Vikings for Basic Impetus

Drum roll please....

Here are the first two units of my Viking army for Basic Impetus. Why the drum roll? Well, these are also the first 28mm figures I've completed. I feel obscurely guilty about neglecting my little 1/72 friends, but I'll get back to them soon.

Figures are from Wargames Factory. This is also the first time I've used the tufts on the bases, and I like the effect.

Figures are block painted, then have Army Painter strong shade applied by brush before being finished off with some highlighting. I want to work on the highlighting - not happy with it yet. I keep trying to drybrush on lighter shades, but the figures I see that look the best seem to add much bolder lines or blocks of colour.

Shields are all handpainted, with designs from various sources but particularly inspired by Neldoreth's Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields site He is a truly brilliant painter. The banner is a paper one from Gripping Beast.

One of the things I like about Impetus is the larger base size, so I have tried to make use of it here with a little vignette featuring an overzealous Saxon about to meet his maker.


Thanks for looking!

IV/35 Mongol Conquest DBA Army

Just for the sake of completeness, here is the Mongol army I painted a few years ago as part of a set with the Nevsky Russians and Teutonics. The armies are so different, but were historical opponents, so they make for an interesting campaign.

Figures are from Italeri and Zvezda. Haven't Zvezda come a long way since they produced these lumpen little men!




It has otherwise been an unproductive hobby week at Dux Homunculorum Towers, with mountains of marking, reports and the Duchess organising an uncharacteristically busy social schedule. However, the Vikings are progressing, and I received a box of Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns. Very, very nice.

Thank you to everyone who visits this humble blog. I'm chuffed to see that my followers have now hit 50! Your interest and feedback adds a lot to my enjoyment of this great hobby.

Work in Progress - Vikings

I'm teaching a unit on the Vikings at the moment, which has inspired me to paint up a couple of armies for the 9th century struggles in England. I'll be basing the figures for Basic Impetus.

In a radical departure from standard Dux Homunculorum practice I have decided to have a go at painting 28mm figures. The figures are from Wargames Factory, and I'm generally pretty happy with them. As Neldoreth points out in his brilliant review of the Plastic Vikings, the figures work well as a loose unit, perhaps charging, but less well to represent a shield wall. My only real gripe withe the WF Vikings is that their hair is much too neat. Indeed, this was the first reaction of the Duchess when I asked her to admire uncritically my finished painting.

At this stage, I'm contemplating using WF Vikings, but pitting them against Saxons from Gripping Beast, which are much more suitable for making a shield wall.

I'm new to this 28mm malarkey, so any constructive feedback is very welcome.

IV/30 Teutonic Order DBA Army

Here's another old DBA army. The wonderful Teutonics over on Paul's Bods blog have made me think I should redo these at some stage. These chaps are from a big project about four years ago where I was painting sets of historical opponents for DBA, so these were opponents for Mongols, Russians and C13th Germans.

German Crusader Knights. They couldn't afford the big pilgrimage package to the Holy Land, so have decided to spend their summer holidays in the Baltic instead.

The camp was done in a rush with modelling clay for the tent and monks from Strelets 'Medieval Britain' set. The tent does sort of look like something Smurfs would live in. If someone knows a good way to make bell tents, I'd love to know it.

III/78 Early Russian DBA Army

Click on images to identify dodgy painting.

Well. School has started back and life is busy, so not much progress in the Dux's workshops. So I thought I'd take the opportunity of just photographing some old DBA armies. First up are the 13th century Russians I finished about four years back, consisting mainly of Strelets figures with a few Zvezda and Caesar as well. I love the look of this army (not that I've done it justice), combining the appearance of Vikings and Steppe peoples. Unfortunately, I've had no success with it at all, either in DBA or Basic Impetus. The cavalry aren't tough enough to tackle western knights, and they can't skirmish properly against Mongols. What I really need is a big lake of ice to fight on that all my enemies can fall through when it cracks. Now there's a thought.

Hmm. I'm not sure why his horse is blue either. Might have used Payne's Grey, thinking it was - yes - grey.

Marian Romans for Basic Impetus

Here are the first couple of units of Marian Romans that I'm painting up as opponents for my Parthians. Figures are from Caesar, with Italeri shields. The figures are ok, but the dodgy lorica hamata (mail) has the wrong texture and looks like fur (lorica hirsuta?)

Napoleonic Saxons

Here are some more Napoleonics from a couple of years back. First up, the magnificent Zvezda Saxon Cuirassiers.




...and some simple painting conversions of Saxon Infantry from the HaT French light infantry set. This is the 1st Koenig Regiment.


A sharp knife and hot water conversion to make another advancing pose and standard bearer.


A great overview of the army of Saxony in 1810-13 is available here