Scandanavian Fire Support

A unit of 12 Viking-age archers to replace the old plastic ones. These are all from the Footsore miniatures range.  The miniatures are all two-part castings with a separate left hand/bow piece that attaches through a socket in the wrist. 

  I tried something a little different on these.  I started with a grey chalk primer, then lightly sprayed the tops with white primer to pre-install some shading.  I then block painted using a collection of AP colors primarily from the old Gripping Beast "Dark Age Paint Set' they did when SAGA first game out.  I then went over the colors using the GW Constrast paints as a diluted wash. GW produces a 'contrast medium' bottle which is great for this.  I can use an eye dropper to pull some out and mix with the standard Contrast paint to get a better ink consistency. 

Following that, I hit the models with a dull-coat spray and then went back to highlighting with the original block colors.  I find the the dull-coat really helps lock in the shading and prevents the ink from running/mixing with the highlights.  Not expert painting by any stretch, but they turned out quite nicely for my collection.