Well, Midgard arrived in my mailbox. Along with series the videos put out by the Too Fat Lardies, this new set of rules has really captured my imagination. For the past few years since I built my large fantasy armies I've been wondering what to do with them. They have been re-based a couple of times (from multi-figure bases to singles) and I've never been happy with them. However, I'm doing it all again and I'm really liking the results. Here's the start...
All of my troops are in units of 12. This started because I originally collected them for Dragon Rampant and I just sort of carried on with the 12 figure unit. For this rebasing, I did consider reducing the numbers of figures per unit but I do like the massed ranks of spears. This unit was/is my Royal Guard and was originally made as a 36 figure phalanx. Now it is more like a 3 company regiment. I really like that each base has a tight packed look.
The bases I'm using are pre-made, blank glass/cup coasters that I get from Bunnings (our local BIG hardware chain in Australia). They are 11.2 cm which is just shy of the 12cm recommendation in the Midgard rules. I already have a big bunch of these that I half-heartedly painted and flocked a couple of years back. I trimmed them down so the depth is 7cm. The recommended depth is 6cm but I like the extra bit of play that the extra 1cm gives me. I also allowed me to add a 12mm dice holder at the back of the base.
The dice look less intrusive in the flesh, so to speak, but I might invest in a set that will blend in better.
I have about 18 units all together (of 12 figures) which makes for quite a decent sized army when combined with the horse and other elements. They include several different houses/contingents with distinctive colours and symbols. The largest house is the one below which has three units of spears and three of bow - So that's 72 figures. I decided that I'm going to organise these troops differently and make them spear and bow - Sort of a sparabarra type thing. This type of unit is in the rules and this is a large army so why not add a bit of variety to the mix? They'll be 6 companies strong! The dice look less intrusive in the flesh, so to speak, but I might invest in a set that will blend in better.
This spear & bow mix was something I tried to incorporate into the rules I wrote for my own games during The Plague.
At this point in time my Elfin Houses have no names and no history. Maybe I should take the time to create something to give them a bit more depth.
Something else I also have on hand is a large bunch of pre-fab MDF bases. I'm planning on using these for skirmish units and other lighter units with less figures that are more spread out (medium infantry types). These bases are all 12cm x 6cm; some with 6 figure slots and some with 8 slots. I have a lot of them. By doing this I can also keep a significant selection of figures on single bases for use in other games but still use them for large battles.So I figure I can use these as skirmishers with six figures per base so that one unit of 12 can be used to form two companies of javelineers.
Alternatively, I can also remove a couple of figures and insert a couple of place holders to create 3 skirmishing companies of 4 figures each. I already have a bunch of these little place holders made up and I might actually make a few with dice holders.
And that's it for now. I had a bit of a break for a week because we have my wife's family staying with us which has disrupted our lives a bit. In fact, my wargaming room has become my wife's home office as her original office has become a bedroom.
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P.S. It's going to take me a while to re-base all of my fantasy armies, I have my evil/orcish troops, forest folk, undead, northern riders, evildoer men, some dwarves and fantasy barbarians. I also have a significant Anglo-Saxon army that I intend to use for Midgard. So there's lots of work ahead for me.
Amazing work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michal. This is going to be a very big project.
DeleteThe new bases look fantastic Ian. As do the figures!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ben. I have somewhere close to 700/800 figures to rebase. It's going to take ages.
DeleteI saw this on LAF and had to pop over for a proper look, really like your basing, I do similar for my 18th figures and it works well for me, Your Elf army all based up should make for a very impressive sight. Fair job on your hands with all the other armies to do but will be well worth it that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. I've admired other peoples' diorama style basing for a long, long time but I've never done it myself. I'll keep on updating the blog as I progress. I'm really looking forward to doing my Faerie Folk army.
DeleteI bought the rules as well. I've never found a set that I liked for my Trojan Wars figures, looks like I have now.
ReplyDeleteHi Ray, from what I've read (and watched on the TFL videos) I'm really keen on these rules. Re-basing is going to take a while but I'm enjoying the process. I don't have to re-base but I like the look of good solid diorama type units and I've never been happy with how my troops currently look.
DeleteYou are a brave man rebasing such a host...ha, ha! Good luck and hope you can persevere. I am looking forward to battle reports using Midgard once you're finished...!!
ReplyDelete