Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bring out your dead!

In thinking about skirmish level games, one thing that, to me, makes the table look interesting is casualty figures. I have been waiting to get the funds together to buy some. The game last week had Mark bring some of his casualty figures for our Dux Britannarium game. They really added to the look.

Here we have the first casualty of the game, a Saxon skirmisher. I really like the look as at the end of your game you have a visual of where the course of the battle took place. But not everyone has casualty figures. I decided to post on who does that are suitable for Dux Britannarium.

Sergeant Major Miniatures

In their 15mm lines they have several useful figures.
1) Bloody Day Vikings: Part Number VI7 These have some useful figures with round shields and helmets. Four of the 8 in this pack have chain shirts. These would work for a Viking or an Early Saxon force.

2) Bloody Day Picts:Part Number PI09 These are figures would work well for Briton Levy and of course Picts. No visible shields. Three have a helmet and one of those has some chainmail over the neck.

3) Bloody Day Islemen:Part Number IG04 These seem less useful to me for the base Dux Britannarium game. They would probably work for Vikings.

For some reason, the rest of their ranges do not have casualty figures. I have purchased some of the Viking casualty figures. In the picture above is one of the Pict casualties that Mark painted up.

Peter Pig

Peter Pig is one of my all time favorite manufacturers. I have their WWII, WWI, ACW and AWI figures. Now they have taken steps towards the Dark Ages. They launched Range 9 - Vikings of the ninth century- Longships "Wrath of the Vikings". I am sure they will shorten the name at some point but for the moment they have 3 packs of figures that are interesting.
1) 19. A bit dead - Disappointingly this pack has no pictures... yet. But I am a sucker for casualty figures and will pick up a pack.
2) 20.Really dead - Apparently, the range gets more grisly as it moves forward. The three pictured could work as Early Saxons. One has a broken round shield and a helmet. Another lays near his sword. The last is face down upon a small axe with his back cut open. They look pretty good and I will probably pick up a pack.
3) 21.Very very dead - Now this pack is much more grisly. This features severed limbs and I think one pictured features a visible spine and severed head. These feature no armor or weapons so they are probably looted bodies. I may pass on these.

Donnington Miniatures

As you can see thus far, it has been difficult to find suitable Romano-British dead.Up comes Donnington to the rescue. They have a nice selection of casualties. They have 42 separate casualty miniatures. Including "DD08 Late Roman Infantryman" and some dead horses (also dead elephants). DD28 Viking, DD11 Gothic Cavalryman and DD04 Barbarian all look useful as well. Apparently, there are no variations and just one type for each. Still, very useful.

QRF Miniatures

Our next contestant is QRF. At one point, I swore that there were Viking casualties. But I cannot find them. They do have Gaulish casualties. There are 8 figures to the pack. Again, another expansive set of ranges that only have a minority that have casualty figures. Still it is something.

These are the only ones that I know of. If anyone can point me in the direction of more, please let me know. Also I really want my favorite manufacturers to produce them. I e-mail Splintered Light repeatedly. I would love for Khurasan to make them as well for their Germans. Any help with market pressure would help.

2 comments:

  1. In some games I lie the figures down when they die. Although they have their bases sticking in the air, at least they don't just disappear.

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  2. Great idea; nice models too. Best, Dean

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