WAB: "Historical" Age of Arthur - what sources to

[Hoarfrost]

Now this is primarily a question for Chris, since I know he's doing something along these lines already, but everyone else is naturally free to chime in...

I'm looking at doing some "Historical" Arthurian gaming with a friend sometime late this / early next year. "Historical" in this case meaning 6th / 7th century Britons vs. Saxons, as opposed to "Malloryan" 13th century knights...

Ruleset is pretty much set on WAB - my friend knows his Warhammer and is reluctant to step too far away from it... Now I know that there's the Shieldwall supplement, and then there's the Fall of the West supplement, but both don't *quite* fit to what I'm looking for, I believe.

So, what's out there for ressources if you want to do Dark Ages Arthur in WAB? How does everybody else go ahead on planning armies and games? Any recommendations on where and how to start?

Oh, and since it looks like I'll be playing Saxons - any good recommendations for a mini range to collect?

[LeadAsbestos]

You want the WAB book "Age of Arthur", oddly enough.
This book is gorgeous and will have you collecting forces for all the armies contained therein. Great bibliography, great fiction list. Read Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy for some (not so historical) inspiration.
More info, all WAB, here:
http://www.wabforum.sadwargamers.co.uk/

Look at GuitarHeroAndy's beautiful British Kingdoms army here:
http://www.wabforum.sadwargamers.co.uk/ ... php?t=1264

Saxons here, at Musketeer:
http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/range.php?r=11
I just got 52( ) of them in the mail, and they are sharp. The armoured fellows are top notch, the unarmoured less so, but still nice. Soapy at Gripping Beast is sculpting early Saxons for them right now, so that may be worth the wait. I plan on mixing the ranges if GB dosen't get killer scale creep like it seems their new Welsh range has gotten.

My Romano-Brits are 99% Gripping Beast, and they paint up like a dream. Just gorgeous! They will however be joined shortly by new minis from Artizan, who are releasing a new RB range in mid-July.

Little Big Men make great shield transfers and banners, West Wind do a new Age of Arthur line, although their sculpts can be a bit crap sometimes, and "King Arthur", "Tristan and Isolde", and of course, "Excalibur" all make good watching, if you squint to avoid all the historical faux pas, and plug your ears to avoid the worst of the bad scripts!

Whew! Now you are where it took me 10 months to get...
Good luck!

[Hoarfrost]

You want the WAB book "Age of Arthur", oddly enough.

...!

Oh, that one's out? I knew it was announced, but I didn't know that it was out. Now that should make things easier...

... and of course, "Excalibur" all make good watching, ...

The first half is all right if I manage to ignore that everyone is wearing tiaras. The second half only depresses me...

Whew! Now you are where it took me 10 months to get...
Good luck!

Thanks for sharing.

[robh]

If you want to look at Saxon figures the Renegade Range is superb, and the Army deal is excellent value. The Artizan Viking range may also yield some useful types.

http://www.artizandesigns.com/catalogue.asp?sub_range=7
http://renegademiniatures.com/sen.htm

Do be aware though that the Renegade, Gripping Beast, Musketeer, Artizan figures will all match each other in size but not with Foundry (who are markedly smaller in stature)

[LeadAsbestos]

The WAB crowd, and historicals-guys overall, seem to be wayyyyy more tough re: inaccuracies and substituting "close" minis for others.
Those Renegade Saxons are far too late for AoA, mainly shield size and helmet shape being the diff.
Same goes for Artizan vikings. Double handed axes and the conical helmets are a no-go. These 2 ranges could fight each other, but 300 years after our period.
Great minis, but you will get comments. I was rather shocked at the level of anal-retentiveness on this sort of thing, although everyone I've talked to was very cool and helpful in pointing out what I should avoid, and where to get the "right" stuff. I'm used to a more free-wheelin' fantasy style, so this was a bit awkward, but you get used to it

If your friend is cool, and you don't expect to be hitting any tournaments, go for whatever minis are cool. I do have a Merlin in my Brits, btw.

[Hoarfrost]

...and you don't expect to be hitting any tournaments...

Gah! Get thee to a nunnery with your evil t-word...

As of now, it's mostly planned as an exclusive project between friends - we see each other no more than once or twice a year, and we haven't been playing the same game since early 90's Rogue Trader, so we were trying to come up with a ruleset and era that we could both agree on so we could get a game up...

Minis-wise, I think the Gripping Beast Saxons are my favourites right now, though I'll do some more browsing and ogling before I'll make up my mind. Thanks for all the input so far.

Personally, I'm mildly bothered by historical accuracy, but not overly so. Then again, since my wife is a big Mallory fan, I'm sure I'll end up doing a Mallory-style Arthurian army using the pretty Thunderbolt Mountain Arthurians to complement the Saxons. That said - anybody have an idea how the Thunderbolt Arthurians compare size-wise to Gripping Beast etc.? A bit on the small side, I presume?

[robh]

I'm sure I'll end up doing a Mallory-style Arthurian army using the pretty Thunderbolt Mountain Arthurians to complement the Saxons.

Not until you have painted Claudia's "Shadows over Camelot" figures...and good luck trying to match them in a "historical" range!

Personally I think all Arthurian Games should be a la Mallory, I love the idea of fully barded horses and plate armoured knights, the true historical periods were just too, well, dingy. The Victorians had the right idea, take the best bits of history and fantasise them.

[LeadAsbestos]

The TB Mtn minis are true 25mm, but you can find them for cheap if you look hard enough. Not to scale w/ GB.

Too dingy?! Poopy to both of you...

[Hoarfrost]

Not until you have painted Claudia's "Shadows over Camelot" figures...and good luck trying to match them in a "historical" range!

Heh - but I have a cunning plan with those - they're available seperately in pewter and *prepainted* - dencently, I should add...

the true historical periods were just too, well, dingy.

Err - I think you're confusing history with that movie about "the true story of Arthur(TM)" starring that girl that hasn't been acting decently since "Bend it like Beckham". *That* was dingy. And many other bad things.

I guess I'll be getting Saxons to wargame with, and TBM Arthurians as minis for my wife's Pendragon RPG campaign. There, my Saxons can stand in as the bad guys without anyone sweating scale too much anyway...

[ChainmailChick]

Read Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy for some (not so historical) inspiration.

They stand in our book-shelf. I liked them, but I found them a bit bloody and battle concentrated. Then again, it's Bernard Cornwell, I should have anticipated it...

Look at GuitarHeroAndy's beautiful British Kingdoms army here:

They are just gorgeous!

I do have a Merlin in my Brits

That sounds great. Do you have photos of your army?

Not until you have painted Claudia's "Shadows over Camelot" figures...and good luck trying to match them in a "historical" range!

Personally I think all Arthurian Games should be a la Mallory, I love the idea of fully barded horses and plate armoured knights, the true historical periods were just too, well, dingy. The Victorians had the right idea, take the best bits of history and fantasise them.

Rob, I totally agree with you! After my phase of fantasy-arthurian-tales like "Mists of Avalon" and so, I meet a professor at university, who invoked a deep admiration in me for the (german) middle age writers of the arthurian novels: Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach or Gottfried von Strassburg.
Their stories are so full of wonders, passion and adventure. At the same time there are a lot of layers of meaning in their works and sometimes they even seem to be postmodern with their narrator's commentaries, subtexts and intertextual references, 800 years before this term was even invented. Every time I reread them, I discover something new, I haven't notice before. In a way they make the modern fatasy novels look pale and spiritless. I just love them!
And yes, therefore - in my imagination - the arthurian heros are shining knights in full plate on fully barded warhorses with glittering long swords, bright heraldic shields and colourful standards, which flag in the air.