Midgard : Britannia (Building Interlude)

This post takes a slight detour from the rest of the series. Here I will report on the building and undercoating of some of the non-Midgard based miniatures. Like with the Romans, I have decided not to paint all of the Celtic collection at the moment - I'll save some of them for a later challenge/project. Here is a list of those that I have worked on over the last few days so that they can be painted...

The Chieftains and Champions (see also comments further below) - three each from Warlord (on the left) and Foundry (on the right). There is a marked difference in scale, with the Foundry figures showing their age by being that much smaller, but they should still work well together. I had started a little bit of painting on a couple of them whilst playing the campaign but never really built up any enthusiasm at the time...

Six Chieftains and Champions

The Druids are all from Warlord Games. I have re-used an older photograph of them cut to size...

Four Druids

Here are two more Mounted Warriors to go with the eight already painted - these used 2 of the 36 bodies that were still on the plastic warrior sprues. I decided to do one as a banner bearer just in case one is needed for other games in the future, and because they look good...

Two Mounted Warriors

And finally, the chariots and crew. I completed constructing one of them by the time I posted this missive, but it turned out a little wonky - oh well, never mind. I will hopefully do another update when the other two chariots are constructed and all three are subsequently undercoated. I am toying with grabbing the Boadicea chariot from Warlord to complete two Midgard units worth (two chariots per 120x100mm base), and to give the army a super-special leader. I will also need to get a couple of movement trays organised for the chariots from Warbases to complete this part of the army.

One Chariot and three Crews

I spent a good few hours over the last couple of days assembling all of these miniatures and spray undercoating those that were not already done so, with the exception of the chariots as mentioned previously. I actually enjoyed taking the time out from painting to do some modelling instead. The updated painting list now looks like this...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (78 of 106 completed)...

• 3/4 bases of standard warriors (30/40 plastic figures)

• 1/2 bases of elite warriors (10/20 a base each of plastic and metal figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 metal figures)
• 1 base of female warriors (10 metal figures)
• 2 bases of archers (8 metal figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 metal/plastic figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 metal figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 metal figures)

Others that I will complete now that they have been prepped and/or undercoated...

• Leaders and Champions (6 metal figures)
• 1 base of druids (4 metal figures)
• Mounted warriors (2 metal/plastic figures)
• Chariots and crew (3/6 metal figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 34 Standard and elite warriors still on their sprues (plastic figures)
• 8 Javelinmen (metal figures)
• 2 Slingers (metal figures)

Whilst re-jigging everything to see what was left to paint, I noticed that the leaders and champions consisted of seven metal figures but there was a single plastic figure on the second Elite Warriors Midgard base (the other nine were metal) that I still need to paint. So, I swapped them over and put the plastic elite warrior to the side. I now actually do have a base of ten metal elite warriors but only six metal leaders and/or champions as showcased above.

Once the Midgard based and leader types have been completed I will have plenty of options for a game, so I may run out the Romans as their opponents again for a one-off battle from the Chronicles of Midgard supplement. I will then look at getting some Lord of the Rings figures painted so I can get in a bit of fantasy gaming - maybe another mini-campaign?

So, when I put in the order for those chariot bases, at the same time I will order some standard Midgard movement trays for the Lord of the Rings stuff. First up I think I want to get an orc army organised, then decide whether I want to use Gondor or Rohan as their first enemy.

Midgard : Britannia (Female Warriors)

Well, I lost my painting mojo a bit over the last week - lots of real life stuff came up (youngest daughter's graduation was one major good thing though) and I just generally lost interest for a bit. So, as a result, this unit of ten female warriors took me a while longer than my usual efforts to complete. I was also looking for brighter colours for them compared to the male warriors, so I had to search back into my paint pot archives as opposed to those just lying around on my paint station to find the colours I thought would be best for them. I am still only painting block colours and shading but I was sorely tempted to give plaid/tartan a go. I will save that paint scheme for another time as I just want to get this Midgard Briton army completed in my set time frame of one unit per week.

Female Warriors

Army numbers...

All of the Midgard based Celtic figures (78 of 106 completed)...

• 3/4 bases of standard warriors (30/40 plastic figures)

• 1/2 bases of elite warriors (10/20 a base each of plastic and metal figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 metal figures)
• 2 bases of slingers (8 metal figures)
• 2 bases of archers (8 metal figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 metal/plastic figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 metal figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 metal figures)

And the rest...

• Standard and elite warriors still on their sprues (36 plastic figures)

• Leaders and Champions (7 metal figures)

• 1 base of druids (4 metal figures)

• Spearmen (8 metal figures)

• Mounted warriors (2 metal/plastic figures)

• Slingers (2 metal figures)
• Chariots and crew (3/6 metal figures)

Again, there are one or two figures in this set that I would love to see in a Five Leagues party. I have a feeling that, along with a druid and some fighting types, my first warband might have a bit of a Celtic feel to it. This would fit right in with my ancient Doggerland gaming sessions - those prior to the DnD campaign.

I am not sure what to go for next time - maybe the rest of the skirmisher bases - namely the slingers? There are only eight of them spread over two bases, so they should make for a couple of quick wins to get my mojo back, before tackling the larger units again (a base each of standard and elite warriors still need to be completed), and then the list of the rest.

My Latest Wargaming Article

On Friday morning, the latest copy of Miniature Wargames (issue #520 - August 2026) dropped through the letterbox and onto my doormat. Back in May I submitted an article for consideration of publication to the magazine based on a scenario that I wrote after a chance meeting with John Treadaway the editor of the magazine at a wargames show last year.

During this meeting we discussed all things Weirdstone of Brisingamen and, as a result of our conversation, he asked me to write an article for the magazine. I jumped at the chance. It took me a while to get around to writing it due to various other real-life projects that needed completing first, but it has now finally seen the light of day in the latest issue of the magazine...

Miniature Wargames #520 - August 2026

I mentioned the game/scenario in passing in a previous post. The game played was my first for Dragon Rampant Second Edition and it was a cobbled together affair figures wise. I had enough miniatures to make up both armies but I had to proxy quite a few. I had enough warlocks, mara, and svartalfar for the "baddies" and the leaders, heavy infantry and most of the skirmishers for the "goodies". However, despite the non-canonical figures it worked splendidly and the game made for a great narrative.

It is the scenario idea and after action report that made it into the magazine along with some pictures of my figures that were scenario appropriate.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing the article and John enjoyed reading it well enough that I have been asked to write something set in the same universe but for a different game system. I will be working on it over the next couple of months.

Stay tuned for the next Weirdstone article, as well as a possible article for another magazine set in the times of The Anarchy.

Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#4) - The Mines III

The recent hot weather and football World Cup has meant that we have not been able to meet up online for several weeks. That said, we managed to get together last night, and that allowed us to finish this particular part of the current adventure.

The Mines - Day 3 (continued)

After Healing up as best we could, we decided that we should at least try to investigate and clear out the final cavern in the vicinity of the mine entrance. We had very few spells between us now, but we were almost back at full health - we just hoped that there was nothing too serious to overcome in the final cave.

Using my magical boots, I jumped to the island that separated the spit of land we were currently on from the final cavern's spur. There were lots of bodies that I could see on the opposite bank by the final cavern entrance; some even looked like they had been gnawed upon and possibly eaten.

Navda joined me on the small island and we tried to lasso some of the bodies and drag them into the water so that they could be shriven of their potential undead status. We managed to do this for about half of them, but then the rest were beyond our reach.

I then jumped across to beach opposite to see if I could push some of the bodies into the water physically, but as soon as my boots hit the gravel a massive roar emitted from the cavern followed by the sound of many metallic objects clashing and grinding together. The remaining zombies on the beach began to stir and move towards me so I jumped back to the island to bide us some time.

Dharion had unslung his bow by now and had begun shooting the zombies that he could see, felling several of them as Twerca, the dwarf warrior joined us on the island. Navda also began to loose arrows at the remaining zombies, but just as we thought we had almost got them all a few more emerged from the cavern.

Suddenly, one of the zombies was pulled into the cavern mouth at very high speed, which puzzled all who saw it happen. The remaining dwarf zombies were quickly destroyed by the archers - the beach was now clear. I jumped back across, but as soon as my boots hit the beach I was attacked by more zombies that emerged from the cavern. They beat me badly before Dharion destroyed one and the rest of the party could get across to help.

Twerca immediately charged into the cavern, but the rest of us slowed as we encountered a chest high mound of mud, debris and discarded weaponry. The clanging and grinding metal noise grew louder as we slowly entered the dark chamber, but Druss entered a berserk rage and charged in to aid the dwarf. Gladreth decided to cast Invisibility upon herself and snuck in further than the rest of us. Suddenly all was pandemonium; several more zombies emerged from the dark as another huge roar was emitted from a being deeper within the cavern. I was glad to have my magical mace as all non-magical weapons were suddenly ripped from my comrades' grasps; bows, rapiers, swords, all flew into the darkness.

The source of the roaring and the grinding metal noises emerged from the darkness - a Risen Reaver (as I was told later); an undead drow warrior much larger than any drow we had previously seen with four arms and his entire body impaled with weapons of all types, including our missing bows, rapiers and swords.

The Reaver jumped high and landed right between us all huddled just inside the entrance. Most of us fell to the ground with the impact and the Reaver proceeded to carve us up with its four sharply weaponised arms. The rest of the zombies joined the attack and we rapidly began to tot up all kinds of serious injuries. Twerca and Gladreth, whose invisibility fell from her as soon as she entered the combat, fell under the onslaught but I could not reach either of them to stabilise them. A Prayer of Healing, however, helped everyone, albeit temporarily.

The fight was rejoined in earnest by my comrades, but the Reaver kept us at bay and put Twerca down again. Finally a shot from Dharion's bow found its mark and the beast fell. Unfortunately my second Prayer of Healing could not revive Twerca in time from the horrific injuries that she had sustained in the fight.

The Final Cavern at the Entrance to the Mines

As soon as the Reaver died, the rain stopped and the sun emerged from the breaking clouds to start the process of drying the land. With the rain stopping, the water level in the channels began to recede and revealed all of the dwarfs that we had thrown in to spare them from undeath. We could now also see the entrance to the mine itself.

We explored the rest of the cavern for loot but didn't find too much other than the remains of a large number of partially eaten dwarfs. A couple of them still wore a few items of magical clothing (a cloak and a pair of boots), and there were a few magical weapons lying around that had not adhered to the Reaver which must have come from the defeated dwarf warriors.

We picked up what we thought would be valuable and buried the dead as best we could. We then returned to the village where we told the few survivors what we had found and what had happened. They were glad of the news and allowed us to rest up and Heal our weary bodies and souls.

This ended the current part of this adventure. Hopefully we will be moving onto some more intriguing parts of the scenario next time.

Midgard : Britannia (Archers 2)

The second unit painted up quite quickly as I knew the paint scheme I was going for and there are only four figures to go on the base. I stuck with shades of green and brown to make them kinda look like rangers/scouts, but they are within the bounds of colours used from the time.

The paint jobs were just block colours followed by a wash to give them some depth. As mentioned previously, all units in this army will have basic paint jobs even though I am itching to stretch my skills a bit more with some proper highlighting, shading and decoration.

The second unit of Celtic Archers

And here they are together with last week's unit...

The two units of Celtic Archers

Army numbers...

All of the Midgard based Celtic figures (68 of 106 completed)...

• 3/4 bases of standard warriors (30/40 plastic figures)

• 1/2 bases of elite warriors (10/20 a base each of plastic and metal figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 metal figures)
• 1 base of female warriors (10 metal figures)
• 2 bases of slingers (8 metal figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 metal/plastic figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 metal figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 metal figures)

And the rest...

• Standard and elite warriors still on their sprues (36 plastic figures)

• Leaders and Champions (7 metal figures)

• 1 base of druids (4 metal figures)

• Spearmen (8 metal figures)

• Mounted warriors (2 metal/plastic figures)

• Slingers (2 metal figures)
• Chariots and crew (3/6 metal figures)

A quick picture of the last few units...

Archers and Elite infantry

I am very happy with my painting rate and that I am still enthused enough to keep on painting. There are still quite a few figures to go and some need constructing. I will look at trying to glue together and undercoat a number of the figures from the second list above over the next couple of weeks. I think I have mentioned before that I will most likely not paint all of the miniatures from the lists above, but I would at least like to complete all of the ones previously based for Midgard and a goodly amount of the leaders and druids.

Next time should hopefully see the completion of the Female Warriors base. There are ten to be painted, so they may take a little more time than the archers recently took.