From Mike W: 28mm Romano British / Arthurian Infantry (60 Points)

Well its Christmas Time and so it must be AHPC time as well! It's good to be back, I hope everyone enjoys it this year's competition.

Finished unit of 12 x 28mm Arthurian Close Order Heavy Infantry

So one of my new projects this year will be building a Romano-British / Arthurian Army in 28mm using the fabulous figures that are available for the period that have been released by Warlord Games, Gripping Beast, Victrix and Wargames Atlantic. All of these set have their pros & cons but the best thing is that they are all pretty much interchangeable, allowing a great variety if figures to be assembled.

Close-up of unit from the left - each shield has unique iconography
but to similar black & white colour palette to give unit cohesion.

I have of course been inspired by Warlord Games recent release of their Arthurian supplement for Hail Caesar, it fits nicely into my image of Arthur being a Dark Ages knight, hanging on to the last strands of Roman 'civilisation' as the Saxon hordes invade from overseas.

Close-up of unit from the right- shields are of various shapes and sizes.

This group of figures represents a unit of 12 Close Order Heavy Infantry, lead by a lesser Knight who owes allegiance to Arthur. As such they have a fairy uniform appearance, albeit they all have individual shields with their own Christian iconography on each shield. All figures are in a light grey dress with a blue trim and where worn, black horsehair plumes in their helmets.

These three guys each have round shields and are all Wargames Atlantic figures,
with a couple of Gripping Beast / Victrix head swaps.

Figures were primed in white, before a light grey coat on all leggings and tunics. A few variations were then allowed as this is, after all, the 'Dark Ages' and the influence and availability of Roman dress and equipment is beginning to be lost. 

Each of these three guys are entirely made from Wargames Atlantic figures
but the oval shields are from Gripping Beast

GW Leadbelcher was used for all chainmail and Snakebite Leather for all shoes and leatherwork, whilst scabbards were done in a fairly bright blue.

Helmets, belts and swords had details added in brass - to add some 'bling' and then the figures were given a watered down wash in Army Painter Dar tone all over except for backs of shields and spear shafts that had a soft tone wash.

Three more figures, the large black shield is the Wargames Atlantic standard oval shield, which appears a bit but to my eye, so I prefer the smaller Gripping Beast counterparts.

The shields on this unit were fixed to be black and white, to give it some unity on the tabletop. Bases were covered in fine sand and then electrostatic grass to give a pleasing finish.

Left we have the Lesser Knight who commands this unit,
Centre is the Units Standard Bearer and right another foot soldier.

Look out for more of these figures in future posts as well as Skeletons, Orcs, Elves and some Warlord Epic 15mm figures.....

POINTS

12 x 28mm Infantry Figures @ 5 Pts each                60 Points

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It's great to have you back to the Challenge Mike! I absolutely loved Cornwell's 'Warlord Trilogy' and these excellent Romano British of yours bring back good memories of that book and it's great characters. I like how you've showed us that these various manufacturer's models can be combined to provide wonderfully varied models. It also helps that your brushwork is so nice and clean as well - terrific work. 

I see you have some more entries in the queue so we'll soon get treated to more of your work!

- Curt