elements of impetus having received their red brown base colour
My anglo saxon army is growing with the addition of many more bases. I am settled on 80mm wide impetus style basing where the idea is to inject a little variety into figure presentation. This is quite easy with strelets who produce a reasonable pose mix with each set they make. In the case of the anglo saxons it gets even better when you buy they big battle sets as I did. The stamford bridge set is the only one currently available though.
Bases have the red brown base coating applied in foreground and plain budgie grit in background
I decorate the base with budgie grit on pva glue (games workshop idea) and use a three colour painting technique. Dark red earth base colour with heavy dry brush of yellow ochre over it followed by a light yellow/white top dry brush. I am looking for sandy and dare I say summer like conditions, no green green grass of home for my troops.
peco grass to the fore and little big man shield transfers
I used some little big man shield transfers for 28mm anglo saxon bucklers on a few of the figures. They blend in ok I think.
I finish with some foliage. In this case I am using Peco Railway scenics which are autumnal or greenish brown grasses.
This unit is actually going to be also the start of my ottonian/lotharingian or very late Carolingians. More about the red/green colours in a later postalthough I have not based the figures for shield wall as described in various historical records my anglo saxons still look good en masse.
So thats it for now, next up on show are my first “el cid” Hat 1/72 figures posing as Italo-Normans.
Many years ago, although it seems only recently to me, I bought several titles from the Warhammer Ancient Battles booklist – they included Siege & Conquest – all about the siege; Chariot Wars; the WAB basic rule set itself; The Chinese Warring States and all that plus Shieldwall. A fairly random mix you might say which is correct.
I never really bought into Warhammer or Games Workshop after I returned to wargaming in the late 1990’s. I dropped neatly into 15mm and DBA. The 600mm square tabletop battlefield, relatively small metal mountains that could be painted and a simple ruleset that was popular all fitted my constrained interests and time.
And yet despite plenty of enjoyment 15mm became a compromise and once the restrictions on table size were removed I returned to the idea of 25mm (old style) which I suppose is my roots. Despite buying some 28mm figures that size has failed to ignite my interest.
I have discovered that 20mm/25mm or 1/72 is the figure size that appeals to me: Sufficient in size for each individual warrior, painting repays in the visual look while the table top is of the order 6′ x 4′ or 1.8m x 1.2m which is my limit.
And my 25mm wargaming odyssey has taken me back to the past with 1/72 plastics displacing metals but in the modern style from prolific manufacturers such as Zvezda, Strelets, Hat, Ceasar and the occasional Orion, Mars, Emhar and ok even vintage Revell. But it is not all plastic – tumbling dice miniatures have offered up some really nice figures to compliment the plastics. And so to have SHQ, Newline and Irregular Miniatures.
One thing I have done since returning to the hobby is read and that includes reading rulesets. In fact reading them more than I play them!
You need only one ruleset to play wargames for any one period. So I can’t explain why I have dozens. Yet rulesets are personal statements. In their way they seem to me someones interpretation of history albeit through their take on gaming mechanisms. So they are still history books in a way and thats how I consume them.
I only have historic wargames rulesets – fantasy wargaming is something I left behind in the 1970’s – Sci-Fi I could never get my head round.
And fantasy was for me doing dungeons and dragons in the 1970’s before it all took off. And yet my historical interests have always been tempered by an interest in historical fiction. Not the Sharp novels ilk. More a case of a parallel universe where so much is instantly recognisable yet the story lines, characters, countries have different names.
Each to their own as they say.
Well being inclined to Anglo-Saxons at the moment I dug out the Shieldwall book which I kept because like Chariot Wars it felt like a well researched and back then a well designed package. I never played the WAB ruleset with Shieldwall. Just maybe I might give it a go now.
Of course it is approaching vintage (25 years plus) and oldhammer is probably in the Oxford dictionary as a particular type of old wargamer already.
The constant theme though is to enjoy reading history, enjoy imaginative history and paint miniatures and if with a fair wind play some games. In short it is escapism – taking pleasure in playing with imagination.
After what seems like an age my latest painting efforts are nearing completion. This dark age group is the largest I have painted in one round and that has taught me a lesson. Small is beautiful as in 40 odd figures take a while to get completed. Volume means quicker painting but overall completion is longer. I like the idea of completing one or two bases and then starting over again. That feels like a better painting cycle.
40 figures will yield either 5 medium bases of 8 figures each or I could stick with loading up 10 figures and get 4 bases of heavy infantry although these sculpts dont lend themselves to a shieldwallSome of the figures are a bit awkward like the grey clothed spearman with his back to the camera – it feels like his spear is upside down but you might think he is just lifting it to his shoulder for forming a shield wall – then his pose makes more sense. Sometimes I think the strelets sculpters are underrated.I like the three figures standing ready. The man with his axe to his shoulder is particularly good as is his detailing. Again the cloaked axeman to his left is a nice sculpt of a standing figure. The other figure in this trio holds his left hand high while resting on his axe. All in all three nice figures.Overall I am very happy with these figures. Some of the white shields will receive transfers otherwise they just need varnishing and then basing.
I had seen these figures by Orion many times on screen and decided against purchase. But byzantines in 1/72 is not a happy hunting ground. So I have taken the plunge.4 identical strips giving you 52 figures in 13 poses. it says on the box 11th to 14th century – so for my needs – 10/11th century they should work.One strip showing the flash that plastic soldier review complained about generally. back and front with some awkward poses to deal with and the other issue that plastic soldier review mentioned – flatnessbut look at the detail – plastic soldier praised the detail on many orion products of this era, sad that poor mould/manufacture compromised these figures. The animation like more recent strelets releases is what I like Next up again Byzantines in 1/72 are few so again a set I had looked at many times were finally purchased.You get two rounds of small unarmoured cavalry plus one sprue of horseman. The infamous? flash is visible.If the flash proves to be a non issue in prep, I think I have another promising set of figures with some excellent detail on well proportioned figures.These byzantine infantry are on the edge of my project timeline – 11th century. But again some nice designs should prove useable.The dark plastic does not do justice to the design quality – I hope my average painting will not let them down.These chaps are almost too early but I reckon you have some latitude in this era – ” we have not had new uniforms here in decades the new recruit was informed by the byzantine clothing department”Again the flash is present but also again some good designs and excellent detailsAnd now for something completely different! Strelets doing Marlbrough. Despite having hundreds of Zvezda Russians and Swedes I had to try some. I think these are my preference from the BritishOne command sprue and 4 rounds of infantry. sufficient poses that are similar. Unlike my dark age figures I like a degree of uniformity in my “baroque” era armies.Some complementary reading matter from a reknowned author Paddy Griffiths – I remember a library book by him on gross scaling of simulated battles as in army level or corps level etc. Great ideas. This book will complement my biography of the master builder Vauban.And we finish up with two more books on the anglo saxons – in themselves a side project of my “Normans in the South”. One day I will read John Julius Norwich Both books are by Paul Hill and having enjoyed his Norman Commanders and nearly finished his Anglo Saxons at War books I have taken a punt on these earlier two books which having more sweeping titles. A quick look at the contents suggests Paul will stick with his thematic – episodic approach which some reviewers did not like but I think it helps in what is a difficult era to write clearly about. Now i really need to crack on with my saxons and angles.
Having reviewed my thoughts on horsemen for my Normans in the South project I am going to take a quick look at infantry. Did you spot the SHQ 20mm in the lead photo?
For my command bases I plan to use Tumbling Dice Miniatures command packs which provide both mounted and foot options. These foot are respectively 2 normans to the left and 2 anglo saxons to the right.here are a strelets norman at left and strelets anglo saxon to the right. The plastic and metal foot match well I think.These are the tallest strelets anglo saxons I could find and the match between plastic and metal is again fine. Note their breadth is to frontface, so both products are thinner as you look along the line.1970’s Garrison viking to left and Citadel Crusader to the right are ostensibly classic 25mm figures. They make the 1/72 scale Tumbling Dice guys look a bit small.1970’s Lamming bigheaded anglo saxon on the left and norman on the right. Oh dear what was happening in the 1970’s!The guy at left is an SHQ 20mm saracen archer. I picked these up at Newbury or Reading shows when I was after some newline figures in the flesh which turned out to be the wrong size for me. SHQ were there and I took some of their crusades range – really nice figures.The middle grey/red normans/saxons show that even within strelets there is a height and bulk variation – which I likeThe SHQ archer is just that smidgen smaller than the TD norman but both seem less bulky and shorter than the strelets norman. I think once painted and based these minor differences in height/bulk will simply improve the look of the bases if anything2010’s Perry burgundians (ironically plastic) show the morphing of 25mm to 28mm and beyond.
At least tumbling dice and SHQ are still offering metals in the traditional scales of 20/25mm and 1/72. And they carry good detail, have realistic posing and are not too bulky. I may mix in some command foot with strelets figures on some of my fighting bases.
So I have progressed my Saxons which will make two elements using my 80mm x 60mm IMPETUS style bases. I had used a colour theme from an article about the battle of Vlaardingen in Medieval Warfare (vol 8 issue 3). I then decided to add to the red/green/yellow mix by using a few shield transfers.
the red/white and green/white shields in the centre are two examples of the shield transfers.
I used “Little Big Man Transfers” and followed the instructions about fitting to shields with large bosses. Because I am working in 1/72 or 20/25mm I had to choose to cut down 28mm transfers or use some 15mm ones. I think I got lucky because there are some small shield 28mm saxon transfers in the range that just about matched what I needed.
A mixture of transfers on the round shields and straight painted on the kite shields
In the event some transfers were a great fit like the figure with axe and shield raised. Others like the soldier with the whirly black and white design at bottom left (above photo) needed the transfer extending as there was too much unused shield at the rim.
The grounded shield was a handpaint while the black and red whirl shield to the right was a little big man transfer
For some of the designs I ended up overcoating with the nearest colour I could match. Yes I lost some of the dirt and sword cut markings but compromise was required.
Overall I am pleased with the result.
These guys are mainly well armed and protected so represent the sort of troops a signficant leader would be able to arm and mobilise
I just need to add some vegetation and then its on with another batch of these saxons.
So these figures will make me just 2 impetus style bases. I opted to switch to 80mm bases after finding an old solo wargamer article that gave some ideas for budget gaming say in a period that was not your main interest. Typically you ignored the traditional DBX rules of figures per base but still kept the frontages.
And then I discovered IMPETUS wargames rules – a great set that liberated my attitudes to basing. Essentially the rules offered a compromise between 15mm on 80mm and 28 mm on 120mm wide bases. They showed plastic 1/72 figures on the 80mm or 120 mm base widths. Either way the basing in Impetus was aimed at making the showing of your figures an important part of the game. It also promoted a diversity of figures showing more a mini diorama than rank upon rank of identical soldiers.
The beige clothed spearman gets short shrift in the plastic soldier review
I like the strelets anglo saxons as they offer a range of armoured and unarmoured figures with perhaps a greater emphasis on swords and axes than some would like. As usual Plastic Soldier Review did have some complaints like the spearman above holding his spear awkwardly at shoulder/chin level and being a bit two dimensional. I rather liked him and kept him in even though he is one of the few in these two element groups not wearing mail.
I like the poses mid centre – a Thegn? in a cloak with upright spear and another in mail with a type of club
I have moved to plastics because my butterfly interests have caused me to pursue so many different periods and armies usually to dead ends.
So at least my budgets are low! Still perhaps that makes it easier to abandon the plan or project? Sadly I think it would be the case with metals – actually it is, as I possess plenty of 1970’s unpainted metals!
middle right and above some nice animated shieldwall figures get ready to attack
I do feel that strelets anglo saxons have a certain animation which is not always present from their sculptors. They are a bit chunky and a bit inconsistent. I can live with the chunky well fed chaps and I like height, shape and size irregularities in my figures.
The red/green/yellow colours that thread their way through this set are based on an article from Medieval Warfare
Medieval Warfare published by Karwansaray of Zutphen, Netherlands ran an article that caught my “Normans in the South” eye simply because of the date 1018. Just two years earlier a Norman pilgrimage to Mont Saint’ Angelo in Rome kick started the Norman adventure in Italy. So I was after some context and this innocent article led me David Bachrach, Count Dirk III and the Ottonians. I digress, the battle of Vlaardingen was fought between Count Dirks men and the Ottonian forces which included men from from Cologne, Liege and Utrecht as well as Lotharingians. The Ottonian or Frankish soldiers are shown in an interesting mix of red, green and yellow shield markings. I decided my saxons would look a bit like some of these men of the Empire.
Go buy the magazine MW VIII-3. Since I started taking these magazines I found numerous interesting articles and I like the mix of content – good photos, artwork and book references to expnad your reading round the subject.
As I said I get two elements here as I will put 11 or so figures on a base with some suggestion of a shield wall, maybe just forming.
So I get two options – saxons for any anglo saxon army plus these guys can be frankish troops who may even head south under the Emperor Henry II into the early years of “Normans in the South”.
So after that quick intermission for some Saxons, more of them in another post, I am back on the horsemen of the dark ages (ok the back end) – the much vaunted Normans. Well you will not get too many couched lances here as strelets 1/72 norman cavalry are a mixed bag and actually lend themselves to Frankish armies generally.
Some were primed with pva which cracked so they like their comrades are in vallejo grey primer followed by blacking out the metallics and then some coat d’arms horse colours which having only recently been discovered have proven their value to me already.
I found the vallejo grey to be a good base for these cavalry and the coat d’arms horse colours give a mottled coverage I tend to have quite a few horses with black stockings – more coat d’arms horse colours on showon the left some PVA cracking overpainted but even so you can see the strelets figures still have some reasonable detailThe horseman on the left corner shown in previous photos is now complete, varnished and based, justing waiting a final ground highlight plus some vegetation
So no normans in this post instead a base of Saxons for your delectation!These guys have painted up nicelyStrelets do some nice poses and again a suggestion of motion lifts these figures. I need to finish the basing and get on with a few more.
So I will complete my Carolingian cavalry with my Mediterranean style basing
I use gloss partly because it gives protection as these figures are to be handled and partly because at 3 feet away on a game table it lifts the colours
The budgie grit bases will get a 3 stage paint job and some tufted plants!So that’s it for these chaps, next up are some strelets normans
Despite a bad plastic soldier review which I follow avidly Charlie and his guard have a decent look about them I am quite pleased with my light cavalry unit
The Wargaming Erratic 