Lost Egg's Age of Bronze - Wargaming in Early Bronze Age Britain

[Lost Egg]

@Nick Nascati - Agreed but for now these guys are just for playtesting and to give me a bit of practice with the GS as I haven't sculpted any figures for ages (they were 54mm scale anyway).

I wanted to make up some playtesting minis quickly (for me at least) then come back and sculpt up my own.

One reason for this is I am torn between 28mm(ish) scale and 40mm scale so I'm hoping that some playtesting minis will help make my mind up.

[NickNascati]

Ah, okay that makes sense.  Any idea if those 40mm Graven Images figures are actually available?

[Lost Egg]

Not any more but I have spoken to Steve and he has some  still but he can't find the arms for them. I managed to get a three from a LAF member. Steve did say there is over 100 minis in the range though most were never molded. There were even chariots.

[Lost Egg]

Progress has been slow as I've been busy making a Link costume for my son for World Book Day and various DIY projects at home...but I have finally finished building the first playtest warband. Behold the Sea Clan...

Here we have 3 Youths with warclubs and small shields, 3 warriors with slings, 3 warriors with spears & shields, 3 Veterans with light armour, spears & shields and a Curadh (champion) with light armour, a rapier & shield.

Again, I know these guys aren't bronze age warriors, just stand ins for a bit of playtesting. Apart from a bit of light GS work and sculpting the youths hurley inspired warclubs these guys were straight forward and fun to build.

Thinking about it I guess there's no reason I can't use my AoB rules for a Dark Age skirmish 

[Lost Egg]

Well it has taken me quite a while but I have finally finished painting up my first warband for playtesting AoB...the Sea Clan...

I tried to keep the colours fairly natural and muted but I don't have much to go on for what was available in early-mid BA Britain so I've kinda guessed. I know these guys are all kinds of wrong for the BA, what with chainmail & iron weapons etc,  but until I sculpt something up what I want just isn't quite out there.

Before I start on the Sun Clan I'm going to build up and paint some minis I picked up from Salute so progress will, as ever, be slow...

[Rogerc]

I have a stack of the late Bronze Age Foundry figures and by chance had them out for a game last night, using Lion Rampant to see if they work, I will be watching this thread with interest. Happy sticking with my mid to late Bronze age but more figures and different rules are very appealing.

I have found that there are figures we can use if we are a bit creative. I also picked up some of the Warlord Bronze Age figures to use as slingers as they are very generic. I also picked the odd semi naked figure from Trojan ranges to bulk forces out given how limited the Foundry range is. Some of the nicer figures I have used are Perry Plastic sudanese, picking the figures that have kilts but not too thickly bunched around the waste, add a javelin and a little leather buckler and a European looking head and they look the business, especially if you mix them with the Foundry ones.

[Metternich]

Nick,
      Here's a link to a site discussing the archeological finds at the site of the Battle of Tollense (circa 1200 BCE).  They found several wooden clubs, some shaped like baseball bats and some like croquet mallets (the latter made of blackthorn wood, and resembling later Irish knobsticks aka  battlesticks/shilleaghles/walking sticks).
Most fighting clubs around the world are not massive, unwieldy objects (you have to be able to swing them quickly) (the exception are the paddle-shaped clubs of the Solomon Islands, but they actually were adapted from canoe paddles):

http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2015/07/tollense-battle.html

http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2015/05/knobstick.html

https://www.busaccagallery.com/catalog.php?catid=211&itemid=1083

http://www.swordsantiqueweapons.com/s372_full.html

https://picclick.com/Native-American-Indian-Penobscot-Carved-Wood-War-Club-232779926955.html

http://www.oldeshillelagh.com/store

[twrchtrwyth]

Following with interest.

[moiterei_1984]

Really don’t want to set you up, but what I personally don’t get is why use Dark Age warriors as stand ins for Bronze Age warriors? You did mention the Foundry stuff is too late for what you’re after, but why then use these? They don’t even look remotely like Bronze Age.
It‘s your stuff, but I’m somewhat baffled.

[Lost Egg]

I know I'm kinda baffled too...I didn't really explain myself very well I want to sculpt my own minis as nothing quite fits the bill and I fancy the challenge.

I went with the Dark Age guys as, being plastic, they are easy to convert and come in at a good price; I can make two warbands from one box. Just to add extra confusion I've painted them up as Dark Age warriors and have only converted up some warclubs. Really I thik I should have started with some sketches of my ideas for the minis, rather than focused on the proxies.

I'm now deep in my pre-summer DIY list so there is likely to be little progress for a few weeks...doh!