Remington's Dark Ages... page 4 (Gripping Beast dwelling)

[Remington]

After a gruesome attack on my finger of my painting hand by a coconut milk can (a picture is somewhere on this forum! ), the fragile digit is slowly on the mend and although it is still giving me some stability problems, I managed to finish my first miniature. Inspired by Lt. Hazels Britons and destined to face them in the near future (hence the similar base colours), the first Saxon has jumped of his ship ready to fight... bare handed for the time being.

Because I will be flying back to Germany in about a month, I decided to not include any spears yet, in my paranoid fear that they might be classed as dangerous objects and thrown in the bin. So, late February I will make another picture of this chap and the ones to follow when they will be all ready for battle!

Excuse the slight poorer photographic display... I only have one lamp in England. I am also struggling a bit with my colour choice, as I have most of my paints in Germany, but I guess I get to mix more now and that's also quite a lot of fun.

[Lt. Hazel]

Wow. That´s a stunning piece. The red is fantastic and the damaged shield is cool too. Hope your finger will get better as soon as possibel mate! Can´t wait to see more of your hairy saxons!

[Captain Blood]

Lovely! Very intense colours 
Look forward to seeing more.

[Remington]

Thank you, Lt! For all the inspirational work! I am just humbly following in your footsteps, mate! And thanks for the finger wishes.

CB, I am glad you like the colours... I hope I still got to give these fellas a bit of earthy, menacing "darkness"-ish or thereabouts. That was the plan anyway but somehow I am not sure how to achieve it.

[Lt. Hazel]

I hope I still got to give these fellas a bit of earthy, menacing "darkness"-ish or thereabouts. That was the plan anyway but somehow I am not sure how to achieve it.

You achieved it already with this one. Try brownish colours, military greens, ochres, off-whites and reddish browns like VMC Cavalry Brown. Personally I try to avoid strong blues or purple, because I think they were not easy to dye, but I migth be wrong. On the other hand, some bright colours like the yellow you used on the shirt in small amounts will make the figure stand out.
I´ve got the feeling you´ll make it right Dimitri!

[Sterling Moose]

Beautiful.

[Phil Robinson]

Very nice, you have the colour tones just right.

[marrony]

The damaged shields are brilliant and the subdued clothing is superb. Well played Sir.

[Remington]

Thanks, guys. Glad I am not completely off the mark. The plan is to use many earthy colours, as you said, Jan. I will also try to avoid vibrant colours like blue. I thought I might use them for leaders but I reckon I'll go for patterns instead to set them off the rest of the troops.

[Super_Gibbon]

Oh my that's nice. Perfect colors, brilliant painting, more please.

[Mr.J]

Super looking figure. Can't wait to see more!

[guitarheroandy]

  Blimey!!! That's a cracking bit of painting!! When you and Lt hazel get your models onto the table, it'll all look really rather splendid..Keep 'em coming!!!

[Remington]

Thanks guys and also, thank you Andy for all the inspiration on your blog. Lt. Hazel told me about the rules you are writing and that sounds very interesting. Are they play-test ready yet?

[guitarheroandy]

Real life got in the way of rule-writing over the past few weeks. I need to write up at least one play-test scenario (I don't like the idea of pitched battles for no reason in this period...) and I need to put in a set of order cards and a warband template (about 3 hours work in total) but as soon as that is done, we'll have enough to try out.

Truth to tell, I'm at the point now where I'm a bit nervous that they might be totally rubbish... Still, I would value your opinion, good or band once they are done.

In terms of rules, may I recommend that you consider the purchase of 'Pig Wars' if you don't already own it? It's a skirmish level game. You need 20 man units, 1 unit per player (although you can play with more once you know what you are doing). I haven't played it yet, although I hope to have a bash in the next couple of weeks with a like-minded chap at my wargames club.

If you are interested, I'll give you the details. It comes as PDF files emailed to you direct from the author and costs $10. If you then join the Pig Warriors Yahoo group, you get access to some supporting materials in the files section. I really like the look of it - simple, fun... what more could you ask for...? I'll try to post a battle report at some point, although it may be a while...

[Remington]

I've heard of Pig Wars... on your blog. And yes, I am interested, so I will see to it that I purchase it at some point and I would also be interested in a report... whenever real life allows you to do that.

Another obvious solution is Brytenwalda... I like the look of it so far and Lt. Hazel was the one to suggest it... so I guess we will give it a try at least once!

As for your ruleset... Take your time and don't knock it yet... I am sure we'll be happy to have a go at them when you and we are done and I am certain that they will be worth it. Real life is what's more important... no way around it. So don't let us or anyone stress you, but always keep in mind that your blog is very inspirational!