In my last article ago I told you how I had bought an entire wargame for the price of 5 Space Marine Heavy Intercessors and what it was like unboxing and building the models you get inside. You can read that here:

Pillage – Part One: I Bought An Entire Wargame for the Price of Five Space Marines

Now, there’s something I need to clarify from Part 1. Despite my headline about buying an entire wargame for the price of five space marines, the Pillage introductory set doesn’t actually contain the complete Pillage rules. Nor does it contain two warbands. It has 14 warriors, 6 Irish and 8 Viking, which are enough to play through the scenarios given to you in the introductory book, but they aren’t wo full size warbands.

So thank you to everyone who commented as such on the article, Facebook and Reddit.

Now on to Part 2 proper….

A Week and a Half in the Dark Ages

I decided early on that I would paint the entire set before diving into the game. We’ve all been there, I didn’t want it to sit on my shelf staring at me for the next 6 years just undercoated. So I promised myself I wouldn’t write part 2 until they were done. Which was enough to give me the drive to get them done.

You don’t have to of course. There’s nothing stopping you painted with unpainted miniatures, we’ve all done it. But I felt I wouldn’t be doing the set justice as a review unless I finished it all. Plus there was something about Pillage that really made me want to see everything painted and on the mat together.

It could have been the low model count, painting something that wasn’t fantasy or sci-fi or it could have been I just fancied painting a sheep. Whatever, over the last week and a half I spent somewhere between 20-23 hours working on the models in the box, and I have to say right now, I really enjoyed it.

Where are the Skulls?

One of the first things that hits when you paint something that’s not a Warhammer model was how simple the models were to paint.

Most GW models (even the battleline ones) are little works of art. They’re covered with so much detail from belts, buckles, scrolls, skulls, jewellery and other decorative things that a unit can keep any painter going for days at a time.

The figures that Victrix have made are so much more simpler. They’ll usually have mail armour, a tunic, trousers, belt and weapons. A couple had necklaces, but there wasn’t the amount of details on the model that you get with GW. I loved it.

But I need to be clear, I’m not saying that the Victrix models are lacking details, there’s plenty of folds in the cloth, the faces are diverse in their appearance and the poses are great. I never once felt like I needed a break from painting the models, and I could easily finish one model to a fairly decent standard in about an hour or two.

I stuck with a muted palette of browns, greens, blues and earthy reds and I wanted them all to look like they fit into the period. I also chose to paint them in the traditional way rather than using speed paints (which I personally don’t get on with).

There’s nothing wrong with Speedpaints and I think they’d go well on these models, I’m just crap at using them.

Shields, Transfers and an Unexpected Expense

I enjoyed painting the models so much that I thought I would pick up the shield transfers for both sides from Victrix as well.

You don’t have to buy transfers, but I wanted to give the shields a little more character without free handing every one.

The transfers were £8.50 per set and I was more than willing to pay this to save you all from looking at my attempts at freehand.

The transfers are awesome and I really think that GW could learn a thing or two with theirs from other companies. They come pre-cut in most cases including the hole in the middle for the shield boss. They have a film on the front which you peel off, this exposes the sticky side of the transfer which you then place on the shield of the model. You dampen then back with a brush and after 30 seconds you peel the paper backing away to reveal your shield design. Awesome, I’ll never paint another shield again.

Building the Farm

The model warriors are important, but they weren’t the only miniatures in the set, and I think the house and fences may have been the easiest models in the set to paint.

The building is a great centre piece and it’s sculpted roof has leads of texture which made it really easy to drybrush. I started with Zandri Dust undercoat and then washed it with Agrax Earthshade. Then it was a simple case of drybrushing with Morghast Bone and a little Wraithbone over that (I also used this recipe on the fences). I picked out the roofing straps (if that’s what they are, you’ll have to excuse me, my knowledge of early mediaeval building processes is lacking) in dryad brown.

The walls of the house where painted Dryad Brown (army painter), then highlighted with Zandri dust and a little Morghast bone. I then added Agrax Earthshade to the recesses of the logs.

The Important Business of Painting Sheep

Most people are probably more excited about painting warriors when they get a new wargame, yeah, not me…

I was weirdly excited about painting some animals. The set includes a Pig, sheep, calf, goat and a chicken.

They’re all small and uncomplicated but have lots of character. They all have textured coats and can easily be drybrushed which I did with the calf and the pig. The sheep I spent a little more time on and built the coat up from a dirty grey/brown underneath to an off white on the top.

Then there was a tiny chicken, and I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time wondering how to paint a miniature before, honestly, I toyed with painting it white, brown, green feathers. I even looked up chickens on the internet. There’s something wrong with me.

But aside from chicken paint schemes, all of these felt like they would give a bit of character to the battlefield and a purpose to the game.

Barrels, Sacks and Other Things Worth Stealing

The smaller scenery pieces were also fun but simple to paint. Most just required a coat of Dryad Brown, a wash of Agrax Earthshade and a light drybrush of Zandri Dust.

The barrels have clear wooden staves and the sacks had lovely deep folds in them, while the chest had a little metal work so that they all stood out in some way.

From a Box of Plastic to a Battlefield

Then I was done and it came around to placing everything on the battlemat that came in the box.

The building sat at one end with the fences dividing the fields on either side where I placed the animals.

The defenders are all set up near the building and the Vikings are approaching down the path to… pillage.

£42.50 and the this box looks like a proper historical skirmish game. I’ve enjoyed the building and painting so much, a lot more than I have done any project in a long time, It’s a small farmstead with enough details to make the battlefield feel believable.

Worth the Time?

20-23 hours of time and what have I got to show for it?

Quite a bit actually. I’ve two painted forces, animals and quite a bit of scenery that makes up a complete little battlefield that I’m looking forward to trying out. I haven’t spent months getting to this point either.

We often spend a good few months on our armies of 60-80 models and sometimes we don’t even finish them. With Pillage I felt like seeing it all painted up as easily achievable.

I did buy the extra transfers at £8.50 a pop for both sides, so my total cost so far is:

Item	Cost
Pillage Introductory Set	£42.50
Victrix Shield Transfers	£17.00
Total	£59.50

So roughly £2.80 for each hour I’ve spent on it, not a great scientific measure of value but its something.

We usually talk about it all in terms of the model count or the points value of an army and we don’t always think about the pleasure of building and painting the models.

But on this, Pillage has definitely been very enjoyable so far.

What’s Next?

That just leaves us the important question of:

Is it actually any good to play?

I have spent a good chunk of time getting it ready and it would be disappointing to find out the rules are crap (which I’m sure they’re not).

So I’m going to draft in some help for the next article. I’ll be asking Ian and Dave to play through the scenarios with me (both GW fanboys) and we’ll compare notes and let you know what we think.

We’ll look at how easy the rules are to learn, how they work and whether the games are fun. But for now I’m happy with my spend, after all, if I don’t like Pillage I can try out one of the other multitudes of Dark Age wargames.

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