AND NOW FOR SOMETHING (A BIT) DIFFERENT: BRETWALDA

 

Bretwalda, from Phalanx Games.

The game is set in Dark Ages Britain, 796 A.D. with up to four players vying to be named Bretwalda, the supreme ruler of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms.

Being about a board game, this will be a bit an "out of the box" post for this blog. However, it is probably no less "hobby adjacent" than my posts blathering on about swords or books, so I'm hoping still within the scope of interest--and it is, after all, a blog with the term "Meanderings" in it. But enough apologia. On to the stuff.  What this won't be is a review or an exploration of game play: I only recently acquired this game, and have yet to get it on the table.  By way of summary, this is a "Dudes on a Map" game (a term of lingo I've now heard among board gamer afficianados), and it is the aesthetic of this game that will be the subject of this post (superficial creature that I am). For those interested in more substantial information, I would direct you to the following link on Board Game Geek .  So...good reviews and subject matter aside, what attracted me to this game was its aesthetic (as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post)....

...the presentation, from end to end, is nothing short of amazing--having period styled playing pieces that would not be out of place on the Lewis Chess set and equally impressive period graphics for everything else. Quite immersive, to say the least. 

Speaking of the playing pieces, splendid period shapes aside, I found the contemporary plastic appearance jarring.  And this brings me to the point of this post. I decided to tart them up a bit. The concept was not to paint them to look like medieval miniature wargame figures, but to make them look like playing pieces carved from bone, ivory, or some other organic material--with some wear and age on them. In other words, to make them look more consistent with the rest of the components. Here is how they came out and how I went about it...

                                             The Four Player-Kingdoms:

                                        Northumbria                                 East Anglia

                                              Mercia                                          Wessex

                                       The Dreaded Danes (aka, Vikings)

                                                   The Neutrals

I was intending to not go beyond washes with a highlight of paint and a bit of drybrushing to render a monotone but textured look. As it was, I was particularly pleased with the how the Neutrals (above), came out with just a wash--looking very much like what I was after: ivory or bone (remember that these began life as stark white plastic).  However...

...no matter how I tweaked them, it was difficult to distinguish between the Neutrals and the yellow Northumbrians (seen side-by-side above).  Originally, the Neutrals did not have the black details.  To get some differentiation, I painted the bases of the Northumbrians yellow, which helped, but not really enough. Then I painted the bosses: black for the Neutrals and a stronger Yellow for the Northumbrians, but that still did not do it.  Distinguishing them side-by-side on a painting table was one thing, but quite another when on a crowded playing board when players are focused on other things. I knew that the differences needed to be more distinct. So I added the black shield edges to the Neutrals.  If they were to be sitting on their own on display, I would certainly have left them as is, but form and function took precedence. As far as the painting process...

...I'm not one for acrylics, but I used them given that these were plastic figures that would not be primed.  I first washed them in soapy water, and after letting them sit and dry, I used Warpaints washes on them: Strong Tone for Mercia (blue), Soft Tone for Northumbria (yellow), Wessex (red), and East Anglia (green), and Sepia Tone for the Neutrals. I then highlighted them with a lighter shade of paint base color, brightening them up. I didn't use any wash on the Danes: just a drybrush of gray. 

I then drybrushed them with gray to bring up details and to give them a bit of age and wear. 

I didn't add any paint to the neutrals other than drybrushing them with white, which on top of the Sepia added to the look of bone or ivory.  

I then finished all the figures with a coat of satin acrylic varnish, not only to seal them but to  gave them a touch of shine. I had experimented with gloss, but that was too much. Satin turned out to be the better option, bringing out details and reinforcing the impression of aged, carved playing pieces (that's my story and I'm sticking with it).  

 

My playing pieces on the game board. 

You can see in this image how something extra was needed to separate the Neutrals (top and bottom) from the Northumbrians (center).  If in practice it turns out that they are still not distinct enough,  I'll probably paint the bases of the Neutrals black. For now, I'll hold off and see how this combination works out. 

I hope to gather a few likely lads and get this on the table in the near future!

Exceslior!