Duke goes Dark (first WIP sculpt)

[Duke Donald]

Hi All,

The other day I bought the Dux Britanniarium rule set and its extension on a whim. I liked the campaign mechanics a lot but found the rules confusing. I also felt several aspects too constraining, in particular the complete absence of flexibility in troop choice.

Anyway, I got sufficiently excited about the idea of an asymmetric campaign of conquest and looting to start a new project. Initially I thought I would apply to another setting. I considered the last years of the Byzantine Empire, Barbary pirates in the 17th century or even North America in the early 18th. However after some reading, the Arthurian period grew on me. I like the "end of the world" atmosphere and paradoxically, I also find it attractive because we know so little about that period, as it allows for considerable freedom in modelling and gaming.

I will probably keep a small figure count. I'm a very slow modeller and my ability to keep focused on a project is not always great. Thus, I will keep it to a small skirmish/light RPG game and start gaming with 5-10 minis per side. I'm still undecided on the rules but I might try out the Arthurian supplement for Songs of Blades and Heroes. I'm planning to keep it mostly historical but I may include some elements of low fantasy; it feels difficult not to include Merlin!

Now the really tricky bit. I couldn't find any minis I like. I'm very relaxed about scale and I'm happy to play anything between 20mm to 40mm, but I strongly dislike "munchkin minis", and while I appreciate many historical lines are well sculpted and excellent value for money, the style doesn't appeal to me.

Thus, I realised I'll have to sculpt/convert a lot to get what I want (hence the constraint of keeping it to small number of minis). I decided to go for real 28mm as it will be a good training for my sculpting. I'm planning to sculpt a bunch of Saxons from scratch and might even cast a few. I've started working on the first one (see below). I'd also like to do some Picts/Scotti, who will be slightly more "Hollywoodian". For the Romano-Brits, I'm considering converting LoTR Rohan minis. This might sound like an odd choice, but I feel this could work. I would also be very interested about possible suggestions for other 28mm realistically proportioned that I could include with a reasonable amount of conversion work.

Saxon raider WIP next to a plastic Wargames Factory plastic Viking for scale

[Romark]

Have you looked at Tanatus miniatures Duke,they're available in the UK from Northstar,may be suitable for your needs/conversion possibilities.

[WillieB]

I'll follow your thread with much interest Duke.
That first  Saxon sculpt already looks very fine, nicely proportioned and a great face.

Romark has keen eyes! Your sculpting style and that of the Tanatus figures is very much alike.

Rohirrim for the Romano- British might work, although I prefer a more (early) Romanised look for my armies.
Really curious about the Picts/Irish/ Scotti figures. While Footsore miniatures has a splendid range of Irish figures nowadays and the Gripping Beast one is still very good ( I do like their style) a good Pictish range will always be very welcome.

About Dux Brittaniarum: I'm a bit biased since these are my favourite set of rules and have been playing them for about a hundred weeks almost non- stop now.

So I'm a bit puzzled about that 'absence of flexibility in troop choice' you mentioned. Twelve different troop types is on a par with most Dark Ages rules I guess. You could always include the Peasant Levy (presented in one of the TFL specials) for an additional one. To be honest I included another type as a possible ( special event during a campaign) Light horse archers. That special event has happened as of yet so I don't know if they play well

[Duke Donald]

Thanks for the feedback.

Have you looked at Tanatus miniatures Duke

Thanks for the suggestion. I had a look at them and I agree they should mix well. However, I couldn't really work out the quality of the sculpting and casting from the pictures on their website, or form any other picture on the web. I'd be interested to see a close-up picture.

While Footsore miniatures has a splendid range of Irish figures nowadays and the Gripping Beast one is still very good

I agree both companies produce superb miniatures, but I'd like to go for less chunky ones and more realistically proportioned.

So I'm a bit puzzled about that 'absence of flexibility in troop choice' you mentioned. Twelve different troop types is on a par with most Dark Ages rules I guess.

I wasn't complaining about the diversity of troops per se, which I agree is absolutely fine. What I feel a bit frustrating is the lack of choice in warband composition. My understanding is that each player gets a defined set of troops and that the later reinforcements are also predefined. As each game is played with the same warband, I'm worried this can get a bit boring. This being said, I'll still have a go at the game as described in the rules if and when I manage to get all necessary minis painted.