Yeah, they were a militia of sorts. I doubt a normal peasant was trained enough to kill a wolf or bear, cause I think most of them trained for human vs. human combat. AFAIK conventional weapons were small handaxes, spears and a large shield, swords being reserved for the soldiers themselves (aka more trained people) as well as bearded axes (the two handed axes that served as pole-arm/axe.

So this militia would wear normal clothes, in some cases leather, and practically never mail or such (other than after a raid, when they had looted. In that case.. possible.)

However, I said I was open to suggestions. Do as you please, ask me if it's OK and if I think it would fit in the setting well enough I'm totally cool with it.

For reference: what do you think of when you think Viking-combat-battles thingies? Do you see a sort of 300-esque movie playing out in your head or ..?