Dark Ages SAGA Project

[rdewhurst]

Next the Irish warriors have been boosted to 24 in total. I have divided them into two photos, those mostly without shields, and those with shields. In theory, those without shields could be used as javelin-armed levy, but in fact I have always used these models as Irish warriors.



The female warriors are from Warlord games Celtic women, the rest are Footsore, Crusader, and Gripping Beast.



Again mostly Crusader and Footsore with a couple of Gripping Beast. I have tried to make it very obviously that the unit is armed with javelins, rather than just spears, as javelins are a major part of what Irish do in the game.

Irish warriors aren't as well armed in Saga as other factions, so only some have shields and those that do have bucklers.

[rdewhurst]

Two Irish priests, both from Footsore. The one on the left is a Religious Advisor and the one on the right a Warrior Priest. Using a Raven shield from War Bases I also made an "Heirs of Mil" marker so I remember which unit has used that ability in the game!

[rdewhurst]

I haven't done much cavalry for the Irish, but I wanted to try a mounted Curadh, and to use one of those I also needed a mounted Warlord. They are both from the Gripping Beast Irish mounted hearthguard pack. Not quite got the hang of painting horses yet.

[rdewhurst]

The idea of this project is to enjoy painting up some models, but also to use them in games of Saga, so I try to balance speed and quality. I usually spend a bit more time on the main characters, but larger units I try to paint more quickly. That's easier when they are all of similar colours. Although the dark age armies didn't have uniforms as such, I have tried to indicate these poorer levy units armed with slings by a fairly monochrome paint scheme. They are from Footsore.

[rdewhurst]

There are ten hearthguard with javelins, and I pretty much always use these in preference to those armed with Dane Axes I painted first. Irish are very good indeed with javelins in Saga!



These figures are mainly Gripping Beast. Most of them wear Saffron-coloured "leine", which might have been a class signifier in dark ages Ireland. They aren't as well armoured as hearthguard from other factions, and I've indicated this by giving them large shields and no mail, except for just a couple who have mail but have lost their shields. Most of the shields in these armies are LBMS, but a few are my own handiwork!

[rdewhurst]

I actually used my Irish in a tournament at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham earlier this year. I learned a lot, and even managed to win one game!



In the tournament, I used the special hero Brian Boru instead of a standard warlord. He's an old man by this time, so is seated in a chair, and the model is framed by a warbases raven in a tree.

The Footsore banner bearer with an LBMS banner was my first attempt at a banner which I botched up a bit, I hope to make it more "flowing" next time!

[rdewhurst]

I've also added some more figures to my Viking warband.

Six more hearthguard:



These are 2 Gripping Beast, 1 V&V Miniatures, 1 Drabant Rus, 1 Black Tree, and 1 Saxon Miniatures. I don't mind mixing manufacturers and sculptors, I like the idea my warband is unique, and the dark ages were all very ill-fitting and rag-tag anyway. Many of these have an eastern flavour.



I really wasn't sure how to depict a Viking priest. The chap on the left is a Black Tree Design miniature, and hopefully he looks like some kind of Viking holy man. On the right is Gripping Beast's Gunnar Hamundarsson miniature. In the sagas and in Saga he is armed with a bow, so I converted the miniature to add a bow. I also added his wife, Hallgerður, to his base (from Warlord Games Celtic women). She betrays him in the saga, refusing to help him in battle, so I have positioned her turning her back on him! The Saga also describes what she wears, which guided my colour choices.



As I've played more Saga I realise that usually you want more warriors than hearthguard, so I added some more warriors. These are mostly Wargames Foundry, but one or two I swapped out for Gripping Beast. I actually think these warriors feel more like Vikings than the more uniform Saxon Miniatures I painted earlier with matching shield colour schemes. These were very fun to paint.

[rdewhurst]

I wanted to try out a very different faction so I have also started a Norman warband.



The warlord is Crusader Miniatures's William, and his squire is from Black Tree. The mounted banner bearer is also from Black Tree.




These are the mounted hearthguard. They are a mixture of Saxon Miniatures and a few Black Tree. Black Tree have much larger horses than Saxon Miniatures, and while I haven't had a problem mixing scales otherwise these horses are very different in size which I'll try to avoid doing in the future. I found painting these cavalry rather frustrating, slow work, but I am glad now to have some mounted troops on the tabletop.

[rdewhurst]

The mainstay of Norman infantry is of course the missile troops.



These crossbowmen are from Saxon miniatures. It may not be entirely historically accurate to paint them in such a monochrome colour scheme, but it makes painting quicker and aids identification on the battlefield. And I think they look nice, as a counterpoint to the colourful cavalry!



The archers are also from Saxon Miniatures, and again I painted these ones fairly quickly to get them on the tabletop. I have started another unit of archers without helmets but I am having trouble sourcing enough different figures, so it isn't finished yet.



Warriors on foot, without missile weapons, aren't that good in a Norman Saga warband, but occasionally find a use. These are plastic Conquest Miniatures.

I haven't really got the hang of playing Normans yet, and still struggling with finding a good force composition. I have a priest on the painting desk at the moment, and also planning to paint some mounted warriors in the future-- when I can face painting more cavalry!

[Utgaard]

Really really impressive and very well painted, especially like your Irish warband 

[rdewhurst]

I'm quite pleased with how much I've painted over the past 12 months. Everything in this thread, and a handful of other models for Burrows and Badgers and Imperial Assault. I now have a good range of miniatures so I can play three Saga factions, and they can also proxy other factions too. The Irish are more or less complete, but I am going to do a few more Vikings and Normans to fill out my options. I love Saga and am really pleased that I have persisted with miniatures for this game rather than being distracted by something different.

And I have also just started a fourth warband:



These are 2 Conquest plastic, 4 Saxon Miniatures, 1 Crusader Miniatures, and 1 Gripping Beast plastic Anglo-Saxon Thegn. For the moment I have just used these miniatures when playing with a proxy army, but I intend to build them up into a warband which can be Anglo-Danes or Anglo-Saxons.

That's all for now!