Well, it was a fierce-some battle, no doubt about it, but the Northern Federation Herdsmen are finally painted and ready to take their place in the battleline.
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| Here come the Herdsmen. |
I was looking forward to painting these from the time I got them right up until the moment I looked at the primed figures and realized that I had no idea really who they were, how they should be dressed, and what painting techniques I should use the get the right look for what I wanted. A week later after several short, unsatisfactory painting sessions, I was just about ready to quietly pack them away again.
Luckily I can sometimes get stubborn and after figuring out who they were and experimenting a bit, and remembering a bit, I started putting in some longer sessions and experimenting and they finally started coming together. Then it started to feel tedious with no end of little details and shading to do, and redo, so I decided to just push through and finish them. So there are a few spots where the shading etc aren't quite what I wanted but the glossy finish helps and at arms length they have the right look and I am well satisfied.
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| The Dalefolk Muster |
The Northern Federation is composed of several Folk or People of which the largest are the Dalefolk who live in the open, rolling, country between the mountains and the sea. Along the rivers the bulk of the population live in small farming villages surrounded by their fields. In the uplands the land is less fertile and crops and orchards are replaced by herds of sheep, cattle and horses tended by wandering tribes of Herdsmen.
By tradition, these farmers and herders are Freemen beholden to none but each other, abiding by the laws adopted by the people themselves and serving in arms when the people are threatened. However, long years of war saw the rise of powerful Lords, each with his band of armoured horsemen, and now most Freemen swear fealty to one of these Lords and pay taxes to help maintain him and his horsemen in his stronghold perched on its hilltop while the Lords in turn swear allegiance to a High King. In return, the King and Lords defend the borders and enforce the laws and it is only in times of National Crisis that the Freemen take up shield and spear, axe or bow and march to war.
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| and there they go. |
