A Skinflint's guide to McDeath (Act2)

In Act one of this extended stream of consciousness/ extended attempt to avoid spending money/ imaginary shopping trip I blethered on (at some length) about some of the alternative figures you could use to populate the armies in the McDeath Scenario pack from 1986.

We got as far as covering the fist three forces, The McArnos, The Greevants and The McEwmans. This is enough to cover the first battle in the campaign, Winwood Harbour, now we move on to battle number two, Loch Lorm.





The first of the forces needed for this game are the Keeler Malters, 16 blokes who spend their life making booze. They are described as being armed with slings, clubs and shields.
Let's go back to a couple of companies we've visited before. First of all Crusader do slinger in their irish range

as well as these guys who could easily be converted to carrying clubs.

An alternative might be back to Footsore/Musketeer who again do slingers

and some suitable figs for the club carriers

of course there are plenty of other similar figures from loads of companies but these are the two I'd go for. The Leader, Brooben Keyler, is described as portly and congenial and carries a magical curved sword. How about these guys from Gripping Beast,

Neither fat or with a curved sword but they both have character and there are loads more at GB for you to peruse through, such as these guys from the jomsvikings

Or this guy who is at least portly but I think it's down to personal choice really as finding the exact figure to suit the description may be a bit difficult. So lets move on.

 The scenario requires the monster of Loch Lorm to be part of the game. He is a water born beastie who looks like a cross between a dragon and a turtle and my first though was to go for the either of these from Thunderchild miniatures

But there are these cuties from Reaper

This one from FRP games

So plenty of choice.

On to the other force for the Loch Lorm scenario, Donalbane and The Clan McCoughlagan.

Prince Donalbane is the potential heir to the kingdom and wears full plate armour and carries a two handed sword. How about one of these from Forlorn Hope

Or this guy from Crusader (Jean de Moray)( the wizard character may useful later ;) )

I'm really tempted to use this guy from Claymore Castings though. I know he doesn't really fill the brief but he's such a cool command figure and that would leave me open to use some of their other figures for the McCoughlagans. 

For instance the guy on the far left would make a great Laird and this pack also contains a piper!

And the guy on the far right of this pack is crying out to be a character of some sort. The other guys would come in handy in Act 3. 

They've also got unarmoured troops that could be used for the mass of clans men (of any of the clans) 

And then there are their gallowglass figures that could be clansmen (admittedly they aren't sword and shield armed)

But if you did want to stick to the brief and wanted things a bit more, well, kilty, you could always opt for these guys from Bicorne miniatures, they have a variety of poses and armaments and although they are from the ECW range, they'd work.

Another more tartan approach may be the Highlanders from Warlord games. The odd firearm may need removing but you have the right sort of charging rabble.

Andy Hoare has also pointed out that Reaper do a range of highlanders that'd fit really well for clansmen of various types.

We also need a magician / wizard in the McCoughlagan forces. You can't go wrong with this guy from Musketeer/footsore.

Or this hairy shouter from the same company. 

Or this one from gripping beast. 

A more traditional approach to wizardry is also available at Forlorn Hope. 

And a lovely bunch of figures are available at Otherworld miniatures. 

Well, I think that's about it for this section, we've done five of the nine commands so we've broken the back of this particular campaign. 

Now my laptop has gone and died on me so the next instalment may be a little slow in coming but stay tuned, I've got plenty of late night baby feeds ahead of me!