Today, a friend and old-metal fondler stumbled upon and kindly shared an old Citadel Journal page featuring my previous Viking endeavours.

If memory serves this was probably mid- to late-1994.

At the time White Dwarf policy was not to feature ‘Eavy Metal team painters within its hallowed pages so as a fresh-faced and eager new addition to the Design Studio team I remember being desperate to get in print; the recently rebooted Citadel Journal (and probably a favour from Gav Thorpe) was the perfect opportunity.

I was enjoying easy access to Citadel’s back catalogue and in hindsight probably reverting to my black-undercoated army-level painting comfort zone as a retreat from the pressure to surmount a steep learning curve to earn a place at the table with my ‘Eavy Metal colleagues.

With the exception of the one Marauder miniature in the ranks these were all classic Perry Twins’ sculpts, all of which are still available from Foundry. The banner design was kindly drawn by fellow studio painter, Stuart Thomas.

Of course, the planned ‘army’ never materialized. This small unit of huscarls was all I managed.

A quarter century later and I’m back to painting Vikings. Hopefully I can surpass my previous record of twelve completed miniatures.