Wednesday 30 December 2015

From SylvainR - 28mm Bretons for Saga (230 Points)

My first entry is a Breton warband for SAGA. The miniatures are all from the convenient Gripping Beast starter set.




First, there are twelve levies armed with javelins. I tried a peasant look, but some of the colors, especially the green, turned out a bit too "neon" for my taste. Or maybe is it because they look too much "Robin Hood". If you look closely, you will find that I attached all the javelins to the figurines with fine metal wiring. The idea is that if a javelin breaks off, it will stay attached and I can simply use a drop of contact glue to fix it. We'll see out it works. I've tried to blend the wiring with the clothes and poles.
 


Next are eight warriors, all mounted and armed with javelins. For these and for the heartguards, I used an identical shield pattern to create unity. However, after I went back to the documentation, I realized that each shield should have been different, as each warrior is different.



Eight heartguards to protect the warlord.




And the warlord. I painted on his shield the "hermine", the symbol of Bretagne also visible on the current flag, the "Gween ha du". I like the pose of this miniature. Gripping Beast figurines were really top notch.



Finally, a Japanese samurai not to be counted in my tally. All I can tell about the maker is that it says "(copyright) AEG" on the base. As I was painting my Breton warband, my eight year old daughter wanted to paint beside me. To keep her busy, I provided her with a figurine and some advice and the "Golden Samurai" became her first masterpiece. I'm sure some will comment that she paints better than her dad :-).
 


A blistering first entry Sylvain, bravo! I like the idea of using wire to mitigate the hassle of breakage. I'll test your concept when we get together for our next SAGA game. ;) Also, Sophie did a fabulous job on that samurai figure. A great first effort in my opinion. I'll say nothing more other than I think you need to put her to work. :)

20 comments:

  1. Great warband and a really good Samurai.

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  2. "That Sylvie - she paints better than her dad" :p

    Nice warband Sylvain :)

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  3. I'm sure there is a suitably epic backstory to explain how a samurai ended up in 11th century Brittany - I'd pay to see that movie!
    ; )
    And tell Sylvie she should sign up for next year's Challenge - her output has already overtaken mine!

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    1. It'll probably involve Tom Cruise. Don't go there...

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  4. Well done mon ami! Sophie is off to a fine start and will soon be kicking your butt.
    Cheers, PD

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  5. It's a great feeling painting an entire force in one go huh? For some reason Curt didn't call you names though. Maybe he just has it in for me personally? :-)

    You've done a super job with them Sylvain and I hope they fight as good as they look. Your daughter shows real promise! Get her started on something else quick, I dunno, say another war band?

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    1. It's only because you have a special, special place in my heart, Millsy. ;)

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  6. Lovely work on that samurai! Only 8???

    The wire idea is clever, I hate all the snapped spears I get.

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  7. Excellent warband! It is great when you can get everyone done in one go.

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  8. My god If I could paint as good as that when I was aged 8 I would be very happy. Very Good Samurai!

    The Bretons are also top notch. But remember that dark colours are harder to dye in dark age Europe so you might want to add some Pinks or very light blues. (Madder and Brazil wood will dye them naturally in real life and while not common Brazil Wood was known in England France and Germany.)


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  9. Oh my goodness! What an awesome sight.

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  10. Great first entry. All I can say about your daughter's figure is, child labor laws be damned. ;) She's good, I hope she develops a love for the hobby.

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  11. Thanks all for praising Sophie's work. Thanks Clint for your comment about dark age clothes colors. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Happy New Year!

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  12. I can only imagin how cool it is to be sharing your hobby with your daughter. Both of you did a fine job.

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  13. Good looking warband and great to see your daughter getting involved

    Ian

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  14. Sophie says: Thank you for saying nice comments. I will try to paint more figurines. Next time I will show you some "Shopkins" I painted. Bye bye!

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  15. Wow, very nice and you've really grabbed the wind out of my sails since my Boy has painted his first miniature over Christmas as well. I will post on that soon. He's not able to do quite as good a job as Sophie though she did the samurai up marvellously!

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  16. Kudos to your daughter--that's way better than I managed at that age (or even older!). Very nice-looking band, too.

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  17. Very nice work, and your Saga band is pretty tidy too! ;)
    I do like the movement and the colors. Perhaps the Guard are all brothers and mum painted the shields! ;)

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