Thistle & Rose Gallic Army

A new owner is bringing Thistle & Rose (T & R) 15mm miniatures back on line. I haven't painted 15mm ancients in ages so it was a great opportunity to get back in the saddle by painting a T & R Gallic army for Triumph.  

T& R are true 15s, comparable in size with Corvis Belli.  Not too tall or plump and very detailed. I don't know how they managed such fine detail on 15mm figures.  Some of the shield work was so intricate I used washes and glazes to highlight the handiwork. The "Dying Gaul" figure is a great touch too.  

The T & R FaceBook page is up here.  When they go live, they'll have a deep bench of periods and armies.  In fact, I should have another round of 15mm painting in the Spring with Saxons, Normans and Vikings.  

This project was a good reminder that one can never paint too many Gauls.  I do miss the days of playing ancients with our disbanded ancients group.  One day!

Strathclyde Welsh Giveaway!

Just a heads up that Gripping Beast is giving away a Strathclyde Welsh starter box in support of SAGA THORSDAY! That is 25 MOUNTED metal models! All you need to do is go to the YouTube video page and comment on what you are excited about for Saga 2.0. (Although you can comment on this blog post, you need to comment on the video itself to get entered into the contest!) 

More Picts

Once I start a SAGA warband, I like to paint up all options.  And Picts have lots to choose from!  Reinforcements from the painting table include:

• 12 Footsore crossbowmen who'll run as levy. 
• Fenris Games terrain including a Celtic cross for when I run the Picts as Scots, a Celtic-themed temple floor and rocks with Celtic swirls.  I love Fenris' stuff!  
• Warlord Games Celtic chariot.  I bought this because the Picts can mount their warlord in a chariot and Footsore hasn't yet released their Pict chariot.  I loved the energy of the naked warrior so much I decided to make him a warlord. He looks like he's shouting orders to his troops or getting ready to launch himself into combat.  
• Footsore war hounds.  These huge and wonderful dogs looked so cool I had to paint them up.  

Lastly, here they're parading as Scots for a local event.  My battle board turned out nicely and I hope to build off what I learned here for the US SAGA Grand Melee next March. This wraps up the Picts and now on to the next thing!

Picts Warband

There's an upcoming day of SAGA organized by Eric Hagen.  He puts on the best events including Adepticon's annual US Grand Melee.  If he were to organize a "Rock, Paper Scissors," I'd sign up!  

This event is for Dark Ages warbands only and that left me scrambling.  I'd sold off all my Dark Ages warbands so I decided to paint my Footsore Picts and run them as Scots.  This is another reason I love SAGA.  Few people can paint up all 30 factions but with a little planning, anyone can paint up a warband that can be played as 2, 3 or more other factions.  

Footsore Picts are superb sculpts just as we've come to expect. There is a lot of variety in the figures, faces, and poses. Even with a 48 warrior build, my Picts have a great, massed look.  Bonus, Footsore is expanding their Pict line.  They recently finished war hounds, cavalry, and crossbowmen.  Still to come is a Pict warlord in a chariot!

The naked fellows are the Attecotti and my favorite of the bunch.  Bonus, when you order from Footsore you sometimes get art with your miniatures! If all of this isn't enough to pull you in, you might be interested to hear that Footsore is working on a full line of Vikings and Normans too.