Tactical Painter's Germanic tribes project (updated 14 05 25)

[TacticalPainter]

A journey down the rabbit hole......

So, regular opponent Dave mentions we should try Infamy, Infamy from Too Fat Lardies. I have no ancients in my collection but have always wanted to dip my toe in the water. I buy the Victrix Germanic tribes when there’s a Victrix sale, glue together six of them and then get distracted. Fast forward twelve months and we actually play a game of Infamy, proxying some Saxons for the Germans. Great game and I’m enthused. I dig out those Victrix Germans and start painting. More to do, but first batch done. Lovely figures and a joy to paint.









The Victrix set doesn't include any slingers and for now I need only six of them, so I've used some of the Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors set which includes hands with slings. For consistency with the other Germans I've used Victrix heads rather than the ones from Gripping Beast (that would probably work okay). Not sure the heads look right though, a bit on the large side for the bodies. I'm inclined to think I should get another sprue of the Victrix Germans and just add the sling hand to a few of those. These will do for now.

[TacticalPainter]

While this first batch are all based individually I've been giving thought to how I organise them into groups of ten figures for Infamy, Infamy. While a sabot base would be functional I don't like the way they make the groups look too regimented (and yes, I know, you can have sabots with irregular spacing, but it's still a rectangular block at the end of the day. Call me fussy).

For my colonial Sudan project the Mahdists are also grouped in tens and for that I decided on a mix of basing that would allow removal of casualties but also create a more irregular appearance of the figures. Each group of ten was made up of two lots of three figures on a base, one base of two figures and two bases of single figures. That made them more practical to move but also allowed casualty removal.



I think that helps create a better impression of a horde when they are all placed on the tabletop.







The question is whether this limits their use for other rule sets. I'm not sure it does. The frontage of the two bases with three figures matches the width of two four figure sabot bases side by side. That's what I use for my Colonial British but one that I would also use for Romans. So for a rule set like Midgard unit frontages would remain consistent. Time will tell!

[TacticalPainter]

Really wasn’t happy with my attempt to create slingers. The Victrix heads just don’t sit right on the Gripping Beast bodies. The heads look too large and the pose of the bodies lacks a certain dynamism for slingers, so I’ve tried a different approach. This time I picked up a single sprue of additional Victrix figures and converted those by adding the slinger hands from Gripping Beast. Interestingly, I’ve used a few of the Gripping Beast heads to add variety and they seem to work just fine with the Victrix bodies.

I much prefer the dynamic poses of the Victrix bodies. With an adjustment of the way the heads face and a little surgery on one or two arms they look much more the part than the earlier attempts. Now to get some paint on them.

[sgzleada71]

Yeah , this batch look better. Not that the 1st lot weren't good. 

[TacticalPainter]

Put some paint on the new slingers and have to say I'm much happier with these. It's not just about the proportions of the heads to the bodies, it's also about the dynamism of the poses. I feel these now look like a bunch of German barbarian slingers looking for mischief.

[bluewillow]

Great job on those, nice conversions, I used the slings from the Republican Roman warlord set.

I swap heads between Victrix and Warlord plastics quite a lot, my spare bits plastics pile is becoming huge.

[vodkafan]

I thought the original slingers were fine until I saw the later ones . Huge improvement great dynamic poses.

[TacticalPainter]

A few more additions. I've based the figures that will represent various leaders on larger bases with a few rocks on each to help identify who they are.



A made up one of the Victrix figures with a horn to act as a musician - it's a support choice for Infamy, Infamy that enables a leader to extend their command range.



I have the Foundry set of wailing women. I'll base most of these together to represent a rally point (figures are painted, I'm just waiting on a delivery of more MDF bases). This is one of those figures which I will probably use as an ambush point marker, although she could also serve in other roles as a priestess/shaman/mystic. By the way, no matter how I've tried painting that horse head, I can't help seeing it as a rather contented pantomime horses head....



I know there are plenty of gamers with little love for plastic figures, but as someone who's made plastic models all his life I have no issue with them. In fact what I like is their versatility (as demonstrated with the various attempts at creating slingers). I think this comparison helps illustrate the point. Both of these figures are the same torso/body from the Victrix set. I particularly like the way something as simple as changing the angle of the head can transform the look. Obviously a different choice of head helps too, as does the omission of a shield. Simple changes, but effective.

[TacticalPainter]

Got around to finishing the basing for the groups of ten warriors. As mentioned I’ve gone with 3,2,1 to allow casualty removal but still have some ease of movement with multi based groups. The 3s are on 50mm wide bases which, when spaced, will match the two 60mm sabot bases I’ll use for the Romans. It also allows them to conform (roughly) to a 120mm frontage, which would work for a rule set like Midgard.





The leaders are on 20x50mm bases, with rocks to identify each leader. They fit in the middle of two 3 figure bases, to give a perfect 120mm frontage.



They featured in a game last week and I’m really pleased with the way they worked. The groups had a suitably unregimented look and yet remained practical to move around.

[Pattus Magnus]

Those do look really good, and you’re right, the basing does give a suitably irregular look. Great job!

[Freddy]

Nice job, great collection of little Germans! The importance of a nicely done base is often overlooked in wargames.

[scotty]

Looking good