As Told in the Great Hall....

Got some 10mm buildings in the post from Total Battle Miniatures, and I am very impressed. I managed to get the great hall (and my is it great!) painted and based this morning. Here is how massive it is compared to a 60x30mm base of 10mm figures. A British/Saxon/Irish/Viking warlord could spill a lot of mead in this place!

 A simple paint job on the hollow, resin building with a sepia ink wash gave me a good result. Those wishing to spend more time could really make this thing look grand.

 Another angle...

 Same angle, different lighting.

More posts to follow, I should probably review some dark age books that I have been plowing thru and hope more updates on painting progress!

The Dux Bellorum Project

While I haven't been posting as of recent, I have been painting (admittedly, in a rather slow fashion). I added two Irish warrior units (one noble, one regular), and some Romano-British Shieldwall and Riders. I am slowly but surely getting to the 32 point goal for Dux Bellorum. Next on my painting table is a dark ages great hall (Total Battle Miniatures), some Saxon foederati and then Noble British cavalry.

Regular Irish to the left, with the Irish Companions to the right (their warlord pointing ominously to the enemy).

The rear of the two recently finished warrior bases, I tried to add some simple plaids, stripes and also keep colors within the Irish dress codes.

The Irish are a mix of Magister Militum dark age Irish, medieval Welsh and Pendraken medieval Welsh.

My Irish army thus far: Companion warriors, two regular warriors, a noble chariot and some skirmishers; 17 points of gaelic fury.

Here is a base of British regular riders (chaps with yellow/green shields). I added a sixth rider to the base, which fills in the base much better.

Same guys, different lighting. All Pendraken.

The British shieldwall, two noble units (white/green and white/blue) with one regular unit (yellow/blue). For the Romano-British, Nobles have banners and white shields while regular units are sans banner with yellow shields.

 
Rear shot, showing off the draco standards...

I have 20 or so points of British in two regular rider units, two noble shieldwall, one regular shieldwall and one skirmisher with bow.

10mm Irish for Dux Bellorum

I finally finished up some 10mm Irish/Scotti as an opponent for my Sub Roman British. The bulk of the figures are Magister Militum, with some Pendraken mixed in. I decided to start with three bases: Warriors, Skirmishers with javelins and a Chariot. I know there is debate about use of Chariots, but as a wargamer...why not? Here are the three bases arrayed for battle:

The Chariot was a breeze to assemble and paint. The rider looks a little too "celtic" for me, I regret adding a vest to him to make him more "Irish". I added some Pendraken miniatures as chariot runners to make the base less sparse.

The Warrior base. Entirely Magister Militum figures from several ranges. I tried to keep the colors along Irish laws regulating what and how many colors people could wear.

The Warriors back sides...

And yet another angle...

Irish Skirmishers, a mix of Pendraken and Magister Militun.

The Irish surging towards Sub Roman British Shieldwall.

I will tackle more Sub Roman British next, possibly some Noble Shieldwall, then some Noble Riders. After that, more Irish.

Dux Bellorum

Its been about two months since my last post, real life getting in the way of painting and such. Last week I managed to get in my first game of Dux Bellorum, the fine ruleset written by Dan Mersey and published by Osprey. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, which is a good thing as I had already started painting 10mm Sub Roman British! Here are my first three units: Riders, Shieldwall and Bow-armed Skirmishers:

 

The host arrayed for battle.

I decided to go with a yellow shield theme for both the shieldwall and riders. The skirmishers were given blue shields. 

This is a regular shieldwall, nothing special like nobles or companions. The better armored troops are in the front ranks and the unarmored and elderly behind them. I gave the commander of this unit a Jesus icon on his shield. The absence of a draco or other standard is how I can tell its plain ol' shieldwall.

Picture of the rear, this how they will look to most Saxons as they scurry from the battlefied! I tried to give them drab clothing with the occasional red trim.

The riders, in hindsight maybe I should have squeezed a sixth rider on the base. All shields are handpainted, going for simple designs. I may order some shield decals in the near future.

 Riders as seen from the Saxon point of view.

My skirmishers, a plucky lot of gents!

I used a new "wash" for the skirmishers and shieldwall, I mixed a few drops of my normal magic wash (Magic Floor Wax and Payne's Gray) with some Army Painter "strong" tone from the eye dropper range, I am really happy with the effect. I hope to paint up some more sooner rather than later (have some noble shieldwall on the paint desk right now). I also placed some orders for more Pendraken and some Magister Militum as well!

15mm Muskets & Tomahawk

At last year's Fall In, I played in a French & Indian War game (I think it was the Battle of Carillon using Carnage & Glory). While I wasn't a huge fan of the rules, I picked up a bunch of 18mm Blue Moon F&IW figures. Around the same time I also purchased 28mm Warlord figures and the Muskets & Tomahawk rules. Since then, all of these purchases have sat untouched. This is my effort to put an end to that inactivity.

I gave decided to go ahead with M&T using 15mm figures. This will help facilitate me painting up some forces of Native Americans, French and British Colonials. Here is my first unit, six Native American warriors:

I photographed these with a scenic landscape setting, no flash. Seems to have a "sepia" tone to the image. 

I tried to go with a consistent color scheme of red, blue and pale yellow. I really like these figures, like most Blue Moon, they are very easy to paint. I still need to clean up the edges of the bases and add a marking on there to denote the front of the base.

I tried to add a bunch of different types of ground litter, rocks and foliage to depict the "wilderness" on the bases. Next up will be another unit of Native Americans, a sachem and then some Campagnies Franche de Marine. I also need to get back to painting some 10mm Schleswig War too...

10mm Schleswig War Update...

Finished up some more units for my 10mm First Schleswig War project. Real life has impeded my progress a bit, but here are some additional figures, first up a second Schleswig-Holstein infantry unit and two Schleswig-Holstein jager units: 

Also finished up a unit of Dragoons for each side. The blue comes out lighter than it actually is in reality due to camera flash. Below are the two regiments ready to come to grips with each other:

A closeup of the Schleswig-Holstein dragoons, only one pose (not including the command figures), but the arms can be adjusted to create more "movement" within the masses.

The Danish dragoons. The red tunics really "pop" with the light blue. Multiple poses.

Next up are some additional infantry and some artillery for both sides. I will follow that up with some command bases and yet more infantry....wish me luck.

More Progress...on Different Fronts....

Had some extra spare time over the holidays to get some painting in. At the last Fall In, I picked up enough figures to field the British and Rebel armies at Cowpens for Maurice wargaming rules. I finished up my first unit, the British Legion infantry. I opted for green jackets and light infantry caps. The officer got bucksin colored trousers and the drummer clad all in green. Not sure how historically accurate, but then again who is? The figures are Blue Moon and they are an absolute delight to paint...

 In hindsight, I wish I had added some infantry in uncocked hats for diversity. If I paint a second unit, I will mix in more hats and a little more "ragtag" look.

 I used Reaper paints and finally found a base green that I was happy with (Shadow Green), the white is Reaper polished bone base coat with craft store white highlights. I'm not sure what the British Legion drums looked like, so I went buff with red. I just realized I forgot to paint the officer's gorget a brass color, that will have to be remedied.

 I also managed to finish up three more 10mm Danish units for the 1848 Schleswig War, adding an infantry unit and two jager units. The Jagers are "skirmishers" in the Neil Thomas rules for the 19th century and only comprise of two bases with two figures each.

 I used Reaper's "Shadow Green" for the jagers. I have to admit that I incorrectly painted the jager cross straps red (instead of black), but I will leave them since it looks sharp anyway.

 Next up are dragoon units for both Schleswig Holstein and Denmark, as well as some SH jagers. I completed 15mm Royal Ecossais for the '45 but haven't added flags yet.