"Soon after this came in Earl Tosty from beyond sea into the Isle of Wight, with as large a fleet as he could get; and he was there supplied with money and provisions. Thence he proceeded, and committed outrages everywhere by the sea-coast where he could land, until he came to Sandwich. When it was told King Harold, who was in London, that his brother Tosty was come to Sandwich, he gathered so large a force, naval and military, as no king before collected in this land; for it was credibly reported that Earl William from Normandy, King Edward's cousin, would come hither and gain this land; just as it afterwards happened."
-The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
The Fyrd, the backbone of any Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Danish army. I had taken photos of the first four I painted previously, but wasn't happy with how they turned out. While at the NOVA Open last year, I was treated to a game of SAGA with Bill Thornhill of Footsore Miniatures. Now, I have a Viking force that I have been intended to paint for a while, but so far I have just finished the berserkers. But I bought Footsore's Late Anglo-Saxon army since clearly the Vikings will need an opponent 😂
The first four I painted I tried to use a pseudo-dip technique using the Army Painter Dark and Soft Tone inks. But I wasn't terribly happy with it. You can probably tell which ones they were below as the shades don't quite look right. But they were a great learning experience for the second batch, which were generally painted much cleaner. I also added a little more decoration to the second batch after looking at some other people's models.
One difficulty I ran into is that I'm not used to painting the eyes on true 25mm scale models. So for these I used Tamiya black panel line enamel wash as it shot straight into the shape around the eyes. However, you can see two or three who I didn't quite clean up right (it's amazing what you notice in photos but not in real life!).
Finally, the shields are Little Big Men Studios transfers. Since these are the fyrd, and not professional soldiers, I also added some pigments to the bottoms of the shields to simulate lack of proper maintenance as the troops don't properly take care of their equipment in camp. It also helped to hide some of the seems of the transfers, which are quite thick.
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| This is my favorite, check out that 'stache! |
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| This guy has a giraffe neck, the one sculpt I don't like in the whole bunch! |
I wanted to add that the guys over at Footsore are super nice and I highly recommend their models. Plus they have monthly freebies!
Great stuff! even though I often paint shields I think transfers are the way to go. In some forces, such as Dark Ages armies, they are the most visible part of the model.
ReplyDeleteThanks! As much as I wanted to paint them, the designs are just too complicated for my meagre freehanding skills 😂
DeleteExcellent work Andrew! Really love them!
ReplyDeletePictures are the WORST for showing up painting inconsistencies. Also, eyes are the worst too.
ReplyDeleteI usually find that with some inking on the face (I typically use sepia vallejo) the eye creases are dark enough you don't need to do much more. Maybe a swipe of a flesh highlight. The next 'step up' for me is to actually paint the eyeball and pupil.....usually reserved for character models (if then). It's rarely worth the effect I find.
I hear you on the pictures. So often I look at a model and think I did a great job and then look at the photo and they're a night and day difference in quality!
DeleteI've been playing with the panel line was a bit more since I took those photos and working on b the techniques with it. These were just there first try and it's gotten better. I just have to be willing to clean up after it 😂