Old School Ral Partha and Minifigs Vikings for Aztec War Canoes

I was originally enticed into the hobby by way of 25mm metal figures from Ral Partha, Grenadier, and Minifigs back in the 1980’s. Some of you of course are remarking to yourselves at this point that you have no idea of those days!

Well, no internet existed such that one could go out and find whatever one wanted with a click. You either ordered from a catalog or got lucky at a hobby store with whatever existed in the shop (insert bad joke here).

Some of the figures were pretty simplistic, others were (and are still) marvels of art. Most readers of this blog will recognize that until recently, I have been very much involved with painting and building figures and terrain for my Civilizations Collide project (Aztecs, Conquistadores, etc. for Feudal Patrol. So, you ask, Mark, what the f**k you doing with old school Vikings?

Well, this is related to my recent trip to Historicon (which I wrote about here). Several of the scenarios that I am developing for the Spanish Conquest require Aztec (and Tlaxcalan) war canoes, which were involved in many of the battles, both along the causeways out of Tenochtitlan and in naval combat with Spanish brigantines on Lake Texcoco. At Historicon, I searched high and low in the vendors area and in the flea market for reasonably priced war canoes. All I found were a Blood and Plunder model for $20 (not reasonable) from a vendor’s booth and a single $3 scratch-built balsa-wood version from the flea market.

I got both as options for considering how to design and scratch-build my own. As I estimate that I need 4-6 war canoes for each of the 4 brigantines that I have in queue. That’s 16-24 canoes – and I am not going to pay $20 per canoe! Shortly after the convention, Greg Priebe (who was with me at Historicon) suggested that he could 3D print canoes for me! I was elated, and I asked him what I could offer in trade. Greg kindly said don’t worry about it. But, I thought that’s unfair, and I could paint some figures for him as a fair exchange.

Greg is the author of the Vikings Feudal Patrol supplement (which you can download for free here), so I offered him Vikings. He agreed, and when I got home I went into my unpainted stash to see what I had available.

My supply of unpainted lead includes many figures from the ’80’s. I got a lot of them when I returned to the hobby but have not painted a lot of the 25mm ancient stuff. We conferred, and Greg agreed that he would like ones from three blister’s of 25mm figures and a single 28mm berserker. They all work for skirmish games.

One was a six-figure blister of Ral Partha Imports “Viking Berserkers with Axes” (#DA45) – circa 1982. The second was a six-figure Minifigs “Viking Command” blister pack probably from around 1980-1982. The third was a six-figure pack of Ral Partha “Saxon Huscarle” (#1117) from their “1200 A.D.” line – circa 1982. The last was a single figure from RAFM, “Berserker” from their “Adventurers” line circa 1989. This adds up to 19 figures, and Greg is making me 20 or so canoes. So, the following will describe how I proceeded to paint all of these up.

Ral Partha Imports “Viking Berserkers with Axes“

These were likely made by Citadel and marketed by Ral Partha – a common commercial practice back then. The bases had “1982” and DA45 on them. As my process was modified batch-painting, I’ll include some of the steps I took on all of the models here and spare you a repeat later. There were three poses among the six figures, which was a lot back then (most packs of six had just one pose). But, I needed on all of these to make them different enough for easy identification and for fun on the tabletop.

The figures had substantial mold lines, which was common back then. That issue was easily remedied. Their axe shafts were also a bit bendy (common as well) – and I gave them all a light coat of Gorilla Glue – to stiffen up the shafts (insert bad joke here).

I then mounted all the figures on 1″ steel washers, and put them on poster tack on specimen containers for ease of painting. I primed them all white with my airbrush and after they dried, I washed with “Heavy Body Black” from Secret Weapon Washes (all of the paints that I used will be listed at the end of this post for those interested).

I numbered the six figures by the three poses (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B) so that I could plan differences in painting. At least these had no shields…for the rest that did I needed a plan as well. Yes, I used Excel!

On all of these, in terms of painting, I aimed for a good tabletop standard. While I do not think these are badly painted at all, I have done better work – but these reminded me of how much easier painting modern figures is now, especially 28mm. Another challenge was effectively painting blonde hair. I don’t think I’ve done that in 40 years. Anyways, I toned down yellow (very Sailor Moon) with “Snakebite Leather” contrast paint and Seraphim Sepia” wash and worked ok. The ginger hair was easier. I also added differently colored tufts to the bases for ease of identification as well.

Now, let’s see the models from this blister all completed.

Minifigs Viking Command

I remember painting a number of fantasy Minifig miniatures back in the day. They had square bases and the details were rather plain. These were the same as those. My guess is dating from the early ’80’s or possibly even the late ’70’s.

Unfortunately, these had a severe coating of oxide or something black and crusty on them. I don’t think it was lead rot, but I did clean them up with baking soda just in case. Their spears and banner shafts were even more bendy than the others – which was very much a common issue for this manufacturer back then. I added a second stiffening coat of Gorilla Glue to these bendy shafts, and then proceeded as discussed previously.

There were three poses here. Two with a horn, two with spears and axes, and two with either a banner or a long-shafted axe. For the last group, I gave one an axe and one a banner. They all had shields (unattached) so I did need to get some references for free-hand painting them.

Each of the three poses had a different number on the bases. Pose 1 (with horn) was DA97, pose two (with axe and spear) had only partially DA4-something, and the last one was DA42. I’m assuming DA stood for “Dark Ages”.

I tried to give different looks to these as well – again, a painting plan in Excel helped. As for the shields – they were fun the most enjoyable to paint – and different than the Aztec shields to be sure. I chose 6 designs that I thought would work with the colors. Instead of thinner, I used Vallejo Flow Improver with the black on a Newton & Windsor 0000 brush – and that worked (thanks to The Imperfect Modeler for that suggestion).

After I painted the shields, I gave them a brush of satin varnish. Once they dried, I mounted them to the figures.

Then after drying time, they were off to varnishing and flocking (similar to the previous group). Below are the finished models.

Ral Partha Saxon Huscarle

While housecarles in English is proper, the blister said “Huscarle”, so…

The sculpts were pretty nice – especially the chain mail. However, these were in all the same pose (as was common back when these were launched in 1982). Therefore, differentiation was more needed.

I followed the same process as discussed above with priming and the initial wash application. Another nice thing about these was that the shields were already attached – that and the eyes would not need special attention.

For shields, I looked up some images for Saxon ones and chose six.

The final six look as follows:

RAFM Berserker

The last figure was a single one – and he looks to be 28mm hero-scale. That makes him a bit off of the others, but maybe he’s like the Mountain from GoT?

Anyways, he looks pretty Viking-like, and Greg wanted him, so he’s in!

This figure was so much easier to paint as it had virtually no mold lines and was well-sculpted. I only wish his axe was reasonably-sized.

That’s the last of the 19. Here’s a group shot of them finished.

I originally wanted to paint them all up as part of Roger’s (over at Rantings Under the Wargame Table) “Mo’vember Challenge”, but between surgery in November, Historicon, Thanksgiving, and my garage +build, it did not happen. Still, check out Roger’s cool roundup – I did get in Cortes…

As you may imagine, making all these figures different took a hell of a lot of paint! The list is at the end, but here’s a shot:

I hope that this was enjoyable – and a change of pace was nice for me. Not sure what’s next, probably brigantines, but I do want to post a belated garage+ update by the end of this weekend. Thanks for looking and sharing any thoughts.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE VIKING FIGURES:

1. Gorilla Glue
2. 1/8″ x 1″ Everbilt Fender Washers
3. Poster tack
4. Vallejo Mecha Primer “White”
5. Vallejo “Flow Improver”
6. Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
7. Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black” (wash)
8. Vallejo Mecha Color “Off-White”
9. Vallejo Model Color “Black”
10. Battlefront “European Skin”
11. Citadel “Flash Glitz Yellow”
12. Citadel “Troll Slayer Orange”
13. Vallejo Model Color “Black Grey”
14. Vallejo Game Air “Wolf Grey”
15. Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
16. Vallejo Model Air “Dark Brown”
17. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
18. Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
19. Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Steel”
20. Hataka “Gris Blue Clair”
21. Vallejo Game Color “Livery Green”
22. Citadel “Mechanicus Standard Grey”
23. Hataka “Beige”
24. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Blood Angels Red”
25. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Cygor Brown”
26. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Gore Grunta Fur”
27. Vallejo Game Air “US Olive Drab”
28. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Templar”
29. Citadel “Skrag Brown”
30. Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
31. Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
32. Vallejo Model Color “Brown Rose”
33. Vallejo Model Color “Basic Skin Tone”
34. Vallejo Model Color “Light Flesh”
35. Citadel “Lamenters Yellow” (glaze)
36. Vallejo Game Air “Chainmail Silver”
37. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Shyish Purple”
38. Citadel “Contrast Medium”
39. Citadel “Ushabti Bone”
40. Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash)
41. Citadel “Karak Stone”
42. Secret Weapon Washes “Armor Wash” (wash)
43. Citadel “Waywatcher Green” (glaze)
44. Citadel “Drakenhof Nightshade” (wash)
45. Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
46. Battlefront “Skin Shade”
47. Citadel “The Fang”
48. Army Painter “Red Tone” (shade)
49. Army Painter “Green Tone” (shade)
50. Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
51. Citadel “Bloodletter” (glaze)
52. Vallejo Model Color “Vermilion”
53. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
54. Citadel “XV-88”
55. Citadel “Daemonette Hide”
56. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
57. Army Painter “Purple Tone” (shade)
58. Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash)
59. Vallejo Model Color “Dark Blue”
60. Secret Weapon Washes “Sunshine” (wash)
61. Vallejo “Satin Varnish”
62. Elmer’s PVA Glue
63. Citadel “Stirland Mud”
64. Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
65. Army Painter “Grass Green” (flocking)
66. Army Painter tufts (various)
67. Shadow’s Edge Miniature’s tufts (various)