Monday 12 October 2020

Dux Bellorum 10 Pictish mounted skirmishers

 So here we have three mounted Pictish skirmishers for Dux Bellorum, forming a unit. They're made up of the wargames factory Celtic cavalry box and I can safely say that they are the worst multi part plastic set I've assembled so far. I've swapped out the heads and arms for Perry and gripping beast plastics from the Ansar and dark age warriors respectively.  

The horses are particularly weird, especially the heads, I've got a  couple more units and I need to sabot base them at some point, they work alright as highland ponies I guess? 

The detail on the human heads as supplied is also really soft,I've kept them in the bits box, so maybe I'll find some sort of use for them!






That's it for now,next up more Pictish cavalry of one kind or another or maybe some basing, I'm spending lots of time prepping figures at the moment. 

All the best Iain 

51 comments:

  1. Your conversion work seems to have done the trick Iain, they look fine to me!

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    1. Thanks Keith! I'm glad I've got away with it, there are six more in the jostling to be finished !
      Best Iain

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    2. Thanks Jonathan! They will do!
      Best Iain

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  2. Excellent work Iain, not knowing the models I wouldn't have known they were conversions, which is always a good sign of a great conversion. The colour choices are great as well with lovely muted tones

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    1. Thanks Dave! Changing the heads is a massive improvement and the Perry arms are good too.
      Best Iain

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  3. They've come up well Iain! Some of the Wargames Factory ranges weren't too bad...

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    1. Thanks Cyrus! They're the only ones I've tried, I'm glad some of them are alright!
      Best Iain

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  4. The javelins in the case look marvellous and very natural, is that an official sculpted part of the figure or have you modelled them yourself?

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    1. The javelins in cases are part of the kit and I agree that they're actually pretty good!
      Best Iain

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  5. Not bad And you made the most of them, but I have a unit of the same figures and they are really poor....there is no getting away from the fact that the horses heads are sculpted really badly. Mine I like to think of as Celtic pony’s, ugly but they fight well !

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    1. Thanks Matt,yes the horses heads are probably the worst bits, I couldn't swap in any of my spare Perry horse heads as they're so much bigger, still good enough!
      Best Iain

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  6. Nice conversions, Iain. I never picked up any Wargames Factory stuff so will take your word on these. Nicely done in any case.

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    1. Thanks Dean! Cyrus reckons that some aren't too bad, I guess with victrix,gripping beast and Perry the bar is set higher than these sets achieve.
      Best Iain

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  7. You have really drawn out the character with these fellas Iain.
    Multi-part kits, grrrr!!!
    Regards, James

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    1. Thanks James! I actually like assembling multi-part kits,well most of the time!
      Best Iain

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  8. Well done, love the javelins...

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  9. You have done these really well Iain. I like to do the faces first and find it 'invests' me in the figure, which does not happen if there is a lack of facial detail.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! The faces are Perry/Gripping beast, which means you get away with the body!
      Best Iain

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  10. I’ve never heard anyone say anything positive about WF figures. I think these look nice though so the conversions must of improved the appearance. But not to worry, they’re all just fancy game tokens anyway. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew! The warlord AWI figures are WF originally, just so you know, interesting philosophical point you raise!
      Best Iain

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    2. Oh I’m aware of that. It’s why I haven’t bought them. 😀

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    3. Fair enough! The Perry plastic ones look pretty good though?
      Best Iain

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  11. Despite all troubles, they came out very well! Splendid work Iain.

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  12. Soft details are not, the finished articles look the part and the 'joy' of muli#tipart plastics does have its uses.
    (A three man unit though?)

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    1. Thanks Joe! 3 man unit, I've got to base all the cavalry on 120mm wide sabot bases,as these are skirmishers I want to differentiate between them and normal cavalry which is 5 strong
      Best Iain

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  13. They have scrubbed up rather well Iain...
    I have to admit that I get rather impatient sticking plastics together... I manage three or four before I am reaching for the undercoat... or a hammer 😂

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! Under the right conditions I find it therapeutic, but not always!
      Best Iain

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  14. Well they turned out very nicely Iain, some nice conversion touches there. The horses heads do look rather short and broad, don't think I'd put money on them at the bookies!

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    1. Thanks Lee! No I wouldn't put any money on them, that's for sure!
      Best Iain

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  15. Had you not said anything, I wouldn't have had a second thought about any flaws in these figures, Iain. I also like the Javelin cases!

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    1. Thanks Peter! Yes the javelin cases are quite nice aren't they?
      Best Iain

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  16. I don't know about WF plastics, but I have a lot of metal WF figures from the late 1980's that are very nice, horses too. Celts, Iberians, Carthaginians, Numidians and a few Republican Romans.
    Nice conversions Iain. I like the javelin cases as well. One of them looks a bit like Vin Diesel 😋

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    1. Wargames Foundry are a Nottingham based firm, producing metal figures since the 1980s, the Perry brothers were their principal sculptors. Wargames Factory was an American firm who's plastic figures were manufactured in China, the figures( some of them)are now marketed by warlord games. Glad you like them and now you've pointed it out he does look a bit like Vin Diesel!
      Best Iain

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  17. I think they look great, the horses work really well as ponies like you say.

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  18. They turned out well. I've messed around with some of the WF Vikings / Saxons, and they remind me of 1/72 plastics as much as anything. Not so much in terms of material, but sculpting style. Detail is a little more shallow, poses a little more stiff. I think you've done well with them here.

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    1. Thanks Markus! I think your spot on ,that they're like 1/72 plastic toy soldiers, they work alright with a bit of TLC!
      Best Iain

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