Ebba's Cattle Raid

The Saxon warlord Ebba sensed the Romano-British were close by, lurking in the mist-haunted flat landscape of the Fen country. He deployed his forces as best he could to anticipate attack from any direction. A group of warriors drove the stolen cattle onward, the hearthguard to the right flank, the remaining warriors and skirmishers to the left.

Ebba's instincts proved correct when groups of British warriors and elites emerged on his left flank...

First priority - get the cattle away. The drovers urge the beasts to greater speed whilst the raiders turn to face the enemy.The skirmishers fire at the oncoming Roman-British, inflicting mild shock on the warriors.

Cynbel the Magnificent leads the elites in a fierce charge against the Saxon intruders. Facing off against his opposite number Oeric the Insane, shrewd blows are traded.

As Cynbel engages the enemy Lord Barriventus leads the levy across the broken ground to intercept the cattle drovers. Has he made it in time?

Cynbel's men strike down two Saxons. Armour Bright preserves both British and Saxon Lords from harm. 

Barriventus is more concerned with the safety of his levy than with intercepting the stolen cattle. He orders the two groups into formation and erects the shieldwall just in time. Ebba himself leads his hearthguard into action. A hail of missiles strikes the shieldwall to no effect before the clash of arms commences. A third group of levy are hung up in the gorse and bracken, but are poised to come in on Ebba's flank - if they can pluck up the nerve to tangle with the fierce Saxon elites.

It looks like Barriventus' taking his eye off the ball will cost the Romano-British dearly. At Ebba's behest Saxon Lord Wigmund leaves the hearthguard and joins the cattle drovers in urging the beasts onward. The cattle need little encouragement to get away from the screaming and clashing of combat.

Over on the left flank the Romano-British warriors engage. The pressure is too much for the Saxons. One group breaks and routs. Satisfied all is well there, Gaius Menusius becomes anxious about the cattle. He pushes through the rough heathland to the isolated group of levy, and sees all is far from well with Barriventus.

The stalwart Lord is holding the Saxon hearthguard, who can make little impression on the shieldwall, but beyond the melee Gaius can see the cattle being driven away. Cursing under his breath Gaius urges the levy group into combat in a bid to break the Saxons so he can get to the cattle before it's too late. Coming in on the flank and rear of the hearthguard makes a serious impact for which the Saxons have little response.

Concerned for his fellows, Wigmund pauses to look back at the battle. The sight of Saxon warriors running away from battle justifies his concern, but he has almost got the cattle clear from the scene.

Gaius' plan works. The Saxon hearthguard take enough casualties and shock to make them fall back. Shaking the levy free of the fading melee Gaius leads them in a race against time - but the hot pursuit isn't hot enough. With a last effort Wigmund and his men drive the stolen cattle into the Fenland mists and safety.

The end of the affair. The deaths of numerous Saxon warriors will lead to much weeping amongst the womenfolk in the halls and bothies back home. Tired and battered, the survivors make their escape. Two won't reach the halls again, falling victim to accident and banditry in the hostile countryside, but the cattle are won and there's loot to share out. Ebba grudgingly concedes the enemy aren't as weak and feeble as he'd been led to believe, but he is content enough. Once he's had time to lick his wounds and recoup his losses, he'll be back to test the Romano-British once more.

So ends my first game of Dux Britanniarum, and very enjoyable it was too. I'll post a write-up of the way the rules played soon, head cold and time permitting.

The Archers - and a Pulp kickstarter

Apologies to those British readers who now have that theme tune running through their head. More on the kickstarter later.

Anyway, I've finished the archers for both Romano-British and Saxon forces...

The Romano-British - some of whom look rather nervous.

The Saxons - ready to administer some long-range violence to those effete Roman nonces.

Since light troops are individually based in Dux B rules, I made the archer bases a bit larger than those for the close-order troops so the figures are more stable.

Next up on the painting block is the Saxon leadership contingent. Some interesting poses amongst these. There's the Mighty Man of Yore on the left, a true giant of a bare-chested Saxon champion about to give someone a heck of a belt with his axe. Next to him is the horn blower, a skinny twerp who's possibly related to the Saxon Lord's wife, a youth who has been given the horn blowing duties to keep him out of the battle line where he might get hurt. The Lord himself is next, a bluff chap pointing and shouting orders. Behind him is another champion, a lightly-equipped bloke armed with a quarterstaff. Next to the Lord is another champion of more conventional appearance. The standard bearer is the only two piece figure in the batch. His standard is an animal skull on a pole. Last, and by no means least is the shaman, another skinny and half-naked bloke getting down and funky with a large snake in his attempt to unnerve the enemy.

I had a bit of a think about bases - as you do - and instead of going with the cast bases used for the Romano-British I'll make new ones for the Saxons. I've seen some used that have a staggered arrangement of holes to give the impression of a more fluid, armed mob style of fighting which fits with the Saxon way of war, so I'll try that.

The command figures will possibly be finished before this weekend, when we'll be at Archon 42 mixing with other nerds. Then (whisper it softly) I will be able to get a game of Dux Britanniarum going.

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Splintered Light Miniatures have launched their first kickstarter aimed at the Pulp/fantasy market in the shape of a 15mm Egyptian fantasy army - The Scarab-men. The sculpts are pretty good and it's worth a look for those gaming Pulp or Fantasy in that scale.

Gedridht completed

A bit more progress on the Dux B project. The Saxon Gedridth (hearth guard) are finished.

I forgot I needed to attach the shields after doing the basework and not before, which made applying the gunk a bit more fiddly than it had to be, but all's done. I did have a small problem with the shield transfers since they're slightly larger than the shields themselves, requiring a bit of careful trimming around the edges.

The Splintered Light Early Saxon starter army turned out to have more figures than required in the Dux Britanniarum rules, to the tune of six extra gedridht. This isn't a problem, since success in a campaign can be rewarded by the arrival of extra warriors to fight under the Warlord's banner. Although these are nominally for the Saxon force they could conceivably be used as Saxon foederatii loyal to or hired by the Romano-British Lord.

I have the archers on the painting block and undercoated. Once they're done I'll do the warlord and his champions next. I wish I knew where I put that bloody base mold...

Saxon geoguth completed

As the title says, I finished the Saxon geoguth (warriors) yesterday. They're all based up and the shields attached. Once again I used Little Big Men Studios decals for the shield motifs. They save a lot of faffing around painting those tiny designs in this scale.

The geoguth are the run of the mill warriors who form the backbone of the Saxon army. They range from men equipped with nothing more than shield, axe, sword or spear, to men of greater means, perhaps veterans of an earlier raid on Britain, who gained enough loot to afford a helmet and better quality weapons.

I have the Gedridht (hearth guard) on the painting block now. These men are heavily armed and armoured and form the elite troops of the Saxon army. Wonder of wonders, I found my acrylic inks so I can make richer colours for cloaks and tunics and so on. Now I just have to find the silicone mold to make movement bases for the Saxons.

Tunnie's Terrain

A shout out now on behalf of my old friend Stephen Tunmore, of Tunnie's Terrain. This guy has taken on the mantle of the late Ian Weekley where it comes to producing superb wargames terrain set in multiple areas of conflict. I've had the pleasure of gaming over his scenery several times. An example of his work, taken from the North African battle of Bir Hacheim is shown below.

French Foreign Legion troops prepare to defend the settlement against the Axis forces.

If you're in the market for excellent terrain at reasonable prices, pay Stephen a visit here. 

With luck and a following wind we'll be heading over to England for a visit to family and friends in a few week's time. Stephen's promised to roll out the battlefield shown above at our club in New Buckenham, Norfolk for a game.

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In other news, I've almost finished the Early Saxon Geoguth (Warriors) warband for Dux B. It's been quite a while since I slapped some pigment on wargames figures, but it didn't take me too long to get back into the swing of things. Splintered Light make excellent 15mm figures and it's a pleasure to paint them up. This batch have just gone through the indignity of being dipped in the varnish/ink mix. All I need do now is let them dry, apply the matte varnish, then base them up. Photos to follow sometime this weekend.

Battleship Row & Saxon Shinies

Construction of the Majestic-class battleships is finished, and I got a primer coat on them using Rustoleum grey. The weather has turned cooler and damper, so although I sprayed the models a couple of days ago the paint is still wet in parts. All very annoying. Still, they look okay.

They took a bit of cleaning up beforehand. Although the silicone works as a molding material, it starts to degrade after about the fifth casting, so I'm going to limit all future casts to that number of ships or fewer.

Much rejoicing followed when the early Saxons marched in this afternoon. I ordered the starter army plus a pack of Romano-British archers from Splintered Light Miniatures. They were mailed yesterday afternoon and arrived within 24 hours. Excellent work by the USPS!

I ordered a batch of archers, as reinforcements can reach the warlords or be hired by them over the course of a Dux B campaign, and archers/skirmishers are first on the table of extras in the rules.

So, I'm going to be busy for the next week or so painting Dux B figures as well as working up opposing forces for the pre-Dreadnought games. It's one of those times when projects seem to take ages to come together then everything happens at once. Them's the breaks...

The Armed Might of Gaius Menusius

Aaand we're done!

Comanipulari to the bottom of the photo, Milites alongside them, with the numeri/levy bringing up the rear.

Tribune Gaius Menusius leads the charge.

All the shield transfers are on and the Romano-British army is ready to contest the Saxon invaders' attempt to conquer their homeland.

For some reason there are sixteen round shield designs in the LBMS set, but only one round shield in the Splintered Light Dux B pack the transfers are intended for. There are not enough for the oval shields. Since I was short four transfers for the champions and nobles, I painted those freehand. Luckily a few Chi-Rho designs are a lot easier to reproduce on a 15mm shield than later heraldic devices! I gave the natty little targe-type shield to the standard bearer, Fred Heckmonthwaite the Red, Pride of Spagthorpium*.

*Spagthorpium: Believed to have been founded in AD79½ as a small colonia of retired legionaries in what is now Yorkshire. The site fell victim to reverse coastal erosion in the 17th century. Sighted heading northwest in the vicinity of Leeds in March 1922, its current whereabouts are unknown.
 

Splintered Light Miniatures holiday sale

What it says on the tin - Splintered Light Miniatures are having a 25% off holiday sale on most ranges until the end of this month. They are nice 15mm figures, and you can see part of my collection in the photo above.

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In other news, Esther, our house move is still on hold. We're waiting for the current occupant of the house to move out, which won't be for a few more days yet - possibly mid-month. To say my wife and I are frustrated would be an understatement. This time of year, with the holiday season upon us and the onset of worsening weather will make our eventual move all the more difficult. I'd like to take advantage of the offer above, but we'll need a proper mailing address for that. As we've already discovered to our cost, forwarded mail via the USPS is for the birds...

The Cook, the Priest, his Wife* and her Mother

In other words I've finished the civilians, the rustica populus - those good folks that expensive army led by the Dux Britanniarum is paid to protect.

The small village of Oprobrium goes about its daily round.

These are Splintered Light Miniatures, and the nicest 15mm figures I've had the pleasure of painting. There is a round dozen in the set. They have clear features and some lovely detailed touches.

Father Superfluous points out the site of the future village church to his admiring family. 

In the Dux Britanniarum rules Lords who have gained sufficient wealth and status may add religious leaders to their retinue. These confer moral benefits according to rank. The priest figure will fulfil this role when needed. The next item on this project will be to make a proper village church for him. 

So, there's the end of the Romano-British side - for now. Other units may be added later, time and funds permitting. Hopefully I'll get the Saxon invaders sometime before the end of the year.

For now I'm taking a short break from gaming to make a wedding cake topper for two friends. Something a little different!

* Yes. The Catholic church of this time allowed married men to be ordained provided they oberved the rule of celibacy afterwards (no fun for their wives, I feel). It wasn't until much later that the general ban on married priests was enforced - and even then it proved sporadic. Here endeth the lesson.

Lords, Leaders and Champions

The Lords, leaders and champions have been on the painting block for several weeks now, but I finally finished and based them up.

I used the metal cap from a tube of Pilsbury dough for the command base, featuring the trio of Lord, standard bearer and horn blower. Liquid Nails formed the groundwork, smeared around the figures' bases and painted once dry.For the paint stage I began with a dark green, infused some earth brown into it while still wet, followed it with more earth brown once the green had dried, then finished off with two successive goings-over with lighter shades of green. A few pieces of pea-gravel added to the scenery and broke up the regularity. Sturdy card discs with more Liquid Nails made up the bases for the subordinate leaders/champions.

And then there are these chaps...

I'd forgotten the light infantry component of the Romano-British army. The figure on the right is another Comanipulares who got mixed up with the civilians (the perils of packing stuff away in a hurry prior to a house move which didn't come off). I think the Romano-British skirmishers are supposed to be javelinmen under the Dux B rules, but it doesn't really matter. I take these chaps to be woodsmen, hunters, and/or blokes who just happen to be tasty with a bow, out to persuade the Saxons to go elsewhere.

Milites on the painting block

The edits on my next book are in the final stages, and another book has been accepted for publication - always a good thing for an author! More hurry-up-and-wait as far as the house sale goes, however. To get away from things for a while my wife and I attended the Marcon 52 weekend in Columbus, OH, which was... okay. Numbers seemed way down from last year, which may be due to the event falling on Mothers' Day here in the US. By contrast the gaming section had been moved to the main floor and seemed packed. Go figure.

Back home, I resumed painting the Milites, the twelve-figure mainstay of the Romano-British Dux Britanniarum forces.

These are 15mm Splintered Light Miniatures, and rather nice they are too. I haven't much left to paint now - just the hair, leggings, shoes and bases and decorative trim - before highlighting and dunking them in the varnish and ink dip. Once these are done I'll move on to the Comanipulares, the elite troops of the Romano-British army, along with the nobles and champions. After those it'll be on to the civilians, the long-suffering taxpayers all these armed and armoured fellows are paid to protect from the Saxons.

Dux Britanniarum Romano-British levy almost there

Progress with the new figures has been slow and intermittent these past couple of weeks, but I've almost finished the Romano-British levy. It's been a while since I painted anything over 10mm in size and it took a bit of practice to get back into the swing of things. My eyesight isn't what it used to be and my brushes are looking their age too. Even so, I think I've achieved a reasonable result.

I didn't bother with fancy decoration since these are your workaday folks called forth from field and workshop to defend their land against the Saxon invaders. When I get to the more prosperous men of the Teulu and Combrogi then I'll attempt more decorative clothing - eyesight permitting.

The shields are next on the to-do list. At the moment I'm thinking of ordering the decals made for the purpose by Little Big Men Studios. They'll save a lot of eye-strain. The backs of the shields will be a basic brown. One trick I found is to stick the shields to a strip of masking tape, as it'll hold them in place whilst they're painted. After that, the Combrogi will take their turn on the painting block.