Anglo Saxon Mounted Huscarls - Tumbling Dice

Set AS10.
8 Bods, 8 shields (4 lenticular, 4 flat round) 4 swords, 3 spears and 2 axes.
Thier mounts are 2 sets (each set has 4 Nags) of  C1066 H2, Destrier / Heavy Horse.
The 8 Nags from both sets have 5 different poses, a similar set up to the nags provided for the Mounted Vikings, so rather than repeat what I wrote there about the possible pose selection, my review can be read HERE.

I was going to give  the bods Lenticular Shields left over from other TD Anglo Saxon sets. My fisrt thought was that using the Kite shields, wether historically correct or not, would, IMHO, make them look way to similar to Norman Cavalry. But then, I thought, they are Late Anglo-Saxons, and Huscarls and also, they could be used as Norman cavalry...so they ended up with Kite shields
Also, they got the same regimented look as the foot Huscarls.
I´ve also swopped the lances for home made ones.

Close ups.
The diferent Nag Poses that come with both sets are numbered.
Number 1 in pic two should be 5

Wether the Vikings used Cavalry in combat is..?..not so provable but Anglo-Saxon Cavalry? Yep, they did have them. See HERE

Anglo Saxon Huscarls with Axes - Tumbling Dice

Set AS1. 8 bods in 7 poses and 8 kite shields.
These are "Late" Anglo Saxon shields,  carried by the great majority of the figures representing the "English" as shown in the Bayeux Tapestry.*
As they are the leaders personal Body Guard and elite soldiers I´ve painted them as a "uniform" bunch.

Close ups

The two on the right are the repeat pose. The axe head is in the original position on the bod on the far right.

Rear view

 *  "Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England"    under the titel "Arms and Armour"(2nd edition available as PDF - pages 69 onwards)
and N.P.Brooks "Weapons and Armour"  in the "Battle of Maldon AD 991"
The only description of the colours of Anglo Saxon shields  is from Beowulf which tells of the shields as being "bright" and "Yellow".
Yellow? Plain wood ? Saxon shields are described in English Poetry as being made of lime wood (yellowish) and a range of shields using different wood types have been found. None though showing signs of being painted.

Usefull pdf on Viking /Saxon / Norman Shields HERE.

Anglo Saxon Select Fyrd - Tumbling Dice

Set AS3.
8 bods and 8 kite shields. Two poses were repeated so didn´t get painted.
This lot are the "rich kids", landowners, freemen so unlike the huscarls they have thier own colours on thier shields.

Close ups
Pose on the far right is one of the repeated poses

 Pose on the far left is one of the repeated poses

As with a lot of the infantry sets from TD, wether the repeat poses are the same in each set isn´t clear. If I had got two sets of the above, it could have shown wether they have the same repeat poses or wether the repeat poses are random.

Anglo Saxon Huscarls with Spears - Tumbling Dice

Set AS2 - Huscarls Spear.
8 Bods in the set, 7 different poses so one pose didn´t get painted. As I´ve noted before, which pose is a repeat in the set you get and wether it is the same repeat pose or the repeated one is  random choice from the other poses,   I can´t say.
Also included are 8 Kite shields.
They got painted up the same uniform colour scheme as the Anglo Saxon Huscarls with Axes set.

Close ups.
The pose second from the right was repeated

Tumbling Dice Vikings - Complete Range

46 foot and 12 mounted bods. If I had painted every Bod from each set it would have brought the numbers up to 48 foot.
Bods from all 8 Viking sets as shown on the Tumbling Dice site HERE:...unfortunately without pics but now they are all here :-)

VK1 - Viking Huscarls with Axes.
Full set review HERE:

VK2 - Bondi Chainmail. 
Full Set Review HERE:

VK3 - Bondi Leather Armour.
Full Set Review HERE:

VK4 - Skirmishers Bow
Full set Review HERE:

VK5 - Skirmishers Hand weapons.
Full set review HERE:

VK9 - Mounted Vikings
Full set Review HERE

VK10 - Viking Command Dismounted
Full set review HERE

VK11 - Viking Command Mounted.
Full set Review HERE:

Total TD Viking army

And now with the other makes, Strelets, Emhar and Zvezda.
118 foot and 14 mounted

Left wing (or right from the commanders point of view)

Centre.

Right wing (or left from the commanders point of view)

I think I might have enough Vikings for now :-)

Viking Bondi (Leather armour) - Tumbling Dice

Set VK3. 8 Bods, 8 shields (4 flat/4 curved), 4 spears (one with a wimpel), 3 swords,  two axes and a bow.
Half the set have what can be considered "leather armour" (Cuir bouilli), the other half, fur jackets.

Leather.
I suppose, if wanted, the armour could be painted black and they could have swords (or sword sheaths) attached to thier backs..ala most protrayals of Vikings in any "historical period" series/film

Fur. Not sure what fur it´s supposed to be or if it´s sheep skin. Does sheep skin count as fur?
No..didn´t think so.
Though, I´m Pretty sure it´s not mink or sable. Wolf?

Viking Bondi Chainmail - Tumbling Dice

Set VK 2.
8 bods with 8 shields (4 lenticular, 4 flat) 2 spears and two swords.
I used a couple of flat shields left over from other TD sets and two from my spares box. I also added an Axe from one of the other TD sets.

Close ups

Viking Skirmishers - Tumbling Dice

Titel on the web site from TD "VK5 Skirmishers  Hand weapons"
8 Bods, 6 shields ,  4 spears, (two of them with pennons), 3 swords, 2 long handled axes, and 1  bow.

Close ups.
Skirmishers? Ok, why not but Most of them wouldn´t look out of place in a shield wall

Viking Archers - Tumbling Dice

Over at TD they are labelled, VK4 Skirmishers Bow.
8 Bods, two of them repeat poses, 8 shields, 4 curved, 4 flat.
I painted the 6 non repeated poses.

Close ups

The two repeat poses are on the far right. As I written before, repeat poses could be any of the poses shown .

I decided not to add shields as they could be used for the other sets.

Airfix 1/76 WWI MKI Male Tank -Take 2

A break from D.A.B´s*...Another go at an Airfix WWI tank.
I´ve built the Male version (Here) and the Female version (Here) before, but this time it´s in honour of a prolific Model builder and long time member of the Airfix Tribute Forum, who sadly left us this year after a long fight with cancer.
I used the colour scheme on the back of the box. I stuck to the pattern as much as I could.

A bit of the build. I didn´t take pics of all stages as, after the base coat had dried,  I got carried away and got the thing finished in two two hour sittings.

Fitting the parts together

Base coat, a mix of ocre, white and a slight drop of mid green.

The brown was plain chocolate brown, the green - mid green with brown added, the black - well, Black 

Tracks painted with a mix of Anthracite/Black and brown. Highlight with a mix of Anthracite and black. 

I glued the tracks straight onto the body using second glue. 

*D.A.B´s = Dark Age Bods

Viking Command Dismounted - Tumbling Dice

Set VK10.
8 Bods, 8 shields (4 Lenticular, 4 flat) 7 different standards.
One of the bods is a repeat from the Viking Huscarls with Axes (VK1)
I added a shield to the same pose in that set,  so in this one he doesn´t get one.
I´ve added an Axe left over from one of the other sets to one of the Standard bearers. He can be the head Bod for the Huscarls with Axes.

The Bod with the winged Helmet. I´ve painted one that same pose in the Viking Comanders post,  but he doesn´t have the winged helmet, he doesn´t have a cloak and his beard is different.
Is there then Variation of  how some of the poses are equiped or is the one in the first post (when I assumed they were TD Bods) an older version? 

Mounted Vikings - Tumbling Dice

Set VK9.
8 bods in 8 different poses.
2 pennons, 2 lances/spears (1with a normal point, 2 with boars heads), 3 axes, 2 swords and 8 shields (4 curved, 4 flat)
And now the difficult or better said, confusing bit.
No nags. Well, not with the Bods, they came seperately. They came with the order and they are numbered as C1066H1 - Pony/Light horse. Each Nag set has 4 nags so to mount the whole crew it needs 2 x C1066H1. Within the total of 8 nags there are 5 different poses so I suppose it depends as to which bag you get as to the pose selection.
Also, are the nags included in the price of the Bods? TBH, I don´t know. The invoice isn´t 100% clear. Best to ask (Per E-Mail) first.

Close ups and the 5 different Nag poses.
The Mounted Viking Command set has the nags included with poses 1 - 4

6 is a repeat of 4
7 is a repeat of 2
8 is a repeat of 1
Which means, Poses 3 and 5 are the variables from both sets