[Saxon Muster] Field Exercises

Hi,

So you may remember I spent most of July/August painting up a bunch of Saxons for a campaign game being run by the Boston Trained Bands. Last weekend we had a test game so my guys got into action for the first time.

Right, so the rule set of choice for this game is Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB). An interesting choice because the gamers in the group are extremely uninterested in most Warhammer products. Although, to be fair, WAB is barely kept in print by GW and you have to order it special from them and give the password and special wink. I’ve never played with it before and it’s been ages since I’ve done any straight-up Warhammer stuff so it was going to be a learning experience.

We broke up into two sides for a big battle. I took center stage with my Saxons. On my left I had a small but powerful Romano-British group and on my left and another batch on my right. Across the table we had (from left to right as I saw it): an unruly band of Scots, a small block of frenzied Vikings and…I believe some more Scots/Picts (the majority of which were represented by my figures…so I guess I win no matter what).

Here let me show you:





I’ve got a pair of warbands flanked by a couple of small groups of archers. The group on the right has my leader. The guy with the red stick is trying to work out how quickly he can run me over with his Vikings.





It’s not like I’ve got bolters, so we all start rumbling towards one another. That little block on the left coming towards me is a warband of Scots. But you’ll probably notice the group of horsemen bearing down towards me. Keep an eye on that.

Here are a couple of wider shots of the battlefield. On the center-right side:





You can see my valiant allies taking their sweet time getting around the village. My only saving grace is that the Picts who oppose him haven’t really gotten off their starting positions yet.

And now we pan to the left:





I’m not sure why the Scot split up his forces like this, but he decided to send his skirmishers after the guy with the cavalry and heavy infantry. It goes about as well as you’d expect.





Back to my guys. Yeah, that cavalry charge goes in on my hapless archers. Well…maybe. The archers took a snap shot as the horses rolled in. It was totally ineffectual so they took to their heels. They actually managed to outrun the cavalry’s charge and then managed to make their Leadership test so they spun around to take another shot at them.





And take a shot they did. Put down two of the pesky Picts.

Meanwhile, the Scots had advanced just close enough so I decided to rush ‘em:





I get lots of bonuses for charging in like that. However, this is my group without a leader and I’m facing off against the leader of the Scots. Also, I apparently can’t roll for crap. In one brutal exchange, I chip one guy out of his group, he peels away four of mine, and then proceeds to rout me and run me down.





Yeah. It was like that.

My archers didn’t survive a second round with the cavalry and the other group of archers, as you might be able to see above, were running for the hills and never rallied.

Well, when in doubt, attack. So I lined up on the Viking horde and rushed them with all I had left:





So, in a 500-point army, that block of 20 Vikings, with leader, musician and priest probably gobbles up 400 of them. By contrast, my group is about 200 points (and 75 of that is the leader). The Vikings are frenzied (so each guy who can fight gets to attack twice) and the priest makes them immune to all psychological effects (like the auto-rout warbands like mine cause). We had a pitched exchange, but I gave a little better than I got (surprisingly) and we stayed locked in combat. My hope is that my allies there would hit the flank and give us enough weight to grind them down.

Sadly, we started late and it was well past lunchtime so we called the game here. I was probably toast on a stick.

On the right side:





I don’t know what was going on here. Neither side came to grips. The enemy tried a bunch of piddling shots that never did anything. I have no idea where that cavalry is going. Perhaps he was going to send it after the Pictish cavalry that ran down my archers or maybe he wanted to swing them around to hit the Vikings, but it’s a bit of a mess on that side.

On the left, however:





Man, the Scots kept hanging in there, but they were just meat to the grinder. The Romano-British would’ve finished them up but who knows what they’d face as they cut across into the flanks of the enemy.

Oh hey, my other group of archers. Bye, guys!

So what did we learn? First, the Vikings are going to be a real hassle to take on so find some allies (preferably some guys with cavalry). Second, the archers need to be massed into a bigger block to be effective. They could probably also stand to have a champion or other leader figure who can boost their morale. The same could be true for the warbands though. The Thegns are a bit fragile without a leader type.

Also, I need to power up a dice charger because my rolls were just terrible this time around.

But hey, it was fun and my investment of time and effort has started to pay off.

Later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] He Led Soldiers

Hey,

So I finished up the last few guys. I got a small group of Viking mercenaries and 3 leader-types (well, two leader types and a spear-wielding Thegn who needed some superglue surgery).

Here's them:





So yeah, I started this around June 25th. In a little over a month-and-a-half, I've painted up 108 Saxons. Still, I never really considered how much work I'd gotten done until I put all the dudes in their storage case:





That's what 108 man strong, 1000 point Saxon army looks like. I glued down a magnetic sheet to the bottom of the plastic case and the washers the dudes sit on stick to the mat. So it'll be easy to tote these guys around. Anyway, I was a little gobsmacked to see all those guys lined up and ready to go.

Now I'm going to take a break from painting for a bit. I've got an idea for the next project and I've even got some figures together for it, but this time, I'll be painting in 15mm so...not little dudes so much as tiny dudes. Better give my eyes a rest.

Here's hoping these guys weren't painted in vain.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Monkey Ceorl, Monkey Do

Hey,

So yesterday I finished up my second, 20-man unit of Ceorls. These are the cheap, not-quite-as-good soldiers I'm using to add mass to my units of Thegns.

I've pretty much got it down pat now so these guys came together rather quickly (I also had a couple double-days where I did one painting step in the morning and the second one in the evening so I think I had these completely finished in about 4 days total.

Anyway, here they are:





So, technically, I'm finished. I've got 1000 points worth of dudes and I'm ready to go to war. But I happen to have 8 more dudes left. Five of them are Viking mercenaries, the other three are leader types. So I'm going to do those guys up as well (and I'm hoping to be done early next week with those dudes as well). But for the record, I've painted up 100 Saxons in a little over one month. I'm kinda astonished at my productivity.

All I can say is, we'd better play this damn campaign and I'd better win a few games. :)

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] I woud Thegn be finished

Hey,

So although I've been very remiss about posting the in-progress photos, I've been working on another batch of Thegns for the Viking game I'm playing this fall. This batch of 20 is armed with swords and axes, but they'll probably be treated as carrying spears and joining in with the big blocks of spears/shields that the previous Thegns will be heading up.

I've finished everything but the leather accessories, the fronts of the shields and, as always, the lovely dip:





Sorry these came out so dark. I've had to paint these in my bedroom because the lovely air-conditioning makes it possible. Anyway, I should get these guys squared away this week and hopefully I can roll into the last group of Ceorls and a small pack of miscellaneous guys.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Getcher Gerburs

Hey,

So here are the Geburs, my unit of archers, all dipped and based and ready to go:





I now have the minimum amount needed to take the field this fall, but I'm going to try and fill out the other 40-odd guys I have (another batch of Thegns and Ceorls, plus a leader and a few Viking mercenaries). But the immediate pressure is off.

later
Tom

{Saxon Muster] They ain't Cupid, stupid

Hey,

One thing about it, as the troops get less and less sophisticated, painting them up becomes easier and easier. The Geburs here are the bow-wielding skirmishers. Not much in the way or armor or bulky equipment to worry about, no shields or other fiddly bits, just the clothes on their back and the bows in their hands. The hardest part for these guys was the quiver of arrows glued to their backs -- some arrangements of poses and quivers made it hard to get the paint in the right place. Luckily, tomorrow afternoon, they go in the dip and all my problems will be solves.





I'm really jazzed that these guys are almost finished. That's 60 out of the 100 figures painted and it's enough that if I didn't paint anything else, I could show up in the fall and start playing. Of course, now that I'm on a roll, I'll try and keep up the momentum and get the other 40-odd figures painted up so that I've got a full spread to battle with. But at least the nagging worry I wouldn't have anything done is covered for the time being.

Anyway, I expect that missile fire in Warhammer Ancient Battles isn't going to be very telling (certainly not for this period), but I'm hoping to be able to blunt the Viking charge a bit before it crashes down on my blocks of foot soldiers. I guess we'll see.

Later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] That's the Ceorls Then

Hey,

Once again, the dip did it's magic and my simply-painted minis look 1000% better (although with my half-assed photography, maybe that's not so apparent). Anyway, I dipped them, painted the bases, and sprayed them down with matte varnish to finish the unit off.





I've already got then next unit up on their cans and primed. This is a batch of Geburs -- low-ranking skirmishers who will be armed with bows and provide the missile fire for my army. Photos as they develop.

later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] Ready for their Bathtime

Hey,

So I missed an update so this picture adds a lot from the previous one. I did up the metal/wood bits, the leather belts/pouches and the shield colors. If the weather improves this afternoon, I should be able to get them dipped. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until tomorrow sometime.





later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] I Got Ambitious

Hey,

So I decided to take advantage of my day off and put in a double shift on my next unit of Saxons. This is a group of Ceorls, the Saxon equivalent of a medieval knight. They're professional warriors, but they don't actually hold land. Definitely second-stringers, but in game terms that means you can get lots of them cheap. The rules also say that as long as I'm leading a unit of warriors with my Thegns, the whole unit gets to benefit from the Thegns' superior morale.

What this means is that I'm using the Thegns as a base and then bulking them out with the cheaper Ceorls.

Also, because the models don't have chainmail, the whole thing goes a lot faster for painting. About half these guys have what looks like a quilted jerkin, so they've got a fairly plain color. The guys who couldn't even afford the padding get bright colors to strike fear into the enemy hearts.





So now all that's left is to paint up the metal/wood/leather bits, the shield, and then the lovely dip.


later
Tom

[Saxon Muster] A Little Dip'll Do You

Hey,

So the first unit of Saxons is finished. Twenty Saxon Thegns with spear and shield:





All the minis got "dipped", literally dipped into a pot of liquid that's very similar to wood stain. After getting a good coat, you shake the mini for a little bit and most of the stain flies off. What's left sticks to the nooks and crannies and the effect is heavy dark lines that make the rest of the color really pop. Then I painted the bases a forest green and went over all of it with a matte varnish (the dip leaves a shiny finish so this second coat dulls it down).

I'm amazed at how good my crappy paint job looks by dunking them in a stain. When I first heard about this technique it seemed the height of insanity, but I've used it on two projects now and it looks great.

A friend was over today and I showed them off. She gave me the highest compliment imaginable: "That's amazing, how do you paint all those little details?" That's pretty much my gob-smacked comment to all of my friends who can actually do good paint jobs so I'm rather chuffed by her appreciation.

Anyway, that's one unit down, another 2 to go before I've got the minimum to play and really another four to have a respectable force put together.

later
Tom