Last Anglo-Saxons for SAGA

These were actually painted last year in time for the French Grand Melee. But the lack of time to take some photos and problems with photoshop prevented me from posting them any earlier.

Nothing really spectacular here, but with the changes from SAGA 1 to version 2 it became moch more sensible to field four points of Levies for my Anglo-Saxons instead of three points of Warriors and just one point of Levies as I did in the past.

Since I wanted a unit of archers, this was all easy enough. Those three points of Warriors I used before were amalgamated into two points of Levies (since both added up to 24 minis). For the archers I picked up a set from Footsore Miniatures. I was really pleased with them. Mighty nice mini and a true joy to paint.

The biggest plus was that no two minis were identical. While there are only six different poses, each mini that shares the pose with another has a different face and head gear to make them all different. I kept the colours simple and subdued to make them appear like lowly peasants that could not afford any bright and expensive clothes.

In addition I had always fielded a Priest Warlord in the earlier edition to get enough SAGA dice. Now I felt I needed a fighter. Well or rather could afford one without having too few SAGA dice. I felt it made the most sense to pair him up with the Hearthguards, since only they can be sacrificed, instead of him taking wounds. Since all my Anglo-Saxon Hearthguards are mounted, he had to be mounted too, to keep up with them.

As with the Hearthguards, I used Norman cavalry from Conquest Miniatures modified with Gripping Beast plastic Anglo-Saxon parts to make them look the deal. The only thing I regret about them are the shields. I was running out of time ahead of the Grand Melee and simply did not have the time to paint the shields any nicer. And over the past few months, I simply could not find the motivation to repaint them or add more detail.

 

SAGA, French Grand Melee 2018

Well things have become a little quiet lately. Last month I finished a bigger batch of vehicles for my WW II project and right on the heels it was painting extra minis for the SAGA French Melee.

I had been wondering what to play. Out of my Age of Vikings era armies none were really playable under SAGA 2, so I first has to make the choice which army to expand. Only the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons could be done in due time and I was in no mood to play Vikings, so Anglo-Saxons it was.

I decided to play with a mounted Warlord, two points of mounted Hearthguards amalgamated into one unit and 4 points of Levies (3 of them with close combat weapons and 1 with bows).

What gave me some headaches though, was that I had hardly gotten any games of SAGA 2 in since its release… one in mid-August another earlier this month. So I was not expecting much, except for a good weekend.

Game one (standard Clash of Warlords)

The first game pitted me against Andy Lyons’ Welsh. I have to say, this was the game I had been both hoping for and dreading for years. For those who do not know him, Andy has played SAGA Grand Melees and Iron Mans all over the world and won a good number of them. A former U.K. and German champion and the current French champion, he was quite an opponent for the first match. That being said, I have known him for a man with great spirits for years, so no matter what, I was expecting a great game.

Andy was playing Welsh in an all mounted, all Javelin set-up. There was a Warlord, a Priest, 2 points of Hearthguards and 3 points of Warriors. Unfortunately I cannot remember how he arranged them.

Deployment method was A. Andy was first player and decided to take shots with his javelins at my Hearthguards. Which did not go too well. That turn and the next one too Andy rolled below average on his to-hit rolls, I rolled above average on my saves. This resulted in Andy having to keep his troops closer to mine than he would have liked. By the third or fourth turn my Levies were close enough to his troops and spread out enough to always be able to attack one of his units no matter where he put them at the end of his turn. So it was a close call all the time and in the end Andy won by a point.

All in all I was extremely happy with the result, which put me in the midfield and still gave me chances for a good result in the end. But in all fairness, had the dice been more average, Andy would have won by a bigger margin.

Game two (Clash of Warlords variant)

First things first. This scenario was based on the Clash of Warlords, but both players got to place two objectives each (at least L from a long board edge and at least M from another objective). Being in procession (having a unit within VS of an objective at the end of the game, without any enemy units within VS) gave you another two kill points per objective. This game I was playing a very good French player, who’s name I unfortunately forgot [EDIT: It was Dorian.] He was playing Normans. A mounted Warlord and a mounted Priest, 1 point of mounted Hearthguards, 2 points of mounted Warriors (spread into two units of 5 and one of 6 men), 1 point of Warriors on foot with close combat weapons and 1 point of Levy archers.

Deployment method was B and we both put the objectives in terrain in our home corner close to our respective Levie archers. I began in a strong round defense hidden from his Archers by a large hill in the middle, expecting such a mobile army to go on the offensive. Again I was player two and took a heavy beating for it. My opponent rolled well on his three SAGA dice and together with the use of We Obey managed to send his larger unit of mounted Warriors charging into my Hearthguards using two SAGA abilities (Charge and Pursuit) to beef their mettle quite a bit in additions to the benefits from charging with javelins. This cost me dearly, since I lost a total of 7 Hearthguards. My other troops were able to mop those Warriors of his up once it was my turn, but it meant we had traded 6 Warriors of his versus 7 Hearthguards (and I think a Levy or two) of mine. Which left me down four slaughterpoints on aggregate. Not a good start, since I had to go on the attack now to make up for that. So I left the bow armed Levies alone to guard the objectives, while the rest of my army began their journey to attack the enemy positions. All game long the dice were a reversal of the previous game. This time I rolled sub-par and my opponent better than average. But still my troops kept constantly closing the gap. Things still did not look too good until the fifth turn when he tried to take out my Warlord and failed, loosing a unit of Warriors. My counterattacks cost him his Warlord and now I was in the lead. My plan sometime during the game had become to contest his objectives with my Warlord (the only unit mobile enough) on the final turn, but all this fighting had left him with too much fatigue, so I just scrapped that plan. On the other hand my opponent did not manage to contest mine either since he was kept too busy on his flank. So in the end my lead in slaughter point gave me the victory.

Game three (Clash of Warlords variant)

Game three would bring another Clash of Warlords variant. This time one would only score slaughter point in Melee and each time your Warlord took part in a Melee it would be another two bonus slaughter points. There would be no slaughter point for a unit being destroyed completely.

After having had to play two armies that were either completely or mostly mounted I had been hoping for an all foot opponent. My wish was granted, but one should always beware what you wish for. Emmanuel (who came second overall [EDIT: He came third overall]) was playing Pagan Rus and this was not the kind of game I had hoped for.

He fielded a Warlord, 3 points of Hearthguards (amalgamated into two units of six), 2 points of Warriors (fielded as a unit of twelve and four mean respectively) and a unit of Gall-Gaedhil mercenaries.

Set-up was according to method B once more. Due to the Pagan Rus ability Frozen Winds my units were fairly spread out (but they still suffered from it for the first three turns), while my opponent deployed fairly compact.

I can no longer remember who was player one, but it did not really matter. Emmanuel made heavy use of Blizzard, Long Winter and Biting Cold all throughout the game, which over the first three turns meant that except for a volley by my archers against his large unit of Warriors I did not get any charges or volleys in.

So I simply positioned my units where they would be able to either attack next turn or force my opponent to withdraw. And I made sure I always had Valiant Hearts actived and had a mix of Defenders of the Kingdom, Closed Ranks and Clash of Shields on my board. Which paid off. His large unit of Warriors attacked my Levies with bows in rocky ground and took a heavy beating. Virtually the same happened when his Gall-Gaedhil followed up. They were now attacked by one of my Levies to my advantage. Now I was leading on slaughter points and his board became oriented towards the offensive which meant I was actually able to get two charges of my own choosing in. His attacks met a similar fate as before. But until the end of the game I was unable to attack with my Warlord. His formation was too compact to risk that and the easier targets were situated within ruins, making them too hard to attack. We had to finish the game after the fifth turn due to us taking a little too long, but the result was a solid victory for me.

Fourth game (Clash of Warlords variant)

The second day began with yet another Clash of Warlords variant. Every turn from the second turn onwards, one would get an extra slaughter point for every unit that was completely within the opponents half of the table.

I was facing Simon who was playing Normans as well. His force consisted of a mounted Warlord and Priest, a point of Hearthguards three points of mounted Warriors (spread out in a number units of six, five and four men) and a point of archers.

I was aware that to win this one, had to prevent my opponent from getting on my side of the table as long as possible, since I would hardly be able to contain, let alone catch, this many mounted units once they got to my side. So I tried to make the centre of the table as restrictive as possible by placing a large wood on the right flank, a swamp on the left and a field in the centre. I was player one and rolled a four as our deployment method (method B), but chose to shift that to method C. Due to his large number of units and the large cavalry bases he was using he had to spread his units out a lot, placing some of them either behind terrain the had to move around or at the very edge of the table. All in all this meant that during turn two and three I had more units on his side of the table than he had on mine. Special praise has to go to my Hearthguards who held on to my left flank on their own versus three units of Warriors and later on the Warlord and Priest. I had to laugh when Simon put a lot of effort into attacking them with a unit of Warriors aided by the Charge and Pursuit abilities only to find I still had Valiant Hearts active and had Defenders of the Kingdom and Clash of Shields on my board. All in all this fight cost me nothing while he lost his whole unit. But I also made a stupid mistake when I became greedy and had my last remaining Hearthguard attack his exposed Priest later on only to die in the process without doing the Priest any harm.

Only in turn four and five did the number of units on the opponents side shift substantially in his favour. But during the whole game I had done my best to both keep him back and bring his Warrior units below the four men threshold for creating SAGA dice. Which meant I was in the lead on real slaughter points. In the end he had slightly more points for units on the opponents side than I had while I got more from the kills. Again the game had to be called after turn five and we were equal on points. The tournament did not allow for a draw and since I still had vastly more men left on the table, I it was a minor victory for me.

Game five (Clash of Warlords variant)

This variant would give each player two extra slaughter points at the end of each of their own turns per unit for every unit partially within M of the table-centre.

This time my opponent was Jan who also played Anglo-Saxons. He fielded a Warlord on foot, a Priest on foot, a unit of Gall-Gaedhil mercenaries, 3 points of Levies with close combat weapons and 1 point of Levies with bows. I was expecting this to become a very bogged down game given the defensive orientation of the Anglo-Saxons.

Again, I was player one. I have to say, I did not care much for terrain, except that I wanted a field on my side of the table partially within M of the centre where I could place my archers and that the rest of the terrain I deployed (a hill) did not restrict the movement of my cavalry too much. Jan placed two small woods on his side of the table, also partially within M of the centre, one of which I moved away from the centre. Deployment was according to method C again.

I did not roll too well on those three initial SAGA dice. So there was no way I could do him some harm and I settled for two defensive abilities to get me through the first turn and moved two units of Levies and my Warlord within M of the centre. My opponent tried to expel as many of them as possible (and succeeded on the two close combat Levy units) and tried to kill my Warlord (which he did not, but which left my Warlord with three fatigue).

The next turn my Hearthguards together with two units of close combat Levies managed to push the enemy back, giving them a heavy beating. My Warlord was still very exposed, had two fatigue and had three units of Levies within S of him. Which made him a tempting target (both as a kill and due to the fatigue the other units within S would get upon his death). So Jan tried to brush one unit of Levies away with his Levies and Gall-Gaedhil (which he managed) and kill my Warlord with the later (which he did not). But this had left his Mercenaries with three fatigue and they were wiped out by my Hearthguards without any losses of my own the next turn (I used two of his fatigue to raise my armour to seven). My Levies regained their position against their oposites and the dollowing turn my Hearthguards about faced and pushed another unit of Levies out. From then on it was only securing my position (gaining ten slaughter points per turn) and harressing the enemy. In the end I won by a margin for 39 points, for a superior victory. What really made me happy was that in this very last game, my Hearthguards were able to enact their envisioned role of shocktroops for the first time.

The results

All in all I ended up with 62 tournament points and made fifth place overall. With which I am mighty happy, given both my lack of preparation and the quality of the opponents.

The later was really amazing. I have played in a number of tournaments over the years and always have I had one opponent that only gave me an easier game. Not so this time. They were all very good players and there was not a single game that one could just play it home easily. Even the very last game was much harder than the result would suggest. The general sportsmanship, not just in the games I played but also what I saw on adjacent tables, was very good. Being provided with lunch on both days and dinner on the first day as well as cake was a huge bonus.

So all in all, it was a very taxing, but friendly and enjoyable weekend. One I will certainly try my best to repeat as often as possible in coming years.

Merci beaucoup!

 

The last of my Anglo-Saxons

As announced in my last post, here are the final minis for my Anglo-Saxons. One more point of Warriors. Again Gripping Beast plastics with LBMS shield transfers done the same way as all the Anglo-Saxon Warriors before them… so not much to say about them.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with swords

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with swords

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with swords

But that was not all I did to finish my Anglo-Saxons. As I said, I played them with a Religious Advisor Warlord. I had wanted to actually use the warlord base I had painted at the very beginning, but in case someone complained, that this was too combative (which no-one did) I needed a base that looked like it was… well religious enough and came across the set with the monks from Gripping Beast. I painted them up as Franciscan friars. Not sure why really, but thinking about medival monks, the first thing that came to my mind was “The name of the rose”, so that seemed fitting.

Medival Monks

Medival Monks

Medival Monks

While I based them the same as I do all my Warlords, they could just as well serve as a marker for the “The Baggage” scenario of just act as extras on the battlefield. They were a fast paint job, but I really enjoyed them a lot.

 

SAGA tournament report from Kllingencon, Germany

As those who have followed my blog over the past few weeks will know, I took part in a SAGA tournament the other weekend. For those who will now ask “Did you finish your Anglo-Saxons?”… yes I did, but that will be my next post.

What exactly did I play? My Anglo-Saxons were led by a Religious Advisor Warlord. It featured two points of mounted Heathguards (amalgamated into one unit), three points of Warriors (amalgamated into two twelve-men strong units) and one point of Levies with shields and spears.

So how did it go in general? Well, it was mixed. My opponents were great all around and a joy to play with, so no complaints on that front! My SAGA dice rolled really well, although I always got the multiple helmets on those turns when I did not need them and never when I really did. My D6 were abysmal though. Worst was the attack where I had 21 attack-dice with a target of 3 and only scored four hits (of which my opponent saved three). But.. c´pst la guerre, mon ami!

In the first game I played a novice player with Jomsvikings in a “Clash of the Warlords” mission. Do not let yourself be fooled, novice or not, he knew his force and played it well, making the best of his abilities and keeping his Warlord well protected behind a strong screen of Warriors and Heathguards. The only reason why I was able to win this one was because I managed to lure his Warlord forward to attack one of my exposed units together with the Heathguards. Once he was in the main battle line, he fell to repeated charged by my Heathguards after an assault by my levies had reduced the number of retainers he could sacrifice to safe his life.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (Anglo-Saxons vs. Jomsvikings)

The second game (where I forgot to take pictures) was “The cart” against a very experienced Moors player. He played a force loaded with Warriors and supplemented by Nephatim… one everyone seemed to loath at last years Grand Melee. Combined with my bad dice rolling his sound tactics really kept eating into my force, until there was hardly anything left. Desperate times calling for desperate measures I used what little was left of my force to block his cart, while I sent mine on a mad, unsupported Hail Marry move. Which paid off, since I managed to my cart of the table, to win the game.

After this second game, I was second in the standings and was paired against the first and eventual tournament winner with his Welsh for a game of “Holy Ground”. The game was quite interesting in that I ignored the woods to the left for the game, while we battled it out for the hill in the middle. I held the woods to the right for the whole game while constantly being subjected to arrows and javelins from more than half his force. What really broke my neck there was the turn were my opponent rolled really well on his SAGA dice and was able to activate all his units at least once by regular means, plus another two times through the use of his two mass activation abilities. In the end it was quite tight with me loosing by two points.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon II (Anglo-Saxons vs. Welsh)

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (Anglo-Saxons vs. Welsh)

The last game was against Mutataw’wia in a scenario called “Pillage Village”. This is where my dice started going from bad to worse, with all my attacks and defenses going bad. Plus I was starting to feel the drain of a stressful week, a headache and four games in a row on this day. and was starting to make mistakes. Needless to say, this one ended in another loss.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (a view over the tables)

All in all I finished 12th out of 24, which was not bad, although I had entertained higher hopes after the first two matches.

Thoughts on my force. Well most people criticised the use of two units of Heathguards in an Anglo-Saxon force. And I have to say… it was a mixed blessing. They proved critical during the first game and would have been of good use in two more games and I still think this has potential. But it holds true, that they were loosing effectiveness fast, since it was hard to keep them as the large unit to have them work for the Anglo-Saxons. The Religious Advisor Warlord was good, since he provided the resources (= SAGA dice) I badly needed and even though he lacked punch, he was really essential for the force as a whole. The Warriors and Levies worked fine though. BUT, I am sure I would ever use the Anglo-Saxons for a tournament again. You can really feel that they are lacking when compared to the newer Crecent & Cross factions that will often keep you from acting and making the best of your abilities.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (another view over the tables)

Well up next the preparations for this years Grand Melee will begin, which will mean painting my Spanish!

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon ( yet another view over the tables)

 

 

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with axes for SAGA (5th Entry, 6th AHPC)

Well this was my last post for this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I have the next (and last batch) of 8 Anglo-Saxons for SAGA on my workbench right now, but since I spontaneously started a new job the other week on Wednesday (I guess that is what you call it when the project a start in May and then ask you if you could start in three days time), I guess I did not have the time to finish them before the Challenge ended. Actually they are still on the workbench, with the tournament I want to sue them for taking place next Saturday! :-O But alas, my original goal had been 250 points and I have more than doubled that with a grand total of 570, so who cares!

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with axes

Anyway, this is another SAGA point of Thegns for my Anglo-Saxon army. Just like the last ones, these are pretty straight forward Gripping Beast plastics, with LBMS shield decals. The warrior with the blue shield is a slight conversion that I felt was required due to his un-combative pose, but that is it. Only the usual chainmail sculpted where the arms meet the torsos, painted, based and ready for combat.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with axes

I have to say I like the GB plastics. Good detail for plastics and lots of character in the faces one can work with. So I was glad to have done a lot of them this Challenge.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with axes

 Hope to be showing you the last 8 Warriors and an alternative Warlord before the weekend… keep your finders crossed!

 

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with spears for SAGA (4th Entry, 6th AHPC)

So this is it. The Challenge is drawing to an end and I am guessing, this will be my second to last entry (maybe even my last one… not sure how much progress I will make the next couple of days). Again some Anglo-Saxons for SAGA or to be more precise, one (SAGA) point of Thegns.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with spears

These are pretty straight forward. Just plastic Thegns with spears, virtually straight out of the box. The only thing I had to do was sculpt a little chain mail around the shoulders, where the separate arms meet the torsos.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with spears

The shields are transfers from LBMS and that is about all there is to say about them. Well not really, as there is an extra minis with a standard.

Anglo-Saxon Thegns with spears

Now in SAGA you have the option to swap one Heathguard or Warrior in a unit for a standard. I could go on forever how clever I am and that I wanted a standard to keep all my options open, but truth be told… I simply lost count while cleaning up these minis and did nine spearmen instead of eight.

Anglo-Saxon Thegn with standard

So I simply added a standard I had printed out for some Rohan cavalry for Lord of the Rings to his spear and that is it.

Anglo-Saxon Thegn with standard

So, now there is two more points of warriors left to do and I am good for the SAGA tournament next month!

 

 

SAGA Anglo-Saxon mounted Heathguards (2nd Entry, 6th AHPC)

So this is last weekends output, some mounted Anglo-Saxon Heathguards for SAGA.
Now in general Heathguards seem to be a rare sight in an Anglo-Saxon war band in SAGA due to the fact, that Anglo-Saxons benefit most from large units (10+). Given that you can only purchase 4 Heathguards for a SAGA point, the does not seem like a natural choice and to be frank… I am not sure if I am making a clever choice here. On the other hand, I feel that many scenarios do require the extra speed mounted troops provide, so I am willing to take that gamble.

2 points of Anglo-Saxon Heathguards

But maybe that gamble will pay off. If I amalgamate these two SAGA points into one unit it will be 8 men strong. With the right dice played on the right ability, this unit will count as 2-4 men stronger. But obviously that will leave me low on SAGA dice… ahh lets just see!

Anglo-Saxon mounted Heathguards

Anyway, on to what is important for the Challenge… the minis. Mounted Anglo-Saxons are not the easiest models to find, so I decided to take another route here. As some might know, I am simultaneously building a Norman army for SAGA and for those I had bought two boxes of plastic mounted Normans from Conquest Games. Actually more than I will need, so I decided to convert eight of them to Anglo-Saxons.

Anglo-Saxon mounted Heathguards
[rear view]

Now their equipment is a little different, since in SAGA the Anglo-Saxons are based on the late 9th to early 10th century, while the Normans are based on the middle 11th century. So I took the heads as well as sword / axe hands from the Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns box set and fitted those to the Conquest models. The hands were easy enough to do, but the heads required some work, due to the fact, that the Conquest models have the necks attached to the heads, while the Gripping Beast ones have the necks as part of the body. So that required some sculpting of chainmail around the necks. Which was half as bad, since the Conquest minis are all sculpted with their swords in their scabbards, so I had to remove the hilts and re-sculpt those sections anyway. Plus I love sculpting chainmail!

Anglo-Saxon mounted Heathguards

Otherwise I went for the round shields that came with the Norman cavalry. Tear shaped shields simply felt wrong for early Anglo-Saxons and that leaves me with tear shaped only shields on my Normans later on. So this was a win – win scenario for me there.

Anglo-Saxon mounted Heathguards
[rear view]

Painting wise I went a slightly new route here. I have always felt, that horses were a huge time drain to paint. So some time last year I decided to do the at least the base coat with my airbrush and these were actually the first mounted troops I did since then. And I think this was a good decision. In the past it took me about 10 minutes to base coat a single horse, now it was 10 for the whole group (including cleaning the airbrush afterwards). So I think this will become my new weapon of choice for horses.

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

All the rest was fairly standard straight forward painting. Not much to say there. Out of the eight shields, six are free-hand painted, with the two hanging by the horses sides sporting decals from LBMS. I really enjoyed painting these, especially trying to match their designs to those from LBMS, since all the other troops will have decals on their shields and I did not want them to stand out.

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

But my favorite is the one below, due to the fact that it is a simple wooden shield with the design painted on the bare wood. That gave me a canvas to paint both the bare wood and a design, which was great fun.

Anglo-Saxon Thegn

And here are a few more close-ups of the other riders:

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

There is also something else that was a first for me with these minis. In the past I always used varnish from the can to seal my minis. As we all know, that creates a “no spraying time” when it is cold and/or humid outside. Something that kept me from a posting before last week and that is simply annoying.

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

I have also been suffering from another problem for a little over a year now. I have always used an industrial varnish that produced a perfect flat result. But some time in 2014 they must have changed the formula, which always resulted in a satin finish. This would go flat after 6-12 month, but it was still highly annoying. So I got myself a 0.4mm needle for my airbrush which allows me to use varnish in it. She these are actually the first troops to be varnished using an airbrush. Really happy with that, especially since it will allow me to varnish regardless of temperature and humidity.

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

All in all, I am really really happy with these riders. I feel plastic wargaming minis can be hit an miss. Some are marvelous, others can be awful. When I took these out of the box, I felt they were somewhere in between, but once assembled and painted, I can only say that they are lovely. Especially the horses, even though the animals require some filling where the body meets the neck. In that sense, I am really looking forward to painting the Normans later on!

Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman

I also painted a bunch of Sci-Fi minis, but the bases bases on them are still giving me some troubles, so I am not sure, if I will be able to get those in before the Friday deadline for the AHPC (which I did not).

If not… Ei will be bäck! (Sorry for that one, but maybe this will give you an idea, of what is to come. 😉 )

 

 

SAGA Anglo-Saxons (1.2nd Entry, 6th AHPC)

Having rekindled my interest for SAGA last year with my participation in the Grand Melee I feel it is time to add some more factions to my collections. One of those are the Anglo-Saxons. I always liked the way the looked on the paper and their large units in SAGa make them look appealing on the tabletop as well. At least I hope so, since this is only the first (SAGA) point and the Warlord I have painted.

Anglo-Saxon Fyrd

Up first are the Fyrd (Anglo-Saxon Levies). 12 men in all for one point. I usually do not like Levies in SAGA, but I find the Fyrd quite interesting. For one if they are armed with close combat weapons they have the same armour as the Warriors. Second, while most factions have problems activating their Levies, the Anglo-Saxons have some abilities that allow them to activate units based on size, making a large unit of Levies all the ore interesting.

Anglo-Saxon Fyrd

The minis are all plastic minis from Gripping Beasts Levy box, but I gave them all helmets from the Gripping Beast plastic Saxon set. This means they are not wearing any chain mail of other body armour, denoting their Levy status, but with their shields and helmets, they are better armoured than the average Levy in the game, underlining their better armour values. The shields are transfers from LBMS.

Anglo-Saxon Fyrd

Up next is the Warlord. The Warlord model himself is an Anglo-Danish Warlord from Stronghold Terrain, but I felt he would make a great Anglo-Saxon Warlord none the less. After all his clothing and armour are generic enough to let him pass as either.

Anglo-Saxon Warlord

Since SAGA allows / asks for a larger base for the Warlord, one can usually add some scenic elements. In this case I chose two more warriors. Both are from the Gripping Beast plastic Saxons set. Their shields received transfers from LBMS. Same goes for the large banner. The Dragon Banner came with the plastic set. I wanted it to look very colourful. Probably not right for the Anglo-Saxons, but I always liked them colourful.

Anglo-Saxon Warlord

The shield on the Warlords back was hand painted, since I felt that none of the transfers would fit it. The design is a bit simpler than what one would expect from a Warlord, but painting him up, he rather looked like a nitty-gritty kind of person, so not much decoration on his clothing and shield for me.

Anglo-Saxon Warlord
[Shield Detail]

To underline his nitty-gritty looks I made another addition. I can not be seen too well on these photos but his left foot is resting on the severed head of one of his enemies. And I wanted him to look like he had just chopped that one-off. So there is some blood and gore dripping from his axe. (I felt this did not show too well on the other photos so I put a piece of paper between the minis for this photo).

Anglo-Saxon Warlord