Better Loot Than Never...

Hello again.

Doesn't time fly when you get back into your work schedule and, as the annual peak period of the year builds, lose all track of time?

It has been almost two weeks since the Chillcon show in Derby, back on 22nd September. I was in two minds whether or not to go. I checked out the traders and, to be honest, whilst there were some gems, there were others I had not heard of or, on the face of things, was unlikely to be particularly interested in. Oathsworn would be there and there stuff is great, but I did have that feeling that I had probably done enough Burrows & Badgers stuff for now. Colonel Bill would be there too and there second hand options are always worth a look to find those hidden gems. Laser Cut Architect could tempt me with some more "Necromunda"-esque MDF terrain, but I have not painted a gang or built the stuff I have already yet. Crooked Dice were there and I had seen mention of a "Grandville" line of figures in honour of the graphic novels by Bryan Talbot, so I fancied a look at that. They might even convince me to add more to my B&B stuff. But there did not appear to be any real draw for me.

Of course, I did venture along to Derby and, in addition to what I had seen advertised, was pleasantly surprised to find Warlord there with a very full range and others too. And, as always, there was plenty to tempt me. Why would I doubt there would be? I think because, not having played anything for months and with my work/ life balance all out of kilter for a while now, I am struggling to get into anything. Quite simply, however, games or no games, time or no time, I realised again just what this hobby does for me, the release painting even a couple of miniatures provides.

So, where did I spend my hard-earned money?

Read on...

I did see this advertised and it appealed on a number of levels. To top it off, I got this for £31!!! It retails for £40!!! It ticks a number of boxes - limited figure requirement, an interesting period of history, expandable to other armies and not just Romans and Celts, simple rules. Only around a sixth of the rulebook is rules, the rest being scenarios, background, etc. I look forward to trying this rules set out and painting a few Celts. I would like to do some Roman Civil War stuff I think - Celts, Spanish, Numidians, Germans and Romans all freely mixed across the two "Roman" armies.
Thanks to "Mighty Lancer" game for this bargain!!!

I also had my eye on "A Dark And Bloody Ground", buying this from Warlord so I could get the "free" figure - a Woodland Indian peering over a large rock. This period is one for which I have some forces and was the subject of the last game I took out on the road at the Barrage show last year. I am still part way through painting the 35th Foot! The "Age Of Caesar" book I bought for some further background for "SPQR" really and the "free" figure is a Roman officer, so usable for that too.

I saw this on Nephew Nick's "Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop" stand and immediately saw some potential for old mine works in my "Burrows & Badgers" games.

From "Laser Cut Architect" I acquired these sets to add some buildings to either my "Strontium Dog" set up or for "Necromunda"

Nephew Nick supplied this kit for two Biohazard tanks and, with two in the pack, it will be one each for "Strontium Dog" and "Necromunda". The other kit is a two tier medical block which will have to feature in one or the other game.

Pretensions towards using my Ancient Indians as a Great Kingdom in "SAGA: Age of Magic" saw me buy this figure from "Crooked Dice". Not cheap but, I am sure you will agree, very suitable for a fantasy Indian army!

These two "Crooked Dice" figures I had seen advertised and fancied as a crime-fighting duo for Scarsburgh, my fictional Burrows & Badgers town. "LeBrock" is a badger, but is rather smaller than the Oathsworn versions, so he will be painted as some other type of animal. "Ratzi" will do nicely as a rat, however! So, I give you Hemlock Holmes and Dr. John Ratson.

 A little, light, flavoursome reading from Oathsworn Miniatures is this small collection of newspaper-style articles and titbits. Having done a campaign newsletter or two in the past, I really appreciate this sort of thing.

Finally, I could not resist adding a few extras to my Burrows & Badgers collection. The main set will happily form part of my "Molegrew Haulage" company from the dockside area of Scarsburgh and you can never have too many wagons. The two ladies to the right I see as proprietrixes for a high-class/ lowlife nightclub in downtown Scarsburgh, with the odd talon or claw in the criminal underbelly of the town. The archer and fox figures will fit pretty much anywhere in my existing stuff.

So, a rewarding, if mildly expensive, visit and a most enjoyable one. How dare I think going to a show was not worth it!

G

New Loot

Hello again.

I had pondered for some time whether I was going to get the second edition of SAGA, having enjoyed the first one so much. I read reviews in magazines of what changes had occurred within the rules, but nothing really stood out. I saw the promises of various world books to come, with particular interest in the Age of Samurai option, as I felt that was a way to get some oriental stuff under my belt, but left it at that.

But then came "Age of Magic".

What was this? Did I want to spend £30 on another book, knowing I would also need the new rulebook to go with it? Did I want yet more faction dice, not to mention the magic dice to go with it?

Well, it turns out, yes I did!

The rules, the "Age of Magic" supplement and some Magic dice. I certainly hope they are "magic" when I come to roll them!

A set of each of the two faction dice, the magic dice again and some spell cards for those like me whose memory is not what it once was...

So, why did I succumb? Well, I blame Wargames Illustrated magazine. They ran a piece on this game a couple of months back and I was hooked.

• Being the owner of many fantasy figures, many of which are ready to go on the table any time soon, being painted and all, I quickly realised the outlay on this game would be limited to the rule books and dice if I wanted it to be.
• It was SAGA, right, so I was very likely to enjoy my games, just like I used to when thrashing Vikings and the like.
• It was easily and quickly expandable.
• It certainly looked the part from what I had read and seen in the aforementioned article.
• Within the six archetypal fantasy forces outlined in the book, there was massive flexibility to be able to create what you wanted to create, but sensibly bound by certain faction rules and constraints.

All good reasons, I think.

But, me being me, my thoughts turned to not just what I had, but what else I wanted.

I have a load of stuff I do not use, painted and unpainted. Hmm.

Those Ancient Indians would make a great "Great Kingdoms" force, especially with a multi-armed statue for some monstrous clout and perhaps a shape-shifting Rakhshasa or two. For "Great Kingdoms", think High Elves/ Empire/ Gondor.

Those Ancient Chinese would also make a suitable "Great Kingdoms" choice, especially with the addition of a Chinese dragon in the Monster category. The book's specialist option of "The Theocracy of Qwan T'ang" also fits well, but from the "Otherworld" faction, equipped with demon weapons and armour. Or perhaps I can have a terracotta warriors vibe with my monsters and creatures.

The "Undead Legions" specialist option of "The Royal Dynasty of Nephren-Ka" is a dead ringer (pardon the pun) for my once beloved Tomb Kings.

My Orcs fit neatly into "The Horde".

My Chaos forces can be split quite simply, with daemons going "Otherworld" and Chaos-worshipping humans going either Great Kingdoms, Horde if I make them hairy barbarian types or Otherworld too.

And that is before I drag the dwarves out of storage, the Skaven likewise, or think about anything else...

Highly recommended if you want some quick and easy fantasy games. The variety provided by the usual SAGA battle board system, together with the addition of a magic system allowing for the complexity of different spells cast at different power levels and you have a wealth of options. And who would not want to make some weird terrain to go with your imaginative use of old and tired forces?

Go for it!

G

Healthy Competition

Hello again.

This was going to be a post about my receipt of something I have been looking forward to for a while, but then sort of mutated in my head into a quandary I have yet to resolve.

Being a fan f the SAGA series of games and supplements, I was keen to get my hands on the proposed Arthurian version when it finally arrived. Well, now it is indeed here.

The new SAGA rulebook, with the Romans/ British dice set.

In all its hardbacked glory, it arrived here Chez G on Monday morning. It looks gorgeous, is full of eye candy and will get plenty of outings, I suspect. I had already checked out a couple of reviews (Type SAGA Aetius Arthur into your search engine and you will find many, but I would recommend the run through Wargames Illustrated gives it). The main criticism seems to be that there are numerous references to other titles in the SAGA series, which is problematic if you do not own them. I do own them, having bought into the series in a big way, but I can fully understand that a reference to the effect that "see page x in supplement y" is less than helpful to those who do not have that access. However, what you get is not only good to look at and will probably play well, but is also another six forces to use as well as notes for using other, previously detailed forces too. Of special note to me is the ability to use my Irish as Scotti, which means I only need to paint up one other force to start some games, unless I use the "counts as" line of thought and backdate my Vikings as Saxons or whatever. I would recommend this book heartily, warts and all.

HOWEVER...



Other, more big battle orientated sets I also like the look of.

 



I had in mind some other sets for the period and that is where the quandary arose from.

SAGA is a game for singly-based figures, unlike the two below (though you can do so with Age of Arthur if you want to spend all day setting up and moving).
I have based all my SAGA forces on 25mm round bases (50x25mm for cavalry).
I have a horde of figures for the period, and want to use them all where possible, so mixed basing styles possibly would not suit.
I can use sabot bases, but don't tend to like the look of them and in a WAB game, anything that has a wider frontage per figure tends to lose out.
Dux Bellorum uses whole unit bases, so sabots may work here as with WAB, but there is still the aesthetics to overcome.

I will of course sort these little issues out one way or other.

The main thing is that I now have even more reason to paint all the Saxons and Arthurians I have stashed away. And I even have a box of Huns stowed away somewhere for something slightly different! I may even buy myself a box of Gripping Beasts Late Roman plastics, though, if I stay with SAGA for this period and indeed forego other sets, I no doubt have enough to do a large Late Roman and a British force already.

In the current absence of any defined project for 2018 for a show game or whatever, I hope to get started on this very soon, once reinforcements for my FIW forces have been completed.

Now, how exactly does a wargames magpie solve such conundrums as which project to do next and how to stop buying more stuff???

G






The Leinster Light Horse

Hello again.

Rather a grandiose and potentially misleading title for this post perhaps, but "Dark Age Irish Cavalry" is a bit dull...

When the "Wyrley Retinue" were preparing this year's show game, "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan", I decided we needed loads more figures than our SAGA collections would provide.

Sundry cries of "Megalomaniac!" later, not to mention claims that I did not understand what a "small game" was, and I had enough Vikings and Irish to field several SAGA forces. In my defence, I was not just thinking about SAGA, but had the WAB "Shieldwall" and "Age of Arthur" supplements in mind too and now, and soon to be winging its way onto G's doorstep, the SAGA "Aetius Arthur" edition of the game. I might finally get my British and Early Saxons done!!! And, in my defence, units under the "Lion Rampant" rules we are using for the show game are larger than their SAGA counterparts.

Anyway, I wanted some Irish cavalry, so looked around for a few suitable figures. I found a few bits at Colonel Bill's (though the horses were massive), and I could have thrown in a few Picts or similar, but felt they were too early in style for the 10th Century, or thereabouts. So I settled on some Crusader Miniatures and Gripping Beast figures, with a hint of mail armour and a spangenhelm or two for some melee-orientated types, as depicted here, together with a leader figure, whose provenance I am unsure of (as a figure anyway. I am sure his provenance as a leader is first class!)

I have just finished painting a more skirmish-orientated unit of cavalry too, who will make their debut at WMMS in March (12th to be precise, at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton in the UK), together with some more Vikings, some more Norse-Gael and perhaps a few other bits and bobs - we do like to slightly alter our games between outings so you see something just a little different each time. However, I will post pictures of those later on.

So, for now, here is the Leinster Light Horse in all its finery.

G

Fergus mac Cormac, in all his finery, ready to take the fight to the Norsemen. He will certainly be taking the fight to the Norsemen if Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev gets to command his unit again. I think my dear brother believes all cavalry are British Heavies from Napoleonic times and uses them accordingly...I think I will try him out with something like Huns in future to test the notion further.

Fergus is clearly a Christian and likes blue.

And the view my Vikings prefer of him.

Fergus' hearthguard or comitatus or whatever. Fianna, that's it.

Raging Ruaridh likes one to one.

Santa's been!!!

Hello again.

As 2016 wends its way towards conclusion, I thought it time to recap on what this month of gifts and goodies has brought me, starting with my purchases at "Wargamer" back on 4th and working my way through to the destruction of various sheets of coloured paper as I eagerly unveiled my presents on 25th!

For a small show, I managed to spend WAAAAAYYYY too much at "Wargamer". I bought myself a copy of "Escape from Colditz", now published by Osprey, and backed that up on the gaming front with a Fantasy Flight Games offering called "Age of War", which is a dice game and a sort of cross between Yahtzee, Risk and Happy Families. It is set in the classic age of the samurai and the object is to win control of various cards, representing castles, by rolling appropriate combinations of dice, each of which has various icons which may or may not be of use. The castles can form a set, which grants more points to their holder and the person with the most points wins. That person has so far mainly been daughter Eleanor...

I bought some stuff from Ainsty, who are carrying the SAGA ranges from Gripping Beast nowadays, so my fledgling Anglo-Saxons/ Anglo-Danes acquired Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, some huscarls, Hereward the Wake, some "Sons of Death" to add to my Irish excursion and William the (insert your epithet of choice) to add to my Normans, who are eagerly awaiting their turn on the painting table, along with Saracen and Military Orders forces for "The Crescent and The Cross". I also bought some Highlander reinforcements and a starter set of Compagnies Franches de la Marine for my "Sharp Practice 2/ Muskets & Tomahawks" foray into the French and Indian Wars.

Dave Lanchester furnished me with a copy of Neil Thomas' "Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815 to 1878", which I have read with gusto, and, last but not least, Tiger Miniatures very kindly sold me some of their Renaissance figures, including artillery, some arquebusiers and some cavalry, who have joined the ranks of my proposed French Wars of Religion project. Daughter Eleanor conned me into buying her her own set of dice (soft touch that I am) and I think that is about it.

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of some basing sheets from the ever-helpful Coritani/ Magnetic Displays (fantastic service as usual and highly recommended to all who would buy from them - Trevor even sent me a nice Christmas good wishes message, which only goes to show how good their service is!). To that I added a package from Pendraken consisting of some reinforcements/ alternatives for both my proposed 10mm American Civil War project and my "Warband" fantasy project that I spent most of last spring working on. They too deserve a lot of credit for their service quality, as I missed the posting deadline for Christmas quoted on the website but still got my order well before Christmas. Many thanks!

Christmas itself saw the opening of a parcel from Caliver Books containing a copy of "The Italian Campaign of 1859", edited by Dr. Stephen Summerfield, which I have again eagerly devoured. I also got a turntable, so I can play my old, vinyl records, many of which I do not have on CD, which has nothing to do with wargaming or the blog as a whole but just shows how much my lady wife loves me!!! I still wait with anticipation for the latest "Wargaming in History" offering on Koniggraetz, but Dave Ryan has my order and warned me it was unlikely to arrive pre-Christmas as it has not been published yet!

After all that, it is again time to decide on where my focus lies for 2017.

1. I still have a passion for anything involving the Austrians, so 1859 and 1866 feature a lot in my thoughts.
2. I want to get some ACW actions going to take advantage of all those readily-available battle reports and orbats, in my chosen 10mm scale.
3. I want to fill out my Dark Ages pretensions and have now built an entire Anglo-Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force for SAGA which I need to paint.
4. I want to add the extras to my 10mm "Warband" fantasy forces.
5. I want to thresh out my FIW stuff and get some games of "Sharp Practice 2" and "Muskets & Tomahawks" in.
6. I eagerly await Nephew Nick's commitment to the Marlburian Wars so I can kick-start my 1690 project and take him on! It will be just the excuse I need to add some more French and Irish units to my existing stock...
7. I am torn between Germans vs Hottentots in what is now Namibia, Maori Wars or Sudan Wars for "The Men Who Would Be Kings", but seriously want to get something up and running soon for that era and rules set.

And then there is the large scale WW2 skirmish figures I bought last year, the Arthurians that have been lying around for ages, a large Macedonian army I have had for upwards of ten years that I still have stowed away, the Peninsular War stuff I bought back in July for "SP2", 15mm WW2 Ostfront c. Kursk, Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians/ "Whites" and, of course, the French Wars of Religion project I want to get off the ground, ideally for 2019 and the 450th anniversary of the likes of Moncontour and Jarnac. I suppose I could stretch out that last option to 2022 and the 450th anniversary of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but I prefer battles to massacres...

The good news is that my interest in this massively absorbing hobby has not waned one iota and I do not have a project to focus on specifically for 2017, as 2018's show game is decided upon already and I have the armies already too! (I could always rustle up an extra unit or two though, or perhaps a terrain piece or feature piece or...)

I love this hobby of ours!

G

WARGAMER, 4th December, 2016

Hello again.

Not much to say this time as I want to let the photos tell the story of the show that was "Wargamer", 2016. I will post pictures of our little offering over the next day or so but, for now, here are various photos of some of the other games.

I have absolutely no idea who did most of them, as most of the teams seemed to be publicity-shy and I don't automatically get a programme being a demonstrator, but I enjoyed the show and spent too much!!!

G

La Haye Sainte

Homage to Hyboria and the late Terry Wise

1914 action

A game about dinosaurs and Nazis. What's not to like?

Somewhere in South Africa in 1879 (with or without Stanley Baker and Michael Caine)

Some Dark Age action

The "Twenty-minuters" (if "Blackadder is to be believed, which it most definitely is not!)

Napoleonics...that's about all I can remember of this one

More Napoleonics, with French and Bavarians setting to against Prussians and Russians

The Alumwell club put on this figure-heavy Peninsular War game with masses of lovely buildings

...and a British battery

Something amphibious...

a "SAGA" participation game, the rules that started my own, personal Dark Age adventure

Panthers!

And M3's. The half track M3 as opposed to the M3 Lee, etc.

A participation game of some sort

And Russians!

Bling/ Booty/ Swag/ Loot/ Lucre/ Goodies

The absence of an "official project" has not stopped my purchasing, much to the consternation of my wife and the joy of my bank manager.

We at the "Wyrley Retinue" believe we have much of what we need for next year's planned show game, so I am in the rare position of being able to paint what I like. I am not actually sure I want to be in that position, however, as there is nothing like a looming deadline to focus the mind!

Nevertheless, I am progressing at some pace with some things, which I will post on in due course. In the meantime, here are a few samples of my current thinking aka my recent purchases.

Let's see which ones see the light of day and the odd post or two first...

G



The WMMS Show goodies. The usual "Wargamers' Annual" (I buy every one as I love the idea and the delivery), some archers to boost my SAGA forces, a copy of "Black Ops for some modernist COIN OPS fun, some French Wars of Religion cavalry and. most notably, some 10mm ACW from Pendraken, that I want to use for Regimental Fire & Fury games eventually. That is my preferred route into ACW I have decided.

The trouble with taking your daughter to a wargames show is that they "want something". The good news is that she wanted a SAGA Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force. Job done. Now she just has to build and paint them...I can it hear now. "DAAAAAAD!!! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

A true historical love. Ever since I did my A Level history course on 17th Century Europe and discovered the Swedish Empire, I have had a love for the period and the main protagonists. This two volume, single print run spread from Caliver Books was well worth the asking price. Now, 10mm or 28mm?

And a little light reading. I was not intending to get into ACW using Black Powder", but this offering, as expected, has so much more. Well worth it on first perusal.

The missing link

No, not Nedeli man, the million years old South African cave dweller, but Norse-Gael man, the thousand years old hybrid of Irish and Viking culture from the western British Isles.

When I started my SAGA project about nine months ago, I always had in mind that I would build four basic forces, with Dark Age Ireland as my theme. Two Viking forces and one Irish one down, the fourth and final instalment is the Norse-Gael.

I have not used them in anger yet, but love the thought of those two-handed axes...

I first encountered Norse-Irish (as they were known under WRG 6th Edition) at the former Forge club in Hednesford, Staffordhsire, probably 30 years ago. They were in the care of an ex-pilot named Bob Seagrave, who loved his combat troops, irregulars and big units. On the sole occasion I saw them, they cut their way savagely through some opponent or other. I also remember being regaled with tales of Bob flying a Short Sunderland flying boat up and down the Malaysian coastline during the fifties or sixties, presumably during the Malayan trouble of that time, to and from Singapore.

All the figures are bog standard Gripping Beast castings, shield designs sourced/ inspired from various pictures, drawings and the like, and one taken directly from a hanging in the Salem Methodist Church in Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire! I changed the colours though!!!

These figures conclude my first foray into the Dark Ages, though I have a mind for more. I "need" some Irish horsemen. I would like to expand my Vikings and Irish into full-sized forces for WAB or similar.

The SAGA campaign for which the project was initiated is underway, and the Norse-Gael will make their appearance at the designated point! I may even take some photos of that first outing when the time comes and the participants actually mange to get together for the next round of games!

G

Warlord and both hearthguard units. The shield with the black cross outline and red swirl is the one from the Salem church, the one far left showing the stag based on the emblem on the Irish SAGA dice. I may add tow more hearthguard units to make these up to eight figures strong of the same equipment type.

The whole force, 25 figures strong in four units plus warlord.

The warrior options, two units of eight in total, one with those axes and the other spear/ sword and shield. Lots of my favoured patterned clothing too.

Gaelic Glee

Despite my penchant for the cruddier troop types, I still went a tad overboard on Fianna for my Irish forces. My excuse is that Dave Thomas was offering a deal and it would have been rude to leave a pack or two behind on the racks.

So, I bought both available packs of 8 figures with Danish Axes, giving me four lots of Fianna so equipped. These too are Crusader Miniatures and, I trust, will punch a fair few holes in many a foe as they swing and chop their way through life.

As usual, I indulged my passion for colour when painting these and patterned clothing was almost a given.

The Irish are done for the moment, but I will indulge in some horsemen sooner rather than later. One thought has occurred to me however. With the figures I have now bought and painted for my Dark Age Irish forces, I must have around 10pts' worth in SAGA terms.

That is verily a "Plethora of Plashers" to those of us who remember WRG 6th Edition Ancients, with the Irish able to spend points on the good, old plashed wood edge option. I imagine it saved a bit on buying and painting troops for those with Dark Age Irish armies...

G

The entire 16 figures, or four units of Fianna in SAGA terms. Two attack dice each so who cares about the reduced armour they have without a shield?

A patterned-cloth close up.

"Well, you said you was high class..."

...That was just a lie."

Sorry Elvis.

This next batch of Irish are further up the social scale to those shown previously. I am not quite sure they fit into the "Fianna" category, though they could, but do consider them to be more "Bourgeois Bonnachts" than "Brick Lane Bonnachts".

As a result of this spurious thinking, I have allowed myself to wander further towards my colour fixation with some brighter work. To tie them all in as a "unit" however, I have gone for red as my base shield colour.

The figures are again Crusader Miniatures and, again, were bought from Dave Thomas' cornucopia of a stand at WMMS back in March.

And talking of shows, we Wyrley Retinue members look forward to getting out on the road again in a week's time at the BARRAGE SHOW in Stafford - Sunday, 12th July, at Blessed William Howard School, Rowley Avenue, Stafford.

Turn off the M6 motorway at junction 13, head towards Stafford and it is about 3 miles from the junction in the vicinity of Rowley Park stadium.

In light of recent events, we probably will not be showing our "Malta" game, but will have something on offer as a demo that we hope you will like. Hope to see you there.

G

Eight figures, so two Fianna or one Bonnacht unit in SAGA terms. I attempted fancier shields than the Bonnachts too, to show a higher social status, but it is all very fanciful really as such things are rather debatable.

More pretty patterns, which I find quite therapeutic attempting. Just do not try it on a warm day with paint that is not quite liquid enough...

The Cattle Raid of Wyrley

Hot on the heels of Brian O'Brian come some of his lesser followers, the sort of hangers on who follow any crowd.

These Bonnachts/ Ceithern/ simple peasants might not have the flash clothing of their social betters, all in bright colours and all, but they know a good craic when they see one!

So, 24 of Ireland's finest (...), or three units of warriors in SAGA terms, all javelin-throwing menace and peat beneath the fingernails, as they seek to either ally with the Viking invaders for their own ends or throw them back in the Dubh Linn (or something like that...).

All of these figures are Crusader Miniatures bought from Dave Thomas' stand at WMMS, proof again (???) that I am slowly mining the lead mountain to the point of financial ruin and ultimate quarry closure. Maybe not.

I do know I had a great time re-reading my WAB supplements whilst completing this though. WAB is dead. Long live WAB!

G

Photographed outside on  a very sunny day, these guys must think they have left Ireland and gone elsewhere. Sun? Ireland? Two words you do not tend to put together when considering the Emerald Isle. I have been there several times and have probably had one good weather day in fifty!

Simple colours say all the sources, mainly white, yellow and black for the poorest. But these are not quite the poorest so get an upgrade or two!

I have done the shields mainly black, with or without a simple design, to tie the whole 24 figures together as a homogenous whole.

As I said above, these are not quite the poorest of the lot in financial terms, so in crept my desire for some colour and a few patterns in their clothing. Don't you just love cloaks???