Building the Seven Human Kingdoms from Wargames Atlantic Plastics

I've long wanted Warhost's Seven Human Kingdoms to feel real on the tabletop, not just in the lore.

In the weekly Chronicle of the Circle, we have written about the kingdoms, their rulers, their tensions, their geography, their politics, and the long shadow of the Sceptre over all of them. But at some point, you have to answer a very practical hobby question:

What do they actually look like?

Not just in terms of armour and clothing, though that matters, but in the way medieval and early fantasy worlds feel real. What is on the shield? On the banner? What is painted on a commander's heater shield or hanging over a gate, letting you know at a glance whose land you have entered?

This project started with a clear objective: to bridge the gap between the written world of the Seven Human Kingdoms and their physical representation on the gaming table, ensuring their individuality and realism are present in both the story and the game.

The aim was simple: to turn the Human Kingdoms of Warhost into physical miniatures using Wargames Atlantic plastics. The project focuses on representing seven neighbouring human realms, not seven disparate fantasy factions, sharing the same world but each bearing distinct identities.

The Human Kingdoms of Warhost are inspired by the broad sweep of early to late medieval Europe. Their warfare, armour, and social structures draw from Anglo-Saxon and early Frankish warbands, Viking-age river and coastal powers, early Norman consolidation, high medieval feudal organisation, and the hardened professionalisation of the Hundred Years' War. The result is not a direct historical analogue but a layered blend. Chain and spear stand beside emerging plate armour, tribal loyalty evolves into crown allegiance, and timber halls give way to stone fortresses. The goal has been to make Warhost Humans feel grounded because they reflect real historical transitions. They are not fantasy empires. They are kingdoms still in the process of formation.

With that in mind, it gave me a very useful framework when it came to building these miniatures.

I did not want one kingdom to look as though it belonged to a different century than the next. They needed to share a common visual language: spears, shields, tunics, mail, padded jackets, simple helmets, and practical clothing. There is a long transition from older shieldwall traditions to more formal medieval soldiery. Still, within that shared world, each kingdom needed its own silhouette, tone, and social feel.

So that is what this project became. Seven miniatures, one for each kingdom, built from Wargames Atlantic plastics, each intended to show the direction that kingdom could take on the tabletop.

Before going any further, I should say a proper thank you to Steve Becket of Miniature Giant, who took my ideas and brief and turned them into actual figures. Steve built, painted, and kitbashed the miniatures, and also drew the heraldry that gives each kingdom a clear visual identity. This project would not have come together in the same way without that work, and I am very grateful for it.

A quick note on the kits

One of the reasons this project worked so well is that Wargames Atlantic plastics are ideal for this sort of kitbashing. The proportions sit together well, there is a lot of useful variation across the historical ranges, and the kits give enough choice in heads, bodies, arms, shields, and weapons to create something that feels specific rather than generic. The current Wargames Atlantic direct store includes ranges such as Dark Age Irish Warriors, Peasant Levy (1100-1350), Foot Serjeants (1100-1320), Guards, Goths, Villagers, Dark Age Army Builder and their 25mm dual-use bases, all of which are useful building blocks for this sort of grounded human project.

If you want to browse the kits for yourself, the best place to start is the Wargames Atlantic direct store.

Shields, status, and the look of the kingdoms

One of the things that quickly became clear while building these figures was that shield shape does a great deal of visual work.

Not every warrior in the Seven Kingdoms should carry the same type of shield, because not every warrior stands in the same place socially or militarily. A round shield immediately pushes a figure closer to older warband and levy traditions. A heater shield, by contrast, suggests better equipment, greater formality, and a kingdom further along the road toward more organised medieval soldiery.

For many standard warriors, round shields feel exactly right. They suit the more grounded end of the range, especially men armed with a spear, wearing padded tunics, and carrying little in the way of expensive protection. They help keep the kingdoms rooted in that long transition from earlier shieldwall cultures into more developed crown warfare.

Heater shields, on the other hand, are best used more carefully. They work particularly well for better-equipped troops, retainers, household warriors, and the more advanced kingdoms. Once a figure has a heater shield, mail, a proper helmet, and a sword at his side, he reads very differently on the tabletop from the individual beside him with a round shield, spear, padded tunic, and no helmet, even if both technically come from the same realm.

That is a very useful tool when building the kingdoms.

It means you can create a visual hierarchy within the same force without breaking the setting. A Byland fyrdman and an Ardenfell retainer may still belong to the same broad world of men, but they should not look as though they stand in the same rank, serve under the same conditions, or answer to power in the same way. Shield choice helps tell that story immediately.

In practical terms, that has meant leaning toward round shields for many standard warriors across the kingdoms, while reserving heater shields more for wealthier, more experienced, or those more closely tied to a crown, household, or city authority.

It is a small thing, but it changes a lot.

What follows is a breakdown of each one, the thinking behind it, and the parts used to create it.

Byland

Byland was the easiest kingdom to visualise first, because I already knew what its ordinary warriors ought to feel like.

This is a frontier kingdom. Or rather, the kingdom broken by the frontier created by the Gate and now surviving through the Broken Warhost. Its fighters should not look like a polished household soldier or prosperous retainer. They should look like an Anglo-Saxon-style fyrdman: a farmer, marcher, or villager called up with shield and spear. Carrying only what they own and can keep in repair.

That meant leaning toward a simpler, older silhouette. A round shield, spear, plain tunic, practical belt kit, and little in the way of military ornament. Byland should feel close to both the old shieldwall tradition and ruin.

Bits used: All parts from the Dark Age Army Builder frame, plus a dagger from the Barons’ War Levy frame. Wargames Atlantic Round Shield.

Velgard

Velgard needed to feel different from Byland immediately, but without looking as though it came from an entirely different age.

This is the River Kingdom. It controls crossings, tolls, barges, and movement. It controls the life of the inland waterways. The miniature should feel more organised and better supplied than Byland, but still practical. Think less desperate frontier levy and more river guard, toll man, or retainer attached to trade and transport.

That meant a profile with a cleaner, more compact look. Still very much spear and shield country, but with a slightly more ordered silhouette and a sense that his world is defined by roads, ferries, quays, and wet weather rather than the raw frontier.

Bits used: Body, spear arm and left arm from the Goth Warriors frame. Head from the Barons’ War Levy frame and cloak from the Dark Age Irish Warriors frame.

Serevarra

Serevarra needed to feel more like crown soldiery.

This is not a loose border realm or a rough marcher kingdom. Serevarra is proud, ordered, and more centralised in organisation. Its rulers are associated with the Fire School, and its authority feels more disciplined and formal. So even the standard warrior should serve the crown rather than simply answer to a local lord.

For this figure, I wanted a cleaner, more controlled military look. Steve gave them a better helmet, more coherent gear, and an enhanced sense of drilled service. Still belonging in the same world as the others; however, they should look like someone from a kingdom where power is wielded more deliberately.

Bits used: Body from the Barons’ War Foot Sergeants frame, Spear arm from the Barons’ War weapons frame. Head from the Dark Age Army Builder frame. Barons’ War medium heater shield.

Caerthain

Caerthain is all about mountains, its passes, and it is a hard country.

This warrior needed to feel tougher and more layered. They are more influenced by weather and terrain than by courtly-military culture. Not primitive, just rugged. They march over steep ground, guard narrow ways, and expect cold, stone, and wind, valuing it more than courtly ceremony.

So here we took on the mountain spearman or upland clansman feel. More layered clothing, a sturdier silhouette, and a sense that this is a soldier built for holding difficult ground rather than standing in polished ranks on a broad lowland field.

Bits used: Body and arms from the Dark Age Army Builder frame, Head and cloak from the Goth Warriors frame.

Ardenfell

Ardenfell was perhaps the most interesting to tackle because this is the capital kingdom, the bridge realm, the seat of council, and the place where authority is made visible.

Its troops should feel more civic, official, and formal than most of the others. Not necessarily richer in every case, but more regulated. More like a warrior who serves a recognised state, or guards a bridge, a hall, or a place of office.

That made this one less rustic and less rough-edged than Byland or Caerthain. The aim was a cleaner, more ordered figure. It should suggest a city guard, royal retainer, or bridge ward, not a local levy. Ardenfell ought to feel like the place where heraldry, legitimacy, and state power are most visible.

Bits used: Body from the Classic Fantasy Guards frame. Spear arm from the Barons’ War weapons frame, left arm and head from the Barons’ War Foot Sergeants frame, Sheathed Sword from the Dark Age Army Builder frame.

Kaelan

Kaelan seemed the one which needed the most restraint.

It would have been easy to push this toward the usual dead kingdom tropes, but that would have been a mistake. Kaelan is ruled by a dead king, but it is still a human kingdom. Its men should feel old, solemn, formal, and slightly unsettling, not theatrical.

So the miniature needed to look like a lawful and enduring warrior from an ancient kingdom where martial tradition has become austere rather than monstrous. Older styles are persisting longer. Darker, plainer, more restrained gear. A figure who feels as though they belong to a kingdom where ceremony outlived comfort.

Bits used: Body from the Classic Fantasy Guards frame, Spear arm from the Dark Age Army Builder frame, left arm from the Dark Age Army Builder frame, Head from the Dark Age Cavalry frame.

Marhold

Marhold took a few goes to settle, and I am glad it did.

At first, the obvious answer for the heraldry was a ship. For a while, that proved right. Marhold is a coastal kingdom, after all. It is defined by the sea, by movement, by raiding, and by trade. All these things come with a people whose eyes turn outward, not inland. A ship felt like the natural place to begin.

But the more I looked at it, the less sure I was.

The problem was not that the ship was wrong. It was too obvious and, in some ways, too narrow. It pushed Marhold to become no more than a sea kingdom. I wanted something broader and more interesting. Marhold is not exclusively about ships. It is about harbours, merchants, quays, exchange, coastal wealth, and the culture that grows up where goods and people always arrive from somewhere else.

This shaped the miniature as well. Rather than simply making him look like a raider from a ship, I wanted him to feel more like a harbour guard, coastal retainer, or fighting man from a wealthy port town. Practical sea-going clothing, sensible gear, and a silhouette determined by weather rather than pageantry.

The heraldry ended up following the same path. In the end, the design which seemed right was the one with the scallop. It gave Marhold a maritime identity without making it purely martial. It speaks of coast, trade, harbour wealth, and the wider life of a kingdom built on exchange as much as force.

Bits used: Body and cloak from the Dark Age Irish Warriors frame, Arm holding an axe, converted using parts from the Goth Warriors frame, Head from the Dark Age Cavalry frame, and coiled rope from the Classic Fantasy Guards frame.

Why the heraldry matters

One of the things that has really helped tie the whole project together is the heraldry.

Once each miniature carries the shield design of its kingdom, the identity snaps into focus much more quickly. You are no longer simply looking at a generic medieval figure. You are looking at a man of Velgard, or Serevarra, or Kaelan. That matters enormously on the tabletop.

It also means this project is not only about kitbashing for its own sake. It is about helping players see a path into one of the kingdoms and think, “That is the look I want for my warhost.”

Why is this useful

What I hope this shows is that you do not need a completely separate plastic range for every kingdom in order to begin building them.

What you need is a clear visual idea of what defines each realm, a solid pool of historically grounded kits, and a preparedness to mix parts with purpose. Once you know what the kingdom is meant to feel like, the kitbashing becomes much easier.

That is really what this project has been about.

Not just making seven nice miniatures, but testing whether the Seven Kingdoms can be made to feel distinct, believable, and collectable using the right combination of plastics, paint, and heraldry.

I think they can.

Where to start

If one of these kingdoms has caught your eye, the obvious next step is to pick a figure, pick a shield design, and start building.

The Wargames Atlantic direct store is the best place to browse the available plastic kits and start planning your own version of one of the kingdoms.

My advice would be simple:

1. Start with one warrior.
2. Get the feel of the kingdom right.
3. Then build outward from there.

This is how a warhost begins.

Final note

This has been one of those projects that reminds me why I enjoy this side of Warhost so much. It sits right at the point where background, modelling, painting, and game design all come together.

The Seven Kingdoms are no longer simply names in a manuscript. They are beginning to look like something you can actually collect.

And that is always the point where a setting starts to become real.