Saga: Viking Warband II

After finding my plastics glue had dried up after a couple of years non-use yesterday, today I managed to stick my warband together...

Apologies for the rubbish photos taken prior to undercoating, I'll take proper ones when they are painted.

After some internet browsing I came across the Shieldwall line of miniatures that Gripping Beast now produce so have ordered four Úlfhéðnar and a Warlord for the warband...

Saga: Viking Warband I

So having found my box of Gripping Beast Viking Hirdmen I thought I'd crack on making up my warband with a view to seeing if I could get it finished in time for my next game against Rich a week Wednesday.

Although we only played with 4 points first time around I've decided to make a 6 point army so we can move on to some normal size games asap.

I picked up a box of the Dark Age Archers and have decided to initially go with the following:

1 x Warlord
2 x 4 Hirdmen (Hearthguard)
1 x 4 Úlfhéðnar or Berserkir (Beserkers)
2 x 8 Bóndi (Warriors)
1 x 12 Thrall bow (Levies)

I will paint up some of the Dark Age Warrior box as javelins for some interchangeable variety and use in other warbands (as the archers will also do).

Progress so far is, as you can see, limited to snipping the bodies off the sprues and gluing them to 2p bases (decided on after the usual wargamer basing anguish of whether I should go 20mm square so they could be used for other games!)

I've also got to source a decent Warlord (I might use a plastic one to start) and some models for the Beserkers, I do fancy the wolf skin clad Úlfhéðnar if I can find some that fit in with the Gripping Beast plastics...

What A Tanker!

The announcement from the Lardies that What A Tanker! was available for pre-order caused a flurry of excitement today on the BIGHW Facebook page with a lot of gamers expressing an interest and a consensus that 28mm was the way to go (Steve looks forlornly at his beloved 20mm...).

However on the hunt for the Gripping Beast Vikings and Saxons I bought a few years back (I knew I'd find some use for them!) I came across some 1/50th diecast tanks I'd bought over the years including a Corgi Comet, Corgi Churchill and Solido Grant!

As the game can be played with one tank per player I availed myself of the excellent bundle pre-order offer that gives you the rules and tool and token set for £24.08 (compared to the RRP £44.00). Looking forward to this and surprising some of them pesky squarehead tankers with the innocuous looking Comet's 77mm HV gun! :-)

Embarking On a New Saga...

On Saturday I "discovered" a new wargaming show in Bristol - Bristol Independent Gaming. As SWMBO wanted to visit the nearby (wonderfully named) Get Knitted for some wool I thought I'd pop in this new shop (I say new, it has been here three years and is door to door just ten minutes from Bleaseworld in quiet traffic!). I had a nice chat with Jim Harding who runs the place and found out that the shop also has two floors of gaming tables and in addition to the regular 40k gaming, the shop has a historical gaming night on Wednesdays.

The current "in" games are Chain of Command, Sharp Practice and Saga, all of which are periods I have some miniatures for but no experience of the rules and how they play, so tonight I went along to have a go at the new edition of Saga.

The Bóndi Matt leant me about to outflank the Anglo-Danes!

I have to confess I had been put off Saga due to all the additional non-miniature bits and bobs seemingly needed to play the game beyond the rulebook and some miniatures, so not really given it much of a look at, but Rich Coombs offered to give me a game and Matt (Evil Bear) Houghton lent me his Vikings and helped with the rules.

We played a simple "kill the warlord" game but I found it an enjoyable experience, the rules (as probably most of you know) are simple to play but hard to master. The Gods of dice rolling favoured me hugely tonight with my Thrall bow unit exceeding expectations and causing heavy casualties for Rich's Anglo-Danes, who subsequently disintergrated as my Bóndi and Hirdmen smashed into the remnants of his army from both flanks!

The kickass Thralls having lost three men, but inflicted eight losses on the Anglo-Dane warriors...

Unfortunately I am away working in Paris next Wednesday but Rich has promised me another game in a fortnight, though this time he is bringing along his beloved Jomsvikings. He has leant me the rules and Age of Vikings to see if I can come up with some cunning tactics to defeat them!

All I need to do now is find those boxes of Gripping Beast plastic Vikings I've had sat around for ages to make my own army...

Spitfyre: Dwarf Lustbestienkorp

I managed to grab an hour this morning to start sticking together the Dwarf air force models for Spitfyre (a 1/200th scale air wargame set in the Panzerfäuste universe) and cutting my thumb with the scalpel in the process! :-(

KriegAdler 109 (War-eagle fighters)

KampfGeier 87 (Vulture dive bombers)

KampfKondor 111 (Condor bomber)

Some need a little filling but hopefully I'll get the chance to slap some paint on them this week...

Panzerfäuste: Deathless Kazak

No, I'm not sure where the last two and a half months went! Manthrax, work and weather I suppose... Anyway, I have managed to finish my first wargames figures in a long time(thanks to the reading glasses!), the Deathless Kazak for Panzerfäuste.

The figures haven't been released yet, but I managed to sneak some out of Hysterical Games HQ.

The Deathless are the (largely) undead faction in Panzerfäuste with a Russian look. The Kazak are undead cossacks mounted on nightmares, demonic horse-like beasts with flaming manes and tails.

Painting was a challenge but I'm quite happy with the end result, the flames contrasting nicely with the black beasts and dark blue uniformed zombie Dark Elf riders...

An unusual looking unit, but something different, hopefully they'll prove popular with gamers...

Next up a pile of models for Panzerfäuste's sister game Spitfyre! Tally ho!