Massive Horde (well 8...) 28mm Dark Age Cavalry

    8 Gripping Beast Dark Ages cavalry from the "Mounted Welsh reinforcements box"

Through the years, my "batch size" has morphed. When I first started painting 15mm Ancients, it was "all of a certain troop type" -- heavy infantry, skirmishers, etc. Then, once I realized how a never-ending run of painting flesh or leather can kill motivation, the batch size began to shrink. It settled on roughly a dozen or so at the end stages of my painting 15mm troops. The same thing has happened as I adopted 28mm for pretty much everything except my 20mm moderns. For 28's, I have settled on a batch size of about six -- sometimes one or two more if foot, or less if mounted.

    A look at the 28mm mounted figs from the side so you can see the horse coloring clearly

So, when I decided to paint up a Gripping Beast reinforcements box containing 8 Dark Age Welsh cavalry, I went back and forth whether to break it over two batches. Finally, I decided that I would try to paint it all at once. After the experience, I now remember why I'd gone with smaller batches! This group of eight miniatures seemed to take forever! I honestly believe that I have been working on them for more than two weeks. Why Dark Age cavalry, in the first place? Well, when we did our six-player Lion Rampant game the other Sunday evening, that was the one troop type I ran short on. So, it was obvious that I -- and we all use this word -- needed more! I believe that I'd won this Gripping Beast box in a tournament. The figures are relatively generic for Dark Ages, too, so it was a natural fit.

    The clothes and equipment is relatively generic so they can be used as other nations of the Dark Ages

Except the batch size was way too big! I am telling myself (but will I remember it?) to never do that again. For these figures, I first had to glue the weapons and shields to the riders. I had decided to paint the horses without the riders on them first, so it would be easier to get to all of the spots. So, when I brushed primed the horses, I left the saddle blanket area bare. I painted the horses first, using a variety of colors and styles that I admit have become somewhat routine for me. After painting my 28mm Mongol Saga army, I definitely experimented a lot with horse colors, so kind of innately know which ones should look nice. I try to make the overall effect brown, as that seems to be the most common horse color. I want some variety, too, so thus you see blacks and duns and such.

    The horse with the rider with the cross on his shield is probably my favorite of the batch

Once the horses were done and the weapons and shields glued on, it was time to epoxy the riders to the saddle blankets. Now that I have found another decent source for two part, 5-minute hobby epoxy, I have gone back to using that in preference over super glue. The hardware store epoxy I had bought, back when all the hobby and craft stores seemed to be out of stock, stinks to high heaven! It will literally smell up the house for the entire day, which doesn't make me the most popular person around here...ha, ha! I took to going out in the garage to epoxy things, using our giant green trash can as my "desk." As you can imagine, that wasn't the best solution. So, I was happy when I saw some 5-minute epoxy in Hobby Lobby a month or so ago and snatched up a package (I would have bought two if they had another in stock).

    I switched out the spears on four of the figs, giving them axes and swords instead

I did kind of make a mistake when putting the shields on the arms of the riders, though. The reinforcements box came with larger and smaller shields. I used the bigger ones because these are meant to be heavier cavalry -- not light skirmishers, necessarily. However, there was a problem. The shield sometimes got in the way of the rider sitting flush on the saddle blanket. Oops! There are four poses of horses, so I played around some mixing and matching the riders to the horse poses for the best fit. It really came down to only two riders who sit somewhat awkwardly on their mount. See if you can pick them out in the pictures! I think it is fairly obvious, but it may not be.

    A look at the cloak border patterns that I did for the 5 figures that had cloaks over their tunics

For the colors of tunics and cloaks, I went with paler and duller hues. I always assume Dark Age dyes aren't exactly colorfast, and that many items of clothing fade in color over time. So, faded yellows, blues, greens, and reds. I probably need to make a trip to the craft store and pick out more variety in my faded colors, one of these days. I am tending to use the same half dozen ones on lots of figures -- especially my Dark Ages ones. Of course, my paint rack is overflowing now, which means I will either need (there's that word again) another rack, or I need to purge colors I am not using. For example, I have WAY too many shades of blue and probably don't use 3-4 of them with any regularity. I probably have one or two more grays than I need, and I think almost never use the palest of my yellows. So, yeah, if I bring more colors online I will likely purge some I don't use.

    The one with the red cloak is the only one with chainmail and an almost Late Roman uniform

One thing that is different about painting 28mm miniatures over 15's, is pretty much every article of clothing gets a dry brush highlight in addition to its base coat. So, this means my day's painting typically begins with dry brushing yesterday's base coat and then adding a new base coat or two. So, if it is a big batch (like, say, EIGHT mounted), each step takes that much longer. These Gripping Beast riders were wearing a lot of steps, so to speak: tunic, cloak, trousers, shoes, and leather belts and sundry. I usually try to make the highlight a very light version of the base coat color. So, I have a very, very light blue, an almost straw color for yellow, and so on. I was recently reading a thread about how some painters struggle to highlight red. I typically use a salmon color. 

    Another look at the whole batch, slightly from above - I am 'so-so' about the shield patterns I did

For the inside of the shields, I use a dark brown with Camo Brown dry brush. Weapons are done in Iron Wind Metal Steel and a silver highlight (or Bronze, for metal parts that would be made of bronze). I gave them hair and mustaches in a variety of colors from black to brown to blond. Although I know it is not that common of a color, at least nowadays, I love how an auburn hair looks on a miniature -- particularly Celtic types, like the Welsh. I use a Red Brown base coat and Howard Hues Middle East Flesh for that. 

The last stages were to do the patterned trim on the cloaks and the shields. I Googled Dark Age Welsh shield patterns, but most were a little too Roman looking for me. So, I tried to go with a theme of crosses and variety. Remember -- these are not mean to strictly be Welsh, but any generic Dark Ages cavalry. I'm so-so on how the shield patterns came out. Some worked better than others. I probably should have dug out my painted up Dark Age mounted warriors and looked them over for ideas that worked first, then execute them in different colors. I was definitely suffering from "get these guys done!" fatigue, by that stage, though. 

    The trees in the background are the ones I just bought from 'A Critical Hit' at Cincycon 2025

Prior to flocking, the last thing I do is a dark brown wash on flesh tones and whites, yellows, and tans. I do a black wash on everything else. I am thinking I need to remix my black vehicle wash, though, and water it down even further. Right now, I believe it is about 50%, but I still think it makes certain colors too dark. There has been some discussion on Lead Adventure Forum (home of figures painters better than I...) about brightening miniatures back up. Too much realistic dust, dirt, and grime makes them look like dark blobs on the tabletop, and actually detracts from your painting. I don't want to go back to my 15mm days when I didn't do a wash at all, but perhaps my miniatures need some lightening up? I'd be curious to hear your opinions!

    The 3-D printed trees from above - I did end up repainting them with base coat, dry brush, & wash

So, what else is on my desktop? The next two things I paint will be terrain/scatter. I have my two buildings I converted from Reaper shipping containers. I also have three sets of clothes lines from Miniature Building Authority. They are clothes lines all primed up and ready, while the shipping container buildings have their base coat completed. Stay tuned to see how they turn out...!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 100
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 31 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 14

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 51
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 26

Lion Rampant: Charlemagne's Empire Battles Byzantines in Italy

    Our Sunday evening group gave Lion Rampant a try, with six 24-point warbands on the table at once

My friends Keith and Mike S had been wanting to try a big game of Lion Rampant for awhile. We finally got it arranged for this past Sunday, with six armies on the tabletop. Three Carolingian commands faced off against two Early Byzantine with one Avar ally. Each of the six players controlled a 24-point warband using Lion Rampant rules. I was worried that it would be too much of a traffic jam on my eight foot wide table, but it ended up not being the case. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

    Carolingian left wing in the early game as we struggle with activation rolls to move up

I commanded the left wing of Charlemagne's army. Jenny in the center and Allen on the right had identical forces taken from the 2nd Edition rule book. We each had two units of Heavy Cavalry, two of Heavy Infantry, and two Archer units. I was a little worried when Mike S and Keith deployed on their side of the field, though. Every unit in Mike's Byzantine command could shot, and all but one in Joel's Avars. Keith's Byzantines were on the opposite side of the field, and he was fiddling with his troop list still when he arrived, so I am not 100% sure of what he fielded. I do know his archers seized a crop field and shot Allen's troops mercilessly. So, I was worried how Lion Rampant would play out with a mostly shooty army vs. a mostly not. Missile fire is something "big skirmish" rules sets often struggle with representing, making it alternately too powerful or too ineffective.

    Jenny's Carolingian center command, with one of its archer units on the left supporting me

Jenny had put one of her archer units on the left end of her battle line, and they marched alongside my two archer units who were on my right to repel Joel's fast-moving Avars. In Lion Rampant, foot bows consistently out-range horse archers (18" vs. 12"). So, with Joel's steady advance, he was bound to take some shots coming in. Jenny's archers loosed first and drove back Joel's light cavalry (the unit failed its courage test), killing two of their six figures. That was my hope. Mounted units in Lion Rampant are typically six figures while foot are usually 12. We should have more staying power in an archery duel. On the left, that's how it began to play out. After a frustrating first couple turns, I finally got my archers moving, hurrying to catch up with the heavy infantry who were advancing to meet the mounted Avar battle line.

    Joel's Avar mounted horse archer battleline across the table from my left wing

Joel was unable to get close enough to shoot without taking casualties. The Frankish archers would cause 1-2 casualties with each shot, and that would often be enough to drive back the small Avar mounted units. Things became desperate enough for Joel that he sent the Avar general with his Elite Cavalry to fill the gap vacated by the light horse. The Avar nobles charged forward, first against my archers, then against Jenny's. They drove back my unit which was trying to enter the plowed fields, but when they followed up by charging Jenny's archers, disaster struck. In Lion Rampant, if a leader's unit takes casualties, you roll to see if he was killed. It requires a "snake eyes" -- "2" on 2d12 to kill the general, but guess what Jenny rolled? The Elite Avar cavalry failed its morale check and fell back. Each turn, archers would shoot at them again and again until the unit was finally destroyed.

    Joel's Byzantine allies, Mike S (left) and Keith as their legions begin to advance across the table

On the far left, my two heavy spear units attacked a unit of Avar Cavalry. Each time, they counter-charged and drove us back. However, with our combined 24 figures against their six to absorb casualties, they had little hope and were whittled down below half strength. My own general got in on the action and charged in to finish off the unit. The Avars opposed to us were disintegrating, and we surged forward to try to threaten the Byzantine center. However, we were too late. Mike had cleverly placed his shooting units in a crescent and concentrated archery on Jenny's units that advanced. The shooting of four to five units a turn devastated her forces. One after another, her infantry and archers were hurled back. Mike had began the game activating poorly with dice rolls. However, when crunch time came and the Carolingian center entered his range, his rolls were flawless and he proved my fears were justified. Five units shooting from a defensive posture were simply too much to overcome. Jenny's forces were crippled and fell back.

    All of Mike S's force were archers -- from his lowly foot skirmishers to his heavy and elite cavalry

On the far right wing, Keith had been getting the better of Allen, as well. He had a unit of Elite Cavalry that was worth 8 points -- double what each of our units were worth. He used them to great effect to smash each unit Allen advanced, after it had been weakened by his Byzantine archers in the plowed field. Allen scored some successes, too, routing Keith's light infantry with bowfire. However, Allen's activation rolls were very poor -- especially with his other archer unit, which handicapped him severely. It is interesting that each command that attacked -- Joel's Avar left, Jenny's Carolingian center, and Allen right wing -- were all driven back by missile fire. Is archery in a defensive posture too powerful in Lion Rampant? This is only our first game with the rules, so I can't say for sure.

    Joel's Avar Light Horse dash towards the center of the battlefield, next to the village

There are a lot of variables in the rules, though. Units don't activate all the time. We needed to roll a 6+ on 2d6 to get our archers to activate. As the Carolingians, we failed at least 1/3 of the time, it seemed, with our bowmen. The Heavy Infantry do slightly better with a 5+ on 2d6, but that often meant they advanced unsupported against a wall of missiles. I did make the comment to the others that Lion Rampant was originally designed to be a medieval battle game -- not to replicate steppe warfare, which is kind of the army we faced. It convinced us that we need to be sure to do historical battles in our future games. Everyone was encouraged enough by the results to give it another try, though. Mike S suggested he'd rather fight the battles of Dark Age Britain than the continent, so there will be no horse archers or entirely missile-armed armies there...I hope!

    And those Avar Light Horse are promptly driven back by Frankish archery

Six commands of 24 points on an 8'x4' field DID work, much to my surprise. What's more, the game ended fairly quickly. Well, we actually called it early as Jenny and Allen's forces were in no shape to advance. I had won on the left, but I had no easy way to exploit my success with the Byzantine center anchored on the impassable terrain of the village in between out forces. I felt the enemy had won, though they weren't so sure. So, our experiment was enough of a success you will likely see us playing more Lion Rampant games in the future. Mike chose to use the variant of the rules where failure to activate a unit does NOT end your turn. Much like with Rebels and Patriots, you are given a chance to activate every unit in your force (assuming it did not have to rally), no matter how many other units had failed. Honestly, I prefer that. I know, I know -- playing the less forgiving command and control system forces you to make hard choices!

    Joel plugs the gap with his Elite Cavalry, who charge into the flank of my archers, driving them back

However, on a Sunday evening multiplayer game, I am looking to roll dice and have fun -- not agonize over every activation roll. And for those players having a bad night crapping out on activation rolls, there's not a whole lot of fun if you don't get to move troops around and shoot or fight! So, I guess I'm in the less serious, more "Let's have fun" crowd when it comes to "big skirmishes." And on that note, I don't really consider Lion Rampant, Saga, Warhammer, etc., skirmish games. They're big battle games. Anytime you're maneuvering 12-figure units around, you have left the skirmish world behind, in my opinion. Still, we laughed and had fun, whatever we want to call the game!

    Elated by their success, the Avar nobles charge into another archer unit...but lose their general!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 7
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 10 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 5
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 4

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 9
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 1

    The battle rages as my Carolingian leader at bottom leads his troops forward

    Victorious on the left, my command begins to sweep in towards the Byzantine center

    Good to get a table full of troops out & see the spectacle of a Dark Age warfare with Lion Rampant!