Björn from Nordlys Miniatures (sadly closed)

Following on from my review of Last Wave, Nordlys Miniatures have sent me Björn to take a look at.

We have all seen the painted versions by Ben Komets and Magnus Fagerberg (who did the Box Art version) and both are superb.

So I now have the pleasure of sitting down and perusing the latest release from Nordlys Miniatures so pull up a chair and grab yourself a cup of hot whatever you like and read along and see what I thought of Björn.

Let’s start with the packaging...

Nordlys have sourced a 2 tone box with a turquoise and black livery (same box as Last Wave shown Above) which is sealed with a wax seal.

Each seal has an icon pressed in to it which relates to the release inside.

Inside, underneath the shredded paper, is the torso tied in place to prevent it moving around. Under the foam is the spear and the ziploc bag with the small parts inside and a pouch of silica to keep moisture away (nice touch).

Björn is Viking so has an icon of Mjolnir which we all know as the hammer of the Norse God Thor. This I like very much. Can’t get too much Viking in my eyes.

In past experience I was told packaging does not need to feature in a review but when a producer makes the packaging part of the aesthetic it should always be commented on as part of the whole promotion of miniature, or bust and I do like the choice Jakob has made for his Nordlys range.

As I quite like the wax seal aspect I didn’t want to break it so I slipped a blade under it and slid the ribbon off to reveal the pre-order card Jakob has added to the first 60 copies.

In this case I have 38/60.

Björn comes in 6 parts cast in grey resin by Ciprian Negut and is a quite reasonable €42.00. I have seen lesser quality pieces for a much higher price.

The parts are made up of the main torso, spear hand, spear head, knotted cloth. dagger in sheath and a connecting rod for your plinth which fits into a socket on the underside of the torso.

The cast quality of this piece was near perfect.

Due to the nature of how moulds are cut open sometimes a mould line will sneak its way in to a closed area and on this copy of Björn there was a slight mould line under the right arm where the spear slides in to place.

The spear is quite rigid and will bend but I wouldn't try to force it as it seems like it could snap?

I am not sure this one has a metal core like Last Wave has?

It took me 2 minutes to scrape the mould line away and the cast is now ready for undercoat as there are no other issues present on this copy of Björn.

Bjorn is sculpted by Magnus Fagerberg as well as painted so I take my hat off to Magnus for a job well done. Sculpting and painting is such a cool tool set to have and it seems Magnus has honed his skills very well.

The Viking look of this piece is not that of your traditional look of helmet, chainmail, leather and padded tunics. This sculpture is almost like he is at rest at home doing a spot of fishing or practising his spear skills so I quite like the different take on a Viking warrior/farmer/fisherman.

Being sculpted with no tunic covering his top half will be a nice test of skin tone techniques and a chance to practice freehand tattoos so this would make a very cool teaching aid too.

The hair flows nicely and the material folds well too to add to the organic feel to the sculpt. The pose is static but still has an air of pride to it so I feel this is not just another sculpt churned out just to make money.

Magnus has sculpted this piece traditionally and has got this right, the anatomy is cool nothing is out of proportion, there is a flat edge where the left arm meets the body and I feel this could have had a more rounded finish to it as there is always some kind of gap between bodily contact.

This is not a big deal in the case of the bust as it is simply an observation of my own I could easily scrape away a little resin to achieve what I felt I would like to see instead but the bust is perfectly fine as it is, I just have my own ideals on how things should look.

In summary; I can say Nordlys have produced another good quality piece at a cool price and with an overall aesthetic I really like. Björn is now open to a hell of a lot of potential conversion an I hope we see many appear on FB and Instagram as customers put their own stamp on this piece.

Björn is a cool product and I am happy to have had the chance to take a look at it much closer, the quality Nordlys has started with is a sure fire sign that anything coming from them in the future is bound to be equally as good as the previous releases.

If you wish to purchase Björn or any of the other pieces head over to https://nordlysminiatures.com and check out the range so far.

Thanks for reading and if any of our reviews influence a purchase please let us know.

Thanks again and remember don’t drink ya paint water...