Games Workshop Rohan v Musketeer Miniatures Early Saxon

Someone on TMP asked how they compare. Very different styles but I love them both!

Dark Age Irish

I decided to finish my first Crusader Dark Age Irish figure, which I had used in the comparison photo below. So here he is. The spear is cast on and is much bigger than the brass ones I am using now. The problem with the WAB Irish army is that the individual troops' points values are so small you need bucket loads of them for an army. Eventually he will be desitned to take on some Vikings.

Dark Ages Size Comparison

Left to Right: Musketeer Early Saxon, Artizan Viking, Gripping Beast Early German, Foundry Viking, Crusader Dark Age Irish.

I am very fussy about mixing different manufacturers but all of these are fine. Two comments: The Musketeer characters are a bit bigger than the rank and file troops (in the case of the General and Standard bearer quite a bit bigger but as the head and hands etc are all the same size it just means that they are big strapping chaps). Secondly, I have always found the Crusader Dark Ages stuff a bit smaller than the other manufacturers but proportion wise and head size wise they are compatible.

Duguth Standard Bearer

This is the Musketeer Miniatures Duguth Standard bearer with Little Big Men standard. I've now got 15 figures painted for the first Duguth Unit but won't put it up until I finish the next five figures which will complete an initial basic unit of 20 figures. Probably I need bigger units than that but 20 figures seems to be the WAB Dark Ages standard at Guildford so it's a good start.

The main thing is that I have painted 16 figures in a month which shows I enjoy working on them. I have now ordered some more officers and some Gedriht. Musketeer have recently issued some missile armed skirmishers which don't seem to have been employed a lot historically but they only cost four points each and I have found slingers can be quite effective in WAB as they get two shots if they don't move.

Early Saxon Army Standard Bearer

Here is the army standard bearer. Musketeer Miniatures with Little Big Men flag and shield transfer (actually a Varangian one). I decided to give him a big shield as he is a big chap, towering over the Duguth. Also at 113 points he is worth more than the other 10 figures I have painted! This is my first attempt at mounting a LBM flag on a foil (tomato puree tube) backing rather than paper but it was worth the extra effort.

There really should be a prize for Steve at LBM for transforming Ancient and Dark Ages wargaming with his beautiful shield transfers and banners.

Maybe some of the banners are a little too splendid for a grungy Dark Age army; this one is gorgeous: It's so gold and scarlet that if it was a girl it would be Scarlett Johansson!

 

See the similarity! Gold! Scarlet! Full bodied! Would look nice on a pole! Maybe I've had too much Wolf Blass Chardonnay this evening!

More Early Saxons

I finished another five Musketeer Early Saxons today and have nearly finished the Army Standard Bearer (probably tomorrow). I've now painted ten figures for my first Duguth unit and they certainly pass the "don't get bored painting them" test. This is just as well as this lot amount to a paltry 85 points.

I don't seem to have enough bucklers for the figures I have got, however, so will order some more I think. Don't know if I lost them or if they weren't included in the last packs I bought (which I suspect). Never mind, the bucklers will be useful to enable me to put some Gripping Beast Early Germans (of which I have quite a lot) in to bulk up the units.

Musketeer Early Saxons

I finished my first group of Musketeer Minaitures' early Saxons at the weekend. They are lovely to paint and suitably barbaric looking. These are Duguth, experienced warriors. Spears are Perry.

http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/store.php?r=11&rule=Historical&id=35

I notice that Gripping Beast have just released some Early Saxons as well (thanks to the Age of Arthur WAB supplement) so I will get some of them to see how they look.

http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=281

Gripping Beast produce some Arthurian Romano British and Welsh types very much modelled on Bernard Cornwell's excellent Arthurian trilogy but for Saxons you had to use early Germanics.

http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=17

Now we seem to be getting some proper historical figures too with the new trendy bucklers. Hopefully the two ranges will be compatible: certainly the Germans worked with the Musketeer figures (see post below) so I am quite hopeful!

The next five are based up and ready to go..

Musketeer Early Saxons and Gripping Beast Germans

The four figures on the left are from the new Musketeer Miniatures Early Saxons range. The three on the right are Gripping Beast German tribes. I'd certainly mix them in the same unit and I am really fussy about size differences.