Celts to Rus'... feasible?

by **Thaddeus** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:37 pm

My WiP viking army needs a foe, and while Saxons and Irish and other island types are all well and good, I've got it into my head that Riurikid Rus' would be a characterful and unique counterpart to my awesome (if fairly cliche) norseman horde. I'm confident with my conversion of Norman knights to Rus' noblemen, but it took me a while to figure out how I'm gonna try to do the infantry. My sources on their appearance are pretty limited, essentially just a handful of cameo appearances in Osprey books covering other aspects of the early medieval period, but I think I've figured it out. Attached is a (laughably crude) diagram detailing the proposed conversion and subsequent painting: celt to rus

Obviously this plan only works for the 40% of Celts with shirts/tunics on. The chainmail-wearing ones will pretty much be left as-is, while the barechested ones will get converted into berserks for the vikings.Thoughts?

by **BigMike** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:28 am

Looks good to me - do a demo one and see how it works in the flesh!

by **Rook** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:12 pm

Gripping beast did do some Russ infantry at one point. I have a few. Eastern looking baggy britches and rectangular shields.

by **Thaddeus** » Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:40 pm

Trust me, I'd do a test model if I had one to test on. Unfortunately they (all 90 of them) are still somewhere in the aether between Nottingham and Chicagoland.Hmm, those GB Rus are interesting. The rectangular shields are good news, since some of the Celtic ones I'll be getting look just about right, and it'll be easy enough to scratchbuild a few more of that shape. Not as thrilled about the trousers, but I suppose it won't be too much trouble to bulk them out for the front-rankers at least.Thanks for the help!

by **Thaddeus** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:49 pm

PiP, but suitable as a proof-of-concept. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Someday, though, I'd still like to get actual Rus' miniatures for the front ranks, especially since greenstuffing the tunics is a pain and I'd rather not do it anymore. Note that I mixed in some viking heads and shields, to further distinguish them from the Celts they started out as.

by **Centurio Cunibus** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 11:05 am

Looks good to me, a rather dangerous looking group of bearded warriors!