Berserker Dwarf Curtgeld

The Curtgeld is a gift to the mighty Snowlord Curt for hosting the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. In exchange he donates money to a worthy cause. This years theme was Gamblers and Risk Takers. My spin on that is a Dwarf Berserker. It is a mighty big risk and gamble by entering battle with no armour. Quotes courtesy of Wikipedia.

This Dwarf maniac is my Curtgeld. A Dwarf Berserker which is no doubt inspired by the Viking sagas that tell of men who threw all caution to the wind and would enter into combat either naked or only clothed in the skin of an animal. Shield biters that seemed immune to pain. Was a crazed state induced by the intake of certain mushrooms and/or large quantities of alcohol? Maybe.

".....the berserkers often wore special clothing, for instance furs of a wolf or bear, to indicate that this person was a berserker, and would not be able to tell friend from foe when in rage "bersærkergang". In this way, other allied would know to keep their distance."

".....This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power."

" ....This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe."

"...a demoniacal frenzy suddenly took him; he furiously bit and devoured the edges of his shield; he kept gulping down fiery coals; he snatched live embers in his mouth and let them pass down into his entrails; he rushed through the perils of crackling fires..."

The Miniature is plastic from a box set made by Avatars of War. The set gets you twenty loonys with some extra bits for a standard, horn blower and champion. Options also include Mohawks but I prefer a shaved head. It's possibly enough bother for a Dwarf Berserker to maintain a beard let alone a hairstyle. I purchased this premium set for including them in my Kings of War Dwarf army but I have taken a long time to make any progress on them. The challenge though is great for motivating me to make progress.

The base has been left blank for Curt to make his own (I did glue a strip of paper over the slota hole though). The feet of these miniatures are flush so I cut some sprue about 1-2mm and glued to his soles to provide space for any basing material. Alternatively those could be cut off and he can be glued directly to a base. As usual my photography does not do justice to reality but you get the general idea of how he looks.

Gotta love that beard style he's rockin. Rumour has it that he consumes large amounts of MacRoyd special brew. It is said that is a contributing factor to his MacRoyd Rage.

Cheers from Brendon