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Chalk (conversely crushed water color paint) is a completely viable media to work with, though weathering powders may be more to your liking if this model is going to see any amount of use. Chalk and weathering powders are essentially the same, except weathering powders have an adhesive in the powder that helps it stay where you want it. Chalk can brush or knock out of recesses. I've tried a lot of different applications with chalk and weathering powders. My best weathering powder result was rubbing chalk into the recesses, lightly brushing away excess from flat surfaces, and multiple light sprays of flat base coat. First coat be very careful and keep the nozzle much further back than you normally would, otherwise you may blow the chalk from the recess.

Here's a link to some weathering options.

https://www.micromark.com/hobby-supplies/weathering

I'll shamelessly plug MicroMark becasue they are just awesome. I've ordered from them countless times and they have been amazing each time. dsteingass will sing their praises as well (he's the person that turned me on to them). I use Doc O'Brien's but there are many other options available elsewhere online.

Hope this helps. You have an excellent project and I'm really happy to see Historics mixing it up with all the sci-fi around here.

I'll take a look, thanks

Still drying, but the walls are coming along nicely:




Then all together:

I came across Pink DAP, which is spackle in a tube, the other day. It comes out pink and dries white, and is marvelous. The tube keeps it from drying out, and the color change lets you know when to paint.

Anyways, the barracks and the commanders office/store room:

They look fantastic. Lots of interesting products about these days. Good find.

Some of my inspiration:


Also here:

https://followinghadrian.com/2013/05/20/exploring-the-limes-germanicus-images-from-romes-germanic-frontier-part-one/

Once I get the stable's base finished up I'll post some up to date wip photos of the buildings.


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Last WIP shots until the end:

Seriously excellent. Love this, Really impressive bud.

Reminds me of a ruined French fort about an hour from us. Looks great

Thanks guys! I also manage to finish up 2 more points of Geats/Saxons this weekend.

Some Warriors:



Some Hearthguard:



I think I mentioned this elsewhere, but if not...

I've given most of them a fairly uniform hair coloring. Not because everyone was a platinum blonde, but for two other reasons. The first is that it was common to control lice and similar critters. They would have used lye which would kill off said insects/pests to enable more comfortable living. The second is this sort of thing can also be a fashion statement.

I've spent a fair bit of time in India, and it isn't uncommon to see folks with their hair dyed red or a reddish-orange. It isn't so common among the upper class, but in every days folks on the street I saw it. We know the Romans used to dye their hair various colors, so I've gone with various blondes in a similar fashion among my Geats/Saxons. My Hearthguard I plan to have a bit more natural variety (while still also having some lye washed hair), but among the most common soldiers this is something that I can see being done to achieve a certain look, while also enabling better health.

Hold the Limes! – Saga Battle Report
Forces
Roman
1 Warlord
1 Centurion (Warlord with -2 att)
2 Mounted Hearthguard
2 Foot Warriors
1 Levy with Manuballista
Saxon
1 Warlord
1 War Banner
2 Foot Hearthguard
4 Foot Warriors
1 Levy with Bows
Special Rules
Javelins
• All Roman units in the fort may use javelins at a range of M+S (10”) until they have engaged in melee, at which point they can no longer use javelins
• All Saxon units have a once per game use of javelins at normal range
Ladders • All Saxon Warriors and Hearthguard have 1x ladder per unit
• A unit may place its ladder at the end of a movement which touches the palisade
• A unit may make a ‘charge’ up the ladder with a single model per ladder within 2” of the central ladder. Up to two defending models may attack the model climbing the ladder and vice versa. If the climbing model wins, move the next model in the unit up and repeat. If the climbing model loses, move it back down the ladder and the combat is over. If the combat is a tie, fight again until either the defender or the attacker wins
Bows • Any unit in the Limes Tower may use bows out to a range of L+L (24”)
• Units within S (4”) of the exterior of the palisade or gate cannot be targeted.
Deployment
Saxons • Saxons may deploy anywhere behind or even with the tree line, either side of the river
Romans • Romans deploy the Centurion, both Warrior units, and the Levy in the fort
• The Roman Warlord and both Hearthguard deploy on turn 6 on the path, up to L (12”) from the edge of the board
Victory Conditions
Total Saxon Victory 3 Invasion! – Saxons eliminate the defenders in the fort and kill the incoming Warlord
Major Saxon Victory 2 Raid! – Saxons eliminate the defenders in the fort and either their Warlord or Banner Survive
Minor Saxon Victory 1 Pillage! – Saxons eliminate the reinforcements but fail to take the fort. Both Warlord and Banner survive
Draw 0 Blurred Limes! – Both Romans and Saxons achieve an equal victory level
Minor Roman Victory 1 Orderly Fallback – Romans capture the bridge over the river and eliminate the enemy Warlord or Banner
Major Roman Victory 2 Unbroken Limes! – Romans retain control of the fort and eliminate the Warlord or Banner
Total Roman Victory 3 Romans retain control of the fort, Roman Warlord survives, Romans control the bridge and eliminate either the Saxon Warlord or Banner
Total up the Saxon Victory Points and subtract the Roman Victory Points to determine the final result.

 
A Small, Bloody Affair

Of the six of us, only 3 were available, and as I had just finished up a dark age fort we broke it out, my Late Romans, and my newly finished Saxons (with a few loner units from my Anglo-Danes/Vikings). Saga is a great game to play with small to medium numbers of people or when you aren’t after something really big. By and large we played version 1, even though v2 is out. I’m not sure about a lot of the new changes, and the original version plays very well.

The board has a river which cuts down the east side with a single bridge across it, for tonight I did not setup the small ford down stream, so there was only one crossing point. The south side of the board had woods, and a path entered from the North on both the East and West side from which the Roman reinforcements would come one. The fort and tower sat on the West side, about 10-12” from the tree line. The Romans deployed first, Manuballista above the gate with the Centurion, the warrior units spread along the East and West wall, and the remaining levy in the tower to provide archery support.

The Saxons had one warrior and one hearthguard unit across the river, with the rest strung along the tree line before the fort. They won initiative and came out of the woods still fired up from the previous nights mead and promises of a poorly defend fort filling their heads.



The Romans attempted some desultory fire with a few initial casualties from the Manuballista and the bow armed levy. Not a lot, but 3 Saxons were down as the swarm approach the defenders. If they could manage to whittle them down over the next turn or two, maybe the Romans might stand a chance against a sea of ladders.

Alas that wasn’t to be, over the next several turns the Roman missile fire dried up quite drastically, while the Saxon Levy slowly started trying to find Romans silly enough to poke their heads out. Shockingly, the first Saxons to close in and hurl javelins managed to fell several defenders. By this point neither side was using many abilities, being content to move forces and fling pointy sticks at each other, with the Saxons giving about as good as they were getting.



The Saxons elected to try an overwhelm the defenders and deployed most of their ladders on the SE corner of the fort. The Romans would get one last round of javelins off before the barbarians started shoving swords in their faces. Alas, it wasn’t much help, and by now the Manuballista could only fire ineffectively at the Saxon levy as the rest of the Saxons were out of arc or to close to aim at.

The initial Saxon attempt caught the Romans a bit off guard, as they were a little to strung out, enabling a Saxon to get onto the wall, and kill off several defenders in the process. Still, all hope wasn’t lost as the defenders manage to whittle off a couple figures before the rest of the ladders hit home and the Saxon bull rush wiped out the east flank. By turn 4 and 5 it was looking very grim for the Romans. The East wall was over run, with the West wall having to slide along to try and plug the gap. The Saxon levy were managing to land hits on the Ballista crew, and the tower levy could only manage a few shots at the one or two expose Saxon units.



Two Saxon units made it relatively unopposed over the wall, and at this point the Roman player was starting to see the wisdom in battleboard abilities as Scuta helped the remaining Roman warriors plug at least some of the gap while the ballista was finally killed under a black cloud of Saxon arrows.

We weren’t sure the Roman could hold out much longer when the cavalry showed up. They made a mad dash across the bridge and slammed into the Saxon Warlord with several abilities primed to help them. Then, it seemed Woden was with their foes as all four hearthguard were cut down for what seemed far to few Saxon bodies. The Roman Warlord was forced to flee while more Saxons poured up the wall, dropping into the courtyard in preparation to storm the tower.

The centurion, in true Roman fashion, grimaced and prepared to sell his men dearly in an effort to plug the remaining ladders. While the other mounted hearthguard changed directions and swung around behind the fort to link up with the Roman warlord.

A mostly untouched Saxon unit stormed up the tower, killing the levy with only minimal losses. Still, the plucky centurion and his squad where fighting hard and nothing the Saxons could do would dislodge them. At this point the Roman warlord slammed back into the Saxon warlord for try number two, and this time was successful, killing off a host of warriors and the warlord himself. It cost the Romans, losing all but one hearthguard and their warlord, but it was a badly needed safety valve release that let the centurion and crew head up the tower.



In a turn of events they killed off the Saxons who had just stormed it, while the Saxon levy killed off the last Roman hearthguard. Still, the warlord maneuvered to try and kill the banner before having to retreat to the bridge to hold out to the end.

It was a surprising turn of events that saw a 3 man unit of Roman warriors and their Centurion hold the fort in the end. Only 3 Saxon warriors were left, and the levy out of position to save the day in turn 10. It was very close in the last few turns. The Saxons definitely had the bodies, and a lot of success in killing foes. However, the Romans just refused to capitulate and ended the game with a total victory. Full possession of the fort, control of the bridge, and killed the enemy warlord with their own still breathing. It is perhaps a hollow victory, there are always more Saxons waiting to pour over the Limes, and heavy losses in Roman manpower could not be borne as easily.

In retrospect, the Saxons were perhaps a little too cautious with the banner. Had it been closer, it could have been drawing down fatigue and the Saxons would have gotten a lot more bodies over the wall. It would have put it in danger of Roman missile fire, but we felt could have been the deciding factor in what was very nearly a Total Saxon Victory.

Good to see you're still producing a wide variety of interesting stuff

Great job on Radiatior Springs. The fortlet-cum-fort is very nice.

Thanks, I will try to get some photos of my completed Geats/Saxons this week.

Most of these are up in the voting thread, but I'm posting them here as final shots of the fort:







I really like the Tuscan Red, it gives a very nice earthy red for a tiled roof.





Lastly are four assault ladders that I was talked into making after I was supposedly done. Sigh, no sooner were they done than the group was telling me I needed a battering ram... Maybe someday, at which point I wouldn't mind taking a stab at an onager/catapult. However, that is for another day.



Putting the ropes on was far more tedious that I had thought it would be, but it looks nice in the end.


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Currently, I'm trying to decide how to build some movement trays for Hail Caesar, and have converted up some Norman crossbow and unarmored cavalry. For the Cav I used Conquest Games heads and the Gripping Beast plastic Dark Age Cavalry. The heads are a little big, but once I added the putty coif/hood it wasn't noticeable. A true rivet counter will notice the lack of spurs, but this was a cheap way to get some unarmored Norman cav put together. Given how few people make them, and how expensive the metal varieties are, it was a worthwhile trade off.

Depending on how they paint up, I may make a second unit of them, giving me a full 9 points of Normans for Saga, or well on my way to a Hail Caesar! army if I so choose.

I'd love to see some WIP of those Norman horsemen you're making. I can't offer any advice on movement trays, sorry.

My Geats/Saxons are finally done:







With the last warrior unit, with shield designs borrowing some German municipal flag themes (from towns near where I lived in the 80s). The single based warlord has the rampant black horse and yellow field of Stuttgart.









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Normans based and primed:






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I'm not sure if any of you have tried Spectre Miniatures, but they make some lovely modern warfare minis.

https://www.spectreminiatures.com/

I picked a few up to do something different. These aren't intended for a game, just for fun (using the Legion crest from the Galaxy's Edge book series)

I've made movement trays from plasticard and bassword before, both worked well but the basswood does have a tendency to warp if painting after built, would recommend painting and allowing to dry completely before adding supports etc. I can post some pics if that would be helpful.

That would be very helpful. I started out with some basswood, reinforced down the sides with balsa wood. The I laid down some flexible steel sheeting as I plan to magnetize the individual figures to hold them steady during play.

I can't help but feel I am over engineering this.







I've thought about trying these guys, but I'm not sure if they are still around or how good their trays are:

http://shogunminiatures.com/

I have some metal bases that I use for Warmaster, but I'm not sure I'd want them for a movement tray. The edges aren't exactly rounded to make handling easier.

Those Saxons look great. I really like the variety of shield patterns. Are the shields all hand painted, or decals?

All hand painted.

Wow!

Mmm...bottled a batch of cider today and finished painting a cider orchard for my Normans. I really do miss English Cider. We do actually have a good cidery here in town, but they are a bit spendy (Mountain West Hard Cider). They do mostly English style ciders (i.e. dry) vs the American syrup most American's call cider.

Not my first batch, but the first batch I've made in months and it tastes good... Hopefully the apple tree we planted will yield enough to eat and mix with store bought apples to press my own in a few years time (I've pressed two batches before, but to have my own apples in the mix will be nice).







I wonder if I can find a small basket or two to put in the corner of it. Still, not bad for something I knocked up in a week.

I also made some decent progress on my Norman's as well. I need to figure out what I want to do for shields. I am trying to decide if I want to put some more Lacock shields on them, or go with the red/white favored by a group of reenactors (sic) we used to run into at various English Heritage events


or


At some level, painting them after a reenactment group has a certain humor to it.

Orchard looks great, it looks like it took longer to make than it did. Were the baskets that were used to collect apples back then of a different style than the wooden ones used today?

Also I thought I commented on it before, but don't see it so maybe I forgot. That last battle report of a game of Saga was really nice. The set up looked beautiful on the table.

Thanks very much Syro. The guys playing had fun, and have requested a second try at it.

I decided in the end to give the pueri 'historical' shields, and have started working on them:



Top to bottom, left to right: Despenser (from Tewkesbury Abbey), Baynard (Lacock Abbey), de Percy (Alnwick, which we visited in 2009), de Hautville (the same family who conquered much of Italy, I am not happy with the check pattern, so I will have to redo it, apparently very prolific, it made sense to have a son who never amounted to anything show up in England), Crume (my mother's maiden name and family), de La Zouch (of Ivanhoe fame, there is actually a de La Zouch castle, although we never made it there), Fitzherbert (Lechlade, a pretty little Cotswold town on a river. We would occasionally go up there for lunch and feed the ducks), and lastly de Clare (a family involved in the Welsh marches, it also needs some touch up).

I'll do the red/white pattern on some foot soldiers at some point. That feels even more appropriate.

I love the amount of research that you've done to know all these family names behind the shields. You cranked these horsemen out fast, too.

I finished up my Norman unarmored cavalry (pueri). Well, I need to paint a banner, but have not decided what I want to do yet. I have enough to do a second eight man unit, but have lots of other stuff to jump on first. I also picked up some unit trays from Shogun miniatures, so I will put some magnets in their bases and be sitting pretty on that account.











Next up will be either Vikings or some 10mm Landsknechts.

Those Cavalry figs look fantastic, horses are my bane

My wife, kids, and parents went to Germany in June (been back about a week and a half now). As a kid my Dad was stationed at Patch Barracks, and since I'm turning 40 this year we decided to go back to Germany and show the kids around where I played as a kid (my daughter is 8, which is what I was when we first moved across the pond in 1986). We spent 13 days, starting in Stuttgart and making a ring (Stuttgart to Rothemburg ob d Tauber to Ulm to Lindau to Friburg to Heidelburg and back to Stuttgart). Lots of fun hitting both new and old places. The kids loved the Marchen Gardens in Ludwigsburg and all of the castles (ruins and not). One that was cool was Hohentwiel, which I'd never been to. It's a massive ruin up a steep hill (I pitty the poor souls who tried to assault it, it would have been murder in the rain or snow).

http://www.festungsruine-hohentwiel.de/en/home/

Plus, I got to drink the beer and wine this time around. Alpirsbach Dunkel Weizen may be my favorite beer now, usurping Weihenstephaner and Erdinger. Perfect banana and clove mixture in a dunkel weizen. Its got me wanting to finish up a Landsknechts army to use in our annual New Years tourney. I started a few units a while ago, but it has languished for quite a while. I'm basing the units on cities/towns I've been to, predominantly in Baden-Wurtemburg:

Army as it stands:



Rothemburg ober der Tauber pike:



Heidelburg Halbardiers with some Stuttgart Dopplesoldaten (zweihanders/two handers) in the background:



Kingdom of Wurttemburg commander:



Kingdom of Bavaria commander and the start of pike from Boblingen in the front, start of Schiltach pike (where we stopped on night and had a lovely dinner on the river bank) in the middle, and Esslingen pike (start) in the rear):



I'll say it now, 10mm is not fast. Even simplifying the Landsknechts and unifying their color scheme, it is slow going. It you do ever start playing in 10mm, I hope you have patience.

What a cool idea that you're making units from the places you visited. It sounds like a cool trip, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Keep up the good work on all these guys.

Happy 4th if July all!

Had a great day starting with our local parade, swimming, grilling brats, and finally setting off fireworks ourselves. I have never done that myself, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved these little paratrooper mortar tubes which shot little plastic army men into the sky. I will definitely do those again.

Happy 4th right back at you.

Also saw a great parade which honored our US WWII vets including 3 survivors from the battle of the bulge. A huge convoy of US WWII vehicles including ammunition carriers and howitzer . It was pretty great.