Plastic Norman sergeants

Up next are my Conquest Games Norman Sergeants.  As with all plastics, you're trading fiddly prep and assembly for $ saved.  Conquest Games plastics run $30 for a box of 15 mounted Normans versus $5 a figure for metal.  I'll post a side by side comparison of painted Norman metal and plastic figs before this warband is through.

Lots of options off the sprue with both horse and men gluing up nicely.  I employed a painting "cheat" to speed things up.  I sorted the horse into 4 lots and then hit them with either Army Painter Black, Leather Brown, Bone or Fur Brown primer.  I then worked up the socks, manes and tails before washing.  The cheat worked well with Leather Brown but not so much with Bone.  2 tone highlights were in order for some of the models, while others looked fine with just a colored primer and wash. 

Don't look at me, I'm hideous! 

A close look shows who was primed with what color.  

I managed to squander the time saved with colored primers in my next step!  I've seen some of you make painting stands for mounted troops so I tried to copy that.  I drilled out water bottle caps, clipped out piano wire, drilled holes in the the rider's bottoms (hey now!) and blu tacked them down.  This was a poor idea as the figures kept swiveling about on the piano wire until I blu tacked the feet as well.  HINT! Just glue the damn figures on their mounts and paint away. It's not like we're painting for the Louvre.

I should mention I assembled my milites/hearthguard with teardrop shields while sergeants/warriors got spears and round shields.  That way, everyone can tell at a glance what my warband is made up of.  The bare wooden shields were a lifesaver as it meant I only needed 8 fancy shields and not 12!

Saga - Norman archers and crossbow

First up for my Norman warband are my shooty guys.  The Normans have good shooting abilities on the Saga battleboard.  Massed Volley lets bow units shoot at twice as their normal range.  Even better, Storm of Arrows activates ALL ranged weapon units to shoot with no fatigue. Being able to shoot archers and crossbow twice in a turn with no fatigue is a big bonus.

Crossbow units reduce the armor value of their target by 1.  Unfortunately, they suffer a -1 to their armor value in melee due to their cumbersome equipment.  I'll greatly enjoy turning enemy units into pincushions as they approach and then I'll be quite sad when they get sucked into melee.  Crossbow count as warriors so they're easier to activate than levy archers, they generate a Saga die (levy archers don't) and they get more dice per figure for shooting.  They seem like an obvious first choice for any Norman warband!

I painted 8 but count only 7 in the pic.   Hellooooo?

Queue Monty Python's "How Not to be Seen."

Levy bow are my second shooty unit.  The question is, do I take 2 units of levy bow or 1 crossbow and 1 levy bow?  2 units of levy bow kills you in the Saga dice generation phase so it's a tough call.  I may paint up a 2nd unit of bow so I have options. I can see Burkhard shaking his head "NO!" at the idea.

All Gripping Beast figures. Army Painter Strong Tone painted on, not dipped.  I put a coat of Future polish over the top over the highlights for protection, followed by Liquitex Matte Medium to take the shine off.  Basing is Woodland Scenic ballast- 50% Fine, 50% Medium.  And since these metal figures are prone to tumbling around in the box I'm storing them in, I ordered up Litko magnetic bases for the 25mm disks.

Next week, I'll get my Vikings on the tabletop at a small local Con, followed by food and beers with my friends.  I'm thinking the whole event will look something like the picture below. Ah, life is good!

Viking Warlord Egil Skallagrimsson

By any measure, Egil Skallagrimsson was a badass.  Really, I hear you ask, how bad was he?  According to Egil's Saga, Egil was playing with a some of other kids when an older boy threw him to the ground. The  kids laughed and Egil got pissed.  He went home, grabbed an ax and used it to split the boy's skull to the teeth.  The two households came to blows and seven men were killed. Egil's father was unhappy but his mother thought he had the makings of a real Viking. He was 7 at the time! Egil was a boy you did NOT invite over for birthday parties, playdates or sleepovers.    

The detailing on this Gripping Beast figure was superb.  At times, I was guessing at what I was painting. Hopefully, it's not obvious!

Once again, bark found its way into another project!  I'm very pleased with how my warlord turned out.

The positive painting mojo carried over from the workbench to the gaming table in my first game of Saga.  We played A Feast for Crows with a Viking -Viking - Anglo-Danish mashup.  I had Egil up front because I didn't know better and half way through, my warlord went in side by side with my berserkers.  They cut the opposing Viking warlord to pieces.  Late in the game, the Anglo-Danish set on Egil with 6 Hearthguard armed with the deadly Dane axe.  To demonstrate the long odds against me, our host dropped 2 headstones on the tabletop before I threw my dice.  One for Egil and one for his last Hird. Egil smote 4 of the Danes and the survivors fell back in fear.  

My Viking opponent sent his last warriors at Egil.  Insults were thrown. parentage was questioned and finally, dice were thrown.  When it was over, every Viking warrior was dead, as was my warlord.  With his dying breath, Egil was heard to whisper, "We won on on points!" Epic and hilarious!  The Saga fire is lit and now onto my Norman warband.  

Gravestones at the ready.  

Looks like you'll be needing two more headstones, fellas!