Viking Shield Remake

Runes: ᛉ Protection, ᛏ The Warrior, ᛈ Luck and ᛇ Defense
I love Norse mythology and viking stuff so I remade an old project of mine.
The original was too clean, relying on normals, with bolts that were perfectly equidistant. This is likely because I saw it as a mesh and not a handmade medieval shield. This time I sculpted, hand placed objects and warped shapes so it doesn't look machined. The most important goal was to make it look more organic but still hand crafted.
At the time, I thought I was telling a story with the presence of the axe and arrows. But with no damage or dirt it's not clear that it's actually been through battle.
I probably went a little overboard with the depth of the wood grain for the planks. However, I like the harsh and visceral look it gives being such a strong grain. I think it matches the brutal look that the embedded weapons, warped metal and blood also contribute to.
I'm still unsure about the damage to the rim and the metal deformation so that's something I'm going to work on with more practice and references. My next steps are to build off of this project and push for higher detail assets with authentic damage where applicable.
Due to no Maya license, it's a sculpt using projected UVs so I'll save you from the wireframe renders and texture maps.