SAGA Challenge

Well, we’re slightly behind where we thought we’d be, but good progress is being made.  The Anglo Saxons are all built and most of the Vikings. Only 18 Levies to complete and both armies will have been made up.

Anton has taken a more “adventurous” route that I expected and is making his models the way he wants them, and isn’t too fussy about having each group of warriors exactly armed throughout. Personally, I’m good with that, the important thing is for him to enjoy the process. We’ll not be entering competitions, so exactly what they look like isn’t really too critical.

Next up is putting the plastic figures not bases. Personally I have always liked the “heft” of metal figures; as these will all be individuals rather than based collectively, I wanted to give them some weight.  I could have gone with washers, but as I had a handful of local currency, I went with these instead.

Size-wise they’re almost exactly 25mm, so for the purpose of the figures this is ideal. To base them all (60 figures) the actual cost is less than €1, so that works for me.

The figures are glued down suing a local glue which is very similar to UHU.

When the glue had set, I made up a kind of paste made of PvA glue and two types of sand.  One was extremely fine and the second more course.

There are two main reasons for going this way.  Firstly the paste adds a bit more strength to the model/coin joint. Although I have never had any issues with the glue alone, I think the additional paste mix helps to make the figures “handle-proof”. (I often drop my figures!)

The second point is that once dry, the paste adds some additional texture which should make the painting more straightforward.  At least that’s the idea.  I haven’t use this method for years – in fact probably the last time was 30+ years ago!

So next week is finishing the Vikings and basing so they can be base coated and I’ll be attempting Zenithal highlighting on these to hopefully make the actual paining easier!

Happy gaming