On the Painting Table: Gripping Beast Normans

Before posting I watched in horror as these miniatures fell to the hardwood floor whilst attempting to move them to a room with better light. Amazingly the paint survived really well bare some small chips (they are still unvarnished), and only three tops of bows had to be re-glued. There's a couple of bits that need fixing properly, so please bear that in mind...

Defence of a Fence
After finishing the Mordheim Freelancer last week, I got cracking with a new project. SAGA was a game that I followed closely before it was released, but somehow never got round to playing it.

I planned to get a Welsh warband back then, but eventually opted for the Normans (I have a bit of a soft spot for the old sods). I've also treated myself to a few Norse Gaels primarily to represent dubious oiks from the Hebrides (Kingdom of the Isles).



The vague setting we have in mind for our games is Britain 1066, where Harald Hardrada won at Stamford Bridge and took York as a base of operations and capital, and where William still won at Hastings - leaving the contention for the ultimate control of England and the rest of Britain more open between the factions.


The Miniatures

Firstly, the Gripping Beast miniatures are (of course) beautiful, with very little flash on them. The only minor criticism is that the front of the crossbows have to be cut from the torso. It's a good idea to make it a single sculpt but there were one or two that were a bit flimsy and one snapped irreparably.


Painting
The plan was to balance quality with speed when painting these, so I wanted to develop a half-decent tabletop standard but get the whole 4 point force painted in under 20 days - currently I'm still on track to get that done. I've been painting two or three at a time, and with a couple of days of no painting I've averaged 1-2 models per day. Could be quicker, but I'm happy with that.


These have been enjoyable to paint and another good lesson in painting. I'm slowly edging forward in trying to be a bit more bold with highlighting and shading, but similarly I don't want to have too high a contrast between them.


Lessons Wot I Have Learned: 
  • Mix paints less - usually as I forget what I actually mixed later
  • Base coats make a difference - this has become very apparent on these, as the archer and crossbowman in green are painted Loren Green but the crossbowman's first coat was Stegadon Green and gave the slightly richer colour I wanted. No mixing necessary. Inks have been used less on these too. 
In progress: I've found the lens case of an old telescope is great for holding the mini whilst painting
 And last but not least

After passing the 100,000 hit mark and getting two more Liebster nominations from Carl at Hitting on a Double 1 and Marshal Argos at 313th Drop Troop Regt (both excellent blogs I urge you to visit immediately if you haven't), I just wanted to thank everyone that has ever taken the time to visit or comment on my blog. I know it's a cliche but I pretty much expected this to fade into complete obscurity, but instead I've found a superb bunch of like minded people who produce amazing hobby goodness and continue to share fantastic ideas and motivate me to keep up this lark. That's the soppy bit over now.

Comments

  1. Lots of my Flames of War community members play Saga also and have been trying to get me into the game too. Whilst it looks very interesting..... I just can't do another system Kieran.... I can't add any more to my pile of unpainted crap!

    Very nice archers though - i have heard the Normans are rather powerful in this game.

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    1. Ta very much, I have no idea how they play yet, the choice is mostly from the fact I just like the old cads.

      Haha, ah go on, you don't need any more than 30 miniatures ;)

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  2. Cracking paintjob as ever sir - looking forward to getting some Welsh on the horizon at some stage. Love all the multiple photos and detail in the write up too.

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    1. Ta muchly sir, I tried not to waffle too much. Looking forward to getting some games in against the Welsh, and some more Battlefleet - and some ECW....

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  3. These look superb, mate.

    I've already realised that SAGA is inevitably going to be the next direction in which I head (not that I've even got around to playing Bolt Action yet!) and I too will opt for Normans. Love 'em. Love 'em.

    Quick question: in your version, does Harold himself survive Stamford Bridge?

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    1. Ta very much. They're a great set of rules, and a little bit different.

      He does indeed, I've not worked out the specifics yet, but I'll try and make it all feasible

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  4. Great looking Norman archers. I finally completed the Liebster Award post thing.
    Cheers
    http://dagamerstable.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/liebster-award-i-got-nominated.html

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  5. Alright Kieran.

    I couldn't see any obvious way to get in touch other than using these comments sections - I just wanted to check in and see that everything was alright in your neck of the woods - both yourself and Ed over at Scipio have gone silent (I know Ed did pre-warn that might happen). As I said, just making sure you guys and your families are doing fine. I had turned my mind to you both yesterday during I game session I was having with Col. Ackland when I was discussing your Necromunda campaign and plans for Mordheim, and it got me thinking I hadn't seen either of you active in the blog-sphere.

    Hope this does find you well, and Ed too if you are in contact with him.

    All the best,

    Liam (Frothing Muppet)

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    1. I had the same thought, but it appears that Muppet is way ahead of me (It seems that my blogging is continuously 3 days behind him). Hope all is well. :)

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    2. It would appear that Blighty's bloggers have gone a wee bit dark of late - myself included. Maybe it's in part because the Sun's actually been out of late...!

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    3. I seems in my absence that some of the Blighty blogosphere has indeed gone a wee bit dark. I wonder if (in addition to real life) the fact that Sun's been out has had anything to do with the radio silence...?

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    4. Ha Drax. My childhood memories of Middlesbrough are full of sleet and grey and no sun unfortunately.

      I did notice you popped back onto the radar yesterday.

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  6. Ah many thanks for the kind thoughts gents, all is well thankfully. I never quite intended to disappear for this long, I'm not quite sure where the time has gone. Hopefully I'll have something to post properly shortly. Ed is also well, we've been getting a few unreported games in so all well on the gaming front too

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    1. Huzzah - cheers for letting us poor sods over here know you guys are still kicking about.

      Enjoy the summer mate - from the reports we get here its been a half decent one for a change.

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    2. Okay Keiran, it's now September and no word from you, just doing a Muppet effort and checking in to see if you and Ed are still all good?

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    3. I'm going to take the liberty of replying here - jolly good of you to check up on us Dai. Both still here, going strong, although my new job is still pretty demanding. We've managed to get some gaming in though, and you'll be pleased to know we've caught the Flames of War bug!

      Nice to be thought of. Appreciate it. I'll try and do an update soon, just to check back in on Palladian Guard.

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    4. FoW!!?? Yay! ^_^

      Glad to read all's well with you both though. Rather excited to see a new update indeed.

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    5. Hooray for Scipio!

      So glad to hear you boys are still at it.

      Cheers Dai for following the lads up.

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    6. Thanks both for checking in, really appreciate it, I'm still not sure how the time has passed so quickly. All is well and I'm back online now, hopefully for the forseeable future.

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