So, I missed a couple weeks' updates. We have gotten together the last two Thursdays at Steve's, and I took along the chariots. The first week, I also took the tower sections and began assembling the broch. I was glad Zeke was there to help me with figuring out which pieces go where, as otherwise, I'd have been baffled. Picture the pieces for two separate 3D jigsaw puzzles tossed together and you can imagine my bafflement on figuring out where to start. Once I got going, though, it went fairly well. I was able to assemble the broch with a sloping, conical surface, like I'd seen in illustrations and photos of them. My only real mistake was that I should have glued the stone floor together first, then assembled the first ring of tower walls around it. My circle was a bit ovoid, and the floor didn't fit in perfectly. No biggie...I just glued in some loose stones that were part of the moulds. The following week, I didn't take the broch to Steve's, as I was getting to some technical parts that I needed to let dry for longer before the next steps. As of now, though, it is pretty much finished except for the wooden floors on the second storey and tower top. I'm also going to construct a wooden roof to go on the tower top (it rains in Scotland a lot, so I can't imagine that the Picts didn't have roofs on their dwellings.
As for the Hittites...have I ever told you how I hate painting chariots? Every time you think they're just about done, you find more stuff on them that needs to be completed. And it seems like each stand is composed of scads of parts that need to be painted individually -- the horses, chariot body, crew, etc. Counting the chariot body as only one fig, these four stands will require me to paint 23 figures! That's more than the other eight stands in the army required! Anyway, they are j-u-s-t about done, at this point. I should be gluing them all down onto their bases either tonight or tomorrow.
Speaking of tonight...no painting party at Steve's -- boo-hoo! We're getting good attendance and I'll miss the night of camraderie as well as the progress on my various projects...
Well, I've finally gone and done it: I'm really working on another DBA army...after a nearly two year hiatus. I took the foot for my 15mm Hittites, which are a combination of Falcon UK, Chariot and Essex, over to Steve's again for our Thursday night painting party. I finished 18 spearmen and 4 psiloi, which actually translates into two-thirds of the stands for the army. All they need now is the black wash, and then of course, basing, flocking, etc. So, that means this coming Thursday I will likely be taking the four chariot stands over to work on. I love Biblical era armies, but I detest painting chariots. I think its the spokes. Painting in between all those spokes on the wheels, and on both sides, really gets annoying. Plus, chariots don't "fit" with my painting style. I like to glue the figures to squares of cardboard for painting. I also use these squares to make notations, so that if I'm being very, well, anal about making sure every figure in the army has a different color outfit on, I can write on the cardboard, "Khaki tunic, red-brown cloak" and so on. However, when you glue a chariot to a cardboard square, you can't get at the underside. Grrrh.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll survive. And what's more, I may take another project over to begin work on Thursday. My buddy Zeke cast the rounded tower sections from the Hirst Arts molds for me to make a 25mm Pictish Broch for my Dark Age Skirmish project. I may take the base and sections over and begin glueing it all together, since it will be a glue, wait for it to dry, glue, wait for it to dry, kind of process. And while I'm waiting, I can work on chariots! Genius, I know. Anyway, I've got a wealth of things to feed into the painting pipeline, and Thursday nights seem to be the only day to get any real work done on any of them...what with school and all. So, I probably won't post any pics up till I base and flock the entire Hittite army all at once.
If you're bored with my lack of photos, check out the Space Hulk that Zeke created in 3-D using the Hirst Arts molds. My friend Keith took some quality photos of it the other night when we christened it with the blood of squads of Space marines..."What are we going to do now, man....? Let's put the kid in charge..." Keith's photos are here.
July
18, 2008: Two-storey building picturesI finished up the first of the buildings I bought at Drums Along the Maumee from Saint Paul Irregulars Press. It's a two-storey building that comes apart into three sections so that I can use it for my Modern Africa skirmishes. Although it is technically a 15mm scale building, it works great for my 20mm figs. It was easy to do...black prime, dry brush, with the only detail work on the first storey facade. I've begun the next of the buildings, which is a more rural style, one room, thatched-roofed hut. Shouldn't take me long to complete, actually, as there is quite a bit less surface area on this one.
This past Thursday, I decided to begin a new project on our weekly painting nights. I began painting my 15mm Hittite army -- which is a combination of Chariot, Falcon and Essex figures. I purchased it at Siege of Augusta 2006, so it's been sitting and percolating in my closet of unpainted lead for awhile. Of course, I do have figs that have been sitting longer!
I began with the foot figures -- two different style of Spearmen (1 Falcon, 1 Chariot) and four skirmishers (also Chariot). The shields for the Falcon had to be glued on to the backs of the figures, as they were using both hands to grasp the spear. I *could* have epoxied them onto the front of the left arm, but that looked real dicey. I was afraid I would be dealing with regular "pop-offs," as there isn't a lot of surface area to attach it to. They look cool with them strapped to their back anyway, and they will certainly stay on a lot better that way. My first thought was that there wouldn't be a lot of patterns and detail on these, but after double-checking my souces, looks like I was wrong. Oh well. Colorful figs are a good thing...right?
I got about halfway finished with them on the first session this past Thursday, which isn't bad for 22 figures...
So, I got the digicam out and took some photos of stuff I recently painted and based up.
First up are three terrain pieces that I bought from Acheson Creations for a whopping 50 cents apiece at Origins. They are resin odds and ends that I thought would go well with my Modern Africa games. My 20mm Liberation Miniatures are posed next to them to give you a sense of scale. These pieces painted up quickly, except for one minor detail. There is some bizarre mold residue on them that makes paint "bead up" like raindrops on a new wax job. So, I highly recommend washing them with detergent before priming.
Next up are the 15mm Italian Colonials I've been painting up for Tom's Victorian Science Fiction games. I've had a handful of the infantry finished for awhile, but it was time they got some support troops. So, I painted up two stands of mountain guns and two stands of Maxim machine guns. I also did a couple mounted officers, since my Italians had been leaderless to this point. In Tom's game, the number of crew depicted on the base is used to reflect the strength/casualties of the unit. So, each crew figure is inidividually based on small washers. I glued strong magnets alongside the artillery pieces for them to stick to, then did the flocking as creatively as I could to disguise the composite construction. It turned out fairly well, I think.
As a matter of fact, I really like how these Colonials look, and I keep debating -- prior to every Thursday night painting session -- of painting up a unit of Askar Cavalry to go with them. Soon...!
So, the 25mm Dark Age troops are all rebased on 1" square, magnetic bases. They are in their brand new Plano box with deeper trays -- and the trays have been painted with steel paint so that the magnetic bases stick to them. Done!!! The Italian colonials are also complete and in their own Plano box, as well. The desktop was clear, ready for...
Resin Terrain! Acheson Creations had this grab bag bin at Origins filled with 50 cent pieces of miscellaneous terrain, like woodpiles, stacks of crates, barrels of oil, etc. I bought a half dozen of these and have them primed up and ready to take over to Steve's for our Thursday painting party, if we meet this week. They should go quick...lots of dry brushing. I plan on using them for my Modern Africa games.
What's next? Well...as long as I'm doing resin terrain for Modern Africa, maybe I'll start on those buildings I bought at Drums...
Okay, maybe not completely. However, I haven't updated this in two weeks -- mainly because I was uber-busy getting ready for Origins 2008 here in my hometown of Columbus, OH. Origins was its usual great time, though as always, very d-r-a-i-n-i-n-g. I always seem to come out of Origins feeling like I need a week of sleep! Our DBA and HOTT tournaments went great, we broke records in two of the tournies, the inaugeral GLADBAG Invitational DBA Tourney was a success, all in all, a great con.
So, what did I decide to do in our final, pre-Origins painting party, you ask? Rebase. Although it wasn't on my list below, I decided I would try to rebase all of my 25mm Dark Age skirmish troops in time for Origins. Thanks to Steve, I got everything epoxied onto their Litko 1" square base and Liquitex modeling paste added around the washer. And the following day, I woke up early and painted and flocked the Liquitex. However, that is where I stalled out and where I remain. All I have left to do is add some 50/50 glue and water mix to seal in the flocking and I'll be done, but when you're talking almost 70 individually based 25mm figs, that's a project!!!
In the meantime, though, I have flocked the Italian colonials from a couple painting parties ago. They're also at the 50/50 water and glue stage. Hopefully, I'll finish them and the Dark Age troops this weekend. School is jacking up my schedule, though, as I have to trade my Friday off to get Wednesday off for class, so I don't have that nice, cushy three days in a row off anymore. I even have to work the 4th of July...how...unAmerican!!!
Here's a pic of the Ghanaian UN troops I painted a couple painting parties ago. Once again, these were not the usual Liberation Miniatures, but from Fantassin's 20mm WWII line. They'll work fine to bolster the beleaguered blue helmets...!
I also added a picture of the 54mm Alpha Miniatures that I made into "Barker Markers" for prizes at Origins 2008. They're actually over on the Great Lakes Area DBA Gamers website that I manage, as well. Check them out here.
Last Thursday, Zeke joined Steve and I for another fun evening of painting various projects. I brought along some 15mm Italian Colonials for Tom's "VSF" games. I had two mountain gun cannons, two Maxim machine guns, two mounted leaders, and 10 crew members for the various artillery pieces. I was able to complete them, but they're sitting on my desk right now awaiting flocking. I should get to them in the next day or so, though school is heating up.
I haven't heard from the guys if we're meeting again this Thursday. If we are, I'm in a bit of a quandry as what to bring. I have a number of ideas, including:
Decisions, decisions!!!
We're not sure if Zeke is using the classic wife's line of "Sorry, honey, not tonight -- I have a headache" or what. But once again, Zeke ditched us for the painting party. Still, Steve, Steve (Verdoliva came over to clean and prep some figs to be sent off to be painted...hmm, is that allowed...?) and I met again on Thursday night to work more on our projects. Steve gets closer to completing his Troll HOTT army, and it's looking great. For me, I worked on the two 54mm Alpha Miniatures to use as trophies for Origins. There is a *lot* of detail on 54mm figs, let me tell you! However, I just about finished the two figs, and still found some time to work on some more stuff.
The more stuff was 15mm Italian Colonials for Tom's "Victorian Science Fiction" games he is running. I brought over two machine guns, two cannons, their crews, and two officers. I made a start on them, getting the flesh and basic uniform colors done. Doubtless, they'll make a reappearance at the next session at Steve's house. The question is: Will Zeke show? Or is the Italian master unable to get down from his scaffold in the Sistine Chapel and join us more plebian painters...hmmm?
So, a number of the Sunday night regulars have decided that getting together over at Steve Sattler's house on Thursday nights is a good idea. Steve had been telling Zeke that, after 8 pm when his wife and son go to bed, he gets kind of bored. What better way to cure boredom than a Painting Party? Although a migraine kept Zeke from attending the inaugeral night, Steve and I still spent a good four hours painting. Steve worked on his 15mm Troll HOTT army, getting more done in our one evening than the prevous year, he said!
I brought along a few items to alternate working on: A batch of 20mm UN Troopers for Modern Africa and some 25mm Old Glory peasants. I also brought along the Reverisco armored car that I've been working on here and there, though I ended up not touching it. I did get the 10 UN troopers done, though. These figs are not the usual Liberation Miniatures that I use for this period, but instead from Fantassin Miniatures WW II line (U.S. troops). I'd picked them up from Scale Creep Miniatures last year at Advance the Colors, as my Ghanaian UN contingent needed reinforcements. They sized up well with the Liberation Minis, perhaps not as hefty, but certainly the same height and easily mixable. Pictures to follow as soon as I finish flocking their bases.
The batch of five Old Glory peasants was about half done when I took them to Steve's, and I was able to complete them. At this point, on my Dark Age project, I'm going to do something most miniature gamers hate: Rebase. My pack of 100 1" square bases arrived today from Litko Aerosystems, and I'm going to rebase the whole kit and kaboodle. I've found in my skirmish games that a square base makes it a LOT easier to tell who's in melee contact with who than round ones. Lesson learned.
Next up are prizes for the Origins DBA Tournaments that I'm running. I bought some 54mm Alpha Miniatures from Alternative Armies at Drums Along the Maumee. Two of them will be made into "Barker Markers" to give as trophies to the bracket winners of the 15mm Double Size DBA Tournament. In addition, I'd picked up a rather large Knight of Malta last December on my visit to Malta, and that is being converted into a trophy for the first-ever GLADBAG Invitational. These are more "tokens," though, as the real prize, IMO, is the DBA armies I will give the winners. In particular, the winner of the Invitational gets a painted Splintered Light Miniatures Saxon DBA army -- thanks to the extreme generosity and sponsorship of David McBride of SLM. Doubtless, I'll take the two Alpha Miniatures over to Steve's again, this Thursday. Not sure what else, though...
Some of the best modeling that I have done has been in the construction of camps for De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) Ancients. There was a period of time when I would take more than a dozen of these to conventions and sell them to finance my trip. I had just bought my house and money was tight. I also accepted commissions and did quite a few camps for friends and acquaintances, that luckily, I preserved with photos. These were on my old Roman Dreams website, which still exists, but I no longer update.
One night, I decided that these photos and descriptions should make the migration over to Lead Legionaries. It took a number of hours of work, but I eventually brought most of them over. There are still a couple I have to track down the text and pictures of, but for the most part, they are there. There are doubtless some broken inter-links between the camps that I need to go back and fix (where I refer to the construction methods described in another camp, and link it with the Roman Dreams address). However, they're here. So, if you're bored and want to spend some time surfing and looking at pretty pictures, check out the page here.
As I mentioned below, I pulled out another batch of 25mm Peasants for civilians in my Dark Age skirmish games. These included some Steve Barber 25mm figures, that are actually quite nice. One is of a holy man with a small wooden cross in his right hand, lifting his arms to Heaven for salvation from the heathen Vikings...or something like that! Another is of a matron with cloak and skirt and a rather severe look on her face...probably sizing up her prospects as the wife of a hairy Viking! The others are actually two models that each have two figures sculpted together. A young peasant girl is bowed on her knees with hands clasped in supplication (and a very worried look on her face). Her younger brother has thrown his arms around her neck and looks the other way, perhaps watching the approach of a blood-stained Viking raider in wide-eyed fascination. The final figure I'm painting in the batch is of a combative friar with his staff raised menacingly above his head. His wild, flowing hair adds to his daunting look, but the protruding paunch detracts from it. Other than their bases, I'm done with these guys, so expect pics soon.
I also dug into my bag of unpainted stuff for my Modern Africa games and found a 25mm armored car I'd picked up from The Soldiery, a local game store. It is a Reviresco, "1924 Pattern Rolls Royce West Desert 1940." I've had it for years, but was daunted by the sheer number of pieces, lack of diagrams to assemble them and equally scanty instructions. The other day I decided to plow through, and try to put the model together. It worked, and I've primed it with a black "acrylic enamel" base coat. It is a heavily armed little sucker, sporting a machine gun, anti-tank gun and mortar all in an armored, but open top, turret. Should be Hell on Wheels in my modern Africa games. I think I'll design a scenario around it, called something like, "The Elephant Cometh..." Once I have it finished up, I'm sure I'll post photos...
As I mentioned below, I pulled out another batch of 25mm Peasants for civilians in my Dark Age skirmish games. These included some Steve Barber 25mm figures, that are actually quite nice. One is of a holy man with a small wooden cross in his right hand, lifting his arms to Heaven for salvation from the heathen Vikings...or something like that! Another is of a matron with cloak and skirt and a rather severe look on her face...probably sizing up her prospects as the wife of a hairy Viking! The others are actually two models that each have two figures sculpted together. A young peasant girl is bowed on her knees with hands clasped in supplication (and a very worried look on her face). Her younger brother has thrown his arms around her neck and looks the other way, perhaps watching the approach of a blood-stained Viking raider in wide-eyed fascination. The final figure I'm painting in the batch is of a combative friar with his staff raised menacingly above his head. His wild, flowing hair adds to his daunting look, but the protruding paunch detracts from it. Other than their bases, I'm done with these guys, so expect pics soon.
I also dug into my bag of unpainted stuff for my Modern Africa games and found a 25mm armored car I'd picked up from The Soldiery, a local game store. It is a Reviresco, "1924 Pattern Rolls Royce West Desert 1940." I've had it for years, but was daunted by the sheer number of pieces, lack of diagrams to assemble them and equally scanty instructions. The other day I decided to plow through, and try to put the model together. It worked, and I've primed it with a black "acrylic enamel" base coat. It is a heavily armed little sucker, sporting a machine gun, anti-tank gun and mortar all in an armored, but open top, turret. Should be Hell on Wheels in my modern Africa games. I think I'll design a scenario around it, called something like, "The Elephant Cometh..." Once I have it finished up, I'm sure I'll post photos...
So, I ended up deciding to work on some peasants while I was waiting to do another playtest of the rules. I had bought a bag of Old Glory "Revolting Peasants" at Cold Wars 2008. Actually, I'm not that pleased with the purchase -- I should have looked at the figures closer. Many of the figs are a lot more "high Medieval" era and don't look so appropriate for the Dark Ages. So, I gleaned a batch of four out of the ones I liked best, and just finished painting them tonight. Look for pictures soon.
I also dug through my various other figures and came up with another batch of peasants to paint. One is from the Old Glory bag of monks I bought at the same time, while the rest are actually Steve Barber 25mm figures that I picked up from RLBPS at Advance the Colors 2007. They're the only peasant women I have bought, so thought I'd even up the ratio of men-to-women with this batch. At the same time, I selected another batch of peasants from the Old Glory bag to do. Both of these batches will be five figures rather than the four of the one I just finished. Not sure why, the peasants just seemed to go so quick, thought I could add in another figure. Plus, once I have 14 of them done, how many more will I really have to do for games...?
I added a picture each of the batch of Pictish archers that I painted up, as well as the Viking ones. I put them on their respective army pages, so click on the appropriate links to see them. I'm pleased with how they turned out, especially one of the Pictish ones with a red and black checkered cloak!
Well, I guess since the Vikings have been kicking the Picts butt lately, they deserve their own Gallery page. So, click here to be taken to a page featuring the pics of my Viking Army (same ones as below, but gathered together all in one place).
If you've visited the Game Nights section of my site, you've seen we've played a couple games of Song of Blades and Heroes with my Picts and Vikings. I've had 10 different players try out these rules, and for the most part, they've been very enthusiastic about them -- despite the relatively one-sided games I seem to have staged. Yes, the Vikings are slaughtering my beloved Picts on the tabletop much as they did in history. I've got an idea to provide a more competitive gaming experience for my players, using these rules, and we'll see how it goes in the third playtest.
The results of that will likely decide which direction I go in figure painting, as well. I'm either going to do some civilians next (monks, peasants, women) or begin the next kingdom in the Dark Age project: The Britons of Strathclyde. Since SBH requires so few figures for a force, I will likely do some Britons if the third playtest goes well. If not, I'll paint up the monks and such so I can have some eye candy besides terrain on the tabletop. Honestly, that is one of the things that excites me most (no, not monks...and not 25mm women). I really am excited about how few figures I need to do to field forces in SBH. An average 300 point force (what they recommend per player) has been composed of no more than 11 figures, and as few as five. So, the Britons could be done in a snap! And waiting in the wings, are the Scots-Irish of Dal Riata. This was the kingdom that eventually took over and absorbed the Picts, becoming Scotland. I have a bag of 25mm Old Glory Welshmen that look exactly like the Dal Riatan warriors in my Osprey "Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms" book.
By the way, the five Viking archers are long since done, and I'm now working on four Pictish ones. Yee gads! I'd forgotten what a pain painting checkers, plaids and stripes were! Not to mention tattoes!!! Oh well, these should be the final Picts I do for awhile...
So, another rules set has entered the fray as a possible choice for my Dark Ages project. I'd been reading about a fantasy skirmish set called "Song of Blades and Heroes" on the DBA Fanaticus website. Since they were only $4 to download in PDF format, I did so. They look very simple and sound like (from the battle reports linked on their website) to be an exciting game. So, I will be running a playtest of these rules on Sunday for our normal gaming evening. So, yes, the Dark Ages project will hit the tabletop for the first time this weekend! Woo-hoo!!!
In the meantime, I'm furiously working on some large hills for 25mm. I bought some blue insulation board and am making a big hills that can be used in a number of ways. It is composed of four roughly 11" square sections that line up to create one very big rounded hill, two half hills on a table edge, or four "corner hills." I long ago decided to never get involved in the wire cutting of insulation foam -- I've got enough toxic fumes in my life! So, I used a utility blade to cut the sections and try to bevel the edges. The results were fair. I basically need a longer blade to do a more gradual beveling. I spray painted the hills with some old enamel brown paint I had laying around, painted it with the Ceramcoat "Burnt Sienna" that I do my bases, then splashed on white glue and flocked the hill sections. I'll give them a couple clearcoats and some glue and water mix to hold the flocking down.
I'm also working on a batch of 5 Viking archers. These are unarmored guys from the Old Glory Viking Bondi archers pack I bought at Cold Wars. Hopefully, I'll get these guys AND the hills done in time for the playtest on Sunday. If I don't, no biggie. Song of Blades requires no more than about a dozen figs per player, and I've got plenty for that...
Here are the pics of the 5 Viking Leader figures I painted up, along with my fifth batch of four ordinary Vikings.
This one's my favorite. He comes from the Gripping Beast "Russ Leaders" pack, with his square shield swapped out for a round Old Glory Viking one. The bald head, blond scalplock and expression on the face makes this pose special. I was tempted to add a gold earring but was afraid it might be overkill. As it was, the black and red snake pattern on the shield came out pretty good, I think. The bold color combination of reds and blues should make him stand out on the tabletop, as well. It's the war-weary look in his eyes tha get me, though. As I mentioned in the March 17 update, below, he looks like he'd just as soon kill you as bother to learn your name!
Here are two more Viking leaders from the Gripping Beast pack. I like the guy in the fur coat over his armor -- doubtless the booty from some raid on a wealthy merchant long ago! I painted his lamellar style armor bronze to make him a bit more unique, but his leg armor steel. Gripping Beast Russ tend to be a tad shorter than my Old Glory Vikings, so I based him up on a smaller washer before epoxying that onto the normal large, steel fender washer. The subtle difference in height was just the right amount. The leader with the trumpet I also painted in bold colors -- red and green. I like the helmet strapped at his belt -- it is a nice "moment of rest" touch. I thought the shield turned out great, too, with the dark green and white combination being very striking.
I nicknamed this guy "Conan" as I was painting him up for his massive thews and huge sword. I picture him as a bit young for a Viking leader, perhaps the privileged son of a Viking Jarl. As such, I painted his scale armor a golden color and his cloak a deep, Moroccan red. This is actually a fantasy figure, from Alternative Armies' "Erin" line (Milesian Warriors). I picked it up from Matt Gilford at Advance the Colors 2007. The other figures in the pack will make good Viking berserkers when I get around to painting them up (except the one below, which I also painted up as a Viking leader). This is probably my second favorite leader of the batch.
This is the other figure from the Alternative Armies "Erin" line that I painted up as a leader. The shield that he had cast on was so obviously Celtic that I snipped it off with wire cutters and added this round, Old Glory one instead. The Alternative Armies figs are probably a bit bigger than the Old Glory ones I'm using for rank and file Vikings, but that's fine. There are certain "fantasy" touches to this fig, including the oversized, decorative sword and round fancy disks on his armor (from this angle, the only one you can see is on the side of the helmet). I figure those just make him stand out more as a leader, though. For the leaders, I also got a bit fancier with the shields, as you can see on this one, above.
After the leaders, these poor guys look hopelessly pedestrian. This was my fifth batch of "rank and file" Vikings -- and was probably my least favorite pose, so far. The faces are somewhat miscast with protruding rather than recessed eye sockets. However, in general, I have been very pleased with the Old Glory dark ages figures I'm painting up for this project. I'd heard that sometimes Old Glory overuses its moulds, and some of the later runs can be of mixed quality. However, in general, I have seen no evidence of that on either the Picts or Vikings I've painted up so far. Other than the most minor criticisms (like the eye sockets, above), I am 100% satisfied with the quality I've received from Old Glory 25mm. You certainly can't beat the price! A buck for a 25mm fig (with prices of 15mm hovering near 50 cents each) is a great deal, in my opinion.
So, when I headed to Cold Wars a couple weeks ago, one of the few things I was looking for in the Dealer Room was an influx of reinforcements for the Dark Ages project. I bought a bag of relatively generic looking archers that I could split among the Vikings, Picts and Britons (the next army in line, after I finish the Vikings). I bought an Old Glory bag of Viking Bondi archers that fit the bill. I also picked up their bag of 30 Revolting Peasant and Religious Leaders. In retrospect, after getting the bag home and opening it, I probably should have picked up a more "ordinary farmer" type of peasant bag. Oh well. At least now I have more armed monks than I'll probably ever need! And finally, I was looking for some Viking leaders, as none of the poses in the bag screamed "Leader" to me.
I was lucky and found a pack of 10 Gripping Beast "Rus Command" in a discount bin. As Viking buffs know, the Rus are at least partially descended from Swedish Vikings that sailed east on the extensive Russian river system. You've seen those blonde Russian supermodels and tennis stars? Viking Women! Seriously, the figs in the bag fit the bill perfectly, especially after replacing the square Rus shields with spare Viking ones from the Bondi archer pack.
So excited was I about the leaders that, after finishing a batch of four ordinary Vikings on the painting table, I started in on a batch of five leaders right away. Three of these are Rus, while two are from Alternative Armies' fantasy "Celtos" range that looked particularly Viking-like. One of them required me trimming his very Gallic looking shield off and substituting a Viking one. I don't usually begin to rave about a batch of figures I'm painting till they're completed, but these guys looking freaking awesome! There is one Rus leader that I've taken to calling "Bad A$S Dude" that is my favorite. Bald head, long blond scalplock, flowing mustache -- he has a Hulk Hogan cast to his features. There is a heartless look in his eyes that says he'd just as soon kill you as bother to learn your name.
These will definitely be my favorites from the Viking army...
I also picked up two sets of rules that I will be trying out for this period: Two Hour Wargames' "Montjoie!" and the beer and pretzels set, "Pig Wars." The Two Hour Wargames rules have a definite flow about them, with time being flexible and subject to multiple actions and reactions in one turn. Pig Wars is a traditional move/countermove game, and looks like it'll be quick and extremely bloody. I'm looking forward to trying them out!!!
This was my third batch of Old Glory 25mm Vikings. With this much chainmail, they paint up pretty quickly. I've read sources that Vikings liked decoration and finery, so have made it a point to put borders on their sleeves and even fancy decorations on their sword sheaths. Everything I've read on colors is that they liked relatively bright colors, too, with reds, blues, greens and even purple being present, as well as the more drab grays and unbleached wool. So, in general, I paint the tunics relatively bright colors and do the pants in more dull, earth tones.
This was my fourth, and so far, favorite batch of Vikings. I think Old Glory did a tremendous job sculpting depth in the facial features. Their hawk-like noses and prominent cheekbones made them look almost Arab in appearance, before I'd painted the hair colors. Speaking of which, I'm not going with generic blond for all. I tend to use Iron Wind Metals "Dun" for two of them, but dry brush one with khaki to dull it down, while the other I dry brush Middle Eastern Flesh (an orangish tone) in for highlights. The third I'll usually paint red brown, dry brushing orange highlights. The fourth is a tan color with khaki highlights. This mix of hair colors makes them look good in mass, I feel, without violating an authentic Scandinavian look. This was also the first batch that had cloaks, so let me get a bit creative with a two tone look of red brown and red, light and dark green, and so on.
Well, that was probably the worst two weeks of school I've had. It seemed writing assignment followed midterm which followed project for two solid weeks. I spent my down time at work studying, my time home from work doing the same, and my days off seemed start to finish, nothing but writing, taking midterms, and so on. But as of today, a weight is lifted from my shoulders, and I seem to be in the clear for awhile. I even managed to get The Herald layed out and completed, today. As a matter of fact, I was so overjoyed at the prospect of being caught up that I just danced around the house, singing "I'm so happy" in my long johns...! Now, picture that...or not...at your own risk...!
So, all is not doom and gloom, though. I've taken the approach that I'll have a batch of Vikings on the painting desk at all times, ready for when I need a quick 15 minute study break. Another batch of four was completed in the time I could eke out in the last two weeks. I've flocked them and the previous batch of four mentioned below, and after they're dullcoated, I'll take some pics of them. They are all looking really nice, and this latest batch has a very hard-bitten, sharp featured look about them. I can't wait to get these guys on the tabletop!
Speaking of which, I spent a study break one night doing internet searches on various Dark Ages skirmish rules. I saw that Two Hour Wargames has a set that they recommend, so I ordered it. I'll pick it up at Cold Wars in little more than a week. Not that I'm abandoning using Heroscape for this project, I just thought I should peruse a few other rules sets and see if there's anything I like, or that I can swipe ideas from. In that vein, the games I pre-registered for at Cold Wars are all Dark Age skirmish ones. Well, it's getting late, and I've been off the leash for long enough, so I'd better end this update...
So, now that the "dog days" are over, it's time to get back to my 25mm Dark Age skirmish project. I knocked out a batch of four Vikings in just a few days, and will hopefully have pics of them up soon. I've decided that since my painting time is going to be kind of scarce in the coming weeks, with school and the next issue of The Herald due, that I'll stick to batches of four. That way, when I need a quick 15-20 minute break from studying or writing, I can get some things done on the batch on my desk.
Perhaps more importantly in the long term, I've sketched out a point system for the rules. I plan on using Heroscape rules as the basis, and since the packaged game doesn't come with a way to decode their point system, I had to figure out my own. I'm planning on squads of 4-8 figures, with individual Leaders, or "Heroes." The wild special abilities of Heroscape's Sci-Fi/Fantasy rules will be toned down considerably here. However, I expect every troop type will have at least one "ability," such as Shield Wall, or skirmishers being able to evade, etc. Same with Leaders, who will have special abilities as well. I'm currently brainstorming some of these, jotting them down on scraps of paper as I think of them. It's getting real close to the time I start actually typing up the ideas and running them by the Sunday night gang for feedback...