaved the bottoms of their feet flat so that I could epoxy them directly to the base. I primed them with white Gesso, and the Vikings were quickly ready to be painted!

For their flesh, I use a ruddy craft paint but then apply a wash of darker orange color. I don't know why a matte clear paint and a matte dark orange combine to give me a glossy finish sometimes, but that's what I have to deal with. I fix that anyway during the final wash and clear coat stage. I decided to do all five at the same time, painting their flesh, then clothing, then weapons, etc., at the same time. I wasn't under huge deadline pressure, as I wouldn't be running the game till Cincycon weekend, Feb. 28-March 2. For those interested in playing, the game can accommodate six players (all Vikings) and will be on Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 10am. 

    Ragnar Lothbrok from Brigade Games -- I think they did a nice job recreating him in 28mm

I am hard pressed to pick a favorite among the five miniatures, so I will just go over them one by one. Starting with series star Ragnar, I did numerous Google Image searches to try to get his costume from the series right. The chainmail is my usual recipe -- an Iron Wind Metals Steel base color with a Silver dry brush. Seeing the images for the characters I found online, there would be LOTS of varieties of brown in these five figures. So, I did my best to differentiate tones so each figure didn't look like one big blob of brown. For Ragnar, that meant a dark brown tunic (with my own addition of a dark red trim), medium brown trousers, and lighter brown boots. Googling his shield came up with a red shield with a strange bird emblem, so I took that as liberty to create my own Ragnar shield design using a bird head. The tattoos on his head came out well, I thought, as did his lighter tan colored hair.

    I like how Ragnar's brother, Rollo, and his tattoos came out (which I did with a black micron pen)

Bare-chested Rollo was probably the easiest to paint (at least until it came to the tattoos). More brown's with some leather straps and tan boots. His shield also came up in a Google search. Incidentally, I think the design is similar to one of the flags of the Nordic nations today. His dark brown hair and slightly crazed looking eyes came out well, too.

    Ragnar's wife Lagertha is a definite fan favorite in the series -- a tough, no-nonsense shield maiden!

Lagertha gave me the opportunity to do the most detail and creativity. Blue seemed to be her color in the series, so I gave her a light blue tunic with a decorative darker blue and yellow band at the hem. Her trousers were brown (what else?) and I made her boots a bit fancier looking, painting them reddish brown. Her blonde hair was more striking than the other characters in the images, so I used a brighter yellow. The shield design is the one she and her shield maidens used later in the series and is based on a Viking rune, I believe. In fact, I admit the chronology of the characters and game are a bit mixed up. By the time Björn is old enough to go to war and lead men, Rollo is in Normandy. But hey, it is a game and most of the Ragnar legendary sagas are liberally played with by the show's writers.

    I'm satisfied with my job on Björn Ironside's animal skin cloak - Ragnar would be proud of his son

Björn's figure was the one I was least looking forward to paint. The images I saw online of his animal fur cloak looked challenging. Still, I persevered and did my best. I began with a light tan base coat on the fur, then white dry brush in what would be the animal's (wolf? fox?) lighter sections, with medium brown patches here and there to darken it up. A brown wash over it all and I am actually very happy with how the cloak came out. The rest of the figure is various tones of (wait for it...) brown and gray. The "< >" shield came up in a Google search, so I went with it. I gave him lighter blond hair than his mom, but more yellow than dad, which I thought made sense.

    I managed to hold off mimicking Floki the shipbuilder's insane giggle as I painted his figure

Finally, Floki -- a very interesting character in the series. The shipbuilder is not named as such on Brigade Games' website, but is obviously based on that character. He holds an awl (wood carving tool) and axe. In the series, he rarely carries a shield, if I remember correctly, but I attached one to his back anyway since it was included in the pack. Here the Google searches were particularly helpful. I replicated the reddish brown vest, gray under tunic, brown pants, and dark boots as closely as I could but to also allow for contrast and a more interesting looking miniature. I gave him the tear tracks tattoos that this devoted follower of the Norse gods wears in the film. His unruly hair was done in a medium brown and he looks equally sinister and crazy like the character is at times in the events in the series.

All in all, I am VERY happy with how Ragnar and his crew turned out. When I left for vacation Feb. 4, everything was done on these figures except the wash and flocking. I finished those when I came back, two weeks later. It is also less than two weeks from my Cincycon game, now, so hopefully you will soon see action shots of them looting an Anglo-Saxon town and cutting down hapless villagers!

    A final look at the Brigade Games' take on the characters from the History Channels series, Vikings

What else is on my paint desk? I have the two trailers I purchased from Bad Goblin Games at Siege of Augusta. Both have their primary base coat and dry brush done on their exteriors. I have begun painting the exterior details and then will switch to the interiors. They also have to be done because I will be bringing them down to Cincycon to be used by Bad Goblin Games when they run their Trailer Park Warlords of the Apocalypse game Friday, 2pm, at Cincycon. A couple of the owners just happen to be in Cincinnati from Florida for work, and they decided to run one of their games and attend the show. Since they're flying up, I am helping them out by bringing a mat and some terrain to use. If you get a chance to play in their game, I encourage you to do so. It is a lot of fun!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 15 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 7

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 5