Tuesday, 6 November 2012

The very last of my vikings

Today I’ll be listing on eBay the personality figures for the Viking army I’ve recently posted.   All images can be clicked for greater detail.  They are all matt varnished and based to a high standard.  Links go to the relevant auctions, I've started them all at 99p.



28mm Foundry Viking Jarl with Standard.  The Jarl is armed with a 2 handed axe, and his standard-bearer a sword ; perfect as a CinC or army standard.  These Foundry miniatures have been painted to a very high standard and based on a 40mm diameter magnetised MDF base.



28mm Viking Looters.  Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat- oh no, the Vikings have got it!  Dixon Vikings, painted to a superb standard.



28mm Viking Drinker.  Every Viking camp needs one!   Another Dixon Viking, painted to a very high standard.



28mm Viking adventurer.  Rather reminds me of Viggo Mortensen, this chap...  swordsman with bow.  Painted to a high standard.



28mm Viking Berserk.  Enthusiastic Berserk!  Painted to a high standard.


And last but certainly not least... 28mm Viking Cart.  This is a lovely Gripping Beast handcart with two beautifully naturalistic Viking looters, again painted and based to a superb standard; my favourite of all the pieces.  Perfect in a camp, or as an objective marker.

And those are the very last miniatures in my viking army; unless you want my longhouse... which is for sale, but not going on eBay.

Update- all sold, thanks!

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Viking Rump Sale

Not an exercise in extreme butchery, but a link to the rump of miniatures from my 28mm Viking army and some Crusaders that I'm listing on eBay, today, at the low, low price of 99p per unit.  All the miniatures are mounted on magnabased card and can easily be removed, if required to be re-based for different systems (Saga, for example). 

All the images are clickable

8 Normans, or Crusaders.  Gripping Beast.  Very nicely painted and based.


Viking Jarl and Huscarls (16)- Essex with some Foundry.  Tabletop painting standard, but nice command.

Viking Huscarls (20)- mostly Essex.  Tabletop painting standard.

More Huscarls (8)- Gripping Beast.  Nicely painted and well based.

Archers (8) and Slingers (3)- Essex and Citadel.  Tabletop painting standard.

Viking Bondi (24) - Mostly Citadel, some Foundry.  Nicely painted and based (see below for closeup).


Update- all sold, thanks!

FleaBay Greeks



Following my recent game against Wabby George’s Greeks, I decided to refurbish and slightly expand my own, smallish, hoplite collection.  I plan to expand and reorganise to 6 units of 36 warriors, formed in 3 ranks.  Three of these will be Spartans, one Tegean allies, and two of other Greeks.


This particular unit originally consisted of 16 Greek hoplites in attacking poses, most of whom are repaints of a cheap but tatty eBay purchase.  The helmet styles are an eclectic mix of Corinthian, Chalcidian and Attic.  I’ve painted 8 more to match, tarted up some of the shields and rebased them into 3 double-elements of 8.  When time permits, I’ll add a rear rank of 12 and they will be done!

Saturday, 3 November 2012

Mountain of Shame

Legatus Hedlius has bravely shown his mountain of unpainted metal miniatures, and I felt that, in the interest of disclosure, I should respond by showing (most) of my own.  The below are my unpainted metal miniatures storage areas.


Above is the core of the lead mountain; Foundry boxes, full of Foundry miniatures (mostly Copplestone and Saleh), on top of a bookcase.  I once suffered an avalanche, when a box at the bottom gave way under the weight; the aftermath wasn't pretty.  Perhaps 2000 28mm metal miniatures.

Below is the one of the foothills, on top of another bookcase, this time including quite a few Perrys, some lovely Foundry Saleh Persians, and a generous force of Aventines.  Perhaps 800 unpainted miniatures.


I almost forgot this next heap, on the right- here are more Aventines, A&A miniatures MIR Romans, and others, including some Native Americans (never going to get painted, those!).  Also in this pile are quite a few painted but un-based miniatures (oh the horror!).  At least 500 unpainted miniatures.

Finally there are the miniatures stored in the loft; I reckon that there are at least 1000 up there, that I can't fit in downstairs.  These include fantasy figures, a couple hundred more Foundry Romans, Perry metal Napoleonics and such forth.

In total I estimate that I have 4300+ unpainted 28mm metals (and perhaps 1000 unpainted Perry and Victrix plastics).  My unpainted miniatures actually outnumber my painted!

Oh the shame...

Friday, 2 November 2012

Striking Gold

...so I suspected that I had a few Foundry Spartans left, lurking somewhere deep in the lead mountain.  A major excavation discovered no less than 100 Spartans!  Moreover, one of the test pits struck gold; I came across no less than 5 of the recent Foundry Celtic chariots,hidden at the very core of the mountain.  This completely forgotten purchase will be directly useful in the big chariot project that I have slowly burning away in the background.

Life has been interfering with art, recently.  My mother-in-law is moving nearer to us and I'm doing a lot of the organising, which means I'm not going to have much time to game over the next month.  I'm still getting plenty of painting time, though, and have several projects inching toward completion, of which more, anon.

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Chariots- Pole to pole


This week I was lucky enough to pick up my first Warlord chariots, and I thought I'd post a couple of shots.  The Warlord is on the right, next to the best chariot I've found, from Relik, on the left. 

The Warlord is noticeably longer in the body, and very much longer in the pole.  A charioteer would get knackered running up and down that!  I'll be cutting mine down to the same length as the Relik model. I like the wicker bodywork of the chariot, the pole is nice and slender, and the yoke has great detail.  The wheels are nicely proportioned- almost as nice as Relik's (just feeling a tiny tad too small, perhaps because the chariot body is larger?).


Like Relik's, the Warlord horses are well proportioned and nicely animated.  As with many chariot horse models, I cannot help but wish that they be a bit more pony-like, but I'll certainly be very pleased to use them.  I've not photographed the crew, but they are well animated, too.

All in all I'm very pleased with my Warlords.  Someone clearly did some research before sculpting them.  They will form a valuable addition to my force; I may even pick up a few more!


Saturday, 27 October 2012

Either with this or on this


We played another Greek on Greek hoplite game this week, using the grid-based rules I'm developing.  My Spartans are on the right, and this time George fielded a Theban force, on the left.


Again the Spartiates were deployed on the extreme right.  That's King Agis and his panel of advisers, in the front.


The Spartans attacked on the right, but one of the Theban units unexpectedly drove forward in the centre, pushing back the opposing unit of Spartan allies.


Above, on their left, the Spartan skirmishers pushed forward, past some Cretans hiding in the vineyard.  Epaminondas failed a lot of activation roles, and the Thebans weren't able to execute their planned flank attack.  In particular, their elite unit, the particularly deep unit in their centre, remained stubbornly stationary.  Bad omens?


King Agis was slain by a lucky javelin throw; there was an animated discussion about reducing the mortality rates amongst generals...  His body was carried away on his shield.


...but the Spartan right smashed the opposing Theban allies and then successfully turned to flank the Thebans.

The Thebans struggled to make activation rolls (partly due to atrocious luck and partly due to out of command distance); I'll be giving some thought to the activation system, prior to the next play test in a few week's time.