Nordvolk vs Old Glory VIkings

[eilif]

Anybody have any pics of these two ranges for comparison?  Even better if they're positioned next to another companies minis.

Any other experiences with these figs are welcome.

I'm looking at both of these as affordable options for a Northern Barbarian/Chaos army for Kings of War.  From what I've seen so far, both seem to be nice looking ranges with foot and mounted troops available.  I know there are great plastic viking options also, but I'm rather taken with metal miniatures right now.

[redzed]

Nordvolk are HUGE, bigger than everything else, they are MASSIVE, I have an army load all waiting to be painted up cos they are ace figures, but nothing matches them, the wizards in the range are even bigger 40-50mm in height, but It's fantasy so  it's fine. Excellent range of figures but won't mix with anything else.

[eilif]

Thanks, that's good to know.

I like the look of them, but they will be mixed with other lines, so perhaps the OG vikings are the better choice at this point.

[LeadAsbestos]

I bought a big pack of OG Vikings to fill out the ranks of a Foundry Viking army for WAB,  but they were such shit that I couldn't take a brush to a single one.
Bad sculpts, weird awkward posing, bleh!

[Prospero]

I have several packages of the Nordvolk vikings and they are on the large size but I think work really well against other fantasy figures if you want your barbarians to be a head taller then "regular" human sized opponents. I think works rather well but means you can't mix in other lines.

My plan is to make a chaos maurader force for Warhammer out of them. Very characterful sculpts without a lot of over the top fantasy elements: kind of like how Victorians pictured the vikings.

[eilif]

leadasbestos,
     Were these the OG vikings you had?  

These are the ones I was considering as well as the nordvolk.  Not amazing figs, but they look pretty good.

Prospero, I agree with you about the style of the nordvolk.  It's nice and un-skulled.  I don't want them to be a head taller than the rest of the humans, but if they were in their own unit it might not be so bad.

[OLeary]

I like Gripping Beast Vikings and they mix well with Old Glory. They've recently released them in plastic and they are cheaper. The reviews I've read on the plastics is that they are very good. You get 44 figures for £ 20.00. You might want to look at their Jomsvikikings as they've got loads of character.

[LeadAsbestos]

I think mine were unarmoured, but those are pretty bad too!

[eilif]

Maybe I just like old-school minis, but I kind of like them. Probably nostalgia clouding my judgement. Not a good sign when you're only in your early 30's...

[Spooktalker]

Maybe I just like old-school minis, but I kind of like them. Probably nostalgia clouding my judgement. Not a good sign when you're only in your early 30's...

Are you suggesting old school = crude, or rather, crude implies old school? Neither is true at all, imo. There have been graceful, naturalistic, well sculpted figures since at least the dawn of fantasy figures, Meier, etc., and likewise when you have highly stylized figures, to a degree the WW vikings are stylized, say old Citadel, those have a grace of execution as well.

There have always been crude figures and there is no shortage of crude figures today. It doesn't make them old school. I don't see much old school at all in the West Wind line.

You could make axes, say, how stylized the figure is and how gracefully executed it is and I think if you pinned fantasy figures from throughout the ages to it you could find some trends but essentially there would be well known names from all periods all over the map.

Sorry, it seems you hit on a pet peeve of mine, don't mind me.  

[Neldoreth]

I painted these figs back in the 2005 time frame... where did you find this picture? It must have been downloaded either before I started water marking my figs, or back when there was a web store using that photo, is that right? It's a blast from the past to see them again...

Thanks
n.

leadasbestos,
     Were these the OG vikings you had?  

These are the ones I was considering as well as the nordvolk.  Not amazing figs, but they look pretty good.

Prospero, I agree with you about the style of the nordvolk.  It's nice and un-skulled.  I don't want them to be a head taller than the rest of the humans, but if they were in their own unit it might not be so bad.

[Neldoreth]

Honestly though, I can't recommend the Old glory vikings. Why you ask?

• Many have awkward, unnatural poses (look at the front three figs on my previous post)
• The physical proportions and details or often weird or wrong
• Detail is inconsistent, often poor
• They are insanely expensive for what they are

If you want Old Glory quality figures for a reasonable price, but for the price that they should really be worth, I'd suggest Wargames Factory

But for top quality miniatures at a very reasonable price, I'd go for the Gripping Beast plastic Vikings and Dark Age Warriors. Here are some pics:

Mostly Gripping Beast, but some Wargames Factory thrown in as well:


Mostly Wargames Factory, the dead guy is Old Glory, and there are some Gripping Beast heads in there:


Thanks
n.

[janner]

If you want Old Glory quality figures for a reasonable price, but for the price that they should really be worth, I'd suggest Wargames Factory

 

[redzed]

Artizan also do a great range, I think Mike Owen also sculpted a load of the Foundry ones before setting up Artizan.

Westwind have  30% off  on their Arthurian range this month, most of which are very usable for the Viking age.

[redzed]

brilliant

I know that it's for KIngs of War but have you ever considered Impetus? (120mm wide elements, would suit your 'diorama' style basing wonderfully)