Sunday 8 August 2021

Saxon Hurscarls

Saxon Hurscarls …these are all metal purchased some time ago from Mr B (for a very reasonable price) when I mentioned I was looking at expanding my collection to accommodate a large Hastings battle. As they came with no weapons I have given as many as I could axes of one sort or another and positioned the spearmen to the rear. With 39 figures it has taken a while to get them painted but every time I get bored with something else I have done a bit more with a final push this last week to get them over the line.

I would normally base them 6 to a base but with the extra couple of figures I just squeezed them to give an even more compact look.
Shields are completely random and probably a little too ‘flashy’ but we might see these guys turn up anywhere between 400 and 1100 I guess. They are nearly all heavily armed and apart form the two musicians only one figure is not in mail.
They are most likely to play as two units but here they are in a very pleasing dark age mass, I wonder if they could fight some late Romans ?

Thanks as always for looking it helps with the motivation πŸ‘


32 comments:

  1. Oh I say Matt those are rather nice! I like the muted colours, both on the clothing and the shield designs. Mine tend to be brighter so that they show up in 10mm.

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    1. Thanks Steve , my painting style with stain etc does tend to tune down the colours but in 10 mm you need to try to brighten things up

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  2. Cool, I have some to paint, no mojo at moment.

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  3. They look rather nice. The extra figures to the bases really make them stand out

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    1. Thanks Neil , they are bulky figures anyway but yes the extra 3 just seem to bulk the unit out

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  4. Those have turned out very nicely Matt!

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    1. Thanks David…a question below as to who the manufacturer is for these do you know I can’t remember if you told me ?

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  5. These look great Matt and the density looks just right for a Saxon shield wall in 1066!

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    1. Thanks Keith the density is always a balance between having to paint more figures and getting a unit that looks reasonable ? This feels about right ( by luck really )

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  6. I like the tightly packed ranks. Lovely job.

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    1. Thanks Norm, my units are normally 18 man in this period which seems to work

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  7. Those look rather nice, quite the shield wall.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stuart they have worked out well πŸ‘

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  8. A dark age delight Matt, some most splendid Saxons.

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    1. Thanks Phil…I’m just going to keep painting and see where I get to ?

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  9. Great looking Dark Age warband, Matt. Love the freehand shield designs.

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    1. Thanks Dean the shields are a bit rough, but I work on the basis that the soldiers have painted them themselves the night before battle ?

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  10. Excellent work, Matt! I like your shieldwork a lot.

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    1. Thanks Jon very eking they are a bit rough but the shields are a real mix so transfers wouldn’t have worked for this unit

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  11. They do indeed look good Matt. I wonder who the manufacturer was?

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    1. Thanks I will ask David as he will probably know ?

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    2. David says Renegade the likely manufacturer πŸ€”

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  12. Splendid looking bunch of huscarls! They look great densely based and im excited about your late Romans, I guess your pike and shot force can follow in due course?!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain I am happy with the result. Yes ECW will have to wait a little longerπŸ‘

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  13. Lovely toys Matt…
    They look suitably barbaric…

    All the best. Aly

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  14. Those are absolutely great! Well done. Helps me with my motivation too. πŸ˜€

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    1. Thanks Stew….if we can help that motivation that good πŸ‘

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