Koyote's Britons & other SAGA Stuff

[jollyork]

Thanks! Currently unavailable so I'll put it on my Xmas list... 🎅

[Koyote]

2 hours ago, jollyork said:

Thanks! Currently unavailable so I'll put it on my Xmas list... 🎅

That's odd.  When I visit the site it states that there are 12 currently available. 

[jollyork]

Bizarre. I'm looking at it right now and it says unavailable. 

[Koyote]

14 hours ago, jollyork said:

Bizarre. I'm looking at it right now and it says unavailable. 

I wonder if it's a regional thing?  In what part of the country do you live?

 

 

[Koyote]

And here they are with their shields...

Truth be told, after painting 50+ Umayaad/Moors, I'm a bit burned out on painting blue and tan, so I'm going to take a break before painting the crossbow levy and the last point of mounted hearthguard.  It's time to give my post-apoc and fantasy painting projects some attention.

 

[Koyote]

Last October I decided to set down my brush for a while to focus on a game design project.  The project kept me busy until a month or so ago when my desire to write or do pretty much anything left me.  Not doing anything creative or hobby-related has been very bad for my mental health, so it's time to pull myself up by my boot straps and get back to it.

I think I will start out slow(ish) by picking up where I left off with my AOM desert warband.  This will let me start small with a single unit, but that single unit will contribute a much larger existing project that is already two-thirds complete.

The original plan was to use them as Lords of the Wild, but since my forest goblins make a more obvious LotW warband, I'll use my Moors as the foundation for a Great Kingdoms warband.

Warlord -beast (flight)
Paladin -winged mount
3 Biped Creatures
1 Scourge
8 Warriors -no equipment
8 Warriors -no equipment
8 Warriors -mounted
12 Levy -bows
12 Levy -crossbows

 I have already painted 16 Moor warriors (no equipment), 8 Moor warriors (mounted), and 12 Moor Levy (bows), so with the exception of one more unit of 12 Levy (crossbows) which I can use in Age of Crusades as well, all that I have left to paint for my Great Kingdoms warband are the fun units, like characters and beasties.

I'm not a fan of the domains of Energy and Light, so I think I'll skip the sorcerer and spend the points elsewhere.  In my Great Kingdoms warband, my painted wizard on a magic carpet will be used as Paladin on a Winged Mount.  The model doesn't have the fierce expression or menacing expression as you'd expect on the face of a monster slaying hero, so I am going to dub him Ali the 'Pensive Paladin'.

The first new unit I'm going to tackle is this unit of Biped Creatures.  Two of these big guys are my favorite GW Ogre models, the Araby Maneater. The third is a converted Avatars of War Ogre Khan.   After that I will tackle the remaining 3 units.

Warlord on Flying Beast

 

Levy with Crossbows

And finally, I just ordered this beauty.  It's Atlantis Miniatures' Sphinx.  I will use it as a Scourge.  

One of the problems you can get into with flying creatures is that if you are too aggressive with them they can get stuck out on their own, without support.  With 3 flying units, the flyers in my warband can be used to support one another.

[Koyote]

I made some progress. I textured the bases of the big guys, and did some prep and clean up work on the crossbowmen.

The crossbowmen are a simple kitbash that combines pieces of the Gripping Beast's Arab Infantry kit and the Fireforge Games' Foot Sergeant kit.  The Foot Sergeant kit don't include quivers.  The quivers in the Arab Infantry kit includes quivers, but they are too long.  I fixed this by simply removing about a 1/8" section from the bottom of the quiver and reattaching the very bottom of the quiver.  

The arrows/quarrels don't have nocks, so I made my own by attaching slices of thin greenstuff dowel to the tops of the fletchings.

I still need to do some greenstuff work on the crossbowmen's neck areas.  The models in the Arab Infantry kit fit together pretty good, with the exception of the heads. Simply gluing the heads to the bodies leaves visible gaps.  In the past I covered these gaps up with greenstuff scarves attached to the helmets of my Moorish spearmen and HG.  I don't think I will do that with this group, so I'll need to fill in those gaps and smooth out their necks.

 

Just in case I decide to add a static warmachine. Just in case...  🙂

It's a Shieldwolf Miniatures' Shieldmaiden Ballista minus the maidens. I replaced the original ballista ammo with spears from [i]Fireforge Games[/i].  It's difficult to see this in the photos, but I added fletchings made from clear plastic to both the loaded spear and the spear held by the crewman.  

I believe that the crew are both random Footsore Miniatures models. The model holding up his hand was missing his feet ("Umm. Excuse me sir. I seem to have left my feet in my tent."), so I sculpted him a pair.

 

 

[Koyote]

The model needs another layer or two of highlights, but I’m done fussing with him for now, so I’m moving on the Biped Creature number two. 

 

[Koyote]

I've started on the second GW Araby Maneater model, which, because I lack imagination, will be painted in an identical color scheme as the first.  

I've also been taking a good look at the third ogre in order to plan out how I want to paint it.  I originally purchased the model, Avatars of War Ogre Khan, to use as an Ogre Bodyguard for my Mordheim Kislev warband (pictured below), and later decided to use it for AoM Moors because it was a model that I had on hand and it looks vaguely "Eastern".

This morning, I was doing a Google image search and I stumbled upon this model.  It's Westfalia Miniatures' Saracen Ogre. Wow.  

 

If the Saracen Ogre scales well against the Ogre Araby Maneater models, the Ogre Khan model is getting sent back to Mordheim to hang out with my Kislevs.  However, since orders from Westfalia Miniatures can take up to seven f'ing weeks to arrive, it may be some time before I know the Ogre Khan's fate.  

While I wait I'll set the Ogre Khan aside.  After Ogre Maneater #2 is done, I'll move on to my static warmachine, and then maybe the warlord.

 

[Koyote]

Here's the second Biped Creature.

As I mentioned above, I'm going to hold off on the third Biped Creature until my Westfalia Saracen Ogre arrives.  In the meantime, it's time to get to work on my Static Warmachine.

[Koyote]

I’ve got good news and bad news.  

The good news is that my order from Westfalia Miniatures arrived lightning quick -six days from my order date.  Also, the quality of the miniature is excellent.  I will certainly be buying from Westfalia again.

The bad news is that the model is not suitable for my planned purpose. As you can see, in comparison to the GW and Avatars of War ogres, the Westfalia ogre looks like the runt of the Araby ogre litter. Such a shame. I really do like this mini.

[Ish]

I had thought from the first pic you posted that he was "taking a knee" or sitting... Darn shame it won't work out, it's a fantastic model. I like that he looks more "civilized," the GW and AoW designs are a bit "barbaric" for my tastes. 

Any chance you could work your greenstuff magic on him? A millimeter or so more thigh, a couple millimeters about the waist, and a good stout rock to stand on... He'd still be short compared to the others, but some people are shorter than others. 

[jollyork]

18 hours ago, Ish said:

I had thought from the first pic you posted that he was "taking a knee" or sitting... Darn shame it won't work out, it's a fantastic model. I like that he looks more "civilized," the GW and AoW designs are a bit "barbaric" for my tastes. 

Any chance you could work your greenstuff magic on him? A millimeter or so more thigh, a couple millimeters about the waist, and a good stout rock to stand on... He'd still be short compared to the others, but some people are shorter than others. 

+1 

Totally looks like you could hack the legs off, make new ones, and reattach the boots. We've all seen you rock the greenstuff on tougher jobs! 

[Ish]

Heck, just saw him off at the waist (he’s got that nice thick sash on) and attach him to the legs of a plastic GW Ogre... then patch up the gap caused by the lack of a gut-plate (again, that sash should help).

[Koyote]

The problem is not only the model’s height, but all of its proportions. Lengthening the legs and broadening the chest would still leave the model with skinny arms and undersized hands, feet, and head. 

Correcting everything would essentially leave the entire model encased in green stuff with small bits of the original resin poking through here and there. 

Unfortunately, this fella is going into one of my many boxes of unpainted minis and the Avatars of War ogre khan gets to rejoin his Araby ogre buddies

[Koyote]

Static War Machine

 

[Koyote]

Thanks guys.

I'm not too happy with how the wood grain turned out. It's too dark and too thick.

After I posted the photo, glazed all the wood parts with a thin glaze of Army Painter's Soft Tone.  That darkened the highlights so the contrast between the wood grain and the surrounding wood isn't so stark.  I'm still not thrilled with the final product, but it is what it is.

My Atlantis Miniatures' Sphinx arrived the same day as the Westfalia ogre runt.  I am very please with the quality of the cast and the sharpness of the details.  I only hope that my painting skills can do this model justice.

[PourSpelur]

Damn, that's a sexy Sphinx mini!

Awaiting the inevitably gorgeous paint job you'll give it. What's the plan? Neutral, tawny tans? Pops of warm reds and yellows? Jade green and bubblegum pink?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[Koyote]

Here's my third Biped Creature.  The big, gold sword clearly identifies him as the leader of my Araby Ogres.

If you look closely, you will see a big brown blob of paint on the sword's cross-guard.  I didn't notice it until after I had cropped and resized the photo.  I have no idea where it came from.  I suspect that my 7 year old may be the culprit.  I have since repainted that portion of the cross-guard, but I'm too lazy to get out my lights and reshoot the model, so I'm posting the photo as-is, blob and all.  🙂

 

 

[Ish]

[Koyote]

Yup. That's who the model reminds me of.

[Koyote]

I've spent the last couple weeks taking stock of the models I've already painted for this warband and fixing some of its aspects that aren't working for me.  

I started by slightly darkening the shade of blue on their robes and headscarves and adding a bit more shading to the recesses.  I also changed the color of their skin tone.  I really wanted the models to have a very dark skin tone, more Sub-Saharan (like the Sub-Saharan troops of the Almoravid armies than reinforced the Taifa states in the 11th century) than Saharan, but my painting skills just aren't up the task.  My very dark skin tones look okay under good light, but under regular lighting conditions (or the gloom of the Adepticon tournament hall) the facial details get lost quite easily.  Instead, I repainted the flesh of almost all my models using Mournfang Brown (instead of Rhinox Brown) as the base, so my Moors skin tones now look like my Tribal Hunters mercenaries (pictured below).

I finally got around to adding greenstuff scarves to my kitbashed crossbowmen.  The scarves cover the defects in the Gripping Beast plastic Arab heads and gives them that desert nomad feel.  Remember, my warband is an contingent of tough, desert dwelling Berbers/Tuaregs, not effete city-dwellers in their silks and Persian slippers.  

I've added rocks and bones to their bases, so all that's left to do now is to glue texture to their bases and they are ready for paint.

Another choice that I regret is the use of the fully veiled Gripping Beast plastic Arab head on my AoM warlord mounted on the giant eagle.  The fully veiled was a boring choice, so I dug around for bits boxes for a more interesting head.   The model now sports a head from an Artizan Design's Andalusian Noble Cavalry miniature, but it's blank expression is making me have second thoughts...  

Lastly, I updated my Spinx's base, by replacing some of the rocks with some scattered bricks, adding a few more bones to the base, and putting an arrow shaft into the skelly.

 

[Koyote]

A little more greenstuff work on my last four hearthguard.

 

[Koyote]

Many years ago, on a business trip to Egypt, I took a day off to and tour the pyramids from the back of a camel.  It was an amazing experience, and ever since, I've wanted to play an army that includes camel cavalry.   

When Age of Crusades was released, I thought that SAGA might be my chance to incorporate camel cavalry into a tabletop army.  The Mutatawwi'a faction includes camel cavalry, but I'm not too fond of the Mutatawwi'a battle board, so I initially passed on it.  Similarly, I don't care for Legendary Warlords, so I also passed on playing Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, the Moorish Legendary Warlord that unlocks Tuarege Camel Riders for the Moors.   Mercenary Scouts mounted on camels is an option, but they aren't a great choice.  Plus, as levy, they suck in melee.

When Age of Magic was released, I noticed that the AoM rules do not distinguish between horse-sized mounts (e.g., horses, camels, giant wolves, giant spiders, etc.), so I bought Gripping Beast's Mutatawwi'a warlord on camel and two packs of Mutatawwi'a fanatics on camel to use as AoM mounted troops for my Desert Nomads AoM warband.  Sadly ,when the models arrived I noticed how ridiculously small  the camels' heads are, and how small the camel is overall in comparison to the size of the riders. To me it looks like they put a 28mm scale rider on 20mm scale camel with really long legs.  I'm a bit of stickler for scale, so the poorly proportioned camels killed any desire I had to paint the models.

Recently, I decided that it might be fun to give the Mutatawwi'a a try, but if I were to give the Muts a go, I'd have to find proper camels for my hearthguard and warlord.  

After a bit of research, I settled on the camels from Irregular Miniatures' Mamluk model line.  The camels come in only one pose.  I like the sculpt, but the casting isn't so great.  You can see from the photo below, the  blankets that hang down the  camel's left side look like they've melted together.  It's quite different from the blankets on the other side, which are defined and have an obvious fringe.  The Irregular Miniatures camels' riders are absolute crap, but that matters little to me because I want to use the Gripping Beast riders, which are quite good.

Doing a proper job of matching Irregular Miniatures camels to the GB riders will require me to remove the saddles from the bottom of the GB rider.  In the photo below, the GB rider mounted on the Irregular Miniatures is sitting on two saddles. I should be able to bring the rider down by about 1/8th of an inch or more.  Fixing the Irregular Miniatures camels' defects is going to take some greenstuff work, but nothing too difficult.

GB rider on GB plastic horse (left).  GB Mutatawwi'a rider on Irregular Miniatures Camel (middle)  GB Mutatawwi'a rider on GB camel (right)

 

 

[Koyote]

I painted my Moors as Berber (Tuareg) tribesmen so that they can convincingly be played as any of the Muslim factions that recruited contingents of troops from western North Africa.  This includes the Umayyads (Age of Viking), Moors (Age of Crusades), and the Mutatawwi'a (Age of Crusades).  An interesting side note, both the Moors and Mutatawwi'a factions include a Legendary Warlord from the Almoravid Dynasty, which was founded in North Africa by uniting the Berber tribes.

My research into the Almoravids indicates that they made great use of war drums, which were used to terrify Christians and panic their horses.  This makes me think that I need to add some drummers to my collection of painted minis...

Since the Mutatawwi'a  faction cannot include levies and many of the abilities on the Mutatawwi'a battle board requires the Mutatawwi'a player to lower their unit's armor or remove a model from their own warband, I feel that they would benefit from some large units of Warriors to absorb the self-inflicted casualties and aggressive play style.  One of the Mutatawwi'a builds I have in mind includes 3 points of melee warriors divided into two units of 10 warriors and a 4-pack of warriors hanging back in order to secure the extra Saga dice.  I figure if this 4-pack is going to be sitting in the rear of the army, it would be fun to properly theme the unit to match its "support" role.  My idea is to make it a unit of war drummers and a standard bearer.  

The 4-pack is comprised of models from Artizan Designs' Moors model line.  Two of the models arrived with deformed faces, so I did a bit of greenstuff plastic surgery to make them presentable.  The lower half of the standard bearer's robes is flat and mostly featureless, so I used GS to add a belt and some folds.  The drummer on the far right had the same issue with flat robes.   Also, I don't like that particular drummer's original head and the twin scarf ends hanging down on its chest, so replaced the head and scarf with a plastic GB head and greenstuff.  In hindsight, I don't know if I like the replacement head either.  I may have to replace the replacement.

In addition to the painting the new 4-pack, I need to add 2 more models to each of my existing units of 8 melee Warriors.  In keeping with the Almoravid drum theme, each unit will get another spear armed model and a model equipped with a drum.