Sláine: Kiss My Paintbrush!

The ‘men of bags’ were inhabitants of Ireland who preceded the Irish pagan gods who defeated them and drove them away.  In our tale they are predecessors of the tribes of Danu and are therefore opposed not only to Slaine and his Sessair but all of the invaders of their land.

All miniatures are Alternative Armies, from their Celtic Myth range.  All paints are the new AP Speedpaints, Warrior Skin is the lead here for a deeper colour.  Hair was a blend of equal parts Medium, Sand Golem, Burnished Red and Hardened Leather.  I’ve gone Chalcolithic (copper age) as inspiration so Brazen Copper for the metal work and I like the saffron dyed garments of the Irish Kerns so decided to port those over to this force as well so they look distinct from the others schemes I’ve already used on this project.  The yellow is Ancient Honey and I’ve done an extra coat on some minis in the recesses and lower down on capes to help to deepen the tone a bit.  First up are the heroes:

Then the tribal commanders, chief, musician, standard and a champion.  The banner is some freehand, I don’t normally bother but LBMS didn’t have anything chalcolithic-y enough.  The banner was black with the pattern marked out first in pencil then overpainted in Vallejo Cold Grey.  Then the whole thing was washed in Occultist Cloak (a blackish blue grey apparently) which takes the edge off the black and helps it look a bit more used.  Then the symbol was overpainted with Vallejo Cold Grey and then a thinner line inside the grey of Vallejo Ivory.

Finally the warriors.  The shields were either Bony Matter for the wicker or an initial coat of Pastel Seafoam (too light a tone) which then had several coats of Thunderbolt Blue over the top, deliberately heavier on the bottom half for a sort of freehand painted two tone effect.  Looks a bit sloppy in the photos but I quite like it a gaming distance.