Back to the Arthurians

So we have a Midgard play test coming up I better get some more Arthurian painted right?

I hope to get a couple more units complete. My figures are aimed at Hail Caesar but fortunately two bases from a unit of 3 bases are the perfect frontage for Midgard so I just need to split units up to create more. 

A key gap is Hero's which is an important factor for Midgard.

Not surprisingly then my first addition is a Champion, this is Agravaine I think from Warlord, suitably Heroic figure and nice to paint. The Black cloak in Homage to a recent Arthurian Fiction novel by

I have a while bunch of Plastics to build, paint and mix in with my metal figures so here are a couple of Gripping Beast to mix in a unit. Very simple to paint so speeding things up for me and mix in quite well with the Foundry and Crusader metal figures.

As a Rich Warrior I have given this Pict fairly colourful gear.

I picked up a bunch of reasonably well painted Saxons and Franks from ebay, all Foundry figures. I have re-painted faces to match mine, the shields were the real concern, they have transfers that are too small for the shield so look odd, I have painted one of the below from scratch and tried painting over the other two to tidy them up with mixed results. Still a quick solution to more figures on table.

This pack of 8 Crusader Romano British have the same relaxed vibe as the Foundry ones already painted and whilst a bit chunkier fit in quite well on the bases. 

The three Leaders/Champions of the Romano British, two lovely old Foundry mounted leaders and a Warlord dismounted figure.

And here are the first lot of Romano British Spearmen completed, 3 bases makes a unit for Hail Ceasar and 2 bases works for Midgard.

Two more Pictish bases is another Midgard unit, a few more to do to complete it as a unit for Hail Caesar.

Last up a Pictish leader/Champion from Footsore. This image is a bit dodgy as the lights on the light box gave out.

A bit of messing about and the lights are fixed, here he is with proper lighting!

On table soon, thanks for stopping by.

A Bit More Arthurian Progress.

 The Christmas break has given me a head start with my new/old project breathing some life back into my Post Roman collection.

As an aside I am not entirely sure what the correct terminology is these days, clearly not Arthurian, but is it Post Roman, Sub Roman, Romano British? I guess as we are not academics it doesnt matter too much so bare with if I flick between them.

Most of the actual figures are here now, just a couple of packs from First Corps and Northstar/Crusader ordered over the break to arrive.

This time mainly we are looking at Picts with a small number of Romano British. These include the first of the Footsore miniatures. As previously its a fairly limited pallette which will be more extensive once mixed with the rest of the figures. I may start to incorporate more patterns for future figures, again to mix in the overall.

Breaking them into convenient groups the Romano British are two metal Footsore command figures, I particularly like the commander pointing with boiled leather cuirass. The chap at the back is a Gripping Beast plastic unarmoured late Roman who fits in well.

These four Picts are all Foundry, I have to say the range still holds up despite its age, love these.

This next lot a bit more mixed, the two Footsore crossbowmen came out very nice, you can see they are a little slighter than some other modern ranges so fit quite well with old Foundry. The chap with the knife is a Westwind figure and the horn blower Gripping beast. Both of these last have fancy cloaks with tufts of wool pulled through. I have chosen to interpret these as being the same colour as the rest of the garment. Hopefully right.

Meanwhile even more Picts invade the painting room from over the giants wall.

Mainly first Corps they are some lovely figures and horses match the size and build of the Footsore Irish horses perfectly.

Once it defrosts outside(Currently -5) I will finish varnishing the painted figures and get these primed. 

Thanks for stopping by.

A few more for Arthur

I figured I better I finish off a few figures I already had in the lead pile before starting new figures.

Apologies Photos a little washed out with the late winter sun.

These two are Wargames Foundry late Romans, whilst the Foundry horses are lovely they are very small so I used these Gripping Beast ones instead.

Sat in a box for at least 6 years, probably a lot more, they will be mixed in with the Victrix and Warlord figures and shields added later.

I have a small number of these Gripping Beast late Saxons in plastic (left) but really its only the helmets that place them as late, they do have crucifix's so will need to be British but if I had bare heads or Roman helmets they will fit in quite nicely I think. The standard bearer was a spare Roman Briton from Westwind I have had for a while. The standard is my take on Legio II Augustus, not come out that well but hopefully disguised on the base or covered by a nice big LBMS banner.. A unit potentially based in Britain during and maybe after the final Roman departure.

I have a few Picts and Saxons to get stuck into, these are two that were already primed so I got into them. They are both from Westwind, the Saxon archer being the only one I have and the Pict one of a small group who will follow soon.

Over Christmas I have managed to progress this stalled project with a bunch more Romano British and Picts.

These five are a sprue of plastic Gripping Beast Picts which are lovely figures.

The four metal figures are from 3 ranges, the first two are metal Gripping beast, then a Westwind figure and finally a Foundry archer. Again pretty happy with how all these came out.

Another limited palette on the Foundry Sub Roman spearmen, earthy colours but a different mix to the first 10. 

Pretty happy with these, I have bought a pack of 8 Crusader spearmen to finish these guys off into 2 units, they have a similar vibe, leaning on shields with cloaks and no armour. 

A little closer to an extra unit per force.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.