My 28mm Arthurian army has been all over the internet since it first appeared on this site around the release of Warhammer Ancient Battles ‘Age of Arthur’ supplement in about 2007. It’s not had much use in the past few years though – mainly a bit of Dux Britanniarum – because I couldn’t really find a mass battle ruleset that I liked enough after WAB. However, that all changed with the release of ‘Midgard Heroic Battles’ and my chance to take the army to the first Midgard event this April, a brilliant event and a great reminder of why I love both these rules and the Arthurian period so much.
I had to use the individually based models on movement trays at the event and soon revisited the frustration of models falling everywhere when the units went anywhere near a hill, plus taking an age to unpack and pack away. So, I decided to bite the bullet and rebase everything on single unit diorama style bases and it all looks REALLY cool, hence sharing the army YET again, as I feel many here might enjoy seeing the lovely effect of the new diorama style basing.
I also decided to theme the army which resulted in the need to repaint some shields in order to get the contingents to match up the way I wanted.
So, this is the first 300pts (standard Midgard army size) themed to the Arthurian worlds of authors Rosemary Sutcliff, Bernard Cornwell and Giles Kristian – a literary and ‘pseudo-history’ approach ideally suited to Midgard rather than trying to be too historical.
It is the army of Constantine ap Ambrosius, son of Ambrosius Aurelianus, Warlord of Dumnonia. In my back-story, Constantine arrives at the Battle of Camlann in the aftermath of Mordred’s death and Arthur’s wounding, taking the rebel army in the rear, saving the last of Arthur’s diminishing warband and thus taking control of Dumnonia in the aftermath of the battle and Arthur’s disappearance. Constantine is a level 3 hero who fights on foot. He is accompanied by Bedwyr ap Pedrawd, companion of Arthur and now cavalry commander in Constantine’s warband. He is a level 3 mounted hero. The two Dumnonian contingents are joined by an allied infantry contingent from Kernow under Trystan ap Talorc, Lord of Kernow, a level 2 hero.
Constantine has been stuck in a box for years after being damaged. He’s a conversion of the original Gripping Beast Arthur on foot with a helmeted head added, damaged paintwork and sword repaired and accompanied by a Gripping Beast horn blower and banner bearer carrying a banner I originally painted for a WAB Welsh army using a pic I found on the internet, outlined and hand painted. Bedwyr and Trystan you’ve seen before but their basing has been refreshed a bit in line with the unit bases. I’ve gone for a lush ‘early summer meadow’ look with various long and shorter meadow grass tufts, plus red, white and yellow flowers to provide an additional splash of colour for the Dumnonian countryside. Mini-dice holders to mark unit stamina were created from 3mm thick 20mm MDF round bases with the centre drilled out. Blue dice were chosen because they stand out well but are not too obtrusive.
I arranged all units to look as dynamic as possible – cavalry charging to the attack; spearmen in slightly irregular very close order and archers spread out skirmishing. I’m so pleased with how they look!
Constantine’s contingent:
Dumnonian foot comitatus (Gripping Beast and West Wind)
Dumnonian pedyt spearmen (Gripping Beast) with new red and white shields
Dumnonian tribal spearmen (Gripping beast and West Wind) with new red and white shields
Dumnonian archers (Gripping Beast) with new red and white shields
Bedwyr’s contingent:
Dumnonian cavalry comitatus (Gripping Beast and Foundry)
Trystan’s contingent:
Kernow pedyt spearmen (Gripping Beast)
Kernow tribal spearmen (Gripping Beast, West Wind and Foundry)
Kernow archers (Gripping Beast)
I have 5 more units and additional heroes being rebased currently to enable the army to expand to at least 400pts. I’ll add those to the thread once completed.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these old models refreshed and repurposed!
April 16, 2010, 06:16:35 PM
