Ancient British

This army is built to be Ancient British, but it can also serve as Sedentary Gallic where the Gauls go Light Foot rather than the fierce Warriors of their predecessors.

Shield patterns are mostly hand painted, but in some cases I steal bits and parts from Veni Vidi Vici water-slide transfers to get some detailing.

Figures are a wild mix of Corvus Belli, Old Glory, Pass of the North, and some miscellaneous spiced meat (no idea). Not a lot of Essex in this one.

Battle Taxis Forward!

In Triumph the chariots of the Ancient British are not rated as Chariots -- that class is for the elite bow-armed chariots of the Fertile Crescent and China. The fighting technique attested for the British Isles (all the way to Cuchulain and the Irish and Picts a thousand years later) is vehicles where heroic well-armed fighters would zoom up, jump off their vehicles, fight a bit, and then the vehicles would zoom up and pick them up when they were pressed (or had impressed enough people, for purposes of the sagas). Which are classed as Battle Taxis.

Brassiere Head!

All fear the mighty Ancient British General, Brassiere Head! He learned his craft at the feet of the 1980s music videos of Madonna, and wears a helmet crafted to the pattern of her brassiere.

He's styling a checky cloak and striped tunic. Painting checks on swirly fabrics is a nightmare, I tell you what.

The chariot is Corvus Belli; I'm not sure who makes the figure with the distinctive helmet. Maybe even Essex.

Rabble

Unarmored youths with javelins and guys with slings and stuff. Not the best troops. But I really like the styling checked paints of the kid on the far right.

Bad Horse

The Ancient British were not widely known for the combat skills of their guys riding horses. But they look nice. All shields hand-painted here. Two of these figures are Essex (left side of the rear stand), one Museum (I think - right side of the rear stand), and three Corvus Belli (front stand).

Rear View Showing Tartans

Here's an example of what the pants and/or tunics of this army look like, when it gets as bad as it could. The checky patterns of the tunic in the center and the pants on the right are typical -- four colors. The pseudo-tartan of the tunic on the right is another common representation. True tartans are an 18th or even 19th century invention (standardized patterns, I mean), but that sort of woven fabric had existed forever, and is attested for the Gauls and Ancient British (this stand is Ancient Brit, as it turns out, but the painting scheme is the same for the Gauls).

Hilltop Village

There are lots of examples of fortified hilltop enclosures and villages in pre-Roman Britain. This is some 6mm huts and Celtic roundhouses in such a hillfort, used for an Ancient British camp.

Simple Primer for Checky Patterns

Two things are going on with the figure on the left. His shield is white and red checks. The base color of the left side is white. A waterslide transfer by Veni Vidi Vici (VVV) provides most of the red checks. The transfer doesn't go far enough, and isn't perfectly shaped, so when dry it is supplemented by a combination of fine pen work and red paint. The same work will probably happen on the black base of the right side.

The cloak is more complex. Base coat is white. Even green stripes are painted over that vertically. The folds in the cloth make it look a little odd in this image, but that's step 2. Then horizontal stripes are painted over that in dull yellow. Now the cloak is alternating horizontal lines, first yellow, then white and green checks (squares) and so on repeating. Now paint and/or fine pens are used to paint little brown squares on the yellow. This is finicky and difficult -- the previous steps are pretty easy, but not this one.

In essence the three steps allow the creation of a four-color checky pattern where really only the last color of checks is actually painted on as checks. Big saving in time and appearance.

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