Tiny Dark Ages Project Part 1: A Man With a Plan

 Hi!

Well somewhat surprisingly I've found myself with a bit of spare time to post a quick blog ramble! 

Our car passed its MOT with no faults which came as a bit of a surprise so I found myself with an actual hobby budget for once and decided to pick up some Lancashire Games Little Wars figures for my 10mm Lion Rampant army.

Having shopped around a bit, I settled on these little guys because they seemed to be just about the best value for money I could find and I liked how characterful the tiny guys looked!

Here's some pics of their painted Vikings from their website as an example:

I love how dynamic the figures appear and the mixture of weapons and gear which suits a bunch of pillaging Vikings!

The tiny figures literally ooze character and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the Saxons in the coming week or two!

I ended up placing an order for one of each of the following packs which should give me enough to put together a nice size warband for Lion Rampant.

Saxon Command

Thanes with Axes

Thanes with Swords

Greater Fyrd 

Lesser Fyrd

Now while I'm waiting for the figures to turn up, I've been reading my way through some inspiration to get myself into a Dark Age mindset!

First and foremost, I've been listening the Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy and absolutely loving listening to the quest of Dunston, a grizzled and aging loner who becomes embroiled in a quest for vengeance in 838AD. Matthew does a brilliant job of bringing the period to life and creating a gripping story as well as a cast of characters that are really enjoyable to read, especially Dunston himself.

Secondly, I'm reading my way through Bloodfeud by Richard Fletcher, an eminently readable history of a family feud that lasted three generations and saw a ridiculous amount of bloodletting and also brings the period vividly to life.

I've got a load of other bits and bobs to read and have ordered a couple of Osprey books to help with reference and they're always a great way to get to grips with a subject.

I've still not settled quite on what basing I'm going to go for but once I have the figures in hand, I'll have a better idea of what I'm working with and what will work best.

Once the figures arrive I'll post a mini review and then see if I can paint up some test pieces to see how I get on with things but until then, All the best!

Beadbots

 Hi!

Just a quick update this morning before we head out for the day!

I've had these guys built for a while and finally got chance to paint them recently (annoyingly there's actually three of them but the cat has knocked one down the back of my painting stand and I can't seem to find it!).

Made from wooden beads, cocktail sticks and EVA foam, they've actually turned out quite nicely and would do for everything from mecha in 6/10mm to heavy power armour and dreadnoughts in 15mm or even normal warbots in 28mm.

I'm not too pleased with the bases if I'm honest and may yet rebase them with something a bit more substantial but they were the only ones I had to hand!

I've got a fourth, larger mech finished and just needing basing as well as a couple of rivals for these guys made from different shaped beads and plan on introducing them into my AK47 Republic sci-fi shenanigans at some point.

I rather enjoyed making them, apart from the fact that I had to use copious amounts of superglue to keep them together as the wooden beads seem to soak it up like nobody's business! 

All the best!

And Now for Something Completely Different

 Hi!

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last month but work has been pretty full on and days off spent trying to get Casa de Smith in order for my father in law's impending visit combined with trying to finish a commission has resulted in hobby time being pretty much zero.

I have got a couple of bits and bobs that I've built and painted but not had chance to take pictures of yet but that's a post for another day!

Today's post is about my humming and hahing about dipping my toe into historical gaming. I've got mixed feelings about the subject as on the one hand, literally millions of people have died in war over the centuries so its quite a weighty topic but on the other hand, I do believe its vital to explore our history and not shy away from it and historical gaming combines several of my interests quite nicely.

Over the years I've collected a lot of rulebooks and feel its high time I actually did something with some of them and while the likes of Lion Rampant may be a bit on the lighter end of the scale, it should allow me to collect some small warbands and play games relatively quickly.

I've got a genuine fascination with the Dark Ages too so it seems like a good idea to start here with some Anglo Saxon vs Viking raider shenanigans and possibly take a peek at some Romano British from a slightly earlier period and there's some really nice ranges available too.

On the one hand, I could easily use Brutal Quest to play out small skirmishes featuring small bands of characters and then scale things up into larger warbands and retinues using Lion Rampant and 10 or 15mm scale figures to represent them on a relatively modest budget.

Alas while I have lots of ideas and vague plans at the moment, the time to put any of them into action is sadly lacking but hopefully I'll find a bit of time once I have access to my man cave again and in the meantime, I can put a bit of effort into reading and researching the period as well as picking up a pack or two of figures to see what I can make of them.

I've also been thinking of a Bolt Action WW2 project but we'll see how I get on with this first before I go flailing around with yet another project before I even get started with this one!

I don't think I'm going to be able to post much for the next month or so as our visitor is with us for three weeks and then we're off on holiday down south in June but opon our return, we'll be getting the library/mancave into order and I'll finally have my gaming board up and running again which I've not had for six months now.

In the meantime, All the best!