MIDGARD HEROIC BATTLES... THE WARRIOR IN THE TERRACOTTA CLOAK.

When I pre-ordered my copy of Midgard Heroic Battles, my plan was to convert my Dux Britanniarum Arthurian and Scotti warbands into Midgard armies. The Scotti were pretty straightforward; I just didn't have enough infantry to make the five heavy infantry units I needed. I still had a few Wargames Atlantic Irish warriors tucked away and I bought a couple of extra sprues from Wargames Imporium and set about painting the required figures. With the Arthurians, I needed to perform a few head swaps, weapon swaps and shield swaps on a few figures, but I reached the point where I could only make thirteen of the sixteen figures needed for two units of Combrogi, the term I use for those socially superior to the Pagenses, who would be expected to turn up at the muster with sword, spear, large shield and a helmet of some kind. Wargames Imporium again supplied a sprue, this time Victrix Late Roman infantry and I set about building those final three figures. The last of the three was given a cloak, even though I'd intended to do the absolute minimum to get them equipped for the shield wall. Little did I know that that cloak would, quite literally, be my downfall! I was blocking out colour on the trousers, tunic and that cloak on all three figures (I normally paint individually), leaving the cloak until last. Vallejo Terracotta was the chosen colour for the cloak and when I tried to put a drop onto the palette, it came out far too runny to be useful. As I had other jobs to do, I tipped the Vallejo bottle upside down to get the pigment settling in the dropper, intending to return in ten minutes or so and try again. Before I could get back to complete the job, I stupidly managed to slip off the bottom step of our staircase and got whisked off to A&E in an ambulance! Knee surgery followed a week later and several months of rehabilitation lie ahead. My unfinished warrior was tidied away until, eighteen days later, we managed to set up an ad hoc painting station on my knee and cloak painting was able to resume!

This is how I left my terracotta cloaked warrior... the watery acrylic barely covering the black primer!

My son, Dan, who is by trade a sports therapist, told me that if I was one of the players in the football team he looks after, he'd be telling me that my season was over! It took me quite a long time to get it into my head that this ridiculous accident was going to take some considerable time to recover from, but once it sank in, I started to set myself little short term goals and this plastic warrior with his terracotta cloak embedded himself firmly into my brain almost to the point of obsession. You don't name non-heroic figures in Midgard, but this member of the Combrogi will always be known as Ailetglin, which, very crudely, translates from Brythonic as something like "Broken Knee" and, when the dice roll and the casualties need to be removed, I suspect that he will be the last to be hoisted from his movement tray and placed amongst the pile of battlefield victims.

Painting on a tray, where you can't rest your elbows, isn't ideal, but better that than not at all! On the left the base coat of terracotta, completed after an interval of just eighteen days! And, on the right, the cloak with highlights applied... I should have waited for the paint to dry before snapping really.

And the completed warrior in the terracotta cloak...

Once this warrior was completed, the other two just needed finishing off and that left me with the sixteen required to field two units of Combrogi...

MIDGARD HEROIC BATTLES... BROTHER BEDDWHETTAR AND THE COURT OF RHYDDERCH MOR.

 

In the Year of Our Lord, 499 AD, there came, unto the mighty fortress of Alt Clut, a wandering priest by the name of Brother Beddwhettar. From whence the good Brother arrived is shrouded in the very depths of mystery and vagueacity, but his serenity, intelligence and absolute Godliness immediately brought him to the attention of the fearsome and all powerful King of Alt Clut, Rhydderch Mor. Rhydderch Mor was a man who followed the ancient ways and beliefs and took advice from the venerable Druid, Cambion Kar, who had counselled the rulers of Alt Clut since before the dark days of the Calliginnerings. However, even the learned Cambion Kar recognised the cavernous sagacity of the priest and the two oracles quickly became companions in enlightenment, culture and knowledge. The great lord, Rhydderch Mor, of course, became the beneficiary of this union of the old and new religions and the land of Alt Clut became renowned throughout the known world as a centre of learning, philosophy and religious tolerance. In the months before the arrival of Brother Beddwhettar, it had come to pass that the Fortress of Alt Clut had, unexplainably, become inundated by a plague of vicious and most destructive and pernicious vermin, causing great consternation and, indeed, a great many deaths amongst the benighted population. Cambion Kar had cast a great many incantations and conjurations against the rats, but, in spite of his numerous endeavours, the beasts continued to range forth and multiply, so that the distressed populace did, in their simple ignorance, begin to bewail and riot in the streets.

"Fear not the Vermin," cried Brother Beddwhettar, "For they are but God's simple creatures and, with the Word of the Lord, I shall banish them hence and send them into the lands of the detestable Scotti, there to cause measureless harm to the empty-headed enemies of The Lord our God." Many of the nobility and the base born alike did snicker in incredulity and scepticism, but, much to their great astonishment, Brother Beddwhettar did call upon the leader of the vermin, who did creep forward from amongst the mighty throng of crawling, slithering creatures and allow itself to be taken up onto the left hand of the venerated holy man. The assembled masses of Alt Clut did gasp and exclaim in wonderment as the Priest did smile down upon the beast and appear to engage in conversation with it, imploring the rat to leave the noble fortress. The throng did then let out a deafening cheer, proclaiming the Priest to be a worker of prodigious miracles as he raised the great holy tome he carried and did smite the rat with an almighty blow to the head, dashing its brains to smithereens. Upon witnessing the fate of their leader, the great verminous plague did, instantaneously, scarper from the citadel and, true to the word of the holy man, did make their way to the necessitous and destitute lands of the Scotti, whence they were eagerly consumed as savoury titbits by the pagan idolaters of Dal Riata.

With this act of miraculous magnitude, Brother Beddwhettar, at a stroke, did find himself adopted, in a most familial manner, into the Royal Household of Alt Clut, becoming the boon companion of Cambion Kar and fellow advisor to King Rhydderch Mor. Thus it was said that Rhydderch Mor did become the most ably advised monarch in the entirety of Hen Ogledd. Not only this, but, in Brother Beddwhettar, Rhydderch Mor acquired a chronicler of colossal intellect, who would gift the future world with an unapparelled record of the achievements of the King and the noble house of Alt Clut.

Rhydderch Mor, High King of Alt Clut and his ever faithful standard bearer, Escanor. For fifteen years Rhydderch Mor has relentlessly and tirelessly defended the land of Alt Clut against the pernicious Scotti raiders, lead by his arch enemy, Donnchadh Luthmhor. The King spends more time in the saddle than he does not, leading his Teulu from the front, setting an heroic example to his battle host, which, most frequently, is made up of the landless and poorly equipped Pegenses who leave their fields to follow their Lord in defence of the land upon which they toil to survive.

The noble, Lord Pellinore, younger brother of the King, steadfast and loyal and Leader of Battles. Pellinore usually stands with the men of the Combrogi who form the front rank in battle, providing a dependable screen to the Pegenses who form up behind them.

Lord Sagramore, veteran warrior, who fought in the battle line back in the days of Rhydderch Mor's father and, like young Pellinore, leads the men of the Combrogi, who benefit from this grizzled and experienced warrior's knowledge and calm demeanour.

The Druid, Cambion Kar, known to the illiterate peasant folk of Alt Clut as Marlin, has been providing sound and considered wisdom to the rulers of the land for longer than any man alive recollects. There are those, including one miserable villein who claimed that he had been turned into a newt, who believe that he possesses mystic powers, but Cambion Kar is far too astute not to recognise which way the theological winds are blowing to be seen to be too deeply involved in the practices of the old ways.

A long serving member of Rhydderch Mor's court is Ectorius Hir, a warrior who has spent almost his entire life fighting against the Scotti raiding hordes and has risen to the exalted rank of "King's Champion". Ectorius is often found using the flat of his war axe to encourage the men of the Pagenses should they ever feel reluctant to continue facing the enemy.

These are the heroes of the warband of Alt Clut and it falls to them to lead the fighting men of the land against the relentless destructive raids of the Scotti and, who knows, there may yet be new foes to vanquish, as word has reached the mighty fortress of a new and even more deadly adversary reported to be advancing slowly but inexorably from the east!