SHIELDWALL!

The Accidental Warband moves toward the finish line with 16 Anglo-Dane Ceorls.  Last up will be 2 warlords. Why 2?  Well, I sold off my plastic Vikings and warlord so once again, I have a hole in my collection to paint over.

You gotta love the large shields and the way LBMS transfers bring them to life. All Gripping Beast figs.

To round out the crew, I dug up 12 Viking Bondi I painted last spring and never posted. Adding them to my new figs gives me a total of 28 warriors for a Viking or Anglo-Dane warband.  When I run a Viking warband in Saga, I'll use the large shielded warriors like below. That is a pretty decent Viking shieldwall.

When I run Anglo-Danes, I'll use a mix of shields including kites. Kite shields appeared in the A-D forces once they hired Norman mercenaries. And Canute the Great employed Jomsvikings with his multinational Scandinavian expedition in 1014.  That means you could slip Joms or Norman foot into this warband. The portability of figs for Anglo-Danes is a nice bonus!

Today, my Galatian army will see the tabletop for the first time against the dreaded Romans in Field of Glory. I'm thinking of yelling "SHIELDWALL!" during the Roman impact phase to distract my opponent and the dice gods.  I'm hoping a few good rolls might sneak through as a result. If I want to have any chance of winning today, I better come up with a more robust plan.

The Accidental Warband

I gave the Ango-Danes a try in Saga and fell in love with their battleboard the first time out. I played them slow, loading my opponent up with fatigue. My opponent loaded his board and went all in for a knockout punch. I not only survived, I also swept his fatigued units right off table. Predictably, I was hooked!

So whats the accidental part? I just put the Ango-Danes together last week and they were supposed to sit and wait their turn.  Then, my wife and I streamed the fabulous Vikings series on The History Channel.  I could fill a post with the reasons I loved the series.  The short version is it fired my imagination and I couldn't let these figures sit with such good inspiration.  So I'm rushing the warband to the finish line.

8 Huscarls: Tough looking hombres with a nice mix of shields. I've started using Tajimal Miniautres tufts as a changeup from the silflor tufts I usually use.  Excellent product and if you buy 4 or more packs, shipping is free!

8 Huscarls with Dane axes:  These fellows get a +1 to hit due to the 2 handed axe and suffer a 1- to their armor value due to no shield.  They'll be the heavy hitters in my A-D warband.

Prime black, drybrush silver, block in, wash, add highlights and you're to the finish line. You'll notice that I traded my paint pots for glass. I like how I can put a drop of water down and work my paint into it for just the right consistency. Colors mix easily in this setup as well so I think it's a keeper.

So, whats today's takeaway?  That I'm easily distracted?  No. That I don't have a life away from the painting table?  Close, but still no.  The takeaway is you must watch the Vikings series. Check out the Season 2 trailer HERE with a Viking on Viking scrum. If you're not already knee-deep in the Dark Ages, you will be after this series. And maybe, just maybe, Saga will call out to you as well.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

Shieldwalls, axes, intrigue and something for the ladies...

Jomsvikings DONE!

One of the great things about Saga is painting an entire warband in just a few weeks.  Here's the warlord and his right hand killer.  And then the whole warband crowded in for a shot too.  If only my minis could take selfies, the quality of photos on my blog would surely improve!

Thanks to a touch of OCD, I usually finish one project before starting another.  Lately though, I've pitched that so I can work like the rest of you.  With the Joms done, here's what's on my table.

Old West: I've got a commission for 28 Great Escape old west figs including Desperadoes, Cowboys, Outlaws and Lawmen.  I'm looking forward to a demo game once I'm finished.  Back in the day, I spent many, many hours playing the old RPG Boot Hill so I'm really looking forward to this.

Anglo-danish:  I gave this warband a spin in Saga over the summer and won my first time out. If that's not reason enough to buy a new warband, I also enjoyed their battleboard.  If you already have a Viking warband, then Anglo-danes are an easy lift as you can port figures between the two warbands.

Dailami: Technically, they're not so much on the painting table as they are near it.  FoG has slipped off our schedules of late, dampening my motivation here.  Sorry fellows, you're on ice until I run out of things to paint.  As summer winds down, I'm happy to report my painting table is double-plus-full.