From PeterD: An Irish Tide on Luna (117 points)

The themes for Luna include tides and I present a boatload of Irish Sea Raiders who arrive with the tides on the western coasts of Dark age Britain.  Other than the curragh they sail in, the figures are all Gripping Beas and mostly from their plastic Irish set (or the Paddy O'Furniture set as it's known in our household).

Landlubbers and most North American sailors don't often realize but the tides along the coasts of the British isles are something to be reckoned with, with big tidal height and strong currents resulting from a lot of water sloshing through some narrow openings.  Tides determine when you can sail, which direction you sail in and when you can enter port.

Ireland in the Dark Ages was like most of its history rich in people and culture and poor in just about everything else.  So they exported their people to Scotland and Wales and used some forced acquisition import trade.  The leader here is a metal fig from the Arthurian range meant to represent a former mercenary who acquired better gear fighting foreign wars and has come back home.  Otherwise these are the Plastic Irish done straight up from the box.  I have had lots of metal GB figures but these were my first plastics from them and I was quite pleased with the box.  Nice poses, clean sculpt and good variety of heads, arms, shields and cloaks.  

Here's a back view of the cloaks showing the natural wool tufts that were used as decoration.  I've based them individually so that they can serve in Beowulf RPG skirmishes where they will serve perfectly as Sea Raider.  I also plan to have them serve as a unit of 12 for mass battle games (once I work out magnets and basing etc).

Close up of the second half of the bunch. You may notice that some look a little grainy which is down to my own impatience. The box arrived mid challenge in a cold snap and I was so keen to get them primed that I took them outside before the weather had warmed up enough.  However, they look ok and work well from my standard 2 foot range.  

Back view of this lot again with a cloak or two (these are separate pieces and can go on any torso before the head is attached).    I tried for a unit feel by using a limited colour palette and a common shield theme. Shields are all free handed in basic Celtic spirals.  I gave some figures basic plaids (the modern usage as a pattern, not the traditional item of clothing).  The flag was bodged together quickly in MS Word using Celtic clip art.

Two other metal figures.  The priest originally came with a sword and spear, but I wanedt a less violent Irish cleric.  I tried to bodge a cross by cutting down the sword, and may have to revisit that later.  The horn blower is from the GB Sub Roman British range and will end up with those forces.  Both are venerable but fine figures.  The Currragh is from the Freebooter's Fate range and is a resin cast.  Back in early December I was in Toronto on business and the trip armed with a shopping list.  A search on Meeplemart website of "boats" had unearthed this as a potential stand in for an Irish curragh, but I had no idea where to find it in store.  Turned out neither had their staff, but they assured me that if it was listed as in stock on the webstore, then it was in the brick and mortar store.  Kudos to the lovely young lady who searched all over the store to find it for me.

A curragh is a traditional Irish boat made of leather over a wooden frame.  According to Irish legend, St Brendan the Navigator and companions sailed to the New World in one in the 6th century.  Tim Severin's book The Brendan Voyage (a very good read) has great material on their construction and history.  I don't suggest following Severin's lead by sailing one to Newfoundland via The Faroes, Iceland and Greenland to prove that the legendary voyage was possible if you are determined and crazy enough.

Points wise I make it 14x28mm foot figures, plus I suggest counting the boat as a vehicle for 20, and 20 for Luna for a total of 110 points.  This could be my last post, but I am hoping for the traditional Shelf Soup last week end post of odds and ends. 

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Great work Peter! What a great mob of Irish to bring a little more richness to your Dark Age collection. As you say kudos to the Meeplemart staff in digging up this boat to stand in for your curragh. It looks excellent, though as you say, I wouldn't trust one of these to take me from Newfoundland to, well, anywhere! Those were some tough and enterprising folks back then.

I'm going to give you a few extra points for the hand painted shields, though you may want to think of a wash and colour that banner as it looks a bit minimalist and anaemic for this hearty lot. :)

Well done!