{Saxon Muster] They ain't Cupid, stupid

Hey,

One thing about it, as the troops get less and less sophisticated, painting them up becomes easier and easier. The Geburs here are the bow-wielding skirmishers. Not much in the way or armor or bulky equipment to worry about, no shields or other fiddly bits, just the clothes on their back and the bows in their hands. The hardest part for these guys was the quiver of arrows glued to their backs -- some arrangements of poses and quivers made it hard to get the paint in the right place. Luckily, tomorrow afternoon, they go in the dip and all my problems will be solves.





I'm really jazzed that these guys are almost finished. That's 60 out of the 100 figures painted and it's enough that if I didn't paint anything else, I could show up in the fall and start playing. Of course, now that I'm on a roll, I'll try and keep up the momentum and get the other 40-odd figures painted up so that I've got a full spread to battle with. But at least the nagging worry I wouldn't have anything done is covered for the time being.

Anyway, I expect that missile fire in Warhammer Ancient Battles isn't going to be very telling (certainly not for this period), but I'm hoping to be able to blunt the Viking charge a bit before it crashes down on my blocks of foot soldiers. I guess we'll see.

Later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] That's the Ceorls Then

Hey,

Once again, the dip did it's magic and my simply-painted minis look 1000% better (although with my half-assed photography, maybe that's not so apparent). Anyway, I dipped them, painted the bases, and sprayed them down with matte varnish to finish the unit off.





I've already got then next unit up on their cans and primed. This is a batch of Geburs -- low-ranking skirmishers who will be armed with bows and provide the missile fire for my army. Photos as they develop.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Ready for their Bathtime

Hey,

So I missed an update so this picture adds a lot from the previous one. I did up the metal/wood bits, the leather belts/pouches and the shield colors. If the weather improves this afternoon, I should be able to get them dipped. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until tomorrow sometime.





later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] I Got Ambitious

Hey,

So I decided to take advantage of my day off and put in a double shift on my next unit of Saxons. This is a group of Ceorls, the Saxon equivalent of a medieval knight. They're professional warriors, but they don't actually hold land. Definitely second-stringers, but in game terms that means you can get lots of them cheap. The rules also say that as long as I'm leading a unit of warriors with my Thegns, the whole unit gets to benefit from the Thegns' superior morale.

What this means is that I'm using the Thegns as a base and then bulking them out with the cheaper Ceorls.

Also, because the models don't have chainmail, the whole thing goes a lot faster for painting. About half these guys have what looks like a quilted jerkin, so they've got a fairly plain color. The guys who couldn't even afford the padding get bright colors to strike fear into the enemy hearts.





So now all that's left is to paint up the metal/wood/leather bits, the shield, and then the lovely dip.


later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] A Little Dip'll Do You

Hey,

So the first unit of Saxons is finished. Twenty Saxon Thegns with spear and shield:





All the minis got "dipped", literally dipped into a pot of liquid that's very similar to wood stain. After getting a good coat, you shake the mini for a little bit and most of the stain flies off. What's left sticks to the nooks and crannies and the effect is heavy dark lines that make the rest of the color really pop. Then I painted the bases a forest green and went over all of it with a matte varnish (the dip leaves a shiny finish so this second coat dulls it down).

I'm amazed at how good my crappy paint job looks by dunking them in a stain. When I first heard about this technique it seemed the height of insanity, but I've used it on two projects now and it looks great.

A friend was over today and I showed them off. She gave me the highest compliment imaginable: "That's amazing, how do you paint all those little details?" That's pretty much my gob-smacked comment to all of my friends who can actually do good paint jobs so I'm rather chuffed by her appreciation.

Anyway, that's one unit down, another 2 to go before I've got the minimum to play and really another four to have a respectable force put together.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] They call it a Shieldwall

Hey,

More painting. But it only took about an hour rather than the two-hour sessions I've been running up until this point. Today I painted on the belts/pouches/scabbards and, more colorfully, the shields. The shields are all freehand and very loosely based off of Saxon designs. But shields are fun and colorful and you get to change it up with each one.

I *totally* forgot to put a happy little tree on one of them, but I'll make a point to do that next time:





Tomorrow I give everyone a dip (a short, easy process that will forgive all my painting sins). Then I have to paint up the bases, give it a matte varnish and that's it. I figure I'll have the unit finished by Sunday.

On Monday, I'll base up the next unit -- gotta keep up the momentum.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Metal Bitz

Hey,

Got more painting done tonight on the first unit of Saxons. Tonight I colored in the armor, spear tips and other metal bits and I also filled in the wooden parts (spear shafts, backs of shields, etc.). I also went over the front of the shields in white again so they'll be better able to take the color I'll apply next session:





Next time, I'll do the belts/pouches and shield fronts. That will pretty be the majority of the painting (save the bases which are easy and go last after the dipping).

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] A Colorful Crew

Hey,

Did more painting tonight. Got the pants and shirts on everyone as well as the hats for guys who aren't wearing helmets.





Won't be much longer and the first batch will be finished.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Not as Pale as the Scots

Hey,

Got more work done on my first unit of Saxons. In a little under 2 hours I put on the flesh, hair and painted the foot gear.

Now they're looking like this:



The photo isn't very good so it's hard to see the improvements. The next shot should be a lot more colorful since I'll be painting up the leggings and tunics.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Thegn of Fools

Hey,

So I've been playing various historical miniature games with a bunch of guys at the Hobby Bunker in Malden. The group has decided they want to put on a campaign game for the Fall. They've chosen to do a Dark Ages Viking game using Warhammer Ancient Battles and its Shieldwall supplement.

So members will kit up a group of Vikings, Saxons, Welsh, Picts and so on and we'll duke it out for several weekends. The Vikings got snapped up fairly quickly, but I was interested in working with the Saxons so that's what I went with. Now all I needed were some figures. Luckily, one of the other members bought up a lot of Saxon figures before deciding to switch to Welsh. So I got around 100 figures, assembled and mounted for cost. Pretty good deal.

Now I've just got to paint 100 figures.

I've got a lot of time and for the early rounds I only need about 60 figures put together to meet the 500 points minimum. However, I'm easily distracted, so I'm putting together a schedule to get through everything and I'm posting my progress here so that I've got my unfinished work staring at me.

So, first up, a unit of 20 Thegns, armored in chainmail, with a leader bearing the dragon standard.





I've mounted all the figures on film canisters using blue-tack. This gives me a handle to manipulate the figures and prevents hand cramp. Next, I based the figures in white jesso and then went back over the metal parts in black (this will make the metallic paint stand out better.

So early stages, but I'm making progress.

later
Tom