Background

I've been toying with this period for many years after reading the Bernard Cornwell Arthur books (The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur)and seeing the figures from Gripping Beast that were loosely based on these novels.

Like most wargamers though I've been guilty of flitting between projects and never really progressing any of them. After nearly twenty years of painting figures without really completing a single army I've finally resolved to see a project through to completion.

After much deliberation I decided to focus primarily on the Arthurian project. My aim is to have a 2,000 point Warhammer Ancient Battles Arthurian/Late Roman army completed by the end of the year.

The army look will be loosely based on the unit descriptions given in the Cornwell books combined with a little artistic licence. Initally the army will be a Fall of the West Warlord army as this gives me a lot of scope for mixing Romano British and barbarian units.

I'll also be playing games every two to three weeks at the local gaming club to test the army which may require changes to the army composition, however, the initial army list is as follows:

1 x Warlord with Throwing Spear, Shield and Heavy Army (150pts)
22 x Comitatus (Body Guard) with Heavy Throwing Spear and Full Command (367pts)
1 x Priest (75pts)
1 x Army Battle Standard Bearer with Large Shield (71pts)
8 x Scholae (Shock Cavalry) with Full Command (223pts)
19 x Pedes with Light Armour, Heavy Throwing Spear, Drilled, Full Command (243pts)
20 x Pedes with Light Armour, Heavy Throwing Spear, Drilled, Full Command (255pts)
20 x Pedes with Light Armour, Heavy Throwing Spear, Full Command (235pts)
16 x Barbarian Infantry with Full Command (111pts)
30 x Archers deployed in three units of 10 figures(270 pts)

The unit of Comitatus and the Priest are already painted so that leaves 8 cavalry, 105 infantry figures and 2 Character figures to paint in four months. In order to complete this project on time I need to finish approximately 28 figures per month.

The figures will be from a variety of manufacturers but mainly Gripping Beast and Foundry.

I have already made good progress on one of the Pede units and should have it finished this week, I'll post pictures as soon as it's complete.

King Arthur

Who was the shadowy figure that permeates English myth and did he ever really exist? I've always been fascinated by the Arthur legend through books and films, so I've recently decided to take the plunge and start collecting a 28mm Romano-British army based loosely on the Arthur legends.

This journal will be a record of my Arthurian wargaming project and will focus on the wargaming aspects of this period, I'll leave the history to other enlightened souls.

My hope is that this blog will provide people with a guide to collecting figures and wargaming this fascinating period of British history.

In the next post I'll go into more detail about which figures and rules I've decided to use and my vision for this army.

In the meantime here are a some pictures of the first unit I've completed:

Thanks for looking in, I hope you find it useful and come back often.

Peter