7th-8th Century Anglo Saxons - Lesser Fyrd

 Its been awhile! Lots of losing interest in certain settings and gaining interest in others.

My current project that I've been working on recently is an Anglo-Saxon army geared towards the days of the Heptarchy in the 7th-8th century. In this case, below is a unit of lesser fyrd/kotsetlas (light infantry); single based for the Lion Rampant ruleset.

                                    

 A major appeal is that by switching out and adding different models, I can use these in a variety of different armies. Arthurian Saxons, Viking Age Saxons, Visigoths, you name it! I plan on (eventually) building two 24 point Anglo Saxon armies that can fight each other for 7th and 8th centuries battles (with unique command bases for kings Penda, Raedwald, Oswiu, Cynegils, etc) that can be combined for larger battles against a 48 point Viking army.

Another reason for picking the 7th century Anglo Saxons over the more popular eras is that I fell in love with the time period years ago ever since I played the video game mod for Mount and Blade: Warband: Brytenwalda. A "mod" in this case is kinda like a "homebrew" ruleset for a computer game: making changes in code, artwork, mechanics and turning the original game into something new.

In the mod, after creating your character and his or her background (religion, ethnicity, combat proficiencies), you're thrust onto the unforgiving environment that is 7th century Britain. Raid villages and enslave the inhabitants, enter tournaments, swear fealty to various petty kings, explore abandoned Roman ruins, and partake in hillfort sieges involving hundreds of warriors. Fight javelin armed fiannas of Ui Neil, mounted Teulu charges from Dyfed, and even elite Dena pirates wearing unique Vendel armors.

A video by Moscatube that shows an in game battle

Polybian Romans: Triarii (220 BC - 107 BC)

 To begin, here's my first batch of miniatures completed ever: Polybian era Roman triarii.

 The unit is made from a variety of manufacturers: Aventine Miniatures, Gripping Beast, and the newly released units from Lucid Eye. I have them based in order to use for the Hail Caesar ruleset.

To differentiate different classes of infantry on the tabletop, I decided to use shield and tunic color to denote wealth. For example, my triarii will wear bright bleached whites, crimson, scarlets, and indigo. It felt appropriate to use two different shades of red given its Mars' color and I imagine that middle aged veteran soldiers would be more reverent to Mars for letting them be victorious in battle (or at least survive it) From my research, there is no evidence that Polybian Romans decorated their shields as part of a unit, so the only units with shield transfers will be officers.

So here are some things that I've learned at the end of my first project:

*Obviously I need to learn how to paint faster if I hope to finish my army this century. I noticed that I tried fixing painting mistakes even before the model was fully base coated, which resulted in more mistakes and more touching up. I need to stop that.

*Basing is a massive pain when you have multiple models on a single base, especially when they are chunky Aventines. I first tried spackle as a basing medium, but with the models so closely packed together, it was nigh impossible to not get some on the models (which thankfully is mostly hidden by the grass). I ended up going with watered down tacky glue and sand, but I wasn't entirely happy with the coverage (lots of gaps showing wood ) and it doesn't exactly look like dirt. I think I'm going to experiment with technical paints from Vallejo alongside a tiny bit of spackle to hide the "pitcher mound" bases next.

*I used Vallejo medium skintone for the Romans' skin, which worked nice and will probably use for central and southern Italians and various Hellenic people, but became a bit too dark when I used Reikland Fleshshade. Maybe I need to water it down first?

Introductions

 Greetings!

I am quite new to miniature painting and wargaming in general, but I've had a passion for toy soldiers and military history for decades; ever since I saw a diorama of the Battle of Rourke's Drift at my favorite toy store  (alas, $200 was too expensive for an 8 year old and I never did get to reenact the heroic defense against my cat on the living room floor)

Generally, I am only interested in wargaming and learning about pre-WWI conflicts with some small exceptions.

My current projects (in varying states of planning) include:

Polybian Roman consular army

The Niagara Campaign of the War of 1812

Vendean Royalist army

1980s Soviet Mechanized Platoon

Anglo-American War of 1862 (skirmish level)

World War of 1876 (skirmish level)

Future projects I would be interested in:

*Camilian Romans and their enemies (skirmish level)

*Biblical wargaming in the ancient Near East

*100 Years War (Edwardian Phase)

*French army of the early years of Louis XIV

*War of Austrian Succession

*French and Indian War

* Invasion of France 1940 (skirmish level)

So if any of this interests you in seeing my stumble through this hobby, feel free to follow!