Blood Eagle - First Warband.

Pointed up the first warband for  Blood Eagle. A pretty simple process but each individual needs to be thought about and the figure looked at.

Meet the small retinue of Jarl Erlend...

l-r Bjarne, Gudrod, Jarl Erlend, Magnhild, Sigurd.

Jarl Erlend.
A young nobleman, who having just inherited his title of Jarl is keen to prove himself.
Pagan
Fate: 2+ FV: +3 SV: +1 Spd: +0 AV: 12
Traits: Hero (3), Leadership +1, Tough, Silver Tongue
Equipment: Hand Axe, Mail Byrnie, Shield, Helm, Short Sword
(Points: 70)

Magnhild.
The younger sister of Erlend.
Pagan
Fate: 3+ FV: +3 SV: +2 Spd: +2 AV: 9
Traits: Fanatic, Tough
Equipment: Spear, Dagger, Shield
(Points: 50)

Gudrod.
Known as "The Hunter". An older, more experienced man assigned to 'look out' for Erlend.
Pagan
Fate: 3+ FV: +3 SV: +4 Spd: +0 AV: 9
Traits: Skirmisher, Manyshot, Hawkeye
Equipment: Sword, Dagger, Bow, Mail Byrnie
(Points: 58)

Bjarne.
A beserker who tends to follow wherever Gudrod goes.
Pagan
Fate: 3+ FV: +3 SV +0 Spd: +0 AV: 7
Traits: Beserk, Fanatic, Tough
Equipment: Axe (2-Handed)
(Points: 45)

Sigurd.
A young warrior and friend of Erlend.
Pagan
Fate: 5+ FV: +2 SV: +0 Spd: +0 AV: 12
Traits: None
Equipment: Sword, Dagger, Mail Byrnie, Helm, Shield
(Points: 30)


Figures are all Wargames Foundry apart from Jarl Erlend who is a Gripping Beast figure.

Blood Eagle - A Return to the Dark Ages.

Inspired by 'box-set' viewing of the TV series "Vikings" and the discovery of the new rules from The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare, "Blood Eagle", Robafett and I have decided to dust off the Viking and Saxon figures and get some good old fashioned Dark Ages gaming back to the table.

Glory or Valhalla!

Lion Rampant test game - Angry Highlanders!

We managed to get a quick test game of Lion Rampant played at the first of our monthly 'Friday Night Firefight' at Wayland Games. Chris (the only one to have played before) and I played some mean looking Highlanders and Andrew and Rob took up arms as axe wielding Islanders.

No game report as it was just a test game, an opportunity for Chris to teach us the rules!

The Islanders were ultimately successful due to a lot of 'wild charges' by our angry rabble...

Some pics from the game -

Excellent set of rules, quick to learn and very instinctive. The disorganised chaos when troops refuse to act, or worse begin to do things you don't want them to, provides a great fun game. Although a 'medieval' set of rules, they seem pretty easy to adapt to any period. There are even suggestions for generic fantasy troops. I have already picked up some ideas for Viking / Saxons from one of the forums and have some ideas for a scenario already. Can't wait to play again!

All figures supplied and painted by Chris.

Long time no post...

Been a long while since a post on Gjallarhorn but I have not forgotten it!

I have gradually been adding a few more Vikings to the horde but time has been spent on other games and projects. Need to finish the bases on the next batch but when I get around to it I will post some pics. Also picked up a few 4ground buildings and a nice Saxon hall from Timeline Miniatures that I have almost finished painting.

I recently bought the semi-legendary Pig Wars rules but haven't had a chance to read through them yet.

Several of our group have picked up Lion Rampant and the rules look very usable for the period and we have managed to play a quick test game.

Hopefully we will manage to play some dark ages games in the near future!

Jarl Brak arrives...

Beckoned from the homeland by his brother Jarl Skallagrim, the great Hersir Jarl Brak arrives at Osea and disembarks the first of his warband...

Jarl Brak and his warband gather.

Þorbjörn the skald, Jarl Brak and little brother "Svein" Dak.

Úlfr Uggason, Kormákr "the Ax" and Frakk "Five Bellies".

Viglek, Toki and Ønef.

Skarth, Hort "the Mölva" and Hróðvitnir "the Fierce".

Agnar, Gøttrik and Hvitserk.

Braks bodyguard, the sisters Alvild, Sela and Irpa.

Cover your eyes! Thyra, Sygrutha and Unni.

Two Dvergar brothers Sindri and Brokkr flank Harthegrepa "the Mother".

Jarl Brak awaits his brother...

 Figures are all Wargames Foundry apart from the two Dvergar who are old Citadel Norse Dwarfs.

The Viking Horde...

The Viking Horde grows ever stronger!

Thought I would post a couple of pics after I dug out all my Vikings / Saxons / Dark Age Villagers etc to see what I had.

I was surprised to find I now have over one hundred and twenty painted Vikings! These are mainly Foundry but there are a mix of Artizan, Gripping Beast and Black Tree too.

Above we have the proud leaders of this horde - the old man, Thoruiv 'the Flatulent' and his eldest sons Jarl Ragnar (on the left) and Jarl Grim (on the right). In the background are the berserker Rurik 'the Restless', Sonja 'Queen of the Hill' and 'Big' Bergfinn, brother of the now deceased Bergthor.

Here we have Brother Thomas and some dogs leading some local down-trodden villagers and below are Kraki, Gudrød the Hunter, with Ingulbjörn behind them and the insane old berserker Folkmar in the foreground.

Next is a pic of Thoruiv and his 'berserker' personal guard, with Rurik and Folkmar.

Lastly, a shot of the entire horde including one hundred and twenty plus Vikings, seventy 'Saxons' and twenty odd villager types.

On the workbench, I still have about another twenty Vikings in progress, plus the original batch of villagers and animals that I never finished! Once these are done I also have about another seventy or so unpainted Vikings. As I only ever really intended to play skirmish games I doubt they will get painted up in the near future as I have plenty to occupy my time with Doctor Who and 7TV stuff...see my Level 2 blog.

More Viking Warriors Join the Warband...

Some additions to the slowly growing Viking Horde. Some of these mean looking fellows (and ladies) have already played parts in the previous scenario but here they get a proper introduction...

Young nobles (Sturaesman) Erlend and Kraki.

A small group of archers.

Thoruiv "the Flatulent" with Oddløg and Sturla.

"Big" Bergthor flanked by Asgaut and Halli. 

Gudrød the Hunter with Hrefna and Sonja.

Jarl Skallagrim with guards Tosti and Velief.

Figures are all Foundry apart from Erlend and Kraki who are the freebie figures from Gripping Beast and Jarl Skallagrim from Artizan.