Norse Army-list from WD107

Norse 3rd Edition Army List by Jordan Grigg

A number of people have asked me recently if there is an 'official' army-list for the Norse in Warhammer Third edition, and truth be told, there is, though why it never made it into the pages of Warhammer Armies is beyond me. 

I published a version of this quite some years ago, but that copy was rather spoiled due to a blob of grey paint right over the top of much of the statistics. Here is a link to a much better version of the list, cleaned up by Jordan Grigg and available on Scribd.

While we are on the subject, you can get most of the Norse range (minus the dwarfs, sdaly) from Wargames Foundry and the models can be found here. Additionally, the lesser known Norman range is also now available to purchase from Foundry too! 

A Warhammer Bestiary: Norse

Next up on my project to paint a single model for every entry in the Warhammer Third Edition rule book sees us stopping among the Norse. One thing that may strike the unwary about this race is that back in the day the Norse where just another human society and pretty much neutral in the case of alignment. They could be good and they could be evil, just like any other human. Chaos was a less tangible thing and was largely unheard of by the general populace of the Warhammer World. This ignorance of ultimate and inevitable doom is what made the mythos of the '80s so powerful, something that the impossibly insane modern interpretation seems to lack. 

Now in many cases the Norse were a missing army from Warhammer Armies. Their armylist saw the light of day in WD 107 and can been viewed by following this link. A quick scan through the units will reveal a very different view of the race when compared to the modern chaos infested tribes. Here we have tribes of coastal raiders just as likely to battle with groups of goblins as they are clashing with the mortal powers of chaos. Invasions of the Old World would be just as likely as desperate pacts with fellow humans to defeat the hideous foe. 

The stereotypical Norse is everything the historically inaccurate viking would be. Bearded, axe in hand with an impractically horned helm perched aggressively on the top of their blonde haired head. Well, I chose something different. This wonderful shield maiden/valkyrie miniature. She has the whiff of Wagner about her, don't you think? Something suitably operatic that fits wonderfully with the old interpretation of the Warhammer World. 

She was a pretty straightforward paint too. Skin, hair and armour where all completed with tried and tested techniques that I have used previously on models in this project. The only slight difference was the use of a blue glaze to subtly changed the colour of the silver armour she wears over that ample bosom. It was to be the clothing that I would put the time in. Sweeping folds of material are another one of those challenging jobs for me. This is most likely due to my previous method of basecoating and washing to create the depth. The wash always let the the fabric looking too deep if such a thing sounds reasonable?

Having a quick think about things, I opted to use a similar method of blending as I have used for larger creatures, such as the fimir. Starting with a light blue basecoat (using the same ink as I used on the armour) it was a simple case of layering up the shades to purest (ish) white. I was satisfied with the result but would like to play around with the technique with a darker colour in future. The shield finished off the model and was completed using my usual method. However, I used a metallic rim rather than a black one so the boss of the shield would fit in with the rest of the model. 

In conclusion, a really enjoyable paint up this one. The model is a testament to the old school sense of humour that used to prevail against the ever encompassing tide of 'skullz 'n' grimdark'. 

Orlygg. 

PDF POWER: Norse Army List and other goodies!

I have a new printer!

Its a HP Photosmart C4680 and my wife wanted it to print off various things to do with the kids. Not bad for £30- thanks Tescos!

It is also a photocopier and scanner. Looking at my most popular posts, the pdf content I listed a few days ago is a mere 4 more views off being the most read item on my blog. This got me thinking, just how much interest are there in other materials linked with Warhammer 3rd edition? The One recently commented that he wished he could find a 'complete' set of WDs to look through. I have the vast majority of the WDs linked to 3rd edition. It would be fairly straight forwards to do this- if a little time consuming!

So I grabbed issue 107 of WD to test out my new scanner and see if this idea had any mileage. This particular issue contains two important texts related to our cause...

1) The Norse Army List for 3rd Edition (which is missing from Warhammer Armies) with miniatures buyers/collectors guide- sorry about the paint splodge, it wasn't me!!!!)
2) The Errata for Slaves to Darkness (which makes warbanding a WHOLE lot easier)

Fiddling around with my new toy I quickly worked out how to make a rudimentary scan and convert into a pdf document, both I have available for you via the wonderful world of email (orlyygjafnakol@hotmail.com) if any readers are interested in having their own copy of the Norse list or the errata.

When it comes down to the 'research' as I hereby dub it, I would organise the pdfs into the following categories

1) Background/fluff - the amusing stories often published back in the good ol' days of WD, often linked with a miniatures release (Gaj loves pastiches of these oh his own blog, warhammerforadults).
2) Additional rules not covered in the 3rd edition rulebook or other hard back supplements)
3) Miniatures collection guides, as there is still loads of stuff missing from solegends citadel index or collecting-citadel-miniatures and these resources are useful for the enthusiast.
4) Celebrations of paintwork (miniatures) and illuminations (background art)
5) 'Eavy Metal Guides

Or, I could just do a 'warts and all' pdf of each issue of WD starting with issue 93 (the launch issue of Wrahammer 3rd Edition).

Well, what do others think? Are there any WDs, articles etc of GW's yesteryear that you'd like a pdf copy of? Just leave a comment after this post and I'll do my best. If interest is high enough I would consider a Scribd account a build a research archive of suitable materials not available elsewhere on the 'net.

Back to those skellies now,

Orlygg.