JJ's Dark Age Collection

As anyone who has been following the blog over recent months, will have noticed that in between the posts about trips to Holland and Over the Hills play-tests, there has been a collection quietly building in the background.

Viking Hirdmen
Dark Age Warriors
Saxon Thegns

Things got started back in September last year, but the inspiration to get this collection built can be traced back to our trip to York last June with all the Viking inspiration that city can generate coupled with a re-visit to Dux Bellorum as a potential rule set to use.

Devon Wargames - Dux Bellorum

My Saxon (nearest to camera) and Viking hosts all sabot based up and ready to go

Whilst putting this lot together I had to start thinking about storage and basing, the first consideration has seen me join the rest of wargaming humanity by purchasing my first set of Really Useful Boxes together with some inserts from Warbases to carry multiple layers of figures in the nine litre boxes.

Warbases RUB Inserts

The Viking collection complete with its motley band of archers

When not in transit I plan to put these chaps in the room display cabinets, but hopefully two nine litre RUB's will carry this lot, the rules, a bit of terrain and markers.

With opposing forces mustered I now need to start thinking about terrain

The other consideration was basing which ended up with me using the six figure rectangular sabot bases for heavy infantry, be they warrior or shield wall and the three frontage skirmish bases for my light troops.

One last part of the plan was putting together a few Saxon and Viking helmeted warriors together with some suitably styled shields which will act as markers on my generic warrior bases to indicate the team they are on. That way I can mix and match my warriors between my Saxon and Viking forces as the scenario dictates.

The bulk of these figures are Gripping Beast plastics and I have enjoyed working on them

In time, I plan to add a few other pieces to this core collection including a few mounted types and eventually another group from the ninth century like some Welsh to represent the groups down in the far west country.

Alongside the warriors I want to get some casualty figures to sprinkle about the table as required and I thought a few civilian types including the odd monk or priest would make a nice addition.

The Saxons can field a strong armoured component together with slinger and javelin skirmishers

The Viking collection is configured to allow a raiding or army set up under Dux Bel.

Whilst adding bits at last November's Warfare show I invested in a lovely looking Celtic cross from Trevor Holland at Coritani/Magnetic Displays.

Celtic Cross Painted or Unpainted

I think the cross should serve as an interesting objective marker.

The archers were picked up at Warfare last November

The Viking archers are metals from the Gripping Beast range and are supplied with loose bows.

These are Gripping Beast metals which work well with the plastic ranges

The Saxon skirmishers are built from the Dark Age Warrior plastics using javelin or slinger options

In addition to other figures the shopping list also includes getting a range of Dark Age buildings and a timber wall to do some attacks on Burghs with a few scaling ladders thrown in for good measure.

Having visited Lydford a few years ago, which was a Royal Mint back in the ninth century and actually beat off a Viking attack against its walls, I fancy trying to build a scenario around it.

These chaps should allow for the annoyance factor in any Dux Bel game

I also intend to add a lot more banners, and thanks to Ray Roussel for making available some of his own designs. They really are nice and add a bit of variety to the LBM produced options. I just need to put a few more standard bearers together, so that is on the list as well.

A few extras were added to the collection including this downloadable Viking banner from Ray Roussell's blog - cheers Ray

Don't Throw a One - Viking Flags

My Celtic Cross, my first piece of period terrain

With this project now done I now just have one smaller one to attend to, namely a couple of sections of 28mm Fallschirmjager and a certain famous Captain in the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard who will be gracing the table at this summer's trip to Chez Chaz for our north Devon big game and then I can finally turn my attention to the big project, the Romano-Dacians which I am really looking forward to getting stuck into.

Viking Hirdmen

I thought we should get 2018 off to the right start in the way we mean things to continue and begin the year with one of the most fearsome sights any self respecting member of the Devon Fyrd might feel a little quiver of anxiousness facing.

These Viking Hirdmen, first put together on holiday in Holland last summer, have been glowering at me for a few weeks on the painting desk as time has been earmarked to organising other projects, but with the acquisition of the banner-man at Warfare together with the required shield decals in November and the run into Xmas freeing up extra down-time I was determined to press on to get these chaps done in time for the new year.

As mentioned with the other sets of Gripping Beast plastics, they really do allow the wargamer to rapidly build a nice collection of figures at very reasonable cost in pretty short order and with a few mixed head options and the addition of a few cameo metals can be made to fit the bill in terms of being easy on the eye.

Although quite stylised in appearance with plaited beards and side locks they really do look quite different from the Saxon counterparts and I really love the two handed Dane-axe wielders who with their shields slung really look the part.

As mentioned previously I am planning to use these with Dux Bellorum to fight the bigger battles I have in mind, with some really interesting fights to do that occurred down here in Devon.

The six figure sabot bases should work fine with Dux Bel and the twelve to fifteen bases per force fit nicely onto my 6 x 4 mat with the larger table available should the fancy take me.

I had originally planned to use the loser style six figure sabot base to distinguish shield wall from warrior troop types but now plan to have all units using these rectangular options with a note as to which sides are using which formation type.

For the odd skirmish affair I plan to use Dux Britanniarum as the preferred rules and thus I was keen to keep the skirmish basing as an option for the smaller clashes envisaged.

Work to complete this collection, to get some games kicked off early for 2018, now moves to my Viking and Saxon skirmishers, bows, javelins and slingers, together with the remaining options from my second box of Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors suitably attired to double up as either Viking or Saxon spear carriers as required.

Just to reiterate these figures are the Gripping Beast Plastic Viking Hirdmen with a metal standard bearer, also from Gripping Beast and the shield decals are from Little Big Man specifically designed for this range.

So on with the last few figures to complete this collection and then work moves to a 20th century theme for our planned summer game in North Devon and then I can move on to all things Romano-Dacian.

Dark Age Warriors

Progress continues to get the Dux Bellorum dark age collection put together, hopefully up to and over the Xmas break so I can then resume work on the Romano-Dacians.

I purchased four boxes of Gripping Beast plastics, one of Saxon Thegns, posted about previously.

Saxon Thegns

A box of Viking Hirdmen, now on the desk having put them together in Holland this summer and two boxes of Dark Age Warriors, one of which is now done and pictured here.

These four boxes together with some extra metals to add some extra personality and a few different choices will compose my Anglo-Saxon and Viking armies.

The Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors allow the collector to amass a relatively generic force of bearded spear carriers that could be found bulking out a lot of the armies of this period and with the addition of a few helmeted and capped heads can be tailored to give a, in this case, Saxon or Viking feel to the force.

Not only that but the inclusion of some slinger arm options allowed me to build the few examples seen here which will be added to with the completion of the second box to provide my two units of such troops for my Anglo-Saxon force choice options.

As with the Thegns, en mass these chaps look pretty good and really need just a few banner men and some metal leader characters to finish them off, which is the intention.

Having played my first game of Dux Bellorum this month at the Devon Wargames Group meeting I have been inspired to get this little project finished sooner than later, just needing to get a few bits of terrain items to dress the table with.

DWG - Dux Bellorum Game

My visit to Warfare last weekend in Reading presented an opportunity to pick up some Viking shield decals and archers from Gripping Beast and some extra hit dice and fames from Mini Bits

So with fifty percent of the collection done it is on with the Viking Hirdmen which are really nice and seem to capture well the fierce aspect of those men.

As mentioned these figures are the Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age Warriors and the shield decals are the Little Big Men offerings designed for them.

Another consequence of the trip to Reading last weekend is the box of Perry AWI Continental Infantry I picked up, that will provide my contribution to this year's Gus Murchie Memorial Game at the Devon Wargames Group. So they will have to take precedence and be the next painting project to feature.

Roman Imperial Legionary Cohort

I now consider the Roman collection well and truly under way with the completion of the Victrix Roman Early Imperial Legionaries that I was putting together in the summer during our break in Holland.

Victrix Early Imperial Roman Legionaries Advancing

I have been so looking forward to doing these ever since Victrix announced the launch with their CAD images of the new figures and they have been such fun to put together and learn my way around with a brush, which is the normal routine when getting familiar with painting a new set of figures.

As explained in my previous post looking at the Dacian Cap Wearer warband I have put together my own basing plan based on Augustus to Aurelian with the idea of reducing the number of bases players have to push around the table whilst still being able to indicate any given formation.

Dacian Cap Wearer Warband

So here is my Quingenary Cohort made flesh or in this case plastic, and what a fine bunch of men they look, ready to create a bit of Pax Romana if the situation demands.

The look of my cohort has a certain symmetry in that I have settled on this three base set up which conveniently mirrors the three maniples of two centuries each numbering around 80 men thus a cohort of 480 men; I have assumed a figure to man ratio of about 1:25 with each of my three bases coming in slightly below paper strength at 150 men, thus a campaigning cohort of about 450 men.

I chose for my first cohort the black shields in honour of the first book that got me interested in this period at the tender age of nineteen, namely John Warry's "Warfare in the Classical World" published by Salamander Books back in 1980 with some fantastic colour illustrations including the one below and the inspiration for my unit, this black shielded or scutum legionary from the 1st century AD.

The figures went together very easily and, as I suggest in my little video clip attached below, they provide lots of scope for the scratch builders among us who love messing about to come up with those unique figures in our collections.

The musicians and various standard bearers come with a variety of big beast animal pelts that really make the command party stand out and the cornu is enhanced by taking a pin vice and drilling out the horn mouth to suggest a noise might be emitted from it.

The legionaries can be modelled with two types of imperial model helmets, one having reinforcing bars across the bowl, pugio and gladius scabbards which again adds to the variation for the eye.

As with the Dacians, these chaps are well defined, with calf muscles that look like they have put in a few Roman miles of marching to get to the battlefield.

The weaponry is solid and those pila heads look like they could cause a lot of damage coupled with a solid ball weight at the base of the pins holding the long tapering shank in place.

Finally we have the Optio modelled here looking along the line and making sure the dressing is correct and every man is in his allotted place.

The figures come with oval shields and helmet crests to allow either legionaries or praetorians to be modelled and LBM supply a varied range of shield decals to suit most requirements.

I should say I had a bit of fun, not for the first time, mastering the decals particularly with the pronounced curve on these models that can make detaching the decal from the backing paper a little trickier than normal, but as you can see they really finish the off the figures.

As with the Napoleonics I have added a video clip to talk about panting these and the Dacians, focussing on my colour options for the flesh work, together with a look at some of the books I have been referring to for inspiration or for painting guides.

These little clips are not intended as tutorials and assume you have an idea of how to paint the figures and are more designed to illustrate specifics in the way I paint that you might like to use along with references I have found most useful.

So if you can imagine nine similar units with a roughly equal number of auxiliaries and a first cohort with five instead of three bases with an eagle to wave around plus a few 'donkey wallopers' on the flanks, you have a legion to ready to take it to the Dacian hordes - what fun.