Breton warband for SAGA

In the 4th century, Bretons serving in the Roman army were posted out of Britannia and into Amorica (Brittany). To escape Anglo-Saxon and Scoti invaders, a second wave of Breton settlers followed. Charlemagne subjugated the Bretons for a time. A combination of Breton revolts, military victories and devastating Viking raids forced the Franks to eventually concede the independence of Brittany. Somewhere in there, Breton King Morvan fought a personal combat with a Frankish chieftain that left both dead.  I'm not entirely sure how the opposing armies squared that unexpected result.

The 10th century saw a Breton campaign to drive out the Norse who settled on the Loire River. The Bretons and Normans were at war for a time but that didn't stop them from serving in William the Conqueror's left flank at the Battle of Hastings.  Breton history is enough to make your head spin!

In SAGA, Breton levies and mounted troops are javelin armed. Their battle board has 8 shooting abilities and I've been studying to see which stack well before my first game with them. Bretons suffer a -1 to their armor in melee, which means I'll stick to shoot and scoot tactics.

These figures can pull triple duty for me. First, I'll run them in SAGA as a Breton warband. I can also port them into Crescent and the Cross to buff out a Spanish army. Lastly, I can field them in a Hail Caesar Norman army. Portability for the win! 

All figures in the warband are by Gripping Beast, topped with LBMS shield transfers painted in.  I'm tempted to paint the hero King Morvan in a chariot. For now, I do like the look of this warlord hunting the battlefield with javelin in hand and no helmet! Those are the kind of risks that men respect.  They're also the kind of risks that get you killed in personal combat.   

These figures looked a bit dull at the finish line so I added a 2nd highlight to make them pop. You must look good to feel good and I do hope these javelinmen are feeling good right now.

I painted this warband while listening to Marc Morris' The Norman Conquest audiobook. It's fantastic overview of the conquest of England, and most of SAGA's "Heroes of the Viking Age" make an appearance in the book.  Its a perfect companion piece to SAGA gaming.

SAGA Storm

SAGA Storm Day at Fantasy Flight Game Center came and went, and  what a day it was! The organizers brought 12 themed battleboards, each with a scenario. More than 24 SAGA players turned out to throw dice, tip beers and have a great time playing SAGA.  This was my single favorite day of gaming ever and I've had some great games in my lifetime. Take a look at some of the tables Eric Hagen, John Stenz and Jason Meyers put up.  I only wish I could have played them all.  

You know its going to be a great day of SAGA when your first opponent is an honest-to-goodness Viking named Tor. We played The Challenge twice on account of  Tor smiting my Norse-Gael warlord in a first move strike with Viking berserkers. We rebooted and ran the scenario again with my Norse-Gaels going first. Thanks for the do-over, Tor! 

In my 3rd game, I played my old friend Mark and his Pagan Rus.  Fighting in the mountains was a natural for his Rus and my Norse-Gael went down to defeat.  Mark bought me a consolation beer so all hope was not lost.   

Next up was the Shores of Normandy with a custom Breakthrough scenario that saw each side trying to fight through the other.  The beer must have contained some magical properties as I had a great run in the late game, coming up with a victory against John's tough as nails Scotsmen.  

By dinnertime I was starting to wear down.  After a big cup of coffee, I threw in for the Grand Melee- 5 Viking type warbands on one side versus 5 non-Viking factions on the other.  In the Wooden Oaths scenario we were playing, it's one side against the other for 3 turns.  After turn 3, it becomes a free-for-all with points scored for kills.  Each side of the table ran their battleboards simultaneously, allowing us to complete this epic megabattle in just over two hours.  

I got 5 games in with my Norse-Gael warband.  I got to see a lot of my old gaming buddies and meet a lot of new SAGA gamers.  I can't wait to do it all again and with any luck, I won't have to.  We're talking about setting up a SAGA group to keep the energy and good times rolling.  An naturally, I'm thinking about painting up a new warband.  Thanks once again to the organizers and to everyone who turned out!  

Flemish Mercenaries

First up today are 8 Flemish mercenaries by Gripping Beast.  Famous for their heavy spearmen, the Flemish served as mercenaries for the Franks and Normans. At the Battle of Hastings, they were part of William’s army. After the conquest of England, they offered their services to local magnates.   

In SAGA,  Flemish mercenaries can be included in a warband as Swords for Hire. The Flemish are 8 foot warriors with an Armour of 5, reflecting their heavy equipment and formation. Their movement is reduced to S in open terrain and they do not generate Saga dice. The Flemish may be activated once a turn for free. They do not benefit from any SAGA abilities. Lastly, when engaged in melee by an enemy unit or are the target of a shooting, the Flemish are treated as being in hard cover. In short, Flemish mercenaries are a slow but powerful defensive unit, useful for holding objectives and terrain.

A few weeks back, fellow blogger and painter Iowa Grognard asked if I'd paint these for him. Having followed Jeff's AWI painting for years, I was thrilled to do so.  Jeff and his wife both play SAGA and he anticipates a bidding war for the Flemish sellswords. To round out the job, I also painted two Anglo-Saxon warlords.  Basing was left undone so Jeff can match these to his current collection. Thanks Jeff for this splendid opportunity.  It is a lucky man who shares this hobby with his spouse!

We're 2 weeks away from the start of fall, a season routinely cut short by winter here in Minnesota.  I've been on the hunt for winter painting projects and I found a good one. This lot traveled all the way from Denmark to get into my painting queue. I've painted up a bit of WW II for Chain of Command but none of it ended up in my own collection.  This is my first step to fielding a WWII force and also putting Chris Stoesen's "In the Name of Roma!" to work in an East Front campaign.  

Riders on the Storm

September 20th is the SAGA Storm, an all-day SAGA event at Fantasy Flight Game Center. Organizers Eric Hagen and John Stenz are porting their experience running Games Workshop events into SAGA and the results to date are impressive!

Eric created a game day T-shirt and dice. I'm in for both, of course. My only worry is that wearing a T-shirt will clash with my plan to dress Berserker-style for the day.  Eric is a master painter, battleboard creator and terrain guy. He's got 10 themed boards ready for the event, each for a specific scenario.  You might find your warband raiding or defending a Viking village, escorting livestock through the Scottish highlands or fighting on the shores of Normandy. That's only 3 of the 10 scenarios!

John and his wife are master tournament organizers. When I saw John's 40K tournament this spring, I was awed by it's size, professionalism and organization.  35 tables preset with wonderful terrain, pro-painted armies, close to 100 attendants, digital clocks, organizers on the floor and loads of swag. In contrast, we can hardly get 6-8 guys out for our historical game days. All the hard work is paying off as interest in the event is very high. All signs point to an amazing day of SAGA, great company and beer.  I can't wait!

I've been running my Norse-Gael warband to warm up for the big event.  In what may be a sign of things to come, I'm finding it hard to earn a victory with these barefoot fellows.  The NG battleboard requires good dicing during personal challenges to unlock many of their abilities. Clearly, I need to get my hands on Eric's new SAGA dice because the ones I have are broken.

There is nothing quite like a big event to power up one's painting mojo.  Even though I have WW II and Old West aging out in the queue, I'm sticking to my Dark Age painting for a bit longer.  For the last 16 Norman warriors, I chose a Reconquista color scheme.  That makes these a down payment on my future Spanish warband for Crescent & the Cross.

Just when you thought you couldn't possibly look at another Spearman, I've got an angry band of Flemish Mercenaries on the tabletop with a few Anglo-Saxon warlords thrown in.  There is a story behind that, and I'll save it for my next post.

Painting Normans, step by step

SAGA is catching on big here in the Twin Cities. Hoping to help or inspire new SAGAmites everywhere, I'm sharing my Dark Age painting process in a single, overly long post. How fortunate that I have 48 Norman spearmen waiting for a quick coat of paint! 

Basing and priming: I used a glue gun for basing as it's fast, reliable and the glue smooths out the "pitcher's mound" on the base of the figure. I primed in brown to save a bit of brushwork. How much of the primer you keep intact is your call. The back of the shields, spears, and shoes are all good options.

Paint in sets: To maximize efficiencies, I sorted the Normans into 6 sets of 8 figures. I then block-painted each set with a single color. I'll mix sets at the finish line to achieve an irregular look. 

Block and wash: After block painting, I washed the figures with Vallejo's Sepia Game Color.   My other go-to wash is Army Painter Strong tone. Both give great results in shadows and shading.

Highlights: While painting for speed, I want my Dark Age figures to mix well.  Therefore, the Normans got highlights like the rest of my SAGA war bands.  While the primary blocking color was identical in each set, I varied my highlights slightly for variety. I avoided highlighting folds and recesses to keep a shadow effect  At gaming distance, the contrast looks quite nice.

There's a saying in miniature painting that it's all about "faces, bases and flags." To that end, I put use Foundry's flesh triad. I painted the flesh last to avoid the trial that comes from stray paint getting onto a face that is not my own.

Shield Transfers: I use Little Big Man Studios shield transfers for my SAGA painting as they both lovely and a time saver. Transfers were applied over white painted shields. Each shield got a coat of my lightest grey and then white since I can't get one coat coverage with just white. 

Color coordination: I sorted the transfers by color-red, green, blue and brown-and matched them to the warrior set painted the same color. While perhaps ahistorical, color coordination is pleasing to the eye and I do want my warriors to look good.

Paint the shields in: LBMS transfers are not a tight fit over the rimless kite shields. That's where you need to paint the transfers in. By feathering your paint just over the edges of the transfer, you'll fool people into thinking your shields were hand painted. I won't tell if you don't! 

Sealer:  I sealed the transfers with Future acrylic finish. Army Painter Matte varnish knocked down the shine at the finish line.

Basing: Bases were a mix of 1/3 fine & 1/3 medium Woodland Scenics ballast and 1/3 of a larger grit.  The bases were painted with Americana Milk Chocolate, a wetcoat of Cocoa over that and then a light highlight of Sand. I put tufts down and hit everything with Army Painter Matte Finish. With that, 32 Norman spearmen are done.  Time to crack open a frosty beverage and celebrate!  The next 16 Normans are well under way but I ran out of shield transfers, dang it.  

I'm planning to use these figures to turn my SAGA Norman warband into a playable Hail Caesar or Impetus army. To that end, I need many more mounted warriors. And Warbases bases to rank up my skirmishers. And more shield transfers.  And a local opponent would be good unless I want to paint up both sides.  I guess my last bit of advice today is to look before you leap!