Ice Jötunn

I had this Ice giant lying around for far to long, about time those Blood Rage kickstarter miniatures started to get some paint on them...

I went with a blue skin on the Ice Jötunn. The base I wanted to have in stile with my other miniatures so I went with grass on the base and moss on the rock but I wanted to give the Ice Jötunn some snow so I added that on top of that, to give a frosted feel to the miniature.

The plan is to use him in Dragon Rampant and use the rules for Elite Foot with Missiles. Maybe add a special rule but I think I will keep him rather simple.

 Ready to throw down a rock from his mountain.

And conveniently enough it snowed this morning so I just had to get some pictures outdoors, to bad I just had my phone with me and not my regular camera but with good light I think thats good enough.

Ulfheðinn

Yeah

Finally a real unit of Ulfheðinns...

"...The Úlfhéðnar (singular Úlfheðinn), another term associated with berserkers, mentioned in the Vatnsdæla saga, Haraldskvæði and the Völsunga saga, were said to wear the pelt of a wolf when they entered battle. Úlfhéðnar are sometimes described as Odin's special warriors: "[Odin's] men went without their mailcoats and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk'." In addition, the helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts (below) a scene of Odin with a berserker—"a wolf skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang... and the god Odin"—with a wolf pelt and a spear as distinguishing features..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker

 So, with that I thought I really really needed such a colourful unit. It will be nice to mix up the shieldwall formations with a whole unit of religious fanatics going bersärkagång...

Painting and model wise I wanted a unit all clad in wulfskins full of tattoos.
The miniatures are a mixture of Gripping Beast, Shieldwall miniatures and V&V miniatures.

I really recommend the V&V Miniatures, they has to be some of the best Viking miniatures out there.
http://vminiatures.com/28-mm/vikings/

To bad the pictures really didn´t capture the tattoos that well... Its hard to get good pictures of so small details.

Vättar mot Aelfer

This saturday my friend Johan and I managed to play two games of Dragon Rampant. I would be fielding my Vättar and Johan would field his Elves.

In the first scenario the Elves had stoles something valuable from the Vätte mine but the Vättar are closing in. The Elves needed to bring the item of the opposite table edge to win.

The Bonebacks use the cover of the big threes to advance.

On the other side the forces are closing in.

My Vättar use the small forest as cover as the place is suddenly swarmed by Aelves.

My big bear charges in to a unit of light infantry and wins that combat. But that makes him a prime target for the deadly elven archers.

But my friend was extremely unlucky and the elven archers didnt react fast enough and that big angry bear was up close and personal...

The bear took two wounds but the elven archers took more... Forcing them to flee.


In the meantime all my scouts was peppering the elves from all sides inflicting a casualtie here and there that would add up in the end.

The bear would continue to assault the elves but this time he had bitten more then he could chew and was put down.
I later moved backwards with my light infantry, trying to keep my distance from the aelf lord and his bodyguard. All in the meantime peppering the elves with small range arrow fire.
The Aelf lord deemed it not worth continuing and the Vättar managed to retrieve their treasure.

Game two that night. One of the Aelves was carrying a magical ring and the Vätte boss wanted it...
The problem was that I had no idea who...

The Aelves are up for a good start.

But so are the Vättar.

I send in the scouts to start harassing the aelves. 

The Aelf lord had used the big trees as cover and advanced out on the other side. I had the Trolls and my Bonebacks to try to stop him...
He charged my Bonebacks and I counter-charged. Both units are pushed back.

Now I had a conundrum...
All that was left of the Aelf force by now because of all my light archery was the Aelf lord and the Aelf mage.
The scenario dictates that when the warband carrying the ring are down to one unit the ring would explode and the game would count as a draw. And as I have failed to find the ring one of the two units left must be carrying it...
The problem is I have no idea who....
 

The bear wild charges into the mage... brutally smacks those puny aelves... That unit is destroyed. That meant that I really had no option in guessing who was carrying the ring, the wild charging bear took that decision by him self...
And she was the one carrying the ring... The Vättar had found the ring.

Had I instead destroyed the Aelf lord the ring had felt it was in the last unit and that wound make the game end in a draw.

I think Johan have some thoughts about lucky dice rolls after these games...

Vättar vs Dökkalfar: AAR

Another great game of Dragon Rampant

This time my Vättar would be facing my friend Håkans Dark elves.
We rolled for scenario and I would defend a huge roosting fire, earning me one point each turn from turn three and onwards. Håkan would have to stop me before the 10points would be roosted and eaten...
We decided to use piggies and other critters stolen from the Elves.

Put another piggie on the barbie...

The Dark elves rode these small dragons (Elite riders), I had a unit of Scouts in the forest ready and waiting for enemy movement and I kept my trolls as a sort of mobile reserve on the ruined altar.

 

 Dark elf infantry deployed.

The Drake riders was forced to charge into the terrain and the prepared Vättar.

 

Another unit of Vätte Scouts, these are hacked to pieces by the Dark elves.

My big bear charges, payback time...

But nooo.... it was driven back.

The drakeriders was driven back. I guess cavalry in tough terrain is not that of a great idea...

 I started to enjoy the roosted pigs...

Dark elves are nearly there to put out the fire... nooo....

Dark elves scouts inflicts damage on my bear.

The bear charges in an attempt to stop the elves.
 

But was driven back again with more damage.

The Vätte berserks charges in...
 

But they are also drivven back...

The Elves are having it a hard time struggling forward as the bear hit again...  

But this time the bear is the victorious and the elves are driven back.
'

My chieftain had deployed to protect the fire and the dinner...

The elves attacked the bear, wanting to have the elven leader forward for a more combined assault.

The Elven lord is just about to charge in against my chieftain and his firewatchers...

The drake riders where finally defeated. A really nice work with the scouts using the forest to lure them into all the branches and roots... Unfortunately they had also taken a beating and was heading home.  

The Vätte chieftain somehow managed to drive the Elven lord back just enough to give my trolls time to close in...

A lone Vätte scout is heading home... He and his friends had defeated a unit of Elite riders and I am more then happy with them.

The Trolls finishes the combat with large clubs... The Elven lord and the last of his men are sent home and I can continue with my barbecue... 

Another really tense game of Dragon Rampant. It could easily had ended in turn four/five had Håkan just had a bit more luck with some dices.
Really fun game.