Author Topic: Ogrob's medievals for SAGA. Assembling and kitbashing 15/1 (Read 97281 times)

Ogrob · « **on:** August 05, 2018, 04:38:10 PM »

For my summer project I decided to make a proper SAGA army. I've got my Game of Thrones minis, but I thought I might as well have a somewhat historical force. I've seen the occasional picture of people taking Perry's Mahdist Ansar and making them into dark age irish, and thought "I can do that!".

So, from no real research, the key compontents of dark age irish are:
1) Bare feet
2) Knee length tunics
3) Possibly trousers

With that in mind, I identified plastic kits to use and settled on a box of Mahdist Ansar, a small set of 12 Victrix Balearic Slingers and a heavy sprinkling of bits from Warlord Games Celtic Warriors. I've ended up also using bits and pieces from Frostgrave, Gripping Beast and Conquest Games. Looking over the irish battleboard and rules, I settled on a simple list to begin with:

1 Warlord with Javelins
2 Curaidh (heroes) with Javelins
24 Warriors with Javelins
24 Levy with Slings

51 models to convert all told. It's taken me about three weeks of work to get to this stage, where I can show you all the converted models (all the Warriors with javelins will get shields after painting):

First of, for the Warlord I decided to go metal. A female barbaian from Oathsworn minis:

Levy made from Victrix bodies with a variety of heads:

Also made two warriors from those bodies:

I really like the dynamic bodies of warlord celts. Inaccurate as they are, they feel close enough for me. Slingers have had sling hands swapped on from Victrix or Gripping Beast kits:

You can probably tell I like the ducking forward bodies. Here's a closer look:

And then the main part of the builds, Ansar bodies. Heads from all sorts of kits, slings and sling arms from Victrix and GB added on.

Also made two Warriors from Conquest archers. These are a bit more generically medieval, but variety is nice, don't you think?

The Curaidh were made by taking GB saxon thegn bodies and cutting off their legs to add Ansar legs. Also added arms from the ansar kit, and did some greenstuffing.

And that's that. Here they are, all lined up ready for priming:

In the end, I'm really pleased with these builds. There are a number of inaccuracies, namely far too many kilts, some tunics really should be longer and there should probably be more cloaks but no big deal for me. What do you think?

aircav · « **Reply #1 on:** August 05, 2018, 07:14:21 PM »

Great stuff, excellent use of the different plastics available making a unique one off Army

Looking forward to the painted models

fred · « **Reply #2 on:** August 05, 2018, 09:20:34 PM »

Great piece of work to convert all these figures.

They have that Irish vibe to them, even if made from a variety of sources.

Looking forward to seeing them with some paint on.

OSHIROmodels · « **Reply #3 on:** August 05, 2018, 09:33:05 PM »

Brill conversions

Lost Egg · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2018, 07:07:06 AM »

Lovely job

It will be cool to see them all painted up.

Romark · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2018, 08:49:54 AM »

Quote from: Lost Egg on August 06, 2018, 07:07:06 AM

Lovely job It will be cool to see them all painted up.

I agree

Codsticker · « **Reply #6 on:** August 06, 2018, 08:54:36 PM »

Admirable project! I embarked on a similar one: kit bashed dark ages Irish a few years ago but gave up and bought some metal ones second hand.

I used Perry Ansar bodies (sometimes just the legs) as well Victrix Carthaginian Citizen warriors. The problem with the latter is the sculpted on swords.

Ogrob · « **Reply #7 on:** August 06, 2018, 10:14:39 PM »

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

Quote from: Codsticker on August 06, 2018, 08:54:36 PM

Admirable project! I embarked on a similar one: kit bashed dark ages Irish a few years ago but gave up and bought some metal ones second hand. I used Perry Ansar bodies (sometimes just the legs) as well Victrix Carthaginian Citizen warriors. The problem with the latter is the sculpted on swords.

Oh yeah, I looked at those. I think I gave them a miss because as you say, the style of the swords and belts over the shoulder. I've cut of some very ancient looking daggers from the Warlord plastics and replaced them with more dark age looking bits from GB and Conquest frames though, so it can be done.

Captain Harlock · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2018, 02:23:21 PM »

Great project. If you want more flowing cloaks, you can support the greenstuff layer with some balls of bluetack. After it sets they are easy to remove.

Ogrob · « **Reply #9 on:** August 07, 2018, 02:32:38 PM »

Quote from: Captain Harlock on August 07, 2018, 02:23:21 PM

Great project. If you want more flowing cloaks, you can support the greenstuff layer with some balls of bluetack. After it sets they are easy to remove.

That's a great tip, thank you!

Shahbahraz · « **Reply #10 on:** August 08, 2018, 12:36:38 AM »

Great looking set of conversions to get a unique army. I love how dynamic you have made them. Looking forward to seeing these painted up.

Phil Portway · « **Reply #11 on:** August 09, 2018, 11:17:35 AM »

Really nice conversions. That will be a lovely look band when finished

Mason · « **Reply #12 on:** August 09, 2018, 01:18:32 PM »

Great conversions!
This will be a wonderful and original army to use.
Looking forward to the colouring-in part.

Whitwort Stormbringer · « **Reply #13 on:** August 09, 2018, 04:54:11 PM »

Excellent work! I think you've really captured the feel with these kitbashes, despite the disparate sources for the parts.

Really like the Ansar bodies in particular, I'll have to keep those in mind for future Dark Ages conversions. I used the Victrix Carthaginians for some Scots warriors, but wouldn't mind some variety if I did an Irish or Welsh warband...