Boyar's Sons (Muscovite cavalry)

 Any proper Russian/Muscovite army from this period is going to have swarms of irregular feudal cavalry. I have TAG minis to represent a few units' worth but wanted to have another go at converting some. These six are made from different Gripping Beast plastic kits; one Arab Heavy Cavalry, two Goth Noble Cavalry, and three Dark Ages Cavalry. Of note, these minis include my first ever attempt at adding stirrups. All of these except the one from the Arab kit, I made stirrups from wire and greenstuff.

 

I am quite happy with how these turned out, I think they mix pretty well with the real thing. 

Early Medieval Commanders

 Well I finished the commanders but my table isn't clean enough for an army shot. I've got a Viking chieftain as well as the two Frankish leaders. All three are Gripping Beast metals.

As a bonus, here's a size comparison with a typical GB plastic, and an action shot.

Almost the rest of the Franks

 Here's the remaining units for my Carolingian army, done except that I might do a second pass on some of the shields. All I have left for them is a mounted warlord and a priest. I'll post a full army pic once I have those characters ready.

Carolingian Franks

 A third army, or at least the start of it, to scrap with my Slavs and Vikings. Pretty much just Gripping Beast plastics mixed up, with a few metal Franks and warlord Celt heads. The highlight is the shields, made of upholstery tacks and press-molded greenstuff bosses, which admittedly mostly came out more "spike" than "sugarloaf". 

Vikings

Mostly minis I bought when GB first released their plastics, just rebased and touched up in some cases. Army shot only, I might pick out some favorites to highlight later, but honestly this bunch is pretty out-of-the-box.

Now with Flag

The flag is adapted from a wikipedia image of an artifact depicted the thunder god Perun. I was going to add a border, but honestly I kind of like how stark it looks without one...

more slav elites, and the voivode

The elites are a mix of GB plastics much as before, except the lamellar armor is carved directly into the chest of Dark Age plastic figures (ouch!), instead of being taken from the Arab Heavy Cav box like last time. Also, the flag and horn guys are GB metals, the last of the purpose-built metal Slavs I got from GB. I have yet to decide on a flag for the army.

And here's the general for these guys. He's a Gripping Beast Arab, with a Warlord Games Celt head, and some greenstuff fingers and nasal piece. I figure he's an older dude who prefers to let others do the actual fighting these days, which accounts for his relatively relaxed pose and lack of body armor. He should still stand out on account of having the only helmet in the entire army though...

Slav elites and army shot

Here is the final unit of my core Early Slav force, a small group of armored infantry. There are two Gripping Beast metal Slavs, and the rest are kitbashed out of GB plastics.

And with that, my Early Slavs are basically ready to go. I really like how the limited palette approach worked out, they look quite irregular but still visually cohesive and at least moderately intimidating.

(If you're curious about army composition, I literally just looked up the DBA list for Early Slavs and then doubled the figure count. Since that totals to less than 24 pts in Lion Rampant, I then added the "Foot Knight" elite infantry to bring them up to the target.)

Slav Cav

Here are the cavalry for my Early Slavs, just straight Gripping Beast Dark Age light cavalry except for a few headswaps and a greenstuff hat.

Slav skirmish archers

No conversions except minor headswaps...

Vikings

Just some plain Gripping Beast plastic vikings here. Painted years ago, with basing, shields and some washes added this past week. Shields probably need another pass...

more Early Slav javelins

Again, mostly GB's generic dark age infantry, with a smattering of metal pieces, and one OoP Wargames Factory Celt as a token beefcake.

Early Slavs

As promised, some foes for the Vikings. These javelin-wielding infantry, the first of at least four such units, will comprise the bulk of my Slavic army. They are mostly built from Gripping Beast generic Dark Age Infantry, with some GB metals: Rus shields, a few Falklands war heads with the wool hats altered to be fur, and a full metal mini. Oh, and also a Perry Mahdist with a Perry Zouave head.

Berserkers!

Years ago, I bought a bunch of Gripping Beast Viking plastics and Warlord Celt plastics for a project that never really came together. I've been revisiting my vikings, so as I touch them up and redo bases as needed, I'll post some here, along with the enemy armies I'm making in parallel.

So here are some berserks, Celt bodies with some Viking bits and heads.

Ottoman Light Cavalry

Nothing too fancy here, just some Besli (conscripts, in the white turbans) and Gonullu (volunteers, in the colored turbans). Essentially unconverted from Gripping Beast Arab Cavalry (again!), I think maybe two of the turbans are greenstuff.

Voevode (Russian Commander)

My Muscovites need an officer, and while I believe The Assault Group is working on one, I'm impatient! So I made this guy mostly out of Gripping Beast Arabs, with a Warlord head and horse and a TAG mace.

I gotta say, the Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry plastics have been an absolute godsend for Eastern Europe kitbashing. The long-robed legs and embroidered-front torsos are just so handy!