28mm - Anglo Saxon Fyrd - Early Medieval (Dark Ages)

 

It was a welcome change to go to simple painting styles after painting a number of Napoleonic troops of late.

Here we have the 28mm Dark Age Warriors set from Gripping Beast painted up Anglo Saxon Fyrd of the 1066 period.  You might notice some interlopers among these. There are a few Wargames Factory heads which I added for interest.

The Gripping beast figures go together really well, are of mercifully few parts, which means a lot less faff and makes them less fragile than some other figures which seem to have more parts than a Tamiya plane kit.

The shield designs are from Little Big Man Studios and these also went on really easily. No wastage from messed up transfer application.  The designs are simple yet effective.  I go around each design with a black Pigma Micron pen which nicely hides any gaps between shield or boss edge and transfer and gives a fine definition.

The static grass and camera were playing tricks on me today. I had spent some time yesterday diligently brushing off static grass from the figures to prepare them for the photo opportunity. On looking at these pics on the big screen it seems they have been in battle on a field of freshly mown grass! I shall have to brush the figures again!

I'm using a new camera and getting used to the settings. These were actually my 3rd attempt at taking snaps of the troops - slowly I'm understanding what works best but it's taking time.  I have had my old camera since 2006 but a sharp steel pike gouged the lens on a close up shot of ECW pikemen and a white smear appears on shots which I have to try to cut out/disguise etc.

Nothing too dramatic with these figures, but they provide the mass behind the Housecarls and look perfectly good providing the weight and numbers. The poses are nice - getting stuck in and doing their best to fend off Normans/Bretons/Vikings.  

I undercoated and primed these figures using an airbrush - my first real use of one.  It did make the job easier and I was impressed by the smooth even layers.  I did apply some colour too with the airbrush, more as a learning experience, but my brush lowlighting and highlighting means that I can't remember which colours I applied by that means.  The main thing was the undercoating and priming, which the airbrush made into a relatively simple task and gave a very satisfactory base (airbrush is the Harder & Steenbeck Ultra 2024 - much recommended by others and I can see why).

I'm not quite sure what to paint next.  I do still require some more Fyrd in my Anglo Saxon army to avoid using Ancient Celts to discretely fill the rear ranks!). I think another 3 stands will do it. I also need some casualty bases painted up. This should be a quick win if I do those.

On the other hand, I still feel the draw of Napoleonics.  Complicating this fun dilemma further is my recent reading of the first two books of Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy set in Arthur's time.  These books have really given me inspiration.  I think these are the best Bernard Cornwell books I have read - I just hope the 3rd one doesn't let them down!  

I have just built the Victrix Early Saxon Unarmoured Warriors and have just ordered the Early Saxon Armoured Warriors.  Building these is something I can do in hotels in the evenings when I'm away working.  Large Late Roman/British and Early Saxon armies are a new project for me!

 

I do have one rather bizarre project that I'm toying with and that's a fantasy army using the new Midgard rules - the 'Loki and the Frost Giants' army just looks so much fun!  I have never owned a fantasy army in my life and never thought I would ever have one...but they look great to paint and a game with them would be very entertaining.  I wouldn't rule it out!

I wish you all a fabulous Christmas and I hope you receive many enjoyable additions for your projects.

Best wishes.

Jason

1066 Anglo-Saxons - Gripping Beast - 28mm

Some hard as nails Huscarls this time and some Fyrd too.  I built and undercoated these last year and have only just got around to actually painting them. I do have quite a few figures like that, all waiting their turn patiently until inspiration strikes.

This time the inspiration was from a solo game that I set up two weeks ago. I was quite impressed how my armies were shaping up. It has only taken nearly 30 years to get to the point of being 'playable', however some glaring holes remained and this became apparent in the solo game.

My Anglo-Saxon army had no skirmish troops at all, so the Normans could always come up quite close and put close range archery fire in, almost with impunity.  In the 'Hail Caesar' rules there is a short range distance for line troops (known during our games un-officially as 'chucking stuff' range) which would probably include random javelins, rocks etc. Though the distance is understandably short.

This problem must have been understood at the time. No troops want an enemy who can just stand off and pour in shafts of wood and iron.  So some skirmishers with missile weapons must have been desirable.  I retrieved some unpainted slingers which I purchased a few years ago when I first learned this lesson (!)

...and then I thought, I could do with some Huscarls painted up, and a stand of Fyrd would be useful too. Simple uniforms so it shouldn't take too long.  Well this is true. Compared with lots of Napoleonic lace they are quick to paint and rather fun. 

So I painted this batch in one group; Huscarls, Fyrd and slingers and today, after two weeks off and on, I reached the end of the production line for them.

I have to say, that the extra work that the shields require is always worth it. I could never paint the patterns and battle damage as well as these decals from Little Big Men Studios.

I said that the figures are by Gripping Beast and this is largely true. I think some Fyrd head conversions are in there too from the Wargames Factory sets. It might be the case that a Wargames Factory Huscarl is in there too. I just can't remember from when I built them last year. 

The Fyrd are from the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors set.  The slingers are from the Gripping Beast metal sets.

It's funny how one can really try to finish painting a unit in order to paint something else from another period that you are reading about.  You finally finish the painting with relief and then you look at your new freshly painted unit and think...'Hmmmm...those are really ok, maybe I should paint some more!'

I have that feeling now of wanting to paint more of them. I had ordered 3 boxes of Zulus from Perry Miniatures to get us through the pandemic lock-down, but alas they have just today ceased production and deliveries. Which is fair enough...I have plenty of other things to paint.

Let's see what comes off the painting table next. It might not be long with this compulsory painting time.

Stay safe out there.

Anglo-Saxon Fyrd

Time has been horribly short for wargaming, painting or blogging in recent months.  I've not even been able to keep up with reading some of my favourite blogs of late so I must apologise for my absence in posting on the excellent work of others.  This shortage of time will get worse until about April when a course I am doing comes to an end - hurrah!

I have some game reports to write up but these are always time-heavy to type up so I shall add a few pics of recently painted units.  This time it is the Dark Age Warrior set from Gripping Beast.  These are plastic figures and assemble very nicely indeed.   You may notice a few of the Gripping Beast metal figures in the ranks too, just to fill in gaps.

I have also used a few heads from the Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns set.  The Thegns set seems to be a lot better than the early offerings from Wargames Factory, though they really annoyingly have only a few helmeted heads for the chain-mail clad bodies (surely if a warrior can afford a mail shirt and sword he will buy himself a helmet!).  The set does have some heads in Phrygian caps so it is these which I have trimmed to fit to add variety to my Anglo-Saxon Fyrd.

For gaming purposes these fellows will have a front rank consisting of Thegns and Huscarls with factors leaning towards the fighting strengths of these troops until stamina loss and casualties lead them to lean on the Fyrd who will then use their factors until they win or break!

I have only a few more units and command to paint up before I can have my first 'proper' game with my Anglo-Saxon and Norman armies.  It has only taken me 21 years to get this far with my Dark Ages collection.  This spring/summer WILL be the time another collection reaches 'playable' status. Thank goodness (and about time too!).

Wargaming Show - Devizes - 20 July 2014

My haul of new things - all the figures are plastic - something which wasn't intentional

 but surely shows the future main emphasis of the hobby

Today I went to the much looked forward to 'Attack' show at Devizes in Wiltshire.  Part of the joy of this show is the scenario on the journey down.  Ian drove so it left me able to enjoy the scenery on the road between Avebury and Devizes itself.  Certainly England at it's most splendid.  As much as I like to see acres of woodland, the ancient longbarrows lining the barren ancient hilltops along the sides of the road, does give an intense feeling for the history of the place.

The knowledge that Roundway Down is nearby also sets the imagination racing.  The site of this Civil War battlefield close to hand makes you wonder just how similar the landscape was in the 17th Century. Roundway Down is well worth a visit.  We toyed with the idea of going today, but decided that rushing after the show wasn't going to leave sufficient time.  Rather like Cropredy Bridge, a battlefield in such a magnificent landscape like that is worth spending the day exploring.  So no pics of Roundway Down today.

The 'Attack' show is in its 35th year, and I have attended most of these since around 1987.   It is one of my favourite shows.  It attracts interesting traders, not too much sci-fi but just enough to bring in a varied visitor group and has a very friendly atmosphere.  There is always time to chat to people and traders and there is no sense of rush or of having to race people to certain traders to get your goodies.  The show used to be held in the Corn Exchange in Devizes centre, which was a great location but was on the cramped side and it got uncomfortably hot upstairs on the upper level.  It has been held at a school in the town for a good few years now and this has plenty of parking, lots of space and lots of benches outside.  This is great as it means you can take a break and reflect on your madness before committing lots of cash to a new period of history to delve into.  Sitting in the sunshine with a reasonably priced cup of tea contrasted with my shopping strategy which ended up not being so economical!

A photo of my haul of new things is shown above.  As you can see, some kind of insanity gripped me.  That's five different period's of history there (plus Napoleonics which I shall get to shortly).

Since Renegade ceased trading this has left me with a nice but barely started Punic Wars Roman Army.  The Agema plastics look great and I couldn't resist getting a couple of boxes just to see how they look painted up.

The Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors should enable me to finally make my Anglo-Saxon army playable! Hurrah - I only started it in about 1994, so finally I can get a game in with them!  Twenty years...hmmm maybe I should do 6mm for everything in future!

The Theban's I purchased because they look great and I have some of the Spartans and Athenians which Warlord Games now produce.  Hopefully I can crack on with these soon as I really want to see how they look.  Ian also bought some Athenians so Hoplites could soon be ready for action - watch this space (for about 20 years if the Anglo-Saxon Army of mine is anything to go by!).

I made another purchase too...Napoleonics.  I had bought some Victrix and Perry boxed sets but hadn't got far with painting them.  I had made a decision to do Napoleonics in 6mm just to get playing.  But today all this changed.  Ian was selling up some of his Napoleonics.  I saw them and had to have them....I shall cease typing now and leave you to view the pics of my purchase of Ian's excellent work.