The Ultimate Historical Gaming Thread

Roughly confident. but you are right.

Lets see where we go with this.

 

The Gripping Beast Cataphracts have arrived:

 

Very nice models, also a good paint job.
I love the completely armored horses.

How do these compare to MESBG Kataphracts in size?

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Hmm, good question...

*A bit of Google-Fu later*

Here's one of the Cataphract horses alongside a Wargames Factory Samurai Cavalryman, a Perry Wars of the Roses Knight and a Middle-Earth Morgul Knight:


The horse is pretty much the same size as a Morgul Knight steed, so should work fine as a mount for a GW Easterling.

 

Thank you for posting this. Size comparison pics like this are incredibly useful.

 

A bit more intelligence on the Gripping Beast plastic releases coming next year:


Most interesting - they plan to continue their new Parthian theme with a set of Horse Archers to accompany the Cataphracts released recently, but before they do so they're planning three other sets to arrive before them!

The question is, then, will these also tie into the Parthian/Sassanid theme they've got going over this Autumn/Winter season, or will they be for a different faction, perhaps one from the same era? The Parthian Dynasty existed from around 200BC to 200AD before being replaced with the Sassanid Dynasty, so it looks like Gripping Beast have started a shift toward pre-Dark Ages Ancients with these new plastics. They certainly confirm that these other boxes will be a 'brand new block', so it looks like they are making some brand new moulds for something they haven't made before:


It'll be most interesting to see what else they have up their sleeves!

 

The Aztec back banners set from atlantic digital works nicely.

 

My 9th age gift exchange present showed up.

Suffice to say the emperor has sent a representative magister militum, accompanied by a detachment of Comitatenses palatina and cataphractii to assist my Comitatenses legio.

 

You lucky devil, someone must have been a big fan of your Late Roman project!

 

After looking up the Gripping Beast Late Roman Cataphract sprue to discuss it with @Lord-Marcus in another thread, I found a Wargames Illustrated news article from 2019 talking about the release of the corresponding Cataphract cavalry made by the same company for the Goths:
https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/28mm-ostrogoth-heavy-cavalry-and-norman-foot/

Interestingly enough, as well as discussing said Goth Elite Cavalry, Gripping Beast at that time had been kind enough to leak Wargames Illustrated a test sprue for Norman Infantry:


Curiously these chaps were evidently pushed quietly into the background for a while, as Gripping Beast released the Late Roman Cataphracts in 2020, their Dark Age Irish in 2021 and the Dark Age Welsh, Picts and Parthian Cataphracts in 2022, all without a peep about these chaps.

Therefore, I'm wondering if the three sets they mention that should arrive in Feburary/March time this year, mentioned in my quoted post above, are going to be these delayed Norman Infantry, alongside Norman Knights and Norman Archers? I have a hearty respect for Gripping Beast for making Dark Ages their forte, and Normans are certainly a big Dark Ages faction they haven't yet attended to. Maybe they delayed these Norman Infantry until a time when they had come up with suitable Knights and Archers sets as well.

"But what about Conquest Games?", you say, "They make some fine Norman models, any Gripping Beast plastic Normans would be a waste of their time!"

















Personally I would disagree, principally because the Conquest models seem to be of the 'Heroic 28mm' scale companies like Victrix (who also have started making Normans) have done, which is great if you like that scale for your historical models, but personally I prefer the 'True 28mm' scale of Gripping Beast and Warlord, as an additional way to separate these from my Warhammer collection, so it would be great if Gripping Beast made some to fill that niche. Not to mention that variety is the spice of life.

Thus I'll be very interested to see what the sprues for these Normans look like when they finally arrive. I would say don't worry if you think the weapons on the sprue I showed above look too much like something out of Wargames Factory's book, the fact that it was a test sprue and that these have been in development limbo for the past 3 years suggests Gripping Beast Towers must have decided to give them a rework. Certainly the weapons on all their other figures so far look suitably solid and not like toys, so I'd be very surprised if these upcoming Normans turned out to be very different in that respect.

I personally am mainly looking forward to seeing if they make a Norman Archers set that has a lot more poseability options than their existing Dark Ages Archers set, which is fine for mass battles where you'd want Archers to be raising their bows to fire as one, but not for skirmish where you'd want them to be more dynamic. Currently the Wargames Atlantic Goths are the candidates with biggest potential for making Helwyr and Saethwyr for my British/Welsh, but if my prediction turns out to be true and a set of Gripping Beast Norman Archers comes out with a suitable level of dynamism, then the latter might just end up being my choice.

 

All I need is an accessory sprue and Wargames Atlantics goths can be Saxon Fyrd

 

I would have thought they are fine as Saxon Fyrd as they are? Except perhaps with some larger shields, the one flaw with the WA Goths is that their shields are a bit puny.

 

Swap with the Irish.

I guess you could run them as Fyrd. Id prefer different helmet options though.

It's a very versatile kit

 

Good call, they've got Dark Ages shields of a bigger and more suitable size.

Sounds like all you'd need are some Gripping Beast Saxon Thegn heads, which I'm sure you must have in quantities given I know you have at least one of that box.

 

Just updated my blog. These guys may get some paint tonight.


Although I've just realized I primed them tan instead of black. Ah well, just another step to basecoat

 

Interesting that you've put some of the riders on unbarded horses when you could have just got the Late Roman Heavy Cavalry box to have even more cavalry, unless you're painting them separate from their barded mounts and are using some WA horses as placeholders?

EDIT: I see you've answered that question for me in your Painting Blog:

 

Indeed.

 

Has warlord games come out with new rule book for hail ceasar?

 

Indeed they have:


I don't know the full specification of differences between the first and second editions, but according to reviews Warlord have definitely pushed the boat out with the illustrations and so on. It definitely looks a good read, and I deliberately missed out on getting the First Edition book because I knew the Second Edition was coming.