AKULA’s Game of Thrones - pg64 back from the dead

[Captain Blood]

Wow. Absolutely looks the part 
Love the Thenn too. Those baldies worked out well

[Mason]

Great additions.
That dragon looks immense, a proper scary bugger, and the look of the Thenns is spot on, I reckon.
 

[AKULA]

Thanks everyone, it was one of those models that required almost as much pondering time as painting....in the end once I’d got it sorted in my head that I wasn’t going to attempt to replicate the TV dragons scale for scale, it went a lot easier.

A different post this morning - no figures, but a few thoughts about making a Wildling force a bit more interesting.

One of the advantages of blending the books and the TV series is that I can pick the best bits - while the TV series gives us plenty of eye candy, the books offer more depth and breadth to draw inspiration from.


{SPOILER ALERT: references to Storm of Swords below, in case you haven’t read it yet}


Based on the TV series, we see a horde, consisting of poorly armed wildlings trudging about on foot, supported by a handful of giants (4? when they attack the Wall) and a couple of mammoths. The TV series does a reasonable job of showing the disparate tribes, such as the Thenn (bearing in mind they all go to the same barbers to make it easier for viewers to keep track).

I’ve already tried to differentiate the Thenn through their bronze weaponry, but “A Storm of Swords” provides a lot more opportunities to add some varying troop types to a Wildling force....


“the men of the Frozen Shore who rode in chariots made of walrus bones pulled along by packs of savage dogs, the terrible ice-river clans who were said to feast on human flesh, the cave dwellers with their faces dyed blue and purple and green.”


There is at least one reference to “dogs as big as ponies” but I think GRRM was just getting a bit carried away with himself - huskies would seem to be the real-world equivalent?  The chariots seem to be singularly ineffective in battle, but cope well with rough terrain, and would be useful south of the wall for scouting - there are also references to replacing the wheels with runners for heavy snow.

Then there are mentions of mounted wildlings, not just as scouts, but in a large formation.


“On either side of the giants came a wave of horsemen in boiled leather harness with fire-hardened lances, a mass of running archers, hundreds of foot with spears, slings, clubs, and leathern shields. The bone chariots from the Frozen Shore clattered forward on the flanks, bouncing over rocks and roots behind teams of huge white dogs.”

““Harma had five hundred in the van, every one ahorse."
The men around the fire exchanged uneasy looks. It was a rare thing to find even a dozen mounted wildlings, and five hundred.”


Again, no one is suggesting that these are trained cavalry, depending upon the rules I’d count them as effectively mounted infantry, so at a disadvantage if they go head-to-head with trained mounted troops.

Having been inspired by the TV series attack on the Wall, to add a couple of mammoths to my force already,  my eyes popped out when I read the following:


“they passed another twenty mammoths, these bearing wildlings in tall wooden towers instead of giants”

“A mammoth lumbered by, trumpeting, a half-dozen bowmen in the wooden tower on its back”

“Mammoths centered the wildling line, he saw, a hundred or more with giants on their backs clutching mauls and huge stone axes.”


Clearly it doesn’t go well for the Wildlings due to Stannis’ surprise intervention, but it would have been interesting if they’d got south of the wall in significant numbers...the mammoths have a similar unsettling effect on horses.

The following gives a better sense of the whole of the Freefolk on the move...


“More'n half were women and children, and they were driving their animals before them, goats, sheep, even aurochs dragging sledges. They'd loaded up with bales of fur and sides of meat, cages of chickens, butter churns and spinning wheels, every damn thing they own. The mules and garrons was so heavy laden you'd think their backs would break.”


Finally, from a campaign perspective, a few ideas for a budding Wildling Chief...


“I could continue the attack here and still send ten thousand men to cross the Bay of Seals on rafts and take Eastwatch from the rear. I could storm the Shadow Tower too, I know the approaches as well as any man alive. I could send men and mammoths to dig out the gates at the castles you've abandoned, all of them at once.”


Hope this provides a bit of inspiration - I’m already thinking about how I represent some of these ideas in my own games.

 

[OSHIROmodels]

Cracking stuff all round 

[Captain Blood]

Sounds like good old George was letting his imagination completely off the leash with some of this...
‘Let’s see how nuts we can make this barbarian horde sound... ‘ 

I do like the sound of the purple and green dyed cave dwellers though.

And I’m looking forward to seeing your walrus bone chariots

[AKULA]

Sounds like good old George was letting his imagination completely off the leash with some of this...
‘Let’s see how nuts we can make this barbarian horde sound... ‘ 

I do like the sound of the purple and green dyed cave dwellers though.

And I’m looking forward to seeing your walrus bone chariots

GRRM certainly did get a bit carried away with the description of the attack on the Wall, but then given that the Wall is 700 foot tall...

The massed mammoths did sound a little bit as if he’d been inspired by LOTR though...


...but it does mean that I can finally use this.... 



 

[HappyChappy439]

GRRM definitely likes to dial things up to 11 in his worldbuilding! In between the huge geography (seriously Westeros is *gigantic*), giant structures and thousands-of-years-long dynasties! 

Like you say though, it does definitely lend itself well to some pretty distinctive modelling opportunities!

...but it does mean that I can finally use this.... 


 

I'm glad Cersei's elephants are the enduring legacy for Season 8! 

[AKULA]

Day 3 of my week off....(ok technically 3/9 days off), and I’ve made some more progress.

Today I’ve built and greenstuffed a dozen mounted wildlings.

The horses are Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry, as are the riders torso/legs (trimmed back with a sharp knife to lose some of the bagginess).

The arms/weapons are a mix of Gripping Beast, Fireforge, and Frostgrave. The heads are mostly FG Barbarians, with a few metal Westwind heads for some variety. Have added a few bits of FG clutter to some ...packs and ropes to increase the irregular nature.

[AKULA]

I’m looking forward to seeing your walrus bone chariots

Well I had a go at making one today...

 

I tried different wheel positions, and a team of Copplestone huskies, before finally opting for a pair of Vendel timberwolves....they are big, not quite “the size of ponies” as GRRM describes them at one point in the books, but big enough to tow a light chariot.  The huskies just didn’t look right pulling a chariot...I know modern-day dog chariots exist, but tbh the wheels on them don’t look like they’d be much use cross country. I’ll probably use the huskies at some point, perhaps if I add some sleds later on.

The “floor” of the chariot is green stuffed to represent bones, with some animal skins thrown over them, and the frame at the front/sides will be painted up as tusks...walrus or otherwise.

The wheels are from Warbases...I was going to green stuff them as well to represent bones, but tbh the Freefolk could have salvaged them either on a raid south of the Wall, or cargo from a shipwreck....that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 





The crewman is a Frostgrave soldier, with a metal Westwind head....if I make another chariot, I’ll probably either give it two crew, or give the driver some spears, as I’m not sure how steady a platform it would be for a bowman, especially if he is holding on for dear life.

[Askellad]

Wonderful chariot!

[Ogrob]

Wow, serious production here. The chariot looks really good, well done on the sculpting!

[HappyChappy439]

Excellent work! Looking forward to seeing it painted up!

[Mason]

Great stuff!
 

Love the chariot, especially as I have just done something similar myself.
 

[Grumpy Gnome]

You are a machine, mate! Your throughput is as amazing as your artistry. Great stuff!

[AKULA]

Today’s offering to the Old gods, are another pair of mammoths, this time meant to house a Wildling crew.  As you can see, the coffee stirrers came in handy again, as did the green stuff to make some minor tweaks to the models for a bit of variety....still a couple of bits to finish - need to add the belly harness to stop the tower falling off, and I might add a few skins as protection against flaming arrows.

I’m not going to give them a driver as per the Golden Company War Elephants, as I like the way that the TV series dealt with the Mammoths...ie having a minder running alongside with a long spear to guide them in the general direction of travel.







The mammoths are DeeZee resins, ordered via Arcane Miniatures earlier this week...fantastical service as always!