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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Which way the lead mountain?

After a decades long layoff, I came back to miniatures as a father-son project.  My son wanted to play Warhammer Fantasy so I bought unpainted collections at Bartertown. In short order, I had a plastic mountain of Orcs & Goblins, Dwarfs, and Tomb Kings.  Being new at this, my son and I were very slow painters. That plus assembling the figures meant it took us many sessions to finish a single unit.  And there were so damned many GW boxes! What was I thinking, buying 3 armies at once?  Every time I got a peek at the plastic mountain, my enthusiasm for painting sunk.  When my son moved onto the world of music, I was left to finish the lot myself.

I did eventually finish at a rate of an army a year but the experience left a mark.  When I quit fantasy for historicals, I decided to avoid this mistake.  I use an accountant's precision to plot my purchases.  I keep a first in, first out (FIFO) painting system. Before I start a new project, I finish the old one.  With this push, my collection of unpainted 28mm minis is down to 6 figures.

These fellows fill some  gaps in my Viking and Anglo-Danish warbands for Saga.  I used triads with the cloaks but I toned down my color jumps and washed to flatten them out for a more gradual transition.

The slingers add an important shooty element to the Anglo-Danish warband. Being levy, they're quite dull to look at.  

Running out of things to paint, I also finished some Saga color items including aditional fatigue counters. 






With my Just in time inventory system maxed, I'm back to sifting through unpainted lead at Bartertown and browsing Architectsofwar.  I've got my eye on more Dark Age figures.  It can't hurt to keep a lead molehill, can it?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Strategos and his men

Like a proud dad, I want to show off my new "baby."  I showed this bunch to my neighbors and my parents before boxing them up for  California. Yea, you're probably wishing you were MY neighbor!
I love this warlord figure.  I do wish the horse came in full barding but perhaps this model represents a moment when the Byzantines were short of cash.  Paying the Varangian Guard and bribing invading barbarians to go away has a way of putting a dent in the treasury.

Four of these Saga fatigue markers go out the door with the warband and one goes to my Normans.

With the lovely Gripping Beast figures and bright palette, the Byzantines were my favorite war band to paint to date. I'll come back to them again by book and perhaps, by paintbrush too.  I love  painting Dark Age war bands but I'm also on the lookout for a bigger project in 2014.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

B is for Βυζαντινή

If you saw the B word and thought, "it's Greek to me," you're correct! It's Greek for Byzantine. Hopefully you'll also see a tight and bright palette here. All Gripping Beast figs and I should mention the warriors have lots of kit on them! 

TOXATOI: These bow-armed warriors come in handy with the SAGA battleboard abilities Massed Archery (fire over friendly units) and Support Archers (shoot into a melee disregarding friendly units in line of sight).  
KONTARATOI:  Spear-armed warriors.  The "prime white & wash with Burnt Umber ink" is back in play.  
PSILOI:  Javelin-armed levies. Even though levy foot are looked down on in Saga, I've seen them pull off amazing feats.  If nothing else, they soak up lots of missile fire and are a chore to destroy in melee!
My PC is still down, awaiting for a new video card and that's slowed me down.  Here's hoping that when it finally arrives, it fixes the problem.  The good thing about being your own IT is saving $.  The bad thing is making an educated guess and discovering you're wrong!