The Welsh - 28mm Dark Ages & Medieval Miniatures

Less than 48 hours to go - do you want One of Everything?
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 09, 2021 at 07:24:13 AM

For those who've asked for it and with less than 48 hours to go, we have created a 'One of Everything' pledge level to make it as easy as possible to back for one of everything. "What's special about this new pledge level?" we hear you cry. Well, first up, it saves you £64 on the retail price!

What does it look like? We've created a new graphic to show you what is included.

As you can see it includes a few special offers. First up, any remaining stretch goals we don't manage to unlock will be included as exclusives. These are currently Spearmen 2, Cavalry with Spears 1 and Cavalry with Spears 2. 

Backing at this level, you will also receive the Medieval Champion and Hermit Priest.

And as a big thank you, we have included a new pack of Welsh Minors who are only available as part of the 'One of Everything' pledge. They will not be available to buy in the pledge manager.

To back at this level, all you need to do is swap to 'One of Everything', which is now available or make an initial pledge.

If you have any questions about this or anything else, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Ravaging of Hereford
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 07, 2021 at 04:03:01 PM

Something different today which we thought would make a really nice addition to the project.

After seeing some of Kes's earlier drawings, we really liked his style and took the opportunity to talk with him about our Welsh project.  He got excited and said he would draw a picture of Welsh against Anglo Saxons which he has titled 'Ravaging of Hereford'.

If you haven't seen his work before here is an example I have taken from Kes's Facebook page so you have an idea of his work.

"Barnet is finished! Here is the bottom section showing the 'Battles' of Baron Hastings and the Earl of Oxford crashing into each other in the early stages of the fight..."

We asked him to share a few words about himself and Ravaging Hereford...

"My 2D style was originally inspired by my love for the Bayeux Tapestry. As a small boy, I was fascinated by battle scenes and the Tapestry was the biggest of them all. I'm also inspired by comic books, particularly Tintin and Asterix. 

For this Ravaging of Hereford picture, I looked at some images from the National Archives to help me construct the Welsh warriors and then I combined this with some of the details from your new range, particularly the armour and helmets of the Hearthguard figures. I love the characters in this new range and I hope that I've added something to this story by showing my idea of what they would have looked like in battle."

Here are work in progress pictures that he shared with us...

Keep up to date on his progress over on his Facebook page.  The cost of 'Ravaging of Hereford' in the pledge manager will be £35 for an A3 print individually wrapped and packed and sent out to you by Kes himself.  You will be able to add a copy to your pledge later when the pledge manager opens.

Mark

Making the most of your Welsh 3 - Spearmen & Javelin
over 2 years ago – Mon, Sep 06, 2021 at 01:48:58 AM

Continuing with my theme of looking at how the different packs of Welsh can be used, yesterday I spent a couple of hours creating spearmen and javelin (men).

First up spearmen.  Even though we have a stretch goal looming on the horizon to add further spearmen, it is a pretty straightforward conversion to swap warriors with hand weapons to be armed with spears. 

These two warriors, who previously had hand weapons, have had their weapons clipped off and replaced with spears.  I could have done this for the whole pack but couldn't find the other two in the mould room. These guys could form a back rank or be guards, and a couple of converted packs could create a unit with a very different look. With the addition of a longer spear either, or both, could be used as a bannerman.

This next chap was carrying a Dane axe which I removed and replaced with a long spear/pike.  He could also be designated a standard bearer.  I have to say I do like him a lot and I can see him leading my troops as he is so characterful.

This last group are the Knifemen pack with javelins and shields added.  I have used the welsh shields with additional 50mm metal spears, however, this will be an easy conversion using the shields with javelins pack which will be available in the pledge manager, you will just have to stick those shields on. Mixing these warriors in with the other javelinmen will make them look like a menacing bunch!  I guess if you just stuck a single spear behind the shield you could use them as alternative spearmen as well?

There we are, hopefully, good use of initial masters providing more food for thought. Don't tell our mould maker!

Mark

Its's day 6 already!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Sep 06, 2021 at 12:46:30 AM

We can't believe it's already day 6 for our Welsh which means we are at the halfway point. So far the support has been incredible, thank you, and because of this Mark has been back to Mr Bickley who has been briefed on a pack of spearmen and two further packs of cavalry, for now. However, it does mean we have to unlock the bard. with the good news being, we are making all the right signs that this will happen, fingers crossed.

Any help you can give us to make this happen will be really appreciated, please share news of this Welsh far and wide with anyone you know may be interested, and poping a link into any interested Facebook groups who are ok about that sort of thing all help us to get the word out.

We will share more news on the spearmen as they start to come together, the thoughts are to have them dressed so they can cross both the Dark Age and The Barons' War pledges, which means it is likely that they will be wearing mail.

If you haven't read Mark's previous updates about how to get the most from the Welsh packs they are worth a browse. We think they provide the rest of us with a look into his thought processes of how he chose which packs he wanted to create making this range really flexible.  He was only saying last night about snipping the weapons off the poor warriors to give them spears and using shields with javelin behind them to arm the knifemen which instantly makes them javelinmen. Both are very simply done. Hopefully, watch this space.

Making the most of your Welsh
over 2 years ago – Sun, Sep 05, 2021 at 11:18:15 PM

As promised I am sharing here an initial selection of figures from the Kickstarter that I have started to paint for my Welsh force showing the medieval welsh spearmen with an assortment of medieval shields. Personally, I have no problem with the Welsh, or anybody else for that matter, using a mix of shields as long as they are not waaayyyy ahead of the period). 

The next pic shows my Dark Age warband, with the distinctive commander and standard bearer in the middle.

To their right are a group of warriors with hand weapons. This group could also be given shields with javelins behind them if you wanted to go for that Saga "everybody has javelins" rule. To the commanders left is a unit of warriors with dark age round shields, all painted slightly differently as they are made of one pack of poor warriors. In front, I have used the same pack of minis again but chosen to arm them with javelins.

In the final pic, I have swapped out the previous commander and standard bearer for the high medieval duo. The medieval spearmen, with blue and white shields, are back to replace the warriors with hand weapons to the commander's right. The warriors on his left have been equipped with kite and heater shields to bring them forward in time. The skirmishers in the front haven't changed. I do have an idea to swap them for archers, but we haven't got any models to paint yet, as there isn't any!

So there you are, one pack of warriors works to make two very distinctive forces and two troop types. By changing the commanders and some of the other units, your core force has a very different feel. We will make the different shields available separately so you can customise your warband. 

Just to clarify, I have made both these forces using the very limited range of minis we have moulded so far. I would really like to start to surround my commanders with their appropriate Teulu/hearthguard and add archers and slingers.  If I keep chasing the mould maker, I am hoping to have more models to show you later in the week!

Keep safe!

Mark