Arthur is coming......again!

Not another new project...well not really.

Having sold large parts of my old Arthurian collection, mainly as I wasn't happy with them, the remains have languished in a box with some unpainted spearmen hiding in the lead mountain.

I decided to have a go at the Foundry Spearmen and in doing so re-ignited my interest in the period.

Also inspired it has to be said by Peter Gibbons new series of novels and the latest Giles Christian Novel both of which I loved. 

I painted 10 spearmen, all old Foundry figures that I really like, I think they came out well and it inspired me to some retail therapy which as usual got slightly out of hand.

These three boxes arrived first.

Midgaard by chum James Morris, I will mainly use this for Bronze age but it may also work for Arthur and many seem to be planning to do just that. Dux Britanarium came with a bunch of Saxons I picked up from Ebay and I fancy trying it. The Hail Caesar supplement was the main buy from the booklets as we already use the rule set so something Romano British specific should work.

Along with these Arthurian packs of Cavalry from Warlord and a bunch of 1st Corp Saxons which surprised me a little by being lovely.

Back to the spearmen, there are 4 different castings and I am choosing to paint these in relatively subdued colours, each man in his own gear rather than a uniform with a fairly limited pallet. When I add shields later I may use these to tie figures in a unit together in a theme.

Same four again with different colour scheme, the Orange should stand out despite not being a really bright colour.

Two more of the same, I am going to prep all the shields seperately, probably for a whole bunch of figures and then add them all at once.

Slightly better image of the "tawny" cloak. I considered doing a whole unit in these but decided it is a bit too rich.

Chum Chris Charlton has a substantial Romano British Army and Chris Flowers has most of the troops for the Late Roman world so no shortage of opponents. Dave and Si also have figures so plenty to go with.

My own Romano British force consists currently of one Mounted unit and two foot. All units are 3 bases each, so quite small, the horse are from Westwind.

The foot are the same Foundry spearmen for the most patr with some additional characters and command.

For enemies so far I have a small but perfectly formed Pictish army, known as the Pixies to my gaming chums. Five foot units supported by 2 skirmisher and 2 light cavalry units. More of a mix of figures but mainly Foundry with some Westwind. I intend to flesh this out just a little, at least another unit of foot with possibly some Irish allies.

My Target is something like 5 horse and 6 foot for the Romano British, an extra Pictish foot unit or two and maybe some more skirmishers with two Irish foot units. Then a Saxon force of 3 units of spears with archers in support. 

So nothing massive. I already have a lot of what I need with more on the way. The trick will be not getting carried away with armoured British cavalry.

No doubt a couple of you are chuckling already and ready to remind me when I end up with twice what I planned.

Especially as the below order from Warlord arrived (Again lovely figures especially the Arthurian "Knights") and some flags from Ebay.

More on this project soon no doubt.

Thanks for stopping by.