Impetus Picts [1]

Let's do the timewarp again...(aarggh!!!)

Cavalry and Chariots plus General

Some shiny happy painted people

Gunge washed and matt varnished bloke on the left

I went up into the loft after work this afternoon and, after a bit of a rummage, successfully located the dusty box of Essex 15mm Picts that I'd last seen in 1991 or thereabouts.

These had been painted up in enamels during one of my irregular stints on the dole in the last great economic cock up. It kept me occupied and helped to pass the time but they're not exactly up to my current standard, although that's not exactly earth shattering anyway.

However, I have the basis of a pretty decent 300 point army for Impetus with a little bit of touching up and re-basing being all that needs to be done. I've worked out the options using the Picts list in Extra Impetus 2 and have come up with the following line up, using every single figure to maximise the points total:

• 1 x CGL Chariots (*) including General
• 2 x CGL Chariots (various weapons)
• 3 x CL Cavalry (javelins)
• 8 x FL Warriors (long spears)
• 5 x S Javelinmen (javelins)
• 4 x S Archers (short bows)

This works out at 367 points in total, so there's more than enough for a 250 or 300 point starter army. I've also found some very old irregular miniatures sheep that I can turn into a baggage element for a few extra points, although I could do with a shepherd as well, otherwise it'll look a bit pathetic.

The figures themselves have survived that last twenty years quite well thanks to a thick coat of satin varnish but this makes them a little too shiny for my liking. I did a test gunge wash on one of the light cavalry figures (the one on the left in the photo) then oversprayed with Army Painter matt varnish.

I think it looks much better, so will do the same with the rest if the figures before re-basing them. The basing is what I'm looking forward to as I have some ideas for wild and woolly mountian landscaping. I'm thinking of lots of granite boulders and scree, with dark earth ground surface and tufts of highland grass.

If I can pull it off, it'll look pretty good and be well in keeping with the Pictish theme. I'll try to crack on with the washing, varnishing and re-basing this weekend so hope to have the army ready by this time next week.