Following the Herd

Something a bit different for this blog today. I am currently deciding where to go with my collection next and also whether I should attempt to rebase at least some of it. As part of the rebasing idea I thought I would have a go at a herd of cattle as a test for different basing materials. The figures are also really useful and could be used for a whole variety of periods as well as raiding or baggage train scenarios.
The cattle are by Irregular Miniatures. When I was looking online it seems a lot of African style cattle are availble in 28mm as are Long Haired cattle but I didn't really want either of these. The ones Irregular make now don't have horns but Irregualr very kindly cast up some of their old style ones with horns and I think they fit the bill perfectly. They are quite small, which is of course correct for cows in the later middle ages/1500s, they hadn't been bred into the huge beasts of today at this date. They are also really good value, costing around £1.05 each, a herd this size from some manufacturers would cost a small fortune! As the miniatures were all in the same pose I butchered them slighty (excuse the pun!) and altered the angles of the heads of a lot of them to give some variation. The pigs are by Gripping Beast, they are miniatures that are full of character, and a great addition. The cattle driver and swineherd are Perry late medieval figures. Seeing them all on the move inclines me to set up the baggage train again as these would look great being herded along with the wagons.
With regards to the bases I am still not completely satisfied with them. This style works on smaller bases but doesn't look as good on the large ones. I am tempted to move towards larger bases as I love the vignettes that can be created on them and I would also be more inclined to actually have games if the bases were larger as its so much easier to move everything around. On the pigs I used a lighter drybrush which I think looks better and on all the bases I used little tufts of grass which i really like the look of and have ordered some more since. I think next I will base up my artillery and crew as I don't like the figures all individually based. I have loads of bits and pieces, cannon balls, wheelbarrows, gabions and barrels, that I can use to make these interesting so I am looking forward to trying this.

Swine and Cattle

Irregular Miniatures Cattle

Pigs by Gripping Beast