More 28mm Late Roman shock cavalry

 More Late Roman shock cavalry from my club purchase, this time mainly unarmored cavalry.  I've done these on Royal Blue uniforms with a green and white shield pattern.

Some close ups of the figures.

The labarum carrier, again bearing the chirho symbol.

Lots on the painting table although a new puppy is taking up a lot of time.

Thanks for looking.

Saga Age of Invasions

 Played a game of Saga Age of Invasions at the club last month.  6pts of my Late Romans vs 6pts of Dennis' Huns.

The plucky Romans deployed in line with infantry in the centre and cavalry to the flanks, in this case Gothic elite cavalry (3 x hearthguard units), pedyts (2 x warrior units) and sagitarii (1 x warrior unit).  The aim was to try to restrict the Huns movement by hemming them in with the Roman line.

The Gothic elite cavalry on the left flank all geared up to charge.

The Roman infantry and Goth cavalry on the right flank ready to try to push the Huns into the corner.

Alas, it was not to be.  With Dennis getting first activation, his light cavalry swarms dealt a death blow to one of the Gothic cavalry units on the left flank, from which the whole force never recovered.  The Huns swept around the Roman left, despatching unit after unit, with little harm to themselves, although one unit of horse archers was reduced to three figures.

All in all, a disaster for Roman arms against the much more mobile Huns.  I foresee a need for the Romans to secure light cavalry of their own, plus consider using levy light cavalry to provide increased force size to help with the hemming in.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Late Romans

Some time ago now I picked up a box of plastic Saga Late Roman infantry.  I bought a Scotti Saga army at Gauntlet in the summer, so figured I could get some games in with a sub-Roman mini campaign involving a Roman field force, Scotti and Anglo-Danish army (masquerading as Saxons minus the Dane axes).  In the run-up to Christmas I made a start on the Romans.

Armoured legionaries (1pt of Hearthguard).

Another unit of armoured legionaries.

Unarmoured legionaries or auxilia (1pt of Warriors).

Archers

Command group of general, dragon bearer and musician (Warlord).

The army so far.

So, I still have a unit of unarmoured legionaries and a unit of archers to paint.  I also bought a Gripping Beast box of 12 Late Roman light horse, assembling 6 as mounted archers and 6 as javelin armed.  Then I also bought some metal heavy cavalry, enough for a unit of heavy armoured cavalry and a unit of unarmoured medium cavalry.  I also plan to add a unit of super-heavy cataphract horse to the army as well.  I'm also tempted to add a box of Gripping Beast Dark Age warriors to use as Limitani in a Late Roman force or as sub-Roman Britons with some Arthurian cavalry.  Not sure how far down the route I'll go as I'm also keen to get a 20mm force organised for Battlegroup Pacific due out later this year (thinking USMC) and I want some 28mm Muskets and Tomohawks or pirates figures for at least one game of Sharpe Practice next year, set in an imaginary Indian Ocean.

Thanks for looking.

Saga army finished at last

My main Christmas 2013 present from the missus was a 6pt Saga Anglo-Danish army from Gripping Beast.  I started work on them in September 2014 and I finally managed to complete the last unit a week ago, a little over 2 years after I started - how's that for progress?

The last unit completed were a group of 12 sling-armed levy.  I've kitted them out in some rather drab brown, beige and grey colours with some washed out greens and reds, on the basis they would be dressed in homespun  clothing dyed with natural materials.

The complete warband.  Levy slingers in front, two units of 8 unarmoured warriors in the second rank and a unit of 8 armoured warriors in the third rank.  At the rear is the warlord, armed with a Dane axe, plus a similarly armed unit of 4 hearthguard and a Saxon leader, representing an exiled Saxon advisor/hero.

From the front.

From their left flank.

From their right.

Looking through the centre of the ranks.

Bearing in mind the snails pace of progress on the Anglo-Danes, I have no idea when these will be wrapped up, but my son persuaded me to buy him a pack of Gripping Beast Late Roman plastics.  I tried painting one of the leaders and a musician as a try out.  I don't think they have turned out too badly and he seems pleased with them.  I was going to try and paint the shield designs by hand, but on seeing the decal examples from the Baggage Train, I decided to get a couple of packs to kit out the pack.  So the officers shield will need to be painted out in white before applying the decal.

 
So, with a big 6mm game coming up I've been finishing off the last of my 1980s Turks, in the form of an F-4 Phantom, my only air support, which is currently drying on the bench after being varnished.  Now to decide which is the next part finished project to wrap up.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Saga Anglo-Danes second unit of warriors

This is the second unit of warriors from the Gripping Beast starter army; these guys don't even have helmets, let alone armour.  They are wearing basic clothing and are bare headed or wear a cloth or woollen cap.  All are armed with spears.  I've assembled the commander - the guy blowing a horn, as carrying a spear and shield in one hand so he has a hand free to hold the horn to his lips.


From the front.

From behind.

Another view.

Fun to paint and looking great on the table top.  Just a unit of levy to complete and the warband is done.

Thanks for looking.

Saga Anglo-Dane Warriors

My next unit of Anglo-Danes is now wrapped up.  This time a unit of 8 Warriors, wearing helmets and carrying a mixture of spears, with scattered swords and axe-armed figures.  None wear armour and all carry round shields, although the leader carries a kite shield.

Again a really colourful bunch on the table top.  Very pleasing to see this warband growing.  I've got one more unit of 8 Warriors on the painting table and a unit of 12 Levy to complete the 6 point warband for Saga.  If I can get them wrapped up by New Year, that will be one of my New Years resolutions complete.  Just the ECW battalia and 28mm WW2 Russians left over.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Saga hearthguard

Two more units of hearthguard painted up for my Anglo-Dane warband.  Each is armed with spears, the first with round shields.

The second with a mixture of round and kite shields.

All completed figures so far, an Anglo-Dane warlord, an Anglo-Saxon warlord, one unit of hearthguard with Dane axes, and the two units of spear armed hearthguards.

A colourful bunch, very pleasing to see on the games table.

Thanks for looking.

More Saga figures

I've progressed the Saga Anglo Danes over the weekend.

First up, the Anglo Dane warlord - he's armed with a long handled Dane axe.  From in front -

 Rear view.

A unit of Hearthguard, also armed with Dane axes.

A slightly closer view of the Hearthguard.

All the figures completed so far.  Hearthguard in front with Anglo Dane warlord rear left and Saxon warlord rear right.

I'm starting to feel more confident in painting these figures now so hopefully should get the Saga warband wrapped up in reasonable time.

Thanks for looking.

First 28mm Saga figure

I finally managed to get the first of my Saga army onto the painting table.  This is something of a first for me as it is my first ever 28mm figure, first Gripping Beast miniature and first Dark Ages figure of any kind.  Although the army I have to paint is Anglo-Danish, this figure is a Saxon warlord.  I've painted him to look quite important, with bejewelled scabbard and sword hilt as well as gold trimmed clothing to suggest he is a person of high rank, perhaps an exiled Saxon noble or even a pretender to the throne of a Saxon kingdom.  I used Vallejo paints and varnish on the figure.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way he's turned out.  Now I just have to work out how to mass produce figures to get multiple units painted up.  This has also given me the confidence to paint up the Warlord Games ECW Battalia that I received as a Christmas present last year.

Thanks for looking!

Saga tournament

Last Thursday was the last club night before Easter and an enforced break due to electrical rewiring due to take place this week.  Rick had organised a Saga tournament, so 8 of us took part, each of us playing three games during the course of the evening.  My Anglo-Danes Christmas present is still in the original wrappings, so Luke very kindly lent me his.

As luck would have it, Luke was my first opponent, so his Irish warband faced his own Anglo-Danes under my control.  We played the escort scenario with my ADs trying to cross the board with three carts.  The ADs advanced rapidly to get to grips with the Irish, with the carts following up closely.  In the ensuing fighting, fortunes swung both ways, with the ADs killing the Irish warlord early on, only to lose their own soon after.  In a series of skirmishes, the ADs were whittled down to just one unit of three warriors, although the Irish also suffered.  Fortunately, my carts were able to make a sprint for the board edge in the last turn getting two safe and one almost at the board edge for a win, albeit at great cost in manpower.

Next up was Pete with his Jomsvikings and a clash of warlords scenario.  I tried to screen his warriors with a unit of AD warriors while my warlord with two units of hearthguard and another warrior unit went after Pete's warlord.  Unfortunately, my poor dice throwing led to some losses among the hearthguard, although overall losses were pretty even.  When time ran out, the figure tally was similar, but I had lost one more hearthguard than Pete who lost one more warrior, leaving Pete the winner by a single point.  Boo, hiss.  Still, I'd learned to isolate the enemy warlord with retainers, before moving in with my own warlord to deliver the death blow.

My warriors screening the right flank in front of the building.  On the left, two units of hearthguard and a unit of warriors with the warlord confront the Jomsviking warlord.

The third game was against Ian's Vikings.  Again the scenario was clash or warlords.  On deployment, I spotted that Ian had placed his warlord in the angle of a hedge line with his retainers strung out along the hedges, hoping to benefit from better saves when being attacked across the hedge.  As I tried against Pete, I screened the left flank with a unit of warriors and went hell for leather at the Viking warlord with two units of hearthguard and the warlord with a unit of warriors.  The first turn of combat whittled down the hearthguards on either side of the Viking warlord with my hearthguard generally coming off worse.  In the next round of fighting, my warlord and warriors again attacked the Viking warlord, this time using the Lords of Battle to enhance the number of attack dice.  Results paid off with too many casualties for the Viking warlord to shrug off and he went down amidst a series of spear thrusts and sword thrusts.

The final scene with the Viking warlord lying dead in the angle of the hedge.

I was so chuffed with myself I had to take a close up!

All in all a great night.  Saga is a fun game and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  A big thank you to Rick for the organisation and to Luke for the loan of his Anglo-Danes.  Also a big thanks to Luke, Pete and Ian for providing such fun opponents, especially Luke who kept smiling even when his own Anglo-Danes got the upper hand, despite being nearly slaughtered to a man.

A link to Rick's tournament page with loads of pics and a nice summary.

http://rgmb-stonebridge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/a-saga-tournament.html

Thanks for looking

Saga introduction

Well, it seems to be a month for learning new rules.  This Thursday at the club, Rick organised a Saga game so that I could get an intro to the rules and find out if I liked them enough to go out and pick up some of the lovely new hard plastic models from Warlord Games and/or Gripping Beast.  Rick had organised an evening game at the Defenders Club in Broughton and invited Luke and Red to come along for a 4 way intro game.  We quickly ran through the rules system, which is relatively easy to pick up and fairly straightforward, with almost everybody sharing similar statistics and capabilities.

During the brief walk-through of the game, Rick introduced me to the real complexity of the game which is the players special activations and abilities sheet and the "Saga Dice" system.  This is the real complexity of the game, and I was only able to scratch the surface of this aspect, as there seem to be a vast number of ways to use the Saga dice depending on your forces' skills and that of the opponents troops.

Rick has posted a battle report on his site:

http://rgmb-stonebridge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/saga-anglo-danish-welsh-alliance-vs.html

This shows some really nice pictures of the troops that Rick, Luke and Red brought with them (a big thanks to Luke for the loan of his lovely Anglo-Danish warband).  The key thing for me was how quickly the rules system became second nature and the game turns began to flow quite quickly with a nice period "feel".

All in all, a really nice game system and well worth the investment in a set of the rules and some suitable figures.  Now, all I have to decide is Viking, Anglo-Danish, Saxon, Welsh, Irish, Scots .... etc.  Decisions, decisions!

Thanks again to Rick for organising the game and the introduction, and to Luke for the loan of his troops, and I can only admire Red's immersion into the full-on aggression of his Viking warband.

Thanks for looking.