Baggage and pack horses

A selection of baggage elements has been on my to do list for quite some time as they are very useful for a variety of skirmish scenario's and scene fillers for larger games plus I really like the "extras" that various manufacturer's make as they add life and character to games.

This set is from Gripping Beast and was fun to do albeit time consuming. The reason is mainly the wood which I paint individually and construes a large portion of the miniatures, but I feel it's worth it as I prefer the controlled effect rather then a quicker dry brush for example. The horse sculpts were also a bit different then I'm used to as they had hair modeled on the coat so it took a slightly different approach to get the look I generally like.

Since the baggage carts and pack horses can be used for multiple periods I decided to base the peasants individually so they could be traded out for other handlers when needed.

The peasants were painted in a pretty low key color scheme as they didn't looked to be wealthy, but I wouldn't say they were dirt poor so I did add a little bit of color.

Well I'm really having fun with Dark Age figures right now, but I do have some terrain that is demanding attention. I vastly prefer painting figures, but terrain is very important so hopefully I can get some done!

I've been looking into getting a new camera recently as I want to expand my photography portfolio beyond the photobox. It's an area I need to do some work on and learn some new techniques. The camera I have is quite old and does a good job with close shots under good lighting conditions, but suffers when trying to do large shots like gaming tables, army presentation pictures and is very poor in low light or uneven light situations. I still haven't decided what camera to get yet as the selection is huge, but I think I'm leaning towards one with interchangeable lens capability, but with that generally comes a price increase and is a bit less easy to use then an all purpose camera.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Gripping Beast

Vikings #2

I just haven't had much time to post this month for various reasons, but finally getting one in. I've been painting and have report to write so more things coming when I get more time. These are some of my re-based Vikings that I've been working on for SAGA and Impetus. Vikings are among my favourite periods well actually all dark ages is.:-)  

The figures are all Foundry and the flag is LBM.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Wargames Foundry

Vikings #1

I've been in the process of re-basing and touching up my large Viking collection for use in Impetus and SAGA. I've been a long time Viking player and so was delighted when SAGA hit the scene. The Vikings were my primary army for WAB and are without question the most played army I've ever owned for ancients/mediaevals. I've always liked their beards and axes aspect and their ferocious aggression in using them. Heck, even Cornwell had to make his Saxon hero an ex- Viking!:-) Oh btw, if you ever wanted to know where Axebreaker came from look at the Viking in the front holding a broken two handed axe in front of him. I imagined him hitting so hard he broke axes hence the nick name "Axebreaker" and he was the general of my Viking army.
 
My Viking collection is all based on single square 20mm bases which is ideal for WAB, but not good for me in regards to SAGA or Impetus the rules I now currently play. Of course I could use them on the square bases for SAGA, but I simply do not like square bases for skirmish gaming as it just looks clumsy. So, I've decided to put them on round 25mm bases for SAGA and use warbases multi- slot bases for Impetus.

There were also some other issues as I wanted to lighten up the bases, add tufts, flowers and rocks etc. I also needed to touch up the figures here and there by re-applying some highlights and repainting  a few things to suit my current tastes. Also, I used to have metal shield rims that I no longer like and re-painted them with leather rims which was more common and looks better I think. I also added some pigments to the shields and bottom of the cloaks. The figures themselves are Wargames Foundry and still after all these years rank IMHO as the best Vikings out there with the exception of Bill from Musketeer whose Jomsvikings are brillent. The flag in this case is hand painted by myself as I wanted a huge raven banner with just a single raven on it as nothing quite says Vikings as a good old raven banner. Plenty more re-worked Vikings will be coming along so please stay tuned if you like them.

I hope blogger fixes the reader problem soon!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Wargames Foundry

 Group 1

Group 2 

A Northern Dawn

Here is a photo of some of my Danish Vikings formed into a shieldwall:I've had this army for many years and they remain dear to my heart.I wanted to give them a quick photo outing as I haven't updated them in awhile.
Vikings were and always will be my favorite army in history.Set sail the Longships!
Miniature Company-Wargames Foundry