Friday, November 8, 2019

Yet Another Celtic Warband

Yes, one more Celtic/Gallic warband storms off the painting desk today.  This dozen warriors comprises the third Celtic warband from Crusader Miniatures completed in 2019 and the eighth such warband unit for the year.  With almost one per month, that is a good rate of production and builds up an army quickly.  Enough Crusader Miniatures' figures remain in The Lead Pile to field one more warband.  When this last is completed, a dozen warbands will be ready to take to the field.  Will this be enough for a scaled down Telamon battle?  It may be but I need to work out the details. 
Two BMUs of Celt cavalry are in work and will be joining the Celtic army soon.  Plans were to add a couple more chariots and two more cavalry units but those plans have been dashed by the non-delivery of a Black Tree Design USA order placed in May.  Even after the proprietor made a call for those awaiting orders to contact him, my repeated emails have gone unanswered.  After more than five months, I recently gave up and submitted a claim to Paypal.  We will see if I get either the goods or my money.
With BTD orders seemingly in limbo, a search for compatible chariotry begins.  Options include Newline Designs, Foundry, and Crusader.  Will any of these approach the size of BTD?  Unlikely but the army needs a few more good chariots.  I see that the Crusader cabs are MDF rather than metal.  That is a surprise to me!  With Newline announcing their annual Holiday sale, I may give their chariots a try since I have a few things needed for other projects.  

On the gaming front, a refight of the 1840's India game using Commands & Colors is planned for this weekend.

37 comments:

  1. A suitably barbaric looking unit, Jonathan. Good pace of output and I'm looking forward to Telamon.

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  2. Another lovely looking unit and hope you get resolution with BTD.

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    1. Thank you, Steve! Without response to emails, the outlook for a successful resolution looks dim.

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  3. A lovely mix of poses, making the viewing time hand a little longer to enjoy the various nuances. The Newline sale at 25% is good, i was looking there the other day at their 20mm’s.

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    1. Norm, you are very kind! I will be picking up figures from Newline's Christmas sale, for sure. Planning for a new army in 2020. What are you considering in 20mm?

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    2. Well, I initially went there looking for ECW, which from memory, I though they did, but it turns out I was getting confused with Kennington .... so I ended up looking at the ACW stuff, which unfortunately is most not photographed / illustrated.

      i had been thinking about 20mm as an alternative to plastic 20mm,just to get rid of the assembly and more importantly the glue, which seems to irritate me!

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  4. Looking good from here (and an impressive output rate to boot).

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  5. Great looking Celts, Jonathan. Bummer about the BTD order - wow, you placed it in May - and the year's almost over! Hope you get resolution soon.

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    1. Thanks, Dean! The BTD order is a bummer, for sure. My expectations are low...

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  6. You always need a large warband of Celts with you :)
    Nice unit!

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  7. I think Warlord games makes some Celtic chariots...?

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    1. Good idea! I will look at those. I automatically think of Warlord as plastic but see the chariots are metal.

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  8. Another lovely bunch of Celts Jonathan, if Celts can be accurately described as "lovely".

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    1. Glad you like them! Perhaps, "dirty" and "menacing" are more appropriate adjectives?

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  9. Nice work Jonathan, Of course you might want to consider plastics ?

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    1. Thanks! I could consider plastics but my preference is to find metal equivalents first.

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  10. Great looking Gauls! Newline sound a good choice to me, more compatible with foundry rather than BTD but I guess they will be on different bases.
    Best Iain

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    1. Much appreciated, Iain! The Foundry and Newline Bibicals I have match up very well. I was re-examining the BTD Celtic chariots I have and the BTD chariot team are on the smaller side. Perhaps I will order a Newline chariot and see how it goes? As Tim says above, Warlord is an option too.

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  11. Great work on those Celts, I do like the Crusader figures.

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    1. Thanks! We both appreciate Crusader's many fine ranges of figures.

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  12. They look dynamic, colorful and beaitufl, great looking Gauls!

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  13. Ferocious barbarians! A unit to be feared in battle. 😀
    Good luck getting your money back.

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    1. When I am in command, I hope these fellas are feared.

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  14. That's a lot of Gauls, and a fearsome looking bunch they are. Hopefully BTD comes through with the goods. I know there have been some health issues there.

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    1. A lot of Gaul, for sure. One final warband is in the painting queue. Then, I will either be finished or need to buy some more.

      There have been health issues with BTD USA but there have also been promises to get the business back on track and catch up will all of the back orders. I hope John can turn it around because I do like the figures.

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  15. Great unit Jonathan. I say it every time, but the blue you have used on that shield really makes these units pop.

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