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”.
The Wargaming Erratic 