Picts Revisited

I took a bit of a break last week  (or maybe two weeks ago...? or THREE!?) to reorganize and rebase my small force of Picts. 

Some time ago I picked up a lot of Foundry Picts. I can't for the life of me remember where...? Ebay...? Maybe from Bob...? Or someone else...? I don't know... At some point later I picked up a few Black Tree Design Picts when I was placing an order with them. The only other post with the Picts label (at the time I started writing this) is from nearly a decade ago... Searching further back I found some pics from about 15 years ago (I should probably add the Picts label to THOSE posts!) 

Originally the plan had been to build a De Bellis Antiquitatis/Hordes of the Things army with them and have a few spares left over to base singly for assorted skirmish games or role-playing games (which was what I did with most things around that time). You can see the elements I did get around to completing in the Ancient Rome, Enemies, Allies and Gladiators Gallery.

Thought I never finished painting the entire Pictish army, I did use the elements I'd painted with a few of the Dark Age Irish in many Hordes of the Things games as "Generic Celtish Warrior" armies.

I have not played DBA or HotT for some time and, though I still like those games, figure I'm more likely to play Lion Rampant or Dragon Rampant and have slowly been rebasing a lot of the older HotT armies to use with Dragon Rampant (or Song of Blades and Heroes or any role-playing game...). There are some forces I'll keep based for DBA - Dark Ages armies, Greeks, and Roman, Enemies and Allies, and the Diadochi (if I EVER get to painting them!?) mostly because I could run campaigns with them - which would be a LOT of fun! 

I started this early last year with Orcs Revisited and  Dwarves Revisited (and Distractions - Lord of the Rings)

I think this is the first of the historical DBA forces I've rebased. I was back and forth about whether to base on wooden discs or plastic bases. Generally I've been doing all the fantasy forces on plastic - to match with the many, many GW miniatures I have that are all on plastic bases. And these being armed with swords and spears - like other fantasy forces... I thought I might do these on plastic... the most likely opponents for them will likely be fantasy armies... but I can't do EVERYTHING on plastic as that would get silly expensive (the wooden discs are, like, 1/4 the cost of plastic bases, and I've bought a lot of them... so.. eventually I went with the wooden discs...)

All the Picts. 

(Still a bit to paint) 

Mostly I've had Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant in mind while reorganizing these. Here is how I think they will likely be fielded

• 3x Light Foot/Infantry (12)  @3 = 9
• 2x Scouts/Skirmishers (6) @2 = 4
• 1x Light Riders/Cavalry (6) @4 = 4
• 1x Belicose Foot/Warrior Infantry (12) @4 = 4

Total = 21 Army Points

Here's what's done so far:

All the PAINTED Picts

(about 15AP of the stuff above) 

Light Riders - the leader Leader's unit. I might change these to Heavy Riders/Cavalry... They don't really have the armour to justify calling them "Heavy" or "Elite" Riders/Cavalry... but they also lack the missile weapons that "Light" Riders/Cavalry should have (other than the three in the back with javelins).

I do have an extra rider that at one point had a flag... I'm not sure what happened to the flag... At SOME point I may get around to making a new one and then this rider could be substituted in for one of the others... 

The core of the force - three units of Light Foot/Infantry (only one of which is currently painted). When initially organizing them I thought the three of them would be 12 Army Points... alas they are only nine... so I have a few more Army Points of stuff to come up with!?

Two units of Skirmishers/Scouts. 

I could have made it ONE unit of twelve Archers/Light Missile troops... but I don't think the Picts tended to use massed missile troops and would more likely have used skirmishers... (I could be wrong, I'm no expert on Pict warfare tactics!) 

Another option could be to take these and mix them into the Light Foot units so I end up with four units of light foot and give them the light Missiles/Javelin upgrade which gives them a limited ranged attack... that would be four units at 4 Army Points and my total would then be 24...? I kind of like the idea of separate skirmishers and blocks of light infantry. 

Belicose Foot/Warrior Infantry. 

Tactically I imagine the Bellicose Foot/Warrior Infantry would be set up out front of the army and just charge straight into the enemy to disrupt their lines while the light infantry behind move up to seize important ground and then hold it. The Skirmishers/Scouts would fan out and attack/harass the enemy from the flanks! The cavalry would be the fire brigade set up rather centrally to move up to attack the enemy where the pict line was having trouble...? I have no idea if that would work. 

I have a few spare infantry. I figured I could pull the sword armed figures out and call them Elite Foot/Infantry...? At least in the fantastical games played with Dragon Rampant... They could be a small unit of bad ass warrior elites. Maybe this could be a dismounted version of the Riders (which I could call Elites as well...?) 

I also have a Chariot... I'm not sure if this was, specifically, a Pict chariot or just a generic celt one that some how made it into the force...? 

I also have a warrior Priestess. Maybe something crazy could be built around her. An Elite foot infantry unit with some of the aforementioned spares...? 

And then there is THIS guy... maybe he could be a Single Model Unit of Elite Riders in Dragon Rampant and be some sort of Heroic General...?

Conveniently it all fits into ONE DRAWER in my game room. So, no room for MORE! Just need to finish up the two units of light foot and the handful of others... 

Still a fair bit to be painted before they could be fielded (unless I did something ridiculous in Dragon Rampant and brought in the Hero General and/or Pirestess as single model elite units, or something)... (28 foot miniatures, to be precise) Not sure when I'm going to get to that? I've only painted 82 this year so far... Also, I haven't really been playing Dragon Rampant lately, haven't for a while and don't have any immediate plans to do so... Mind you, I think these would be a little easier and quicker to paint...? Maybe if I got them done I'd get motivated to play...? And there are a group of guys in town that are very interested in playing miniatures agnostic games (because they HATE Games Workshop now). 

If I continue with this, I should really finish rebasing all the Isengard Orcs - because that would give me a full ready-to-play force for Dragon Rampant (and other games!) Honestly, though, I was hoping to get back to working on Warhammer Underworlds miniatures! (and I did!) This all probably came about because I hadn't played it for a few weeks and lost focus... 

I have Ancient Egyptian and Nubians that were initially meant for DBA armies that I think I'll rebase at some point as well... 

Four Picts

Just like the title says... I finished up four Picts... 

Four Picts from Wargames Foundry. 

Not the best Picts I ever did paint... I just needed them done FAST before I ran out of steam and the project ground to a halt and ended up taking up space on the basement art/hobby table for MONTHS... 

This is really part of a larger project which I'll be posting about moments after this... but I didn't want to include these four newly painted ones as PART of that post for weird reasons I can't really articulate and barely understand myself... but here they are... stay tuned for MORE ABOUT THE PICTS!!!

(These four were needed to finish up a few units...) 

Ancient Germans and Picts

A few more ancients for skirmishing… These lots finish up the individually based Ancient Germans and Picts I currently have. I should get working on their respective DBA armies – the Picts, at least, are half done! I probably will.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what to do over the next year or so. This year I’d like to get working on a bunch of my ancients – some individually based for skirmishing, some on multi-figure bases for DBA/HOTT. I have Egyptians, Nubians, Ancient Germans, Picts, early Imperial Romans (at least 3 DBA armies worth!) and Ancient Greeks (at least four or five Hoplite DBA armies, 5 Alexandrian Successor DBA armies, and an army of Amazons), Thracians, Skythians, Indians… wow… now that I think of it I have an awful lot. It’s almost embarrassing (if it weren’t for the fact that most of my readers also have multiple unpainted armies in their own storage closets…).

Perhaps I won’t get them all done - especially since I’d also like to finish up painting the Great War stuff that I happen to have (3 battalions of Canadians, one of French, plus assorted artillerymen and guns) and built the terrain for the Third Canadian Division’s area of operations at Vimy. I probably won’t be picking up any more figures (to complete a third brigade for the Third Division) as I’d really rather not buy any more figures this year. As it is I’ll have to paint 20 figures a week for the rest of the year just to match the number painted with the number acquired!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

A few more Ancient Germans from Black Tree Design

Picts – a mix of Black Tree Design and Wargames Foundry.

I took some pictures of the other Picts I have done so far, thinking I'd add them to one of the galleries I have (over to the left there...). I'm not sure if i should put them in the 28mm Ancient Rome, Enemies, etc Gallery or the 28mm Dark Ages Gallery . The Picts are a bit late for my Romans - which are mostly Early Imperial types... and a bit early for my Dark Ages  - which are mostly 1066 -Viking-Normans-Anglo-Saxon/Danish... I'll probably put them in the Roman one... and if they ever face off I'll pretend the Romans are Middle Imperial... 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I DID get around to doing another play-test of Power Legion on the weekend, but haven’t had a chance to post a report. I’ll probably get to that next.

After that…? Likely some more ancient stuff. I have a bunch more Roman civilian types on the workbench. 

Picts!?

Yes… Picts….

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

These are two elements of Psiloi for my Pict DBA army. All the figures are from Wargames Foundry.

Here’s the backside of them to show off their pretty tartans.

Two individual Picts for skirmish gamin’ (from Wargames Foundry). The chap on the right looks a little like a sentry. I kept imagining him as the opposite of THESE GUYS - just on the other side of the wall (in the woods, rather than the watchtower).

Here’s the backside of these guys to show off their pretty tartans.

Okay, fine… since I promissed more Greeks stuff in my last post; Here's a Greek woman! Also from Wargames Foundry.

 There’s nothing special about her backside.

Well… not that’s apparent in the way I painted the miniature…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

 Still a bunch of Greek Hoplites and Amazons populating my workbench… but there’s also Centaurs lurking at the rear… other Greek heroes and monsters and whatnot… so who knows… Maybe Zulus and Martians!?

Light Horse for Everyone!

Well… at least the Picts and Normans…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are some Light Horse for my Picts. I know one of the figures is from The Foundry.


The other three I got in a trade. From the look of them I might have guessed Crusader Miniatures…? maybe...? but I can’t find them on their website… So probably not… Anyone know where they came from?


These Light Horse are for the Norman army. They are from Old Glory.

Last night I decided to take stock of where I’m at, in terms of what I need for the next Wargames Weekend (more on that shortly) and realized I have about 339 foot and 25 mounted to paint… That will finish off the Normans, Anglo-Saxons/Danish, Irish, Welsh, Scotts, Picts and a second Viking army…. With just under 20 weeks to go, that’s about 20 figures per week… Easy… so far this year I’ve been averaging 23.

(I will do the second Viking army last – that’s 76 foot right there, if I don’t get it done it’s no big deal – I’ve already got one and Gary’s half finished his… a third would be fun… but… Anyway without them it drops the per week quota to 16). There is also a week Amanda has off in December and I could potentially get a lot done then.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Despite the need to get it on with the Dark Ages stuff…. the next stuff up will be three stands of generic medieval axe-wielding Blade (for a Generic Medieval HOTT Army) and a couple stands of 18th Century Grenadiers…? The figures are painted; I just have to finish basing them.

After that… well… there are some 18th Century light infantry, artillery and crews still on the work bench (Two Cannon and one Jäger will finish up an army of British – then I can try the DBA extension for the Horse and Musket era – although, admittedly, I don’t actually have very many “horse”… ).

After THAT there are more Vikings and Normans ready to roll right off (and some Descent minis…).

More Picts and Romans

Once again an odd smattering of items…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are all from Gripping Beast, I believe. I’m not sure they were supposed to be “picts”… but that’s what I’m calling them!!


One has been recently painted, the two others simply rebased with the new one to make a Cavalry (General) stand for my Later Pict DBA army (the earlier Picts get a Light Chariot for their General!).

I may have to make a new banner. I thin the silver on this one looks goofy…


These Roman Legionaries, like the Auxilia in the Last Post, are old 80’s Citadel miniatures, produced by Ral Partha in North America.

With eight chunky blobs of led, this stand has some serious weight to it. If you threw it an someone you could really do them some damage.... (not that throwing toys about is an acceptable practice in my house... just sayin'...).

I’ve been working on a few more stands of Auxilia the last evening or two as well…

Picts and Hobbits and…

A busy couple evenings… I finished off my Halfling Militia contingent, the last of my Hairy Pictish naked fanatic-types and some “lurkers” for an irish army of some sort…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Here is the whole of the Halfling Militia contingent. These are a mix of old Grenadier miniatures and some Copplestone Castings (all of which were sculpted by Mark Coppelstone…). The two new stands are on the left.

I'm still not entirely sure what I'd classify them as in HOTT. I'm leaning towards "Warband"... on maybe "shooters"...? I just can't see halflings as being "expendable" enough to classify them as "Hordes".


The last of the Nekkid Warrior Fanatic Warband-types for my DBA/HOTT pict army. I’m going to take a break from these now and get back to the armies I need for my gaming weekend in June…


Here’s their backsides to show off the tartan-ish capes.

I think I have subconsciously abandoned my plans to build 28 mm Warmaster Ancients armies and just stick with the DBA (perhaps building Big Battle forces…). I had been organizing all my forces in units of three stands for when I ever got around to painting enough toys to play Warmaster. I had enough figures to make three stands of these… I even organized them as such when they first arrived in the mail – pleased that it had worked out so perfectly; there were three stands of archers, three stands of these guys and some multiple of three of spearmen… but as I got working on them I got so excited about planning DBA and HOTT armies I ended up using two on the stand for the HOT(T) Druidic/Pagan/Pictish Priestess and based the remaining two individually to use in skirmish games….

It is a SIGN!!


I couldn’t resist these… I saw the pack and immediately thought they’d make a great stand of “Lurkers” for an Irish army of some sort… The figures are from Reaper Miniatures.

STILL More Picts!?

This and one more stand of them and they’re off my painting table until I get around to doing the rest of the infantry and pick up a chariot…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)




Like I said, I'm going to finish off one more stand of these, then the last of the Elvish Knights, then it's on to the ORCS! Some orcs have already made it on to the painting table and I did some work on a couple last night. They probably won’t be quite so onerous a task as I originally imagined.

More Picts!?

Uh… yeah… and I have enough for another two stands of nekkid warrior fanatics sitting on the workbench…. THEN I swear I’ll get back to the Elves and Dwarves.

Honestly I’m feeling a little… daunted(?) about doing the orcs… There’s so damn many of them!? I think I planned on doing 8 hordes with 8 figures per stand?! GAH!!

Maybe Picts will replace the orcs on the map if things don’t pick up!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


So this is the same Druidic/Pagan Warrior Priestess from the previous post - I’ve just made her a HOTT base and added a couple of nekid fanatic bodyguard types…


The nekkid warrior mens are, of course the Picts from The Foundry


Amanda was checking her out last night and actually said she might play Hordes of the Things with me if she could play her… and maybe a whole army of HOT(T) warrior wimmin…

I best get working on the Ghost Minis Dwarf Dwarf Shield Maidens… and start looking around for some other “amazon” types…

Anyone out there know of some reasonably priced HOT(T) Warrior Wimmins..?

Ghost Minis has some Valkeries…

There’s no end of female figures at Reaper (508 results for “female” in the figure finder…) …but that could get a bit pricey!!

I might have enough bonus Celtos Female Elf Warriors to make a stand or two…

Hmmmmmmm..... 

Picts

Why work on the armies I “SHOULD” be working on when I can work on what’s just arrived in the mail! As I mentioned I got a PILE of Pictish infantry off ebay and I couldn’t help painting a stand or two before carrying on with the planned projects.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


These are Picts from The Foundry.


Same lads, another angle.


The nice thing about Hordes of the Things is it’s really easy to take an historical DBA army and turn it into a HOTT fantasy army by simply adding hot scantily clad women.. or… er.. other fantastical elements.


This lass if from Reaper Miniatures. I actually ordered her before I won the Picts, thinking she’d make a great druidic priestess for some Celtic or other paganish/barbarian HOTT force. When both her and the Picts arrived the same day... well…


I’ll be making a HOTT base for her like the Elf mages. I’ll add a couple of the surplus pictish naked fanatic warriors to the base.

I’d best get on with the Dwarves and Elves and orcs!