Ba ba ba, barbarians

 Ba ba ba, bar-bar-ia-a-ans, painted by ha-a-and, barbari-a-a-ans, they got me rockin' and a reelin', rockin' and a reelin' barbarians.... ba ba....

A host of barbarians has been slowly amassing on my to-paint shelf for some time now. The past couple of months has given me a bit of space to get them battle-ready. After all, we don't want a critical mass of butch fighters hanging around with nothing to do now!

My initial foray into barbarianism was a few years ago when Foundry stopped their 2000AD license and re-released some ex-Citadel fighters at Bring Out Your Lead. I'm pretty sure I documented it on the blog but can't find it... maybe they went off marauding? Anyhow my intention was to create a small Slaine-influenced raiding party to accompany the Horned God. This was made up of the ex-Citadels and a handful of ex-Grenadier Mark Copplestone barbarians (Copplestone is the epitome of barbarianism to me, if it ain't a Copplestone it's an imitation!). It stayed a small force for about 18 months...

The next muscle-bound, fur-clad raiders to join the ranks were miniatures from the RPE barbarian kingdoms range. I had been carrying these around game shows (Oakbound represents RPE on the show front in the South of England) for a few months and fancied picking some up for myself. Several of them remained on foot but others...

...others ended up in a Scotia Grendel howdah on the back of a Heroes of the Dark Age mammoth. Harry got one of these at Salute a couple of years back and I regretted not joining him so when I was there trading last year I sent him to find me one. It's so much more animated than most mammoths out there and I think definitely suitably Slaine-influenced. Although the original chieftain's throne is much closer to the Slaine art I wanted more of a horde on top to rain spears down upon their foes.

On the subject of Scotia Grendel, the other beasties in the force are these wonderful giant warthoggy things from SG. I'm calling them the Shoggy Beasts. The small ones come with integral resin riders which are much bigger in scale than the rest of the barbarians and, I'm afraid to say, pretty crude, lumpy sculpts. Cutting and grinding them off was not a pleasant task, but the beasts look much better with their new riders. The bigger one had kilted legs attached but a separate rider from the torso up so swapping him out for the Copplestone banner bearer was simple enough.

Last year at BOYL Kev Adams was once again doing his "heads for charity" sculpting session. It's been a few years since I had one done so fancied having another for the collection and decided on a barbarian hero as it's so completely not what my fantasy type would be! For the job I picked up these from Foundry but unfortunately (or fortunately) Kev was inundated and I had a game to run so didn't manage to sneak into the queue. Nevertheless they still got added to the horde. They remind me of other characters from Slaine...

I said I love Copplestone barbarians, right? So I picked up a few more... It's so great these are still available from Moonraker/Forlorn Hope (and, I think, Mirliton?). Very cheap too! There are some identifiable Slaine figures in here. The knife-toting shaman is straight out of The Horned God.

To further reinforce the horniness (ooer) of the horde I picked up these Celtos miniatures by Kev White (now with Brigade Models and also very good value). The good, evil, male and female aspects along with a more 'normal' human-sized but definitely still Slaine figure. I love the Celtos range and now have pretty much every figure in one army or another. They're satisfyingly 'chunky' figures and nicely dynamic without being in poses that look ridiculous on the table. Might have to get some duplicates though...

Mike (of Broadswords and Beasts) and Jon Boyce very kindly sent me some original Citadel miniatures to 'legitimise' the force, plus a couple I don't recognise. The guy in front with the axe- looks like a Bryan Ansell sculpt? I also got a few of the former Asgard barbarians, available from Alternative Armies though I actually ordered these from The Viking Forge along with some other former-Asgard miniatures. Funny how you don't always spot things until you photograph them, I missed a shield! 

Lastest and greatest is a figure I wanted/needed to have at the forefront of the horde. Microarts' Discworld characters are every bit of 35mm tall and far too big to fit with most 'standard' sized wargames miniatures, sadly. I do have a Nobby Nobbs in my Empire force, but he's "shorter than mist dwarfs" so fits in fine. I managed to make Cohen not stand out too much by bending his legs a little (not too much, thin and a very brittle metal) so he's stooped to the level of the others. Beats me why they picked such an odd size. A pricey addition but one I just had to have,

Ba ba ba, barbarians

Woods terrain and photo shoot

Aaaargh! It's mid February! I have a March publishing date looming so things are very mental here, so much still to do! However, I have finished 6 boards for the new edition of The Woods and done the first photoshoot using them, so that's one thing off the list.

 

A bit of inspiration from the Isle of Skye for this rocky outcrop. It will site back to back for one big peak, front to front for a narrow valley or side by side for a ridgeline. This will probably be a big part of my display board for Salute.
 

Closer to home, these are inspired by Puzzlewood and the Forest of Dean Scowels. I want to keep adding stuff to these until it's properly overgrown.

Using castle bits from Scotia Grendel I have built a dwarf fortress in the rocks, kinda Game of Thrones I'm told (though I've never watched or read it). These go back to back to make a fortified island in the river, back onto the Storr rocks for a mountain backdrop or sit side by side with a gatehouse and drawbridge (yet to be painted) in the middle of the main wall.

And here are some photos of miniatures in their new surroundings:

 

(Huts from Fogou Models)

 

(Toadstools are Scotia Grendel)

(Stone circle from Scotia Grendel)

Woods terrain and photo shoot

Warbands in the Woods

For the second GROG game of the year we gathered for a 4-player session of The Woods, testing out the new warbands lists and scenario generator that Chris and I have been working on. As always Harry's table boasted a beautiful array of scenery breathing life into the ancient woodlands...

 



A Myeri Losbast makes his way through a shadowy mushroom glen...

Standing stones and caverns in a corner of the forest...

Tall conifers dominate the centre of the board, rising above the remote settlement...

Swampy pools and stone buildings on the border of the woodland...

Much of the terrain was courtesy of the companies that have put their support behind The Woods- Fogou Models (Dark Age buildings), Scotia Grendel (fungus, standing stones, ruined city) and Model Tree Shop (Trees, assorted, and a goodly amount of flock!).

The first game was a 4-warband confrontation in the middle of the wood. Mike's Wulver Cult were aiming to waylay Chris' Tuatha Bears, in particular their leader who had slighted the honour of the cult. Chris' outcast Bears were already carrying a wounded member (perhaps from their last encounter with the cult) and were simply trying to reach safety. A member of Harry's Fae Rade had been captured by my Myeri warparty and needed rescuing whilst my Myeri were trying to retrieve an ancestral artefact stolen by the leader of Mike's cult. The four warbands converged on an island at the heart of the forest...

The Myeri were hoping that speed and discipline would win the day. Their Draoi Geomancer cast a shroud of mists to conceal the group as the Losbastun took the lead with their Meirge and his totem. The captive Fae was given into the care of the group's Scealai so as not to slow down the warriors' advance.

Across the other side of the wood the Wulver Cult were advancing quickly towards their quarry. With their high Decisiveness and frightening weaponry they looked like they would have the edge over their foe.

The Tuatha Bears advanced steadily, keeping their distance from the cult. With a wounded member they couldn't move fast without splitting up.

The Fae made as much use of cover as possible, keeping their options open.

The pack of Whist Hounds manoeuvred into position to attack the Myeri from behind, but the mists prevented them from using their great speed to charge. The Fae Rademaster moved into position to dispel the fog.

The Tuatha were preparing for their clash at the centre of the board. Chris' Comlann formed up into a unit in shieldwall formation whilst slingers attempted a few shots at the shadowy figures in the trees. The cult's deerhound bounded ahead of the band, intent on taking down the quarry.

As the mists dissipated the Whist Hounds pounced upon the hapless Scealai, tearing his limb from limb. The uilleann pipes deflated with a pitiful rasp. As another of the Fae wove fate to elevate the captive to safety the Myeri formed up to perform the terrifying Peru-Peru dance. The Fae fled whilst the exhausted Whist Hounds cowered with fear.

Angered by the presence of the Fae the Myeri abandoned their mission and tried to take down their hated enemy. The Whist Hounds recovered, however, and the result was a stand-off until the Fae gathered enough stamina to magic their adversaries across the board. There they finally caught up with the Wulver cult, but by that time they were on their way off the board having completed their objective with only the loss of their deerhound. The Fae were successful in retrieving their captive colleague and the cult had exacted their revenge, leaving the Myeri and Bears to lick their wounds.

All in all happy with how the warbands lists played out. There are a few points values to tweak and a bit of wording to change but none of the bands seemed excessively overpowered. When it came to picking objectives some seemed more suited to particular warbands than others, as would be expected, but the next games showed that none of them was a walk in the park.

Warbands in the Woods