Marching in Colour: Review and Painting - Gripping Beast 28mm Scots Warband

Howdy folks, thanks for visiting

In this article I will be looking at the Scots Warband box set from Gripping Beast. These models are 28mm and make a complete 4pt Warband for the SAGA rule set. The set has an rrp of £33.00 and can be purchased direct from the Gripping Beast website.

PLEASE NOTE: This force is currently FOR SALE - £120 / $200 / E150. Price includes postage and packing. The models do come with painted weapons and shields. Shield fronts are painted bare white in case you wish to add transfers.

Unboxing and First Impressions

The box is one of the thin plastic styles, with wrap around full colour cover. The rear of the box lists the contents with a nice, if somewhat small, photo of the painted models.

Thankfully unlike some of the Mantic range miniatures, the contents of this box do not suffer from 'Jack-in-the-box' syndrome in as much as you can actually close the box once you have opened it!

The models come separate - regular warriors in one bag, Hearthguard in another, and the Warlord in with all the shields and weapons. The pack also contains all the plastic bases you need.

The models themselves are good solid quality miniatures with no bendable or breakable parts. Fact of note, the design is so solid that the cloaks are perhaps a little too thick especially on the models that have 'flowing cloaks'. As with most Gripping Beast models, the hands seem to be a little on the large side. The end result though is that these models feel solid, and good value.

Painting - First Coat

The main work on these models lies with the tunics and, for the Hearthguard, their chain armour.

For the tunics, there are a variety of source websites which cover Dark Age clothing and dyeing techniques. As a general rule the painting should be block colours, simple and effective. With these models being Scots the variety comes from adding a splash of tartan, which I will cover in the 'Advanced Painting' section of this article.

A note on armour - 'Dry Brushing' technique.

You can achieve great results when it comes to armour by using the technique known as 'dry brushing'. To start, paint all the armour sections black. Then, using an old brush (make sure its an old brush, as this technique will kill your brushes faster than any other!), dip the tip in the silver paint and wipe it onto your mixing pallet, as if you are mixing paint.

The idea is to rough coat the entire brush head. Then, run the brush over the black armour.

Its that easy!

Painting - Advanced

Advanced work comes in two main forms for these models, both of which focus on the models tunics.

The first is the standard, shading and highlighting. The models are very well sculpted and cast, and the tunics have clear flow lines which need to be highlighted.

The second part, which I will focus on, is the tartan. This is tricky and needs a steady hand. It also helps to remember the flow of the tunics, the tartan should line with the flow as it would naturally.

To paint tartan I find its best to stick with 4 associated colours rather than 2.

First paint the cross pattern in a dark base colour, as the picture on the left.

Finally use a lighter colour across the top, and as close to the middle of the line as you can, but without wiping over the top of the entire line - leave a little showing.

The 'shine' on the models comes from my poor photography skills and the light reflecting off the varnish. I use Matt varnish so there isn't a shine on the finished models.