"Which figures for late Strathclyde?" Topic

So I get that in DBA 3.0 Strathclyde falls under Sub-Roman British--but most Sub-Roman Brits are too early for say 8th or 9th century Strathclyde. Which figures would you go with for these? Anglo-Danes?

Perhaps Viking era Welsh for the cavalry and some of the infantry.

Grelber

You could take the line that there was a high degree of generic appearance at this time, and that any dark age types with short mail coats and no big axes would do. Big axes are right for about the late 10th century onwards, so Anglo Danes wouldn't be right. However, the Welsh are described several centuries later than this as having moustaches but no beards, and tunics without trousers. If Strathclyde British culture was similar then Dark age welsh figures would do. However, only Old Glory and Gripping Beast do specific Welsh in 28mm and size wise they aren't a great match. With 15mm Essex used to advertise a Welsh range this may have got subsumed into their 'Dark Age' generic list but there are lots of good and suitable Dark age types there which could be pressed into service. Crusader do some 28mm dark age scots which might fit the bill – no trousers and a range of cavalry figures as well. But essentially it's your decision as to what you want them to look like, and if they need to look specifically different from their enemies. Shield designs, use of stripes and tartans etc. can turn a generic Dark Age figure, like a Gripping Beast Plastic Dark Age warrior into anything you want it to be…

I think 8th and 9th Century North-West European warriors probably all looked pretty similar in terms of their basic clothing and kit. Differences were more likely to be seen in styles of decoration.

I realise this is heresy to a lot of wargamers who like to have well defined visual variety in their figures!

And the idea that different figures are needed for each 'tribe' or 'nationality' is eagerly supported by figure manufacturers in order to sell more figures. And who can blame them!

So. 8th and 9th Century Strathclyde? Use any mid-period Dark Age figures and use any contemporary visual sources from the area you can find as inspiration for patterns/decorations on clothing and shields.

I forgot. List of figures here….

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Thank you everyone. Was mainly thinking of 15mm, should have specified that.

The Kingdom of Strathclyde or Alt Clut was never colonised by the Romans to any degree so you are right to avoid any Sub-Roman figures.
They were a British kingdom speaking a language similar to Old Welsh with a common cultural heritage to their cousins in Cymru. As others have said using Welsh or other generic Dark Age figures should be fine, but you might want to include more cavalry in the mix.

Sorry don't use 15mm so can't offer any advice on ranges.

What might Strathclyde cavalry look like?

Was mainly thinking of 15mm, should have specified that.

Ah 15mm.. check out Donnington then Jeeves. The Ottonian range has a couple of nice mailed cavalry with round shields I used them for my Welsh. They also have armoured and unarmoured infantry with spears and largish round shields just poke around the Dark Age ranges and see what you fancy.

I like this fellow for noble cavalry.

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Here are Essex Welsh
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But there are lots of useable figures, including nice cavalry in the Dark ages range:
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I'd go for a mix of these if were doing 15mm

Try to get a hold of a translation of the Early Welsh poem 'Y Gododdin" -lots of references to gold torcs, mail shirts, and white shields.

The riders depicted on the Pictish Aberlemno Stone are now widely considered to be of the Northumbrian army, and could well have been the rump of the Gododdin politico/military elite.

I thought Gododdin depicted warriors of around 600 – not Jeeves's period. Some historians suggest a Roman connection with this Eastern tribal area – the same 'Votadini' settled by Magnus Maximus in Wales in the 300s. So Gododdin warrior might have been Roman influenced or 'Sub Roman' rather than the later look Jeeves was querying. Certainly Angus McBrides famous 'Arthur' illustration in the Osprey Arthur book is based on the Gododdin text.

…although as Dan Mersey once pointed out there is strangely no mentions of helmets in Gododdin – metal armour, yes, swords and spears, but no helmets.

Yes and helmets would be worth a poetic mention.

Splintered Light has a Strathclyde army:

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