'Mercenary' from StuartL: Don't Ask for Credit...

...Because a refusal often offends.

For the Mercenary Bonus Round I offer a small group of Vikings. These fearsome looking Norsemen will represent Jarl Sigvaldi and his Jomsvikings in games of Saga. Under the Saga rules, there should only be 4 models in the unit, but as I got 1 character and a pack of 4 Vikings with axes I decided to paint up the extra one as a spare. 

All of these models are from Footsore miniatures. They are very nicely detailed and were clean, crisp casts. I'm probably going to order from them again in the future. I went for bright, vibrant colours for their clothing, using purple for their commander to show their wealth, acquired no doubt from looting and pillaging.

As the title and opening line of my post might suggest, these chaps aren't the generous types who will take an IOU. When I bought the models, I also ordered Footsore's Blood Eagle model. If you haven't seen the Vikings TV series (it's a great show, if not 100% historically accurate), or read much about the legend, the Blood Eagle is a very painful method of execution that involves cutting the victim open and pulling his lungs out through his back.

Like so. This was a bit time consuming and hard work, so it wasn't done lightly. It only occurs twice in the Viking Sagas, both times the victims were royalty and the execution was an act of revenge. Scholars aren't 100% sure that the practice really took place, but it makes for a great looking objective marker.

These fierce looking warriors will be joining my recently painted Breton army as a hard hitting mercenary contingent, and should net me 30 points, assuming that the victim counts as a 28mm figure and not as a terrain piece.