Getting the band together - Norse Gael

For Christmas, Mrs. Gamer gave me a Gripping Beast Norse-Gael warband. For readers not interested in the Dark Ages, you're probably muttering "Dear lord, make him stop!"  Short of divine intervention,  I can't stop my Dark Ages painting quite yet but I'll change things up by sharing how I put this warband together.

These 2 pics should be last in today's post but with blogging, I'm compelled to lead with my best. I start a warband by painting levy figures first and working my way up the socioeconomic ladder. These 12 javelinmen are Norse-Gael levy. As such, they're poor, plain and expendable.   I'll go into who the Norse-Gael were later in this series. For now, you might be asking how did I get here? Let's rewind to the start. 

The Way of the Gun:  I'm positively stuck on basing my 28mm figures with a glue gun.  It's fast, easy and reversible should you decide to rebase. The blob of glue also gives a nice transition that reduces the "pitcher's mound" effect.  

Chop It Down:  The figures below are the javelinmen.  To distinguish them from the spearmen, I took the Gripping Beast spears and clipped them at both ends. I cut the spears down to less than the height of the figures to better represent a javelin. Then I cut the enormous spearpoints down by 50% as well. 

Drill, Baby, Drill: Gripping Beast cast their axe-wielding figures without holes in their hands. Bad Beasty! Don't they know that drilling 24 hands out with a pin drill is brutally slow and painstaking work? With my Dremel and attachment, I got through this quickly and without swears!

What Can Brown do for You?  I prime my Dark Age figures white, topped with a burnt umber ink wash. The ink is cut with water and a bit of glue to make it colorfast during the paint and wash stage.  You can use matte medium for this as well and Gillies of the Wilderness of Mirrors blog has a recipe for an ink bath. Gillies turned me onto the wonders of ink and I've been hooked  since. I apply the ink wash everywhere but the shield front.  Those need to stay white for the LMBS shield transfers. One benefit of an inked figure is it helps you see the detail.  If you paint neatly and keep the ink in the borders, you get an effect similar to blacklining.  

So, that's how I put these mad Viking-Irish fellows together. 

I'm putting some of my 15mm Field of Glory armies up for sale.  The Ancient Spanish are up on the block today and after I get a good set of pictures, the Medieval Hungarian Army will follow. The link to the Spanish is tucked below the banner if you're interested.  Thanks for looking!     

Bull in the Heather

A fun part of painting is finding the touches that convey the character of the figures you're painting. For the Scots warlord, the elevated basing reflected a Highlands heritage, as does the heather tufts.

This was my 2nd attempt at a watercolor-based background.  In this version, I got a lighter and smoother gradient Michael of the Dalauppror blog recommended. I love how bloggers share tips, tricks and recommendations. So thanks, Michael, and everyone else I've ever leaned on as well. I must remember it's ok to ask for help rather than rely on trial and error.

Here's the rest of the Scots warriors, the hearthguard, and the warlord in for another shot. The fellow with both hands in the air is giving off a "Braveheart" vibe and I can almost hear him yelling "FREEDOM!"

The Scots are done and off to a new home. That makes 7 factions painted out of 17 in SAGA.  If paint 10 factions, I hear Studio Tomahawk offers the 11th free, just like Subway sandwiches!

+5 points if you can identify the musical shout-out in the post's title without Google.   

Don't lose your head!

The Scots warriors continue the dark, earthen palette I plotted for the warband. I did sneak in some flourishes for the dandies in the bunch. These figures are on par with Gripping Beast's superb Welsh and Jomsvikings.

So, about the head on a pike. I found two bannermen in this set and one banner, so it was time to improv.  One of the two bannermen was channeling the Dead Rabbit gang to me.  I dug up a head, drilled it and presto, the "Don't lose your head" gang is born.   The Scots are a blast to paint and they're - wait for it - my favorite warband to date.  I do seem to get my head turned by each new faction that comes down the pike.

For SAGA players, the Scots battleboard emphasizes defensive abilities while allowing for a counterpunch.  Some of their standout abilities are:

Give Ground gives you the chance to reduce your opponent's attack dice. Ouch!  

Hold the Ground adds 2 or 4 defensive dice.
Keeping the Distance: Allows a unit the benefit of being treated as in heavy cover for the turn.  

Reach actives a movement and turns a unit (or 2) into javelin armed for the turn.  Shooting up your opponent is a great way to goad them into a charge.  

Tireless allows you to reduce fatigue by 1 at the end of the melee. Great for stacking 2 attacks in a turn.

They look to be another tough faction and it'll be interesting to see them out on the tabletop.