Latest 28mm Vikings

So here are my latest additions to the 28mm Viking Horde that I have been collecting for a few years, there must be enough to represent the Great Heathen Horde in a pretty realistic scale now!

Almost all of these figures are Gripping Beast guys, purchased on a whim from eBay as I saw the lot going at a reasonable price and already made and undercoated. There are three metal 'Ulfhednar' Berserkers in there as will plus a metal Gripping Beast model of Harald Hardada, whom I am obviously using as a commander for this group.

The completed group, on some nice new figure trays (made from MDF)

As noted the figures came pre-made and undercoated, I did a little chopping and gluing to repair broken and weapons and also to swap out some of the Gripping Beast heads that I didn't really like with Victrix spares that I had.

Unit Commander

The trays allow for eight or sixteen figures to be placed as a unit and thus ease movement and unit recognition for the coming games that I'm planning. 

First Group of Armoured Vikings

Second Group of Armoured Vikings, note the Ulfhednars lurking in these units,
they will be subject to a frenzy rule and may just charge out directly at the nearest enemy at their whim

The bulk of the lot were made up of unarmoured Dark Ages infantry, I have given them a slight Viking look and feel but in reality they can be used for pretty much any Dark Age army if you don't look too closely! 

The great unwashed of the Viking Army!

Friday Night Games - WW2 Eastern Front, 1945

Friday 12th & 19th August has seen us playing the next in Mark's sequential set of linked scenarios as Russian Forces fight their way towards Berlin on the Eastern Front in 1945. The photos below are from week #2 of the game, and as ever these will do most of the 'talking' in this post.

Rules by Mark, figures by Mark, Mike N & John.

Germans were being played by Dave, Ollie (sub for John who was on holiday for week2) & Mike N, whilst the Russians were being played by Steve, Rupert, Nigel, Phil & Mike W (sub for Mat who was unable to attend Week 2).

The Russians, under Steve, are forcing an attack along the length of the board and Wee 2 starts with a general Russian advance, pushing German Volkssturm forces back almost at will, with little of no meaningful resistance on the right flank.

Russian advance on eth right flank, lead by tanks as they approach
Volkssturm positions behind the hedgeline.

Close-up of the Volkssturm positions

On the left flank, under Rupert & Mike W,  the going is a little more difficult with wood s and barricades across the railway line slowing up the advance. Additionally an embedded tank turret caused some consternation, as did a Volkssturm Panzerfaust team that took out the lead Russian tank, before they were themselves destroyed.

Rupert's Infantry & Mike W's tanks advance
on the Russian Left, through woods.

Switch to a squadron of low flying Stormoviks, screaming in low over the battlefield laden with rockets to attack two houses and a known German AA Position. The lead section was driven off by newly revealed German AA resources, saving one of eth houses. The second section unleashed all eight rockets on it's target house only to find four shots overshot by a wide margin, two more flew long and to the fight and one dropped short, leaving only one on target.

The Stormoviks arrive on the table

The railway track on the left flank,
with destroyed Russian Tank in view

Initial Russian disappointment turned to celebrations when it became apparent that the four long shot had missed the house but landed square in a hidden German HQ, destroying the transport and admin staff. Just as the German CnC was dusting himself off and thanking his lucky stars that he'd survived another rocket came skidding over the house to land directly on his position and wiping him out

The final Stormovik delivered a wide ranging scatter of rockets on the AA position missing with most but then eliminating the target.

Later on the right as the Russians continued to advance they began to encounter elements of a Hitler Youth formation was again roughly handled by the Soviets.

Russian T34 Mine clearing tank on eth Russian right

Western half of the board, with the two houses attacked by the Stormoviks,
both remained untouched although a hidden German HQ unit behind the blue
building (front right)was destroyed.

Off table German Supply Units

Start positions for Mike W's tanks Week #2.

T34 Tanks of the Russian right, rolling forwards.

Valentine tanks lumber forwards to the right of the Russian Centre

Russian Central start off positions,
a heavily defended river

Behind the Russian Centre,
a self-propelled artillery unit 

Back on the Russian Left, a destroyed house from which a
Volkssturm Panzerfaust unit took out a Russian light tank.

A cool Russian Command Vehicle

Final shot, from the Russian left,
watching the Right Flank attack press forwards

28mm Victrix Vikings

Its been a while since my last post - the weather has been too hot and I've been too busy for some of this time but worry not, I have been beavering away - working through a set of 28mm plastic Viking Warriors from Victrix.

Victrix pack label

The pack (not a box but a plastic bag with a card label as shown below, contains enough frames to make 60 Vikings in lovely 28mm detail! There are two command frames, each of six figures, with standard bearers, Jarls and Berserkers, whilst there are also four frames of eight figures to build the bulk of the force. Half of these men are unarmoured, the rest are in a mix of chain mail and leather armour.

The completed set

The detail is fabulous and the figures paint-up great, my only complaint is a little too much flash on a couple of the figures on each frame, however, this was easily removed with a sharp knife.

The unarmoured Warriors, mostly with Spears and axes

The figures come in a 'semi-multipose' format - in that some of the figures require specific combinations of arms and/or heads to go with them. Despite these limitations there are a huge selection of spare arms and heads to allow for true variety.

Four unarmoured figures from the set

I'll be looking out for some cheap Dark Age figures on eBay to grab and use many of these spare parts on to upgrade them to near the standard of this set...

Close-ups of four of the Unarmoured guys, two of these four have natty fur hats,
a third has a head swap from a Gripping Beast Viking figure.

So as ever I undercoated these figures in white, using an aerosol spray in this case and based the figures on UK '2p' pieces - giving the figures a nice weight. 

Five more unarmoured men, most have steel helmets, the shield designs are featured well here

In recent post-covid times I have struggled to source enough '2p' pieces for my figures but I have found a new source for these - the Amusement Arcade on Worthing Pier! 

A group shot of warriors in chain mail or leather armour, various weapons

Anyway, after an undercoat I add various colours to taste, to cloth these little guys, then add 'Oily Steel' for all metal work, leather shades for shoes, straps and scabbards, flesh where appropriate and then various colours for hair.

Close-ups of these guys, all in leather armour of various shades

After much fixing of errors and paint 'overspills' I wash all flesh and hair in Sepia ink and then all other parts of the in a watered down Army Painter Dark Tome ink to add shading, before varnishing the figures when dry.

Five more guys, with one guy not wearing armour sneaking in to the shot

Shield patterns are added before these too are varnished and a fine sand mix is added to the base using a dark brown gloop of mixed PVA glue and brown paint. When dry electrostatic grass is added in a similar manner.

Another five, these will make up the core Viking units in any battle line

The plan is for these guys initially to form part of Harald & Tostig's forces at Fulford Gate, where they will be opposed by Anglo-Danish forces under the Earls Edwin & Morcar. Then on to a refight of 1066 and all that!

Final three guys, armed with axes and swords

I deliberately went to make a number of Hearth Guard guys in this batch,
each armoured and depicted with a great axe.

First set of close-ups of the Hearth Guards, the two end figures are very heavily armoured,
the guy second from right has a fur collar 

Five more chaps, all looking pretty intimidating!

Five more Hearth Guards, one unarmoured (Good to represent the Viking
forces that were hastily prepared at Stamford Bridge). 

Final five Hearth Guardsmen

Viking Command Group, Standard Bearer, Jarl and a Musician 

Three Bearskin clad members of the 'Cult  of the Bear' also known as Berserkers

Finally, possibly my favourite figure, A Polar Bear skin clad Berserker

28mm 12th - 16th Century Irish Army

By Mike W

So after some time painting Irish troops for various periods, I have drawn these together into a single army that can, with suitable variation in units within the army, represent Irish forces pretty much anywhere between the 12th and 16th centuries.

The obvious thing to be aware of is the use of firearms, the musket armed troops would clearly need to be omitted form the earlier iterations of an Irish Army - as would any fellas with a Marian helmet .pre early 1500s.

The whole army laid out with all troop options

Same from a slightly different angle

And again form the other side!

The core of the army is five warbands of warriors, either 20 or 25 figures strong, including a musician plus each has a chieftain to command it. It is at this point that it should be noted that a good 40% of the figures were originally form Steve's medieval collection, these however have all been repainted and rebased to fit in as best as possible with my own figures

A mix of Wargames Atlantic and Gripping Beast Irish figures

Another warband of Gripping Beast and Wargames Atlantic plastic figures,
this time 25 figures strong with a metal leader, originally form Steve's collection.

So about two of the warbands are made up of Wargames Atlantic & Gripping Beast plastic Irish figures, about about another two warbands are based around figures formerly in Steve's collection - I'm not sure of their manufacturer. The remaining 20% are from metals from Perry Miniatures, Redoubt Miniatures and I believe Essex. 

I have tried to pull these all 'together' buy using a similar paint job across the army, with an ochre coloured cloth as the based tone, with highlights in other, sometimes brighter colours.

Another 'large' 25 man warband, mostly made up of figures formally in Steve's collection,
repainted and rebased. Leader is one of mine and I think it is a Perry's figure.

The fourth Warband, again mostly figures that were originally Steve's
but also including an number of generic Dark Ages figures to bulk it out.

Fifth and final Irish warband, 20 figures strong with a Perry's leader and a Redoubt (?) drummer

Added to the base of five warbands I have two units of Gallowglass figures, armoured mercenaries wielding two handed swords and axes to drive fear into their enemies. The larger unit of these fearsome men are Perry Miniature figures.

Gallowglass Unit, predominantly Perry Miniatures but also some Redoubt and Essex guys as well!

A second, smaller twelve man band of Gallowglass,
these are all formerly from Steve's collection

The Army Commander is, I believe an Essex figure, I have given him a priest carrying a standard and also a personal champion. Whilst on the subject of Essex figures, its worth noting that the fairly large number of these in this army were originally sourced from Steve C's collection, these have all been repainted and rebased to fit in with my army's overall look & feel.

Army Commander with his Champion (right) and personal priest,
carrying the Army Banner, left. 

A Scots contingent of Musketeers and Archers,
all metal figures, not 100% sure of manufacturer,
these would be suitable for late 15th and early 16th Century periods.

Next come various missile men, whose use would vary according to the time period in which any game is set. I need to build these numbers up somewhat but there are about a dozed archers, a single slinger and seventeen musketeers!

Nine archers and a solitary Slinger! A mix of manufacturers

Three armoured Archers, formerly belonging to Steve

A group of Irish Musketeers, various manufacturers, including Wargames Atlantic,
Gripping Beast, Warlord Games and others. 

... and six more musketeers.

Another optional unit is the commander's retinue, these would work well in any late Medieval or Renaissance game but not really practicable in earlier periods.

Commander's retinue, suitable for later Middle Ages and Renaissance period games

Then we have the dogs!

Finally, no Irish Army would be worth it's salt if it did not include Wolf Hounds,
these ten are from Wargames Atlantic, Irish boxed set.