More Armed Townsfolk for Medieval Town Games

    Eight more 28mm townsfolk for my medieval skirmishes from Old Glory & Gripping Beast (I believe)

In keeping with my plan to alternate a batch of old figures from my unpainted lead pile with newly-bought stuff, I decided to paint up some figures that could be used as townsfolk for my upcoming Medieval skirmish game. I believe four of these are from Old Glory, while the others are Gripping Beast. The archers and crossbowmen definitely look medieval, while I admit the spear are more generic Dark Ages looking, but could work for a number of periods. They are meant to represent more poorly equipped soldiers, so the plan was to paint them up very simply.

    Two Gripping Beast Dark Ages spearmen (Saxons?) that should work for simpler townsfolk

I did add wire spears to all of the spearmen, and shields to two of them. I have been using North Star brass wire spears almost exclusively -- at least since I began playing Saga a number of years ago. I buy mine from Brigade Games here in the U.S. Honestly, I refuse to use cast on lead spears anymore. They are just too bendy and end up looking like pool noodles after you've gamed with them a handful of times. After the figures were all ready and based up, I primed them with white Liquitex Gesso and let them dry overnight. The flesh was next on all of them, also waiting overnight to dry before putting my darker flesh wash that I created and have in a bottle. 

    I gave the guy on the left a patterned border on his cloak -- must be just a bit richer than the others!

Otherwise, I used fairly simple pale and and light colors. Since these are likely people who wear the same clothes over and over again, and can't afford to own a closet full of tunics and pants, their colors would be faded. For this reason, I didn't give them shield designs -- just simple wooden shields bound with iron. One spearman actually has a green cloak, so I gave it a border with a simple design of dots along its border.  He's the wealthy one of the group, I guess! 

    I like both this archer pose and the crossbowman sculpt -- very 'medieval' looking in dress

The crossbowmen and archers have mantles done in a solid color. The archers are also wearing a typical medieval hat with a jaunty feather, while the crossbowmen are bare headed. I'm assuming that whoever hired them provided them with their weapons. Speaking of the crossbowmen, it surprised me that these are the only two soldiers I have in my entire 28mm collection armed with that weapon! Well, I guess my Pictish Saga army has a unit of crossbowmen, but those were much simpler designs from the Dark Ages. Their checkered cloaks would look a little out of place on a later medieval game. I guess that is something I will need to keep an eye out for while I am in flea markers or in game stores browsing the miniatures on their walls. 

    The archer is kind of 'Robin Hood' like with his hat and jaunty feather!

I wanted variety, so used a bunch of different colors, but kept all of them faded, as mentioned before. They didn't take long to paint up, being so simple. What else is on my painting desk? Right now, I have my next batch of 28mm Warhost Elves progressing along through their beginning stages. I'm doing a batch of six rather than eight because I had three packs of four left, it was either six or 12. With all of the detail I put on these figures, a dozen is just too many at one time for me...ha, ha! After this, I have only a batch of archers, another group of six spearmen, a mounted unit of six horsemen, 3-4 wizards, and six birds of prey left in this army to do. I'm getting closer to being done with my second Dragon Rampant army!

    A group of simple townsfolk ready to defend their homes from an invasion of...? Enemies? Orcs??

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 176
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 99

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 7
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 25

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 17
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 59