Midgard - Infamy Infamy and trying to sort it all out

Continuing in my efforts to not stay focused, I spend more time working on my Romand and Celts for Infamy Infamy. This is inspite having just received a wonderful new STL for my ACW naval forces that I need to print out. It is a model of the CSS Forrest, a former canal boat that was converted to a small gunboat for the Confederate Navy. I have run it through the slicer so it is ready to print.

For the Celts that I will use as Britons, I have a force that is shaping up. I have a group of six light cavalry, two groups of two charriots, a single group of ten noble infantry,one group of six slingers, one group of six javelin skirmishers, a group of noble cavalry, a mounted noble, two nobles and a standard bearer, four units of ten warriors, and lastly three units of ten levy. Also at the bottom of the picture is some purchased dead guals from Xyston that I have not painted yet. This force largely just needs basing. The levy needs more help. Some are just partially painted. I have in a drawer of shame three more groups of ten warriors in various states and another group of six slingers.

On the other hand, the miniatures are in much better shape for my Roman Auxilia. I have four movement trays completed that each will hold a unit of 8 Auxilia infantry. I have a group of bow armed Auxilia with a couple of extra figures. I have not made a movement try for the archers. I also have a couple more groups of Auxilia. I have one and a half groups based the same way. For command, I have a set of foot with a centurion, an optio, a signifer and a cornicen. I have another foot command set missing the centurion. All of these minis were from the old Corvus Belli ranges of Romans that i really like. Somehow, I don't have a centurion that I like for the second command group. I have one that I will probably paint and use. This one is in scale armor.

There there are the eBay purchases. I have a group that is mounted four to a small base that I will rework to match the others. Matching these, I have another group of four mounted in a strip and a command section mounted similarly. All of these will be rebased. I think I can get these done in a reasonable amount of time. That brings me to two more groups of Auxilia infantry. These are based in fours as well. But the shields and tunics are painted differently. They don't seem to match the others because of that. Also the shield design is quite different. I have painted the other shields to match that on display at the Saalburg Cohort Fort museum. I am not sure if I would use these are support from a different unit or repaint them.

There is another set of Auxilia infantry that I picked up on eBay. These are based in strips of three. They look like they are skirmishing and are painted differently than my other Auxilia. They are all in poses of throwing javelins. I have a total of 16 bases of three. On Carole's blog (Hippolyta's Tiny Footsteps), her review of Infamy Infamy points out some of the struggles of the Auxilia. They are not allowed slings and if they are mounted as skirmishers, they cannot reform. Given that, I am not sure how I want to treat these. Do I make a skirmish base for them or mount them on infantry bases? This last set will likely take a back seat and be ignored for a while. I also have some unpainted Roman engineers. They are on the to do list.

I am still missing some things that i want for these forces. For the Celts, I absolutely want to have another unit of 10 noble infantry. I am trying to decide which manufacturer. Part of me wants to just buy the Old Glory Miniatures Blue Moon minis in chainmail. That would give me enough minis for three more groups. The shipping would be cheaper as they are US based. Way more than I need or wanted but possibly more cost effective than ordering from the UK or Europe? I am also leaning toward Stonewall Miniatures for the Celts and the Roman Centurions on their site. Still undecided. I am also in need of Auxilia cavalry. For these I may look at Khurasan. I would buy the Rebel Minis but they do not offer a command element. I also want a mule train and an engineer's cart. That should wrap up my needs for troops.

As to terrain, since I am doing this project in 15mm, I have trees, swamps, rivers and the like. I had also purchased a few items from the Warbases 15mm range. Including the mansio, a villa and another one of their buildings. I also have a watch tower. This should be enough to keep me busy for a while. I also have a Blue Moon celtic hut pack with civilians that I had bought. So that should be enough for raids on either side of Hadrian's Wall.

To expand the project, I would add some legionares. I am not 100% certain I would use them but they could be a nice addition. Most importantly, I need to get this game on the table a few times. I have not played a game for fun in a while. All my hobby time was spent playtesting scenrios. It will be good to try to get in and have fun again.

Reviewing Older Projects - Looking forward to Midgard

With the upcoming launch of Midgard Heroic Battles, it made me break out my miniatures from both Dux Britaniarum and Infamy, Infamy. Both projects I really loved but didn't get enough chances to play.

For Dux, I have three armies. A Romano-British, Early Saxon and a Pict force. The Picts are not even a complete base army. I have a base force for both the Romano-British and the Early Saxons. Most figures for all of these are Splintered Light. I have a few reinforcements that are needed still. The Romano-British do not have any heavy cavalry. I could use a few additional sections of warriors and levy to flesh them out as well. i will be fleshing these out with Splintered Light minis.

My understanding is that Midgard forces are larger than those for Dux and Infamy. So, i don't quite have enough to pull it off yet for the Dark Ages.

My Romans for Infamy are closer to being ready. I have five full groups of 8 Auxiliary Infantry ready to go. I started to work on some movement trays for them as well. I have 6 of 8 of a sixth Auxilia infantry group painted up. I have a group of archers as well. What I do have is additional Auxilia infantry that I bought off of eBay. These are based 4 to a base and are not the same as my other minis. I have enough for three and a half more groups. There is another lot that I bought that are based 3 to a base for a total of 48 more figures. They would need to be rebased. I can separate these and build out six more groups of Auxilia. I would want to repaint the shields on these to match my existing miniatures. Mostly as i was modeling a unit based on the Saalburg Cohort fort in Germany.

What I am lacking is Auxilia Cavalry to complete out the unit. I really don't want to paint up cavalry. I am too slow of a painter and horses take a long time for me. I am looking through the offerings on eBay and am thinking that I may end up just painting my own. Most have spagetti spears that look like they could break at any minute. I really like Rebel Minis figures. However, their command figures are not great. They have no cavalry command to speak of. Peter Pig is an option. Old Glory 15s and Khurasan are also options to look at. I will likely make Roman Auxilia Cavalry my next hobby purchase.

My Infamy Celts are another story. I have loads of figures. I purchased a few years ago a lot of celts that were painted. However, most are only partially painted. I rebased many of them. I am trying to get them sorted on movement trays. I have enough for a base force. I play on using them for both Gauls and Britons. The Chariots are in rough shape. Most have either broken or come apart. With some TLC, I should have a huge Celt army. I am missing some figures to complete out cavalry. Mostly a command element. I have tons of chariots that i could have enough for two groups of 10 chariots. If i can get the broken ones repaired. I did have some fun finishing a Celt light horseman last night. It was good to paint something other than a ship again.

So, what I know is, my armies are too small for Midgard. With painting time, I have a large enough Celt Army. I lack minis for all of my forces. I had purchased a set of armed Dark Age peasants for use with Dux but lacked stats with the rules to use them. I was planning on working on some anyway just beacause I think it would be fun to have some really bad troops on the field to defend a village or the like. I figure I can try to use them for Midgard.