Distractions, Ugh

So I found a youtube channel that was posting their Dux Britannarium campaign. I love the game but have barely played it. I knew I spent a ton of time painting figures for it. I thought I had a base force for both Saxons and Britons. I also had some Picts around somewhere. So instead of painting today, I made an inventory.

Saxon Horde

It was refreshing to see how well my Saxons are doing. I have most of what I need. What I found out was I was an idiot when it came to skirmishers. I have 2 guys with javelins and two guys with bows. They should all be the same type. Oops. Anyway here is my base force.

Pardon the junk picture. I have to paint the movement trays. I stole the skirmisher trays from my AWI guys. I am using the same basing method so if I paint them up for this, it will work for them as well. Bonus!. I sorted through what else I had. I found I had a nice set of dead Saxons. Donnington Miniatures, I think. They have a nice selection of dead guys.

Looking through the tray, I found two Wicca Priests or wizards. The picture was horribly out of focus and that is annoying. They are much nicer than the picture shows. These guys wouldn't be seen util a first battle and after the Saxon leader has advanced himself a bit.

One of the reinforcements is Saxon Cavalry. I have 4 of these guys ready even though they don't show up until the last round of reinforcements. They are also armored. Which makes them not light cavalry. But they will do and I really like them.

Next we have some reinforcements. I am out of skirmish trays so they are individuals. I have two groups worth here. Then I realized something. One of those groups was painted as foederati as possible mercenary support for the Britions. So I really only have one group of reinforcements of Warriors and one Mercenary Warrior group. Still, they could be used either way. The foederati were painted more uniform in appearance. I neglected to get a picture of them.

All in all, not bad. I need at least one more group of warriors for reinforcements (preferably two), another group of skirmishers (I have 6 bowmen to sort this out that need painting). I think that will have me set. I am pretty happy with what I have so far.

Post-Roman British

Here is where the gaps are occurring. I have the base force needed but really nothing beyond it. I opted to get smaller group shots for the base force. I kept the troop types having the same basic shield design to keep them straight. This was very helpful when I went to them years later and tried to sort out what was going on. I placed a warbases order today for more sabot bases so I can accomodate 8 groups of British and 4 groups of skirmishers. That should sort out all of my forces.

The first group is my British Lord and champion with his loyal warriors.

Next up is the second noble and the levy.

And then comes the next noble and his group of Milites/Elites.

The last part of the base force is the skirmishers. Here I at least have four of the same type. All bowmen.

I searched for anything else I had ready. Very little emerged. In fact, there were no unpainted figures much to my horror. I will have to visit Splintered Light again and order some more troops. (Reminder, I am running a sale on my scenario books. Use coupon code "ZWOSESMPIF" at check out for a 50% discount - https://payhip.com/ChrisStoesen). What I did find was three lone figures. A British noble on horseback, and two country priests. They will come into play a little later in the campaign. I can use the noble on horseback when he reaches the fourth level of reinforcements. The priests come into play if I help one out in a scenario.

With that disappointment, I made a list of "needs". This includes another group of bowmen or slingers (4 needed). A bishop. Good news there, I had purchased some Peter Pig figures hauling loot. It includes a nice scandalized bishop as well as five guys hauling off loot. I intend to use these for Saxons when they succeed in finding loot during a raid. They are primed and awaiting paint. A group of six warriors. The SL packs come in 12 so that shouldn't be an issue. I'll have a spare. A group of 4 light cavalry. The SL cavalry packs are in packs of 4! Two groups of shock cavalry and a noble. Well I have the mounted noble at least.

I am thinking of picking up a pack of elites as well. The reasoning is late in the campaign, you can gain extra elites depending on your path. The same holds true for the Saxons. I may have some spare unpainted figures for that though.

Picts

This is my smallest force yet. When Dux first came out, Mark L decided to jump in and went for a Pictish force. He made his way to paint 2 of the 4 groups of raiders, four crossbowmen, four slingers, a noble and a champion. I may have painted the raider cavalry. I only say this because the bases are ones I used. Mark based on very small washers. I will have to rebase to match the other troops.

Now for a base force, I am short 12 raiders. However, I have all 12 on painting sticks! Good news. I think I would rather have javelins for skirmishers than slingers. The slingers are generic enough that maybe I could move them to the Romano-British and get some javelins. Still thinking on this. I have another pict Noble to paint up to round out the leadership. Also a standard bearer and a musician just because. That would round out the base force and give me something other than a mercenaries to be used by either Saxon or British.

But the expansions call for Pictish war hounds. I have two dog holders for my Saxons that I bought from somewhere. I can picture the website in my head. The figures are a little on the thin side so they are just there (painted though). I will look at splintered light and see what they have. Next is 4 more raider cavalry. They are in the box on painting sticks! Next one is six more raiders and another noble. Got those ready to paint too. But alas, I don't have six noble raiders with a noble. I potentially have the noble but I would want him to match his men so that is probably splintered light again. I also have 4 more crossbow guys but they are just extras.

I need a druid type of guy. I will see what I have. I probably need to buy something. All in all, I have no excuse not to play this now as a solo campaign or talk my son into it. I should be able to manage a few raid scenarios before needing more figures.

What I really need to do is finish my East Front stuff and stop being distracted. Lets see how that works. That's it for now.