Friday 25 September 2015

Harold Godwinson Command Base (Hastings Demo, Salute 2016)

Hi,

Today I am very pleased to announce the completion of the Harold Godwinson Command vignette. It was inspired by the arrangement for the army to rendezvous at the Caldbec Hill where stood the "Hoary Appel" tree" I was originally going to include an apple tree as part of the base but decided against this as it would detract from the actual miniatures which is after all, what the vignette is all about. The Harold Godwinson miniature was a freebie that was handed out by Gripping Beast in their 1066 and All That WAB Campaign weekender which was part of the much larger campaign weekends hosted by Rob Broom at GWHQ! As I think back now it seems inconceivable that Games Workshop would host a WAB event, especially a weekender but host them they did and they were as much fun as they were varied.  The horn blower is in fact a mini from Gripping Beast's Viking Range. The two Standard Bearers are from Saxon Miniatures and their Saxon Huscarls pack. I'm a bit of a fan of Saxon Miniatures as they are sculpted by a chap that used to sculpt for Gripping Beast and are very much the same style of sculpt that I collected quite a lot of back in the day! The sculptor was Colin Patten and the last mini's he did for Gripping Beast were the Shieldwall Miniatures Vikings of which I'll probably be adding a few to the Anglo Danes as I progress through the rank and file. I had in fact expected to be a little further along with the rank and file but an untimely dose of man flu and a very bad tooth put pay to my plans. Still, they are progressing nicely and I will soon be posting pics of the Huscarls that will stand in front of the Ceorls featured HERE and HERE. The banners are all by the very talented Steve Hales from Little Big Man transfers- the best in the business for the Early Medieval period IMHO.

A View from All Sides and Back Again: 






And a Decent Close Up:


Bye for now.

28 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Gordon. I've got concepts for Gyrth and Leofwine as well as William the Bastard vignettes too. Watch this space. :>)

      Darrell.

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  2. Inscribed on the tomb of a British royal guard: Catuvellaunorix bathbanay acorrius cagoran, King of the Catuvellauni, I am dead. I hope it was enough. This command needs that sort of epitaph. Fabulous

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Martin, very poetic (and actually not a bad idea at all!) :>)

      Darrell.

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    2. Harold's was written by William and he was buried on a cliff overlooking the sea. It said "O Harold, you rest here a king,That you may still be guardian of the shore and sea." The location kinda matches your vignette

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  3. Well, fudge me!! That's bl**dy gorgeous!
    Well done sir (you b*St*rd! ;-) ;-) ;-) )
    Thanks
    Matt

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  4. Absolutely wonderful work Sir!

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  5. Feck but that´s nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Darnell,

    A great vignette. The figures are excellent.

    The WAB weekends that Rob Broom organised were great fun and sadly missed.

    Rob's War and Conquest rule book is the natural successor to WAB and an even better game.

    Some of us miss those WAB weekends and have organised similar W&C weekends. The next one is at Foundry in November. Details can be found on Dave Toone's War and Conquest blog.

    All the best,

    Phil

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    Replies
    1. I was actually thinking of going and making the trip Phil but all my mini's are (very) multi based so casualty removal would be a serious issue :>(.

      Darrell.

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    2. Darrell,
      What Phil said!
      Also, don't worry about casualty removal. There are others who have multi-based armies and a few tokens and a bit of common sense keeps things running smoothly.
      Cheers
      Matt

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  7. Stunning work, Darrell. A fine composition and tribute to a great warrior king.

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  8. Wonderful job! Base, painting, banners, all is perfect!

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  9. Very nice indeed. Very much looking forward to seeing the game in action at next year's Salute. What ruleset will you be using? WAB, Hail Caesar? Or something home grown?

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    Replies
    1. I'm thinking of using an adaptation of Soldiers of God written by Warwick Kinraid. I see from his FB page that he's working on an Early Medieval set at present so one never knows I might strike it lucky and get a glimpse of the rules as I really need a good representation of the Shieldwall rule (he predominantly uses cards for such things).

      Darrell.

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  10. Very impossing just as he should be.

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  11. Great work again. The way you've lifted Harold onto a higher level with the vignette is brilliant. When I visted the battlefield a ew years ago (assuming it was the right battlefield....etc!), I was amazed by just how hilly an undulating it was. I love the stndards as well. Fantastic!

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  12. Thanks for the goodly words.

    I can't take the credit for the standards as they're LBM's :>)

    The vignette is designed to sit behind wherever Harold is on the table top at the time.

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