Well, yesterday was fairly okay painting wise, I managed to complete another half-dozen spearmen, short of painting the shields (for which I`m awaiting another delivery of transfers). I should really have done more given that I had the whole day to paint (up till about 6 in the evening when I met with a bunch of the guys to go out for a meal), but frankly I`m still knackered from this cold. Dont get me wrong, I`m not snorting or sneezing like I used too. Even so six weeks of feeling ill combined with not going to the Gym because I was ill, have left me feeling drained and knackered. All I want to do is sleep. I left early last night because of it, got in about 10:30 and went straight to be. So I slept for about eleven hours, as I've just gotten out of my pit and had my breakfasr. This from a guy who normally hits the sack between 2-3am and gets up for work at 8:30.
Anyway, I'm getting way off-topic here. Today, I aim to complete the last six spearmen that I have sitting in front of me, plus two command sections. 12 figs, shouldnt be hard, especially since I have all day to do it. Now if I could just generally ditch this feeling of lethargy it would be fine. Once I've completed this first batch (actually, Ill have completed enough for a whole unit, but as that unit is going to be broken up and mixed in with the Crusader figs when they arrive I'll try to avoid thinking of them that way) I`ll move on to something with a little less armour. All this drybrushing is great for saving time, but it sure is dull (the painting I mean, not the armour. Even though it is... you know... dull.)
One thing that irks me about yesterdays painting is that these milites are supposed to be fairly rich by period standards. I mean, they have chainmail, swords and helmets for heavens sake. Sure, even if their handed down, they still represent a significant display of wealth. So why the heck did I go and paint most of their tunics in shades of unbleached wool? Gah! By the time I realised what I was doing the only cloth left unpainted was the hose on two of the miniatures. So out came the greens and burgandy to add a splash of wealth and colour, along with some bronze detailing on the helm of one of our richer milites and on the sword of a "poorer" one to make him seem a little wealthier. It's not a huge problem, some of these guys are supposed to be richer than others and several of them are probably no more than heavily armoured serjeants anyway. But even so, I now have a disproportionate number of "poor" milites, especially when the Crusader guys in padded doublets are added in. C'est la vie.
Just means I`ll have to put out a few more shades of red, green and blue on this next bunch.
On a non-painting note, just learned from Andy (the cheeky one who left a comment on my first post rather than the other cheeky Andy who didn't) that not only is it Julian who has the wads and wads of screamers (Celts I mean, not his kids) but Colin has an Army of Shieldwall Vikes! Yay, more opponents. Boo!!! Berserkers. Well Ill not be letting any of those throthing maniacs with their automatic D6 S5 hits anywhere near my oh so expensive milites (foot or mounted). specially since he can have up to three in each unit and they cause an automatic break if they inflict more than 25% casualties on a unit.
I really dont want to think about what they could do to my mounted milites. I mean, sure, they have a 3+ save, but S5 knocks that down by a scary amount and those berserks would only have to kill three knights between them to send the rest running. Yikes! Good bye nearly 25% of my armies total points cost. Not bad for about 60 points worth of naked beardie blokes eh?
Thats a scary thought in itself. One unit of admittedly very hard and very nasty knights and a bishop take up nearly a quarter of my points! Damn, talk about fire magnet. Note to self: read El Cid lists. Find out if any of the various muslim armies get seige engines. If so, collect Welsh, run for the hills and ditch the Normans.
Except for playing games fo retinue, one of which I`m hoping to get organised with Kev for next week or the week after.
Anyway, I`m getting tired again. Going to lie down for a bit and then bounce back into the painting. Will let anyone who actually bothers reading this know how I`m getting on and then take a few pics of the completed "batch" for the blog. Thanks v. much Andy (the same one) for those tips vis a vis taking photographs of miniatures. I`ll give it another go later.
Being a chronicle of my experiences in the murky world of "old school" roleplaying, wargaming and Miniature Painting. Likely to feature games of Dungeons and Dragons, Tomorrow's War, OSRIC, Harnmaster, Warhammer Ancients, Retinue and All Things Zombie.
If the 'poor' look of using unbleached or reddish cloth, consider the fact that they've blown all their savings on a flashy chainmail shirt instead, and have none left for fancy duds.
ReplyDeleteYup, good point. In the end I decided not to go overboard with the blues and reds for the last six spearmen and Im glad I did. The "unit" looks a lot more cohesive now than it might have done otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe shield transfers I ordered should be in tomorrow. If they are, I`ll finish off the shields and put a photo of my spearmen up on the web.
Sod that Brian
ReplyDeleteIf you have mail then you may want not to put your best wool tunic under it. What you want is padding that you don't mind gets a bit rusty.
Leave the fancy dye jobs to the big wigs who can afford three tunis AND a linen shirts
Don't be afraid of berserkers. Anything can draw them out, they get d6 hits so that is an average of 3 (and I tend to roll terribly)
Then they need to do damage, a S5 hit against T4 troops, only on a 3+ so those three berserks only cause 6 wounds maybe, have a unit of 25 and you are laughing.
Meanwhile, those berserks cost 18 points each and your plebs are dead cheap. IF you suspect berserkers, use the peasants
col
Cheers Colin, thanks for the advice, both on here and at the club earlier. I`ll bear that in mind for next Tuesday. Thanks again for agreeing to be my first opponent.
ReplyDeleteMy one concern about using the peasants though, is the effect of panic. Other the milites and mercenaries, the morale of Norman troops is quite low. With the Bishop in amongst the knights rather than with the Liberi spearmen, Ill have to be careful to keep these less steady troops away from those sacrificial skirmishers.
Come to think of it, the skirmishers have an even lower ld than the the Liberi. Course, the Liberi themselves are also dead cheap. I suppose I could sacrifice the spearmen to the berserkers instead and attempt to rally them later rather than give up my skirmishing archers.
Hmmm. Cheers Col. Food for thought.
Brian
ReplyDeleteAs I said elsewhere, Skirmishers fleeing, getting molocated or what have you doesn't affect formed troops.