Joe's Bretonnian's- The wizard Gibelin and the dragon Béatrice.

Perhaps unwisely, I've eaten my dessert first and instead of getting some rank and file done this month I've progressed directly to the big gribbly dragon. This is an old Grenadier copper dragon, still for sale probably from one of the companies who still produce old Grenadier stuff. I love the unique pose and the weird wings. 

The wizard Gibelin is widely mistrusted by just about everyone in the Duc's warband, not least by de Rainault himself. The knights are outraged by his refusal to address them with sufficient obsequiousness, and lament that a man without a family tree or even a surname should have risen so high in the Duc's employ. The peasants of the company, deeply superstitious to a man, whisper that his mother was a dwarf and his father half-daemon. This would certainly explain his stature, his beard and his otherworldly demeanour. No-one can deny his usefulness to the Chevauchée though- when you positively, absolutely have to burn every hovel in the village- accept no substitutes!

month 1 - monster month - level 20 wizard on a winged dragon: 540 points.

Maciek's Dwarfs - Bretonnian allies - mounted squires (175 points)

Rank & File month 3

For April, I present you a squadron of allied Bretonnian light cavalry. 

These mounted squires are the scouts and bodyguard of the Bretonnian sorcerers that joins the dwarfs of Karak Varg on their campaign against the green skins.

The colour inspiration came from the Maciejowski Bible, a primary source for mid-13th century fashion and military equipment. The folios (which, by the way, seem like a chronicle of incessant violence) depict a lot of de-saturated primary colours - blues, greens and reds turning to oranges, so that is the palette I went for.

Folio 23, Saul is victorious, sourced from the Morgan Library

Five of the models are mounted squires awesomely sculpted by the Perry brothers, with characterful faces, strong historical inspiration and attention to detail - it was an absolute pleasure to paint them. 

For this month I dabbled with two painting techniques which I have not used before. For riders I tried monochrome underpainting. I did not quite work for me. For the effects to be visible it required the use of translucent glazes so that the shading beneath shows through. But it also meant that colours looked a bit blotchy and were more de-saturated than I wished. To get the effects I wanted, I had to anyway resort to more classic layering, but that covered all the monochrome shading beneath. Not sure I am sold on this technique - happy to hear from the other painters if underpainting works for you and if there are important points to keep in mind, that I may have missed.

For the horses, I tried a bit of wet blending (the 'blonde' horse). It does produce very smooth transitions, but I will have to push the contrast further. Definitely a method to develop and has the advantage of being rather quick - the whole colour (horse) can be done in a single pass. Painting the horses was more time consuming than I expected (even more than skeletal horses last year) so I'll be happy to be back to dwarfs in May.

The coat of arms on the banner is "Nałęcz", which essentially depicts a white kerchief that seemed fitting for a Bretonnian sorceress. It should fit well with my existing 13th century feudal force.

 

One thing I did not finish are the heraldic shields. The red plain shield on the Harlequin rider is a temporary proxy. I will be painting them and upgrading the riders next month.

Accounting: 5 mounted squires with spears, bows and light armour (100) + standard and musician (40) + commoner champion (35) = 175 points 

Speaking of next month I have yet to decide whether to go for the last regiment or do a cannon and "leftovers" to complete the units completed so far (more longbeards, crossbow standard and shields). Thanks for looking and see you next month!

Maciek's Grey Mountains Alliance - Dwarfs & Bretonnians - introduction

 

Hi everybody,

My name is Maciek and for this year's OWAC I will be painting Dwarfs with an allied Bretonnian contingent. Having done an army of walking dead last year, I needed something more lively and colourful for my second OWAC.

The motivation and plan

OWAC V will be another trip down the memory lane with some practical gap filling. Dwarfs were my first fantasy battle army that I started in late 90s during the first year at the university.  Over the years I painted around 50 dwarfs but never made a viable army - they're mostly clansmen and hammerers. What I need now is shooting regiments, war machines and heroes. And longbeards... there is never enough of those grumbling veterans.

Why Bretonnians? Over the years my interests shifted from fantasy to more purely historical themes and I painted a mid-XIII century medieval army. It is painted as feudal Polish with accurate heraldry, matching colours and weapons. It was intended for wargaming the northern crusades and as "realistic" Bretonnians in Warhammer. What it lacks is light cavalry and magic users. This is also just the thing that is missing from every dwarf army, so would make a suitable allied contingent.

I plan to address these gaps and expand both collections. Naturally all this is really just an excuse to paint some lovely old dwarfs and a bit of heraldry to keep things varied. I found OWAC to be an excellent driving force to get myself motivated and organised to paint more lead. This year I planned smaller monthly batches to do justice to the models and keep things manageable.

The force

1) The queen's household guard - 15 x Longbeard veterans with command - 255 points

These models are both the early 90s Longbeards and the 80s imperial dwarfs with similar equipment (all inspired by historical XII / XIII century). Perfect match for feudal Bretonnians and will also make a suitable tribute to the wonderful Wayne England dwarfs.

 

2) Crossbowmen - x 10 - 130 points

3) Thunderers x 12 with command  - 182 points

4) The mighty goblobber! (large stone thrower) - 104 points

5) Cannon - 110 points

6) Mounted squires x 6 -  with full command and all available equipment  -  176 points

7) Heroes - Dwarf queen, a dwarven heroine, a runesmith and a Bretonnian sorceress - 461 points

I like to keep my armies and warbands equal opportunities as much as possible, but due to scarcity of female models in the old- and middle-hammer eras the options are limited. The force will be centred around Dwarf and Bretonian female leaders to slightly redress the balance of these two patriarchal societies. 

There may still be small additions to the units force, if I manage to find or obtain suitable models - especially the battle standard and command for the crossbowmen.

Closing words

Very happy to be taking part in OWAC again! As a ticket for the upcoming ride, here is an offering for our benevolent Overlord Iannick. Sir Sven Pinkisson - a gentleman, a poet, occasional playwright and a mining specialist. First dwarf knight of Karak Varg. Suitably adorned with baby blue and powder pink.

Looking forward to start painting and good luck to all challengers!  

See you all in January!