Monday 18 May 2020

Viking Command Mounted - Tumbling Dice

VK11
4 bods in 4 different poses, 4 nags in 4 different poses, 4 shields and 4 different flags/standards.
I used an axe from my collection for one of them and used 2 flat shields from another TD set.*

The winged helmet. Ok, it´s not historically accurate but here it looks spot on. 



*The shields.
It can be seen in the Saxon General Fyrd, that there are two types of shields. Flat and curved. There´s debate as to wether the Anglo Saxons sometimes used slightly curved shields. TBH, I reckon flat shields would be the most common on grounds of ease of construction and flat shields are better for creating shield walls. A curved shield would be slightly more advantageous in close single combat, the opponents weapons would be better deflected due to the curve..so maybe leading/better warriors used them as a supprt to the shield wall (?)
Anyway, the shields come as pairs, one curved and one flat cast on the same sprue. IMHO, it would be better to have a range of castings for the shields;
Pairs of castings with 1x curve and 1x flat  and castings with  only flat. Why? The flat pairs could be used for the Viking sets, the falt/curved for the Angl saxons.

12 comments:

  1. Are you going on to do the Saxons and Normans? TD make some lovely figures but the web-site is terrible having hardly any photos of the figure ranges even though they’ve been around for ages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rob. Click on the Label Tumbling Dice and all the TD that I´ve so far painted are shown..including Normans ;-)

      Delete
  2. Hi Paul! Fantastic as per usual! Did the Viking cav come 4 bods/4 nags, or 8 bods and horse sold separately? I've been on his site and got the impression he sold them 8 per pack and horses 4 per pack. I thought about using some of my spare horses from other manufacturers if they fit. Sorry for the questions, but I was excited to see you post these, as there is a bit of a dearth of info online on these. Thank you so much!
    Anthon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many Thanks Anthon :-)
      No problems with asking.
      This set comes with the 4 nags and riders. I´ve got the Viking cavalry set and that has 8 riders with all the bits but no nags. I got the Nag set C1066H1 twice. Within the total of 8 nags there are 5 different poses so it depends as to which mix per bag you get as to the pose selection.
      The problem is..as there is no info on their site as to wether you get the nags with the 8 riders, also not detailed in the invoice. I bought the ranges without really thinking about it, I assumed it would be each time 4 riders and 4 nags for the price and when I ordered them I just ordered the complete ranges, 8 Viking and 7 saxon range (as shown on thier site and 4 selected Norman sets and definately not any from the nags although two sets of nags are listed on the invoice...and I have 4 sets..2x C1066H1 and 2x C1066 H2.*
      Odd eh? :-)

      * Possibly For the saxon AS10. Mounted Huscarls, which has also 8 bods.

      Delete
    2. PS. I´d also advise adding C1066 AC1 Saxon, Norse Round Shield x24 from the accesories section if you buy a lot of vikings as each set of foot/cav come with the flat and curved round shields..the curved ones are ok for the saxons but it gets to be a bit of a shortage trying to find enough of the classic flat viking shields.
      Examples of the curved shields on the Tumbling Dice - Saxon General Fyrd (AS4)
      https://paulsbods.blogspot.com/2020/04/tumbling-dice-saxon-general-fyrd-as4.html
      Also..some of the saxon sets (Huscarls for example) come only with Kite Shields...not totally historically incorrect (ie; Bayeux Tapestry) but some may want the flat round shields, again..set C1066 AC1 Saxon, Norse Round Shield x24 would help sort this.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I'm going to guess he gave you a choice of pony/destrier for the command packs VK11 & AS20. Your info helps me a great deal, I appreciate you taking that first step on these for me I was a little afraid of dipping my toe in the water, lol! Good advise and reasoning on the shields as well. I've been wanting to make an AS cavalry force as a (possible) scenario for Stamford Bridge in 1/72, and this line seemed perfect, but until you posted, I've only ever seen one painted as a Rohirrim.
      Thanks again for all you do and sharing it! Very inspirational.
      Anthon

      Delete
    4. Note; I´ve looked at the AS cav bods..they come with 8 shields, 4 flat and 4 curved. But as I wrote it´s a good idea to get C1066 AC1 Saxon, Norse Round Shield x24 so you have some choice.

      Delete