Midgard : Britannia (Slingers 2)

Hot on the heels of the last batch of slingers we have a second batch of slingers. Hot being the operative word here as it was another scorching week this week in dear old blighty. Luckily these four figures only required a quick paint job and wash to get them completed. Other than the heat, there were no major interruptions to my painting schedule this week, so I managed my usual 20-30 minutes per day.

The Second unit of Ancient British Slingers

So, that makes for two more skirmisher missile units completed which brings the total to four ranged skirmisher bases including the archers. There are also the skyclad and hound master bases that could be counted amongst the skirmisher units too bringing the total of these kinds of bases (four warriors on foot per base) to seven...

Both units of Slingers

And here they are with the female warriors...

Slingers and Female Warriors

After my summary post comment last time, I decided to take a picture of the whole army so far...

The Ancient Briton Army so far

I am not sure if I will take a photo of the whole army again until I have completed the entire project. In the meantime, I will continue with progress reports for the last few units and individuals that need to be painted.

Celtic figures based for Midgard (86 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)

Other Celtic figures that have been prepped (0 of 21 completed)...

• 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 the remainder...

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

Of the Midgard based figures, that is all of the quick wins (i.e. units of four) out of the way. I have just two more units of ten to complete now before moving onto the leaders and champions etc. When this particular Briton army project has finished I may look at the movement trays for the Midgard : Britannia armies left in my unmade box and divvy them up between the Romans and Britons. I have a number of bases I can construct for each army from their remaining unpainted piles (two units of javelin-armed skirmishers and maybe another base of plastic Warriors from the Celts, and I know I have artillery, Numidian cavalry and some Balearic slingers still to paint for the Romans). I will eventually get around to completing those unpainted figures and basing them for use on the left-over movement trays, but I will work on another project first before going back to them. I wish to use all of my current Warbases purchases so I do not feel guilty about buying more for other armies, even though any new ones will be configured to take 25mm and 40mm round plastic GW bases rather than the 1p and 38mm washer bases I used for the two Britannia armies. Money is tight, so I need a return on my gaming investments in terms of hobbying and playing with them.

In other news, I have put in that order for the chariot bases, and also for some standard movement trays for the Lord of the Rings orcs (the 25mm round GW bases mentioned above). When they arrive and I have worked on them a little, I will hopefully get another "in progress" post written with my work so far. I also need to see how to base the Roman artillery and crews as well; this too can be the subject of another post later on.

Midgard : Britannia (Slingers 1)

Back on track with figure painting this post. This time I went with one of the units of slingers for a quick win. There were only four miniatures that required painting for this skirmishing unit and my usual basic paint job plus wash did the trick - the usual 20-30 minutes per day rate of painting again.

The first unit of Ancient British Slingers

I managed to complete these ones quite quickly as this week's normal life didn't distract me from getting the paints out. When I had finished them and put them to one side to start on the next batch, I was quietly pleased with the progress so far. The bases that I had prepped for Midgard are now almost all completed. I have a few more "raw" bases/movement trays that could be used to mount more figures, but I will see where things stand when I complete the whole army, as I may need to also use some for a few more Roman units. I will probably try to do a summary post at the end of this project so I know exactly where I stand in Britannia.

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (82 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)

• 1/2 bases of slingers (4/8 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 the remainder...

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

Next time should be the second unit of slingers.

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.

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.

Midgard : Britannia (Archers 1)

These figures were delayed for a bit as I had to go to a funeral earlier this week. When I got around to doing some painting, I decided to go for a unit of the archers to get a quick win - they only took me four days in total at around 20-30 minutes per day. I am not sure if the paint schemes are historically accurate in any way, but I don't really care too much to be honest. I was using these as a bit of a test run for my Lord of the Rings Gondor and dwarf rangers to see what shades of green and brown go well together.

Again, I didn't go to town on the very basic paint jobs for these troops; just a few basic colours, shaded and based in the standard way for my Celtic troops.

The first unit of Celtic Archers

Army numbers...

All of the Midgard based Celtic figures (64 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)

• 1/2 bases of archers (4/8 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)

I like the way they turned out overall, so I will try to continue on with a similar paint scheme on the next batch of archers. I have already seen one or two of them that I would like to use in an upcoming Five Leagues warband that I am putting together. These figures have a lot of character.

Next time should be the second batch of Britannia Archers.

Midgard : Britannia (Elite Warriors 1)

This unit of ten elite Celtic warriors was a struggle for different reasons to the last couple of cavalry bases. They took much longer than the skirmisher bases as there were ten warriors on the base as opposed to four. These took me eight days to paint averaging 30-40 minutes per day, whereas the skirmisher (four figures) bases tended to only take about four days at 20-30 minutes per session. Despite the extra effort involved, I am still on pace for approximately a base per week.

Elite/Noble Warriors

I didn't do a grandiose paint job on these despite them being elite troops as I just want to get the army finished. Again, they were a basic few colours, shaded and based, but I managed not to mist the shields this time when I sprayed on the matt varnish. They should fit in well now as Roman adversaries, especially on their Midgard bases.

Here's the ongoing army tally...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (60 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 archers (8 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 here is a list of 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)

As this elite warriors base was made up of purely plastic miniatures, I thought I would mix things up a bit and do a few more metal miniatures next - I have several skirmisher bases to paint, so maybe some archers or slingers? I have another base of elite warriors to complete (I think they are all metal), but I will leave them a while as they will take a long time if this last lot was anything to go by and I need a few more quick wins to get my mind back in the groove before tackling them and the last unit of standard warriors (both ten per base). I also have the female warriors to contend with; another base of ten figures.

Once the figures that were used for the Midgard campaign are completed, I will carry on and do some of the rest of them - primarily I will aim at painting the leaders/champions, the druids and the last two mounted warriors. The chariots need to be fully assembled so will provide another challenge that I am looking forward to. I may not bother with the plastic figures still on their sprues, the metal spearmen and remaining two slingers just yet - I reckon I will be all "Celted" out by then and relishing a fresh challenge.

Midgard : Britannia (Mounted Warriors 2)

I really struggled to get these finished this week - it was extremely hot here in the UK and my painting mojo deserted me in favour of staying cool and sipping cold drinks. They seemed to take much longer than last week's efforts and I felt that I spent a lot more hours on these to get them right, even though they are still just a basic paint job and shade wash. I struggled again with the vast expanse of horse flesh and all the little bits and bobs around the saddles. That said, it is four more figures and one more base completed.

More Mounted Warriors

Again, there is a mixture of rider types on the horses to break up the painting monotony. I also ran out of spare shields that were easy to hand (I put one aside for one of the female warriors which I will get to soon, but I think I may have a few more on some old Roman plastic sprues), so only seven of the eight riders has a shield. To be honest that does not bother me as it makes them look more like a warband than a formal army. The unit cohesion still seems to be there though...

Two Units of Mounted Warriors

Here's the ongoing army tally...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (50 of 106 completed)...

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

• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues

• 7 leader types

• 4 druids

• 8 spearmen

• 2 mounted warriors

• 2 slingers

• 3 chariots and 6 crew

I am just under the mid-point of painting the based units, so here is a group shot of where I am at so far. They are beginning to take the shape of a reasonably sized army now...

The Finished Warband Bases so far

I haven't decided on the next base yet - maybe some armoured elite warriors? This will present a different challenge to the cavalry as there are ten figures on each base. Probably the same amount of area to paint as the mounted warriors but they will be more fiddly.

Midgard : Britannia (Mounted Warriors 1)

This time I present you with the first base of finished mounted warriors. I actually finished them on Sunday but have only just now found the time to write the post. These needed to be painted from scratch (well, they had an undercoat) and took me quite a bit longer to complete than the three previous units. The horses proved a bit of a challenge due to the large areas of hide involved, but I just continued painting for a bit longer each day. I went over the lines quite often with these so had to keep going back to touch up where I had made mistakes. I think that they have turned out OK considering.

Mounted Warriors

Like the previous completed figures, these were just a basic paint job - nothing fancy, just coloured in and lightly shaded to get them ready for use on the gaming table. I tried to put a mixture of rider types onto the horses to break up the painting monotony. Each base (including the one I will be painting this coming week) has a mailed chieftain/leader type, and three wearing a variety of upper body wear and wielding a variety of weapons. I wanted to give the units a bit of coherence, so they all got some Roman round shields painted in solid colours.

Here's the ongoing army tally...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (46 of 106 completed)...

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

• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)

• 1/2 bases of mounted warriors (4/8 figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues

• 7 leader types

• 4 druids

• 8 spearmen

• 2 mounted warriors

• 2 slingers

• 3 chariots and 6 crew

I managed to paint most days again this week but, as mentioned above, I had to up the minutes per day to complete them on time.

Next base should be more Mounted Warriors.

Midgard : Britannia (Skyclad Warriors 2)

Next up is the second base of finished skyclad warriors. Like the previous base, the figures had already been undercoated in a flesh colour - I just had to add a few colours again. I painted for a little longer each day and was able to finish these ones slightly quicker than the previous base. Here they are in their finished status...

Celtic Skyclad Warriors

Another quick-win as the base only consisted of four figures again.

Here are both of the skyclad warrior bases...

Two Units of Celtic Skyclad Warriors

Here's the ongoing army tally...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (42 of 106 completed)...

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

• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues

• 7 leader types

• 4 druids

• 8 spearmen

• 2 mounted warriors

• 2 slingers

• 3 chariots and 6 crew

I have managed to get some painting time in on most days over the last couple of weeks, and the numbers of completed miniatures is growing slowly but surely. My painting confidence is growing again but I am still suffering a little with the light. I will keep the miniatures in this army to a basic paint job for now. I may experiment a bit more when I get to painting some fantasy units.

Next up should be a unit of Mounted Warriors.

Midgard Heroic Battles: Britannia (Skyclad Warriors 1)

And, here we have the second unit/base of finished figures - four skyclad warriors on a skirmish style base. This base was another quick win as the figures were already undercoated in a flesh colour - I just had to add a few colours and refresh the paint a little on the flesh...

Celtic Skyclad Warriors

Another quick-win for the army - I only had to complete four figures this time.

Here's the ongoing tally...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard (38 of 106 completed)...

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

• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)

• 1/2 bases of skyclad warriors (4/8 figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues

• 7 leader types

• 4 druids

• 8 spearmen

• 2 mounted warriors

• 2 slingers

• 3 chariots and 6 crew

Painting time was kept to around 20-30 minutes per day again. This method seems to be working as I am being disciplined enough to set aside the time each day to get the painting done. It is also just long enough that I am actually enjoying seeing the figures come alive in my hands as more layers of paint go on and I am not getting bored. Let's hope my attention span doesn't waver and keeps going. I did notice though, that when the light faded a bit, my vision failed rapidly and I had to call a halt as I just could not focus on the miniatures in the less than bright light.

Next up should be some more skyclad fanatics.

Midgard Heroic Battles : Britannia (Dog Handler)

Well, as promised, here is the first finished figure since I restarted painting my old Celt/Briton army miniatures. A nice quick-win for the army - one new fully painted unit to join the three bases of warriors - I only had to daub a bit of paint onto one figure. He took me a couple of hours in total to complete, even with the stripes on his pants - they didn't turn out too well, but they add a bit of colour. I do like how the sleeves and collar of his shirt turned out though...

Celtic Master of Hounds

The three hounds for the base were already completed but I have now added their handler...

Celtic Dog Handler and some Wolfhounds

Here's an ongoing tally of what I have achieved so far. I will strike through when completed and italicise any unit that is partially completed with a tally quote...

All of the Celtic figures that were based for Midgard...

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

• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)

• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)

• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 figures)

• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)

• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 figures)

• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of the rest...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues

• 7 leader types

• 4 druids

• 8 spearmen

• 2 mounted warriors

• 2 slingers

• 3 chariots and 6 crew

This has whetted my appetite for getting more done now. I am spending about 20-30 minutes per day painting - little, but often and it appears to be working so far. It took a while to get my eye back in and I "went over the lines" a fair bit so had to keep going back to repaint what I had spoiled. I think it looks OK though as my first attempt back to painting in quite a while.

Next up should be some naked fanatics - skyclad warriors in my Midgard : Britannia parlance.

Midgard Heroic Battles : Britannia - miniatures update 1

Following on from a recent post stating that I need to get cracking on some figure painting, I decided to chance my arm at daubing some paint onto the remainder of the unpainted Midgard Heroic Battles : Britannia Celts in my collection. I played the whole campaign with many of the British units unpainted or partly painted - my thoughts at the time were that I would rather play a game with unfinished models than not play at all. It worked for me then, but now I have an itch to get painting again as I would like to complete this particular army for future gaming and also to get me in practice for the many other armies I would also like to start working on over the summer.

Here is a full list of all the Celtic figures that I have in my collection and their state of play...

List of all Celtic figures that were based for Midgard...

• 4 bases of standard warriors (40 figures)
• 2 bases of elite warriors (20 figures)
• 1 base of female warriors (10 figures)
• 2 bases of mounted warriors (8 figures)
• 2 bases of archers (8 figures)
• 2 bases of slingers (8 figures)
• 2 bases of skyclad warriors (8 figures)
• 1 base of hounds (4 figures)

And here is a list of all my other individual figures...

• 36 standard warriors and elite warriors still on their sprues
• 7 leader types
• 4 druids
• 8 spearmen
• 2 mounted warriors
• 2 slingers
• 3/6 chariots and crew

Over the coming weeks I am going to try to paint as many of them as I can in readiness for starting on my other unpainted legions for a variety of settings. I am hoping to get my eye back in so that I can begin to improve on my last few attempts. I am never going to be able to paint to Golden Demon levels (I have never had that level of skill by any stretch of the imagination anyway), but failing eyesight, limited time, patience and energy means I will try to do what I can. I am more of a looking reasonably good at tabletop distance standard type of painter, so if I can match that ethic again then I will be happy.

Here are the only completed bases/units so far - they were painted many moons back when I first bought them. Going forward, I am hoping to match their style and neatness if I am able to, but will cut down on some of the colour work - basic paint jobs only for them. There are a few more figures that were painted back in the day but I have not photographed them yet as the bases are not completed. Once those bases are completed, they will appear alongside the newer painted ones.

Picture of the, so far, three completed Celtic units...

Three bases of already painted Celtic Warriors

Here they are individually. I think I have mentioned previously that the shields got a bit washed out with the matt varnish spray - if anyone has an antidote to restore them to being a little brighter I would be happy to hear about it....

Base 1 of Warriors

Base 2 of Warriors

Base 3 of Warriors

I am going to try to complete a unit/base per week if I can, so I have lined up a few easy wins to begin with. I will then move onto some of the smaller units (4 figures per base rather than 10) so I can complete some bases more quickly and feel that I have at least achieved something each week. Then I will checkout the 10 man bases again to get a few of them done. Let's see how I get on over the next few weeks.

Hopefully, by the end of the next week, I will have a dog handler completed to add to the base of hounds I have already painted.

Midgard : Scenario 6 : Aftermath

This post is a brief summary of what happened in the last game of the campaign and how I felt the campaign panned out overall. I will also discuss a little about Midgard going forward for my various world settings (Britannia, Doggerland, Lord of the Rings etc.).

Midgard : Heroic Battles

The Final Reckoning scenario saw relatively few casualties on the British side compared to the Romans, but those that were casualties made for an interesting ending to the narrative overall.

On the Roman side, Caecilius Rufinus Pulcher was killed but the other two Roman heroes survived. The rest of the Roman army was reduced to just one unit of auxiliary spearmen, one scorpio battery and the onager - these would most likely not have survived another round of combat if the game had continued on.

The Britons lost relatively few units again, but the death of their army leader, Vellocatus, tipped the balance down to a Narrow Victory, thus securing the Britons fewer campaign victory points.

The Britons' losses (155pts):

• Vellocatus (47pts)
• 2x mounted warriors (32pts)
• 1x hounds (22pts)
• 2x Skyclad (32pts)
• 1x warriors 3 (22pts)

The Roman losses (189pts):

• Caecilius Rufinus Pulcher (43pts)
• 2x legionaries (68pts)
• 2x archers (58pts)
• 1x scorpio battery (20pts)

This final scenario made for a good ending to the campaign; the Romans won the campaign overall, but only narrowly. The objective was to get some troops home safe, and that was accomplished - but very nearly was not on a few occasions.

The scenarios, and numbers of troops available to fight in them, needed relatively little fudging to make them work together. I am going to mark this campaign as a successful one from that point of view. I will also mark it as a successful introduction for both myself and my son to the game of Midgard. My compliments to James Morris for writing a great game.

So, the campaign scenario order went thus...

1. Battle (book scenario 1) - played in May 2025
2. Encounter in the Mist (book scenario 4) - played in May 2025
3. None Shall Pass (book scenario 2) - played August 2025
4. Take the High Ground (book scenario 3) - played November 2025
5. Last Stand (book scenario 5) - played December 2025
6. The Final Reckoning (my own scenario) - played December 2025

Campaign take aways...

• A unit of Roman Legionaries is a very tough nut to crack, especially with the Spears as Tribute trait and a decent hero to lead them
• Being on a hill and having other units around to make those vital saving rolls when outnumbered is a massive boost for defending units
• The British units were numerous but quite brittle - Reputation got eaten up more quickly than I thought it would and games were soon over due to quick losses rather than tactics. Using a brittle force will require a bit more thought in future - at the end of at least two of the games the Britons were about to make the killing stroke but their Reputation ran out just prior to the plan coming to fruition

The future for Midgard in my gaming calendar

I will most definitely be using the game system in other settings as well as a few more Roman versus Britons/Celts games. I understand that a new, official, scenario book will be released for the game soon, so maybe those new scenarios can be used to tell the ongoing stories of Marius Pollux and Gaia Pomponia Thrax (a rename of this hero is on the cards after a very interesting discussion on the Lead Adventure Forum with member dadlamassu - here )?

As mentioned above, I am slowly de-icing my old setting of Doggerland - I have played numerous games and campaigns (play-by-email strategy games, AD&D etc.) in this setting over the years, and will be starting a fresh Five Leagues from the Borderlands campaign later this month. This will then, hopefully, lead on to a mini-campaign using the Midgard rules to move the world narrative on a little further for maybe another D&D campaign in the future?

I also have nigh on a thousand of Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings miniatures that are itching for more than Strategy Battle Game usage. I don't really have any completed armies, so that will be a task for me this year - to paint some miniatures for use in further games of Midgard.

In addition to the Lord of the Rings miniatures, I have several small forces of fantasy figures that need a bit of time on the table. These are part of another world I have in mind separate from Doggerland, Roman Britain and Middle Earth. More food for thought for those future battles and campaign world building.