Dark Age. Terrain 1

Clearing some space on my WIP shelf I have managed to complete the Dark Age Village I started in 2015,

I say 'finished' but what I mean is i have completed the first set of buildings. The buildings will also work well with Erin, Warhammer Fantasy and other medieval settings and 

My original inspiration was a set put together by Battle brush Studios 

battlebrushstudios.com

I ended up contacting Warbases who made the MDF buildings and sending them the link and asking if they could make me up  the same set, right down to the bases!

 warbases.co.uk

Warbases were extremely helpful and were able to make up the order and would recommend them for both quality of products and good value range  

MDF building with Coffee stirrers. The wood has been scored to add texture and take the paint better

Pigsty WIP

Bark Chippings wil form the basis of the small hill for the watch tower

Wattle fencing made for woven wire

The Competed set of buildings with flannel roofing for Thatching

First test building. I went with quite weathered and desaturated look to match up with the troops and also the green boards I have already made up

Small well I made a long time ago but will probably make a larger one to act as the village centre piece

Figures and terrain on green board

Pigsty

House

House with covered area with wattle fence

Watchtower on low hill

Between coats of paint I also made up three crop areas, sections of door mat cut and mounted on foamcard. Mud added to the edges and then grassed. 

Test set up with my green boards and trees. Using the lake I also made up a small dock out of coffee stirrers 

Small raiding party attack the settlement who can only muster a few defenders

Next on the build list for terrain will be a Barn, raised grain store, a stone bridge and a blacksmiths as well as some more green boards

Dark Age. Romano-British Warband 1

My current reading and viewing material is dominated by the Dark Ages and the work of Bernard Cornwell
Watching his Saxon series 'The Last Kingdom' and going through the books (just finished book two, The Pale Horseman) and book one of his Arthurian series 'The Winter King'

I have also started ' God of Vengeance' by Giles Kristian which is the start of a Viking series featuring the Viking Sigurd who he introduced in a previous series of which enjoyed immensely.

With all of that running through my head I dug out the Gripping Beast figures I still had and have started putting together a Romano-British Warband.

Ruleswise I have looked at several options, and Dux Britanniarum and Saga stand out for me so will build with both of them in mind.

The first unit using the Dux Britannarium starter force is the Archers. These have been put together from the Gripping Beast Late Roman Infantry boxed set. The Romano-British force starts off with 4 slingers or archers and I will add more later to build it up to a full 12 man unit for Saga.

I wanted quite a dirty Grimdark style for them and borrowed from the style (and mud) I was using for  my Turnip28 Project

The Bowstrings were added using thread

Figures were based on 2p

The first unit of Levy Spearmen build using Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors box and shields from the Late Roman Infantry box

The Shields are all handpainted and I wanted to keep them quite simple as befitting their station. The next six will give me the two starter units for Dux Britanniarum and one Levy unit for Saga

Warband so far...

Norse Terrain.P1

With my first order of Gripping Beast figures on the way I have decided to start on some terrain to get myself in the mood. For my first two pieces i have settled on a Norse monumental stones and a well. The well will be the start of a village set and i will also be able to use it in my Bloodbath at Orc's drift collection.

My ideas for the monument was a couple of studying stones with half worn carvings the could act as a feature piece but also act as cover. 

I had a small collection of Bark pieces that could be reused as Standing stones and are soft enough to carve into with some ease. The larger has a stylised Raven on one side and on the other  is a half worn image of Yggdrasil. The other has some knot work. The two pieces have been mounted on card and a CD disc as with my previous terrain pieces.

The well was created from a section of Tin Foil card roll and the base edged with some larger stones made from lollypop stick wood.

So far they surface has been covered with NoMOreNails and topped with sand and gravel with a PVA cover.

From the North!!

I have been a little quiet of late, but only online so have a bit to catch up regarding numerous projects and a couple of new ones

Between the various GW forces I have also made a break into the world of Gripping Beast and their Dark Age system.

I recently started watching the History channel series Viking which has rekindled my interested in 'Dark Age' history.

Gripping Beast produces a skirmish system for a range of 8-9th century races from the Vikings to Normans and Saxons. They also produce their own figures, both metal and plastic at a very reasonable cost, £33 can get you a full starter warband of 25 figures while the plastic unit boxes which go for around £20 will give you enough for 44 figures!

I had toyed with the idea of going for 15mm figures but sticking with 28mm I will be able to use my existing terrain and also reuse any I make for these figures, I already have an idea for some pieces and a village...

For my first purchase I have gone for the Gripping Beast Hirdmen box, watch this space for more when it arrives

 

Gripping Beast

History.com