Limahman | 14 Aug 2014 4:55 a.m. PST |
Dear members, I am a regular ancients wargamer. But for my next project i am switching to thr dark ages. My preference goes for the early part of this era (500 – 1000). The system i use is wab with the aoa2 book. Now i know gripping beast brought out some decent plastic sets. What use would you (more experienced) gamers have for the plastic dark age warriors set? link I know i dont want vikings. And i like infantry heavy armies. My favorite figure in this period is charlemagne. But i am guessing that the set form gripping beast is not suitable for the 9th century franks am i right? I say this because the carolingian franks gripping beast put out do look a lot different. What advice can you guys give me? I very much like the set, i am a plastic lover for the bulk of my army. Dont mind buying the more expensive stuff from gripping beast for my heroes and cav. Thanks! Rory |
Marshal Mark | 14 Aug 2014 6:23 a.m. PST |
IMO they would be fine for rank and file infantry for any Western early medieval army. Add a few character figures for unit leaders from a specific army range (such as Carolingian) and you will be fine. I'm doing a unit of these as Arthurian at the moment – giving them oval shields and will do some head swaps with Westwind Arhurian heads. |
Cerdic | 14 Aug 2014 6:28 a.m. PST |
That set is fairly generic. They can be used to bulk out your infantry in almost any Dark Ages army. If you like mostly infantry armies it sounds like Anglo-Saxons are what you are looking for. Lots of infantry in a shield wall! Have a google of King Offa of Mercia. A contemporary of Charlemagne and said to be the only other king that Charlemagne respected! He fought loads of wars against the other English kingdoms so plenty of scope for interesting scenarios. |
Griefbringer | 14 Aug 2014 6:38 a.m. PST |
Speaking of Anglo-Saxons, GB also does a plastic set of Anglo-Saxon thegns, and you can use leftover heads (and other bits) from that set to make the unarmoured warriors look more Anglo-Saxonish in style. |
KatieL | 14 Aug 2014 9:01 a.m. PST |
"They can be used to bulk out your infantry in almost any Dark Ages army." Indeed -- the only really "army specific" components are the shields -- you can easily swap them for other shapes. I have a Fantasy Warriors barbarian army I'm building which consists of Copplestone Mongol cavalry for the characters, Fireforge infantry for the archers and GB DA plastics left over from the medieval army for the levy infantry -- just with the shields replaced with the wicker ones from the Fireforge box and some of the spears swapped out for the furry-headed ones… The medieval army is Perry for the shooters, armoured and main combat units and the DA plastics for levy again, this time unaltered. I quite like them -- my one and only whinge would be that you get 5 poses and all the poses are quite alike and really have to have shields (theres no two-handed axe variant possible). But for the price of 50p a figure, that really feels like churlishness… |
Griefbringer | 14 Aug 2014 9:57 a.m. PST |
I would say that the rounds shields included (which are quite nice) tend to work pretty well for most historical armies of the early middle ages. That said, for later Anglo-Saxons it might be interesting to mix in some kite shields. Or to give bucklers for the guys chucking javelins. |
Augustus | 14 Aug 2014 12:58 p.m. PST |
Could just as easily pass for a Dark Age Slav or Rus rank and file. Just "Dudes and Shields" |
French Wargame Holidays | 14 Aug 2014 2:26 p.m. PST |
I used mine as early Franks, added black tree command and some crusader to mix it up a bit |
Limahman | 15 Aug 2014 6:10 a.m. PST |
He guys okey so you think it would pass. @ bluewillow, you use the early Frank list yeah? I find the early germanic lists a bit simple, there isnt alot of troops choise. The later lists have more. What black tree command blister do you use if I may ask? I dont see any franks on there site. |
AcrylicNick | 16 Aug 2014 4:16 a.m. PST |
I'd like to second Marshal Mark's suggestion to have a look at Westwind's Arthurian Heads. Some of the Gripping Beast plastic heads might be a bit too "Viking" for Franks or Anglo-Saxons. |