Scale comparison for Dark Ages 28mm plastic miniatures!

The postman delivered a tonne of things I'd ordered through my bro over at Famous-Gaming today. 

Pretty exciting haul!

I'll go through the sprues in detail in seperate posts. There's figures from Gripping Beast, Warlord Games, Wargames Factory and Conquest Games. The bases are all renedra and the spray paint is army painter matt black.

These figs are almost all boxes I've used previously so I can demo scale for these easily.

These are the bases i use on my figs. Theyre made by Renedra and are the 100x20mm strips, the 20mm squares and the 25mm round. I got mine through Famous Gaming- they're cheap and will always combine postage! 

I also picked up these basing products from Famous-Gaming. Nice and wintery and cheap too!

These weren't from Famous but I'd like to highlight the products. I have used Revell Contacta glue for ages but recently ran out. I went to my local hobby store to get some more and they didn't sell it, but said the Humbrol liquid poly was the same. MY ARSE IS IT. Its as runny as water, the brush always falls out the lid and when unscrewing it tends to go everywhere. Well unimpressed! Stick with Revell, GW or what you know best!

Great spray- much better than GW- cheap, no loss of detail and easy coating.

Also Lidl stocks this, winner.

Okay on with the scale comparisons!

All these products were sold as 28mm, but as with all scale models that doesn't necessarily mean they are all to scale with eachother. They're close but its not an exact science and each brand has slight variations. 

So heres my first rank of men we'll be looking at. We have from left to right:

warlord games celt, wargames factory viking with germanic celt head, warlord games celt, wargames factory saxon, warlord games celt.

As you can see they match up perfectly. There are minor differences between the scales of weapons but as you can see they are interchangeable between the ranges without it looking odd. Shields are also a total free for all.

Heres the same rank with the addition of a Games Workshop Warrior of Rohan. Hes on a much thicker base and still stands a head below the warlord games celt. A few people out there say Rohhirrim make great figs for 28mm saxons. Maybe- if you have a gap in a rank to fill and they're all you have to hand but to be honest they'd look like shortarses compared to any army they faced so I wouldnt be keen. Ive got one or two amongst my army just to stop me losing them but, yeah, regiments of them look tiny. May work better as larger 25mm saxons but I think GW have intentionally made them difficult to scale up against other ranges.

So heres ranking number 2. Here we have:

A gripping beast plastics saxon, wargames factory viking, gripping beast hearthguard, wargames factory saxon/ viking mix, gripping beast plastic viking, warrior of rohan, wargames factory viking.

As you can see all scale up well together, minus the rohan guy who once again looks too small to come and play war. The GBP guys are a bit on the chunky side but make great hearthguard or character bodyguards if fielded en masse or when mixed into mixed ranks just look like slightly taller and burlier men. The GBP do have thicker weapons than warlord and wargames factory but they are still largely interchangeable and work well side by side. So thats 3 providers that all work well together, result.

Close ups on the rank above, in different configuration. Can you see what I mean about the chunkier GBP figs. I think they still look fine though, especially as so many are squatting to create a shieldwall.

Comparison with some warhammer fantasy empire- empire are quite a bit larger than everything, except perhaps the GBP saxon next to the priest. I may base up a saxon on a fantasy base and see how they compare to the empire free companies- could be a cheap way of building up a WFB Norse army!

People compare these and say they are interchangeable- I', afraid to say I cant agree purely on scale. Deatiling for both are great but the GBP is like a giant compared to a Rohirrim.

Another rank, yes i made a booboo and used the same head twice! GBP ranks up fine with warlord games figures as you can see. A more dynamic pose may have done him more justice but thats all i have for now.

The first 2 units painted!

Bowmen are a combo of wargames factory celts, ancient germans and viking bondi while the armoured infantry are a combo of wargames factory viking huscarls, saxon thegns and ancient germans, and warlord games ancient celts. 

Hope this was useful, please feel free to ask any questions or make comments or suggestions. 

Unboxing and sprue review for the above boxed products to follow!

Progress on my 28mm Dark Ages Village Project - Part 2 PAINTED BUILDINGS

So this is an update on my ongoing dark ages village project. Looking for a Scandinavian theme pre 1066 so lots of bare wood and thatch. Ive painted a few of the buildings from part 1 but also added in a few more recent builds. Check them put :)

Two longhouses

Figs to scale

Thatch detailing- not bad for scourer pads, chopsticks and some cheap paint!

Grainstore on stilts- stops pesky vermin getting in and the harsh winters ruining your goods!

The first two buildings I made- chopstick free but look fine alongside the other buildings.

More to come as soon as I get round to painting the rest!

Update!- paint!

Hi, been a while since my last post but been mad busy with work and both my cameras have been playing up. Booo.

Buttttttt I have had time to finish some of the buildings I've been working on, and start a few more besides. Yayyyy!

So check out a few updates that I'm making. I've split them up for easier viewing :)

All painted models coming up are painted using these paints

Check out the buildings to see how they worked out. I thought they may be a bit cheap and nasty but in the end were really effective. And  fraction of the price of a lot of other brands!

I also use this spray to undercoat all of my buildings and scenery projects. Its from Poundland and funnily enough costs a pound! It can destroy detail if youre not careful and go in too close with a heavy finger, but with a few light coats it works out fine. Its also ideal for the thatched roofs where you need deep coverage so may need to do repeated sprays.

 You may not get much for your money per can but if you compare 8 of these vs 1 GW spray you get tonnes more! 

Remember to only get matt black ;)

NEVER USE THIS SPRAY ON FIGURES- JUST SCENERY PROJECTS!

Army painter matt black for figure undercoating every time!

Viking Longhouse for 28mm Dark Ages Wargaming

After a birthday meal at Yo!sushi I have gained a tonne more chopsticks so thought I'd give another building a go.

You guessed it- I'm using chopsticks, foamboard, clippers, a craft knife, hot glue gun and some wire. And a cutting mat, always use this if your mum/ partner has a tablecloth. No matter how tacky it is.

Basing materials supplied by Famous Gaming, check them out!

The walls were made from some mis-cut bunker sides my brother made for his sets on Famous Gaming  Check it out, sells cheap modelling supplies! 

The walls were matched up, wired into place using pegs and then hot glued. Door was cut in 1 side, windows were left as they are.

Another angle.

The sides were covered as standard- chopsticks roughly cut for a rough hewn look. Added a snow shelter over the door from the tips of chopsticks and a foamboard offcut. The roof is again two mis-cut sheets, standard foamboard cut by you will work just as well.

A chimney was added using a foamboard offcut and some rectangular chopstick ends

Snow shelter added above each window

Other side

Scourer thatch was starded as per normal, see older posts for a detailed demo. Basically cut to length, split down the middle to thin them, rough them up and overlay them for a realistic look.

This continued all the way round, including the snow shelters.

Views from all angles. 

It was then glued to a base, sand was glued on (from famous gaming), undercoated black and left to dry.

All wooden parts then got coated in burnt umber

Had to give it a few coats to really sit well. A mix of burnt umber and burnt sienna was added as a final coat to give it a redder look. The roof got a heavy drybrush of country maple.

The roof then had a layer of golden brown applied.

This was then highlighted with a drybrush of tan. The side walls were also drybrushed in tan to give it depth and to give a worn look.

Side by side with another building.

Scales up perfectly!

Great build from scrap lying around my house :D

Any suggestions, comments or questions please ask, thanks for looking!

Building a Viking / Saxon Grainstore for 28mm Dark Ages Wargaming

This tutorial is how to make a Scandinavian grainstore- perfect for Vikings or Saxons!

The methods used on this build are very similar to previous builds so check them out for a more detailed explanation of certain techniques.

Basing materials supplied by Famous Gaming, check them out!

Part 1: Materials- Some foamboard, some plastic chopsticks, a craft knife, hot glue gun, ruler and pencil. A sheet of foamboard about A4 size should suffice, I used scraps but you'd have leftovers if you bought an A4 sheet from a shop.

The foamboard was cut to give a bevelled base and the 4 walls of the building

2 triangles were cut to be the triangular gable ends

This was all glued together and a floor was added- the floor on this build is 100% necessary!

I then cut a door from the odd shape left from cutting the two triangles and glued this on. Then I built a frame around the door and a ledge, using the rectangular chopstick ends. I also started to glue the upright chopsticks in place. These were cut into to give a rougher hewn appearance, see my older posts for more on this :)

This continued all the way around the building.

I then paired up 10 of the rectangular ends and glued them to the base. These provide the stilts that the building will stand on.

Tadah! I didnt glue the building on top so it is able to be moved for storage etc. Two beams were added to the roof for extra support and to look fancy. Coming along nicely.

The roof was made from strips of scouring pad cut and overlaid. Rough them up for a more authentic thatch look.

Splitting the pads will make the thatch much more realistic and also make it go much further. This isn't the building in the tutorial but around now was when my camera decided to hate life so there's a bit of a  jump.

After this point more steps were added using the rectangular ends and a chopstick beam frame was added under the building to stop it sliding when placed on the stilts.  Then it got undercoated in black spray paint 

The whole thing got painted in burnt umber brown acrylic paint- few coats for the chopsticks and light coats for the roof.

The roof then got further coats of country maple acrylic to add some highlights.

It then got a pretty thick brushing of golden brown acrylic- but not completely covering the previous 2 brown layers.

To finish it off the roof got a final highlight of tan acrylic paint, its a sandy colour that works well with the golden brown to create a thatched look.

The base was painted in a similar way- sprayed black, painted with burnt umber, dry brushed with country maple and tan.

As the pic above shows it works out nicely for scale and is a pretty unusual model- not many people seem to make grainstores for their 28mm. All in all very happy with this build :)

Any suggestions, questions or comments ask away!