I've been meaning to come back to this project log for a while - my Celtic army is so very close to being completed! I was waiting for ages to order the recent
Linear-A Celtic set before I began my next unit but my favoured distributor didn't stock them for months after their release date - agony! So I was forced to wait until they got an order in. The miniatures arrived very quickly and I'm happy to report that the sculpts are excellent! I haven't seen any other painted examples online, so if you're waiting to see how they look like, I've got a sample below, arrayed with figures from other manufacturers.
My final unit of skirmisher javelin warriors is now waiting for
Germania-Figuren's new Celtic command set to be released. So again, there might be a while until the next and final unit update for this army!
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1/72 Ancient British Celtic Army
The
Gweltijo-lāto (Wild warriors – Ancient Brittonic) are fierce ambushers and cunning guerrillas; woad-clad and howling like otherwordly visitations of vengeance. From the forests they strike, hard and fast, like lightning from a clear sky, only to fade just as easily when eyes turn their way. The
Gweltijo-lāto are slingers with a talent for subterfuge and deception. Not for them the frontal charge of massed shieldwalls and bloodrage, but the predatory patience of the hunt, which, while less theatrical, is where the real killing begins. And without exception, all of the
Gweltijo-lāto are expert hunters. They scorn the
Lummo-Woret as young amateurs, skittish as deer, a distraction at best and dangerously incompetent at worst.
The
Gweltijo-lāto serve as scouts for the Iceni, taking note of enemy movements from concealed positions, probing for weak points, watchful for attacks from unexpected quarters. Without the speed and dash of cavalry, their approach is quieter and more methodical. With the patience of hunters, the
Gweltijo-lāto do not lose themselves to blind fury or the possession of battle lust but weigh the balance of battle carefully before committing their strength, but then fight with all the ardour the celts are known for. They feint, retreat, harry their foes, always on the outskirts with their slings and swords, dashing to prepared ambush positions for their next round of attacks. Named as the 'wild warriors,' their title was earned from their fierce independence from king Toirdelbach's command, being nearly uncontrollable and 'wild' in their isolationist tendencies. They are given this freedom to operate simply because of their effectiveness, so their unit name is a great honourific; a mark of the tribe's confidence in their capabilities and trust in their good judgement in battle.
The
Gweltijo-lāto adorn themselves in woad en-masse. They have embraced the noble tradition of their ancestors, with many warriors also spiking their hair with lime, fighting naked and making trophies of enemy heads. Their leader, Cunobelinus, is a dour, pious warrior and a staunch traditionalist. Even before his family was cut down by plagues, he seemed unhappy, always on the verge of anger and his murderous temper has only become worse as the Romans have closed in. Cunobelinus fights to maintain the Iceni way of life and to venerate the gods but he seems to do these things only out of practice, with no more passion for them than anything else. Regardless of his bitterness, he has proven himself a staunch fighter; calm in calamity, murderous with a blade and his warriors trust his instincts that have seen them victorious time and time again.
(As part of my effort to make each unit distinctive, the
Gweltijo-lāto are my second unit of skirmishers. My skirmisher units are arrayed on diorama bases, perched on cliffsides or high hills to imply their light-footedness. The height of this slinger unit allows the base to tell a story; in this case, the slingers are hurling rocks from above while the warriors in the first rank are charging into close quarters.
The recent Celtic set from
Linear-A: Hannibal Crosses the Alps Set 5 "CELTIC SALASSI / TAURINI TRIBE VS. CARTHAGINIANS” has many evocative, characterful poses of Celts levering or pushing boulders upon enemies below. When I saw the masters of this set I knew I wanted to use these for my 'slingers.' The strength of the Basic Impetus basing system is there are many models on one base, allowing a scene to be set, and grouping these boulder-pushing models with slinger models allows people to see they're part of a slinger unit at first glance.
The first rank of charging warriors uses two dynamic poses from the
Linear-A set, which are full of movement, seeming to charge and pounce. The warleader is posed to urge his warriors on, while the single head-taker is brandishing his trophy. I refrained from painting blood on his axe; I want this army to not seem so vicious, their traditions may be barbaric, but I want a nobility and richness in their culture rather than a grim cruelty. The left most
Linear-A figure has had a very watered down blue (almost made into a wash) applied as woad warpaint, and this is my attempt at a new way of painting Woad, almost like a very light smearing across the body, as inspired by the Iceni units in
Rome Total War 2 promotional art.
In keeping with the themes of the army, there are plaids, bare flesh, woad and disorganisation. The severed head plays into the sub-theme of Celtic head taking. As the skirmishers are some of the least prestigious in the army, the plaids are minimal, and decorations for the warriors are mostly stripes instead. Cunobelinus does not wear chainmail either, in keeping with the other skirmisher leaders. The Revell model has wings on the helmet; a classic Celtic theme. Relieved I didn't have to sculpt these, I've painted them white to keep them simple; which is different from all the other winged helmets in the army. I added a greenstuff sash to him as I've seen recent depictions of Celts with sashes and I couldn't be bothered further modifying my Celtic king. As such, Cunobelinus has three pieces of separate plaid items on him; shirt, pants and sash. It was a lot of painting work. I also gave him a greenstuff sling for visual consistency with the other slingers.
I wanted to distinguish the Celts from the Romans by having lighter skinned warriors, so I've tried some lighter skin colours. My current skin recipes are:
Flesh painting techniques:Tanned flesh, dwarf flesh, elf flesh
Barbarian flesh, devlan mud, barbarian flesh, barbarian flesh/skull white
Tallarn Flesh, elf flesh, bleached bone
Cadian fleshtone, kislev flesh
Ratskin flesh, barbarian flesh, barbarian flesh / skull white
Pale: Rakarth Flesh, Elf Flesh, Bleached bone
I like using a variety of different models from different manufacturers for figure variety; every single one of my models are unique in this army. With models from
Airfix,
Linear-A,
Italeri,
Revell and
Caesar Miniatures, I have a range of differently shaped and posed men, which emphasises the individuality of the Celts which is a hallmark of this army.
One of the elements of my Celtic army is inconsistency; they are a tribal confederation, not a formal, uniform organisation. I don't have a single unit where a theme applies to every figure. The
Gweltijo-lāto have the most spiked, limed hair figures, the most blonde figures and the most woad-painted figures but these themes are not across every single member of the unit. All of my skirmisher units will have naked figures, but this one only has a single one, the least of all the skirmisher units.
The base was made in a similar fashion to the last unit, with foam staked on top of each other to form a cliff face, then sand applied, then flock, shrubs and flowers.)
(Unit 10 of 11 - Ancient British army - Basic Impetus)
The different colours make them very fun to paint, unlike the Indians I'm doing now, where I have to find variations through skin colour rather than clothing. I'm not quite done with my Ancient Britons, still waiting for Linear-A to release their new Celtic set but I placed an order for some resin Celts from Russia so hopefully I'll continue the updates later this year.
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I am very proud of some of the plaids, such as on my eagle-helmed king, my Queen's dress and on the pants on one of my cavalry leaders, but they were so time intensive! It really was a matter of patience, thin brushes and a matter of fixing mistakes, which are so easy when accuracy is needed on such a scale, but the end result is so rewarding, as you can see!