Solidifying the Ghost Army Part 3 Åke Öberg’s Vikingar

Åke Öberg’s Vikingar - the raw material - two conversions and three 're-equipped' models

The finished unit -Åke Öberg’s Vikingar

The unit is Veteran under Donnybrook classification and equipped with heavy weapons, in this case battle axes. They are known in my collection as Sergeant Åke Öberg’s Vikingar. His little command are formidable men from the northern provinces of Sweden. Almost inured to the cold but not quite.


I concluded that an army in tatters with pockets of survivors in small bands would be unlikely to use formed pikes. My pikemen sans pikes are armed with battle axes - well actually, sapper's axes from WLOA926 which is one of the siege packs. I chose to make the sergeant carry a halberd. He is in fact a Russian model.

Leader of the Vikings Sergeant Åke Öberg

Sergeant Åke Öberg has long ago removed the pin backs from his coat to keep a little warmer in the Byelorussian autumn chill.  I have added a Swedish collar to his coat and shaved off the Russian style pockets from the front.

Sergeant Åke Öberg coat is heavily patched.

On campaign these pocket flaps may well have been lost for a variety of wear and tear reasons. I wanted Sergeant Öberg to appear as a formidable character who would be respected by his men and remain calm under any circumstances.All the patches on the coat are dark Russian green and obviously cut from a captured enemy coat.

Björk in the raw form

Axel Björk painted, weathered and finished

The bare legged Björk

Axel Björk is a giant among men and wields his mighty battle axe like a warrior in the age of the Vikings. This model is one of the loading artillerists from SA1. There is no conversion work on him and he also represents a soldier who has removed the turn backs from his coat. He is bare legged which I thought in keeping with his dangerous air.

Gunnarsson in the raw form

One-eyed Rapp Gunnarsson - my favourite model so far

One eyed Rapp Gunnarsson is a shameless homage to Orm Tostesson's faithful and taciturn retainer from Røde Orm. A quiet but capable warrior who would die for his chief. This model is also one of the artillerists this time from SA3. 

His crouching pose is quiet menacing and the eye patch reinforces this.

There is no conversion work on him and he also represents a soldier who has removed the turn backs from his coat. Rapp has been given a very short sword which is clearly a local weapon and not military issue from Stockholm.

Rapp's looted sword is clearly visible here

His eye patch was not too tricky to do. I started with a piece of card but at this scale that was too thick and would have looked like a thick bar of chocolate! In the end I used a piece of roughly cut paper glued to the face. The head strap is simply painted on with a 000 brush.

Gustafsson in the raw form with the milliput fur hat built around the karpus

Gustafsson two stages from completion

The completed Gustav Gustafsson

Alternative view of Gustav Gustafsson

Gustav Gustafsson served with the Dal Regiment and retains some semblance of his uniform although he has now adopted a fur trimmed Russian hat to keep out the bitter wind. This is a sergeant figure from S20 with the fur hat made of milliput built around the karpus. Apart from this small conversion the figure has his halberd replaced by an axe.

Svensson in the raw form

Svensson in his motely - socks from two regiments!

Per Svensson in his motley

Rear view of Svensson

The last axeman is from S4 and wears a piped karpus with his weapon slung confidently over his right shoulder. He clearly knows how to use it. His name is Per Svensson. He wears the uniform of the Narke Varmland regiment. Apart from the addition of the axe there is no conversion work on this figure. He is somewhat motley having have to 'scrounge' equipment and clothes. He wears one red sock and one yellow giving him the appearance of a Landsknecht!

Sergeant Åke Öberg’s Vikings in the field!

Four of the Vikings raid a Byelorussian village