Who Are You Calling Short?

I finished painting my warlord the other night. I've owned the models for decades. Its an old Games Workshop Viking model. Because it's so old he is a bit short by modern standards and I decided to make use of it.

Hence, my very proud looking warlord stands upon a rock. Meanwhile, a newer, taller figure stands cautiously behind keeping an eye on his back.

I admit that the painting and basework are nothing special. Competent, but nothing more. I am however very happy with the amount of character conveyed in the vignette.

Expressionist Gaming FTW!

A local mate of mine was giving me a hard time about repurposing fantasy models for use in a historical system and made a throw away comment about how he had a chess set just lying around. Silly fellow, he got me thinking...

White Pawns x12 as levy

Black Pawns x12 as levy

Castles x8 as warriors

Bishops x8 as warriors

Knights x8 as mounted warriors

Queens x4 as hearth guard

King x1 as Warlord.

Hello 6pt 'expressionist' warband. I suspect that a trawl of St Vinnies and the like would turn up a great many cheap 2nd hand model options.

Then I mentioned this another friend and had the idea of getting some small sets of playing cards to make an 'Alice in Wonderland' force using the face cards. 

As you may have guessed by now, I am not the sort to turn my nose up just because somebody painted the wrong coloured buttons on a uniform :-)

SAGA: That Awesome Moment When…

...you discover from out of the blue that you have an entire army that is 90% ready to go. Having knocked over another 16 proper Vikings I wanted to give a bit more time and thought to my next SAGA fantasy force. I was looking at my LOTRO models and in particular thinking that my 20ish fully painted Moria Goblins would make a fine start for a Anglo-Saxon horde. Sure, I’d need to buy a few more and paint a lot more, but it was a start and the theme was pretty easy to match with the models.

Then I did some cleaning out in the shed and uncovered an entire WFB army that hadn’t seen daylight for over a decade. They are a perfect. Undead are a classic ‘horde’ style army and the specifics of the Anglo-Saxon faction match up beautifully with my rediscovered models.

Behold! Excavated from the depths of the study and dusted off, a full 7 pts of ‘Anglo-Skeletons’.

Let’s start with the Warlord. I really like this model. It’s a wraith from the original line of models for Confrontation (that red thing is his hand is a heart). The Anglo-Saxon board offers a nice thematic fit for the sheer difficulty of killing such an obviously powerful supernatural creature. He will tower, accordingly IMO, over the rest of his warband and most adversaries

Two units of zombies as levy (24 models). Honestly, I am not too happy with the extreme green flesh on these guys, but at the end of the day they are just too good a fit as Anglo-Saxon levy. According to the rules, A/S levy may be armed with spears and shields instead of the traditional sling/bow. Running with that option improves both their melee capability and armour beyond that of normal levy. Thematically, as you can see, the majority of the models have long weapons of one kind of another. Yes, they lack shields, but zombies are notoriously resilient so I think it keeps to the theme out just fine.

Next up, three units of skeleton warriors as warriors (24 models) and one unit of mounted skeletons as mounted warriors (8 models). These models work so well in their intended role that there really isn’t much more to say about these guys.

Finally, The mounted hearth guard. Now I admit these guys are a bit of a stretch, but the models look cool and will be rebased onto cavalry bases. I think they easily look like something that would be both extra dangerous and fast.

 (Note - those are 40mm square bases)

As with the Aegyptus-Danes, I consider thematic consistency and the ability to very easily explain the force to my opponent as a critical factor. And as with the Aegyptus Danes, this force meets those requirements very well. When I put it on the table I can tell my opponent that the warlord is big, obvious and the only model on a 40mm base. That all skeletons (be they mounted or infantry) are warriors and all the zombies are levy. That just leaves the very distinctive bats on cavalry bases to remember as mounted hearth guard. Furthermore, I can tell my opponent that the lack of ranged weapons on the models is 100% accurate within the list.

So there you go. I need to rebase the giant bats onto cavalry bases and I’ll probably just go ahead and rebase everything else as well. I could use them on their current bases (SAGA does not dictate round or square bases), but aesthetically I very much dislike using square bases for skirmish-game models. Plus, having basically gone from zero to a fully painted force I reckon it’s only fair that I spend at least a little time on them.

I have to admit I don’t like this force as much as my Aegyptus-Danes, mostly it comes down to the fact that these old GW models are more ‘cartoony’. However, once again, I am seriously happy to be able to repurpose and give ‘new life’ to models so old I had literally forgotten about them. Bottomline, it's hard to complain about finding an entire warbands worth of game-ready models  :D

'Proper' SAGA

...And no matter how nice the models/paint or how well explained and clear the concept there are of course some people who simply won't want to face my Aegyptus-Danes because they aren't 'proper'.

OK, fine...

VIKINGS TO THE FACE FOR YOU!

My proper Viking warband isn't quite finished. Above are all the models I need for my warriors and hearthguard, but I still need to put together and paint 4 berserkers and a dozen levy. I also need to finish my warlord. I have all of these models, and just need to keep pushing ahead with the project. All in good time.

SAGA: Adding Fantasy Themes and Models

SAGA, while a perfectly excellent system for historical stoush, also lends itself exceedingly well to the use of fantasy models and ideas.The effects generated by the ‘legal’ battle boards are easily attributed to Gods or magic. At the same time, SAGA uses just a handful of troop-types meaning there will only ever be a few delineations to represent and keep in mind during play.

I have seen many examples on the official forums of people trying to develop entirely new or hybrid battle boards for various fantasy forces (Lord of the Rings and Games Workshop are popular settings). Honestly, I believe these people are over-thinking it. With a little care and forethought, the SAGA rules and battle boards as written provide an excellent vehicle for gaming confrontations between heroic or villainous warbands from history or fantasy or any combination of the two.

Clarity is key

In essence we are talking about using proxies, and that means making sure that they are as clear as possible for your opponent. The theme and models in your warband may make sense to you, but your opponent needs to be able to look at the table and easily understand what they are facing.

Ideally, this is the end result of a process that starts when you are initially planning the force, well before you get anywhere near a table. For example, I had a fair number of fully painted Wargods of Aegyptus models sitting around gathering dust long after my interest in that set of rules had faded. They make a brilliant Fantasy Egyptian warband under the rules for Anglo-Danes.

Say hello to my Aegypto-Danes J

Above is a pair of Aegypto-DaneWarlords. These models are larger and more heroic in stature than the rest of the warband. They are, accordingly, mounted on 40mm bases while all the rest of the models you are about to see are on 30mm.

The next two are of the units I'll use as levy. With their slings or bows and lack of armour, within the SAGA rules it would be hard to mistake them for anything but levy.

Next up, my two units of warriors.

And finally, two units of mighty mighty hearthguard.

When my Aegypto-Danes hit the table I can tell my opponent that anything with a bow or sling is levy, the Warlord is the only model on a 40mm base, the very distinct big tough looking croc-men with giant hammers are the hearth guard armed with giant Dane axes and anything else are warriors. Easy.

The trick, in a nutshell, is to pick models and a theme that mesh well with a given battle board or vice a versa. Either start with the models and pick a battle board/faction that suits or start with the faction and pick models that suit. Don’t try to shoehorn models into the troop types and/or a battle board. There are plenty of ‘easy’ fits if you take a step back, think and plan accordingly.

For my Aepytus-Danes, the process was simple. I wanted to use the models I already owned and had painted. I sat down and took a look at the factions to see which was the best match for the models. I already have proper historical Vikings and JomsVikings, so they were out. I don’t have any Aepytus cavalry, so that also eliminated a few warbands. In the end, the ‘eureka moment’ came when I read about the Anglo-Dane hearth guard and their mighty Dane axes, then looked at my sebeki models. The two match up perfectly, and none of the other Aegyptus models conflicted with their troop type. Bingo.

Other example that come to mind - GW orks makes fine sense as Jomsvikings. The concept of ‘wrath’ is easy to mentally recast of as the classic greenskin ‘WAAAARRRRGH’ building in power as the battle rages.  Alternatively, add in gobos as levy and they make fine Vikings. And if you want to play with a mighty green tide, the Anglo-Saxon board with its emphasis on large units makes a fine match. Wood Elves? Hello Normans. Want something more ‘classical’? OK. How about a heroic Greek hero model on a 40mm base as Jason the warlord, heavy hoplite/Greek hero models as 'Argonaught' hearth guard, normal hoplite models as warriors, psiloi as levy. Want more fantasy in the mix? How about Centaurs as cavalry?

Personally, I am very excited by the prospect of getting still more of my old and dusty models off the shelf and giving them new life. After my Aepytus-Danes are finished, I want to repurpose and build upon my LOTR Rohan and Moria goblin models and I have a pile of GW plastic beastmen that should make a fine warband of some sort.