Hi all

Time for journey into the past and look at a feared warrior from Viking times ...the berserker

The word “berserker” itself is derived from the Old Norse serkr, meaning “shirt,” and ber, the word for “bear,” suggesting that a Viking berserker would have worn the hide of a bear, or possibly wolves and wild boars, to battle.

It has been suggested they took hallucinogenic drugs to get to a deranged state before battle and bite into their shield as seen in the famous Lewis chess piece below








Plenty of books on Vikings and of course the Jorvik Centre at York ...well worth a visit

The subject has been chosen by Legion Miniatures as a release announced here:https://www.planetfigure.com/posts/1213159/

Details here:

Title: Berserker

Reference: LMVK90-035

Scale: 1/18th , 90mm

Material: Lt Gray Resin

No of Pieces: 7

Sculptor: S Sherbakov

Box Art: N/A

Casting: In House


As usual the contents are in a wooden box , fitting very securely in with no movement, packed in foam and clear bags , on the top and side labels showing a unpainted version



Contents inside consist of the full main figure less lower arms, 2 arms, a money bag, , animal skin and a animal head (bear), together with a base



In the next part I will advise any prep needed

Continued in next post

Nap

In this part I will look at the full main figure only

Prep

Remove fine casting line on left side below side of waist and on lower leg
Sand off excess resin from head top

That is all !!!

The pose is very striking and very dominant , almost daring you to fight him , legs astride with the arms angled on each side , the mouth wide open screaming at you

The head has long straggling strands of hair , a full beard and moustache , all are well textured the facial features are good with easy access for painting and defined, of note is the wide open mouth , teeth snarling the tongue in full sight





At the rear there is part of the animal skin ......all very well textured and shaped at the lower edge to take the other piece , which fits into a good formed cutout

The chest is partly exposed , the clothing ripped nearly down to the well shown muscle tone on the lower stomach, the clothing has a good edging shaping and torn area , on the chest he wears a lucky charm ( Odin's hammer )

Around the waist a belt , with good shaping at the buckle and tucked in and under at the front , hanging down with decorative plates on , again we see more torn clothing






The very full trousers are a mass of material , good creases and folds and blousing to just below the knee

The lower legs have wraps running around , nicely shown and pulling into the lower leg , the feet have toggle held shoes , nice details on these , the soles of the boots have a substantial locating piece on each



Continued in next post

Nap

Onto the remainder of the resin pieces

Arms

Prep...Remove casting post on arm and on axehead on each ,dryfit , minimal swipe of putty will be needed

Both arms are cut at the elbow, with both hands holding fighting axe of a slightly different shaping

The hands are very well done with veins being in place , the hands are gripping the handles accurately , the fingers well defined and wrapped around

The right lower arm is covered in nicely textured animal skin , with bindings in position , the end of the actual sleeve peeks out





The left has clothing again with bindings






Money Bag

Prep...Remove casting post

A small bag which fits nicely onto the small hanging cord and into a cutout on the front right of the figure , obviously full of coins and the like



Animal skin/Head

Prep....Small casting posts to remove on both

The skin is a lesson in texturing , the surface is very well shown as you can see in the pictures , very well shaped and cast to fit almost seamless into the cutouts at the rear of the figure , the actual skin joins onto the head piece , but dryfit first before using any adhesive , some puttywork will be required



The actual head certainly looks like a bear , with again good texturing and fearsome teeth , when in position with the actual skin and on the figure it looks good



Base

Prep...remove small casting posts from underneath

A rocky area of ground , use as it is for a single figure or if you wish you can include on a larger area of groundwork



Final Thoughts

A good release , plenty of texturing , well cast and with very little prep to deal with which is nice , good facial features ideal as a single and along with other figures in a larger diorama

As always I have enjoyed the review hope you have found it interesting and constructive

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Legion are members here ( user ID Andrey )

....so you can order direct from him here on PF or via the website which is:

www.legionminiatures.org

They also have a FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214757915731528/

Thanks to Legion for the review item and to you all for looking in

Enjoy your bench time

Nap

Good review Kev. In my experience Legion Miniatures figures are always top-notch sculpts and casts and this one is no exception.

- Steve