The Fate of Alt Clut – Part 1: Introduction

After lots of talking – and lots of painting and terrain building on my part – we finally kicked off our new Dux Britanniarum campaign last Monday.

I choose to base the campaign in Alt Clut, the northernmost kingdom of the Britons. Here they are trapped between the raiding Picts in the north, primarily from the Pictish kingdom of Fib, and the aggressively expanding Angles in the east, primarily raiding from the former British kingdom of Bernaccia.

As you can see, this is a three faction campaign and we will use the simple rules from the Raiders book to determine who has the initiative in each month, and gets first say as to what they want to do. This will be a pretty loose campaign, with whoever showing up commanding one of the forces – but in theory I suspect it will just be Michael/Dalauppror and me for the most part.

As I'm keen to try out all the factions (this being is our first campaign in Dux Britanniarum proper, rather than some sort of tweaking for another period) we'll be alternating between them, so that no one will play eg the Picts for the whole campaign.

To begin with, we plan to do one full campaign year and then we'll see about continuing. Alt Clut is a one-province kingdom, which means the total campaign shouldn't last too long. However, three forces still means quite a lot of games: 8 raiding months per year, with a possible 2 games per month makes it a maximum of 16 games for the year. Though in practice I think it'll be much fewer than that.

For the first game, rather than roll for initiative I simply decided that the Picts had the initiative and would raid an Angle village, as we were eager to test out the new Raiders' rules.

Dalauppror set up the table in his usual excellent way and away we went. We had another guy from the club, Jesper, joining us and he got to command the Picts while Dalauppror took the Angles and I acted as game master/referee. I got so caught up in the game, I forgot to take pictures, but luckily Dalauppror managed some snaps so a big thank you to him for letting me use these in this post!

The Picts had a whole four rounds headstart, but some not too great rolls for movement meant they had just reached the outskirts of the village before the Angles turned up and the fighting began.

The table at the start of the game: the Picts have arrived from the top-most edge
and made their way to the village, while the Angles have just arrived,
ready to drive the raiders away.

A group of Picts managed to enter one building and quickly found all the loot they wanted (the raider's special rules for looting paid off nicely), while their comrades outside managed to hold their ground against the on-coming Angles.

The Picts are getting ready to plunder the barn,
while the Angles are getting ready to attack the intruders.

The Angle's elites arrive, to try to even out the odds a bit.

The Picts proved to be tough fighters and drove some of the Angles off, much thanks to some well-placed flank charges (nice use of Carpe Diem cards). However, they were now pretty badly beaten up and hard pressed from the Angles who had managed to reform their forces before it was too late.

The battle seesawing: while the Angle's elites press forward
to the left in the picture, the Picts have pushed back the other
Angels (to the right) and set them up for a charge by the cavalry.

We had to call the game off early due to running out of time and looking at the situation, we decided the Picts dropped the loot and made a hasty retreat while the Angles stood their ground not really being in any shape to pursue them. Counting up the casualties, we were a little surprised to see the Picts coming out on top with just 6 men lost while the Angles had lost a total of 13 men. A slight victory for the raiders then.

The Picts would replace their casualties and be ready to raid in the next month (April). The Angles in turn, would need to 2 months before they were up to full strength (May). As a result we decided that the Angles would not raid this month and as the Britons could not do anything (they can only initiate actions when they have lost lands) this meant the first month/round of the campaign was over.

In the next round the Angles will again not raid, preferring to wait until all their losses are replaced, and the Picts will therefore be free to act however they want. Rather than raid the now weakened Angles, we thought it would be more fun to pit them against the Britons. So the next game will be Picts against Britons.

It was great to finally start up the campaign, and to return to Dux Britanniarum – it's still by far my favourite game and campaign system, even though it's not without its faults (mainly in the presentation/text).

It's been a while since we last played the game, and I'm not sure Jesper had actually played it before, so we were a bit rusty. We spent some time flicking through the rules (which, let's face it, could be better presented and explained) which was only expected. We also made a couple of mistakes, but nothing too game changing I think. Overall, a great start to the campaign and I'm really looking forward to continuing.

Thanks for reading – have a nice weekend everyone!

Pictish Raiders

From the north they came ...

A month or so back, I realized I hadn't put up any pictures of the Pict raiding force I finished last year, so when I got the time I arranged some terrain and took some photos. Then things got in the way, as they have a tendency to do, and it took me a good while to sort out the pictures – but this week I finally took the time to finish the last few of them.

The whole warband ready to raid (click for larger image).

The force consists of the following models: one Lord with a champion and standard-bearer (the last one is for decoration only and have no effect in the Dux Britanniarum rules), one minor Noble, one group of four bow-armed skirmishers (should be crossbows according to the rules apparently, but there you go), one group of four skirmishers armed with javelins, one group of four skirmish cavalry and four groups of six raiders each.

Here is the Lord Gartnait son of Girom with his champion Caltram son of Uoret to his right. Behind him stands the trusty standard-bearer Lutrin and to the left stands proud Erip son of Domelch, a minor Noble.

Skirmishing cavalry, armed with javelins.

Skirmishers with bows.

Skirmishers with javelins.

First group of raiders.

Second group of raiders.

Third group of raiders.

Fourth group of raiders.

The miniatures are an eclectic mix of Black Tree Design, Gripping Beast, Old Glory and West Wind. Shield transfers and banner from Little Big Men Studios.

With the long (looong!) awaited Raiders supplement for the excellent Dux Britanniarum from Too Fat Lardies finally being about to be released – "in the beginning of April" is that I'm hearing – I'm getting very excited to at last be able to field this force.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend everyone!

Pictish Raiders 8

Well then, here are the final models for my Pictish Raiders force for the upcoming expansion to Dux Britanniarum. These are the Lord, his Champion and a lesser Noble. And for a little extra flavour I added a standard-bearer to accompany the Lord in battles.

L to R: Champion (GB), standard-bearer (WW), Lord (WW)
and Noble (GB).

The miniatures are from Gripping Beast and Westwind. I spent a little more time painting these models, adding some extra highlights etc, like I usually do for commanders and I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out. Unfortunately the light is really weird today, making it impossible to take decent photos (the champion's white cloak is not that flat looking for example) but these will have to do.

As usual, the shield transfers and the banner are from Little Big Men Studios.

The Lord and the standard-bearer are mounted on a custom made sabot command base for greater flexibility.

I had this one made by special order from Warbases, along with a couple of other variants as well. More about these in a later post.

And with these miniatures, this project is now finished. For now at least! I have some more stuff I want to add, some nice extras, but as I'm no real hurry these will be done in-between other projects.

When I have the time, I will take some snaps of the whole force assembled.

Now, all I have to do is wait for all this Chain of Command hysteria to die down and for Too Fat Lardies to finally publish the Raiders supplement so I can try out my new warband ...

Finally, a long overdue greeting to the new followers: Mike D, Remco de Groot, Emilio and Willie Anderson. Welcome! I hope you'll like my blog and find much inspiration here. Do make yourselves at home.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Pictish Raiders 7

This is the finished skirmish cavalry for my Pictish raiders force for Dux Britanniarum. The miniatures are a mix of Black Tree Design and Westwind.

BTD, WW, BTD, WW

In reality, I imagine the Picts would have ridden sturdy ponies, but since these horse models are a bit on the small side they look OK to me.

As usual, the shield transfers are from Little Big Men Studios.

The BTD cavalry are as nice as the rest of the range, but unfortunately there's only three poses and they're all a bit static. A couple of more sculpts with more animation would have been nice.

With these skirmishers done it's just a couple of characters left before the whole force is finished. Nice!

Oh, and another thing: it seems this blog reached 10 000 total hits sometime during the last weekend, which of course is a very nice milestone. Back in April the total hits reached 5 000, which was some 15 months after I started. Well, it certainly seems the monthly hits are increasing as the next 5 000 was reached in just 4,5 months. Of course, counting hits is a fairly blunt instrument when gauging how your website is doing, but at least it gives you some indication ...

Anyway, I just want to say a big "Thank you!" to all visitors, especially if you're not a Russian spambot and also if you took the time to comment on one of the posts.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading!

Pictish Raiders 6

Well then. Here is the fourth and final unit of raiders for my Pictish Raiders force for the upcoming expansion to Dux Britanniarum.

GB, BTD, WW, BTD, GB, GB

The miniatures are the usual mix of Black Tree Design, Gripping Beast and Westwind, and the shield transfers are from Little Big Men Studios.

Not much left now, just the skirmishing cavalry and the characters.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading!

Pictish Raiders 5

I have finished the third unit of raiders for my Pictish Raiders force for Dux Britanniarum. And finally, I did some tattoos! Very simple, but they look quite nice in my opinion (although I'm perhaps a bit biased).

Anyway, here are some more pictures:

GB, GB, GB, BTD, GB, WW

The light is a little tricky today, killing some of the highlights, and so the pictures are unfortunately not the best.

The miniatures are from Black Tree Design, Gripping Beast and Westwind. The pose of the Westwind model is maybe a bit akward, but he looks very cool with his flowing cloak and the half-hidden face.

Shield transfers, as always, from LBMS.

Just another unit of these, and then it's on to mounted skirmishers and then the characters. Should be a breeze!

Pictish Raiders 4

Here is the second unit of raiders to be finished for my Pictish Raiders force for Dux Britanniarum.

GB, BTD, GB, GB, BTD, GB

The models are a mix of Black Tree Design and Gripping Beast, and the shield transfers are as usual from the excellent Little Big Men Studios. I've been trying out some new stuff with the bases and I'm liking how they look now – a bit more interesting without being too cluttered. When all units are done, I will go back and update the bases of the first units using the same techniques.

Unfortunately I've had some problems with the wash drying uneven and patchy, as you can see in the close-ups. I think it might have something to do with the weather here in Sweden the last couple of weeks – very hot and humid. The models look good on arm's length distance though, which is how they will be viewed most of the time so I guess it's not that big a deal.

With this unit finished it's already half the army done, which is certainly good for the painting morale! I'll be off on vacation for most of next week but I aim to have another unit done before the week is over.

Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks for looking!

Pictish Raiders 3

Another week, another addition to the Pictish Raiders force. This time it's the first unit of "proper" raiders, 6 men strong.

BTD, GB, BTD, WW, BTD, GB

The models are from Black Tree Design, Gripping Beast and West Wind. The BTD models are slimmer than the other two manufacturers' but I think they match OK. Shield transfers are from Little Big Men Studios.

I took a little extra time painting these raiders, doing some patterns on their clothing as well as some extra (smallish) highlights in certain places. Nothing too fancy though, just enough to make them look less flat than with a single highlight.

Some more pictures:

And finally, a warm welcome to the new follower Grigork. I hope you'll like the blog!

Pictish Raiders 2

The Picts are still pouring down from the North: I have finished the second unit for my Pictish Raiders force. You can read more about the project in the first post. These are a small group of skirmishers armed with javelins.

From left to right: Old Glory, BTD, Westwind, BTD

This is a nice mix of miniatures: Black Tree Design, Old Glory and West Wind. The fellow of the right is a very simple conversion. He was originally armed with a sling, but I cut the sling away from his right hand along with the peg for the shield on his left hand. I then drilled out both hands, bent the right arm back a bit, to make the pose better, and finally glued the javelins in place. Nice and simple.
 
Here are some more pictures:

Finally a warm welcome to the new followers: 1/72 Figures collect & paint, Chris Stoesen, fireymonkeyboy, James Brewerton, Paul´s Bods, Thaddeus, thehermit, Wiatrog. Quite the crowd! I hope you will like the blog and find much inspiration here!

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading.

Pictish Raiders 1

With the Novgorodians finished it's time for my new project: A force for the upcoming Raiders expansion to Too Fat Lardies excellent Dark Ages skirmish rules Dux Britanniarum. 

Way back in the post were I talked about my planned projects for this year I didn't want to say which force it would be, but now it's time to reveal the secret: Yes, the Picts are coming!

Naturally, the force composition is not yet official but after reading some AARs and posts on the Lardies Yahoo Group I've managed to piece together the following list:

1xLord
1xNoble
1xChampion
4x6 Raiders
4xMissiles (bow or crossbow)
4xSkirmishers (javelins)
4xSkirmish cavalry

It seems this list is more or less final – any adjustments are probably (and hopefully!) going to be minor. In any way, I should find some use for these models and so I've started painting them. Here are the first models to be finished: 4 bowmen.

The miniatures are from Black Tree Design. Now, I've read a lot of negative things about BTD – do a search for them on The Miniatures Page and you'll find all sorts of horror stories – but it happily seems these are a thing of the past: I've ordered from them a couple of times over the last year and while the shipping was a bit slow (but not unreasonable in any way) everything did turn up. The miniatures are very nice, especially the Picts. They are a bit slimmer than for example Gripping Beast but I'm not overly concerned about these things. Thus I will happily mix both manufacturers in this force, along with models from West Wind and Old Glory.

This will be a "quick and dirty" project, not quite speed-painted but near enough (as you can see in the close-ups). I've tried a somewhat new approach this time: Instead of priming them black as I usually do, I spray them with Army Painters Leather Brown spray primer. The nifty thing about this it that I can leave some parts in the primer colour (eg belts, bows and spears) and save a considerable amount of time. These archers were certainly finished in no time at all. When doing the warriors, and characters too of course, I'll spend more time on the models, doing some patterns, such as tartans and stripes, on their tunics and cloaks. As usual with Dark Ages miniatures, you can get a long way by concentrating on the core three: bases, faces and shields.

Finally some more pictures:

Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend everybody!