Viking Bondi.

A small band of Viking Bondi spearmen on the prowl...

Hneaf and Wonred.

Aldhelm and Yrmenlaf.

Unferth and Breca.

Heoden and Guthlaf.

Snorri and Folcwalda.

Ensi and Oswine.

Theodric and Ongentheow.

The men begin to form the shield wall.

Figures are all Wargames Foundry.

Long Time No Post...

Been off working on other things so the old Viking and Saxons have been neglected of late! Dug a load of it out after concentrating on some WWII, Darkest Africa and Fantasy and decided it was time to get going again.

Just a quick pic of newer Saxon stuff to be worked on and finished with a few old faces...

The Saxon Horde gathers!

Some folk at the club are expressing some interest in playing Saga at some point, so a good motivator to get going again!
The Saxon figures above are mainly Gripping Beast with a few base-coated Vikings by Foundry.

Workbench Update - Yet More Work in Progress.

We seem to have several different strands and ideas going on at the moment with different projects our group keep discussing. The ideas range from WW2 skirmish (we now effectively have enough figures painted for anything up to platoon level, even pushing to company level with a little more work!) to Darkest Africa (the Zombie Master has a large amount painted already) via the occasional fantasy figure (probably for RPG stuff) or Rob's 15mm Sci-Fi game.

In among this I have still managed to add bits and pieces to the growing collection of Dark Ages stuff. I would guess we now have enough painted figures to be getting stuck into a few games (approx 80 vikings and 60 saxons plus a handful of villagers) and really want to actually get gaming with them! Other than one playtest game, "The Battle of Ulvik Fjord" we haven't really had much chance to schedule in a proper session. Perhaps over the Christmas period...

 Anyway I thought I would put a quick update of a few bits and bobs I have going on in the background.

First up is a few Viking horsemen I previously picked up from Simon of The Big Red Bat Cave.

I have cleaned, based and undercoated the five of these chaps so far. They are pretty far down the list of 'stuff to do' but I thought I would make a start. Nice Foundry figures that don't seem to be available anymore, so many thanks to Simon for them.

Next is the old Citadel C28 FF12-2 Mountain Giant with Battle Axe.

Really like this figure - not a great paint job (one of my old attempts) but passable. I have now based him so just a little bit left to do. And yes, that's a couple of Scorpion Men in the background.

Next is the progress I have made on the Foundry cart.

Based and first layers of colours done. As you can see, I based the two oxen together on a round base and the cart on its own one. I wanted to seperate them from the cart itself in case the scenario demanded it and felt it offered a bit of flexibility.

Really enjoying working on this!

Finally a quick snap of the 'Metal Chocolate Box Lid of Painting' and the delights held within.

In the selection above are the Monks of Glastonbury from my previous post plus a menagerie of various Foundry and Gripping Beast farm animals and the next batch of Saxon villagers, again a mix of Foundry and GB. At the back/right of the shot are the two Reaper werewolves. Still not progressed on the first one but finally got around to basing and glueing the second one. He took a bit more work as his right arm fits at a funny angle - I managed to avoid pinning but needed a copious amount of greenstuff to get it looking right!

Workbench Update - The Black Monks of Glastonbury.

Not a lot done lately but finally made a start on the Redoubt monks. Whilst browsing various figure manufacturers to add to the lead mountain I found yet more monks to add to the growing congregation!

Brother Thomas (on the right) and the newly arrived Brother Cuthbert lead the monks in prayer.

The new recruits joining the Redoubt monks are the 'Brothers of Shrewsbury Abbey' from the Black Tree Design Feudal Characters range. They are Brother Cuthbert and the three from the front row in the middle. They are really nice sculpts and could pass in pretty much any period.

 Cardinal Bertrand and the monks.

So far I have only managed to base them and get the basic flesh done but they looked so characterful I couldn't help take a couple of pictures! Cardinal Bertrand is probably dressed slightly too late for the dark ages period we are setting out games in but I thought I might as well paint him up too as I was working on the rest. With the black undercoat they currently look a little like a group of particularly serious Benedictine monks. Brother Thomas looks much like a Franciscan friar in his brown robes. This of course made me think of the classic book/film 'The Name of the Rose.'

Brother Thomas investigates the murder of Brother Adelmo whilst the horrified monks look on...

The story takes place in Northern Italy, during the early 14th Century A.D. Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his novice Adso of Melk (narrating as an old man) arrive at a Benedictine abbey where a mysterious death has occurred ahead of an important theological Church conference. William, known for his deductive and analytic mind, confronts the worried Abbot and gains permission to investigate the death – a young illuminator appears to have committed suicide. Over the next few days, several other bizarre deaths occur, and the two gradually discover that everything is not what it seems in the abbey.

Diabolic? Murder at the Abbey!

The title of this blog entry comes from an old Ars Magica supplement about the famous Glastonbury Abbey, a house of the black robed Benedictines since Saint Dunstan instituted it in the tenth century. The monks have fallen to diabolic corruption that threatens to overwhelm them all. 

Battle of Ulvik Fjord.

Our usual gaming group was at a bit of a loose end and down a couple of players the other night so we decided to try an impromptu test game for our planned Viking/Saxon campaign using the Strandhogg rules.

We kept it simple - two players (Andrew & myself) with one Noble and a warband each. As we had not playtested the rules yet we had a third player (Rob) as the referee to oversee the game rules and look after any villager/npc movement.

The warbands were set up as below -

(Andrew)
Jarl Thorir (Noble w/ hand weapons)
Hæimkæll (Warband Leader w/ hand weapon and warhorn)
Rautr, Aðaldir, Áfasti, Reyrkir (Warriors x4 w/ hand weapons and shields)
Aldir (Archer w/ bow)

(Mark)
Jarl Ragnar (Noble w/ hand weapons)
Jari (Warband Leader w/ hand weapon and warhorn)
Ringrími, Ámungr, Skjörr, Þjólfr (Warriors x4 w/ hand weapons and shields)
Sveirgir (Archer w/ bow)

The brief scenario centered around a scouting raid led by Jarl Thorir on the neighbouring village of Jarl Ragnar across the Ulvik Fjord. Ragnar became aware of Thorir's plans and was waiting to the north of the village when the attackers arrived...

The peace of the sleepy village of Ulvik is shattered as Thorir and his men charge into the village. Jarl Ragnar awaits...

The first couple of moves were essentially the two small warbands charging into the centre of the village to join battle. Thorir had drawn a card that allowed his archer to open fire at great distance but use the 'Close Range' template.

Ragnar leads the way to meet the attackers. Thorir's archer, Aldir, chooses his target well...but misses! The arrow thuds into the shield of the shocked Ringrími just behind...

As the two warbands lined up to fight, a couple of rounds of arrows were fired off but to little effect. Ragnars archer Sveirgir managed to pick out his opposite number in the oncoming group but Aldir managed a save roll despite his light armour!

Ragnars man, Sveirgir, returns fire - he hits his target but the arrow has no effect. Aldir laughs, the gods are with him today!

With the bowmen having little effect (due to some lucky rolls) the opposing warbands waste no more time and get stuck in. The village rages with the sound of clashing steel and wood as the villagers start to flee.

The warbands crash into hand to hand combat...Hæimkæll and Jari face off against each other.

After a couple of rounds of intense fighting, Sveirgir, Ringrími and Ámungr lay dead on Ragnars side. Thorir's men, Áfasti and Reyrkir were also now in Valhalla. Hæimkæll and Jari continued to fight it out with no quarter being given. Ragner and Thorir traded insults across the din of the battle...

The battle rages. Ragnar shouts across the battle at Thorir. Anhild is upset that her goats have been disturbed and remonstrates with Aldir. Aldir laughs... (again)



The battle seemed to turn at this point. Þjólfr (with the grey and yellow shield) had been hanging back but saw his opportunity and charged into Rautr (with the purple cloak) slaying him instantly. Skjörr (with the green and yellow shield) managed to kill the two handed axe wielding Aðaldir and then under the influence of Ragnar, the two warrior decided to charge into Thorir. The Jarl met them both with a bellow and promptly cut them both down...

"Glory or Valhalla!!" Þjólfr and Skjörr rush to their ultimate doom...

With Skjörr lying dead next to him, Þjólfr starts to wonder if this was a good idea.

Hæimkæll finally managed to win his epic battle against Jari. The few left standing - Thorir, Hæimkæll and Aldir - turn to face the lone Ragnar...

Ragnar stands alone...

Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, Ragnar makes a hasty retreat back to the hills to gather more men...

...and Thorir claims his glory!

Overall a simple and fun game. It has certainly helped us learn the basics and we all particularly liked the missile fire, the template idea providing a nice touch should your shot miss the mark. Melee felt a little bit clunky at first and shields seemed to be an essential but we gradually got used to it. We will probably try a couple of games with more warbands and larger forces to see how the Command Radius and formation rules work out. Once we have dissected these rules a little we may try out SAGA and see how it compares.

Now I just need to finish painting up those rather shiny looking animals...  

Workbench Update 2 - More Work in Progress.

In addition to the new Saxons I have also made a start on various other minis to swell the growing ranks of Vikings and Saxons.

First up are a few 'Viking Heroes' I bought from Simon of the Big Red Bat Cave. I have based and undercoated some of them including a Thor figure, the huge 'Rollo the Granger', 'Brogger the Bold', 'Happy Thoruiv the Flatulent', all from Foundry and Gripping Beast's 'Sven Forkbeard' swinging the large Danish axe. I feel sorry for the ones standing behind Thoruiv the Flatulent...

"What's that smell??" (middle row l-r) Brogger, Thor, Sven (front l-r) Rollo and Thoruiv.

Next are a small unit of Viking archers (also from Simon) all from Foundry.

Sigurd indicates which direction to fire in...

Lastly are a few Saxon villagers and an oxen pulled cart from Foundry, plus an unidentified plastic pig that I have no idea where she came from. Based and undercoated she seems to fit ok as a big ol' sow though!

Some Saxon villagers go about their daily business, blissfully unaware of what lies in wait for them.

A quick snap of the whole lot...



Figures from Foundry and Gripping Beast.

Our group are still leaning towards the Strandhogg system for our rules of choice, despite the release of Saga. They look to be a simple but effective set - for a great detailed review of them check out Cor Blog Me!

Workbench Update - More Saxons.

Despite the major distraction of primarily working on some WW2 bits for our planned Troops, Weapons & Tactics campaign over recent weeks I have made a start on the next batch of Saxons/Vikings etc and thought I would put up a quick post.

Above are 12 new Saxon types and an early Saxon Chieftain to the right. The are all Gripping Beast miniatures from the 'Saxon/German Tribes' range. I have managed to get most of the basic painting done on them so only need to think about detail and flesh work. Slightly anachronistic but in the background are some partially done Crusader Miniatures WW2 Germans and a wonderful Foundry sentry with his rather upset alsatian guard dog. Also on the back line are some Musketeer 'Inter-War Period' minis and the stunning 'Male Werewolf' from Reaper, probably one of the best werewolf sculpts I have come across.


Figures by Gripping Beast, Crusader Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Musketeer Miniatures and Reaper Minis.