KremlinMiniatures

The Heimskringla Range - True 6mm scale Viking Longships and Saga Warriors

Click here to find out how to order these figures

Karfi £3.20p each

Representing a typical general purpose ocean going longship, the Karfi had 16 benches (32 rowers) giving it a crew of about 40 men This ship is the kind of vessel that transported Viking invaders to England in the 9th century. The model is approximately 76mm long.

In the Karfi kit you will get:

1 x ship hull

1 x mast

1 x sail and yardarm - you have the option of requesting the sail to be unfurled or furled (unfurled is the default option)

1 x steerboard

1 x wind vane

1 x prow figurehead

1 x stern tail

2 x rack of shields

3 x 'T' shaped posts

Snekke £2.50p each

Representing a typical raiding longship that would compose the bulk of most fleets, the Snekke had 13 benches (26 rowers) giving it a crew of about 30 men. This ship is thought to be a 10th century design. The model is approximately 58mm long.

In the Snekke kit you will get:

1 x ship hull

1 x mast

1 sail and yardarm - you have the option of requesting the sail to be unfurled or furled (unfurled is the default option)

1 x steerboard

1 x prow figurehead

1 x stern tail

2 x rack of shields

Skeid £4.20p each

Representing a purpose built ocean going warship such as might be owned by a wealthy Earl, the Skeid had 30 benches (60 rowers) giving it a crew of about 70 to 80 men. 'Crane', 'Short Serpent' and 'Great Bison' are all examples of a Skeid. This ship is thought to be a 10th century design. The model is approximately 99mm long.

In the Skeid kit you will get:

1 x ship hull, 1 x mast

1 sail and yardarm - you have the option of requesting the sail to be unfurled or furled (unfurled is the default option)

1 x steerboard

1 x prow figurehead

1 x stern tail

2 x rack of shields

Drakkar £5.20p

Representing the largest ships of the period the Drakkar would only be found in the hands of a King or powerful Earl, the Drakkar had 34 benches (68 rowers) giving it a crew of about 80 to 100 men. 'Long Serpent' is an example of a Drakkar (the Sagas tell of 40 bench Drakkars, our model is suitable to represent these ships). This ship is thought to be a 10th century design. The model is approximately 122mm long.

In the Drakkar kit you will get:

1 x ship hull

1 x mast

1 sail and yardarm - you have the option of requesting the sail to be unfurled or furled (unfurled is the default option)

1 x steerboard

1 x prow figurehead

1 x stern tail

2 x rack of shields

Saga Warriors Range

All warriors are designed to be used in conjunction with our range of ships. As such they do not come mounted on a metal base as a standard figure would.

Longship Command Pack £1.20p

1 x Chieftain

1 x Standard Bearer

1 x Hornblower

1 x Steersman

Saga Warrior Crew Pack £2

10 randomly assorted Viking saga warriors

Your 10 figures will be taken from this range: Spearman, Axeman, Swordsman, Archer + shortbow, Archer + longbow, Beserker + sword and axe, Beserker + spear and sword. All packs will contain multiple duplicates.

Rower Pack £2

5 x portside rowers

5 x starboard side rowers

10 x individual oars

Deck Furniture Pack £1.20p

1 x Gangplank

1 x Water Barrel

1 x Bundle of Oars

1 x Bundle of Spears

1 x Sacks

1 x Large Barrel

2 x Medium Barrel

1 x Horse

Earl Eirik's Iron Beard Free

At your request we will send you, for free, one Iron Beard per purchase of Drakkar or Skeid. No request = no beard

No one actually knows what the Iron Beard really looked like, there is only one mention of it in the Sagas:

“Earl Eirik had a large ship of war which he used upon his viking expeditions; and there was an iron beard or comb above on both sides of the stem, and below it a thick iron plate as broad as the combs, which went down quite to the gunnel.”

The Beard appears to be a device to prevent the enemy from boarding. It would fit over the prow in place of the figurehead and hang down in front of it; this means that the prow itself must have braced the iron plate beard from behind. The comb or ‘moustache’ would most likely be a row (or rows) of long nails/spikes driven into the wood pointing slightly downward, their purpose would be to prevent the enemy from climbing over the iron plate beard.

Painting Your Ships

For those who do not want plain wood the Sagas tell of painted ships. Strakes (the plank sides of the vessel) above the waterline could be coloured; red or red and white stripes seem popular choices. Sails could have vertical strips of red, blue or green (in any combination). Archaeological research suggests yellow could also be used. Some figure heads on the prow are described as 'gilt' so presumably that would be gold or silver in colour.

We at Kremlin do not think that the Vikings had true black as a colour. We base this on translations of stories about "Blueland" wherein live "Bluemen" - Blueland is Africa and Bluemen are black African men. We believe that this reference indicates that the Viking equivalent of black was a very dark navy blue.

Styling Your Ships

When depicting a ship note that not all Viking longships had figureheads on the prow, or stern tails. Some had none at all and others replaced the figurehead on the prow with a wind vane. So, you can mix and match these components when ordering multiple ships to give variety to a fleet.

A Viking longship styled for battle should have a furled sail. If depicted, the crew would be split into thirds: one third would row the vessel, one third would protect the rowers and one third would be free to fight as needed. We recommend that, if you are going to put crew in the ships, you do so at a ratio of one figure representing between 2 to 5 men. This is cheaper than representing at 1 to 1 ratio and gives the model an aesthetically pleasing look.

Shield racks were used to store the shields while sailing. The racked shields covered a ships oar ports meaning that they would probably have had to be (at least partially) removed when rowing. Shield colours varied.

Rigging - sorry but we don't own the copyright on any pictures showing how longships were rigged. Osprey Publishing brought out a book entitled "Viking Longship", there are plenty of excellent rigging examples in that.

Read extracts about Viking naval warfare taken from the Norse Sagas here

We have released Heimskringla the wargame version 1.0 here


Starting Points for Further Research

Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/index.html#contents

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/

Osprey Publishing New Vanguard series "Viking Longship"

Osprey Publishing Elite series "The Vikings"

Greenhill Military Paperback "The Viking Art of War" by Paddy Griffith