Tuesday 17 March 2015

Coroticus, King of Strathclyde

Introduction

Once again, I'm finding it difficult to find the time and the enthusiasm for a decent post.  This was supposed to have been written on Sunday, but it's now 2 days late.  Still, that's enough whining, so on with the show!

We've now played 4 games in our Dreadball league with my 5 teams (men, women, orx, rats and bugs).  All the games (apart from 1 landslide) have gone down to the wire, with the winning score typically being made in the last rush of the match - and most of them hinged on a single dice throw at the end.  Standings are as follows:

TeamPlayedLandslideWonLostBuriedPoints
Pink Ladies
2
1
1
0
0
5
Sky City Slammers
2
0
1
1
0
3
Gutter Gashers
2
0
1
1
0
3
Golden Swarm
2
0
0
1
1
1
Mean Green Machine
0
0
0
0
0
0

Coroticus

 I've just recently completed "Coroticus", the warlord for my SAGA Strathclyde Welsh warband (henceforth just Strathclyde).  These are very much the local boys for where I live and that itself is something of a departure for me since I've never really collected armies from my own country before.

Some people like to collect American forces if they come from the USA, British armies if they live in the UK or Slovenian troops if they live in Slovenia.  However I've never felt a strong desire to do this and in truth, the distance in history between me and the Strathclyde makes them as remote as if they had lived on the other side of Europe.

On the other hand, I can look around the local landscape and try to imagine it without all the modern houses and roads, as it might have looked in 800 AD.  Whilst there's nothing left of the structures that the Dark Age inhabitants might have lived in, there are some artifacts.  For example, there's a "hog back" Viking gravestone in Luss churchyard, on the banks of Loch Lomond (though this is probably from the 1263 campaign and therefore somewhat later in history).  Other similar gravestones have, I believe, been found at Govan on the river Clyde.  And there's always Dumbarton Castle, the ancient capital of Strathclyde, which is only 10 miles or so from my house.

So, Coroticus is a Gripping Beast model.  He's the same sculpt that they offer for their Welsh warband of the same period, which is quite reasonable as the Welsh (in Wales) and the Strathclyde Welsh were closely related.

I've hinted at an association with the Scots (the tribes further to the east and north) by giving Coroticus a tartan tunic.  Actually, it's not a "real" tartan in any modern sense of the word, but one of my simplified tartans.  If this needs to be rationalised then I would claim that they probably had less complex patterns of cloth 1200 years ago.  Also, I have trouble painting fine lines...

The casualty on the base is a Viking, so definitely an enemy!  How do I know that he's a Viking?  They wore trousers, whilst the Celtic peoples of the time went bare-legged.

Conclusion

Coroticus isn't quite the first model that I've completed for my Strathclyde warband; I've also finished 4 hearthguard.  However the entire force is mounted and this is slowing down my progress considerably.  Horses aren't that difficult to paint (at least, to a reasonable level, if not a superb one), but they are big and I find the sheer expanse of bare metal somewhat offputting!  Still, I'll get there in the end.

25 comments:

  1. Lovely mini - excellent painting (I know the artist you know - fine chap) and a powerful pose.
    Is that dropped Shield sponsored by Google?

    There are some excellent notes on horse colours, and painting model horses in this blog. http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/horse-of-different-colour.html

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    1. Thanks, Steve. The shield isn't sponsored by Google, though if they'd like to pay me for this then I'm open to offers :-) .

      It's not the colouring of the horses that puts me off, but rather the amount of paint needed to cover the area! That's silly really, since larger models are often much quicker and easier to paint than smaller ones.

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  2. Good to see you getting some games of Dreadball in C6.
    I don't know why you're fretting over the horses, you've done a great job on that grey.

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    1. Thanks, Bob. As I said, it's not the colour scheme for the horses that puts me off, but rather the extra preparation time and the larger surface area to be filled!

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  3. Excellently painted and posed Warlord. Love the fallen enemy warrior and his shield. The plaid tunic and border of the cape are well done too.

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    1. Thanks, Dean. I can't take credit for the sculpting of the warlord, though the composition of the mini-diorama is mine. I'm a great believer in trying to keep it simple, so no gallons of gore or flying limbs!

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  4. He's a great figure for the leader of your warband., but having to drag around a casualty everywhere he goes would surely get tiresome.

    Well done on getting so many Dreadball games played.

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    1. I'm sure that dragging around the casualty is no more difficult than dragging around rocks, ruined walls, bushes or whatever other scenery might be found on a model's base :-) .

      Yes, the Dreadball season is going quite well, though my son is getting a bit despondent at having lost every match so far (though several by the narrowest of margins, on the final throw of a dice!)

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  5. I love the Coroticus, its a very imposing figure in itself! And don't listen to Joe, the puny Nordsman serves as a reminder to the rest of the army! Hra Hra Hra!

    And hey - the guns on Slovenes are different than anything else out there :(.

    So Clyde valley was not populated by Scottish back then? What makes this faction so different from, say the rest of the Welsh?

    On a semi-related note, I just read an article about a week ago on how Scots probably did not battle in tartans, but in urin (?) dyed yellowish war shirts.

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    1. The Urine of a pre adolescent boy was a well known dye component. A chemist did explain to me why once but I have long since forgotten the chemistry, but I can confirm that it does work!

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    2. Thanks, Mathyoo. The internal kingdoms of Britain changed constantly over the Dark Ages - and in any case I think that we probably put too much emphasis on hard borders with our modern perspective. It probably wasn't really like that; there weren't fenced boundaries with occasional customs & immigration posts.

      This series of maps works best for me: http://www.hodgson-clan.net/england-800.htm . Although it doesn't label the Scots explicitly, I believe that they are the dark purple zones covering Ireland, Galloway and the north of modern Scotland. You can see clearly that branches of the Welsh have much of the west of Great Britain, including Strathclyde, modern Wales and Cornwall.

      In SAGA game terms, the Strathclyde are distinguished by their almost universal use of ponies and horses. I believe that the area was famous for the number of such animals, so I suppose that's justification enough!

      Modern tartan starts with Sir Walter Scott in the late 18th century! While we don't really know much about Dark Age clothing colours, I like to think that there would have been at least some early "tartan-like" patterning. The yellow/saffron shirts is more of an Irish thing, I think? Not sure about that...

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  6. A very nice figure. So many people get hung up on a figure being from somewhere because of the equipment used. The truth of the matter is that everyone used everything. Weapons, armour and some clothing was stripped from the dead and gifted by a lord to loyal followers. I am quite happy for the casualty to be a Viking because you want it to be a Viking and no other reason. There is about 2 miles of thread to make a pair of trousers in this period so given that many wills clothing is bequeathed to someone it is also very likely the trousers were given to the guy and may have come from a foreign battlefield or one in a different part of the country.

    Sorry I will get off my soapbox now. It is a good figure and I do appreciate seeing it.

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    1. Yes, you're quite right - I imagine that equipment was widely traded as well as being taken from fallen enemies. It might still be adapted to the local style, though - especially if it is something easily modified (and perhaps in need of repair after a battle), such as cloth.

      Anyway, I don't really care if the fallen enemy is a Norseman or not :-) . Indeed, he could even be a friend or bodyguard who has just "taken one for the chieftain"!

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  7. Nice figure, Hugh and well done on concentrating on your local lads. There's nothing wrong with supporting your home team, so to speak.

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    1. Thanks, Bryan! I've still got most of the starter set yet to build and paint before I can field them, mind.

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    1. Thanks! I think I have made more progress on this warband in the last 2 or 3 weeks than I did in the previous 6 months...

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  9. A very characterful leader and a beautiful base. Well done!

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    1. Thanks, Cedric! I'm quite pleased with this model myself :-) .

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  10. Keep up the steam and get those warriors (and their steeds) done! I know exactly what you mean about painting cavalry, as that feeling is all that prevents me from having a full mounted Rohan army...

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    1. The Strathclyde warriors are pretty much the only thing I'm painting at the moment, so I'm hoping to make some real progress over the next week or two.

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  11. Replies
    1. Thanks, David. Let's hope he has the same effect on his little metal followers!

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  12. Just saw this. I really like how you did him. The Tartan is great.

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    1. Thanks, Sean - glad you like him. I'm quite pleased with this model myself :-) .

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