Greetings from Saxony

[Richard in Sachsen]

Hello,

My name is Richard and I've been posting awhile in the ancients forum but have never gotten around to introducing myself.

I'm a US military veteran, having served both in the Army and as an officer in the Navy.

Currently, I'm working on my dissertation at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. It's entitled
The Role and Poetical Function of the Drachenkampf in Medieval Germanic Literature and Contemporary Interpretation: from Beowulf, Sigurð and Wolfdietrich, to Bard and Túrin Turambar

That is probably why I am so pedantic with my own miniatures and the research it takes to make them as historical accurate as possible (or at the very least historically plausible, which is about as close as you can get with ancients.)

I've already been lucky enough to have published an article in Tolkien Studies XI: Original Sin in Heorot and Valinor, where I argued that Tolkien's elves are Germanic in nature, rather than Celtic and are defined by their Germanic heroism and the Germanic original sin of Kin-slaying. If anyone is interested, it can be read here: https://www.academia.edu/15066835/Original_Sin_in_Heorot_and_Valinor

My follow up essay, The White Lady, needs a couple of editing touches and should be off to peer-review in a couple of weeks. I hope that it will be forthcoming in next summer's journal.

Needless to say, the Migration Period is my favorite era and I've spent the last couple of years building a massive 28mm Late Roman army as well as Franks, Goths, Huns and Arthurians. I also enjoy both the Mycenaean and the Late Republican period in 15mm and recently started the Early Imperial period in 6mm.

Another period that has recently tickled my fancy is Northern European late stone/early bronze age. Those very expensive 28mm Foundry Indo-european models make my mouth water and if I could sculpt, I had a brilliant idea for early Bronze-age Tuatha Dé Danann based on Alan Lee's illustration in the old 80's book Faëries - the helm and mural in the Tuatha Dé Danann entry. Certainly not your grandfather's fairies!

I'm also a big fan of SAGA. For me, it is a literary game rather than a historical game. Which I suspect is also the reason why a few folks hate it. I like the quasi-fantastic elements assigned to the battle boards as I feel it captures the flavor of the literature very well. It is also why I would not have a problem if they added a few trolls, giants, and even, perhaps, a dragon just as Gripping Beast did with revenants. As long as they kept it subtle and didn't launch into high-fantasy, it would contain those elements that you find in the various genres of Sagas and Heroic Epic.

I am also interested in medievals of around 1100-1250 and have a good start on a project but it will take me awhile to get to it. My idea was to build a Ludiwinger army (where all the Middle High German poets were) but that takes a lot of research as I wanted to paint the shields accurately to reflect the actual minor nobles and knights who were subjects of the Ludiwinger in Thüringen, such as the Count of Weimar and minor knights who had villages in the surrounding area. But that's a lot of work and I'm already getting nasty-grams from the Uni about when I expect to finish my dissertation.

Ach, miniatures: the joy of my procrastination!

And that's pretty much it about me. I really enjoy this forum, particularly as it is helpful and lacks vitriol and argument to a great degree. I mean, if I wanted abuse on the internet, I can always blog on US political sites.

But I like my hobby stress and conflict-free, that's why I really enjoy LAF.

Cheers

Richard in Saxony

[Michi]

Many thanks for that fine introduction Richard! I feel the same about SAGA and appreciate your approach to the subject. It´s great to learn that there are others who feel similar about our cultural ancestry. 

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thank you, and those are incredible models in your sig!