10mm Medievals assemble!

Historicon inspired me to pick up the pace of painting once again. I completed my third batch of 10mm medievals, enough for a good-sized rumble in Impetus. I still have two more batches to go before I make it a club game. But since I'm taking a detour to the Old West, I thought I would post pictures of what I have at the moment.

As always, click to enlarge.

10mm Old Glory Knights

I finished my first batch of 10mm knights, mounted for Impetus. I'm a clumsy painter, so I let myself follow the heraldry of the 12th-13th century. The figures (Old Glory Grand Scale 10mm) are sculpted for 15th century, so they're a little anachronistic. But have you seen taht 15th century heraldry? Ain't no paintbrush in the world that would work in 10mm scale. So I'll live with anachronism.

Hey, I have a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies. Who are you to criticize me? These knights reflect a "retro" craze that was all the rage in 1447. Yeah, that's it. I read it in an unpublished manuscript somewhere. So there.

Anyhow, I know I can do better than this. My ink wash came out a little heavy, resulting in a muddy look. At least the colors are bright, and one has to love the look of the Impetus "big bases".

In the first photo, my billmen are thinking that their days as tabletop soldiers are seriously numbered... (As always, click to enlarge)


And here, the knights show off their discipline in an echelon parade maneuver.

Did I mention that I was using these knights for fantasy battles as well? :)

My first 10mm Medievals!

Just for kicks, I painted up a single unit of billmen for my 10mm medieval army. They are mounted for Impetus on a 60mm x 20mm base.

10mm Medievals ready to go

While my Napoleonics game is going on in the basement, I took advantage of a quiet hour to set up and prime a few units worth of medievals. I'm going to mount them for Impetus, which uses large bases, so it was necessary to glue them to popsicle sticks first, since they will be impossible to paint once they are based.

As predicted, the wire lances and spears proved to be a pain in the tucas. I'm not about to dremel holes in 50+ minis (there's no way that scenario is going to end well). So with a dab of cement, I propped the spears in the desires position and hoped for the best. After priming, three came loose and had to be reglued (you can see some of the damage in the photos). At least the riders went neatly on the horses.

I'm not looking forward to painting heraldry on the knights at this scale. On the plus side, the infantry should paint up fast. While I am not in as great a hurry as I was with the Napoleonics, I hope to have the first seven units done by the end of June.

Cry, Havoc!

OK, one thing that bugs me is the way the above line from Henry V is usually taken to mean "Shout and make a lot of noise!" In fact, "havoc" is the Old English term for hawk, so Henry is actually giving a command to his bird, not to his troops.

So there you go.

Anyhow, I just got a shipment of 10mm medieval soldiers from Old Glory, taking full advantage of their 40% discount offer. I plan on using the Basic Impetus rules with them, which have me excited about pre-gunpowder wargaming once again. DBA was just not doing it for me--it drew too many rules lawyers and chess players. I love the element of chance, and I love rules that reward bold strokes and wise restraint. Impetus looks like it fits the bill.

The soldiers look great. They seem to be cleaner casts than the Napoleonic models I bought from the same manufacturer (which were pretty good to begin with). They look fun to paint up. My only concern is in mounting wire spears on both the infantry and cavalry. I've never done that before, and I am notoriously bad at using glue. Wish me luck.

I probably won't start painting these guys up until I am done with my Napoleonic French and Austrians. I'm slowing down with those guys, but I expect to finish with them sometime in June.