Not wanting to disappoint, but Vikings did not wear helmets with horns in them. I am not sure where this came from, but trust me, they are not Hagar the Horrible. In fact, they wore pretty much what was the standard for the time, which was a chain mail shirt and a helmet of some sort that would hopefully deflect a blow of some sort. In addition, these men normally carried spears for long distance and an axe or sword for close in fighting. They also carried a shield of some sort that was normally a wood backing covered by hide and metal trim, with some having a thin metal sheath on the front. These were not exactly light so the would need to be fairly easy for the average man to carry.

A very popular part of figure modeling is doing busts. These can be anything from knees on up to just the head and shoulders. It really depends on the person doing the figure. This one is sort of an intermediate level from the about the waist on up. This was probably to help incorporate the shield into the figure. The casting on the resin parts is world class. I found no mold seams on any of the more complex castings, something that is a real boon and saves a ton of time when building. There is a main torso that includes the head to which one attaches two arms, and a helmet. To the arms you attach the hands and to the hands you attach most of the rest of the bits.

There is the shield, which has detail on both sides and comes with a handle. Then there is a spear which consists of the head and a separate shaft. Also in parts is an axe whixh will eventually be placed in the belt. A pouch is also part of this  as is a short sword or large dagger. A base is included which fits into the torso. In addition to the superb casting, the kit comes wrapped in several bubble bags with smaller bits in zip bags to keep things from rattling around. All of this is packed in a sturdy cardboard box. No instructions are provided with all the color information being easily gleaned from the box art.

While it looks to be imposing at first, this would make a very nice figure for someone wanting to get into the genre. There is a ton of detail for the more experienced builder and the bits are large enough so that even tyros can build it without any trauma.

October 2014